I got home late on Wednesday night and I decided to sleep in and skip my usual row in the morning.  I paid for my sins by getting stuck in traffic and taking 90 minutes to get to work.

My meetings were finished by about 3pm, so I decided to go do the session I had planned for the morning.  This is a sprint session, and the intent is to increase efficiency at higher stroke rates.  One of my many problems is that my form starts to get pretty shaky at or above r30, and I row with too much pressure, so I burn out very quickly at these rates.  It would be better if I were able to row with good form, and with lighter pressure at t his kind of rate.  This would serve me better in both sprint and head races.

When I planned the session, I underestimated how hard it would be.  A minute of rowing is long enough to really start feeling the bite.  As I limped back to the dock during my cool down, I started comparing it to my typical 8×500 erg based workout.  In that workout there are 8 reps (obviously).  Each rep takes about 1:35-1:40 to do and I take 3:30 rests.  So, a total of about 13:00 of rowing and 24:30 of rests.  Today was a total of 18 reps, so 18:00 of rowing and 23:00 or rests.  No wonder I was pretty tapped out by the 6 rep of each set.

Conditions:  Partly cloudy, nearly 80F, a bit humid too.  Generally light wind <5mph from the west.  It was only a noticable factor in a couple of the reps.

Plan:

1. 3 sets of 6 1′ intervals with 1′ paddling between
2. 4 minutes rest between sets
3. Standing start into the first rep of each set, rolling starts for the other reps
4. Rate >30 (I was originally thinking 32, but I didn’t feel up to it)
5. Work on keeping my catches shallow and keeping pressure light in the first part of the stroke. Also work on limiting the amount of layback at the finish.

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_3800_|_18:57_|_2:29.6_|_391___|_20.6_|_09.7_|_146___|_warmup
03820_|_0240_|_00:57_|_1:59.0_|_029___|_30.5_|_08.3_|_152___|_1.1
04060_|_0160_|_01:02_|_3:12.5_|_022___|_21.4_|_07.3_|_146___|_
04220_|_0240_|_00:56_|_1:56.7_|_028___|_30.0_|_08.6_|_165___|_1.2
04460_|_0160_|_01:02_|_3:14.1_|_021___|_20.3_|_07.6_|_165___|_
04620_|_0260_|_01:00_|_1:56.0_|_031___|_30.8_|_08.4_|_168___|_1.3
04880_|_0160_|_01:00_|_3:07.2_|_021___|_21.0_|_07.6_|_171___|_
05040_|_0260_|_01:00_|_1:55.2_|_030___|_30.1_|_08.7_|_170___|_1.4
05300_|_0140_|_01:00_|_3:32.5_|_016___|_16.1_|_08.8_|_164___|_
05440_|_0260_|_01:01_|_1:57.7_|_031___|_30.4_|_08.4_|_170___|_1.5
05700_|_0140_|_01:00_|_3:34.3_|_018___|_18.0_|_07.8_|_168___|_
05840_|_0260_|_01:00_|_1:55.8_|_030___|_29.9_|_08.7_|_171___|_1.6
06100_|_0600_|_04:00_|_3:20.2_|_071___|_17.7_|_08.5_|_138___|_
06700_|_0260_|_01:02_|_1:58.3_|_030___|_29.3_|_08.7_|_162___|_2.1
06960_|_0140_|_00:56_|_3:21.8_|_019___|_20.2_|_07.4_|_165___|_
07100_|_0260_|_01:01_|_1:57.5_|_030___|_29.5_|_08.7_|_168___|_2.2
07360_|_0160_|_01:02_|_3:15.3_|_022___|_21.1_|_07.3_|_168___|_
07520_|_0240_|_00:56_|_1:56.3_|_030___|_32.3_|_08.0_|_172___|_2.3
07760_|_0160_|_01:05_|_3:21.9_|_023___|_21.4_|_07.0_|_170___|_
07920_|_0240_|_00:57_|_1:59.4_|_031___|_32.5_|_07.7_|_172___|_2.4
08160_|_0140_|_01:02_|_3:41.8_|_017___|_16.4_|_08.2_|_167___|_
08300_|_0240_|_00:56_|_1:56.5_|_029___|_31.1_|_08.3_|_171___|_2.5
08540_|_0140_|_01:03_|_3:43.9_|_015___|_14.4_|_09.3_|_158___|_
08680_|_0240_|_00:56_|_1:57.1_|_029___|_31.0_|_08.3_|_164___|_2.6
08920_|_0460_|_03:02_|_3:17.7_|_054___|_17.8_|_08.5_|_147___|_
09380_|_0240_|_00:59_|_2:02.5_|_030___|_30.6_|_08.0_|_160___|_3.1 – head wind
09620_|_0160_|_01:06_|_3:25.0_|_022___|_20.1_|_07.3_|_166___|_
09780_|_0240_|_00:57_|_1:59.4_|_029___|_30.4_|_08.3_|_169___|_3.2
10020_|_0120_|_00:59_|_4:05.0_|_018___|_18.4_|_06.7_|_163___|_
10140_|_0260_|_01:01_|_1:58.1_|_031___|_30.3_|_08.4_|_169___|_3.3
10400_|_0120_|_00:59_|_4:06.7_|_014___|_14.2_|_08.6_|_164___|_
10520_|_0260_|_01:02_|_1:58.8_|_030___|_29.1_|_08.7_|_169___|_3.4
10780_|_0120_|_01:00_|_4:10.4_|_021___|_21.0_|_05.7_|_163___|_
10900_|_0240_|_00:58_|_2:00.6_|_028___|_29.0_|_08.6_|_169___|_3.5 – s-turn
11140_|_0160_|_01:00_|_3:07.2_|_019___|_19.0_|_08.4_|_150___|_
11300_|_0260_|_01:02_|_1:59.2_|_031___|_30.0_|_08.4_|_167___|_3.6
11560_|_1620_|_09:41_|_2:59.2_|_187___|_19.3_|_08.7_|_143___|_

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
03800_|_18:57_|_2:29.6_|_391___|_20.6_|_09.7_|_146___|_warmup
04500_|_17:42_|_1:58.0_|_537___|_30.3_|_08.4_|_167___|_Main set
03240_|_22:17_|_3:26.4_|_413___|_18.5_|_07.8_|_157___|_rest meters
01620_|_09:41_|_2:59.2_|_187___|_19.3_|_08.7_|_143___|_cool down
13160_|_08:37_|_2:36.4_|_1528___|_22.3_|_08.6_|_154___|_Total

There were a couple times that I stopped paddling which stops the clock on the speedcoach and took a bit of extra rest, either because I was not in a good place to start a rep, or because I needed more recovery time.  You can tell those reps in the HR charts because the next rep starts down in the green (between the last two reps in the second and third set).

I took a quick look at the stroke acceleration in RIM.  It looks as if my initial drive hump is less pronounced, which is good.  But the biggest change looks like I am doing a better job with a steady recovery.  There is less of a pronounced rise in acceleration as I approach the catch.  The other thing is that my r30 stroke is much more consistent than it was.  Here are 1 or 2 stroke snapshots from each of the first 6 reps superimposed.

I was pretty happy with the workout.  r30 felt much slower and more controlled atthe end than at the beginning.  But it was a very severely taxing session.  My butt was very sore by the time I finished and rowing back to the dock was very uncomfortable.  I was zombie through the whole process of putting my boat away, and I was out of it for the rest of the day.

I still need to keep working on accelerating with my legs and keeping my body forward at the start of the drive.

I woke up this morning very congested.  I am still fighting off a head cold.  I think I will either do an easy erg session today, or maybe go for a bike ride.