A couple of days ago, Sander posted some 1K race prep workouts over on his blog.  I was intending to try one yesterday, but the water was so nasty, I was lucky just to get back to the dock without flipping. So thoughts of a nice hard workout were postponed to today.

I decided to give the second workout he suggested a try on the erg.  It’s basically a 6x2K session, but the rates in each part of each interval are carefully prescribed.  The idea of the workout is to load up your legs with lactate and then give you the opportunity to row hard to build you tolerance for misery.  I have to say, it seemed to work.

It was a bit warm, but not too bad, maybe in the mid-80s and I had a fan blowing on me.  If I was doing a long steady state session, it would have been miserable, but for a short and sharp workout, it wasn’t a problem.

Output
Workout Summary – Jun 14, 2015
–_|_Total_|_-Total-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg-_|_Avg-_|_-Avg-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg_|_-Avg
–_|_Dist-_|_-Time–_|_-Pace–_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_-HR–_|_-%HRR–_|_-DPS_|_-SPI
–_|_12000_|_47:05.9_|_01:57.7_|_214.4_|_20.4_|_156.6_|_ 79.8% _|_12.5_|_10.5

Workout Details
#-_|_SDist_|_-Split-_|_-SPace-_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_AvgHR_|_Avg%HRR_|_DPS-_|_-SPI
2K #1 – Warmup 20 stroke bursts every 500m
01_|_02000_|_07:44.4_|_01:56.1_|_223.7_|_19.5_|_136.7_|_ 65.7% _|_13.2_|_11.5

2K #2 – 4 x (200 @ 17 / 300 @ 21)
02_|_00200_|_00:49.7_|_02:04.3_|_182.2_|_16.9_|_135.8_|_ 65.1% _|_14.3_|_10.8
03_|_00300_|_01:07.0_|_01:51.7_|_251.2_|_20.6_|_144.7_|_ 71.4% _|_13.0_|_12.2
04_|_00200_|_00:48.0_|_02:00.1_|_202.3_|_17.5_|_150.2_|_ 75.3% _|_14.3_|_11.6
05_|_00300_|_01:05.7_|_01:49.4_|_267.2_|_21.0_|_155.0_|_ 78.8% _|_13.0_|_12.7
06_|_00200_|_00:48.4_|_02:01.1_|_197.2_|_17.3_|_156.7_|_ 79.9% _|_14.3_|_11.4
07_|_00300_|_01:05.5_|_01:49.1_|_269.4_|_21.1_|_157.3_|_ 80.3% _|_13.0_|_12.8
08_|_00200_|_00:47.9_|_01:59.8_|_203.5_|_17.5_|_158.0_|_ 80.9% _|_14.3_|_11.6
09_|_00300_|_01:05.6_|_01:49.4_|_267.5_|_21.0_|_159.7_|_ 82.1% _|_13.0_|_12.7

2K #3 – 500 @ 17, 1000 @ 23, 500 @ 17
10_|_00500_|_02:05.8_|_02:05.8_|_175.6_|_17.2_|_143.2_|_ 70.3% _|_13.9_|_10.2
11_|_01000_|_03:35.4_|_01:47.7_|_280.2_|_23.1_|_162.7_|_ 84.2% _|_12.0_|_12.1
12_|_00500_|_02:05.5_|_02:05.5_|_177.2_|_17.2_|_161.9_|_ 83.6% _|_13.9_|_10.3

2K #4 – 500 @ 17, 1000 @ 27, 500 @ 17
13_|_00500_|_02:12.0_|_02:12.0_|_152.2_|_17.3_|_139.5_|_ 67.7% _|_13.2_|_08.8
14_|_01000_|_03:26.9_|_01:43.4_|_316.2_|_27.3_|_169.8_|_ 89.2% _|_10.6_|_11.6
15_|_00500_|_02:10.9_|_02:10.9_|_156.2_|_17.4_|_165.6_|_ 86.2% _|_13.2_|_09.0

2K #5 – 500 @ 17, 500 @ 29, 500 @ 17, 500 @ 29
16_|_00500_|_02:14.0_|_02:14.0_|_145.3_|_17.5_|_142.8_|_ 70.1% _|_12.8_|_08.3
17_|_00500_|_01:40.0_|_01:40.0_|_349.8_|_29.4_|_166.9_|_ 87.2% _|_10.2_|_11.9
18_|_00500_|_02:17.2_|_02:17.2_|_135.4_|_17.5_|_166.8_|_ 87.1% _|_12.5_|_07.7
19_|_00500_|_01:39.7_|_01:39.7_|_353.7_|_29.5_|_170.7_|_ 89.9% _|_10.2_|_12.0

2K #6 – 1000 @ 21, 1000 @ 17
20_|_01000_|_03:51.2_|_01:55.6_|_226.4_|_21.3_|_167.5_|_ 87.6% _|_12.2_|_10.6
21_|_01000_|_04:25.1_|_02:12.5_|_150.3_|_17.2_|_162.5_|_ 84.0% _|_13.2_|_08.7

This workout was a nice change of pace.  Not too long but challenging.  The 4 fastest pieces were all somewhat hellish, but short enough that I could just count strokes through them.  Funny thing happened in the second 1K piece.  I again managed to miscount and got 10 ahead of where I was, but I caught myself quickly enough.  I had skipped the 70s, basically counting 68,69,70,81 or something like.

I’m not sure if it was the intent, but the last 1K at 21 was really hard!  My legs were like jelly after the 500m at 29 and I had a lot of trouble holding a 1:55 split.  During the second 2K, I had no trouble holding a 1:50 at r21, but at that point in time, my legs were actually fully functional.

One thing I wasn’t sure about was how hard to row the r17 sections.  I decided to try to keep them around a “cool down” pace (2:10 to 2:15) and not as slow as my usual “paddle” pace.  I’m not sure what best served the intent of the workout.  I decided that cool down pace at that rate was a lot closer to a “real” stroke with a bit of power in the drive and long recovery.

Tomorrow:  Back on the water in Newton.  I think I will take on two more of the Sander challenges.  The first workout is called (and this is not a lie) “Lactate is the killer”.  There is also a pyramid workout to try to work on form at higher rates.  I think I might do both.  The focus will be on the first one, but I need to get as much high rate rowing in as I can for practice.