Ugh. Jet Lag. 40′ L4 plus some junk meters

August 4, 2017Leave a comment

What day is it? Oh yeah, Friday.

So, let’s back up. I got to Tokyo on Wednesday afternoon, and had a very nice dinner with a customer on Wednesday night. I entertained notions of working out on Thursday morning, but decided to sleep instead. I headed off to the office at 8am, had a bunch of meetings until about 3 in the afternoon.

At 3, I headed off to the airport. I caught a 7 pm flight to LAX. The flight was flawless. Left on time, arrived on time, and the food was good. I even got about 6 hours of sleep. I arrived at 1:30 Thursday afternoon, five and half hours before I left (I am endlessly fascinated by flying east and getting in before I leave). At LAX, I grabbed a rental car and drove 3 hours south to San Diego.

I checked into my hotel and made it to a conference call with about 1 minute to spare. Total travel time from office in Yokohama to Hotel in San Diego… 16 hours.

I went to bed around 9 and slept great. Until 1:00. Then I didn’t sleep any more. Not even a little bit. I didn’t even doze. I was WIDE AWAKE. The time from 1:00 to 5:00 was the longest 4 hours of my life!

At 5, I got up and headed off to Cross Fit Del Mar. They were accommodating as usual. I was rowing by 5:30.

The plan was for an 80 minute L4 as 2 40′ chunks. It all seemed to be going OK until I got about 25 minutes into it. I was doing my usual 168/172/176/180 routine. I was in the middle of the 176 and I shifted up to the 20spm section. It just felt so hard. It took a long time to recover as I came back down to 18 and then 16 spm. Then when I did the 180, my HR started blasting off as I shifted up to 18, and it felt very hard. I stuck to it knowing that I was going finish the forty minutes.

I had some water and decided to just do 168/172/168/172 for the second 40′. But it was tough even rowing at 16 spm. I was just out of energy. I basically just piddled along trying to keep my HR below 155 for 20 minutes and then called it a day.

Oh well. Chalk it up to travel related fatigue, lack of sleep or whatever. I’m still glad I went and rowed.

80′ L4

July 31, 20172 Comments

In an episode of a podcast called “browshowpodcast” (which is really quite good and available on soundcloud), they talk about the difference between beginning of the week watts and end of the week watts. I feel like I experienced that today.

I did the exact same session as I did on last Wednesday in Shanghai and it felt a whole lot harder. Today’s session was the third day in a row of training and yesterday’s L2 workout was pretty intense. I also did the session on 18 hours of rest.

But anyway, I did the session and I’m glad.

The plan was the same.

4 x 20′ / 1′ rest
rate / power
- 16 / 155
- 18 / 175
- 20 / 195
- 22 / 215
rate plan

The results…

Target power for the 20′ sections was 165W and 173W. Stroke rates were right on. But the HR was a lot higher.

Here are the HR pie charts for today’s and last week’s session. The good news is that I spent longer in sub-UT2. The bad news is that I spent longer in AT and TR.

: Today’s row.

: Last week’s row

Gotta say, I am enjoying getting back to basics on this training.

Tomorrow: L3. 10K. According to the plan, an L# should be done at about 85% to 90% of 2K velocity. I am working off of paces for a 7:00 2K, so a 1:45 pace. 90% of that is a 1:56.6. 85% of that is a 2:03.5. I think I will aim at a target pace of 1:57 and see how it goes.

Blessed be, another erg! 60′ L4

July 29, 20171 Comment

This has turned out to be a pretty nice day.

My ride to the airport was smooth, well, except for the part where I discovered that I was short of money to pay the driver and had to run inside the terminal to an ATM to fix that little problem.

My flight from Taiwan to Macau was delightfully short and very comfortable. Customs was a breeze, and the shuttle to the hotel was easy to find and extremely well air conditioned. I’ve never been to Macau before. If it wasn’t for the humidity, I would swear that I am in Las Vegas. The hotels and casinos are nearly indistinguishable! I am staying at the Sheraton, which boast of having 4000 rooms. I can tell you that 4000 is a lot of rooms in a hotel. The front desk had about 40 clerks working and the queue was quite long. Luckily, I’m a member of the sheraton frequent guest program and they had a nice, special check in desk for us away from the hoi poloi 😉

I went to my room and this was the view from my window.

Basically what the brochure promised. I settled in, did some work, and around 3:30 I decided to check out the fitness center.

My plan was to do an easy workout to see if my stomach would give me troubles.

It took me about 10 minutes to walk to the fitness center. (Did I mention that it’s a large hotel?) Lo and behold, what did I see?

Yep, a brand new Model E rowing machine complete with a PM5 monitor. Alas, I couldn’t get the monitor to link up with my phone, but still, two ergs in one trip. I felt extremely lucky!

I settled in for an L4 session.

2 x 30′ / 2′ rest
10′ sections
rate / power targets
- 16 / 155
- 18 / 175
- 20 / 195
- 22 / 215
rate plan

I was hoping that this would be a reasonably easy workout and for the most part it was. My stomach was a bit grumbly in the middle of the first 30 minutes, but settled down. My hr climbed a bit higher than I was hoping it would as the workout wore on, but nothing weird. All in all, a very pleasant session.

So, the stroke rate for the first 30 minutes should have been 17.2 and the second 30′ should have been 17.6, so that’s OK. The power target for the first 30 minutes was 167W and the second was 171W, so I was 3W ahead of m=plan.

Now it’s about 5:30 and I’m trying to figure out what to do tonight. I guess find some dinner and do some more work.

Tomorrow: Sticking with the WP theme, I think I will do a very tame L2 workout.

5×1500/5′ rest

At my best I could do this workout at a 1:45 pace. In general, I’m closer to 1:50. Since I’m just restarting, far from home and not in the mood to try to hard, I’m going to do it at 1:55 with a faster last.

Hooray, the hotel has an erg!

July 26, 2017Leave a comment

Monday, July 24 and Tuesday, July 25: (No Training)

I woke up at the ungodly hour of 4:30am to get to the airportfor my 7am flight. I was flying to Shanghai via Chicago, total flight time 17 and a half hours. Total travel time 22 and a half hours. With the time zone changes, I got into my hotel room at 3:00pm Tuesday afternoon. I took a shower and went to work, then a customer dinner.

I was back in my hotel room by 9:00pm and asleep at 9:01pm (approximately)

I guess you’d call that 2 rest days, but it didn’t feel very restful.

Wednesday, July 26:

I slept pretty well considering the jet lag. I woke up around midnight, but got right back to sleep. I woke up at 3:00am and slept fitfully until 5am. I was in the gym by about 5:30am and what a gym it was.

I’m staying in the Kerry Hotel in Pudong and the fitness center is incredible. The main gym has ceilings two stories high, there is a spinning room and a group room off to the side. They have lots of treadmills, ellipticals, bikes, weight machines, TRX, free weights, kettle bells, all in brand new condition. And they had 2 perfectly maintained concept2 Model D rowing machines with PM4s. I couldn’t believe my good fortune.

When I arrived there was someone using one of the rowers, and so I settled into the second one.

Plan:

80′ L4
4×20’/1′ rest
rate/power
- 16 – 150W
- 18 – 170W
- 20 – 190W
- 22 – 210W
stroke sequence: I decided to go for my all time favorite classic L4 sequence. In shorthand it’s a 2x(168/172/176/180). That means 168 strokes in the first 10 minutes, then 172, then 176, then 180. So, here’s how that looks.

I had a blast! The intensity was just about perfect. The fastest bits pushed me above the top of my UT1 zone, but my HR dropped back in the slower pieces.

I really should get a USB cable so I can use ergdata with the PM3 and PM4, but for now all I get is HR data.

: Last week’s row

Tomorrow: I think I’ll stick with the Wolverine theme and do this month’s CTC. It will be slow, but I’d like to put a score on the board.

Off to China

July 24, 20175 Comments

Once every calendar quarter we have business reviews. As an engineering company, we are naturally enthralled with applying acronyms to everything, so the weeks of reviews is QBR week. I am in a position where I am the principle reviewer for a set of them, and then later in the week, I try to put together a summary review for my supervisors. At the same time, we have to prepare for board meetings, get ready for employee communications meetings, and also actually take care of business.

Tuesday, 18 July: No training

I managed to find a brief window to exercise on Monday, and I was hopeful that I would be able to do some OTW rowing on Tuesday morning, but that was spoiled by a bit of a stomach bug that hit me Monday night. I was up for a lot of the night and I needed to be at work for an 8am meeting. After that, I was in meetings until 8pm. After that, I worked until 10pm catching up on email. I got home around 11:00 and didn’t get to bed until nearly 1am.

Wednesday, 19 July: No training

I slept until 7am and hustled off to work for more business review meetings which started at 9am. These went straight through to 6pm. After that, I needed to prepare for meetings with my boss that were happening on Thursday. I was at work until 10pm again, and got to bed after midnight

Thursday, 20 July: No Training

I was up at 6am, and right out the door. Thursday was a bit less stressful, with only 7 hours of meetings, but 4 of those hours were with my boss, so I needed to be on my toes. I needed to get right out the door at 6pm to get to an appointment. The evening was filled with domestic chores because I’d be leaving right after work for Cape Cod. Again, it wasn’t until after midnight when I got to bed.

Friday, 21 July: No Training

Again up at 6am, and quickly out the door. Meetings from 9 to 4. At four, I bolted out the door and headed home. I picked up my stuff and continued on to the cape, arriving at about 8pm (having picked up pizza right near my destination). Needless to say, I was eager to get to bed early, and I slept a long time.

Saturday, 22 July: 3 x 20’/1′ on the erg.

My schedule wouldn’t work out for a coastal row today, so before breakfast, I snuck down to the basement for a easy endurance session. I purposely kept the power really low since it had been 4 days without training.

I did the first two 20′ sections at 180w. At the end of the second, I was seeing my HR going a bit high, so I decided to do the last 20 minutes as 2×10′ L4 rate ladders

4min / r17 / 160w
3min / r18 / 170w
2min / r19 / 180w
1min / r20 / 190W

This was very entertaining, and I didn’t much mind that my HR spiked up a bit with the rate restriction and ladders.

Workout Summary - media/20170722-1545410o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14888|63:07.0|02:07.2|174.1|19.0|147.6|165.0|12.4
W-|14430|60:00.0|02:04.7|180.2|18.9|147.6|165.0|12.8
R-|00464|03:07.0|03:22.1|052.2|20.3|146.9|165.0|07.8
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|04847|20:00.0|02:03.8|184.0|18.8|137.3|148.0|12.9
01|04829|20:00.0|02:04.2|183.0|19.7|149.9|157.0|12.3
02|00932|04:00.0|02:08.7|161.2|17.1|145.6|152.0|13.6
03|00713|03:00.0|02:06.3|173.6|18.1|154.1|156.0|13.1
04|00485|02:00.0|02:03.8|184.3|19.3|158.5|160.0|12.6
05|00246|01:00.0|02:01.8|194.0|19.9|160.8|162.0|12.3
06|00932|04:00.0|02:08.7|164.5|17.1|158.6|162.0|13.6
07|00711|03:00.0|02:06.6|172.2|18.1|157.4|159.0|13.1
08|00485|02:00.0|02:03.7|185.1|19.2|160.8|163.0|12.7
09|00250|01:00.0|02:00.0|201.4|20.1|163.6|165.0|12.5

That was good fun. I think I’ll do some more of that.

Sunday, 22 July:

I was planning on a coastal row, but I was stymied by weather. It was grey and blustery when I got up, so again, I opted for an erg session. Today’s plan

80 minute L4
4×20’/1′
Same rate vs power as Saturday
Keep it nice and easy.

Nice low HR, easy row. The low rates started to bug my back by the end though.

I notched up one stroke per minute after 30 minutes to make it a bit harder.

Workout Summary - media/20170723-1435180o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|19158|84:08.0|02:11.8|168.8|18.0|132.0|150.0|12.7
W-|18866|80:00.0|02:07.2|171.1|17.9|131.7|150.0|13.2
R-|00306|04:08.0|06:45.7|086.2|20.1|127.8|150.0|07.4
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00917|04:00.0|02:10.8|154.2|16.0|106.3|119.0|14.3
01|00701|03:00.0|02:08.5|164.9|17.3|121.0|123.0|13.5
02|00475|02:00.0|02:06.2|174.0|18.1|124.3|126.0|13.1
03|00242|01:00.0|02:04.0|183.0|19.1|125.5|127.0|12.7
04|00917|04:00.0|02:10.9|156.4|16.4|124.4|129.0|14.0
05|00701|03:00.0|02:08.4|165.5|17.2|123.1|125.0|13.5
06|00476|02:00.0|02:06.0|175.0|18.2|124.1|127.0|13.1
07|00244|01:00.0|02:02.8|185.6|19.1|129.5|131.0|12.8
08|00916|04:00.0|02:11.0|156.4|16.1|116.8|124.0|14.2
09|00700|03:00.0|02:08.6|164.4|17.3|125.7|129.0|13.5
10|00480|02:00.0|02:05.1|178.7|18.2|129.8|132.0|13.2
11|00242|01:00.0|02:03.8|184.7|19.1|134.8|137.0|12.7
12|00933|04:00.0|02:08.6|164.8|17.4|131.5|137.0|13.4
13|00715|03:00.0|02:05.8|175.6|18.1|134.1|136.0|13.2
14|00486|02:00.0|02:03.4|186.2|18.9|138.5|142.0|12.9
15|00246|01:00.0|02:01.7|193.6|19.9|140.4|141.0|12.4
16|00900|04:00.0|02:13.4|168.2|17.0|126.0|134.0|13.2
17|00714|03:00.0|02:06.0|175.1|18.2|137.2|139.0|13.1
18|00484|02:00.0|02:03.9|183.7|19.2|140.3|143.0|12.6
19|00246|01:00.0|02:01.9|193.6|20.1|141.6|142.0|12.2
20|00936|04:00.0|02:08.3|166.5|17.4|137.9|142.0|13.4
21|00714|03:00.0|02:06.0|174.5|18.2|136.1|139.0|13.1
22|00483|02:00.0|02:04.1|183.3|19.3|140.5|143.0|12.5
23|00246|01:00.0|02:01.8|193.6|20.2|142.5|143.0|12.2
24|00932|04:00.0|02:08.8|161.5|17.4|131.9|139.0|13.4
25|00712|03:00.0|02:06.4|173.4|18.3|140.2|142.0|13.0
26|00483|02:00.0|02:04.1|182.8|19.4|142.6|144.0|12.4
27|00248|01:00.0|02:01.1|196.2|20.2|144.7|147.0|12.2
28|00247|01:00.0|02:01.5|195.5|20.3|149.4|150.0|12.2
29|00480|02:00.0|02:04.9|179.7|19.3|148.3|150.0|12.4
30|00712|03:00.0|02:06.5|172.8|18.4|144.0|147.0|12.9
31|00936|04:00.0|02:08.2|166.5|17.4|142.3|145.0|13.4

Now I’m off to Shanghai, the first stop on a two week trip with 4 different destinations.

Back from Korea – some training (and some eating)

July 2, 2017Leave a comment

Thursday, June 29: I posted about my workout in the morning. I had the morning in the office, and then headed to the airport at 2pm Korea time. I took off at 5:30pm, arrived in Dallas, around 4:30pm. Connected to Boston, taking off at 6:25pm and arrived in Boston around 11pm. I got my car and pulled around to a different terminal to meet my daughter who was flying in from St. Louis.

She took over driving duties and we headed off to Cape Cod, arriving at 1:30AM. My total travel time 24 hours and 30 minutes. I was surprised to see my sons when I got to the house. I guess they keep late hours.

Friday, June 30: Honestly, I don’t remember much about Friday. I was tired. It was very windy. The highlight of the day was my quest to make great lobster rolls. First stop, great bread from this amazing french bakery near us (PB Boulangerie in Wellfleet). The traditional lobster roll is on a buttered split top hot dog bun. I prefer a fresh Croissant. Still buttery, but also flakey and light. Next stop, Mac’s fish market on the pier to buy some cooked lobster. Finally, the Wellfleet market for celery, since lobster salad needs a little crunch.

Lobster Salad (serves 2) (I quadrupled the recipe)

Two big flakey, fresh croissants
1/2 pound cooked lobster, cut into biggish chunks
1 stalk celery, diced
Hellman’s Mayonaisse to taste
dash of salt
dash of ground black pepper
dash of italian seasoning
1/4 lemon squeezed

Warm up the croissants in the oven while you make the salad. mix the lobster, celery, salt, pepper and italian seasoning in a bowl. Add a tbsp of mayo and mix, and then add a tsp at a time until the salad just barely clings together. Squeeze a bit of lemon juice over the top

Slice the croissants, add the lobster salad and enjoy.

Ummmm. No training

Saturday, July 1: More hanging around. More wind. It was above 40mph sustained winds for a while. I did an erg session.

3 x 20′ / 2′

I just wanted to keep it easy so I set off at 2:08 pace and held it for the first 2 pieces. I got bored so I did the last 20 minutes L4 style

Workout Summary - media/20170701-2315210o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14515|65:12.0|02:14.8|162.9|18.9|138.5|154.0|11.8
W-|13640|58:00.0|02:07.6|168.7|18.9|138.6|154.0|12.5
R-|00880|07:12.0|04:05.7|082.0|19.0|129.7|154.0|10.9
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|04697|20:00.0|02:07.8|167.4|18.7|129.0|138.0|12.5
01|04696|20:00.0|02:07.8|168.4|18.9|140.3|146.0|12.4
02|00925|04:00.0|02:09.7|160.1|17.8|136.4|145.0|13.0
03|00707|03:00.0|02:07.4|169.3|19.0|147.2|148.0|12.4
04|00478|02:00.0|02:05.5|176.6|19.9|150.4|152.0|12.0
05|00486|02:00.0|02:03.3|186.5|20.6|153.2|154.0|11.8
06|00714|03:00.0|02:06.0|175.3|19.7|152.5|153.0|12.1
07|00937|04:00.0|02:08.0|166.8|18.6|150.3|152.0|12.6

Later in the day, I went and gathered some oysters from the sand bars in front of the house. Then it was my first attempt at solo shucking. I got a quick lesson last summer, and I managed to shuck a dozen or so oysters without impaling myself.

Sunday, July 2nd: Too much stuff going on all day. We dropped our daughter off at the ferry in Provincetown, and I went for a nice walk around the island, but no training.

There was a very nice sunset on Sunday though.

And later that night the next town had their fireworks. They were pretty far off in the distance, but it was fun to be able to see them from our porch. They were down in Rock Harbor, which is 10.7km SSE from where we are. The fireworks plainly visible, but not very impressive from that distance.

Sunday: 10K L4 and some force curves

December 19, 2016December 19, 20161 Comment

Plan: 10K L4.

Rushing around trying to get up to see my Dad, so just a quick 10K. I’ve been pushing the intensity lately, so a bit easier to today.

2500 m sequences
1000m/750m/500m/250m
stroke rates 18/19/20/21
power: 180/190/200/210
No HR cap

Workout Summary - media/20161218-234402-sled_2016-12-18T11-47-55ZEST.strokes.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10000|40:32.0|02:01.6|194.9|19.1|150.5|164.0|12.9
W-|10000|40:32.0|02:01.6|194.3|19.1|150.4|164.0|12.9
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|164.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|01000|04:06.5|02:03.2|184.0|18.0|125.4|133.0|13.5
02|00750|03:02.7|02:01.8|193.5|19.2|138.2|143.0|12.9
03|00500|01:59.4|01:59.4|205.8|20.1|146.4|149.0|12.5
04|00500|01:57.5|01:57.5|215.2|21.0|150.0|152.0|12.2
05|00500|01:59.7|01:59.7|204.6|20.1|152.6|155.0|12.5
06|00750|03:02.5|02:01.7|194.2|19.1|151.3|155.0|12.9
07|02000|08:15.0|02:03.8|184.6|18.1|149.8|152.0|13.4
08|00750|03:01.7|02:01.1|197.0|19.4|153.9|155.0|12.8
09|00500|01:59.2|01:59.2|205.6|20.4|158.8|161.0|12.4
10|00500|01:57.5|01:57.5|215.7|21.0|161.6|164.0|12.1
11|00500|01:59.7|01:59.7|204.9|20.0|162.0|164.0|12.5
12|00750|03:03.0|02:02.0|192.8|19.0|161.6|163.0|12.9
13|01000|04:08.1|02:04.1|183.0|18.1|159.7|162.0|13.3

After I did the workout, I decided to do a little more rowing to try to take some pictures of force curves. I’m trying to figure out what causes changes to the forceratio metric.

So, I set up a Just Row and setup the PM to show the force curve. I rowed a bit at 18 until I got a reasonably representative force curve, then I’d take a picture. Then at 20, then 22, then 24. All of this was unstrapped. I tried to get the power close to the 10Wx stroke rate target, but I was a bit enthusiastic, so all of them are high. The stroke rates are a bit off too. I think this would be a good enhancement to painsled, a mode where it would log the force curve, not just display it.

Tomorrow: Not sure if I will have time to workout. I have pre-op appointments in the morning and I will be scooting off to see my dad after work.

Thursday: Short Slide HM

December 1, 2016Leave a comment

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. 😉

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

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.

Tuesday AM: Awful L4 HM

November 22, 2016Leave a comment

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

November 21, 2016Leave a comment

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.

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

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Tag: L4