I have a lot on my mind right now for work, and I was not very focused on today’s session.  I’m not sure if that is all it was, or if there is something else going on, but it was a very difficult row.

I was planning a 4×20′ session, but high HR and very high lactate after 60 minutes (2.9mmol/l), so I aborted at that point.

In the first 20 minute section, I had two interruptions due to technical issues with the podcast I was listening to.  There is an intermittent connection to my headphones that is being interpreted by the iphone as a button press which summons up Siri.  Very annoying, probably time for a new set of headphones.  Amazing how quickly sweat corrodes things!

The workout plan was:

Here’s the view from Strava.  You can see the two stops in the first 20 minutes.

And the PM summary.

Tomorrow:  4 x 8′ / 4′ rest

A few aches and pains from yesterday’s exertions, but nothing too impressive.  Around 2:30 in the afternoon I sat down for run of the mill steady state session.  Another in a long series of 4 x 20′ L4 sessions.

It was almost 60F outside and raining.  In my erg room, with the windows open and the fan going, it was 72F and 85% humidity.  I left a sizable puddle under the erg today.

The workout was close to standard.  I planned to do 195 stroke sequences all the way through, but I felt a bit over matched in the third 20′ piece and backed off to 192 stroke sets.  This exchanged a minute at 21spm for a minute at 18spm.  It is surprising how much of a difference that can make in how things feel, even though it was less than a half a stroke difference over 20 minutes and only 2.5 watts different output.

Here is the stroke plan:

And the HR plots

I measured lactates at 60 minutes and the reading was 1.6 mmol/l.  Which is good to see.  I need to work a lot harder to get a 2.0mmol/l reading now than at the end of the OTW season.  Anyway, after seeing that nice reading, I reverted back to the 195 sequences for the last 20 minutes.

Workout Summary – Jan 10, 2016
–_|_Total_|_-Total-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg-_|_Avg-_|_-Max-_|_–Max–_|_-Avg_|_-Avg
–_|_Dist-_|_-Time–_|_-Pace–_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_-HR–_|_-%HRR–_|_-DPS_|_-SPI
–_|_19798_|_80:00.0_|_02:01.2_|_196.5_|_19.6_|_153.0_|_ 77.3% _|_12.7_|_10.0
Workout Details
#-_|_SDist_|_-Split-_|_-SPace-_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_MaxHR_|_Max%HRR_|_DPS-_|_-SPI

01_|_02479_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.0_|_197.4_|_19.6_|_138.0_|_ 66.7% _|_12.6_|_10.1
02_|_02479_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.0_|_197.4_|_19.8_|_144.0_|_ 70.9% _|_12.5_|_10.0
03_|_02480_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.0_|_197.8_|_19.7_|_147.0_|_ 73.0% _|_12.6_|_10.0
04_|_02478_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.1_|_197.2_|_19.6_|_152.0_|_ 76.6% _|_12.6_|_10.1
05_|_02467_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.6_|_194.7_|_19.2_|_147.0_|_ 73.0% _|_12.9_|_10.1
06_|_02463_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.8_|_193.7_|_19.3_|_150.0_|_ 75.2% _|_12.8_|_10.0_|_1.6
07_|_02475_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.2_|_196.6_|_19.7_|_150.0_|_ 75.2% _|_12.6_|_10.0
08_|_02477_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.1_|_197.0_|_19.6_|_153.0_|_ 77.3% _|_12.6_|_10.1

Not a bad workout.  I overstroked by 11 strokes across the whole workout and ended up 125 ahead.  I noticed during the row that it was work to try to keep my rate down, and I rarely saw my rate below target.

Target_____________Actual_____________delta____________
Strokes____Meters______Strokes____Meters______Strokes__meters___EndHR
0195___|___02460___|___0196___|___02479___|___01___|___19___|___132
0195___|___02460___|___0198___|___02479___|___03___|___18___|___136
0195___|___02460___|___0197___|___02480___|___02___|___20___|___140
0195___|___02460___|___0196___|___02478___|___01___|___18___|___140
0192___|___02456___|___0192___|___02467___|___00___|___11___|___142
0192___|___02456___|___0193___|___02463___|___01___|___07___|___141
0195___|___02460___|___0197___|___02475___|___02___|___15___|___144
0195___|___02460___|___0196___|___02477___|___01___|___17___|___148
1554___|___19673___|___1565___|___19798___|___11___|___125___|___000

Tomorrow morning:  Same thing.  With the PM5 and painsled!

I struggle on the morning after a day when I do an afternoon session, apparently even when the session is short and easy like last nights 30′ L4.

I started with a plan to do repeats of a fun 20′ “mountain”.

• 3′ @ 18 (180W)
• 3′ @ 19 (190W)
• 3′ @ 20 (200W)
• 2′ @ 21 (210W)
• 3′ @ 20
• 3′ @ 19
• 3′ @ 18

This is a lower intensity than the sessions that I did on Sunday and Monday, but today it was too much for me and I could see it my HR and RPE at the end of the first mountain.

I pushed on and tried to stick to the plan through the second 20′ mountain, and it was pretty miserable.  I started the third mountain, and after a few minutes, I decided to ease up.  I just shifted to a steady state 180W at 20 spm, which is a lighter, easier stroke.  This brought my HR down to about 70% HRR and I felt a lot more comfortable.  At the end of this 20 minute piece, I measured lactates and it was 1.3 mmol/l.  So, I could push a bit harder.

For the last 20 minutes, I did just that.  I brought up the wattage to 190W and the rate down to r19.  It was pretty hard work, and I was curious how hard.  By the end of 20′, my HR had gone up to around 155 (80% HRR) and my lactate was up to 4.0mmol/l.

So the take away for me is that even though there is no firm correlation between HR and lactate, if my HR is high and my RPE is high, I should dial back the watts, in most cases 10W dial back should be enough.

Tomorrow: 4 x 2K / 5′ rest.  Pace target 1:48.0 (same as the avg for last time)

That was a rude shock.  Over the Christmas holidays, I was sleeping in to 9 or 10 every morning and lazying about most of the day.  Then in the afternoon (or evening), I’d go hop on the erg for a workout.  That all changed today.  Back to my normal weekly schedule.  Alarm went off at 5:15am, and I rolled out of bed bleary eyed.  I was in the gym by 7.

Since I was rowing with less than 12 hours of recovery, I decided to keep it to an hour.  My training plan called for a rest today, but I took that one early on New Year’s Eve, so I was just subbing in a low intensity session.

The schedule change was too much for me.  I did two of the same 195 stroke sequences as last night for the first 20 minutes, then I dropped back to a 192 stroke sequence for the next 10.  A couple of minutes into the 4th 10 minute sequence, I just stopped rowing.  I wasn’t feeling that bad, but I wasn’t feeling that great either.  I just sat there for a couple minutes and decided what to do.  I debated just walking away, but instead decided to just dial it back a bit and finish the hour.  So I rowed out the rest of that 10 minute sequence at 19spm and around 190W.

Then for the last 20 minutes I did a couple of 188 strokes sequences.  These are 2 minutes each at 18/19/20/19/18.  This was just about right for my mental state this morning.  At the end of this, I took a lactate reading and it was 1.8 mmol/l.  So, I the adjustment put me right in the correct range.

One other note.  Since I am getting ready for indoor competitions, I am going to be rowing off slides for the next couple months.

In addition to lack of sleep and short recovery, I also had thermal differences to contend with.  The gym is almost 10 degrees (F) higher than my erg room at home.  Modesty also required me to wear a shirt, which I don’t do at home either.  I think this makes a difference.  Not huge, but noticeable.

Tomorrow:  Back to distance based intervals.  The Waterfall 3K/2.5K/2K.  Last time I did it with an avg pace of 1:47.8.  I’ll try to hold that for the first interval and see where I end up after that.

It was 7:30 PM before I sat down on the erg.  And I wasn’t really in the mood.  But there was nothing to fear from this session.  Just another low intensity L4 aerobic workout.  I limited it to 60 minutes because it was so late and I knew I would be working out first thing in the morning as well.

I continued to push the stroke count up.  I think I found the limit.  Lactate at 60 minutes was 2.3mmol/l.

Workout Summary – Jan 04, 2016
–_|_Total_|_-Total-_|_–Avg–_|_-Avg-_|_Avg-_|_-Max-_|_–Max–_|_-Avg_|_-Avg
–_|_Dist-_|_-Time–_|_-Pace–_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_-HR–_|_-%HRR–_|_-DPS_|_-SPI
–_|_14919_|_60:00.0_|_02:00.7_|_199.3_|_19.6_|_151.0_|_ 75.9% _|_12.7_|_10.1
Workout Details
#-_|_SDist_|_-Split-_|_-SPace-_|_Watts_|_SPM-_|_MaxHR_|_Max%HRR_|_DPS-_|_-SPI

01_|_02492_|_10:00.0_|_02:00.4_|_200.7_|_19.6_|_137.0_|_ 66.0% _|_12.7_|_10.2
02_|_02491_|_10:00.0_|_02:00.4_|_200.3_|_19.6_|_146.0_|_ 72.3% _|_12.7_|_10.2
03_|_02491_|_10:00.0_|_02:00.4_|_200.4_|_19.8_|_146.0_|_ 72.3% _|_12.6_|_10.1
04_|_02479_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.0_|_197.6_|_19.6_|_149.0_|_ 74.5% _|_12.6_|_10.1
05_|_02485_|_10:00.0_|_02:00.7_|_199.0_|_19.6_|_148.0_|_ 73.8% _|_12.7_|_10.2
06_|_02480_|_10:00.0_|_02:01.0_|_197.7_|_19.6_|_151.0_|_ 75.9% _|_12.7_|_10.1

Target_____________Actual_____________delta____________
Strokes____Meters______Strokes____Meters______Strokes__meters___EndHR
0195___|___02460___|___0196___|___02492___|___01___|___32___|___134
0195___|___02460___|___0196___|___02491___|___01___|___31___|___137
0195___|___02460___|___0198___|___02491___|___03___|___31___|___139
0195___|___02460___|___0196___|___02479___|___01___|___19___|___140
0195___|___02460___|___0196___|___02485___|___01___|___25___|___141
0195___|___02460___|___0196___|___02480___|___01___|___20___|___141
0000___|___00000___|___0000___|___00000___|___00___|___00___|___000
0000___|___00000___|___0000___|___00000___|___00___|___00___|___000
1170___|___14761___|___1178___|___14919___|___08___|___157___|___000

Getting close to the magical 200W level for steady state.