Work is crazy busy. Didn’t have the resolve to face an intense sprint session but I know I need to keep working on race pace. This seemed like a good way to accomplish something.
Fletcher warmup…
Main set
Target faster than 1:39. Nice faster last… 4001m of active rests.
2K cool down
Still strapped for time and very distracted by work. Got a phone call in the middle of the second interval.
Squeezed for time. Quick L4 session. High HR.
I was going to go to the lake this morning, but I we went out for a big dinner last night and between that and the jet lag, I was feeling a bit off before bed. I decided to sleep in and do the session at home later in the day. This turned out to be around 2 in the afternoon.
Plan:
This is the February CTC. And the tricky bit is that you have to log the rep with the lowest meters. So, there is no point to negative splitting or positive splitting or anything like that. Just the fastest, flat split that you can hold across all reps.
Here are my results. I did this on rowpro, but the no rowing for a minute during the rests seemed to really screw up the spreadsheet calculations, so I took these off the PM3 manually.
So, my worst rep was my first with 1964m. Puts me 18th overall right now and in the Free Spirits Boat #1. Another Free Spirit is tantalizingly close ahead of me at 1966m. I guess I’ll have to give it another go. I was pushing pretty close to my limits in the later reps, but I think I can squeeze a few more meters out.
Tomorrow: Should be some long slow distance, but I have an early meeting at 8am. I think I will try to squeeze in as much as I have time for, and maybe do a second session later in the day.
A well maintained erg and plenty of sleep. Makes a big difference.
Workout Summary – Feb 07, 2016
–_|_Total_|_-Total-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg-_|_Avg-_|_-Avg-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg_|_-Avg
–_|_Dist-_|_-Time–_|_-Pace–_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_-HR–_|_-%HRR–_|_-DPS_|_-SPI
–_|_19802_|_80:00.0_|_02:01.2_|_196.6_|_19.3_|_138.4_|_ 67.0% _|_12.8_|_10.2
Workout Details
#-_|_SDist_|_-Split-_|_-SPace-_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_AvgHR_|_Avg%HRR_|_DPS-_|_-SPI
01_|_02479_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.0_|_197.6_|_19.4_|_129.1_|_ 60.4% _|_12.8_|_10.2
02_|_02477_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.1_|_197.1_|_19.4_|_136.4_|_ 65.5% _|_12.8_|_10.2
03_|_02475_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.2_|_196.4_|_19.5_|_134.5_|_ 64.2% _|_12.7_|_10.1
04_|_02472_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.4_|_195.9_|_19.3_|_139.1_|_ 67.4% _|_12.8_|_10.1
05_|_02477_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.1_|_196.9_|_19.3_|_137.4_|_ 66.3% _|_12.8_|_10.2
06_|_02476_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.2_|_196.7_|_19.2_|_142.8_|_ 70.1% _|_12.9_|_10.2
07_|_02475_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.2_|_196.4_|_19.2_|_142.0_|_ 69.5% _|_12.9_|_10.2
08_|_02472_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.4_|_195.8_|_19.2_|_146.2_|_ 72.5% _|_12.9_|_10.2
Target_____________Actual_____________delta____________
Strokes____Meters______Strokes____Meters______Strokes__meters___EndHR
0192___|___02456___|___0194___|___02479___|___02___|___23___|___132
0192___|___02456___|___0194___|___02477___|___02___|___22___|___133
0192___|___02456___|___0195___|___02475___|___03___|___19___|___135
0192___|___02456___|___0193___|___02472___|___01___|___16___|___135
0192___|___02456___|___0193___|___02477___|___01___|___21___|___137
0192___|___02456___|___0192___|___02476___|___00___|___20___|___141
0192___|___02456___|___0192___|___02475___|___00___|___19___|___142
0192___|___02456___|___0192___|___02472___|___00___|___16___|___143
1536___|___19647___|___1545___|___19802___|___09___|___156___|___000
Easy.
Europe is tough on training routines. I took a scheduled rest day on Tuesday after my overnight flight to Munich. Then on Wednesday and Thursday I went to bed too late, had early morning commitments, and so I didn’t have time to work out. I was determined to “get my row on” on Friday morning. I arrived at my hotel in Nijmegen around 10PM and inquired at the desk about fitness options. They had a pitiful fitness center in the hotel, but I really wanted a rowing machine, so they found me a fitness center (Basic-Fit) about a 15 minute walk from the hotel. I set out to find this place a bit before 7AM the next morning.
I walked in and aske d how much they charged for a day pass. The guy at the desk smiled and waved me in. This was turning out to be a good decision. I found four immaculately maintained Model E rowers in a row on the second level and picked on. Nice drag factor, and a PM4, so I could link my wahoo HR belt and keep an eye on my ascending heart rate.
The Plan:
After so many days off, I expected it to feel hard, and it did. My HR was high, but not horrifically so. I quite enjoyed the workout and the walk to and from the city center.
Tomorrow: 4 x 20 L4
Sunday: Workout with the Worcester Boat Club. I am thinking I will introduce them all to the mystery and majesty of the Cross Team Challenge and see how they all do with the 3×7′ session.
Plan:
I felt like crap today. The fletcher warmup was really hard, especially at first. Within about 20 pulls, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to hit my targets. It really just turned into a game of survival. I had terrible post rep shivers after the first interval and slowed in the second. I had a mini-HD in the third rep while I was experimenting with using high rates. The fourth rep, I hatched a plan to do the first 250m at 1:44, the second at 1:43, the third at 1:42, the fourth at 1:41. I stuck to the plan through the first 500m, and accelerated from there. The last 250m was very difficult.
My heart rates were lower than in past sessions, but the RPE was higher. I was knocked out after each rep. The session average was 1:42.3, which is way off the 1:40.4 from last week, but a touch better than the 1:42.7 from two weeks ago.
The warmup.
The main set
The cool down
Tonight I fly to Munich. Training this week will be problematic. I spend Tuesday night in Munich, then drive to Stuttgart. Fly to Milan on Wednesday evening and sleep there Wednesday night. Then I fly from Milan to Amsterdam and sleep there on Thursday night. Finally, I return to the US on Friday night. So, 4 nights, 3 different hotels and a coach seat. I’m thinking that I will focus on maintenance of my aerobic base with 60 minute low intensity sessions where I can squeeze them in.
Plan:
Really nice and easy. My lower back is bother me a little, but not enough to impact what I’m doing.
Workout Summary – Jan 31, 2016
–_|_Total_|_-Total-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg-_|_Avg-_|_-Avg-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg_|_-Avg
–_|_Dist-_|_-Time–_|_-Pace–_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_-HR–_|_-%HRR–_|_-DPS_|_-SPI
–_|_19828_|_80:00.0_|_02:01.0_|_197.4_|_19.4_|_135.9_|_ 65.2% _|_12.8_|_10.2
Workout Details
#-_|_SDist_|_-Split-_|_-SPace-_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_AvgHR_|_Avg%HRR_|_DPS-_|_-SPI
01_|_02481_|_10:00.0_|_02:00.9_|_197.9_|_19.5_|_126.4_|_ 58.4% _|_12.7_|_10.1
02_|_02483_|_10:00.0_|_02:00.8_|_198.4_|_19.5_|_134.9_|_ 64.5% _|_12.7_|_10.2
03_|_02481_|_10:00.0_|_02:00.9_|_197.9_|_19.5_|_135.0_|_ 64.5% _|_12.7_|_10.2
04_|_02476_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.2_|_196.7_|_19.4_|_139.2_|_ 67.6% _|_12.8_|_10.1
05_|_02480_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.0_|_197.7_|_19.4_|_135.8_|_ 65.1% _|_12.8_|_10.2
06_|_02474_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.2_|_196.4_|_19.3_|_139.2_|_ 67.5% _|_12.8_|_10.2
07_|_02480_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.0_|_197.8_|_19.4_|_136.6_|_ 65.7% _|_12.8_|_10.2
08_|_02474_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.3_|_196.2_|_19.3_|_140.5_|_ 68.4% _|_12.8_|_10.2
Target_____________Actual_____________delta____________
Strokes____Meters______Strokes____Meters______Strokes__meters___EndHR
0192___|___02456___|___0195___|___02481___|___03___|___25___|___129
0192___|___02456___|___0195___|___02483___|___03___|___27___|___133
0192___|___02456___|___0195___|___02481___|___03___|___25___|___136
0192___|___02456___|___0194___|___02476___|___02___|___20___|___135
0192___|___02456___|___0194___|___02480___|___02___|___24___|___136
0192___|___02456___|___0193___|___02474___|___01___|___19___|___134
0192___|___02456___|___0194___|___02480___|___02___|___25___|___135
0192___|___02456___|___0193___|___02474___|___01___|___18___|___139
1536___|___19647___|___1553___|___19828___|___17___|__181___|___000
Tomorrow: Scheduled for a rest day, but since I will be flying to Munich on Monday night, I will take my rest day on Tuesday, and do Tuesday’s 4×1000 tomorrow morning. Last week I did this with an avg pace of 1:40.4. I’ll aim right around 1:40 and see how I do.
Back to the lake. It beckoned to us. No ice at all and flat water. I wanted to row so badly. Oh well, we had to satisfy ourselves with the view out the window.
The plan for today
I felt OK during the warmup. I pushed it too fast at first, and looking at the HR data later, it was a bit high. I did not like my erg at all. Sounded like grinding gears, and near the finish it felt like the connection to the flywheel was “mushy”. Not sure why, but it was definitely a sub-par erg. I blame it for my lousy performance.
The warmup. First 4 minutes should have been closer to 2:05. The second to 2:02.
The the main event.
The cool down
And the HR plot. I was working very hard for those crappy splits.
Tomorrow: 4×20’/1′
The story goes back to rowpro. A rowpro user (danburpee) on what was then the concept2 UK user forums invented a spreadsheet to process the csv files that rowpro can export for a workout. This template was improved and modified over time and is a very useful tool to analyze workouts. I started with the spreadsheet and adapted it to be used with crewnerd, RIM, speedcoach and the yahoo fitness app. When I found out that someone was creating an app for the iphone (and android i guess) that allowed one to log data from the PM3 and PM4 (via USB) or PM5 (via BT), I thought I needed to give it a try. The app is called Painsled and it is still in beta, but is quite functional as far as I can see.
Right now the app is a bit primitive. It essentially just logs data from the PM and stores it. Then that data can be exported as tcx, json, or csv files. Getting the data off the iphone requires you to plug into itunes and move files to your computer, but I imagine that this will be improved in the future.
I did some workouts with the app and exported the CSV and took a look at what you get. It’s very different from the exports from the other tools in a number of ways.
The result of this is that even short workouts generate really long csv files. All of my tools assume that the CSV data is formatted in a more concise format. Essentially one record per stroke, or per set distance or per set time. Also that every field has valid data for each record.
I experimented with a couple of ideas. I tried to read it all into excel and concatentate the data there, but because of the sheer number of rows, the performance was miserable. It was also a pain to do what was essentially a sequential task in a programming environment that was sheet and formula based. Ultimately I decided that I needed to preprocess the data.
I decided to make the data look as much like the export from my speedcoach as possible. That is the excel workbook that I have done the most work on, and the file format is very straightforward. I decided that I would tailor the workbook for painsled, but try to keep it as close as possible to the speedcoach starting point as possible.
I built a script in python called pspack2.py. You might guess that the name means that it was my second attempt. Actually, it is more like my fourth, but that’s not important. I’ve posted the script here : pspack2 (apologies about posting it as PDF, apparently wordpress doesn’t like me posting text files.)
The script is straightforward. You pass it the filename you want processed, and it does the following.
Then in the excel file, I just adjusted the axis scaling on the graphs to line up with erg splits instead of boat splits, and it worked great. Here is the current file: Painsled Template Rev – (note: you need to change the file extension from .xlsx to .xlsm for the file to function properly. Also note, this works only on excel 2010 and later on windows)
This is not completely done. There are three enhancements that I want to work on.
But, it works well enough for now and I had some fun playing with python again.
Quantified Rowing 