Month: April 2018

80′ of speedplay

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Weather:  cool and cloudy, around 43f.  Light to moderate wind from the west (headwind in the upriver sections)

Plan:

  • 80′
    • r18 to r20 – cat VI rowing
    • 2 x 20 strokes at r28 – cat II on each leg of the row
  • In between legs.  5 to 10 reps of KOM drill

Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 6.33.23 PM

Workout Summary - media/20180430-1345240o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14038|78:45.0|02:48.3|164.6|19.8|144.9|174.0|09.0
W-|11668|58:10.0|02:29.6|184.9|20.3|153.1|174.0|09.9
R-|02375|20:35.0|04:20.0|107.5|18.4|121.8|174.0|07.4
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|02687|12:08.0|02:15.5|184.5|20.2|148.5|166.0|10.9
02|02898|15:20.0|02:38.7|189.5|20.3|154.2|171.0|09.3
03|02847|13:08.0|02:18.4|183.7|20.0|152.9|170.0|10.8
04|03237|17:34.0|02:42.8|182.0|20.7|155.5|174.0|08.9

A very nice row.  I felt a lot less tired than after previous outings like this.  I also am feeling a bit smoother at r28.  A lot of the strokes are fully clear of the water on recovery.

Tomorrow: 2 x 30′, Cat V, r22  Medium tempo workout.  I need to fold each 30′ block into 2 chunks to fit it in the river, but I’ll make the turns in less than a minute.

Sunday: 4 x 20′ / 2′ Dynamic

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Crappy weather and I was too lazy to go to Newton to row.  Around 3, I decided to do an easy cruise of a session on the dynamic.  The goal would be to work on getting my heels down and keeping them there.  Hopefully also keep reminding myself to sit up tall in the seat and hinge at the hips.

Allowing for how much I loathe the dynamic, it was a lovely session.  I was relaxed and comfortable throughout.

          Workout Summary - media/20180429-2110250o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|20019|88:00.0|02:11.9|161.4|19.6|142.3|154.0|11.6
W-|18976|80:00.0|02:06.5|173.1|19.6|143.5|154.0|12.1
R-|01046|08:00.0|03:49.5|044.3|20.1|129.9|154.0|06.5
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|04725|20:00.0|02:07.0|170.6|18.6|133.2|144.0|12.7
01|04736|20:00.0|02:06.7|172.1|19.9|144.5|152.0|11.9
02|04743|20:00.0|02:06.5|173.2|19.9|147.6|152.0|11.9
03|04771|20:00.0|02:05.8|176.4|20.0|148.8|154.0|11.9

Tomorrow:  80′ of speed play down in Newton on the Charles.

 

Lost week – Taiwan

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I left on Sunday morning to catch an early afternoon flight to Taiwan.  I dropped my boat off in Newton on the way to the airport.

I was flying from Boston to Tokyo, then connecting to Taipei.  I arrived around 8:30PM Monday night.  I slept some on the two flights, but I was stiff and tired by the time I got to the airport.

Tuesday morning:

I got up around 5am and discovered that I had left my HR monitor at home.  SO much for documented evidence of working out!  Sad to say, it badly effected my motivation.

I headed to the gym.  I set up the treadmill to do a 30 minute HIIT session.  so, 4:20 sec of fast walk (3mph) on 15% grade.  Then 40 seconds at 7mph on the same grade.  repeat 6 times.  By the last two sprints, I was nauseous at the end of the 40 seconds.  I guess that meant I was doing it right.

The rest of the day was a blur of meetings, all of them internal with our team in Taiwan.  I had dinner with a few of the folks that I travelled with and got back to the hotel around 9pm.

Wednesday:

Up at 5 again, and back in the gym.  Today, it was 30 minutes on the elliptical and 30 minutes on the stationary bike.  In both cases, I used the built in HR monitor to try to keep my HR in the 137 to 155 range.

Then I was off to the customer site for 3 different meetings.  Then we had a dinner for the full team supporting this major customer.  They’ve been working night and day for years making it successful, so it was a good idea for us to say thank you.

I made it back to the hotel just in time for my 8:30 conference call.  Unfortunately, that exactly when jet lag decided to strike and strike hard.  I was having trouble holding my head up, and I kept hoping for the meeting to wrap up.  I can remember looking at the clock around 8:50pm.  The next thing I know, it’s five minutes after nine, my head is on the desk and there’s no one left on the call!  I fell dead asleep.  I reached out by email to apologize to the other folks that were on the call.  I was pretty embarrassed.

Thursday:

I slept in until 6 because I had nothing on my agenda until my ride to the airport at 10am.  I headed down to the gym without a specific plan.  I did my full PT suite of exercises.  I have been neglecting them lately and that’s a bad thing.  I have to find a way to fit them in with OTW rowing.  I don’t feel comfortable doing them on the ground at the docks where I keep my boat and I am always rushed when I get to work afterwards.  I think I might start doing them on my way out of work at night.

Anyway, I did the PT exercises.  Then I did a little bit of strength training.

I did a 3 circuits of

  • 20 squats with 2 25lb dumbells
  • 12 pull downs on a machine designed to mimic pull ups

The squats felt easy at the time, but it’s 3 days later and I’m still feeling sore.

Then I headed over to the treadmills and did 30 minutes of fast walking on a 15% grade.

After that, I headed to the airport for the long trip home.  I got home around 8:00pm on Thursday night, thanks to time zones.

Friday:  80′ of OTW speedplay.

I slept surprisingly well on Thursday night, but not very long.  The alarm woke me at 5:15am and I rolled out of bed.  It was a beautiful morning, so I wanted to get back on the water.  I headed to Newton and launched.

The plan:

  • 80′ of speedplay
  • 4 sessions of KOM

The instructions for the speedplay sessions are to do it continuous, but I really want to work on balance.  I find that if I do KOM for more than a couple minutes at a time, I get all tight.  So I decided to do a quick set each time I needed to turn the boat around.

The weather was lovely.  Very little wind.  There still a bit of current which make the splits all crazy and makes rowing a bit squirrelly in a couple of places, mainly where the river narrows down or splits and rejoins.  It feel like the boat is wiggling underneath you or you are going around a corner on ice.  As long as you are expecting it, it’s kind of fun, but it can be disconcerting if it takes you by surprise.

I started with about 5 sets of KOM, then headed down river.  I’ve got my routine for the speed play workouts.  I row steady state until I get to middle of the straight 1K.  Then I do my power twenty.  Then I continue to the middle of straight section in front of the watch factory and do another.  I do the reverse on the way up river.  It ends up with a bit more time between the twenties with the turn in there.

4-27.png

I am trying to keep the power above 300W on the power twenties and to keep the stroke rate between 28 and 30.

To get a better idea of the effect of the rigging changes, I wanted to look at the change in my catch, finish and length.  These charts isolate just the r28 portions of four speed play rows.  I made the adjustments in 3 steps.  The first is the original settings.  The next is with oars down one spacer, inboard shortened by 2cm, and footplate moved 1 cm.  The third is another 2cm shorter inboard.  Then the last is with the footplate moved the additional cm to stern.

  • Finish angle is about 2 degrees bigger.
  • Catch angle is about 3 degrees bigger
  • drive length is 3.5 degrees bigger
  • Effective length is about 2 degrees bigger.

Not much change.  It feels a lot different though.

Saturday:  I intended to go rowing, but i felt like crap all day long.  I just sat around and did crossword puzzles.  I did get up the motivation to do laundry and get groceries, but that was about all I was good for,

Sunday;  Again, I was thinking about going rowing, but its raining and I’m lazy.  I intend to do an easy session on the dynamic later just to keep things going.

 

Videos! KOM Drill and Rate Ladders

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It seems like so long ago, but it was just last Saturday.  When I went out to Lake Quinsigamond for a outing with my pals at the Worcester Boat Club.

I set up for side video to see how I was doing with the feedback that my coach had provided.  For reference, here is the before video.

The things that I needed to work on.

  • Rigging:
    • Decrease inboard to reduce the amount of overlap at the crossover and give me more room at the finish.  (I went from 89cm to 85cm)
    • Move foot board to stern to give me more distance through the pin for my hips.  (I moved it 2cm to the stern)
    • Move the oarlocks down one spacer so that my hands would be lower during the drive.
  • Technique:
    • Get my heels down quicker in the drive and keep my heels down during recovery
    • Maintain outward pressure on the handles during recovery to get the blades off the water and stay more stable.
    • concentrate on hinging at the hips and keep my back straight.

She recommended that I include the King of the Mountain Drill into my routine.  I’ve do it in a couple of workouts so far.  You can tell from the video that I need to do it more.

Here’s what it is supposed to look like.  Link to Video

Here’s my version.

I don’t know what my problem was, but I was really tense during the drill.  I feel like I did a better job the first time I tried it.

Then it was into the work out.  The assignment was 4 x 12′ rate ladders.  I include 2 videos here.  The first is the last couple of minutes of the r18 section, 4′ at r24 and 2′ at r28.  This one was done with basically no wind.

So, what do I see.  I know it’s tough to make things out because of the position of the sun.

  • The rigging changes are good, and maybe should go even further.  My finishes look a lot better.
  • I am doing a little better in the way my body is hinging, but not much.
  • I seem to go deep at the catch and then come to a good depth in the last 2/3 of the drive.
  • My balance still sucks.

Here’s the second ladder.  Again the end of the r18 bit and all of the 24 and 28.  The sun is now behind the camera so the video quality is better.  The rowing is a bit worse.  There was a bit of head/cross wind and I went a bit too hard in the first one so I was starting to fatigue.

I look a kinda slumpy in this one.  I need to really work on sitting up straight in the boat.

Finally, because I can’t help myself.  Here’s another blooper.  When I started my second ladder, I managed to lose track of where a buoy was in front of me.  By the time I saw it again, I was too close to cleanly steer away from it, so I just braced for impact.

Not my proudest moment.  I guess I should have worn the sunglasses.

 

Wed – Sun: A lot more rowing!

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What a delight to have 5 days of rowing in a row!  I was in town for the whole week this week and even though I had a busy work schedule, I managed to row every morning.  I didn’t get much sleep, and I froze my ass off, but it was totally worth it!

Tuesday: 2 x 30′ (already posted about this one.  It was pretty tough work)

Wednesday: 3 x (1′ + 1′ + 2′) – a delightfully short sprint oriented workout

Thursday: 60′ of speed play…I got rained and snowed on

Friday: 65′ of speed play…Nice morning, but still damn cold.

Saturday: 4 x 12′ rate ladders on Lake Quinsigamond

Sunday:  Off to Taiwan.

The details:

Wednesday: 3 x (1′ + 1′ + 2′)

Here are my coach’s instructions….

  • 3 sets of: 1’ on, 3’ active rest, 1’ on , 3’ active rest 2’ on, 5’ active rest
  • Rest between: Continuous, no rest between sets. Complete one set and then repeat the series. The active rest is relaxed, low intensity, easy rowing. Stop only briefly to rehydrate.
  • Rating /pace: Race effort, 1k pace (your best right now)

Notes: The emphasis is on high quality work and stroke efficiency. This speed workout aims to keep the lactic acid levels low by allowing enough recovery between pieces for it to clear. Do not cut the rest short. Feel fully recovered and psychologically ready to do the next piece. If the quality starts to drop dramatically, stop the workout.

Training effect: Cat II, repetitions, race pace technique.

Pretty clear instructions and it’s nice to have the notes to know what to focus on.

I did not need to cut the workout short, but I did suffer a bit in the sprints that were going into the head wind.  I adjusted the active rest between sprints as necessary to have the right amount of straight river in front of me when I started each sprint.

There is a huge difference in pace due to wind and current.  The first three were all downstream and wind aided.  The next three were all upstream and into a building headwind.  The third set I did two downstream and then did the last 2′ piece into the current and wind.  I struggled with the cross/head wind in the last one.

Workout Summary - media/20180418-1415260o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10409|58:41.0|02:49.2|156.4|21.7|144.7|177.0|08.2
W-|02817|11:47.0|02:05.5|295.9|29.1|160.9|177.0|08.2
R-|07601|46:54.0|03:05.2|121.4|19.8|140.6|177.0|07.4
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00261|01:00.0|01:55.1|305.2|28.6|153.9|160.0|09.1
02|00264|01:00.0|01:53.6|304.3|29.4|157.7|164.0|09.0
03|00464|01:47.0|01:55.4|303.9|28.2|161.5|170.0|09.2
04|00217|01:00.0|02:18.5|257.7|29.1|150.7|161.0|07.4
05|00230|01:00.0|02:10.5|355.5|30.3|161.7|172.0|07.6
06|00444|02:00.0|02:15.2|279.4|28.6|167.7|177.0|07.8
07|00254|01:00.0|01:58.3|309.8|29.4|153.8|167.0|08.6
08|00253|01:00.0|01:58.6|313.8|29.7|159.4|169.0|08.5
09|00432|02:00.0|02:18.9|269.8|29.2|167.4|174.0|07.4

I basically aimed to get the power above 300 and keep it there.

Thursday: 60′ of speed play

A unique experience for me.  It was cold and grey when I got to the dock.  I had brought stuff so I could do the session inside because there was rain in the forecast, but when I arrived, it was not raining.  So I decided to give it a go.  I’ve done this session on the erg, but not yet in the boat and I was looking forward to it.

Plan:

  • 60’ with speed play
  • Rest: n/a only to rehydrate
  • Rating/Pace: Cat VI; target SR 18-20.
  • Once every 10 minutes take the stroke rate up to 28 spm for 20 strokes.

I modified the time between power 20s based on the river.  I wanted to get two 20s into each direction that I row, so it was a little less than 10 minutes between them.

The wind was pretty strong and it started raining during my first trip down the river as I emerged from the s-turn.  By the time I turned at the dam it was raining steadily.  By the time I had gone back upstream, it was a “wintery mix”.  Then it was all snow.

Workout Summary - media/20180419-1300370o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|11314|60:52.0|02:41.4|162.5|20.2|144.4|166.0|09.2
W-|01237|05:15.0|02:07.3|293.6|28.6|153.8|164.0|08.3
R-|10085|55:37.0|02:45.5|150.1|19.4|143.5|164.0|08.1
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00181|00:45.0|02:04.0|246.4|25.7|150.5|154.0|09.4
02|00191|00:45.0|01:57.9|282.3|27.1|153.9|161.0|09.4
03|00166|00:45.0|02:15.5|260.4|28.5|151.2|160.0|07.8
04|00164|00:45.0|02:17.6|303.5|28.4|157.3|164.0|07.7
05|00194|00:45.0|01:56.1|318.4|29.3|154.8|161.0|08.8
06|00174|00:45.0|02:09.7|321.8|30.7|159.6|163.0|07.5
07|00168|00:45.0|02:14.1|322.5|30.4|149.3|159.0|07.4

 Friday: 65′ of speed play

Friday is an optional rest day, or I can do another speed play session like Thursday’s.  Since I knew I had travel coming up, I wanted to get as much time on the water as I could.

The weather was even colder than Thursday, around 32F.  But at least it was dry and the sun came out.  The temperature was in the 40s by the time I finished.

I felt much better in this workout than the one on Thursday.  Better, more consistent power in the bursts.

 

Workout Summary - media/20180420-1350290o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|12492|67:43.0|02:42.6|157.5|19.5|147.8|170.0|09.5
W-|01136|04:40.0|02:03.3|304.6|28.8|158.6|168.0|08.4
R-|11363|63:03.0|02:46.5|146.7|18.8|147.0|168.0|08.4
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00167|00:40.0|01:59.7|317.7|27.6|152.8|157.0|09.1
02|00170|00:40.0|01:57.6|313.1|27.9|155.9|161.0|09.2
03|00154|00:40.0|02:09.9|294.5|28.2|159.7|164.0|08.2
04|00150|00:40.0|02:13.1|300.6|28.4|160.3|165.0|07.9
05|00172|00:40.0|01:56.3|303.0|30.3|160.4|166.0|08.5
06|00172|00:40.0|01:56.6|315.2|29.9|163.3|168.0|08.6
07|00151|00:40.0|02:12.5|288.0|29.7|158.0|164.0|07.6

Saturday: 4 x 12′ rate ladders on Lake Quinsigamond

Saturday was a big day for our little club.  We were going to christen our new lightweight double.  We have some very good women rowers and they have been using a mid-heavyweight double which is way less than ideal for them.  We picked this boat up used from Saugatuck and had it repainted locally (fire engine red!).

I brought my boat out.  Today was going to be ideal for a few purposes.  I wanted to see my rowing friends.  I wanted to have a nice long lake for this workout.  And since Saturday mornings are a lot less time compressed, I figure it would be a good time to do some side video with the rigging changes to see if it looks any different.

Marlene had suggested that I move further to stern, and I had moved the footplate a cm last week.  On Saturday, I moved it another cm to the stern.  It felt fine during the row.

I started out with some king of the mountain.  I was really tight and tippy on Saturday, maybe it was having an audience as everyone else was getting ready to row.  Anyway, I have to do this drill more because I suck at it!

Then it was time for the planned workout.

  • 4 x 12’
  • Rest between: 6’
  • Rating/Pace:
    • 6’ @ Cat VI; target 18-20
    • 4’ @ Cat IV; target SR 24
    • 2’ @ Cat III; target SR 28.

The first ladder heading down lake was delightful.  The water was smooth and the wind was light.  I felt strong and fast.  But by the end of the 12′, I was pretty gassed.  I think I pushed a bit too hard.

The next one was uplake and into a building headwind.  That was less fun.  Notice in the plot a transient right at 25 minutes?  That’s were I ran into a “No Wake Zone” bouy.  I noticed it right before I hit it, so I had enough time to brace and avoid flipping, but not far enough to stop or turn.  It freaked me out a bit.

Then back down lake again and finally another one uplake.  by this time I was worn out and the lake was pretty choppy.  The wind was from the northwest as near as I could tell, so coming down lake I was sheltered by the western shore.  Going uplake along the eastern side of the lake, I was exposed to the wind and chop.

I was totally spent the rest of the day.

4-21a

Once I get settled in Taiwan, I’ll post the videos.

Tuesday: 2 x 30′ at r22 OTW

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On the water in my single.  On the upper charles in Newton.  The temp was in the low 40s and there was a reasonably strong breeze blowing from the west.  This was a headwind heading up river.

The river was incredibly high after the big storm this weekend.  The current was noticeably strong, especially at narrow points in the river.

I adjusted inboard to 85cm.  I liked the extra room that it gave me at the finish, and increased my finish angle a few degrees.  It did feel a bit heavier.  I’m wondering if I will have issues rating up.  I think I will try to move the foot stretcher another cm to stern to give me a bit more angle at the catch.

Plan:

  • 2 x 30’
  • Rest between: n/a only to rehydrate
  • Rating/Pace: Cat V pace; target SR 22.

Screen Shot 2018-04-17 at 7.50.00 PM.png

The pace variations is almost entirely driven by the wind and current.  The fastest pace was in the little stretch right after the stone bridge for both downstream segments.

This was pretty hard work.

Tomorrow:

  • 3 x (1’ on / 3’ active rest + 1’ on / 3’ active rest + 2’ on / 5’ active rest)
  • Complete one set and then repeat the series.
  • The active rest is relaxed, low intensity, easy rowing.
  • Stop only briefly to rehydrate.
  • Rating /pace: Race effort, 1k pace (your best right now)  – I will target r28 to r30, basically like the fast parts of the speed play.

Sunday: More slidery – 4 x 20’/1′ speed play

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The weather is awful.  In the thirties and windy.  It is starting to rain.

I am working out in my basement.

The plan:

  • 4 x 20′ / 1′
  • Cat VI – r18-r20, 2:02 – 2:06
  • Every 10′ 20 strokes at r28

Long workout.  Tried to focus on driving my heel down more quickly and hinging at the hips on recovery.  It was ugly and unnatural.  I guess that makes it good practice.

          Workout Summary - media/20180415-1950280o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|19899|84:00.0|02:06.6|180.6|20.1|144.4|164.0|11.8
W-|19480|80:00.0|02:03.2|188.5|20.1|144.6|164.0|12.2
R-|00432|04:00.0|04:38.0|023.2|20.1|139.8|164.0|06.6
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01202|05:00.0|02:04.8|177.2|18.7|121.0|133.0|12.8
01|00190|00:40.0|01:45.4|291.6|27.8|136.5|143.0|10.2
02|02244|09:20.0|02:04.8|180.3|19.1|138.5|149.0|12.6
03|00191|00:40.0|01:44.9|299.2|27.7|139.8|146.0|10.3
04|01047|04:20.0|02:04.2|183.4|19.2|143.9|152.0|12.6
05|01204|05:00.0|02:04.6|181.8|18.9|132.9|140.0|12.7
06|00188|00:40.0|01:46.3|288.8|27.1|141.9|146.0|10.4
07|02252|09:20.0|02:04.3|182.8|19.3|146.5|154.0|12.5
08|00193|00:40.0|01:43.5|307.4|28.8|149.5|154.0|10.0
09|01043|04:20.0|02:04.6|181.8|19.8|151.9|159.0|12.2
10|01197|05:00.0|02:05.3|178.2|19.2|139.3|146.0|12.5
11|00190|00:40.0|01:45.4|293.7|29.0|148.1|153.0|09.8
12|02238|09:20.0|02:05.1|179.7|19.6|149.5|158.0|12.2
13|00191|00:40.0|01:44.6|300.2|30.3|150.7|155.0|09.5
14|01043|04:20.0|02:04.6|181.4|20.1|153.9|160.0|12.0
15|01200|05:00.0|02:05.0|179.0|19.5|143.2|149.0|12.3
16|00190|00:40.0|01:45.4|294.5|28.9|150.2|155.0|09.8
17|02245|09:20.0|02:04.7|181.4|20.2|153.2|162.0|11.9
18|00194|00:40.0|01:43.0|313.2|32.2|154.3|159.0|09.0
19|01039|04:20.0|02:05.1|179.0|20.2|156.0|164.0|11.9

Tomorrow: Scheduled rest day.  Hopefully I can go for a nice walk before we head back to Hopkinton.

 

Saturday: 4 x 12′ rate ladders – on slides

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Down on the cape.  Still too cold and windy for open water rowing.  So I did this on slides.

It’s a new workout from Marlene.

  • 4 x 12′ / 6′ rest
  • each 12′
    • 6′ Cat VI (r18-r20, 2:02 to 2:06)
    • 4′ Cat IV (r24, 1:52)
    • 2′ Cat III (r28, 1:48)

I had technical issues today.  I managed to bring my OH1 heart rate monitor, but forgot the elastic strap.  I tried to improvised a strap out of an old sock but made it too narrow and it fell out during the first rep.  During the rest I went and cut a wider one from the other sock.  That one works.

But when I got back to the erg, I discovered that I had misprogrammed the rest into the PM and the next interval had started a couple minutes ago.  So, I aborted that one, and re programmed it.  I put in a 5 minute rests just because I was a little pressed for time.

Afterwards, I used rowsandall to glue the two workouts back  together.  It was easier than writing the sentence about doing it.

The workout was very taxing.  Maybe I was a little low energy.  I don’t know, but the last six minutes of each interval were tough!  I dialed back the pace a bit and stuck it out, but I was really struggling.  I also let myself rate up a bit (25 for 24 and 30 for 28) in the last two intervals.

         Workout Summary - media/df_20180414-225155.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14139|66:25.0|02:20.9|169.4|21.0|141.4|180.0|10.1
W-|12360|48:00.0|01:56.5|223.6|22.8|146.2|180.0|11.4
R-|01784|18:25.0|05:09.6|028.2|16.5|128.8|180.0|06.2
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01470|06:00.0|02:02.4|188.4|19.4|119.9|137.0|12.6
01|01072|04:00.0|01:51.9|249.3|24.2|102.8|111.0|11.1
02|00564|02:00.0|01:46.3|290.9|28.0|098.5|106.0|10.1
03|01460|06:00.0|02:03.3|188.2|19.5|142.7|154.0|12.5
04|01075|04:00.0|01:51.7|251.0|24.9|164.3|171.0|10.8
05|00560|02:00.0|01:47.1|284.8|28.5|175.3|177.0|09.8
06|01445|06:00.0|02:04.6|182.7|19.7|147.6|156.0|12.2
07|01063|04:00.0|01:52.9|242.8|24.5|166.2|175.0|10.8
08|00565|02:00.0|01:46.1|291.4|28.4|176.6|179.0|10.0
09|01453|06:00.0|02:03.9|184.3|20.0|148.9|157.0|12.1
10|01063|04:00.0|01:52.9|242.8|24.5|168.8|176.0|10.8
11|00568|02:00.0|01:45.6|296.4|30.2|177.4|180.0|09.4

I felt like I deserved a beer after that.  So, I had two.  We went to dinner at a great restaurant called CShore in Wellfleet.

Today:

  • 80 minutes with speed play
  • rest, brief to rehydrate (I’ll stop for a minute every 20 minutes)
  • 20 strokes at r28 every ten minutes.  I’ll do them at 5 and 15.
  • I’ll also aim for the slow end of the cat VI range and focus on hip hinge stuff.

 

 

 

 

Fri – Fri: Busy Week

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I got back to my house from Japan around 8pm on Thursday night.  I slept well on the plane and surprisingly well Thursday night.  I slept until around 7:30am Friday morning.

Friday:  14k steady state – OTW 1x

It was cold and windy on Friday morning.  Snow was in the forecast for later that day.  The plan for the session was just to work on technique and get some steady state volume.  Cat VI, r18-20.

I was a little bit irked that I forgot to start the speedcoach until I was about 800m into the row.  The wind was coming southwest, so I had a tail wind and tail current heading towards waltham and a head wind and head current the other way.  It made for a pretty dramatic difference in pace.

Screen Shot 2018-04-09 at 11.22.52 AM

          Workout Summary - media/20180406-1655240o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13276|75:36.0|02:50.8|150.8|19.4|150.9|160.0|09.0
W-|12944|69:39.0|02:41.4|161.6|19.3|151.5|160.0|09.7
R-|00336|05:57.0|08:50.9|024.2|20.3|143.6|160.0|03.7
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|03251|15:40.0|02:24.6|159.8|18.5|146.6|154.0|11.2 - missing 800m
01|02896|16:43.0|02:53.2|163.6|18.3|151.8|157.0|09.5
02|02894|14:05.0|02:26.0|162.5|18.4|151.3|157.0|11.2
03|03904|23:11.0|02:58.2|161.0|21.3|154.6|160.0|07.9 - tried higher rate

My objective for the row was to achieve the best possible pace while respecting the HR cap at 155.  What was interesting was the consistency of power between head wind and tail wind cases.

The pace was different by 30 seconds, but the power was matched within 4 watts across all four intervals.

Saturday: 2 x 15′ rate ladders on the Oartec DX

I had lots going on all day, and I didn’t have a chance to train until about 9pm.  The scheduled session was the 3×15′ rate ladders.  I was going to try to do them on the Oartec DX.  I decided to cut it back to 2, and either I was having a bad day, or I discovered that I can’t do as well on the Oartec as I can on slides.  I ended up HDing in both ladders and finishing with a HR with 5 beats of my max.

Workout Summary - media/20180408-0200250o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|09056|38:00.0|02:05.9|232.3|22.9|157.0|181.0|10.4
W-|07602|30:00.0|01:58.4|213.5|22.5|157.0|181.0|11.4
R-|01461|08:00.0|02:44.3|302.7|24.3|157.1|181.0|07.6
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01235|05:00.0|02:01.5|193.4|19.6|133.0|146.0|12.6
01|01021|04:00.0|01:57.5|214.9|21.7|154.2|161.0|11.7
02|00800|03:00.0|01:52.5|246.1|24.2|165.3|172.0|11.0
03|00506|02:00.0|01:58.7|219.7|25.3|166.9|172.0|10.0
04|00290|01:00.0|01:43.4|312.1|28.7|172.8|176.0|10.1
05|01212|05:00.0|02:03.8|184.8|19.4|148.9|159.0|12.5
06|01007|04:00.0|01:59.2|206.3|22.1|165.9|169.0|11.4
07|00714|03:00.0|02:06.0|184.3|23.1|164.0|171.0|10.3
08|00533|02:00.0|01:52.6|244.8|26.4|173.2|177.0|10.1
09|00284|01:00.0|01:45.5|297.9|30.7|178.8|181.0|09.3

Sunday:  2 x 2k + 2 x 1k + 2 + 500 – OTW 1x

After the late night workout the day before, I decided to push my sunday workout a bit later in the day.  I had brought my boat home with me hoping that I could get out to row on Quinsig, but it was too cold and windy both mornings.

I needed to get my boat back to Newton before I took off on my trip monday morning, so I decided to bring it back in the late afternoon and go for a row while I was there.  Even when its windy, the river is narrow enough that it remains nice and rowable.  Today, it was a bit tough because the wind was coming generally out of the west, which was a cross wind through the widest section.  This kicked up enough chop to make it more technically challenging than I can handle easily at this stage of the season.

The first 2k was great.  Right on target, but I felt like I was digging a bit too deep.  I failed in the second 2k.  I came through the s-turn and got hit with the head wind and chop and I just didn’t have the drive to finish out the rep.

The same thing happened with the 1Ks.  The downriver one was fine, but I bailed out on the up river one going into the headwind when I managed to take a crappy stroke and just kind of gave up on it.

In both cases, I took a couple of paddle strokes and then brought it back to target for the end of the rep.

The 500s were fun.  Short enough that I wasn’t tempted to give up!  The wind seemed to be rising throughout the workout.  The biggest gusts seemed to happen as I came back up river in the last 500.

Screen Shot 2018-04-11 at 11.27.56 AM

The summary shows the advantage and disadvantage of using power.  You can see that the power is more consistent upwind vs down, but you can also see how the power is effected by steering.  In the first 2000, the higher power from 1000 to 1200 meters is starboard turn going into the s-turn, and the power dip right after is the turn to port coming out of the turn.

         Workout Summary - media/20180409-0040240o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|11862|75:16.0|03:10.4|167.9|23.1|148.0|178.0|06.8
W-|08857|41:50.0|02:21.7|218.2|24.4|159.8|178.0|08.8
R-|03015|33:26.0|05:32.7|104.9|21.4|133.3|178.0|00.5
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00830|04:01.0|02:25.2|173.2|18.4|137.1|150.0|11.2
02|01961|08:36.0|02:11.6|231.7|23.9|165.2|176.0|09.5
03|02002|09:51.0|02:27.6|217.7|24.6|168.0|178.0|08.3
04|01050|04:33.0|02:10.0|248.9|26.5|166.5|177.0|08.7
05|01016|04:57.0|02:26.2|228.4|25.8|162.8|172.0|08.0
06|00501|02:10.0|02:09.7|265.7|28.5|158.3|174.0|08.1
07|00511|02:20.0|02:17.0|274.0|28.2|164.1|177.0|07.8
08|00617|03:23.0|02:44.4|152.2|23.5|142.8|156.0|07.8
09|00369|01:59.0|02:41.2|151.6|21.8|143.4|150.0|08.5

This workout put me into a bit of a contemplative mood.  I can remember when bailing out on reps would have made me so angry with myself.  in this workout, I was happy to be in the river, I felt a little bit like a quitter for not sticking with it, but it seemed like a good workout none the less.  Then I start to second guess myself.   Maybe that anger came out of a stringer drive to succeed?  Is this a sign that I’m losing the desire to really compete and get to deliver my very best.

When I started, it seemed like trite little quotes like “Winners never quit, quitter never win” were always in my head.  Over the past 10 years, I’ve put in enough sessions to know that sometimes you don’t hit your session objectives, and frankly, if you always do, then you are not pushing yourself enough.   Now, I need to figure out a way to get the most out of the training time that I can afford to spend.  It’s useful contemplation.

Monday:  No Training

Up at 5am to get to the airport.  Flew out to San Francisco for a couple of customer meetings.  Got to the hotel around 8pm, had a quick dinner and crashed.

Tuesday:  No Training

I had intended to get up at 5 and do a quick session in the hotel gym, but I felt very tired when the alarm went off and decided to sleep another hour.  Caught a 8:25 flight from SFO back home.  I got back to the house around 6:45pm.

Wednesday:  3 x 1500 + 3 x 500

I intended to do this session on the water, but when I woke up this morning, it was 26F and foggy outside.  I didn’t know that was atmospherically possible!   Wouldn’t the fog just freeze?

Anyway, those conditions, combined with the horrifying discovery that I had a 8:00am put an end to getting out on the water this morning.  Instead, I found an hour in the middle of the day to workout and did the session on the erg.

Workout Summary - media/20180411-1725250o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|08789|38:00.0|02:09.8|192.7|20.7|156.9|178.0|11.2
W-|07500|27:58.0|01:51.9|251.7|23.3|154.8|178.0|11.6
R-|01293|10:02.0|03:52.8|028.1|13.4|162.9|178.0|09.4
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01500|06:06.7|02:02.2|189.7|18.1|126.9|143.0|13.6
01|01500|05:35.0|01:51.7|251.0|23.6|153.7|163.0|11.4
02|01500|05:35.0|01:51.7|255.4|23.7|162.6|172.0|11.3
03|01500|05:32.9|01:51.0|256.2|24.4|168.6|176.0|11.1
04|00500|01:43.2|01:43.2|312.7|27.9|170.5|178.0|10.4
05|00500|01:43.1|01:43.1|320.9|27.7|163.2|177.0|10.5
06|00500|01:43.0|01:43.0|318.3|27.6|163.7|177.0|10.6

Pretty good workout.

Thursday: 14km Steady State OTW 1x

It was sunny and cold, just above freezing, with almost no wind.  The water was glassy smooth.

The goal of this workout was steady state meters at low rate. HR limit at 155.

Screen Shot 2018-04-14 at 11.28.32 AM.png

Nothing of note happened except during the first trip down the river at about 10 minutes the speedcoach complained that it was low on memory.  I pushed a few button to see if I could delete a couple of old sessions.  You can’t.  So, I decided to just keep going and hope that I didn’t run out.  I didn’t.

I did the first three legs at r18, but decided to up the rate to r20 in the last leg and lighten up enough to still stay under the HR cap.  I was pushing right up to it at the end.

          Workout Summary - media/20180412-1515250o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14050|76:45.0|02:43.9|158.6|18.9|145.5|161.0|09.7
W-|13518|68:30.0|02:32.0|167.1|18.8|147.4|161.0|10.5
R-|00536|08:15.0|07:41.6|088.2|20.2|130.4|161.0|01.1
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|02197|10:42.0|02:26.1|170.0|18.4|136.8|146.0|11.2
02|01637|07:51.0|02:23.9|170.7|18.6|142.9|150.0|11.2
03|02870|15:00.0|02:36.8|166.6|18.3|147.4|155.0|10.4
04|02857|14:03.0|02:27.5|167.5|18.3|147.8|156.0|11.1
05|03956|20:54.0|02:38.5|164.5|19.7|154.1|161.0|09.6

6 more watts than the prior last steady state session and a lower HR.

Nice consistent power despite the pace difference.

4-12.png

Friday:  60′ Speed Play

Thursday afternoon, I received an email back from my coach based on her review of the video that I had sent her.  It seems like I have lots of “opportunities to get faster”.

Her first thought was I need to change my rigging.

  • Reduce the amount of inboard (I reduced the inboard from 88 to 86.25 cm)
  • Lower my oarlocks to get my CG a little bit above the oar handles, so I am more “over the work”. (I moved them down 1 spacer)
  • Move the footboard to stern to get my hips a bit further through the pin. (I moved it 1 cm)

She also had comments on my posture and

  • Adjust the way you are sitting so you can hinge.
  • Get connected to the boat, structural posture- King of the Mountain Drill
  • Keep glutes and lats engaged all the time on the drive, drive through heels after the cross over. This supports the posture.
  • Keep your weight into the rigger at all times, work the handles around the pin all the time, stay on the path of the handle.

That’s a lot to process.  She also provided my training plan for April/May.  There is a new type of session in this program…Speed Play.

  • 60’ with speed play
  • Rest: n/a only to rehydrate
  • Rating/Pace: Cat VI; target SR 18-20.
  • Once every 10 minutes take the stroke rate up to 28 spm for 20 strokes.

I modified the session to fit in the KOM drill.  I did about 2 minutes of the drill each time I turned on the river.  It was a bit windy.  Because of the time I took doing the rigging, I needed to cut a couple of km out of the session by turning at the old stone bridge instead of going all the way back to the dam.

Screen Shot 2018-04-14 at 12.00.24 PM.png

The King of the Mountain drill was challenging.  It was a little windy so the boat was getting pushed around and I had trouble holding the blades clear.  I was really tensed up in the first set, a little better after that.  I think it makes sense to break it up into small chunks like that.

During the row, I really enjoyed the 20 stroke fast bits.  I decided to target r30 for those and focus on stroke mechanics.  Get my blades clear on recovery.  Get my heels down on the drive.  Keep hinging at the hips.  Usually when I rate up like that I just pull like a dog.  Today, I tried for a bit more finesse.  I doubt it would have looked any different to a bystander.

          Workout Summary - media/20180413-1305250o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|12436|73:07.0|02:56.4|153.6|21.6|143.4|174.0|07.9
W-|12436|73:07.0|02:56.4|153.6|21.6|143.4|174.0|07.9
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|174.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|12436|73:07.5|02:56.4|153.6|21.6|143.4|174.0|07.9

Here is a comparison of the stroke profile for the r30 strokes and the steady state strokes (around r20).

So, I am not losing length.  Actually, I’m about 4 degrees longer at r30.  And the slip and wash both look good.  The peak force angle is a bit earlier (28 deg vs 33deg).  I think that correlates to the early hump in the acceleration curve that shows up at speed.

Screen Shot 2018-04-14 at 12.15.44 PM.png

Mostly in the row, I was trying to focus on maintaining outward pressure on the oarlocks during recovery and sit up taller.  When I did it right and managed to finish cleanly, I felt rock solid as I travelled up the slide with the blades clear of the water.  However, it was really hard to keep everything in focus every stroke.  I’d focus on finishes and forget to keep pressure out, or do OK on both of those, but slump in the seat.

But, seeing the difference in my erg form by focusing on keeping my knees down and hinging at my hips makes me feel like this is struggle is worth it.  It would be great if I could put together a thousand of those beautiful clean strokes in one session.

Friday afternoon, Jill and I headed down to the cape, where we are now.  I’ll be erging this weekend.  Today’s session.

  • 4 x 12’
  • Rest between: 6’
  • Rating/Pace:
    • 6’ @ Cat VI; target 18-20
    • 4’ @ Cat IV; target SR 24
    • 2’ @ Cat III; target SR 28.