Tuesday: 2 x 30′ at r22 OTW

April 18, 2018Leave a comment

On the water in my single. On the upper charles in Newton. The temp was in the low 40s and there was a reasonably strong breeze blowing from the west. This was a headwind heading up river.

The river was incredibly high after the big storm this weekend. The current was noticeably strong, especially at narrow points in the river.

I adjusted inboard to 85cm. I liked the extra room that it gave me at the finish, and increased my finish angle a few degrees. It did feel a bit heavier. I’m wondering if I will have issues rating up. I think I will try to move the foot stretcher another cm to stern to give me a bit more angle at the catch.

Plan:

2 x 30’
Rest between: n/a only to rehydrate
Rating/Pace: Cat V pace; target SR 22.

Screen Shot 2018-04-17 at 7.50.00 PM.png

The pace variations is almost entirely driven by the wind and current. The fastest pace was in the little stretch right after the stone bridge for both downstream segments.

This was pretty hard work.

Tomorrow:

3 x (1’ on / 3’ active rest + 1’ on / 3’ active rest + 2’ on / 5’ active rest)
Complete one set and then repeat the series.
The active rest is relaxed, low intensity, easy rowing.
Stop only briefly to rehydrate.
Rating /pace: Race effort, 1k pace (your best right now) – I will target r28 to r30, basically like the fast parts of the speed play.

Fri – Fri: Busy Week

April 14, 2018April 14, 2018Leave a comment

I got back to my house from Japan around 8pm on Thursday night. I slept well on the plane and surprisingly well Thursday night. I slept until around 7:30am Friday morning.

Friday: 14k steady state – OTW 1x

It was cold and windy on Friday morning. Snow was in the forecast for later that day. The plan for the session was just to work on technique and get some steady state volume. Cat VI, r18-20.

I was a little bit irked that I forgot to start the speedcoach until I was about 800m into the row. The wind was coming southwest, so I had a tail wind and tail current heading towards waltham and a head wind and head current the other way. It made for a pretty dramatic difference in pace.

          Workout Summary - media/20180406-1655240o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13276|75:36.0|02:50.8|150.8|19.4|150.9|160.0|09.0
W-|12944|69:39.0|02:41.4|161.6|19.3|151.5|160.0|09.7
R-|00336|05:57.0|08:50.9|024.2|20.3|143.6|160.0|03.7
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|03251|15:40.0|02:24.6|159.8|18.5|146.6|154.0|11.2 - missing 800m
01|02896|16:43.0|02:53.2|163.6|18.3|151.8|157.0|09.5
02|02894|14:05.0|02:26.0|162.5|18.4|151.3|157.0|11.2
03|03904|23:11.0|02:58.2|161.0|21.3|154.6|160.0|07.9 - tried higher rate

My objective for the row was to achieve the best possible pace while respecting the HR cap at 155. What was interesting was the consistency of power between head wind and tail wind cases.

The pace was different by 30 seconds, but the power was matched within 4 watts across all four intervals.

Saturday: 2 x 15′ rate ladders on the Oartec DX

I had lots going on all day, and I didn’t have a chance to train until about 9pm. The scheduled session was the 3×15′ rate ladders. I was going to try to do them on the Oartec DX. I decided to cut it back to 2, and either I was having a bad day, or I discovered that I can’t do as well on the Oartec as I can on slides. I ended up HDing in both ladders and finishing with a HR with 5 beats of my max.

Workout Summary - media/20180408-0200250o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|09056|38:00.0|02:05.9|232.3|22.9|157.0|181.0|10.4
W-|07602|30:00.0|01:58.4|213.5|22.5|157.0|181.0|11.4
R-|01461|08:00.0|02:44.3|302.7|24.3|157.1|181.0|07.6
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01235|05:00.0|02:01.5|193.4|19.6|133.0|146.0|12.6
01|01021|04:00.0|01:57.5|214.9|21.7|154.2|161.0|11.7
02|00800|03:00.0|01:52.5|246.1|24.2|165.3|172.0|11.0
03|00506|02:00.0|01:58.7|219.7|25.3|166.9|172.0|10.0
04|00290|01:00.0|01:43.4|312.1|28.7|172.8|176.0|10.1
05|01212|05:00.0|02:03.8|184.8|19.4|148.9|159.0|12.5
06|01007|04:00.0|01:59.2|206.3|22.1|165.9|169.0|11.4
07|00714|03:00.0|02:06.0|184.3|23.1|164.0|171.0|10.3
08|00533|02:00.0|01:52.6|244.8|26.4|173.2|177.0|10.1
09|00284|01:00.0|01:45.5|297.9|30.7|178.8|181.0|09.3

Sunday: 2 x 2k + 2 x 1k + 2 + 500 – OTW 1x

After the late night workout the day before, I decided to push my sunday workout a bit later in the day. I had brought my boat home with me hoping that I could get out to row on Quinsig, but it was too cold and windy both mornings.

I needed to get my boat back to Newton before I took off on my trip monday morning, so I decided to bring it back in the late afternoon and go for a row while I was there. Even when its windy, the river is narrow enough that it remains nice and rowable. Today, it was a bit tough because the wind was coming generally out of the west, which was a cross wind through the widest section. This kicked up enough chop to make it more technically challenging than I can handle easily at this stage of the season.

The first 2k was great. Right on target, but I felt like I was digging a bit too deep. I failed in the second 2k. I came through the s-turn and got hit with the head wind and chop and I just didn’t have the drive to finish out the rep.

The same thing happened with the 1Ks. The downriver one was fine, but I bailed out on the up river one going into the headwind when I managed to take a crappy stroke and just kind of gave up on it.

In both cases, I took a couple of paddle strokes and then brought it back to target for the end of the rep.

The 500s were fun. Short enough that I wasn’t tempted to give up! The wind seemed to be rising throughout the workout. The biggest gusts seemed to happen as I came back up river in the last 500.

The summary shows the advantage and disadvantage of using power. You can see that the power is more consistent upwind vs down, but you can also see how the power is effected by steering. In the first 2000, the higher power from 1000 to 1200 meters is starboard turn going into the s-turn, and the power dip right after is the turn to port coming out of the turn.

         Workout Summary - media/20180409-0040240o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|11862|75:16.0|03:10.4|167.9|23.1|148.0|178.0|06.8
W-|08857|41:50.0|02:21.7|218.2|24.4|159.8|178.0|08.8
R-|03015|33:26.0|05:32.7|104.9|21.4|133.3|178.0|00.5
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00830|04:01.0|02:25.2|173.2|18.4|137.1|150.0|11.2
02|01961|08:36.0|02:11.6|231.7|23.9|165.2|176.0|09.5
03|02002|09:51.0|02:27.6|217.7|24.6|168.0|178.0|08.3
04|01050|04:33.0|02:10.0|248.9|26.5|166.5|177.0|08.7
05|01016|04:57.0|02:26.2|228.4|25.8|162.8|172.0|08.0
06|00501|02:10.0|02:09.7|265.7|28.5|158.3|174.0|08.1
07|00511|02:20.0|02:17.0|274.0|28.2|164.1|177.0|07.8
08|00617|03:23.0|02:44.4|152.2|23.5|142.8|156.0|07.8
09|00369|01:59.0|02:41.2|151.6|21.8|143.4|150.0|08.5

This workout put me into a bit of a contemplative mood. I can remember when bailing out on reps would have made me so angry with myself. in this workout, I was happy to be in the river, I felt a little bit like a quitter for not sticking with it, but it seemed like a good workout none the less. Then I start to second guess myself. Maybe that anger came out of a stringer drive to succeed? Is this a sign that I’m losing the desire to really compete and get to deliver my very best.

When I started, it seemed like trite little quotes like “Winners never quit, quitter never win” were always in my head. Over the past 10 years, I’ve put in enough sessions to know that sometimes you don’t hit your session objectives, and frankly, if you always do, then you are not pushing yourself enough. Now, I need to figure out a way to get the most out of the training time that I can afford to spend. It’s useful contemplation.

Monday: No Training

Up at 5am to get to the airport. Flew out to San Francisco for a couple of customer meetings. Got to the hotel around 8pm, had a quick dinner and crashed.

Tuesday: No Training

I had intended to get up at 5 and do a quick session in the hotel gym, but I felt very tired when the alarm went off and decided to sleep another hour. Caught a 8:25 flight from SFO back home. I got back to the house around 6:45pm.

Wednesday: 3 x 1500 + 3 x 500

I intended to do this session on the water, but when I woke up this morning, it was 26F and foggy outside. I didn’t know that was atmospherically possible! Wouldn’t the fog just freeze?

Anyway, those conditions, combined with the horrifying discovery that I had a 8:00am put an end to getting out on the water this morning. Instead, I found an hour in the middle of the day to workout and did the session on the erg.

Workout Summary - media/20180411-1725250o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|08789|38:00.0|02:09.8|192.7|20.7|156.9|178.0|11.2
W-|07500|27:58.0|01:51.9|251.7|23.3|154.8|178.0|11.6
R-|01293|10:02.0|03:52.8|028.1|13.4|162.9|178.0|09.4
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01500|06:06.7|02:02.2|189.7|18.1|126.9|143.0|13.6
01|01500|05:35.0|01:51.7|251.0|23.6|153.7|163.0|11.4
02|01500|05:35.0|01:51.7|255.4|23.7|162.6|172.0|11.3
03|01500|05:32.9|01:51.0|256.2|24.4|168.6|176.0|11.1
04|00500|01:43.2|01:43.2|312.7|27.9|170.5|178.0|10.4
05|00500|01:43.1|01:43.1|320.9|27.7|163.2|177.0|10.5
06|00500|01:43.0|01:43.0|318.3|27.6|163.7|177.0|10.6

Pretty good workout.

Thursday: 14km Steady State OTW 1x

It was sunny and cold, just above freezing, with almost no wind. The water was glassy smooth.

The goal of this workout was steady state meters at low rate. HR limit at 155.

Nothing of note happened except during the first trip down the river at about 10 minutes the speedcoach complained that it was low on memory. I pushed a few button to see if I could delete a couple of old sessions. You can’t. So, I decided to just keep going and hope that I didn’t run out. I didn’t.

I did the first three legs at r18, but decided to up the rate to r20 in the last leg and lighten up enough to still stay under the HR cap. I was pushing right up to it at the end.

          Workout Summary - media/20180412-1515250o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14050|76:45.0|02:43.9|158.6|18.9|145.5|161.0|09.7
W-|13518|68:30.0|02:32.0|167.1|18.8|147.4|161.0|10.5
R-|00536|08:15.0|07:41.6|088.2|20.2|130.4|161.0|01.1
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|02197|10:42.0|02:26.1|170.0|18.4|136.8|146.0|11.2
02|01637|07:51.0|02:23.9|170.7|18.6|142.9|150.0|11.2
03|02870|15:00.0|02:36.8|166.6|18.3|147.4|155.0|10.4
04|02857|14:03.0|02:27.5|167.5|18.3|147.8|156.0|11.1
05|03956|20:54.0|02:38.5|164.5|19.7|154.1|161.0|09.6

6 more watts than the prior last steady state session and a lower HR.

Nice consistent power despite the pace difference.

Friday: 60′ Speed Play

Thursday afternoon, I received an email back from my coach based on her review of the video that I had sent her. It seems like I have lots of “opportunities to get faster”.

Her first thought was I need to change my rigging.

Reduce the amount of inboard (I reduced the inboard from 88 to 86.25 cm)
Lower my oarlocks to get my CG a little bit above the oar handles, so I am more “over the work”. (I moved them down 1 spacer)
Move the footboard to stern to get my hips a bit further through the pin. (I moved it 1 cm)

She also had comments on my posture and

Adjust the way you are sitting so you can hinge.
Get connected to the boat, structural posture- King of the Mountain Drill
Keep glutes and lats engaged all the time on the drive, drive through heels after the cross over. This supports the posture.
Keep your weight into the rigger at all times, work the handles around the pin all the time, stay on the path of the handle.

That’s a lot to process. She also provided my training plan for April/May. There is a new type of session in this program…Speed Play.

60’ with speed play
Rest: n/a only to rehydrate
Rating/Pace: Cat VI; target SR 18-20.
Once every 10 minutes take the stroke rate up to 28 spm for 20 strokes.

I modified the session to fit in the KOM drill. I did about 2 minutes of the drill each time I turned on the river. It was a bit windy. Because of the time I took doing the rigging, I needed to cut a couple of km out of the session by turning at the old stone bridge instead of going all the way back to the dam.

The King of the Mountain drill was challenging. It was a little windy so the boat was getting pushed around and I had trouble holding the blades clear. I was really tensed up in the first set, a little better after that. I think it makes sense to break it up into small chunks like that.

During the row, I really enjoyed the 20 stroke fast bits. I decided to target r30 for those and focus on stroke mechanics. Get my blades clear on recovery. Get my heels down on the drive. Keep hinging at the hips. Usually when I rate up like that I just pull like a dog. Today, I tried for a bit more finesse. I doubt it would have looked any different to a bystander.

          Workout Summary - media/20180413-1305250o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|12436|73:07.0|02:56.4|153.6|21.6|143.4|174.0|07.9
W-|12436|73:07.0|02:56.4|153.6|21.6|143.4|174.0|07.9
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|174.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|12436|73:07.5|02:56.4|153.6|21.6|143.4|174.0|07.9

Here is a comparison of the stroke profile for the r30 strokes and the steady state strokes (around r20).

So, I am not losing length. Actually, I’m about 4 degrees longer at r30. And the slip and wash both look good. The peak force angle is a bit earlier (28 deg vs 33deg). I think that correlates to the early hump in the acceleration curve that shows up at speed.

Mostly in the row, I was trying to focus on maintaining outward pressure on the oarlocks during recovery and sit up taller. When I did it right and managed to finish cleanly, I felt rock solid as I travelled up the slide with the blades clear of the water. However, it was really hard to keep everything in focus every stroke. I’d focus on finishes and forget to keep pressure out, or do OK on both of those, but slump in the seat.

But, seeing the difference in my erg form by focusing on keeping my knees down and hinging at my hips makes me feel like this is struggle is worth it. It would be great if I could put together a thousand of those beautiful clean strokes in one session.

Friday afternoon, Jill and I headed down to the cape, where we are now. I’ll be erging this weekend. Today’s session.

4 x 12’
Rest between: 6’
Rating/Pace:
- 6’ @ Cat VI; target 18-20
- 4’ @ Cat IV; target SR 24
- 2’ @ Cat III; target SR 28.

Friday: Horror Films. Video Feedback

April 3, 20181 Comment

One of the primary reasons that I wanted to get expert coaching was to make improvements in my rowing technique. I figure that there are three elements to achieving good boat speed.

Lose weight. (5 kg is worth a second of pace at least just in reduced displaement)
Improve fitness
Improve technique

I know how to do number 1 and 2. Those items are determined by the amount of time I have to train, work commitments, willpower and desire.

Technique is tougher. I know good rowing when I see it, and I can see that there are things wrong with my rowing, but I want some expert guidance to figure out what needs to be fixed first and by what means.

Since I am using a remote coaching arrangement with Marlene Royle, that means that I have to record video and share it. I did this over the winter and I think I made some good progress on improvement the mechanics of my stroke, especially the recovery.

Now I am back on the water, and before I get too set in my ways, I wanted to take some video in the boat and start fixing stuff.

I have seen all kinds of arrangements to take video. If you are lucky enough to have a live, local coach, it’s very simple. They film you from the launch. Without a coach, you have to figure a way to mount a GoPro or some other camera on the boat. The easiest is to mount it on the stern deck, but then you don’t get to see a lot of the body work in the stroke. To get that you need a side view.

To get a side view, I picked up a trick from Larry Tait. He figured out how to mount an old rigger backstay to the end of his rigger, and then put his gopro on the end of the backstay. This gets the camera about 6 feet out to side, and with the wide field of view, that’s more than enough to see the whole stroke.

I described it a bit more detail and included pictures of the setup here.

So, I set myself up and went out for a row. I had about an hour, so I decided to do a bit of a free form session. I would do 6 minute easy rate ladders consisting of 3′ @ r18, 2′ @ r20 and 1′ @ r22. To spice it up a bit, I decided to throw in a few practice starts, just to see if I remembered how to do them and to see how good my balance was at the catch.

Here’s the whole session

And here’s the video….

The first video is the first rate ladder. During the 2′ at r20 I was making my way through the s-turn.

After the first 2 ladders, I reached the dam in Waltham. I did a set of four starts after I turned around. A couple of them were OK.

After a couple more ladders, and a few more starts, I did one last short ladder, just 10 strokes at each rate from r18 up to r28.

Looking at the video, I see a whole bunch of issues.

Sad to say, I’m heavier and balder than I was the last time I did side video in the boat. :-(.
I am not sitting erect enough in the boat, my hips are rocked too far back throughout the stroke.
I am not completing my rock over on recovery before I start to slide.
Blade depth looks OK to me, although it looks like my hands are arcing up right after the catch and then leveling out. The last ladder looks worse in terms of “rowing over the barrel”.
As you can see, I struggle a bit with balance. I lightly skim my blades on recovery.
Some strokes have a pretty pronounced pause at the finish.

And here, or pure entertainment value is my worst start of the day. I caught a crab and nearly flipped

The look on my face as it happened was priceless.

The great thing about rowing is that it keeps you humble!

14K OTW – Steady State and Technique

March 29, 2018Leave a comment

Big day today. Back in my Fluid, back on the upper Charles River.

It took me a little to get my boat reassembled, and I took my time. The last thing I wanted to was to screw something up and flip when the air temp was 35F and the water was around 45F.

The despite it being a bit cold. The weather was beautiful. There was very little wind and it was nice and sunny. It had warmed up to the mid forties by the time I had finished.

The water was nice and flat and I was able to just focus on trying to remember how to row.

The plan was pretty simple:

4K to the dam just rowing steady state to reacclimate
3K back upstream working on technique
- 500m Square blades
- 500m alternating SBR and feathered
- 500m trying to row feathered without touching water
- repeat
Same thing 3K down stream
4K back to the dock rowing steady state to see if I made any progress

It’s funny, the first few outings in the spring, my heart rate is quite high and my boat speed is quite slow. After a couple weeks in the boat, I seem to get back in the groove. Today was much the same. In addition, there was a reasonable amount of current flowing, so I was about 5 sec faster downstream and 5 sec slower upstream on pace.

Workout Summary - media/20180329-1335260o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13974|80:00.0|02:51.8|134.7|18.2|146.8|162.0|09.6
W-|12923|68:20.0|02:38.7|142.9|18.6|147.8|161.0|10.2
R-|01058|11:40.0|05:31.2|086.8|16.0|141.2|161.0|03.1
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00889|04:34.2|02:34.3|144.2|17.0|131.5|146.0|11.4 to the cut
01|02735|13:15.0|02:25.3|157.2|18.4|154.1|158.0|11.2 downstream ss
02|02815|15:54.0|02:49.5|136.3|17.5|148.1|161.0|10.1 drills
03|02768|14:43.2|02:39.5|133.5|18.6|143.7|155.0|10.1 drills
04|02881|15:22.2|02:40.1|145.0|19.4|151.0|157.0|09.7 upstream ss
05|00835|04:31.8|02:42.7|146.4|21.2|147.2|160.0|08.7 cut back to dock

I’m nursing a nice set of blisters on both hands, and I’m sore in lots of places. And I’m happier than I’ve been in months!

Tomorrow: Low Intensity day. OTW 1x. Depending on time and fatigue, somewhere between 60 and 80 minutes of rowing. Main intent is to get in some ss meters, but I want to do some side video to see where I am from a technique perspective. So that means I will probably throw in a few short rate ladders.

Wed & Thurs: Taper Triples

October 19, 2017Leave a comment

My long / hard workout on Tuesday was my last hard session before the HOCR. Yesterday and Today, I implements a very short taper. Not much need to do more because my prior training load was pretty light.

My traditional taper is guided by this paper. This is a 5 day taper, based on high intensity (115% VO2Max pace) intervals. They are intense, but short, about 75 seconds in the study and massively long 6 minute rests. Since I am making up for lost time, I decided to reduce the intensity of the intervals and make them a little longer, so that I would get additional technique practice at head race stroke rates and pressure. So, if you believe 2K pace is roughly VO2Max pace (and I do), then that would mean that I should do the intervals at about 250-275 watts. Instead, I planned to do them at closer to a 5K pace, which is maybe 40 watts lower, and extend them out to 120 seconds.

Also, I have been noticing that my rowing is pretty damn sloppy, especially my finishes. This has been making me unstable during the recovery, and messing up the whole next stroke. So, I thought the best way to use the rest time was to do some square blade rowing, so I did 2 minutes of square blade rowing and 2 minutes alternating square and feathered stroke by stroke.

So the plan was:

Wednesday: 4 x 2′
Thursday: 3 x 2′
Friday: practice row on the HOCR course. Keep it gentle. HR limit <150bpm
Saturday: race day!

Wednesday:

A beautiful morning. Clear, about 45F when I launched, but it warmed up fast and it was about 55F by the time I finished. There was a light breeze, but the water was silky flat almost all the time.

I was having such a good time that I did an extra interval at the end.

          Workout Summary - media/20171018-125059-Greg Smith 20171018 0650amo.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|07993|45:25.0|02:50.5|143.6|20.7|146.0|176.0|08.5
W-|02159|09:39.0|02:14.1|230.6|24.7|159.3|175.0|09.1
R-|05840|35:47.0|03:03.8|112.4|19.2|141.0|175.0|06.1
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00453|02:00.0|02:12.4|238.1|24.6|157.1|166.0|09.2
02|00463|02:00.0|02:09.6|232.3|24.8|163.2|172.0|09.3
03|00450|02:00.0|02:13.5|239.1|25.1|163.1|172.0|09.0
04|00446|02:00.0|02:14.4|228.8|25.0|163.4|175.0|08.9
05|00347|01:39.0|02:22.8|211.3|23.7|147.7|166.0|08.9

230W felt like it was bit too much to be sustainable for the whole race. Maybe 220W would work though.

Thursday:

Today was a carbon copy of Wednesday. Clear, 45F, even less wind.

I enjoyed every minute of the session. I had a little bit of extra river in the last interval, so I extended it to 3 minutes.

          Workout Summary - media/20171019-164952-Greg Smith 20171019 0634amo.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|06402|36:25.0|02:50.7|142.0|20.5|138.0|172.0|08.6
W-|01583|07:00.0|02:12.7|247.0|24.8|156.9|172.0|09.1
R-|04823|29:25.0|03:03.0|108.7|19.0|131.4|172.0|08.1
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00448|02:00.0|02:13.9|252.9|23.9|152.8|161.0|09.4
02|00456|02:00.0|02:11.6|240.4|25.0|150.7|165.0|09.1
03|00679|03:00.0|02:12.6|247.4|25.4|163.7|172.0|08.9

247W felt good today. Definitely too hard to hold for the whole race, but 255W should be workable.

After my workout I had an evaluation with a Physical Therapist. He found some imbalances in my glute strength that are causing weird stuff to happen with other muscles in an effort to compensate and this is putting strain on my SI joints. He gave me some stretches and exercises that will help me fix the imbalance. I’m pretty happy with the outcome and delighted that the PT works on a lot of rowers, including the US national team.

Tomorrow: Afternoon, I will be bringing my boat down to the launch site and doing a practice row on the course.

Threshold Tuesday

October 17, 20171 Comment

Weather: Really dark. Just the hint of a cresent moon on the eastern horizon, and lots of bright stars. Cold as hell. 32F. Wind 8-9mph from the NNW. This was a nasty headwind for my long piece and kicked up a bit of chop in places.

The plan: The original plan was a 4 x 2000m. But once I got going, I decided to change it up. When I setup the speedcoach, I didn’t have a field for distance. So, I decided to replace the 2k intervals with 9 minute intervals. Then when I was doing the first interval, I was feeling pretty good. The wind was behind me and I was in a section of the lake where the water was nice and flat, I decided to extend it to 10 minutes. I got to the south end of the lake and waited for the double that I had launched with. While I waited, I looked at the stars. Venus was very bright in the east, Orion was in the western sky, and I saw a shooting star.

My rest extended longer than the 5 minutes, and I decided that instead of continuing with the planned workout, I would just do the whole lake. This is a little bit longer than the HOCR course, so it would be a good way to see what power I can target for the race. Also, with the head wind, it would be a test of character! Could I keep it up while looking at miserably slow splits?

I set off and settled into a rhythm at 26 spm. I was annoyed to see that my HR monitor was stuck at 111bpm. After a couple of minutes, it got unstuck and slowly climbed up to the expected number around 171bpm. Then a couple minutes after that, the power and angle readings from the empower oarlock disappeared as well. I took this as a further test of character. Now, I had no power readings or heart rate readings to make me feel better about the miserably slow splits. I had no choice but to focus on rowing clean and just count strokes. It’s between 600 and 650 strokes to do the 5k. I counted every one of them.

I found that I would get sloppy and tired at r26, and decide to “take 10 for length”. My stroke rate would drop to r24/r25 and my pace would improve a bit. Then over the next couple of minutes, my rate would creep back up again and I would do it all again.

The section from 400 strokes to 500 was probably the toughest. The head wind was most noticeable, and the chop was at it’s worst. I was very tired and getting sloppy. It was a real confidence boost to persevere through it and once I got past 500 and the end was in sight, I was able to start cranking it up.

The finish point is right in front of the QRA docks. I paddled from there up to the north end of the lake and met up with the double again. I did the section going south with my feet out of the shoes focusing on finishes.

You can see the problems with the HR and power numbers in this plot.

Here is a close up plot of the pace and stroke rate, since that’s the only stuff that was accurate through that piece.

          Workout Summary - media/20171017-182015-Greg Smith 20171017 0540amo.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|11792|73:14.0|03:06.3|192.8|24.0|161.0|173.0|06.7
W-|09136|44:08.0|02:24.9|209.7|24.7|166.1|173.0|08.4
R-|02660|29:06.0|05:28.3|139.7|20.7|147.7|173.0|03.2
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|02240|10:00.0|02:14.0|222.8|25.3|164.3|173.0|08.8
02|05115|25:13.2|02:27.9|206.5|25.7|165.0|171.0|07.9
03|01782|08:55.2|02:30.2|204.0|21.4|171.0|171.0|09.3

So, after this workout, I was delighted to see an email from rowsandall.com saying that I had had a “breakthrough workout”. This is a workout that is significantly better than the power profile that you have built up over time.

Here is the before/after view of the profile.

The difference is all in the long workouts. There is a chance that the power meter malfunction is driving the long flat plateau, but based on the pace through the piece, I think that power did not fade all that much. Using this data and the predictor functionality, rowandall thinks that I can target 211W for my race. I think I can probably target 220W.

After the issues today, I hope that the speedcoach works in the race.

Tomorrow: Another session of 2′ SBR/2’Alt/2′ 26spm. This time 4 reps.

Mechanics Monday

October 16, 2017Leave a comment

Weather: Blustery, about 60F.

Plan:

repeat for roughly 60 minutes
- 2′ square blade rowing
- 2′ alternate square feathered
- 2′ feathered
  - rate: 25-26
  - pace: ~2:15 or better
Technique focus
- clean finishes. Avoid touching my chest with my hands
- blades off the water
- knees together at the catch

The point of the workout today was to use the SBR and alternating sections to work on all the technique elements, then use the 2 minutes at head race rate to “apply” what I was working on. I tried to focus on the technique at pressure, especially finishing early and keeping blades off the water.

The oarlock batteries ran out in the session. Gotta replace those tonight.

The power pie chart is wrong. The LT number is too big.

          Workout Summary - media/20171016-145520-Greg Smith 20171016 0846amo.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10247|56:52.0|02:46.5|174.3|22.4|142.9|169.0|08.0
W-|02800|12:24.0|02:12.8|222.4|26.3|156.6|169.0|08.6
R-|07451|44:28.0|02:59.0|157.0|20.9|137.7|169.0|07.2
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00450|02:00.0|02:13.3|226.2|25.1|148.1|158.0|09.0
02|00461|02:00.0|02:10.2|238.7|25.9|156.1|162.0|08.9
03|00441|02:00.0|02:16.1|222.1|26.3|157.3|165.0|08.4
04|00440|02:00.0|02:16.5|211.4|26.2|160.5|168.0|08.4
05|00462|02:00.0|02:09.9|222.8|27.2|153.1|167.0|08.5
06|00547|02:24.0|02:11.6|215.0|27.0|163.1|169.0|08.4

I really enjoyed this workout. It was quite a challenge to row with square blades with the blustery conditions, especially when I was heading up river with it as a headwind. It was delightful during the r26 chunks when I put together 2 or 3 clean strokes. Of course, I’d be happier if I could routine put together 700 clean stroke, but I need to be happy with any progress.

This session will form the basis of my taper. I will reduce the total rowing time and the number of 2 minute chunks of race pace rowing, but keep working on technique at race pace. I think it the only thing that I can improve over a week.

Tomorrow: My last hard session before the race. 4 x 2000 / 5′ rests at r26 and 2:15.

Sunday: 2 x 5.5K at race rate

October 15, 20172 Comments

Weather: Cloudy, warm (mid 60s), light to moderate breeze from the SSW, 5-8 mph with gusts a bit higher. This was a headwind going up river.

The Plan: Do two head race pieces at slightly lower than head race pressure to find the power level that I can hold reasonably for the HOCR. Also work on technique at race rate. Probably most importantly work on my confidence in rowing while in considerable discomfort.

2 x 5.5K
- Rate: 25-26
- quick turn at the halfway point
~ 10′ rest between pieces

I was extremely annoyed to find that I had forgotten my heart rate monitor at home. Oh well, this session would be managed by RPE.

I did some pick drill out to the start point, and then had a drink and got going. The pace dropped down below 2:10 and I felt pretty awesome. Of course, I was rowing in the part of the river where the current was most favorable, and the wind was behind me. Nevertheless, it got me off in a good way. I just counted strokes and tried to keep my mind on all the things I had to manage.

steering
keep knees together at the catch
nice clean finishes. Don’t let the handles hit my chest at the finish.
blades off the water on recovery
nice consistent blade depth during the drive.

Of course you can’t think all these thoughts at the same time, so I basically would use them to distract myself. I would try to turn to look every ten strokes, and if I felt like I was pushing past a sustainable effort, I would take the strokes between looks to focus on one area. It seemed to work. The hardest part of this session is the turn in the middle. Mentally, it is so hard to be right on the edge when you get to the halfway point, and then turn the boat quickly and get back up to speed. I wanted to stop so badly both times.

          Workout Summary - media/20171015-173937-Greg Smith 20171015 0933amo.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14949|82:41.0|02:46.0|158.8|24.0|0.0|000.0|07.5
W-|10994|52:07.0|02:22.2|192.1|25.2|000.0|000.0|08.4
R-|03960|30:34.0|03:51.6|081.2|21.1|000.0|000.0|06.4
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|02767|12:27.0|02:15.0|198.2|24.9|000.0|0.0|08.9
02|02688|13:04.8|02:26.0|197.6|25.3|000.0|0.0|08.1
03|02762|12:46.2|02:18.7|180.1|25.1|000.0|0.0|08.6
04|02778|13:49.2|02:29.2|192.4|25.3|000.0|0.0|07.9

So, it looks like I can target a bit above 200W for the race, maybe 210W. You can see the effect of the fatigue fro the first piece in how my length and power just faded in the second one.

I know that I have plenty of rationalizations for the level of preparation for this race, but it is really bugging me. It is unlikely that I will ever win a big event like this, but I take a lot of pride in preparing well and building a plan that let’s me do my best in the event. I don’t feel like that is the case this year. I need to do some thinking about how to modify my training so I am better focused and end enjoy it more next year.

Tomorrow: Technique row. Probably 2′ segments of square blades, alternating square/feathered and race rate rowing. The intent will be to be able to row at r26 with good technique at less than race pace.

5 x 1500 / 5′ on Quinsig

October 6, 20173 Comments

An extraordinary morning. We launched around 5:40am. The sun wouldn’t be up for another hour, but it was crystal clear and there was a beautiful full moon out so it was way easier to see where we were going. There was a very light breeze from the west, which is basically a cross wind. It was light enough that the water was just barely rippled. It was an extraordinary feeling rowing in the dark on perfectly flat water. I felt like I was flying.

I got the replacement rigger for my fluid on Wednesday, and I spent a hour or so getting it installed yesterday. It took a bit of work to get the rigging right and I was sure that it was right. I always worry that I might have missed something.

The plan:

5 x 1500 / 5′ rest
- rate: 25-28
- pace: 2:15
- HR limit: none
- Technique: knees together at the catch, limit layback, crisp finishes

I started out with about 1.5K of drills.

arms only
arms abd back
quarter slide
pause at finish
pause at half slide on recovery

From there, I did about 500m of steady pressure at about r20.

Through this, I was annoyed to see that technology was failing me today.

My speedcoach battery was down to one bar
My HR sensor seemed to be stuck at 96 bpm
My EmPower oarlock wasn’t registering any power or angle readings

I didn’t want to take the time and effort to try to figure out what was wrong, I decided to just do the workout using pace and rate.

I started the first interval right after I got through the narrows. I was pleased to see the pace drop down to about 2:15 and hang there. The setup of the boat felt good. I was well set, and it felt like the boat was accelerating nicely. After about 60 strokes which was about 500m, I started to notice that it was hard work. But, the level of effort felt very sustainable. I continued through another 60 strokes, two thirds done, and I felt even more strongly that the effort level was pretty close to right for a head race. I finished right as I passed into the cove at the south end of the lake.

I paddled the rest of the way into the cove and turned around. I hung out and waited for the quad that launched behind me to get there. I noticed that I was right on 4000m, so I took off for the next interval, heading north. This one was a little faster. I guess the cross wind was a bit against me in first one and behind me in this one. This one stung a bit more, but at the end, I was counting down remaining strokes, I could have kept going.

After the second interval, I rowed a quick loop to make sure that I would have enough lake at the end. As I looped around, I had to dodge a eight coming north. I think I spooked the cox a bit. But this was pretty good because it gave me something to chase for the third interval.

I started this interval about 500m south of the narrows. I could see the white light on the stern of the 8 and it looked like I was gaining on them. I passed through the narrows and took a line towards the eastern shore so I would give the 8 enough room. The rest of the interval, I continued to gain on them and I was about even with them when I hit the end of the interval.

I paddled to the north side of the route 9 bridge and started the fourth interval. My legs were a bit more tired now, and I noticed that I was rating a bit higher. I also noticed that 28 felt good. I didn’t feel rushed or sloppy. That made me happy. I was feeling some distress by the end of this interval. I’m not sure how much further I would have liked to go beyond the end of this one. The last 200m of this interval took me right in front of the docks of the QRA. I ended up closer to them that I like to go because I wasn’t paying close enough attention to my line. But I got to watch about 40 rowers watching me as I did my last 100m. It was certainly incentive to keep my finishes clean and not look as gassed as I actually was.

I paddled to the north end of the lake and turned around. I ended up paddling an extra 100m to get lined up right and started the interval heading south. It was the fifth interval, so my legs were pretty empty, but I was still able to get down to the target pace. When I got to the last 500m, I started to bring the rate up and counted through the last 60 strokes. I was glad it was over, but it wasn’t a near death experience.

After this, I looped back to go find the quad. When I found them, I turned again, and we did a quick 500 piece back toward the dock.

This was a really fantastic workout.

        Workout Summary - media/20171006-131833-96782o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14147|84:53.0|03:00.0|000.0|22.1|0.0|000.0|07.5
W-|08293|36:57.0|02:13.7|000.0|26.5|000.0|000.0|08.5
R-|05855|47:56.0|04:05.7|000.0|18.2|000.0|000.0|05.5
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|01547|06:58.0|02:15.1|000.0|24.6|000.0|0.0|09.0 - down lake
02|01543|06:54.9|02:14.5|000.0|26.0|000.0|0.0|08.6 - up lake
03|01541|06:50.0|02:13.0|000.0|27.1|000.0|0.0|08.3 - chasing the 8
04|01540|06:52.2|02:13.8|000.0|27.1|000.0|0.0|08.3 - past QRA
05|01547|06:45.9|02:11.2|000.0|27.9|000.0|0.0|08.2 - heading south
06|00575|02:36.0|02:15.7|000.0|25.5|000.0|0.0|08.7 - bonus piece!

Tomorrow: Steady State coastal row.

Steady State on a foggy morning

October 3, 2017Leave a comment

Pitch black and foggy when we launched. It was chilly, in the mid-40s and the wind was light and variable.

The plan:

Steady state
- R20
HR limit: 155
Maybe work in some SBR

I was using Bob’s Peinert again, and Joe and Kelsey were in the double. They launched a few minutes before me and disappeared into the mist going south.

I launched and the fog seemed to close in around me. I suddenly felt a very strong desire to row with someone else. Part of me wanted to just drop the hammer and catch up with them, but I also wanted to keep the intensity set to low today, so I held the rate at 20 or below. The visibility improved and declined as I rowed down lake, and as I went I found that I was feeling really good in the boat. I was set well, and my catches and finishes were nice and clean. I never caught up with them, but I seemed to close the gap a bit by the time we hit the south end of the lake.

They were nice enough to wait for me, and we set off going north side by side. The plan was to turn south at the bridge because the fog looked a lot worse at the north end of the lake. We next to each other almost all the way up to the narrows, when I pushed the pace a bit to go through ahead of them. After that, they slowed down a bit and I kept the pace up. I waited for them at the bridge and we made the decision to continue north because the fog was clearing a bit.

The rest of the way to the north end of the lake was really nice rowing. There was a bit of headwind, and it was blowing the mist in tendrils past us as we went. When I looked across to Joe and Kelsey, it was an impressive sight. The mist blowing past them made it look like they were going extremely fast. I wish I had a camera and a free hand!

I was rowing along nice and easy, and I noticed that they were starting to pull ahead of me. So, I upped the pressure to stay next to them. Then they pushed it further, and I upped the rate by a stroke or two. I found out later that Joe decided that I needed a bit more work in this workout so they pushed me harder. That’s the pace and HR bump in the last half of the 3rd piece.

After we got to the north end, we turned to go home and I did alternating chunks of steady state and SBR. Then when I got to the dock, I did a minute at a little higher than head race pace and rate, to try to apply the technique work I did to full pressure strokes.

Workout Summary - media/20171003-130528-Greg Smith 20171003 0541amo.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|11883|66:54.0|02:48.9|000.0|19.5|142.8|158.0|09.1
W-|10453|52:39.0|02:31.1|000.0|19.3|145.7|158.0|10.3
R-|01434|14:15.0|04:58.1|000.0|20.0|122.3|158.0|04.2
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|03246|16:00.0|02:27.9|000.0|19.0|146.9|155.0|10.7
02|03042|15:30.0|02:32.9|000.0|18.9|148.3|154.0|10.4
03|02244|11:15.0|02:30.4|000.0|20.2|148.8|158.0|09.9
04|01691|08:54.0|02:37.9|000.0|18.7|135.1|141.0|10.2
05|00231|01:00.0|02:10.1|000.0|26.5|144.6|155.0|08.7

Tomorrow: I fly out to California first thing in the morning. I am hoping to do a cross training session Wednesday night at the hotel. Thursday, I’ll be flying home and I’ll take a rest day. Friday, I hope to do a 5×1500 on the water.

Quantified Rowing

Measure – Adjust – Improve

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