4 x 2K / 5′ OTW

September 25, 2018Leave a comment

I have been having trouble sleeping the past two nights. On Monday night, I slept from 10:30 to 1:00AM, and not at all there after. Last night, 10:30 to 2:00. So 6 hours of sleep over two nights. I sure hope I sleep through tonight.

As you might guess, I had no trouble getting up with my alarm this morning. I was watching the clock, waiting for it to click over to 5:15. Then I headed to river. It was cool and cloudy, mid-40s with a light wind that was a cross tail wind going downstream. It’s getting darker in the mornings now. It was quite dark when I arrived at the dock, but by the time I finished scrubbing the goose shit off the dock, it was reasonably light. I definitely need to replace the batteries in my safety light.

I also replaced the battery in my oarlock and it sprung back to life.

The plan for today:

4 x 2k
roughly 5 minute rests, but longer is OK
stroke rate: 25-26
target pace: 2:16
target power: 165W (same as last time)

I started with a nice formal warmup. Pick drill, then some legs only, then about a minute of full pressure at around 20 spm. Then paddle through the cut, have a quick drink of water, get myself lined up, get myself psyched up, wait for an even minute and go.

          Workout Summary - media/20180925-1255310o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|12338|74:51.0|03:02.0|106.9|23.8|141.8|177.0|06.9
W-|08116|37:06.0|02:17.2|158.2|25.4|162.5|177.0|08.6
R-|04228|37:45.0|04:27.9|056.6|22.2|121.6|177.0|05.7
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00213|00:59.4|02:19.2|129.9|20.2|125.9|135.0|10.6 - wu
02|01983|08:40.4|02:11.2|159.1|25.2|159.3|172.0|09.1
03|01993|09:20.7|02:20.7|164.3|26.0|166.4|175.0|08.2
04|01966|08:46.9|02:14.0|153.7|25.8|162.7|175.0|08.7
05|01961|09:18.9|02:22.5|158.5|25.4|165.1|177.0|08.3

The first interval was magical. I needed to maneuver around a couple of fours that were infringing in my lane about 500m into it, but otherwise it was like gliding on rails. We’ve had a lot of rain later (Thanks Florence) and the river is unusually high for this time of year. I think it was giving me about 5 splits downstream. Seeing the fast splits got me a bit excited, so I pushed the last 500m pretty hard.

What the stream flow giveth in piece #1, it took away in piece #2. 5 more watts, almost 10 seconds slower per 500. And it took 40 seconds longer! I was a little fatigued after that one.

I didn’t push the third piece as hard through the first 1000m. I was feeling a little rough around the edges. After I negotiated the s-curve. I pushed harder and finished it strong.

Now the last interval. Up river and into the light headwind. I was really tired, so I started off limiting my stroke rate to 25. I tried to work on holding form and I tried to ignore the pace. The last 1000m were pretty horrible. I felt like I was on the edge of blowing up, but my HR was basically pegged at 175 until the very end. Either it was lack of sleep, or an inability to really dive into the hurt locker, but it felt like the last 1000m was in the “red”.

After I finished, I rowed with feet out back to the dock (quite slowly). Good workout, a little depressed it wasn’t faster, but well executed.

Tomorrow: 75′ steady state, r20.

And we’re back to a regular progamming

September 24, 2018Leave a comment

Let’s see, where were we. Friday morning, I went for a run on sore legs. The rest of the day, I was mocked mercilessly by my coworkers because I was hobbling around like a very old man.

Around 3pm I left for the airport. I was supposed to hop on a 5:40 flight to Toronto, and then connect to Boston, getting me home by around 8pm eastern time on Friday night. Things did not work out that way. We left the gate about an hour late, and then once we got out to the runway, the pilot came on and announced that there was a maintenance problem and we were heading back to the gate. They unloaded us and gave us dinner vouchers, and gave us no clue about when we would leave.

I started working the phones. Given that I had already missed my connection and I had no idea when I would take off, I decided that I should start working on options. I found a flight that would leave at 10:50 to LAX and allow me to connect to the red eye to Boston, getting in around 8am. This seemed like a better option that getting stuck overnight in Tokyo or Toronto, so I reserved a seat and waited to hear what happened with my flight.

Around 8:30, they came on the PA and announced that the new boarding time for my flight was 10:30pm. Since that was so far away, I figured there had to be some uncertainty in it and I decided to go for the LA option. I got on board (last row in coach!), and settled in for a long and bumpy flight. My original flight ended up taking off at 12:44am. It arrived at 11:01 pm on Friday night. The next flight to Boston left at 2pm the next day, so I guess I made the right call. It was still 30 hours of travel and I felt totally destroyed when by the time I got home.

Sorry for the long story. Anyway, I didn’t feel like working out of Saturday.

Sunday – Sept 23: 10K Threshold on the dreaded Dynamic

Gotta back to it. First, a 2k warmup. Held 2:00-ish pace for 1000m, then paddled 500, then another 500 around 2:00.

I had failed last week with a target pace of 2:00. I had actually started a bit faster, at 1:58 and I decided that I could again try for 2:00, but be a bit more careful about staying on target. It was also a lot cooler. The piece went much better. I got a bit desperate with 2k to get and rated up a couple of pips which got me through the worst of it.

          Workout Summary - media/20180923-2055320o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10000|39:48.0|01:59.4|205.3|25.3|164.5|180.0|09.9
W-|10000|39:48.0|01:59.4|205.3|25.3|164.5|180.0|09.9
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|180.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01000|03:57.2|01:58.6|206.8|24.8|139.7|153.0|10.2
01|01000|03:59.2|01:59.6|204.6|25.0|155.4|158.0|10.0
02|01000|03:59.1|01:59.5|205.2|25.1|159.1|161.0|10.0
03|01000|03:59.3|01:59.7|204.1|25.1|162.5|163.0|10.0
04|01000|03:59.6|01:59.8|203.5|25.1|164.7|166.0|10.0
05|01000|03:59.8|01:59.9|203.1|25.1|167.1|169.0|10.0
06|01000|03:59.3|01:59.7|204.3|25.1|171.1|174.0|10.0
07|01000|04:00.3|02:00.2|201.8|25.2|172.6|174.0|09.9
08|01000|04:00.2|02:00.1|201.6|26.3|174.6|176.0|09.5
09|01000|03:54.5|01:57.3|218.1|26.4|177.8|180.0|09.7

So, mission accomplished. I will have to try this on a static erg soon to see what the pace difference is to the dynamic. I think it’s nearly 5 splits.

Monday – Sept 24: Drills on the fives

Back on the water after 9 days. Felt wobbly and awkward at first. And it was windy and choppy (Wind 10-15mph NE). Not ideal for drills, but really useful nonetheless.

Looks like the batteries on my oarlock died about 50 minutes into the session. The paces were pretty slow with a head wind going downstream and abnormally high flow going upstream.

By the end of the session, I felt much better. I was tapping down well and getting myself over the oars

Tomorrow: 4 x 2000 / 5′ (target pace: 2:16)

Ohhh, my legs!

September 21, 2018Leave a comment

Still in Yokohama. This morning I went to the gym at 6:50am intending to do some kind of a non-impact workout to try to easy the horrifying DOMS I was feeling in my legs from yesterday’s run. When I got the the gym, I discovered that it opened at 8am. (WTF?)

So, despite the complaints from legs, and the fact that it was raining, I decided to go for another run. Same route as yesterday.

Plodding in Yokohama

September 20, 2018Leave a comment

I got the hotel around 8pm last night and I wanted Sushi and Beer a LOT more than I wanted to workout. So, I had Sushi and Beer. And then I had a call from 9pm to 10pm and another from 12am to 1am. The last call left me in quite a keyed up state, and I didn’t get to sleep until around 2.

I slept to 7 and immediately headed out for a run. Our office is in Yokohama, right on the waterfront and it is the best place to run. There is a waterfront park that stretches 3km, so you have lots of stuff to look at, it’s nice and flat, and you don’t have to cross too many streets. Even for someone who is not a runner (me), it’s irresistible.

It’s hard for me to run slowly enough to do a low intensity workout. So today was more of a threshold kind of affair.

Now my legs are sore and I feel great.

Tomorrow I’ll have to see how paralyzed I am. I might go for an easier run/jog/walk. It’s a shame to not get outside.

Just deal with it

September 19, 2018Leave a comment

So, last report was back on Sept 11th when I had a lovely row at Crossfit Del Mar in San Diego.

Wed, Sept 12 – No training:

Early start to fly up to San Jose. Meetings all day, business dinner. No time to train

Thursday, Sept 13 – No Training:

Up early to catch my flight home

Friday, Sept 14 – 20 x 2′ OTW 1x:

In Newton, in my fluid. Very light tailwind going down river. I was able to fit in 5 intervals over the rowable part of the river (just barely).

I pushed the first set a bit too hard and struggled the rest of the workout, but it was pretty good fun.

          Workout Summary - media/20180914-1500310o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14103|84:15.0|02:59.2|109.8|23.3|150.0|177.0|07.2
W-|08686|38:53.0|02:14.3|170.0|26.2|160.4|176.0|08.5
R-|05437|45:23.0|04:10.5|058.2|20.7|141.0|176.0|06.6
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00107|00:30.2|02:21.1|135.4|19.9|127.1|131.0|10.7 - wu
02|00473|02:02.4|02:09.3|166.1|24.9|140.3|159.0|09.3
03|00492|02:07.3|02:09.4|181.4|25.4|155.7|165.0|09.1
04|00467|02:00.0|02:08.5|159.3|27.0|161.9|169.0|08.6
05|00471|02:02.2|02:09.8|178.8|25.5|162.2|170.0|09.1
06|00242|01:00.4|02:04.9|208.0|28.8|157.0|166.0|08.3 - cut short
07|00447|01:59.2|02:13.3|178.8|26.6|154.5|170.0|08.5
08|00434|02:00.7|02:19.0|162.1|26.3|165.1|171.0|08.2
09|00434|01:58.5|02:16.4|196.6|26.8|166.9|175.0|08.2
10|00435|01:57.9|02:15.5|171.2|27.5|168.6|176.0|08.1
11|00413|01:52.7|02:16.3|177.8|27.1|168.5|174.0|08.1
12|00426|01:54.4|02:14.3|152.3|26.1|152.0|168.0|08.5
13|00449|02:00.0|02:13.6|170.1|26.0|162.6|170.0|08.6
14|00446|02:00.6|02:15.2|137.0|26.9|164.9|171.0|08.2
15|00440|01:58.6|02:14.9|169.5|26.3|165.1|173.0|08.5
16|00416|01:51.3|02:13.7|173.9|25.8|164.5|172.0|08.7
17|00424|01:56.8|02:17.9|156.8|25.6|151.2|167.0|08.5
18|00438|01:59.1|02:16.0|159.4|26.1|162.6|171.0|08.4
19|00406|01:54.0|02:20.3|184.9|25.7|162.7|171.0|08.3
20|00412|01:53.9|02:18.2|157.9|25.8|164.6|172.0|08.4
21|00414|01:52.9|02:16.4|187.0|27.1|165.7|174.0|08.1

Saturday, Sept 15: Failed 10K Dynamic:

I was a it worried about back to back hard workouts, but since I was flying out Sunday morning to Asia, I felt like I had no other option. I was also stuck with doing it on the dynamic erg. But, I figured if I just picked an easy target, I’d be OK. I was wrong.

I started with a 2k warmup. I included some arms and body only and some legs only to see what they felt like on the dynamic. They felt vaguely boat like.

Then into the main event. I made it to 6K and when the going got tough, I gave up. I think it was lack of motivation, but I felt pretty lousy at the time. When I hit 6K, I knew that I had another 16 minutes to go and I didn’t feel like I would be able to deal with the discomfort for that much longer. I tried to get back on track, gave up again, then paddled along at a slower pace until there was 1k to go and then I pulled it back to target. It was ugly.

-|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10000|40:38.0|02:01.9|193.5|25.5|165.2|184.0|09.7
W-|10000|40:38.0|02:01.9|193.5|25.5|165.2|184.0|09.7
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|184.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01000|03:55.6|01:57.8|210.4|24.6|140.0|153.0|10.3
01|01000|03:58.3|01:59.1|206.8|25.1|156.9|159.0|10.0
02|01000|03:59.0|01:59.5|205.3|25.2|161.0|162.0|10.0
03|01000|03:59.8|01:59.9|203.2|25.2|164.6|166.0|09.9
04|01000|04:01.1|02:00.6|199.7|25.7|167.8|170.0|09.7
05|01000|04:03.1|02:01.6|194.7|26.0|170.8|172.0|09.5
06|01000|04:14.5|02:07.2|171.5|25.3|167.9|171.0|09.3 - hd
07|01000|04:17.3|02:08.7|165.5|24.2|167.6|172.0|09.6 - hd
08|01000|04:11.6|02:05.8|175.5|24.4|174.5|176.0|09.8 - paddle
09|01000|03:58.5|01:59.2|207.3|29.2|179.7|184.0|08.6 - rate up

That left me pretty much destroyed.

Sunday, September 16: No Training

Monday, September 17: No Training

I took off at 10:30AM to fly to Cebu in the Philippines. The route was BOS–>YYZ–>ICN–>CEB. Total travel time door to door was 26 hours. I got to my hotel at 12:15am Tuesday morning local time. So effectively, Monday just didn’t exist. I managed to get about 2 hours of sleep on the long leg to ICN, and another 5 hours on the flight to CEB.

Tuesday, September 18th: ~50′ in the fitness center.

I managed to get another 3 hours of sleep at my hotel (after a couple of conference calls) and then got up at 5:30. I was at the fitness center when it opened at 6 am. I felt a bit ragged from the travel, so I didn’t want to do anything too ambitious.

I started with 20 minutes inclined march on the treadmill. The time crawled by painfully slowly. Then I bopped over to the elliptical. I intended to program a 20 minute workout, but somehow ended up with 28 minutes. That actually turned out to be a good thing because it gave me enough time to call home, shower and grab a quick bite to eat before I headed to our facility.

The place I’m staying is very nice. Cebu is quite the vacation destination for Koreans these days.

Wednesday, September 19: It’s a mystery!

I flew out of Cebu at 9 this morning and now I am sitting in the airport in Osaka. I get to Haneda around 7pm tonight and I might try to work out when I get to my hotel, or I might blow that off and get a beer.

3 x 20′ / 2′ at crossfit Del Mar

September 11, 2018Leave a comment

On the road. Just a steady state session. On a static erg.

A solid week of training (It’s a Miracle!)

September 10, 20188 Comments

My last post updated things to Tuesday, 4 September. Since then, things have been going great! I knew I had some travel coming up this week, so I skipped rest days and just alternated hard and easy sessions. Here’s an overview.

You can see that I slid some sessions around. I was scheduled for my 5 x 1500 on Monday 9/3, but I couldn’t get on the water. Instead I did an easy steady state session on the dynamic, and moved the hard sessions out by a day. I am also taking liberties with the easy sessions. My coach suggested that I use these sessions to continue to work on drills and also to include some speed work because it has value in head races for overtaking and at the finish. It also pushes me to work technique at high rates, which is a good thing.

I’ll have a bit more to say about training progress overall, but first, the sessions.

Wednesday, 5 Sept: 75′ of drills on the 5s.

Another great morning to row. This session is all about technique. It’s 4 minutes of steady state and then a minute of drills. The drills were

half slide
delayed feather
pause at body over
open hands on recovery

As you can see it was a low intensity session.

Thursday: 6 Sept: 12 x 3’/1′

With the nice easy workout on Tuesday, I should have been well rested and ready for action on Wednesday. These short interval / short rest sessions are supposed to give me a chance to get lots of minutes in at close to head race intensity, but include enough rest so that fatigue does not become a big factor until deep into the workout.

That’s not how it worked out in this session. I decided that I would take a little extra time at the ends of the river, so it was really broken up into sets of 3 reps. I managed through the first three, but when I turned and confronted the head wind, I overcooked the fourth rep. I started the fifth, as I was approaching the s-turn, and I felt kind funny, a little woozy maybe. Anyway, I pulled the plug and paddled through the turn. I lined up and did the 6th interval per plan, but it was a nasty experience. Notice that my HR is not extremely high, but my RPE was through the roof. I was gasping for breath and shaking.

I took a good long rest and a drink, then I turned around to do another set, now with a tail wind. I was a bit more conservative on pace for these and made it through the set of three. Another turn and another longer than proper rest and I steeled myself for the up wind set. I pounded out 2 reps, which took me up to the turn. I decided to paddle through the turn and take a longer rest. Then I did the 12th rep and finished strong.

The plan called for another set of three, but I was completely toasted. In really hard workouts, my right glute will start to hurt at the end of a session and it was really bad this time. I took my feet out of the shoes and gingerly paddled home. I stopped and stretched every couple minutes because I just couldn’t get comfortable in the seat.

Stunningly, no red in the plot.

          Workout Summary - media/20180906-1215320o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|12579|79:38.0|03:09.9|092.8|21.6|144.0|178.0|07.3
W-|07379|33:52.0|02:17.7|150.5|24.7|159.6|178.0|08.8
R-|05211|45:47.0|04:23.6|050.1|19.4|132.4|178.0|06.2
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00694|03:03.9|02:12.5|151.4|24.2|145.9|160.0|09.4 - dwn
02|00676|03:02.1|02:14.6|148.9|25.4|155.6|166.0|08.8 - dwn
03|00691|03:03.2|02:12.5|159.0|23.9|161.5|172.0|09.5 - dwn
04|00637|02:57.3|02:19.3|156.0|25.7|159.5|171.0|08.4 - up
05|00252|01:10.6|02:20.4|157.8|24.6|157.9|163.0|08.7 - up (fail)
06|00630|02:57.0|02:20.5|146.3|23.6|160.1|173.0|09.0 - up
07|00681|03:03.4|02:14.7|150.1|25.2|154.6|168.0|08.8 - dwn
08|00663|03:02.2|02:17.4|134.6|24.7|164.9|174.0|08.9 - dwn
09|00641|02:54.3|02:15.9|149.3|24.4|168.1|177.0|09.1 - dwn
10|00597|02:52.4|02:24.4|146.8|25.1|158.7|171.0|08.3 - up
11|00586|02:47.6|02:23.0|155.2|25.1|167.1|178.0|08.4 - up
12|00631|02:58.1|02:21.1|155.8|24.9|160.7|175.0|08.5 - up

Friday, 7 Sept: 70′ steady state with bumps

In this session, I wanted to keep the overall intensity low to moderate, but I wanted to do 20 stroke bursts at as high of a stroke as I could while maintaining reasonably clean stroke work.

As I went along, I found it easier to get the rate up into the mid thirties. In one rep, I was really feeling it. I was finishing so clean that I was keeping my blades off the water on the very brief recoveries. I could feel the boat settle in the drive and pop in the recovery. I loved it! It’s fun to go fast.

         Workout Summary - media/20180907-1225290o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13765|75:57.0|02:45.5|109.3|20.2|141.9|170.0|09.0
W-|01801|07:23.0|02:03.2|212.8|32.5|153.8|166.0|07.5
R-|11973|68:34.0|02:51.8|098.2|18.9|140.6|166.0|08.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00149|00:37.4|02:05.8|206.9|28.8|146.9|155.0|08.3
02|00156|00:41.3|02:12.2|203.3|28.9|150.7|158.0|07.8
03|00156|00:38.4|02:03.4|228.1|31.2|156.9|164.0|07.8
04|00167|00:40.7|02:02.1|205.3|30.8|150.8|157.0|08.0
05|00151|00:37.4|02:04.2|215.5|32.3|156.9|162.0|07.5
06|00137|00:33.5|02:02.5|242.6|34.3|154.6|162.0|07.1
07|00151|00:38.3|02:06.7|206.0|31.4|152.7|158.0|07.5
08|00136|00:33.4|02:03.0|185.8|34.1|156.5|163.0|07.1
09|00142|00:34.4|02:01.0|226.4|35.0|159.1|166.0|07.1
10|00136|00:31.4|01:55.4|237.2|36.3|148.5|158.0|07.2
11|00157|00:38.2|02:01.4|190.5|33.1|153.7|163.0|07.5
12|00165|00:39.6|02:00.1|212.7|34.8|158.1|166.0|07.2

Saturday: Attempted 10K Threshold

Down on the Cape. I was hoping to do my threshold session as a coastal row, but the weather was a bit windy, forcing me inside to do it on the erg (on slides). The plan wanted a 40′ threshold piece, so I decided on a 10K.

I started with the a 2K warm up.

Then into the main event. I thought I should be able to do it at a split of 1:58, so of course I set off at 1:57. Turns out, 2:00 would have been a better choice. I blew up just after 6K.

I took a few paddle strokes and then got going again at about a 2:02 pace. I sped up a bit towards the end, but it was a pretty ugly showing.

          Workout Summary - media/20180908-2250280o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10000|39:36.0|01:58.8|209.3|25.7|167.7|182.0|09.8
W-|10000|39:37.0|01:58.9|209.3|25.7|167.7|182.0|09.8
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|182.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01000|03:51.4|01:55.7|221.1|25.4|142.2|154.0|10.2
01|01000|03:53.6|01:56.8|219.8|25.7|160.0|162.0|10.0
02|01000|03:55.3|01:57.6|215.0|25.4|163.6|166.0|10.0
03|01000|03:55.2|01:57.6|215.5|25.6|167.0|169.0|10.0
04|01000|03:55.5|01:57.7|214.5|25.6|170.3|172.0|10.0
05|01000|03:56.8|01:58.4|211.2|25.9|172.6|174.0|09.8
06|01000|04:11.3|02:05.6|185.1|24.9|168.6|174.0|09.6 - boom!
07|01000|04:01.3|02:00.6|199.4|24.9|174.0|177.0|10.0
08|01000|04:02.4|02:01.2|196.7|25.1|177.2|179.0|09.9
09|01000|03:54.5|01:57.3|217.3|28.3|180.6|182.0|09.0

Good training effect anyway. I’m interested to see how this piece goes on a static erg to get an idea of how much I suffer on slides.

Sunday, 9 September: 3 x 20’/2′ dynamic

So nice and cool! I decided to observe a strict 150 bpm max HR because I wanted to recover from the nasty 10k attempt the day before. It turned out to be a really nice session. Unfortunately, the painsled session data got blown away somehow. But in any case, it was about a 2:08 pace, which is pretty good for a low HR cap on the dynamic.

It was one of those sessions where I felt better after I finished than when I started.

Monday, 10 September: 4 x 2k OTW

This is the real pinnacle of the weekly training plan. The long intervals. They end up being very close to head race pace and by the last one you are feeling the effects.

Today the weather was cool again, and there was a bit of a breeze. A headwind heading down river.

My plan for the session was to aim at 25 or 26 strokes per minute and try to work on smooth strokes and clean finishes. I am trying to lighten up the first part of the drive. I feel like it went very well today.

         Workout Summary - media/20180910-1255340o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|12201|71:36.0|02:56.1|111.7|23.6|140.5|174.0|07.2
W-|07930|35:55.0|02:15.9|164.8|26.0|160.4|174.0|08.5
R-|04276|35:40.0|04:10.3|058.3|21.2|120.5|174.0|06.8
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|01966|09:02.4|02:18.0|164.8|25.5|156.5|167.0|08.5 - up
02|01987|08:54.2|02:14.4|166.3|26.0|160.6|171.0|08.6 - dwn
03|01969|08:59.0|02:16.9|163.3|26.7|162.0|174.0|08.2 - up
04|02008|08:59.9|02:14.4|164.8|25.9|162.5|173.0|08.6 - dwn

Notice the consistency of power between up and down wind pieces. That’s what I was hoping to do. As for the low HR, that’s pretty cool. It still felt really hard.

Comparing the stroke profiles to the last time I did this session. There isn’t a lot of difference, but the peak angle did move later by a couple of degrees.

After my row this morning, I drove straight to the airport. I showered at the Admiral’s Club and made my 10:30 flight with time to spare.

Now I am on a plane out to San Diego. I am planning to do a steady state session at DelMar crossfit tomorrow morning. Then I think my streak gets broken. I fly early morning up to San Jose and I have meetings all day, and a business dinner at night. I’m not sure if I will have time on Thursday before I fly home.

I track my overall training load in Strava and it was pretty depressing looking at it recently. But with the string of sessions I’ve put together, things are definitely picking up. I’m nearly to the level I was last January.

I should probably do a 20 minute test on a static erg to see where I stand.

It’s a pity that I have a trip to the Philippines and Japan coming up next week. That should screw things up pretty well.

Sun: 70′ Coastal, Mon: 3 x 20′, Tues: 5 x 1500 OTW

September 4, 2018Leave a comment

Sunday: 70′ Coastal Row

Down on the Cape. Another glorious day. A bit hotter and a bit less breeze. I felt pretty worn out from the 36′ threshold piece (and the long cool down) on Saturday, and my hands were a bit beaten up too.

The goal for the day was just a nice steady state row. Try to keep the HR below 155 and “row good”. From that perspective, it was a great session. I rowed out to my favorite buoy, and then headed north to Wellfleet harbor. I rowed all the way around the town jetty and then turned around for the row back.

Except for nearly constant wakes for most of the way back south, it was pure delight.

The glitch around 30 minutes was the turn into the harbor. At 35 minutes, I needed to take a sharp turn to avoid a moored boat. I was rowing on an incoming tide, that why the pace changed so much at 16 minutes. That was when I went from fighting the tide to going with it into the harbor. From 42 minutes to 52 minutes, I was rowing out of the harbor. I had to stop a couple of times to open the bailer. Then from 55 minutes to the end, you can see the diminishing effect of the tide. At first, it was in front of me, and then as I went south along Indian Head, it gradually swings behind me as the tide pushes into loagy bay.

Monday: 3 x 20 / 2′ Dynamic

We drove home late in the day on Sunday, and on Monday I just took care of stuff. Shopping, laundry, getting organized for the work week. By the schedule, I was supposed to do a threshold session, but I preferred to do that on the water, and honestly, I was still a bit tired from my two coastal outings. I decided to swap sessions and just do steady state.

The intent is to stay below 155, no matter how sucky the pace gets. And it got sucky. It was hot as hell and humid too.

          Workout Summary - media/20180903-2155290o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|23559|66:00.0|01:24.0|148.1|21.5|143.2|157.0|16.6
W-|13830|60:00.0|02:10.2|158.7|21.2|144.3|157.0|10.9
R-|09732|06:00.0|00:18.5|042.9|23.9|132.4|157.0|168.5
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|04644|20:00.0|02:09.2|161.8|20.2|135.1|146.0|11.5
01|04604|20:00.0|02:10.3|158.5|21.2|146.5|153.0|10.9
02|04582|20:00.0|02:11.0|155.8|22.2|151.4|157.0|10.3

I left a big puddle.

Tuesday: 5 x 1500 / 4′ OTW 1x

On the Charles in Newton. Sunny, hot, nearly windless. A beautiful day for rowing.

The goal for today was to try to focus on a bit higher stroke rates and hopefully faster paces than the 4 x 2000 from last week. So, I was trying to stay between 26 and 28. It might have been a bit too ambitious, but I sure felt like I had had a good workout when I was done.

          Workout Summary - media/20180904-1555280o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13603|84:03.0|03:05.4|109.2|23.1|148.0|181.0|07.0
W-|07736|35:12.0|02:16.5|152.5|26.9|166.4|181.0|08.2
R-|05872|48:51.0|04:09.6|077.9|20.3|134.8|181.0|07.2
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00228|01:05.5|02:23.5|129.9|21.0|140.4|143.0|09.9 wu strokes
02|01512|06:37.3|02:11.4|160.9|27.1|161.8|176.0|08.4
03|01486|06:46.8|02:16.9|159.7|26.6|166.9|179.0|08.2
04|01482|06:41.5|02:15.5|151.7|27.6|170.0|181.0|08.0
05|01522|07:06.4|02:20.0|151.0|27.1|168.7|181.0|07.9
06|01506|06:55.1|02:17.9|143.5|26.8|168.4|181.0|08.1

Pretty clear that I didn’t have much left over for the fifth rep.

Tomorrow: steady state technique day. drills on the 5s

Friday: Steady State, Saturday: Threshold

September 2, 2018Leave a comment

Friday: 3 x 20′ / 2′ on slides

I flew out of San Jose at about 9pm and arrived in Boston at 5:15am Friday morning. I got an hour or two of sleep on the plane. Once I got to Boston, I got to my car and drove home to Hopkinton, grabbed a few things I needed for the long weekend and headed to the Cape. I ultimately arrived around 9am. I went to bed for a couple of hours and woke up feeling kind of groggy. I felt a bit better as the day went on.

I toyed with the idea of going for a coastal row, but it was a bit windy and I didn’t feel like the hassle of loading the boat. Instead I just popped down to the basement for a steady state session on slides.

It was a pretty lousy session. I needed to slow way down to keep my HR below the caps.

          Workout Summary - media/20180831-2030270o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14499|65:59.0|02:16.6|144.3|19.5|147.1|162.0|11.3
W-|13795|59:53.0|02:10.3|155.1|19.4|148.4|162.0|11.9
R-|00707|06:00.0|04:14.6|038.1|20.4|134.8|162.0|06.9
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|04712|20:00.0|02:07.3|163.7|19.8|140.6|148.0|11.9
01|04547|20:00.0|02:12.0|152.5|19.1|150.0|155.0|11.9
02|04536|19:53.8|02:11.6|149.1|19.3|154.5|162.0|11.8

Someday, I’m gonna figure out how to improve the accuracy of the summaries.

Saturday – Sept 1: 36′ Minute Threshold Piece in a coastal row.

It was gorgeous today! Sunny, about 75F, light to moderate breeze from the East. That’s the best direction for the wind because it provides the best water conditions since the wind is coming off the land.

I launched from the north beach and turned to head into Loagy Bay. I wanted to get as long of a straightish run as I could get. I hate turning around in long threshold pieces. I figured I could run up along Indian Neck, and then turn West and head toward Chequessett Neck and finish by the outlet of the Herring River. This would be running with the incoming tide, but there wouldn’t be much current close to shore, and the chop should be minimized except as I crossed to Great Island, and then it would be generally behind me.

          Workout Summary - media/20180901-2110280o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14550|83:37.0|02:52.4|000.0|22.7|158.3|182.0|07.7
W-|14551|83:37.0|02:52.4|000.0|22.7|158.3|182.0|07.7
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|182.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01658|09:00.0|02:42.8|000.0|20.1|140.0|152.0|09.2 - warmup
01|06827|36:00.0|02:38.2|000.0|24.4|171.4|182.0|07.8 - Main piece
02|06066|38:37.5|03:11.0|000.0|21.7|150.4|181.0|07.2 - Long row home!

The row went very well. I just counted strokes. Every hundred was another 4 minutes down. I wasn’t sure how many minutes I would get out of the course. It turned out to be about 36′. I had two slow downs. The first was a massive waking that seemed to get me from two directions, and then soon after that, I needed to turn to avoid the shoal as I got to the Herring River inlet.

I was really pleased with the workout. I was able to settle in to a groove with my HR in the 170s and just keep cranking. I’d like to get the stroke rate up over the next month, but for now, I am just pleased to have unbroken sessions and good efforts.

After I finished, I realized just how far away I was from home. And I also realized that a lot of it would be into the wind and tide. I decided to just take it easy and focus on rowing with reasonably good form. I was really tired for the first 10 minutes or so after I finished the hard piece, but by the time I got close to the end, I was feeling good and pushed a little harder.

Now, a few hours later, I am starting to feel very stiff and tired. And I have a couple of really big blisters. I guess it was a pretty hard workout after all.

Quantified Rowing

Measure – Adjust – Improve

Month: September 2018