Free form week

October 29, 2018Leave a comment

I’m between plans right nw, so I am just sort of making up as I go along.

Tuesday: Steady State OTW

Back on the Charles. Mostly messing around with the Quiske pod.

        Workout Summary - media/20181028-1930330o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13791|76:57.0|02:47.4|127.7|19.0|135.3|159.0|09.4
W-|10694|53:15.0|02:29.4|146.9|19.1|141.8|159.0|10.6
R-|03110|23:43.0|03:48.8|084.4|18.8|120.6|159.0|09.4
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00250|01:09.0|02:18.0|151.8|19.9|125.7|135.0|10.9
02|01050|05:14.4|02:29.7|133.3|18.2|134.6|142.0|11.0
03|00861|04:10.5|02:25.5|142.5|19.5|137.7|146.0|10.6
04|00611|02:46.3|02:16.0|182.8|21.2|145.0|159.0|10.4
05|02779|14:13.7|02:33.6|143.5|18.1|143.4|153.0|10.8
06|02704|13:21.1|02:28.1|146.6|18.3|144.0|153.0|11.1
07|00808|04:01.3|02:29.3|156.1|20.4|142.9|151.0|09.9
08|00348|01:45.0|02:31.1|133.9|20.6|146.6|150.0|09.7
09|00787|03:55.8|02:29.9|167.4|20.9|151.3|156.0|09.6
10|00071|00:23.1|02:43.6|135.8|20.9|122.7|125.0|08.8
11|00062|00:20.3|02:45.0|128.0|20.6|116.6|117.0|08.8
12|00364|01:54.8|02:37.6|122.9|21.4|131.9|138.0|08.9

Wednesday: No Training – Drs appointment

My weight is still too high (209lbs). Blood pressure is good 120/80 (with meds)

Thursday: Strength Training

I’d like to incorporate strength work into my offseason training so I started today.

hip equalization
foam roll quads
swiss ball twists with med ball
front plank 3 x 30sec
side plank 3 x 30sec each side
Front Squats. Bare bar, bar + 20, bar + 50…3 x 12
Good mornings. bare bar, bar + 50…3 x 12
inclined row on smith machine, 3 x 12

Friday: 3 x 20’/2′

OK, I was pretty close to paralyzed from the weight work on Thursday. But I did a slow 3 x 20 on the erg. No matter how much I slowed down, I could not keep my HR from going through the roof.

       Workout Summary - media/20181026-1240330o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|15026|66:00.0|02:11.8|164.2|19.3|148.1|162.0|11.8
W-|14330|60:00.0|02:05.6|176.7|19.6|149.2|162.0|12.2
R-|00698|06:00.0|04:17.8|038.8|16.8|138.0|162.0|09.8
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|04870|20:00.0|02:03.2|186.8|19.7|138.9|153.0|12.4
01|04789|20:00.0|02:05.3|177.9|19.9|153.0|161.0|12.0
02|04671|20:00.0|02:08.4|165.5|19.2|155.6|162.0|12.2

Saturday: Wicked Slow 10K push on the dynamic.

I thought I could be any more sore than I was on Friday. I was wrong. Putting on my underwear was torture. I staggered through grocery shopping and various household chores. Late in the day, I decided to do a short erg to try to loosen things up.

I started very slow. I intended to start at 2:15, but I just couldn’t bring myself to row that slowly. I ended up starting at 2:12, and shaving a second each 1000m. I did a little push at the end to 2:00.

        Workout Summary - media/20181027-2225340o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10000|42:25.0|02:07.2|169.9|21.5|143.6|171.0|11.0
W-|10000|42:25.0|02:07.3|169.9|21.5|143.6|171.0|11.0
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|171.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01000|04:24.1|02:12.1|149.6|18.1|112.1|123.0|12.5
01|01000|04:21.9|02:10.9|155.6|19.5|127.4|130.0|11.8
02|01000|04:19.2|02:09.6|160.7|20.1|135.2|139.0|11.5
03|01000|04:18.2|02:09.1|162.8|20.3|139.9|143.0|11.4
04|01000|04:16.8|02:08.4|165.1|21.3|142.1|146.0|11.0
05|01000|04:15.3|02:07.7|168.3|21.2|147.5|151.0|11.1
06|01000|04:12.8|02:06.4|173.0|22.1|151.4|155.0|10.7
07|01000|04:10.5|02:05.3|177.8|23.5|156.2|158.0|10.2
08|01000|04:08.4|02:04.2|182.5|23.5|160.5|163.0|10.3
09|01000|03:58.3|01:59.1|207.5|25.9|167.5|171.0|09.7

Sunday: 12km in a double with Joe

Technical issues with the speedcoach. For some reason, it did not save the session, even though I was sure that I had started it. Luckily, Joe was wearing his Garmin Fenix.

It was nice to get out. The water was really flat and there was very little wind. We rowed 20-22 spm to the south end of the lake. Then we did 2 rate ladders.

750m @ 22
500m @ 24
250m @ 26

Then we did a last ladder. In this one, Joe called for a power 10 and power 20 in each section. We then held the r26 to the end of the lake alternating about 10 power strokes with 10 lighter strokes. Then more steady state back to the boathouse.

6/7 – San Diego Rowing Club

June 17, 2018June 17, 2018Leave a comment

I flew out to San Diego on Wednesday. I had a business dinner that evening. Through facebook, I had made contact with the Dan O’Neill of the San Diego Rowing Club, and he graciously offered to row a double with me on Thursday morning.

I showed up a bit before 6am, and met Dan, along with a whole slew of other master rowers. The SDRC is a remarkable club. They have hundreds of members, an active and successful juniors program, a fleet of shiny well maintained boats, almost all of which are bright red, and a beautiful location, right on Mission Bay.

We launched from the beach. I was embarrassed that I didn’t know how to do a stylish beach launch. It’s sort of like the european dock launch where you push off with one foot on the seat deck and then sit down smoothly as your boat glides sideways to deeper water. Instead, we paddled a bit from the beach and put on our socks, got our feet in the shoes and began our row.

Dan is a great rower. He has been rowing for decades, and knows every nook and cranny of Mission Bay. We worked our way through a pick drill and he tried to get used to my stroke style. We rowed our warmup out to the spot where the club tends to gather to start their workouts. We were supposed to meet a men’s quad, but we didn’t see them around, so we started on our own.

The planned workout was

2 x 19′ rate ladders with a few minutes rest between.
- 4′ at 20
- 3 at 22
- 2′ at 24
- 1′ at 26
- 2′ at 24
- 3′ at 22
- 4′ at 20

I think I was a bit too self conscious and insecure in the first pyramid. I rowed at much higher pressure for the rates than I normally do and I think my form suffered for it. I also suffered in general, since my HR shot up quickly and stayed there. After the minute at 26, I managed to relax a little bit. Or maybe I was just to winded to care too much, and my rowing seemed to improve. My finishes got a bit better and I felt like I was doing a better job in general.

After the first piece we hung out for a while just chatting. Dan is a really interesting guy. He has been a principal in a number of software startups and is active in some really interesting STEM education stuff like first robotics. We ended up resting a bit longer than we should have, but eventually got going again. The second ladder was much smoother then the first and I didn’t push quite as hard. After that one, we did a couple of starts, which were pretty shaggy, but fun nonetheless. Then it was time to get back to the boathouse.

Workout Summary - media/20180607-1521040o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13796|77:29.0|02:48.5|000.0|23.4|150.5|176.0|07.6
W-|09237|42:19.0|02:17.4|000.0|22.1|165.6|176.0|09.9
R-|04570|35:10.0|03:50.9|000.0|24.9|132.3|176.0|05.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00924|04:00.0|02:09.9|000.0|20.3|148.0|157.0|11.4 - 4
02|00837|03:44.0|02:13.9|000.0|22.0|162.1|166.0|10.2 - 3
03|00454|02:00.0|02:12.2|000.0|24.0|167.9|172.0|09.5 - 2
04|00229|01:00.0|02:11.2|000.0|25.8|169.9|172.0|08.9 - 1
05|00471|02:12.0|02:20.3|000.0|23.6|172.4|173.0|09.1 - 2
06|00757|03:38.0|02:23.9|000.0|22.2|170.3|173.0|09.4 - 3
07|01055|04:56.0|02:20.3|000.0|21.0|170.1|173.0|10.2 - 4
08|00914|04:07.0|02:15.1|000.0|20.6|147.8|159.0|10.8 - 4
09|00619|02:46.0|02:14.1|000.0|22.0|164.2|168.0|10.2 - 3
10|00447|02:00.0|02:14.4|000.0|24.0|167.4|170.0|09.3 - 2
11|00233|01:00.0|02:08.7|000.0|26.2|172.0|173.0|08.9 - 1
12|00434|02:00.0|02:18.4|000.0|24.1|174.1|176.0|09.0 - 2
13|00630|03:00.0|02:22.9|000.0|22.5|173.4|176.0|09.3 - 3
14|01234|05:56.0|02:24.2|000.0|21.4|173.3|176.0|09.7 - 4

I enjoyed this so much. I am very grateful to Dan and all the friendly folks at SDRC. I can’t wait to get back to San Diego and row again!

Rate Ladders in a Quad in Newport

May 22, 2018May 22, 2018Leave a comment

I’m traveling on business to Newport Beach, California. I posted a message on Facebook to find out if there was a way for me to go for a row while I was out there. Within minutes, a member of the rowing club at Newport Sea Base had sent me a message, and offered to connect me to the coaches.

Yesterday I heard back and they told to come on over this morning. They meet at 5:30 and they could get me into a seat. As it turned out, they put me into the stroke seat in a quad. All together we had a men’s quad, a mens double, a women’s double and women’s coxed four, plus the coach Kristine in a launch.

Newport Harbor is busy in the morning. There are a bunch of clubs and schools all running practices at the same time. In addition to rowing shells, there were stand up paddle boards, outrigger canoes and, I am told, dragon boats. The locale is amazing. The entire shoreline on both sides is basically small beaches and boat slips in front of multi-million dollar homes.

There is a nice long stretch for rowing. The channel from the turning basin to the end of the breakwaters is over 6km.

The workout planned for today was a rate ladder

3′ @ r20
2′ @ r24
1′ @ r28
2′ @ r24
3′ @ r20

We started with a reverse pick drill by pairs and headed from the dock up to the turning basin.

I have to salute the patience and tolerance of my boat mates. Since I spend almost all my time in a single, I am a lousy stroke. My ability to hit precise rates is not so good. I have an annoying bit of a pause before hands away, and I am sure that I was splashing the guys behind me. But they were all speaking to me when we got back to the dock and that says way more about their disposition than my rowing.

The rate ladder was a good format for us, and there was a pair of good rowers in the men’s double that were a little bit faster than we were in the quad. Since the coach sent them off a few seconds behind us, it provided a lot of motivation to maintain good pressure throughout the piece.

Often times, our rowing was choppy and ugly, but at times were got it together and the boat really ran nicely. All in all, it was a delightful row. I asked if I could come back tomorrow and they seemed willing to have me. This might turn out to be the best sales conference I’ve ever attended.

          Workout Summary - media/20180522-1505230o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10579|70:13.0|03:19.1|000.0|22.8|137.6|175.0|06.6
W-|08266|35:44.0|02:09.7|000.0|23.2|158.6|175.0|10.0
R-|02322|34:29.0|07:25.7|000.0|22.3|115.8|175.0|00.5
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00708|03:00.0|02:07.1|000.0|20.8|129.7|160.0|11.3 - r20
02|00475|02:00.0|02:06.2|000.0|24.1|161.5|164.0|09.9 - r24
03|00244|01:00.0|02:02.9|000.0|27.4|166.5|169.0|08.9 - r28
04|00468|02:00.0|02:08.3|000.0|24.4|167.8|170.0|09.6 - r24
05|00869|03:50.0|02:12.3|000.0|21.5|163.6|167.0|10.5 - r20
06|00604|02:45.0|02:16.5|000.0|20.5|145.5|157.0|10.7 - r20
07|00447|02:00.0|02:14.1|000.0|24.5|161.2|165.0|09.1 - r24
08|00242|01:00.0|02:04.2|000.0|27.3|167.4|170.0|08.8 - r28
09|00502|02:09.0|02:08.5|000.0|24.3|172.2|175.0|09.6 - r24
10|00821|03:31.0|02:08.5|000.0|21.7|172.2|175.0|10.7 - r20
11|00652|02:50.0|02:10.4|000.0|21.0|149.1|160.0|11.0 - r20
12|00475|02:00.0|02:06.4|000.0|24.8|162.6|166.0|09.6 - r24
13|00245|01:00.0|02:02.5|000.0|28.0|169.0|172.0|08.8 - r28
14|00474|02:00.0|02:06.6|000.0|24.7|171.4|174.0|09.6 - r24
15|01039|04:39.0|02:14.2|000.0|23.9|150.9|160.0|09.4 - r24

Friday: Sublime Rate Ladders

May 11, 20181 Comment

Perhaps a gross overstatement, but I feel like today was a bit of break through.

The weather started perfect, but a gusty, but persistent breeze sprung up about halfway through. This was mostly a cross wind, but depending on the bends of the river sometimes slowed me down quite a bit.

The plan was

4 x 12′ rate ladders
- 6′ @ 18
- 4′ @ 24
- 2′ @ 28
6 minutes rest between

I decided to use the rests to do some KOM drills, and even tried a couple of slow motion starts.

The whole way as I drove to the river I kept telling myself to focus on technique instead of pace or power in this session. Make sure that in the r24 and r28 sections, I rowed with light pressure and good form. All of this self talk seemed to make an impression because for once, I actually seemed to follow it.

And the results were awesome. For brief moments today, I got the feeling of effortless speed. Sometimes it was during the r18 section when I eased in the catch more gently. Sometimes it was during the r24 section, though rarely because a lot of those were through the s-turn and it’s hard to reach a sublime state when you are putting all your pressure on one oar. And a few times, for a few strokes it happened at r28.

These fleeting moments made the whole row a delightful puzzle to solve. As soon as I noticed that feeling of flow, invariably the next stroke would feel like mud. Then I would be thinking through how to recapture it. I am certain it is related to how I take the catch, but balance during recovery is a huge part of it too. All I am hoping is that I can feel it again, and then extend it over more strokes.

To put this in some context. I can remember this feeling from a couple of seasons ago, maybe it was even three seasons ago. I am sure I never felt it last year. Looking back, it seems like I spent the whole season fighting the boat. I’d forgotten what this feels like.

A few details about the row. Each piece was 12 minutes long. The good section of the river is about 14 minutes of rowing, so that worked out very well. I only needed to make one adjustment on the fly. When I was doing the third piece, I was approaching the stone bridge when it was time to shift from r24 to r28. I decided to extend the r24 by a minute and do the full 2 minutes at r28 after the bridge in open water. Take that as an indication of how I was feeling. I don’t know that I have ever willingly extended an interval before.

Screen Shot 2018-05-11 at 5.34.22 PM.png

My problems with my oarlock are unimproved. Hopefully a HW swap will fix things up. NK is sending me a replacement to try.

Looking at the heart rate is another indication of goodness. I was up touching the anaerobic zone at the end of the 3rd and fourth intervals, and I fought no demons. I was far from comfortable, but I was able to purposely focus on technique during the last ten strokes of each of the pieces.

Tomorrow: Aerobic gardening!

Videos! KOM Drill and Rate Ladders

April 29, 2018April 29, 20181 Comment

It seems like so long ago, but it was just last Saturday. When I went out to Lake Quinsigamond for a outing with my pals at the Worcester Boat Club.

I set up for side video to see how I was doing with the feedback that my coach had provided. For reference, here is the before video.

The things that I needed to work on.

Rigging:
- Decrease inboard to reduce the amount of overlap at the crossover and give me more room at the finish. (I went from 89cm to 85cm)
- Move foot board to stern to give me more distance through the pin for my hips. (I moved it 2cm to the stern)
- Move the oarlocks down one spacer so that my hands would be lower during the drive.
Technique:
- Get my heels down quicker in the drive and keep my heels down during recovery
- Maintain outward pressure on the handles during recovery to get the blades off the water and stay more stable.
- concentrate on hinging at the hips and keep my back straight.

She recommended that I include the King of the Mountain Drill into my routine. I’ve do it in a couple of workouts so far. You can tell from the video that I need to do it more.

Here’s what it is supposed to look like. Link to Video

Here’s my version.

I don’t know what my problem was, but I was really tense during the drill. I feel like I did a better job the first time I tried it.

Then it was into the work out. The assignment was 4 x 12′ rate ladders. I include 2 videos here. The first is the last couple of minutes of the r18 section, 4′ at r24 and 2′ at r28. This one was done with basically no wind.

So, what do I see. I know it’s tough to make things out because of the position of the sun.

The rigging changes are good, and maybe should go even further. My finishes look a lot better.
I am doing a little better in the way my body is hinging, but not much.
I seem to go deep at the catch and then come to a good depth in the last 2/3 of the drive.
My balance still sucks.

Here’s the second ladder. Again the end of the r18 bit and all of the 24 and 28. The sun is now behind the camera so the video quality is better. The rowing is a bit worse. There was a bit of head/cross wind and I went a bit too hard in the first one so I was starting to fatigue.

I look a kinda slumpy in this one. I need to really work on sitting up straight in the boat.

Finally, because I can’t help myself. Here’s another blooper. When I started my second ladder, I managed to lose track of where a buoy was in front of me. By the time I saw it again, I was too close to cleanly steer away from it, so I just braced for impact.

Not my proudest moment. I guess I should have worn the sunglasses.

Wed – Sun: A lot more rowing!

April 22, 20181 Comment

What a delight to have 5 days of rowing in a row! I was in town for the whole week this week and even though I had a busy work schedule, I managed to row every morning. I didn’t get much sleep, and I froze my ass off, but it was totally worth it!

Tuesday: 2 x 30′ (already posted about this one. It was pretty tough work)

Wednesday: 3 x (1′ + 1′ + 2′) – a delightfully short sprint oriented workout

Thursday: 60′ of speed play…I got rained and snowed on

Friday: 65′ of speed play…Nice morning, but still damn cold.

Saturday: 4 x 12′ rate ladders on Lake Quinsigamond

Sunday: Off to Taiwan.

The details:

Wednesday: 3 x (1′ + 1′ + 2′)

Here are my coach’s instructions….

3 sets of: 1’ on, 3’ active rest, 1’ on , 3’ active rest 2’ on, 5’ active rest
Rest between: Continuous, no rest between sets. Complete one set and then repeat the series. The active rest is relaxed, low intensity, easy rowing. Stop only briefly to rehydrate.
Rating /pace: Race effort, 1k pace (your best right now)

Notes: The emphasis is on high quality work and stroke efficiency. This speed workout aims to keep the lactic acid levels low by allowing enough recovery between pieces for it to clear. Do not cut the rest short. Feel fully recovered and psychologically ready to do the next piece. If the quality starts to drop dramatically, stop the workout.

Training effect: Cat II, repetitions, race pace technique.

Pretty clear instructions and it’s nice to have the notes to know what to focus on.

I did not need to cut the workout short, but I did suffer a bit in the sprints that were going into the head wind. I adjusted the active rest between sprints as necessary to have the right amount of straight river in front of me when I started each sprint.

There is a huge difference in pace due to wind and current. The first three were all downstream and wind aided. The next three were all upstream and into a building headwind. The third set I did two downstream and then did the last 2′ piece into the current and wind. I struggled with the cross/head wind in the last one.

Workout Summary - media/20180418-1415260o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10409|58:41.0|02:49.2|156.4|21.7|144.7|177.0|08.2
W-|02817|11:47.0|02:05.5|295.9|29.1|160.9|177.0|08.2
R-|07601|46:54.0|03:05.2|121.4|19.8|140.6|177.0|07.4
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00261|01:00.0|01:55.1|305.2|28.6|153.9|160.0|09.1
02|00264|01:00.0|01:53.6|304.3|29.4|157.7|164.0|09.0
03|00464|01:47.0|01:55.4|303.9|28.2|161.5|170.0|09.2
04|00217|01:00.0|02:18.5|257.7|29.1|150.7|161.0|07.4
05|00230|01:00.0|02:10.5|355.5|30.3|161.7|172.0|07.6
06|00444|02:00.0|02:15.2|279.4|28.6|167.7|177.0|07.8
07|00254|01:00.0|01:58.3|309.8|29.4|153.8|167.0|08.6
08|00253|01:00.0|01:58.6|313.8|29.7|159.4|169.0|08.5
09|00432|02:00.0|02:18.9|269.8|29.2|167.4|174.0|07.4

I basically aimed to get the power above 300 and keep it there.

Thursday: 60′ of speed play

A unique experience for me. It was cold and grey when I got to the dock. I had brought stuff so I could do the session inside because there was rain in the forecast, but when I arrived, it was not raining. So I decided to give it a go. I’ve done this session on the erg, but not yet in the boat and I was looking forward to it.

Plan:

60’ with speed play
Rest: n/a only to rehydrate
Rating/Pace: Cat VI; target SR 18-20.
Once every 10 minutes take the stroke rate up to 28 spm for 20 strokes.

I modified the time between power 20s based on the river. I wanted to get two 20s into each direction that I row, so it was a little less than 10 minutes between them.

The wind was pretty strong and it started raining during my first trip down the river as I emerged from the s-turn. By the time I turned at the dam it was raining steadily. By the time I had gone back upstream, it was a “wintery mix”. Then it was all snow.

Workout Summary - media/20180419-1300370o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|11314|60:52.0|02:41.4|162.5|20.2|144.4|166.0|09.2
W-|01237|05:15.0|02:07.3|293.6|28.6|153.8|164.0|08.3
R-|10085|55:37.0|02:45.5|150.1|19.4|143.5|164.0|08.1
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00181|00:45.0|02:04.0|246.4|25.7|150.5|154.0|09.4
02|00191|00:45.0|01:57.9|282.3|27.1|153.9|161.0|09.4
03|00166|00:45.0|02:15.5|260.4|28.5|151.2|160.0|07.8
04|00164|00:45.0|02:17.6|303.5|28.4|157.3|164.0|07.7
05|00194|00:45.0|01:56.1|318.4|29.3|154.8|161.0|08.8
06|00174|00:45.0|02:09.7|321.8|30.7|159.6|163.0|07.5
07|00168|00:45.0|02:14.1|322.5|30.4|149.3|159.0|07.4

Friday: 65′ of speed play

Friday is an optional rest day, or I can do another speed play session like Thursday’s. Since I knew I had travel coming up, I wanted to get as much time on the water as I could.

The weather was even colder than Thursday, around 32F. But at least it was dry and the sun came out. The temperature was in the 40s by the time I finished.

I felt much better in this workout than the one on Thursday. Better, more consistent power in the bursts.

Workout Summary - media/20180420-1350290o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|12492|67:43.0|02:42.6|157.5|19.5|147.8|170.0|09.5
W-|01136|04:40.0|02:03.3|304.6|28.8|158.6|168.0|08.4
R-|11363|63:03.0|02:46.5|146.7|18.8|147.0|168.0|08.4
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00167|00:40.0|01:59.7|317.7|27.6|152.8|157.0|09.1
02|00170|00:40.0|01:57.6|313.1|27.9|155.9|161.0|09.2
03|00154|00:40.0|02:09.9|294.5|28.2|159.7|164.0|08.2
04|00150|00:40.0|02:13.1|300.6|28.4|160.3|165.0|07.9
05|00172|00:40.0|01:56.3|303.0|30.3|160.4|166.0|08.5
06|00172|00:40.0|01:56.6|315.2|29.9|163.3|168.0|08.6
07|00151|00:40.0|02:12.5|288.0|29.7|158.0|164.0|07.6

Saturday: 4 x 12′ rate ladders on Lake Quinsigamond

Saturday was a big day for our little club. We were going to christen our new lightweight double. We have some very good women rowers and they have been using a mid-heavyweight double which is way less than ideal for them. We picked this boat up used from Saugatuck and had it repainted locally (fire engine red!).

I brought my boat out. Today was going to be ideal for a few purposes. I wanted to see my rowing friends. I wanted to have a nice long lake for this workout. And since Saturday mornings are a lot less time compressed, I figure it would be a good time to do some side video with the rigging changes to see if it looks any different.

Marlene had suggested that I move further to stern, and I had moved the footplate a cm last week. On Saturday, I moved it another cm to the stern. It felt fine during the row.

I started out with some king of the mountain. I was really tight and tippy on Saturday, maybe it was having an audience as everyone else was getting ready to row. Anyway, I have to do this drill more because I suck at it!

Then it was time for the planned workout.

4 x 12’
Rest between: 6’
Rating/Pace:
- 6’ @ Cat VI; target 18-20
- 4’ @ Cat IV; target SR 24
- 2’ @ Cat III; target SR 28.

The first ladder heading down lake was delightful. The water was smooth and the wind was light. I felt strong and fast. But by the end of the 12′, I was pretty gassed. I think I pushed a bit too hard.

The next one was uplake and into a building headwind. That was less fun. Notice in the plot a transient right at 25 minutes? That’s were I ran into a “No Wake Zone” bouy. I noticed it right before I hit it, so I had enough time to brace and avoid flipping, but not far enough to stop or turn. It freaked me out a bit.

Then back down lake again and finally another one uplake. by this time I was worn out and the lake was pretty choppy. The wind was from the northwest as near as I could tell, so coming down lake I was sheltered by the western shore. Going uplake along the eastern side of the lake, I was exposed to the wind and chop.

I was totally spent the rest of the day.

4-21a

Once I get settled in Taiwan, I’ll post the videos.

Saturday: 4 x 12′ rate ladders – on slides

April 15, 2018Leave a comment

Down on the cape. Still too cold and windy for open water rowing. So I did this on slides.

It’s a new workout from Marlene.

4 x 12′ / 6′ rest
each 12′
- 6′ Cat VI (r18-r20, 2:02 to 2:06)
- 4′ Cat IV (r24, 1:52)
- 2′ Cat III (r28, 1:48)

I had technical issues today. I managed to bring my OH1 heart rate monitor, but forgot the elastic strap. I tried to improvised a strap out of an old sock but made it too narrow and it fell out during the first rep. During the rest I went and cut a wider one from the other sock. That one works.

But when I got back to the erg, I discovered that I had misprogrammed the rest into the PM and the next interval had started a couple minutes ago. So, I aborted that one, and re programmed it. I put in a 5 minute rests just because I was a little pressed for time.

Afterwards, I used rowsandall to glue the two workouts back together. It was easier than writing the sentence about doing it.

The workout was very taxing. Maybe I was a little low energy. I don’t know, but the last six minutes of each interval were tough! I dialed back the pace a bit and stuck it out, but I was really struggling. I also let myself rate up a bit (25 for 24 and 30 for 28) in the last two intervals.

         Workout Summary - media/df_20180414-225155.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14139|66:25.0|02:20.9|169.4|21.0|141.4|180.0|10.1
W-|12360|48:00.0|01:56.5|223.6|22.8|146.2|180.0|11.4
R-|01784|18:25.0|05:09.6|028.2|16.5|128.8|180.0|06.2
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01470|06:00.0|02:02.4|188.4|19.4|119.9|137.0|12.6
01|01072|04:00.0|01:51.9|249.3|24.2|102.8|111.0|11.1
02|00564|02:00.0|01:46.3|290.9|28.0|098.5|106.0|10.1
03|01460|06:00.0|02:03.3|188.2|19.5|142.7|154.0|12.5
04|01075|04:00.0|01:51.7|251.0|24.9|164.3|171.0|10.8
05|00560|02:00.0|01:47.1|284.8|28.5|175.3|177.0|09.8
06|01445|06:00.0|02:04.6|182.7|19.7|147.6|156.0|12.2
07|01063|04:00.0|01:52.9|242.8|24.5|166.2|175.0|10.8
08|00565|02:00.0|01:46.1|291.4|28.4|176.6|179.0|10.0
09|01453|06:00.0|02:03.9|184.3|20.0|148.9|157.0|12.1
10|01063|04:00.0|01:52.9|242.8|24.5|168.8|176.0|10.8
11|00568|02:00.0|01:45.6|296.4|30.2|177.4|180.0|09.4

I felt like I deserved a beer after that. So, I had two. We went to dinner at a great restaurant called CShore in Wellfleet.

Today:

80 minutes with speed play
rest, brief to rehydrate (I’ll stop for a minute every 20 minutes)
20 strokes at r28 every ten minutes. I’ll do them at 5 and 15.
I’ll also aim for the slow end of the cat VI range and focus on hip hinge stuff.

Friday: Horror Films. Video Feedback

April 3, 20181 Comment

One of the primary reasons that I wanted to get expert coaching was to make improvements in my rowing technique. I figure that there are three elements to achieving good boat speed.

Lose weight. (5 kg is worth a second of pace at least just in reduced displaement)
Improve fitness
Improve technique

I know how to do number 1 and 2. Those items are determined by the amount of time I have to train, work commitments, willpower and desire.

Technique is tougher. I know good rowing when I see it, and I can see that there are things wrong with my rowing, but I want some expert guidance to figure out what needs to be fixed first and by what means.

Since I am using a remote coaching arrangement with Marlene Royle, that means that I have to record video and share it. I did this over the winter and I think I made some good progress on improvement the mechanics of my stroke, especially the recovery.

Now I am back on the water, and before I get too set in my ways, I wanted to take some video in the boat and start fixing stuff.

I have seen all kinds of arrangements to take video. If you are lucky enough to have a live, local coach, it’s very simple. They film you from the launch. Without a coach, you have to figure a way to mount a GoPro or some other camera on the boat. The easiest is to mount it on the stern deck, but then you don’t get to see a lot of the body work in the stroke. To get that you need a side view.

To get a side view, I picked up a trick from Larry Tait. He figured out how to mount an old rigger backstay to the end of his rigger, and then put his gopro on the end of the backstay. This gets the camera about 6 feet out to side, and with the wide field of view, that’s more than enough to see the whole stroke.

I described it a bit more detail and included pictures of the setup here.

So, I set myself up and went out for a row. I had about an hour, so I decided to do a bit of a free form session. I would do 6 minute easy rate ladders consisting of 3′ @ r18, 2′ @ r20 and 1′ @ r22. To spice it up a bit, I decided to throw in a few practice starts, just to see if I remembered how to do them and to see how good my balance was at the catch.

Here’s the whole session

And here’s the video….

The first video is the first rate ladder. During the 2′ at r20 I was making my way through the s-turn.

After the first 2 ladders, I reached the dam in Waltham. I did a set of four starts after I turned around. A couple of them were OK.

After a couple more ladders, and a few more starts, I did one last short ladder, just 10 strokes at each rate from r18 up to r28.

Looking at the video, I see a whole bunch of issues.

Sad to say, I’m heavier and balder than I was the last time I did side video in the boat. :-(.
I am not sitting erect enough in the boat, my hips are rocked too far back throughout the stroke.
I am not completing my rock over on recovery before I start to slide.
Blade depth looks OK to me, although it looks like my hands are arcing up right after the catch and then leveling out. The last ladder looks worse in terms of “rowing over the barrel”.
As you can see, I struggle a bit with balance. I lightly skim my blades on recovery.
Some strokes have a pretty pronounced pause at the finish.

And here, or pure entertainment value is my worst start of the day. I caught a crab and nearly flipped

The look on my face as it happened was priceless.

The great thing about rowing is that it keeps you humble!

Saturday: 3 x 15′ / 4′ – Rate Ladders

March 24, 2018Leave a comment

Down on the cape.

It’s been a great day. I got up around 9, and went out to the bakery. I got some farmers bread, chocolate croissants, and other pastries and a delicious latte and headed home.

We had some breakfast and then it was time for some work around the house.

The winter has been tough on the exterior of the house. A couple of stretches of sand fencing were blown down. So the first task was to replace and resecure the fencing.

Then I went and bought some fiberglass screening and replaced the torn screens in three of the storm doors.

Finally, around 5pm, I headed downstairs to do my erg session. This is the second time at this workout and the first time was tough.

3 x 15′ / 4′ rest
- 5′ @ Cat VI r20 (2:03-2:08)
- 4′ @ Cat V r22 (1:58-2:02)
- 3′ @ Cat IV r24 (1:52-1:56)
- 2′ @ Cat III r26 (1:48 exactly)
- 1′ @ Cat II r28 (1:45 or faster)

I actually misremembered the paces and I was aiming at 2:06, 2:02, 1:57: 1:52, 1:47

          Workout Summary - media/20180324-2200360o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13207|57:02.0|02:09.6|180.1|22.3|152.1|183.0|10.4
W-|11368|45:00.0|01:58.8|210.7|22.5|154.7|182.0|11.3
R-|01848|12:02.0|03:15.5|065.8|21.6|142.4|182.0|08.7
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01199|05:00.0|02:05.1|176.9|19.5|126.7|139.0|12.3
01|00991|04:00.0|02:01.0|197.2|21.7|145.4|151.0|11.4
02|00784|03:00.0|01:54.8|230.6|24.0|156.9|160.0|10.9
03|00542|02:00.0|01:50.6|258.4|25.9|164.9|168.0|10.5
04|00283|01:00.0|01:45.9|292.8|28.2|170.2|173.0|10.0
05|01192|05:00.0|02:05.9|178.3|19.6|140.9|151.0|12.2
06|00988|04:00.0|02:01.4|195.7|22.2|157.6|162.0|11.1
07|00778|03:00.0|01:55.7|224.9|23.7|165.9|171.0|10.9
08|00541|02:00.0|01:50.9|256.2|25.7|173.8|176.0|10.5
09|00283|01:00.0|01:46.1|290.9|28.1|177.7|179.0|10.0
10|01190|05:00.0|02:06.0|175.9|19.5|144.9|154.0|12.2
11|00991|04:00.0|02:01.1|196.8|22.1|161.1|166.0|11.2
12|00782|03:00.0|01:55.1|229.2|23.9|170.9|175.0|10.9
13|00538|02:00.0|01:51.6|252.2|26.0|177.5|181.0|10.4
14|00285|01:00.0|01:45.2|297.7|31.0|180.9|182.0|09.2

Well, I might have aimed slow on pace, but it was a very hard workout.

The heart rate was almost identical to the the first time I did this workout on March 10th. That time I started a bit faster and slowed down.

Tomorrow:

2 x 2000m / 2’
- Rating: Cat V pace; target SR 22 (1:58 – 2:02)
2 x 1000m, rest 3’ easy
- Rating: Cat IV pace: target SR 24-26 (1:52)
2 x 500m, rest 2’ easy
- Rating: Cat III pace: target SR 26-28 (1:48)

Saturday: 20km on Quinsig

June 3, 20172 Comments

One must be adaptable. My original plan was to do a long open water row this morning, but we decided to stay home instead of going to the cape this weekend. So, I texted Joe and asked him if he wanted to do a long row in the double this morning at 6.

He was willing, so that was the plan. The weather this morning was beautiful. A bit chilly, in the upper 40s. There was no wind when we arrived, but a light breeze picked up by the time we launched. It was shifty, coming sometimes from the NE, sometimes from the SE, and sometimes it was non-existent. This was mostly a cross wind. It was sunny and clear and the water was nice and flat.

We took out the Wintech double that we bought from Saugatuck. I really like the boat. It’s easy to set and much lighter than the old Vespoli we had been rowing last year.

I didn’t have much of a plan, beyond 90 minutes of UT1. We rowed to the south end of the lake. That was mostly just us getting in sync and watching the scenery. I stepped up the stroke rate over the last 1500m or so to spice things up.

Once we spun the boat, I asked if Joe was up for some easy rate ladders. He was, and off we went. The plan was 6 minute ladders. 3 minutes at r20, 2 minutes at r22, and 1 minute at r24. Repeat until you run out of lake.

It took us 4 and half ladders to get to the north end of the lake. I checked if we had the time and energy to go all the way back to the south end of the lake. We did 🙂

Going back south, it took almost 5 complete ladders. We got waked right at the end, which was a bummer. By then we were getting short on time so we spun the boat and headed back north to the boat house. We did two more ladders, which brought us to about 1k south of the bridge. Joe said we should row past the docks since there was a crowd gathering for learn to row day. The plan would be to row at r20 until we got to the bridge, and then I would bring the rate up to 28 or so and we would demonstrate the beauty and grace of our rowing to assembled throng.

That was the plan. I’m not sure how beautiful or graceful it was, but there was a lot of water in the footwell and Joe looked very wet by the time we finished. :-O I guess I really need work on my catches to reduce my backsplash!

After that we helped out with our humble part of National Learn To Row Day. We had a couple dozen folks show up. So we taught the basics of the stroke on a dozen ergs, got the to sign away all their rights, and then took them out in a couple of eights for a quick row.

All in all, a fantastic morning.

Tomorrow: rest day.

Quantified Rowing

Measure – Adjust – Improve

Tag: rate ladder