I got this email from my friends at USRowing yesterday.

So, I guess it’s probably going to be windy!

Today was another chance to get a little wind/chop practice in before the race.  I really didn’t have much of a plan, just a thought that I would do a couple of intervals at head race rate and pressure in the parts of the river that had the worst wind and water.

The wind today was blowing more from the West, which is a quartering head wind on the longer stretches.  The chop was worse than yesterday and I struggled getting clearance above the wavetops.  In the bigger gusts I had a lot of trouble maintaining the rate.  The real issue was trying to be very careful about blade placement at the catch before I loaded up.  There was a real chance of missing water if I hit a trough wrong.

I ended up doing 2 600m intervals.  I was a little low on rate, but the pressure was about right and in the second one, I got more comfortable with getting the blades nice and high on the recovery.  It’s nice to know that I still have a lot of opportunities to get better at sculling!  I’d hate to think that I’d mastered this sport.

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_1360_|_07:23_|_2:43.0_|_137___|_18.5_|_09.9_|_127___|_w
01380_|_0600_|_02:48_|_2:20.3_|_069___|_24.6_|_08.7_|_154___|_m
01980_|_0460_|_02:22_|_2:34.5_|_049___|_20.7_|_09.4_|_142___|_r
02440_|_0600_|_02:50_|_2:21.7_|_070___|_24.7_|_08.6_|_159___|_m
03040_|_3360_|_16:40_|_2:28.8_|_351___|_21.1_|_09.6_|_138___|_c

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
01360_|_07:23_|_2:43.0_|_137___|_18.5_|_09.9_|_127___|_warmup
01200_|_05:38_|_2:21.0_|_139___|_24.6_|_08.6_|_157___|_Main set
00460_|_02:22_|_2:34.5_|_049___|_20.7_|_09.4_|_142___|_rest meters
03360_|_16:40_|_2:28.8_|_351___|_21.1_|_09.6_|_138___|_cool down
06380_|_32:04_|_2:30.8_|_676___|_21.1_|_09.4_|_139___|_Total

Tomorrow:  Race Day!  My start time is 9:13.

Hourly forecast is for NNE winds 10-15mph

The wind direction is actually more favorable than I feared.  Mostly it’s a cross wind and the river width will keep the chop from getting too bad.  The last couple of km are a quartering head wind.  I think it will pay to hug the north shore as there might be some wind shadow, and the water will be flatter.