Tuesday: Speedcoach Calibration and 14K of steady state

7 Comments

Weather:  Crystal clear.  Very Sunny.  Cool and breezy.  Wind NW 2 to 5 mph.

The main objective today was to get the new impeller mounted for my speedcoach.  Once it was mounted, it needed to be calibrated.  So, I popped it in the water and headed out.  I usually row in the early morning, but today, I had some things to do at home in the morning.  So, I launched around 1:00 in the afternoon.  Since it was such a nice day there were a lot of kayaks, pedal boats, canoes and various other water craft out enjoying the day as well.  Even though I was looking around constantly, I still had to back down hard a few times when a boat zigged instead of zagging, or I missed them in my scans.  Despite this, it was a glorious day to be out rowing.

Plan:

  • Do 2x 1000m at r24 in opposite directions to calibrate the speedcoach.
  • 80 minutes of steady state

Leaving the dock, I started RIM and reset the speedcoach.  After I warmed up and got to the start of the straight part of the river, I realized that I really should be using Crewnerd for a autostart 1000m piece for speedcoach cal.  So, I flipped over and started up crewnerd, losing the first 1200m of rowing.

The 1000s went fine.  The first one was with the light wind and was done at an average pace of 2:11.4.  The second was upwind and the pace was 2:13.3.  I was winded but I didn’t push them all that hard.  After that, I did the river twice from the start to the moody street dam.  At first I was feeling like I was really struggling to hit any reasonable split.  But eventually, I started to row a bit better and sped up.  The main difference was focusing on getting way into compression at the catch.

Tomorrow:  Some more steady state.  80′ at r20.

Monday: 40km Bike Ride

Leave a comment

Monday morning the tide was too low to launch.  I would have had to carry my boat across 500 meters of sand to get it in the water.  It was also windy (15-20mph with gusts t0 30 from the SW).  So I needed another plan.  I decided to give biking a try.

I have my old mountain bike down on the Cape.  I decided that navigating the sand and gravel roads on the island on a road bike with skinny tires and clip-in pedals was a bit much.  I might give it a try sometime, but for now, the old mountain bike is the pick.

This bike handled the sand and gravel without any trouble.  It’s 3.6km from my house to the major road.  1.3km is sand road.  The other 2.6 is paved.  The transition from sand to paved is right at the boundary between the island and a long causeway across the salt marsh.  There is a little bridge across a tidal channel, right where between the “e” and the “u” are in the word Lieutenant on the map below.  The approaches to this bridge actually are covered by the highest of high tides and cut off the island for a couple of hours.  When I went out biking it was much closed to low tide.

Screen Shot 2016-08-23 at 9.39.29 AM.png

Right across Route six is the Cape Cod Rail Trail.  A lovely, straight, flat bike trail along the path of railroad right of way.  It stretches for about 23 miles.  I got on at about mile 22, and I rode south 15 km.  I decided to just ride out 50 minutes and then turn around to go home for a total workout length of 100 minutes.

When I turned around, I realized that I had a work phone call to do at 11am, so I pushed the pace and cut off a few minutes.  It also actually got my heart rate up into some reasonable zone for training.

Very nice.  I think biking is a great alternative if the tides of wind are not favorable.

Friday: 16K in Wellfleet

2 Comments

Today was deceptive.  I launched from the base of our stairs.  I came in yesterday at our house and stored the boat on top of the breakwater (not an easy thing to do, by the way).

This morning I had some time to think through my technique.  Basically I do it in steps.  I lift the stern, carry it halfway down the seawall and set it down.  Then I do the same thing for the bow.  Repeat as necessary to get to the beach taking care to not let the boat slide along the rocks.  It’s a bit nerve wracking but a lot easier than cartopping to a long walk to the water.

Anyway, I got myself launched and headed out.  Again it took about 10 strokes of touching sand before I was in deep enough water.  Then I headed east across the bay.  The wind was from the north and as soon as I cam out from  the lee of the island, I got hammered by the waves coming at me from the stern quarter.  They were just over a foot, with some whitecaps. I decided that turning around and heading up to indian neck would probably give me better water.  A good idea.  As soon as I turned around and was heading up into the wind, I filled the cockpit with water.  It also splashed the crewnerd hard enough to turn the damn thing off.  I could still see my splits and rate, but it wasn’t recording any data.  I need to come up with some kind of a splash cover for the phone or just give in and buy a Speedcoach GPS2.

I was right about the water.  I rowed to indian head and the water smoothed out.  There was still a fair amount of wind, but it was entirely rowable, and quite enjoyable.  I rowed up to the north end of the bay, then turned west and rowed along the north shore to the north end of great spit.  Then turned and rowed back all the way to the inner harbor, and around the outside of all the moored boats back to the end of the breakwater.  Then I cut back to indian head and rowed south along the shore all the way to where the salt marshes inland of Lt Island are.  Finally I cut back west and rowed to the north point of the island and around the shore in front of our house.

All together, I’m guessing it was about 16km in about 90 minutes.

We have some company coming tomorrow, so I am not sure if I will get a row in.  If I do it will probably be a short one.  I’m liking this open water stuff, and I’m getting a hang of rowing this boat.  Basically, I need to rate a little higher and row a little lighter, with a gentler push at the catch, building up the pressure through the stroke.  It also is pointless to pay much attention to the splits because with the wind, waves and tidal currents, it bears only the slightest resemblance to effort going in and the quality of the rowing.  A much better indicator is heart rate.  Today, my HR was generally between 144 and 150.  144 was when I was rowing downwind which is easier but requires a fair amount of concentration.  150 was rowing into the wind, which is technically simpler but a lot more work.

 

Thursday: 15K Open Water Row

1 Comment

Tuesday:  To much going on.  We headed back to the cape in the late morning.  I stopped for groceries on the way.  Once I was set up in the house, the wind was too strong for rowing.  Whitecaps all over the bay.  I went for a walk instead.

Wednesday:  Lots of projects.  Furniture getting delivered.  Buying lumber and hardware and digging post holes to put up a clothesline.  I was hoping to go for a row in the afternoon, but it was still quite windy, sustained winds between 15 and 20mph with gusts to 25.

Thursday:  Weather report indicated lighter winds in the morning so I got up round 7:30 and headed out around 8:30.  I’ve decided that it is impractical to carry the boat own the stairs.  They are too steep and rickety, so I threw the boat on top of my car and headed off to a place by the beach that I could park.

The beach is not steep at all, so I had to carry my oars out to the water’s edge and then go back and get my boat.  This round trip took about 5 minutes or so.  In that time, the tide had come in enough to float my oars. I got myself setup in the boat and rowed out to deeper water.  I was touching my oars to the sand with just about each stroke at first but within 5 strokes, I was free and clear.

The goal for today was to get used to rowing this boat in open water.  It will take a while to get used to rowing in waves.  Each direction relative to the waves brought unique challenges.  From some respects, rowing right into the wind was the easiest.  It was also the most taxing.  Waves coming on the quarter bow or stern tended to really throw the boat around.  From the side, the main challenge was to get both oars firmly set at the catch.  Straight downwind was kind of fun.  It seems to work best if you adjust stroke rate to match the wave frequency and take a stroke at the crest of a wave and surf down on the recovery.

Thursday the wind was from the southwest.  It was blowing pretty good when I first started at 8:30, but died down a bit as I went along.  This wind direction is generally unprotected, so the waves get bigger.  I think they were maybe 8″ to 12″ high with some bigger ones.

I was out for an hour and 15 minutes and covered about 16km.  All UT2 / UT1.

Monday: 14K steady state r18

1 Comment

Weather:  Stunning.  Sunny, cool, dry, light wind from the Northwest.  2 to 5 mph.  This was generally a cross wind, but always felt like a head wind.  :-O

Plan:

  • Easy steady state
  • r18
  • heart rate: 150 absolute, ease off at 145

The objective today was best stated by Dave C. in a blog post a couple years ago.

“Don’t piss off the boat”

Basically try to row smoothly, at low rate, in such a way to maximize the run of the boat and minimize the check.  This is what that looks like in RIM.

Screen Shot 2016-08-15 at 1.55.43 PM.png

The drive has a strong initial slope, there is no negative transient as I go from legs to body to arms.  There is no negative acceleration at the finish, and the recovery is very close to zero negative or positive acceleration.

The game is to try to maintain the stroke rate, and try to minimize the split time without driving up the heart rate.  I was happy with the way things felt, but I wish the boat was moving faster.  One thing at a time.

Tomorrow:  Schedule calls for a hard row, but I’m not feeling the love right now.  I think I will do another 70′ steady state session, at r20 and a 157 HR cap.

 

Sunday: 10K Push

2 Comments

Friday:  No Training.  We closed on our new vacation house down on cape cod.  Here’s the view from the deck.

2016-08-13 10.44.08

Saturday:  No Training.  A very busy day setting up the house.

Sunday:  Started the day down on the cape.  I went for a nice walk around the island.  I decided that the stairs down to the water are too steep to carry a boat down.  I’m going to drive 2 minutes to the beach and launch from there.  Eventually, Ill figure out some way to store my boat down near the water in front of the house.  We headed home in the afternoon.

I was itching for a quick workout, so I hopped on the erg around 7pm.  I didn’t have much of a plan, so I decided to do a 10K push, but start it off slow so I could warmup and also, to be honest about it, because I didn’t want to work too hard.

Plan:

  • 10K push
  • Start pace: 2:05, go 1 second faster for each 1000m, ending at 1:56 for the last 1000m
  • Free rate.  Try to inch rate up as the pace goes down.
  • Heart Rate: No cap

That was fun.  It was hot as hell outside, over 90F, and humid too, so I kept the windows closed and ran a fan.  I generated enough heat to raise the temperature in the room from 72F to 78F over 40 minutes.

I had a little trouble getting myself to row slow enough during the 2:05s, but did better tracking the paces down.  Once I was within 2K of finishing, I kind up gunned it and did the 2000 down to 1000 at 1:55.  Then I finished the last 1000m at a 1:50 pace.  Not super fast, but it stung in a good way.

 

 

Thursday: Aborted Threshold Session

2 Comments

Weather:  Hot and muggy.  Mid 70s, and 97% relative humidity.  Humid enough that there was a thick hazy.  There were some light shifty winds when I launched, but it seemed completely calm by the time I was really rowing.   It was like rowing in a steam bath.

Plan:

  • 4 x 2700 / 4′ rest
  • pace: 2:15
  • rate: 24-26
  • HR cap: none.  Intent if to maximize time in threshold zone (>164)

I had a sneaking suspicion that this session was going to be too big of an ask.  I have been thinking that 2 high intensity threshold sessions per week with 3 LIT days between might be a better schedule for this aging athlete.  But knowing that I was going to miss at least one day on Friday and maybe more pushed me to try to do it.

Even warming up, the boat felt heavy and my HR shot up quickly.  Due in equal parts to the humidity and being under recovered.  I took a couple minutes to try to get myself psyched up and then started the first piece.  It took a tremendous effort to try to hit my pace target and my HR climbed quickly.  Before I even got to 1000m, I bailed out.  I had just dug myself in too deep and couldn’t back it off.  I paddled a bit and then decided to try to finish the downstream piece at r24 or so, and not worry too much about the pace.

That lasted for a about 500m, and then the irresistible urge to hit my targets came back and I pushed a lot harder.  The results was a pace that was slower and heart rate that was much higher than what I saw on Tuesday.  I was so hot that I felt like I was glowing.  I paddled through the 4 minute rest and then started the upstream piece.  Again, it was a huge effort to try to get anywhere near my target pace, and I bailed out after about 100m.

This was not productive at all, so I decided to just row home, nice and easy.  This was discouraging too.  I was just trying to hold around a 2:30 pace and I couldn’t do it without my HR really climbing.  I was really wondering if I had picked up some weeds on the fin or something, or maybe the speedcoach was reading wrong.  But I doubt it.  I wondered if I had forgotten how to row.  I thought I was doing exactly the same thing as on Monday and Tuesday and going 10 seconds slower on pace.

Everyone has a bad session sometimes.  Today was my day.  To top it off, as I was turning around at upstream end of the river, I passed through a patch of lily pads, and my speedcoach stopped reading pace.  This happens every once in a while.  A weed will get entangled with the impeller and keep it from spinning.  So, I reach under the boat to clean it off, and discover that the impeller is not fouled, but entirely missing.  Perhaps it was ashamed of the slow readings it was showing and bailed out on me.  A replacement is now on order..

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_1184_|_06:44_|_2:50.8_|_126___|_18.7_|_09.4_|_121___|_dock to island
01200_|_0791_|_03:29_|_2:12.3_|_085___|_24.4_|_09.3_|_154___|_bailed
01980_|_0045_|_00:17_|_3:13.3_|_006___|_20.7_|_07.5_|_113___|_reset
02025_|_1911_|_08:45_|_2:17.3_|_213___|_24.4_|_09.0_|_163___|_rest of way down stream
03936_|_0375_|_02:38_|_3:30.9_|_053___|_20.1_|_07.1_|_135___|_paddle
04311_|_0110_|_00:30_|_2:18.2_|_012___|_23.7_|_09.2_|_139___|_bailed
04421_|_0060_|_00:23_|_3:08.3_|_005___|_13.3_|_12.0_|_133___|_rest
04500_|_2647_|_14:13_|_2:41.1_|_255___|_17.9_|_10.4_|_147___|_just paddled home

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
01184_|_06:44_|_2:50.8_|_126___|_18.7_|_09.4_|_121___|_warmup
02812_|_12:44_|_2:15.9_|_310___|_24.3_|_09.1_|_160___|_Main set
00480_|_03:18_|_3:26.5_|_064___|_19.4_|_07.5_|_133___|_rest meters
02647_|_14:13_|_2:41.1_|_255___|_17.9_|_10.4_|_147___|_cool down
07123_|_37:00_|_2:35.8_|_755___|_20.4_|_09.4_|_145___|_Total

Here is the full row from RIM data, uploaded to rowsandall.com.

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday: Steady State & Technique

Leave a comment

Weather: started sunny, then clouded up.  A bit of a breeze sprung up, seemingly from whatever direction I was trying to row.

Plan:

  • 4 x 2700m / 1′ rest
  • rate: 20 spm
  • pace: 2:25
  • HR limit: 155 (top of UT1)

myimage (61)

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_1040_|_05:12_|_2:30.1_|_110___|_21.1_|_09.5_|_128___|_dock to island
01051_|_2150_|_10:14_|_2:22.8_|_208___|_20.3_|_10.3_|_146___|_downstream piece
03201_|_0082_|_00:36_|_3:37.1_|_009___|_15.2_|_09.1_|_122___|_stop to talk to bruce
03283_|_0664_|_03:10_|_2:23.3_|_062___|_19.5_|_10.7_|_137___|_rest of downstream piece
03947_|_0064_|_00:22_|_2:48.7_|_005___|_13.9_|_12.8_|_116___|_turn
04011_|_2811_|_13:44_|_2:26.6_|_271___|_19.7_|_10.4_|_149___|_upstream piece
06822_|_0064_|_00:26_|_3:24.7_|_008___|_18.3_|_08.0_|_116___|_turn
06886_|_2754_|_13:34_|_2:27.8_|_274___|_20.2_|_10.1_|_150___|_downstream piece
09640_|_0074_|_00:28_|_3:05.8_|_007___|_15.3_|_10.6_|_131___|_turn
09714_|_0286_|_01:26_|_2:30.5_|_028___|_19.5_|_10.2_|_141___|_started upstream, decided I’d had enough
10000_|_0051_|_00:22_|_3:38.6_|_005___|_13.5_|_10.2_|_115___|_thought about life
10051_|_3685_|_21:26_|_2:54.5_|_390___|_18.2_|_09.4_|_136___|_drills

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
01040_|_05:12_|_2:30.1_|_110___|_21.1_|_09.5_|_128___|_warmup
08665_|_42:09_|_2:25.9_|_843___|_20.0_|_10.3_|_147___|_Main set
00335_|_02:13_|_3:18.8_|_034___|_15.3_|_09.9_|_121___|_rest meters
03685_|_21:26_|_2:54.5_|_390___|_18.2_|_09.4_|_136___|_cool down
13725_|_11:00_|_2:35.2_|_1377___|_19.4_|_10.0_|_142___|_Total

I was quite stiff and sore this morning when I woke up.  I think I dug deep enough in yesterday’s session that I was not fully recovered by 5:15AM today.  But, since I had a planned a low intensity endurance session today, I wasn’t too concerned about it.

I was on the water before 6:30 and basically jumped right into a rhythm at r20 as soon as I was clear of the dock.  I slowed down to go through the cut, and then got back up to speed for the roughly 3K down river.

I noticed that I was struggling to get anywhere near the paces that I was holding easily on Monday.  And stupidly, instead of just accepting that and rowing for form, I worked harder to try to hit the pace.  It made the session a bit of a grind.

When I got to the bridge, I caught up to a guy that launches from the same place I do and stopped for a quick chat.  He turned around to head upriver and I continued downriver another 1000m or so to the dam.

I turned to head upriver and again was having trouble holding my pace target.  I experimented a bit and at times, I was able to get long smooth strokes and a good pace without a ton of effort.  But it was spotty at best.  I definitely felt like focusing on holding a body forward position during the drive, and then opening my back was more efficient.  It was a little difficult to focus on that and at the same time keep my finishes early and crisp.  I have issues chewing gum and walking at the same time, apparently.

I spun at the upstream end and headed down to the dam again.  Grinding it out.  When I turned at the dam, I had every intention of just finishing up normally, but within about 500m, I was sick of it.  I was working hard and not going very fast.  It didn’t seem very productive, so a change of plan seemed like a good idea.

I decided to finish up with some technical rowing.  500m of square blades, 500m of alternating square and feathered, 500m of feathered rowing focused on balance.  Five 500m blocks brought me to the upstream end of the river, then I paddled back to the dock.

Thinking about it, since I pushed so hard yesterday, I probably should have done the whole session as a UT2, technique focused row.

Tomorrow:  Schedule calls for another threshold row.  4 x 2700 at r24-26

Tuesday: 4 x 2700 / 4′ rest Threshold

6 Comments

Weather: Basically perfect.  I launched at about 6:20, and I started my first piece around 6:45.  Here’s the weather data for the most reliable station near the waltham end of the river.  You can see it was basically flat calm and then the wind shifted and built into a gentle breeze from the northeast.  This was a light headwind in the 3rd interval and a light tail wind in the fourth.

Screen Shot 2016-08-09 at 9.46.21 AM

Plan:

  • 4 x 2700m
  • 4′ rest including a little paddling and a drink of water.
  • rate: 24-26
  • pace: 2:15
  • Heart rate: no cap.  maximize time in TR zone (>164)
  • Technique:  GET LONG AT THE CATCH.

Screen Shot 2016-08-09 at 9.40.50 AM

The map view shows the little paddles I took between intervals.

The speedcoach data shows the pace impact in the s-turn.  This was worst in 2nd and 3rd intervals when my line was less than ideal and I needed to turn a bit tighter.  You can also see the rate tick up in the turn.

The TCX data (processed on rowsandall.com) shows the rests a bit more accurately.  I wasn’t fastidious about the rest time.  I generally took between 4 and 5 minutes of rest.  myimage (60)

In terms of heart rate,  I got a good 34 minutes of threshold work.

myimage (59)

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_1129_|_06:25_|_2:50.5_|_115___|_17.9_|_09.8_|_119___|_
01142_|_2823_|_12:29_|_2:12.6_|_318___|_25.5_|_08.9_|_159___|_
03965_|_0395_|_02:53_|_3:39.0_|_051___|_17.7_|_07.7_|_116___|_
04360_|_2778_|_12:29_|_2:14.8_|_320___|_25.6_|_08.7_|_164___|_
07138_|_0357_|_02:23_|_3:20.0_|_041___|_17.2_|_08.7_|_125___|_
07495_|_2787_|_12:39_|_2:16.2_|_324___|_25.6_|_08.6_|_166___|_
10282_|_0353_|_02:40_|_3:47.1_|_046___|_17.2_|_07.7_|_126___|_
10635_|_2813_|_12:41_|_2:15.3_|_326___|_25.7_|_08.6_|_167___|_
13448_|_1205_|_07:42_|_3:11.9_|_144___|_18.7_|_08.4_|_126___|_

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
01129_|_06:25_|_2:50.5_|_115___|_17.9_|_09.8_|_119___|_warmup
11201_|_50:18_|_2:14.7_|_1288___|_25.6_|_08.7_|_164___|_Main set
01105_|_07:56_|_3:35.4_|_138___|_17.4_|_08.0_|_122___|_rest meters
01205_|_07:42_|_3:11.9_|_144___|_18.7_|_08.4_|_126___|_cool down
14640_|_12:21_|_2:28.3_|_1685___|_23.3_|_08.7_|_151___|_Total

And thanks to a blazing fast first interval, I managed to hit my target!  And no quitting!  This was a very good workout.  Good pacing.  Reasonable steering.

I’m starting to look forward to head racing.

Monday: 14K Steady State

Leave a comment

Sunday:  A much needed rest day.  I had rowed the 7 previous days and put in some serious volume (88K on the water and 20K on the erg).  On Saturday, after my tough threshold session, we went out to Listen to The Boston Symphony Orchestra in Tanglewood.  We got home about 1 in the morning.

Back at it this morning!

Weather:  Beautiful.  Sunny and Cool, around 60f.  Dry.  Very light wind just rippling the water, from the northwest, which is basically a crosswind.

Plan:

  • warmup to the little island
  • 4 x 2800m
  • brief rest to just turn around the boat.  Less than a minute
  • rate: 20 spm
  • pace: <2:30
  • heart rate: cap at 150

What a difference flat water makes.  On Saturday, my average pace was 2:22.7 at 24spm and with an average HR of 165.  Today, my pace was 0.4 sec slower at 2:23.1, but at a stroke rate of 20spm and an average HR of 147!

The main difference was the wind and waves, but there is also a loss in efficiency as my stroke rate goes up.  I need to keep at the threshold sessions to improve my technique at head racing stroke rates.

Tomorrow:  4 x 2700m / 4′ rest, pace ~2:15, rate: 26