Tuesday: 40′ Inclined March in Hsinchu

October 4, 2016Leave a comment

After flying from Boston to Tokyo, waiting around for a couple hours, then flying on to Taipei and taking a car from there to Hsinchu, I arrived at my hotel around 10pm. Roughly 21 hours of travel time. I slept about an hour on the first flight and maybe 2 hours on the second one. I knew I needed a full nights sleep and I didn’t trust my body’s internal clock to let that happen, so I took an ambien and was out cold for 6 hours.

I set the alarm for 4:45 so that I could get a quick workout in before I needed to head to the office at 6:30. I was in the hotel gym at 5am, and I figure I had time for a 40 minute workout.

I decided to keep it pretty tame, so I headed to a treadmill and set the incline to 15% and the pace to 3mph, basically a fast walk. When I’ve done this workout in the past, I end up with a HR that rises steadily through the session, today was no exception. I slowed to 2.8mph with 5 minutes to go, and then back up to 3.2 for the last 2 minutes.

It was humid in the gym and I was very sweaty when I finished.

Tomorrow: I have more time tomorrow morning, so I think I will do a fitness center triathlon 3 x 30′ on different machines.

Sunday: 3 x 20′ L4 w/lactate (morning)

October 2, 20162 Comments

The rest of Saturday was a blur. We went out shopping, and had a little dinner, then came home and I did laundry, packed and did some paperwork. Then we watched the season premier of Saturday Night Live. It is intriguing that it requires nothing more than to repeat exactly what Donald Trump says to effectively parody him. But enough of that. On to the training.

I got up around 8:30 and hopped on the erg at 9 for a steady state session

Plan:

Just like yesterday
3 x 20′
1′ rests
L4 format
target power 185
HR cap at 150
Measure lactate at the end

20:00 4813 181W 18
40:00 4894 190W 19
60:00 4861 186W 19

Basically the same session as yesterday. I did a different sequence from 40′ to 50′ but otherwise exactly the same. It felt harder, but the HR stats are very close.

Lactate level was 1.8mmol/l, so 0.4 higher than yesterday. From yesterday’s results, it would be logical to increase training power a bit. From today, it’s pretty close to the limit. I guess I stick with ~185W for now.

For fun I compared yesterday’s session with today’s. Looks like I had a slightly higher HR in general yesterday.

I am posting this from the plane. I’m flying to Taipei and I’ll arrive Monday night local time. I will be in Asia for through next Thursday, or about 12 days. It’s a long trip. I’m going to be trying to follow my training plan roughly but I am sure this is going to impact performance for the HOCR. I think the most important things to focus on are:

Limit drinking
get enough sleep
avoid getting sick
maintain aerobic base.

Saturday: 3 x 20′ L4 w/ lactate

October 1, 2016October 2, 2016Leave a comment

I ran out of energy in a big way Friday night and crashed around 10pm. I slept until almost 9am, and then started a day of chores and errands.

Around 3pm, I headed off to do an easy erg session.

Plan:

3 x 20′
1′ rests
L4 format
start at low power and ramp up to 185avg

I measured lactate at the end…1.4mmol/l. Nice. Of course this was an afternoon session.

Friday: “The Hook” – 5.9km hard

September 30, 2016Leave a comment

Weather: A bit chilly, around 50F. Brisk wind from the NNE at 11mph with gusts to 20. Lots of chop. The water was a mess.

Plan:

Warmup to north end of the lake
Head Race Piece
- ~6km
- from north end of the lake, around two island near the south end and then back to the Narrows. The radius of the turn is nearly the same as the big eliot turn in the HOCR.
- Rate: r26
- Pace: <2:15
Cool down back to boathouse

|Start|Dist_|Time_|_Pace__|_SPM__|avg HR|DPS_|Remarks
|00008|02439|16:49|03:26.8| 17.7 | 130 |08.2|warmup
|02447|05900|26:40|02:15.6| 26.0 | 169 |08.5|Head Race Piece
|08347|01808|12:15|03:23.3| 19.6 | 142 |07.5|Cool down

500m splits
|02447|00501|02:10|02:09.7| 26.2 | 151 |08.8|
|02948|00502|02:14|02:13.5| 25.3 | 163 |08.9|
|03450|00500|02:14|02:14.0| 25.3 | 164 |08.9|
|03950|00498|02:13|02:13.5| 25.4 | 167 |08.9|
|04448|00499|02:12|02:12.3| 25.3 | 167 |09.0|
|04947|00501|02:14|02:13.7| 25.6 | 169 |08.8|
|05448|00499|02:15|02:15.3| 25.7 | 170 |08.6|
|05947|00500|02:16|02:16.0| 25.8 | 171 |08.6|
|06447|00503|02:16|02:15.2| 26.2 | 172 |08.5|
|06950|00494|02:20|02:21.7| 26.9 | 175 |07.9|
|07444|00503|02:25|02:24.1| 26.7 | 176 |07.8|
|07947|00400|01:51|02:18.7| 27.9 | 178 |07.7|

To make sense of the splits, here is a map, with the 500m chunks shown.

So, what’s going on?

0-500: 2:09.7 Nice water, tail wind, adrenaline = nice fast splits
500-1000: 2:13.5 water starts to get sloppy, we struggle to get in the groove with the tail wind
1000-1500: 2:14.0 water is worse, but the rowing is better
1500-2000: 2:13.5 water continues to degrade, I feel good enough to push a bit harder, my HR goes up from 164 to 167 in this section
2000-2500: 2:12.3 under the bridge, which kills the chop. we pick up speed and it feels pretty good
2500-3000: 2:13.7 There is enough lake between us and the bridge for the chop to pick back up. My energy is flagging a bit by this point. I start to dread the thought of the big turn.
3000-3500: 2:15.3 Just about the worst water of the row. Quite tough to get to full compression because the chop is screwing with the set of the boat.
3500-4000: 2:16.0. I have no idea why we are slow here. The water was better, and I was pushing very hard.
4000-4500: 2:15.2. Same story as the above. No idea what was slowing us down.
4500-5000: 2:21.7. The big turn. We did great along the south side of the island, but as we emerged from the lee of the island, we got hit by a big gust and a ton of chop coming down the channel between the islands. In an instant the boat slowed down to a 2:30 pace or slower. We got into the lee of the second island and actually picked up a bit of speed through the last half of the turn.
5000-5500: 2:24.1. We get out from behind the second island and turn into the teeth of the wind. The boat feels like it weighs a thousand pounds, but with the headwind, it is also set like a rock. The rowing feels very connected, and we pound up into the wind. It is pretty damn slow, but satisfying in a masochistic way.
5500-5900: 2:18.7. I brought the rate up and worked on trying to row as cleanly as I could. The pace came down and we slugged our way back to the narrows.

Final result was 2:15.6. I was hoping for better because of the tail wind, but I bet we would have been <2:15 in flat water and no wind.

One side note: Changed my pitch today. Was rigged with 4deg pitch inserts. Changed to 6 degree inserts. It might be placebo effect, but I felt like my oar depth was better and my finishes were crispier. I liked it! We checked the span, and it was 159 at stroke and 158 in bow. Joe is planning to move them both to 160.

So, I am off the water for a while. I am taking off to Asia for 11 days on Sunday. Bummer that it’s happening so close to the HOCR, but duty calls.

Thursday: Steady State OTW

September 29, 20161 Comment

On the water, down in Newton in my single.

The featured image is an aerial view that I found of the old watch factory in Waltham. The little bridge is just over 2km from the start of the rowable section of the river, and about 900m from the end at the Moody street dam. Going down river, which is from the bottom of the picture to the top, you need to go through the span of the bridge right against the right hand shore, so you need to turn right at the corner of the straight wall to line up with the bridge. Also notice that the bridge crosses the river at an angle so you need to turn aggressively in the other direction as soon as you have your line to the bridge. It adds a bit of fun to workouts and keeps my head on a swivel!

Weather: Cool and Breezy. Wind was NNE between 5 and 10mph with gusts to 15mph. This was a head wind going downriver and a tail wind coming up river. It was forecast to be overcast, but it was actually mostly clear. A lovely fall day, really.

Plan:

4 lengths of the river
Short stops for a drink of water at the end of each chunk.
Rate: r20
Pace: better than 2:30
HR Cap: 155
Technique: Work on balance, try to get blades off the water on recovery. Work on getting a good reach at the catch and staying forward through the initial drive.

Today I decided that I would be careful enough and get data to recalibrate my speedcoach. Instead of using the built in routine, I decided to just match start times and durations of the four moving segments between speedcoach and RIM, and then use the formula helpfully provided in the speedcoach manual.

Here is the Speedcoach data….

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00009_|_1094_|_06:15_|_2:51.5_|_117___|_18.7_|_09.4_|_121___|_warmup
01103_|_2779_|_14:32_|_2:36.8_|_294___|_20.2_|_09.5_|_148___|_m
03882_|_0099_|_00:38_|_3:09.9_|_011___|_17.6_|_09.0_|_136___|_r
03981_|_2643_|_13:24_|_2:32.0_|_272___|_20.3_|_09.7_|_150___|_m
06624_|_0134_|_00:58_|_3:36.4_|_013___|_13.4_|_10.3_|_133___|_r
06758_|_2727_|_14:37_|_2:40.7_|_296___|_20.3_|_09.2_|_151___|_m
09485_|_0086_|_00:36_|_3:29.3_|_008___|_13.3_|_10.8_|_123___|_r
09571_|_2672_|_13:35_|_2:32.6_|_274___|_20.2_|_09.8_|_150___|_m
12243_|_1097_|_06:10_|_2:48.4_|_125___|_20.3_|_08.8_|_141___|_c

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
01094_|_06:15_|_2:51.5_|_117___|_18.7_|_09.4_|_121___|_warmup
10821_|_56:07_|_2:35.6_|_1136___|_20.2_|_09.5_|_150___|_Main set
00319_|_02:12_|_3:26.3_|_032___|_14.6_|_10.0_|_131___|_rest meters
01097_|_06:10_|_2:48.4_|_125___|_20.3_|_08.8_|_141___|_cool down
13331_|_10:44_|_2:39.2_|_1410___|_19.9_|_09.5_|_146___|_Total

The important bit is the time and distance for the main set

10821m in 56:07 sec.

Here is the RIM data

| Tstart_ | Dist_ | Time_ | _Pace_ | SPM_ | avgHR | _DPS___ | Remarks
| 00:00.0 | 01243 | 08:14 | 3:18.7 | 15.6 | 113.6 | 09.7 | warming up
| 07:44.0 | 02884 | 14:35 | 2:31.7 | 20.3 | 147.8 | 09.7 |
| 22:19.0 | 00167 | 01:20 | 3:59.5 | 20.3 | 138.5 | 06.2 |
| 23:39.0 | 02737 | 13:20 | 2:26.1 | 20.4 | 150.5 | 10.1 |
| 36:59.0 | 00150 | 02:02 | 6:46.7 | 18.6 | 132.9 | 04.0 |
| 39:01.0 | 02808 | 14:35 | 2:35.8 | 20.3 | 150.9 | 09.5 |
| 53:36.0 | 00140 | 01:48 | 6:25.7 | 19.4 | 137.1 | 04.0 |
| 55:24.0 | 02797 | 13:36 | 2:25.9 | 20.3 | 149.6 | 10.1 |
| 09:00.0 | 01198 | 06:34 | 2:44.4 | 21.3 | 142.4 | 08.6 |

| Tstart_ | Dist_ | Time_ | _Pace_ | SPM_ | avgHR | _DPS___ | Remarks
| 00:00.0 | 01243 | 08:14 | 3:18.7 | 15.6 | 113.6 | 09.7 | warmup
| 00:00.0 | 11226 | 56:06 | 2:29.9 | 20.3 | 149.7 | 09.8 | Mainset
| 00:00.0 | 00457 | 05:10 | 5:39.2 | 19.3 | 135.8 | 04.6 | rests
| 00:00.0 | 01198 | 06:34 | 2:44.4 | 21.3 | 142.4 | 08.6 | cool down

From RIM, 11226 in 56:07

The formula is

new cal factor = (old cal factor * true distance) / displayed distance

(0.962 * 11226) / 10821 = 0.998 (my new cal factor)

Look at that, I’ve gained 5 seconds of boat speed without working any harder!

Other than this, the workout was entirely unremarkable. My hands are a mess. I have blisters on my index fingers, and a bad one under the callous at the base of my ring finger. Today didn’t make them any worse, but my hands hurt a bit during the row. I must be gripping differently in the double and causing some trouble.

The wind was enough to be noticeable, but there wasn’t any chop (I love this river!) So, I set the pace by using the HR limit. If I got up to the limit, I would back off the pressure a bit to bring it back in line.

Tomorrow: Back to Quinsig. Another attempt at the grand hook workout. 6km with a big turn starting at about the 5km mark. Great practice for head racing!

Wednesday:4 x 5 x 2′

September 28, 20161 Comment

Weather: Wind from the NE. Weather data says it was less than 5mph, but it felt stronger than that on the lake. Overcast, but no fog!

Plan:

Warmup to north end of the lake
4 x ( 5 x 2′ / 30″ paddle)
3 ish minute rests between sets
- with a minute or so of square blade drills in each rest
rate pyramid in each set of 5: 24, 26, 28, 26, 24
pace: better than 2:15
Cool down with some feet out rowing to work on finishes

We did 2 power 10s and a 20 during the warmup and finished with a minute or so of alternating squared and feathered.

The first 2 sets were with a tail wind. It made us a bit sloppy. The r28 felt good though. The boat felt nice and light and I felt unhurried and like we in good sync.

We did about minute of square blade drills in the breaks between sets. Between sets 2 and 3, we did about 2 minutes of drills in the cove. The water was nice a flat, and frankly, I wanted a bit more rest for the last two sets.

When we headed up into the wind, we were a lot slower. Just about 10 seconds difference in pace between the downwind and upwind pieces. But even though the boat felt heavier, I felt like our technique was a bit more solid. At times in a couple of the intervals, we would lose the set of the boat for a few strokes. I would find myself dragging my starboard oar, dropping in the catch early because the boat felt unstable, or basking my right thumb on the opposite oar toward the end of the stroke. The good news is that we seemed to be able to get back on track within the interval.

| Tstart_ | Dist_ | Time_ | _Pace_ | SPM_ | avgHR | _DPS___ | Remarks
| 00:00.0 | 02498 | 16:30 | 3:18.2 | 18.3 | 122.6 | 08.3 | warming up
| 16:30.0 | 00469 | 02:00 | 2:07.9 | 24.0 | 151.8 | 09.8 |
| 18:30.0 | 00096 | 00:30 | 2:36.3 | 22.8 | 156.3 | 08.4 |
| 19:00.0 | 00466 | 01:59 | 2:07.7 | 26.0 | 160.8 | 09.0 |
| 20:59.0 | 00097 | 00:31 | 2:39.8 | 23.8 | 162.1 | 07.9 |
| 21:30.0 | 00477 | 02:00 | 2:05.8 | 27.3 | 164.8 | 08.7 |
| 23:30.0 | 00092 | 00:30 | 2:43.0 | 23.3 | 165.1 | 07.9 |
| 24:00.0 | 00459 | 02:00 | 2:10.7 | 25.6 | 165.5 | 09.0 |
| 26:00.0 | 00080 | 00:30 | 3:07.5 | 23.2 | 165.1 | 06.9 |
| 26:30.0 | 00470 | 02:00 | 2:07.7 | 24.4 | 166.4 | 09.6 |
| 28:30.0 | 00331 | 02:30 | 3:46.6 | 21.1 | 141.8 | 06.3 |
| 31:00.0 | 00443 | 02:00 | 2:15.4 | 23.9 | 153.3 | 09.3 |
| 33:00.0 | 00075 | 00:30 | 3:20.0 | 23.7 | 156.9 | 06.3 |
| 33:30.0 | 00450 | 01:59 | 2:12.2 | 26.2 | 162.1 | 08.7 |
| 35:29.0 | 00097 | 00:31 | 2:39.8 | 24.7 | 166.1 | 07.6 |
| 36:00.0 | 00462 | 02:00 | 2:09.9 | 28.3 | 169.0 | 08.2 |
| 38:00.0 | 00086 | 00:30 | 2:54.4 | 24.8 | 170.1 | 06.9 |
| 38:30.0 | 00448 | 02:00 | 2:13.9 | 27.0 | 170.7 | 08.3 |
| 40:30.0 | 00091 | 00:30 | 2:44.8 | 24.8 | 172.0 | 07.3 |
| 41:00.0 | 00439 | 02:00 | 2:16.7 | 25.5 | 171.8 | 08.6 |
| 43:00.0 | 00627 | 06:59 | 5:34.1 | 23.3 | 127.7 | 03.8 |
| 49:59.0 | 00429 | 02:01 | 2:21.0 | 24.2 | 153.2 | 08.8 |
| 52:00.0 | 00080 | 00:30 | 3:07.5 | 22.7 | 158.8 | 07.0 |
| 52:30.0 | 00425 | 02:00 | 2:21.2 | 26.4 | 162.9 | 08.1 |
| 54:30.0 | 00088 | 00:30 | 2:50.5 | 24.9 | 166.8 | 07.1 |
| 55:00.0 | 00445 | 02:00 | 2:14.8 | 28.3 | 168.7 | 07.9 |
| 57:00.0 | 00085 | 00:30 | 2:56.5 | 24.9 | 170.1 | 06.8 |
| 57:30.0 | 00420 | 01:59 | 2:21.7 | 26.4 | 170.1 | 08.0 |
| 59:29.0 | 00082 | 00:31 | 3:09.0 | 23.9 | 169.2 | 06.6 |
| 00:00.0 | 00424 | 02:00 | 2:21.5 | 24.7 | 167.5 | 08.6 |
| 02:00.0 | 00252 | 03:00 | 5:57.1 | 19.9 | 140.1 | 04.2 |
| 05:00.0 | 00413 | 02:00 | 2:25.3 | 24.3 | 153.0 | 08.5 |
| 07:00.0 | 00079 | 00:30 | 3:09.9 | 23.7 | 162.7 | 06.7 |
| 07:30.0 | 00432 | 02:00 | 2:18.9 | 26.2 | 164.4 | 08.3 |
| 09:30.0 | 00078 | 00:30 | 3:12.3 | 24.3 | 165.4 | 06.4 |
| 10:00.0 | 00426 | 02:00 | 2:20.8 | 27.5 | 166.8 | 07.7 |
| 12:00.0 | 00073 | 00:29 | 3:18.6 | 24.3 | 168.7 | 06.2 |
| 12:29.0 | 00426 | 02:01 | 2:22.0 | 26.4 | 168.7 | 08.0 |
| 14:30.0 | 00078 | 00:30 | 3:12.3 | 23.8 | 170.9 | 06.6 |
| 15:00.0 | 00429 | 02:00 | 2:19.9 | 25.3 | 169.8 | 08.5 |
| 17:00.0 | 00297 | 01:20 | 2:14.7 | 28.9 | 175.7 | 07.7 |
| 18:20.0 | 02439 | 16:34 | 3:23.8 | 20.0 | 136.7 | 07.4 |

| Tstart_ | Dist_ | Time_ | _Pace_ | SPM_ | avgHR | _DPS___ | Remarks
| 00:00.0 | 02498 | 16:30 | 3:18.2 | 18.3 | 122.6 | 08.3 | warm up
| 00:00.0 | 02567 | 20:31 | 3:59.8 | 22.8 | 146.0 | 05.5 | rests
| 00:00.0 | 02439 | 16:34 | 3:23.8 | 20.0 | 136.7 | 07.4 | cool down
| 00:00.0 | 01821 | 08:00 | 2:11.8 | 24.5 | 160.8 | 09.3 | r24 downwind
| 00:00.0 | 01823 | 07:58 | 2:11.1 | 26.2 | 164.8 | 08.7 | r26 downwind
| 00:00.0 | 00939 | 04:00 | 2:07.8 | 27.8 | 166.9 | 08.4 | r28 downwind
| 00:00.0 | 01695 | 08:01 | 2:21.9 | 24.6 | 160.8 | 08.6 | r24 upwind
| 00:00.0 | 01703 | 08:00 | 2:20.9 | 26.3 | 166.5 | 08.1 | r26 upwind
| 00:00.0 | 01168 | 05:20 | 2:17.0 | 28.1 | 169.7 | 07.8 | r28 upwind

Put it all together and you get an average pace for all intervals of 2:15.5. This is a bit slower than the last time we did this workout. That time we did it in 2:14.1 in perfect water. Today I also had a bit higher heart rate, so more effort to go slower.

My assumption is that the difference is down to wind. I would guess that the tail wind was giving us about 3 seconds of pace, and the head wind was costing us about 7, that would yield about 2 seconds of pace degradation.

Tomorrow: Back in my single for an easy r20 session.

Tuesday: 4 x 20′ L4

September 27, 20161 Comment

It was pouring rain this morning. I decided to do an erg session instead of heading out to the river. It’s funny. I think last year, I probably would have scoffed at the elements and gone out anyway, but this year, I seem to feel a little different. Less driven perhaps. More normal perhaps. Who knows.

So, I got to the gym at work around 7AM and settled in for an endurance workout.

Plan:

4 x 20′
1′ rests
L4 format
ramp power up from 160W during the first 10 minutes
Target power 185W avg
HR cap: 155

After the sublime 40′ session last night, I was wondering what it would feel like today. I started even more conservatively than yesterday, with 4′ at 16, then 3′ at 17, etc up to 1′ at 19. Then I went into 10 minutes of flipping between 18 and 19. Despite the fact that I was rowing about 12W lower power through the first 20 minutes, my HR response was almost the same as yesterday. During the second 20 minutes, my session yesterday was 6W higher, but had a marginally lower HR. My RPE definitely matched the HR data. I felt like I was working a lot harder for it today.

Here is a graphical comparison (courtesy of rowsandall.com). The red trace was yesterday, and the blue trace today.

I am intrigued by the difference. I would love to tease apart the causes. Potential contributors:

Incomplete recovery (about 14 hours from yesterday’s session to today’s)
Closed to fasted state this morning (just a coffee with some skim milk) vs 3 hours after lunch yesterday
Time of day (I always seem to do better in afternoon sessions)
Humidity (it was about the same temp, but higher humidity this morning)
Socks yesterday, sneakers today

It would take a while to really exercise all of these variables. But I think this points to a potential issue in many training approaches. At least for me, I don’t think it is valid to use a power @ 2mmol/l guideline that was measured in the afternoon for morning sessions or visa versa. Unless I can explain the causes for the difference.

Tomorrow: Back on Quinsig for another 4 x ( 5 x 2′ / 30″ paddle) / 3′ rest

Monday PM: 40′ L4

September 26, 2016September 27, 2016Leave a comment

Towards the end of the day, I was still feeling a bit unsatisfied by the interrupted morning session. It provided some HIT, but not nearly as much active time as I had hoped. I decided to do a shortish L4 session.

Of course I was not entirely prepared to do an erg session at work. I puyt back on my sweaty clothes from the morning, and rowed in socks, since my sneakers were at home, but it was a wonderful session. I felt strong.

Plan:

L4 format
Start at 16spm and 160w and work up to target power over the first 10 minutes.
target power 185. I figured that I would do alternating 2′ sections of 180W and 190W
HR cap of 150

SO, I started with 2′ at r16, then 2′ at r17, then r18, then r19. I was just barely nudging up into the UT2 HR zone, so I pushed on to r20 and 200W for 2 minutes. The next 10 minutes I flipped back and forth between r19 and r20. My HR went up into the UT1 zone around the 20 minute mark and I decided to back off the power a bit, so I changed the middle 2 minutes down to a r18 (180W), and my HR came down nicely. So, for the rest of the workout, I just cycled between r18,r19, and r20.

It was a wonderful workout. I enjoyed every minute of it.

Monday: Equipment Problems Mar Threshold Session

September 26, 2016Leave a comment

Weather: Cold (35-40F). Thick mist rising off the warm lake water. Light wind from the north, maybe 5mph. Damn near pitch black when we launched. Between the mist and the darkness, it was a tough day to be steering the boat. I felt bad for Joe, he was looking around almost every stroke, trying to pick out dim bow lights in the gloom.

Plan:

Warm up to north end of the lake including a few power 10s and 20s
5.8km from North end of the lake to the south end, finishing with a broad turn back to finish around the beach.
- r26
- pace: ~2:15
Cool down and drills back to the boathouse

It started off well enough. It was cold and damp when we launched and as soon as we got out onto the lake, we noticed the light breeze from the north. It was enough to make something bigger than ripples, but smaller than waves.

We did 2 10s and one 20 on the way up to the north end of the lake and spun around to head south again. We got up to speed over about 5 strokes and then settled into a nice rhythm at 26 spm. The boat was moving pretty well. We about 1500 meters into the piece, when I hear a big THWANG! from my port oarlock. I look out and the backstay is flapping around and there is no bolt on the top of the pin holding the oarlock in place. We paddle in to the dock from there and scrounge up some spacers and a new bolt to get it all repaired. On the map below, the red arrow is the scene of the crime.

So, now we need a new plan. I thought it would make sense to go from the route 9 bridge down to the islands, do the same broad turn, and then take it all the way back up the lake back to the bridge. I figure that this would be almost 6km, so a pretty good approximation of the original plan.

Off we go. We paddle to the bridge and then take it up to r26. Again, the boat is moving pretty well. We surge down lake, and along the way, Joe points out a big inflatable boat-like object drifting unoccupied on the other side of the lake. Well, that’s another thing to keep our eyes open for, now isn’t it. We continue down through the narrows, and past the first island. Joe lines us up for the beginning of the turn and we blast along the south shore of the big island. We are in pea soup fog at this point, and about to cross the uplake channel, so Joe start’s shouting “Look Ahead!” as loud as he can, just in case there is a boat hidden in the murk. As fortune would have it, there wasn’t and we zipped across the lane and around the outside of the smaller island and finished the turn. We were just settling back in for the rest of the journey up lake, when THWANG!, Joe’s port back stay is flapping in the breeze and he has no top bolt on his oarlock anymore. We assessed the situation, Joe grabbed the spacers off the top of the pin, so we didn’t lose them overboard, and we picked back up the pace once again. I imagine that it would have been a bit nerve wracking for Joe, because one bad finish and his oarlock would have sailed off the top of the pin, but he rowed clean and no disasters happened. In fact, after he spotted the drifting inflatable, and the fog cleared a bit, we managed some of the cleanest and fastest rowing we did during the whole session.

In the map below, the arrow shows where the second backstay let go.

We fixed the backstay when we got to the dock, and I checked the tightness of the top bolts on all of the oarlocks. (Something I obviously should have done when I fixed the first one!, Doooh!) There was some good rowing, but all in all, a hugely unsatisfying session.

Here’s HR, pace and rate for the warmup and the first piece.

|Start|Dist_|Time_|_Pace__|_SPM__|avg HR|DPS_|Remarks
|00010|02310|15:04|03:15.7| 17.7 | 126 |08.6|warmup
|02320|01576|07:02|02:13.9| 25.5 | 154 |08.8|rep #1
|03896|00533|07:02|06:35.9| 22.3 | 112 |03.4|busted backstay

|Start|Dist_|Time_|_Pace__|_SPM__|avg HR|DPS_|Remarks
|00000|02310|15:04|03:15.7| 17.7 | 126 |08.6|warmup
|00000|01576|07:02|02:13.9| 25.5 | 154 |08.8|main set
|00000|00533|07:02|06:35.9| 22.3 | 112 |03.4|rests

I felt like we were faster than the shown average, so I did some 250 splits. We had two slow downs

|02320|00247|01:05|02:11.6| 26.0 | 136 |08.8|
|02567|00251|01:06|02:11.5| 25.3 | 152 |09.0|
|02818|00250|01:08|02:16.0| 25.5 | 155 |08.7| <—slow down
|03068|00249|01:06|02:12.5| 25.5 | 158 |08.9|
|03317|00252|01:07|02:12.9| 25.5 | 159 |08.9|
|03569|00250|01:08|02:16.0| 25.6 | 160 |08.6| <—Slow down

Here’s the same for the second half.

|Start|Dist_|Time_|_Pace__|_SPM__|avg HR|DPS_|Remarks
|00009|00321|03:32|05:30.2| 07.7 | 090 |11.8|warmup
|00330|03449|15:39|02:16.1| 26.2 | 157 |08.4|rep #2
|03779|00118|00:49|03:27.6| 24.1 | 150 |06.0|busted backstay
|03897|01623|07:13|02:13.4| 27.1 | 161 |08.3|rep #3
|05520|00287|03:06|05:24.0| 20.4 | 124 |04.5|rest

|Start|Dist_|Time_|_Pace__|_SPM__|avg HR|DPS_|Remarks
|00000|00321|03:32|05:30.2| 07.7 | 090 |11.8|warmup
|00000|05072|22:52|02:15.3| 26.5 | 158 |08.4|main set
|00000|00405|03:55|04:50.1| 21.2 | 130 |04.9|rests

Again, I felt like we were faster, so I looked at the splits.

This is the chunk from the bridge, down around the islands and starting back north.

|00348|00500|02:14|02:14.0| 25.6 | 142 |08.7|
|00848|00501|02:17|02:16.7| 25.6 | 152 |08.6|<— Not sure what slowed us down here.
|01349|00497|02:15|02:15.8| 25.8 | 156 |08.6|
|01846|00504|02:16|02:14.9| 26.4 | 159 |08.4|
|02350|00500|02:16|02:16.0| 26.4 | 162 |08.4|
|02850|00496|02:17|02:18.1| 27.2 | 165 |08.0| <—Main part of the turn
|03346|00391|01:47|02:16.8| 26.4 | 164 |08.3|

|03850|00497|02:18|02:18.8| 26.2 | 152 |08.2|<—trying to see if it worked with no bolt
|04347|00502|02:13|02:12.5| 27.2 | 162 |08.3|
|04849|00500|02:12|02:12.0| 27.2 | 166 |08.3|
|05349|00171|00:44|02:08.7| 28.5 | 169 |08.2|<—big 20 to finish

So, the plan was for 5800m of threshold, we got 6500m of threshold, but in 3 pieces with long rests.

Tomorrow: The weather is supposed to be terrible, so I think I will do a 4×20 steady state session on the erg at work.