Catching Up: Thursday to Tuesday

May 25, 20162 Comments

Things remain a bit hectic. I’ve been focused on trying to squeeze in what I can.

Thursday: I was down in Austin for a customer meeting, a big “Supplier Day” where a company invites in their largest suppliers and tells them where their business is going and what they need from suppliers. A useful way to meet a lot of key people, but the whole time I keep thinking about other things that I need to get done.

In the morning, I popped down to the fitness center and did 30 minutes on the treadmill (max incline – 15% and around 3.5mph), aiming to upper end UT1 heart rate. Then 30 minutes on the stationary bike, aiming at UT2.

It was kind of interesting. There was a huge thunderstorm going on while I was working out. Lot’s of thunder and lightning and it was raining like crazy!

Friday: Up at 4:15 to get to the airport to catch an early flight. Then straight into meetings on the phone once I got home. No time to work out.

Saturday: Busy day, rushing around. shopping. Painting a ceiling. I managed to squeeze in an erg session. I wanted a bit of intensity, but I wasn’t in the mood to go really deep. So I decided to do a 10K push, but start off slower (at 2:04), and end at 1:55.

It was harder than it should have been, but I actually enjoyed it. I started with a 2K warmup.

The main event. Starting target was 2:04 for 1K, then 2:03 for 1K, and so on until I got down to 1:55 target for the last 1K. Of course, I just went for broke in the last bit.

It stung a bit.

The cool down. 2K slowing down from 2:00 to 2:15 in 500 chunks

Sunday: I caught a plane at 9AM out to Las Vegas. We are having an internal team meeting here for a few days. I arrived around 3PM and headed to to gym, hoping for some fun workout options. There were none. I was consigned to the usual treadmills, bikes, ellipticals, etc. I did 30 minutes on the treadmill at a 2% incline, and a slow trot, maybe 4.5 mph. I slowed a bit in the last 5 minutes of that to try to stick to a HR cap around 150. Then I grabbed a drink, and did another 30 minutes on the treadmill on the max incline (15%, around 3.5 mph).

Monday: We got back to the hotel around 10 and I escaped the bar by around 11. I headed straight up to bed, pounded down a liter of water and collapsed into bed. I woke up with the alarm at 5:30, and then headed down down to the depressing little fitness center to workout. This morning the menu was 30 minutes on the treadmill at maximum incline (15%) and about 3.5 mph. Then 30 minutes on the one of those new, improved elliptical machines that have more independent leg motions

Tuesday: On Monday night, I crawled into bed around midnight having had a bit too much to drink and feeling a bit worse for wear. But I felt pretty alert at 5:30 in the morning when my alarm went off. This morning, I was certain that I had no interest in returning to the sad little fitness center, so I decided to run the strip. This was a great decision. I ran along in front of all the fancy casinos and hotels for about 4 km down and 4 km back. One thing that made it a bit more interesting and tiring was all of the pedestrian overpasses. Each of the pace decreases below is me climbing a couple of flight of stairs, and the coming back down.

Now, I am sitting here at the airport My flight has been delayed almost 2 hours and I am getting very tired and sleepy. This could be a pretty rough wait.

Tomorrow: First priority, enough sleep. Second priority is a quick erg session.

Monday: 3 x 20′ / 1′ rest L4

May 16, 20167 Comments

Sunday: Feeling very worn down. Did some painting. No Training

Monday: Decided to skip OTW this morning. Winds were 20 to 25 mph which would have made it not very productive. New plan was 3×20′ L4 on slides.

I felt pretty crappy. My HR just kept creeping up and it was harder and harder to hold the target wattage. I dialed back the stroke counts after the first 30 minutes a bit and it helped a little.

By the way, graphs were generated on line using a new tool developed by Sander. It’s in beta test and active development right now, but has the potential to be a true cross platform to log and analyze rowing data.

I’m in a bit of a rut right now. I am really enjoying the time I’m spending on the water, and thanks to club boats and my friend Alex’s Pienert, can get on the water just about whenever I have time. But doing sessions on the erg is a pain in the ass, and I am not sure exactly what I am training for.

Tomorrow: OTW, something spicy, maybe 8 x 500.

Friday: WTF?

May 14, 20161 Comment

My dinner in NYC lasted until about 11:30. I got to bed around 12:30. Up at 7:00. On the road by about 8:15AM. Drove home and arrived about noon. Then straight into a couple of work phone calls. My day finished up around 3. I hopped on the erg for what I planned to be a 60 minute steady state L4.

I lasted 20 minutes. My HR was in bounds, but my RPE was very high. I was sweaty and breathing very hard. I started the second 20 minute piece and then decided to just bin the session. I have no idea what was wrong with me. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood.

I was very tired in evening. I wondered if I was getting sick. But I felt much better this morning.

Tuesday: May CTC

May 10, 20162 Comments

I had a meeting at 8am, so no time for OTW or even a workout before work. I had a hole in my schedule around lunchtime, so I ducked into the gym to take a crack at the May CTC.

Being simple minded, I decided to just use 1 minute rests, and target faster than 1:45 for the long intervals and 1:40 for the short intervals.

I was doing the session on slides.

First up was a fletcher warmup.

Then into the main event. I felt a little panicky after the first rep, but then settled into a reasonable groove. I was disappointed to see the wahoo tickr having the same problem with tracking my HR in the later reps. I has happy that I survived the session. It was very hard.

So, 13:40.8, an average pace of 1:42.6. The pace for the long intervals was 1:43.6. The pace for the short intervals was 1:38.9, so I beat my totally arbitrary targets. (and I felt good about that)

I think in peak form, I could probably maybe do this at 1:40, but for where I am right now, I am pretty pleased.

Tomorrow: OTW, Steady state. Probably rate ladders again.

Thursday: 3 x 20′ / 1′ L4

May 5, 2016Leave a comment

Wednesday: after getting home around 12:30, I skipped the gym in the morning. I was hoping to sneak in a workout later in the day, but things got pretty hectic and it was 6:30PM by the time I looked at my watch. So, it turned into a rest day. But, I was due. I had managed to get sessions in every day for the past 7 days.

Today: In the gym, normal steady state session. On slides. Repeating sequences of 4/3/2/1 at 18/19/20/21 spm. On a static erg, I do these at 10W * stroke rate. On slides, I scale back by 10 watts, so 18spm is 170W, and so on.

My legs were hurting a bit from my 10K run on Tuesday. But it didn’t seem to effect anything.

Tomorrow: OTW, steady state and technique.

2015/2016 Season Retrospective

May 4, 2016May 4, 20162 Comments

I have no idea why Concept2 runs the season from May 1st to April 30th, but that’s what they do. And with the end of another season, its the time for a look back.

I have some mixed feelings about the season. I couldn’t be happier about my OTW results from last summer and fall. However, after a very promising start to the indoor season, the wheels really came off in February, and I never really got back to where I wanted to be. So, I am going into this OTW season with a lower state of fitness than last year.

For the full year, my total meters are almost identical to last year. But with a higher amount of erg meters and less OTW meters. You can blame the unplanned rapid rearrangement of my boat by a tree for that.

But under the hood, there is an important difference in the way that these two seasons ended.

Last year I finished strong with big meters in March and April. This year, not so much. So, I am leaving this season in a lower state of fitness than last.

A closer look at this season on a weekly level shows how spotty things have been since January.

Why? In a word, life happened. A couple of bouts of manflu, a promotion, some vacation, and a ton of business travel have disrupted my training plans. I don’t see this as a failure, because I wouldn’t change any of the choices I made, but I do need to think through realistic competitive goals and a reasonable, flexible training plan to get me to achieve them.

I am just about 1% lower total meters and 1% lower total training time for 2015/2016. My average distance for days rowed is up slightly, which is driven by more erg sessions and fewer OTW sessions (erg sessions tend to be about 20% more meters)

: 2014 / 2015

: 2015 / 2016

Bt I don’t want that to diminish the good stuff from this season. I was really happy with how the OTW season went.

Festival Sprints: 1K and 2K sprints. Tough racing in lousy conditions. Improved on last years results, but not as much as I wanted to.

Cromwell cup: 1k sprint in amazing conditions on a fun course. Finished second by a fraction of a second in my age bracket in a great race. Thrilled with the outcome. The guy that beat me ended up finishing 6th in the nationals.

Masters National Head Race Championships: A 6K head race. In Lowell on the Merrimac in lousy conditions with a small field. Finished third, about where I should have, but I was hoping to do better.

Quinsigamond Snake Race: a 4K head race. Picture perfect conditions. It was a small field so all the singles were raced in a single flight. I placed second. More importantly, I had a duel on my hands for nearly the whole race. The guy that started one or two places ahead of me was just a hair slower than I was and over the first 1K of the race I slowly closed the gap and we raced side by side for the next 2000 meters. I’d push, then he’d push, it was back and forth. In the last 1000 meters, I finally managed to achieve some separation, but it was the most exciting head race experience I have ever had. (tiring too)

Head of the Charles: A 5K head race. The big one! I started 36th in a field of 59 boats in my age class. It was generally head wind conditions and pretty nasty through the first 1000m. There were parts of the race where I gave away time by not steering the best line, but looking at the heart rate, I certainly put everything I had into the race. I’ll remember the last 1000m for the rest of my life. I was chasing down the guy in front of me and hearing the announcing calling out my name and bow number as I was surging. We hit the finish line at nearly the same instant (I think he had me by a bow ball), but the feeling of achievement was so intense.

Merrimack Chase: This was a 4K head race at the beginning of November. It was windy, but not nearly as cold as past years. The conditions were choppy through the first 1000m but got a lot better. I had bow #1 of my class so I had no one to chase. I managed to put in a good race and won my age bracket. A great way to finish off the season.

I finished the OTW season is really good shape for middle distance rowing, and started to use a new training plan based on block periodization. I started with working on endurance and through November and December, I was hitting targets and even setting some new personal bests.

I set PBs for the 5000m, 60′ and Half Marathon. In some cases improving PBs that were 3 or more years old.

So, I might have to set more modest goals for the coming season. Maybe reduce the number of races I enter, and try to improve technique and diet to compensate for lower training volumes. I also need to do more research for the optimal approach when time is limited. There is a lot of contradictory advice out there to be sorted through.

Anyway, it was an exciting and rewarding year. And there are some new challenges to keep me interested in this coming season.

Sunday: 4 x 20′ / 1′ L4

May 1, 20161 Comment

Nice and easy. 8 x 4’/3’/2’/1′

At home. Static erg around 5 in the afternoon. Cool and rainy outside with all the windows open.

Tomorrow: I am flying off to LA for a quick one day trip. Before I leave though, I have offered the use of a beautiful old Peinert single by a very nice gentleman that also rows out of the same facility that I do. It will be my first outing of the season in a single. I plan on a very easy technique oriented session. Mostly I’m looking forward to being on the water.

Saturday: 4 x 2K / 4′ rest

May 1, 20162 Comments

At home. Static erg. Over cooked the first rep and never really recovered. Hung in there at progressively slower paces, and finished the set, but at very high heart rates and by digging very deep.

Glad I finished. Depressed I was that slow.

No rowing on the lake this weekend because of some big collegiate racing going on. Today it was the NERC, which is the New England championships. Tomorrow is the Women’s Eastern Sprints, which is for bigger schools. We lend out our boathouse to some crews and there are tents set up all around so it’s impossible to get to our boats.

Tomorrow: Recovery row. Something easy.

Friday: 3 x 20′ L4

April 30, 20164 Comments

Another day, another L4. Dentist appointment in the morning, so no chance to work out then. By 4:30 in the afternoon, things were simmering down in the office, and I snuck off to the gym.

Today was a 60′ L4 on slides. I’m just messing around with different stroke sequences. Today it was:

4’@ 18 / 3’@ 19 / 2′ @ 20 / 2’@21 / 2’@20 / 3’@19 / 4’@ 18

Basically rowing over a big hill. Then I did it again. For the third one, I just did 2 repeats of 4/3/2/1, but I really amped up the power for the last 2 minutes while trying to hold the stroke rate. This is kind of useful on slides because you need to maintain good stroke mechanics even when you are pulling really hard. You need to focus on a nice smooth recovery or else the erg gets all kinds of upset with you.

As usual for me right now, the HR was a bit too high. I’m not overly concerned for a number of reasons. I’d appreciate feedback on this because my understanding of this stuff is far from complete.

At very low intensities, essentially all the energy comes from the metabolism of fat. This form of metabolism does not generate any pyruvate, which ends up being lactate. As intensity increases, this form of metabolism cannot supply enough energy and carbohydrates begin to be used. This metabolic pathway generates lactate. This is illustrated as the “crossover concept”, introduced in the mid 90’s in a paper by Brooks and Mercier

Lactate is a useful form of energy which is also metabolized in exercise, so at a certain intensity, the production of lactate is balanced with the consumption of lactate. This results in a stable lactate level that is used to determine the appropriate intensity for maximally effective endurance training. The level can vary by athlete and fitness state, but is usually between 1.5mmol/l and 2.5mmol/l of lactate. Exercising above this intensity leads to the incremental accumulation of lactate in the muscles and eventually to exhaustion. Way above the limit rapidly increases lactate levels (like a sprint) , a little above the limit results in a slow climb (like a 60′ time trial)

The fundamental theory behind polarized training is that the different energy pathways can be developed independently. That you increase the ability to metabolize fat by exercising at levels that lean most heavily on that energy system. That exercising at a intensity where you are at that lactate stasis level will eventually lead to improvement in the steady state power required to be at stasis. Of course, to succeed in competition, you also need to develop your ability to tolerate high lactate levels, the maximum amount of power you can product, and the neuromuscular coordination to perform at high output levels. That is why you do the hard part of polarized training.

So, why not just go hard all the time? Three reasons. First, it does nothing to help develop your ability to metabolize fat. Two, it does nothing to develop your ability to metabolize lactate. Third, it leaves you too depleted to go really hard when you are working on lactate tolerance and power.

So what’s up with how I’m training right now. I’ve put myself into a holding pattern. I have no boat, and I am rowing on the water only about once a week. My job is requiring a lot of travel and a lot more hours than it was before so my ability to maintain a structured training plan is compromised, as is total amount of time I can devote to training. So, I am focusing on trying to maintain my base aerobic fitness and push a little bit harder than I normally would because I am not putting a lot of energy into high impact sessions.

I am conflicted about this. I think I would probably be better off if I turned the intensity down on these sessions and made a point of including one sprinty session a week, and I might do that, but for some reason that really isn’t making feel all that happy. My highest priority is doing whatever I need to do to get my ass onto the erg as often as I can and less about what I do once I am there.

Anyway, back to the workout. Basically the same deal as the usual.

Now it’s Saturday and I’m trying to figure out when to squeeze in a workout.

Thursday: 4 x 20′ L4

April 30, 2016Leave a comment

With my work schedule and stress I am finding that I have no appetite for intense erg sessions. When I go to the gym, I really want to just relax and space out doing some endurance training.

I found myself in the gym a bit earlier than usual, around 6:30, so I decided to do 80 minutes today. I decided to start harder and get easier as I went along, but I got tired faster than the intensity dropped so my heart rate ended up higher than I was hoping to see, especially in the last 20 minutes.

On slides. 18spm –> 170 ….21spm –> 200W

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Tag: erg