Another glorious morning! Temperature was in the mid 60s. It was dry and clear. When I first started there was a thin mist clinging to the river, only about 6 inches or so. Very cool to row through. You could fleetingly see the air turbulence in the mist as you rowed through it. When I started it was flat calm, but a gentle wind from the northwest, maybe 2 mph or so. Just enough so I noticed the difference in the way the boat felt. Downstream, it felt very light, upstream it felt a bit heavier. It was the kind of morning that made me very happy that I took up rowing, just to be out in it.
As a bonus, I got to whack, not one, but two swans on the ass because they did not clear my path quickly enough. Pretty to look at, nasty as hell, those swans. They shook their tail feathers vigorously at me as I paddled away smugly.
Oh yeah, back to the training. The plan:
- 4x3000m / 1′ rest (that’s the length of the really rowable part of my river. 1′ is just enough to turn the boat around)
- Rate: r20
- Pace: no target, but I get sad when it’s slower than 2:30
- HR cap: 75% HRR (150)
The priority for me today was to row to the HR cap. This was made a bit more challenging by a slightly wonky HR monitor pickup, but worked out well.
Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_0980_|_06:06_|_3:06.8_|_107___|_17.5_|_09.2_|_107___|_w
01000_|_2800_|_13:12_|_2:21.5_|_271___|_20.5_|_10.3_|_138___|_m
03800_|_3020_|_14:30_|_2:24.0_|_294___|_20.3_|_10.3_|_143___|_m
06820_|_3000_|_14:21_|_2:23.5_|_291___|_20.3_|_10.3_|_147___|_m
09820_|_3000_|_14:47_|_2:27.8_|_301___|_20.4_|_10.0_|_149___|_m
12820_|_1060_|_05:55_|_2:47.2_|_122___|_20.6_|_08.7_|_145___|_c
Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00980_|_06:06_|_3:06.8_|_107___|_17.5_|_09.2_|_107___|_warmup
11820_|_56:50_|_2:24.2_|_1157___|_20.4_|_10.2_|_144___|_Main set
01060_|_05:55_|_2:47.2_|_122___|_20.6_|_08.7_|_145___|_cool down
13860_|_08:51_|_2:29.0_|_1386___|_20.1_|_10.0_|_141___|_Total
I guess the perfect temperature and flat water were conducive to rowing fast. The first leg downstream, I was holding about a 2:20 pace with my HR solidly in the UT2 range. After that, it gradually crept up to 150 and then I slowed down to keep it there. The last leg up river there might have been a bit more wind, or more likely I was just starting to get tired and row less efficiently.
Tomorrow: Things get a bit more intense. It’s short rest interval day. The training plan calls for some higher rate work. It’s a workout adapted from Sander’s suggestions for 1km racing.
5 x 20@32/10 off / 5 x 20@34/15 off / 5 x 20@36/20 off, 8′ between sets
Even though it is head racing season. I want to get some higher rate rowing in once every couple of weeks to keep my timing together and work on keeping my strokes light and crisp.
Featured image credit: http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/42171760.jpg
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