Tuesday: 1K TT

June 17, 2015June 18, 20153 Comments

Weather: Cool, upper 50s. Wind very light 0-4mph from the north. Head wind heading down river, but almost non-existent.

Plan: Now tapering down for this weekend”s races. The theory of the taper is to maintain intensity, but reduce the total durations during the week.

Warmup: Standard Rojabo
Practice some starts
1K TT
Cool down

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_3736_|_18:35_|_2:29.3_|_391___|_21.0_|_09.6_|_142___|_warmup
03756_|_0512_|_03:08_|_3:03.6_|_060___|_19.1_|_08.5_|_139___|_starts
04268_|_1325_|_07:36_|_2:52.0_|_151___|_19.9_|_08.8_|_133___|_technique
05593_|_1007_|_03:59_|_1:58.8_|_128___|_32.1_|_07.9_|_164___|_1K TT
06600_|_3930_|_21:22_|_2:43.1_|_440___|_20.6_|_08.9_|_139___|_Technique & cool down

I started with drills: King of the Mountain, Top Quarter, arms only, arms and back, half slide. Then just some steady state out to and through the cut. Then I was going to go into my warm up. I looked over my shoulder and about 200m ahead there were three weed harvesters heading down river. Weed harvesters are BIG and my river is narrow, so I elected to paddle out until I could maneuver around them and then I started to do the power bursts for the warmup.

The warmup went great. I was hitting nice paces and I felt nice and relaxed. Here’s a plot of the paces and rates for the last 4 20 stroke bursts.

Here are the RIM analytics for the couple strokes in each of the bursts.

So, as expected, I haven’t fixed the double hump overnight, and the 37spm stroke looks mighty ragged, but heck, its 37spm. And look at the boat speed, I was going faster than 1:45 pace for about 10 strokes. 8)

After that, I spun the boat and setup to try a few starts. The first one was OK, the second was abysmal, so was the third. I tried to refocus and take it a bit easier on the first stroke and then the next 2 were OK.

After that, I rowed the 1300m back to the start point of the 1K with square blades.

Then it was time to do the 1K. I was really nervous. I was determined to not bail out, but just slow down if I needed to.

The start was OK. I was conservative on the first couple strokes, and managed to get the split down below 1:50 by the fourth stroke. I pushed very hard through the 10 strokes and was still rowing at a 1:50 split. Then it was time to settle, and in retrospect, I don’t think I shifted gears crisply enough. My rate dropped from 36 to 31 over 5 strokes, and my pace drifted down to about 2:00 over 10 strokes.

Anyway, from strokes 20 to 40, things were fine. Around stroke 40, I started to really feel the effects from the surge of lactate. It started as a strange sort of tingle all over, then a wave of nausea, then the feeling that I might lose control of my bowels (sorry for that). Fantastic! That’s what this training is for. To recognize these feelings and learn strategies to manage them. I eased up on the pressure and tried to bring the stroke rate further down. It only took a couple strokes before the feelings started to subside and I started to really focus on breathing. Hard exhales at both the catch and finish. And I kept on counting through the 60th stroke. Now I have finally learned that to get through 1K takes more than 120 strokes, so I didn’t celebrate the halfway point yet, but it was definitely time for some steering. So a couple of quick glances over my shoulder and then I lined up a new point to stay in the best part of the lane. That got me to 70, which was definitely over the hump. I was in some definite distress. For some reason, my heart rate was unnaturally low today, and it felt like I didn’t have another gear to shift into, but I just sort of kept plugging away through sets of 20 strokes.

At 100 strokes, it was time to line up another point to get into the narrow cut for the finish of the 1K. This cost me a bit of speed because I needed to turn a bit more sharply than the ideal line. I tried to up the stroke rate and bring down the split for the last 30 strokes and managed a feeble sprint that brought the split back down below 1:55 for the last few strokes.

End result was 3:59 for 1007m, a 1:58.8 pace. Basically the same pace I held for 950m with a tail wind in the sprints last year. I’m OK with that, especially looking at the HR plot. Normally a much steeper rise and higher plateau than today.

Here is a comparison of 8 strokes in that magic section from 20 to 30 strokes before all hell broke loose, and then another set of 7 strokes as I cranked up the rate for the last 20 of so strokes.

There is a remarkable level of consistency. The purple is at a higher rate, so the initial peak in the drive is a bit higher, and the finish blivet is a bit bigger, but I was expecting it to look much worse since I was really tired at that point.

After that, I did a long cool down with some 10 and 20 stroke bursts to flush out my legs and headed back to the dock.

Acceleration Curves at 24 to 40 spm

June 15, 20154 Comments

I had RIM running in the boat today (as usual) and since I haven’t rowed at these high rates before, I decided to take a look at the stroke accelerations and see what flaws I could see. Turns out they are readily apparent.

First, for comparison, here are some nice steady state strokes at 23 and 24 spm.

See that nice smooth drive at 23 SPM (purple). Then as the rate goes up to 24, you can start to see the appearance of the double hump in the drive. That’s is me opening my back early.

Next, here are 3 sets of strokes when I was trying to hit targets of 26, 28 and 30. They actual rates were a bit higher. I guess I was over eager.

The double hump continues to be more pronounced and you can begin to see two other flaws. First is a disturbance at the finish (around 0.8sec). That is me starting to get sloppy as I try to get back up the slide more quickly. The other is a gradual rise in acceleration during the recovery (starts at 1.2sec at r30). But still, not horrible.

Now we look at r34 and r36. These are a bit harder on the eyes.

The double hump is now significantly more offensive, there is a pronounced blip at the finish and I am clearly accelerating as I move up the slide versus maintaining a steady speed from the handles all the way through the legs on recovery. The miracle here is that I actually rowed at these rates at all.

Lastly the ugliest of the bunch. Here are three blocks of strokes at 38 to 40 spm.

Same flaws as before, only more pronounced. It appears that going from 38 to 40spm does not enable me to make the boat go any faster. In fact, now the double dip is so pronounced that acceleration goes almost all the way down to zero in the middle of the drive.

So, what to work on. I need to work on not opening my back. I think the prescription is a set of 20 stroke intervals between 30 and 36 spm with enough paddle time so that I am working on technique instead of fitness. This will get into the program next week after the race.

Monday: High Rates in the rain

June 15, 20153 Comments

I think this picture says it all about conditions today.

Rain, heavy at times, 60F, wind 5mph ESE (cross / tail wind going down river). It was nice to know that most of my competition had probably decided that today would make a good day to do a session on the erg instead of going out on the river.

Plan: Try out another one of Sander’s 1K prep workouts. This time Session #3: The Small Pyramid. This workout is to try to get some practice in at higher than race rates. The workout is:

20″ @ 38 / 20″ paddle

40″ @ 36 / 40″ paddle

60″ @ 34 / 60″ paddle

40″ @ 36 / 40″ paddle

20″ @ 38 and that’s it.

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_3709_|_17:47_|_2:23.8_|_391___|_22.0_|_09.5_|_146___|_warmup
03729_|_0180_|_01:12_|_3:21.4_|_023___|_19.0_|_07.8_|_130___|_paddle
03909_|_0095_|_00:21_|_1:47.9_|_013___|_38.0_|_07.3_|_145___|_20″ at 38
04004_|_0170_|_00:53_|_2:35.6_|_022___|_25.0_|_07.7_|_157___|_paddle
04174_|_0126_|_00:28_|_1:49.5_|_017___|_37.0_|_07.4_|_161___|_caught thumb
04300_|_0126_|_00:46_|_3:04.1_|_013___|_16.8_|_09.7_|_158___|_paddle
04426_|_0179_|_00:39_|_1:50.3_|_023___|_34.9_|_07.8_|_159___|_40″ at 36
04605_|_0172_|_01:13_|_3:31.0_|_022___|_18.2_|_07.8_|_142___|_paddle
04777_|_0261_|_00:59_|_1:52.8_|_034___|_34.6_|_07.7_|_157___|_60″ at 34
05038_|_0149_|_01:02_|_3:26.7_|_018___|_17.5_|_08.3_|_155___|_paddle
05187_|_0173_|_00:37_|_1:47.8_|_023___|_37.0_|_07.5_|_161___|_40″ at 36
05360_|_0120_|_00:43_|_3:00.4_|_014___|_19.4_|_08.6_|_161___|_paddle
05480_|_0107_|_00:23_|_1:49.8_|_015___|_38.3_|_07.1_|_162___|_20″ at 38
05587_|_4152_|_23:46_|_2:51.8_|_516___|_21.7_|_08.0_|_148___|_steady state

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
03709_|_17:47_|_2:23.8_|_391___|_22.0_|_09.5_|_146___|_warmup
00941_|_03:27_|_1:50.1_|_125___|_36.2_|_07.5_|_158___|_Main set
04152_|_23:46_|_2:51.8_|_516___|_21.7_|_08.0_|_148___|_Steady State
00917_|_05:49_|_3:10.5_|_112___|_19.2_|_08.2_|_149___|_rest meters
09719_|_50:50_|_2:36.9_|_1144___|_22.5_|_08.5_|_148___|_Total

To start, I did the extensive Rojabo warmup, and tried to really max out the stroke rate during that last 20 stroke burst. I was amazed to see that I actually could get the stroke rate up to 37 or 38. Here are the last 4 bursts at 26, 28, 30 and 37 spm.

Then it was time to face the demons. I had no idea what to expect. The intervals were so short, but the intensity was so high, I had no clue whether this workout would be easy or impossible or somewhere in between.

Per instructions, I did each interval with a rolling start. So, to get going I took 3 or 4 good strokes and then dove into the first interval, trying to keep my layback to a minimum and my catches clean. It went better than I would have hoped and I actually had to try to slow it down from 40 to 38. But when I finished I was really winded.

I went right into the 40″ interval and I was hurting from the start. The 24 or so strokes at 36 seemed, suddenly to be a very large number of strokes. Around the 5th stroke, I caught my thumb in my shirt and, essentially, chose to not try to recover. I took 40″ paddle and tried again. This time I didn’t have any form problems, but I was really struggling and gave up with 10 seconds to go.

I gave myself a little pep talk. The important thing was getting the practice in at the rate, so lighten up a bit on the pressure and focus on hitting the rate. I repeated the 40″ @36 interval with a bit less pressure and it went fine. Then 40″ of paddle turned into closer to a minute as I turned the boat around and then took off for the 60″ at 34.

After the previous intervals, 34 felt almost sedate, but not quite. It was quite a anaerobic load and I was counting the strokes down as I went to stay focused. Then a minute of paddling, including another turn of the boat and I was off for the 40″ @ 36. Felt good. Then a quick 40″ paddle and into the last one, 20″ at 38. This one felt great.

I had a drink in the rain and let my HR calm down a bit then I set out for home. I was at the far end of the river and I was going to do 4K of steady state. I started up and I immediately noticed that the speedcoach pace was a lot slower than normal. I was rowing upriver, so the speedcoach should be reading about 2 to 5 seconds faster than the gps derived pace on the RIM app. It was reading about 10 to 15 seconds slower. I stopped twice to feel around the impeller to see if it was fouled but there didn’t seem to be anything there. It was really hard to row to the HR cap with the insanely slow pace staring at me, even though I knew it was wrong. I ended up pushing a bit too hard.

Tomorrow: Steady State plus a hard 1K.

New toy – cheap road bike

June 14, 20159 Comments

I decided that I wanted a cheap road bike. I have a 20 year old mountain bike which I ride every once in a while, mostly when we are on vacation or I’m really desperate for some cross training and it is not well suited for the purpose. It is heavy, slow, has knobby tires and the straight bar handle bar makes my hands go numb within about 5 minutes of riding. So, I bought an entry level Trek. I asked for advice and looked around a bit on the internet, but ultimately decided to just buy from my local bike shop (Landry’s Cycles) I’ve been going there for years to buy bikes for my kids and for repairs and I’d like to make sure that they stay in business, so I decided to pick from the brands that they had (Trek and Specialized). I wanted to keep the price down below $800, so there wasn’t a lot of choice. Ultimately I picked the Trek 1.2 because it got me one step up the ladder on the derailleur (Shimano Sora), still not high quality, but enough to get me on the road.

I got it home and decided to take it for a quick spin. It turned out to be about 18km in just under 40 minutes. I am surprised how much more pleasant it is to ride a road bike than a mountain bike.

It was a nice little workout. Basically a 40 minute aerobic session with one good hill in the middle. Avg. Speed was 28km/h. I had 108m of climbs.

I enjoyed that. I think it might be a good way to add some aerobic minutes.

Sunday: Race Prep on the erg

June 14, 20152 Comments

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.

Saturday: pointless abuse

June 13, 2015June 13, 2015Leave a comment

i headed out to Lake Quinsigamond, and during the drive, I noticed the flags at all the car dealerships snapping in a brisk wind out of the north. When I got to the lake, there was a lot of chop and some whitecaps.

In a moment of foolishness, I thought that it would be a good idea to get some rough water practice in case conditions next weekend are less than ideal. What I actually learned is that if it’s blowing this hard and the water is this awful, don’t bother to go race. It was awful.

There were 8 of us this morning, so we had a coxed 4, a double and me in a single. We headed down lake with a hefty tail wind and lots of lumpy waves. This wasn’t so bad. At least until we got waked three times in a row. The last one was the worst. The angle of the wake was perfectly aligned to my direction of travel so I was rowing in it for at least a minute. I think I got maybe two good stretches of a thousand meters or so but the rest was just wave slappingly horrible rowing.

As we turned at the south end of the lake, it became clear just how bad the wind was. Just paddling in it as a crosswind was very difficult. We got lined up and started back up the lake right into it as a headwind. At first, I found I could not row with any pressure at all. It was all I could do to stay balanced in the confused waves at the mouth of the cove. Over about 5 minutes, I got more comfortable and started to get a bit of a better rhythm.

I passed the four and the double right before the narrows in a stretch of reasonably flat water and as we came around the point, the waves and wind hit me and practically pulled an oar out of my hand.

Around this time, rowing in motion decided that what I was doing did not resemble rowing closely enough and stopped reporting paces and stroke rates. Good thing too, because I was working hard to see anything faster than 2:50 as a split anyway. I bashed my way to the bridge and managed put some clear water between me and the other boats, but I was not havin. g much fun.

I continued north another 1500m until I saw the double turn back for the dock. With a feeling of relief, I turned and headed for home. Rowing with the tailwind and was a nice relief. It was still a real challenge to deal with the chop, but I was much more able to get into a groove and deal with the water going downwind.

Pit was even a challenge getting lined up with the dock in cross wind and chop. I basically slid out of the boat onto the dock.

It wasn’t much of a workout. I wish I had taken it as a rest day and gone tomorrow morning instead.

All together, it was about 10k of rowing which took about an hour and twenty minutes. Ugly. Just ugly.

Friday: Hard 3K, Hard 1K, Square Blade Rowing and Steady State

June 12, 20152 Comments

Weather: Sunny, warm, mid 60s. Light WNW wind, 4mph, mainly a cross/head wind going down river.

Plan: Drills, then Steady State, plus a few starts and a hard 1K. Work on finishes and balance.

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_0920_|_04:38_|_2:31.2_|_098___|_21.1_|_09.4_|_139___|_warmup
00940_|_2900_|_13:04_|_2:15.2_|_288___|_22.0_|_10.1_|_164___|_Hard 22
03840_|_0060_|_00:34_|_4:40.0_|_005___|_08.9_|_12.0_|_120___|_rest
03900_|_2900_|_14:21_|_2:28.4_|_298___|_20.8_|_09.7_|_157___|_Slow roll ups
06800_|_0160_|_01:27_|_4:32.5_|_027___|_18.6_|_05.9_|_133___|_rest
06960_|_0900_|_03:39_|_2:01.8_|_112___|_30.6_|_08.0_|_172___|_1K Hard
07860_|_0740_|_04:20_|_2:55.7_|_092___|_21.2_|_08.0_|_140___|_paddle
08600_|_1080_|_05:31_|_2:33.1_|_119___|_21.6_|_09.1_|_150___|_500SQ / 500SS
09680_|_0500_|_02:52_|_2:52.4_|_054___|_18.8_|_09.3_|_150___|_Starts
10180_|_3000_|_15:55_|_2:39.1_|_344___|_21.6_|_08.7_|_147___|_500SQ/500SS
13180_|_0540_|_03:41_|_3:24.7_|_072___|_19.5_|_07.5_|_135___|_cool down

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00920_|_04:38_|_2:31.2_|_098___|_21.1_|_09.4_|_139___|_warmup
00900_|_03:39_|_2:01.8_|_112___|_30.6_|_08.0_|_172___|_Main set
10380_|_51:42_|_2:29.4_|_1103___|_21.3_|_09.4_|_155___|_Steady State
00960_|_06:21_|_3:18.4_|_124___|_19.5_|_07.7_|_137___|_rest meters
00540_|_03:41_|_3:24.7_|_072___|_19.5_|_07.5_|_135___|_cool down
13700_|_10:02_|_2:33.4_|_1509___|_21.5_|_09.1_|_152___|_Total

That was the plan, but it didn’t quite work out that way. I was going to stick to r20 and steady state going down river and come halfway back and then do my 1K. But as I came out of the small section of river that intersects with the cove, I saw another single sculler up ahead. I felt a familiar feeling and I knew that there would be no HR cap on the trip down river. I started about 100m behind him and over the first 500m or so, I caught up and passed him. From that point, I just concentrated on putting a much distance between me and him as possible and to keep my rate lower than his. It looked like he was rowing about a r24. By end of the 2900m piece, I was about 800m ahead. I was pleased with the pace for r22, right about 2:15.

I turned and did a few more drills and had a drink and we set off in the other direction at about the same time. I was rowing with slow roll ups and focusing on technique, but I also put enough energy into it to put a little distance between us. I basically did this all the way back to the beginning of the 1K course. Beautiful flat water today, so I had no excuses for rowing badly.

I turned at the start of the 1K course, took a few deep breaths and then did my start.

The graph looks different because I was logging every 20 meters instead of every stroke like yesterday. My objective was to keep the pace between 2:00 and 2:05, which I guessed would be about 95% intensity. I now think it was a bit closer to 98%, looking at the HR. I really felt the bite at the 500m mark and pushed through it. I started to feel like I might puke or lose control of other bodily functions. At that point, I tried my “take 10 for length” idea, and dropped the rate just a little bit. It seemed to do the trick. I got through the crisis and continued to count up the strokes. But something went wrong with my counting somewhere in the piece.

My 1K is basically 120 strokes. This splits up into the first 30 which is the start and the settle and then 10 strokes. Then the next 30 strokes are where you start to feel the bite. By the 60th stroke, I’m in distress, so the next 30 is 10 for length and then either rate up or stay long for the next 20. I know that if I can get to 90 strokes, that I can make it. Somehow today, between the 60 and 90 mark, I managed to lose track of 10 strokes. That meant that I thought I was on the 90th stroke, but I was actually on the 80th stroke. I started pushing for the finish hard. I also though that I had enough room before a headland so I didn’t need to cut back to the main channel. When I got to what I thought was 10 strokes to go, I looked at the elapsed distance and it said 7700m. In the fog of lactate, I seemed to remember that I had started at 6950m. What the hell? I was now too far over to fit in another 20 strokes without crashing into the headland, and I had started my push to the end too soon. I decided quickly to just push hard through 7850 and then jam on the brakes to stop my boat. So, I had to settle for 900m today. Here is the map view. The 1K starts at the bottom and there is a broad gentle curve to get onto the line between a point (with submerged log sticking out from it) and the island. Past the island, you need to pick a new aim point to start to turn towards the entry of the s-turn. Today, I got lazy and didn’t transition to this new aim point quickly enough after the island, so I ended up aiming at the headland.

I’m not all that happy with the pace, 2:01.8, and I’d like to see the rate a bit higher. But I battled the demons and won this round in the middle of the piece. I am now a confirmed convert to Sander’s philosophy of 1K racing. Which I take the liberty of paraphrasing here: You need to do a lot of 1K time trials to get used to awful you feel in the middle of the race. Especially true because conditions vary enough that you can’t really use pace as a guide.

After that, the rest of the workout was an anticlimax. I basically just did 500m of square blade rowing and then 500m of steady state alternating the rest of the way down to the dam. When I was rowing square, I tried to work on getting my elbows out at the finish and extracting the blades as quickly and quietly as I could. Then transitioning to steady state, I tried to use exactly the same tap down, and then feather. I was working on trying to separate the two actions to clean up my finishes. I had a magical stretch where I got ten full strokes where I didn’t touch water from finish to catch at all. In general I would be able to go one or two strokes and then I would lightly skim one side or the other. But I have to say, that my hands are working better at the finish now.

After the dam, I turned and did 6 practice starts. I took each one out to 10 strokes. Then I continued with my 500 square / 500 steady all the way back to the dock.

Tomorrow: Probably out on Lake Quinsigamond, but I may face transportation challenges. In any case, I think a reasonable easy session might be in order.

Then next week, I taper for the race on next Sunday, the 21st. Unfortunately I have a business trip mid week, so I am already starting to plan my excuses based on that.

Thursday: 1K Time Trial – 3rd time lucky

June 11, 20155 Comments

Weather

So a 10 mph tail wind when heading down river. Guess which way I rowed my hard pieces?

The plan was for a long warmup, a few starts, then an all out 1K piece, then after that a couple of hard 2Ks. It didn’t end up working out that way.

Start__|_Dist__|_Split__|_Pace__|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_3663_|_18:02_|_2:27.7_|_386___|_21.4_|_09.5_|_142___|_warmup
03683_|_0791_|_04:55_|_3:06.3_|_090___|_18.3_|_08.8_|_128___|_square blades
04474_|_0381_|_02:09_|_2:48.9_|_044___|_20.5_|_08.7_|_143___|_5 starts
04855_|_1634_|_09:27_|_2:53.4_|_186___|_19.7_|_08.8_|_138___|_slow roll ups
06489_|_0289_|_01:07_|_1:55.7_|_036___|_32.3_|_08.0_|_158___|_Bailed at 300m
06778_|_0377_|_02:17_|_3:02.2_|_042___|_18.3_|_09.0_|_130___|_back to the start
07155_|_0515_|_02:01_|_1:57.3_|_061___|_30.3_|_08.4_|_161___|_Bailed at 500m
07670_|_0686_|_03:54_|_2:50.6_|_076___|_19.5_|_09.0_|_138___|_back to the start
08356_|_1003_|_03:57_|_1:58.2_|_120___|_30.4_|_08.4_|_167___|_made it to 1K
09359_|_2460_|_13:27_|_2:43.9_|_285___|_21.2_|_08.6_|_145___|_trying to row clean

I started with the rojabo warmup. Here are the last 4 20 stroke pieces from that at 26, 28, 30 and maximum stroke rate. Notice the delightfully fast, tail wind assisted paces. It was nice to be able to accelerate to a 1:45 pace and hold it in the last piece. Over the past month, I’ve been able to slowly push up the max rate from around 33 to around 35 with reasonable control.

Then I paddled back past the prospect street bridge to the straight bit in front of the watch factory and settled myself for some starts. No disasters today, but into the headwind, the boat felt heavy and I had more time to think through what was going on.

From there I worked on technique stuff all the way back to the start of the 1K course. Along the way I passed 2 weed harvesters.

I’m sure glad they are out working, but I’d hate to run into one! Knowing they were behind me on the hard pieces made a bit more watchful than normal. Probably a good thing.

So, I got myself turned around in front of the small island and tried to get relaxed for the start. I pretty much nailed the start and the first 10 strokes, but I didn’t bring the pace down very quickly. I was deceived by how the fast pace felt pretty easy at first. But by the time I got out to twenty strokes, I was already really blowing hard. I tried to settle in, but got discouraged and quit at 300m. F**K! The next three plots are all using the same scale on the x-axis so that it’s easier to compare the start and initial thirty strokes. In the first one, you can see that I “settled” to around 1:55. Well. I learn that is not sustainable.

I almost just quit right there and rowed back to the dock, but it didn’t seem to be the right thing to do. So I rowed back to the start, had a quick drink, got myself settled and started another attempt. Again, I was happy with the start and I settled a bit better to around a 1:57 pace and counted strokes. This time, I got out to 60 strokes, just about exactly halfway and it was really starting to bite. I should have taken 10 strokes for length and let the pace slide up a bit, but again, I got discouraged and pulled the plug. Double F**k. This is getting ridiculous. But, I can only do what I can do, and there is no point feeling bad about it. I decided to just be very conservative and try it again.

The plan for this one was clear and detailed. 10 stroke start sequence. Immediately settle to 30 spm and 2:00 pace after that for 20 more strokes. After the 30th stroke, take 10 for length to try to force myself to settle in. Count out 20 more to get to the halfway point. At that point try to keep the rate at or around 30 and start to push a bit more pace. If I started to feel like I was blowing up, back off. After 90 strokes, take 10 strokes to start pushing up the pace and then a 20 stroke sprint.

Sounds good on the screen, sounded good in my head. I wondered if it would work.

It did. Again, I was happy with the start. I was happy with the settle. I tried to ignore the pace as much as I could and just focused on the rate and trying to keep my finishes clean as I counted out the strokes. I had to do some steering to hit the right line between a point of land and a little island around the 600m mark. Once I got to 90 strokes, I knew I was not going to blow up and I started to push. With 10 left I rated up as much as I could. Well, at least I finished it. Now I now what I can do.

Just for comparison, at the Festival regatta last year my pace was a about 0.5 sec slower and my stroke rate was 33.6 versus 30.4 today. Both were in tail wind conditions. I also had the first two attempts lurking in my legs for the final 1K I did today.

Trying to be objective about it. I think my technique is better and my fitness is worse than the same time last year. Between work travel, graduations, and my elbow issues, I am not anywhere near where I want to be in terms of preparation. But, I’m not looking at that as an excuse. I’m more thinking that there is a lot more improvement to be gained if I can get both my technique and fitness where I want them at the same time.

After the 1K, I called it a day, and just tried to row clean back to the dock.

Tomorrow: Steady State plus a few starts.

Wednesday: 29 starts. Some good, some bad.

June 10, 20155 Comments

Well, I’ve gone and done it now. I registered for the Festival Regatta. This is a nice little race up in Lowell on the Merrimac River on a 6 lane course on June 21st. I’m in the Men’s Master 1x (50-59) race (a 1K sprint) and the Men’s Open 2K (a 2K sprint).

I have no pretensions about being competitive in the Open, but I’m thinking that any racing is good racing and as long as I don’t bring an inflated self image, I will be fine with the outcome.

The format is single heat races. So, you try to win your flight an event. There are no heats and finals or anything like that.

So, ready or not, here I come.

Today, the weather was really lovely. Sunny and warm (about 65F). There was a pretty steady 7mph breeze from the West, which was a cross/tail wind going down river and cross/head wind going up river. It was enough wind to make the boat feel different, but not enough to be disruptive in any way.

The plan for today was to practice starts and do some technical rowing with HR in the aerobic zone between sets. I decided to take generally take the starts out to 20 strokes so that I could go through the start sequence, lengthen, and then settle down to something like a 1K pace. If I had technical issues, I sometimes pulled the plug right away, or after 10 strokes. I was getting tired at the end, so the last set of starts, I did all of them as 10 strokes.

I felt very shaky in the first couple of sets, but gradually got more comfortable. I will definitely need to pull a few 10 stroke starts as part of my warmup for the race. It seems that previous practices “wear off” quickly.

Totaling it up, I did 17 “20 stroke” starts and 12 “10 stroke starts”. That’s a bit more than 4K of hard rowing, but in tasty little morsels, so it wasn’t too challenging.

The gory details.

I managed to really blow the third start in the first set. It was my classic problem. I did not get my oar fully squared at the catch on the second stroke and it dove deep. I did a 10 stroke start after that and focused on being really controlled on the recovery. After the first set of starts, I rowed with slow roll ups the rest of the way down the river.

I turned around and did 4 – 20 stroke starts back across the basin into the headwind. In this set, the only problem I had was actually on the first pull of the first start. I though I was really balanced, but as I squeezed out the first stroke, I tipped pretty badly. I have no idea why. So, I held water and tried again. The following 4 starts were very comfortable and reasonably fast into the wind. The fourth one brought me close to the bridge, so I paddled through and lined up on the straight section in front of the watch factory. I was feeling a little winded at this point, so I did 3 – 10 stroke starts. It was actually 4 attempts, but I pulled out of the second one on the first stroke. After the 3 short starts, I did 2 – 20 strokes starts to finish off the rest of that straight section.

I paddled with square blades through the s-turn to set up for a few more. With the wind coming from the West, coming out of the s-turn is generally the crappiest water, which on an absolute scale still is pretty good water, but at least it provided a bit of chop for me to practice on. So I did 3 more 20 stroke starts. I was pretty happy with these. Good acceleration, no miscues, and a good settle to racing speed in each. After the starts, I rowed the rest of the way to the up river start with square blades.

After I turned down river, I did my best start of the day. My first 3 strokes were clean and was able to ramp up to 40spm with reasonable control. At 10 strokes, I downshifted cleanly to 32 SPM and the pace drifted up as it should have. From a standing start, I covered 150m with a avg pace faster than 1:50. Basically all of these starts felt pretty good.

The rest of the way down the river I tried to focus on rowing without touching water. I was OK with letting the rate drift up, I just wanted to really focus on perfect finishes so that I could swing through the recovery with no wiggles. I was having a very good time.

This took me all the way back to the dam, so I turned to do my last set of starts. I was pretty worn out by this point, so I decided to give myself a break and do all of them as 10 strokes. Again, I was going back into the head wind, but this set had no horrible misfires.

This only took me halfway back to the bridge, so from there all the way back to the dock, I alternated 500m on the square with 500m of steady state trying to row very clean. By transitioning from on the square to feathering, I was able to focus on trying to keep my tap down and feathering as two distinct motions. When I got it right, I heard a distinctly different, quieter sound at the finish. More of a “pock” and less “gurgle”.

All in all a very nice morning.

Tomorrow: I think I need to do a full intensity 1K. I will probably also do a few 2Ks.

Tuesday: 4 x 4′ / 5′ rest on the erg – Happy with that

June 9, 2015June 9, 2015Leave a comment

I had a 8 AM meeting so I didn’t have time for a real row this morning, so I headed to work and did my planned interval session on the erg at work, but at least I was on slides.

My on the water plan was 4x1K with 500m paddles. To keep the work time and rest time close to the same, I changed it to be 4′ minute intervals with 4′ active rest at about a 2:30 pace, plus 60 seconds of passive rest to take a drink and towel off a bit.

Since I haven’t been on the erg much, I wasn’t sure what to target for pace. My fastest ever for a 4 x 1K was around a 1:42.5 pace. I’d expect to be slower for a few reasons. First, I’m not in erg shape. Second, 4 minute intervals are about 35 seconds longer than the 1Ks. Third, I have been really wimpy about the “discomfort” associated with rowing hard lately. So, I decided to start at r28 and around a 1:48 and see how it went.

I was pressed for time, so I did a quick 8 minute warmup. This was basically 10 hard strokes each minute at rates going up from 24 to 36, and the balance of the minute at about r22 and 2:05 pace. After the intervals, I did a 5 minute cool down at 2:15.

As for the intervals, I’m pleased with how it went. As soon as I started pulling, it seemed like 1:46 and a bit higher rate was completely doable. In each interval I would do a 10 stroke start sequence, and then bleed the pace back toward 1:45 or 1:46 and continue counting strokes. Each minute was about 30 strokes. The third minute was the worst in every case. I tried to relax and keep my strokes nice and long and just count up to 30. Once I was into the final minute, I was sure I was going to make it and I would rate up a touch and push through.

As I went, I gained some additional confidence and pushed each rep a bit harder and managed to negative split the whole session, ending with an average pace of 1:44.6, which ain’t so bad for an isolated erg session.

The best part of this session was as a confidence boost. I rowed hard, I got tired, it hurt, I kept going, the world did not end. Now I just need to do the same thing on the water.

Tomorrow: Back on the water. Steady State plus start practice. 4 sets of 5 starts, and about 2500m of steady state.

Quantified Rowing

Measure – Adjust – Improve

Month: June 2015