Tag: hm

Christmas Vacation – Daily Rowing

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I like this routine.  Sleeping, relaxing, cooking, rowing.

Thursday – 12/27 – 10 x 2′ / 2′ Dynamic

A little bit of a variation on the 8×500.  On the dynamic, so aiming for about 4 or 5 sec per 500 slower than on a static erg.  First rep was a warmup.  Then I targeted 1:50 for the rest, and a faster last.  I hate this infernal machine.

 

The rowsandall summary was a bit stingy with the splits.  I seem to lose a few meters on each interval.

        Workout Summary - media/20181227-1850340o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|11203|48:07.0|02:08.9|179.2|24.7|150.0|177.0|09.4
W-|05447|20:00.0|01:50.1|265.8|27.4|153.9|177.0|10.0
R-|05765|26:07.0|02:16.0|116.5|22.8|146.7|177.0|14.1
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00544|02:00.0|01:50.3|262.6|26.0|142.6|152.0|10.5
02|00542|02:00.0|01:50.6|261.3|26.1|148.8|161.0|10.4
03|00544|02:00.0|01:50.3|262.2|27.4|151.2|162.0|09.9
04|00544|02:00.0|01:50.3|261.3|26.8|153.4|167.0|10.2
05|00545|02:00.0|01:50.0|263.4|27.4|155.0|167.0|10.0
06|00545|02:00.0|01:50.1|264.0|27.8|155.6|170.0|09.8
07|00531|02:00.0|01:53.1|261.2|26.9|155.7|170.0|09.9
08|00544|02:00.0|01:50.3|262.4|27.4|157.3|171.0|09.9
09|00540|02:00.0|01:51.1|259.6|27.1|157.7|171.0|10.0
10|00568|02:00.0|01:45.6|299.7|31.2|161.6|177.0|09.1

Good workout.

Friday – 12/28 – Terrible Half marathon (dynamic)

Started fine, but I fell apart after about an hour.  My ass hurt a lot.  I slowed down as necessary to stay under a 155 cap.  I had to switch laundry around the 30 minute mark.  That’s the stoppage in the plot.

        Workout Summary - media/20181229-0025330o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|21092|91:45.0|02:10.5|163.8|20.2|146.0|161.0|11.4
W-|21054|90:25.0|02:08.8|163.7|20.2|146.5|161.0|11.5
R-|00043|01:20.0|15:24.1|166.6|20.5|113.3|161.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|02372|10:00.0|02:06.5|172.3|19.8|123.7|135.0|12.0
01|02359|10:00.0|02:07.2|170.1|20.0|136.5|141.0|11.8
02|02357|10:00.0|02:07.3|169.7|20.3|142.8|146.0|11.6
03|02360|10:00.0|02:07.1|170.2|20.2|142.2|148.0|11.7
04|02346|10:00.0|02:07.9|167.3|20.3|150.4|154.0|11.5
05|02328|10:00.0|02:08.9|163.6|20.4|153.8|156.0|11.4
06|02297|10:00.0|02:10.6|157.2|20.6|155.1|156.0|11.2
07|02262|10:00.0|02:12.6|150.1|20.0|155.7|157.0|11.3
08|02277|10:00.0|02:11.8|153.1|20.5|157.6|161.0|11.1
09|00097|00:25.2|02:10.2|161.8|20.2|158.0|159.0|11.4

I’m gonna have to explore other seat pad options.  My left sitz bone is bothering me a lot!

Saturday – 12/29 – 5 x 1500 / 4′ Dynamic

I went through most of the day intent on taking a rest day, but around 10pm, I got bored and decided to workout.  I think it was a good idea because I’ll probably want to take a rest day on New Years Day.

I haven’t done much long interval work, and I don’t like doing it on the dynamic, but the 1500s are by far the least onerous session.  I gave myself a softish target and got to work.

I didn’t bother with a warmup, I just dove into the first interval.  I think the target was about right.  I was very uncomfortable in the last 500 of each rep but I never had the urge to give up rowing and take up knitting.

The rowsandall splits are again a bit stingy.  One day, I’ll have to invent a good interpolation routine to make them correlate better with the PM.

        Workout Summary - media/20181230-0400340o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10987|48:31.0|02:12.5|175.9|23.6|153.2|180.0|09.6
W-|07500|28:28.0|01:53.9|237.1|26.2|160.2|179.0|10.1
R-|03490|20:03.0|02:52.4|089.1|19.9|143.3|179.0|07.8
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01500|05:40.8|01:53.6|236.2|25.2|144.3|160.0|10.5
01|01500|05:43.7|01:54.6|234.7|25.2|157.6|168.0|10.4
02|01500|05:42.7|01:54.2|235.1|25.7|164.3|174.0|10.2
03|01500|05:41.2|01:53.7|238.8|27.2|167.2|177.0|09.7
04|01500|05:39.8|01:53.3|240.7|27.6|167.8|179.0|09.6

I was interested in seeing how I needed to increase my rate, and decrease the DPS as I got tired.  I plotted out the WPS and the Average Drive Force to see what they looked like.  There is about a 10% decline in WPS over the workout.  The question in my mind is whether I should be aiming at that lower WPS the whole workout or is a higher WPS more efficient?

bokeh_plot (65).png

Tomorrow:  3 x 20′ on slides (I hope).  We are off to the cape for our New Year’s Eve party,

 

12/18 to 12/23 – I have a new least favorite session – 30r22

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But we’ll get to that.

12/18 – Strength Session.

Crunches 10×10″/5″
Superman 2x10x10″/1″
Side plank 2x3x30″/10″
Pushups 2×17,1×20
Front squats , bar+90lb  3×6
Cable rows 96lb 1×6, 120lb 2×8,1×1 (Should these be done with or without back swing?  I did them without.)
Shoulder press 84lb 1×12, 96lb 1×9 1×7
One leg squats 2x20lb dumbbells, 2x3x12
Cable pull downs, narrow overhand grip 144lb 2×10 1×7
Deadlifts bar 1×12, bar + 150lb 3 x10

 

12/19 – 30r22

This is an online challenge, line the 500 from last week.  This was a session from Sander’s team coach, and he set it up as an online race to make things a bit more interesting.  I looked at my testing at the end of October, and I did a free rate 20′ at 1:50.5, and that was at about 25 spm.  Since then, I have eased off a bit, adding in some strength training, and reducing the volume,  So, three things to slow me down.  I was guessing something like a 1:55 split would be OK.

I did a quick warmup.

I tried to get the hang of rowing full pressure at 22.  The splits came out a lot faster than 1:55.

Oh well, how badly could it go?  Pretty badly as it turns out.

I felt strong and smooth through 5 minutes and I was going way faster than 1:55.  This was a bad idea.  I was a bit worried about how fast my HR was going up.  The next 5 minutes were a bit tough, and I started trying to slow my roll.  By the time I passed 10 minutes, I was really struggling.  My HR wasn’t crazy high, but I had an awful sort of drowning feeling.  If I hadn’t said I was going to post a result, I might have packed it in.  Even with the virtual pressure, I put the handle down briefly around 10:40.  I started paddling almost immediately and then brought my pace down to around my original 1:55 target.  That lasted just a couple of minutes and I got that drowning feeling again and went back to paddling.  OK, so 1:55 doesn’t work, how about 1:56.  That lasted another couple of minutes.  I was definitely not at my best and definitely not happy about it.  I decided to just try to go faster than 2:00 and post whatever I got.  1:57 seemed to work out quite well and I plodded along like that until I had about a minute to go.  Then I steadily ramped up the pressure to the end.

        Workout Summary - media/20181219-1246020o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|07748|30:00.0|01:56.2|226.3|21.9|165.3|181.0|11.8
W-|07769|30:00.0|01:55.9|226.3|21.9|165.3|181.0|11.8
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|00273|01:00.0|01:49.8|245.4|21.5|110.7|133.0|12.7
01|00265|01:00.0|01:53.2|241.5|21.7|144.4|149.0|12.2
02|00266|01:00.0|01:52.9|244.7|21.8|153.0|157.0|12.2
03|00264|01:00.0|01:53.6|237.3|21.7|158.2|159.0|12.2
04|00268|01:00.0|01:52.0|241.7|22.1|161.1|162.0|12.1
05|00263|01:00.0|01:54.2|240.8|22.0|162.0|162.0|12.0
06|00264|01:00.0|01:53.7|239.9|21.9|164.3|165.0|12.0
07|00264|01:00.0|01:53.7|236.8|22.0|165.8|166.0|12.0
08|00263|01:00.0|01:54.2|235.2|22.0|166.0|166.0|11.9
09|00267|01:00.0|01:52.2|234.0|21.9|166.9|167.0|12.2
10|00252|01:00.0|01:59.2|225.0|22.1|167.8|168.0|11.4 - HD #1
11|00262|01:00.0|01:54.6|231.2|22.0|166.5|168.0|11.9
12|00247|01:00.0|02:01.3|218.5|22.1|167.6|168.0|11.2 - HD #2
13|00254|01:00.0|01:58.2|208.2|22.3|164.5|168.0|11.4
14|00264|01:00.0|01:53.6|224.9|21.8|165.2|167.0|12.1
15|00225|01:00.0|02:13.4|181.3|20.0|166.9|167.0|11.3 - HD #3
16|00254|01:00.0|01:57.9|211.7|21.7|161.8|165.0|11.7
17|00257|01:00.0|01:56.7|219.1|22.2|163.9|166.0|11.6
18|00257|01:00.0|01:56.8|219.9|22.1|167.6|168.0|11.6
19|00258|01:00.0|01:56.3|217.1|22.0|168.8|169.0|11.7
20|00253|01:00.0|01:58.7|215.4|21.8|169.0|169.0|11.6
21|00255|01:00.0|01:57.7|215.1|22.0|169.7|170.0|11.6
22|00258|01:00.0|01:56.3|221.8|22.0|171.0|171.0|11.7
23|00256|01:00.0|01:57.4|218.1|21.9|173.3|175.0|11.7
24|00260|01:00.0|01:55.5|219.3|22.1|174.1|176.0|11.8
25|00256|01:00.0|01:57.3|222.9|22.1|174.7|176.0|11.6
26|00258|01:00.0|01:56.3|223.3|21.8|177.4|178.0|11.8
27|00258|01:00.0|01:56.3|221.9|22.0|178.0|179.0|11.7
28|00259|01:00.0|01:55.7|226.5|22.2|177.8|180.0|11.7
29|00270|01:00.0|01:50.9|250.2|22.1|180.2|181.0|12.2 - End in sight!

It was pure misery, but pretty good threshold training,

I think.  In the end, I missed my target of 1:55 by about a second.  I figured if I didn’t go out so fast, I could hold 1:55 the whole way.  A theory I disproved on Friday.

I did a dejected little 1k cool down.

Thursday – Strength

Crunches 10×10″/5″
Superman 2x10x10″/1″
Side plank 2x3x30″/10″
Pushups 2×18,1×20 (steadily increasing.  That’s good)
Front squats , bar+90  8,8,8 (up 2 reps from Tues)
Cable rows 120 10,10,10 (getting the hang of these)
One leg squats 2×25 12,12,12,12,12,12 (Oh my god, these are hard!)
Shoulder press 96 12,12,8
Cable pull downs, 144 10,10,10 (Time to up the weight, I think)

 

Friday – 12/21/2018 – Another go at the 30r22

Try it again, I thought.  You went out too fast, I thought.  It’ll be better today, I thought.

But there were ill omens.  First, I woke up feeling sore and tired, but that’s nothing new.  I didn’t get nearly enough sleep, also unremarkable.  Someone beat me to the gym and pinched the newer erg, leaving me with the old Model C.  I know it doesn’t matter, but I feel like I row better on the new machine.  More importantly, they had my setup my fan to keep them nice and cool for their ugly and ineffectual workout (sorry, that sounds a bit ungenerous).  I would hate to be thought of as the self important jerk who hogs his own fan, so I didn’t even ask to use it, but inside I really missed it.  Yep, I’m petty and stupid.

I did a longer warmup.  2k versus 1K and I actually did a pick drill to start.  It was kind fun and useful, I might do again in the future.

Then I started the 30r22 and it was misery from the start.

        Workout Summary - media/20181221-1316040o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|07493|30:00.0|02:00.1|217.9|21.8|162.5|181.0|11.5
W-|07510|30:00.0|01:59.9|217.9|21.8|162.5|181.0|11.5
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|00267|01:00.0|01:52.5|229.8|21.0|120.4|138.0|12.7
01|00263|01:00.0|01:54.1|236.2|22.0|148.1|155.0|12.0
02|00262|01:00.0|01:54.5|234.6|21.8|157.6|159.0|12.0
03|00264|01:00.0|01:53.8|236.6|21.9|160.2|161.0|12.1
04|00262|01:00.0|01:54.4|234.3|22.1|161.8|162.0|11.9
05|00262|01:00.0|01:54.4|234.3|22.0|163.0|164.0|11.9
06|00261|01:00.0|01:54.8|231.5|22.1|164.8|165.0|11.8
07|00262|01:00.0|01:54.5|232.7|22.0|165.8|166.0|11.9
08|00260|01:00.0|01:55.2|228.8|22.0|166.2|167.0|11.8
09|00260|01:00.0|01:55.2|229.8|22.1|167.5|168.0|11.8
10|00173|01:00.0|02:53.9|104.7|21.2|164.9|169.0|08.2 - HD #1
11|00257|01:00.0|01:56.6|217.1|21.7|149.2|154.0|11.8
12|00247|01:00.0|02:01.2|203.4|20.8|159.4|162.0|11.9 - HD #2
13|00251|01:00.0|01:59.7|198.4|21.2|158.9|162.0|11.8
14|00256|01:00.0|01:57.2|217.0|21.7|161.2|163.0|11.8
15|00256|01:00.0|01:57.0|218.2|21.9|164.8|165.0|11.7
16|00256|01:00.0|01:57.4|216.2|21.8|165.5|166.0|11.7
17|00255|01:00.0|01:57.8|215.1|21.8|166.8|167.0|11.7
18|00196|01:00.0|02:33.2|122.3|20.5|164.8|168.0|09.5 - HD #3
19|00252|01:00.0|01:58.9|205.8|21.6|156.8|159.0|11.7
20|00255|01:00.0|01:57.8|214.7|21.8|161.3|164.0|11.7
21|00137|00:33.9|02:03.6|212.6|21.6|165.3|167.0|11.2
22|00250|01:26.1|02:52.3|205.7|21.8|158.5|164.0|08.0 - HD #4
23|00255|01:00.0|01:57.8|214.3|21.8|159.9|164.0|11.7
24|00256|01:00.0|01:57.3|217.3|21.9|165.6|167.0|11.7
25|00261|01:00.0|01:54.9|229.9|22.2|168.9|170.0|11.8
26|00263|01:00.0|01:54.2|234.5|22.0|172.7|175.0|12.0
27|00267|01:00.0|01:52.2|248.7|22.1|177.8|180.0|12.1
28|00269|01:00.0|01:51.5|251.3|22.0|180.0|180.0|12.2
29|00275|01:00.7|01:50.3|263.0|22.5|180.7|181.0|12.1

So. Many. Failures!  I was more careful.  I was rowing 1:55s when I decided to quit rowing (actually, both in the sense of this specific workout, and the sport in general).  I changed my mind, and again set the no slower  than 2:00 splits rule, which I found it hard to observe.  I kept speeding up and then HD’ing.

My wife has a nasty cold and I have the beginning of some symptoms.  Sometimes, I like to use the excuse that I didn’t do well because I am fighting a bug.  Maybe that I’ll include that in the excuse index for this piece.  Anyway, it sucked.  It was slower and more painful than wednesday.  The only good that came of it was that I was so angry and frustrated by the time I had 5 minutes left that I started to row really hard (at 22spm) and just kept pushing harder.  I wanted it to hurt.  And it did.  I finished within 4 beats of my MaxHR.

Saturday – Rest Day.

After that debacle, I decided that a rest day would be a good idea.  It was a good idea.  My kids are all home for Christmas and we just hung out, drank beer and enjoyed each other’s company.

Sunday – 12/23/2018 : HR capped at 150

Time to do some base work.  For some reason I am favoring HMs over the 4 x 20’s sessions recently.  I like distance based workouts.  My only issue is my butt is hurting more recently on the erg, and especially in these long sessions, it gets pretty bad.  It’s really my left sitz bone.  I am going to try some different seat pad arrangements to see if it gets better.

Today’s workout was a bit slower than I hoped, but I respected the cap until the very last minute.  I really didn’t want the time to be longer than 1:31.

       Workout Summary - media/20181223-2025320o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|21097|90:57.0|02:09.3|161.8|20.3|144.3|157.0|11.4
W-|21097|90:57.0|02:09.3|161.8|20.3|144.3|157.0|11.4
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|157.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|02000|08:28.6|02:07.1|169.2|19.1|126.4|140.0|12.4
01|02000|08:32.2|02:08.1|166.7|19.8|139.0|143.0|11.8
02|02000|08:33.8|02:08.5|165.0|20.2|138.8|145.0|11.6
03|02000|08:39.0|02:09.8|160.4|20.2|142.8|146.0|11.4
04|02000|08:42.3|02:10.6|157.2|20.1|146.6|148.0|11.5
05|02000|08:41.8|02:10.4|157.6|20.1|148.2|149.0|11.4
06|02000|08:41.5|02:10.4|158.0|20.4|149.1|151.0|11.3
07|02000|08:40.9|02:10.2|158.5|20.7|149.1|151.0|11.1
08|02000|08:40.0|02:10.0|159.4|20.6|149.4|151.0|11.2
09|02000|08:38.9|02:09.7|160.3|20.6|149.6|151.0|11.3
10|01097|04:38.7|02:07.0|172.5|22.2|149.9|157.0|10.6

Tomorrow:  I think I will do the Christmas 10K online race

Sunday: HM / 75′ Test

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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.

Screen Shot 2017-12-17 at 8.33.09 PM.png

Tomorrow:  4 x 20′ / 3′ nice and slow.

Wednesday: Very Slow Half Marathon

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I’ve been ramping volume pretty hard since last week.  I’ve put in a total of 93km since January 5th.  I probably should have ramped more slowly, but I haven’t had any knee issues (which is pretty cool)

I know I need to show a little patience, but it really bugs me to be as slow and unfit as I am right now.  Today, the plan was to row a nice, slow half marathon and keep my Heart Rate below a HR cap of 150.  It did not work out that way.

I thought I would be able to hold a 2:05 split, which is just about the 180W.  I held that for about 10K, but by then, my heart rate had cruised up to nearly 160bpm.  I dropped the power down to 170W, then 160W (2:10), but my heart rate just stubbornly stayed up around 160.  I didn’t feel too bad, and I had no trouble sustaining this level of effort, but seriously?  That kind of HR for this effort is horrifyingly bad for me.

myimage-2

Workout Summary - media/20170111-1350080o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|21097|89:01.0|02:06.6|172.3|19.9|153.6|161.0|11.9
W-|21097|89:02.0|02:06.6|172.3|19.9|153.6|161.0|11.9
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|161.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01000|04:05.2|02:02.6|183.2|19.3|125.3|137.0|12.7
01|01000|04:07.4|02:03.7|184.8|19.9|139.0|143.0|12.2
02|01000|04:07.8|02:03.9|184.1|19.8|144.3|147.0|12.2
03|01000|04:07.7|02:03.8|184.3|19.9|148.1|152.0|12.2
04|01000|04:08.1|02:04.0|183.5|19.9|150.7|154.0|12.1
05|01000|04:08.2|02:04.1|183.2|20.1|152.8|155.0|12.1
06|01000|04:08.7|02:04.4|182.0|20.0|155.2|157.0|12.1
07|01000|04:08.9|02:04.5|181.4|20.0|156.4|159.0|12.0
08|01000|04:11.3|02:05.7|176.3|20.1|156.2|158.0|11.9
09|01000|04:12.7|02:06.3|173.7|19.9|156.9|158.0|11.9
10|01000|04:14.0|02:07.0|170.7|20.0|157.2|159.0|11.8
11|01000|04:15.9|02:07.9|167.2|19.8|156.8|157.0|11.9
12|01000|04:16.2|02:08.1|166.3|19.8|156.9|158.0|11.8
13|01000|04:17.1|02:08.5|164.7|19.9|157.0|160.0|11.7
14|01000|04:17.8|02:08.9|163.6|19.9|156.8|159.0|11.7
15|01000|04:17.6|02:08.8|163.8|20.0|157.8|159.0|11.6
16|01000|04:18.7|02:09.4|161.5|20.0|159.0|160.0|11.6
17|01000|04:18.3|02:09.1|162.5|20.0|158.7|160.0|11.6
18|01000|04:17.2|02:08.6|160.7|20.0|158.9|160.0|11.7
19|01000|04:20.7|02:10.3|161.9|20.0|158.7|160.0|11.5
20|01000|04:18.2|02:09.1|162.5|19.6|159.6|161.0|11.8
21|00097|00:24.6|02:07.0|172.1|21.1|159.7|160.0|11.2

 

 

 

Thursday: Short Slide HM

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Well, that was quite unsatisfying.

I spent a fair amount of yesterday regretting doing the CTC.  My knee was stiff and painful.  I took some Ibuprofen before bed, but it was still not all together happy with me this morning.

But, I wanted to find out if I could erg without hurting my knee more.  So, I thought that I would try to do a slow half marathon

Plan:

  • Half Marathon
  • 3/4 slide (using the bandaid to mark max compression
  • Target power 180W
  • HR cap: 155
  • No rate restriction, just try to figure out how to row efficiently with the short slide.

I had a glitch with the PM5/Painsled and only got data for the first 53 minutes, but fortunately, I had my HR backup going. 😉

Screen Shot 2016-12-01 at 2.00.06 PM.png

12-1

Here’s the partial painsled data

Workout Summary - media/20161201-154018-sled_2016-12-01T07-13-18ZEST.strokes.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|12458|53:30.0|02:08.8|170.2|18.0|139.5|148.0|13.0
W-|12225|51:30.0|02:06.4|172.9|18.0|140.0|148.0|13.2
R-|00235|02:00.0|04:14.9|068.4|18.3|124.3|148.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|04803|20:00.0|02:04.9|178.7|18.2|135.6|147.0|13.2
02|04716|20:00.0|02:07.2|169.6|17.6|142.4|148.0|13.4
03|02706|11:30.0|02:07.5|168.8|18.2|143.4|148.0|12.9

myimage12-1

I was curious about how the shorter stroke affected how much force I needed to put into the handle.  These two plots illustrate the difference.  The one on the right is a HM before my injury about 2 weeks ago.  The one on the left is from today.  So, my drive length is about 9 cm shorter (6.3%).  The peak force was 11.9% higher (193.2 vs 172.6).  And this resulted in a average power that was more than 20 watts lower.

For me, this was a very valuable illustration of how important length is to delivering power.  The good news is that my knee held up well and is pretty much pain free right now.  I guess I need to be satisfied with the idea of going slow until my knee is better.

Tomorrow:  Dr’s appt in the morning.  I might have time for a short workout during the day.

Wednesday: 8 x 750 buried in a half marathon

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First thing in the morning, fasted.  It was the only time I had to get any training in today.  All my kids are coming home (with a couple of significant others) for Thanksgiving and the rest of the day is a blur of driving, baking and talking.  It might be one of my favorite days of the year.

Today’s challenge was to massage a sprint workout into a half marathon.  I want to stick to a polarized workout plan, and I also want to keep working on the Crazy Bear Challenge.  So here is today’s workout plan:

  • Fletcher warmup.  20 minutes, usually comes in just over 5000m.  This gets me to ~16070m.
  • paddle until I get to 15750
  • 8 x 750m/750m rest.  so, 15×750 is 11250 (leaving off the last rest), which takes me down to 4500m
  • paddle down to 4000m
  • happy ending cool down.  1000m at 2:00, then 2:05, then 2:10, then 2:15

It worked out fine.  I didn’t lose any intervals or miss any transitions.  The cool down was a bit long, but I was entertained by the fact that I could aim for exactly 1:30:00 by a coincidence.  This kept me very focused as I tried to keep the projected finish 10 seconds ahead during the 2:10 and right on 1:30:00 during the 2:15 bit.

The intervals themselves were perfectly miserable.  I would have expected to be able to do these below 1:45.  But my legs were completely trashed from my strength session last night.  They felt empty at the beginning and were burning in the second half of each interval.  I really felt like I was working with a lot less power today.

But, I’m pretty happy that I stuck it out.  I experimented with different stroke rates and ended up feeling most comfortable at 26/27 and I worked to lengthen my stroke after the first three intervals.  You can see that in the drive length plot.

myimage11-23a

Heart rate was not that high, but I was pushing about as hard as I could.  The rests were nice and long.

A few metrics.  First the drive length.  On the left, showing it versus time, on the right versus stroke rate.  You can see the change in the fourth interval when I settled into a longer stroke at r26.  You can also see that the drive length is definitely getting shorter with higher stroke rates.  Interesting because it gets longer from 18 up to about 24spm.

Here is the work per stroke.  The notable thing here is the increased stroke power in the fourth interval when I consciously pulled down the rate.  It’s also interesting (at least to me) that the work per stroke is pretty constant versus stroke rate through this range of rates.

Finally, here is a view of peak and average force, and the ratio of these values.  It seems logical that the higher the ratio, the more efficient the stroke.  But I gotta say, there is really no trend in the intervals or relationship with stroke rate across this workout.

And finally, just because I like the way it looks.  Here’s the power versus stroke rate.

bokeh_plot-59

Here are the splits:

Workout Summary - media/20161123-205340-sled_2016-11-23T08-50-06ZEST.strokes.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|12000|51:20.0|02:08.4|195.5|22.4|149.1|176.0|10.4
W-|06000|21:17.0|01:46.5|289.1|26.9|156.8|176.0|10.5
R-|15097|68:40.0|02:16.5|155.7|20.5|145.8|176.0|11.3
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
02|00750|02:43.8|01:49.2|267.8|25.2|149.8|161.0|10.9
03|00750|02:39.7|01:46.5|288.0|27.0|155.5|166.0|10.5
04|00750|02:38.3|01:45.5|296.7|27.7|156.5|168.0|10.3
05|00750|02:39.3|01:46.2|292.0|26.7|157.6|170.0|10.6
06|00750|02:41.2|01:47.5|281.1|26.3|156.5|169.0|10.6
07|00750|02:40.8|01:47.2|282.6|26.7|157.6|169.0|10.5
08|00750|02:40.9|01:47.3|282.0|26.3|157.7|170.0|10.6
09|00750|02:33.7|01:42.4|325.0|29.7|163.5|176.0|09.9

Tomorrow:  Thanksgiving.  I’m giving thanks by taking a rest day!

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

Hard Half Marathon

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Continuing with the Crazy Bear Challenge.  Today was a bit spicier.

Plan:

  • Half Marathon
  • Free Rate
  • Pace: 1:57.5
  • No HR Cap

Last weekend, I did a 1:58.5 and I was sure I could do better.  I was thinking I’d aim to slice a second off the pace.  I didn’t bother to warmup, I just sat on the machine and started going.  I settled in at 1:55 and even though I was worried that I’d burn out, I just kept going and let the pace bleed off and the rate creep up over the row.  I was never in any serious distress, but I sure felt pretty awful after I finished.

End result: 1:21:38.8 (1:56.1)

That’s good enough to be ranked 14 of 474 on the concept2 rankings of 50-60 hwts.  So, I’m pretty happy with that.

It was a hard row, about an hour above AT.  The last 4 minutes in AN.  I might be able to squeeze a bit more out with a slower start, but I’m not sure.  I’m still a ways off of my PB (1:19:55.4), that’s a 1:53.6 pace.  Maybe after 25 more HMs?

myimage11-20a

Workout Summary - media/20161120-222121-sled_2016-11-20T15-12-43ZEST.strokes.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|21097|81:36.0|01:56.0|223.7|23.6|166.7|181.0|11.0
W-|21097|81:37.0|01:56.1|223.7|23.5|166.4|181.0|11.0
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-
01|01000|03:49.2|01:54.6|227.7|22.2|132.9|143.0|11.8
02|01000|03:51.2|01:55.6|226.5|22.4|147.9|152.0|11.6
03|01000|03:50.8|01:55.4|227.6|22.8|153.5|155.0|11.4
04|01000|03:50.6|01:55.3|228.3|22.9|156.5|158.0|11.3
05|01000|03:50.5|01:55.2|228.6|23.2|160.0|161.0|11.2
06|01000|03:50.8|01:55.4|227.7|23.4|162.3|164.0|11.1
07|01000|03:51.7|01:55.8|225.1|23.2|164.7|165.0|11.2
08|01000|03:51.5|01:55.8|225.6|23.4|165.3|167.0|11.1
09|01000|03:51.9|01:55.9|224.8|23.3|167.6|168.0|11.1
10|01000|03:52.2|01:56.1|223.3|23.4|168.1|170.0|11.0
11|01000|03:52.9|01:56.4|221.7|23.1|170.2|171.0|11.2
12|01000|03:53.1|01:56.5|221.1|23.4|170.9|171.0|11.0
13|01000|03:53.9|01:57.0|218.9|23.5|171.1|172.0|10.9
14|01000|03:54.0|01:57.0|218.1|23.7|171.8|172.0|10.8
15|01000|03:54.2|01:57.1|218.3|23.7|173.6|174.0|10.8
16|01000|03:54.2|01:57.1|217.5|23.6|173.7|174.0|10.8
17|01000|03:53.7|01:56.9|219.3|24.1|175.1|176.0|10.7
18|01000|03:54.7|01:57.3|216.7|24.0|175.8|176.0|10.6
19|01000|03:54.7|01:57.4|216.6|24.2|175.4|176.0|10.6
20|01000|03:52.4|01:56.2|223.2|24.7|177.3|178.0|10.5
21|01000|03:48.9|01:54.5|234.0|25.6|178.9|181.0|10.2
22|00097|00:20.2|01:44.2|304.6|29.5|181.0|181.0|09.8

With the tools on rowsandall.com, I can get a good look at how I traded rate for power as the row went on.  You can see my weakest part, from about 7k down to 2k, where my strokes got shorter and the work per stroke went down.

Tomorrow:  HM L4.  Interested to see how much oomph I have after this workout.

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.