4 x 20′ / 3′

December 18, 2017Leave a comment

Not surprisingly, I felt pretty tired this morning. The HRV data agreed. Luckily, I had an easy sessions scheduled.

Plan:

4 x 20′ / 3′
Cat VI: Pace – 2:06-2:11, Rate: 18

This felt like a lot of work, but my heart rate stayed nice and low.

          Workout Summary - media/20171218-1410320o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|20017|92:00.0|02:17.9|168.0|18.0|138.5|147.0|12.1
W-|19074|80:00.0|02:05.8|175.3|18.0|139.5|147.0|13.2
R-|00947|12:00.0|06:20.3|057.5|18.2|126.4|147.0|01.4
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|04772|20:00.0|02:05.7|175.1|17.9|135.9|143.0|13.3
01|04766|20:00.0|02:05.9|175.3|18.0|140.2|146.0|13.2
02|04770|20:00.0|02:05.8|175.5|18.1|140.6|145.0|13.2
03|04766|20:00.0|02:05.9|175.3|18.1|141.5|147.0|13.2

Tomorrow: I really would have liked to train tomorrow, but I am flying to San Diego at 7am, and flying back on the red eye. Next session is probably Wednesday afternoon.

Sunday: HM / 75′ Test

December 18, 2017Leave a comment

Saturday: Rest day

Sunday: I was scheduled for a 75′ test, but I liked the idea of getting a ranking distance done. So, I decided to make it a half marathon. Last 75′ test, I was at a 1:59.2 split. Last week, I did a hour of power at r22 and a 1:57 pace. I thought I should probably be able to improve my 75′ pace to around a 1:58.

My plan for the piece was pretty simple. Try to hold 1:57/1:58 on the screen and keep the rate around 23. If I felt like I was getting in trouble, bleed off a pace a bit at a time and try to keep the avg pace below 1:58.

The plan worked. My HR was higher than I expected, but I just tried to ignore it and concentrate on how I felt, my RPE. I felt pretty good, at least through halfway. The second half was tough. My HR was above 175 for most of the second half. By the time I got to 7000m to go, I needed to slow down a bit more and that seemed to stabilize things. I just counted strokes in each 1000m, it was usually 89 to 92 strokes and tried to avoid thinking about how much more time I had to keep going. By the time I hit the 75′ mark at 1:57.9 pace, I knew I was going to make it and I started to accelerate a bit.

The last 1000m was a painful blur.

         Workout Summary - media/20171217-1820300o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|21097|82:49.0|01:57.8|214.1|23.4|170.8|181.0|10.9
W-|21097|82:50.0|01:57.8|214.1|23.4|170.7|181.0|10.9
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|00097|00:21.8|01:52.1|215.5|20.0|100.0|112.0|13.4
01|01000|03:53.6|01:56.8|219.6|22.5|146.1|155.0|11.4
02|01000|03:53.7|01:56.9|219.3|22.9|157.4|162.0|11.2
03|01000|03:53.9|01:56.9|218.7|23.1|161.5|165.0|11.1
04|01000|03:54.1|01:57.1|218.2|23.1|165.2|166.0|11.1
05|01000|03:54.5|01:57.3|217.1|23.2|167.0|168.0|11.0
06|01000|03:54.3|01:57.1|217.6|23.2|168.2|170.0|11.1
07|01000|03:54.9|01:57.5|216.1|23.1|169.7|171.0|11.1
08|01000|03:55.2|01:57.6|215.2|23.1|170.9|172.0|11.0
09|01000|03:55.7|01:57.8|213.9|23.2|171.6|172.0|11.0
10|01000|03:55.8|01:57.9|213.5|23.2|172.8|174.0|11.0
11|01000|03:55.9|01:58.0|213.1|23.1|173.9|174.0|11.0
12|01000|03:56.3|01:58.2|212.2|23.6|174.7|175.0|10.8
13|01000|03:56.6|01:58.3|211.5|23.1|175.2|176.0|11.0
14|01000|03:56.6|01:58.3|211.3|23.2|175.0|175.0|10.9
15|01000|03:57.6|01:58.8|208.9|23.3|175.0|175.0|10.8
16|01000|03:57.9|01:59.0|207.9|23.6|175.5|177.0|10.7
17|01000|03:57.2|01:58.6|209.8|23.4|177.0|177.0|10.8
18|01000|03:58.5|01:59.2|206.4|23.4|176.8|177.0|10.7
19|01000|03:57.9|01:59.0|207.8|23.6|177.0|178.0|10.7
20|01000|03:56.2|01:58.1|212.5|24.8|179.7|181.0|10.3
21|01000|03:52.1|01:56.0|225.4|25.6|180.3|181.0|10.1

So, I hit my target for the 75′ fitness test. I’ve updated the results on the google sheet. I started at about 85% of my PR watts at the beginning of this 6 week training block. Now my 20′ test and 75′ tests are both at roughly 90% of PR watts. I’m happy with that kind of progress.

Tomorrow: 4 x 20′ / 3′ nice and slow.

45′ with bumps…Tired today.

December 15, 20175 Comments

I’ve been playing around with HRV4Training. It’s a fun app that uses the camera on your phone to optically measure your HR first thing in the morning. I had previously tried using another app (ithlete) which worked with the Polar H7, but I really hated putting on a strap first thing in the morning and the results never seemed to correlate with how I actually felt.

With HRV4Training, taking the measurement is easy, but it took some practice. You need to rest the phone on your finger, but not press too hard. You need to maintain consistent pressure and not move around. It also helps to breath nice and steady. What I do when I wake up now is this.

Grab my phone
Sit at the kitchen table
Wait a minute to let my HR come down to resting rates
start up HRV4Training and rest the phone on my finger with my forearm flat on the table
push the start measurement button and watch the heart beats march across the screen. Concentrate on taking even deep breaths. The measurement lasts a minute.

So, I’ve been doing this for the past couple weeks and today, HRV4Training told me that I should probably take it easy. My Heart Rate Variability was lower than it should have been. Of course I ignored it and went ahead with my planned session

45′
Cat VI: Pace – 2:06-2:11, Rate – 18
Every 5 minutes power20 at r32
(I actually do 40 seconds, which is about 21 or 22 strokes)

I’m not sure what the intended training effect of this session is, but if I really hammer the power20s, it makes rowing at a 2:06 pace a much more taxing experience than normal. The first 20 always feels good. The second one hurts. By the third you are watching the time tick down to 40 seconds before the 5′ mark, hoping the seconds would last longer. By the time I am in the last few, I am really feeling the lactate burst after the power20. I think I’ve done this workout 4 times now. Once on the Dynamic, once in taiwan and two other times. This one seemed to to hurt more than others. My HR took longer to drop and I was working hard to try to get the rate up.

On the plus side, it’s mercifully short. I also had some interruptions. In the first 5 minutes I discovered that I had forgotten to strap in, which is kinda important to get up to a r32. Then I got a work text that I wanted to check. Then in the 5th, I got a phone call which I answered, found out it was a robocall and hung up. The stop in the eighth was pure lack of will. It just seemed so hard to hold a 2:10 pace at that moment.

          Workout Summary - media/20171215-1535300o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10878|44:59.0|02:04.1|214.3|20.9|156.9|175.0|11.6
W-|10888|44:59.0|02:04.0|198.2|19.8|156.9|175.0|12.5
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|175.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00984|04:20.0|02:12.1|174.2|17.3|125.8|140.0|13.1 - straps!
01|00207|00:40.0|01:36.6|382.3|31.6|143.9|154.0|09.8
02|01035|04:20.0|02:05.6|179.0|18.2|151.7|159.0|13.1
03|00206|00:40.0|01:37.1|374.9|31.6|154.2|162.0|09.8
04|01036|04:20.0|02:05.4|178.4|17.9|157.0|165.0|13.4
05|00207|00:40.0|01:36.7|380.6|32.0|155.5|164.0|09.7
06|01036|04:20.0|02:05.5|178.0|18.1|160.9|168.0|13.2
07|00208|00:40.0|01:36.3|379.3|31.8|160.8|167.0|09.8
08|00938|04:20.0|02:18.5|178.2|17.8|163.3|172.0|12.2 - phone call
09|00204|00:40.0|01:38.2|372.5|32.2|153.4|163.0|09.5
10|01028|04:20.0|02:06.4|174.1|17.7|155.2|170.0|13.4
11|00203|00:40.0|01:38.5|360.6|31.0|130.8|168.0|09.8
12|01013|04:20.0|02:08.4|166.8|18.1|167.3|173.0|12.9
13|00202|00:40.0|01:39.1|355.5|31.1|167.0|172.0|09.7
14|00980|04:20.0|02:12.7|154.4|18.4|165.5|175.0|12.3 - wimped out
15|00205|00:40.0|01:37.5|374.3|31.9|164.3|169.0|09.7
16|00993|04:20.0|02:10.9|160.1|18.5|167.5|174.0|12.4
17|00203|00:40.0|01:38.5|365.8|31.8|167.2|172.0|09.6

After that, I went to the dentist. I have a cracked tooth and they were prepping it to be fitted with a crown. I’m not sure, but I think I cracked my tooth when I tried to loosen a wing nut with my mouth since I didn’t have a wrench handy. Gotta say, despite all the drilling and poking it was a lot more relaxing than the bumps session.

Tomorrow: Well, I messed up. I knew that I needed to redo my 75′ test tomorrow, but I missed the little note in the training plan that I was supposed to take Friday as a rest day before it. So, I guess I will take a rest day tomorrow and do the 75′ test on Sunday.

Thursday: 4 x 20′ / 3′

December 14, 2017Leave a comment

The plan for the session was to keep it nice and easy.

4 x 20′ / 3′
Cat VI: 2:06-2:11 pace, 18 spm
Heart rate: < 150

I felt very stiff this morning from yesterday’s adventure. I had low expectations, but I was glad that it was a long slow session. As it turned out, my heart rate plateaued early and at a low level and basically stuck there. I was able to hold the 2:06 split throughout without coming close to the HR limits.

          Workout Summary - media/20171214-1350320o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|20012|92:00.0|02:17.9|167.5|18.0|136.9|147.0|12.1
W-|19066|80:00.0|02:05.9|175.0|18.0|138.2|147.0|13.2
R-|00951|12:00.0|06:18.7|056.0|17.0|119.5|147.0|02.8
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|04772|20:00.0|02:05.7|175.1|18.2|132.7|142.0|13.1
01|04767|20:00.0|02:05.9|175.2|18.0|139.3|144.0|13.2
02|04764|20:00.0|02:06.0|174.9|18.0|140.3|147.0|13.3
03|04763|20:00.0|02:06.0|174.8|18.0|140.5|145.0|13.2

All in all, a nice way to spend 90 minutes.

Tomorrow:

45′
Cat VI
Power 20 every 5 minutes at r32

Wednesday: 20′ Test

December 14, 2017December 15, 20172 Comments

I did a 20′ test as part of a battery of 4 tests back at the beginning of November. At that time, I struggled with the test, aborted an attempt, and then tried again at a slower pace on the next day.

The first attempt, I tried to hold a 1:51 pace and I lasted 6 minutes. In the second attempt, I backed off to 1:53 and it was close to a maximum effort, but I managed to hold that through the piece, finishing with a 1:52.7 pace (5233m, 244W)

Today, based on my recent workouts, especially Monday’s 6x(5’@28,5’@18) workout, I thought that I might have made enough progress to attempt 1:51 again. At least I thought I could give it a shot.

I ended up heading to the gym in the late afternoon. I warmed up with an easy 2K.

Then into the main event. Pretty simple plan. Row at r25 and 1:51 pace. Count strokes in sets of 100 and hope for the best.

It went as well as I could have hoped. I kept the display bouncing back and forth between 1:50 and 1:51 through the first 4 sets of 100 strokes. With 100 strokes left, I was struggling, but the displayed average was 1:50.3. At this point, I gave myself permission to let the splits dance between 1:51 and 1:51. That was just enough relief to get me refocused on rowing well. I got down to 50 strokes to go and I wound back up the speed and counted down to the finish.

End result: 5430m, 259W, 1:50.4 pace

Workout Summary - media/20171213-2225590o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|05432|20:00.0|01:50.5|258.7|25.1|167.2|180.0|10.8
W-|05435|20:00.0|01:50.4|258.7|25.0|167.1|180.0|10.9
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|01092|04:00.0|01:49.8|257.3|24.4|144.9|162.0|11.2
01|01087|04:00.0|01:50.4|259.9|25.0|165.9|168.0|10.9
02|01085|04:00.0|01:50.6|258.2|25.0|170.5|173.0|10.9
03|01082|04:00.0|01:50.9|256.8|25.2|175.9|180.0|10.7
04|01089|04:00.0|01:50.2|261.2|25.7|178.4|180.0|10.6

I compared the row in detail to my last attempts.

First, comparing it to the 1:52.7 attempt.

Pace: this one was faster!
Rate: Identical
Power: better today!
HR: close to identical, but I didn’t push it as high today.

Then I did a cool down.

I’m very happy with this.

Tomorrow: 4 x 20′ / 3′ at 2:06/r18

Tuesday: 4 x 12′ / 1’30” Cat V

December 12, 20173 Comments

Today’s session is a nice short endurance session done at paces a little bit faster than base endurance pace and a little bit higher rate.

          Workout Summary - media/20171212-1135290o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|12656|54:00.0|02:08.0|193.9|21.7|144.2|159.0|10.8
W-|12005|48:00.0|01:60.0|202.8|21.8|144.8|159.0|11.5
R-|00656|06:00.0|04:34.5|065.4|19.6|138.4|159.0|02.1
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|03006|12:00.0|01:59.8|202.7|21.8|136.2|144.0|11.5
01|03002|12:00.0|01:59.9|203.8|21.8|143.0|152.0|11.5
02|03001|12:00.0|01:59.9|202.5|21.9|148.4|157.0|11.4
03|02996|12:00.0|02:00.2|202.3|21.9|151.7|159.0|11.4

Tomorrow: Big Day…Time to redo my 20′ test. Last time was 1:52.7 pace (244W). I will see how I do against a 1:51.0 target.

Sunday: rest, Monday: 6 x (5′ @ 28, 5′ @ 18)

December 11, 20175 Comments

Sunday: I intended to workout, but I slept in late, ran lots of errands, and set up the Christmas tree.

Monday: Up at 5:15. In the gym at 6:45.

          Workout Summary - media/20171211-1315300o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|16336|65:12.0|01:59.7|223.0|23.2|159.1|176.0|10.8
W-|16342|65:12.0|01:59.7|212.0|22.1|157.6|176.0|11.7
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|176.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01178|05:00.0|02:07.4|165.6|17.0|121.0|136.0|13.9
01|01385|05:00.0|01:48.3|277.9|27.3|156.6|165.0|10.2
02|01153|05:00.0|02:10.1|167.4|17.8|147.6|165.0|13.0
03|01371|05:00.0|01:49.4|270.6|27.6|162.2|170.0|09.9
04|01162|05:00.0|02:09.1|167.2|17.9|153.8|170.0|13.0
05|01369|05:00.0|01:49.6|269.8|27.0|164.6|173.0|10.1
06|01153|05:00.0|02:10.1|160.3|17.6|156.7|173.0|13.1
07|01357|05:00.0|01:50.5|264.8|27.1|166.5|175.0|10.0
08|01141|05:00.0|02:11.5|162.3|17.9|159.8|175.0|12.8
09|01353|05:00.0|01:50.8|261.8|27.4|168.0|175.0|09.9
10|01151|05:00.0|02:10.4|163.0|17.7|160.6|174.0|13.0
11|01356|05:00.0|01:50.6|261.6|27.6|169.4|176.0|09.8
12|01214|05:12.1|02:08.6|165.2|18.1|161.6|176.0|12.9

That was a bitch!

Tomorrow: 4 x 12′ at 2:01/r22

Sat: Hour of Power

December 10, 2017December 10, 2017Leave a comment

I flew back from Taiwan, departing at about midnight, flying about 13 hours to LAX, arriving at 7pm on Friday night. I was through customs and in the lounge by about 7:45. I waited for my next flight, which was a 10:45 departure to Boston. I must admit that this flight felt really long, even though it was only about 6 hours. I watched a movie, did a couple cross word puzzles and napped a little, but I arrived in Boston feeling pretty tired and achy.

I was home by 8:00am and in bed by about 8:01. I slept until 11:30 and I felt like I had been hit by a truck when I woke up. After some breakfast and a littel time, I started to feel normal again. We are having a snowstorm today in Massachusetts, so there wasn’t much to do. I just did a little christmas shopping on line and wasted time until around 5pm. That’s when I decided to do a bit of erging.

The plan was an hour of power. The rules are simple. Limit the rate to r22 and see how many meters you can get over an hour. So, that’s what I did. My previous attempt at this was on the dynamic, so it it really didn’t count. Based on my recent workouts, I figure I was good for a 1:58 pace, so I set out with the goal to keep 1:57 or 1:58 on the screen.

All was going well until about 18 minutes into the workout when my phone abruptly rebooted. This took away my music and my painsled session. But there was no way that I was going to stop this row. I was feeling good. My HR was bit high, but I expected that since I had spent so much time on planes over the past 36 hours. I was not in trouble at any phase in the row and I aside from boredom due to a lack of music, the row was great fun.

To make it even better, I used a feature on the Sander is in development on to turn my PM splits into a workout that I can upload to strava. I started with a PM screen shot.

I took the splits and I filled out a handy template in excel.

Then I uploaded the file, just like a normal workout file to rowsandall and exported it to strava. And viola, the workout was there.

This is pretty cool for me because I am using Strava as the repository for all the training that I do whether it is rowing, biking, running, walking or whatever. Generally, I will just capture heart rate data if I cross trainand I can upload that easily. But with rowing, because the ability to link up random rowers is limited, and the reliability of the connection, even with rowers that I use all the time is uncertain, it is great to have a way to get an approximation of the heart rate data into to strava to calculate my long term training trends.

So, I was happy about that, and I was happy about the workout. I managed a 1:57 pace for 60 minutes. I think this portends good things for the redo of my 75′ test later this week.

Tomorrow: A hard one… 6 x (5′ @ 28, 5′ @ 18) wish me luck.

Wed / Thur / Fri: Remarkable luck, an erg in Taiwan.

December 8, 2017Leave a comment

I flew out of SFO to Taipei at 12:05AM on Wednesday morning. This is a 13 1/2 hour flight and with the time change, arrives at 5:50AM on Thursday morning. On the flight, I managed to sleep about 7 hours, watch a movie, do a few crossword puzzles and do some work. I finally arrived at my hotel around 7:30AM.

Thursday

I was being picked up to go to the office at 10:00, so I didn’t have enough time to sleep, but too much time to just shower and go to work, so I decided to go do a workout. I was lucky that the plan called for an easy one today.

3 x 20′ / 3′
Cat VI: Pace 2:06-2:11, Rate: 18

The fitness center has a pristine looking Model C. It took me a couple minutes to remember how to use the old style PM, but the drag factor was good. The handle return shock cord was a bit slack, but for this workout it didn’t matter at all.

I was expecting to under perform, but it turned out to be a good workout.

It was one of those workouts where I felt better afterwards than I did before. The rest of the day was sequence of meetings, more meetings, receptions, and a formal dinner for 200 people. The best thing about the dinner was that it took place in my hotel, so I walked to the elevator, went up to my room and I was asleep by 9pm.

Friday:

I woke up before my alarm, around 4:30. I tried to get back to sleep, but gave up just after 5am. I did my PT exercises, and headed to the gym about 5:45. Today’s workout was a bit more challenging.

45′
Cat VI Pace: 2:06-2:11, Rate: 18
Every 5′ – 20 strokes Cat I – Pace: <2:40, Rate: >32

I had a few obstacles today. First, I felt tired. Second, the erg was tough to rate up on because of the shock cord. Third, the gym was hot and humid. I guess they don’t turn on the AC until after 6am.

Anyway, I struggled to hold the Cat VI paces after a few on the power 20s, and ultimately failed after 6 of them. I stopped for a quick drink and paddled that section more slowly. That restored me enough to do the last couple.

You can see the sky high heart rates and slow HR recoveries in the chart.

There were impressive puddles of sweat under the machine when I finished and I was really tired. From there, I was on calls and in meetings until I went to the airport at 7pm. I’m looking forward to getting some sleep on the flight. I’m sore all over.

I arrive home at 7am on Saturday morning. The workout plan for the weekend calls for

Saturday: 6 x (5′ @ 28, 5′ @ 18)
Sunday: Hour of Power – r22, Pace: < 2:00.

I think I will swap the two workouts and do the harder one on Sunday.

Monday / Tuesday: Rowing on the road

December 6, 20172 Comments

I’m writing this from the United Lounge in SFO while I wait to board my flight to Taipei. It departs at 12:05 and I’m looking forward to spending as much time on the flight as possible asleep.

Monday:

I left for California first thing Monday morning. Before I left, I scouted potential Crossfit boxes to drop into while I was in the San Jose area. I struck out on the first three that I contacted. I guess that Crossfit is popular enough in the Bay Area that they don’t have the capacity to support drop ins. The fourth place I tried, NorCal Crossfit in Santa Clara seemed happy to have me drop in and row. Their policy was the first day was free and the second day was $30, which seemed pretty fair.

NorCal Crossfit is big! With high ceilings and lots of floor space. They could support a class of 20 people in the central area and additional smaller classes in other areas at the same time. Everyone was really nice and they had an area with about 20 model D rowers all set up and nicely maintained.

I fly in the morning, then had meetings all afternoon, finishing up around 5:30pm. Then I headed to NorCal Crossfit. I was dehydrated, tired and hungry, but I was looking forward to a workout.

The plan was:

4 x 12′ / 1’30”
Cat V: Pace – 2:01, rate: 22

I started off trying to use ergdata with a usb cable to the PM3. That worked for about 8 minutes. Then I started to get “Are you finished rowing” messages flashing up on the phone, and I would ignore. They would go away in a few strokes and everything was fine. However, in a minute or two, the ergdata screen stopped updating, but the PM3 kept happily counting down. This is starting to piss me off.

The excitement of rowing in a new gym with all the activity around me caused me to row with a bit too much vigor in this first interval. Instead of the target 2:01, I ended up with a 1:58.6 avg pace. Bad Greg!

So, determined to get my data, I changed machines. The second machine I sat on, wouldn’t link up at all, and the third hung up about 3 and a half minutes into the second interval.

By this point I had done enough experimentation on the USB connection, I decided to default to the good old days. I connected my HR sensor to the wahoo app, which always works and did 3 more 12′ intervals that way.

My heart rate was through the roof, even though I slowed down considerably. At least I was able to get it to plateau around 160.

It was a pretty short workout so I am not overly worried about it being a black hole session.

Tuesday:

Back at NorCal Crossfit. Today, I had no desire to screw around with ergdata and usb cables. I just went with the tried and true manual method.

The Plan:

5 x 2000m / 2′ rest
- 1500m: r22, 2:01
- 500m: r24, 1:55

I’ve done this workout a few times before and I’ve enjoyed it every time. Today, I set it up as a variable interval session on the PM4 of the rower I picked so I could see an accurate avg pace for each segment. This was an elaborate 11 segment workout that I managed to get exactly right the first time I tried. It sure made me wish that there was a way to define workouts in an app and download them to the PM. Maybe someday.

Anyway, the workout went great. HR was a bit high, but was generally reasonable for the lack of sleep and large amount of caffeine that I had consumed during the day. I tried to behave during all the reps until the last 500, when I got a bit crossfit happy. I maintained the 24 spm rate, but pushed the pace below 1:50. It was a very satisfying way to finish.

That’s a bit hard to deal with, so here it is in spreadsheet form.

So, now I am flying to Taipei. I will arrive around 6am local time. I’m planning to go to the hotel, check in, take a quick nap and then head to the office for some meetings. Then to a customer event in the afternoon and evening. I lose Wednesday to time zones and Thursday is a rest day.

Quantified Rowing

Measure – Adjust – Improve

Tag: concept2