Weather:  Cloudy, warm 70F, intermittent light rain.  Wind flukey, generally from the SW about 2mph.

Plan:

• Warmup: increasing stroke rate bursts over about 3000m.
• Start Practice:
  • Standing start (obviously)
  • 15 strokes (5 to get to full length, 5 hard, settle to race rate over last 5)
  • 1 minute rests, with longer pauses to turn and avoid twisty bits of the river.
  • Technique:  Sit comfortably at the catch.  Don’t overly compress.  First stroke start smooth and finish early.  Quick, short strokes, barely feather, get blades off the water.  Then go out to full slide at maximal pressure for 5 strokes.  Crisp downshift to racing rate after 10 strokes.  Keep it light and above 30 spm.
• Cool down: SBR, easy steady state, then feet out.

After an uncertain start, I had a blast.  My stomach wasn’t feeling all that great, and I stopped for a bathroom break on the way to the boathouse.  I didn’t feel strong and powerful during the warmup either, but I noticed that my paces were actually pretty good.

The warmup took me to the Moody Street Dam, and I turned around, had a drink and set myself up for my first start.  It was terrible.  The first stroke was uncertain and left me unbalanced, which led to multiple weak and shaky strokes.  But I hung in with it and eventually got up to speed.  The next one I took more carefully and it was pretty smooth.  Another 6 starts took me to the beginning of the S-turn.  I paddled through the turn and took about a 4 minute rest.

Then I did 6 starts up which took me to the newton end of the river.  By now, I was getting very comfortable at the catch and reliably getting my splits down into the low 1:40s.

I turned and took another 3 or 4 minute rest and had a drink.  Then I took off for the next set.  The light wind that was slowing me down a bit before was now behind me, and all the sudden I was seeing 1:39 or 1:38 as my peak pace.  This was getting fun.  I did 6 starts to the start of the s-turn.  Another quick break for a drink and to paddle through the turn.

Then it was 4 starts to get to the bridge, then a quick paddle through it and then 4 more to the end of the basin.  The last 4 were a blast.  After I finished I noticed that my legs were vibrating.  I was pretty beat.  But I was happy.  I achieved the highest strokes I ever have and I actually felt like I had better control than in previous sessions.  I also have never routinely seen 1:39 splits.  And it’s fun to go fast.  The thing I need to work on is getting a good settle and getting the pace back to around 2:00 so I don’t torch myself in the first 500m of the race.

Tomorrow:  Steady State Endurance.  Probably technique oriented.  Definitely HR capped below 155.

Workout Summary - media/20160629-183958-2016-06-29-0658.CSV
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|11195|57:28.0|01:58.0|37.8|146.2|159.1|08.4
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|04050| 21:32 |02:37.9|19.7|134.0|166.0|09.7
02|00103| 00:27 |02:12.0|33.1|130.0|148.0|06.9
03|00097| 00:23 |01:56.9|39.9|143.0|157.0|06.5
04|00114| 00:26 |01:54.7|34.3|147.0|161.0|07.6
05|00104| 00:25 |01:57.4|36.8|148.0|161.0|06.9
06|00107| 00:25 |01:57.2|36.0|154.0|162.0|07.1
07|00113| 00:26 |01:57.8|33.7|152.0|162.0|07.5
08|00113| 00:27 |01:58.9|33.4|152.0|162.0|07.5
09|00102| 00:25 |01:59.3|36.8|152.0|161.0|06.8
10|00329| 02:04 |03:07.6|18.9|140.0|157.0|08.4
11|00109| 00:27 |02:04.0|33.4|132.0|151.0|07.3
12|00097| 00:23 |01:56.6|39.6|144.0|159.0|06.5
13|00094| 00:22 |01:55.0|41.7|133.0|154.0|06.3
14|00101| 00:24 |01:56.0|38.4|146.0|159.0|06.7
15|00101| 00:23 |01:54.7|38.7|149.0|160.0|06.7
16|00098| 00:23 |01:57.0|39.4|150.0|160.0|06.5
17|00110| 00:25 |01:53.6|36.0|138.0|157.0|07.3
18|00110| 00:23 |01:48.2|37.8|148.0|160.0|07.3
19|00094| 00:21 |01:51.5|42.9|151.0|161.0|06.3
20|00103| 00:22 |01:46.2|41.0|153.0|162.0|06.9
21|00087| 00:19 |01:50.3|47.2|151.0|159.0|05.8
22|00093| 00:21 |01:49.0|44.4|151.0|161.0|06.2
23|00101| 00:23 |01:53.2|39.4|140.0|157.0|06.7
24|00092| 00:20 |01:51.0|44.0|150.0|159.0|06.1
25|00094| 00:21 |01:49.5|43.9|152.0|160.0|06.3
26|00090| 00:20 |01:52.1|44.4|151.0|159.0|06.0
27|00092| 00:20 |01:48.4|45.0|144.0|158.0|06.1
28|00095| 00:21 |01:52.9|42.1|153.0|162.0|06.3
29|00094| 00:21 |01:50.4|43.4|152.0|161.0|06.3
30|00089| 00:19 |01:50.5|45.9|152.0|161.0|05.9
31|04019| 23:10 |02:52.0|20.0|141.0|155.0|08.7