Tag: endurance

Tuesday AM: Awful L4 HM

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I suspect that I am still feeling the effects of the HM on Sunday night.  This morning was another horrific session.

The plan:

  • Half Marathon
  • L4 format
  • power: 10W x stroke rate
  • HR Cap: 155
  • rate plan:
    • start slow (16spm), and ramp up over first 10 minutes
    • Then 7 x (1000m @ 18, 750m @ 19, 500m @ 20, 250m @ 21)
  • 250m paddle every 5000m

Today the plan lasted only through the first 5000m.  Then I needed to retreat to low rates to keep below the HR cap.  It was slow and miserable work.

After Sander pointed out the higher drag factor (138) from the hard HM I did at home on Sunday, and the struggles I had yesterday at 118, I thought maybe a little higher drag factor would be better.  I moved the level up one to give a drag factor of 128.  It made no difference.  There are so many variables, it’s hard to figure out what the problem is.

  • Different erg
  • warmer at work (68f vs 55f)
  • shirt at work, no shirt at home
  • morning for work, afternoon at home
  • insufficient recovery from hard hm on Sunday

I will just gut through this and then enjoy my day off on Thursday.

Ugh.

This afternoon, I will do a strength session.

Tomorrow morning I’ll do another low and slow HM at home.

 

Monday: Slow Slog HM

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I was shattered the rest of the night yesterday evening.  I felt absolutely empty.  I felt very tired and I was in bed by 10:15, but I slept a bit fitfully.  I have a pain in my shoulder blade which must be related to something in my neck because I get shooting pains when I turn my head especially to the right.  This is causing me some troubles when I turn over in bed.

I woke up at 5:15 feeling sore and tired.  I got to work and I was on the erg by about 6:30.

The plan:

  • Half Marathon
  • L4 format
  • power: 10W x stroke rate
  • rate plan:
    • Start slow at 16spm, get up to working rate over the first 10 minutes
    • Then 7 x
      • 1000m @ 18
      • 750m @ 19
      • 500m @ 20
      • 250m @21
  • HR Cap 155

The plan ended up lasting through the first 7500m minutes.  After that, I was approaching the cap, and feeling pretty crappy.  I did 2500 minutes at 17 to finish the block, and then rowed the last 10000m at 18.  Even with this reduced load, I was still pushing up to the cap at the end.  I have had rows where I felt like I was gliding along effortlessly, this was NOT one of those rows.  It was slow and nasty work.

myimage11-21a

myimage11-21d.png

Workout Summary - media/20161121-135125-sled_2016-11-21T06-42-50ZEST.strokes.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|21000|90:09.0|02:08.8|177.9|18.4|143.8|158.0|12.7
W-|20000|82:27.0|02:03.7|185.0|18.3|145.3|158.0|13.3
R-|01097|08:05.0|03:41.1|077.0|19.2|122.4|158.0|13.3
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
02|02500|10:28.1|02:05.6|177.0|17.3|128.4|140.0|13.8 - slow start
03|02500|10:07.5|02:01.5|195.6|19.2|144.1|150.0|12.8 - target 190W
04|02500|10:06.4|02:01.3|195.8|19.2|142.7|155.0|12.9 - target 190W
05|02500|10:27.3|02:05.5|177.4|17.3|147.4|155.0|13.8 - target 170W
06|02500|10:17.6|02:03.5|185.3|18.5|144.5|150.0|13.1 - target 180W
07|02500|10:20.2|02:04.0|183.4|18.2|152.4|154.0|13.3 - target 180W
08|02500|10:19.2|02:03.8|183.9|18.4|147.9|154.0|13.1 - target 180W
09|02500|10:21.2|02:04.2|182.6|18.1|154.7|158.0|13.3 - target 180W

Tomorrow:  AM:  HM L4, PM: strength

Friday PM: L4 HM

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I picked up my boat on my way home from work to bring to the lake out in worcester tomorrow morning, and got home around 7:30.  I was on the erg by about 8.

Plan:

  • Half Marathon
  • L4 format (but using distance)
  • power:  10W * stroke rate
  • HR cap: 155 (again, not even close)
  • paddle the first 97 meters to get to an even 21000, then do it in 2500m blocks
  • First 2500m build up from 160W
  • After that, push it a bit more than yesterday
    • 750m at 180W
    • 750m at 190W
    • 750m at 200W
    • 250m at 210W
  • take a 250 paddle every 5000m with a quick drink.

myimage11-18d

Again, a terrifically low HR through the whole workout, even though it was 5W higher effort, and on top of that it was my second session today.  Wow, I love working out at night.

The HR shows a little bit more ut1 than yesterday and a fair amount more time in power at.

For fun, here is the HR comparison of yesterday and today’s sessions. (Thanks rowsandall.com!)

bokeh_plot-48

So, even with higher effort, HR is the same in the first half of the workout.  The HR in the third 5000m block was brought lower by a longer than intended rest to deal with my low battery problem on the phone, and I am basically in the same place in the last 5000m block.

By the way, I am back on painsled.  The bug I saw yesterday is caused by using the ANT+ and BT at the same time on the PM5.  Today, I used the BT connection for the HR and it was a lot happier.

Tomorrow:  It looks like there are 5 people signed up including me.  Maybe a couple of doubles and a single?  Weather forecast is pretty good for this time of year, 40F, clear and 5 mph wind.

 

 

Thursday: HM L4

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Wednesday:  Flew down to Dallas.  No time for any training.  Big dinner with the customer.  About 20 of us at the restaurant.  Too much beer, wine, tequila and steak.

Thursday:  Early start.  We needed to be at the office at 7:30, so no time for a workout in the am.  On my way to the office, I had a blowout on a tire on my rental car.  It turned into the highlight of my day.  Changing a tire on  the car in my business suit while 10 of my coworkers looked on offering me suggestions and making sure I did it correctly.

After the meeting, I headed off to the airport for my return home.  I got to Boston around 7:45pm and I was home by 8:30. By this time I was really looking forward to a nice relaxing endurance session.  I saw Sander’s distance based L4 and decided to copy that to keep my mind busy during the row.  I also wanted to squeeze it into a half marathon so I could keep up with the Crazy Bear Challenge.

So the workout plan was:

  • Set up for a HM (21097m)
  • paddle the first 97 meters to get to a even number
  • row the rest 4 x ( 5000m work and 250m paddle)
  • In each 5000m work section do 2 sets of
    • 1000 at 18
    • 750 at 19
    • 500 at 20
    • 250 at 21
  • Power: 10W x stroke rate
  • HR cap: 155 (I never got near it)
  • first 2500 meters start slow (16 spm instead of 18)

It was quite a challenge to keep track of the right elapsed distances for each of the rate changes.  That and a good adventure audiobook keep me very occupied and the time flew by.  I love working out at night.  I swear I’m 10 watts better.

The glitch i the third interval was the low battery warning coming up on my phone and me running to get my charger!  Ruined the split for that segment too.

Workout Summary - media/20161118-034816-concept2-result-27821242o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|21000|87:40.0|02:05.2|185.4|19.0|136.6|148.0|12.6
W-|20000|82:06.0|02:03.2|190.4|18.9|137.1|147.0|12.9
R-|01097|05:54.0|02:41.6|111.0|21.0|127.8|147.0|12.1
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
02|02500|10:30.7|02:06.1|173.2|17.0|128.2|134.0|14.0
03|02500|10:08.7|02:01.7|192.4|18.9|137.3|145.0|13.0
04|02500|10:08.0|02:01.6|192.4|19.0|136.3|144.0|13.0
05|02500|10:07.8|02:01.6|193.5|19.1|141.0|147.0|12.9
06|02500|10:47.2|02:09.4|193.2|19.5|135.2|143.0|11.9
07|02500|10:08.6|02:01.7|192.7|19.1|140.1|146.0|12.9
08|02500|10:07.1|02:01.4|193.4|19.2|136.9|145.0|12.8
09|02500|10:08.5|02:01.7|192.7|19.1|142.0|147.0|12.9

Another annoyance was needing to use ergdata instead of painsled.  The most recent update of painsled seems to have broken it for me.

Tomorrow:  Strength session in  the morning and another HM L4 in the evening.

Tuesday: 10K easy plus strength trainig

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At work in the fitness center.

First, some erging to warmup and keep the aerobic base.  Goal is to run this right at the top of the UT2 band.  I want enough training stimulus to maintain blood volume but not enough to take away from the strength work coming next.

  • 10km
  • 10W x stroke rate
  • HR cap at 145
Workout Summary - media/20161115-140421-sled_2016-11-15T06-49-38ZEST.strokes.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10000|40:43.0|02:02.2|19.0|141.8|149.0|12.9
W-|10000|40:43.0|02:02.2|18.9|141.9|149.0|13.0
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|00.0|000.0|149.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|01000|04:00.2|02:00.1|19.1|124.0|134.0|13.1
02|01000|03:59.8|01:59.9|20.1|138.3|142.0|12.5
03|01000|04:01.6|02:00.8|19.8|143.1|145.0|12.6
04|01000|04:03.3|02:01.7|19.2|143.3|145.0|12.9
05|01000|04:03.9|02:02.0|19.1|144.5|146.0|12.9
06|01000|04:04.3|02:02.1|19.0|145.1|148.0|12.9
07|01000|04:07.0|02:03.5|18.4|145.1|148.0|13.2
08|01000|04:08.3|02:04.1|18.1|144.2|146.0|13.4
09|01000|04:08.1|02:04.1|17.9|145.1|147.0|13.5
10|01000|04:07.3|02:03.7|18.8|145.5|149.0|12.9

myimage11-15a

I started at 190w and it felt pretty easy, so I upped it to 200w and rowed until I hit the HR cap.  Then I backed off to 190(ish) and played with pace and rate to try to keep my HR between 144 and 146.  It was good sweaty, easy fun.

Then I took about 10 minutes, went and grabbed my exercise bands and ab wheel and changed my shirt.  Now it was time for some strength work.

(weight in pounds)
Squats
45 x5
135 x6
185 x5 x5 x5
185 was a good weight.  I could have probably squeezed out another rep in each set.  I think I’ll push this slowly up to 3×8 at 185, and then up the weight.
Chin ups (red band on knee)
3 x 5
Next time I will do the first set unassisted
Standing press
45 x5
65 x6
75 x5 x6 x5
I need to work on form for this exercise.  I think I am arching my back too much.  Surprisingly hard for such light weights.
AB wheel roll outs (from knees)
3 x8
Oh my.  These were hard!  My calves were cramping up.
Push-ups
3 x10
I was very disappointed with how weak I felt in the push ups.  Might have been from the standing press, but I felt like I had no “pop”
Tomorrow:  Early flight to Texas.  Probably a rest day.

Monday: 4×20′ L4 (embedded in an HM)

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So, as usual for a Sunday night, I had trouble sleeping.  But I woke up before the alarm at 5:15 and headed off to work.

My standard endurance workout these days is a 4 x 20 minute session which is usually about 20km including some paddling during the rests.  So, I thought I could continue my polarized training plan by adapting my normal endurance session by just doing a 1000m or so of cool down at the end. I was thinking that I could fit other more intense sessions into the basic HM format as well, since I have the tools I need to analyze the data afterward too.  Perhaps I could call it the Polar Bear Challenge?

So today’s Plan:

  1. 4 x 20′ / 1′ paddle
  2. L4 format
  3. Power target: 10W x stroke rate
  4. Slow start at 16spm (160W)
  5. Aim for mid 190s for average power
  6. HR limit at 155

myimage11-14c

Again, with the magic of rowsandall.com, I can reslice the data into 10 minute blocks to see how accurately I hit my targets.

Targets:

1 –       170 strokes, 170W
2 –       184 strokes, 184W
3-8 –  190 strokes, 190w

Workout Summary - media/20161114-135715-sled_2016-11-14T06-37-25ZEST.strokes.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|21097|88:00.0|02:05.1|18.8|140.4|155.0|12.8
W-|19564|80:00.0|02:02.7|18.8|140.4|155.0|13.0
R-|01538|08:00.0|02:36.0|14.1|116.9|155.0|13.5
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|02390|10:00.0|02:05.5|17.1|123.8|135.0|14.0
02|02437|10:00.0|02:03.1|18.6|135.1|139.0|13.1
03|02459|10:00.0|02:02.0|19.1|135.2|145.0|12.9
04|02457|10:00.0|02:02.1|19.1|142.7|145.0|12.9
05|02459|10:00.0|02:02.0|19.2|141.9|150.0|12.8
06|02454|10:00.0|02:02.3|19.1|148.7|152.0|12.8
07|02452|10:00.0|02:02.4|19.2|145.1|152.0|12.8
08|02457|10:00.0|02:02.1|19.2|150.5|155.0|12.8

So, generally 1 or 2 strokes over and a bit high on watts.

A few stroke metrics.  Power versus rate,  peak and average force versus rate and drive length versus time.

Tomorrow:  40′ erg and strength training.

Sunday: HM (I guess it was an L3 workout)

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I’ve been reading all these posts about people doing the Crazy Bear Challenge.  This challenge is to row 30 Half marathons in the 45 days between November 11 and Christmas.  I’m tempted to join in, even though it doesn’t make perfect sense with my training objectives.

Anyway, I wanted to have a little fun today, so I thought I would do a Half Marathon and target a pace just under 2:00.   That seemed like a respectable place to start.

It turned out to be reasonably easy, all but the last 15 minutes or so were UT1 or below. And this result put at 25th in the rankings.  I might do some more of these and gradually psh the pace a bit faster.

One of the fun things you can do with rowsandall.com is to arbitrarily assign new split lengths.  On the PM5, I used 2000m splits.  On rowsandall, I split the row into 1000m segments.  Looks pretty darn consistent.

Workout Summary - media/20161114-021734-sled_2016-11-13T17-25-38ZEST.strokes.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|21097|83:29.0|01:58.7|22.1|149.4|161.0|11.4
W-|21097|83:31.0|01:58.8|22.1|149.3|161.0|11.4
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|00.0|000.0|161.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|01000|03:55.0|01:57.5|20.8|130.2|140.0|12.3
02|01000|03:57.8|01:58.9|21.1|140.0|142.0|12.0
03|01000|03:57.8|01:58.9|21.7|141.5|144.0|11.6
04|01000|03:57.3|01:58.7|21.8|143.3|146.0|11.6
05|01000|03:58.1|01:59.1|21.9|142.8|145.0|11.5
06|01000|03:57.8|01:58.9|22.0|144.1|148.0|11.5
07|01000|03:57.3|01:58.7|22.0|145.7|148.0|11.5
08|01000|03:57.5|01:58.7|22.1|147.1|150.0|11.4
09|01000|03:57.5|01:58.8|22.2|148.9|151.0|11.4
10|01000|03:57.8|01:58.9|22.1|150.0|152.0|11.4
11|01000|03:57.6|01:58.8|22.0|150.6|152.0|11.5
12|01000|03:57.5|01:58.7|22.3|151.4|154.0|11.4
13|01000|03:57.7|01:58.9|22.6|151.3|153.0|11.2
14|01000|03:57.6|01:58.8|22.2|153.0|155.0|11.4
15|01000|03:57.3|01:58.7|22.3|153.5|155.0|11.3
16|01000|03:58.0|01:59.0|22.3|154.8|157.0|11.3
17|01000|03:57.7|01:58.8|22.2|155.2|156.0|11.4
18|01000|03:58.1|01:59.0|22.4|156.4|157.0|11.3
19|01000|03:57.7|01:58.8|22.7|157.2|159.0|11.1
20|01000|03:57.5|01:58.8|22.6|158.5|161.0|11.2
21|01000|03:57.3|01:58.6|22.9|158.5|160.0|11.0
22|00097|00:23.0|01:58.8|22.9|157.4|158.0|11.0

myimage11-13a

Another magical afternoon row.  I am sure that I could do at least 1 split faster, maybe more.

 

Friday: 4 x 20 L4

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Thursday was a “rest day”.  Up at 5am to fly home. Driving home from the airport sucked, nearly 2 hours in traffic.

I decided a good night sleep was needed and made the call to work from home.  That made my morning a lot easier.  I woke up at 8:30, had breakfast and was in a meeting at 9.

I worked until around 3:30 and then decided it was time for some training.

Plan:

  • 4 x 20′ / 1′ rests
  • L4 format
  • Start slow, then push it a little harder than last weekend
  • 10W per stroke

Having a little issue with the interval editor, so no details on each 10 minute segment.

Lactate test at the end, after 80 minutes, 2.0mmol/l – right on the nose.

One other note.  It was nice and cold.  57F when I finished.

I think the key thing that I noticed is that my HR was following the power very closely.  I think that is the key for me, if I start to see more decoupling between HR and power, then I am pushing the session too hard.

By the way, I had a blast with the stroke sequence today.

Untitled11-11d.png

 

 

Wednesday: 40′ endurance and a little strength training

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In Agoura Hills, California.  At the Sheraton fitness center.

Seemed like today was as good a day as any to start doing a little bit of strength training.

Plan:

  • 20 minutes inclined march (15% grade, 3.5mph)
  • 20 minute jog (3% grade, 4.5 mph)
  • HR cap at 157
  • Easy start to strength training
    • Dumbell deadlifts (2x50lbs) – 3 sets of 10 reps
    • Lat pull down (110lbs) – 2 sets of 6 reps plus one set of 8
    • Push ups – 3 sets of 10 reps

Another bad workout after another bad night’s sleep.  The election debacle kept me tossing and turning even after I turned off the TV.

Tomorrow:  No workout.  Flying back home.

 

Tuesday: 3 x 20′ L4 at Fitness Evolution

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In San Jose.  My hotel had a deal with the gym across the road.  By some miracle, it had a half dozen well maintained Model D rowers with PM5s.

Plan was to do 4×20 L4, but once I got going, I found that I was working very hard to go very slowly.  I cut it short after an hour.

Here is the row versus time, with pie charts for HR and power.

Compare this to Sunday’s row.  Longer row, higher power, lower Heart rate.

Why the difference:

  • Time of day:  I do better in the afternoon.  Tuesday’s row was at 5:30am.
  • Rest:  I did not sleep well.  I spent 6 hours on a plane on Monday
  • Nutrition:  I had 2 beers the night before the Tuesday Row.  I think that hurts a bit.
  • Environment: Sunday was with a fan and the windows open.  It was 61F in the room when I finished.  Tuesday was in a corner of the club with no airflow.  I left big puddles.

It’s still an impressive difference.  Another reason to use RPE as the guiding principle for endurance intensity.