Friday: Steady State R18

June 3, 20162 Comments

Cloudy, very light wind, maybe 2mph. Flat water. Around 65F. A wonderful morning to be on the river. Didn’t see another soul the whole time I was out there.

I originally planned to do a hard session (6x1K), but I was a bit stiff from my run, and not really in the mood to push so hard today, so I decided to stick with the steady state and work on technique and efficiency. I think it was a good call. I loved every minute of it, and I felt like I spent enough time that I could get a feel for what made me faster (Really getting out at the catch, smoothly increasing power on the drive – versus really hitting that catch hard, and finishing “early” and getting my oars out very cleanly) and what slowed me down (holding the oars in the water too long was the main sin, but getting lazy about getting a good long reach was also a transgression).

Tomorrow: The 6x1K I didn’t do today, and then go and buy a boat.

Wednesday: Rate Ladders

June 1, 20164 Comments

Gorgeous day. Mid 60s, dry, wind from the NNE 5mph with gusts to 10mph. This was a head wind going down river.

The plan was rate ladders. 4′ @ 18, 3′ @ 20, 2′ @ 22, 1′ @ 24. I planned to do single ladders and rest a minute or two and turn the boat around. This would take me from the start of the 2K stretch (including the s-turn) to the end of it. I was hoping to do 6 full ladders for a nice long workout.

I did some square blade rowing from the dock out past the cut. And then started the first ladder. From the HR data, I am obviously pushing too hard at all the rates, but the paces were so depressingly slow, it was hard to lighten up and see the pace slow down past the 2:40 mark. I hope that I can blame this on the boat, or else, I’ve managed to lose about 5 to 10 seconds of pace from last season. If being on the water wasn’t such a treat, it could get depressing. But, as much as I could, I just focused on trying to take good strokes, get my blades off the water on recovery and keep the pressure on.

Back to excel plots today because the ones generated from the TCX data have ugly plateaus at the peak HRs when I stopped rowing for minute or so. The excel plots derived from the CSV data blank out data that doesn’t have strokes with it.

Now, I am it the airport heading to Chicago. I return to Boston Thursday night.

Tomorrow: Either a run or a fitness center biathlon.

Tuesday: 14K of Technique

May 31, 2016May 31, 20165 Comments

Monday: I inadvertently slept until about 10 AM. zThere was no other time during the day to grab a workout. Instead, I drove into Cambridge, collected my sons and brought them back out to the house for a Memorial Day feast. Steak, salad, corn on the cob, beer, strawberries. A fine dinner and great company.

Last night, I had terrible trouble sleeping because I got so much sleep over the weekend. I probably slept about 2 hours in little 15 minute snatches. Still I managed to get out of bed at 5:15 and headed down to the river.

I was pretty tired, so I opted for a low intensity, technique oriented session

500m square blades
500m alternating square blades and easy r18
500m of slow rollups, finish normally feathered, but immediately start to roll to square during the recovery.
The objective with all of these is to keep the blades clear of the water on recovery, and keep my shoulders relaxed and low. Also to try to be very precise with my recovery, arms first, then body, then finally legs.
Repeat as many times as possible, so roughly 4 sets of the 3 – 500m chunks.

Tomorrow (Wednesday): Steady State, r20. HR cap around 155.

Tomorrow around noontime, I am flying out to Chicago for a customer dinner, and then meetings on Thursday. I fly home Thursday night.

On another note, I am looking at an open water boat to use down on Cape Cod. This Saturday, I will be checking out a used Alden Star, a 22′ open water boat.

It’s a good price and it should be a reasonable choice for the conditions. Now, I jut need to figure out how to get it up and down these stairs.

Maybe something like this.

Thursday to Sunday: Ticking along

May 30, 20164 Comments

Thursday: Up at 4:30 to catch a 7AM flight to San Francisco. Spent the day out in San Jose including a couple of meetings and a customer dinner. Caught the red eye back from San Jose to Boston. I arrived at about 6AM.

Friday: My intent was to go home, get my rowing stuff and the then head out to the river. But I felt pretty awful from the flight. I managed to sleep, but it was pretty fitful. Anyway, I climbed in bed around 8:30 and I thought I would just doze for a little while. Next thing I knew the clock said 11:45. I guess I needed the rest.

I finished up work stuff around 2pm and hopped on the erg for a gentle endurance session.

The plan was for 3 x 20′ / 1′ rest at r18 and 180W. That’s exactly what I did.

Saturday: I wanted to head down to the river to install the stainless steel hardware for the oarlock and then try it out. By the way, if you are in the US and you need hardware, check out boltdepot.com. Great website, good selection and fast service.

I arrived around 7:30, and I had replaced the hardware and launched by about 8. I was expecting to have to make some rigging adjustments, but it felt good as is. No more clicking and the oarlocks were swiveling smoothly.

I haven’t had much time in the boat, so I just felt like rowing. Nothing too intense, just steady state. For whatever reason, I was dead slow and that was disappointing.

Sunday: We took a drive out to Cape Cod to take some measurements in our new house. We have to wait until mid-August before we close on it, and we want to be ready with furniture and everything that we need right away, so we wanted to measure all the rooms. It’s a nice place. Just visiting it makes me happy. Here’s a picture.

It’s on a 60 foot bluff above the water and it overlooks Cape Cod Bay. I’ll be able to launch from the base of the steps you see on the right.

We got home around 4pm, and did a bit of yard work. Around 6, I snuck off to do an erg session. I wanted a bit more intensity, and I really enjoyed the 10K push from last weekend, so I did it again. This time starting at 2:03 pace, and counting down.

I started with a 2K warmup. 2:03 pace with 10 stroke bursts at 1:50 or faster.

Then into the 10K push.

Cool down, another 2K very slow.

Tomorrow: It’s supposed to rain like hell. So, I think another erg session, probably another 3×20.

Wednesday: An oarlock and a quickie

May 26, 2016Leave a comment

I flew back from Las Vegas, and it was pretty miserable. My flight was scheduled to leave at midnight and arrive in Boston at 8AM. I had attended our sales awards dinner before grabbing a taxi and heading to the airport around 10PM. There was much toasting and drinking. Basically going from table to table and toasting all the different sales teams from different regions. Many of them from cultures where drinking has been raised to an art form. I stuck to beer, but even with that, I was feeling a bit tipsy by the time I got my cab.

I figured it would work out great. I’d collapse into my middle seat and fall into a dreamless slumber. Well, JetBlue had other plans for me. I arrived at my gate to see that my departure had been delayed to 1:00AM. I went to the desk and inquired. The response was, “Oh yeah, that’s not the latest update, now we are planning a departure at 1:50AM”. My heart sunk. I had to try to stay awake for another 2 and a half hours in an airport terminal where everything was closed. By the way, that’s when I wrote the “catching up” post.

Ultimately, the time passed and we were allowed to board. At that point in time, we were told that due to a gigantic weather system over the midwest, we would need to fly a longer course, essentially due east to Georgia, and then up the east coast. This would add about an hour to our travel time. I was too tired to even react. I just sat down. put on my seat belt, passed out and I don’t even remember taking off. I slept for 5 hours straight, I didn’t even recline the seat. I woke up as we were flying up the eastern seaboard and dozed off and on the rest of the way to Boston. We finally arrived at 11AM, 3 hours behind schedule.

Now I had planned ahead. After my 8AM arrival, I was going to stop in Newton, replace the oarlocks on my friends boat, and then take it out for a gentle row to work out the kinks from my flight. These plans were also not to be.

I replaced the first oarlock without much problem. They are a strange style.

To remove the pin, you have to back out the bolt at the bottom, and then unthread the pin from the nut on top of the rigger. The replacement went fine on the starboard side, but on the port side, the bottom bolt was frozen in the pin. I tried to work it out, but managed to shear the bolt. So, I regarded my situation and decided to go buy a new bolt. From the hardware store, I then went home, drilled out the broken, frozen bolt out of the pin, replaced the oarlock, and then drove back to the boat (a 30 minute ride). I then put the oarlock back on the boat, and noticed that I had left the nut to secure the back stay onto the pin at home (shit!). I drove home (again), and packed up the nut so I wouldn’t forget it again. By now it was after 3:30. I decided to row on the erg until my wife got home from work. Nothing fancy or difficult, just r18 and 180.

She got home from work about 22 minutes and 30 seconds later. I stopped at 24 minutes and went to say hello. It was a very low key row. I didn’t have much to give.

We had a lovely evening. Pasta Puttanesca, Chicken Breast and Brussels Sprouts. I collapsed into bed around 9:30.

Today, I am flying out to San Jose for a meeting and dinner. I fly home on the red eye. I hope this one goes a bit better. I won’t have time for a workout.

Friday: I think I will go for a row.

Wednesday: SS Rate Ladders, 1x

May 18, 2016May 18, 20162 Comments

Weather: Perfect! 60F, dry, almost no wind.

Plan:

Rate ladders: 3′ @ 18, 2′ @ 20, 1′ @ 22
As many I could do in the time I had which was about an hour.
HR cap below 160. I really should be capping at 155, but it just feels too slow!

I launched a bit late. Yesterday, after I finished my main set and I was rowing back to the dock, I noticed that my starboard oarlock felt funny. When I started to drive, it felt like it was giving a little bit at first, so there was a Ka-lunk at the start of the drive. I had not noticed it before the workout. When I got back to the dock, I noticed that the oarlock had more “play” fore and aft than the port oarlock. I decided to try to swap out the oarlocks, or at least the bushings this morning.

I gave it a try, but I discovered that removing the oarlocks on this old Peinert would have required essentially completely disassembling the outboard end of the rigger. I decided to just tighten up the nuts and go rowing, and try to fix the oarlocks on another day when I had more time. With the nuts tightened, I could still feel a little thunk on the starboard oar, but it was a lot better. It will need to be fixed though. I don’t think this boat has been rowed hard for a very long time.

Anyway, by the time I got on the water, it was around 6:40. I needed to be back on the dock by 7:50 to let the guy who owned the boat has his turn. So I rowed down to the moody street dam, and decided to turn around again at exactly 7:15, since that would get me back right on time. I had just gotten back through the s-turn and had just completed a ladder at 7:15, so I spun and headed back to the dam. Then I rowed home.

Right before the cut, I passed by the coach of the LaSalle Crew. They row in the afternoons, so I don’t generally see them on the river. He gets in his own training in the mornings so we cross paths every now and then. I was glad to see him, because there are big doings going on at my old club house about 1km upriver from where I keep my boat. This year a high school crew from Nobles has moved in with a bunch of 4+s, and launches, and then later this summer, the biggest rowing organization in the area, Community Rowing, is going to be opening a satellite location at that boat house. There is talk that they could be bringing up to 20 boats out here. I think that this is great! I would probably keep my boat where it is, but if there is a group of rowers from CRI here, then I might be able to find some folks to train with in the mornings and maybe get into some bigger boats for more racing action. I’m going to reach out and see if I can find out what the story is.

Anyway, back to the rowing. I was sluggish and slow today, and I didn’t feel like I was rowing all that well. But it was hard to be glum about it on such a sterling morning.

Now I am on a plane down to Austin for some meetings on Thursday. I fly home on Friday. I will probably try to find myself a crossfit box for tomorrow morning, and just do some steady state rowing. Hopefully, I can squeeze in a quick 10K on Friday after I get home.

This weekend, I’m not sure what will happen. I fly out on Sunday for another trip, so I have lots to get done on Saturday.

Monday: 3 x 20′ / 1′ rest L4

May 16, 20167 Comments

Sunday: Feeling very worn down. Did some painting. No Training

Monday: Decided to skip OTW this morning. Winds were 20 to 25 mph which would have made it not very productive. New plan was 3×20′ L4 on slides.

I felt pretty crappy. My HR just kept creeping up and it was harder and harder to hold the target wattage. I dialed back the stroke counts after the first 30 minutes a bit and it helped a little.

By the way, graphs were generated on line using a new tool developed by Sander. It’s in beta test and active development right now, but has the potential to be a true cross platform to log and analyze rowing data.

I’m in a bit of a rut right now. I am really enjoying the time I’m spending on the water, and thanks to club boats and my friend Alex’s Pienert, can get on the water just about whenever I have time. But doing sessions on the erg is a pain in the ass, and I am not sure exactly what I am training for.

Tomorrow: OTW, something spicy, maybe 8 x 500.

Friday: WTF?

May 14, 20161 Comment

My dinner in NYC lasted until about 11:30. I got to bed around 12:30. Up at 7:00. On the road by about 8:15AM. Drove home and arrived about noon. Then straight into a couple of work phone calls. My day finished up around 3. I hopped on the erg for what I planned to be a 60 minute steady state L4.

I lasted 20 minutes. My HR was in bounds, but my RPE was very high. I was sweaty and breathing very hard. I started the second 20 minute piece and then decided to just bin the session. I have no idea what was wrong with me. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood.

I was very tired in evening. I wondered if I was getting sick. But I felt much better this morning.

Thursday: 14K of technique work

May 12, 2016May 12, 20165 Comments

Another perfect morning! Sunny, 60F. Very light wind (0-2mph) from the north. This is basically a cross head wind going downriver, and a cross tail wind heading up river, I only noticed it a couple of moments in the row. Otherwise, it was just little ripples on the water.

I changed my mind about my workout plan this morning when I woke up. I was tired and sore all over. I decided that doing an High Impact session was a bad idea, and a better idea would be to just work on technique the whole time.

So, I did my favorite technical workout.

500m of square blade rowing
500m of alternating 1 stroke square blade and 1 stroke normal
500m of r20, trying to row with perfect form
Repeat over and over again.

One thing that works out well about this workout is that the useful length of the river is 3000m, so I can fit two sets in each direction very neatly.

I ended up rowing 1000m through the twists and turns, then did 8 sets of the 3×500 technique drills. That got me back to the cut. At that point I pulled my feet out of the shoes and rowed the 1000m back to the dock “strapless”. This is also really good practice to get clean finishes.

This was a really enjoyable workout. And I felt like my finishes got a lot better. I was tapping down earlier, and getting the oars out of the water with less disturbance. It didn’t hurt that it was a glorious morning and I was on a beautiful river.

This afternoon, I’m driving down to New York City to have dinner with a customer, and then I’ll drive home tomorrow morning. I think I will probably do an erg session when I get home.

14K of bliss (rate ladders and a hardish 1K)

May 11, 2016Leave a comment

The weather was just about perfect. Not a cloud in the sky. The temperature started around 50F, and by the time I finished, it was around 60F. Tee shirt weather!

There was a light, but building breeze from the west. This averaged around 5mph from the West, which was a head wind heading upstream.

My plan was to do the same workout as Monday. Rate Ladders.

3′ @ 18
2′ @ 20
1′ @ 22

The length of the river is not precisely right for these ladders, so I just turn around and get going in the other direction.

I am not happy with my boat speed, but I’m not quite sure what’s wrong. I guess I will just keep working on stroke technique. Breaking down the stroke into phases:

Recovery to Catch: Inconsistent in terms of my body position and reach. For some sections of my row today, I felt like I was doing really well getting my body over before I broke my knees and then smoothly moving to the catch position. I got that “glimpse out of the corner of my eye” feeling on some strokes.
Drive: I was working on building power through the stroke, so easing into the stroke a little bit. I was also trying to row lighter at r20 and r22.
Finish: Very messy. I am still a little crowded at the finish, mainly due to being about 10 pounds heavier than I should be. I was working on tapping down early enough and then feathering, but on many strokes, I was getting hung up trying to extract the oars cleanly.

I think I need to add some drills to try to work on specific parts of the stroke. The good thing is that the boat is setting reasonably well.

My workout took an unexpected turn on my first trip back up the river. I was coming through the s-turn and I saw the Brandeis boats lining up to go up river as well. Before I got to where they were, a pair of fours took off side by side with much splashing and squawking from the cox boxes. Behind them, two pairs (W2-) were turning around and lining up. I paddled around to the far side of these boats and then took off when they did. I wasn’t sure exactly what they were working on, but I decided that my plan was to get ahead of them and stay there. It turned out it wasn’t that hard to do. They were rating around a 26, and I was rating between 24 and 26 and opening up some distance with them. Over about 1100m, I managed to put 100m between us. Pride compels me to point out that the GPS derived pace over this piece was impacted by both current and head wind. That felt good. Then it was back to the regular workout.

Tomorrow: I think I will do a split session. About 20 minutes of drills, then some 2′ intervals and then another 20 minutes of drills.

Quantified Rowing

Measure – Adjust – Improve

Tag: steady state