Tired today – 3 x 20′ / 2′ L4

February 13, 2019Leave a comment

I slept well last night, but woke up feeling tired. I dragged myself to work and got into the gym around 7. I spent a little while foam rolling the kinks out of my thighs and then settled onto the erg. I did the same power sequence as I did on Sunday, but dropped the stroke rate by 2 spm because I was on the static erg instead of slides.

The first 20 minutes were a breeze. The second 20 minutes were noticeably hard and the last 20 minutes were tough. HR ended up too high, but was under control through almost the whole workout.

        Workout Summary - media/20190212-1320380o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|15214|66:04.0|02:10.3|168.3|17.1|142.0|167.0|13.4
W-|14393|60:00.0|02:05.1|180.1|17.5|142.7|167.0|13.7
R-|00826|06:04.0|03:40.4|051.2|13.8|134.3|167.0|08.4
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|02374|10:00.0|02:06.4|175.5|16.9|123.2|135.0|14.1
01|02391|10:00.0|02:05.4|177.3|17.5|137.9|143.0|13.7
02|02386|10:00.0|02:05.7|177.6|17.1|138.4|149.0|13.9
03|02413|10:00.0|02:04.3|182.8|17.9|151.2|156.0|13.5
04|02404|10:00.0|02:04.8|182.3|17.4|148.3|157.0|13.8
05|02425|10:00.0|02:03.7|185.3|18.1|157.5|167.0|13.4

Now I am on my way out to San Diego. I’m heading over to the SDRC boathouse tomorrow morning at 5 to see if I can get in a seat for a session on the water.

Long and fast

February 11, 2019February 11, 2019Leave a comment

Not at the same time.

Sunday: 4 x 20′ / 2′ L4

Down on the Cape. We went down to see how things were holding up over the winter. The house looks to be a good shape, but the stairs that I built last spring have taken a serious beating.

The damage is much worse than last winter. It appears that pack ice must have entrapped the bottom of the stairs and when it broke free, carried the stairs with it. Next time I go down, I will see what I can salvage and once it warms up, I’ll rebuild.

The workout had a much better outcome. Sometimes, it just happens. You do a workout where you feel great. That’s how I felt on Sunday. I had pushed really hard on Saturday and for Sunday’s session, I just wanted to bank the meters. So, I set up to do the same L4 as I have been doing. But it just felt so easy. And my HR never really went up. I’ve been doing 3 x 20s lately, but 4×20 was no problem.

        Workout Summary - media/20190210-1840400o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|20119|87:59.0|02:11.2|167.1|19.2|132.4|151.0|11.9
W-|19165|79:25.0|02:04.3|181.0|19.5|133.6|150.0|12.4
R-|00957|08:00.0|04:10.8|038.9|16.3|122.3|150.0|08.8
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|04761|19:53.2|02:05.3|174.1|19.0|129.2|138.0|12.6
01|04766|19:46.4|02:04.5|179.1|19.2|133.6|144.0|12.5
02|04797|19:51.6|02:04.2|183.5|19.6|134.3|147.0|12.3
03|04842|19:53.9|02:03.3|187.1|20.1|137.0|150.0|12.1

Notice the summary is a bit ragged. I have seen this before and almost always on the erg down on the Cape. The reason it looks that way is it is missing lots of strokes. This is a quick graph to show what I mean. The captured data includes stroke number. This is just a graph of the stroke number minus the prior stroke number in the file. There are 9 times where more than 10 strokes are missing from the data.

The question is why? There are lots of possible suspects. The data is communicated from the PM5 to my iphone by bluetooth. At the same time, my iphone is streaming a podcast over wifi, and using a bluetooth connection to my earphones. My wifi on the cape is really bad (Thanks directTV!). It’s possible that the streaming is the cause. Someday, I might try to sort it out. Definitely if I am going to do an online challenge or ranked piece.

We headed home around 3 in the afternoon.

Monday – 8 x 500m / 3’30” – L1

I slept badly last night. It’s a Sunday night tradition. But I was up at 5:15 and in the office by 6:20. The planned session was an 8×500, and I was hopeful that I could hold a target pace faster than the 1:42 from the pyramid session last week.

I started with a 2k warmup. Pick drill, then 20 stroke bursts at target pace.

Then the main event.

        Workout Summary - media/20190211-1315390o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|08603|41:22.0|02:24.3|158.5|22.1|140.0|172.0|09.4
W-|04000|13:20.0|01:40.1|351.3|29.5|146.4|171.0|10.2
R-|04607|28:02.0|03:02.6|066.7|18.5|136.9|171.0|09.6
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00500|01:39.7|01:39.7|339.7|29.0|130.2|158.0|10.4
01|00500|01:40.5|01:40.5|356.1|29.7|146.5|163.0|10.0
02|00500|01:40.6|01:40.6|342.9|29.1|145.6|163.0|10.2
03|00500|01:40.7|01:40.7|345.5|29.1|148.5|165.0|10.2
04|00500|01:40.3|01:40.3|349.3|29.3|147.3|166.0|10.2
05|00500|01:39.2|01:39.2|354.8|29.5|149.2|168.0|10.3
06|00500|01:40.5|01:40.5|352.0|29.4|150.7|168.0|10.1
07|00500|01:39.3|01:39.3|370.5|31.0|153.3|171.0|09.7

Nailed a 1:40 pace. Happy with that.

Tomorrow: 3 x 20′ / 2′ L4

Monday: 3 x 20′ / 2′

December 17, 2018Leave a comment

Back at work. Static erg. Started around 2:30. Needed to slow to nearly 2:06 to keep under the HR cap.

       Workout Summary - media/20181217-1330360o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|15208|66:00.0|02:10.2|171.4|19.4|141.9|153.0|11.9
W-|14493|60:00.0|02:04.2|182.7|19.8|143.2|153.0|12.2
R-|00717|06:00.0|04:11.0|058.3|14.8|129.6|153.0|11.8
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|04887|20:00.0|02:02.8|188.6|20.1|134.9|146.0|12.2
01|04830|20:00.0|02:04.2|182.7|19.7|145.9|151.0|12.2
02|04776|20:00.0|02:05.6|176.9|19.7|148.7|153.0|12.1

Tomorrow: Strength Session.

500m race

December 17, 2018December 17, 2018Leave a comment

New plan for today. I was a bit short on time, and I honestly didn’t want to do a long interval session either. So, I decided that it would be a good chance for me to get a result in to the rowsandall racing series “Give it a try 500“.

I am a happy member (and tester) for rowsandall, and one of cool features is the ability to define online races. This started last summer with OTW races over specific course, but this winter, it has been expanded to support indoor races on ergs. You can either upload a result from the c2 logbook, painsled or boatcoach, or you can plug in a result manually. There are already a slew of races defined, and every user has the ability to through down a challenge.

This first race is just for people to get the idea of how it works. And it works great!

I am a painsled user. I use it because it captures all the cool metrics that the PM5 provides for later analysis. I always send my results from painsled to rowsandall by email, which is quick and painless. To enter my result in the race, I just have to click a button and it’s there.

So, for today’s session, I started with a Fletcher warmup.

Looks like I’m having some issues with the PM talking to my phone.

Then I did the 500m. I decided to try to rate around 40, and keep the pace around 1:30. It turns out that this was hard to do. I was feeling the struggle but halfway and I just closed my eyes and counted out strokes, and it was so many strokes! At 40 spm, I had time to cram in about 65 strokes. The last 20 were…were…painful.

The following charts tell the story. I started at the right stroke rate and immediately slowed down too much. I am just not used to rating up, even on slides. With the rate down below 40, I was having trouble holding a sub 1:30 pace. As I passed the halfway point, I decided to get the rate up where it belonged and the splits obliged by dropping to the right side of the target. I could feel the power leaking out of my legs, so I just kept pushing the rate up. With about 50 meters to go, I started to really gasp for air and my legs were starting to cease functioning, but by then I was just counting down the last few strokes.

The end result was a 1:29.4. That’s a second off of my PB, and on slides to boot. So, I am not as fast as I was in 2014, but back then I was in tip top sprinting form. I’m OK with this result.

This puts me in the lead for the online race so far, but there is still some time for someone to come along and beat me. One of the cool things about racing on rowsandall is being able to compare racers. Here’s a little taste. This is a plot of everyone’s stroke rate through the race. My line is the minty green one. You can see how being on slides helped me rate up through the last half of the piece, compared to the static racers.

Saturday: 10K hard on the dynamic

November 4, 2018Leave a comment

The plan calls for a hard distance piece on Saturday, so thats what I did. Even though I wasn’t relishing the idea of doing it on the dynamic, I figured if I just aimed at 2:00 splits, I’d be fine.

It was hard!

        Workout Summary - media/20181103-2120340o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10000|39:36.0|01:58.8|208.2|25.4|166.0|181.0|09.9
W-|10000|39:36.0|01:58.8|208.2|25.4|166.0|181.0|10.0
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|181.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01000|03:55.4|01:57.7|211.3|24.6|135.8|153.0|10.4
01|01000|03:57.9|01:58.9|208.3|24.8|155.9|159.0|10.2
02|01000|03:57.5|01:58.7|209.0|24.8|161.5|164.0|10.2
03|01000|03:57.9|01:59.0|208.0|24.8|164.8|166.0|10.2
04|01000|03:58.3|01:59.1|206.6|25.0|167.4|168.0|10.1
05|01000|03:58.5|01:59.3|206.4|25.1|169.9|172.0|10.0
06|01000|03:58.4|01:59.2|206.4|25.2|172.9|175.0|10.0
07|01000|03:59.0|01:59.5|205.0|25.8|174.6|175.0|09.7
08|01000|03:59.7|01:59.8|203.3|25.6|177.1|179.0|09.8
09|01000|03:54.0|01:57.0|218.5|28.2|179.6|181.0|09.1

Well, a bit better than the last one.

Here is a comparison of 4 10ks on the dynamic. I’ve dialed in my best pace and was able to hold it at slightly higher heart rates today.

Tomorrow: rowing on Quinsig. Free form Sunday….

November 3, 2018Leave a comment

Monday: 3 x 20’/2′

        Workout Summary - media/20181029-1225340o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|15037|66:00.0|02:11.7|165.7|18.7|138.8|154.0|12.2
W-|14349|60:00.0|02:05.4|177.3|19.3|139.7|154.0|12.4
R-|00690|06:00.0|04:20.7|049.2|12.6|129.8|154.0|10.1
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|04747|20:00.0|02:06.4|172.9|19.0|131.4|139.0|12.5
01|04760|20:00.0|02:06.0|175.2|19.1|140.0|147.0|12.5
02|04841|20:00.0|02:03.9|183.9|19.8|147.9|154.0|12.2

Tuesday: Strength

Abs: 4 x 30″ front plank, 3 x 30″ side plank (each side)
swiss ball/med ball twisty things
Front Squats bar x 10, bar+20 x 10, bar+40 x 3 x 12
incline row: 3 x 12
deadlift (with hex bar): bar x 10, bar+90 3 x 12

Wednesday: 4 x 2000′ / 4′

Hard one. Tried for target pace of 1:50. It was too much for me. I backed off to 1:51 in the first couple reps but needed to slow down a bit more on the last two.

I think I need to pace these a bit more conservatively over the winter to avoid really punishing myself, especially when I am as sore as I was from the weights.

Thursday: Strength

Abs: 4 x 30″ front plank, 3 x 30″ side plank (each side)
swiss ball/med ball twisty things
pushups: 3 x 12
Front Squats bar x 10, bar+50 x 3 x 10
incline row: 3 x 12
Good mornings: bar x 10, bar+50 x 3 x 10

Friday: 3 x 20’/2′

Legs a bit sore from yesterday. But way better than last week. Felt pretty easy.

       Workout Summary - media/20181102-1240330o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|24703|66:04.0|01:20.2|171.4|19.5|142.8|155.0|19.1
W-|14509|60:00.0|02:04.1|183.4|19.8|144.0|154.0|12.2
R-|10196|06:04.0|00:17.9|053.1|17.0|131.5|154.0|216.2
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|04832|20:00.0|02:04.2|182.4|19.6|139.6|147.0|12.3
01|04823|20:00.0|02:04.4|182.1|19.9|145.5|151.0|12.1
02|04854|20:00.0|02:03.6|185.6|19.9|146.8|154.0|12.2

Not bad for a work week. I’ll try to do some hard distance tomorrow, probably a 10K on the dreaded dynamic.

The rest of my testing

October 28, 20182 Comments

Sunday – Oct 21: 10″ peak power test

Started with a Fletcher warm up, as one does.

Then I got myself ready for a wild ride. Damper up to 10, feet strapped in tight, crank some good tunes and get ready for action.

I set the erg for 1′ work and 2 minute rest intervals. I only rowed hard for the first 10 to 15 seconds of each interval.

Well, that’s not very satisfying. Here’s the pace, power and rate as different charts

The point of a peak power test is to see the maximum power (or lowest split) that you can get over a 10 second blast. The test protocol is defined here.

I did 5 sprints with the erg on the floor, which is the test standard, and then 2 sprints with the erg on slides, which is a f&*^ing blast!

I discovered something interesting with this test. Under some circumstances, painsled does not log every single stroke. Here’s the data…

The last column is the stroke count and there is no data for stroke 1,2,3,4,7,9. So that means that the data that I have is somewhat unreliable.

What I saw on the monitor was a minimum split of 1:18 on most of the static reps. I saw one pull with a 1:17. That is 1 split off my all time best low pull. I took the highest wattage of any of the recorded strokes and that was 1:17.8 or 742W.

On slides, I saw 1:12 on the monitor in both reps, that’s a whopping 923W. Of course I could rate up to about 60 spm on slides which helped out a bit. Needless to say, the static results are the ones that will be used for planning training.

Monday, Oct 22 – 1K test

I hate Monday’s. I never get enough sleep, and I am working out first thing in the morning, usually after working out in the afternoon the day before. This Monday was no exception. But I really wanted to get this set of fitness tests behind me.

What was left? The 1K test. The soul of simplicity. Row 1000m as fast as I can. Use the average power as a proxy for my VO2max wattage.

To begin, the ritual fletcher warmup must be completed.

Apparently, Monday morning’s don’t suck. I was a bit faster, with much better HR response than on Sunday. Buoyed with new confidence, a strapped in for 3 minutes of hell (the first 15 seconds aren’t really so bad).

Actually, the first 250m was just fine. I set out with a goal of matching my test from last year. This was an average split of 1:39.4. I guess I was pretty juiced because my average pace was a 1:37.6 over the first 250. In the second 250, I started to really feel the burn and I dialed it back, just a hint to 1:38.6. When I crossed the 500m mark, I was in respiratory distress, but I found I could tweak the rate up just a little and calm my breathing down.

Around 700m, my legs were burning, but with only 30 or so strokes to go, I closed my eyes and counted to 10. I opened my eyes and I there was about 210m to go. I did it again. 120m to go. And the splits were getting better, not worse. I counted down the last ten, and then there were two strokes to go. Done. 3:15.2. Boom. Fastest 1k that Ive done since my 3:10.5 PB back in 2014.

I did a slow 2k to cool down. I had a nasty erg cough the rest of the day, but it was totally worth it. I ranked it on the C2 logbook. 19th out of 403 for the men’s 50-59 heavies. 3rd best for USA.

So that concluded the fitness tests. The results…

Compared to a year ago.

Peak power: +21W
1000m: +20W
20′ test: +15W
75′ test: +13W

I’ll be trying to figure out what that means for winter training with Marlene over the next couple of weeks, but looking at the numbers, my strongest performance was at 1000m. Since my focus is head racing, I will need to work on aerobic capacity, and lactate threshold.

Saturday: 75′ Test

October 21, 20182 Comments

Friday: I needed to get ready for an important meeting in the morning, so I skipped my workout.

After work we headed down to the Cape and settled in. It was a blustery stormy night, but I slept like a baby

Saturday:

I worked a bit around the house and put the outside furniture in the basement for the winter. In the mid-afternoon, I headed to the basement to do my 75′ test.

I’ve done this test twice before. In October of last year, I pulled 207w (1:59.2). In December, I pulled 214w (1:57.8). I decided to try to use 1:58 as my target and see how it went.

It went great. I was able to hold 1:58 comfortably at 22spm and I just counted out sets of 110 strokes to mark 5 minute periods. I would push a little and then coast a little. Things started to get a bit more serious in the last 30 minutes. By 15 minutes to go, I felt like I had the session well in hand and I started to push a bit more seriously. My heart rate started pushing up into the mid-170s and I eased the rate up to 24. Then in the last 5 minutes I nudged it further to 26 spm and tried to count out the last 130 strokes.

Results, 220W (1:56.7).

That was fantastic!

          Workout Summary - media/20181020-1820320o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|19278|75:00.0|01:56.7|220.1|22.6|160.7|183.0|11.4
W-|19281|75:00.0|01:56.7|220.1|22.6|160.7|183.0|11.4
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|183.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|03831|15:00.0|01:57.5|215.0|21.6|142.2|152.0|11.8
01|03824|15:00.0|01:57.7|214.7|22.2|153.8|160.0|11.5
02|03853|15:00.0|01:56.8|219.5|22.2|162.7|165.0|11.6
03|03848|15:00.0|01:57.0|218.8|22.4|168.3|171.0|11.4
04|03925|15:00.0|01:54.6|232.7|24.8|176.3|183.0|10.6

Tomorrow: 1′ and 1000m tests.

Thursday: 20′ test

October 21, 20182 Comments

I’ve been a bad boy. I haven’t done any formal fitness testing since December of last year. It’s time to get an idea of where I stand as the OTW season ends and I need to plan my winter training. There are four tests to perform

1′
1000m
20′
75′

On Thursday morning, I decided to do the 20′ test. To make things consistent, I do these tests on a static erg.

I’ve done 2 20′ tests before. In October of last year, I pulled 244w. Then in December, I had improved to 259w. I hoped I was in similar shape to December, but I really had no idea. I set off a little faster than that and hoped for the best.

I did a 2k warmup and got down to it.

I broke a little bit past the half way point with a couple of ugly HDs. But I got back at it and kept pulling. My avg splits popped up from a 1:49 to a 1:51 and it was just a matter of hanging on to the end. I think if I had started a bit slower, I would have ended a lot faster.

In any case, even with the hiccups, I managed to equal my December mark of 259W. Which I was delighted with.

          Workout Summary - media/20181018-1216000o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|05429|20:00.0|01:50.5|260.9|25.3|164.5|178.0|10.7
W-|05432|20:00.0|01:50.5|260.9|25.3|164.5|178.0|10.7
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|178.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01106|04:00.0|01:48.5|270.2|25.4|143.6|161.0|10.9
01|01095|04:00.0|01:49.6|265.9|25.4|164.4|168.0|10.8
02|01055|04:00.0|01:53.8|245.5|24.5|169.0|171.0|10.8
03|01080|04:00.0|01:51.1|254.8|25.0|169.5|174.0|10.8
04|01096|04:00.0|01:49.4|268.3|26.2|176.0|178.0|10.5

I did a slow 2k cool down and headed for the showers.

Sunday: 3 x 20′ dynamic

October 20, 2018Leave a comment

Nothing to special. Just trying to keep things going along. Rowed with a HR cap of 155.

          Workout Summary - media/20181014-2235320o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14375|63:00.0|02:11.5|159.7|20.1|142.8|155.0|11.4
W-|14034|60:00.0|02:08.3|165.9|20.0|142.8|155.0|11.7
R-|00343|03:00.0|04:22.0|036.4|20.9|142.3|155.0|07.9
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|04705|20:00.0|02:07.5|168.4|20.1|131.5|145.0|11.7
01|04666|20:00.0|02:08.6|164.5|20.0|146.1|151.0|11.7
02|04663|20:00.0|02:08.7|164.6|20.0|151.0|155.0|11.6

Quantified Rowing

Measure – Adjust – Improve

Tag: concept2