Last post was on Sept 3rd, quite a while ago.  That covered my row on Sept 2.

Tuesday – Sept 3 – Drills on the fives

Back in my single, back in Newton.  Feeling a bit unfamiliar.  Best way to cure that…Drills!

The plan is simple, row for 4 minutes and then do 1 minute of drills.

• square blade
• late feather
• open palms on recovery
• half slide rowing
• pause at body over

It was a nice morning, and there some other boats out.  Even if I’m not really prepping for an event, it’s still nice to be out and working on getting better.

        Workout Summary - media/20190904-1621000o.csv
--|Total|-Total----|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time-----|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13861|01:16:02.4|02:44.6|000.0|19.8|142.8|164.0|09.2
W-|08194|00:39:47.2|02:25.7|000.0|20.0|147.2|162.0|10.3
R-|05685|00:36:16.6|03:11.4|000.0|19.6|138.0|162.0|09.4
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00084|00:25.1|02:29.4|000.0|19.2|124.5|126.0|10.5
02|00318|01:31.2|02:23.2|000.0|19.0|135.2|141.0|11.0
03|00189|00:54.2|02:23.5|000.0|19.8|132.9|137.0|10.6
04|00850|04:03.6|02:23.2|000.0|19.6|146.0|153.0|10.7
05|00840|04:06.4|02:26.7|000.0|19.5|147.8|151.0|10.5
06|00341|01:38.0|02:23.7|000.0|19.5|149.5|153.0|10.7
07|00832|04:04.2|02:26.7|000.0|19.6|145.4|149.0|10.5
08|00735|03:37.2|02:27.7|000.0|19.5|149.0|153.0|10.4
09|00487|02:22.0|02:25.8|000.0|20.2|148.5|153.0|10.2
10|00237|01:10.9|02:29.8|000.0|19.4|141.8|147.0|10.3
11|00179|00:52.8|02:27.3|000.0|19.2|141.6|143.0|10.6
12|00535|02:37.2|02:26.8|000.0|19.8|150.6|155.0|10.3
13|00576|02:45.6|02:23.7|000.0|20.7|152.9|159.0|10.1
14|00736|03:34.7|02:25.9|000.0|20.1|148.8|156.0|10.2
15|00311|01:31.9|02:27.7|000.0|20.2|149.0|152.0|10.0
16|00343|01:40.6|02:26.8|000.0|20.3|156.2|157.0|10.1
17|00128|00:38.0|02:28.2|000.0|20.6|145.7|148.0|09.8
18|00072|00:22.6|02:36.7|000.0|21.2|131.3|133.0|09.0
19|00400|01:51.0|02:18.9|000.0|23.1|151.1|162.0|09.3

Wednesday – 4 Sept: 2′ on / 1′ off increasing rates

This was a hard and fun session.  There was a reasonable headwind going upriver.  I ran out of oomph in the last set, which I did the first three downriver and then turned to come back.  I bailed on the r28 rep, and then basically did 1′ and 1′ off of r28 instead for a few reps, just to get a bit more time at rate.

       Workout Summary - media/20190904-1621460o.csv
--|Total|-Total----|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time-----|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|11736|01:07:54.1|02:53.6|112.8|22.1|144.4|179.0|07.8
W-|06742|00:30:02.8|02:13.7|174.3|23.9|153.6|178.0|09.5
R-|05008|00:37:52.6|03:46.9|064.0|20.7|137.1|178.0|07.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00112|00:33.0|02:27.7|128.7|19.8|127.0|129.0|10.3
02|00415|01:57.0|02:21.1|130.8|20.0|135.0|145.0|10.6
03|00430|01:57.0|02:16.0|165.5|22.4|139.2|152.0|09.8
04|00473|02:03.4|02:10.5|159.0|24.2|149.0|160.0|09.5
05|00477|02:02.5|02:08.3|182.3|26.0|155.0|166.0|09.0
06|00246|01:00.4|02:02.8|222.8|27.9|152.2|161.0|08.8
07|00411|01:55.7|02:20.7|151.6|20.2|142.1|159.0|10.6
08|00459|02:04.6|02:15.8|171.3|22.1|157.1|167.0|10.0
09|00441|01:57.9|02:13.7|201.0|23.8|160.6|172.0|09.4
10|00476|02:04.8|02:11.1|183.0|25.4|164.8|175.0|09.0
11|00456|01:55.9|02:07.2|217.0|28.0|168.8|178.0|08.4
12|00418|01:56.1|02:18.9|134.6|19.6|145.1|160.0|11.0
13|00447|02:00.2|02:14.4|164.5|21.5|155.3|166.0|10.4
14|00442|01:56.4|02:11.6|149.9|24.1|161.5|171.0|09.5
15|00433|01:56.0|02:13.9|210.9|26.4|164.9|176.0|08.5
16|00147|00:39.9|02:16.1|179.1|28.6|162.0|164.0|07.7
17|00226|01:01.1|02:15.1|192.7|27.5|154.8|167.0|08.1
18|00234|01:00.9|02:10.1|213.8|27.6|158.6|167.0|08.4

Thursday – Sept 5 – crappy static 10K

I had a conference call that went until after 10pm, so I slept in instead of getting up to row.  Later in the day, I went to the gym for a quick session.  I decided to do a threshold piece, and 10K has been giving me a lot of trouble lately.  I might as well work on that.  I set a target to just keep the pace under 2:00, and if you looked at the monitor picture, you’d conclude that it wasn’t so bad.

Sure, a little bobble in the middle, but no big deal.  Here’s the summary plot though.

3 HD’s!  I am in a tough place right now.  My stroke power is great, but my aerobic capacity is not anywhere near it was.  So I go too hard, under rate, and get discouraged.  I also don’t have a hard training objective, or trackable plan so, it is easy to start playing mind games when it gets a little scary in the middle of a long row.  Finally, ergs are boring.  I think I have to do a better job at rowing to stroke rate and pace goals.  I have to stop over cooking the beginnings of these rows.

Friday – Sept 6 – No training

I was working from home on Friday, so I didn’t go off to row in the morning.  I planned to do an erg session, but I didn’t have a gap in my schedule to go do it.

Saturday – 7 Sept – Aborted 10K

We stayed in Hopkinton this weekend, and so I planned to do an erg session in the afternoon.  I was so pissed off about the 10K row that I thought I would try again (today on slides).

I didn’t warm up on Thursday, so I did a nice 2K warmup.

Then I decided to be very careful and stick to the 2:00 pace.  I made it less than 2k before I gave up.  I was having some stomach issues and I really needed to stop the row.

That was massively depressing.  I really seem to be struggling.

Sunday – 8 Sept – 3 x 30′ / 2′

I was feeling very spooked about how badly things had been going.  I decided to step back and do a very consistent, low intensity session and go extra long.

It was a good call.  I was relaxed, enjoyed some good podcasts, and felt much better afterwards.

        Workout Summary - media/20190908-2135590o.csv
--|Total|-Total----|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time-----|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|21997|01:34:41.3|02:09.1|166.7|19.3|140.6|157.0|12.0
W-|20623|01:26:46.5|02:06.2|174.1|19.1|142.2|157.0|12.4
R-|01379|00:07:55.2|02:52.3|084.8|21.7|123.5|157.0|09.6
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|06551|27:36.3|02:06.4|173.4|19.2|133.5|144.0|12.4
02|07045|29:41.7|02:06.5|173.2|18.9|142.9|149.0|12.5
03|07028|29:28.5|02:05.8|175.8|19.3|149.6|157.0|12.4

Monday – 9 Sept – Steady state OTW with Humon

--|Total|-Total----|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time-----|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13655|01:16:06.2|02:47.2|120.6|20.1|133.4|158.0|08.9
W-|11821|00:58:46.1|02:29.1|138.2|19.5|139.6|158.0|10.4
R-|01839|00:17:20.7|04:43.0|061.2|21.9|112.4|158.0|06.6
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00152|00:45.6|02:29.8|130.5|19.7|130.3|133.0|10.1
02|02793|14:09.2|02:32.0|129.3|17.9|135.9|141.0|11.0
03|02716|13:46.6|02:32.2|131.8|18.3|135.3|148.0|10.8
04|02721|13:22.5|02:27.5|144.3|20.5|143.4|158.0|09.9
05|02777|13:39.0|02:27.5|142.8|20.1|144.9|154.0|10.1
06|00290|01:19.2|02:16.6|172.4|25.7|141.7|153.0|08.5
07|00372|01:44.0|02:19.8|155.5|25.4|137.5|154.0|08.4

Paces are slower because I used the data from the 2′ on 1′ off workout to do an analysis comparing gps and impeller data for up river and down river segments.  My calibration was off by about 3 seconds per 500m.  Bummer.  I’m slower than I thought I was. 😞

On the plus side, this session was just delightful from beginning to end.  I rowed it with Humon and tried to dance on the edge between green and orange.  I found that I am working a lot more efficiently at r20 than r18.

Tuesday – 10 Sept – No Training

I was out late because of a work celebration.  One of my coworkers was celebrating their 40th work anniversary.  So, I slept in on Tuesday morning.  I intended to go to the gym, but too many interruptions and too much work to do.

Wednesday – 11 Sept – Steady State OTW with Humon

Same session as monday.  tried to stick to r20.  I decided to do some higher rate work in the warmup to see if it hurt or helped later on.

At the end of my warmup, as I approached the dam in Waltham, I passed a sculler going the other way.  I’ve talked to him a number of times, a nice guy in his seventies.  Anyway, I got to the end, turned my boat, had a drink and then set off after him.  I knew it was just a steady state session, but the knowledge that there was a boat out  there ahead of me was stuck in my head.  I maintained my rate, but there might have been a little extra pressure in my stroke.  I caught up with him as we went through the s-turn.  He pushed a bit harder as I passed to mark time with me.  He’s going to be in the HOCR in a couple weeks (lucky guy) and he’s out most morning now training.

After I finished that leg, I spun around and followed him into the cove, which is now “protected” by a set of booms.  I had no trouble navigating the gap in the booms to get in the cove, and I had a nice chat with him as he docked.  But when I went to leave the cove, there was a reasonably strong tail wind and I got pushed into the booms.  It took me a lot of backing and forthing to extricate myself and at times I was really worried that I was going to end up going for a swim.  I think I’ll avoid the cove until those booms are gone.

     Workout Summary - media/20190914-1451000o.csv
--|Total|-Total----|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time-----|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|12637|01:17:24.7|03:03.8|111.0|21.5|136.9|172.0|07.6
W-|07963|00:39:33.5|02:29.0|148.4|21.4|147.6|169.0|09.5
R-|04688|00:37:52.4|04:02.4|071.9|21.6|125.8|169.0|06.5
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00217|01:03.5|02:26.3|130.4|19.9|121.7|136.0|10.3
02|00212|00:59.6|02:20.8|156.8|22.0|128.8|140.0|09.7
03|00219|01:01.2|02:19.7|171.4|23.5|131.0|141.0|09.1
04|00207|00:56.4|02:16.2|129.4|25.4|138.8|150.0|08.7
05|00204|00:51.1|02:05.4|222.4|28.2|144.1|157.0|08.5
06|00205|00:49.8|02:01.5|249.2|31.3|146.8|163.0|07.9
07|00201|00:46.2|01:54.8|277.3|34.9|154.5|169.0|07.5
08|00791|04:04.0|02:34.2|134.5|20.1|146.4|154.0|09.7
09|01195|06:11.6|02:35.5|142.5|20.3|158.9|166.0|09.5
10|00391|02:00.6|02:34.1|151.9|19.9|158.2|162.0|09.8
11|00084|00:26.4|02:36.2|153.0|22.5|127.7|131.0|08.5
12|01680|08:22.2|02:29.4|130.9|20.0|144.4|151.0|10.0
13|01434|07:29.5|02:36.8|136.8|20.4|149.6|155.0|09.4
14|00427|02:12.8|02:35.5|144.9|19.8|153.0|154.0|09.8
15|00339|01:35.6|02:20.9|179.1|25.0|146.0|161.0|08.5
16|00156|00:43.0|02:18.3|200.7|26.6|140.9|153.0|08.2

Thursday – 12 Sept – 3 x 20′ / 2′

Another late night.  We had dinner with a customer, and we had meetings setup to start early Thursday morning.  I decided to not row before the meeting so I could be on time and not sweaty when we got started.  Later in the day, after the meeting was over, I went to the gym and did a steady state session.  R19, 170w.

Weird misbehavior of the HR monitor at the start of the second piece.

Friday – 13 Sept – 10 x 3’/1′ Threshold

Another early meeting, so not enough time to row OTW.  I only had time for an abbreviated session.  I usually do 15×3′, but I cut back the number to fit the time and pushed a little harder.  It was a good session.  I was really happy with it.

Pretty remarkable smo2 swings…68% to 54%.  I still don’t really understand what it means when the algorithm goes from red back to orange or green in the depths of a hard interval.

This was a very satisfying workout.  I felt better all day afterwards.

Today:  Steady state on the erg.