Tag: cat II

Tough Session: 3 x 1500/1′ + 3 x 500/2′

Leave a comment

Went to bed a bit late, but slept well (if only for about 5 hours).  Up at 5:15 to head to work.

Plan:

  • 3 x 1500m / 1’
    • Rating: Cat IV pace; target SR 23-24 (Pace: 1:52)
  • 3 x 500m / 2’ easy
    • Rating: Cat II pace: target SR 28-30 (Pace: 1:45)
  • Notes: Stay on the target paces, no faster, no slower.

I added a 2K at Cat VI pace to warmup.

I figured I would be OK since the pace for my 20′ test was faster than what was required for the 3×1500.  But I was a bit worried about the short turnaround from the peak power session at 5pm last night to this session at 7:30am today.  I wasn’t sore this morning, but my legs felt “empty”.

The first two reps were OK, but really taxing.  I was counting strokes the whole way.  The third rep, I basically chickened out.  I think I could have made it, but I was really struggling, and I knew that I had the 3×500 yet to go.  I HD’ed briefly in  the middle and started up again at a slightly slower pace.  Stopping once really took the wind out of my sails so when it started stinging again near the end, I just paddled it out.

The 500s were far more humane, even though they were a lot faster.  I was having trouble holding the stroke rate above 28 because I was really focusing on trying to sequence the recovery correctly.  The last of the 500s was pretty brutal, but I was not in the mood to bail on any more intervals.

          Workout Summary - media/20180314-1230360o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|08981|40:38.0|02:15.7|182.8|21.6|156.4|177.0|10.2
W-|08000|30:36.0|01:54.8|235.5|23.0|155.4|177.0|11.5
R-|00985|10:01.0|05:05.4|022.0|17.2|159.3|177.0|08.3
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|02000|08:19.0|02:04.7|179.3|18.2|133.5|146.0|13.2 - wu
01|01500|05:37.8|01:52.6|248.6|23.8|157.6|170.0|11.2
02|01500|05:33.5|01:51.2|254.1|24.0|167.2|175.0|11.2
03|01500|05:55.4|01:58.5|216.2|24.0|169.0|177.0|10.5 - HD!
04|00500|01:43.4|01:43.4|316.2|27.8|160.4|174.0|10.4
05|00500|01:44.0|01:44.0|310.8|27.1|160.5|174.0|10.6
06|00500|01:43.6|01:43.6|313.7|27.9|159.3|171.0|10.4

Next time, I think I can get this one on target.

Tomorrow:  I am flying off to San Francisco first thing in the morning.  I have meetings in  the afternoon and a dinner.  Then I head home Friday morning.  I will take a rest day tomorrow and try to a quick session in the hotel fitness center before I fly home.

 

Feeling a bit better: Feb 8 to Feb 15

1 Comment

Last time I posted, I had decided to take a step back and mix up my training a bit to try to get some momentum back.  The good news is that I think it is working, at least I am feeling a bit more relaxed than I was.

Thursday, Feb 8: Strength Training

  • Full PT Suite
  • Front Squats, KB Swings, Pull ups, Deadlifts

Friday, Feb 9: No Training.  Spent my training time working on my project looking at how aging effects rowing performance by mistake.  I was only going to make one little tweak to my “R” code and when I looked up 90 minutes had gone by.

Saturday, Feb 10: 4 x 20′ / 3′ (On Slides)

I bought a pair of slides a couple years ago and they have been in the gym at work.  I have rarely used them because it’s a pain to set them up and break them down after ech session.  I decided to bring them home and use them on my erg down on the cape.

It was awesome!  I loved the feeling of rowing on slides again.  With the technique stuff I’ve been working on the rowing motion felt really fluid.  Add in the fact that this erg has a core perform seat and it felt very much like real rowing.

My goal was just to get some low intensity meters in, and keep my HR below 155.

Workout Summary - media/20180210-1840300o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|20016|92:00.0|02:17.9|165.8|19.1|146.3|158.0|11.4
W-|18992|80:00.0|02:06.4|173.3|19.0|147.8|158.0|12.5
R-|01030|12:00.0|05:49.6|070.8|20.3|130.5|158.0|02.2
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|04776|20:00.0|02:05.6|175.6|18.7|140.3|152.0|12.8
01|04724|20:00.0|02:07.0|170.6|18.8|148.7|155.0|12.5
02|04739|20:00.0|02:06.6|173.0|19.2|151.0|158.0|12.4
03|04753|20:00.0|02:06.2|173.9|19.3|151.0|157.0|12.3

I found it very natural to row about 1 spm higher on slides, and I was maybe 1 second slower than on a static machine.  The difference between rowing on slides and rowing on the dynamic is night and day.

Sunday, Feb 11: 8 x (4:30 @ 18, 0:30 @ 30+)/30″ (On Slides)

To follow up on that blissful session I wanted to have a bit more fun on slides.  I really like this 8 x 5′ with 30 sec sprint session.  I’ve been doing this kind of sessions more since reading this book.  The One Minute Workout

It was a blast doing it on slides.  I could rate up very easily, which I can’t seem to do on the dynamic machine.

Workout Summary - media/20180211-1530300o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10387|44:00.0|02:07.1|217.6|22.1|148.1|172.0|10.7
W-|09816|40:00.0|02:02.3|199.8|20.5|147.1|172.0|12.3
R-|00584|04:00.0|03:25.3|257.1|29.3|159.6|172.0|04.1
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01094|04:30.0|02:03.4|184.8|19.9|117.9|135.0|12.2
01|00153|00:30.0|01:38.0|369.6|34.7|140.5|146.0|08.8
02|01078|04:30.0|02:05.2|181.7|18.0|136.0|143.0|13.3
03|00156|00:30.0|01:35.9|386.7|35.2|143.6|150.0|08.9
04|01067|04:30.0|02:06.5|176.9|18.6|142.5|153.0|12.8
05|00160|00:30.0|01:33.8|395.0|36.9|146.9|150.0|08.7
06|01070|04:30.0|02:06.2|174.9|17.7|146.8|158.0|13.4
07|00163|00:30.0|01:31.8|442.5|38.2|150.0|155.0|08.5
08|01060|04:30.0|02:07.4|174.9|18.7|152.2|164.0|12.6
09|00161|00:30.0|01:33.3|426.6|38.8|154.0|158.0|08.3
10|01070|04:30.0|02:06.2|175.3|18.4|156.3|166.0|12.9
11|00159|00:30.0|01:34.4|399.9|37.1|158.2|161.0|08.6
12|01052|04:30.0|02:08.4|172.3|18.9|158.9|169.0|12.3
13|00157|00:30.0|01:35.7|399.1|36.5|158.3|162.0|08.6
14|01057|04:30.0|02:07.7|173.5|19.1|162.4|172.0|12.3
15|00159|00:30.0|01:34.2|437.6|38.8|162.5|165.0|08.2

Another delightful session.  The feeling of rowing on slides was so different that I decided to take a quick video to see how my technique looked.  Spoiler alert:  I have work to do.

Despite my best efforts, I am still not getting my body over before breaking my knees on recovery.

Monday, Feb 12: Strength Training plus 40 minutes Cat VI

Full PT suite.

40′ Cat VI row.  A great row.  Felt very easy.  Nice low HR.

Workout Summary - media/20180212-1305260o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|09684|40:00.0|02:03.9|183.5|18.9|139.0|145.0|12.8
W-|09685|40:00.0|02:03.9|183.5|18.9|139.0|145.0|12.8
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|145.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|04832|20:00.0|02:04.2|181.8|18.8|136.6|144.0|12.9
01|04853|20:00.0|02:03.6|185.2|19.0|141.4|145.0|12.7

Was able to speed up a bit in the second half because my HR was so low.

Then I did a Strength Session

  • KB Swings 3 x 20 with 16kg
  • Front Squats 4 x 8 with 145 lb
  • Trunk rotation with 50 2 sets of 10 each side
  • Pull ups: 5,4,3,3

Tuesday, Feb 13: 10 x 500/2′ @ 22

PT Suite

Enjoyable little workout.

Workout Summary - media/20180213-1340290o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10941|44:54.0|02:03.1|194.3|19.3|153.6|167.0|12.6
W-|10941|44:55.0|02:03.2|192.3|19.1|153.5|167.0|12.9
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|167.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00500|02:04.6|02:04.6|173.6|17.0|110.6|128.0|14.1
01|00500|01:59.0|01:59.0|209.2|21.0|137.9|143.0|12.0
02|00500|02:07.4|02:07.4|179.2|16.9|142.7|144.0|13.9
03|00500|01:57.4|01:57.4|213.7|21.7|146.3|150.0|11.8
04|00500|02:08.3|02:08.3|172.7|17.6|148.5|150.0|13.3
05|00500|01:57.4|01:57.4|215.1|21.2|149.1|152.0|12.1
06|00500|02:05.9|02:05.9|170.3|17.6|151.5|154.0|13.5
07|00500|01:58.2|01:58.2|219.4|21.3|151.0|154.0|11.9
08|00500|02:05.0|02:05.0|175.9|17.7|153.4|155.0|13.6
09|00500|01:58.7|01:58.7|218.3|20.7|154.3|157.0|12.2
10|00500|02:07.0|02:07.0|173.7|17.6|156.1|158.0|13.4
11|00500|01:59.3|01:59.3|211.7|21.3|156.7|160.0|11.8
12|00500|02:07.8|02:07.8|178.9|17.1|159.3|161.0|13.7
13|00500|01:58.3|01:58.3|217.6|21.3|159.8|162.0|11.9
14|00500|02:09.8|02:09.8|177.6|17.8|160.8|164.0|13.0
15|00500|01:57.9|01:57.9|214.6|21.8|161.7|164.0|11.7
16|00500|02:06.0|02:06.0|178.0|18.1|162.4|164.0|13.1
17|00500|01:59.5|01:59.5|205.1|21.0|163.5|165.0|12.0
18|00500|02:05.1|02:05.1|179.6|17.5|163.3|165.0|13.7
19|00500|01:58.7|01:58.7|222.9|21.2|164.8|167.0|11.9
20|00500|02:08.0|02:08.0|179.8|16.9|165.6|167.0|13.8
21|00441|01:56.2|02:11.6|156.5|16.8|159.1|162.0|13.6

Wednesday, Feb 14: Strength Training only

I was pressed for time.  Distracted by the Aging related decline project again.

Full PT Suite

Strength Session

  • KB Swings – 3 x 20 with 16kg
  • Front squats – 4 x 8 with 145lbs, 1 x 8 with 165lbs
  • trunk rotations – 2 x 2 x 10 with 50 lbs
  • Pull ups – 5, 4, 3, 3
  • Dead lifts – 5 x 8 x 150lbs

Thursday, Feb 15:  No Training.  Rest Day

 

Farewell Korea: 8 x (4:30@18, 0:30@30+)/30″

Leave a comment

I had a pretty easy day yesterday.  I had a lunch meeting, some internal meetings in the afternoon, and then a dinner with a customer.  I was back at the hotel around 10.

I slept pretty fitfully and I was up around 5:30.  I had a conference call from 6 to 8 and then I headed for the gym.

The plan:

  • 8×5’/30″ rest
  • 4:30 – Cat VI (r18, 2:05)
  • 0:30 – Cat II (r30+, 1:45-)
  • The focus was to try to keep my stroke short and snappy when I rated up.  Try to keep the sequence right on recovery, even when I am pounding it out at high rate.

I love this workout.  It’s short, but the 30 second sprints add a bit of sting.  The Cat VI rowing is slow enough so that I recover well in the first half, but the fatigue starts to pile up in the second and even the slow bits feel like a lot more work.

          Workout Summary - media/20180202-0000330o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10639|44:03.0|02:04.2|208.3|20.7|155.5|176.0|11.6
W-|09917|40:00.0|02:01.0|200.7|19.5|154.1|173.0|13.0
R-|00736|04:03.0|02:45.1|152.8|23.5|166.9|173.0|06.5
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01098|04:30.0|02:03.0|184.5|17.8|123.9|138.0|13.7
01|00154|00:30.0|01:37.3|378.4|32.9|142.4|150.0|09.4
02|01085|04:30.0|02:04.4|181.1|17.8|145.2|152.0|13.5
03|00160|00:30.0|01:33.9|406.9|34.0|152.5|159.0|09.4
04|01084|04:30.0|02:04.5|178.8|17.4|152.1|162.0|13.8
05|00157|00:30.0|01:35.7|386.3|33.1|154.4|159.0|09.5
06|01085|04:30.0|02:04.4|180.5|18.0|155.1|165.0|13.4
07|00155|00:30.0|01:36.9|380.7|32.6|158.1|162.0|09.5
08|01080|04:30.0|02:05.1|178.4|18.0|159.1|168.0|13.4
09|00159|00:30.0|01:34.2|400.2|34.2|161.4|165.0|09.3
10|01079|04:30.0|02:05.1|178.2|17.7|162.5|171.0|13.5
11|00156|00:30.0|01:36.1|387.3|33.5|163.6|167.0|09.3
12|01076|04:30.0|02:05.5|178.8|18.1|164.2|173.0|13.2
13|00153|00:30.0|01:38.1|363.5|32.2|166.4|170.0|09.5
14|01080|04:30.0|02:05.0|178.7|18.5|166.7|173.0|13.0
15|00158|00:30.0|01:35.2|403.1|35.4|167.7|171.0|08.9

That works out to this summary

  • Cat VI: 2:04.6, r17.9, 181W
  • Cat II: 1:35.8, r33.5, 397W

The fast bits felt great today.  I have been struggling to get the rate up previously, but today something clicked and I was able to really snap back on the recovery and take light strokes.  Now, I don’t know how long I could hold that kind of rate and pace, but it was a blast for 15 to 20 strokes.

I’m waiting to board my first flight to Hong Kong, then change planes for the rest of the ride back to Boston.  I get in around 8:55pm local time.  All together from hotel in Korea to home, it’s about 26 hours of travel time.  Blechh.

The training schedule has my hardest session of the week on Saturday.  I think I will probably swap it around and do Sunday’s Cat VI row then.  That will let me the kinks out before I dig deep on Sunday.

 

 

 

Thurs: Travel, Friday: 8x(4:30@18,30″@30)/30″ (good) , Sat: 4x(3’@28,7’@18)1′ (bad)

Leave a comment

Thursday: Up at 5:15am to head to the airport.  Direct flight from LAX to BOS.  I managed to score an upgrade to business class.  I arrived around 4:45PM and was home by 6:30.  A reasonably civilized way to travel.

Friday:  Back to the routine.  Up at 5:15, and into work.  I had an 8:30AM meeting so I had to be aware of the time, but the planned workout was pretty short.

I did my full set of PT exercises.  Then the erg session.

  • 8 x 5′ / 30″ rest
  • first 4:30 of each interval is Cat VI (r18, 2:05)
  • last 30″ of each interval is Cat II (r30+, 1:45 or faster)
  • The important thing to me was to try to maintain good sequential recovery in the high rate bursts.

The first annoyance was that I could not get Painsled to link up with the PM.  I tried a bunch of stuff and then gave up.  I ended up using ergdata which linked up right away.

The workout itself went great.  I had a blast.  It was pretty close in feel to the HIIT sessions I did while I was on the road.  I was not pushing  the fast bits as hard as I could go though, and the paddling I did in between bursts was harder than the rests for the HIIT stuff.

Because it was captured with ergdata, it is almost impossible to get a good set of summary stats.  Luckily, rowsandall has a way around that, using the flex plot.  I can look at a plot of all the strokes I took at above r25.  And get an average stroke rate and power.

1-26a

So, 324.28 watts is 1:42.6.  I was closer to 1:40 in the bursts after I got up to speed.

Saturday:  I slept a lot on Friday night, and since we had a busy day planned, I went to workout as soon as I got up.  I didn’t feel so great.  And today was a tough workout.

I did my PT exercises.

Then

  • 10 minute warmup
  • 4 x (3′ @ r28, 7′ @ r18)/1′ rest
  • target pace for r28: 1:48
  • target pace for r18: 2:05

I felt pretty nasty in the warmup.  It seemed like it was taking a lot of work to get to my regular Cat VI pace and the bursts were hard too.

Then into the workout.  I was destroyed by the first 3′ section.  I usually bring down the rate in a controlled way.  Yesterday, I just started paddling and tried to bring the pace back to the target.  I made it about 5 of the 7 minutes in the first rep and I was having trouble catching my breath, so I paddled out the rest of it.  The second 3′ section was even worse.  I stopped completely after it and then rowed to the target off and on through the Cat VI section.  Same thing in the last two intervals.  In the last Cat VI section I started getting awful stomach cramps and I barely made it to the toilet after I finished.  Not really the cool down I was planning.

Workout Summary - media/Import_32270454.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|12943|52:44.0|02:02.2|195.7|22.2|151.3|178.0|11.1
W-|12085|50:00.0|02:04.1|192.5|21.7|151.8|178.0|11.2
R-|00864|02:44.0|01:35.2|053.5|19.4|140.4|178.0|46.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|02504|10:00.0|01:59.8|208.1|21.4|138.9|156.0|11.7
01|00838|03:00.0|01:47.4|278.0|26.7|151.5|167.0|10.4
02|01535|07:00.0|02:16.8|148.0|19.8|148.5|167.0|11.1
03|00828|03:00.0|01:48.7|278.1|27.8|152.5|169.0|09.9
04|01547|07:00.0|02:15.8|143.6|19.7|150.2|170.0|11.2
05|00839|03:00.0|01:47.3|275.2|26.9|158.9|173.0|10.4
06|01589|07:00.0|02:12.1|153.9|18.4|157.1|173.0|12.4
07|00840|03:00.0|01:47.1|276.5|27.8|164.0|178.0|10.1
08|01565|07:00.0|02:14.2|157.6|19.9|161.3|178.0|11.3

The only positive note was that I actually hit the target for the 3 minute sections.

I was drained the rest of the day.  We took a quick ride down to the cape.  I needed to replace some shingles on the roof and do a few other chores.  I fell asleep in the car going down for about 30 minutes, and while we were there I slept for another half hour or so on the couch.  I didn’t have any other symptoms, but I suspect that I am trying to fight off a bug of some kind.