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.
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.
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.
On the road. Just a steady state session. On a static erg.
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
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.
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: 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.
Just a steady state session. HR limited. Target pace was 2:06.
I ended up pushing the pace a bit faster as I went along.
Now I’m off to work and then I catch the red eye home. Tomorrow I will either go for an easy open water row or do another 3 x 20 on the erg.
Tuesday, August 28 – No Training
I flew out to San Jose on Monday night, and I was hoping to get a workout in on Tuesday morning, but I felt pretty lousy in the morning and decided to just shower and get into work early.
Wednesday, August 29 – 20 x 2′ / 1′
I was out of bed at 5:00AM and I drove over to Norcal Crossfit. I was on an erg by 5:30. The plan was to try out my new short interval workout. Today’s version was basically an easier version of the 15×3′ workout that I’ve done for a long time. That workout is 45 minutes of work and a total of 15 minutes of rest. This one is 40 minutes of work and 20 minutes of rest. The idea is to be able to push the pace a little harder and then match it the next time I do the 15×3′ version. I was on a static erg.
No denying that the workout was tough, but I didn’t have any doubt that I was going to make it. The erg had a weird startup glitch. It didn’t seem to register the first stroke that I took and then the second would show an incredibly low split. It made the average split start off really fast and then bleed down to the actual pace that I was doing. My initial thought on pacing was 1:53, but as it turned out 1:50 was a better idea.
I enjoyed the workout. I’m looking forward to doing it in my boat.
Tomorrow: Back to NCFit. A nice easy steady state 3 x 20′ session.
Wednesday, August 15 – Brief HIIT session in the fitness center
I arrived in San Jose Tuesday afternoon, and headed straight to my meeting. I spent the rest of the afternoon in our office and than had a business dinner that night.
In the morning I had a window to do a quick workout in the hotel fitness center.
I did a brief warmup and then I did a HIIT session on the treadmill. It was 30 seconds of hard running on a 15% incline and then 4:30 of walking on the incline. I did 6 intervals. For some reason the data from the session did not get captured right. It was very hard work when it was going on, but not a whole lot of it.
Thursday, August 16 – Easy 50 minutes in the fitness center
I flew from San Jose to Austin on Wednesday morning, then had meetings in our office there in the afternoon. That evening we had a customer dinner. In the morning, I got up and went to the fitness center of the hotel.
First, I did 30 minutes of incline walking (15% grade, ~3mph) on the treadmill. Then I moved over to the stationary bike and did some rolling hills for another 20 minutes.
Not very impressive, and extremely boring. The rest of the day was a blur of meetings. I caught an evening flight back to Boston, arriving around midnight.
Friday, August 17 – No Training
I decided to get a some sleep on Friday morning instead of trying to squeeze a row in. I brought my workout clothes to work hoping that I could sneak off for a quick session during the day sometime. But all my time slots got booked up as the day went along.
Saturday, August 18 – 15 x 3′ / 1′
Saturday morning we had made arrangements for a tree service to come in and work on a bunch of trees that were damaged over the winter. These guys were amazing. They trimmed everything, stabilized some badly bent trees and even reshaped our shrubs. They got it all done by the middle of the day.
My wife and I were planning to go down to the cape later in the day, so I had time for an erg session on the dreaded dynamic. Today’s assignment was a 15 x 3’/1′.
This is a favorite session of mine, but I didn’t know how to pace it on the dynamic. I was guessing somewhere between 1:55 and 2:00. I decided to start at 2:00 and try to negative split until things got dicey.
Things got dicey after about the 5th rep. Then things got really dicey at the end and I blew up in the 14th rep. But, judging by the HR stats, it was a pretty tough session.
Too bad the paces were so slow.
Workout Summary - media/20180818-1750260o.csv --|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg --|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS --|13453|60:05.0|02:14.0|168.0|25.9|164.4|181.0|08.6 W-|11266|45:00.0|01:59.8|207.7|26.7|163.1|181.0|09.5 R-|02203|15:05.0|03:25.5|049.7|23.7|168.3|181.0|05.5 Workout Details #-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS- 00|00761|03:00.0|01:58.2|207.8|24.4|125.9|150.0|10.4 01|00762|03:00.0|01:58.1|213.3|25.4|148.2|158.0|10.0 02|00779|03:00.0|01:55.5|218.1|26.6|155.2|163.0|09.7 03|00780|03:00.0|01:55.4|227.3|26.8|159.2|168.0|09.7 04|00780|03:00.0|01:55.3|230.2|25.5|163.7|171.0|10.2 05|00746|03:00.0|02:00.7|208.0|24.5|161.9|169.0|10.2 06|00762|03:00.0|01:58.1|212.9|24.7|165.6|175.0|10.3 07|00756|03:00.0|01:59.0|218.1|26.7|169.1|177.0|09.4 08|00779|03:00.0|01:55.5|227.5|28.8|172.8|180.0|09.0 09|00751|03:00.0|01:59.8|203.9|26.4|170.9|179.0|09.5 10|00755|03:00.0|01:59.3|203.2|24.6|173.1|181.0|10.2 11|00711|03:00.0|02:06.5|184.7|29.9|173.6|181.0|07.9 12|00746|03:00.0|02:00.6|202.1|26.0|169.8|181.0|09.6 13|00666|03:00.0|02:15.2|159.0|30.5|173.0|179.0|07.3 14|00732|03:00.0|02:03.0|199.2|29.0|164.3|178.0|08.4
Sunday, August 19 – 3 x 20′ / 2′
I had hopes of going for an open water row, but it was a bit too windy. I settled for an easy steady state session. I had planned to do 4 x 20′, but my HR was high and I was having trouble holding a reasonable pace. I decided to cut it off after 3 intervals.
Workout Summary - media/20180819-1745260o.csv --|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg --|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS --|14696|66:00.0|02:14.7|151.1|20.2|144.8|157.0|11.0 W-|13912|60:00.0|02:09.4|161.5|20.0|145.8|157.0|11.6 R-|00788|06:00.0|03:48.7|046.6|22.5|135.2|157.0|07.3 Workout Details #-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS- 00|04724|20:00.0|02:07.0|170.3|20.1|137.2|148.0|11.7 01|04624|20:00.0|02:09.8|160.2|20.0|148.3|153.0|11.6 02|04564|20:00.0|02:11.4|154.1|19.8|151.8|157.0|11.5
Monday, August 20 – 4 x 2000 / 4′
We stayed down on the cape on Sunday night and I got up at 5 to make my way to work. It takes somewhere between 2:30 and 3:30 depending on traffic.
On this particular monday, the traffic wasn’t so bad, and I made it to work with enough time for a workout in the fitness center.
I am trying to organize my training a bit more and start focusing on a few potential head races, so I wanted to increase the intensity of my training weeks. Today’s session is basically my goto head racing training session. On the static erg, and my very best, I could do this session with an average pace around 1:45. I am not at my best. In fact, judging by my steady state pace, I would say that I am about 8 to 10 splits off my best form. So I decided to target 1:55 for this session and see how it went.
This was a really good session. I felt like the pace target was good and I was able to stick to it. It was pretty motivating.
Tuesday, August 21 – 70′ Drills on the fives – OTW 1x
Hooray! Back in my boat. Since it had been a while, I decided to do a technical session.
The session is really simple. 4 minutes of rowing, and then 1 minute of drills, rotating between these four
It’s an engaging, challenging session that goes by really quickly.
Wednesday, August 22 – 12 x 3′ / 1′
The plan was for 15 x 3′, but I ran out of time, and frankly energy. This session is hard work! But, then again, it’s supposed to be. The whole point of this session is to put in a lot of strokes at head race pace and pressure. Right now that’s awfully slow, but that will change with a but of focused work.
The pace on these is a bit deceptive because a lot of the intervals happen through the big s-turn, which slows me down a bit.
Workout Summary - media/20180827-2250260o.csv --|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg --|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS --|11919|65:02.0|02:43.7|117.9|23.7|156.9|177.0|07.7 W-|07790|35:39.0|02:17.3|155.9|25.3|163.8|177.0|08.6 R-|04142|29:24.0|03:33.0|071.9|21.8|148.4|177.0|07.3 Workout Details #-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS- 01|00167|00:47.4|02:22.3|123.0|20.3|143.0|147.0|10.4 - warmup burst 02|00663|02:59.6|02:15.4|147.2|25.0|154.9|163.0|08.8 03|00546|02:29.8|02:17.1|149.5|25.6|161.1|166.0|08.5 - downriver turn 04|00648|02:52.4|02:12.9|166.1|26.8|163.3|170.0|08.4 05|00644|02:58.4|02:18.5|154.1|26.5|165.8|172.0|08.2 06|00599|02:49.6|02:21.5|155.9|24.3|161.9|172.0|08.7 - upriver turn 07|00607|02:50.4|02:20.3|161.2|24.6|165.6|174.0|08.7 08|00644|02:54.4|02:15.4|152.2|25.1|167.0|176.0|08.8 09|00656|03:00.3|02:17.4|145.1|24.6|167.0|175.0|08.9 - down river turn 10|00648|02:54.8|02:14.8|163.8|24.7|168.0|177.0|09.0 11|00092|00:25.8|02:20.4|153.1|25.4|159.1|160.0|08.4 - hit the weeds! 12|00622|02:49.3|02:16.0|158.9|25.8|161.1|175.0|08.5 13|00636|02:55.9|02:18.4|161.0|26.9|166.8|174.0|08.1 - upriver turn 14|00616|02:51.7|02:19.3|165.2|25.5|169.6|177.0|08.5
The low point of the workout was interval number 10. I finished #9 going under the stone bridge and into the channel leading to the basin. With a one minute rest, it’s barely enough time to get the boat turned around. On this turn, I managed to get my point wrong for the next interval, and within 30 seconds, I managed to get way to close to the weeds along the bank and really entangled my starboard oar. It took me a couple of minutes to back my way out of the situation. I was lucky I didn’t flip.
The last three intervals passed without any additional drama. Well, except it started raining on interval 10, and by the time I finished it was pouring!
Thursday, August 23 – 70′ Steady State
One of the great things about doing a good job on a high intensity session is that you really feel like you’ve earned your right to a low intensity session for the next day. That’s the way I felt on Thursday. I just wanted to work on clean finishes and take it easy.
Workout Summary - media/20180827-2251030o.csv --|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg --|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS --|13708|77:51.0|02:50.4|108.1|18.7|134.0|148.0|09.4 W-|13013|66:14.0|02:32.7|117.0|18.3|138.2|148.0|10.7 R-|00700|11:37.0|08:17.9|056.9|20.6|109.6|148.0|07.7 Workout Details #-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS- 01|03895|19:42.4|02:31.8|114.9|17.9|135.2|147.0|11.0 02|02753|14:10.1|02:34.4|117.1|17.7|139.6|148.0|11.0 03|02735|13:34.9|02:29.0|120.8|18.8|140.8|147.0|10.7 04|02800|14:21.1|02:33.8|118.4|18.6|139.8|146.0|10.5 05|00830|04:26.2|02:40.4|110.4|19.8|134.3|145.0|09.4
Easy peasy. delightfully low heart rate.
Friday, August 24 – no training
Well, isn’t that remarkable. Taking a rest day after 6 consecutive training days! Also, I had an extremely important meeting at 8am, so I got up at my normal 5:15 am, but headed straight to the office to do a little bit of last minute prep work.
Saturday, August 25 – remarkably crappy 10K
We stayed in Hopkinton this weekend. There was some yard work and other stuff that needed to get done. I wasn’t really in the mood to get on the dynamic, but I didn’t want to lose the little bit of momentum that I had built up. I was due for a more intense session, so I decided to try to do a threshold 10k. Again, I wasn’t sure what pace I could hold on the dynamic, so I started out at about a 1:57. That didn’t last long.
After multiple HDs, and some might slow rowing, I got a little motivated with about 4k to go. God, I hate the dynamic erg.
Sunday, August 26 – 16K steady state on the Charles River
On Friday, one of my friends from out in Worcester let me know that 4 of them were going to take 2 doubles down and launch them from Community Rowing so that they could row the course for the CRI Fall Classic before the event. He asked if I wanted to come along. I thought that was a great idea, and it was lucky for me that I was around this weekend. I picked up my boat in Newton and met them at 7:30.
We launched and headed downriver. It’s really a pretty magical place to row. There are lots of turns, but none of them are too sharp. Lots of bridges, but none of them are too narrow. Lots of traffic, but at that time of the morning, it is almost all scullers and everyone knows the traffic pattern.
We rowed from CRI down to the BU boat house, about 8000m. We had a couple of short stops on the way down as needed to stay together as a group. We got ourselves organized and headed back upriver. This is the first time I’ve been on the course since my lousy row in last years HOCR. It was good to row the course at steady state pressure and work on holding a line.
Each of the doubles had a close encounter with the ample vegetation that has invaded the charles this year. There is a thick bed of weeds around the magazine beach turn. People tend to hug that turn pretty closely in the race. I think this year a bit wider turn will be needed. Once we got up past the Weeks footbridge, we stopped again. This is the about where the start line for the CRI fall classic is. Then we took the rest of the way up as a single piece, and finished strong in front of the CRI boathouse. There was a bit of headwind in this section.
It was an incredibly fun outing.
Workout Summary - media/20180826-1645260o.csv --|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg --|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS --|16467|98:39.0|02:59.7|100.1|21.6|147.0|176.0|07.7 W-|15053|77:18.0|02:34.1|115.3|21.3|154.4|175.0|09.2 R-|01422|21:20.0|07:30.2|045.2|22.8|120.3|175.0|03.9 Workout Details #-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS- 01|00767|04:03.9|02:38.9|098.4|17.7|134.7|148.0|10.7 02|03436|17:10.0|02:29.9|114.9|20.0|153.4|164.0|10.0 03|00966|05:03.0|02:36.9|109.1|20.6|145.6|152.0|09.3 04|02354|11:59.6|02:32.9|108.6|20.6|154.6|163.0|09.5 05|00917|04:38.5|02:31.9|131.2|22.5|155.7|169.0|08.8 06|00570|03:01.5|02:39.1|108.8|20.1|150.3|156.0|09.4 07|01080|05:17.7|02:27.1|121.2|22.4|155.5|169.0|09.1 08|03379|17:49.4|02:38.2|114.9|22.6|157.9|164.0|08.4 09|01584|08:15.4|02:36.3|128.3|23.4|163.8|175.0|08.2
Monday, August 27 – 4 x 2000 / 4′
On the water in Newton. Weather was perfect, maybe a bit hot, but sunny and calm. The goal this morning was to replicate the happy feelings I got from last monday’s 4x2k on the erg. I knew that this was gonna be tougher in the boat. Each rep would last almost 2 minutes longer and I had to focus on technique and steering. I decided for this session to try to hold the stroke rate around 24.
Workout Summary - media/20180827-1650270o.csv --|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg --|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS --|11324|67:03.0|02:57.6|112.6|22.6|147.3|180.0|07.5 W-|08138|37:59.0|02:20.0|147.0|24.7|162.4|180.0|08.7 R-|03192|29:04.0|04:33.3|067.7|19.8|127.7|180.0|06.4 Workout Details #-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS- 01|00284|01:24.6|02:29.2|114.6|19.9|130.0|135.0|10.1 - warmup 02|02004|09:11.9|02:17.7|145.6|24.5|154.5|167.0|08.9 03|01966|09:12.2|02:20.4|154.2|25.2|164.7|176.0|08.5 04|01950|08:55.1|02:17.2|148.4|25.0|166.6|180.0|08.7 05|01933|09:15.4|02:23.7|144.8|25.1|168.6|180.0|08.3
So, that was awesome. Slow, but awesome. I held it together through all the reps and managed to focus on technique with my heart going a mile a minute. It feel good to be back focusing on these simple sessions.
Now, I am on a plane out to San Jose. I have a few days of meetings out here. I’m going to try to find an erg so I can maintain my forward progress.
Quantified Rowing 