Thursday: 1K Time Trial – 3rd time lucky

June 11, 20155 Comments

Weather

So a 10 mph tail wind when heading down river. Guess which way I rowed my hard pieces?

The plan was for a long warmup, a few starts, then an all out 1K piece, then after that a couple of hard 2Ks. It didn’t end up working out that way.

Start__|_Dist__|_Split__|_Pace__|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_3663_|_18:02_|_2:27.7_|_386___|_21.4_|_09.5_|_142___|_warmup
03683_|_0791_|_04:55_|_3:06.3_|_090___|_18.3_|_08.8_|_128___|_square blades
04474_|_0381_|_02:09_|_2:48.9_|_044___|_20.5_|_08.7_|_143___|_5 starts
04855_|_1634_|_09:27_|_2:53.4_|_186___|_19.7_|_08.8_|_138___|_slow roll ups
06489_|_0289_|_01:07_|_1:55.7_|_036___|_32.3_|_08.0_|_158___|_Bailed at 300m
06778_|_0377_|_02:17_|_3:02.2_|_042___|_18.3_|_09.0_|_130___|_back to the start
07155_|_0515_|_02:01_|_1:57.3_|_061___|_30.3_|_08.4_|_161___|_Bailed at 500m
07670_|_0686_|_03:54_|_2:50.6_|_076___|_19.5_|_09.0_|_138___|_back to the start
08356_|_1003_|_03:57_|_1:58.2_|_120___|_30.4_|_08.4_|_167___|_made it to 1K
09359_|_2460_|_13:27_|_2:43.9_|_285___|_21.2_|_08.6_|_145___|_trying to row clean

I started with the rojabo warmup. Here are the last 4 20 stroke pieces from that at 26, 28, 30 and maximum stroke rate. Notice the delightfully fast, tail wind assisted paces. It was nice to be able to accelerate to a 1:45 pace and hold it in the last piece. Over the past month, I’ve been able to slowly push up the max rate from around 33 to around 35 with reasonable control.

Then I paddled back past the prospect street bridge to the straight bit in front of the watch factory and settled myself for some starts. No disasters today, but into the headwind, the boat felt heavy and I had more time to think through what was going on.

From there I worked on technique stuff all the way back to the start of the 1K course. Along the way I passed 2 weed harvesters.

I’m sure glad they are out working, but I’d hate to run into one! Knowing they were behind me on the hard pieces made a bit more watchful than normal. Probably a good thing.

So, I got myself turned around in front of the small island and tried to get relaxed for the start. I pretty much nailed the start and the first 10 strokes, but I didn’t bring the pace down very quickly. I was deceived by how the fast pace felt pretty easy at first. But by the time I got out to twenty strokes, I was already really blowing hard. I tried to settle in, but got discouraged and quit at 300m. F**K! The next three plots are all using the same scale on the x-axis so that it’s easier to compare the start and initial thirty strokes. In the first one, you can see that I “settled” to around 1:55. Well. I learn that is not sustainable.

I almost just quit right there and rowed back to the dock, but it didn’t seem to be the right thing to do. So I rowed back to the start, had a quick drink, got myself settled and started another attempt. Again, I was happy with the start and I settled a bit better to around a 1:57 pace and counted strokes. This time, I got out to 60 strokes, just about exactly halfway and it was really starting to bite. I should have taken 10 strokes for length and let the pace slide up a bit, but again, I got discouraged and pulled the plug. Double F**k. This is getting ridiculous. But, I can only do what I can do, and there is no point feeling bad about it. I decided to just be very conservative and try it again.

The plan for this one was clear and detailed. 10 stroke start sequence. Immediately settle to 30 spm and 2:00 pace after that for 20 more strokes. After the 30th stroke, take 10 for length to try to force myself to settle in. Count out 20 more to get to the halfway point. At that point try to keep the rate at or around 30 and start to push a bit more pace. If I started to feel like I was blowing up, back off. After 90 strokes, take 10 strokes to start pushing up the pace and then a 20 stroke sprint.

Sounds good on the screen, sounded good in my head. I wondered if it would work.

It did. Again, I was happy with the start. I was happy with the settle. I tried to ignore the pace as much as I could and just focused on the rate and trying to keep my finishes clean as I counted out the strokes. I had to do some steering to hit the right line between a point of land and a little island around the 600m mark. Once I got to 90 strokes, I knew I was not going to blow up and I started to push. With 10 left I rated up as much as I could. Well, at least I finished it. Now I now what I can do.

Just for comparison, at the Festival regatta last year my pace was a about 0.5 sec slower and my stroke rate was 33.6 versus 30.4 today. Both were in tail wind conditions. I also had the first two attempts lurking in my legs for the final 1K I did today.

Trying to be objective about it. I think my technique is better and my fitness is worse than the same time last year. Between work travel, graduations, and my elbow issues, I am not anywhere near where I want to be in terms of preparation. But, I’m not looking at that as an excuse. I’m more thinking that there is a lot more improvement to be gained if I can get both my technique and fitness where I want them at the same time.

After the 1K, I called it a day, and just tried to row clean back to the dock.

Tomorrow: Steady State plus a few starts.

Wednesday: 29 starts. Some good, some bad.

June 10, 20155 Comments

Well, I’ve gone and done it now. I registered for the Festival Regatta. This is a nice little race up in Lowell on the Merrimac River on a 6 lane course on June 21st. I’m in the Men’s Master 1x (50-59) race (a 1K sprint) and the Men’s Open 2K (a 2K sprint).

I have no pretensions about being competitive in the Open, but I’m thinking that any racing is good racing and as long as I don’t bring an inflated self image, I will be fine with the outcome.

The format is single heat races. So, you try to win your flight an event. There are no heats and finals or anything like that.

So, ready or not, here I come.

Today, the weather was really lovely. Sunny and warm (about 65F). There was a pretty steady 7mph breeze from the West, which was a cross/tail wind going down river and cross/head wind going up river. It was enough wind to make the boat feel different, but not enough to be disruptive in any way.

The plan for today was to practice starts and do some technical rowing with HR in the aerobic zone between sets. I decided to take generally take the starts out to 20 strokes so that I could go through the start sequence, lengthen, and then settle down to something like a 1K pace. If I had technical issues, I sometimes pulled the plug right away, or after 10 strokes. I was getting tired at the end, so the last set of starts, I did all of them as 10 strokes.

I felt very shaky in the first couple of sets, but gradually got more comfortable. I will definitely need to pull a few 10 stroke starts as part of my warmup for the race. It seems that previous practices “wear off” quickly.

Totaling it up, I did 17 “20 stroke” starts and 12 “10 stroke starts”. That’s a bit more than 4K of hard rowing, but in tasty little morsels, so it wasn’t too challenging.

The gory details.

I managed to really blow the third start in the first set. It was my classic problem. I did not get my oar fully squared at the catch on the second stroke and it dove deep. I did a 10 stroke start after that and focused on being really controlled on the recovery. After the first set of starts, I rowed with slow roll ups the rest of the way down the river.

I turned around and did 4 – 20 stroke starts back across the basin into the headwind. In this set, the only problem I had was actually on the first pull of the first start. I though I was really balanced, but as I squeezed out the first stroke, I tipped pretty badly. I have no idea why. So, I held water and tried again. The following 4 starts were very comfortable and reasonably fast into the wind. The fourth one brought me close to the bridge, so I paddled through and lined up on the straight section in front of the watch factory. I was feeling a little winded at this point, so I did 3 – 10 stroke starts. It was actually 4 attempts, but I pulled out of the second one on the first stroke. After the 3 short starts, I did 2 – 20 strokes starts to finish off the rest of that straight section.

I paddled with square blades through the s-turn to set up for a few more. With the wind coming from the West, coming out of the s-turn is generally the crappiest water, which on an absolute scale still is pretty good water, but at least it provided a bit of chop for me to practice on. So I did 3 more 20 stroke starts. I was pretty happy with these. Good acceleration, no miscues, and a good settle to racing speed in each. After the starts, I rowed the rest of the way to the up river start with square blades.

After I turned down river, I did my best start of the day. My first 3 strokes were clean and was able to ramp up to 40spm with reasonable control. At 10 strokes, I downshifted cleanly to 32 SPM and the pace drifted up as it should have. From a standing start, I covered 150m with a avg pace faster than 1:50. Basically all of these starts felt pretty good.

The rest of the way down the river I tried to focus on rowing without touching water. I was OK with letting the rate drift up, I just wanted to really focus on perfect finishes so that I could swing through the recovery with no wiggles. I was having a very good time.

This took me all the way back to the dam, so I turned to do my last set of starts. I was pretty worn out by this point, so I decided to give myself a break and do all of them as 10 strokes. Again, I was going back into the head wind, but this set had no horrible misfires.

This only took me halfway back to the bridge, so from there all the way back to the dock, I alternated 500m on the square with 500m of steady state trying to row very clean. By transitioning from on the square to feathering, I was able to focus on trying to keep my tap down and feathering as two distinct motions. When I got it right, I heard a distinctly different, quieter sound at the finish. More of a “pock” and less “gurgle”.

All in all a very nice morning.

Tomorrow: I think I need to do a full intensity 1K. I will probably also do a few 2Ks.

Monday: Breezy Steady State. Pushed too hard

June 8, 2015June 8, 20151 Comment

Weather: Cloudy, mid 50s, wind South 10-15mph. This is a tail wind going down river and a head wind going up river. It got progressively windier and more gusty as I went along.

Original plan was for 1000m intervals, but I felt like crap this morning. Upset stomach and tired. I decided to just row a steady state session. I also forgot my HR strap which meant that I was rowing without some of the feedback that I like to have. Probably a good thing, actually.

Things got off to a lousy start. I launched and started rowing away. I got about 500m fro the dock and I couldn’t remember locking my car. So, I turned around, paddled back, got out and locked it. I certainly noticed that the headwind coming back to the dock was significant. I had to work to get any pace on the boat at all.

After I got that settled, I just rowed. I was working on three things today. First was to get really good compression and reach at the catch. Second was to finish early enough so that my hands do not brush my torso. Third was to try to balance during the recovery and not touch water. This was a good thing to work on today because there was a bit of chop, even on my protected river and dragging the blades resulted in whacking the wavetops in a disturbing manner.

I felt more comfortable at 22 to 24 spm today and as I focused on my three things, I found I was rowing a bit harder than I normally would for a steady state session. With the tail wind, I was faster than 2:20 pace except in the turns. Even into the head wind, I was around a 2:27, which is my usual pace for flat conditions, albeit with a stroke rate of 20 not 22.

Having said that, I’m glad I swapped out the session. I enjoy the row and I think I did pretty well considering the wind.

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_1880_|_10:41_|_2:50.5_|_203___|_19.0_|_09.3_|_000___|_warmup
01900_|_2660_|_12:13_|_2:17.8_|_266___|_21.8_|_10.0_|_000___|_tail wind
04560_|_0060_|_00:26_|_3:34.2_|_007___|_16.3_|_08.6_|_000___|_rest
04620_|_2940_|_14:12_|_2:24.9_|_322___|_22.7_|_09.1_|_000___|_head wind
07560_|_0060_|_00:27_|_3:46.7_|_005___|_11.0_|_12.0_|_000___|_rest
07620_|_2020_|_09:25_|_2:20.0_|_208___|_22.1_|_09.7_|_000___|_tail wind
09640_|_0140_|_00:50_|_2:58.6_|_016___|_19.2_|_08.8_|_000___|_Steering mistake at bridge
09780_|_0660_|_02:58_|_2:15.2_|_067___|_22.5_|_09.9_|_000___|_tail wind
10440_|_0040_|_00:16_|_3:17.5_|_004___|_15.2_|_10.0_|_000___|_rest
10480_|_3140_|_15:24_|_2:27.1_|_354___|_23.0_|_08.9_|_000___|_head wind 
13620_|_1000_|_05:15_|_2:37.7_|_120___|_22.8_|_08.3_|_000___|_cool down

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
01880_|_10:41_|_2:50.5_|_203___|_19.0_|_09.3_|_000___|_warmup
11420_|_54:13_|_2:22.4_|_1217___|_22.4_|_09.4_|_000___|_Main set
00300_|_01:59_|_3:17.8_|_032___|_16.2_|_09.4_|_000___|_rest meters
01000_|_05:15_|_2:37.7_|_120___|_22.8_|_08.3_|_000___|_cool down
14600_|_12:09_|_2:28.2_|_1572___|_21.8_|_09.3_|_000___|_Total

Tomorrow I’ll do those intervals for sure.

Saturday: 11K in a double and National Learn to Row Day

June 7, 20151 Comment

Saturday was National Learn to Row day here in the US. Many club host open house events, ours was no exception.

Before all the festivities got started at around 8AM, five of us met up for a row on Quinsigamond. I was in a double with Joe in the bow. Bob and Eric were in another double, and Deb was in a single.

It was overcast and a chance for rain, but it never materialized. There was a 5-10mph breeze from the North, which was a tailwind heading down lake and a headwind heading up lake. This breeze built slowly through the morning and was around 15 mph by the time we finished the Learn to Row Day activities at 11:30AM.

Joe had been sick all week and was nursing a sore shoulder from a minor injury last weekend, but he was game to row hard. I had gone into the session thinking I would just take it easy. But when we headed down lake we were side by side with the other double and I did NOT want to get dropped. So, I kept the rate around 24 or 25 and full pressure all the way down the lake. The boat felt quite heavy. We had opened up a couple of lengths on them by the end, but we looked a lot worse off. Joe had to fight off the urge to throw up. I guess he wasn’t all the way recovered.

When we turned around up lake, I dropped the rate down to 22 but still kept pulling hard. I didn’t want to completely lose contact with Bob and Eric. We hung on like that through nearly 4K of rowing into the wind, and I have to assume that Joe was feeling a bit better because he started calling for sets of 10 hard, with 10 at a paddle. Then for the last 3 sets, he was asking for 3/4 pressure during the off bits. You can see from my HR how hard I was working in that stretch. I was too busy rowing to look around, but I think we closed the gap a bit with the other boat during this bit.

We turned to head home and really just rowed pretty easy for most of the way. Finally, Joe said that we had 500m left, what did I want to do with it. I said I wanted to bring up the rate and row it hard. I brought the rate up to 28 and focused on trying to keep my strokes clean. The boat felt like it was moving reasonably well in this block. Then we headed back to the dock.

Looking at the HR data, I was a brutally hard workout. Looking at the pace, not so much.

|Start|Dist_|Time_|_Pace__|_SPM___|avg HR|DPS_|Remarks
|00018|00088|00:26|02:27.7| 18.2  | 121  |11.2|Warming up
|00106|03291|14:43|02:14.2| 24.7  | 165  |09.0|hard 3K to south end of lake
|03397|00090|05:12|28:53.3| 17.1  | 118  |01.0|rest
|03487|04062|20:40|02:32.6| 22.7  | 164  |08.7|moderately hard 4K into headwind
|07549|01459|07:06|02:26.0| 26.1  | 177  |07.9|9x power 10s, 10 strokes rest
|09008|00075|02:46|18:26.7| 20.1  | 144  |01.4|turn around at north end of lake
|09083|01645|08:35|02:36.5| 22.6  | 151  |08.5|cooling down
|10728|00398|01:40|02:05.6| 28.4  | 176  |08.4|hard 400m
|11126|00013|02:46|46:24.6| 28.0  | 140  |00.2|back to dock

We got the boats put away, and I ran off to get coffee and treats for the event. By the time I got back, there were already about 20 people there. By the end of the day, we had hosted over 35 folks curious about rowing and gotten 29 of them out on the water. I also got to try sweep rowing for the first time. I stroked an 8 for two of the outings. We would put 2 experienced rowers in seats 7 and 8, and fill the rest of the boat with the “Learn To Row” (LTR) folks. We would then have everyone row by pairs, then try it by fours, then just have the stern pair set the boat with the all the newbies rowing. By the end of each outing, we were able to get all 8 of us rowing and give them a feel for what it is like.

We had 2 eights on the water and about 8 or 10 boatloads of folks out on water all together. It was the most successful LTR day that we can remember for our club and a lot of them indicated an interest in taking classes. Very exciting stuff.

I’m not sure I got much of a feel for sweep rowing under the circumstances, but I enjoyed it. The oar is huge, but with two hands on it, it feels like you can control the feathering and height off the water quite precisely. The body motion would also take some getting used to. Getting the arm farthest from the oarlock out between my knees at the catch, and leaning out over the oar was a new experience. I think I like it and I’d welcome the chance to get into a sweep boat in the future.

Today (Sunday): I am giving myself a day off. My elbow is still bugging me, so I am popping the Ibuprofen and wearing my brace. Tomorrow, I’m back on the Charles in my single. I think 1000m repeats are the order of the day, but probably with a rate cap.

Friday: 5×500 – Still not my usual self

June 5, 20151 Comment

Plan:

8×500
rate > 30
Pace <2:00

It did not work out that way.

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_4480_|_22:40_|_2:31.8_|_469___|_20.7_|_09.6_|_144___|_warmup
04500_|_0500_|_01:57_|_1:57.0_|_062___|_31.8_|_08.1_|_166___|_Interval #1
05000_|_0500_|_03:21_|_3:21.0_|_058___|_17.3_|_08.6_|_132___|_rest
05500_|_0500_|_01:57_|_1:56.8_|_062___|_31.8_|_08.1_|_165___|_Interval #2
06000_|_0500_|_03:37_|_3:36.5_|_055___|_15.2_|_09.1_|_135___|_rest
06500_|_0500_|_01:57_|_1:57.2_|_061___|_31.2_|_08.2_|_165___|_Interval #3
07000_|_0500_|_04:10_|_4:09.6_|_059___|_14.2_|_08.5_|_132___|_rest
07500_|_0500_|_01:59_|_1:59.4_|_063___|_31.7_|_07.9_|_162___|_Interval #4
08000_|_0500_|_03:45_|_3:45.2_|_059___|_15.7_|_08.5_|_135___|_rest
08500_|_0500_|_01:58_|_1:58.2_|_062___|_31.5_|_08.1_|_165___|_Interval #5
09000_|_2640_|_14:54_|_2:49.2_|_298___|_20.0_|_08.9_|_144___|_cool down

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
04480_|_22:40_|_2:31.8_|_469___|_20.7_|_09.6_|_144___|_warmup
02500_|_09:49_|_1:57.7_|_310___|_31.6_|_08.1_|_165___|_Main set
02000_|_14:52_|_3:43.1_|_231___|_15.5_|_08.7_|_134___|_rest meters
02640_|_14:54_|_2:49.2_|_298___|_20.0_|_08.9_|_144___|_cool down
11620_|_02:15_|_2:40.7_|_1308___|_21.0_|_08.9_|_145___|_Total

Warmup: King of the mountain, Top quarter, arms only, arms and body, half slide, legs only (about 30 strokes of that). Then into the Rojabo style warmup 10 at 20, 10 off, 20 at 22, 20 off, 30 at 24, 30 off, 20 at 26, 20 off, 20 at 28, 30 off (to get under the bridge), 20 at 30, 20 off, 20 at max rate (34 ish).

Then I turned around, had a drink and tried to get myself psyched up. I did all the intervals with standing starts to get more start practice. I had in my mind that I would look at each interval as a 10 stroke start, 2 sets of 20 strokes at race pace, then 10 strokes of sprint at the end. The first attempted interval, I nailed the start and the first 10 strokes. Then I pushed into the first 20 stroke set. At the end of that set, the interval had started to bite, and I wimped out. I wasn’t in distress. It was more of a decision that I didn’t want enough to push hard. So, I coasted to a stop. I tried again, with the same result.

I paddled about 500m to get me past the Prospect street bridge, and decided on a new plan. I would do the start ad settle to my race pace faster, after only 5 strokes. Then I would focus on keeping my rate above 30 and trying to take nice clean strokes. I would do my very best to ignore the pace and let it happen. I would count up to 60 strokes and then look to see how much distance I had left. I would not try to sprint the end. The training objective was to focus on improving my technique while rowing above 30 SPM.

This seemed to work pretty well. I counted out the strokes of the interval and I seemed to be able to maintain a pace between 1:57 and 1:59 at r31 with reasonably good form. I did not feel rushed and my catches were pretty clean. The RIM analytics show some real issues to be worked out though.

I’m OK with the profile of the drive. At that rate, it seems most folks show some degree of the two bump phenomenon. But you can see the bump at the finish. I should try to clean that up. And you can see that I am accelerating the boat as I recover up the slide. That means that when I hit the end of the slide, I am checking the boat at the catch. More stuff to work on.

After that happy interval, I paddled around the s-turn and set up for #2. Basically the same deal. Here are two strokes, one at the beginning and one at the end of the interval. See how the first drive hump is more pronounced at the end? I assume that is fatigue hurting my technique.

Interval #3 was fine. Basically the same as #2. But I could feel the fatigue settling into my legs.

Interval #4 was a struggle. I eased up after the start and cruised through it not pushing quite as hard. This shows in the acceleration curves. More consistent from beginning and end of this one.

Interval #5 was awful. I wanted to keep the pace somewhat reasonable, but my legs were starting to feel really tired. I tightened up and started rowing pretty badly. I was feeling like I was going to blow up around the 40th stroke, and I looked at the speedcoach and saw that my HR was only around 172. I know that I can row for about 15 minutes with my HR that high, so I basically told myself to harden the F**K up and row twenty more strokes and row them clean. You can see it in the strokes. This plot has a stroke from the beginning, one when I was panicking (stroke rate 34, but going slower), and then one in the last 10, where I got myself back in line.

I was gassed at the end of interval #5, but I tried to get myself pumped up for #6. I made it about 20 strokes before I bailed. That was basically it for me. I was toast. I did 5 practice starts, and then rowed with feet out back to the dock.

I like the pace of the intervals. 1:57.7 is pretty fast for me, even if it was only 5. I don’t like my mental state. I have to get myself to a place where I slow down instead of quitting. It’s a hard thing to do when I need to work on technique at high rates.

Tomorrow: Quick, easy row on Quinsig and then hosting Learn to Row day at the club.

Thursday: Steady State and Starts

June 4, 2015June 4, 20153 Comments

Plan:

Warmup: King of the mountain, top quarter, 20 strokes or so of each: arms only, arms and body, half slide, full slide, legs only.
4 repeats of:
1. 5 good starts. Focus on balance and control. Try to get good blade placement before each drive
2. row the remaining 2500m at steady state pace and work on technique and balance. HR cap at 155.
Cool down: Square blades and high pressure / low rate.

It was beautiful this morning. Sunny, no wind, mid 50s. It was good to do a structured warmup. The legs only was a good thing to do.

Starts are getting a bit better. At least I have an idea of how hard I can push the initial stroke without compromising my balance. I also have a better idea of how fast I can push the stroke rate in the start. It looks like about 35 is as high as I can go without rowing in severely and screwing up the finishes. From here, it is just lots of practice to slowly improve the pressure on the first stroke and the tempo of the initial strokes. I’ll try to take some video this weekend to see if I’m doing anything horribly wrong.

The steady state was nice. I was pretty focused on trying to balance and row quietly. I really wanted to push too hard and blow the HR cap, but I need to save that feeling for tomorrow.

00020_|_0882_|_04:57_|_2:48.2_|_095___|_19.2_|_09.3_|_124___|_warmup
00902_|_0489_|_02:45_|_2:49.1_|_050___|_18.1_|_09.8_|_138___|_5 starts
01391_|_2331_|_11:03_|_2:22.3_|_223___|_20.2_|_10.5_|_155___|_steady state
03722_|_0448_|_02:31_|_2:48.9_|_047___|_18.6_|_09.5_|_143___|_5 starts
04170_|_2549_|_12:35_|_2:28.1_|_257___|_20.4_|_09.9_|_155___|_slow roll ups
06719_|_0513_|_02:49_|_2:45.0_|_053___|_18.8_|_09.7_|_144___|_5 starts
07232_|_2361_|_11:35_|_2:27.2_|_219___|_18.9_|_10.8_|_155___|_steady state
09460_|_0551_|_03:03_|_2:45.8_|_056___|_18.4_|_09.8_|_144___|_5 starts
10011_|_2612_|_12:53_|_2:27.9_|_266___|_20.7_|_09.8_|_153___|_steady state
12623_|_1162_|_06:38_|_2:51.3_|_127___|_19.1_|_09.1_|_138___|_cool down

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00882_|_04:57_|_2:48.2_|_095___|_19.2_|_09.3_|_124___|_warmup
09853_|_48:06_|_2:26.5_|_965___|_20.1_|_10.2_|_154___|_Main set
02001_|_11:09_|_2:47.1_|_206___|_18.5_|_09.7_|_142___|_20 Starts
01162_|_06:38_|_2:51.3_|_127___|_19.1_|_09.1_|_138___|_cool down
13898_|_10:49_|_2:32.9_|_1393___|_19.7_|_10.0_|_149___|_Total

I set up the speedcoach for stroke by stroke data. Here are the details of the starts. I think the best metric to judge the quality of the start is the pace in the third stroke. If the pace is below 2:00 on the third stroke, then it was relatively well executed. If it was slower, generally, I either wobbled on the first stroke, or had trouble getting clean catches on the 2nd or 3rd stroke.

So, in the first set, the fourth and the sixth are OK. In the second set, all of them were OK except for the second one. The third set was all OK. On the fourth set, I blew the first 2, but the last 3 were OK.

Tomorrow: 8×500 / 500m rest. Standing starts. r30 or higher for all reps.

Side note: My right elbow has been bothering me. I think it is bursitis or tennis elbow or something. Time to buy a wrap and start popping the Ibuprofen. If it doesn’t improve with these steps, I might need to lay off rowing for a few days.

Wednesday: 5×1000 – Low Motivation Day

June 3, 20152 Comments

Plan:

5×1000
500m paddle
rate 26,28,30,32,30
No pace target, but I wanted to be fast.

It wasn’t to be. I did my warmup and decided to do the first rep at 24, because I was feeling a bit sluggish. I made it through that rep OK, and then did the next rep at 26. That also went OK. But when I turned and started the 3rd rep, at r28, I only made it about 100m when I just decided that I was up for the pain that was coming and bailed out.

I’m having trouble getting into the right mindset for the sprint racing. My first race is in less than 3 weeks and I either need to get my shit together or decide to bail out on sprints for this season. I don’t really want to do that, but I’m not sure how to improve my attitude about them.

Anyway, I paddle away from my failure and after about 800m, I saw a guy in one of those surfski type kayaks paddling furiously ahead of me. That was enough to get me refocused in the moment, so I started to ramp up the ramp and pressure and did the rest of the way to the dam pretty hard. By coincidence, it was about 1000m, so there was rep number 3 done.

Then I turned around, caught my breath and decided to do another one at r24. That went fine and the pace got better and better as I went along. Then I was almost done, so I decided to try to do the r28 rep that I had bailed on before as a final rep. This was my best rep of the day, 2:04 pace and good rate throughout.

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_3780_|_18:54_|_2:30.0_|_411___|_21.7_|_09.2_|_141___|_warmup
03800_|_1000_|_04:17_|_2:08.3_|_107___|_25.0_|_09.3_|_146___|_m
04800_|_0700_|_04:21_|_3:06.1_|_077___|_17.7_|_09.1_|_123___|_r
05500_|_1000_|_04:11_|_2:05.7_|_113___|_27.0_|_08.8_|_166___|_m
06500_|_1920_|_09:44_|_2:32.0_|_208___|_21.4_|_09.2_|_150___|_r
08420_|_1000_|_04:29_|_2:14.7_|_109___|_24.3_|_09.2_|_167___|_m
09420_|_0040_|_00:20_|_4:06.3_|_003___|_09.1_|_13.3_|_118___|_r
09460_|_1000_|_04:17_|_2:08.4_|_115___|_26.9_|_08.7_|_168___|_m
10460_|_0640_|_03:53_|_3:02.3_|_075___|_19.3_|_08.5_|_140___|_r
11100_|_1000_|_04:08_|_2:04.1_|_118___|_28.5_|_08.5_|_169___|_m
12100_|_1960_|_10:57_|_2:47.7_|_227___|_20.7_|_08.6_|_141___|_c

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
03780_|_18:54_|_2:30.0_|_411___|_21.7_|_09.2_|_141___|_warmup
05000_|_21:22_|_2:08.2_|_562___|_26.3_|_08.9_|_163___|_Main set
03300_|_18:17_|_2:46.3_|_363___|_19.8_|_09.1_|_141___|_rest meters
01960_|_10:57_|_2:47.7_|_227___|_20.7_|_08.6_|_141___|_cool down
14040_|_09:31_|_2:28.5_|_1563___|_22.5_|_09.0_|_148___|_Total

Tomorrow: Steady State and some practice starts, maybe 20 or so.

Saturday: 44 starts, 20km and a sore bum

May 30, 2015Leave a comment

Today’s original plan was to do 250m pieces with standing starts.

I did the Rojabo warmup. It’s a really good warmup for hard sessions. I recommend to anyone who is looking for a structured warmup. Here it is.

First 1000m or so.
- Pick drill
- Legs only
- steady state
10 strokes at r20 / 10 paddle
20 strokes at r22 / 20 paddle
30 strokes at r24 / 30 paddle
20 strokes at r26 / 20 paddle
20 strokes at r28 / 20 paddle
20 strokes at r30 / 20 paddle
20 strokes at max stroke rate / 20 paddle

When you’re done with that, you are completely warmed up and you’ve rowed at a higher rate than you are likely to row during the rest of the session, so it’s a good confidence builder.

After the warmup, I attempted my first start. It was terrible. No balance, ugly finishes, just terrible blade work. I decided to change my plan from 250m reps to just doing as many starts as I could stand. I would pull out of the start if I really blew a stroke, or take it out to 10,15 or 20 strokes depending on how much room I had and how the piece was feeling. I ended up doing 44 starts. Some were “slomo” starts where I purposely slowed down every stroke to try to get some muscle memory going around the initial short slide strokes. Some were less than full pressure. Some were all out.

The key take aways from the whole thing were:

First stroke: Think of it as prying the boat away from the start. Apply leg pressure smoothly. Don’t yank the handles. Finish “too early”. Basically tap down as soon as my arms start to break with a straight back.
Second stroke: recover up the slide until my hands have just started to come apart as I am half way up the slide. Very important: Take a split second as I square the blades and place them in the water before I start the leg drive. This is my major fault. I am missing water and mis aligning my blades my starting the leg drive before my blades are well set.
Beyond the second stroke: Get out to full slide over the next couple of strokes and keep layback to a minimum. Keep the finishes clean and don’t rush the catches. That’s what kills me.

There was a pretty good wind blowing today, a tailwind going down stream. So the first set of starts were into a head wind. The second set were with a tail wind (they were fun!), and the third slogging back into the headwind. By the third set, my legs were shot.

After the third set, I deliberated an decided to row another 8K steady state. I’ll be missing 3 days on the water because of my son’s graduation, so I thought I should get the strokes in. It ended up being about 4K too far. I was really tired for the last row upriver into the head wind.

Here’s the whole row. The warmup to 4K. Three sets of about 15 starts each. 2 with head wind, 1 with tail wind. Then another 8K of steady state, slow roll ups and square blade rowing. The wind built through the session.

The last two 20 stroke bits of the warm up were tail wind assisted and a real blast. It might be the first time I’ve ever seen a 1:39 on the speedcoach.

Then the starts. First set, with head wind. You can see where I aborted the bad ones and extended the good ones.

Second set. Tail wind. Fast splits. Still screwing up a lot of them. The longer paddles are getting past things like the turns and bridges to a clear shot.

Third set. Getting a bit weary. Into the head wind, which was worst for the first 5 or so. Concentration was waning a bit.

So, tomorrow morning it’s off to New Jersey. I might have time for an erg session before we depart. If I do, it will likely be a 3×20′ steady state session.

Monday: Double on Quinsigamond

May 25, 20153 Comments

I had a lot of fun yesterday. Because of spring racing, the lake has been unavailable most weekends in the month of may, so I have mainly been rowing on my little stretch of the Charles. Lovely water, but the same thing all the time was starting to get a bit old. But it was great to back among other folks that love to row and to have some company on the water.

This morning, I decided to go row out in worcester again today. Today we had seven of us. We boated a straight four, me and Joe in a double, and Deb in a single. She had said that she wanted to get some video for coaching and feedback, so, I rigged a single up with the gopro on the bowstay out to the side. That video is slowly uploading as I write.

It has been about a month since Joe and I rowed together in the double, and I always enjoy it. Today’s joy was somewhat impacted by the world’s most uncomfortable seat. My ass was really sore by the time we turned around at the south end of the lake, and for the rest of the row, it was basically agonizing as soon as I took pressure off and paddled. At full pressure, it was fine, but paddling was hellish. I have to remember to use a pad if I’m going to row in that boat again. It was awful!

But, the row wasn’t awful. In fact, it was a blast.

We launched about 5 minutes or so after the four and single did and after a little bit of warming up, we spent the trip down the lake trying to catch up with them. We caught the single with about 1000m to go. We didn’t quite catch the four, but it was close. I quite enjoyed the last 500m or so.

Then we turned north and worked on slow roll ups for about 1000m, and then just rowed steady state up to the narrows. Then we did a 10/20/30/20 stroke pyramid. We were waked a couple times during this, but it’s much less of a disruption in the double than in the 1x. After we went under the bridge, we paused for me to try to find a more comfortable alignment on the seat (which failed). We then did 10 strokes on / 10 strokes off the rest of the way up the lake, finishing with a 20 at the north end of the lake.

From there it was back to the dock. For some reason, Crewnerd stopped recording about 500m from the end, and missed what was no doubt the fastest piece we did of the day ;-).

No useful stroke rate data from CrewNerd today because I forgot my hard mount and just left my phone sliding around in the foot well.

Tomorrow I am back on the road. First to San Francisco, then on Wednesday morning to Dallas. I get back to Boston during the day on Friday. I think I might try to do a nice Friday afternoon row on my way home from the airport.

Sunday: Cross Wind on Lake Quinsigamond

May 24, 2015Leave a comment

Conditions: flukey 5-10mph WSW wind. cross/head wind going down lake, cross/tail wind going up lake. Sunny, really beautiful. The kind of day where the sun glittered on the waves.

I had no plan. I probably should have gone easy, but I was out with a quad and a straight four, I had to work semi hard just to stay with them, so decided to work a bit harder and keep them behind me.

I was in an OlymSport, which was rigged way too low. At the finish, if I pushed my hands all the way down to my legs with the blades square, the bottoms of the blades were not quite clear of the surface of the water. Needless to say, I ended up dragging my blades way too much today. Also with the cross wind, I lost my confidence to really reach out to full extension at the catch, so I lost a bit there too.

Nevertheless, it was a nice hard fartlek workout. Basically, a quick warmup, then r22 at full pressure for about 2700m to the south end of the lake. I was trying to catch the other boats that took off ahead of me as I was trying to get my foot position right. I caught the four, but not the quad before I ran out of lake.

Then we turned north. I had planned to do a hard 5K, but I wasn’t feeling the love, so I just took off at about r24 and enough pressure to start to put a little distance between me and the other boats. I rowed this way for about 3200m up to the Rt. 9 bridge. There some bits where I slowed a bit when the cross wind was getting feisty, but mostly I was just plugging along.

When I went under the bridge, the CrewNerd app always loses the GPS signal and the splits get really slow for about 50m, then it re-acquires the signal and the position data “catches up”, so the pace gets really fast for about 50m. I got kind of happy when I saw the pace dip under 2:10 and I decided to row out the rest of the lake at a reasonable head race pace. So, the rate went up to r26 and I concentrated on trying to take clean strokes. I counted tens as I went and had a good look around after each ten since there was a bit of traffic on the lake. I held on all the way up to the north end of the lake, about another 2300m. My HR monitor was not working, but I suspect my HR was in the mid-170s by the time I finished. I was pushing pretty hard.

Then I did a quick spin and rowed back to the quad and four, and turned to row with them back to the top of the lake again. Then a final turn back to home and a reasonably hard row back to the dock.

Start_|_Dist_|__Time_|_Split Pace_|_Strokes_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_Remarks
00000_|_0440_|_05:32_|_6:17.3_____|_045_____|_08.1_|_09.8_|_warmup
00440_|_2300_|_10:54_|_2:22.2_____|_237_____|_21.7_|_09.7_|_down lake
02740_|_1260_|_09:02_|_3:35.1_____|_136_____|_15.1_|_09.3_|_rest
04000_|_3200_|_15:26_|_2:24.7_____|_352_____|_22.8_|_09.1_|_up to bridge
07200_|_2334_|_10:31_|_2:15.2_____|_270_____|_25.7_|_08.6_|_bridge to north end
09534_|_1076_|_08:24_|_3:54.2_____|_130_____|_15.5_|_08.3_|_rest
10610_|_1627_|_07:49_|_2:24.1_____|_181_____|_23.2_|_09.0_|_back to dock
12237_|_0468_|_08:42_|_9:17.7_____|_054_____|_06.2_|_08.7_|_

Distance__|_Time__|_Pace__|_Strokes_|_SPM_|_DPS_|_Remarks
0440_____|_05:32_|_6:17.3_|_045_____|_08.1_|_09.8_|_warmup
9461_____|_44:40_|_2:21.6_|_1040____|_23.3_|_09.1_|_Main set
0468_____|_08:42_|_9:17.7_|_054_____|_06.2_|_08.7_|_Cool down
2336_____|_17:26_|_3:43.9_|_266_____|_15.3_|_08.8_|_rest meters
12705____|_16:20_|_3:00.2_|_1405____|_18.4_|_09.0_|_Total

So, I would have liked to be faster, but in a crappy boat with a cross wind, I was OK with how things turned out. And it was really nice to row with other people for a change

Tomorrow: Back to Quinsig. There’s a peinert there that I’d like to try out. I think I might do some 1000m intervals at different rates. Or I might just do some technique rowing.

Quantified Rowing

Measure – Adjust – Improve

Tag: OTW

Thursday: 1K Time Trial – 3rd time lucky

Wednesday: 29 starts. Some good, some bad.

Monday: Breezy Steady State. Pushed too hard

Saturday: 11K in a double and National Learn to Row Day

Friday: 5×500 – Still not my usual self

Thursday: Steady State and Starts

Wednesday: 5×1000 – Low Motivation Day

Saturday: 44 starts, 20km and a sore bum

Monday: Double on Quinsigamond

Sunday: Cross Wind on Lake Quinsigamond