Weather: Cloudy, cool, around 48F. Moderate wind 5 to 10 mph from the SW. This was a headwind going up river.
My original plan was to do 5 x 2K / 5′ rest. While I drove to the river, I decided to change that to 4 x 2500 for a couple of reasons. I was running a bit late and I wanted to save the 5′ rest time and end up back at the right end of the river at the end of the last rep. I wanted to keep working on steering and 2.5km includes both the s-turn and the bridge in the rep.
So, my modified plan was
- 4 x 2500 / 5′ rest
- pace: faster than 2:15
- rate: target r28 or higher (this was the highest priority for me. I would really like to get my race rate up to 29 or 30, and right now it is more like 27)
So, I did a very quick warmup and then dove straight into my first rep. I had a tail wind and I was holding 2:10 or better without a lot of trouble. I steered around the Brandeis boats, and in the s-turn, I passed the coach from LaSall College who was doing steady state. I was happy with the line I took through the turn and the bridge was good too.
But it felt like so much work! I was tired and I wasn’t having much fun. After I finished, the dude from Lasall eventually rowed up and we had a nice chat about the HOCR. He rowed in the Master 4s with the Riverside Boat Club. I decided that I better get going on my next rep, so I started up and when the Speedcoach clicked over to 4000m, I took up the rate and discovered just how much headwind there was. It was a lot of work to get the split down below 2:20. I was still not having much fun. I threaded the needle through the bridge and then passed my friend Bruce going the other direction in front of the watch factory. I did the s-turn just right and then slowly, inexorably counted down the meters to the end of the piece. My heart rate was reasonable, and I was not in any way in distress, but gosh it was kind of miserable.
It was also getting a bit late. I realized that I would end up being a bit late for my first meeting if the traffic was bad, but I decided to go do the next rep anyway. At least I did for the first 250 meters. At that point, I just didn’t want to do it any more. So I stopped. Then I turned around and rowed back to the dock and called it a day.
This is basically something that I don’t do. I will fail on reps, miss targets, steer into weeds and cheat on rests, but I don’t think I can remember another time where I just quit on a workout. Thinking through it, it seems pretty clear what happened. I have been focused with singular intensity on the HOCR. Knowing that I would be rowing in that event was an incredible tool to stick with really hard workouts. And I felt like I did my best in the day. I have another event coming up, but it certainly is not anything like the HOCR. I certainly want to do my best, but I think I don’t have the drive to push the high intensity as hard as I was, at least for a week or so.
I think it is probably a good idea to give myself a break. Congratulate myself for a good run up to last weekend and focus on maintaining and building my base for now. I will probably pull back to one or two high intensity sessions per week until the race on Nov 7th. After that, I will be putting a new training plan into place and focusing on my next set of goals.
Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_0980_|_05:19_|_2:42.7_|_101___|_19.0_|_09.7_|_116___|_w
01000_|_2500_|_10:45_|_2:09.1_|_297___|_27.6_|_08.4_|_162___|_m
03500_|_0500_|_03:11_|_3:11.3_|_057___|_17.9_|_08.8_|_128___|_r
04000_|_2500_|_11:36_|_2:19.1_|_315___|_27.2_|_07.9_|_168___|_m
06500_|_2340_|_14:01_|_2:59.7_|_277___|_19.8_|_08.4_|_132___|_c
Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00980_|_05:19_|_2:42.7_|_101___|_19.0_|_09.7_|_116___|_warmup
05000_|_22:21_|_2:14.1_|_612___|_27.4_|_08.2_|_165___|_Main set
00500_|_03:11_|_3:11.3_|_057___|_17.9_|_08.8_|_128___|_rest meters
02340_|_14:01_|_2:59.7_|_277___|_19.8_|_08.4_|_132___|_cool down
08820_|_44:52_|_2:32.6_|_1047___|_23.3_|_08.4_|_146___|_Total
Tomorrow: Steady State. 4x3k/1′ rest r20, HR cap 150