I’ve noticed that I seem to do better off of slides for middle distance pieces.  For endurance sessions, at the same training power, I seem to have about the same HR and lactate.   And for sprints, I think I actually do a bit better on slides because I can rate up much higher.  But for the middle distances, I am having trouble finding a nice efficient stroke rate.  Basically, I have trouble getting into the groove.

So, today, I decided to do a bit of an experiment.  I replaced a planned 2 x 30′ threshold session with a 15 x 3′ / 1′ workout.  I’ve been doing this workout for a while.  It is one of the “L3” workouts from the Wolverine Plan.  And the pace for it comes around the pace for a 30 min TT.  I thought that this would be a good session to experiment with different rates on slides.

So, I decided that I would try to aim for a pace faster than 1:55, and start at 23 spm.  Then I would click up the stroke rate by 1 spm for each interval.  I decided to play it by ear in terms of how high I would push the rate, and then I could come back down the other side.

I did a couple of 3′ segments at a slower pace as a warmup and then went into the main set. At 23 SPM, I settled in at 1:53 and it didn’t sting too bad.  As I increased stroke rate, it was hard to avoid going faster.  I could tell that I was pushing the pace unsustainably fast as the rate increased.  The format of the workout gave me a chance to try to out some changes in stroke dynamics.

As I got to the higher rates, I needed to concentrate on having really fast hands on the recovery.  If I did that, then I could take the drive a bit slower and maintain the pace.  But it was really murder on my arms.  By the tenth rep, I found it hard to keep my arms out with good form while I paddled in the rests.

From today’s experiment, it looks like for a 30′ Threshold, on slides, I should be rating between 28 and 30.  But I rarely rate that high either in a boat or on an erg.  I need to practice at these rates more often to make it work.

And through this experiment, I think I am starting to get an idea about the root cause of why my boat speed is not as good as my static erg speed.  I have deeply ingrained muscle memory to pause at the finish.

It’s gotten a bit better over time, but I do not flow smoothly from the drive through the finish to the recovery.  Instead I pause, then from a stop, I accelerate through the recovery to the catch, and then hit the catch hard.  I am beginning to think that getting to the point where my middle distances are better on slides than on static might unlock some boat speed.

So, back to the workout.  I pushed all the way up to 33, and started back down.  I did the 32 spm segment which was my 12 interval, but I was toast after that.  I felt barely recovered at the end of the minute rest, and blew up a minute into the 31 spm rep.  I paddled that one out.  Then did two more reps at 31 and 30 spm and decided that I had done enough damage for today.  I did a quick 3 minute cool down and headed off to the showers.

And because it was that kind of a morning, I discovered that I had forgotten my towel at home and needed to dry off after my shower using paper towels.

Temp: 70f, Humidity 55%

I think I’ll do a slow 30 minutes tonight to try to facilitate recovery and a 4 x 20′ tomorrow morning.

My plans for a second workout yesterday were destroyed by a meeting that was supposed to go from 4 to 5, but instead lasted until after 6PM.  Finding time for second sessions is going to be a continual challenge.

But on to this morning….

I had a bad feeling about this workout.  One of my steady state workouts is that they are busted up into nice digestible 20 minute chunks.  Pushing that to 30 minute or even 10K over 40 minutes is not so bad, but I have gotten out of the habit of doing long distances, either at steady state or at a more intense level.  So, I have lost some of the memory for pacing these efforts, understanding how hard to push, and, frankly, how to pass the time.

So, for today’s effort, I was unsure about the right pace.  I did a 30′ piece at 1:51.0 on Sunday, and that was less than all out.  In fact, I did a second 30′ at 1:52.4 after a 5 minute rest.  I guessed that I could probably hold a 1:50 pace for an all out 30 minute time trial.  By Paul’s Law, that would forecast a pace of 1:55 for a full hour.  This seems to hold up pretty well for me in general.

There was an argument for a more aggressive pace.  I was very close to my PB pace for my 6K, and not that far off for the 30′.  In that PB season, I also set a new best for my 60′, and that was a 1:53.1 pace.  And I did that without it being an all out effort.  Afterwards, I really thought I could have held 1:52.5 or better.  So, by that logic, it was possible that today I could push the pace to 1:53 or something.

So, I decided to start at 1:54 and see what happened.

What happened was ugly.

I started with a nice 10 minute warmup.  5 minutes of slow steady state, then 3 – 20 stroke bursts at 1:54, with paddling between them.

Then into the main event.  I held 1:54 through the first 10 minutes, but from the HR and how I felt, I knew that was too hard.  At 10 minutes, I backed off to 1:55 for the next 10 minutes, which stabilized my HR, but it stabilized at a pretty uncomfortable level and by the time I hit 20 minutes, I was very unhappy, frustrated and I was unable to relax and get into a groove at a slower pace.

I HD’ed a couple of minutes after the 20 minute mark.  I paddle a few strokes and tried to regroup at a slower pace.  I tried to hold 1:58, which should have been a piece of cake.  It wasn’t, and when it started to pinch, I HD’ed again, in the first couple of minutes after I passed the halfway point.

After that interruption until I got to 40′, I basically rowed at my steady state pace of 2:03 and started to feel a bit less despondent.  I lowered my rate and tried to focus on taking good strokes.

When I hit 40′, the end was in sight and I pulled the pace down to 2:00, then continued to push it faster in the last 10′.

I’m gonna chalk this one up to a too ambitious starting pace and a shitty day.  I have to do more 60′ and HM sessions to get some mental toughness back.

Tomorrow:  4 x 20′ at 2:03