Tag: hsinchu

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

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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.

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12-7b

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.

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12-8b

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.

 

 

Saturday: Fitness Center Drudgery

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Well, it’s Saturday morning now.  I’ve been on the road for 5 full days and I am getting tired of it.  Yesterday was another day of customer and internal meetings and I finished off with a dinner with the guy who is responsible for sales in this region.  After that, it was back to my hotel to join a couple of conference calls.  This lasted until after 2AM.

I slept from around 3 to around 7, and then headed down the the gym.  On tap for today, another fitness center triathlon.  Today, I was determined to keep it nice and easy so that I would have no excuses in another threshold session tomorrow.

Plan:

  • 30 minutes inclined march (15% grade, 3mph)
  • 30 minutes bike (“foothills” program, level 14)
  • 30 minutes elliptical (“around the world” program, level 17)

I was working out a bit later and its pretty obvious that they turn off the AC at night because it was much cooler and dryer in the fitness center at 8am than it is at 5am.  This was reflected in much lower HR and RPE for all three chunks of the workout.

For example, both yesterday and today started with a 30′ inclined march at 15% grade and 3mph.  Yesterday, my HR at 30 minutes was 151bpm.  Today, 143 bpm.

This afternoon, I am heading to the airport for a shortish flight to Korea.  I hang out there on Sunday, and then have 3 days of internal and customer meetings before I fly out on Wednesday afternoon.  It can’t come soon enough.

Tomorrow:  I think a 20 x 2 minutes on/1 minute off interval session on the treadmill.

 

Wednesday: 3 x 30′ Fitness Center Triathlon

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Still in Hsinchu.  Woke up at 4am (jetlag).  Gave up trying to sleep at 5am and headed to the gym.  (pictured above)

Plan:

  • 30′ ellipitcal (“around the world” hill profile, level 17…too easy)
  • 30′ stationary bike (“classic hill profile”, basically 1′ intervals, level 18)
  • 30′ treadmill (inclined walk, 3mph, incline 11 to 12%, keeping HR just below 150)

Well, that was pretty boring.

Tomorrow:  Threshold session on treadmill.  Probably interval format.