Friday: No training
Saturday: No Training
Sunday: I was down on the cape, it was too cold to ride a bike and I didn’t want to pound my knee by going running. So, I decided to just take a nice long walk around the island.
It was about 3.5 miles and I was out for about a bit more than an hour. It was cold, windy and sunny. I loved it.
I had limited time this morning and frankly, I was a little grumpy. I just decided to ignore HR and just row 10K.
Workout Summary - media/20170112-1255080o.csv --|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg --|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS --|10000|39:42.0|01:59.1|206.3|21.9|157.5|171.0|11.5 W-|10000|39:43.0|01:59.2|206.3|21.9|157.4|171.0|11.5 R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|171.0|00.0 Workout Details #-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS- 00|01000|03:55.9|01:58.0|207.9|20.9|131.9|144.0|12.2 01|01000|03:57.1|01:58.6|209.9|21.8|148.2|152.0|11.6 02|01000|03:58.4|01:59.2|207.0|21.9|153.1|155.0|11.5 03|01000|03:58.3|01:59.2|206.6|22.0|156.1|158.0|11.5 04|01000|03:58.8|01:59.4|205.7|21.8|157.8|160.0|11.5 05|01000|03:59.0|01:59.5|205.1|22.0|160.3|162.0|11.4 06|01000|03:59.0|01:59.5|204.8|22.0|163.3|165.0|11.4 07|01000|03:59.1|01:59.5|205.1|22.0|165.0|167.0|11.4 08|01000|03:59.0|01:59.5|204.9|22.0|167.7|171.0|11.4 09|01000|03:58.5|01:59.2|206.4|22.3|169.7|171.0|11.3
It’s 1:20am and I’m on a work phone phone call :-O
I’m not sure I will have time to train. If I do, it will be just a quick 30 minutes or so.
I’ve been ramping volume pretty hard since last week. I’ve put in a total of 93km since January 5th. I probably should have ramped more slowly, but I haven’t had any knee issues (which is pretty cool)
I know I need to show a little patience, but it really bugs me to be as slow and unfit as I am right now. Today, the plan was to row a nice, slow half marathon and keep my Heart Rate below a HR cap of 150. It did not work out that way.
I thought I would be able to hold a 2:05 split, which is just about the 180W. I held that for about 10K, but by then, my heart rate had cruised up to nearly 160bpm. I dropped the power down to 170W, then 160W (2:10), but my heart rate just stubbornly stayed up around 160. I didn’t feel too bad, and I had no trouble sustaining this level of effort, but seriously? That kind of HR for this effort is horrifyingly bad for me.
Workout Summary - media/20170111-1350080o.csv --|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg --|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS --|21097|89:01.0|02:06.6|172.3|19.9|153.6|161.0|11.9 W-|21097|89:02.0|02:06.6|172.3|19.9|153.6|161.0|11.9 R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|161.0|00.0 Workout Details #-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS- 00|01000|04:05.2|02:02.6|183.2|19.3|125.3|137.0|12.7 01|01000|04:07.4|02:03.7|184.8|19.9|139.0|143.0|12.2 02|01000|04:07.8|02:03.9|184.1|19.8|144.3|147.0|12.2 03|01000|04:07.7|02:03.8|184.3|19.9|148.1|152.0|12.2 04|01000|04:08.1|02:04.0|183.5|19.9|150.7|154.0|12.1 05|01000|04:08.2|02:04.1|183.2|20.1|152.8|155.0|12.1 06|01000|04:08.7|02:04.4|182.0|20.0|155.2|157.0|12.1 07|01000|04:08.9|02:04.5|181.4|20.0|156.4|159.0|12.0 08|01000|04:11.3|02:05.7|176.3|20.1|156.2|158.0|11.9 09|01000|04:12.7|02:06.3|173.7|19.9|156.9|158.0|11.9 10|01000|04:14.0|02:07.0|170.7|20.0|157.2|159.0|11.8 11|01000|04:15.9|02:07.9|167.2|19.8|156.8|157.0|11.9 12|01000|04:16.2|02:08.1|166.3|19.8|156.9|158.0|11.8 13|01000|04:17.1|02:08.5|164.7|19.9|157.0|160.0|11.7 14|01000|04:17.8|02:08.9|163.6|19.9|156.8|159.0|11.7 15|01000|04:17.6|02:08.8|163.8|20.0|157.8|159.0|11.6 16|01000|04:18.7|02:09.4|161.5|20.0|159.0|160.0|11.6 17|01000|04:18.3|02:09.1|162.5|20.0|158.7|160.0|11.6 18|01000|04:17.2|02:08.6|160.7|20.0|158.9|160.0|11.7 19|01000|04:20.7|02:10.3|161.9|20.0|158.7|160.0|11.5 20|01000|04:18.2|02:09.1|162.5|19.6|159.6|161.0|11.8 21|00097|00:24.6|02:07.0|172.1|21.1|159.7|160.0|11.2
Last night I downloaded the new version Rowpro. I used to use it a lot on my machine at home, but since upgrading the PM5 and the release of ergdata and especially PainSled, I haven’t. Rowpro still provides an unmatched ability to row online with other people in different places, and since their is a pretty big user base for it, I thought I should give it another try.
RowPro5 is the first release that supports macOS, so I decided to download and try that one. It doesn’t seem like the mac version is very mature. It worked, but the UI seems incomplete. For example, I could not find a way to save the strokes from my row, or to export the row as a CSV file the way I did on the old windows version. That made it pretty useless to me.
I did a quick 5 x 250m / 0:30 rest session as a test. Here is the rowpro report that it generated.
One interesting thing about rowpro is that it connects to the PM by the USB port. You can, in parallel connect the PM to ergdata or painsled and use that at the same time. Why would you do that, you might ask? I have a few good reasons.
After I did the row, I remembered the way that rowpro does intervals. It sets each interval and each rest as a completely separate row on the PM. This allows the statistics to be accurate for each interval, but it has two negative effects. First, the PM has lots of little rows so it’s hard to see what you were doing. The second effect only matters if you are using rowpro with ergdata or painsled. You get the same plethora of files as you do on the PM.
Anyway, I’m going to try to figure out how to export rows from the mac version, but I think I will only use rowpro for continuous rows, and probably only if I am going to row online. It’s too much hassle to get it all setup for no real additional benefit.
After that as a warmup, I went on to do the intended workout of the day. I was originally planning of a 4 x 20′ session, but I did nearly 10 minutes of rowing as part of my experiment, so I cut back to 3 20′ intervals.
I had originally planned to try to row to a HR cap of 150, but my HR shot up so fast, and at such low power, that I decided to be satisfied to stay under 155. Sticking to 155 required my to row at a pretty low power, but at least I found an intensity that managed the HR drift.
Workout Summary - media/20170110-1305060o.csv --|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg --|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS --|14440|63:00.0|02:10.9|177.0|19.8|151.5|159.0|11.6 W-|14347|60:00.0|02:05.5|177.2|19.8|151.5|159.0|12.1 R-|00095|03:00.0|15:51.9|152.4|22.3|154.4|159.0|01.7 Workout Details #-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS- 00|04843|20:00.0|02:03.9|183.5|19.7|148.3|157.0|12.3 01|04763|20:00.0|02:06.0|174.9|19.8|152.3|157.0|12.0 02|04741|20:00.0|02:06.6|173.1|19.9|153.8|159.0|11.9
HR drift today:
Time for some patient work to build up my aerobic base.
Tomorrow: Slow HM, HR cap of 155.
It’s time to get serious about marathon training. To do that, I need to rebuild my base aerobic fitness, and do some of the initial tests to set a baseline for paces.
I strongly believe that aerobic work is most effective when you limit the intensity and build duration, so this week I am going to focus on 60 to 80 minute sessions. Then next week, I will do some baseline tests. I am not in the mood to do lactate testing right now, so I am going to try to use strict HR limits for these sessions. I’m going to row the sessions below 80% HRR (157). It is probably even better to row them below 75% HRR (150), but that is just so disappointingly slow.
The other thing that I am going to work on is a lighter stroke. I have been pursuing the 10W per stroke as a goal for a while and I think I am in a bit of rut. When I rate up, I can’t seem to modulate power very well. So, I think I will try to stick with r20 for the sessions this week and adjust pace by just adjusting the pressure at that rate.
So, that meant that the plan for today was:
Based on the criteria, the session went pretty well. Of course, I wish that I was able to sustain higher power versus the cap, but that will take some time to come. I found that I enjoyed the sensation of rowing with a “fluffier” stroke.
The summary stats are a bit off compared to the PM. It shows how much the pace can vary just from a few more or less meters.
Workout Summary - media/20170109-154820-sled_2017-01-09T07-28-01ZEST.strokes.csv --|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg --|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS --|15196|65:09.0|02:08.6|179.9|20.0|149.1|159.0|11.6 W-|15005|62:09.0|02:04.3|181.6|20.0|149.3|159.0|12.1 R-|00192|03:00.0|07:47.6|083.8|21.7|143.0|159.0|01.5 Workout Details #-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS- 00|05000|20:27.4|02:02.7|187.0|20.0|142.8|153.0|12.2 01|05000|20:41.2|02:04.1|183.6|20.0|151.2|157.0|12.1 02|05005|21:00.9|02:06.0|174.4|20.0|153.6|159.0|11.9
A few more geeky metrics. Here’s an plot that you can use for HR drift. From Joe Friel’s book “Total Heart Rate Training”,
So, let’s consider the first 5k as warmup time and compute drift from the second to the third interval.
183.6W/151.2bpm – 174.4/153.6bpm = 1.214 – 1.135 = 0.079 / 1.214 = 6.5% drift
Ideally, I would like to see drift well below 5% for aerobic sessions.
I checked drive length and it looks OK. I see that characteristic where my drive length increases over the first 10 minutes as I loosen up.
Since I was working on keeping the stroke the same as I eased off the pressure, I was looking for a vertical line in the work per stroke graph. That’s what I got.
And since I eased up from 10W per stroke, I expected the peak and average power to be lower than early sessions. Here it is compared to Saturday’s aerobic session done at 10W per stroke. Peak force was down by about 2.5%, average force was down by 6.5%.
Tomorrow: 4 x 20′ at r20, HR limit of 150 (let’s see if I can do it!)
I’m still working out exactly how to train for my long open water race. I’m also trying to get myself back in the swing of things after a pretty chaotic past month. I’m keeping the sessions a bit shorter and a bit higher intensity, not for any really good reason, but because I think I want to push a bit harder right now.
I did my last erg marathon on December 26th, 2013. Just over 3 years ago. I was in terrific shape at that time and I did it with an average pace of 1:59.1. I don’t see a reason why I can train back to that level of fitness over the next six months, so I have been doing some shorter rows at around a 2:00 pace, since that is likely where my marathon pace will be once I am in the training plan for real. On Thursday, I did 20 minutes at that pace. Today, I did 30. Both times I did an L4 style warmup and similar cooldown.
As was the case on Friday, I was disappointed at how high my HR went, but I was pleased that I did seem to plateau in the last 10 minutes around 165.
Looks a bit like a “Black Hole” workout, but with the minuscule volume I’m doing right now, I don’t think that will be a problem.
On Thursday, my drive length was 1.43, today it was 1.45, which is identical to my pre-injury drive length. I proclaim myself cured.
Here are the individual sections. I did a rate ladder from 16 to 19 to warmup up, then the 30 minutes (in 6 – 5 minute splits), and then a rate ladder cool down.
Workout Summary - media/20170107-2235100o.csv --|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg --|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS --|12368|51:01.0|02:03.8|189.9|20.1|153.3|166.0|12.0 W-|12250|50:01.0|02:02.5|191.5|19.6|152.7|166.0|12.6 R-|00260|02:00.0|03:51.0|069.4|30.0|142.2|166.0|00.0 Workout Details #-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS- 00|00936|04:00.0|02:08.2|163.9|16.2|119.6|135.0|14.5 - warmup 01|00714|03:00.0|02:06.0|174.5|17.2|136.3|139.0|13.8 02|00485|02:00.0|02:03.6|185.4|18.0|141.3|145.0|13.5 03|00248|01:00.0|02:00.8|197.9|19.1|144.0|147.0|13.0 04|01251|05:00.0|01:59.9|204.9|20.6|146.8|154.0|12.1 - main set 05|01251|05:00.0|01:59.9|203.3|20.8|155.5|159.0|12.0 06|01258|05:00.0|01:59.2|206.5|21.6|160.1|163.0|11.7 07|01258|05:00.0|01:59.3|206.4|21.8|163.4|164.0|11.5 08|01256|05:00.0|01:59.5|205.1|21.8|164.4|166.0|11.5 09|01252|05:00.0|01:59.8|203.7|21.6|165.7|166.0|11.6 11|00239|01:00.0|02:05.4|202.3|19.2|144.8|149.0|12.5 - cool down 12|00484|02:00.0|02:03.9|185.3|18.0|158.4|161.0|13.5 13|00698|03:00.0|02:08.9|163.8|16.1|157.3|160.0|14.4 14|00919|04:01.9|02:11.7|154.0|16.0|151.9|158.0|14.2
Here’s a quick comparison of the Thursday 20 minutes to the 30 minutes today. Today’s session is on the left and Thursday is on the right. On Thursday, see how I hit 167 after 20 minutes and the slope is pretty linear. Today, I plateaued around the 15 minute mark and drifted up slowly from there. I like that a bit better.
I’ll probably keep doing these sessions at or around 2:00 pace for the next week or so.
Last session was on December 21st, the day prior to my knee surgery. The surgery was uneventful, and my recovery has been smoother than I ever imagined it would be.
I saw the doctor yesterday and he took out the stitches from the 3 ludicrously small incisions and said I was free to abuse my knee in any way I see fit.
My plan for today was to test things out with a 10 minute warmup, do 20 minutes at about 200W (which is where I’d like to be for a marathon when I am trained, and then a gradual 10 minute cool down.
It worked out great. No pain. My fitness has declined, but not as badly as I feared it would, and the best news to me was that my drive length was with 2cm of where I was before my knee was injured.
The warmup was a classic 16/18/20/18/16 L4 format.
Workout Summary - media/20170105-185444-sled_2017-01-05T07-15-22ZEST.strokes.csv --|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg --|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS --|02409|10:03.0|02:05.2|179.2|17.8|130.7|143.0|13.5 W-|02412|10:03.0|02:05.0|178.3|17.7|130.2|143.0|13.6 R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|143.0|00.0 Workout Details #-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS- 00|00469|02:00.0|02:08.0|163.6|16.0|107.0|121.0|14.6 01|00479|02:00.0|02:05.2|177.1|18.0|126.3|131.0|13.3 02|00495|02:00.0|02:01.3|195.6|19.8|136.4|140.0|12.5 03|00485|02:00.0|02:03.8|184.9|18.2|140.2|142.0|13.3 04|00484|02:03.1|02:07.1|170.7|16.6|141.0|143.0|14.2
Then into the main set. 20 minutes at 200W, and then a cool down. I was a little bummed that my HR went as high as it did during the 20 minute set, but I was not really surprised.
Workout Summary - media/20170105-185524-sled_2017-01-05T07-27-52ZEST.strokes.csv --|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg --|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS --|07393|30:00.0|02:01.7|195.3|19.9|156.8|167.0|12.4 W-|07398|30:00.0|02:01.7|194.2|19.9|157.0|167.0|12.5 R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|167.0|00.0 Workout Details #-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS- 00|01012|04:00.0|01:58.5|204.6|20.5|140.3|151.0|12.4 01|01003|04:00.0|01:59.6|204.8|20.7|152.3|156.0|12.1 02|01000|04:00.0|02:00.0|202.2|20.9|157.3|160.0|12.0 03|01003|04:00.0|01:59.6|204.6|20.7|160.7|165.0|12.1 04|01006|04:00.0|01:59.3|206.1|20.9|163.8|167.0|12.0 05|00246|01:00.0|02:02.1|192.0|20.1|165.9|166.0|12.2 06|00484|02:00.0|02:04.1|183.3|19.1|162.8|165.0|12.7 07|00713|03:00.0|02:06.2|174.7|18.0|161.8|167.0|13.2 08|00931|04:00.0|02:08.9|163.3|17.2|158.9|162.0|13.5
Tomorrow: No workout
I feel like I’m falling apart. Maybe it’s psychosomatic. My knee is clicking away, over the past few weeks I’ve been bothered by some kind of a pinched nerve in my neck that hurts when I try to twist my head around (like to back up a car), and when I sleep. My most recent complaint is my lower back. I must have tweaked it when I did my “bumps” workout. It was a little sore yesterday morning and I ignored it and rowed anyway. Big mistake. The rest of the day, I had a constant lower back ache, and if I twisted or leaned wrong, I’d get a sharper jolt of pain.
Anyway, it hurt enough that I had trouble sleeping. Rolling over was pretty painful. And I have a lot on my mind. So, I felt pretty lousy at 5:15 this morning when I got up.
I decided that rowing was a bad idea. So, it would be the tedium of the stationary bike this morning.
The plan:
The first 30 minutes, I just set the machine to manual and pedaled at level 14. The second 30 minutes, I did “rolling hills”, which was less scenic than the name implied.
Mission accomplished.
Tomorrow: Knee Surgery. Guess we’ll call that a rest day.
Slept badly, my back hurts, a lot on my mind. Rowing to specific power targets seems a lot simpler to me right now, but my HRs were off the chart on the high side today.
The plan:
Distribution of strokes by power
Stroke power versus stroke rate
One of the things that L4 workouts are supposed to do is maintain a constant work per stroke (SPI :-O)
Another way to see if you are maintaining a similar stroke technique as you increase stroke rate is to look at avg to peak power versus stroke rate.
Or the just the peak power.
Both of these show a slight increase as stroke rate increases.
Tomorrow: I think I will do another bumps workout, but this time doing the slow bits at 2:05.
Plan: 10K L4.
Rushing around trying to get up to see my Dad, so just a quick 10K. I’ve been pushing the intensity lately, so a bit easier to today.
Workout Summary - media/20161218-234402-sled_2016-12-18T11-47-55ZEST.strokes.csv --|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg --|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS --|10000|40:32.0|02:01.6|194.9|19.1|150.5|164.0|12.9 W-|10000|40:32.0|02:01.6|194.3|19.1|150.4|164.0|12.9 R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|164.0|00.0 Workout Details #-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS- 01|01000|04:06.5|02:03.2|184.0|18.0|125.4|133.0|13.5 02|00750|03:02.7|02:01.8|193.5|19.2|138.2|143.0|12.9 03|00500|01:59.4|01:59.4|205.8|20.1|146.4|149.0|12.5 04|00500|01:57.5|01:57.5|215.2|21.0|150.0|152.0|12.2 05|00500|01:59.7|01:59.7|204.6|20.1|152.6|155.0|12.5 06|00750|03:02.5|02:01.7|194.2|19.1|151.3|155.0|12.9 07|02000|08:15.0|02:03.8|184.6|18.1|149.8|152.0|13.4 08|00750|03:01.7|02:01.1|197.0|19.4|153.9|155.0|12.8 09|00500|01:59.2|01:59.2|205.6|20.4|158.8|161.0|12.4 10|00500|01:57.5|01:57.5|215.7|21.0|161.6|164.0|12.1 11|00500|01:59.7|01:59.7|204.9|20.0|162.0|164.0|12.5 12|00750|03:03.0|02:02.0|192.8|19.0|161.6|163.0|12.9 13|01000|04:08.1|02:04.1|183.0|18.1|159.7|162.0|13.3
After I did the workout, I decided to do a little more rowing to try to take some pictures of force curves. I’m trying to figure out what causes changes to the forceratio metric.
So, I set up a Just Row and setup the PM to show the force curve. I rowed a bit at 18 until I got a reasonably representative force curve, then I’d take a picture. Then at 20, then 22, then 24. All of this was unstrapped. I tried to get the power close to the 10Wx stroke rate target, but I was a bit enthusiastic, so all of them are high. The stroke rates are a bit off too. I think this would be a good enhancement to painsled, a mode where it would log the force curve, not just display it.
Tomorrow: Not sure if I will have time to workout. I have pre-op appointments in the morning and I will be scooting off to see my dad after work.
Quantified Rowing 