Tag: concept2

Taipei / Shanghai – Ticking Along

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After the race on Saturday, we had lunch in Cambridge, and then headed home.  I had some organizing to do since I was heading off to Taiwan.  My flight was scheduled  to depart at 1:45AM Sunday morning, and my wife and I had a nice afternoon and evening.

I headed off to the airport around 11pm, and got on the plane, and waited.  We taxied out from the gate, and then the pilot came on and said that there was a problem with one of the engines so he was heading back to gate to wait for maintenance to come deal with it.  After about an hour parked at the gate, the call came over the PA asking if there was a doctor on board.  Apparently, someone on board had had a heart attack.  Now it seemed to me that the engine trouble was a real blessing for both the heart attack victim and the rest of us on the plane.  He was wisked off the plane within minutes.  If we had been in flight, they would have had to divert the flight and that would have taken a lot more time.  And I bet it would have delayed the rest a lot too.

We didn’t get going until after 4AM.  Then it was fifteen hours and 30 minutes of flight time to Hong Kong.  Then a quick shuffle through the airport to catch the next flight to Taipei.  I was in Taiwan by 11am on Monday morning, and at the hotel by 12:30.  I made it just in time to shower and change before the event I was going to.  I slept pretty well on the flight, getting maybe 8 hours of sleep total, but in short segments.

The work event lasted from 1:30 until 10:30PM.  I crashed hard as soon as I got back to my room.

So, I guess that means:

Sunday:  Travel Day – No training.

Monday: Rest day?

Tuesday: 

I had a flight Shanghai in the early afternoon so I planned to sleep in, but I woke up around 5am, and couldn’t get back to sleep.  Eventually, I made my way down to the fitness center.  I had plenty of time, so I did a long fitness center triathlon.

  • 30 minutes: Treadmill death march, 15% grade, 5km/h
  • 30 minutes: Elliptical, level 14, random
  • 30 minutes: Stationary bike, level 14, “Hills”

It was sweaty.  It was boring.

10-24a

10-24b

Then I headed to the airport and flew off to Shanghai.  I had a customer dinner in the evening and some conference calls after that.  I got to bed around 1AM.

Wednesday:

I got up at 6 and headed straight to the fitness center.  I was staying at the Kerry Hotel in Pudong, which has the one of the finest fitness centers I’ve ever seen.  They have two Model D ergs.  Mechanically they are both fine, but one of them has a display problem so you can’t see the time remaining.  The good rower was being used, so I grabbed the one with the display issue.

Plan:

  • 3 x 20′ / 1′
  • rate: ~20
  • power: 175W
  • HR limit: 145/150/155

10-25a

10-25b

I noticed that my heart rate took off like a rocket from the start and by the time I got through the first 20 minutes, I knew I had to ease up.  Even then, I was really struggling.

After 40 minutes, the other erg was free so I swapped over to continue.  I basically gave up after 3 minutes in the last piece and just paddled the rest of it out.

Lack of fitness?  Lack of Sleep?  Who knows.  Anyway, time to reset my power target lower for the next session.

After my workout, I headed to the office for some internal meetings, a customer lunch, more meetings, and a customer dinner.  I got back to the hotel around 10, and had a beer with a colleague.  I was in bed by 11.

Thursday:

I was up at 5:30 to fit in my workout.  Back to the fitness center for some more rowing.

Plan:

  • 3 x 20′ / 2′ (longer rest to allow stretching between piecese
    • rate: 20
    • power: 165
    • HR limit: 145/150/155
  • 2 x 1′ / 1′ (I see Paul Buchanan doing these at the end of aerobic sessions and I’ve read that it’s has a beneficial training effect.  It’s also an energizing way to finish the workout – In theory)
    • rate: >32
    • power: >360W

10-26a

This was much better.  Based on my HR, the power was pretty close to right on for base training.  I could probably push a couple more watts, but not much.  My HR plateaued nicely right around 149 and stuck there for most of the second and third interval.

And the 1′ sprints were a blast.  I think I will make them a regular part of my routine.

And I left a nice sweat pattern on the floor.

2017-10-26 07.23.48

After that, I packed up, had a work breakfast, then headed to the airport.  I’m now in Narita in transit back to Boston.  I will get home around 7:30pm Thursday night.

I’ve decided to start working with a coach, Marlene Royle.  Next week I have a bunch of erg tests to do. I may start them this weekend, but only if I am not having jetlag issues.

 

 

Back home: 3 x 20′ / 2′ dynamic

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I slept until around 9:30am, and had a nice relaxed morning.  My basic plan for the rest of the week, leading up to the race is:

  • Saturday:  60′ Steady state on the erg
  • Sunday: Head race piece OTW
  • Monday: Technical Session on the water, 80 minutes UT2
  • Tuesday: 4 x 2000 OTW
  • Wednesday: 60 minutes OTW, short intervals at race pace and rate, with generous rests.
  • Thursday: 45 minutes OTW, short intervals at race pace and rate with generous rests.
  • Friday:  Bring boat to launch area in the afternoon.  Practice run of the course, stick to UT2 pace.
  • Saturday: race day!

So today was steady state on the dynamic

  • 3 x 20′ / 2′
  • Target rate: 20
  • Target power: 165W
  • HR limit: 145, 150, 155

20171014-1800450o20171014-202804

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          Workout Summary - media/20171014-1800450o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14589|66:02.0|02:15.8|155.9|20.3|140.8|154.0|10.9
W-|14000|60:00.0|02:08.6|164.4|20.0|141.6|154.0|11.7
R-|00592|06:02.0|05:05.8|041.5|23.9|126.1|154.0|06.2
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|04664|20:00.0|02:08.6|163.7|19.8|130.4|143.0|11.8
01|04666|20:00.0|02:08.6|164.8|20.0|144.8|151.0|11.7
02|04669|20:00.0|02:08.5|164.5|20.2|149.6|154.0|11.6

Tomorrow:  2 x 6K with 10′ rest.  Each 5K will have a turn at 3K.  No rest at the turn.

 

Hard 6K – indoors

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This morning was a real disaster.  I planned  to get up at 4:45 and head out to Quisigamond for a head race piece.  That was blown up by not getting to bed on time.  It was midnight by the time I was finished packing for my trip and in bed.  I decided that a very early start was not the smartest idea (actually, my wife decided that and told me I was an idiot).  It turns out this was a little clairvoyant.  I got up after 6, and I was on my way to work at 6:30 when my phone rang.  It turns out that I was supposed to be in a teleconference at 6:30.  I saw it on my calendar, but I assumed it had to be some kind of an error.  Oops, I guess not.  Anyway, I did the call from my car, most of it pulled over so I could concentrate on the meeting.  By the time I got to work, I had to rush straight in to my first meeting at 8:30 in my workout clothes.

After that meeting, I had a 1 hour hole in my schedule, so I made my way to the fitness center.  I didn’t have a lot of time, but I had time for a quick warmup and a hard 6K piece.

20171009-1416240o20171009-193530

Then on to the 6K.  I was feeling a bit confident after the good 5×1500 workout and the strong steady state session.  My prior hard distance sessions were

  • 30′ at 1:56.2 on 9/23
  • 10K at 1:56.0 on 9/29

So, based on my rough math, if I was able to do 10K at 1:56, I thought I should be able to easily do 6K at 1:54.  It turned out that that was a bit too much of an ask.

I didn’t exactly hit the wall, but I needed to ease off the gas pedal around the 4000m mark.  There was no way I was going to put the handle down, but I couldn’t hold the pace at 1:54.  I held on and played all the tricks I could with visualization and stroke counting, but in the end it was just enduring it.  With 1000m left I tried to pop up the rate, but I went too far too soon and needed to back off.

20171009-1416080o20171009-173205

20171009-1416080o20171009-173206

20171009-1416080o20171009-173208

          Workout Summary - media/20171009-1416080o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|06000|22:54.0|01:54.5|233.0|25.3|170.9|183.0|10.3
W-|06000|22:54.0|01:54.5|232.9|25.3|171.0|183.0|10.3
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|00500|01:51.3|01:51.3|239.3|24.3|135.5|157.0|11.1
01|00500|01:52.8|01:52.8|244.4|25.4|160.4|163.0|10.5
02|00500|01:52.9|01:52.9|242.8|25.4|165.9|168.0|10.5
03|00500|01:53.1|01:53.1|241.3|25.9|169.3|171.0|10.2
04|00500|01:53.5|01:53.5|239.8|25.8|172.0|173.0|10.2
05|00500|01:53.9|01:53.9|236.8|25.6|173.6|174.0|10.3
06|00500|01:54.9|01:54.9|231.2|25.0|176.7|178.0|10.4
07|00500|01:55.1|01:55.1|230.0|25.3|177.0|179.0|10.3
08|00500|01:56.7|01:56.7|220.3|24.9|178.2|179.0|10.3
09|00500|01:58.9|01:58.9|218.2|25.0|178.9|180.0|10.1
10|00500|01:56.3|01:56.3|222.3|25.4|180.9|182.0|10.2
11|00500|01:55.0|01:55.0|230.6|25.8|181.6|183.0|10.1

So, it hurt.  That’s kind of the point.

Now I am at the airport heading off to Europe for a 4 day trip.  The schedule is jam packed.  Stuttgart, Munich, Grenoble, Milan.  I am going to do my best to do some maintenance sessions to avoid losing any aerobic fitness, but I think I won’t be doing any rowing until next Saturday.  I also need to focus on trying to avoid coming back from this trip with a big sleep deficit.

 

 

All about that base: 3 x 20′ / 2′ Dynamic

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Plan:

  • 3 x 20′ / 2′ rest
  • power: 160-170W
  • rate: 20ish
  • HR limit: 145/150/155 (1st/2nd/3rd piece)

10-1a

       Workout Summary - media/20171001-2001100o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14506|66:00.0|02:16.5|161.7|20.7|144.9|156.0|10.6
W-|13994|60:00.0|02:08.6|164.4|20.4|145.0|156.0|11.4
R-|00514|06:00.0|05:50.2|093.2|23.9|138.7|156.0|07.3
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|04686|20:00.0|02:08.0|166.0|20.4|136.2|147.0|11.5
01|04676|20:00.0|02:08.3|165.9|20.1|147.7|155.0|11.6
02|04632|20:00.0|02:09.5|161.3|20.8|151.0|156.0|11.1

Tomorrow:  OTW 1x, Quinsig, 15×3’/1′, rate: 25

10K Threshold

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The original plan was to do another 30′ piece, but I was looking to change up the workout a little bit.  I wanted to challenge myself a bit more and frankly I like distance based pieces than time based ones.

Plan:

  • 10K
  • Rate: 25-26
  • Pace: 1:56 (my 30 minutes was at 1:56.2)
  • Technique:  Keep your damn knees together
  • HR Limit: None

I did 10 minutes on the treadmill to warmup (15% grade, 3.1mph).

These rows are pretty brutal.  Just like the 30′ piece that I did last weekend, I started out trying to hold 1:55.  I lasted a bit longer today.  Out to around 5K versus 3K for the other piece.  I had a very brief crisis around the 7000 meter point.  I essentially pulled up for two strokes, and then thought better of it and took a minute or so at 2:00 pace.  Then pushed the pace slowly back toward target.  It was a pretty good save.

I did a slow 1K on the erg for a cool down.

9-29a

        Workout Summary - media/20170929-1236080o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10000|38:38.0|01:55.9|224.2|24.7|167.9|180.0|10.5
W-|10000|38:38.0|01:55.9|224.2|24.7|167.8|180.0|10.5
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|180.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01000|03:48.6|01:54.3|229.9|23.8|141.8|155.0|11.0
01|01000|03:49.2|01:54.6|232.5|24.5|159.2|162.0|10.7
02|01000|03:49.7|01:54.9|230.9|24.7|164.2|166.0|10.6
03|01000|03:50.0|01:55.0|230.1|24.9|168.1|171.0|10.5
04|01000|03:51.2|01:55.6|226.5|24.9|171.2|173.0|10.4
05|01000|03:52.7|01:56.3|222.5|24.9|172.3|174.0|10.4
06|01000|03:56.7|01:58.3|211.2|24.5|171.6|175.0|10.3
07|01000|03:55.5|01:57.7|214.6|24.6|174.2|176.0|10.4
08|01000|03:54.0|01:57.0|218.4|25.0|176.6|178.0|10.3
09|01000|03:51.2|01:55.6|226.6|25.2|178.4|180.0|10.3

Here is the whole workout from the polar OH1 sensor

9-29e

I was curious about how this session compared to my 30′ piece.  So, I used the nady multicompare features in rowsandall to look.

  • Pace and power, you can see how I started both pieces at about the same pace, and then faded in the 30′ around 2500m.  Then you can see the crisis around 6300m in today’s piece.
  • I did a better job at keeping the stroke rate up today.
  • better HR response today.

Tomorrow:  I’ve got my new rigger for my boat.  I will mount it tonight and hopefully do a nice long and easy technical session tomorrow on Quinsig.

 

Steady State

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Plan:

  • 15′ warmup – Treadmill 15% grade, 3mph
  • 3 x 15′ / 2′ steady state
    • pace target 2:05
    • rate: 20
    • HR limit: 155
    • Technique: knees together

I got a phone call while I did my warmup so I ended up doing 20 minutes of death march.

On the erg, I was unhappy that I needed to slow down to stay under the HR cap.  But, one must respect  the rules!

HR for the whole workout including warmup…

9-28e

9-28f

The rowing bit.

9-28a

        Workout Summary - media/20170928-1251390o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|11018|51:00.0|02:18.9|169.3|19.8|146.4|155.0|10.9
W-|10704|45:00.0|02:06.1|174.4|19.9|147.4|155.0|12.0
R-|00316|06:00.0|09:28.9|053.3|18.0|128.4|155.0|01.3
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|03596|15:00.0|02:05.1|178.0|19.7|144.4|153.0|12.1
01|03562|15:00.0|02:06.4|174.0|19.9|148.2|155.0|11.9
02|03547|15:00.0|02:06.9|171.3|20.0|149.8|154.0|11.8

Tomorrow:  Hard Distance.  30′ pace target 1:55.

Waterfall

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Up at 5:15.  In the gym around 7:00AM.

The Plan:

  • 10 minute warmup on the treadmill (15% grade, 3mph)
  • L2 Waterfall
    • 3K / 2.5K / 2K
    • 5′ rest
    • pace target: 1:54
    • rate: 24-26
    • Technique: knees together
    • HR limit: none

I’m trying to warm up off the erg to try to make sure that I don’t take any hard pulls until my back is limbered up.  Today was a brisk walk up a 15% grade.  My HR was still below the bottom of my UT2 range by the time I had gone 10 minutes, but I had broken a sweat.

9-27a

This was right on the edge of my capability.  I eased up a bit in the 1000m to 500m to go in the last two intervals, but just by about a second or so.  It was enough to make it through.  Each interval, I counted strokes from beginning to end.  Between 96 and 100 strokes per 1000m.

        Workout Summary - media/20170927-1235430o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|09056|43:06.0|02:22.8|204.4|24.4|158.7|180.0|08.6
W-|07500|28:02.0|01:52.2|244.5|25.5|163.9|180.0|10.5
R-|01559|15:04.0|04:50.2|057.2|20.7|142.3|180.0|03.1
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|03000|11:10.0|01:51.7|245.9|25.1|156.8|173.0|10.7
01|02500|09:20.5|01:52.1|243.9|25.6|168.3|179.0|10.4
02|02000|07:32.0|01:53.0|243.2|25.9|168.9|180.0|10.2

Tomorrow:  steady state 4 x 15

 

40 minutes with bumps

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I slept badly last night, so I didn’t get up until 6:30.  That compressed the time available for a workout to my lunch hour.  So, an easy 80 minute session wasn’t going to fit.

I had about an hour.  Allowing for time to change and shower afterwards, that left about 40 minutes for an actual workout.  I decided to trade time for intensity today.  I also wanted to do something a bit different, to keep things interesting.

The Plan

  • 40 minutes
  • 8 x 5 minutes
    • 4 minutes at 2:05/r20
    • 1 minute at 1:54/r24

I don’t have any research to back this up, but I suspect that workouts where you go from a faster pace to a steady state pace help you develop the ability to process lactate.  These bump based workouts are a big part of some workout plans (especially the 10 meters per stroke strapless plans).  They are also fun to do because you are always counting down to the next bump.

9-26

Workout Summary - media/20170926-1700550o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|09821|40:00.0|02:02.2|194.5|21.0|152.5|172.0|11.7
W-|09827|40:00.0|02:02.1|192.9|20.8|152.2|172.0|11.8
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|172.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00972|04:00.0|02:03.5|181.1|19.4|112.9|134.0|12.5
01|00268|01:00.0|01:52.1|247.5|24.0|140.0|147.0|11.2
02|00964|04:00.0|02:04.5|181.7|19.5|143.5|149.0|12.3
03|00265|01:00.0|01:53.1|240.1|23.9|149.0|155.0|11.1
04|00965|04:00.0|02:04.4|182.2|19.6|149.7|155.0|12.3
05|00264|01:00.0|01:53.8|236.3|24.0|152.1|157.0|11.0
06|00962|04:00.0|02:04.7|181.0|19.9|154.0|159.0|12.1
07|00262|01:00.0|01:54.4|230.7|23.7|157.2|162.0|11.1
08|00962|04:00.0|02:04.8|181.0|20.4|157.7|161.0|11.8
09|00263|01:00.0|01:54.2|234.9|23.9|160.3|163.0|11.0
10|00962|04:00.0|02:04.7|181.8|20.0|160.0|163.0|12.0
11|00264|01:00.0|01:53.5|233.8|23.9|162.6|166.0|11.1
12|00963|04:00.0|02:04.6|181.9|20.8|163.1|166.0|11.6
13|00263|01:00.0|01:53.9|236.2|24.0|165.7|169.0|11.0
14|00964|04:00.0|02:04.5|182.0|20.7|166.9|170.0|11.6
15|00265|01:00.0|01:53.2|243.7|24.2|169.8|172.0|10.9

I was  thinking that my HR would have been a bit lower from this, but I don’t really know.  It was good fun anyway.

Tomorrow:  L2 Waterfall: 3k/2.5k/2K on 5′ rest.  Target pace 1:54.