Thursday: 15 x 3’/1′ off the red eye

November 3, 20161 Comment

I landed in Boston at 6:30am. I was on the erg by 8am. I managed to get some sleep, but my expectations for the session were pretty low.

Plan:

15 x 3’/1′
Rate: 25-28
Pace: 1:52 or better

I did this session in September (described here). The jump up was an average pace of 1:50.7, and over 9 minutes spent in the anaerobic HR band. It was brutal. Today, I was way more careful.in the way that I started, and basically negative split the workout. The end result was an average split of 1:49.9, and zero time spend in the AN band.

I think the improvement comes from both a more intelligent pacing strategy for the workout, and improved aerobic fitness since mid-September.

The plots and pictures below include 1 warmup rep and 1 cool down rep that are excluded from the pace calculations.

Here is the split summary from rowsandall.com. It looks like the way that painsled reports data, it can mess up short intervals by a few meters, so it is different from the PM picture.

Workout Summary - media/20161103-135324-sled_2016-11-03T08-06-32ZEDT.strokes.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|16244|68:00.0|02:05.6|24.3|155.4|178.0|09.8
W-|13610|51:00.0|01:52.4|24.4|154.9|178.0|11.0
R-|02648|17:00.0|03:12.6|22.8|161.4|178.0|03.7
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00756|03:00.0|01:59.0|19.5|125.1|138.0|13.0
02|00801|03:00.0|01:52.3|24.0|140.8|151.0|11.1
03|00809|03:00.0|01:51.2|24.2|145.1|155.0|11.2
04|00814|03:00.0|01:50.6|24.3|148.4|157.0|11.2
05|00809|03:00.0|01:51.2|24.6|149.9|159.0|10.9
06|00806|03:00.0|01:51.7|24.9|152.8|162.0|10.8
07|00813|03:00.0|01:50.8|24.5|153.9|162.0|11.1
08|00805|03:00.0|01:51.7|24.7|155.0|165.0|10.9
09|00807|03:00.0|01:51.5|24.6|158.3|167.0|10.9
10|00817|03:00.0|01:50.1|24.7|160.2|169.0|11.0
11|00814|03:00.0|01:50.5|25.0|162.5|170.0|10.9
12|00811|03:00.0|01:51.0|24.8|163.0|171.0|10.9
13|00806|03:00.0|01:51.6|25.2|163.6|172.0|10.7
14|00812|03:00.0|01:50.8|25.3|164.7|173.0|10.7
15|00825|03:00.0|01:49.1|26.3|167.5|175.0|10.5
16|00827|03:00.0|01:48.8|27.6|170.4|178.0|10.0
17|00675|03:00.0|02:13.3|19.8|151.3|158.0|11.3

This session provides another opportunity to explore some of the stroke metric analysis you can do on rowsandall.com.

First, here is a view of the stroke metrics versus time.

You can see the warmup and cooldown reps. The other thing that you can just begin to see is that I got all the pace improvement in the last couple of reps by increasing rate, not force. The best place to see that is in the drv and rcv time plot, where you can see the recovery time decreasing, but the peak and average force are quite consistent with the prior reps. You can also see how my drive length increased and my avg force decreased a bit over the first few reps. Let’s dig a bit deeper into those parameters.

First, lets look at drive length over time and also versus stroke rate. I’ve used the controls on the site to exclude all rest strokes and all strokes below 23 spm, which screen out the warmup and cool down.

So, there is definitely a strong time dependence to my drive length. I start short, get longer as the workout continues, and only shorten up again at the end when I start to push pace much harder. The relationship between drive length and stroke rate is very weak.

Next, lets look at peak and average force.

There is little change in these parameters over time or stroke rate. The area that I want to understand better is the spread of the peak power. I wonder if I am wasting energy by having an inconsistent stroke.

Tomorrow: 4 x 20′ / 1′ L4

What’s next? Good question!

November 3, 20163 Comments

Well, I haven’t quite figure things out yet.

I have a bunch of potentially conflicting objectives that I need to sort out.

Here’s a quick list of the events that I am thinking about competing in.

January 28th: Northeast Erg Sprints – 2000 meters indoors (trial event for the Crash-Bs)
February 12th: Crash-Bs – 2000m sprint, indoors
Mid-May: Essex River Race: 5.5 mile open water race
Mid June: Festival Sprints – 1000m OTW sprint
Early July: Cromwell Cup – 1000m OTW Sprint
Mid July: Blackburn Challenge – 20+ Mile open water race
Mid-September: CRI Fall Classic – 5k head race
Early October: Textile River Regatta – 6K head race
Mid-October: Quinsigamond Snake Race – 4K head race
Late October: Head of the Charles – 5k head race
Early November: Merrimack Chase – 5k head race

Now there is absolutely no way that I will have the time to do all of these races. So, I need to prioritize what is most important to me. I think the two key events that I want to do are the Blackburn Challenge and the HOCR, everything else is optional.

Training for the Blackburn will require a much different training plan than training for the early summer sprint races, so I suspect that I will either blow them off, or just do the Cromwell without training specifically for it. Basically just include some starting practice into my workouts in June.

A plan for the Blackburn will have two components. The first is endurance, since it is longer than 20 miles in a boat that is 15% slower than a flat water single, which is about 15% slower than an erg. So, we are talking about 3 to 4 hours of rowing depending on the conditions. To do that, I think I will give the marathon training plan from the ISS site a try. Dave C. seemed to do really well with it as prep for his OTW marathon this year. The other component is getting used to rowing in rougher water. That means as much open water work down on the cape as I can do on weekends over the summer. The Marathon training plans want a full 26 weeks, which would mean that I would need to start in mid-January. Since the indoor racing season will finish up in mid-February, I will probably lop the first month off and just pick it up in the second month.

So, that basically sorts out the period from mid-February to Mid-July. What about now? I think that there are two options.

Option 1: Do a 3 month block periodized plan similar to last year to try to take a run at my 2K PB.
Option 2: Do a 3 month block of strength training and base aerobic work and not take a run at my PB.

Each of these options are attractive in different ways. Option 1 would be highly motivating and I will enjoy pushing hard and having a really challenging goal to get after. Option 2 is attractive for three reasons. One, it might be nice to ease up on the competitive pressure a bit. Two, I am interested to know whether getting a lot stronger would help me get faster in the boat next spring. Three, I would like to lose weight and I think it might be easier to do that if I am not pushing every workout to the brink.

So, I need to think this through and make some decisions. Until then, I just keep doing 3 long and easy and 3 hard sessions a week to keep things going.

Wednesday: 2 x 30′ Fitness Center

November 2, 2016Leave a comment

In San Diego. Hotel Fitness Center

30 minutes treadmill, 3.1 mph, 15% incline
30 minutes elliptical, level 15, “rolling hills”

As boring as it sounds.

Tonight: back on the red eye.

Tomorrow: I should do something higher intensity. Maybe I’ll do the 15×3’/1′ with an easy-ish pace target like 1:52.

Head Racing Training review

November 2, 20162 Comments

Date	Day	Workout Type	mode	Planned Workout	*Actual Workout*
10/10/16	Mon	rest	rest	rest	Treadmill 40′ LIT Strength Training
10/11/16	Tue	Long Intervals	otw	4 x 2500 / 5′ rest r24 48′ HIT 30′ LIT	2 x 30′ treadmill/crosstrainer 60′ LIT
10/12/16	Wed	Steady State	otw	4 x 3000 / 1′ rest r20 (HR limit at 80% HRR) 75′ LIT	4 x 10′ Threshold on treadmill 40′ HIT 40′ LIT
10/13/16	Thu	Short Rest Intervals	otw	4 x (3 x 3′ on / 1′ paddle) / 2′ rest 36′ HIT 30′ LIT	Travel day back to US “rest”
10/14/16	Fri	Steady State	otw	Square Blades / Slow Roll Up / r20 2 minutes each, repeated 75′ LIT	Head Race Piece in 2x 30′ HIT 32′ LIT
10/15/16	Sat	Hard Distance	otw	5.5K r30 30′ HIT 30′ LIT	16km Open Water 95′ LIT
10/16/16	Sun	long and easy	erg	4 x 30′ / 1.5′ rest (lactate) 120′ LIT	3×20′ L4 60′ LIT
10/17/16	Mon	Rest	rest	rest	4x(5×2’/30″)/5′ 40′ HIT 50′ LIT
10/18/16	Tue	taper	otw	4 x 500 8′ HIT 40′ LIT	4×500 in 1x 8′ HIT 40′ LIT
10/19/16	Wed	taper	otw	3 x 500 6′ HIT 40′ LIT	3×500 in 2x 6′ HIT 62′ LIT
10/20/16	Thu	taper	otw	2 x 500 4′ HIT 40′ LIT	2×500 in 1x 4′ HIT 46′ LIT
10/21/16	Fri	taper	otw	row the course 60′ LIT	practice run 15′ HIT 60′ LIT
10/22/16	Sat	HOCR	otw	race 25′ HIT 60′ LIT	race 25′ HIT 80′ LIT
Pre Race Totals				157′ HIT 600′ LIT	168′ HIT 665′ LIT
10/23/16	Sun	HOCR	otw	rest	rest
10/24/16	Mon	Rest	rest	Rest	Rate Ladders in 1x 65′ LIT
10/25/16	Tue	Long Intervals	otw	5 x 1500 / 5′ rest r26 35′ HIT 40′ LIT	5 x 1500 in 1x 33′ HIT 47′ LIT
10/26/16	Wed	Steady State	otw	4 x 2900 / 1′ rest r20 (HR limit 150) 75′ LIT	steady state 1x 90′ LIT
10/27/16	Thu	Short Rest Intervals	otw	4 x (5 x 2′ on / 30″ paddle) / 2′ rest 40′ HIT 35′ LIT	4x(5×2’/30″)/5′ 40′ HIT 36′ LIT
10/28/16	Fri	Steady State	otw	4 x 2900 / 1′ rest r20 (HR limit 150)	rest
10/29/16	Sat	Hard Distance	otw	5.5K r30 30′ HIT 45′ LIT	75km bike ride 180′ LIT
10/30/16	Sun	long and easy	erg	4 x 30′ / 1.5′ rest (lactate) 120′ LIT	rest
Total				105′ HIT 390′ LIT	73′ HIT 418′ LIT

So this picks up at the very end of my trip to Asia. I managed to keep my training minutes just about on track over the trip, and I picked up the schedule as soon as I got back. I ended up with a bit more training load than planned. The higher total of HIT minutes was caused by pushing too hard during the practice run. (That was a bad idea!) Otherwise, I can’t complain about the way it went.

Last week was another good training week. I got in lots of LIT training time thanks to the mammoth bike ride, but I was under a bit on the HIT because I missed the head race piece.

As it turns out that is inconsequential. I will not be able to do the Merrimack Chase this year due to work conflicts this week and next. That leaves an unsatifying feel to the end of this season, which on the whole was an unsatisfying season. Between having a big new job and a crushed boat, it was a lot less successful than last year’s OTW season.

But, frankly, that leaves me hungry to do better next year. I’m cooking up a training plan for that soon!

Tuesday: 4 x 20′ / 1′ rest L4 (and stroke metrics)

November 1, 20164 Comments

Standard session.

10W * stroke rate as the target power

10 minute blocks

Plan:

Results: About 0.7 sec fast on pace, and just about right on strokes (+4 for the whole workout)

Workout Summary - media/20161101-131736-sled_2016-11-01T06-47-09ZEDT.strokes.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|19719|83:09.0|02:06.5|18.5|144.9|162.0|12.8
W-|19482|80:00.0|02:03.2|18.4|144.8|162.0|13.2
R-|00242|03:09.0|06:30.6|17.1|128.3|162.0|09.2
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|02382|10:00.0|02:05.9|17.0|123.7|138.0|14.0
02|02437|10:00.0|02:03.1|18.4|139.9|145.0|13.2
03|02429|10:00.0|02:03.5|18.4|139.2|145.0|13.2
04|02448|10:00.0|02:02.5|18.7|145.6|149.0|13.1
05|02447|10:00.0|02:02.6|18.8|146.0|153.0|13.0
06|02451|10:00.0|02:02.4|18.9|152.5|156.0|13.0
07|02448|10:00.0|02:02.6|18.9|153.4|159.0|13.0
08|02439|10:00.0|02:03.0|18.5|158.4|162.0|13.2

In terms of effort, it felt great through the first 40 minutes, but when I added in the little 2 minute chunks at 200W, it seemed to really bury me. My HR climbed pretty hard in the last 30 minutes of the workout. This is a bit harder than I want to be working in these sessions. Next time, I will go back to just alternating 18s and 19s.

Since I have the enormous power of rowsandall.com at my finger tips, I decidedto do a bit deeper analysis of the row. This was an L4 workout so the power and stroke rate is closely prescribed. Here’s a view of the power versus strokes rate.

You can see that even though my averages were about right, that there is considerable variation in the power from stroke to stroke. I wonder if greater consistency in applied power at each stroke rate would be a sign of better efficiency?

Here’s a view of Drive Length versus stroke rate.

I would have thought that drive length would increase at lower stroke rates, but that is NOT what happened. You can see that my stroke actually gets shorter as the stroke rate decreases. I am also surprised at the variation from stroke to stroke, nearly 10 cm difference. Maybe a more repeatable stroke would be more efficient?

Now a look at peak and average force

I haven’t really sorted this one out. There is definitely a negative correlation between peak force and stroke rate, and a less pronounce relationship with average force. The spread is the thing that has me fascinated.

Finally, work per stroke. Basically “SPI”. This by the design of the workout should be pretty flat.

And it is. The interesting thing to me on this plot is that my consistency gets better as the rate increases.

I posted these for three reasons.

It’s the beginning of erg season and I need a new way to keep myself entertained.
I would like to find ways to get faster that I have not yet explored
I would like to capture a baseline for the beginning of the season. Then in March, I can do this same workout and compare the graphs at the end of the season.

This afternoon, I am flying off to San Diego. Tomorrow will be a fitness center session, then another endurance session on Thursday morning after I get off the red eye.

Hopefully during the flight today I can figure out what my next objectives are and begin to lay down a training plan.

Monday: October CTC – 10K Unrestricted

October 31, 20162 Comments

Sunday: It was a lovely day down on the cape. I did some maintenance around the house, including replacing some shingles that were blown off the roof by a wind storm and digging out some sand that built up around the basement entrance. We hung out until late in the afternoon and I never got a chance to do a training session. No great loss.

Monday: Today is the 31st, so it was my last chance to post an entry for the October Cross Team Challenge.

As usual during the OTW season, I go into these challenges not having a good idea about pacing. My all time best 10K was in December of 2013. I was in fantastic shape at that point and was knocking off most of my middle distance PBs. Right now, my training has been focused on middle distance work for the head racing season, but I wasn’t sure how well that would translate to the erg.

I decided to try go out at a 1:52 pace and see how things went.

If you have been reading my training journal, you can probably suspect what a 1:52 target means in practice. It means I went out around 1:50-1:51.

The way I do these middle distance pieces is to count strokes for each 1000m. At the start, I was doing about 94 strokes per 1000m. In this piece, I started to struggle a bit around 5000m and started to ease up on the pace. The worst was at 2500m to go. I saw a few 1:53s and 1:54s on the monitor. I would push a bit, then ease up, then push again. Once I got to 1500m left, I felt pretty sure I was going to make it, and I started to push harder and got 1:52s and 1:51s back on the screen. With 500m to go, I started counting down strokes and rating up.

I am delighted with the result. 37:08.1, a 1:51.4 pace. I ranked it on the C2 site and it’s 18th (97th percentile). For the CTC results, I’m in at 77th place and the 4th place for Free Spirits.

I did a quick 1K warmup before and a 2k cool down after.

Tomorrow: 4 x 20′ L4

Saturday: 75km Bike Ride

October 29, 20162 Comments

Friday: I slept in and worked from home. My wife and I were heading down to the cape for the weekend. I was hoping to squeeze in a workout, but a quick look at my meeting schedule dashed those hopes. So, I took it as a rest day.

Saturday: I decided I wanted to do a long bike ride. From my house all the way to the beginning of the Cape Cod Rail Trail. The weather was a little iffy. The wind was howling last night, over 50mph at times, with some rain as well. By this morning, the wind had calmed down a bit and the rain was gone. It was still very gray, and the it was quite cool, around 48F.

You can see from the elevation that the ride is quite flat. The only thing that breaks it up is frequent road crossings. It starts with about a mile of walking and riding on sandy roads on the island, then the road firms up and you can start riding. As I crossed the bridge from the island, my jury rigged mount for my iphone busted and my phone clattered to the pavement. I stuffed it in my pants and rode the rest of way without any speed of heart rate feedback. I join the rail trail at mile 21, and head south. There was a ton of sticks, leaves, pine cones and other debris on the trail from the wind storm yesterday. It made steering a bit interesting.

I tried to keep my cadence up. Whenever I hit a hill, I downshifted to try to keep things light. I don’t ride very often and I have very rarely gone this far. I still wanted to get a good aerobic workout, but I didn’t want to cramp up 20 miles from home.

There was very little traffic on the trail, and I’m proud to say that I was not passed by a single cyclist.

Looks like I succeeded in terms of intensity. An hour and a half of UT1, plus 45 minutes of UT2. Total time on the road was over 3 hours, with about 2:50 of moving time.

The biggest challenge of the ride was arriving back at the island at high tide. I had to carry my bike and wade through about half a mile of flooded road. Man, the water was cold. Here’s the view back across it after I was finished. You can see the bridge off in the distance. The water was 6 to 12″ deep all the way along the road. I’ve never seen the tide that high.

After I finished wading, I had lost all feeling in my feet. I got my socks and shoes back on and peddled slowly back to the house.

Wahoo fitness said it was a 2500 calorie bike ride. I think that is probably about right. It was pretty epic for me.

Tomorrow: I will do an easy erg session in the evening when I get home from the cape.

Thursday: 4 x (5 x 2′ / 30″ paddle) / 3′ rest

October 27, 20162 Comments

On the Upper Charles. In my fluid.

Weather: Cold, calm, clear and dark! 30F when I launched, 31F when I finished. The water was glassy smooth. It was so calm that I noticed the tiny wake that a goose made when he paddled by in the opposite direction (and I resented the goose for spoiling my perfect water!)

Plan:

4 sets of 5 x 2′ on / 30″ paddle
3 or 4 minutes of rest between sets
rate: 26-28
pace: better than 2:15
HR: No cap. Threshold workout
Technique: full compression, level draw, crisp tap down, smooth recovery

The number of reps in each set is designed to cover the distance down the river so that I get my long rest when I need to turn at the end. The intent of this workout is to work at head race pace and stroke rates with enough rests so that it is more focused on technique than survival. It worked out as planned.

| Tstart_ | Dist_ | Time_ | _Pace_ | SPM_ | avgHR | _DPS___ | Remarks
 | 00:00.0 | 01166 | 08:00 | 3:25.8 | 15.2 | 119.3 | 09.6 | warming up
 | 08:00.0 | 00451 | 01:59 | 2:11.9 | 25.9 | 151.5 | 08.8 | 
 | 09:59.0 | 00090 | 00:30 | 2:46.7 | 20.7 | 155.1 | 08.7 | 
 | 10:29.0 | 00462 | 02:00 | 2:09.9 | 26.9 | 158.1 | 08.6 | 
 | 12:29.0 | 00079 | 00:30 | 3:09.9 | 19.6 | 159.8 | 08.1 | 
 | 12:59.0 | 00452 | 02:00 | 2:12.7 | 26.8 | 158.3 | 08.4 | 
 | 14:59.0 | 00075 | 00:30 | 3:20.0 | 19.7 | 160.9 | 07.6 | 
 | 15:29.0 | 00473 | 02:01 | 2:07.9 | 27.1 | 160.6 | 08.7 | 
 | 17:30.0 | 00078 | 00:29 | 3:05.9 | 21.4 | 165.2 | 07.5 | 
 | 17:59.0 | 00470 | 02:00 | 2:07.7 | 27.9 | 165.0 | 08.4 | 
 | 19:59.0 | 00323 | 03:00 | 4:38.6 | 20.2 | 135.8 | 05.3 | 
 | 22:59.0 | 00454 | 02:00 | 2:12.2 | 26.9 | 152.0 | 08.4 | 
 | 24:59.0 | 00084 | 00:30 | 2:58.6 | 21.6 | 164.3 | 07.8 | 
 | 25:29.0 | 00447 | 02:00 | 2:14.2 | 27.5 | 164.8 | 08.1 | 
 | 27:29.0 | 00078 | 00:30 | 3:12.3 | 21.7 | 167.5 | 07.2 | 
 | 27:59.0 | 00444 | 02:00 | 2:15.1 | 26.8 | 166.5 | 08.3 | 
 | 29:59.0 | 00082 | 00:31 | 3:09.0 | 25.2 | 170.0 | 06.3 | 
 | 30:30.0 | 00437 | 01:59 | 2:16.2 | 27.2 | 167.6 | 08.1 | 
 | 32:29.0 | 00069 | 00:30 | 3:37.4 | 21.0 | 170.3 | 06.6 | 
 | 32:59.0 | 00445 | 02:00 | 2:14.8 | 26.3 | 167.2 | 08.5 | 
 | 34:59.0 | 00415 | 04:00 | 4:49.2 | 18.9 | 136.7 | 05.5 | 
 | 38:59.0 | 00460 | 02:00 | 2:10.4 | 26.8 | 153.5 | 08.6 | 
 | 40:59.0 | 00084 | 00:30 | 2:58.6 | 21.3 | 163.6 | 07.9 | 
 | 41:29.0 | 00447 | 02:00 | 2:14.2 | 27.4 | 163.3 | 08.2 | 
 | 43:29.0 | 00084 | 00:30 | 2:58.6 | 22.0 | 166.7 | 07.6 | 
 | 43:59.0 | 00447 | 02:00 | 2:14.2 | 26.2 | 165.3 | 08.5 | 
 | 45:59.0 | 00093 | 00:31 | 2:46.7 | 21.5 | 166.6 | 08.4 | 
 | 46:30.0 | 00445 | 01:59 | 2:13.7 | 27.0 | 164.9 | 08.3 | 
 | 48:29.0 | 00078 | 00:30 | 3:12.3 | 21.3 | 167.2 | 07.3 | 
 | 48:59.0 | 00454 | 02:00 | 2:12.2 | 27.4 | 167.2 | 08.3 | 
 | 50:59.0 | 00215 | 03:00 | 6:58.6 | 18.2 | 134.5 | 03.9 | 
 | 53:59.0 | 00455 | 02:00 | 2:11.9 | 26.8 | 153.4 | 08.5 | 
 | 55:59.0 | 00081 | 00:30 | 3:05.2 | 21.2 | 163.2 | 07.7 | 
 | 56:29.0 | 00440 | 02:00 | 2:16.4 | 25.8 | 163.6 | 08.5 | 
 | 58:29.0 | 00082 | 00:30 | 3:02.9 | 21.3 | 165.1 | 07.7 | 
 | 58:59.0 | 00437 | 02:01 | 2:18.4 | 26.1 | 164.8 | 08.3 | 
 | 01:00.0 | 00076 | 00:29 | 3:10.8 | 21.7 | 166.6 | 07.2 | 
 | 01:29.0 | 00437 | 02:00 | 2:17.3 | 26.2 | 165.7 | 08.3 | 
 | 03:29.0 | 00079 | 00:30 | 3:09.9 | 20.4 | 167.7 | 07.7 | 
 | 03:59.0 | 00449 | 02:00 | 2:13.6 | 26.7 | 167.7 | 08.4 | 
 | 05:59.0 | 01455 | 10:20 | 3:33.1 | 18.1 | 127.8 | 07.8 |

| Tstart_ | Dist_ | Time_ | _Pace_ | SPM_ | avgHR | _DPS___ | Remarks
 | 00:00.0 | 01166 | 08:00 | 3:25.8 | 15.2 | 119.3 | 09.6 | warmup
 | 00:00.0 | 02245 | 18:00 | 4:00.5 | 20.1 | 148.8 | 06.2 | rests
 | 00:00.0 | 01455 | 10:20 | 3:33.1 | 18.1 | 127.8 | 07.8 | cool down
 | 00:00.0 | 09006 | 39:59 | 2:13.2 | 26.8 | 162.1 | 08.4 | main set

I was hoping to be a bit faster, but it wasn’t gonna happen for me today. I suspect that the hard workout from Tuesday, plus 90 minutes yesterday has built up a little fatigue.

I also was not pushing this to the edge. In each interval, when it started to bite, I tried to refocus on technique. Try to get my finishes so clean that I wouldn’t touch the water, and really get out for the catch. With water this smooth, it was hard to row badly!

I was curious what my stroke dynamics look like. Here are a few strokes from the begining and end of the workout.

You can compare that to last year.

It looks like some subtle changes.

This year, it looks like I am getting a bit more impulse from my leg drive. The acceleration curve is peaking more at 0.4 sec.
It looks like my finishes were a bit cleaner last year.
See how the boat speed is peaking right before the catch last year? That means that I am accelerating up the slide. This year in two out of three strokes, the boat speed is nice and flat through the recovery, so a smoother, more even recovery. You can also see this in terms of the minimum instantaneous boat speed. Last year, it troughed well below 2.5m/s. This year, all strokes troughed above 2.5m/s. That’s good.

Tomorrow: The weather is supposed to be terrible. I might do an erg session. I should probably do a 4 x 20′ endurance session, but I might do a rate limited 10K to post a CTC number.

Cold Enough for Pogies! 90′ of steady state

October 26, 2016Leave a comment

On the upper charles in my fluid.

Weather: Cold and clear, 35F. Light wind from the ESE. This was a bit of a head wind coming up river. Another absolutely stunning day.

Plan:

As much steady state as I had time for. ( turned out to be nearly 90 minutes)
rate: 20
pace: ~2:30
HR: Capped at 155
Technique: good compression, level drive, crisp finishes

I got to the dock about 20 minutes earlier today than yesterday and the difference was dramatic. It was really dark! I could see a few lights out in the lagoon heading down river when I got my boat, but I could see the boats that they were on.

By the time I got in my boat, my eyes had adjusted enough that I could see a little bit, but I was still pretty tentative. The river is narrow enough at the beginning that it is shaded by trees on both sides, so it is really dark in places. As I started the turn out of the lagoon, I saw lights ahead. One was on a four that had steering off into the weeds on the inside of the turn. The other was a launch. I couldn’t tell which way the launch was heading so I stopped and inspected the situation closely, then paddled through the whole situation. After I passed those two boats, there was one more four a bit further down the river. I saw no more of them after that.

For today, my objectives were pretty simple. Work on building my aerobic base by getting in lots of minutes or rowing. And more importantly, try to work on correcting the flaws in my stroke. In the double, I was rowing way to deep (over the barrel), and my finishes were very sloppy. Today, I was trying to maintain an internal monologue during every stroke. It went something like this.

(starting right after the finish)

Get those blades off the water, don’t be lazy, you don’t need training wheels
Easy up the slide. keep it smooth
Don’t hunch, keep your shoulders high in to the catch
Reach way out there, don’t be a chicken
drop the blades first, then accelerate
keep the handles nice and low, don’t go deep
push hands down and away crisply. Don’t let your hands brush your torso
Get those blades up.

Over and over. Sometimes I would get focused on one part of it, especially the finishes and I would start to hunch or drag my blades, but this was some of the hardest concentration that I have done in a steady state session.

After I finished my usual 2 full laps of the river, I had time to add in another 2k or so rowing. This part I did with slow roll ups. I would finish, feather, and then roll to square slowly through the whole recovery. This was a good change because it still required a lot of concentration, but was a bit of change.

Sometimes I just want to row, but right now, I really want to try to break some habits and start some new ones. It ain’t easy.

Data from RIM.

| Tstart_ | Dist_ | Time_ | _Pace_ | SPM_ | avgHR | _DPS___ | Remarks
 | 00:00.0 | 00705 | 05:32 | 3:55.5 | 12.5 | 112.8 | 10.2 | warming up
 | 05:32.0 | 03357 | 16:19 | 2:25.8 | 19.4 | 141.1 | 10.6 | 
 | 21:51.0 | 00111 | 01:08 | 5:06.3 | 18.6 | 133.3 | 05.3 | 
 | 22:59.0 | 02803 | 13:49 | 2:27.9 | 19.9 | 149.5 | 10.2 | 
 | 36:48.0 | 00053 | 02:01 | 19:01.5| 15.7 | 120.8 | 01.7 | 
 | 38:49.0 | 02846 | 13:38 | 2:23.7 | 20.1 | 147.8 | 10.4 | 
 | 52:27.0 | 00088 | 00:59 | 5:35.2 | 18.7 | 142.3 | 04.8 | 
 | 53:26.0 | 02809 | 14:02 | 2:29.9 | 20.1 | 151.0 | 10.0 | 
 | 07:28.0 | 00103 | 01:17 | 6:13.8 | 14.9 | 134.5 | 05.4 | 
 | 08:45.0 | 01090 | 05:21 | 2:27.2 | 20.0 | 144.9 | 10.2 | 
 | 14:06.0 | 00099 | 01:18 | 6:33.9 | 20.3 | 133.2 | 03.7 | 
 | 15:24.0 | 01186 | 05:58 | 2:30.9 | 20.6 | 146.1 | 09.6 | 
 | 21:22.0 | 01120 | 05:51 | 2:36.7 | 20.8 | 146.7 | 09.2 |

| Tstart_ | Dist_ | Time_ | _Pace_ | SPM_ | avgHR | _DPS___ | Remarks
 | 00:00.0 | 00705 | 05:32 | 3:55.5 | 12.5 | 112.8 | 10.2 | warmup
 | 00:00.0 | 00454 | 06:43 | 7:23.8 | 17.4 | 131.1 | 03.9 | rests
 | 00:00.0 | 01120 | 05:51 | 2:36.7 | 20.8 | 146.7 | 09.2 | cool down
 | 00:00.0 | 14091 | 09:07 | 2:27.2 | 19.9 | 146.8 | 10.2 | main set

I always feel a little bit better when I can stick with a HR cap and still do a steady state session with the avg pace faster than 2:30.

Tuesday: 5 x 1500

October 25, 20164 Comments

On the Upper Charles in Newton in my single

Weather: Cold and stunningly beautiful. There was frost on the dock, and the air temp was around 36F. There was no wind at all at first. Over the course of the session, a little bit of wind from the east started, but it was barely noticeable.

The river level was high because of all the rain we got over the weekend. From the GPS data, it looks like the flow was a bit higher than usual (my calculation about 0.02 m/s) This is about a second plus or minus on pace depending on whether you are heading up of down river.

Plan:

Short warmup
5 x 1500m / 5′ rest
- rate: 26-28
- pace: faster than 2:15
- No HR cap. Threshold intensity
Square blade rowing for cool down

TCX data from RIM

Workout Summary - media/20161025-133204-77854o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|12728|71:56.0|02:49.6|22.6|145.0|174.0|07.8
W-|07501|32:51.0|02:11.4|27.0|162.2|174.0|08.5
R-|06530|46:46.0|03:34.9|16.5|113.6|174.0|08.1
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
02|01501|06:31.8|02:10.5|25.8|155.5|163.0|08.9
03|01501|06:34.7|02:11.5|27.6|161.6|168.0|08.3
04|01499|06:32.3|02:10.9|26.6|161.8|171.0|08.6
05|01502|06:40.9|02:13.5|27.6|166.6|173.0|08.1
06|01499|06:31.3|02:10.6|27.5|165.2|174.0|08.3

Speedcoach Data. I sure do like the lower noise you get from the impeller. I think the cal factor is still a little stingy. The avg pace from GPS was 2:11.4. From the Speedcoach it’s 2:12.3.

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_1230_|_07:16_|_2:57.2_|_124___|_17.1_|_09.9_|_117___|_warmup
01235_|_1490_|_06:36_|_2:13.0_|_170___|_25.7_|_08.8_|_155___|_rep #1
02735_|_0546_|_03:39_|_3:20.3_|_063___|_17.3_|_08.7_|_125___|_rest
03271_|_1491_|_06:32_|_2:11.3_|_180___|_27.6_|_08.3_|_162___|_rep #2
04771_|_0604_|_04:15_|_3:31.0_|_071___|_16.7_|_08.5_|_128___|_rest
05366_|_1495_|_06:39_|_2:13.3_|_175___|_26.3_|_08.5_|_164___|_rep #3
06866_|_0421_|_03:07_|_3:42.0_|_052___|_16.7_|_08.1_|_133___|_rest
07282_|_1487_|_06:33_|_2:12.1_|_180___|_27.5_|_08.3_|_166___|_rep #4
08782_|_0473_|_03:15_|_3:26.4_|_056___|_17.2_|_08.4_|_139___|_rest
09242_|_1491_|_06:33_|_2:11.9_|_180___|_27.5_|_08.3_|_165___|_rep #5
10742_|_2876_|_17:04_|_2:58.0_|_310___|_18.2_|_09.3_|_132___|_sbr, cool down

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
01230_|_07:16_|_2:57.2_|_124___|_17.1_|_09.9_|_117___|_warmup
07454_|_32:53_|_2:12.3_|_885___|_26.9_|_08.4_|_162___|_Main set
02044_|_14:16_|_3:29.3_|_242___|_17.0_|_08.4_|_131___|_rest meters
02876_|_17:04_|_2:58.0_|_310___|_18.2_|_09.3_|_132___|_cool down
13604_|_11:28_|_2:37.6_|_1561___|_21.8_|_08.7_|_144___|_Total

I was delighted with this workout. I was working hard, but I was never on the edge of failure. I sifted through my journal and found that I did this workout on November 3rd of last year. (Link)

That session last year was a bit of a miracle. Everything went perfectly and I pushed it to the limit. I managed an average split of 2:09.7. Avg heart rate was 168. Today, my avg pace was 2:11.4 (1.5 sec slower), but my avg heart rate was 162. Taking into account the lack of threshold work that I have done in my single this year, I find it very encouraging that I am that close on pace, and in a better place in terms of aerobic fitness.

Tomorrow: 75′ steady state. It’s gonna be cold again. Predicted low around 32F.

Quantified Rowing

Measure – Adjust – Improve

Thursday: 15 x 3’/1′ off the red eye

What’s next? Good question!

Wednesday: 2 x 30′ Fitness Center

Head Racing Training review

Tuesday: 4 x 20′ / 1′ rest L4 (and stroke metrics)

Monday: October CTC – 10K Unrestricted

Saturday: 75km Bike Ride

Thursday: 4 x (5 x 2′ / 30″ paddle) / 3′ rest

Cold Enough for Pogies! 90′ of steady state

Tuesday: 5 x 1500