6/7 – San Diego Rowing Club

June 17, 2018June 17, 2018Leave a comment

I flew out to San Diego on Wednesday. I had a business dinner that evening. Through facebook, I had made contact with the Dan O’Neill of the San Diego Rowing Club, and he graciously offered to row a double with me on Thursday morning.

I showed up a bit before 6am, and met Dan, along with a whole slew of other master rowers. The SDRC is a remarkable club. They have hundreds of members, an active and successful juniors program, a fleet of shiny well maintained boats, almost all of which are bright red, and a beautiful location, right on Mission Bay.

We launched from the beach. I was embarrassed that I didn’t know how to do a stylish beach launch. It’s sort of like the european dock launch where you push off with one foot on the seat deck and then sit down smoothly as your boat glides sideways to deeper water. Instead, we paddled a bit from the beach and put on our socks, got our feet in the shoes and began our row.

Dan is a great rower. He has been rowing for decades, and knows every nook and cranny of Mission Bay. We worked our way through a pick drill and he tried to get used to my stroke style. We rowed our warmup out to the spot where the club tends to gather to start their workouts. We were supposed to meet a men’s quad, but we didn’t see them around, so we started on our own.

The planned workout was

2 x 19′ rate ladders with a few minutes rest between.
- 4′ at 20
- 3 at 22
- 2′ at 24
- 1′ at 26
- 2′ at 24
- 3′ at 22
- 4′ at 20

I think I was a bit too self conscious and insecure in the first pyramid. I rowed at much higher pressure for the rates than I normally do and I think my form suffered for it. I also suffered in general, since my HR shot up quickly and stayed there. After the minute at 26, I managed to relax a little bit. Or maybe I was just to winded to care too much, and my rowing seemed to improve. My finishes got a bit better and I felt like I was doing a better job in general.

After the first piece we hung out for a while just chatting. Dan is a really interesting guy. He has been a principal in a number of software startups and is active in some really interesting STEM education stuff like first robotics. We ended up resting a bit longer than we should have, but eventually got going again. The second ladder was much smoother then the first and I didn’t push quite as hard. After that one, we did a couple of starts, which were pretty shaggy, but fun nonetheless. Then it was time to get back to the boathouse.

Workout Summary - media/20180607-1521040o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13796|77:29.0|02:48.5|000.0|23.4|150.5|176.0|07.6
W-|09237|42:19.0|02:17.4|000.0|22.1|165.6|176.0|09.9
R-|04570|35:10.0|03:50.9|000.0|24.9|132.3|176.0|05.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00924|04:00.0|02:09.9|000.0|20.3|148.0|157.0|11.4 - 4
02|00837|03:44.0|02:13.9|000.0|22.0|162.1|166.0|10.2 - 3
03|00454|02:00.0|02:12.2|000.0|24.0|167.9|172.0|09.5 - 2
04|00229|01:00.0|02:11.2|000.0|25.8|169.9|172.0|08.9 - 1
05|00471|02:12.0|02:20.3|000.0|23.6|172.4|173.0|09.1 - 2
06|00757|03:38.0|02:23.9|000.0|22.2|170.3|173.0|09.4 - 3
07|01055|04:56.0|02:20.3|000.0|21.0|170.1|173.0|10.2 - 4
08|00914|04:07.0|02:15.1|000.0|20.6|147.8|159.0|10.8 - 4
09|00619|02:46.0|02:14.1|000.0|22.0|164.2|168.0|10.2 - 3
10|00447|02:00.0|02:14.4|000.0|24.0|167.4|170.0|09.3 - 2
11|00233|01:00.0|02:08.7|000.0|26.2|172.0|173.0|08.9 - 1
12|00434|02:00.0|02:18.4|000.0|24.1|174.1|176.0|09.0 - 2
13|00630|03:00.0|02:22.9|000.0|22.5|173.4|176.0|09.3 - 3
14|01234|05:56.0|02:24.2|000.0|21.4|173.3|176.0|09.7 - 4

I enjoyed this so much. I am very grateful to Dan and all the friendly folks at SDRC. I can’t wait to get back to San Diego and row again!

6/4 – 6/6: Finally back rowing!

June 11, 2018June 11, 2018Leave a comment

Monday – 6/4 – Drills and Steady State

By Monday morning, I had normal range of movement and very little pain in my back. I decided to do an easy session to test it out a little bit.

I have a new workout plan, but based on the long layoff that I had, I decided to take a week and focus mostly on steady state and drills to get back into the program and avoid risking injury or disappointment.

Today, the plan was to row for an hour and at each turn, stop and do about 10 reps of the King of the Mountain drill. The longer than normal breaks between segments is me doing the drills. Weird HR dropout during the second interval.

It was a grey and windy morning. I was slow and my power values were really low. I am wondering (hoping) if I have a calibration issue.

Workout Summary - media/20180604-1615230o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|12342|72:16.0|02:55.7|115.3|18.7|128.4|162.0|09.1
W-|11692|59:12.0|02:31.9|124.9|18.3|134.5|162.0|10.8
R-|00657|13:04.0|09:56.8|071.9|20.3|100.5|162.0|02.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00782|03:58.0|02:32.2|120.0|18.6|109.6|139.0|10.6
02|02900|14:39.0|02:31.5|126.9|18.0|144.8|150.0|11.0
03|02780|14:23.0|02:35.2|118.0|17.3|105.0|152.0|11.2
04|02067|10:27.0|02:31.7|124.3|17.7|143.2|152.0|11.2
05|03163|15:45.0|02:29.4|130.8|19.8|152.4|162.0|10.1

Told you it was slow!

Tuesday – 6/5: Steady state and drills

Basically the same session as monday. Pushed the pace a little bit harder. Same deal, 10 reps of the KOM drill x 4 sets. They are getting a bit easier as I do more of them. The wind sprung up a bit in the last rep. Headwind, of course!

          Workout Summary - media/20180605-1425220o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13918|77:24.0|02:46.9|118.7|18.9|143.7|165.0|09.5
W-|13421|67:18.0|02:30.4|128.9|18.5|148.9|163.0|10.8
R-|00501|10:06.0|10:05.7|051.1|21.7|109.4|163.0|07.8
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|03825|18:41.0|02:26.5|128.0|18.0|141.3|152.0|11.4
02|02889|14:49.0|02:33.8|128.4|17.6|147.6|155.0|11.1
03|02837|13:47.0|02:25.7|128.5|18.4|150.5|157.0|11.2
04|03869|20:01.0|02:35.2|130.4|19.7|155.7|163.0|09.8

Wednesday – 6/6: Starts

I had a 9:30 flight to San Diego, so I had a short time window for a row. I decided to do a quick session just to start working on my starts. I started with 5 stroke sets, and then as I got more comfortable, and my “hit rate” improved, I extended them to 10 strokes.

There was a bit of wind and a little bit of chop, but on my sheltered river, I can’t say it caused any of my problems.

The last start was pretty good. 15 strokes at 1:48 pace and 37 spm.

I made my flight with plenty of time.

Catching up. 5/24 to 6/3

June 10, 20181 Comment

Over the 11 days, I rowed 1 day, biked one day, had a good walk one day and didn’t train for 8 days. It was a pretty bad spell including allergies and injuries.

Thursday – May 24: 61′ Steady State

I arrived home from California late in the day on May 23rd. The next morning, I was back on the water down in Newton. It was windy and choppy, and I was a mess. Slow and sloppy.

Friday – May 25: Rest – Sick

Thursday night, I felt awful. Stuffy nose, sore throat, a bit of a fever.

I worked from home on Friday morning. I was worried enough about my throat that I went and got a strep test. The diagnosis was allergies causing congestion, post nasal drip and throat irritation. They told me to go buy some flownase and sent me on my way.

Then in the early afternoon, I headed down to the cape. My wife was following me down later with one of my sons, his girlfriends and my daughter who was flying in from St Louis late in the evening.

I had a long list of things to do. Work on the stairs to the beach. Get a bunch of delicious food. Rent a bike for my daughter and do a bit of cleaning. I made very good progress on the stairs, and I made a large number of trips up and down the 80 steps, often carrying loads of wood. By the time the tide came in, I was really worn out. But I had managed to get all the stair treads in, leaving just the railings to do on Saturday.

So, I got some exercise, but no proper training

Saturday – May 26: 50km bike ride

My daughter wanted to go for a ride, so we planned an excursion to the Cape Cod Rail Trail. I was a bit worried about my health. If I had a cold, the ride would knock me flat. If I was just suffering with allergies, it should actually make things better.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1603514609/embed/8b62620dc4f0ae56e28b1b8323692095a734d5b9

It was two and a half hours of riding, but at a nice easy pace. I guess it was allergies!

After we got home, my son, his girlfriend and I finished the stairs. I think they turned out great!

I slept well.

Sunday – May 27: rest

The weather was pretty lousy, so we went up to Provincetown for lunch, hung out, did puzzles, played games and relaxed.

Monday – May 28: A brisk walk around the island

The weather was still crappy. Cold and grey. My daughter and I originally planned to go for another bike ride, but we didn’t have good cold weather clothes, so we opted to just go for a walk around the island.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1603515324/embed/e08141cd9fb397c13ddac4e921803367eb37d9fc

Later in the day, we put my son, his girlfriend and my daughter on the ferry to Boston, we cleaned up the house, had some dinner and left around 11.

Tuesday – May 29: Rest – Travel Day

Flew out to San Diego for a business dinner. It was a long day, I got back to the hotel around 10pm, and I had an early flight.

Wednesday – May 30: Rest – Travel day

I was up at 4:30 to get to the airport to catch my 6:30 flight to San Jose. I had meetings from 10am to 7pm. After that, I headed to the the airport to catch the red eye home.

Thursday – May 31: Rest

My original plan was to go straight from the airport to the river and go for a row on the way to work. But the flight home was miserable, and I discovered that a meeting had been scheduled for 8:30, leaving me no time to train.

I ended up getting home around 8:00pm. During the day, my back started to really stiffen up, By the time I got home, it was painful to try to stand up after sitting and I ended up walking with a bit of a stoop. Based on how quickly it cleared up, I assume it was a pinched sciatic nerve which calmed itself down with ibuprofen after a few days.

Friday – June 1st: Rest – Back Injury

I was in too much pain to train. So I didn’t.

Saturday – June 2: Rest – Back Injury

Back pain starting to ease, but I wasn’t going to chance aggravating it.

Sunday – June 3: Rest – Back Injury

Almost pain free. Decided to train on Monday.

Skills and Drills

May 24, 2018Leave a comment

I was back at Newport Sea Base at 5:30am again today. The chance to row Newport Harbor was too tempting to pass up.

I was back in the quad again. One of the same guys from yesterday, Barney, was there again. And the other two guys, Tom and Ryan I just met this morning. All of these folks seem to be very good rowers. Ryan was at stroke. He is a young, tall (6′-8″) and obviously a very talented rower. It was an incredible treat to row directly behind him and try to match up with what he was doing. It was also a challenge since he could obviously swing through a much wider arc than I every could dream of. I only hope that I didn’t screw him or the other guys in the boat up too much as I tried to work on fixing stuff.

Today’s session was all about fixing stuff. The workout plan was:

Standard pick drill by pairs.
Wide grip rowing by pairs
“Piano Fingers” on recovery by pairs
6′ at r24
Leapfrog. A game played with two boats. One boat rows at full pressure while the other rows at r20. When the racing boat clears the bowball of the r20 boat, you swap. So it turns into a 30 second on 30 second off kind of exercise, but the faster you race, the more rest you get.

How did it go? Ummmm, mixed, but really useful. During the pick drill the coach (Kristine), picked up on exactly the same flaw in my rowing that Marlene has asked to focus on fixing as my highest priority. Specifically, my habit of dropping my shoulders as I approach the catch in an attempt to get more length. It was awesome to have someone catch me doing it live and offer real time corrections. In the wide grip rowing, she coached my finish position a bit. During the steady r24 chunk, there were times that the boat seemed to move really well, and other times where we had trouble with set and synchronization, but it certainly felt better as we went along. We misunderstood the coaches instructions and we thought we were suppose to do a lap of Lido. So, we were barreling into the turn when she asked us to stop and head back to the dock because we were out of time.

The leapfrog thing was the highlight of the row. It was fantastic to really drive the boat, and just like the r24 chunk, things were really shaggy in the first couple of full power sets. My catches and finishes were sloppy and my posture was terrible. I managed to get a bit better control of myself for the last couple and the boat felt a lot better to me. I would have loved to play that game for a much longer time. It was a great way to focus on taking good strokes at race pressure within really burying yourself.

The view from the map actually gives you a good idea about what rowing in Newport is like. The shore line is slips and beaches. And on the outside of Lido Island, There are boats in slips along the shore and boats moored in the channel as well. And most of these boats, or should I say “yachts” are immense! Huge, fancy, beautiful, expensive boats. I was certainly glad that I didn’t have to steer.

In terms of a workout, it was a very light session.

Now I am on my way back home. I will get back to my regularly scheduled sessions tomorrow with 60 to 80 minutes of speedplay in my single.

Rate Ladders in a Quad in Newport

May 22, 2018May 22, 2018Leave a comment

I’m traveling on business to Newport Beach, California. I posted a message on Facebook to find out if there was a way for me to go for a row while I was out there. Within minutes, a member of the rowing club at Newport Sea Base had sent me a message, and offered to connect me to the coaches.

Yesterday I heard back and they told to come on over this morning. They meet at 5:30 and they could get me into a seat. As it turned out, they put me into the stroke seat in a quad. All together we had a men’s quad, a mens double, a women’s double and women’s coxed four, plus the coach Kristine in a launch.

Newport Harbor is busy in the morning. There are a bunch of clubs and schools all running practices at the same time. In addition to rowing shells, there were stand up paddle boards, outrigger canoes and, I am told, dragon boats. The locale is amazing. The entire shoreline on both sides is basically small beaches and boat slips in front of multi-million dollar homes.

There is a nice long stretch for rowing. The channel from the turning basin to the end of the breakwaters is over 6km.

The workout planned for today was a rate ladder

3′ @ r20
2′ @ r24
1′ @ r28
2′ @ r24
3′ @ r20

We started with a reverse pick drill by pairs and headed from the dock up to the turning basin.

I have to salute the patience and tolerance of my boat mates. Since I spend almost all my time in a single, I am a lousy stroke. My ability to hit precise rates is not so good. I have an annoying bit of a pause before hands away, and I am sure that I was splashing the guys behind me. But they were all speaking to me when we got back to the dock and that says way more about their disposition than my rowing.

The rate ladder was a good format for us, and there was a pair of good rowers in the men’s double that were a little bit faster than we were in the quad. Since the coach sent them off a few seconds behind us, it provided a lot of motivation to maintain good pressure throughout the piece.

Often times, our rowing was choppy and ugly, but at times were got it together and the boat really ran nicely. All in all, it was a delightful row. I asked if I could come back tomorrow and they seemed willing to have me. This might turn out to be the best sales conference I’ve ever attended.

          Workout Summary - media/20180522-1505230o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10579|70:13.0|03:19.1|000.0|22.8|137.6|175.0|06.6
W-|08266|35:44.0|02:09.7|000.0|23.2|158.6|175.0|10.0
R-|02322|34:29.0|07:25.7|000.0|22.3|115.8|175.0|00.5
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00708|03:00.0|02:07.1|000.0|20.8|129.7|160.0|11.3 - r20
02|00475|02:00.0|02:06.2|000.0|24.1|161.5|164.0|09.9 - r24
03|00244|01:00.0|02:02.9|000.0|27.4|166.5|169.0|08.9 - r28
04|00468|02:00.0|02:08.3|000.0|24.4|167.8|170.0|09.6 - r24
05|00869|03:50.0|02:12.3|000.0|21.5|163.6|167.0|10.5 - r20
06|00604|02:45.0|02:16.5|000.0|20.5|145.5|157.0|10.7 - r20
07|00447|02:00.0|02:14.1|000.0|24.5|161.2|165.0|09.1 - r24
08|00242|01:00.0|02:04.2|000.0|27.3|167.4|170.0|08.8 - r28
09|00502|02:09.0|02:08.5|000.0|24.3|172.2|175.0|09.6 - r24
10|00821|03:31.0|02:08.5|000.0|21.7|172.2|175.0|10.7 - r20
11|00652|02:50.0|02:10.4|000.0|21.0|149.1|160.0|11.0 - r20
12|00475|02:00.0|02:06.4|000.0|24.8|162.6|166.0|09.6 - r24
13|00245|01:00.0|02:02.5|000.0|28.0|169.0|172.0|08.8 - r28
14|00474|02:00.0|02:06.6|000.0|24.7|171.4|174.0|09.6 - r24
15|01039|04:39.0|02:14.2|000.0|23.9|150.9|160.0|09.4 - r24

Saturday: 4 x (3′ @ 24 + 3′ @ 28) / 6′ on slides

May 19, 2018Leave a comment

We are down on the cape. We came down this weekend to get the house ready for next weekend when one of my sons and my daughter will be coming. My tasks for the weekend were

Replace the exterior sensor for my weather station. The storms this winter wore out the anemometer!
Put up shades in the guest rooms. We have been getting complaints that the early morning sun is a bit bright for our late sleepers
Get a start on the repair of the stairs to the beach. The ice this winter tore the bottom 16 feet of stairs away and pulled out the supports for landing at the top of that flight.

I managed to get through tasks 1 and 2, and replaced the supports for the landing, but then the rain started and I needed to give it up for the day. I’ll do a bit more tomorrow.

Later in the afternoon, I did my erg session. This is a tough session.

Session: 4 x 6’
Rest between: 6’
Rating/Pace:
- 3’ @Cat IV pace: target SR 24
- 3’ @ Cat III; target SR 28
Notes: Work on the rhythm of a strong leg drive combined with relaxation on the recovery. Follow through to the arms/body away position to complete each stroke and to set the body preparation for the next stroke before starting the slide. Hold your posture and head up as you fatigue.

I did it on slides in the basement. It was really hard! I was doing stuff like switching laundry during the long rests so the those chunks were really spotty.

I faded a lot more than I would have liked, but I have spent so little time on the erg, I have no idea what target paces would be right. I spent more time focusing on posture and sequencing on the recovery, but I was still working really hard.

Tomorrow: 80′ of speed play, on the erg since there will be a 25 mph wind out of the SW.

Friday: 80′ of speedplay

May 19, 2018Leave a comment

Weather: cloudy and blustery. The wind was coming out of the north and the gusts were over 15mph. This was a pretty nasty headwind in the straightest bits of the river. There was even some chop at the ends of the straight sections.

I was eager to try to practice rowing well in under less than perfect conditions. I wasnt sure how well I could rate up with the wind and chop. In general, I was able to, but I had a couple of very messy moments when I bashed a wave at the wrong moment. I found that clean, early finishes were incredibly important to maintaining any kind of consistency in these conditions. It felt great when I would finish well and keep my oars clear of the waves and get a nice catch in. Much more stable and confident in those strokes.

Horrifyingly low power numbers. (But gratifyingly consistent data!)

         Workout Summary - media/20180518-1310290o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14060|75:11.0|02:40.4|124.6|20.9|144.7|174.0|09.0
W-|13522|68:16.0|02:31.5|131.5|20.8|146.3|174.0|09.6
R-|00550|06:55.0|06:17.3|056.8|21.8|128.5|174.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00503|02:36.0|02:35.0|135.5|18.7|114.0|132.0|10.3
01|01294|06:26.0|02:29.2|134.0|19.3|138.1|146.0|10.4
02|00191|00:50.0|02:10.8|183.9|25.2|150.9|158.0|09.1 - 1st burst into the wind
03|01568|07:53.0|02:30.8|131.9|19.3|147.7|159.0|10.3
04|00225|01:00.0|02:13.1|205.7|27.3|158.7|167.0|08.2 - 2nd big gusts!
05|00843|04:18.0|02:33.0|111.6|17.8|132.9|140.0|11.0
06|00253|01:04.0|02:06.6|195.2|27.9|152.3|161.0|08.5 - upstream/downwind
07|00770|03:57.0|02:33.9|121.2|19.8|148.5|161.0|09.8
08|00255|01:03.0|02:03.7|202.3|28.7|162.1|167.0|08.4 - upstream/downwind
09|00753|03:50.0|02:32.8|116.5|18.6|153.1|168.0|10.6 
10|00808|04:11.0|02:35.4|131.6|19.6|145.5|156.0|09.9
11|00190|00:48.0|02:06.3|212.4|29.7|162.4|168.0|08.0 - near disaster at the end of this one
12|00772|04:10.0|02:42.0|110.5|20.7|152.4|174.0|09.0
13|00230|01:00.0|02:10.3|207.1|28.8|158.6|168.0|08.0 - wicked gusty
14|00857|04:42.0|02:44.6|120.7|20.4|153.6|169.0|08.9
15|00912|04:43.0|02:35.2|111.2|19.5|138.2|145.0|09.9
16|00227|00:57.0|02:05.6|197.3|29.7|156.8|164.0|08.1 - upstream/downwind
17|00783|04:03.0|02:35.1|123.1|20.7|151.3|165.0|09.4
18|00248|01:04.0|02:09.0|195.9|29.0|158.8|164.0|08.0 - wind seemed to shift to a crosswind here
19|01020|05:28.0|02:40.7|111.4|20.2|148.3|166.0|09.2
20|00141|00:36.0|02:07.5|218.4|29.6|147.4|158.0|08.0 - last one!
21|00679|03:37.2|02:40.0|116.9|22.0|149.7|163.0|08.5

Tomorrow: We are down on the cape now and it looks windy and nasty for tomorrow, so I will do my rate ladders on the erg.

Tough week…spotty training

May 17, 2018Leave a comment

Last Friday was a wonderful workout. The joy that I got out of it carried me through a much less enjoyable set of days and activities since.

Saturday: Yardwork.

I was spreading mulch. I was curious about how hard this work is, so I wore a heart rate monitor. Here are the stats.

Duration: 5:07:56
Average HR: 97, Max HR 125 (so below UT2)
Calories: 2619

So, I guess you could think of it as a long lazy bike ride. But that’s not quite right because there is a strength component to it. Basically shovel work, pushing a wheelbarrow and a lot of squatting, bending and raking.

It really knocked me out. I was useless all night I was so tired.

Sunday: Yardwork

I did the bulk of it on Saturday, but there was one more flower bed to do, and then moving the excess mulch and some other tidying up. It was easier work and it only took about two hours. I didn’t bother with the HR monitor.

Monday: 80 minutes of speed play

I wish I could remember more about this session, but I can’t. From the data, it looks like it was a pretty nice session, I wish I could remember enjoying it. Oarlock still acting up.

Tuesday: 30r22 on the erg

So, the original plan was 2 x 30′ @ r22 on the water. I got up at 5:15, drove to the river, and as I always do, I double checked my work schedule to see when I needed to be in the office so that I could make sure that I got back to the dock in time. When I looked, to my horror, I saw that I had a dentist appointment back near my house at 7:30am. So, I drove home, took a shower, and went to the dentist instead of rowing.

It left me in a foul mood all day long. Add in the fact that I needed to deal with unpleasant HR related work matters and by the afternoon, I was a quivering wreck. I snuck off to the fitness center. If everything went right, I had just enough time to do my 2×30 on the erg and make it to my next meeting.

Everything did not go right, and when I finished the first rep, I saw that I didn’t have enough time to do another 30 minutes. This blew my momentum and instead doing 15 or 20 minutes, I just walked away.

The 30 minutes that I did were nice and hard though. I felt much better afterward.

Workout Summary - media/20180515-1930250o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|07719|32:00.0|02:04.4|205.9|20.5|156.6|170.0|11.7
W-|07708|30:00.0|01:56.8|219.6|21.9|155.7|170.0|11.7
R-|00012|02:00.0|86:46.3|000.0|00.0|170.0|170.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|07708|30:00.0|01:56.8|219.6|21.9|155.7|170.0|11.7

Wednesday: Unintentional rest day

I intended to go do my speed session in the morning, but I slept terribly. When my alarm went off, I rolled over and slept two more hours.

I thought I might be able to go to the gym, or maybe even head down to the river in the afternoon, but work conspired to keep me busy all day long.

Thursday: 60 minutes of steady state (ish) rowing

I had two missions this morning. The first was 60 minutes of rowing. The other was to replace my empower oarlock. I’ve been trying to troubleshoot the dropped power values with NK for a couple of weeks. They finally came to the conclusion that the problem was interesting enough that they wanted the specimen in the lab. They sent me a unit to swap it out, and a label to return the prodigal oarlock to them.

It took a lot more time than I expected because I had trouble getting through the calibration. I would try it and it would take me through the steps and then curtly imform me that “Calibration Failed”. Ultimately, I diagnosed the problem. The oarlock senses angle by having a magnet assembly on the oarlock pin, and the oarlock is supposed to freely rotate above that. What happened to me is that the length of the pin was just a hair shorter than the height of the oarlock, magnet assembly and 3 spacers. The pin was shifting slightly when the oarlock swung. Ultimately, I sanded about 1/16″ off one of the spacers, and then I could crank down the pin bolt and the oarlock would swing nice and freely. Viola, calibration passed.

Then, after wasting some more time finding a restroom, I headed out for a row. I had just enough time for 60 minutes or rowing, but I wasn’t in the mood for speedplay today. I decided to just work on trying to row well.

I tried. Sometimes, I succeeded. Often, I did not. But it was totally absorbing.

And I ran into a tree! I was just starting. I left the dock, rowed into the turn. I cut close to the north bank coming into the last bit of the turn, and I usually swing wide while I build some speed into the straight bit. I alway look over my port shoulder because I can see the whole straight bit without turning too much. What I missed by doing that was a huge tree that had fallen into the river on the east bank. I saw it about 5 strokes later and checked down hard. I managed to take all the speed off the boat and gently coasted into a tangle of the upper branches.

It took me a little bit to calm down and then I backed my way out of the mess and swung around it.

The rest of the row was quite uneventful.

Workout Summary - media/20180517-1845250o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|11172|60:37.0|02:42.8|118.6|18.4|139.4|172.0|10.0
W-|10461|53:10.0|02:32.5|126.6|18.2|140.3|172.0|10.8
R-|00718|07:27.0|05:11.5|060.9|19.6|132.4|172.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00584|02:54.0|02:28.9|126.5|16.9|097.3|115.0|11.9 - to the tree!
01|03335|15:51.0|02:22.6|132.8|18.4|141.7|151.0|11.4 - After the tree
02|02167|11:18.0|02:36.5|126.2|17.5|146.4|155.0|11.0 - up from the dam
03|00278|01:13.0|02:11.1|199.4|30.5|165.4|172.0|07.5 - fast minute
04|00284|01:29.0|02:36.5|120.4|17.4|141.7|153.0|11.0 - technique stuff
05|01439|07:15.0|02:31.1|119.4|18.4|140.9|155.0|10.8 - technique stuff
06|01504|08:18.0|02:45.6|117.3|17.7|138.3|149.0|10.3 - technique stuff
07|00870|04:52.7|02:48.2|118.2|18.2|143.5|152.0|09.8 - Back to the dock

I wanted to do some higher rate rowing just to see if the oarlock missed a beat. I did a hard minute and it worked great. The data is not glitchy at all!

After that, I shifted gears. I decided to do 2 minute intervals with 2 minutes of square blade rowing, 2 minutes of slow roll up and 2 minutes of r20. This was awesome practice, especially the slow roll up. This really allowed me to focus on the first part of the recovery and get my arms out and body angle right, and then slowly square the blades as I went from body over to the catch. A few strokes were perfect. Just a few. But the feeling was extraordinary. Finish cleanly, keep the blades off the water, cleanly square the blades in a smooth movement, and drop them in for the next stroke. Imagine if I could do that for all my strokes!

Tomorrow: I am still feeling pretty tapped out, so I think I will do a speedplay session instead of one of the more intense workouts.

Friday: Sublime Rate Ladders

May 11, 20181 Comment

Perhaps a gross overstatement, but I feel like today was a bit of break through.

The weather started perfect, but a gusty, but persistent breeze sprung up about halfway through. This was mostly a cross wind, but depending on the bends of the river sometimes slowed me down quite a bit.

The plan was

4 x 12′ rate ladders
- 6′ @ 18
- 4′ @ 24
- 2′ @ 28
6 minutes rest between

I decided to use the rests to do some KOM drills, and even tried a couple of slow motion starts.

The whole way as I drove to the river I kept telling myself to focus on technique instead of pace or power in this session. Make sure that in the r24 and r28 sections, I rowed with light pressure and good form. All of this self talk seemed to make an impression because for once, I actually seemed to follow it.

And the results were awesome. For brief moments today, I got the feeling of effortless speed. Sometimes it was during the r18 section when I eased in the catch more gently. Sometimes it was during the r24 section, though rarely because a lot of those were through the s-turn and it’s hard to reach a sublime state when you are putting all your pressure on one oar. And a few times, for a few strokes it happened at r28.

These fleeting moments made the whole row a delightful puzzle to solve. As soon as I noticed that feeling of flow, invariably the next stroke would feel like mud. Then I would be thinking through how to recapture it. I am certain it is related to how I take the catch, but balance during recovery is a huge part of it too. All I am hoping is that I can feel it again, and then extend it over more strokes.

To put this in some context. I can remember this feeling from a couple of seasons ago, maybe it was even three seasons ago. I am sure I never felt it last year. Looking back, it seems like I spent the whole season fighting the boat. I’d forgotten what this feels like.

A few details about the row. Each piece was 12 minutes long. The good section of the river is about 14 minutes of rowing, so that worked out very well. I only needed to make one adjustment on the fly. When I was doing the third piece, I was approaching the stone bridge when it was time to shift from r24 to r28. I decided to extend the r24 by a minute and do the full 2 minutes at r28 after the bridge in open water. Take that as an indication of how I was feeling. I don’t know that I have ever willingly extended an interval before.

Screen Shot 2018-05-11 at 5.34.22 PM.png

My problems with my oarlock are unimproved. Hopefully a HW swap will fix things up. NK is sending me a replacement to try.

Looking at the heart rate is another indication of goodness. I was up touching the anaerobic zone at the end of the 3rd and fourth intervals, and I fought no demons. I was far from comfortable, but I was able to purposely focus on technique during the last ten strokes of each of the pieces.

Tomorrow: Aerobic gardening!

Thursday: 3 x (1’/2′ + 1’/2′ + 2’/5′) at race pace

May 10, 2018Leave a comment

I felt tired this morning.

Weather was cool and misty. A light breeze from the North was on and off.

The plan:

3 sets of:
- 1’ on, 3’ active rest,
- 1’ on , 3’ active rest
- 2’ on, 5’ active rest
Rest between: Continuous, no rest between sets.
Complete one set and then repeat the series.
The active rest is relaxed, low intensity, easy rowing.
Stop only briefly to rehydrate.
Rating /pace: Race effort, 1k pace (your best right now)
Notes: The emphasis is on high quality work and stroke efficiency. This speed workout aims to keep the lactic acid levels low by allowing enough recovery between pieces for it to clear. Do not cut the rest short. Feel fully recovered and psychologically ready to do the next piece. If the quality starts to drop dramatically, stop the workout.

Well, I blew that. I misremembered the duration of the rests, so instead of 3 minutes between the 1′ work intervals, I took 2 minute rests.

I was actually having a good time with the workout. Well, to be more accurate, I was enjoying the 1 minute blasts. 30 strokes. Focusing on clean early finishes, outward pressure on the oarlocks, early body prep and rowing with the blades off the water. I would get into the zone where I would have 4 or 5 strokes in a row that just felt great. I always love seeing a 1:xx pace on the speedcoach and there is something about the fluidesign hull. It gets super stable when you’re going fast. It’s like riding on rails.

Interesting that comment about quality dropping. I was doing well all the way through until the last interval. And man did the quality drop like a stone. I was breathing like a freight train and losing form pretty badly as I made the slight turn at the little island at about 1 minute. Then a bit of phlegm started rattling around in the back of my throat. With 10 strokes to go, it got stuck in my throat and I couldn’t breath. I thought I was going to puke, flip or die. Maybe all three, just to maximize the drama of my demise.

I guess I need to lighten up a bit! I just hate being slow,

I did all the intervals in the big straight bit of the river.

Screen Shot 2018-05-10 at 9.24.05 AM.png

          Workout Summary - media/20180510-1240240o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|09490|66:54.0|03:31.5|096.2|20.5|140.8|177.0|06.9
W-|02984|12:00.0|02:00.6|230.5|29.5|160.4|177.0|08.4
R-|06517|49:54.0|03:49.7|066.8|18.6|135.8|177.0|07.4
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00258|01:00.0|01:56.3|250.5|28.2|154.3|163.0|09.1 - down
02|00244|01:00.0|02:03.1|268.2|29.5|156.3|167.0|08.3 - up
03|00510|02:00.0|01:57.6|249.6|29.4|163.6|173.0|08.7 - down
04|00246|01:00.0|02:02.2|236.7|29.1|152.1|166.0|08.4 - up
05|00250|01:00.0|01:59.8|241.5|29.4|158.1|169.0|08.5 - down
06|00480|02:00.0|02:04.9|209.2|29.8|167.2|177.0|08.1 - up
07|00251|01:00.0|01:59.3|143.5|29.7|154.4|163.0|08.5 - down
08|00248|01:00.0|02:00.7|237.2|30.1|159.0|169.0|08.2 - up
09|00496|02:00.0|02:01.0|235.6|29.9|164.4|175.0|08.3 - down

Again the power measurements were crap. There were 237 missed power readings out of about 1200 strokes. Worse, it seems that the missed readings tend to happen when I executed a work interval, so I had no real time feedback in the boat. I’m in contact with NK and they are helping me figure out what’s going wrong. Really strong technical support, I have to say!

Tomorrow: I need to move my Saturday workout to Friday again.

4 x 12’
Rest between: 6’
Rating/Pace:
- 6’ @ Cat VI; target 18-20
- 4’ @ Cat IV; target SR 24
- 2’ @ Cat III; target SR 28.
Notes: Use a strong leg drive to define your transitions from one rating to another. Stay focused on a relaxed recovery rhythm as the stroke rate rises.

This weekend is an extensive endurance cross training opportunity. I have 5 yards of Mulch to spread. So all the flower beds need to be raked, re-edged, and then the mulch spread on them. It usually takes about 6-8 hours of reasonably hard work to get done.

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