Month: October 2015

Saturday: US Masters National Head Race Championships

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Well that was an experience.

The weather was really bad.  It was raw and cold, 46F and overcast.  The wind was from the NE which is basically a perfect head wind for the last 2K of the course and blowing 15mph with gusts to 25mph.  The last 2K of the course were impossible to row at rate and pressure.

In terms of results, it’s the usual story.  I did as well as I could expect but not as well as I would have hoped.  I finished 6th or 13 among all master men starters, and 3rd of 4 “D” Class boats.  Looking at the other D entrants, this is exactly where I I should have been in the finish order.  I would have liked to be closer to the guy in front of me, but his 2K erg is about 8 seconds faster than mine.  This earned me a Bronze medal.  It’s hard to not think of it as a “second to last” medal.

2015-10-03 13.34.48

Honestly, I’m more proud of just getting out on the course and finishing under the conditions than anything.

I was pretty tense about the conditions, and I managed to forget to put on my HR strap, so I don’t have an objective idea about how hard I was working.  It felt like I was pushing just about right through the first 3K of the course, but after that, I needed to back off a bit to just keep the boat under control.  I managed to pass about 4 or 5 boats and I was passed by one guy.  So, I think everyone was struggling under the conditions.

Here are the pace and rate charts.

Screen Shot 2015-10-03 at 6.17.23 PM Screen Shot 2015-10-03 at 6.17.02 PM

Here is the course that I took.

Screen Shot 2015-10-03 at 6.37.32 PM

I was extremely slow.  A 2:21 pace.  The fast current shaved about 400m off the course.  It’s 5800 meters by GPS and 5400 meters by impeller.  So, the river moved 400m in 25 minutes.  I figured it out.  That is roughly 0.944 km/h.  The current in the first half was probably twice that, and much less where the river widens out.  It was interesting to see the water swirling around submerged rocks and stuff as I was rowing up to the start.

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_0040_|_00:11_|_2:17.5_|_004___|_21.8_|_10.0_|_000___|_w
00060_|_5400_|_25:27_|_2:21.3_|_672___|_26.4_|_08.0_|_000___|_m
05460_|_1220_|_08:29_|_3:28.6_|_125___|_14.7_|_09.8_|_000___|_c

More details about the race itself.  The first 800m or so was with a cross wind and the river was narrow so it was nice flat water.  I wanted to hug the bouy line on the north side of the river, but they set the buoys very close to the center of the river and I was forced further to the south bank than I wanted.

In the turn to the east, I went a bit too wide and probably added some distance.  This stretch was with a cross/head wind so things slowed down.  I steered this part right.  Moving over to the south bank ad hugging that turn. As we approached the next turn to the east, the water started to get lumpier, and by the time we made the turn, I thought it was pretty bad.

I stuck to my plan to hug the buoy line on the north side of the course.  This was complicated by the fact that some of the markers had dragged a bit onto the course due to a very strong current (Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the really fast current!).  So, I would have to adjust to stay on the right side of the markers a bit more abruptly than I would have liked.

I had no idea just how good we had it at the beginning of this stretch.  The water just got worse and worse, and the wind got more and more crazy as I approached and passed under the bridge.  I was whacking the wavetops and crabbing every 6th stroke or so, but I was pounding it out to the end.

Here is the video of the ordeal.

Thinking it over.  Here are my take aways from experience.

  1. I let the conditions phase me.  I was so preoccupied that I managed to boat without my HR strap.  I need to work on focus during the pre-race.
  2. I need to work on rough water rowing.  And probably try out some rough water adjustments to my rigging.  Moving my oarlocks up to the top limits for conditions like these.
  3. I need to find and do balance drills regularly to improve blade clearance over the water.
  4. Conditioning needs improvement.  Next year, I need to be much more diligent about endurance intensity and probably substitute one OTW steady state with a erg steady state session so I can track lactates better.

So, now I have 3 more races.  Next weekend is a tune up race on Lake Quinsigamond.  The weekend following is HOCR. Then a couple weeks after that is the Merrimac chase.  I think the best thing to do now is train enough to maintain where I am and reduce volume to be as fresh as possible for next weekend.  This is complicated a bit by a business trip to Munich this week.  Oh well.

Another taper plan – From Rowing Faster (Ed McNeely)

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Based on the a comment from Tom (Stelph), I went and looked at Chapter 19 of the second edition of Rowing Faster.  This chapter is written by Ed McNeely and in principle is quite similar to the taper I wrote up from the Shepley Paper.

Basically, the idea is to maintain the intensity of the training, but reduce the volume.  In the Shepley paper, the protocol was to warmup, do a small number of ~75sec intervals then cool down.

The chapter defines 3 types of what it calls “minor tapers”.  I doubt anyone who isn’t competing at a collegiate or elite level would consider the moderate or major tapers, unless perhaps you are planning to race against blood thirsty cannibals in a set number of months and your life depends on the extra second of pace.

But back to minor tapers.  Here is a table of the three that were defined.

Screen Shot 2015-10-02 at 3.23.35 PM

The primary difference is that instead of doing the same type of interval and just reducing the number as you approach race day, you change the number, length and intensity of the intervals.

The type of taper is driven by your training load.  A 1 day taper for athletes training 6 to 10 hours a week.  3 days for athletes training 10-15 hours.  5 day taper is for those hardy souls training more than 15 hours a week.  I checked my log and I am training about 7 to 10 hours a week, so I guess in Ed’s world, I don’t need or deserve a taper.  I actually think this is an elite versus masters kind of difference.  The amount of taper you need is probably driven by how much recovery you need from whatever training load you are carrying.

The 1 day taper is a misnomer.  It just means that you take a complete rest day the day before the race.  I don’t like that idea much.

The 3 day taper seems simple enough.  It seems like 5 x 2′ at faster than race pace might be a bit harrowing.  I did 4 x 2′ at 2k pace on the erg and I don’t think I could have done them 2% faster (1:38 vs 1:40 pace).  Maybe an elite athlete could.  The 3 x 1′ at 3% faster than race pace looks pretty cool, and I think the 20 minutes of steady state is probably about the same as the warmup and cooldown from the Shepley paper.

I have to admit some confusion about the 5 day taper.  This is a taper for a 2000m race, which will probably take somewhere between 6 and 8 minutes.  So how is it possible to do 3 x 10 minute intervals at race pace.  I have to assume that is a typo.  If you can do 10 minutes at race pace, it isn’t race pace. After that there is a steady state session, then 7 x 3′ at faster than race pace, which I would not be capable of doing on my best day.  Then the 5×2′ and then the 3×1′ sessions from the 3 day taper.

How would I apply this to my world?  I honestly don’t know.  I think that I would probably look at the 3 day taper and ignore the other ones.  For the 3 day taper, I would need to adapt it by adjusting the pace targets.  I would target about race pace for both the 2′ and 1′ intervals.

Unlike the Shepley paper, there is no real evidence presented about the effectiveness of the taper versus other approaches, so it is hard to judge how well it works, but Ed McNeely certainly has impressive credentials so you could do worse than to trust his advice (other than the 3×10′ at race pace thing).

By the way, Rowing Faster is a great book.  I have the kindle version of the 2nd edition.

Friday: Windy Warmup – Racing Tomorrow

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I got this email from my friends at USRowing yesterday.

Screen Shot 2015-10-02 at 9.40.48 AM

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.

Screen Shot 2015-10-02 at 8.49.01 AM Screen Shot 2015-10-02 at 8.48.46 AM

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

Screen Shot 2015-10-02 at 10.22.09 AM

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.

Lowell

Thursday: Taper..2 x 500m windy

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Forecast for the weekend is for a brisk headwind, so today, I decided to take advantage of the elements to prepare.  It was a blustery fall day today.  Temps were in the low 50s and the there was a gusty NNW wind around 10mph gusting up to 15-20 at times.  This wind direction is a head wind on the widest, straightest part of the river, so I did my 2 little intervals right into the teeth of it.  I also started right at the downwind end of the stretch to get the worst possible chop.  Because the river is so shetlered, it wasn;t so bad, but it was noticeably unpleasant to row in.

Plan:

  1. Race style warmup with bursts at increasing stroke rates
  2. 2 x 500m with a 5′ or longer rest
  3. pace target: 2K race pace or better .. 2:00 (without wind or waves)
  4. rate target: 30

Screen Shot 2015-10-01 at 11.51.40 AM pace

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_3480_|_18:45_|_2:41.7_|_368___|_19.6_|_09.5_|_136___|_w
03500_|_0500_|_02:11_|_2:10.5_|_062___|_28.5_|_08.1_|_164___|_m
04000_|_1000_|_05:43_|_2:51.4_|_106___|_18.5_|_09.4_|_128___|_r
05000_|_0500_|_02:10_|_2:09.6_|_063___|_29.2_|_07.9_|_166___|_m
05500_|_2200_|_11:46_|_2:40.4_|_233___|_19.8_|_09.4_|_135___|_c

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
03480_|_18:45_|_2:41.7_|_368___|_19.6_|_09.5_|_136___|_warmup
01000_|_04:20_|_2:10.1_|_125___|_28.8_|_08.0_|_165___|_Main set
01000_|_05:43_|_2:51.4_|_106___|_18.5_|_09.4_|_128___|_rest meters
02200_|_11:46_|_2:40.4_|_233___|_19.8_|_09.4_|_135___|_cool down
07680_|_40:34_|_2:38.5_|_832___|_20.5_|_09.2_|_138___|_Total

That was a challenge.  Trying to get the rate up and row cleanly at full pressure was challenge, especially during the gusts.  I improved a bit over the 2 intervals getting a bit more clearance and smacking fewer wavetops, but I am still not all that comfortable rowing in chop.

In the first interval, I had to do some abrupt steering to thread the needle between a couple of Brandeis crews and a protruding headland.  I think it was more a case of information overload.  I was trying to judge where they were, and where the headland was (by the way, this is the place where I nearly ripped the skeg off my boat by cutting it too close once), maintain full pressure, and deal with the wind trying to take my blades and the chop making the catch tricky.  I don’t see a solution to that other than more practice in lousy conditions.

I paddled back to the same place to start the next interval.  This one was way more controlled and I rowed much better.  It was still slow, but for the conditions it was the best that I think I could do.  If I have this much headwind, I’ll be lucky to break a 2:20 average split for the race.

Tomorrow:  Warmup only then load the boat.