Friday: 3 x 20′ L4 in Nijmegen

February 5, 2016February 5, 20167 Comments

Europe is tough on training routines. I took a scheduled rest day on Tuesday after my overnight flight to Munich. Then on Wednesday and Thursday I went to bed too late, had early morning commitments, and so I didn’t have time to work out. I was determined to “get my row on” on Friday morning. I arrived at my hotel in Nijmegen around 10PM and inquired at the desk about fitness options. They had a pitiful fitness center in the hotel, but I really wanted a rowing machine, so they found me a fitness center (Basic-Fit) about a 15 minute walk from the hotel. I set out to find this place a bit before 7AM the next morning.

I walked in and aske d how much they charged for a day pass. The guy at the desk smiled and waved me in. This was turning out to be a good decision. I found four immaculately maintained Model E rowers in a row on the second level and picked on. Nice drag factor, and a PM4, so I could link my wahoo HR belt and keep an eye on my ascending heart rate.

The Plan:

3 x 20′ / 1′ rest
6 x 10′ L4 sequences
1′ @ 21, 3′ @ 20, 3′ @ 19, 3′ @ 18
10W * spm

After so many days off, I expected it to feel hard, and it did. My HR was high, but not horrifically so. I quite enjoyed the workout and the walk to and from the city center.

Tomorrow: 4 x 20 L4

Sunday: Workout with the Worcester Boat Club. I am thinking I will introduce them all to the mystery and majesty of the Cross Team Challenge and see how they all do with the 3×7′ session.

4 x 20′ L4

January 31, 20161 Comment

Plan:

4 x 20′ / 1′ rest
- L4 format (1′ @ 21, 3′ @ 20, 3′ @ 19, 3′ @18)
- 8 x 10′ pieces

Really nice and easy. My lower back is bother me a little, but not enough to impact what I’m doing.

Workout Summary – Jan 31, 2016
–_|_Total_|_-Total-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg-_|_Avg-_|_-Avg-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg_|_-Avg
–_|_Dist-_|_-Time–_|_-Pace–_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_-HR–_|_-%HRR–_|_-DPS_|_-SPI
–_|_19828_|_80:00.0_|_02:01.0_|_197.4_|_19.4_|_135.9_|_ 65.2% _|_12.8_|_10.2
Workout Details
#-_|_SDist_|_-Split-_|_-SPace-_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_AvgHR_|_Avg%HRR_|_DPS-_|_-SPI

01_|_02481_|_10:00.0_|_02:00.9_|_197.9_|_19.5_|_126.4_|_ 58.4% _|_12.7_|_10.1
02_|_02483_|_10:00.0_|_02:00.8_|_198.4_|_19.5_|_134.9_|_ 64.5% _|_12.7_|_10.2
03_|_02481_|_10:00.0_|_02:00.9_|_197.9_|_19.5_|_135.0_|_ 64.5% _|_12.7_|_10.2
04_|_02476_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.2_|_196.7_|_19.4_|_139.2_|_ 67.6% _|_12.8_|_10.1
05_|_02480_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.0_|_197.7_|_19.4_|_135.8_|_ 65.1% _|_12.8_|_10.2
06_|_02474_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.2_|_196.4_|_19.3_|_139.2_|_ 67.5% _|_12.8_|_10.2
07_|_02480_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.0_|_197.8_|_19.4_|_136.6_|_ 65.7% _|_12.8_|_10.2
08_|_02474_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.3_|_196.2_|_19.3_|_140.5_|_ 68.4% _|_12.8_|_10.2
Target_____________Actual_____________delta____________
Strokes____Meters______Strokes____Meters______Strokes__meters___EndHR
0192___|___02456___|___0195___|___02481___|___03___|___25___|___129
0192___|___02456___|___0195___|___02483___|___03___|___27___|___133
0192___|___02456___|___0195___|___02481___|___03___|___25___|___136
0192___|___02456___|___0194___|___02476___|___02___|___20___|___135
0192___|___02456___|___0194___|___02480___|___02___|___24___|___136
0192___|___02456___|___0193___|___02474___|___01___|___19___|___134
0192___|___02456___|___0194___|___02480___|___02___|___25___|___135
0192___|___02456___|___0193___|___02474___|___01___|___18___|___139
1536___|___19647___|___1553___|___19828___|___17___|__181___|___000

Tomorrow: Scheduled for a rest day, but since I will be flying to Munich on Monday night, I will take my rest day on Tuesday, and do Tuesday’s 4×1000 tomorrow morning. Last week I did this with an avg pace of 1:40.4. I’ll aim right around 1:40 and see how I do.

3 x 20′ L4 : The Painsled era begins

January 29, 20162 Comments

While I was riding airplanes, I had enough time to fiddle around with the Painsled “.csv” output files. I will post a note about that later on, but I now have the beginnings of a workable workflow. An indication of how obsessed I am with the “big data” aspect of training, it feels like a big relief to be able to make my pretty charts.

The plan for today:

3 x 20′ / 1′ rest L4
- 10W/stroke
- same stroke sequence as Wednesday
Peak power training

I felt very sore and tired this morning and the my RPE was quite high in the workout. HR was on the high side, but reasonable. I was also feeling some soreness in my lower back. After the second 20′ piece, I decided that I would not do the peak power stuff today to give my back a bit of recovery time.

Oh happy day! Plot from Painsled!

Tomorrow: The training plan calls for a repeat of the 8×500. But, I managed to get a few folks interested in a group workout at the boathouse, so I wanted to come up with something new and different. Time based workouts are better for a group, and I think that this group might really like the sprint pyramid workout. So, this is what I’m thinking is:

1′ / 2′ / 3′ / 4′ / 3′ / 2′ / 1′
Equal rests
Pace target: ~2k race pace
Rate Target: 30

Wednesday: 3×20 L4 plus Peak Power

January 27, 20161 Comment

Plan:

3×20 L4
- 6 x 10′ : (1’@21, 3’@20, 3’@19, 3’@18)
- 10W / stroke (so 18spm => 180W, etc)
- 1′ rests
Peak Power Training
- 15 x 10″ / 1′ rest
- target > 700W peak in each rep.

This morning I was at crossfit anaerobic. A gleaming, large box just four tenths of a mile away from my hotel. I walked there in about 10 minutes. I met Kim who took my twenty bucks and pointed me to the ergs. I was tucked away from the class so I didn’t have the nice visual distraction for most of my workout. The erg was smooth as silk, and clean enough to give me a drag factor of 200 when set to 10 for the peak power stuff.

I had another customer dinner and another big steak last night. But I am ashamed to admit, when I got back to the hotel around 10, I felt a little hungry. Luckily, there was nothing to snack on. This morning, other than a little dehydration, I felt fine.

The 3×20 was uneventful. I was listening to “Hamilton” (the musical) and with the rate changes, the time passed quickly and easily. HR was right around the UT2/UT1 border for the whole row, and continued to drop nicely during the 180W bits, just the way I wanted it to.

After that, I had a quick drink, toweled off, pushed the damper up to 10 and programmed the erg for 1’10” intervals with no rest. This is peak power training and the goal was to do a standing start and about 8 hard strokes over 10 seconds. I was trying to get over 230W on my first pull and over 700W for my peak stroke. I managed to get over 700W for almost all of the sprints, and topped out around 720W. I didn’t fade much through the workout. The first pull was more erratic. If I hit it just right, I would pull a 235 to 240W first stroke. But if I overcompressed, or open my back early in the first stroke, I would fall down to 220 or below.

I am enjoying these sessions. I’m worrying that I am doing them wrong since I don’t seem to fade as much as the instructions say I should, but I don’t think I can pull much harder!

Here’s the HR plot for everything, including my walk to the gym. I like the way the sprints look at the end.

Sunday: 4×20 L4

January 24, 2016Leave a comment

Easy row. Nothing to report.

Workout Summary – Jan 24, 2016
–_|_Total_|_-Total-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg-_|_Avg-_|_-Avg-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg_|_-Avg
–_|_Dist-_|_-Time–_|_-Pace–_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_-HR–_|_-%HRR–_|_-DPS_|_-SPI
–_|_19765_|_80:00.0_|_02:01.4_|_195.5_|_19.2_|_134.8_|_ 64.4% _|_12.8_|_10.2
Workout Details
#-_|_SDist_|_-Split-_|_-SPace-_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_AvgHR_|_Avg%HRR_|_DPS-_|_-SPI

01_|_02461_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.9_|_193.3_|_18.9_|_126.5_|_ 58.5% _|_13.0_|_10.2
02_|_02460_|_10:00.0_|_02:02.0_|_192.9_|_18.9_|_132.4_|_ 62.7% _|_13.0_|_10.2
03_|_02480_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.0_|_197.7_|_19.4_|_132.1_|_ 62.5% _|_12.8_|_10.2
04_|_02475_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.2_|_196.5_|_19.4_|_135.0_|_ 64.5% _|_12.8_|_10.1
05_|_02474_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.3_|_196.3_|_19.3_|_134.4_|_ 64.1% _|_12.8_|_10.2
06_|_02472_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.4_|_195.8_|_19.3_|_139.9_|_ 68.0% _|_12.8_|_10.1
07_|_02471_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.4_|_195.6_|_19.4_|_136.2_|_ 65.4% _|_12.7_|_10.1
08_|_02472_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.4_|_195.8_|_19.3_|_141.4_|_ 69.0% _|_12.8_|_10.1

Target_____________Actual_____________delta____________
Strokes____Meters______Strokes____Meters______Strokes__meters___EndHR
0188___|___02439___|___0189___|___02461___|___01___|___22___|___130
0188___|___02439___|___0189___|___02460___|___01___|___20___|___130
0192___|___02456___|___0194___|___02480___|___02___|___24___|___134
0192___|___02456___|___0194___|___02475___|___02___|___19___|___133
0192___|___02456___|___0193___|___02474___|___01___|___18___|___136
0192___|___02456___|___0193___|___02472___|___01___|___16___|___137
0192___|___02456___|___0194___|___02471___|___02___|___15___|___137
0192___|___02456___|___0193___|___02472___|___01___|___16___|___137
1528___|___19614___|___1539___|___19765___|___11___|___152___|___000

Tomorrow: Rest day. Off to San Diego.

Friday: 4 x 20′ / 1′ L4 (and PM5 glitch)

January 22, 2016January 22, 20162 Comments

Plan:

4 x 20′
- 1′ rests
- 8 x 10′ segments – L4 format (2’@ 18, 2′ @ 19, 2′ @20, 2′ @ 19, 2’@ 18)
- 10W / stroke

I had a problem with the PM5 today. Notice in the picture how there is no HR for the last interval? So, I was rowing along with 2 minutes left in the last interval, so 78 minutes into a 80 minute row, and all the sudden, this pops up on my screen.

So, I kept rowing, trying to press the continue button at the catch on about each stroke. Each time, I would see the normal screen for a second, and the error screen would pop up. When I saw the normal screen flash, it seemed to be updating, so I just rowed 409 strokes blind to finish off the last interval. After I checked that it had counted down to zero, which involved continuously pressing the “continue” button and trying to get through the menus. Eventually, I gave up and yanked out the batteries, counted to 10 and plugged them back in. The PM came up normally and my row was even sitting there in memory, just like it should be. No painsled data though, but no great loss since it was just a normal steady state session. I would have been pretty annoyed if this had been a time trial or something. I’ve got a call into the Concept2 to try to understand what is going on.

Tomorrow: The plan calls for 8×500. I think I am going to change it to 8 x 2’/3′ rest. I managed to convince a few folks from my rowing club to erg together on Saturday morning, and doing it time based will let us start and finish together despite pace differences.

Wednesday: Steady State + Pk Power

January 20, 2016Leave a comment

Plan:

3×20′
- L4 format
- 1′ rests
- 10 – 10′ segments
Peak power
- 10 x 10″ sprints
- 1′ rests
- Try to hit 700W

L4 Format

HR was a bit higher than I would have liked, but I felt good. I didn’t bother with a lactate test. I suspect t would have been right around a 2.0.

Then into peak power. Today, I decided to do only 10 (versus 15 on Monday). I’m still feeling my way along on these. I hit better power today throughout compared to Monday. (~680W vs ~640W). Still lower than what I could hit by rating way up on slides. I saw no significant decline in power across the 10 sprints. I guess I’m not hitting them hard enough yet. I’m getting a bit higher on rate, which is good practice.

After that, I did a quick 1K cool down and called it a day.

Tomorrow: 6 x 750 / 4′ rest. Pace target: 1:42

Monday: 3 x 20′ L4 + PkPwr Sprints

January 18, 2016January 18, 20163 Comments

Very little sleep last night. Felt awful this morning. Let myself start slow in the L4.

After I finished my hour, I transitioned over to start doing a variation of the Peak Power Training from Ed McNeely. The session that Ed describes it to do 10 second sprints all out with 1 minute rests, and when your peak power in a sprint falls more than 10% below your best power, then you take a 5 minute rest and resume the 10 sec sprint and 1 minute rest sets with the same stoppage rule.

It’s been a while since I did my peak power test, and when I did it, it was on slides, so I didn’t have a stable baseline to measure my 10% drop from. As hard as I tried today, I could not break through 700W for my peak power, but on slides in November, I was above 750W on a few strokes.

It was challenge to setup the 10 second sprints, since the shortest interval time you can program on a PM is 20 seconds. I eventually did it as a “just row” with 10 second sprints and 50 second rests. Next time I will set it up as 1:10 intervals.

I was also not seeing much in the way of a declining output power over the intervals, so I guess I was not trying hard enough. I was also getting much better at them as I went along. I got my first stroke power from around 180 to above 250, and felt a lot smoother in the later reps. I’ll push the envelope more next time.

If nothing else, it was fun. Laying down 15 sprints with peak splits faster than 1:25 was a nice change from grinding out long hard intervals.

Tomorrow: A classic, the 4 x 1000 / 5′ rest. I will start this conservatively at 1:45 pace and see how things go.

Wednesday: 3 x 20′ / 1′ rest L4

January 13, 2016January 14, 20162 Comments

I have a lot on my mind right now for work, and I was not very focused on today’s session. I’m not sure if that is all it was, or if there is something else going on, but it was a very difficult row.

I was planning a 4×20′ session, but high HR and very high lactate after 60 minutes (2.9mmol/l), so I aborted at that point.

In the first 20 minute section, I had two interruptions due to technical issues with the podcast I was listening to. There is an intermittent connection to my headphones that is being interpreted by the iphone as a button press which summons up Siri. Very annoying, probably time for a new set of headphones. Amazing how quickly sweat corrodes things!

The workout plan was:

Here’s the view from Strava. You can see the two stops in the first 20 minutes.

And the PM summary.

Tomorrow: 4 x 8′ / 4′ rest

Monday: 3 x 20′ / 1′ rest L4

January 12, 20161 Comment

Still working out the kinks of using Painsled. The capture of information works great, and export to both Trainingpeaks and Strava works at a basic level, but I haven’t had time to make my spreadsheets work with the CSV export from the tool.

On Monday morning, I felt awful. I didn’t sleep well and it was a short turn around time from my Sunday afternoon workout. So, I didn’t have high expectations for the row.

It turned out just as unpleasant as I was expecting.

Here’s the view from Strava after importing the TCX file from Painsled. All the data is there, but I really like the way it’s presented from excel a lot better. Easier to see where I am in HR zones, the pace is in useful units, the cadence scale is right and the rests are displayed correctly. But at least it’s a picture! I have sent feedback into the developer of Painsled about some TCX funniness and requesting a denser CSV format. Once I get past this busy patch at work, I will start to deal with the ugly CSV format myself.

Quantified Rowing

Measure – Adjust – Improve

Tag: L4

Friday: 3 x 20′ L4 in Nijmegen

4 x 20′ L4

3 x 20′ L4 : The Painsled era begins

Wednesday: 3×20 L4 plus Peak Power

Sunday: 4×20 L4

Friday: 4 x 20′ / 1′ L4 (and PM5 glitch)

Wednesday: Steady State + Pk Power

Monday: 3 x 20′ L4 + PkPwr Sprints

Wednesday: 3 x 20′ / 1′ rest L4

Monday: 3 x 20′ / 1′ rest L4