Stumbling into rowing season

March 9, 2020Leave a comment

I feel like I am training without purpose right now.

It’s been a month since I reviewed my training. It has been a busy month, but not so good for the state of my fitness.

From the beginning 9th of February:

28 days
Target 24 training days, actual 21 training days (but two of them were very short)
Target is 6 sessions a week. Actual was 5.1 sessions a week.
Travel in 3 of the 4 weeks
- 2 day trip to San Jose
- 1 week trip to Aruba
- 1 week trip to Texas and Costa Rica

With so much disruption, I dropped back to a maintenance mode, and did very few high intensity sessions.

Target High intensity days 12, actual 3

So, heres the daily activities…

Sunday – Feb 9 – No Training (not sure why)

Monday – Feb 10 – Short Stack – 3 x (13 x 30″/15″)/5′

Based on a tweet from Stephen Seiler. A pretty intense workout.

Blew the start of the 3rd to last interval. Paddled it out.

Findings about these workouts were posted in a youtube video. (link)

Tuesday – Feb 11 – 2 x 30′ / 2′ L4

Based on the HR, things are going in the wrong direction.

Wednesday – Feb 12 – No Training

6AM flight to San Francisco. Straight into meetings.

Thursday – Feb 13 – No Training

8AM flight home.

Friday – Feb 14 – 3 x 20’/2′ L4

High HR. Travel and lack of endurance minutes catching up with me.

Saturday – Feb 15 – WU + 2 x 20’/2′ L4

I started with the intent of doing a hard distance workout. So I did a 20 minute workout, but felt so awful that I abandoned those plans and just did 2 20 minute L4 pieces. HR was better than Friday, which was good to see.

Sunday – Feb 16 – No Training

My wife and I flew to Aruba for vacation!

Monday – Feb 17 – 5km beach run

Aruba is wonderful. The sand is nice and hard near the water. Perfect for running barefoot. I ran from our hotel, which is at the extreme north end of Palm Beach to the other end, where the Divi is. It’s about 2.5km each way. I ran one way and took breaks on the way back. The killer is the piers. You need to leave the hard sand and run up the beach through the soft dry sand and then back down.

Tuesday – Feb 18 – 30′ Stationary Bike / 20 minute swim

Legs a bit sore from beach running, so I started with a 30 minute easy stationary bike ride in the fitness center.

Then I headed down to the beach and went for a swim. I swam for about 20 minutes and did four complete lengths of the swimming area at our hotel. I later found out that was about 0.4 miles.

Wednesday – Feb 19 – 5km beach run and 30′ swim

The run was better than the first. I paced it a bit better (slower) and took fewer breaks on the way back to the hotel.

The swim was also better. This time, I had goggles and got into a very relaxed groove. The HR data was suspect though.

Thursday – Feb 20 – 5km run and 30 min Swim

Another nice beach run. Good pacing and pushed it a bit harder at the end.

Then another swim. Really enjoying this. Makes me wish I lived on a tropical island where I could do this every day!

Friday – Feb 21 – No Training

Flying home

Saturday – Feb 22 – 3 x 30′ / 2′ L4

Had technical issues with BoatCoach. There was a glitch and it lost my first 60 minutes of rowing. Here’s the last 30′

Here’s the whole thing as witnessed by my watch. Equally boring, but necessary base work.

Sunday – Feb 23 – 3 x 30′ / 2′ L4

More meters in the bank

Monday – Feb 24 – No Training

Flew to Austin, straight into meetings

Tuesday – Feb 25 – 30′ Inclined walk / 30′ row

The walk.

The row – felt terrible

Wednesday – Feb 26 – 30′ inclined walk

Needed to be quick. I was heading off to the airport to catch a 9am flight to Dallas

Thursday – Feb 27 – 30′ Inclined Walk

I had a morning flight to Costa Rica, so another quick stop in the fitness center.

Friday – Feb 28 – No Training

I was in Costa Rica for just the afternoon. I had dinner with the team there and then headed to the airport. I caught an 11:30pm flight to JFK, and then caught the shuttle flight to Boston, arriving around 10am. I had a set of meetings and then scooted home. My wife and I went down to the Cape that night.

Saturday – Feb 29 – 4 x 20′ steady state

Just coasting along on slides. Longer rest between #2 and #3 was me going and switching the laundry.

Sunday – Mar 1 – 3 x 20′ / 2′ L4

Not a bad session, all things considered. On slides in Hopkinton.

Monday – Mar 2 – 8 x 500/3’30” L1

Holy cow! An L1 workout. Very gentle targets. Started with the thought of just doing better than 1:45. After 1, decided 1:44 was a better pace to aim at. The last one was good.

Tuesday – Mar 3 – 2 x 30′ / 2′ L4

Started OK, but I got tired and my HR was climbing freely in the second piece. Decided to just row it out at 18spm for the last 10 minutes.

Wednesday – Mar 4 – Short Interval Stack 3 x (13×30″/15″)/5′

An encore of the workout from February. Less ambitious power target this time, but better execution. I think I was also in worse shape, but man…It’s a great workout.

Thursday – Mar 5 – 3 x 20′ / 2′ L4

I was sick of the high heart rates of some previous L4 workouts, so I dialed it back to an easier stroke sequence. That did the trick and this was a good, enjoyable workout.

Friday – Mar 6 – No Training

We went into Cambridge on Thursday night to celebrate my sons’ birthday. We got home late and I slept in a bit on Friday.

Saturday – Mar 7 – No Training

We went to go see my wife’s cousin’s daughter play in the Big East Women’s Hockey championship. I should have gotten up a bit early and gotten a row in, but I didn’t, and by the time we had got back home, there was a ton of other stuff to do. I felt bad about missing a weekend day though.

Sunday – March 8 – 3 x 30′ / 2′ Steady State

Looking for low heart rates and easy rowing. This session delivered. Got a bit greedy i the last 30 minutes and pushed the power. Nice flat HR though.

The good news is that today, I got back on the water. I’ll write that one up soon. But I’m going to just play it by ear for a week or two and then figure out an OTW training plan.

Christmas Vacation – Daily Rowing

December 30, 20183 Comments

I like this routine. Sleeping, relaxing, cooking, rowing.

Thursday – 12/27 – 10 x 2′ / 2′ Dynamic

A little bit of a variation on the 8×500. On the dynamic, so aiming for about 4 or 5 sec per 500 slower than on a static erg. First rep was a warmup. Then I targeted 1:50 for the rest, and a faster last. I hate this infernal machine.

The rowsandall summary was a bit stingy with the splits. I seem to lose a few meters on each interval.

        Workout Summary - media/20181227-1850340o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|11203|48:07.0|02:08.9|179.2|24.7|150.0|177.0|09.4
W-|05447|20:00.0|01:50.1|265.8|27.4|153.9|177.0|10.0
R-|05765|26:07.0|02:16.0|116.5|22.8|146.7|177.0|14.1
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00544|02:00.0|01:50.3|262.6|26.0|142.6|152.0|10.5
02|00542|02:00.0|01:50.6|261.3|26.1|148.8|161.0|10.4
03|00544|02:00.0|01:50.3|262.2|27.4|151.2|162.0|09.9
04|00544|02:00.0|01:50.3|261.3|26.8|153.4|167.0|10.2
05|00545|02:00.0|01:50.0|263.4|27.4|155.0|167.0|10.0
06|00545|02:00.0|01:50.1|264.0|27.8|155.6|170.0|09.8
07|00531|02:00.0|01:53.1|261.2|26.9|155.7|170.0|09.9
08|00544|02:00.0|01:50.3|262.4|27.4|157.3|171.0|09.9
09|00540|02:00.0|01:51.1|259.6|27.1|157.7|171.0|10.0
10|00568|02:00.0|01:45.6|299.7|31.2|161.6|177.0|09.1

Good workout.

Friday – 12/28 – Terrible Half marathon (dynamic)

Started fine, but I fell apart after about an hour. My ass hurt a lot. I slowed down as necessary to stay under a 155 cap. I had to switch laundry around the 30 minute mark. That’s the stoppage in the plot.

        Workout Summary - media/20181229-0025330o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|21092|91:45.0|02:10.5|163.8|20.2|146.0|161.0|11.4
W-|21054|90:25.0|02:08.8|163.7|20.2|146.5|161.0|11.5
R-|00043|01:20.0|15:24.1|166.6|20.5|113.3|161.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|02372|10:00.0|02:06.5|172.3|19.8|123.7|135.0|12.0
01|02359|10:00.0|02:07.2|170.1|20.0|136.5|141.0|11.8
02|02357|10:00.0|02:07.3|169.7|20.3|142.8|146.0|11.6
03|02360|10:00.0|02:07.1|170.2|20.2|142.2|148.0|11.7
04|02346|10:00.0|02:07.9|167.3|20.3|150.4|154.0|11.5
05|02328|10:00.0|02:08.9|163.6|20.4|153.8|156.0|11.4
06|02297|10:00.0|02:10.6|157.2|20.6|155.1|156.0|11.2
07|02262|10:00.0|02:12.6|150.1|20.0|155.7|157.0|11.3
08|02277|10:00.0|02:11.8|153.1|20.5|157.6|161.0|11.1
09|00097|00:25.2|02:10.2|161.8|20.2|158.0|159.0|11.4

I’m gonna have to explore other seat pad options. My left sitz bone is bothering me a lot!

Saturday – 12/29 – 5 x 1500 / 4′ Dynamic

I went through most of the day intent on taking a rest day, but around 10pm, I got bored and decided to workout. I think it was a good idea because I’ll probably want to take a rest day on New Years Day.

I haven’t done much long interval work, and I don’t like doing it on the dynamic, but the 1500s are by far the least onerous session. I gave myself a softish target and got to work.

I didn’t bother with a warmup, I just dove into the first interval. I think the target was about right. I was very uncomfortable in the last 500 of each rep but I never had the urge to give up rowing and take up knitting.

The rowsandall splits are again a bit stingy. One day, I’ll have to invent a good interpolation routine to make them correlate better with the PM.

        Workout Summary - media/20181230-0400340o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10987|48:31.0|02:12.5|175.9|23.6|153.2|180.0|09.6
W-|07500|28:28.0|01:53.9|237.1|26.2|160.2|179.0|10.1
R-|03490|20:03.0|02:52.4|089.1|19.9|143.3|179.0|07.8
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01500|05:40.8|01:53.6|236.2|25.2|144.3|160.0|10.5
01|01500|05:43.7|01:54.6|234.7|25.2|157.6|168.0|10.4
02|01500|05:42.7|01:54.2|235.1|25.7|164.3|174.0|10.2
03|01500|05:41.2|01:53.7|238.8|27.2|167.2|177.0|09.7
04|01500|05:39.8|01:53.3|240.7|27.6|167.8|179.0|09.6

I was interested in seeing how I needed to increase my rate, and decrease the DPS as I got tired. I plotted out the WPS and the Average Drive Force to see what they looked like. There is about a 10% decline in WPS over the workout. The question in my mind is whether I should be aiming at that lower WPS the whole workout or is a higher WPS more efficient?

bokeh_plot (65).png

Tomorrow: 3 x 20′ on slides (I hope). We are off to the cape for our New Year’s Eve party,

Another week on the Head Race training plan

October 1, 2018Leave a comment

Last post was Sept 25th. Since then I’ve been consistently training, but struggled with insomnia for much of the week.

I was very sleep deprived when I got home on Saturday morning (9/22). I slept a few hours that morning. Then a solid block of 10 hours on Saturday night. But on Monday night, I fell asleep around 10:30, and woke up at 1:00am. I was unable to fall back asleep. Tuesday, a little better. I slept from 10:30 to 2:00am. Wednesday, I got maybe 5 hours. Thursday, I headed down to the cape in the evening, arriving there around 11. I had some things to do around the house, so I didn’t get to sleep until 12:30. My daughter and one of my son’s arrived at 3:00am. I took some work to get back to sleep and I got maybe 3 hours of sleep before I needed to get up for my first meeting. Finally, Friday night and Saturday night I seemed to get back to more normal sleep patterns. It sure effects mood and stamina when you don’t get enough sleep.

Despite the sleep issues, I was on the water Tues/Wed/Thur. I took a rest day on Friday. And then trained Sat/Sun/Mon.

Wednesday, Sept 26: 60′ Steady State

The plan was to row at about r20 and keep my HR below 150.

         Workout Summary - media/20180926-1900310o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|12157|65:34.0|02:41.8|116.0|19.0|144.9|158.0|09.7
W-|11571|58:23.0|02:31.4|123.0|19.0|146.5|158.0|10.5
R-|00590|07:11.0|06:05.5|058.6|19.5|132.3|158.0|05.7
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00008|00:01.5|01:32.6|131.6|18.5|091.0|91.0|17.5 --?
02|00009|00:01.5|01:19.8|149.0|19.0|091.0|91.0|19.8 --? 
03|01100|05:21.3|02:26.0|128.6|19.4|135.4|147.0|10.6 - blocked by boats
04|02754|13:05.3|02:22.6|127.1|19.3|147.7|153.0|10.9
05|02729|14:19.6|02:37.5|121.0|18.1|145.4|154.0|10.5
06|01942|09:26.1|02:25.8|120.8|18.4|146.9|155.0|11.2 - cut short for time
07|02615|13:54.7|02:39.6|123.0|19.5|150.5|158.0|09.7
08|00413|02:13.4|02:41.4|109.0|20.7|148.0|156.0|09.0

Thursday, Sept 27: 4 x (5 x 2′ / 1′)/2′ Short Intervals

Plan for Thursday was to use these short intervals to practice working at rates higher than head race rate. Try to keep my stroke light and work on the release.

Ran out of river in the last interval of the first set. I really torched the whole first set. A fair current behind me and a bit of a tail wind. It looks like I dialed back the power a bit on the upriver trip. Otherwise, pretty uneventful.

         Workout Summary - media/20180927-1230310o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13891|80:10.0|02:53.1|116.6|24.1|147.6|174.0|07.2
W-|08479|37:42.0|02:13.4|171.7|27.3|157.2|174.0|08.2
R-|05430|42:29.0|03:54.8|067.6|21.3|139.0|174.0|06.4
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00460|01:58.5|02:08.7|167.9|26.3|140.2|154.0|08.9
02|00475|02:01.9|02:08.2|183.0|27.5|149.5|159.0|08.5
03|00490|02:04.9|02:07.5|163.7|27.4|155.4|166.0|08.6
04|00476|02:01.3|02:07.3|176.4|27.3|154.7|163.0|08.6
05|00267|01:07.4|02:06.4|194.7|28.4|153.9|161.0|08.4
06|00440|01:58.3|02:14.4|165.7|27.8|150.0|163.0|08.0
07|00428|01:56.1|02:15.5|168.9|27.8|158.4|170.0|08.0
08|00433|01:59.8|02:18.5|189.0|27.0|160.8|169.0|08.0
09|00425|01:55.5|02:15.9|170.5|27.5|163.1|172.0|08.0
10|00439|01:56.7|02:13.0|175.4|27.8|164.3|174.0|08.1
11|00437|01:59.9|02:17.2|168.7|26.5|152.1|168.0|08.3
12|00457|01:59.2|02:10.4|175.7|27.2|160.5|169.0|08.5
13|00427|01:54.9|02:14.5|148.9|27.1|160.7|170.0|08.2
14|00428|01:55.5|02:14.9|179.0|27.0|164.0|172.0|08.2
15|00454|01:55.9|02:07.8|186.5|28.4|162.8|172.0|08.3
16|00430|01:58.0|02:17.1|160.9|27.5|149.9|167.0|08.0
17|00423|01:56.4|02:17.7|161.0|27.2|159.8|169.0|08.0
18|00266|01:13.9|02:19.2|170.1|26.8|158.2|165.0|08.0
19|00420|01:55.8|02:17.8|158.3|27.4|162.5|172.0|08.0
20|00405|01:52.4|02:18.7|178.6|26.7|164.6|173.0|08.1

I was pretty happy with the result.

Friday, 28 Sept: No Training

Saturday, 29 Sept: 10km threshold on slides

On Saturday, I wanted to hand with the family. We got ourselves organized and went on a day trip down to Chatham. While we were there, we had a big lunch. I was still feeling kind of full when we got back to the house, but I figured that I better go do my thing on the erg in the basement.

The plan was for 40′ of threshold, so another 10K. It would be useful to compare to the one on slides to the one on the dynamic last weekend.

I started with a 2K warmup. It felt hard and I felt bloated.

Then I got going. Target pace was 1:59.

That was brutal. But frankly more pleasant than the dynamic.

Splits are pretty darned consistent. I got a bit scared of blowing up around 7k.

         Workout Summary - media/20180929-2250290o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10000|39:31.0|01:58.6|209.6|25.5|165.9|183.0|09.9
W-|10000|39:31.0|01:58.6|209.6|25.5|165.9|183.0|09.9
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|183.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01000|03:53.5|01:56.7|214.5|25.3|137.1|154.0|10.2
01|01000|03:56.1|01:58.0|213.1|25.2|157.0|159.0|10.1
02|01000|03:56.8|01:58.4|211.0|25.4|160.9|162.0|10.0
03|01000|03:57.5|01:58.8|209.1|25.1|163.6|165.0|10.1
04|01000|03:57.6|01:58.8|209.0|25.3|166.1|167.0|10.0
05|01000|03:57.3|01:58.7|209.2|25.1|169.2|171.0|10.1
06|01000|03:57.6|01:58.8|208.6|26.0|172.2|174.0|09.7
07|01000|03:59.5|01:59.7|204.0|25.2|175.1|177.0|09.9
08|01000|04:00.7|02:00.4|200.7|25.1|177.0|178.0|10.0
09|01000|03:55.1|01:57.5|217.6|27.4|179.8|183.0|09.3

So, a very similar row to the dynamic. Weird how I prefer the feeling of slides so much more, but the performance is not that different. Here are a few different parameters compared between the two rows.

HR: A bit higher on slides. Basically I was willing to take a bit more pain.
Power: 5W more on slides
Stroke rate: nearly identical
Drive length: 3 cm longer on slides. Feels about right.
Peak force: Higher on slides. I was a bit surprised by this. Since the dynamic feels so much heavier, I expected higher peak force.
Avg force: As expected, about proportional to the watts difference

Sunday, September 30: 90′ bike ride.

My daughter and I went for a bike ride. The intent was to explore some of the sand roads, but as it turned out, the sand was too loose to make any progress on, so we headed to the roads and went north. It was just a nice easy ride.

Monday, 1 October: 5 x 1500 / 5′

Plan was to work on stroke rate around 26, and beat my last 5×1500 pace and power (2:16, 154W).

The downstream intervals were a blast. The river was flowing reasonably fast, and there was the lightest of tail winds. Anyway, after I went through the s-turn, and I had about 300 or 400 meters to go, I was rating up and pushing the pace. On the third and fifth interval, I was seeing the splits drop below 2:00 for the last 5 or so strokes. It turns out that I was working a little harder on the upstream segments, as measured by power. I struggle to use power in the boat because of the big turn in the middle.

          Workout Summary - media/20181001-1310300o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13634|80:28.0|02:57.1|113.7|22.9|139.8|178.0|07.4
W-|07578|33:51.0|02:14.1|165.0|26.3|158.8|177.0|08.5
R-|06061|46:37.0|03:50.8|076.5|20.4|126.0|177.0|07.6
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00158|00:44.0|02:18.9|117.9|19.2|124.5|129.0|11.3- wu
02|01490|06:31.6|02:11.4|154.4|25.2|153.8|166.0|09.1
03|01438|06:40.9|02:19.4|170.5|26.4|160.0|172.0|08.1
04|01486|06:24.1|02:09.3|167.6|27.0|159.1|175.0|08.6
05|01440|06:45.0|02:20.6|170.1|26.9|163.0|173.0|07.9
06|01565|06:46.1|02:09.7|167.7|26.7|161.7|177.0|08.7

Tomorrow: 80′ of steady state. Drills on the 5s.

Monday: 4 x ( 5 x 2′ / 30″ rest) / 3′ rest in 2x

October 17, 2016Leave a comment

Weather: Incredible. Very little wind. Flat water. Temperature above 60F!!!! A full moon out, so visibility was great even though the sun didn’t come up until we were done.

Plan:

warm up to north end of lake. A couple of power 10s and a power 20.
4 sets of (5 x 2′ on / 30″ paddle)
Each set done as a ladder 24/26/28/26/24
2 to 3 minutes of rest between sets
cool down back to boat house

| Tstart_ | Dist_ | Time_ | _Pace_ | SPM_ | avgHR | _DPS___ | Remarks
| 00:00.0 | 02417 | 14:29 | 2:59.8 | 18.4 | 124.3 | 09.1 | warming up
| 14:29.0 | 00453 | 02:00 | 2:12.5 | 24.2 | 148.7 | 09.3 |
| 16:29.0 | 00094 | 00:30 | 2:39.6 | 22.6 | 155.8 | 08.3 |
| 16:59.0 | 00462 | 02:00 | 2:09.9 | 26.5 | 159.4 | 08.7 |
| 18:59.0 | 00093 | 00:30 | 2:41.3 | 23.5 | 159.5 | 07.9 |
| 19:29.0 | 00459 | 02:00 | 2:10.7 | 27.7 | 161.0 | 08.3 |
| 21:29.0 | 00083 | 00:30 | 3:00.7 | 22.1 | 160.6 | 07.5 |
| 21:59.0 | 00441 | 02:00 | 2:16.1 | 26.2 | 158.3 | 08.4 |
| 23:59.0 | 00087 | 00:30 | 2:52.4 | 22.9 | 159.6 | 07.6 |
| 24:29.0 | 00444 | 02:00 | 2:15.1 | 24.4 | 158.2 | 09.1 |
| 26:29.0 | 00175 | 02:00 | 5:42.9 | 15.6 | 125.6 | 05.6 |
| 28:29.0 | 00450 | 02:01 | 2:14.4 | 24.4 | 147.4 | 09.1 |
| 30:30.0 | 00084 | 00:29 | 2:52.6 | 22.9 | 155.8 | 07.6 |
| 30:59.0 | 00449 | 02:00 | 2:13.6 | 26.4 | 158.7 | 08.5 |
| 32:59.0 | 00087 | 00:30 | 2:52.4 | 23.2 | 162.3 | 07.5 |
| 33:29.0 | 00462 | 02:00 | 2:09.9 | 27.9 | 162.8 | 08.3 |
| 35:29.0 | 00083 | 00:30 | 3:00.7 | 23.5 | 164.9 | 07.1 |
| 35:59.0 | 00448 | 02:00 | 2:13.9 | 26.1 | 164.1 | 08.6 |
| 37:59.0 | 00083 | 00:30 | 3:00.7 | 23.7 | 164.8 | 07.0 |
| 38:29.0 | 00439 | 02:00 | 2:16.7 | 24.7 | 162.3 | 08.9 |
| 40:29.0 | 00359 | 04:00 | 5:34.3 | 15.1 | 119.7 | 05.9 |
| 44:29.0 | 00451 | 02:00 | 2:13.0 | 24.5 | 143.9 | 09.2 |
| 46:29.0 | 00085 | 00:30 | 2:56.5 | 23.1 | 153.8 | 07.4 |
| 46:59.0 | 00452 | 02:00 | 2:12.7 | 26.7 | 157.0 | 08.5 |
| 48:59.0 | 00085 | 00:30 | 2:56.5 | 24.5 | 161.0 | 06.9 |
| 49:29.0 | 00461 | 02:00 | 2:10.2 | 28.5 | 161.9 | 08.1 |
| 51:29.0 | 00083 | 00:30 | 3:00.7 | 24.4 | 164.9 | 06.8 |
| 51:59.0 | 00442 | 02:00 | 2:15.7 | 26.6 | 161.3 | 08.3 |
| 53:59.0 | 00085 | 00:30 | 2:56.5 | 24.0 | 161.8 | 07.1 |
| 54:29.0 | 00457 | 02:00 | 2:11.3 | 24.8 | 162.1 | 09.2 |
| 56:29.0 | 00258 | 03:00 | 5:48.8 | 23.9 | 128.0 | 03.6 |
| 59:29.0 | 00438 | 02:00 | 2:17.0 | 26.3 | 147.0 | 08.3 |
| 01:29.0 | 00095 | 00:30 | 2:37.9 | 24.5 | 156.2 | 07.8 |
| 01:59.0 | 00471 | 02:00 | 2:07.4 | 28.4 | 161.5 | 08.3 |
| 03:59.0 | 00084 | 00:30 | 2:58.6 | 25.1 | 165.1 | 06.7 |
| 04:29.0 | 00465 | 02:00 | 2:09.0 | 30.1 | 165.7 | 07.7 |
| 06:29.0 | 00082 | 00:30 | 3:02.9 | 22.9 | 168.0 | 07.2 |
| 06:59.0 | 00454 | 02:00 | 2:12.2 | 28.0 | 165.6 | 08.1 |
| 08:59.0 | 00077 | 00:30 | 3:14.8 | 24.2 | 168.2 | 06.4 |
| 09:29.0 | 00448 | 02:00 | 2:13.9 | 26.5 | 165.5 | 08.5 |
| 11:29.0 | 01353 | 09:48 | 3:37.3 | 19.4 | 128.1 | 07.1 |

| Tstart_ | Dist_ | Time_ | _Pace_ | SPM_ | avgHR | _DPS___ | Remarks
| 00:00.0 | 02417 | 14:29 | 2:59.8 | 18.4 | 124.3 | 09.1 | warmup
| 00:00.0 | 02162 | 16:59 | 3:55.7 | 20.7 | 141.5 | 06.2 | rests
| 00:00.0 | 01353 | 09:48 | 3:37.3 | 19.4 | 128.1 | 07.1 | cool down
| 00:00.0 | 02694 | 12:01 | 2:13.8 | 24.5 | 153.8 | 09.2 | r24
| 00:00.0 | 03580 | 16:00 | 2:14.1 | 26.4 | 158.9 | 08.5 | r26
| 00:00.0 | 02307 | 10:00 | 2:10.0 | 28.1 | 162.6 | 08.2 | r28
| 00:00.0 | 00465 | 02:00 | 2:09.0 | 30.1 | 165.7 | 07.7 | r30

That was exhausting, but pretty darn fun. HR was notably low for the RPE of the workout. I guess I was never really on the edge. And the boat speed was better. We’ve done this workout twice before. The first time our avg pace was 2:14.1. The second time it was windier and the avg pace was 2:15.5. Today, on very nice water, and with a lower HR, the avg pace was 2:12.7. Gotta say, I’m pretty happy with that.

It’s interesting how we were faster at r24 than we were at r26. Part of that is that the r24s were the first and last rep of each set, so we were fresher in the first and more motivated in the last, but I also think that we are just cleaner at r24. I think for racing we should probably be working between these two rates.

Tomorrow: Back in my single for a taper session 4 x 500 at r28. With long rests and some technique drills.

Thursday: 4 x (5 x 2′ / 1′ rest ) 4′ rest

September 5, 20162 Comments

Weather: light wind from the west, this slowed down the second and fourth sets a bit.

Plan:

4 sets of 5 x 2′ / 1′ rest
each set would cover the length of the river.
4′ rest between sets
pace: < 2:15
rate: 26

Here’s the plots from the TCX data.

And the plot from the speedcoach.

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00010_|_1179_|_06:49_|_2:53.3_|_131___|_19.2_|_09.0_|_123___|_warmup
01189_|_0450_|_02:00_|_2:12.9_|_052___|_26.1_|_08.7_|_148___|_m
01639_|_0090_|_00:30_|_2:45.0_|_010___|_20.2_|_09.0_|_157___|_r
01729_|_0455_|_02:01_|_2:12.9_|_054___|_26.8_|_08.4_|_161___|_m
02184_|_0087_|_00:29_|_2:49.0_|_010___|_20.4_|_08.7_|_165___|_r
02271_|_0464_|_02:03_|_2:12.3_|_056___|_27.4_|_08.3_|_168___|_m
02735_|_0081_|_00:30_|_3:05.2_|_010___|_20.0_|_08.1_|_168___|_r
02816_|_0437_|_01:57_|_2:14.1_|_052___|_26.6_|_08.4_|_167___|_m
03253_|_0082_|_00:30_|_3:02.3_|_010___|_20.1_|_08.2_|_169___|_r
03335_|_0446_|_02:01_|_2:15.3_|_052___|_25.8_|_08.6_|_168___|_m
03781_|_0289_|_02:03_|_3:32.6_|_039___|_19.0_|_07.4_|_147___|_r
04070_|_0421_|_01:56_|_2:17.5_|_050___|_25.9_|_08.4_|_154___|_m
04491_|_0093_|_00:35_|_3:06.0_|_012___|_20.8_|_07.8_|_165___|_r
04584_|_0424_|_01:58_|_2:19.5_|_052___|_26.4_|_08.2_|_166___|_m
05008_|_0071_|_00:30_|_3:32.7_|_010___|_19.9_|_07.1_|_170___|_r
05079_|_0429_|_01:59_|_2:19.0_|_052___|_26.2_|_08.3_|_170___|_m
05508_|_0062_|_00:25_|_3:20.8_|_008___|_19.3_|_07.8_|_173___|_r
05570_|_0437_|_02:05_|_2:23.6_|_053___|_25.3_|_08.2_|_168___|_m
06007_|_0062_|_00:27_|_3:39.4_|_007___|_15.4_|_08.9_|_173___|_r
06069_|_0427_|_02:00_|_2:20.9_|_052___|_25.9_|_08.2_|_172___|_m
06496_|_0362_|_03:03_|_4:12.8_|_048___|_15.7_|_07.5_|_137___|_r
06858_|_0442_|_02:00_|_2:15.6_|_052___|_26.0_|_08.5_|_153___|_m
07300_|_0077_|_00:30_|_3:15.5_|_010___|_19.9_|_07.7_|_165___|_r
07377_|_0437_|_01:59_|_2:15.7_|_052___|_26.3_|_08.4_|_167___|_m
07814_|_0076_|_00:29_|_3:09.5_|_010___|_20.8_|_07.6_|_171___|_r
07890_|_0444_|_02:02_|_2:17.4_|_054___|_26.6_|_08.2_|_171___|_m
08334_|_0065_|_00:26_|_3:23.8_|_008___|_18.1_|_08.1_|_173___|_r
08399_|_0432_|_02:01_|_2:19.5_|_052___|_25.9_|_08.3_|_173___|_m
08831_|_0078_|_00:33_|_3:33.5_|_009___|_16.2_|_08.7_|_173___|_r
08909_|_0435_|_02:00_|_2:17.7_|_052___|_26.0_|_08.4_|_173___|_m
09344_|_0316_|_02:59_|_4:42.6_|_043___|_14.4_|_07.3_|_138___|_r
09660_|_0440_|_02:03_|_2:19.3_|_052___|_25.4_|_08.5_|_155___|_m
10100_|_0074_|_00:30_|_3:25.4_|_010___|_19.7_|_07.4_|_165___|_r
10174_|_0430_|_01:59_|_2:18.4_|_054___|_27.2_|_08.0_|_168___|_m
10604_|_0061_|_00:26_|_3:29.8_|_008___|_18.8_|_07.6_|_171___|_r
10665_|_0431_|_02:05_|_2:24.4_|_054___|_26.0_|_08.0_|_170___|_m
11096_|_0055_|_00:26_|_3:53.6_|_007___|_16.3_|_07.9_|_171___|_r
11151_|_0427_|_02:02_|_2:23.2_|_054___|_26.5_|_07.9_|_171___|_m
11578_|_0065_|_00:28_|_3:35.4_|_007___|_15.0_|_09.3_|_173___|_r
11643_|_0423_|_02:01_|_2:22.8_|_054___|_26.8_|_07.8_|_175___|_m
12066_|_1494_|_09:29_|_3:10.4_|_197___|_20.8_|_07.6_|_138___|_c

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
01179_|_06:49_|_2:53.3_|_131___|_19.2_|_09.0_|_123___|_warmup
08731_|_40:10_|_2:18.0_|_1055___|_26.3_|_08.3_|_166___|_Main set
02146_|_15:49_|_3:41.1_|_276___|_17.5_|_07.8_|_154___|_rest meters
01494_|_09:29_|_3:10.4_|_197___|_20.8_|_07.6_|_138___|_cool down
13550_|_12:17_|_2:40.0_|_1659___|_23.0_|_08.2_|_156___|_Total

Even allowing for the speecoach miscalibration, this was about a second slower than I would have liked. But it was darn good training.

Let this be a lesson for me: Read the plan carefully —> A whole lot of 20 stroke sprints

September 17, 20153 Comments

Another glorious morning to be on the water. Sunny, upper 60s, basically no wind. Three boats from Brandeis plus a launch were out, but they were finishing as I was getting going.

The plan:

Per the training plan…

5 x 20@32/10 off / 5 x 20@34/15 off / 5 x 20@36/20 off, 8′ between sets

When I read that last night, I decided that it meant that I should row

5 – 20 strokes bursts at 32 with 10 stroke paddle between each
8 minute rest
5 – 20 stroke bursts at 34 with 15 stroke paddle between each
8 minute rest
5 – 20 stroke bursts at 36 with 15 stroke paddle between each

Of course, what happened on the water was completely different. I did my first 5 bursts and felt pretty good. I started paddling my 8 minute rest, and decided to do a couple more 20s. I did 2 more, and then I had a moment of complete confusion. I decided that I must have misread the training plan, and the “correct” workout was actually this:

3 sets of
- 5×20@32/10 off + 5×20@34/15 off + 5×20@36/20 off
8 minutes of rest between each set

This was a murderous change. First, I didn’t have enough river to do all 15 bursts in each direction, so I ended up shaving off a couple of 20s at the end of each set. Second, That’s a lot of fast rowing! It nearly killed me!

After I finally got to work and did some work, and got a spare moment, I went back to look at the post on Sander’s blog to figure out whether my initial or subsequent interpretation was correct.

The workout is an adaptation of a session that Sander posted here.

Here is the original form of the workout:

This is another one from my personal list of interesting workouts that I collected over the years. It says:

3x(5×30″)/R8 (1) 30″/30″ @36spm, (2) 30″/45″ @ 38spm, (3) 30″/60″ @40spm

So three sets of 5 times 30 seconds of hard work, with mini rests that get longer for the higher stroke rates. Eight minutes rest between the sets. This is the first time I am doing it this season and I am not sure whether the stroke rates weren’t originally intended for the double or even the quad, so I lowered the target spm by 2.

I changed it from being time based to be stroke based, just because it’s easier for me to count strokes than watch the clock, but it’s pretty clear that it seems to indicate that you do 3 sets of 5, with 8 minutes between sets. To dispell any doubts, he also posted a chart of his results for the workout:

Yep, 3 sets of 5. What a painful error. Anyway, it’s over now, and I’ll never make that mistake again.

So, given what an over reach the workout was, here’s how it went.

So, I setup the speedcoach to record stroke data. So it logged pace, rate and distance on every stroke, versus every 20m like I usually do. Looking at the speedcoach data, I started cheating the stroke counts. A lot of the 20s were actually 19s or in some cases even 18s. Since I didn’t take many strokes during the rests, they don’t really show up, but you can see where the rate decreases in the SPM chart. I basically had enough river to squeeze in 2 reps at r36 before I ran out of river.

The other thing is that I ran out of speedcoach memory right after I finished the main set. The memory holds 1500 strokes, and I finished my last interval with stroke number 1449, so my 1km cool down was not stored. No great loss.

Here is a summary by rate of the intervals.

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
03774_|_19:45_|_2:37.0_|_406___|_20.6_|_09.3_|_132___|_warmup
03119_|_21:50_|_3:30.0_|_423___|_19.4_|_07.4_|_162___|_rest meters
00242_|_01:25_|_2:56.7_|_051___|_35.8_|_04.7_|_138___|_cool down (plus another 1km)

02590_|_10:15_|_1:58.7_|_309___|_30.2_|_08.4_|_162___|_r32
01714_|_06:44_|_1:57.9_|_216___|_32.1_|_07.9_|_163___|_r34
00710_|_02:40_|_1:52.9_|_094___|_35.2_|_07.6_|_163___|_r36
05014_|_19:39_|_1:57.6_|_619___|_31.5_|_08.1_|_162___|_All intervals

So, I guess I can’t be too unhappy with 5km rowed a sub-2:00 pace. But it’s amazing how fast you lose your touch to row at higher rates. I was very sloppy, and the acceleration curves looked just horrendous, even though I wasn’t even able to get up to the target rates except in the very middle of most of the reps.

I’m kind of tired now.

Tomorrow: Steady state on the HOCR course. r20, light and fluffy

The featured image is a picture I took this morning of a Blue Heron standing on a floating log in the lagoon where I launch. Behind it is the Newton Marriott hotel, and in the foreground, some of the canoes that you can rent where I launch. The weeds are thicker in this direction, but the whole lagoon is pretty weed choked at this point of the year. I gets a bit better as the water cools down.

Thursday: 3 x ( 6 x 1′ on / 1′ off) 4′ rest

June 26, 20153 Comments

I got home late on Wednesday night and I decided to sleep in and skip my usual row in the morning. I paid for my sins by getting stuck in traffic and taking 90 minutes to get to work.

My meetings were finished by about 3pm, so I decided to go do the session I had planned for the morning. This is a sprint session, and the intent is to increase efficiency at higher stroke rates. One of my many problems is that my form starts to get pretty shaky at or above r30, and I row with too much pressure, so I burn out very quickly at these rates. It would be better if I were able to row with good form, and with lighter pressure at t his kind of rate. This would serve me better in both sprint and head races.

When I planned the session, I underestimated how hard it would be. A minute of rowing is long enough to really start feeling the bite. As I limped back to the dock during my cool down, I started comparing it to my typical 8×500 erg based workout. In that workout there are 8 reps (obviously). Each rep takes about 1:35-1:40 to do and I take 3:30 rests. So, a total of about 13:00 of rowing and 24:30 of rests. Today was a total of 18 reps, so 18:00 of rowing and 23:00 or rests. No wonder I was pretty tapped out by the 6 rep of each set.

Conditions: Partly cloudy, nearly 80F, a bit humid too. Generally light wind <5mph from the west. It was only a noticable factor in a couple of the reps.

Plan:

3 sets of 6 1′ intervals with 1′ paddling between
4 minutes rest between sets
Standing start into the first rep of each set, rolling starts for the other reps
Rate >30 (I was originally thinking 32, but I didn’t feel up to it)
Work on keeping my catches shallow and keeping pressure light in the first part of the stroke. Also work on limiting the amount of layback at the finish.

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_3800_|_18:57_|_2:29.6_|_391___|_20.6_|_09.7_|_146___|_warmup
03820_|_0240_|_00:57_|_1:59.0_|_029___|_30.5_|_08.3_|_152___|_1.1
04060_|_0160_|_01:02_|_3:12.5_|_022___|_21.4_|_07.3_|_146___|_
04220_|_0240_|_00:56_|_1:56.7_|_028___|_30.0_|_08.6_|_165___|_1.2
04460_|_0160_|_01:02_|_3:14.1_|_021___|_20.3_|_07.6_|_165___|_
04620_|_0260_|_01:00_|_1:56.0_|_031___|_30.8_|_08.4_|_168___|_1.3
04880_|_0160_|_01:00_|_3:07.2_|_021___|_21.0_|_07.6_|_171___|_
05040_|_0260_|_01:00_|_1:55.2_|_030___|_30.1_|_08.7_|_170___|_1.4
05300_|_0140_|_01:00_|_3:32.5_|_016___|_16.1_|_08.8_|_164___|_
05440_|_0260_|_01:01_|_1:57.7_|_031___|_30.4_|_08.4_|_170___|_1.5
05700_|_0140_|_01:00_|_3:34.3_|_018___|_18.0_|_07.8_|_168___|_
05840_|_0260_|_01:00_|_1:55.8_|_030___|_29.9_|_08.7_|_171___|_1.6
06100_|_0600_|_04:00_|_3:20.2_|_071___|_17.7_|_08.5_|_138___|_
06700_|_0260_|_01:02_|_1:58.3_|_030___|_29.3_|_08.7_|_162___|_2.1
06960_|_0140_|_00:56_|_3:21.8_|_019___|_20.2_|_07.4_|_165___|_
07100_|_0260_|_01:01_|_1:57.5_|_030___|_29.5_|_08.7_|_168___|_2.2
07360_|_0160_|_01:02_|_3:15.3_|_022___|_21.1_|_07.3_|_168___|_
07520_|_0240_|_00:56_|_1:56.3_|_030___|_32.3_|_08.0_|_172___|_2.3
07760_|_0160_|_01:05_|_3:21.9_|_023___|_21.4_|_07.0_|_170___|_
07920_|_0240_|_00:57_|_1:59.4_|_031___|_32.5_|_07.7_|_172___|_2.4
08160_|_0140_|_01:02_|_3:41.8_|_017___|_16.4_|_08.2_|_167___|_
08300_|_0240_|_00:56_|_1:56.5_|_029___|_31.1_|_08.3_|_171___|_2.5
08540_|_0140_|_01:03_|_3:43.9_|_015___|_14.4_|_09.3_|_158___|_
08680_|_0240_|_00:56_|_1:57.1_|_029___|_31.0_|_08.3_|_164___|_2.6
08920_|_0460_|_03:02_|_3:17.7_|_054___|_17.8_|_08.5_|_147___|_
09380_|_0240_|_00:59_|_2:02.5_|_030___|_30.6_|_08.0_|_160___|_3.1 – head wind
09620_|_0160_|_01:06_|_3:25.0_|_022___|_20.1_|_07.3_|_166___|_
09780_|_0240_|_00:57_|_1:59.4_|_029___|_30.4_|_08.3_|_169___|_3.2
10020_|_0120_|_00:59_|_4:05.0_|_018___|_18.4_|_06.7_|_163___|_
10140_|_0260_|_01:01_|_1:58.1_|_031___|_30.3_|_08.4_|_169___|_3.3
10400_|_0120_|_00:59_|_4:06.7_|_014___|_14.2_|_08.6_|_164___|_
10520_|_0260_|_01:02_|_1:58.8_|_030___|_29.1_|_08.7_|_169___|_3.4
10780_|_0120_|_01:00_|_4:10.4_|_021___|_21.0_|_05.7_|_163___|_
10900_|_0240_|_00:58_|_2:00.6_|_028___|_29.0_|_08.6_|_169___|_3.5 – s-turn
11140_|_0160_|_01:00_|_3:07.2_|_019___|_19.0_|_08.4_|_150___|_
11300_|_0260_|_01:02_|_1:59.2_|_031___|_30.0_|_08.4_|_167___|_3.6
11560_|_1620_|_09:41_|_2:59.2_|_187___|_19.3_|_08.7_|_143___|_

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
03800_|_18:57_|_2:29.6_|_391___|_20.6_|_09.7_|_146___|_warmup
04500_|_17:42_|_1:58.0_|_537___|_30.3_|_08.4_|_167___|_Main set
03240_|_22:17_|_3:26.4_|_413___|_18.5_|_07.8_|_157___|_rest meters
01620_|_09:41_|_2:59.2_|_187___|_19.3_|_08.7_|_143___|_cool down
13160_|_08:37_|_2:36.4_|_1528___|_22.3_|_08.6_|_154___|_Total

There were a couple times that I stopped paddling which stops the clock on the speedcoach and took a bit of extra rest, either because I was not in a good place to start a rep, or because I needed more recovery time. You can tell those reps in the HR charts because the next rep starts down in the green (between the last two reps in the second and third set).

I took a quick look at the stroke acceleration in RIM. It looks as if my initial drive hump is less pronounced, which is good. But the biggest change looks like I am doing a better job with a steady recovery. There is less of a pronounced rise in acceleration as I approach the catch. The other thing is that my r30 stroke is much more consistent than it was. Here are 1 or 2 stroke snapshots from each of the first 6 reps superimposed.

I was pretty happy with the workout. r30 felt much slower and more controlled atthe end than at the beginning. But it was a very severely taxing session. My butt was very sore by the time I finished and rowing back to the dock was very uncomfortable. I was zombie through the whole process of putting my boat away, and I was out of it for the rest of the day.

I still need to keep working on accelerating with my legs and keeping my body forward at the start of the drive.

I woke up this morning very congested. I am still fighting off a head cold. I think I will either do an easy erg session today, or maybe go for a bike ride.

Quantified Rowing

Measure – Adjust – Improve

Tag: short intervals

Stumbling into rowing season

Christmas Vacation – Daily Rowing

Another week on the Head Race training plan

Monday: 4 x ( 5 x 2′ / 30″ rest) / 3′ rest in 2x

Thursday: 4 x (5 x 2′ / 1′ rest ) 4′ rest

Let this be a lesson for me: Read the plan carefully —> A whole lot of 20 stroke sprints

Thursday: 3 x ( 6 x 1′ on / 1′ off) 4′ rest