Conditions:  Warm, muggy, cloudy, wind NNE 6-8 mph (headwind going down river)

Plan:

1. 3 x 500m / 500m rest
2. Race Pace and Rate or faster (<2:00, > 30 spm)
3. Technique:  Work on race starts, getting out at the catch, rowing smooth above 30 spm.

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_0999_|_05:51_|_2:55.4_|_111___|_19.0_|_09.0_|_116___|_drills
01019_|_1954_|_09:47_|_2:30.2_|_218___|_22.3_|_09.0_|_149___|_warmup
02973_|_0517_|_03:33_|_3:26.4_|_064___|_18.0_|_08.1_|_123___|_slow roll ups
03490_|_0500_|_01:51_|_1:50.9_|_057___|_30.8_|_08.8_|_165___|_500 #1
03990_|_0501_|_03:47_|_3:46.9_|_064___|_16.9_|_07.8_|_133___|_rest
04491_|_0500_|_01:54_|_1:53.9_|_058___|_30.6_|_08.6_|_164___|_500 #2
04991_|_0499_|_04:00_|_4:00.7_|_069___|_17.2_|_07.2_|_136___|_rest
05490_|_0500_|_01:59_|_1:58.8_|_062___|_31.3_|_08.1_|_166___|_500 #3
05990_|_2122_|_12:22_|_2:54.8_|_241___|_19.5_|_08.8_|_134___|_cool down

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
03470_|_19:11_|_2:45.8_|_393___|_20.5_|_08.8_|_134___|_warmup
01500_|_05:44_|_1:54.5_|_177___|_30.9_|_08.5_|_165___|_Main set
01000_|_07:48_|_3:53.8_|_133___|_17.1_|_07.5_|_134___|_rest meters
02122_|_12:22_|_2:54.8_|_241___|_19.5_|_08.8_|_134___|_cool down
08092_|_45:04_|_2:47.1_|_944___|_20.9_|_08.6_|_138___|_Total

Same warmup today.  power 10s at r18 up to r26.  Then power 20s at r28, r30, r32.  I liked it.

Then I did the first 500 with a tail wind.  I started in front of the Watch factory and rowed the straight section there.  It’s about 650m long, so plenty long enough for my purposes.  I nailed the start.  The secret really seems to be to not push too far forward for the first stroke.  Between the good start and the tail wind, I was looking at 1:47 after 5 stroke, and stayed in the 1:40s until around the 15th stroke.  I tried to calm down and settle my rate and pace per my race plan.  With the tail wind, 1:55 felt a lot like 2:00 so I settled at that pace and r30.  Then it was just counting out strokes and trying to stay nice and long at the catch.  I resisted the urge to up the rate and sprint over the last 20 strokes and just rowed it out.  With the tail wind, I set a new PB for a 500m with a 1:50.9.

I then paddled through the s-turn, had a quick drink and set myself up for the next interval, again with a tail wind.  Again I was happy with the start.  I know I still can massively improve in this area, but this was pretty comfortable.  Again, I was in the 1:40s after about 5 strokes, bt this time I settled to race pace more crisply.  Again, I tried to stick to race rate through the whole piece and not sprint the finish.  1:53.9.  Not as fast as #1, but still faster than any other 500s I’ve ever done. (Thanks, tail wind!)

I felt like it was the the right and proper thing to do to do my last 500 into the headwind.  I have to admit that I was tempted to just paddle back and do it downwind.  I was having fun looking at the nice fast splits.  But in the end, the desire to have some fresh experience getting to the “right” pace in a headwind won the day and I did the right thing.  The start went well.  The boat felt much heavier and I tried to trust myself in terms of the pace.  I tried to keep the same stroke as much as I could.  From the RIM data, it looks like I basically did.  These three acceleration and velocity plots are for a single stroke around the 20th stroke of each of the three intervals.  The green lines are into the wind

The accelerations look about the same, and as I would expect, the velocity into the headwind is lower.   The head wind was very close to straight on and was between 2.5 and 3.5 m/s.

Tomorrow: 2×500/500m rest