3 x 5K at r20 (155 cap)

January 9, 2017Leave a comment

It’s time to get serious about marathon training. To do that, I need to rebuild my base aerobic fitness, and do some of the initial tests to set a baseline for paces.

I strongly believe that aerobic work is most effective when you limit the intensity and build duration, so this week I am going to focus on 60 to 80 minute sessions. Then next week, I will do some baseline tests. I am not in the mood to do lactate testing right now, so I am going to try to use strict HR limits for these sessions. I’m going to row the sessions below 80% HRR (157). It is probably even better to row them below 75% HRR (150), but that is just so disappointingly slow.

The other thing that I am going to work on is a lighter stroke. I have been pursuing the 10W per stroke as a goal for a while and I think I am in a bit of rut. When I rate up, I can’t seem to modulate power very well. So, I think I will try to stick with r20 for the sessions this week and adjust pace by just adjusting the pressure at that rate.

So, that meant that the plan for today was:

3 x 5000m
1′ rests
initial power target ~ 180-190W
rate : 20 spm
HR cap: 155

Based on the criteria, the session went pretty well. Of course, I wish that I was able to sustain higher power versus the cap, but that will take some time to come. I found that I enjoyed the sensation of rowing with a “fluffier” stroke.

The summary stats are a bit off compared to the PM. It shows how much the pace can vary just from a few more or less meters.

Workout Summary - media/20170109-154820-sled_2017-01-09T07-28-01ZEST.strokes.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|15196|65:09.0|02:08.6|179.9|20.0|149.1|159.0|11.6
W-|15005|62:09.0|02:04.3|181.6|20.0|149.3|159.0|12.1
R-|00192|03:00.0|07:47.6|083.8|21.7|143.0|159.0|01.5
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|05000|20:27.4|02:02.7|187.0|20.0|142.8|153.0|12.2
01|05000|20:41.2|02:04.1|183.6|20.0|151.2|157.0|12.1
02|05005|21:00.9|02:06.0|174.4|20.0|153.6|159.0|11.9

A few more geeky metrics. Here’s an plot that you can use for HR drift. From Joe Friel’s book “Total Heart Rate Training”,

So, let’s consider the first 5k as warmup time and compute drift from the second to the third interval.

183.6W/151.2bpm – 174.4/153.6bpm = 1.214 – 1.135 = 0.079 / 1.214 = 6.5% drift

Ideally, I would like to see drift well below 5% for aerobic sessions.

I checked drive length and it looks OK. I see that characteristic where my drive length increases over the first 10 minutes as I loosen up.

Since I was working on keeping the stroke the same as I eased off the pressure, I was looking for a vertical line in the work per stroke graph. That’s what I got.

And since I eased up from 10W per stroke, I expected the peak and average power to be lower than early sessions. Here it is compared to Saturday’s aerobic session done at 10W per stroke. Peak force was down by about 2.5%, average force was down by 6.5%.

Tomorrow: 4 x 20′ at r20, HR limit of 150 (let’s see if I can do it!)

January CTC : 4 x 4′ / 4′ rest

January 9, 20172 Comments

Well, if I wanted to test how far my sprint fitness has declined, this would be a good way to do it. Also, it would be a good way to see how well my knee works for full pressure rowing.

I figured that it would be a stretch to do this session with an average pace of 1:45. To try to make myself a little less obsessive about the pace, I did the challenge with the watts screen up. 1:45 is just about 300W, but somehow, I figured I would do a better job backing off if I wasn’t looking at the pace sliding away.

I set up the session as a simple time interval session. I used the first 4 minutes as a warmup with 4 power 10s close to my target pace. Then 3 minutes of paddling. I let the flywheel stop completely before the first interval to stay legal.

The plan was to try to hold 10W per stroke, but I found that I was having trouble getting my rating up above 28, even with the power above 300W. I just went with it, but it sure felt like hard work. I finished the first interval 303 watts (1:44.6). I felt pretty toasted, but I recovered pretty well in the rest period.

I figured I should probably back off the 300w target a bit, but I set out in the second interval at 300W, but I needed to back off a bit in the second half and I ended up at 297W (1:45.6). This one really stung and I was desperately counting down the strokes to the end.

For the third interval, I targeted 280W and I hoped that would be enough slack. This one started pretty well, but I sure felt it in the last minute. I beat the 280w, but just barely with 283W (1:47.3).

The last interval was going to be very difficult. I decided to back off some more to 260W and see how it went. I really wanted to just make it through without putting the handle down. I did, 262W (1:50.0).

I did a progressive cool down, and then paddled enough meters to tick over 10km.

The summary graph shows that I was pushing this one close to the edge. My max recorded HR is 185 and I matched that the last interval.

This workout shows how using power is a better way to manage intensity for hard workouts. HR lags power in shorter intervals, so here, you can see that I was pushing anaerobic power levels for about 14 minutes, which was the whole workout execpt for when I faded in the middle of the last interval. By HR, it only shows 6:38.

This workout provides a good example of how the stroke based statistics of rowsandall can have errors that have a pretty big impact on shorter intervals. I parsed the workout data to select just the 4 work intervals, and the summary data from there was.

Workout Summary - media/20170108-2130110o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|08888|40:00.0|02:15.0|193.6|24.5|157.2|185.0|09.1
W-|04476|16:00.0|01:47.2|286.4|27.1|169.8|184.0|10.3
R-|05529|32:00.0|02:53.6|129.4|22.5|149.1|184.0|06.2
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00004|00:00.0|00:00.0|152.6|00.0|75.0|75.0|00.0
01|01146|04:00.0|01:44.8|302.8|27.3|165.1|176.0|10.5 - +2m
02|01130|04:00.0|01:46.2|297.0|27.2|169.7|181.0|10.4 - -6m
03|01113|04:00.0|01:47.8|283.3|27.5|171.9|184.0|10.1 - -5m
04|01084|04:00.0|01:50.7|262.5|26.4|172.4|184.0|10.3 - -6m

This is close enough for analysis purposes, and to provide a good definition of work and rest strokes, but for challenges, you definitely want to use the PM directly.

Tomorrow: 10 min warmup, 40 min steady state, 10 min cool down

30′ at MP

January 7, 2017January 7, 2017Leave a comment

I’m still working out exactly how to train for my long open water race. I’m also trying to get myself back in the swing of things after a pretty chaotic past month. I’m keeping the sessions a bit shorter and a bit higher intensity, not for any really good reason, but because I think I want to push a bit harder right now.

I did my last erg marathon on December 26th, 2013. Just over 3 years ago. I was in terrific shape at that time and I did it with an average pace of 1:59.1. I don’t see a reason why I can train back to that level of fitness over the next six months, so I have been doing some shorter rows at around a 2:00 pace, since that is likely where my marathon pace will be once I am in the training plan for real. On Thursday, I did 20 minutes at that pace. Today, I did 30. Both times I did an L4 style warmup and similar cooldown.

As was the case on Friday, I was disappointed at how high my HR went, but I was pleased that I did seem to plateau in the last 10 minutes around 165.

Looks a bit like a “Black Hole” workout, but with the minuscule volume I’m doing right now, I don’t think that will be a problem.

On Thursday, my drive length was 1.43, today it was 1.45, which is identical to my pre-injury drive length. I proclaim myself cured.

Here are the individual sections. I did a rate ladder from 16 to 19 to warmup up, then the 30 minutes (in 6 – 5 minute splits), and then a rate ladder cool down.

Workout Summary - media/20170107-2235100o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|12368|51:01.0|02:03.8|189.9|20.1|153.3|166.0|12.0
W-|12250|50:01.0|02:02.5|191.5|19.6|152.7|166.0|12.6
R-|00260|02:00.0|03:51.0|069.4|30.0|142.2|166.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00936|04:00.0|02:08.2|163.9|16.2|119.6|135.0|14.5 - warmup
01|00714|03:00.0|02:06.0|174.5|17.2|136.3|139.0|13.8
02|00485|02:00.0|02:03.6|185.4|18.0|141.3|145.0|13.5
03|00248|01:00.0|02:00.8|197.9|19.1|144.0|147.0|13.0
04|01251|05:00.0|01:59.9|204.9|20.6|146.8|154.0|12.1 - main set
05|01251|05:00.0|01:59.9|203.3|20.8|155.5|159.0|12.0
06|01258|05:00.0|01:59.2|206.5|21.6|160.1|163.0|11.7
07|01258|05:00.0|01:59.3|206.4|21.8|163.4|164.0|11.5
08|01256|05:00.0|01:59.5|205.1|21.8|164.4|166.0|11.5
09|01252|05:00.0|01:59.8|203.7|21.6|165.7|166.0|11.6
11|00239|01:00.0|02:05.4|202.3|19.2|144.8|149.0|12.5 - cool down
12|00484|02:00.0|02:03.9|185.3|18.0|158.4|161.0|13.5
13|00698|03:00.0|02:08.9|163.8|16.1|157.3|160.0|14.4
14|00919|04:01.9|02:11.7|154.0|16.0|151.9|158.0|14.2

Here’s a quick comparison of the Thursday 20 minutes to the 30 minutes today. Today’s session is on the left and Thursday is on the right. On Thursday, see how I hit 167 after 20 minutes and the slope is pretty linear. Today, I plateaued around the 15 minute mark and drifted up slowly from there. I like that a bit better.

I’ll probably keep doing these sessions at or around 2:00 pace for the next week or so.

….and, I’m back.

January 5, 20172 Comments

Last session was on December 21st, the day prior to my knee surgery. The surgery was uneventful, and my recovery has been smoother than I ever imagined it would be.

I saw the doctor yesterday and he took out the stitches from the 3 ludicrously small incisions and said I was free to abuse my knee in any way I see fit.

My plan for today was to test things out with a 10 minute warmup, do 20 minutes at about 200W (which is where I’d like to be for a marathon when I am trained, and then a gradual 10 minute cool down.

It worked out great. No pain. My fitness has declined, but not as badly as I feared it would, and the best news to me was that my drive length was with 2cm of where I was before my knee was injured.

The warmup was a classic 16/18/20/18/16 L4 format.

Workout Summary - media/20170105-185444-sled_2017-01-05T07-15-22ZEST.strokes.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|02409|10:03.0|02:05.2|179.2|17.8|130.7|143.0|13.5
W-|02412|10:03.0|02:05.0|178.3|17.7|130.2|143.0|13.6
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|143.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00469|02:00.0|02:08.0|163.6|16.0|107.0|121.0|14.6
01|00479|02:00.0|02:05.2|177.1|18.0|126.3|131.0|13.3
02|00495|02:00.0|02:01.3|195.6|19.8|136.4|140.0|12.5
03|00485|02:00.0|02:03.8|184.9|18.2|140.2|142.0|13.3
04|00484|02:03.1|02:07.1|170.7|16.6|141.0|143.0|14.2

Then into the main set. 20 minutes at 200W, and then a cool down. I was a little bummed that my HR went as high as it did during the 20 minute set, but I was not really surprised.

Workout Summary - media/20170105-185524-sled_2017-01-05T07-27-52ZEST.strokes.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|07393|30:00.0|02:01.7|195.3|19.9|156.8|167.0|12.4
W-|07398|30:00.0|02:01.7|194.2|19.9|157.0|167.0|12.5
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|01012|04:00.0|01:58.5|204.6|20.5|140.3|151.0|12.4
01|01003|04:00.0|01:59.6|204.8|20.7|152.3|156.0|12.1
02|01000|04:00.0|02:00.0|202.2|20.9|157.3|160.0|12.0
03|01003|04:00.0|01:59.6|204.6|20.7|160.7|165.0|12.1
04|01006|04:00.0|01:59.3|206.1|20.9|163.8|167.0|12.0
05|00246|01:00.0|02:02.1|192.0|20.1|165.9|166.0|12.2
06|00484|02:00.0|02:04.1|183.3|19.1|162.8|165.0|12.7
07|00713|03:00.0|02:06.2|174.7|18.0|161.8|167.0|13.2
08|00931|04:00.0|02:08.9|163.3|17.2|158.9|162.0|13.5

The good news was drive length. About the same as before

Tomorrow: No workout

10K L4

December 20, 20161 Comment

Slept badly, my back hurts, a lot on my mind. Rowing to specific power targets seems a lot simpler to me right now, but my HRs were off the chart on the high side today.

The plan:

10K
L4 format, but with distance instead of time
4 x 2500m segments
- 1000m/750m/500m/250m
- r18 / r19 / r20 / r21
- 180W/190W/200W/210W
No HR cap.

Distribution of strokes by power

Stroke power versus stroke rate

One of the things that L4 workouts are supposed to do is maintain a constant work per stroke (SPI :-O)

Another way to see if you are maintaining a similar stroke technique as you increase stroke rate is to look at avg to peak power versus stroke rate.

Or the just the peak power.

Both of these show a slight increase as stroke rate increases.

Tomorrow: I think I will do another bumps workout, but this time doing the slow bits at 2:05.

2 x 5K with bumps

December 20, 2016December 20, 2016Leave a comment

I am doing my best to try to keep exercising as parts of my life go a bit out of control. I decided on a very simple idea of just doing 10k a day. Depending on the day, it might be hard or easy, but 10K takes around 40 minutes and I can get in and out of the gym in just about an hour.

I’ve done hard 10Ks, push 10Ks, L4 10Ks. Today, I thought I would do a bumps workout. I remember in the good old days of the concept2 UK site, that all of the 10SMPS folks would do these 8Ks with bumps. They looked like misery. Basically you row at about your steady state pace, and then every so many meters, you increase the pace to something faster (like 2K pace) for 100m (or 200m, or 250m, or whatever), then return to the steady state pace afterwards.

I thought it would be an way to get some faster rowing into the 10K format. SO here was my plan for today.

10K
20 x ( 400m @ 2:00, 100m @ 1:45)
Free rate
Strapped in
No HR cap

Since this was a first attempt, I had no idea if this would be too hard or too easy. It turned out to be too hard. It didn’t help that I over-achieved on the sprinty bits.

I made halfway through, and I knew that I was in trouble. I had decided that I would slow down the steady state, or drop out some of the fast bits. That’s when the PM5 decided that it had gone just about far enough on this set of batteries and threw a persistent error.

The good news is that Painsled behaved perfectly! When I looked later, the whole thing was safely on my iphone and it even handled the ignominious finish without any troubles.

I went to my gym bag, found a couple batteries (always prepared!) and changed them out in the PM5. Then, with trepidation, I set up another 5K for more bumps action.

I only made it a couple of bumps into this one when I found that I couldn’t hold the 2:00 pace anymore. My HR was sky high and wasn’t dropping much at all between bumps. I skipped one bump and then rowed the steady state slower, between 2:05 and 2:10 generally, but slower right after the bump.

First 5K

Workout Summary - media/20161219-175842-sled_2016-12-19T11-48-29ZEST.strokes.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|05134|19:48.0|01:55.8|234.6|22.3|163.5|178.0|11.6
W-|05134|19:49.0|01:55.9|230.2|22.0|163.3|178.0|11.9
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-
01|00400|01:32.6|01:55.8|208.5|19.9|124.4|137.0|13.0
02|00100|00:20.7|01:43.7|311.0|26.0|144.7|150.0|11.1
03|00400|01:34.7|01:58.4|211.9|20.3|149.8|152.0|12.5
04|00100|00:20.2|01:40.8|341.1|28.2|153.1|156.0|10.6
05|00400|01:34.8|01:58.5|214.6|20.4|157.6|159.0|12.4
06|00100|00:20.3|01:41.6|326.4|26.7|158.6|161.0|11.1
07|00400|01:34.7|01:58.4|214.0|20.2|162.5|163.0|12.5
08|00100|00:20.1|01:40.5|336.1|28.2|162.7|165.0|10.6
09|00400|01:34.5|01:58.1|217.8|20.7|166.2|167.0|12.3
10|00100|00:20.0|01:39.8|353.5|28.6|166.9|168.0|10.5
11|00400|01:34.8|01:58.5|215.3|20.3|168.9|170.0|12.5
12|00100|00:20.1|01:40.3|336.5|28.2|169.2|171.0|10.6
13|00400|01:35.4|01:59.3|213.6|19.7|170.8|172.0|12.8
14|00100|00:20.2|01:40.9|327.6|27.4|171.3|173.0|10.8
15|00400|01:34.9|01:58.6|213.0|20.5|173.2|175.0|12.3
16|00100|00:20.8|01:43.8|308.7|27.8|174.0|175.0|10.4
17|00400|01:34.9|01:58.6|213.2|22.4|174.6|176.0|11.3
18|00100|00:20.6|01:42.9|317.4|28.4|174.6|176.0|10.3
19|00400|01:35.1|01:58.9|208.8|22.2|175.3|177.0|11.4
20|00234|01:00.8|02:09.8|200.6|24.7|174.6|178.0|09.3

Second 5K

Workout Summary - media/20161219-2055100o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|05000|19:52.0|01:59.3|214.2|22.7|170.1|180.0|11.1
W-|05000|19:53.0|01:59.4|209.3|22.4|170.0|180.0|11.3
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-
01|00400|01:34.6|01:58.2|204.1|20.6|139.6|155.0|12.3
02|00100|00:20.8|01:44.0|302.5|26.9|157.1|160.0|10.7
03|00400|01:35.7|01:59.6|208.0|21.3|164.4|166.0|11.8
04|00100|00:20.8|01:43.9|305.3|26.2|167.9|170.0|11.0
05|00400|01:35.5|01:59.4|209.0|21.0|170.9|172.0|11.9
06|00100|00:20.6|01:43.1|315.5|28.8|172.1|174.0|10.1
07|00400|01:36.5|02:00.7|207.2|22.4|174.7|175.0|11.1
08|00100|00:24.7|02:03.6|176.0|21.2|170.6|172.0|11.5
09|00400|01:38.6|02:03.3|186.7|20.2|170.5|172.0|12.1
10|00100|00:21.3|01:46.6|284.0|26.8|171.3|173.0|10.5
11|00400|01:39.4|02:04.2|182.8|20.2|172.9|174.0|12.0
12|00100|00:21.2|01:46.2|291.3|26.7|174.4|175.0|10.6
13|00400|01:39.9|02:04.8|180.3|20.0|174.6|176.0|12.0
14|00100|00:20.5|01:42.6|310.0|28.0|176.3|178.0|10.4
15|00400|01:43.9|02:09.9|164.3|21.7|174.7|179.0|10.6
16|00100|00:20.3|01:41.7|314.2|28.3|174.0|176.0|10.4
17|00400|01:41.1|02:06.3|177.9|22.8|175.1|177.0|10.4
18|00100|00:20.3|01:41.3|322.0|28.7|175.3|177.0|10.3
19|00400|01:38.3|02:02.9|192.6|23.1|176.9|178.0|10.6
20|00100|00:19.6|01:38.2|362.8|31.0|178.3|180.0|09.9

So, next time I do this workout, I think keeping the slow bits at 2:05 might be a better idea.

Sunday: 10K L4 and some force curves

December 19, 2016December 19, 20161 Comment

Plan: 10K L4.

Rushing around trying to get up to see my Dad, so just a quick 10K. I’ve been pushing the intensity lately, so a bit easier to today.

2500 m sequences
1000m/750m/500m/250m
stroke rates 18/19/20/21
power: 180/190/200/210
No HR cap

Workout Summary - media/20161218-234402-sled_2016-12-18T11-47-55ZEST.strokes.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10000|40:32.0|02:01.6|194.9|19.1|150.5|164.0|12.9
W-|10000|40:32.0|02:01.6|194.3|19.1|150.4|164.0|12.9
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|164.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|01000|04:06.5|02:03.2|184.0|18.0|125.4|133.0|13.5
02|00750|03:02.7|02:01.8|193.5|19.2|138.2|143.0|12.9
03|00500|01:59.4|01:59.4|205.8|20.1|146.4|149.0|12.5
04|00500|01:57.5|01:57.5|215.2|21.0|150.0|152.0|12.2
05|00500|01:59.7|01:59.7|204.6|20.1|152.6|155.0|12.5
06|00750|03:02.5|02:01.7|194.2|19.1|151.3|155.0|12.9
07|02000|08:15.0|02:03.8|184.6|18.1|149.8|152.0|13.4
08|00750|03:01.7|02:01.1|197.0|19.4|153.9|155.0|12.8
09|00500|01:59.2|01:59.2|205.6|20.4|158.8|161.0|12.4
10|00500|01:57.5|01:57.5|215.7|21.0|161.6|164.0|12.1
11|00500|01:59.7|01:59.7|204.9|20.0|162.0|164.0|12.5
12|00750|03:03.0|02:02.0|192.8|19.0|161.6|163.0|12.9
13|01000|04:08.1|02:04.1|183.0|18.1|159.7|162.0|13.3

After I did the workout, I decided to do a little more rowing to try to take some pictures of force curves. I’m trying to figure out what causes changes to the forceratio metric.

So, I set up a Just Row and setup the PM to show the force curve. I rowed a bit at 18 until I got a reasonably representative force curve, then I’d take a picture. Then at 20, then 22, then 24. All of this was unstrapped. I tried to get the power close to the 10Wx stroke rate target, but I was a bit enthusiastic, so all of them are high. The stroke rates are a bit off too. I think this would be a good enhancement to painsled, a mode where it would log the force curve, not just display it.

Tomorrow: Not sure if I will have time to workout. I have pre-op appointments in the morning and I will be scooting off to see my dad after work.

Saturday: 2 x 5K Pushes

December 17, 2016December 18, 20163 Comments

I love push workouts. Almost always, I will do a 10K push, start at a 2:00 pace and then speed up a second every 1000m. Today, I wanted to do it a bit differently, so I did 2 5K pushes.

2 x 5K push workout
- First 5K
  - start at 2:00 pace
  - drop the pace by 2 splits every 1000m
- 2 min rest (paddle and drink)
- second 5K
  - start at 2:00 pace
  - drop the pace by one split every 500m
- No rate restrictions
- No HR caps

So, I stuck to the pace targets except for the last 1000m of the first rep and the last 500m of the second rep.

It was a good threshold workout. with some good variety of intensity.

It’s fun to look at the metrics for this workout because it is free rate and I just try to find the most efficient rate for each target pace. It still comes out very close to the kind of increment I see in L4 workouts, about 2 splits per SPM.

On this workout you can see in increase in work per stroke as the stroke rate goes up. In an L4 workout, this would be nearly constant.

I saw Sander included the avg/pk force ratio in his workout. I wanted to compare. Here’s mine.

So, my force ratio was 0.67, versus a 0.56 for Sander. This is a much larger difference than I was expecting to see. Here are the two parameters that go into the ratio.

To complete the set. Here’s drive length. You can see that I am back to full slide, with no significant knee issues.

This intrigued me, so I looked at drive length versus power and drive length versus SPM. Nearly constant for both. I think that’s a good thing.

Sunday: another brief 10K workout. Probably just an easy L4.

Monday: Quick 10K in Munich

December 12, 2016December 14, 20168 Comments

I arrived at 5:00AM on the red eye from Boston to Heathrow, and connected to Munich, finally getting there at about 10am. I had found my train and gotten to my hotel by 11:15. There was nothing on my calendar until 1:00, so I decided to bolt over to the “Fitness First” next door to the hotel and band out a quick 10K. I had no real plan, and pretty low expectations since I was working on basically no sleep.

The club has two meticulously maintained model Es with Pm4s.

As you can see from the HR charts, I started a bit slow, then tried to hold at a HR cap around 160. Then with 2K left to go, I tried to speed up and hold about 210W the rest of the way. This was hard work.

I’m glad I did it, but it was pretty ugly at the end.

WTF 10K

December 11, 20161 Comment

I ended up skipping training yesterday. I was just doing other stuff, and I didn’yt really feel like it. You might be able to tell that my discipline is ebbing, as my surgery date approaches.

Today, I knew I would be getting on a long flight and I always do better if I have exercised before I fly. So, I decided to do a quick 10K before I got ready to head to the airport.

I also wanted to push my knee some more. As perverse as it sounds, I wanted it to hurt. I wanted it to lock up. I wanted it to misbehave. It refused to do that.

I dutifully put down my bandaid to limit compression, but as I went along in the piece, I started to ignore it and try to push as far into compression as I possibly could. I was reaching for the handle guard in front of the fan cage, and nearly touching it. My knee started to feel a bit sore, but did not misbehave. Not a click was heard, no locking happened, and it didn’t betray me, as much as I wanted it to. What the hell is up with that.

Anyway, my intent was just a nice UT1 kind of workout. A bit spicier than a normal endurance session since I was only going for 10K. I ended up pushing harder than that. And the only thing UT1’ish about the session was the rate.

Workout Summary - media/20161211-214912-sled_2016-12-11T13-16-31ZEST.strokes.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10000|38:28.0|01:55.4|227.3|22.3|163.2|184.0|11.6
W-|10000|38:28.0|01:55.4|227.1|22.3|162.9|184.0|11.7
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|184.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|01000|03:51.8|01:55.9|217.4|21.0|129.6|143.0|12.3
02|01000|03:49.1|01:54.5|232.9|22.4|150.2|156.0|11.7
03|01000|03:50.2|01:55.1|229.7|21.9|157.3|159.0|11.9
04|01000|03:52.4|01:56.2|223.2|21.5|160.4|162.0|12.0
05|01000|03:52.2|01:56.1|223.4|21.9|163.3|166.0|11.8
06|01000|03:53.1|01:56.6|221.2|22.0|166.7|171.0|11.7
07|01000|03:51.6|01:55.8|225.6|22.5|170.1|173.0|11.5
08|01000|03:50.9|01:55.4|227.5|23.0|173.8|176.0|11.3
09|01000|03:50.8|01:55.4|227.5|23.1|176.8|179.0|11.3
10|01000|03:46.4|01:53.2|242.6|23.8|180.8|184.0|11.1

Now, this was no where near as fast as my 10K CTC in October, but I was interested in comparing the two workouts.

First, comparing power.