Treading water (but no actual swimming)

September 14, 2019Leave a comment

Last post was on Sept 3rd, quite a while ago. That covered my row on Sept 2.

Tuesday – Sept 3 – Drills on the fives

Back in my single, back in Newton. Feeling a bit unfamiliar. Best way to cure that…Drills!

The plan is simple, row for 4 minutes and then do 1 minute of drills.

square blade
late feather
open palms on recovery
half slide rowing
pause at body over

It was a nice morning, and there some other boats out. Even if I’m not really prepping for an event, it’s still nice to be out and working on getting better.

        Workout Summary - media/20190904-1621000o.csv
--|Total|-Total----|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time-----|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13861|01:16:02.4|02:44.6|000.0|19.8|142.8|164.0|09.2
W-|08194|00:39:47.2|02:25.7|000.0|20.0|147.2|162.0|10.3
R-|05685|00:36:16.6|03:11.4|000.0|19.6|138.0|162.0|09.4
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00084|00:25.1|02:29.4|000.0|19.2|124.5|126.0|10.5
02|00318|01:31.2|02:23.2|000.0|19.0|135.2|141.0|11.0
03|00189|00:54.2|02:23.5|000.0|19.8|132.9|137.0|10.6
04|00850|04:03.6|02:23.2|000.0|19.6|146.0|153.0|10.7
05|00840|04:06.4|02:26.7|000.0|19.5|147.8|151.0|10.5
06|00341|01:38.0|02:23.7|000.0|19.5|149.5|153.0|10.7
07|00832|04:04.2|02:26.7|000.0|19.6|145.4|149.0|10.5
08|00735|03:37.2|02:27.7|000.0|19.5|149.0|153.0|10.4
09|00487|02:22.0|02:25.8|000.0|20.2|148.5|153.0|10.2
10|00237|01:10.9|02:29.8|000.0|19.4|141.8|147.0|10.3
11|00179|00:52.8|02:27.3|000.0|19.2|141.6|143.0|10.6
12|00535|02:37.2|02:26.8|000.0|19.8|150.6|155.0|10.3
13|00576|02:45.6|02:23.7|000.0|20.7|152.9|159.0|10.1
14|00736|03:34.7|02:25.9|000.0|20.1|148.8|156.0|10.2
15|00311|01:31.9|02:27.7|000.0|20.2|149.0|152.0|10.0
16|00343|01:40.6|02:26.8|000.0|20.3|156.2|157.0|10.1
17|00128|00:38.0|02:28.2|000.0|20.6|145.7|148.0|09.8
18|00072|00:22.6|02:36.7|000.0|21.2|131.3|133.0|09.0
19|00400|01:51.0|02:18.9|000.0|23.1|151.1|162.0|09.3

Wednesday – 4 Sept: 2′ on / 1′ off increasing rates

This was a hard and fun session. There was a reasonable headwind going upriver. I ran out of oomph in the last set, which I did the first three downriver and then turned to come back. I bailed on the r28 rep, and then basically did 1′ and 1′ off of r28 instead for a few reps, just to get a bit more time at rate.

       Workout Summary - media/20190904-1621460o.csv
--|Total|-Total----|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time-----|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|11736|01:07:54.1|02:53.6|112.8|22.1|144.4|179.0|07.8
W-|06742|00:30:02.8|02:13.7|174.3|23.9|153.6|178.0|09.5
R-|05008|00:37:52.6|03:46.9|064.0|20.7|137.1|178.0|07.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00112|00:33.0|02:27.7|128.7|19.8|127.0|129.0|10.3
02|00415|01:57.0|02:21.1|130.8|20.0|135.0|145.0|10.6
03|00430|01:57.0|02:16.0|165.5|22.4|139.2|152.0|09.8
04|00473|02:03.4|02:10.5|159.0|24.2|149.0|160.0|09.5
05|00477|02:02.5|02:08.3|182.3|26.0|155.0|166.0|09.0
06|00246|01:00.4|02:02.8|222.8|27.9|152.2|161.0|08.8
07|00411|01:55.7|02:20.7|151.6|20.2|142.1|159.0|10.6
08|00459|02:04.6|02:15.8|171.3|22.1|157.1|167.0|10.0
09|00441|01:57.9|02:13.7|201.0|23.8|160.6|172.0|09.4
10|00476|02:04.8|02:11.1|183.0|25.4|164.8|175.0|09.0
11|00456|01:55.9|02:07.2|217.0|28.0|168.8|178.0|08.4
12|00418|01:56.1|02:18.9|134.6|19.6|145.1|160.0|11.0
13|00447|02:00.2|02:14.4|164.5|21.5|155.3|166.0|10.4
14|00442|01:56.4|02:11.6|149.9|24.1|161.5|171.0|09.5
15|00433|01:56.0|02:13.9|210.9|26.4|164.9|176.0|08.5
16|00147|00:39.9|02:16.1|179.1|28.6|162.0|164.0|07.7
17|00226|01:01.1|02:15.1|192.7|27.5|154.8|167.0|08.1
18|00234|01:00.9|02:10.1|213.8|27.6|158.6|167.0|08.4

Thursday – Sept 5 – crappy static 10K

I had a conference call that went until after 10pm, so I slept in instead of getting up to row. Later in the day, I went to the gym for a quick session. I decided to do a threshold piece, and 10K has been giving me a lot of trouble lately. I might as well work on that. I set a target to just keep the pace under 2:00, and if you looked at the monitor picture, you’d conclude that it wasn’t so bad.

Sure, a little bobble in the middle, but no big deal. Here’s the summary plot though.

3 HD’s! I am in a tough place right now. My stroke power is great, but my aerobic capacity is not anywhere near it was. So I go too hard, under rate, and get discouraged. I also don’t have a hard training objective, or trackable plan so, it is easy to start playing mind games when it gets a little scary in the middle of a long row. Finally, ergs are boring. I think I have to do a better job at rowing to stroke rate and pace goals. I have to stop over cooking the beginnings of these rows.

Friday – Sept 6 – No training

I was working from home on Friday, so I didn’t go off to row in the morning. I planned to do an erg session, but I didn’t have a gap in my schedule to go do it.

Saturday – 7 Sept – Aborted 10K

We stayed in Hopkinton this weekend, and so I planned to do an erg session in the afternoon. I was so pissed off about the 10K row that I thought I would try again (today on slides).

I didn’t warm up on Thursday, so I did a nice 2K warmup.

Then I decided to be very careful and stick to the 2:00 pace. I made it less than 2k before I gave up. I was having some stomach issues and I really needed to stop the row.

That was massively depressing. I really seem to be struggling.

Sunday – 8 Sept – 3 x 30′ / 2′

I was feeling very spooked about how badly things had been going. I decided to step back and do a very consistent, low intensity session and go extra long.

It was a good call. I was relaxed, enjoyed some good podcasts, and felt much better afterwards.

        Workout Summary - media/20190908-2135590o.csv
--|Total|-Total----|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time-----|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|21997|01:34:41.3|02:09.1|166.7|19.3|140.6|157.0|12.0
W-|20623|01:26:46.5|02:06.2|174.1|19.1|142.2|157.0|12.4
R-|01379|00:07:55.2|02:52.3|084.8|21.7|123.5|157.0|09.6
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|06551|27:36.3|02:06.4|173.4|19.2|133.5|144.0|12.4
02|07045|29:41.7|02:06.5|173.2|18.9|142.9|149.0|12.5
03|07028|29:28.5|02:05.8|175.8|19.3|149.6|157.0|12.4

Monday – 9 Sept – Steady state OTW with Humon

--|Total|-Total----|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time-----|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13655|01:16:06.2|02:47.2|120.6|20.1|133.4|158.0|08.9
W-|11821|00:58:46.1|02:29.1|138.2|19.5|139.6|158.0|10.4
R-|01839|00:17:20.7|04:43.0|061.2|21.9|112.4|158.0|06.6
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00152|00:45.6|02:29.8|130.5|19.7|130.3|133.0|10.1
02|02793|14:09.2|02:32.0|129.3|17.9|135.9|141.0|11.0
03|02716|13:46.6|02:32.2|131.8|18.3|135.3|148.0|10.8
04|02721|13:22.5|02:27.5|144.3|20.5|143.4|158.0|09.9
05|02777|13:39.0|02:27.5|142.8|20.1|144.9|154.0|10.1
06|00290|01:19.2|02:16.6|172.4|25.7|141.7|153.0|08.5
07|00372|01:44.0|02:19.8|155.5|25.4|137.5|154.0|08.4

Paces are slower because I used the data from the 2′ on 1′ off workout to do an analysis comparing gps and impeller data for up river and down river segments. My calibration was off by about 3 seconds per 500m. Bummer. I’m slower than I thought I was. 😞

On the plus side, this session was just delightful from beginning to end. I rowed it with Humon and tried to dance on the edge between green and orange. I found that I am working a lot more efficiently at r20 than r18.

Tuesday – 10 Sept – No Training

I was out late because of a work celebration. One of my coworkers was celebrating their 40th work anniversary. So, I slept in on Tuesday morning. I intended to go to the gym, but too many interruptions and too much work to do.

Wednesday – 11 Sept – Steady State OTW with Humon

Same session as monday. tried to stick to r20. I decided to do some higher rate work in the warmup to see if it hurt or helped later on.

At the end of my warmup, as I approached the dam in Waltham, I passed a sculler going the other way. I’ve talked to him a number of times, a nice guy in his seventies. Anyway, I got to the end, turned my boat, had a drink and then set off after him. I knew it was just a steady state session, but the knowledge that there was a boat out there ahead of me was stuck in my head. I maintained my rate, but there might have been a little extra pressure in my stroke. I caught up with him as we went through the s-turn. He pushed a bit harder as I passed to mark time with me. He’s going to be in the HOCR in a couple weeks (lucky guy) and he’s out most morning now training.

After I finished that leg, I spun around and followed him into the cove, which is now “protected” by a set of booms. I had no trouble navigating the gap in the booms to get in the cove, and I had a nice chat with him as he docked. But when I went to leave the cove, there was a reasonably strong tail wind and I got pushed into the booms. It took me a lot of backing and forthing to extricate myself and at times I was really worried that I was going to end up going for a swim. I think I’ll avoid the cove until those booms are gone.

     Workout Summary - media/20190914-1451000o.csv
--|Total|-Total----|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time-----|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|12637|01:17:24.7|03:03.8|111.0|21.5|136.9|172.0|07.6
W-|07963|00:39:33.5|02:29.0|148.4|21.4|147.6|169.0|09.5
R-|04688|00:37:52.4|04:02.4|071.9|21.6|125.8|169.0|06.5
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00217|01:03.5|02:26.3|130.4|19.9|121.7|136.0|10.3
02|00212|00:59.6|02:20.8|156.8|22.0|128.8|140.0|09.7
03|00219|01:01.2|02:19.7|171.4|23.5|131.0|141.0|09.1
04|00207|00:56.4|02:16.2|129.4|25.4|138.8|150.0|08.7
05|00204|00:51.1|02:05.4|222.4|28.2|144.1|157.0|08.5
06|00205|00:49.8|02:01.5|249.2|31.3|146.8|163.0|07.9
07|00201|00:46.2|01:54.8|277.3|34.9|154.5|169.0|07.5
08|00791|04:04.0|02:34.2|134.5|20.1|146.4|154.0|09.7
09|01195|06:11.6|02:35.5|142.5|20.3|158.9|166.0|09.5
10|00391|02:00.6|02:34.1|151.9|19.9|158.2|162.0|09.8
11|00084|00:26.4|02:36.2|153.0|22.5|127.7|131.0|08.5
12|01680|08:22.2|02:29.4|130.9|20.0|144.4|151.0|10.0
13|01434|07:29.5|02:36.8|136.8|20.4|149.6|155.0|09.4
14|00427|02:12.8|02:35.5|144.9|19.8|153.0|154.0|09.8
15|00339|01:35.6|02:20.9|179.1|25.0|146.0|161.0|08.5
16|00156|00:43.0|02:18.3|200.7|26.6|140.9|153.0|08.2

Thursday – 12 Sept – 3 x 20′ / 2′

Another late night. We had dinner with a customer, and we had meetings setup to start early Thursday morning. I decided to not row before the meeting so I could be on time and not sweaty when we got started. Later in the day, after the meeting was over, I went to the gym and did a steady state session. R19, 170w.

Weird misbehavior of the HR monitor at the start of the second piece.

Friday – 13 Sept – 10 x 3’/1′ Threshold

Another early meeting, so not enough time to row OTW. I only had time for an abbreviated session. I usually do 15×3′, but I cut back the number to fit the time and pushed a little harder. It was a good session. I was really happy with it.

Pretty remarkable smo2 swings…68% to 54%. I still don’t really understand what it means when the algorithm goes from red back to orange or green in the depths of a hard interval.

This was a very satisfying workout. I felt better all day afterwards.

Today: Steady state on the erg.

Saturday: 10K Threshold on slides

December 16, 2018Leave a comment

Down on the cape.

I had two things on my list of things to to today. The first was to play around some more with the Quiske pod on the erg. I needed to redo an example I am used in a blog post over on the rowsandall analytics site. I had the pod mounted backwards and the plots were inverted, so I wanted to update it with the right data.

That ended up being about 18 minutes of reasonably hard rowing, but it was in short intervals of 1 to 5 minutes. I ended up sweaty but not tired.

After that, I got myself settled to do my hard distance workout for the week. 10K on slides. It’s always a mystery to me how to pace stuff on slides. I am not as fast on slides as on static, but a bit faster than on the dynamic. I decided to try to 1:58. It worked out fine. It was hard, but I was able to hold the pace throughout.

        Workout Summary - media/20181215-2135330o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10000|39:02.0|01:57.1|214.8|24.9|166.1|180.0|10.3
W-|10000|39:02.0|01:57.1|214.8|24.9|166.1|180.0|10.3
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|180.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01000|03:43.5|01:51.7|217.0|24.4|141.3|154.0|11.0
01|01000|03:54.9|01:57.4|216.0|24.8|157.5|159.0|10.3
02|01000|03:55.5|01:57.8|214.6|24.6|161.8|164.0|10.4
03|01000|03:55.8|01:57.9|213.4|24.5|164.6|167.0|10.4
04|01000|03:55.9|01:57.9|213.3|24.8|166.8|168.0|10.2
05|01000|03:55.9|01:57.9|213.6|25.0|169.2|171.0|10.2
06|01000|03:55.7|01:57.9|214.0|25.0|171.5|175.0|10.2
07|01000|03:56.6|01:58.3|211.1|25.1|173.7|176.0|10.1
08|01000|03:57.1|01:58.6|209.8|24.8|175.5|177.0|10.2
09|01000|03:52.0|01:56.0|225.1|25.6|178.1|180.0|10.1

Pretty consistent pacing through the middle section. I struggled a bit with 2000m to go, but rated up a little in the last 1000 and I was fine.

Tomorrow: The plan calls for a long interval session. I will try to do a 3k/2.5k/2k waterfall before we head home. I might substitute a endurance session if I am feeling tired from today’s session.

Saturday: 10K hard on the dynamic

November 4, 2018Leave a comment

The plan calls for a hard distance piece on Saturday, so thats what I did. Even though I wasn’t relishing the idea of doing it on the dynamic, I figured if I just aimed at 2:00 splits, I’d be fine.

It was hard!

        Workout Summary - media/20181103-2120340o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10000|39:36.0|01:58.8|208.2|25.4|166.0|181.0|09.9
W-|10000|39:36.0|01:58.8|208.2|25.4|166.0|181.0|10.0
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|181.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01000|03:55.4|01:57.7|211.3|24.6|135.8|153.0|10.4
01|01000|03:57.9|01:58.9|208.3|24.8|155.9|159.0|10.2
02|01000|03:57.5|01:58.7|209.0|24.8|161.5|164.0|10.2
03|01000|03:57.9|01:59.0|208.0|24.8|164.8|166.0|10.2
04|01000|03:58.3|01:59.1|206.6|25.0|167.4|168.0|10.1
05|01000|03:58.5|01:59.3|206.4|25.1|169.9|172.0|10.0
06|01000|03:58.4|01:59.2|206.4|25.2|172.9|175.0|10.0
07|01000|03:59.0|01:59.5|205.0|25.8|174.6|175.0|09.7
08|01000|03:59.7|01:59.8|203.3|25.6|177.1|179.0|09.8
09|01000|03:54.0|01:57.0|218.5|28.2|179.6|181.0|09.1

Well, a bit better than the last one.

Here is a comparison of 4 10ks on the dynamic. I’ve dialed in my best pace and was able to hold it at slightly higher heart rates today.

Tomorrow: rowing on Quinsig. Free form Sunday….

T/F/S : A Threshold Sandwich

October 7, 2018Leave a comment

Thursday – Oct 4 : 70′ Steady State R20

          Workout Summary - media/20181004-1200310o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13830|74:54.0|02:42.5|123.4|20.7|144.8|159.0|08.9
W-|13187|65:37.0|02:29.3|132.7|20.2|147.8|159.0|10.0
R-|00650|09:17.0|07:08.7|057.5|24.5|123.4|159.0|06.2
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
05|01254|05:57.9|02:22.7|130.0|19.9|132.2|144.0|10.6
06|02592|11:59.4|02:18.8|136.2|19.8|145.6|155.0|10.9
07|02839|14:42.0|02:35.3|134.2|20.0|149.8|159.0|09.7
08|02758|12:57.1|02:20.9|133.4|20.3|149.2|156.0|10.5
09|03037|16:11.7|02:40.0|129.7|20.2|151.6|157.0|09.3
10|00305|01:40.8|02:45.5|138.9|21.4|153.6|156.0|08.5
11|00370|01:59.1|02:40.8|125.1|23.1|154.6|159.0|08.1

Friday – Oct 5: 2 x 3K Threshold

The goal for today was essentially a Head Race simulation. Stroke rate around 25. The goal was to try to keep the pace around 2:15, but it was not to be. There was a lot of wind which was basically a head wind for the downstream part of the row. That’s better than the alternative, it would have been very depressing rowing into a head wind and against the current during the second half of the session.

The wind was strong and gusty enough that I took some really bad strokes. Generally, striking a wave as I was squaring up and catching with one oar skewed. This was a bit scary at the time, but I was just trying to keep it going.

The hard bit for me is keeping my motivation through the turn. Today, with a brisk tail wind, it wasn’t so bad. I kept my mind of clean finishes.

          Workout Summary - media/20181005-1140300o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|08131|43:02.0|02:38.8|133.9|24.7|150.1|177.0|07.6
W-|05488|25:16.0|02:18.1|164.8|26.2|165.5|177.0|08.3
R-|02645|17:46.0|03:21.6|090.0|22.6|128.2|177.0|07.5
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|02746|12:30.1|02:16.6|166.6|25.9|161.0|169.0|08.5
02|02742|12:46.1|02:19.7|163.1|26.5|169.9|177.0|08.1

So, slower than I would have liked, but considering the wind, I guess it is OK. I was happy about the sprint at the end.

Saturday, Oct 6: 13km Coastal Row

Today was absolutely beautiful. The temp was around 60F. There was a light wind from the northeast, which meant that the water was flat. The sun was sparkling on the water. It was amazing.

The only problem I had was a wonky heart rate monitor. I worked hard, but not too hard. I think my heart rate was in the high 140s to 150s.

The tide was running pretty fast today. It was going out, so it was with me at first, then as I turned toward the harbor, it was against me. Then I turned and rowed with it all the way out past my favorite buoy, then I was rowing right into it for the last section.

          Workout Summary - media/20181006-191253-Greg Smith 20181006 1249PMo.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13357|75:56.0|02:50.6|000.0|20.7|147.0|147.0|08.5
W-|13359|75:56.0|02:50.5|000.0|20.7|147.0|147.0|08.5
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|147.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00037|01:18.7|17:35.0|000.0|21.3|147.0|147.0|01.3
01|05862|32:53.8|02:48.4|000.0|19.5|147.0|147.0|09.1
02|07059|38:07.7|02:42.0|000.0|21.5|147.0|147.0|08.6
03|00401|03:36.4|04:30.1|000.0|22.9|147.0|147.0|04.9

Tomorrow: If it’s a nice day, another coastal row. If not, a steady state erg session.

I’m racing next weekend. One complication is that I am going to Geneva on Tuesday night and returning on Thursday. So, it will be a unique kind of a taper.

Another week on the Head Race training plan

October 1, 2018Leave a comment

Last post was Sept 25th. Since then I’ve been consistently training, but struggled with insomnia for much of the week.

I was very sleep deprived when I got home on Saturday morning (9/22). I slept a few hours that morning. Then a solid block of 10 hours on Saturday night. But on Monday night, I fell asleep around 10:30, and woke up at 1:00am. I was unable to fall back asleep. Tuesday, a little better. I slept from 10:30 to 2:00am. Wednesday, I got maybe 5 hours. Thursday, I headed down to the cape in the evening, arriving there around 11. I had some things to do around the house, so I didn’t get to sleep until 12:30. My daughter and one of my son’s arrived at 3:00am. I took some work to get back to sleep and I got maybe 3 hours of sleep before I needed to get up for my first meeting. Finally, Friday night and Saturday night I seemed to get back to more normal sleep patterns. It sure effects mood and stamina when you don’t get enough sleep.

Despite the sleep issues, I was on the water Tues/Wed/Thur. I took a rest day on Friday. And then trained Sat/Sun/Mon.

Wednesday, Sept 26: 60′ Steady State

The plan was to row at about r20 and keep my HR below 150.

         Workout Summary - media/20180926-1900310o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|12157|65:34.0|02:41.8|116.0|19.0|144.9|158.0|09.7
W-|11571|58:23.0|02:31.4|123.0|19.0|146.5|158.0|10.5
R-|00590|07:11.0|06:05.5|058.6|19.5|132.3|158.0|05.7
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00008|00:01.5|01:32.6|131.6|18.5|091.0|91.0|17.5 --?
02|00009|00:01.5|01:19.8|149.0|19.0|091.0|91.0|19.8 --? 
03|01100|05:21.3|02:26.0|128.6|19.4|135.4|147.0|10.6 - blocked by boats
04|02754|13:05.3|02:22.6|127.1|19.3|147.7|153.0|10.9
05|02729|14:19.6|02:37.5|121.0|18.1|145.4|154.0|10.5
06|01942|09:26.1|02:25.8|120.8|18.4|146.9|155.0|11.2 - cut short for time
07|02615|13:54.7|02:39.6|123.0|19.5|150.5|158.0|09.7
08|00413|02:13.4|02:41.4|109.0|20.7|148.0|156.0|09.0

Thursday, Sept 27: 4 x (5 x 2′ / 1′)/2′ Short Intervals

Plan for Thursday was to use these short intervals to practice working at rates higher than head race rate. Try to keep my stroke light and work on the release.

Ran out of river in the last interval of the first set. I really torched the whole first set. A fair current behind me and a bit of a tail wind. It looks like I dialed back the power a bit on the upriver trip. Otherwise, pretty uneventful.

         Workout Summary - media/20180927-1230310o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13891|80:10.0|02:53.1|116.6|24.1|147.6|174.0|07.2
W-|08479|37:42.0|02:13.4|171.7|27.3|157.2|174.0|08.2
R-|05430|42:29.0|03:54.8|067.6|21.3|139.0|174.0|06.4
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00460|01:58.5|02:08.7|167.9|26.3|140.2|154.0|08.9
02|00475|02:01.9|02:08.2|183.0|27.5|149.5|159.0|08.5
03|00490|02:04.9|02:07.5|163.7|27.4|155.4|166.0|08.6
04|00476|02:01.3|02:07.3|176.4|27.3|154.7|163.0|08.6
05|00267|01:07.4|02:06.4|194.7|28.4|153.9|161.0|08.4
06|00440|01:58.3|02:14.4|165.7|27.8|150.0|163.0|08.0
07|00428|01:56.1|02:15.5|168.9|27.8|158.4|170.0|08.0
08|00433|01:59.8|02:18.5|189.0|27.0|160.8|169.0|08.0
09|00425|01:55.5|02:15.9|170.5|27.5|163.1|172.0|08.0
10|00439|01:56.7|02:13.0|175.4|27.8|164.3|174.0|08.1
11|00437|01:59.9|02:17.2|168.7|26.5|152.1|168.0|08.3
12|00457|01:59.2|02:10.4|175.7|27.2|160.5|169.0|08.5
13|00427|01:54.9|02:14.5|148.9|27.1|160.7|170.0|08.2
14|00428|01:55.5|02:14.9|179.0|27.0|164.0|172.0|08.2
15|00454|01:55.9|02:07.8|186.5|28.4|162.8|172.0|08.3
16|00430|01:58.0|02:17.1|160.9|27.5|149.9|167.0|08.0
17|00423|01:56.4|02:17.7|161.0|27.2|159.8|169.0|08.0
18|00266|01:13.9|02:19.2|170.1|26.8|158.2|165.0|08.0
19|00420|01:55.8|02:17.8|158.3|27.4|162.5|172.0|08.0
20|00405|01:52.4|02:18.7|178.6|26.7|164.6|173.0|08.1

I was pretty happy with the result.

Friday, 28 Sept: No Training

Saturday, 29 Sept: 10km threshold on slides

On Saturday, I wanted to hand with the family. We got ourselves organized and went on a day trip down to Chatham. While we were there, we had a big lunch. I was still feeling kind of full when we got back to the house, but I figured that I better go do my thing on the erg in the basement.

The plan was for 40′ of threshold, so another 10K. It would be useful to compare to the one on slides to the one on the dynamic last weekend.

I started with a 2K warmup. It felt hard and I felt bloated.

Then I got going. Target pace was 1:59.

That was brutal. But frankly more pleasant than the dynamic.

Splits are pretty darned consistent. I got a bit scared of blowing up around 7k.

         Workout Summary - media/20180929-2250290o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10000|39:31.0|01:58.6|209.6|25.5|165.9|183.0|09.9
W-|10000|39:31.0|01:58.6|209.6|25.5|165.9|183.0|09.9
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|183.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01000|03:53.5|01:56.7|214.5|25.3|137.1|154.0|10.2
01|01000|03:56.1|01:58.0|213.1|25.2|157.0|159.0|10.1
02|01000|03:56.8|01:58.4|211.0|25.4|160.9|162.0|10.0
03|01000|03:57.5|01:58.8|209.1|25.1|163.6|165.0|10.1
04|01000|03:57.6|01:58.8|209.0|25.3|166.1|167.0|10.0
05|01000|03:57.3|01:58.7|209.2|25.1|169.2|171.0|10.1
06|01000|03:57.6|01:58.8|208.6|26.0|172.2|174.0|09.7
07|01000|03:59.5|01:59.7|204.0|25.2|175.1|177.0|09.9
08|01000|04:00.7|02:00.4|200.7|25.1|177.0|178.0|10.0
09|01000|03:55.1|01:57.5|217.6|27.4|179.8|183.0|09.3

So, a very similar row to the dynamic. Weird how I prefer the feeling of slides so much more, but the performance is not that different. Here are a few different parameters compared between the two rows.

HR: A bit higher on slides. Basically I was willing to take a bit more pain.
Power: 5W more on slides
Stroke rate: nearly identical
Drive length: 3 cm longer on slides. Feels about right.
Peak force: Higher on slides. I was a bit surprised by this. Since the dynamic feels so much heavier, I expected higher peak force.
Avg force: As expected, about proportional to the watts difference

Sunday, September 30: 90′ bike ride.

My daughter and I went for a bike ride. The intent was to explore some of the sand roads, but as it turned out, the sand was too loose to make any progress on, so we headed to the roads and went north. It was just a nice easy ride.

Monday, 1 October: 5 x 1500 / 5′

Plan was to work on stroke rate around 26, and beat my last 5×1500 pace and power (2:16, 154W).

The downstream intervals were a blast. The river was flowing reasonably fast, and there was the lightest of tail winds. Anyway, after I went through the s-turn, and I had about 300 or 400 meters to go, I was rating up and pushing the pace. On the third and fifth interval, I was seeing the splits drop below 2:00 for the last 5 or so strokes. It turns out that I was working a little harder on the upstream segments, as measured by power. I struggle to use power in the boat because of the big turn in the middle.

          Workout Summary - media/20181001-1310300o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13634|80:28.0|02:57.1|113.7|22.9|139.8|178.0|07.4
W-|07578|33:51.0|02:14.1|165.0|26.3|158.8|177.0|08.5
R-|06061|46:37.0|03:50.8|076.5|20.4|126.0|177.0|07.6
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00158|00:44.0|02:18.9|117.9|19.2|124.5|129.0|11.3- wu
02|01490|06:31.6|02:11.4|154.4|25.2|153.8|166.0|09.1
03|01438|06:40.9|02:19.4|170.5|26.4|160.0|172.0|08.1
04|01486|06:24.1|02:09.3|167.6|27.0|159.1|175.0|08.6
05|01440|06:45.0|02:20.6|170.1|26.9|163.0|173.0|07.9
06|01565|06:46.1|02:09.7|167.7|26.7|161.7|177.0|08.7

Tomorrow: 80′ of steady state. Drills on the 5s.

And we’re back to a regular progamming

September 24, 2018Leave a comment

Let’s see, where were we. Friday morning, I went for a run on sore legs. The rest of the day, I was mocked mercilessly by my coworkers because I was hobbling around like a very old man.

Around 3pm I left for the airport. I was supposed to hop on a 5:40 flight to Toronto, and then connect to Boston, getting me home by around 8pm eastern time on Friday night. Things did not work out that way. We left the gate about an hour late, and then once we got out to the runway, the pilot came on and announced that there was a maintenance problem and we were heading back to the gate. They unloaded us and gave us dinner vouchers, and gave us no clue about when we would leave.

I started working the phones. Given that I had already missed my connection and I had no idea when I would take off, I decided that I should start working on options. I found a flight that would leave at 10:50 to LAX and allow me to connect to the red eye to Boston, getting in around 8am. This seemed like a better option that getting stuck overnight in Tokyo or Toronto, so I reserved a seat and waited to hear what happened with my flight.

Around 8:30, they came on the PA and announced that the new boarding time for my flight was 10:30pm. Since that was so far away, I figured there had to be some uncertainty in it and I decided to go for the LA option. I got on board (last row in coach!), and settled in for a long and bumpy flight. My original flight ended up taking off at 12:44am. It arrived at 11:01 pm on Friday night. The next flight to Boston left at 2pm the next day, so I guess I made the right call. It was still 30 hours of travel and I felt totally destroyed when by the time I got home.

Sorry for the long story. Anyway, I didn’t feel like working out of Saturday.

Sunday – Sept 23: 10K Threshold on the dreaded Dynamic

Gotta back to it. First, a 2k warmup. Held 2:00-ish pace for 1000m, then paddled 500, then another 500 around 2:00.

I had failed last week with a target pace of 2:00. I had actually started a bit faster, at 1:58 and I decided that I could again try for 2:00, but be a bit more careful about staying on target. It was also a lot cooler. The piece went much better. I got a bit desperate with 2k to get and rated up a couple of pips which got me through the worst of it.

          Workout Summary - media/20180923-2055320o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10000|39:48.0|01:59.4|205.3|25.3|164.5|180.0|09.9
W-|10000|39:48.0|01:59.4|205.3|25.3|164.5|180.0|09.9
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|180.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01000|03:57.2|01:58.6|206.8|24.8|139.7|153.0|10.2
01|01000|03:59.2|01:59.6|204.6|25.0|155.4|158.0|10.0
02|01000|03:59.1|01:59.5|205.2|25.1|159.1|161.0|10.0
03|01000|03:59.3|01:59.7|204.1|25.1|162.5|163.0|10.0
04|01000|03:59.6|01:59.8|203.5|25.1|164.7|166.0|10.0
05|01000|03:59.8|01:59.9|203.1|25.1|167.1|169.0|10.0
06|01000|03:59.3|01:59.7|204.3|25.1|171.1|174.0|10.0
07|01000|04:00.3|02:00.2|201.8|25.2|172.6|174.0|09.9
08|01000|04:00.2|02:00.1|201.6|26.3|174.6|176.0|09.5
09|01000|03:54.5|01:57.3|218.1|26.4|177.8|180.0|09.7

So, mission accomplished. I will have to try this on a static erg soon to see what the pace difference is to the dynamic. I think it’s nearly 5 splits.

Monday – Sept 24: Drills on the fives

Back on the water after 9 days. Felt wobbly and awkward at first. And it was windy and choppy (Wind 10-15mph NE). Not ideal for drills, but really useful nonetheless.

Looks like the batteries on my oarlock died about 50 minutes into the session. The paces were pretty slow with a head wind going downstream and abnormally high flow going upstream.

By the end of the session, I felt much better. I was tapping down well and getting myself over the oars

Tomorrow: 4 x 2000 / 5′ (target pace: 2:16)

Sun: 70′ Coastal, Mon: 3 x 20′, Tues: 5 x 1500 OTW

September 4, 2018Leave a comment

Sunday: 70′ Coastal Row

Down on the Cape. Another glorious day. A bit hotter and a bit less breeze. I felt pretty worn out from the 36′ threshold piece (and the long cool down) on Saturday, and my hands were a bit beaten up too.

The goal for the day was just a nice steady state row. Try to keep the HR below 155 and “row good”. From that perspective, it was a great session. I rowed out to my favorite buoy, and then headed north to Wellfleet harbor. I rowed all the way around the town jetty and then turned around for the row back.

Except for nearly constant wakes for most of the way back south, it was pure delight.

The glitch around 30 minutes was the turn into the harbor. At 35 minutes, I needed to take a sharp turn to avoid a moored boat. I was rowing on an incoming tide, that why the pace changed so much at 16 minutes. That was when I went from fighting the tide to going with it into the harbor. From 42 minutes to 52 minutes, I was rowing out of the harbor. I had to stop a couple of times to open the bailer. Then from 55 minutes to the end, you can see the diminishing effect of the tide. At first, it was in front of me, and then as I went south along Indian Head, it gradually swings behind me as the tide pushes into loagy bay.

Monday: 3 x 20 / 2′ Dynamic

We drove home late in the day on Sunday, and on Monday I just took care of stuff. Shopping, laundry, getting organized for the work week. By the schedule, I was supposed to do a threshold session, but I preferred to do that on the water, and honestly, I was still a bit tired from my two coastal outings. I decided to swap sessions and just do steady state.

The intent is to stay below 155, no matter how sucky the pace gets. And it got sucky. It was hot as hell and humid too.

          Workout Summary - media/20180903-2155290o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|23559|66:00.0|01:24.0|148.1|21.5|143.2|157.0|16.6
W-|13830|60:00.0|02:10.2|158.7|21.2|144.3|157.0|10.9
R-|09732|06:00.0|00:18.5|042.9|23.9|132.4|157.0|168.5
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|04644|20:00.0|02:09.2|161.8|20.2|135.1|146.0|11.5
01|04604|20:00.0|02:10.3|158.5|21.2|146.5|153.0|10.9
02|04582|20:00.0|02:11.0|155.8|22.2|151.4|157.0|10.3

I left a big puddle.

Tuesday: 5 x 1500 / 4′ OTW 1x

On the Charles in Newton. Sunny, hot, nearly windless. A beautiful day for rowing.

The goal for today was to try to focus on a bit higher stroke rates and hopefully faster paces than the 4 x 2000 from last week. So, I was trying to stay between 26 and 28. It might have been a bit too ambitious, but I sure felt like I had had a good workout when I was done.

          Workout Summary - media/20180904-1555280o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13603|84:03.0|03:05.4|109.2|23.1|148.0|181.0|07.0
W-|07736|35:12.0|02:16.5|152.5|26.9|166.4|181.0|08.2
R-|05872|48:51.0|04:09.6|077.9|20.3|134.8|181.0|07.2
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00228|01:05.5|02:23.5|129.9|21.0|140.4|143.0|09.9 wu strokes
02|01512|06:37.3|02:11.4|160.9|27.1|161.8|176.0|08.4
03|01486|06:46.8|02:16.9|159.7|26.6|166.9|179.0|08.2
04|01482|06:41.5|02:15.5|151.7|27.6|170.0|181.0|08.0
05|01522|07:06.4|02:20.0|151.0|27.1|168.7|181.0|07.9
06|01506|06:55.1|02:17.9|143.5|26.8|168.4|181.0|08.1

Pretty clear that I didn’t have much left over for the fifth rep.

Tomorrow: steady state technique day. drills on the 5s

Friday: Steady State, Saturday: Threshold

September 2, 2018Leave a comment

Friday: 3 x 20′ / 2′ on slides

I flew out of San Jose at about 9pm and arrived in Boston at 5:15am Friday morning. I got an hour or two of sleep on the plane. Once I got to Boston, I got to my car and drove home to Hopkinton, grabbed a few things I needed for the long weekend and headed to the Cape. I ultimately arrived around 9am. I went to bed for a couple of hours and woke up feeling kind of groggy. I felt a bit better as the day went on.

I toyed with the idea of going for a coastal row, but it was a bit windy and I didn’t feel like the hassle of loading the boat. Instead I just popped down to the basement for a steady state session on slides.

It was a pretty lousy session. I needed to slow way down to keep my HR below the caps.

          Workout Summary - media/20180831-2030270o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14499|65:59.0|02:16.6|144.3|19.5|147.1|162.0|11.3
W-|13795|59:53.0|02:10.3|155.1|19.4|148.4|162.0|11.9
R-|00707|06:00.0|04:14.6|038.1|20.4|134.8|162.0|06.9
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|04712|20:00.0|02:07.3|163.7|19.8|140.6|148.0|11.9
01|04547|20:00.0|02:12.0|152.5|19.1|150.0|155.0|11.9
02|04536|19:53.8|02:11.6|149.1|19.3|154.5|162.0|11.8

Someday, I’m gonna figure out how to improve the accuracy of the summaries.

Saturday – Sept 1: 36′ Minute Threshold Piece in a coastal row.

It was gorgeous today! Sunny, about 75F, light to moderate breeze from the East. That’s the best direction for the wind because it provides the best water conditions since the wind is coming off the land.

I launched from the north beach and turned to head into Loagy Bay. I wanted to get as long of a straightish run as I could get. I hate turning around in long threshold pieces. I figured I could run up along Indian Neck, and then turn West and head toward Chequessett Neck and finish by the outlet of the Herring River. This would be running with the incoming tide, but there wouldn’t be much current close to shore, and the chop should be minimized except as I crossed to Great Island, and then it would be generally behind me.

          Workout Summary - media/20180901-2110280o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14550|83:37.0|02:52.4|000.0|22.7|158.3|182.0|07.7
W-|14551|83:37.0|02:52.4|000.0|22.7|158.3|182.0|07.7
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|01658|09:00.0|02:42.8|000.0|20.1|140.0|152.0|09.2 - warmup
01|06827|36:00.0|02:38.2|000.0|24.4|171.4|182.0|07.8 - Main piece
02|06066|38:37.5|03:11.0|000.0|21.7|150.4|181.0|07.2 - Long row home!

The row went very well. I just counted strokes. Every hundred was another 4 minutes down. I wasn’t sure how many minutes I would get out of the course. It turned out to be about 36′. I had two slow downs. The first was a massive waking that seemed to get me from two directions, and then soon after that, I needed to turn to avoid the shoal as I got to the Herring River inlet.

I was really pleased with the workout. I was able to settle in to a groove with my HR in the 170s and just keep cranking. I’d like to get the stroke rate up over the next month, but for now, I am just pleased to have unbroken sessions and good efforts.

After I finished, I realized just how far away I was from home. And I also realized that a lot of it would be into the wind and tide. I decided to just take it easy and focus on rowing with reasonably good form. I was really tired for the first 10 minutes or so after I finished the hard piece, but by the time I got close to the end, I was feeling good and pushed a little harder.

Now, a few hours later, I am starting to feel very stiff and tired. And I have a couple of really big blisters. I guess it was a pretty hard workout after all.

Wed: 2 x 30′ @ 22

May 9, 2018Leave a comment

Tuesday: I was out late at a business dinner and didn’t get to bed until nearly midnight. I decided to sleep in instead of training.

Wednesday: A beautiful morning. About 52F with just about no wind. Bright sunshine and a cloudless sky.

The plan was 2 x 30′ @ r22. This is supposed to be a Cat V workout, but I have yet to find the right stroke pressure. Each time I have done it, I have pushed too hard and end up with heart rates way up in the TR zone.

Today, I wanted to work hard on technique, mostly on recovery. Maintain outward pressure on the handles, and get my body angle right before starting to slide the seat. I also spent a bit of energy trying to get better at my finishes. I have been leaving my oars in the water too long, laying back too far, and disturbing the set of the boat as I try to extract the oars and bump my hands into my torso. So, the past couple of sessions, I have been trying to consciously finish earlier. Really tap down as the handles approach my chest, and maintain a tall posture in the seat. It feels way different, I bet it looks exactly the same to an external observer!

Sander gave me some good advice after my Monday session. He suggested that I should focus on one aspect of the stroke for blocks of 5 strokes and then move on. I think that could be a very good way to be more mindful during these sessions. There are 660 strokes in each 30′ piece. It’s impossible to focus on everything in every one of them.

Moving on the to the subject of equipment. I am liking the new rigging settings, but it will take a little while to get used to the heavier load associated with the shorter inboard. I think that helped to contribute to my high HR and RPE today. My legs “want” a certain drive duration, but that drive duration is now trying to sweep through a bigger arc, which means I put on more pressure. I need to lighten up a bit.

When I turned on my speedcoach today, I discovered that the battery was nearly depleted. That was weird because I had charged it last Thursday night and I’ve only rowed about 4 hours since then. I wonder if the new FW is draining the battery faster? Anyway, the speedcoach shut down in the first half of the first 30′ piece, so I only have RIM data, and only have HR for the second piece.

The map view shows significant jagginess. I suspect that the pace values might be a bit too fast as a result. The row shows up as almost 14500m, when it is usually closer to 14300m.

This was originally two sessions in RIM, but I glued them together on rowsandall.

          Workout Summary - media/df_20180509-174756.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14483|74:55.0|02:35.2|000.0|20.8|84.5|173.0|09.3
W-|14250|68:54.0|02:25.1|000.0|21.5|082.9|173.0|09.6
R-|00238|06:01.0|12:37.7|000.0|13.2|103.0|173.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|01095|05:40.0|02:35.3|000.0|17.8|000.0|0.0|10.8 - warmup
01|03060|13:37.0|02:13.5|000.0|22.2|000.0|0.0|10.1 - 1st downstream
02|02972|14:02.0|02:21.6|000.0|21.9|000.0|0.0|09.7 - 1st upstream
03|02953|13:06.0|02:13.1|000.0|22.0|161.0|169.0|10.2 - 2nd downstream
04|03006|14:34.0|02:25.4|000.0|22.4|168.4|173.0|09.2 - 2nd upstream
05|01164|07:56.0|03:24.5|000.0|19.6|145.3|173.0|07.5 - cd SBR feet out

Tomorrow:

3 sets of:
- 1’ on, 3’ active rest,
- 1’ on , 3’ active rest
- 2’ on, 5’ active rest
Rest between: Continuous, no rest between sets.
Complete one set and then repeat the series.
The active rest is relaxed, low intensity, easy rowing.
Stop only briefly to rehydrate.
Rating /pace: Race effort, 1k pace (your best right now) So, I’ll be aiming at r30.

Whew. That’s hard work. 2 x 30 at r22

May 1, 20182 Comments

Not sure if this workout is supposed to be this hard. Maybe I’m trying to put too much into each stroke and I should lighten up. But, the low power and lousy splits suggest otherwise.

The weather was awesome. I wish it was about 10 degrees warmer, but it was sunny and there was very little wind. As soon as I got going I was warm enough.

          Workout Summary - media/20180501-1415230o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14119|76:06.0|02:41.7|167.4|21.5|152.3|172.0|08.6
W-|11481|55:13.0|02:24.3|190.8|22.3|161.0|172.0|09.3
R-|02643|20:53.0|03:57.1|105.4|19.4|129.3|172.0|06.3
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|02763|12:22.0|02:14.3|198.5|22.2|151.1|161.0|10.0
02|02934|14:40.0|02:29.9|194.1|22.5|162.3|168.0|08.9
03|02942|13:32.0|02:18.0|190.1|21.9|161.8|168.0|09.9
04|02842|14:39.0|02:34.7|181.7|22.4|167.2|172.0|08.7

So, since my river is about less than 15 minutes long, I ended up cheating a bit against the 2 x 30. It ended up closer to 2 x 28. As you can see from the HR, the middle turn was short enough that I didn’t get much recovery. Honestly, it was a real struggle to do that in the second interval. I really wanted a breather!

The power tells the story. I just got tired. Power declined from 199W all the way down to 182W. It would probably have been better for me to aim for a consistent 190W throughout the workout and done a better job with technique.

Quick comparison of the this session and the last time I did the same workout.

Last time I did this workout. I fired up into r22 right away and I carried it all the way back to the dock at the end. Today, I warmed for 5 minutes and cooled down for 5 minutes. I lopped that stuff of the chart as “rests”. Power is nearly identical. My HR response is way higher today. Not sure why. Maybe it’s biorhythms.

Tomorrow: A new session.

3 sets of
- 1′ on / 3′ off
- 1′ on / 3′ off
- 3′ on / 6′ off
Target rate: 28-32
Target pace: As good as I can do. Hopefully above 300w.

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Tag: Threshold