Day: October 14, 2015

HOCR Steering Notes

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I’ve read and watched a bunch of different descriptions of the best line to take through the course.  I decided to try to put it all on a map so I can try to memorize it.  The key thing for me was to try to understand roughly how many stroke it is between different points in the race and where I need to take steering actions.  Apparently the turn for the Weeks bridge is a big one that you can mess up by going too soon or too late.

Screen Shot 2015-10-14 at 4.14.54 PM

Wednesday: 2 x 500 – Taper

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Back to lovely weather.  Sunny, mid 50s, SW wind 5-9 mph.  Enough wind to noticeably impact splits and make the boat feel heavy when heading up river, but no chop.

Plan:

  1.  Warmup with pick drill, SBR, slow roll ups and a few 20 stroke bursts at head race pace an rate.
  2. 2 x 500 / 500m rest at ~ 2:00 pace and ~28-30 rate.
  3. Both intervals through the bridge to force me to pay attention and steer at full pressure.
  4. Do the s-turn at head race pressure for more steering practice.
  5. Cool down with SBR, slow roll ups and “rowing clean”

Screen Shot 2015-10-14 at 11.27.19 AM Screen Shot 2015-10-14 at 11.27.07 AM

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_3980_|_21:21_|_2:40.9_|_429___|_20.1_|_09.3_|_130___|_w
04000_|_0500_|_02:03_|_2:03.0_|_059___|_28.8_|_08.5_|_165___|_m
04500_|_0500_|_03:08_|_3:08.1_|_058___|_18.5_|_08.6_|_132___|_r
05000_|_0500_|_01:58_|_1:58.5_|_059___|_29.9_|_08.5_|_165___|_m
05500_|_0200_|_01:24_|_3:31.0_|_023___|_16.4_|_08.7_|_136___|_r
05700_|_0160_|_00:40_|_2:06.2_|_019___|_28.2_|_08.4_|_147___|_m
05860_|_0540_|_03:03_|_2:49.4_|_062___|_20.3_|_08.7_|_143___|_r
06400_|_0500_|_02:06_|_2:05.8_|_061___|_29.1_|_08.2_|_167___|_m
06900_|_2000_|_11:10_|_2:47.5_|_230___|_20.6_|_08.7_|_142___|_c

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
03980_|_21:21_|_2:40.9_|_429___|_20.1_|_09.3_|_130___|_warmup
01660_|_06:48_|_2:02.8_|_198___|_29.1_|_08.4_|_164___|_Main set
01240_|_07:35_|_3:03.6_|_143___|_18.8_|_08.7_|_137___|_rest meters
02000_|_11:10_|_2:47.5_|_230___|_20.6_|_08.7_|_142___|_cool down
08880_|_46:54_|_2:38.4_|_1000___|_21.3_|_08.9_|_139___|_Total

Happy with the workout.  The first 500, I cut too close to the shoal on the western side of the channel and my oar blade hit the sand bar at the catch.  A bit of a fright, but I managed to recover without losing a lot of pace.  The second 500 was quick because of the tail wind and I had no steering issues.  Good line up and no pace impact.

I finished the second 500 on the far side of the bridge, so I started a power 20 just before the bridge on the way back and carried it through, just to keep myself on my toes.  Then, when I was a 100m before the s-turn, I brought it back up to pace.  I hit the right line going into the turn, but I let myself run out a bit wide coming out of the initial turn.  You can see the rate popping up as I try to get back on line, then drop back down once I have my point to the exit of the turn.  Coming out of the turn, I ran into a gust of wind and pushed it to keep the pace on target.  I’ll have to be careful to do a better job rolling with the punches in the race to avoid burning myself out in the turns.

Tomorrow:  1 x 500, last day of taper, then load up my boat.  Drop off is on Friday, when I will do a low impact paddle of the course in the afternoon.  Then its race day.