Conditions: cloudy, 45F, Wind: N 4-6mph (not a factor)
Plan:
- 4x(6 x 1’on/1’off) 5′ rest. This was motivated by Sander’s 20×1′ workout. but since 6 intervals fits pretty well for the length or river I am working on, and I didn’t relish the thought of doing 20 reps in one block, I decided to increase the total number of reps, but divide it into 4 blocks.
- Target pace: 2:00
- Target rate: >28
- Work on tap downs, getting good reach at higher rates and sitting up straight
Started with a couple of drills.
King of the Mountain. Sit at the catch with blades buried. Lift blades clear of water, and then drop for the catch. Repeat.
Top quarter. Sit at the catch with blades buried. Take the first 6 inches of the stroke, then lift blades from water and return to catch. Repeat.
Pick drill. Starting with arms only, progress to arms and body, then quarter slide, then half slide. Work on good finishes and getting blades clear of the water on recovery.
From there I rowed a warmup for the next 4 minutes or so, and dove into the first set of the intervals. I found it was very easy to push them too hard, I would get out to about 20 strokes and feel really burnt out. I eventually learned to go out a bit more conservatively and push the last part of the rep more. Overall I hit the pace target, and a few of the reps were slowed down by having to do them through the s-turn, or under the bridge.
Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
01000_|_0260_|_01:04_|_2:02.7_|_029___|_27.3_|_09.0_|_154___|_
01420_|_0260_|_01:02_|_1:58.8_|_032___|_31.1_|_08.1_|_160___|_
01840_|_0240_|_00:58_|_2:00.6_|_029___|_30.1_|_08.3_|_159___|_
02240_|_0240_|_00:58_|_2:00.0_|_028___|_29.2_|_08.6_|_162___|_
02640_|_0260_|_01:00_|_1:55.0_|_032___|_32.1_|_08.1_|_166___|_
03040_|_0260_|_01:00_|_1:55.6_|_032___|_31.9_|_08.1_|_165___|_
03760_|_0240_|_01:00_|_2:04.8_|_027___|_27.0_|_08.9_|_157___|_
04180_|_0240_|_00:59_|_2:02.1_|_027___|_27.6_|_08.9_|_166___|_
04580_|_0260_|_01:01_|_1:57.5_|_030___|_29.5_|_08.7_|_166___|_
04980_|_0260_|_01:02_|_1:59.6_|_031___|_29.9_|_08.4_|_169___|_
05360_|_0240_|_00:58_|_1:59.8_|_029___|_30.3_|_08.3_|_168___|_
05760_|_0240_|_00:58_|_2:00.2_|_027___|_28.1_|_08.9_|_164___|_
06160_|_0240_|_00:57_|_1:58.3_|_028___|_29.6_|_08.6_|_169___|_
06840_|_0240_|_00:59_|_2:02.9_|_028___|_28.5_|_08.6_|_157___|_
07240_|_0260_|_01:03_|_2:01.0_|_030___|_28.6_|_08.7_|_169___|_
07640_|_0260_|_01:03_|_2:00.8_|_031___|_29.6_|_08.4_|_169___|_
08060_|_0240_|_00:58_|_2:01.5_|_028___|_28.8_|_08.6_|_170___|_
08440_|_0260_|_01:04_|_2:02.3_|_029___|_27.4_|_09.0_|_170___|_
08840_|_0240_|_00:57_|_1:59.8_|_028___|_29.2_|_08.6_|_168___|_
09560_|_0240_|_00:59_|_2:03.3_|_028___|_28.4_|_08.6_|_160___|_
09960_|_0240_|_00:58_|_2:01.2_|_029___|_29.9_|_08.3_|_167___|_
10340_|_0260_|_01:02_|_1:59.4_|_030___|_29.0_|_08.7_|_168___|_
10740_|_0240_|_00:57_|_1:58.1_|_028___|_29.6_|_08.6_|_168___|_
11120_|_0240_|_00:59_|_2:02.3_|_029___|_29.6_|_08.3_|_168___|_
11500_|_0260_|_01:03_|_2:00.6_|_030___|_28.7_|_08.7_|_168___|_
Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00980_|_05:30_|_2:48.1_|_098___|_17.8_|_10.0_|_128___|_warmup
06220_|_24:56_|_2:00.3_|_729___|_29.2_|_08.5_|_165___|_Main set
06460_|_40:49_|_3:09.5_|_754___|_18.5_|_08.6_|_154___|_rest meters
13660_|_11:15_|_2:36.5_|_1581___|_22.2_|_08.6_|_156___|_Total
My best two intervals were at the end of the first set. Here are videos of those reps, along with the Crewnerd pace, rate and HR data.
Tomorrow: Something a bit tamer. Steady state, r20, HR cap at 150
Quantified Rowing 
Greg, a couple of Serious comments, if you don’t mind.
1. Pick drill. I like to start the first 1km of the training with this. In the double I never skip this drill. In the single, I do skip it sometimes.
2. King of the mountain. I will do this next time we have the conditions for it (no wind). In your 1 minute video it looks like your catch is a little deep. You could work on that with this drill?
3. Perhaps it is the video, but I have the feeling you don’t have enough space in front of your belly to do a clean tap-down. Do you confirm this? Not talking about the size of your belly 🙂 but the rigging.
4. You are faster than I (but at higher rates). More of a sprinter, are you? Or perhaps you had nicer water …
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1. I try to do the pick drill before all my harder sessions. On steady state days, I tend to skip it.
2. I agree with you. When I looked at the intervals, I was definitely too deep at the catch. I need to to take some video of steady state, because I thought it was a bit better than before. Maybe when I rate up, I am digging in too far.
3. I think I have enough room to tap down, as long as I control my layback. If I layback too far, I run into my belly, if I finish cleanly, it is good. I am reluctant to move my feet further to the bow to give myself more room. With my stubby legs and short arms, I don’t really get that good of a reach at the catch as it is now. I should get someone to help me measure my catch angle and finish angle, along with the work through, so I can figure this stuff out.
4. Definitely not faster than you in any way in a boat. I had lovely water and I definitely benefited from the breaks between the sets of 6 sprints.
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I was thinking of a very subtle combination of foot stretcher, inboard and span changes, but as I said it is hard to see. Side video needed.
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Yep. Next week, I’m going to do the side view.
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Just a few thoughts from the pieces, it looks a little like you are raising the hands quite a lot at the start of the stroke and continue to do so through the first part of the drive, could be from opening your back early.
This then looks to lead into the “cross over” point of the stroke where your blades are parallel to each other and you look quite tense across the shoulders and arms, where as I feel you should be looking for a bit more “hang” where your shoulders are more relaxed and your arms are kept straight for longer.
Exercises you could try, during the “pick drill” (not what we call it 🙂 ) try and really feel the pull across your shoulders and arms as the legs drive, almost like its pulling your shoulders back towards the stern as you drive whilst keeping them low in the boat. And in a double, while the other person sits the boat, try the suspension exercise where you take a stroke as normal but rather than drive back, you drive up off your seat and try and stay there as long as possible. You do eventually come crashing down, but its a useful exercise as if you are not “hanging” off the blade (i.e. you break the arms too early) you’ll find you come crashing down earlier and harder than you do if you correctly suspend and finish out the stroke
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Tom, thanks for taking the time to review and comment. The feedback is very much appreciated. In my workouts yesterday and today, I was getting the feeling that I am opening my back too early in the stroke. I can feel it start almost at the catch. I think I can do some drill work to try to improve on that. I will go look at the videos again for what you said about shoulder position and try to get them a bit lower and more relaxed. I think I might have caused that problem by working on improving something different. I was slumping all through the drive last season and I’ve been consciously trying to sit straighter and really engage my core. I bet that is also making me hunch a bit.
Again, thanks for the feedback.
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