Thurs: 3 x 20′, Fri: Rest, Sat: 4 x (3’@28,7’@18)/1′, Sun: 4 x 20′

January 22, 2018Leave a comment

Tough week last week. Quarterly business reviews and lots of issues at work. I had time to train (mostly), but no time to write it all down. So, now I try to catch up.

Thursday: 3 x 20′ / 1′ Cat VI

I had meetings starting at 8 am, so I didn’t have time for 4 pieces. I settled for 3. Not much to report. It was a fine workout. Rock solid HR with basically no drift in the last 40 minutes.

          Workout Summary - media/20180118-1245320o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14654|63:00.0|02:09.0|179.1|17.5|141.1|149.0|13.3
W-|14480|60:00.0|02:04.3|181.6|17.6|141.1|149.0|13.7
R-|00176|03:00.0|08:32.5|064.8|12.2|137.8|149.0|02.3
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|04827|20:00.0|02:04.3|181.1|17.3|136.2|144.0|14.0
01|04817|20:00.0|02:04.6|181.4|17.7|143.0|147.0|13.6
02|04835|20:00.0|02:04.1|182.4|17.7|144.3|149.0|13.6

Friday: rest day

I was intending to workout. But I had to meet someone fixing my furnace in the morning, go to the dentist at noon, then get to work, and after work, meet a candidate for a quick drink. I had no time to train.

Saturday: 4-6 x (3′ @ 28, 7′ @ 18) / 1′

By all rights, I should have been fresh as a daisy, but I didn’t feel that way. My target paces were 1:48 for the r28 (Cat III) and 2:05 for the r18 (Cat VI).

I did the full set of PT exercises include the core work.

I started with a 2k-ish warmup, with bumps to Cat III pace.

          Workout Summary - media/20180120-2006130o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|02060|08:05.0|01:57.9|224.6|22.1|145.4|163.0|11.5
W-|02060|08:06.0|01:58.0|217.6|21.5|144.4|163.0|12.1
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|163.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00400|01:34.2|01:57.8|185.3|17.6|111.8|136.0|14.5
01|00100|00:22.2|01:51.1|246.9|23.1|139.0|141.0|11.7
02|00300|01:13.1|02:01.8|198.1|19.1|144.6|146.0|12.9
03|00200|00:42.9|01:47.3|277.8|27.0|147.9|152.0|10.4
04|00300|01:13.8|02:03.1|197.7|19.6|154.3|156.0|12.4
05|00200|00:43.1|01:47.8|270.8|26.3|153.8|155.0|10.6
06|00300|01:13.1|02:01.8|197.7|19.4|157.8|159.0|12.7
07|00200|00:42.7|01:46.6|281.5|27.6|157.9|160.0|10.2
08|00060|00:20.8|02:53.6|177.2|25.2|161.2|163.0|06.9

The main set was brutal.

         Workout Summary - media/20180120-2005350o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|12926|54:57.0|02:07.5|201.7|20.8|161.3|179.0|11.3
W-|12544|50:57.0|02:01.9|197.3|19.9|161.6|179.0|12.6
R-|00388|04:00.0|05:09.3|046.7|18.0|157.0|179.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00845|03:00.0|01:46.5|282.7|28.3|147.0|167.0|10.0
01|01696|07:00.0|02:03.8|184.8|18.1|159.0|168.0|13.4
02|00840|03:00.0|01:47.2|279.6|27.5|160.8|175.0|10.2
03|01684|07:00.0|02:04.7|181.2|18.2|164.5|175.0|13.2
04|00825|03:00.0|01:49.1|276.9|26.8|164.7|177.0|10.3
05|01681|07:00.0|02:04.9|180.6|18.2|168.4|177.0|13.2
06|00835|03:00.0|01:47.7|275.6|27.2|167.0|179.0|10.2
07|01692|07:00.0|02:04.1|185.4|18.2|171.3|179.0|13.3
08|02444|10:57.4|02:14.5|144.8|16.2|152.7|159.0|13.8

I wish I could say that these were getting easier, but they aren’t.

Sunday: 4 x 20′ / 3′

Again, I did the full set of PT exercises.

I decided to try out Zwift with painsled. It worked fine, but I managed to hang it up during my second 20′ piece. In terms of a workout, my HR was a bit higher than normal, but stabilized below 155.

First 20 minutes.

Second 20 minutes is missing. Here are the third and fourth.

I also did sets of 10 kettlebell swings during the breaks. I think I like the idea of adding a little bit of strength work to these easy days. As for Zwift, it was kind of cool, but I don’t see it being something that I do regularly.

Monday: Arother rest day. I got up at 3:30AM eastern to catch a 6:00AM flight to San Francisco. From there, it was straight into meetings and will finish up with a business dinner tonight. I’ll try to do a quick workout in the morning before my first meeting.

As for the featured image. I read yesterday that Antisocial Marmets live longer than socially adept Marmets. So, there’s a vote for being antisocial!

Mon: Rest, Tues: 10x(500@22,500@18), Wed 3x(5×500@24/1′)/5’5′

January 17, 2018Leave a comment

Monday: Scheduled rest day. I think this might be the first scheduled rest day on my scheduled rest day after a full week of training in the last 6 months. It feels good to be in a routine, while it lasts. I start travelling again next week.

Tuesday: Full set of PT exercises.

The workout plan calls for 10 x 500m at r22 with 2 minute rests. I have been making a bit more work by replacing the 2 minute rests with a Cat VI 500m (r18, 2:05).

The workout isn’t hard, but I tried to work continuously on recovery sequence. Tense the glutes, hold the quads, fast hands away, wait until body is over before starting up the slide.

Comparing this to the past couple of weeks shows about the same HR response. A bit higher at the start and lower at the end.

Wednesday: 3 x (5 x 500 @ 24 / 1′ ) / 5′

target: 1:52

Another fun workout. Again, I did the 5′ rests between sets as one minute paddle, 500m of pause drill, which ended up around 2:40, and then another minute of paddle. This makes the pm setup easier.

I started with a 2K warmup, with bumps working up to the r24. Again I was trying to find the rhythm of the stroke while concentrating on recovery sequence.

The main set.

          Workout Summary - media/20180117-1355320o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|11489|52:34.0|02:17.3|190.6|21.4|142.7|166.0|10.2
W-|07500|27:40.0|01:50.7|258.0|23.5|142.3|164.0|11.5
R-|03999|20:55.0|02:37.0|082.4|18.2|144.2|164.0|11.8
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00500|01:50.1|01:50.1|251.4|24.2|130.0|153.0|11.3
01|00500|01:52.4|01:52.4|253.4|23.9|143.0|155.0|11.2
02|00500|01:51.8|01:51.8|250.4|23.6|142.5|157.0|11.3
03|00500|01:50.9|01:50.9|250.9|23.9|142.6|158.0|11.3
04|00500|01:51.4|01:51.4|258.6|22.8|147.5|159.0|11.8
05|00500|01:52.1|01:52.1|246.1|23.4|131.8|152.0|11.4
06|00500|01:51.6|01:51.6|251.7|23.1|141.7|155.0|11.6
07|00500|01:52.1|01:52.1|254.5|23.4|144.2|157.0|11.4
08|00500|01:51.3|01:51.3|253.6|23.1|145.1|157.0|11.7
09|00500|01:50.3|01:50.3|258.8|23.5|146.5|158.0|11.6
10|00500|01:49.4|01:49.4|262.0|24.0|133.9|155.0|11.4
11|00500|01:50.5|01:50.5|261.6|24.1|145.0|156.0|11.3
12|00500|01:50.7|01:50.7|263.9|23.1|145.1|159.0|11.7
13|00500|01:49.9|01:49.9|263.6|23.2|147.7|160.0|11.8
14|00500|01:45.5|01:45.5|291.6|23.1|148.1|164.0|12.3

Compare today to the two past weeks. HR response was better today, peak HRs were lower and recovery in the rests was faster.

Tomorrow: 4 x 20’/3′ if I have time. I have a 8am meeting which might cut things short.

Sunday: 4 x 20′ / 3′

January 15, 20181 Comment

This session was really easy. Focused on technique. HR stayed low.

          Workout Summary - media/20180114-2005330o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|20247|92:00.0|02:16.3|176.3|17.8|133.5|141.0|12.4
W-|19353|80:00.0|02:04.0|183.4|17.8|134.3|141.0|13.6
R-|00898|12:00.0|06:40.8|057.2|15.1|124.5|141.0|03.2
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|04829|20:00.0|02:04.2|181.5|17.7|132.4|140.0|13.7
01|04825|20:00.0|02:04.3|182.5|17.7|135.6|141.0|13.7
02|04821|20:00.0|02:04.5|181.4|17.8|134.3|139.0|13.5
03|04878|20:00.0|02:03.0|188.2|17.9|135.1|141.0|13.6

Tomorrow: Rest Day

Earlier in the day today, I noticed the pack ice moving slowly past our house as the tide was going out. I took a time lapse video of about 10 minutes of it.

Later after the tide went out, there were ice bergs stranded all over the sand bank. Some of them were huge! Well over 6 feet thick. Can you find me in the picture?

4 x (3’@28, 7’@18)/1′ – Is this Cape Cod or Greenland!

January 14, 20182 Comments

We drove down yesterday evening and arrived around 7:15pm. We had not been down to the house since the week after Christmas, and that was just a very short visit.

As we drove down, the weather app on my phone popped up with 4 different weather warnings for Wellfleet

Gale warning
Flash Flood Warning (potential for up to 4″ of rain)
Flash Freeze warning (the temp was going to drop from 50F to around 20F after the front came through
Fog warning

Oh well, we didn’t think it was going to be beach weather anyway.

When we arrived, the wind was already whipping and the rain was starting. We settled in and I made dinner (Filet of beef with mushrooms in red wine sauce and sauteed baby spinach). The wind just kept getting stronger and we could hear the rain pelting the side of the house.

During the night, the wind was incredible. Three times it caused the screen door outside our bedroom to start banging against the frame. I would go to close it, open up the door and the wind and rain would come blowing into the bedroom. Unpleasant!

Here’s the overnight wind speeds. Peak gust around 65mph, but lots of time the sustained wind was above 50mph. It only calmed down after about 9am.

It was tough to sleep with all the racket, so I stayed in bed until around 9:30, and when I got up the sun was starting to break through the fog. I couldn’t believe the site in front of me. It was like something out of the arctic.

I headed out to get something yummy for breakfast and on the way back, the fog was clinging to ice across the bay.

By now the sun was out and the ice looked even more amazing. Here’s a panorama from top of the bluff. The ice close to shore is dirty because it lies on the sand at low tide.

My next mission for the day was to get the basement organized. I moved my dad’s tools in over the Christmas break, but I needed to get everything arranged. It took a couple hours, but turned out good.

The erg is setup out of the picture on the left side.

All of this took time and I debated blowing off my erg session. I decided to cut it a little short instead. I would do 4 sets instead of 6.

So the new plan

4 x (3′ @ r28, 7′ @ r18)/1′
r28: Cat III, Pace: 1:48
r18: Cat VI, Pace 2:03 – 2:08
Technique: Still focused on fixing my stroke. This is more important that pace. Avoid breaking my knees until my arms are extended and body over. Try to remember to keep my glutes tensed through the finish. At r28, limit layback and keep the handle moving.

First a warmup.

          Workout Summary - media/20180113-2251060o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|02067|08:08.0|01:58.1|223.9|21.1|141.3|161.0|12.1
W-|02067|08:08.0|01:58.2|214.2|20.3|140.5|161.0|12.7
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|00400|01:36.6|02:00.7|185.0|17.3|102.9|116.0|14.4
01|00100|00:22.4|01:51.9|239.3|21.7|126.0|134.0|12.4
02|00300|01:13.2|02:02.0|196.7|18.2|140.9|143.0|13.5
03|00200|00:42.9|01:47.2|272.4|24.8|146.1|150.0|11.3
04|00300|01:13.6|02:02.6|196.7|18.8|151.5|153.0|13.0
05|00200|00:42.2|01:45.6|285.7|26.5|152.3|155.0|10.7
06|00300|01:12.8|02:01.3|199.7|18.5|157.2|158.0|13.4
07|00200|00:42.6|01:46.5|283.0|26.9|157.0|160.0|10.5
08|00067|00:22.6|02:48.1|101.2|16.8|161.0|161.0|10.6

The the main set

          Workout Summary - media/20180113-2250310o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10560|44:04.0|02:05.2|214.4|21.5|159.4|178.0|11.1
W-|10082|40:00.0|01:59.0|213.7|20.8|160.2|178.0|12.5
R-|00484|04:04.0|04:12.7|065.4|18.8|152.1|178.0|10.1
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00847|03:00.0|01:46.3|285.0|27.7|147.1|167.0|10.2
01|01691|07:00.0|02:04.2|182.1|17.6|155.0|168.0|13.7
02|00837|03:00.0|01:47.5|285.3|26.9|156.6|172.0|10.4
03|01685|07:00.0|02:04.6|183.2|17.8|160.7|174.0|13.5
04|00835|03:00.0|01:47.8|282.7|27.2|160.4|175.0|10.2
05|01675|07:00.0|02:05.4|182.7|18.1|163.8|176.0|13.2
06|00824|03:00.0|01:49.2|281.9|27.7|163.7|177.0|09.9
07|01688|07:00.0|02:04.4|186.5|18.3|166.8|178.0|13.2

That was harder than it should have been. But I think I maintained form pretty well.

Tomorrow: 4 x 20’/3′ @ r18 focusing on technique

Friday: I’m about 2 steps into a journey of a 1000 miles

January 12, 20183 Comments

I’m not sure who, but someone said that a journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step. Well, I contend that the first step is pretty easy. It’s steps 2 through 500 that are when you start to wonder if the journey is such a good idea.

Today, I was doing a new workout.

Session: 8 x 5’
Rest between: 00:30 easy paddle
Rating/Pace: 4:30 @ Cat VI pace: SR 20 + 00:30 power @ Cat II; SR 30-32

Of course I misread it on my phone and took 1;30 between 5′ chunks. Oops.

Pace targets were 2:03 to 2:08 for the Cat VI and 1:45 for the Cat II.

Of highest importance was trying to keep my mind on the technique modifications, but try to do them at r20 and r30-32 instead of at R18, which was basically could be rowed like a pause drill at body over.

I started with the full suite of PT exercises. SI corrective, quad stretch, foam roll the quads and IT band, the glute thing on swiss ball and the core exercises as well.

Then a 2k warmup with 10 stroke bumps. Trying to work out how to row at r30 while keeping my knees down longer.

Then the fun part.

So, since the whole point was technique. I did yet another video this one is 30 seconds of r20, and 30 seconds of r30.

The r20 looks better to me. Still keeping the knees down, but smoother. The r30 looks like I am falling back into bad habits. I can’t tell you how hard I was trying to get my hands away fast and hold back on the slide, but I have to do more work on it.

The picture on the left is at r20. The one on the right is at r30.

Stay tuned.

Tomorrow: The hard one. 6 x (3′ @ r28, 7′ @ r18)/1′

Thursday: Glutes! 3 x 20 / 1′

January 12, 20182 Comments

My coach sent me some feedback on the video that I posted. She was trying to be nice, but it was clear that I am not successfully implementing her suggestions for me. Here’s exactly what she said…

It is a big shift in rhythm so I understand where you are coming from. But yes, this is a little better but still not quite there. But almost!

Put the focus on keeping your glutes firm and stabilizing the quads- i.e. hold a “dead slide” now wheel movement until your wrists are over your knees.

I have to confess that I was totally mystified about how to keep my glutes firm and my quads stabilized, so I shot back a quick email asking. and she explained it really well.

Tense your glutes, keep contact with your feet, firm up your quads. That’s all.

Now straighten your arms and move just enough through the pivot to allow your wrists to reach your knees.

Zero in on that position.

So, I messed around with that position a bit. and noticed that consciously tensing my glutes when I swung my body in the drive ended up helping to propel my torso forward on recovery. I could actually feel a distinct body swing. Of course, it felt completely foreign to me.

I started with my PT exercises. Not the full set. I did the SI corrective, quad stretch, foam rolling, and twisty glute thing on the swiss ball. I skipped the core stuff.

Then into the erg session. I had been thinking about it a lot during the day on Wednesday, and as I drove to work on Thursday morning. I have taken roughly 3,010,000 strokes over the past 7 years. About 2.2 million of them have been on the erg. Expecting to change the way I take a rowing stroke in an instant or without a lot of concentration is not realistic.

I remember a while ago Tiger Woods basically took a season to reengineer his golf swing. If it took him a while, I guess I should expect that it will take me a while too.

So today, I decided that the number one priority was to take strokes with “perfect form”. Well, that isn’t exactly right, since I don’t know what perfect form is. What I actually did was to focus on tensing my glutes as I came into the finish and keep them that way until my arms were out and my body was over. It was horrific! Trying to maintain concentration on every stroke was murder. My rate and pace were all over the place, but I kept at it. By the time I got to the third 20′ piece, it was feeling a little less alien, but still required a ton of focus. If I got interested in the podcast in my headphones, I would notice that my knees might pop up early, or my butt was mushy at the finish.

I finished mentally tired and with a sore pair of glutes. I don’t think that they have worked that hard in a while!

Workout Summary - media/20180111-1345310o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14543|62:59.0|02:10.0|174.9|17.4|148.3|156.0|13.3
W-|14351|59:53.0|02:05.2|177.7|17.5|148.4|156.0|13.7
R-|00196|03:00.0|07:38.6|036.6|08.8|144.0|156.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|04807|20:00.0|02:04.8|178.3|17.2|143.2|151.0|14.0
01|04788|20:00.0|02:05.3|177.8|17.6|150.2|156.0|13.6
02|04756|19:53.4|02:05.5|177.2|17.7|151.9|156.0|13.5

But the most important thing was technique, so I did another minute at the end to see if it looked any different.

Well, it certainly looks…different. The knees are staying down, but there is a noticeable hiccup in the recover after I get to body over, and before the seat moves. I think I need to over correct this way to try to unlearn bad habits?

Wednesday: 3 x (5 x 500 @ r24 / 1′ ) / 5′

January 10, 2018January 12, 20184 Comments

I have been squeezed for time the past two days so I skipped my physio exercises. Seems that was a mistake! Last night I started feeling really tight in my left hip and back and this morning, my SI joint was really sore on the left side.

I was a good boy and did all my exercises today, and afterward, it felt a lot looser. It still gave me a bit of a twinge if I finished with too much layback. Probably useful since I need to be more consistent and use a bit less layback in general.

The session for today is one that I have done at least 3 times now. I like it. At r24, it’s pretty easy to crank out 500s. They sting a bit at the end, but you can really focus on stroke mechanics because the rate and pace are pretty reasonable.

The target pace for these was 1:52.

To make the setup simple, I programmed this as 500m intervals and 1′ rests. Then after 5 hard intervals, I did the next one as a very light pause drill, stopping at body over on every stroke and trying to isolate and feel the body recovery. I ended up cheating myself out of about 20 seconds of the 5 minute rest this way, but there was plenty of recovery time.

I started with a 2k warmup with 4 x 300m or easy and 200m of hard.

          Workout Summary - media/20180110-1436060o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|02000|07:56.0|01:59.1|211.2|20.0|145.4|160.0|12.6
W-|02000|07:56.0|01:59.2|207.2|19.7|144.7|160.0|13.0
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|160.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00300|01:13.6|02:02.7|177.9|15.9|109.7|129.0|15.4
01|00200|00:46.0|01:55.0|223.7|21.4|137.9|144.0|12.2
02|00300|01:15.4|02:05.6|182.2|17.8|146.2|147.0|13.4
03|00200|00:44.7|01:51.7|252.1|23.6|147.2|151.0|11.4
04|00300|01:14.6|02:04.3|185.7|17.9|153.5|154.0|13.5
05|00200|00:44.3|01:50.7|251.2|23.5|154.1|156.0|11.5
06|00300|01:14.2|02:03.7|189.8|18.3|158.3|159.0|13.2
07|00200|00:44.0|01:50.1|257.5|24.7|158.1|160.0|11.0

Then I tightened the foot straps, programmed the PM, and got going. Not much to report. I was really trying to hold both rate and pace, while focusing on fast hands away and full body recovery before breaking my knees. It wasn’t too hard, but I was glad when the 5′ breaks came along.

          Workout Summary - media/20180110-1435320o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|11037|50:31.0|02:17.3|186.9|21.8|149.4|167.0|10.0
W-|07500|27:57.0|01:51.8|252.0|23.5|149.6|166.0|11.4
R-|03546|18:33.0|02:36.9|076.3|19.1|150.6|166.0|07.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00500|01:50.1|01:50.1|246.7|23.8|137.3|158.0|11.5
01|00500|01:53.2|01:53.2|251.9|24.2|148.8|161.0|11.0
02|00500|01:51.6|01:51.6|250.9|23.9|150.0|161.0|11.2
03|00500|01:51.4|01:51.4|252.5|24.1|152.4|164.0|11.2
04|00500|01:51.7|01:51.7|247.2|23.0|153.6|165.0|11.7
05|00500|01:52.5|01:52.5|252.0|23.4|140.7|160.0|11.4
06|00500|01:51.3|01:51.3|253.9|23.8|150.8|162.0|11.3
07|00500|01:51.4|01:51.4|255.7|23.2|152.2|164.0|11.6
08|00500|01:52.1|01:52.1|246.0|23.7|153.3|164.0|11.3
09|00500|01:52.5|01:52.5|252.4|23.6|154.0|163.0|11.3
10|00500|01:51.5|01:51.5|253.7|22.8|139.2|158.0|11.8
11|00500|01:51.6|01:51.6|256.7|23.5|149.9|163.0|11.4
12|00500|01:51.8|01:51.8|255.6|23.0|152.0|165.0|11.6
13|00500|01:51.9|01:51.9|248.9|23.2|154.0|165.0|11.5
14|00500|01:52.4|01:52.4|255.5|23.8|154.8|166.0|11.2

Compared to last week. My HR was running a bit higher today, not sure why. Last time I opted to push the pace on the last one, I didn’t today.

After I finished, I was curious to see if all the effort I was putting in to technique was actually doing something or if I was just deluding myself. Somewhere in between, I think.

I still have to hold the knees down longer. Here’s the offending screen capture. Arms bent, body halfway there, but knees already up. Bad Greg!

Tomorrow: 4×20′ / 3′ Cat VI, r18, 2:05

Tuesday: 10 x (500 @ 22, 500 @ 18)

January 9, 2018Leave a comment

I got to sleep in to 6:30 this morning. I had a dentist appointment, which was disappointing. I was hoping that this would be the final session for my cracked tooth, but it has been sore, so they wanted to make some adjustments and hopefully have it calm down a bit before they put the final crown on. I didn’t hate the dentist before this, but I might after!

I had limited time today, so it was good that it was a pretty short session

10 x 500 / 2′
Cat V – Pace 1:58, rate: 22

Last week I did the rests at a Cat VI pace and it worked out pretty well, so I did it again today. One big benefit is that it’s a lot easier to program the PM for the workout. It’s just 500m intervals with 0′ rests. Doing the “rests” at 2:05 pushes the workout up above the UT1 heart rate zone, but its a pretty short workout. I am hoping that it will help improve my ability to clear lactate at aerobic pace. It also gives me a chance to practice rowing with good form and reasonable pressure at r18.

I added one 500m interval at 2:06 at the start and a final cool down 500m at 2:20 at the end for a total of 22 intervals.

I felt like I was working pretty hard at the end, so I was curious how this outing compared with the same workout last week. The answer…nearly identically.

Tomorrow: 3 x (5 x 500 @ 24 / 1′ ) / 5′. Target pace 1:52.

The morning after: 3 x 20′ / 3′

January 8, 2018Leave a comment

The original plan was for 4×20, but I ran out of time before my first meeting of the day. Frankly, I was glad. Every stroke was a struggle today. Chalk that up to a short turn around time from yesterday to today (14 hours), and a very crappy night’s sleep.

Anyway, HR was under control, but this session was pretty tough work.

Workout Summary - media/20180108-1330320o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|15222|69:00.0|02:16.0|173.2|18.0|138.6|149.0|12.3
W-|14430|60:00.0|02:04.7|180.1|18.1|139.9|149.0|13.3
R-|00796|09:00.0|05:39.2|072.2|16.9|117.5|149.0|06.1
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|04818|20:00.0|02:04.5|180.2|18.1|135.2|144.0|13.3
01|04805|20:00.0|02:04.9|179.8|18.0|141.5|146.0|13.3
02|04806|20:00.0|02:04.8|180.2|18.1|142.9|149.0|13.3

Tomorrow: 10 x 500 / 2′

Cat V – 1:58/r22
Rests as Cat VI, 2:05/r18

Brutal: 6 x (3′ @ 28, 7′ @ 18) / 1′

January 8, 20181 Comment

I spent most of Sunday trying to avoid doing this workout. It was a good thing, really. I got some good work done on a presentation I need to get ready, I shoveled the walk to the front door, and I think I did at least two crossword puzzles.

But finally, around 4, I mustered the courage to go down to the basement and confront my demon. I blew up last weekend on this workout, and I’ve failed at it even before my target paces got faster. Today, I really wanted to make it through, and I was going to try to be as careful as possible to maximize my chances.

The plan:

6 x ( 3′ @ 28, 7′ @ 18) / 1′ rest
r28: Cat III, Pace target: 1:48
r18: Cat VI, Pace Target: 2:05
The goal is smoothly transition from the r28 to r18 sections over a few strokes

I decided that it would be OK if I wanted to underrate the r28 sections by a little, if it helped me hit the target pace and felt a bit more comfortable.

I did my PT exercises.

I did a 2k warmup with 20 stroke bursts at target pace and rate.

Workout Summary - media/20180107-2131090o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|02000|07:45.0|01:56.5|229.5|22.0|138.2|154.0|11.7
W-|02000|07:46.0|01:56.6|223.3|21.4|137.5|154.0|12.2
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|154.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00300|01:13.2|02:02.1|175.1|17.1|102.6|121.0|14.3
01|00200|00:43.6|01:48.9|265.3|24.9|128.7|136.0|11.0
02|00300|01:13.8|02:03.0|195.2|19.0|139.6|141.0|12.9
03|00200|00:43.0|01:47.4|276.6|26.2|140.2|144.0|10.7
04|00300|01:14.0|02:03.3|196.2|19.4|146.5|148.0|12.5
05|00200|00:42.5|01:46.1|286.5|26.9|144.7|149.0|10.5
06|00300|01:13.5|02:02.5|198.7|19.0|152.9|154.0|12.9
07|00200|00:42.7|01:46.8|284.5|26.7|151.3|154.0|10.5

I was doing this warmup with 10 stroke bursts and I think it’s better to do it with 20s. I was a bit more winded at the end, but I felt a lot looser.

I had a drink of water, and went through the labor of setting up the PM for variable intervals, and off I went.

The 3′ of hard rowing wasn’t so bad in the first couple of intervals, but the rate of recovery while rowing at 2:05 was quite slow. The first couple of minutes of each r18 section was a real battle to stick to the rate and pace. The r28 sections always felt great in the first minute, tough in the second and brutal in the third.

I was pretty happy to make it through the fifth interval, since I blew up a minute into it last time. But, by the end of the 7′ section of the 5th one, I felt like I didn’t have the oomph to do the last one. I decided that I would give myself a bit of a break and do it at as Cat IV (r24 and 1:52). When I got going, I felt a bit stronger than that and I ended up at r26 and a bit faster than 1:50.

That was a good workout. I felt it the rest of the day in my legs and lungs.

Monday: 4 x 20′ / 3′ Cat VI.

Quantified Rowing

Measure – Adjust – Improve

Thurs: 3 x 20′, Fri: Rest, Sat: 4 x (3’@28,7’@18)/1′, Sun: 4 x 20′

Mon: Rest, Tues: 10x(500@22,500@18), Wed 3x(5×500@24/1′)/5’5′

Sunday: 4 x 20′ / 3′

4 x (3’@28, 7’@18)/1′ – Is this Cape Cod or Greenland!

Friday: I’m about 2 steps into a journey of a 1000 miles

Thursday: Glutes! 3 x 20 / 1′

Wednesday: 3 x (5 x 500 @ r24 / 1′ ) / 5′

Tuesday: 10 x (500 @ 22, 500 @ 18)

The morning after: 3 x 20′ / 3′

Brutal: 6 x (3′ @ 28, 7′ @ 18) / 1′