After yesterday, I was nervous and frankly full of dread about doing the 20′ time trial today.
I saw yesterday that 1:50 was too aggressive as a target, so today, I backed off to 1:53.
I started with a very short 1k warmup.
Workout Summary - media/20171103-1135460o.csv --|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg --|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS --|01000|03:56.0|01:58.3|210.9|22.2|129.3|147.0|11.4 W-|01000|03:56.0|01:58.5|207.5|21.9|128.3|147.0|11.7 R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|147.0|00.0 Workout Details #-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS- 00|00150|00:36.6|02:02.0|159.3|16.5|080.1|103.0|14.9 01|00100|00:22.2|01:51.2|236.9|23.9|113.6|121.0|11.3 02|00150|00:37.2|02:04.0|191.0|21.2|130.9|136.0|11.4 03|00100|00:22.5|01:52.7|249.7|25.3|137.9|139.0|10.5 04|00150|00:37.5|02:04.9|187.5|21.1|142.2|144.0|11.4 05|00100|00:22.1|01:50.6|247.7|25.3|141.2|142.0|10.7 06|00150|00:37.2|02:03.9|191.0|21.5|144.8|147.0|11.2 07|00100|00:21.6|01:47.8|265.2|25.3|145.0|146.0|11.0
Then onto the main event.
- Pace target: 1:53
- Rate target: 25
I promised myself to not quit on this test. If I needed to, I would slow down by a split or two, but I would keep going and just get it done. After all the point was to establish a baseline for the purpose of planning my training. If the test shows that I am weak here, then that is useful data. Useful data that really hurts to collect.
Workout Summary - media/20171103-1135300o.csv --|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg --|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS --|05318|20:00.0|01:52.8|243.8|25.1|169.2|183.0|10.6 W-|05324|20:00.0|01:52.7|243.7|25.1|169.1|183.0|10.6 R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|183.0|00.0 Workout Details #-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS- 00|00537|02:00.0|01:51.6|239.1|23.2|134.8|157.0|11.6 01|00534|02:00.0|01:52.4|249.2|25.0|159.9|164.0|10.7 02|00535|02:00.0|01:52.2|247.5|25.0|165.6|167.0|10.7 03|00534|02:00.0|01:52.5|246.3|25.1|168.2|170.0|10.6 04|00533|02:00.0|01:52.6|245.2|25.1|170.5|171.0|10.6 05|00533|02:00.0|01:52.7|244.8|25.3|172.5|174.0|10.5 06|00531|02:00.0|01:53.0|242.4|25.2|176.3|179.0|10.5 07|00527|02:00.0|01:53.9|237.6|25.2|179.0|181.0|10.5 08|00526|02:00.0|01:54.2|235.0|25.5|181.9|182.0|10.3 09|00536|02:00.0|01:52.0|250.1|26.2|181.8|183.0|10.2
This was pretty hard from beginning to end. I was very worried about halfway through and I started playing around a little bit with rate and pressure to try to find a comfortable groove. I was counting blocks of 125 strokes for each 5 minute section. My HR was above 95% of HRR with 6 minutes to go and I was pretty miserable in the last 5 minutes. I eased off a bit until I saw that I had 2 minutes to go, actually when I had counted to 75 strokes in the last section. Then I pushed again to try to finish strong while counting down the last 50 strokes.
So, I ended up a bit below target, but this was a good solid test. I think it reflects where I am right now.
After I caught my breath, I did a 3K cool down
Workout Summary - media/20171103-1150290o.csv --|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg --|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS --|03000|13:09.0|02:11.6|156.5|19.8|151.3|163.0|11.5 W-|03000|13:10.0|02:11.7|154.4|19.7|151.4|163.0|11.6 R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|163.0|00.0 Workout Details #-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS- 00|00500|01:58.0|01:58.0|201.6|21.8|136.7|156.0|11.7 01|00500|02:04.7|02:04.7|182.3|21.0|161.4|162.0|11.4 02|00500|02:09.1|02:09.1|162.7|20.2|159.8|163.0|11.5 03|00500|02:14.4|02:14.4|145.2|19.0|155.3|157.0|11.7 04|00500|02:19.9|02:19.9|129.0|18.5|149.9|152.0|11.6 05|00500|02:24.1|02:24.1|117.5|18.4|144.9|147.0|11.3
Tomorrow: Recovery session. If the weather is nice, I’m hoping for a open water row.
I’m compiling the results and I I’ll post the analysis in a little while
Quantified Rowing 
So was this an FTP test session? Do you use 95%?
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I don’t really train to FTP, and I can’t say that I totally understand the concept. I’m used to the terminology of referring to Lactate Threshold, not FTP. Which is best estimated as the power you can hold for a 60′ trial. You can also use shorter tests and take a percentage. I have to admit that I don’t really understand the differences.
I was doing this a part of a four part test protocol, it was referred to as the Anaerobic ThresholdTest.
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I’m pretty sure your “Lactate Threshold” and FTP are identical. They are both 60 min tests but 95% of a 20 min test is supposed to be a good substitute. I trained by FTP last year, putting less emphasis on HR, and was pleased with the results.
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Interested where you got your testing protocols from? Having recently been slowly getting myself back on an erg and cutting down my 2k time have started to look at prognostics. The Aussie rowing team (quite successful last month) have a number of published guidelines you might be interested in. Particularly how they monitor training with a submax 6×6 min every 2 weeks.
Click to access 2013-2016-National-Rowing-Ergometer-Protocols-V3.0.pdf
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Hi. I just started with working with a coach named Marlene Royle (www.roylerow.com). She developed the battery of tests with Ed McNeely, who did a lot of work with the Canadian national team. Thanks for the link to protocols, I’ll take a look at them. I like the idea frequent testing, but I need to try to figure out how a 6×6 serves that purpose.
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Just review the procedure on the 6×6 test. It looks very interesting and a useful training set. Each of the 6 minute intervals is done at increasing power from 67.5% of FTP power to 105% of FTP. So for me this would be 165W to 256W. Seems like a doable test. One concern would be the cost in lactate strips. Each one would consume 6 strips, thats $11 every two weeks. Having said that, I might want to do it to monitor my training more closely
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