2′ – Short Rest Intervals

October 3, 2018Leave a comment

Cool and wet this morning (and dark!). After working my way around a few boats on my way out, I had the river entirely to myself. There was a little bit of a head wind for the down river sections.

The plan was to focus on race rate and slightly higher than race pace / power. My pace target was to get as close to the 2:13.4 that I averaged for the 2′ interval session that I did last time. This session is a lot harder. The last minute lasts a loooong time in each interval.

I also wanted to really work on trying to get my releases to be clean and crisp.

The workout went very well. I was in control for all the reps. The high power readings at the end of the 5th and 11th reps are because I finished both of those reps going into the big s-turn and really leaning on the port oar (where my empower oarlock is).

I was working really hard in these reps, but my HR didn’t really max out.

Here’s a bit closer detail on pace and power. You can see the power is reasonably consistent across all the reps and the upstream and downstream paces vary with the current and wind.

It was a fair amount of hard rowing.

          Workout Summary - media/20181003-1200300o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13144|74:02.0|02:49.0|117.4|24.2|148.7|176.0|07.3
W-|08088|36:08.0|02:14.1|169.3|26.3|160.9|176.0|08.5
R-|05066|37:55.0|03:44.6|067.9|22.2|137.0|176.0|06.5
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00112|00:31.9|02:21.8|125.3|19.0|125.5|130.0|11.1 - wu
02|00712|03:02.8|02:08.3|169.4|25.9|146.6|160.0|09.0 - downstream
03|00729|03:08.1|02:09.0|171.2|27.1|157.1|167.0|08.6
04|00704|03:02.4|02:09.5|175.5|26.3|159.3|167.0|08.8
05|00629|02:52.6|02:17.2|171.4|26.7|158.0|169.0|08.2 - upstream
06|00648|02:57.0|02:16.6|182.0|26.1|162.8|172.0|08.4
07|00632|02:55.0|02:18.4|163.2|26.7|166.5|174.0|08.1
08|00709|03:06.2|02:11.3|170.4|26.1|158.7|171.0|08.8 - downstream
09|00694|03:02.8|02:11.7|158.8|26.3|167.3|174.0|08.7
10|00673|02:57.0|02:11.5|173.0|26.0|167.7|174.0|08.8
11|00597|02:47.0|02:20.0|164.4|26.2|157.9|171.0|08.2 - upstream
12|00630|02:53.7|02:17.8|181.1|26.9|166.4|175.0|08.1
13|00617|02:52.0|02:19.3|159.1|26.8|169.2|176.0|08.0

So, I was happy with the workout. Happy enough that I did some comparisons.

First, I wanted to compare today to last week 20×2 session. Very similar stroke profiles. Looks like my peak and avg force was higher, which makes sense since my stroke rate was at least 1 spm lower.

Next I took all the hard sessions that I’ve done over the past month and did some box charts.

About a 4 sec improvement on pace
stroke rate all over the map
Power up about 15-20 watts
eff drive length about 2-3 deg longer
catch angle up about a degree.

Tomorrow: 70′ steady state at r20.

Just deal with it

September 19, 2018Leave a comment

So, last report was back on Sept 11th when I had a lovely row at Crossfit Del Mar in San Diego.

Wed, Sept 12 – No training:

Early start to fly up to San Jose. Meetings all day, business dinner. No time to train

Thursday, Sept 13 – No Training:

Up early to catch my flight home

Friday, Sept 14 – 20 x 2′ OTW 1x:

In Newton, in my fluid. Very light tailwind going down river. I was able to fit in 5 intervals over the rowable part of the river (just barely).

I pushed the first set a bit too hard and struggled the rest of the workout, but it was pretty good fun.

          Workout Summary - media/20180914-1500310o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14103|84:15.0|02:59.2|109.8|23.3|150.0|177.0|07.2
W-|08686|38:53.0|02:14.3|170.0|26.2|160.4|176.0|08.5
R-|05437|45:23.0|04:10.5|058.2|20.7|141.0|176.0|06.6
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00107|00:30.2|02:21.1|135.4|19.9|127.1|131.0|10.7 - wu
02|00473|02:02.4|02:09.3|166.1|24.9|140.3|159.0|09.3
03|00492|02:07.3|02:09.4|181.4|25.4|155.7|165.0|09.1
04|00467|02:00.0|02:08.5|159.3|27.0|161.9|169.0|08.6
05|00471|02:02.2|02:09.8|178.8|25.5|162.2|170.0|09.1
06|00242|01:00.4|02:04.9|208.0|28.8|157.0|166.0|08.3 - cut short
07|00447|01:59.2|02:13.3|178.8|26.6|154.5|170.0|08.5
08|00434|02:00.7|02:19.0|162.1|26.3|165.1|171.0|08.2
09|00434|01:58.5|02:16.4|196.6|26.8|166.9|175.0|08.2
10|00435|01:57.9|02:15.5|171.2|27.5|168.6|176.0|08.1
11|00413|01:52.7|02:16.3|177.8|27.1|168.5|174.0|08.1
12|00426|01:54.4|02:14.3|152.3|26.1|152.0|168.0|08.5
13|00449|02:00.0|02:13.6|170.1|26.0|162.6|170.0|08.6
14|00446|02:00.6|02:15.2|137.0|26.9|164.9|171.0|08.2
15|00440|01:58.6|02:14.9|169.5|26.3|165.1|173.0|08.5
16|00416|01:51.3|02:13.7|173.9|25.8|164.5|172.0|08.7
17|00424|01:56.8|02:17.9|156.8|25.6|151.2|167.0|08.5
18|00438|01:59.1|02:16.0|159.4|26.1|162.6|171.0|08.4
19|00406|01:54.0|02:20.3|184.9|25.7|162.7|171.0|08.3
20|00412|01:53.9|02:18.2|157.9|25.8|164.6|172.0|08.4
21|00414|01:52.9|02:16.4|187.0|27.1|165.7|174.0|08.1

Saturday, Sept 15: Failed 10K Dynamic:

I was a it worried about back to back hard workouts, but since I was flying out Sunday morning to Asia, I felt like I had no other option. I was also stuck with doing it on the dynamic erg. But, I figured if I just picked an easy target, I’d be OK. I was wrong.

I started with a 2k warmup. I included some arms and body only and some legs only to see what they felt like on the dynamic. They felt vaguely boat like.

Then into the main event. I made it to 6K and when the going got tough, I gave up. I think it was lack of motivation, but I felt pretty lousy at the time. When I hit 6K, I knew that I had another 16 minutes to go and I didn’t feel like I would be able to deal with the discomfort for that much longer. I tried to get back on track, gave up again, then paddled along at a slower pace until there was 1k to go and then I pulled it back to target. It was ugly.

-|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10000|40:38.0|02:01.9|193.5|25.5|165.2|184.0|09.7
W-|10000|40:38.0|02:01.9|193.5|25.5|165.2|184.0|09.7
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|184.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01000|03:55.6|01:57.8|210.4|24.6|140.0|153.0|10.3
01|01000|03:58.3|01:59.1|206.8|25.1|156.9|159.0|10.0
02|01000|03:59.0|01:59.5|205.3|25.2|161.0|162.0|10.0
03|01000|03:59.8|01:59.9|203.2|25.2|164.6|166.0|09.9
04|01000|04:01.1|02:00.6|199.7|25.7|167.8|170.0|09.7
05|01000|04:03.1|02:01.6|194.7|26.0|170.8|172.0|09.5
06|01000|04:14.5|02:07.2|171.5|25.3|167.9|171.0|09.3 - hd
07|01000|04:17.3|02:08.7|165.5|24.2|167.6|172.0|09.6 - hd
08|01000|04:11.6|02:05.8|175.5|24.4|174.5|176.0|09.8 - paddle
09|01000|03:58.5|01:59.2|207.3|29.2|179.7|184.0|08.6 - rate up

That left me pretty much destroyed.

Sunday, September 16: No Training

Monday, September 17: No Training

I took off at 10:30AM to fly to Cebu in the Philippines. The route was BOS–>YYZ–>ICN–>CEB. Total travel time door to door was 26 hours. I got to my hotel at 12:15am Tuesday morning local time. So effectively, Monday just didn’t exist. I managed to get about 2 hours of sleep on the long leg to ICN, and another 5 hours on the flight to CEB.

Tuesday, September 18th: ~50′ in the fitness center.

I managed to get another 3 hours of sleep at my hotel (after a couple of conference calls) and then got up at 5:30. I was at the fitness center when it opened at 6 am. I felt a bit ragged from the travel, so I didn’t want to do anything too ambitious.

I started with 20 minutes inclined march on the treadmill. The time crawled by painfully slowly. Then I bopped over to the elliptical. I intended to program a 20 minute workout, but somehow ended up with 28 minutes. That actually turned out to be a good thing because it gave me enough time to call home, shower and grab a quick bite to eat before I headed to our facility.

The place I’m staying is very nice. Cebu is quite the vacation destination for Koreans these days.

Wednesday, September 19: It’s a mystery!

I flew out of Cebu at 9 this morning and now I am sitting in the airport in Osaka. I get to Haneda around 7pm tonight and I might try to work out when I get to my hotel, or I might blow that off and get a beer.

A solid week of training (It’s a Miracle!)

September 10, 20188 Comments

My last post updated things to Tuesday, 4 September. Since then, things have been going great! I knew I had some travel coming up this week, so I skipped rest days and just alternated hard and easy sessions. Here’s an overview.

You can see that I slid some sessions around. I was scheduled for my 5 x 1500 on Monday 9/3, but I couldn’t get on the water. Instead I did an easy steady state session on the dynamic, and moved the hard sessions out by a day. I am also taking liberties with the easy sessions. My coach suggested that I use these sessions to continue to work on drills and also to include some speed work because it has value in head races for overtaking and at the finish. It also pushes me to work technique at high rates, which is a good thing.

I’ll have a bit more to say about training progress overall, but first, the sessions.

Wednesday, 5 Sept: 75′ of drills on the 5s.

Another great morning to row. This session is all about technique. It’s 4 minutes of steady state and then a minute of drills. The drills were

half slide
delayed feather
pause at body over
open hands on recovery

As you can see it was a low intensity session.

Thursday: 6 Sept: 12 x 3’/1′

With the nice easy workout on Tuesday, I should have been well rested and ready for action on Wednesday. These short interval / short rest sessions are supposed to give me a chance to get lots of minutes in at close to head race intensity, but include enough rest so that fatigue does not become a big factor until deep into the workout.

That’s not how it worked out in this session. I decided that I would take a little extra time at the ends of the river, so it was really broken up into sets of 3 reps. I managed through the first three, but when I turned and confronted the head wind, I overcooked the fourth rep. I started the fifth, as I was approaching the s-turn, and I felt kind funny, a little woozy maybe. Anyway, I pulled the plug and paddled through the turn. I lined up and did the 6th interval per plan, but it was a nasty experience. Notice that my HR is not extremely high, but my RPE was through the roof. I was gasping for breath and shaking.

I took a good long rest and a drink, then I turned around to do another set, now with a tail wind. I was a bit more conservative on pace for these and made it through the set of three. Another turn and another longer than proper rest and I steeled myself for the up wind set. I pounded out 2 reps, which took me up to the turn. I decided to paddle through the turn and take a longer rest. Then I did the 12th rep and finished strong.

The plan called for another set of three, but I was completely toasted. In really hard workouts, my right glute will start to hurt at the end of a session and it was really bad this time. I took my feet out of the shoes and gingerly paddled home. I stopped and stretched every couple minutes because I just couldn’t get comfortable in the seat.

Stunningly, no red in the plot.

          Workout Summary - media/20180906-1215320o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|12579|79:38.0|03:09.9|092.8|21.6|144.0|178.0|07.3
W-|07379|33:52.0|02:17.7|150.5|24.7|159.6|178.0|08.8
R-|05211|45:47.0|04:23.6|050.1|19.4|132.4|178.0|06.2
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00694|03:03.9|02:12.5|151.4|24.2|145.9|160.0|09.4 - dwn
02|00676|03:02.1|02:14.6|148.9|25.4|155.6|166.0|08.8 - dwn
03|00691|03:03.2|02:12.5|159.0|23.9|161.5|172.0|09.5 - dwn
04|00637|02:57.3|02:19.3|156.0|25.7|159.5|171.0|08.4 - up
05|00252|01:10.6|02:20.4|157.8|24.6|157.9|163.0|08.7 - up (fail)
06|00630|02:57.0|02:20.5|146.3|23.6|160.1|173.0|09.0 - up
07|00681|03:03.4|02:14.7|150.1|25.2|154.6|168.0|08.8 - dwn
08|00663|03:02.2|02:17.4|134.6|24.7|164.9|174.0|08.9 - dwn
09|00641|02:54.3|02:15.9|149.3|24.4|168.1|177.0|09.1 - dwn
10|00597|02:52.4|02:24.4|146.8|25.1|158.7|171.0|08.3 - up
11|00586|02:47.6|02:23.0|155.2|25.1|167.1|178.0|08.4 - up
12|00631|02:58.1|02:21.1|155.8|24.9|160.7|175.0|08.5 - up

Friday, 7 Sept: 70′ steady state with bumps

In this session, I wanted to keep the overall intensity low to moderate, but I wanted to do 20 stroke bursts at as high of a stroke as I could while maintaining reasonably clean stroke work.

As I went along, I found it easier to get the rate up into the mid thirties. In one rep, I was really feeling it. I was finishing so clean that I was keeping my blades off the water on the very brief recoveries. I could feel the boat settle in the drive and pop in the recovery. I loved it! It’s fun to go fast.

         Workout Summary - media/20180907-1225290o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13765|75:57.0|02:45.5|109.3|20.2|141.9|170.0|09.0
W-|01801|07:23.0|02:03.2|212.8|32.5|153.8|166.0|07.5
R-|11973|68:34.0|02:51.8|098.2|18.9|140.6|166.0|08.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00149|00:37.4|02:05.8|206.9|28.8|146.9|155.0|08.3
02|00156|00:41.3|02:12.2|203.3|28.9|150.7|158.0|07.8
03|00156|00:38.4|02:03.4|228.1|31.2|156.9|164.0|07.8
04|00167|00:40.7|02:02.1|205.3|30.8|150.8|157.0|08.0
05|00151|00:37.4|02:04.2|215.5|32.3|156.9|162.0|07.5
06|00137|00:33.5|02:02.5|242.6|34.3|154.6|162.0|07.1
07|00151|00:38.3|02:06.7|206.0|31.4|152.7|158.0|07.5
08|00136|00:33.4|02:03.0|185.8|34.1|156.5|163.0|07.1
09|00142|00:34.4|02:01.0|226.4|35.0|159.1|166.0|07.1
10|00136|00:31.4|01:55.4|237.2|36.3|148.5|158.0|07.2
11|00157|00:38.2|02:01.4|190.5|33.1|153.7|163.0|07.5
12|00165|00:39.6|02:00.1|212.7|34.8|158.1|166.0|07.2

Saturday: Attempted 10K Threshold

Down on the Cape. I was hoping to do my threshold session as a coastal row, but the weather was a bit windy, forcing me inside to do it on the erg (on slides). The plan wanted a 40′ threshold piece, so I decided on a 10K.

I started with the a 2K warm up.

Then into the main event. I thought I should be able to do it at a split of 1:58, so of course I set off at 1:57. Turns out, 2:00 would have been a better choice. I blew up just after 6K.

I took a few paddle strokes and then got going again at about a 2:02 pace. I sped up a bit towards the end, but it was a pretty ugly showing.

          Workout Summary - media/20180908-2250280o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10000|39:36.0|01:58.8|209.3|25.7|167.7|182.0|09.8
W-|10000|39:37.0|01:58.9|209.3|25.7|167.7|182.0|09.8
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|182.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01000|03:51.4|01:55.7|221.1|25.4|142.2|154.0|10.2
01|01000|03:53.6|01:56.8|219.8|25.7|160.0|162.0|10.0
02|01000|03:55.3|01:57.6|215.0|25.4|163.6|166.0|10.0
03|01000|03:55.2|01:57.6|215.5|25.6|167.0|169.0|10.0
04|01000|03:55.5|01:57.7|214.5|25.6|170.3|172.0|10.0
05|01000|03:56.8|01:58.4|211.2|25.9|172.6|174.0|09.8
06|01000|04:11.3|02:05.6|185.1|24.9|168.6|174.0|09.6 - boom!
07|01000|04:01.3|02:00.6|199.4|24.9|174.0|177.0|10.0
08|01000|04:02.4|02:01.2|196.7|25.1|177.2|179.0|09.9
09|01000|03:54.5|01:57.3|217.3|28.3|180.6|182.0|09.0

Good training effect anyway. I’m interested to see how this piece goes on a static erg to get an idea of how much I suffer on slides.

Sunday, 9 September: 3 x 20’/2′ dynamic

So nice and cool! I decided to observe a strict 150 bpm max HR because I wanted to recover from the nasty 10k attempt the day before. It turned out to be a really nice session. Unfortunately, the painsled session data got blown away somehow. But in any case, it was about a 2:08 pace, which is pretty good for a low HR cap on the dynamic.

It was one of those sessions where I felt better after I finished than when I started.

Monday, 10 September: 4 x 2k OTW

This is the real pinnacle of the weekly training plan. The long intervals. They end up being very close to head race pace and by the last one you are feeling the effects.

Today the weather was cool again, and there was a bit of a breeze. A headwind heading down river.

My plan for the session was to aim at 25 or 26 strokes per minute and try to work on smooth strokes and clean finishes. I am trying to lighten up the first part of the drive. I feel like it went very well today.

         Workout Summary - media/20180910-1255340o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|12201|71:36.0|02:56.1|111.7|23.6|140.5|174.0|07.2
W-|07930|35:55.0|02:15.9|164.8|26.0|160.4|174.0|08.5
R-|04276|35:40.0|04:10.3|058.3|21.2|120.5|174.0|06.8
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|01966|09:02.4|02:18.0|164.8|25.5|156.5|167.0|08.5 - up
02|01987|08:54.2|02:14.4|166.3|26.0|160.6|171.0|08.6 - dwn
03|01969|08:59.0|02:16.9|163.3|26.7|162.0|174.0|08.2 - up
04|02008|08:59.9|02:14.4|164.8|25.9|162.5|173.0|08.6 - dwn

Notice the consistency of power between up and down wind pieces. That’s what I was hoping to do. As for the low HR, that’s pretty cool. It still felt really hard.

Comparing the stroke profiles to the last time I did this session. There isn’t a lot of difference, but the peak angle did move later by a couple of degrees.

After my row this morning, I drove straight to the airport. I showered at the Admiral’s Club and made my 10:30 flight with time to spare.

Now I am on a plane out to San Diego. I am planning to do a steady state session at DelMar crossfit tomorrow morning. Then I think my streak gets broken. I fly early morning up to San Jose and I have meetings all day, and a business dinner at night. I’m not sure if I will have time on Thursday before I fly home.

I track my overall training load in Strava and it was pretty depressing looking at it recently. But with the string of sessions I’ve put together, things are definitely picking up. I’m nearly to the level I was last January.

I should probably do a 20 minute test on a static erg to see where I stand.

It’s a pity that I have a trip to the Philippines and Japan coming up next week. That should screw things up pretty well.

Norcal Crossfit – 20 x 2′ / 1′

August 30, 2018Leave a comment

Tuesday, August 28 – No Training

I flew out to San Jose on Monday night, and I was hoping to get a workout in on Tuesday morning, but I felt pretty lousy in the morning and decided to just shower and get into work early.

Wednesday, August 29 – 20 x 2′ / 1′

I was out of bed at 5:00AM and I drove over to Norcal Crossfit. I was on an erg by 5:30. The plan was to try out my new short interval workout. Today’s version was basically an easier version of the 15×3′ workout that I’ve done for a long time. That workout is 45 minutes of work and a total of 15 minutes of rest. This one is 40 minutes of work and 20 minutes of rest. The idea is to be able to push the pace a little harder and then match it the next time I do the 15×3′ version. I was on a static erg.

No denying that the workout was tough, but I didn’t have any doubt that I was going to make it. The erg had a weird startup glitch. It didn’t seem to register the first stroke that I took and then the second would show an incredibly low split. It made the average split start off really fast and then bleed down to the actual pace that I was doing. My initial thought on pacing was 1:53, but as it turned out 1:50 was a better idea.

I enjoyed the workout. I’m looking forward to doing it in my boat.

Tomorrow: Back to NCFit. A nice easy steady state 3 x 20′ session.

Thursday: 4 x (5 x 2′ / 30″ paddle) / 3′ rest

October 27, 20162 Comments

On the Upper Charles. In my fluid.

Weather: Cold, calm, clear and dark! 30F when I launched, 31F when I finished. The water was glassy smooth. It was so calm that I noticed the tiny wake that a goose made when he paddled by in the opposite direction (and I resented the goose for spoiling my perfect water!)

Plan:

4 sets of 5 x 2′ on / 30″ paddle
3 or 4 minutes of rest between sets
rate: 26-28
pace: better than 2:15
HR: No cap. Threshold workout
Technique: full compression, level draw, crisp tap down, smooth recovery

The number of reps in each set is designed to cover the distance down the river so that I get my long rest when I need to turn at the end. The intent of this workout is to work at head race pace and stroke rates with enough rests so that it is more focused on technique than survival. It worked out as planned.

| Tstart_ | Dist_ | Time_ | _Pace_ | SPM_ | avgHR | _DPS___ | Remarks
 | 00:00.0 | 01166 | 08:00 | 3:25.8 | 15.2 | 119.3 | 09.6 | warming up
 | 08:00.0 | 00451 | 01:59 | 2:11.9 | 25.9 | 151.5 | 08.8 | 
 | 09:59.0 | 00090 | 00:30 | 2:46.7 | 20.7 | 155.1 | 08.7 | 
 | 10:29.0 | 00462 | 02:00 | 2:09.9 | 26.9 | 158.1 | 08.6 | 
 | 12:29.0 | 00079 | 00:30 | 3:09.9 | 19.6 | 159.8 | 08.1 | 
 | 12:59.0 | 00452 | 02:00 | 2:12.7 | 26.8 | 158.3 | 08.4 | 
 | 14:59.0 | 00075 | 00:30 | 3:20.0 | 19.7 | 160.9 | 07.6 | 
 | 15:29.0 | 00473 | 02:01 | 2:07.9 | 27.1 | 160.6 | 08.7 | 
 | 17:30.0 | 00078 | 00:29 | 3:05.9 | 21.4 | 165.2 | 07.5 | 
 | 17:59.0 | 00470 | 02:00 | 2:07.7 | 27.9 | 165.0 | 08.4 | 
 | 19:59.0 | 00323 | 03:00 | 4:38.6 | 20.2 | 135.8 | 05.3 | 
 | 22:59.0 | 00454 | 02:00 | 2:12.2 | 26.9 | 152.0 | 08.4 | 
 | 24:59.0 | 00084 | 00:30 | 2:58.6 | 21.6 | 164.3 | 07.8 | 
 | 25:29.0 | 00447 | 02:00 | 2:14.2 | 27.5 | 164.8 | 08.1 | 
 | 27:29.0 | 00078 | 00:30 | 3:12.3 | 21.7 | 167.5 | 07.2 | 
 | 27:59.0 | 00444 | 02:00 | 2:15.1 | 26.8 | 166.5 | 08.3 | 
 | 29:59.0 | 00082 | 00:31 | 3:09.0 | 25.2 | 170.0 | 06.3 | 
 | 30:30.0 | 00437 | 01:59 | 2:16.2 | 27.2 | 167.6 | 08.1 | 
 | 32:29.0 | 00069 | 00:30 | 3:37.4 | 21.0 | 170.3 | 06.6 | 
 | 32:59.0 | 00445 | 02:00 | 2:14.8 | 26.3 | 167.2 | 08.5 | 
 | 34:59.0 | 00415 | 04:00 | 4:49.2 | 18.9 | 136.7 | 05.5 | 
 | 38:59.0 | 00460 | 02:00 | 2:10.4 | 26.8 | 153.5 | 08.6 | 
 | 40:59.0 | 00084 | 00:30 | 2:58.6 | 21.3 | 163.6 | 07.9 | 
 | 41:29.0 | 00447 | 02:00 | 2:14.2 | 27.4 | 163.3 | 08.2 | 
 | 43:29.0 | 00084 | 00:30 | 2:58.6 | 22.0 | 166.7 | 07.6 | 
 | 43:59.0 | 00447 | 02:00 | 2:14.2 | 26.2 | 165.3 | 08.5 | 
 | 45:59.0 | 00093 | 00:31 | 2:46.7 | 21.5 | 166.6 | 08.4 | 
 | 46:30.0 | 00445 | 01:59 | 2:13.7 | 27.0 | 164.9 | 08.3 | 
 | 48:29.0 | 00078 | 00:30 | 3:12.3 | 21.3 | 167.2 | 07.3 | 
 | 48:59.0 | 00454 | 02:00 | 2:12.2 | 27.4 | 167.2 | 08.3 | 
 | 50:59.0 | 00215 | 03:00 | 6:58.6 | 18.2 | 134.5 | 03.9 | 
 | 53:59.0 | 00455 | 02:00 | 2:11.9 | 26.8 | 153.4 | 08.5 | 
 | 55:59.0 | 00081 | 00:30 | 3:05.2 | 21.2 | 163.2 | 07.7 | 
 | 56:29.0 | 00440 | 02:00 | 2:16.4 | 25.8 | 163.6 | 08.5 | 
 | 58:29.0 | 00082 | 00:30 | 3:02.9 | 21.3 | 165.1 | 07.7 | 
 | 58:59.0 | 00437 | 02:01 | 2:18.4 | 26.1 | 164.8 | 08.3 | 
 | 01:00.0 | 00076 | 00:29 | 3:10.8 | 21.7 | 166.6 | 07.2 | 
 | 01:29.0 | 00437 | 02:00 | 2:17.3 | 26.2 | 165.7 | 08.3 | 
 | 03:29.0 | 00079 | 00:30 | 3:09.9 | 20.4 | 167.7 | 07.7 | 
 | 03:59.0 | 00449 | 02:00 | 2:13.6 | 26.7 | 167.7 | 08.4 | 
 | 05:59.0 | 01455 | 10:20 | 3:33.1 | 18.1 | 127.8 | 07.8 |

| Tstart_ | Dist_ | Time_ | _Pace_ | SPM_ | avgHR | _DPS___ | Remarks
 | 00:00.0 | 01166 | 08:00 | 3:25.8 | 15.2 | 119.3 | 09.6 | warmup
 | 00:00.0 | 02245 | 18:00 | 4:00.5 | 20.1 | 148.8 | 06.2 | rests
 | 00:00.0 | 01455 | 10:20 | 3:33.1 | 18.1 | 127.8 | 07.8 | cool down
 | 00:00.0 | 09006 | 39:59 | 2:13.2 | 26.8 | 162.1 | 08.4 | main set

I was hoping to be a bit faster, but it wasn’t gonna happen for me today. I suspect that the hard workout from Tuesday, plus 90 minutes yesterday has built up a little fatigue.

I also was not pushing this to the edge. In each interval, when it started to bite, I tried to refocus on technique. Try to get my finishes so clean that I wouldn’t touch the water, and really get out for the catch. With water this smooth, it was hard to row badly!

I was curious what my stroke dynamics look like. Here are a few strokes from the begining and end of the workout.

You can compare that to last year.

It looks like some subtle changes.

This year, it looks like I am getting a bit more impulse from my leg drive. The acceleration curve is peaking more at 0.4 sec.
It looks like my finishes were a bit cleaner last year.
See how the boat speed is peaking right before the catch last year? That means that I am accelerating up the slide. This year in two out of three strokes, the boat speed is nice and flat through the recovery, so a smoother, more even recovery. You can also see this in terms of the minimum instantaneous boat speed. Last year, it troughed well below 2.5m/s. This year, all strokes troughed above 2.5m/s. That’s good.

Tomorrow: The weather is supposed to be terrible. I might do an erg session. I should probably do a 4 x 20′ endurance session, but I might do a rate limited 10K to post a CTC number.

Thursday: Short Rest Intervals – 4 x (5 x 2′ on / 30″ paddle) / 4′ rest

September 10, 2015Leave a comment

I’m back in the boat. Only my second row in the last 12 days. Between travel and a quick bout with a stomach bug, I’ve missed 10 sessions in my training plan. Now the work resumes where I left off.

The conditions this morning were lovely, but hot and humid. It was 70F when I launched and around 75F when I landed, and 93% humidity! It was generally close to flat calm, expect for a brief period when I was heading downriver for the last time when a little headwind kicked up. It seemed to fade as quickly as it came.

The Plan:

4 x ( 5 x 2′ on / 30″ paddle ) / 4′ rest – This is designed for the length of the river. I can fit in 5 2′ intervals as long as the rests are pretty short. Then take a longer rest to turn the boat and grab a drink at the ends of the river.
The “on” intervals target 26 SPM and pace faster than 2:15.
The “off” intervals are a light paddle, but keep moving.
The goal is to push a bit faster than head race pace and get practice maintaining technique at head race rates as I get deeper and deeper into fatigue.

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_0980_|_05:41_|_2:53.8_|_105___|_18.5_|_09.3_|_122___|_w
01000_|_0460_|_01:58_|_2:08.7_|_050___|_25.3_|_09.2_|_153___|_m
01460_|_0100_|_00:32_|_2:38.5_|_010___|_18.9_|_10.0_|_154___|_r
01560_|_0480_|_02:03_|_2:07.6_|_054___|_26.4_|_08.9_|_158___|_m
02040_|_0080_|_00:27_|_2:50.0_|_010___|_22.1_|_08.0_|_158___|_r
02120_|_0480_|_02:03_|_2:08.6_|_056___|_27.2_|_08.6_|_161___|_m
02600_|_0100_|_00:33_|_2:44.0_|_012___|_22.0_|_08.3_|_161___|_r
02700_|_0460_|_01:58_|_2:08.0_|_052___|_26.5_|_08.8_|_165___|_m
03160_|_0080_|_00:29_|_2:59.4_|_010___|_20.9_|_08.0_|_165___|_r
03240_|_0460_|_01:58_|_2:08.3_|_052___|_26.4_|_08.8_|_167___|_m
03700_|_0320_|_02:02_|_3:10.6_|_038___|_18.7_|_08.4_|_140___|_r
04020_|_0460_|_01:57_|_2:06.6_|_052___|_26.8_|_08.8_|_158___|_m
04480_|_0120_|_00:39_|_2:43.8_|_015___|_22.9_|_08.0_|_166___|_r
04600_|_0440_|_01:52_|_2:07.2_|_051___|_27.3_|_08.6_|_170___|_m
05040_|_0080_|_00:30_|_3:09.4_|_010___|_19.8_|_08.0_|_170___|_r
05120_|_0460_|_01:59_|_2:09.7_|_054___|_27.2_|_08.5_|_170___|_m
05580_|_0080_|_00:31_|_3:13.7_|_011___|_21.3_|_07.3_|_171___|_r
05660_|_0460_|_01:58_|_2:08.5_|_052___|_26.4_|_08.8_|_172___|_m
06120_|_0080_|_00:31_|_3:12.5_|_011___|_21.4_|_07.3_|_173___|_r
06200_|_0240_|_01:03_|_2:10.2_|_029___|_27.8_|_08.3_|_173___|_m
06440_|_0080_|_00:30_|_3:05.0_|_009___|_18.2_|_08.9_|_171___|_r
06520_|_0220_|_00:57_|_2:09.3_|_025___|_26.4_|_08.8_|_170___|_m
06740_|_0080_|_00:30_|_3:05.0_|_007___|_14.2_|_11.4_|_132___|_r
06820_|_0460_|_02:01_|_2:11.1_|_053___|_26.4_|_08.7_|_159___|_m
07280_|_0080_|_00:30_|_3:07.5_|_011___|_22.0_|_07.3_|_168___|_r
07360_|_0460_|_02:00_|_2:10.0_|_052___|_26.1_|_08.8_|_171___|_m
07820_|_0080_|_00:32_|_3:17.5_|_011___|_20.9_|_07.3_|_173___|_r
07900_|_0440_|_01:58_|_2:13.5_|_052___|_26.6_|_08.5_|_174___|_m
08340_|_0080_|_00:34_|_3:33.1_|_012___|_21.1_|_06.7_|_173___|_r
08420_|_0440_|_02:00_|_2:15.9_|_052___|_26.1_|_08.5_|_173___|_m
08860_|_0080_|_00:33_|_3:23.7_|_011___|_20.2_|_07.3_|_173___|_r
08940_|_0420_|_01:53_|_2:14.9_|_050___|_26.5_|_08.4_|_174___|_m
09360_|_0280_|_02:02_|_3:37.7_|_035___|_17.2_|_08.0_|_149___|_r
09640_|_0460_|_02:00_|_2:10.1_|_051___|_25.6_|_09.0_|_162___|_m
10100_|_0080_|_00:29_|_2:58.8_|_010___|_21.0_|_08.0_|_171___|_r
10180_|_0480_|_02:05_|_2:10.7_|_057___|_27.3_|_08.4_|_173___|_m
10660_|_0080_|_00:30_|_3:10.0_|_011___|_21.7_|_07.3_|_173___|_r
10740_|_0440_|_01:57_|_2:13.5_|_052___|_26.6_|_08.5_|_174___|_m
11180_|_0080_|_00:33_|_3:26.9_|_011___|_19.9_|_07.3_|_173___|_r
11260_|_0440_|_01:57_|_2:12.5_|_052___|_26.8_|_08.5_|_174___|_m
11700_|_0080_|_00:33_|_3:23.1_|_012___|_22.2_|_06.7_|_175___|_r
11780_|_0460_|_02:01_|_2:12.0_|_054___|_26.7_|_08.5_|_177___|_m
12240_|_1320_|_07:29_|_2:49.9_|_154___|_20.6_|_08.6_|_143___|_c

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00980_|_05:41_|_2:53.8_|_105___|_18.5_|_09.3_|_122___|_warmup
09120_|_39:37_|_2:10.3_|_1052___|_26.6_|_08.7_|_168___|_Main set
02120_|_13:28_|_3:10.5_|_267___|_19.8_|_07.9_|_160___|_rest meters
01320_|_07:29_|_2:49.9_|_154___|_20.6_|_08.6_|_143___|_cool down
13540_|_06:14_|_2:26.7_|_1578___|_23.8_|_08.6_|_160___|_Total

So, that was really hard. I was glad to see that my stomach bug seems to be behind me. I wasn’t entirely happy with my technique. I caught myself doing a couple things wrong multiple times during the row. I was opening my back early (which I could see as a hump in the RIM boat acceleration curve). And I was also getting sloppy about getting to full compression and reaching reaching for the catch. When I noticed this, and corrected it, it was essentially a two second improvement on the pace almost instantly. There were, of course, numerous other flaws. Sloppy finishes, wobbly balance, etc, but these are lower priority to fix than the other two.

I was happy to see Brandeis back on the water today. They were out with 4 boats and 2 launches. They were working on drills today, and I managed to pick the wrong side to try to pass a four. They turned toward the bank and cut off my path in one of my intervals. I should have steered under pressure to go around the other side, since this is basically a perfect head racing practice moment, but I pulled the plug, maneuvered around and then picked it up again after I was clear. I was very talkative since I couldn’t spare any oxygen, but I was really glad to have some company.

Tomorrow: Another steady state session on the HOCR course.

Thursday: 8×4′ / 1′ rest on the erg

August 6, 20153 Comments

I didn’t get to bed until late, and then decided to sleep in instead of getting up at 5:15. I think it was a good call.

My schedule freed up around 3 so I snuck down to the gym to try to do a version of my planned workout.

The original OTW plan was:

8 x 1000 / 2′ rest
rate: 24,24,26,26,28,28,30,30
pace: start around 2:20 and get faster.

The new plan for the erg (on slides) was

8 x 4′ / 1′ rest (It takes me 4:00 to 4:30 to row 1K on the water, so this was a bit more like what I would have done. The 1′ rest is preferred for the training effect, but I can’t turn my boat that fast on the water and get set for the next ones. On the erg, that’s not an issue.)
rate: Same as above
Pace: start around 1:54 for r24, and get about 2 sec faster for each rate change.

That was HARD!

I was pressed for time, so I did a very quick 1K warm up. I found that I could hold 1:52 for the r24s. This turned out to be a mistake because I was unable to push the last 2 intervals as hard as I wanted. I ended up doing 24,24,26,26,28,28 (a little slower), then I did 26 and then 24 for more of a soft landing than a big finish. You can see from the HR data that I couldn’t have really pushed the last two much harder. I was very happy to be finished.

So, good training effect, good job slowing down, but not breaking form. Marks off for going too hard in the first couple intervals.

Most important news of the day. I just heard that I won the lottery! My bid for a entry in the 2015 Head of the Charles was selected! I will be joining 59 other “Grand Masters” racing down the Charles in October.

Now I have a real reason to execute my training plan perfectly!

Tomorrow: Low Intensity steady state and technique work.

Quantified Rowing

Measure – Adjust – Improve

Tag: short rest intervals