Tuesday: Another shot at the February CTC

February 28, 2017March 1, 2017Leave a comment

Sunday: Flew home from Korea via Detriot. 21 hours door to door. Didn’t sleep at all and was wedged into a coach seat the whole way. Arrived home at 3pm. No training.

Monday: Slept in to try to make up for the lost night of sleep. No training

Tuesday: Woke up at 5:15am and felt pretty tired. Dragged myself to work and after an hour of email, went down to the gym. The goal for the day was to make another attempt at the February Cross Team Challenge and get all the rowing data onto rowsandall so we could try out some cool new team functionality.

But, I have to admit that I was not feeling too good about doing a hard workout.

I set up a 10 minute warmup. I rowed a minute nice and gently, then I worked as 30 seconds on / 30 seconds off. For the Ons, I did a rate ladder starting at 20spm, and going up by 2 spm in each one until I got up to 30 spm. I’m sure the data would have looked really cool. But, we’ll never know because painsled hung again about 6 minutes into the row and stopped storing data. 😦

I felt a bit better as I went along, but I was still not optimistic about the session. I bailed on using painsled and reverted to using ergdata, and got myself setup.

Last time I did the CTC, I did it at 24 spm. This time I figured somewhere between 26 and 28. As for splits, I was thinking I wanted to improve on the 1:49.1 pace in Taiwan, so maybe around 1:47.

As soon as I started the first interval, I settled into a much faster pace. I was worried that I would flame out in the later reps, but I just went with it anyway.

Workout Summary - media/Import_28998017.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|05080|20:00.0|01:58.1|262.3|26.6|165.2|178.0|09.5
W-|04336|15:30.0|01:47.2|305.7|27.5|165.3|178.0|10.2
R-|00754|04:30.0|02:59.1|093.8|23.5|166.3|178.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00444|01:30.0|01:41.3|317.1|27.2|142.9|158.0|10.9
01|00438|01:30.0|01:42.8|307.8|26.9|160.0|164.0|10.9
02|00442|01:30.0|01:41.8|304.8|27.5|161.8|166.0|10.7
03|00428|01:30.0|01:45.2|302.0|26.4|164.2|169.0|10.8
04|00431|01:30.0|01:44.4|298.4|27.9|166.2|171.0|10.3
05|00425|01:30.0|01:45.9|301.7|27.2|168.7|173.0|10.4
06|00430|01:30.0|01:44.7|299.5|27.5|168.1|173.0|10.4
07|00433|01:30.0|01:44.0|300.8|27.7|170.8|175.0|10.4
08|00435|01:30.0|01:43.3|301.1|27.7|173.0|177.0|10.5
09|00431|01:30.1|01:44.5|319.1|28.4|174.6|178.0|10.1

After the second rep, I decided to try to aim at 1:45. I managed to stay under it except for the 7th rep, where I struggled a bit. Not a full blown crisis, but I coasted in the last few strokes to give myself a bit of a longer rest.

This was a big improvement and I’m very pleased with it.

Tomorrow: 2 x 40′ / 4′ rest

Friday: February CTC (@ r24)

February 24, 2017Leave a comment

I was pressed for time this morning, but I wanted to get a workout in. I mean realy, how often do I get to stay at a hotel with a real erg? It’s too good to pass up.

So, I thought I would try out the February CTC, but do it with a rate restriction. The rests are so short that I wasn’t sure how to pace it.

I decided to try to target 1:50 at r24.

It worked out OK.

Pretty tough workout. I can probably shave a couple seconds by rating up. Next shot, I’ll do at r26.

Tonight I fly off to Korea for a day. I will hopefully get a workout in tomorrow morning. Something tame and endurance oriented.

Thursday: 2 x 30′ / 2′ rest (HR Capped)

February 23, 2017February 23, 20171 Comment

In Taiwan at the Ambassador Hotel in Hsinchu. I arrived this morning at 6am, and was at the hotel by 7:15. I unpacked, called home, and the got into my gym clothes. I was planning another fitness center snooze-fest.

I made a delightful discovery. In the fitness center, there was an old Model D with PM2.

On top of that rower, there was a person. The person was rowing. Slowly. Underhand. I got on the treadmill closest to the erg and started to do some inclined marching. I figured he couldn’t go on too long like that. He didn’t I hopped off the treadmill at the six minute mark and jumped on the erg.

New plan: 2 x 30′ / 2′ with a HR cap at 155.

This turned out to be a challenge. Between jet lag, fatigue, immobility, and dehydration, my HR climbed steadily and even when I slowed way down, it stayed high.

Despite that I enjoyed the session thoroughly.

Tomorrow morning: First crack at the CTC, at R24, just to get the hang of it.

Thursday: 4 x 15′ / 4′ rest (6′ @ 5kp, 9′ @ mp)

February 16, 2017February 22, 20175 Comments

Replay of Monday’s workout. Sticking to the same power targets.

4 x 15′ / 4′

6′ @ 5KP, 9′ @ MP

92.5%

(172)

5kp target: 235W

mp target: 190W

Lot’s of technology troubles today. Painsled kept hanging up the PM5. It froze during my first 15′ section requiring me to remove the batteries in the PM5 to reset everything, then it happened again in the second interval, requiring the same process to get going again. I finally gave up and used ergdata for the last 2 intervals, and it worked fine. No fun metrics though.

Warmup (4 minutes) and the first interval. It froze at 17 minutes, about 11 minutes into the 1st interval.

Workout Summary - media/20170217-0100220o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|04298|17:36.0|02:02.9|206.0|22.5|149.0|162.0|10.8
W-|03990|15:36.0|01:57.4|218.1|22.6|151.0|162.0|11.3
R-|00310|02:00.0|03:13.4|072.6|21.0|127.5|162.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01025|04:00.0|01:57.1|219.0|22.2|136.2|151.0|11.6
01|01582|06:00.0|01:53.8|239.6|24.1|156.1|162.0|10.9
02|01383|05:36.5|02:01.7|194.5|21.3|156.0|162.0|11.6

The the second interval. This one packed up around 9 minutes in.

Workout Summary - media/20170217-0100250o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|02391|09:11.0|01:55.3|229.4|23.4|159.5|169.0|11.1
W-|02391|09:11.0|01:55.3|228.0|23.3|159.6|169.0|11.2
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|169.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01603|06:00.0|01:52.3|245.1|24.2|157.7|168.0|11.0
01|00788|03:11.3|02:01.4|195.9|21.6|163.3|169.0|11.4

Then I gave up and used ergdata. This got the last two intervals. I noticed that I was not approaching the HR cap in the third interval, so I pushed the fourth harder and I managed to push up to the 172 cap.

Workout Summary - media/Import_28881412.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|08494|38:00.0|02:14.2|194.3|22.9|159.5|173.0|09.8
W-|07663|30:00.0|01:57.4|212.2|23.1|163.6|173.0|11.1
R-|00834|08:00.0|04:47.8|064.6|21.4|136.8|173.0|01.8
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01610|06:00.0|01:51.8|242.6|24.7|160.3|171.0|10.9
01|02222|09:00.0|02:01.5|194.0|21.6|164.6|171.0|11.4
02|01601|06:00.0|01:52.5|244.1|25.1|164.7|173.0|10.6
03|02230|09:00.0|02:01.1|189.0|22.1|164.2|172.0|11.2

Of course, I had my backup systems working, so I at least got HR data for the whole row in Wahoo on my iphone.

I was really pleased with the workout (despite the technical difficulties). I worked hard, but I felt much stronger than on Tuesday. About 6 or 7 watts better with the same HR.

I bet I could have gotten into a groove, if I didn’t disappear on travel on Friday.

Wednesday: 2 x 30′ / 2′ rest (HR capped)

February 15, 2017February 21, 2017Leave a comment

Plan called for a rest day, but I knew that training would be spotty after Thursday, so I did a easy endurance session.

2 x 30′ / 2′ rest (HR Capped at 155)

Should have been very easy, but it was not.

Heart rate climbed fast and didn’t settle. Comparing it to similar workouts. Here it is versus a 2 x 30 before I travelled last week.

Here it is versus the 3 x 20 I did on the dynamic. Pretty Similar.

Tuesday: 3 x 20′ / 2′ rest (MP / 10KP / H

February 14, 2017February 21, 2017Leave a comment

I’ve missed quite a few entries. Last week was quite crazy at work, and I left on Friday for a quick vacation. Now, it’s Tuesday and I’m on my way from Aruba to Taiwan for work.

But the one thing I was able to do last week was do some rowing. My fitness is not where I wanted it to be because of last week’s travel, but at least I am getting the sessions in.

Tuesday’s plan called for:

3 x 20′ / 2′

MP, 10KP, HMP

90.0%

(167)

Power ranges for MP, 10KP, and HMP are:

And I did so well before my trip that I decided to aim for 5W higher, so:

MP target : 190W

10KP target: 220W

HMP target: 205W

This, and the time spent cross training last week made the workout a bit more challenging.

Comparing this to the last time I did this workout shows how much harder I was working for the 5 watts

Monday: 4 x 15′ / 4′ rest (6′ @ 5kp, 9′ @ mp)

February 13, 2017February 13, 20172 Comments

It was snowing during the day on Sunday and the forecast was that the storm was going to last all night long and into the morning. So, I figured that I would be stuck in the house. But by 11:30PM, it was pretty clear that the storm was clearing out sooner and the snow totals were going to be smaller than predicted earlier. So, I set my alarm for 6:15 and headed to work.

I did this session in the deserted fitness center at work.

Plan:

4 x 15′ / 4′ rest
6′ @ 5kp (225W to 240W) / 9′ @ mp (180W to 195W)
HR Cap at 92.5% HRMax (172)

This was pretty tough work, but I successfully completed this and even hit the last interval a bit harder.

Stroke metrics. Always fun to look at.

Finally, I compared this workout to the same session done on January 20th. Today I had higher HR’s.

I think the HR difference is mainly due to lack of sleep and time of day.

Sunday: 3 x 20′ / 1′ rest (dynamic)

February 12, 2017February 12, 20172 Comments

Friday: Arrived home off the red eye at around 7:30am. Straight into conference calls. I had a 30 minute window so I decided to try out my new dynamic rowing machine.

I struggled a bit with getting everything set up. My main problem was that the PM5 was trying to connect to a hr monitor that I was not wearing instead of the one that I was. That took some time to get fixed.

I did a 5 minute row, then a 3 minute row, and then I got stuff set for a final 12 minute row. I did the first 9 minutes at 175W, and then the last 3 at 225W.

Saturday: No training. Doing errands and chores all day. No time.

Sunday: Just an easy session to get used to the new machine.

3 x 20′ / 1′ rest
175 W
No rate restriction
HR cap at 155

It was hard work. The break through that I made before I went on the road for a week seems to have disappeared. I’m back to where I was a couple of weeks ago.

I wanted to get an idea of how this compared to rowing on the model D, so I matched it up with one of the 2×30′ sessions that I did a couple of weekends ago on the cape. I was similarly fatigued and jetlagged then.

Here is all the parameters compared on a time scale.

Slightly higher power today.
About 1 spm higher rate is where I settled today. I think 1 to 2 spm higher on the dynamic is probably about right.
HR response nearly identical
Peak and average force about the same, but the force ratio is lower on the dynamic (less efficient?)
Drive length. Started shorter on dynamic, but eventually came close. I was surprised about this, I expected it to be consistently shorter without my bodies momentum carrying me into the catch.
Work per stroke decreasing through the row.
Drive speed, a much more noticeable difference. Significantly higher on the dynamic.

I might do a second session this evening, maybe a first cut at the CTC.

Concept2 Dynamic – Product Review

February 12, 2017February 12, 20177 Comments

A couple of weeks ago, I brought my Model D down to our house on the cape and left it there. I had made up my mind that I wanted to have a rowing machine in both places, since we are spending more time there off season than I had imagined, and even in season, there are a fair number of days where the conditions are not amenable to rowing.

I decided to replace it with a Dynamic. I have always been better on a static erg than I have been on slides, and I hope that if I can spend more time rowing on slides or on a dynamic machine, that I will be faster in the boat as well. My plan is to move my slides from work down to the cape, so I can row on slides there.

The Dynamic is more expensive than a Model D ($1250 vs $900) and Concept2 seems to go out of their way to avoid selling it. The other rowers can be ordered online. To buy the Dynamic, you have to call the up and basically convince them to sell it to you. I chatted with the sales rep for a while and he told me that they had a big problem with people who bought it because it had a smaller footprint than the model D, but then were dissatisfied when it was so different from what they had used at the gym. He said that they only want to sell it to people who have tried out or are on the water rowers.

They shipped it quick. It arrived within a couple days of me ordering it. It comes in two large boxes. Putting it together is non-trivial. It took me the better part of an hour, and would have been easier if I had a second person for a few of the steps.

The mechanism of the dynamic is interesting, and complicated. Start with the side view of the rower.

The seat runs on a short rail and is constrained by a short piece of shock cord. The foot stretcher rolls on the same rail and can move quite far, from the vertical bar at the front of the rower all the way back to the position shown. The footstretcher is weighted, basically to provide a similar mass as a single rowing shell. There is a hook on the bottom of the footstretcher that extends into the shuttle rail below. The shuttle rail is where the magic starts. Here is a diagram that I put together from the online documentation about the dynamic

The handle cord comes into the shuttle rail, goes back through a pulley and terminates at the footstretcher hook. When you pull the handle and the footstretcher in the drive phase of the rowing stroke, the pulley is pulled forward in the shuttle channel.

The drive chain runs through another pulley that is connected to the handle cord pulley. The chain is terminated on one side and the other side goes around the flywheel drive gear and then down into the handle return mechanism.

Now things get byzantine. The drive chain goes back and forth through two pulleys before terminating in a pulley assembly that is connected to the end of the handle return shock cord. The shock cord runs around two fixed pulleys and is terminated on the side of the mechanism. The whole point of all of this is to provide a consistent return force over the whole span of the recovery. You need a lot of shock cord so that it is not pulling hard at full extension and not pulling at all at the catch.

The good part about all this is that the connection to the flywheel is just about exactly the same as on the static so it is remarkably consistent feeling to the static erg.

Like any design, it has pluses and minuses. The pluses are a small footprint, dynamic operation, and a very solid feel. It’s also nice to be higher off the floor, like on a Model E. The biggest minus is noise. The chain is going over a lot of different gears and traveling in metal channels. All of that is a new source of noise in addition to the whooshing of the fanwheel. It’s kind of a clattery, grindy kind of noise. The kind of noise that you would get if you are running chains around gears through metal channels. I assume I will get used to it, but I have to play the music a bit louder to hear over the noise. I’m also trying to add a bit of oil to the chains to try to smooth it out a bit.

I find it quite easy to row on the dynamic. On slides, I would have trouble with bouncing around a bit, but on the dynamic, I have no trouble. One good thing about the dynamic is that the load at the catch is much faster and crisper than on the model D. There isn’t that 6 inch section of the drive where you don’t have much resistance.

So far I have done an easy hour, and it was a bit more taxing than rowing on the model D.