Weather: mid 60s, overcast, intermittent light rain. Light SE wind, 4 mph with gusts to 6. This was a head wind going downriver and tail wind going up river.

Plan:

• 4 x 2700 / 4′ rest
• rate: 24-26
• pace: ~2:15
• No HR cap

I had a bad feeling about this workout from the moment I woke up.  I slept well, but apparently not long enough to catch up because I was sore and lethargic.

Another bad sign.  I forgot something right before I left the house and needed to climb the stairs to go back and get it.  I felt noticeably winded by the time I got to top of the stairs.  Uh oh.

Well, those intervals are not going to do themselves, you know.  So I pressed on regardless.  I got to the dock around 6:10 and I was on the water by 6:15.  It was then I noticed that my phone had not charged overnight and was completely dead (just like me!).  Today would be a speedcoach only session.  Too bad, I was looking forward to looking at acceleration curves for r24 and r26.  I’ll loop back to that later this week I guess.

When I launched, it was raining lightly, but it stopped by the time I finished warming up.  As I paddled through the cut, I heard and felt a significant thump.  I jammed my oars to stop the boat and heard a much softer bump when the log hit the impeller, and then an almost imperceptible bump when it hit the fin.  I saw it bob to the surface behind me, a weed encrusted log, about 6 feet long and 6″ in diameter.  More about that later.

I got myself setup to go in front of the island, and took off at r24.  The boat felt heavy, probably because of the light head wind, but also I was feeling a twinge in my lower back.  I got up to speed, and was counting strokes.  Looking over my shoulder I saw a single and launch coming the other way, so I stopped after about 50 strokes, hailed them, and paddled back to the launch.  I asked if he would go looking for the log and get rid of it for me.  He seemed happy to do it.  I doubt they want to lose a fin on it any more than I do.

Anyway, back to work.  I started again and was counting strokes.  It felt like a ton of effort to maintain any reasonable pace, and by the time I came out of the S-turn, I was discouraged and very tired.  I costed to a stop, paddled a little, and then brought it back up to an r24 and rowed the rest of the way to the Moody street dam.

Boy that was hard work.  I felt miserable.  Like I was rowing in mud.  I hoped that going the other way, with the light tail wind would be a bit easier.  It wasn’t.  I rowed up to the s-turn and bailed out again.  I paddled through the turn, and then did the last 1100m original start point.  Ugh.

I thought about quitting, but that would have made me feel even worse about this session.  Onward and downstreamwards!  The wind felt stronger, but it probably wasn’t, and I was having trouble just keeping the boat going faster than a 2:25.  And in the s-turn, I saw the pace popping above 2:30 a few times.  But I had had enough of bailing out.  I started to feel a bit hopeless in front of the watch factory, but eased up the pressure a bit and tried to maintain the stroke rate.  Within 10 or so strokes, I was back on track.  Once I was through the bridge, I pushed the pace a bit harder to the Moody Street dam.  I was feeling a bit better now.  At least I had completed the full rep, even if it was slow as hell.  One more to go.

Again, I focused on rate, not pace.  I was hoping that there would be a helpful tailwind.  Maybe there was a little bit, but not enough to help me.  I did OK up to the s-turn, but slowed down a lot through that.  Coming out of it, I gradually increase pressure and rate as I counted strokes.  It takes me about 300 to 320 strokes to get from end to end in these intervals, and coming out of the s-turn, I counted my 200th stroke.  Now, I just needed to get through another 120.  You can see the HR climb through this last section as I sensed the end was near.  Thank God!

After I finished, I pulled my feet out of the shoes and paddled home, working on clean finishes and balance.

Not my best work, but partial credit for sticking it out.

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_1197_|_06:48_|_2:50.4_|_123___|_18.1_|_09.7_|_124___|_warmup
01206_|_0454_|_02:00_|_2:12.3_|_050___|_25.0_|_09.1_|_147___|_head wind
01660_|_0162_|_01:02_|_3:10.7_|_016___|_15.5_|_10.1_|_144___|_stop to chat
01822_|_1181_|_05:17_|_2:14.4_|_135___|_25.5_|_08.7_|_159___|_head wind
03003_|_0137_|_00:45_|_2:42.8_|_016___|_21.5_|_08.6_|_138___|_bailed
03140_|_1129_|_05:19_|_2:21.5_|_125___|_23.5_|_09.0_|_155___|_head wind
04269_|_0037_|_00:27_|_6:10.3_|_007___|_15.3_|_05.3_|_127___|_rest
04306_|_1457_|_06:39_|_2:17.1_|_164___|_24.6_|_08.9_|_159___|_tail wind
05763_|_0239_|_01:41_|_3:31.3_|_030___|_17.8_|_08.0_|_135___|_bailed
06002_|_1094_|_04:51_|_2:13.1_|_121___|_24.9_|_09.0_|_163___|_tail wind
07096_|_0051_|_00:47_|_7:37.8_|_010___|_12.8_|_05.1_|_117___|_rest
07147_|_2798_|_13:29_|_2:24.5_|_323___|_24.0_|_08.7_|_165___|_head wind
09945_|_0117_|_01:21_|_5:44.9_|_020___|_14.9_|_05.9_|_120___|_rest
10062_|_2760_|_13:05_|_2:22.1_|_320___|_24.5_|_08.6_|_165___|_tail wind
12822_|_1212_|_07:43_|_3:10.8_|_143___|_18.5_|_08.5_|_132___|_feet out

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
01197_|_06:48_|_2:50.4_|_123___|_18.1_|_09.7_|_124___|_warmup
10873_|_50:41_|_2:19.8_|_1238___|_24.4_|_08.8_|_162___|_Main set
00743_|_06:02_|_4:03.7_|_099___|_16.4_|_07.5_|_131___|_rest meters
01212_|_07:43_|_3:10.8_|_143___|_18.5_|_08.5_|_132___|_cool down
14025_|_11:13_|_2:32.3_|_1603___|_22.5_|_08.7_|_152___|_Total

Today’s session: 50′ HIT, 20′ LIT

Tomorrow: The plan calls for r20 steady state, but I think I need a very low intensity session.  So I think I will switch it with my Planned Friday session, which is:

• Square Blades / Slow Roll Up / r20 2 minutes each, repeated