Tag: slides

2×20′ + 1×10′ with lactate

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First 20′ were r20 at 184W and tested for lactate.  Result: 2.5…Too high.  I’m not sure how many times I have to do this to convince myself to back off the training power and get myself back below 2.0 mmol/l.

Second 20′, I was really bored, and a bit fatigued, so I did an L4.

First 10′: 22/20/22/20/22

Second 10′: 4’@18, 3’@20, 2’@22, 1’@24

Power was: 18-160W, 20-180W, 22-200W, 24-220W

After I finished that, had a 1′ break and did another 10′ L4

18/20/22/20/18

At that point I was was out of time (and feeling pretty tired).

The main thing that I am dealing with is trying to fundamentally changing my rowing form.  From the video that I posted, it became clear that my posture was terrible and I was working very hard to fix the problem, I think this drove my HR higher than if I was rowing more relaxed and by habit.

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Tomorrow:  Hard 6K, around 1:50 pace

3×20’/2′ rests with lactate

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I was experimenting with a change in my posture.  Trying to sit up straighter and hinge at my hips.  This made things a bit tougher, since it was like walking with a stone my shoe.

I did the first 20′ at 183W like a good boy, and did my lactate test. I figured it would be high since I felt pretty tired and sweaty.  It was…2.4mmol/l.  too high.  Definitely need to retreat back to 180.

So, I did that for the second 20′ piece.  For some reason, probably because I was concentrating pretty hard to maintain my posture, I was really tired at the end of it.

I had a false start on piece #3.  I briefly thought about just quitting, but that seemed like a wimpy thing to do.  So I decided to do change it up a little bit.  I bumped up the stroke rate to 22.  If I was trying to maintain constant SPI, I would have been aiming for 200W, I instead aimed for about a 190, so it was a lighter stroke.  It was easier to maintain better posture at this slightly higher rate, and even though my HR was higher, it felt more comfortable.  The HR plateaued in the mid-150s in the last few minutes of the the piece. 2015-02-26_9-13-17

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Sit up straight! Suck in your gut!

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I was obsessing about how bad my rowing looked in the videos that I posted and I was really puzzled by why I could see no real lean forward even though it felt like I was doing it while I was rowing. Then it stuck me. I’m actually not as fat as I look in the video! 😀 It’s really that my posture sucks! I am really slumped over and my back is very curved at the catch. It also explained my hand position. My hands weren’t too high, my chest was too low!

The reason I don’t see layback or lean forward is that the bottom of my back (and my hips) are a not moving. All the movement is coming in the middle of my spine. With that in mind, I decided that the best coaching advice for me would be remember what I always heard in junior high.

“Sit up Straight!”
“Stop Slouching”
“Suck in your gut”

Did I mention that it was not a very nurturing environment?

So, I tried to keep that in mind today and, woo boy, was it hard. It was like writing with my left hand or trying breath on the wrong side when swimming the crawl. Entirely unnatural. But effective. I could sequence the recovery better. It was more taxing from a CV perspective since I wasn’t used to it, but I think it’s the right adjustment.

What do you think?

Video of rowing on slides

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After my steady state session today, I took a little bit of video to see how I am doing in terms of “fixing” some things in my stroke.

Here’s the video:

Looking at the video, here’s what I see:

  • I am pulling in too high.  Essentially, this seems to be caused by me not pulling my upper arms back enough at the finish.  Could be a flexibility issue, or just a bad habit
  • My shins are a little past vertical at the catch, so I am over compressing at the catch.  I am not sure how great a sin that is.
  • At the beginning of the recovery, I break my knees, just a little bit, and then recover with my arms and body and then my legs come up.  I suspect that I should keep my knees locked down until I have my body in the catch position would be more efficient.
  • I have very little lean forward.  Part of this is the excess weight I am carrying, but I suspect that it may also be related to body dimensions, and the angle that my thighs at at when my shins are vertical.