Weather:  Cloudy, mid 50s, wind South 10-15mph.  This is a tail wind going down river and a head wind going up river.  It got progressively windier and more gusty as I went along.

Original plan was for 1000m intervals, but I felt like crap this morning.  Upset stomach and tired.  I decided to just row a steady state session.  I also forgot my HR strap which meant that I was rowing without some of the feedback that I like to have.  Probably a good thing, actually.

Things got off to a lousy start.  I launched and started rowing away.  I got about 500m fro the dock and I couldn’t remember locking my car.  So, I turned around, paddled back, got out and locked it.  I certainly noticed that the headwind coming back to the dock was significant.  I had to work to get any pace on the boat at all.

After I got that settled, I just rowed.  I was working on three things today.  First was to get really good compression and reach at the catch.  Second was to finish early enough so that my hands do not brush my torso.  Third was to try to balance during the recovery and not touch water.  This was a good thing to work on today because there was a bit of chop, even on my protected river and dragging the blades resulted in whacking the wavetops in a disturbing manner.

I felt more comfortable at 22 to 24 spm today and as I focused on my three things, I found I was rowing a bit harder than I normally would for a steady state session.  With the tail wind, I was faster than 2:20 pace except in the turns.  Even into the head wind, I was around a 2:27, which is my usual pace for flat conditions, albeit with a stroke rate of 20 not 22.

Having said that, I’m glad I swapped out the session.  I enjoy the row and I think I did pretty well considering the wind.

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_1880_|_10:41_|_2:50.5_|_203___|_19.0_|_09.3_|_000___|_warmup
01900_|_2660_|_12:13_|_2:17.8_|_266___|_21.8_|_10.0_|_000___|_tail wind
04560_|_0060_|_00:26_|_3:34.2_|_007___|_16.3_|_08.6_|_000___|_rest
04620_|_2940_|_14:12_|_2:24.9_|_322___|_22.7_|_09.1_|_000___|_head wind
07560_|_0060_|_00:27_|_3:46.7_|_005___|_11.0_|_12.0_|_000___|_rest
07620_|_2020_|_09:25_|_2:20.0_|_208___|_22.1_|_09.7_|_000___|_tail wind
09640_|_0140_|_00:50_|_2:58.6_|_016___|_19.2_|_08.8_|_000___|_Steering mistake at bridge
09780_|_0660_|_02:58_|_2:15.2_|_067___|_22.5_|_09.9_|_000___|_tail wind
10440_|_0040_|_00:16_|_3:17.5_|_004___|_15.2_|_10.0_|_000___|_rest
10480_|_3140_|_15:24_|_2:27.1_|_354___|_23.0_|_08.9_|_000___|_head wind 
13620_|_1000_|_05:15_|_2:37.7_|_120___|_22.8_|_08.3_|_000___|_cool down

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
01880_|_10:41_|_2:50.5_|_203___|_19.0_|_09.3_|_000___|_warmup
11420_|_54:13_|_2:22.4_|_1217___|_22.4_|_09.4_|_000___|_Main set
00300_|_01:59_|_3:17.8_|_032___|_16.2_|_09.4_|_000___|_rest meters
01000_|_05:15_|_2:37.7_|_120___|_22.8_|_08.3_|_000___|_cool down
14600_|_12:09_|_2:28.2_|_1572___|_21.8_|_09.3_|_000___|_Total

Tomorrow I’ll do those intervals for sure.