Friday: “The Hook” – 5.9km hard

September 30, 2016Leave a comment

Weather: A bit chilly, around 50F. Brisk wind from the NNE at 11mph with gusts to 20. Lots of chop. The water was a mess.

Plan:

Warmup to north end of the lake
Head Race Piece
- ~6km
- from north end of the lake, around two island near the south end and then back to the Narrows. The radius of the turn is nearly the same as the big eliot turn in the HOCR.
- Rate: r26
- Pace: <2:15
Cool down back to boathouse

|Start|Dist_|Time_|_Pace__|_SPM__|avg HR|DPS_|Remarks
|00008|02439|16:49|03:26.8| 17.7 | 130 |08.2|warmup
|02447|05900|26:40|02:15.6| 26.0 | 169 |08.5|Head Race Piece
|08347|01808|12:15|03:23.3| 19.6 | 142 |07.5|Cool down

500m splits
|02447|00501|02:10|02:09.7| 26.2 | 151 |08.8|
|02948|00502|02:14|02:13.5| 25.3 | 163 |08.9|
|03450|00500|02:14|02:14.0| 25.3 | 164 |08.9|
|03950|00498|02:13|02:13.5| 25.4 | 167 |08.9|
|04448|00499|02:12|02:12.3| 25.3 | 167 |09.0|
|04947|00501|02:14|02:13.7| 25.6 | 169 |08.8|
|05448|00499|02:15|02:15.3| 25.7 | 170 |08.6|
|05947|00500|02:16|02:16.0| 25.8 | 171 |08.6|
|06447|00503|02:16|02:15.2| 26.2 | 172 |08.5|
|06950|00494|02:20|02:21.7| 26.9 | 175 |07.9|
|07444|00503|02:25|02:24.1| 26.7 | 176 |07.8|
|07947|00400|01:51|02:18.7| 27.9 | 178 |07.7|

To make sense of the splits, here is a map, with the 500m chunks shown.

So, what’s going on?

0-500: 2:09.7 Nice water, tail wind, adrenaline = nice fast splits
500-1000: 2:13.5 water starts to get sloppy, we struggle to get in the groove with the tail wind
1000-1500: 2:14.0 water is worse, but the rowing is better
1500-2000: 2:13.5 water continues to degrade, I feel good enough to push a bit harder, my HR goes up from 164 to 167 in this section
2000-2500: 2:12.3 under the bridge, which kills the chop. we pick up speed and it feels pretty good
2500-3000: 2:13.7 There is enough lake between us and the bridge for the chop to pick back up. My energy is flagging a bit by this point. I start to dread the thought of the big turn.
3000-3500: 2:15.3 Just about the worst water of the row. Quite tough to get to full compression because the chop is screwing with the set of the boat.
3500-4000: 2:16.0. I have no idea why we are slow here. The water was better, and I was pushing very hard.
4000-4500: 2:15.2. Same story as the above. No idea what was slowing us down.
4500-5000: 2:21.7. The big turn. We did great along the south side of the island, but as we emerged from the lee of the island, we got hit by a big gust and a ton of chop coming down the channel between the islands. In an instant the boat slowed down to a 2:30 pace or slower. We got into the lee of the second island and actually picked up a bit of speed through the last half of the turn.
5000-5500: 2:24.1. We get out from behind the second island and turn into the teeth of the wind. The boat feels like it weighs a thousand pounds, but with the headwind, it is also set like a rock. The rowing feels very connected, and we pound up into the wind. It is pretty damn slow, but satisfying in a masochistic way.
5500-5900: 2:18.7. I brought the rate up and worked on trying to row as cleanly as I could. The pace came down and we slugged our way back to the narrows.

Final result was 2:15.6. I was hoping for better because of the tail wind, but I bet we would have been <2:15 in flat water and no wind.

One side note: Changed my pitch today. Was rigged with 4deg pitch inserts. Changed to 6 degree inserts. It might be placebo effect, but I felt like my oar depth was better and my finishes were crispier. I liked it! We checked the span, and it was 159 at stroke and 158 in bow. Joe is planning to move them both to 160.

So, I am off the water for a while. I am taking off to Asia for 11 days on Sunday. Bummer that it’s happening so close to the HOCR, but duty calls.

Wednesday:4 x 5 x 2′

September 28, 20161 Comment

Weather: Wind from the NE. Weather data says it was less than 5mph, but it felt stronger than that on the lake. Overcast, but no fog!

Plan:

Warmup to north end of the lake
4 x ( 5 x 2′ / 30″ paddle)
3 ish minute rests between sets
- with a minute or so of square blade drills in each rest
rate pyramid in each set of 5: 24, 26, 28, 26, 24
pace: better than 2:15
Cool down with some feet out rowing to work on finishes

We did 2 power 10s and a 20 during the warmup and finished with a minute or so of alternating squared and feathered.

The first 2 sets were with a tail wind. It made us a bit sloppy. The r28 felt good though. The boat felt nice and light and I felt unhurried and like we in good sync.

We did about minute of square blade drills in the breaks between sets. Between sets 2 and 3, we did about 2 minutes of drills in the cove. The water was nice a flat, and frankly, I wanted a bit more rest for the last two sets.

When we headed up into the wind, we were a lot slower. Just about 10 seconds difference in pace between the downwind and upwind pieces. But even though the boat felt heavier, I felt like our technique was a bit more solid. At times in a couple of the intervals, we would lose the set of the boat for a few strokes. I would find myself dragging my starboard oar, dropping in the catch early because the boat felt unstable, or basking my right thumb on the opposite oar toward the end of the stroke. The good news is that we seemed to be able to get back on track within the interval.

| Tstart_ | Dist_ | Time_ | _Pace_ | SPM_ | avgHR | _DPS___ | Remarks
| 00:00.0 | 02498 | 16:30 | 3:18.2 | 18.3 | 122.6 | 08.3 | warming up
| 16:30.0 | 00469 | 02:00 | 2:07.9 | 24.0 | 151.8 | 09.8 |
| 18:30.0 | 00096 | 00:30 | 2:36.3 | 22.8 | 156.3 | 08.4 |
| 19:00.0 | 00466 | 01:59 | 2:07.7 | 26.0 | 160.8 | 09.0 |
| 20:59.0 | 00097 | 00:31 | 2:39.8 | 23.8 | 162.1 | 07.9 |
| 21:30.0 | 00477 | 02:00 | 2:05.8 | 27.3 | 164.8 | 08.7 |
| 23:30.0 | 00092 | 00:30 | 2:43.0 | 23.3 | 165.1 | 07.9 |
| 24:00.0 | 00459 | 02:00 | 2:10.7 | 25.6 | 165.5 | 09.0 |
| 26:00.0 | 00080 | 00:30 | 3:07.5 | 23.2 | 165.1 | 06.9 |
| 26:30.0 | 00470 | 02:00 | 2:07.7 | 24.4 | 166.4 | 09.6 |
| 28:30.0 | 00331 | 02:30 | 3:46.6 | 21.1 | 141.8 | 06.3 |
| 31:00.0 | 00443 | 02:00 | 2:15.4 | 23.9 | 153.3 | 09.3 |
| 33:00.0 | 00075 | 00:30 | 3:20.0 | 23.7 | 156.9 | 06.3 |
| 33:30.0 | 00450 | 01:59 | 2:12.2 | 26.2 | 162.1 | 08.7 |
| 35:29.0 | 00097 | 00:31 | 2:39.8 | 24.7 | 166.1 | 07.6 |
| 36:00.0 | 00462 | 02:00 | 2:09.9 | 28.3 | 169.0 | 08.2 |
| 38:00.0 | 00086 | 00:30 | 2:54.4 | 24.8 | 170.1 | 06.9 |
| 38:30.0 | 00448 | 02:00 | 2:13.9 | 27.0 | 170.7 | 08.3 |
| 40:30.0 | 00091 | 00:30 | 2:44.8 | 24.8 | 172.0 | 07.3 |
| 41:00.0 | 00439 | 02:00 | 2:16.7 | 25.5 | 171.8 | 08.6 |
| 43:00.0 | 00627 | 06:59 | 5:34.1 | 23.3 | 127.7 | 03.8 |
| 49:59.0 | 00429 | 02:01 | 2:21.0 | 24.2 | 153.2 | 08.8 |
| 52:00.0 | 00080 | 00:30 | 3:07.5 | 22.7 | 158.8 | 07.0 |
| 52:30.0 | 00425 | 02:00 | 2:21.2 | 26.4 | 162.9 | 08.1 |
| 54:30.0 | 00088 | 00:30 | 2:50.5 | 24.9 | 166.8 | 07.1 |
| 55:00.0 | 00445 | 02:00 | 2:14.8 | 28.3 | 168.7 | 07.9 |
| 57:00.0 | 00085 | 00:30 | 2:56.5 | 24.9 | 170.1 | 06.8 |
| 57:30.0 | 00420 | 01:59 | 2:21.7 | 26.4 | 170.1 | 08.0 |
| 59:29.0 | 00082 | 00:31 | 3:09.0 | 23.9 | 169.2 | 06.6 |
| 00:00.0 | 00424 | 02:00 | 2:21.5 | 24.7 | 167.5 | 08.6 |
| 02:00.0 | 00252 | 03:00 | 5:57.1 | 19.9 | 140.1 | 04.2 |
| 05:00.0 | 00413 | 02:00 | 2:25.3 | 24.3 | 153.0 | 08.5 |
| 07:00.0 | 00079 | 00:30 | 3:09.9 | 23.7 | 162.7 | 06.7 |
| 07:30.0 | 00432 | 02:00 | 2:18.9 | 26.2 | 164.4 | 08.3 |
| 09:30.0 | 00078 | 00:30 | 3:12.3 | 24.3 | 165.4 | 06.4 |
| 10:00.0 | 00426 | 02:00 | 2:20.8 | 27.5 | 166.8 | 07.7 |
| 12:00.0 | 00073 | 00:29 | 3:18.6 | 24.3 | 168.7 | 06.2 |
| 12:29.0 | 00426 | 02:01 | 2:22.0 | 26.4 | 168.7 | 08.0 |
| 14:30.0 | 00078 | 00:30 | 3:12.3 | 23.8 | 170.9 | 06.6 |
| 15:00.0 | 00429 | 02:00 | 2:19.9 | 25.3 | 169.8 | 08.5 |
| 17:00.0 | 00297 | 01:20 | 2:14.7 | 28.9 | 175.7 | 07.7 |
| 18:20.0 | 02439 | 16:34 | 3:23.8 | 20.0 | 136.7 | 07.4 |

| Tstart_ | Dist_ | Time_ | _Pace_ | SPM_ | avgHR | _DPS___ | Remarks
| 00:00.0 | 02498 | 16:30 | 3:18.2 | 18.3 | 122.6 | 08.3 | warm up
| 00:00.0 | 02567 | 20:31 | 3:59.8 | 22.8 | 146.0 | 05.5 | rests
| 00:00.0 | 02439 | 16:34 | 3:23.8 | 20.0 | 136.7 | 07.4 | cool down
| 00:00.0 | 01821 | 08:00 | 2:11.8 | 24.5 | 160.8 | 09.3 | r24 downwind
| 00:00.0 | 01823 | 07:58 | 2:11.1 | 26.2 | 164.8 | 08.7 | r26 downwind
| 00:00.0 | 00939 | 04:00 | 2:07.8 | 27.8 | 166.9 | 08.4 | r28 downwind
| 00:00.0 | 01695 | 08:01 | 2:21.9 | 24.6 | 160.8 | 08.6 | r24 upwind
| 00:00.0 | 01703 | 08:00 | 2:20.9 | 26.3 | 166.5 | 08.1 | r26 upwind
| 00:00.0 | 01168 | 05:20 | 2:17.0 | 28.1 | 169.7 | 07.8 | r28 upwind

Put it all together and you get an average pace for all intervals of 2:15.5. This is a bit slower than the last time we did this workout. That time we did it in 2:14.1 in perfect water. Today I also had a bit higher heart rate, so more effort to go slower.

My assumption is that the difference is down to wind. I would guess that the tail wind was giving us about 3 seconds of pace, and the head wind was costing us about 7, that would yield about 2 seconds of pace degradation.

Tomorrow: Back in my single for an easy r20 session.

Monday: Equipment Problems Mar Threshold Session

September 26, 2016Leave a comment

Weather: Cold (35-40F). Thick mist rising off the warm lake water. Light wind from the north, maybe 5mph. Damn near pitch black when we launched. Between the mist and the darkness, it was a tough day to be steering the boat. I felt bad for Joe, he was looking around almost every stroke, trying to pick out dim bow lights in the gloom.

Plan:

Warm up to north end of the lake including a few power 10s and 20s
5.8km from North end of the lake to the south end, finishing with a broad turn back to finish around the beach.
- r26
- pace: ~2:15
Cool down and drills back to the boathouse

It started off well enough. It was cold and damp when we launched and as soon as we got out onto the lake, we noticed the light breeze from the north. It was enough to make something bigger than ripples, but smaller than waves.

We did 2 10s and one 20 on the way up to the north end of the lake and spun around to head south again. We got up to speed over about 5 strokes and then settled into a nice rhythm at 26 spm. The boat was moving pretty well. We about 1500 meters into the piece, when I hear a big THWANG! from my port oarlock. I look out and the backstay is flapping around and there is no bolt on the top of the pin holding the oarlock in place. We paddle in to the dock from there and scrounge up some spacers and a new bolt to get it all repaired. On the map below, the red arrow is the scene of the crime.

So, now we need a new plan. I thought it would make sense to go from the route 9 bridge down to the islands, do the same broad turn, and then take it all the way back up the lake back to the bridge. I figure that this would be almost 6km, so a pretty good approximation of the original plan.

Off we go. We paddle to the bridge and then take it up to r26. Again, the boat is moving pretty well. We surge down lake, and along the way, Joe points out a big inflatable boat-like object drifting unoccupied on the other side of the lake. Well, that’s another thing to keep our eyes open for, now isn’t it. We continue down through the narrows, and past the first island. Joe lines us up for the beginning of the turn and we blast along the south shore of the big island. We are in pea soup fog at this point, and about to cross the uplake channel, so Joe start’s shouting “Look Ahead!” as loud as he can, just in case there is a boat hidden in the murk. As fortune would have it, there wasn’t and we zipped across the lane and around the outside of the smaller island and finished the turn. We were just settling back in for the rest of the journey up lake, when THWANG!, Joe’s port back stay is flapping in the breeze and he has no top bolt on his oarlock anymore. We assessed the situation, Joe grabbed the spacers off the top of the pin, so we didn’t lose them overboard, and we picked back up the pace once again. I imagine that it would have been a bit nerve wracking for Joe, because one bad finish and his oarlock would have sailed off the top of the pin, but he rowed clean and no disasters happened. In fact, after he spotted the drifting inflatable, and the fog cleared a bit, we managed some of the cleanest and fastest rowing we did during the whole session.

In the map below, the arrow shows where the second backstay let go.

We fixed the backstay when we got to the dock, and I checked the tightness of the top bolts on all of the oarlocks. (Something I obviously should have done when I fixed the first one!, Doooh!) There was some good rowing, but all in all, a hugely unsatisfying session.

Here’s HR, pace and rate for the warmup and the first piece.

|Start|Dist_|Time_|_Pace__|_SPM__|avg HR|DPS_|Remarks
|00010|02310|15:04|03:15.7| 17.7 | 126 |08.6|warmup
|02320|01576|07:02|02:13.9| 25.5 | 154 |08.8|rep #1
|03896|00533|07:02|06:35.9| 22.3 | 112 |03.4|busted backstay

|Start|Dist_|Time_|_Pace__|_SPM__|avg HR|DPS_|Remarks
|00000|02310|15:04|03:15.7| 17.7 | 126 |08.6|warmup
|00000|01576|07:02|02:13.9| 25.5 | 154 |08.8|main set
|00000|00533|07:02|06:35.9| 22.3 | 112 |03.4|rests

I felt like we were faster than the shown average, so I did some 250 splits. We had two slow downs

|02320|00247|01:05|02:11.6| 26.0 | 136 |08.8|
|02567|00251|01:06|02:11.5| 25.3 | 152 |09.0|
|02818|00250|01:08|02:16.0| 25.5 | 155 |08.7| <—slow down
|03068|00249|01:06|02:12.5| 25.5 | 158 |08.9|
|03317|00252|01:07|02:12.9| 25.5 | 159 |08.9|
|03569|00250|01:08|02:16.0| 25.6 | 160 |08.6| <—Slow down

Here’s the same for the second half.

|Start|Dist_|Time_|_Pace__|_SPM__|avg HR|DPS_|Remarks
|00009|00321|03:32|05:30.2| 07.7 | 090 |11.8|warmup
|00330|03449|15:39|02:16.1| 26.2 | 157 |08.4|rep #2
|03779|00118|00:49|03:27.6| 24.1 | 150 |06.0|busted backstay
|03897|01623|07:13|02:13.4| 27.1 | 161 |08.3|rep #3
|05520|00287|03:06|05:24.0| 20.4 | 124 |04.5|rest

|Start|Dist_|Time_|_Pace__|_SPM__|avg HR|DPS_|Remarks
|00000|00321|03:32|05:30.2| 07.7 | 090 |11.8|warmup
|00000|05072|22:52|02:15.3| 26.5 | 158 |08.4|main set
|00000|00405|03:55|04:50.1| 21.2 | 130 |04.9|rests

Again, I felt like we were faster, so I looked at the splits.

This is the chunk from the bridge, down around the islands and starting back north.

|00348|00500|02:14|02:14.0| 25.6 | 142 |08.7|
|00848|00501|02:17|02:16.7| 25.6 | 152 |08.6|<— Not sure what slowed us down here.
|01349|00497|02:15|02:15.8| 25.8 | 156 |08.6|
|01846|00504|02:16|02:14.9| 26.4 | 159 |08.4|
|02350|00500|02:16|02:16.0| 26.4 | 162 |08.4|
|02850|00496|02:17|02:18.1| 27.2 | 165 |08.0| <—Main part of the turn
|03346|00391|01:47|02:16.8| 26.4 | 164 |08.3|

|03850|00497|02:18|02:18.8| 26.2 | 152 |08.2|<—trying to see if it worked with no bolt
|04347|00502|02:13|02:12.5| 27.2 | 162 |08.3|
|04849|00500|02:12|02:12.0| 27.2 | 166 |08.3|
|05349|00171|00:44|02:08.7| 28.5 | 169 |08.2|<—big 20 to finish

So, the plan was for 5800m of threshold, we got 6500m of threshold, but in 3 pieces with long rests.

Tomorrow: The weather is supposed to be terrible, so I think I will do a 4×20 steady state session on the erg at work.

Friday: 4 x ( 5 x 2′ hard / 30″ paddle) / 3′ rest (2x)

September 23, 2016September 23, 20161 Comment

Thursday: I felt very tired when the alarm went off at 5:15am. I hit the snooze button and slept in. I took it as a rest day.

Weather: Incredible, again. Flat water. nice temperature. What an amazing fall it’s been.

I was out in Worcester again this morning for another hard session with Joe. Today, the objective was to work on our technique and synchronization at race rate and pressure.

Plan:

4 sets of 5 x 2′ hard / 30″ paddle
3 or 4 minutes between sets
rate: 24/26/28/26/24 in each set
pace: ~2:15
technique: work on blade depth and cleaner finishes

First we did a 2K warmup to the north end of the lake. In the warmup up we did a couple of power 10s and one power 20 to get a taste of what was to come.

We set up and started from the North end. The first set of five we enthusiastic, but a bit ragged in terms of technique. Joe also needed to do a hell of a lot of looking around, so he felt like he could really get in a good groove. It was still very dark and there were quite a few eights out on the water with pitifully dim lights. He was rightfully concerned that we might plow right into one.

The first set finished up a bit south of the bridge, so we did a quick loop to make sure we wouldn’t run out of lake in the second set. The second set was much better in terms of technique, but a bit slower. The last two pieces in this set were a bit shaky.

Then we paddled the rest of the way to the south end of the lake, and set up for the third set. From the first two sets, I think we both had a better idea of a sustainable level of pressure and could focus a bit more on technique. The r28 rep in this set was especially crisp. The 2nd to last rep of this set was a bit ragged, but the last rep at r24 was much better.

This set finished a bit south of the Rt 9 Bridge. We took a bit shorter rest here and got into the last set. The first rep finished under the bridge. The next two were good, and then the end was in sight. The 2nd to last at r26 was not memorable, but the last one at r24 started right in front of the QRA docks. This time of day, there is always a bunch of people there, so I could feel myself sitting up straighter and really concentrating on nailing every single stroke. It ended up being just about as fast as the very first rep we did at the beginning of the workout. Amazing what pridefulness can inspire…

On the way back to the dock we worked on a bit of square blade rowing. We did some alternating square and feathered (I love doing that!), and then some sets of 5 and 10 square blade strokes at a time. This was a mess at the start, but we improved a lot over about a 1000 meters. We went straight from rowing on the square into a couple of power 20s, and they felt great! Some of the best, crispest stroke we took all day. I think we have to do some rowing on the square in our warmups from now on.

Looking at the splits for the different rates is interesting.

r24: 2:15.1
r26: 2:14.2
r28: 2:11.8

I was expecting to see a bit more speedup from 24 to 26. I think that might be because we had r24 reps for the very first and very last reps, so they were a bit faster. Still, since r26 is most likely our go to pace for head races, we have to do some more work on efficiency at that rate.

| Tstart_ | Dist_ | Time_ | _Pace_ | SPM_ | avgHR | _DPS___ | Remarks
| 00:00.0 | 02424 | 16:00 | 3:18.0 | 15.2 | 120.6 | 10.0 | warming up
| 16:00.0 | 00464 | 02:00 | 2:09.3 | 24.4 | 149.7 | 09.5 |
| 18:00.0 | 00095 | 00:30 | 2:37.9 | 22.0 | 159.1 | 08.6 |
| 18:30.0 | 00464 | 02:00 | 2:09.3 | 26.2 | 161.9 | 08.8 |
| 20:30.0 | 00088 | 00:29 | 2:44.8 | 23.1 | 164.8 | 07.9 |
| 20:59.0 | 00467 | 02:01 | 2:09.6 | 28.0 | 164.0 | 08.3 |
| 23:00.0 | 00088 | 00:30 | 2:50.5 | 23.1 | 166.7 | 07.6 |
| 23:30.0 | 00455 | 02:00 | 2:11.9 | 26.4 | 164.5 | 08.6 |
| 25:30.0 | 00090 | 00:30 | 2:46.7 | 23.2 | 167.2 | 07.8 |
| 26:00.0 | 00452 | 02:00 | 2:12.7 | 24.8 | 165.4 | 09.1 |
| 28:00.0 | 00436 | 04:30 | 5:09.6 | 21.8 | 124.6 | 04.5 |
| 32:30.0 | 00452 | 02:00 | 2:12.7 | 24.9 | 147.1 | 09.1 |
| 34:30.0 | 00089 | 00:30 | 2:48.5 | 23.0 | 160.3 | 07.8 |
| 35:00.0 | 00450 | 01:59 | 2:12.2 | 26.3 | 162.9 | 08.6 |
| 36:59.0 | 00092 | 00:31 | 2:48.5 | 23.8 | 166.3 | 07.5 |
| 37:30.0 | 00449 | 02:00 | 2:13.6 | 28.1 | 164.8 | 08.0 |
| 39:30.0 | 00087 | 00:30 | 2:52.4 | 24.0 | 168.4 | 07.3 |
| 40:00.0 | 00438 | 02:00 | 2:17.0 | 26.4 | 166.1 | 08.3 |
| 42:00.0 | 00088 | 00:30 | 2:50.5 | 24.4 | 168.4 | 07.2 |
| 42:30.0 | 00426 | 02:00 | 2:20.8 | 24.6 | 165.7 | 08.6 |
| 44:30.0 | 00563 | 05:00 | 4:26.4 | 20.2 | 128.9 | 05.6 |
| 49:30.0 | 00444 | 01:59 | 2:14.0 | 24.7 | 149.0 | 09.0 |
| 51:29.0 | 00093 | 00:31 | 2:46.7 | 23.7 | 160.8 | 07.6 |
| 52:00.0 | 00447 | 02:00 | 2:14.2 | 26.3 | 160.6 | 08.5 |
| 54:00.0 | 00086 | 00:30 | 2:54.4 | 24.3 | 164.5 | 07.1 |
| 54:30.0 | 00454 | 02:00 | 2:12.2 | 28.7 | 165.3 | 07.9 |
| 56:30.0 | 00083 | 00:30 | 3:00.7 | 24.5 | 169.8 | 06.8 |
| 57:00.0 | 00427 | 02:00 | 2:20.5 | 26.9 | 164.6 | 07.9 |
| 59:00.0 | 00080 | 00:29 | 3:01.2 | 24.7 | 165.7 | 06.7 |
| 59:29.0 | 00438 | 02:01 | 2:18.1 | 25.0 | 163.9 | 08.7 |
| 01:30.0 | 00258 | 03:00 | 5:48.8 | 19.8 | 131.8 | 04.4 |
| 04:30.0 | 00428 | 02:00 | 2:20.2 | 24.6 | 149.0 | 08.7 |
| 06:30.0 | 00096 | 00:30 | 2:36.3 | 24.6 | 161.2 | 07.8 |
| 07:00.0 | 00446 | 02:00 | 2:14.5 | 27.1 | 161.3 | 08.2 |
| 09:00.0 | 00081 | 00:30 | 3:05.2 | 24.4 | 165.2 | 06.6 |
| 09:30.0 | 00455 | 02:00 | 2:11.9 | 29.1 | 166.1 | 07.8 |
| 11:30.0 | 00084 | 00:30 | 2:58.6 | 25.0 | 170.5 | 06.7 |
| 12:00.0 | 00443 | 01:59 | 2:14.3 | 26.8 | 166.8 | 08.3 |
| 13:59.0 | 00086 | 00:31 | 3:00.2 | 24.6 | 170.6 | 06.8 |
| 14:30.0 | 00448 | 02:00 | 2:13.9 | 25.2 | 169.7 | 08.9 |
| 16:30.0 | 02355 | 18:21 | 3:53.8 | 24.2 | 134.4 | 05.3 |

| Tstart_ | Dist_ | Time_ | _Pace_ | SPM_ | avgHR | _DPS___ | Remarks
| 00:00.0 | 02424 | 16:00 | 3:18.0 | 15.2 | 120.6 | 10.0 |warm up
| 00:00.0 | 02663 | 20:31 | 3:51.1 | 21.9 | 142.7 | 05.9 | rests
| 00:00.0 | 02355 | 18:21 | 3:53.8 | 24.2 | 134.4 | 05.3 | cool down
| 00:00.0 | 03552 | 16:00 | 2:15.1 | 24.8 | 157.5 | 09.0 | r24 pieces
| 00:00.0 | 03570 | 15:58 | 2:14.2 | 26.6 | 163.6 | 08.4 | r26 pieces
| 00:00.0 | 01825 | 08:01 | 2:11.8 | 28.5 | 165.0 | 08.0 | r28 pieces

Wednesday: Twisty 4 x 2k / 4′ rest (2x)

September 21, 2016Leave a comment

Weather: Awesome. Sunrise is at 6:33am, so when we launched at 5:40 it was still very dark. The eastern sky was just starting to lighten up. No wind. Clear skies. Flat water.

In the race last weekend, one of our week points was maintaining speed and technique during the big sweeping turns. Today’s workout was designed to try to practice that. In the south end of the lake, there are a set of small islands and the lake is much wider. I looked at it compared the turn radius that you need to hold for the big turn on the charles before the Eliot Bridge. The inset in the map below is the Eliot turn. The rest of the map is the south end of Lake Quinsigamond at exactly the same scale. By doing a figure 8 around the little island on the eastern side of the lake, it is a similar turn to two Eliot Bridge turns in opposite directions. If you start and finish at the small island to the north, it’s about 2000m.

Plan:

4 x 2000m
3′ to 5′ rest
spm: 24-28
pace: faster than 2:20
technique: try to avoid digging too deep. Clean up finishes. work on maintaining speed in the turn.

It turned out to be a very hard workout! I’m not sure about Joe, but it nearly killed me. I was a bit lightheaded and woozy for a while after we landed.

Here’s the whole thing on a map. The boathouse is on the top, and we warmed up going down lake to the little island next to the google maps red “pin”. Then there are four loops around the islands. Then a cool down going back up to the boathouse.

Here is a zoom of each of the four loops.

As we went along, Joe got more and more comfortable with the best line around the small island. The biggest difference was from rep number 2 to rep number 3. In Reps 1 and two we lost a ton of boat speed at the apex of the turn. You can see the divot in the pace plot. In rep #1, the pace was killed around the 3000m point, and we slowed all the way to a 2:42 pace. We only got back our boat speed in the last 400m or so. In rep #2, we still lost speed at the apex of the curve, and the pace dropped to 2:33, but we managed to get back on track sooner. In rep #3, the pace never got worse than 2:27 and we held boat speed through the whole back half of the turn. By the fourth rep, I was toast. I rated lower and rowed like crap.

The piece splits back that up. Rep #2 had a furious sprint at the end at 30 spm, but was still slower overall than the third rep.

|Start|Dist_|Time_|_Pace__|_SPM__|avg HR|DPS_|Remarks
|00010|01990|10:45|02:42.1| 17.7 | 131 |10.5|warmup
|02000|01999|09:39|02:24.8| 26.6 | 162 |07.8|rep #1
|03999|00251|03:28|06:54.3| 18.1 | 126 |04.0|rest
|04250|02000|09:13|02:18.3| 28.1 | 166 |07.7|rep #2
|06250|00500|06:04|06:04.0| 13.9 | 129 |06.0|rest
|06750|01928|08:51|02:17.7| 27.2 | 170 |08.0|rep #3
|08678|00341|04:27|06:31.5| 26.2 | 130 |02.9|rest
|09019|02001|09:47|02:26.7| 26.0 | 168 |07.9|Rep #4
|11020|02171|13:56|03:12.5| 20.7 | 146 |07.5|cool down
|Start|Dist_|Time_|_Pace__|_SPM__|avg HR|DPS_|Remarks
|00000|01990|10:45|02:42.1| 17.7 | 131 |10.5|warmup
|00000|07928|37:30|02:21.9| 26.9 | 166 |07.9|main set
|00000|01092|13:59|06:24.2| 18.8 | 129 |04.1|rests
|00000|02171|13:56|03:12.5| 20.7 | 146 |07.5|cool down

I’d call that about 38′ of HIT and 37′ of LIT.

Tomorrow: 75′ steady state in my single down in Newton.

Wednesday: 15 x 3′ / 1′ rest at Crossfit Anaerobic

September 14, 20162 Comments

I’m here in lovely Orange County, so I dropped in on my favorite Crossfit box. It’s about half a mile from my hotel, and the walk/jog to and from there makes a good warmup/cooldown. The place is always hopping, and the people are very nice. I just go get an erg from the long line of well maintained model d’s that they have along the wall, set it up so I can watch all the people doing their Crossfit thing and do my session.

Today’s session is the last high intensity session before the race this Saturday, and boy was it a doozy. Here’s the plan:

15 x 3′
1′ rest
pace target: 1:52 (Actually 800m per interval was what I wanted to beat in each interval)
rate target: 26
No HR Cap

This is a classic Wolverine Plan “L3” workout. The rests are not long enough to come close to fully recover, so you dig yourself in deeper and deeper as the workout progresses.

I attacked this session with vigor. Maybe a bit too much vigor. I was able to hold my pace below 1:50 for the first 7 intervals. But I was in deep trouble by then. I backed off a bit, but came close to blowing up in the 11th, about 1 minute into it. I took a few strokes around 2:00, and then slowly brought the pace back down to around 1:54. I rowed the next couple of intervals more conservatively, but I was running on fumes by the time I got to #14. I purposely sandbagged that one so that I would have a chance on the last one, which I very much wanted to be ahead of target. It was. I was shaking all over and it took me a good couple of minutes before I could get off the erg. This was a very good workout.

Add in another 10 minutes of LIT for the warmup. So, 45′ of HIT and 45′ of LIT. And a whopping 9 minutes of anaerobic. Ouch.

Tomorrow: Steady State Session. 4 x 20’/1′ rest at 185W.

Monday: Head Race Piece on Quinsig in a 2x

September 12, 20162 Comments

Weather: A bit chilly, around 50F. Clear skies, but a low mist was rising from the lake. This effected Joe a lot more than me because he had to make sure we didn’t hit anything or any body. There was a very light breeze which seemed to mostly come out of the north, which was a slight tail wind. Looking at weather stations near the lake, they show no wind at all.

Plan:

Warmup to the north end of the lake
Hard 5.5km from the north end of the lake to the south end.
- rate: 26
- pace: better than 2:15
Cool down and a few power pieces back to the dock.

We launched around 5:40 and the sky was just starting to lighten up in the east. We headed north at an easy 18 spm and got warmed up. We were in the club’s Vespoli 2x, which I think is a better boat for us. My foot position was also a bit better. I had more room at the finish and I like my catch position. I was still coming down hard on the track ends, so I need to remember by bite guards.

We spun up at the north end and then started the piece. The intent was to simulate a head race at our target rate and race pressure. I wanted to make sure that we had some time trying to row hard while carrying a lot of fatigue before we raced next weekend.

I liked this boat a lot more. I felt like I was getting good strokes in, and there were sections where the boat really felt like it was moving very well. Probably the best section was during the last third of the piece. When we passed the first island past the narrows, the boat just seemed to get a lot lighter and we were in very good synchronization.

Here is a comparison of our strokes in the first 1000, when we were fresh, but the boat felt a bit heavier and the “magic” section.

I specifically tried to pick out single strokes to avoid any averaging. The thing that jumps out at me is that we had better finishes in the magic section. The hump between 0.8 and 1.0 sec is lower. The acceleration is still sloping up to a peak right before the finish, and I’ve changed my mind to say that it’s probably OK. In the boat, when we are running well, I can feel the surge late in the leg drive and through the body swing. It makes sense that it takes more of the stroke to accelerate a heavier boat and two rowers than a single. The thing that we have to work on is consistency. Hopefully a couple of rows per week between now and the HOCR, we can lock it in.

This was a much better piece that the one we did on Friday. The avg pace was 2:14.4, and a fair amount of the time, we were hovering around 2:10. We would have done even better, if we hadn’t been waked about 500m from the end. That slowed us down a bit and we struggled to get back up to speed for the last bit of the piece.

On the way back up lake, we took it easy all the way up through the narrows and then did 4 sets of 20 on/10 off. Then to cap it off we did a 30 stroke piece after we got past the rt9 bridge.

|Start|Dist_|Time_|_Pace__|_SPM__|avg HR|DPS_|Remarks
|00020|02330|13:16|02:50.8| 18.2 | 129 |09.6|warmup
|02350|05502|24:39|02:14.4| 26.2 | 164 |08.5|hard 5.5k
|07852|02046|12:52|03:08.7| 24.1 | 136 |06.6|rowing light
|09898|01349|06:27|02:23.4| 25.7 | 154 |08.1|20 on 10 off
|11247|00239|00:57|01:59.2| 28.9 | 160 |08.7|last 30
|11486|00251|03:08|06:14.5| 24.4 | 122 |03.3|back to dock

|Start|Dist_|Time_|_Pace__|_SPM__|avg HR|DPS_|Remarks
|00000|02330|13:16|02:50.8| 18.2 | 129 |09.6|warmup
|00000|06851|31:06|02:16.2| 26.1 | 162 |08.4|main set
|00000|02046|12:52|03:08.7| 24.1 | 136 |06.6|rests
|00000|00490|04:05|04:10.0| 25.5 | 131 |04.7|cool down

It was so pretty this morning when we landed I could resist taking a few pictures.

Tomorrow: Back in my single on the Charles for a long and slow endurance session. r20 and HR cap at 155.

Friday: 5km Threshold in 2x

September 9, 20162 Comments

Weather: light and variable wind ~2mph from the south. This was a minor head wind for the main piece.

We boated at about 5:45. It was just starting to get light out. Dawn was at 6:21. This was the first prep session for Joe and I in the double. We have our first race on Sept 17, and the HOCR on October 22. The objective for today was to get a baseline for where are now, and to work on timing and technique at head race rates. Not too concerned about pace yet. We also have to figure out which boat to use.

Plan:

~2km warmup to the North end of the lake.
5km from north end of the lake to the south cove.
- 2km at 22
- 2km at 24
- 1km at 26
Additional short pressure pieces at 26 from south end of the lake to the boathouse.

It was a very enjoyable outing. I really like rowing with Joe. He seems to like being in bow, and I LOVE being able to ignore everything else and focus on rowing hard. I’m not sure about Joe, but I was wiped out when we were done.

The heart rate indicates that I was working pretty hard at the end. The pace indicates that we have a fair amount of work to do.

As soon as we started rowing with pressure, it was clear to me that we wanted to rate higher than 22. We were at 23 or 24 through the first 2k. Next we shifted up to about a 25 and this felt pretty good, and got better as we went along. I tried to push the last 1k up above 26 and we probably were closer to 27 on average. This was a little ragged, but I think it is the right rate target for us to work on.

On the way back up the lake we did 3 sets of 10 strokes and 4 sets of 20 strokes at rates between 26 and 28. We tried to work on synchronization by rowing very lightly, but at the same rates during the “off” parts of that.

I used RIM for the session and a spent a couple minutes looking at the boat acceleration curves.

For reference, here is an annotated view of the parts of the stroke on an acceleration curve.

It comes from Rowing Biomechanics newsletter (Kleshnev).

Here is a view of a single stroke from the r24 chunk of the row with the same features noted.

Looking at the curves and metrics, I think it backs up a couple things I noticed in the boat. I am not really used to looking at these curves for a double, so I’m not all that sure of my conclusions.

The positive bump right at the finish, right after the #7 is way more pronounced than what I see in the single. I think this is my fault. I felt like we were hanging up a bit at the finish. I was not comfortable with my foot position today. I was crowded at the finish and so I was pushing down early and hard. I think an inch more to the bow and I would have been fine.
The peak of the drive bump is quite late in the stroke. I think that might be a sign that one or both of us is “shooting the slide” a little bit. I probably need to sit up a bit taller at the catch and really engage early in the stroke.

Next time we row, I think it might be a good idea to use the live display of acceleration and do some 10 stroke bursts with minor changes to technique to see if we can see the change in acceleration.

Tonight: I’m heading down to the cape. It looks like the weather will be nice for an open water row. If it doesn’t pan out that way, I’ll go for a bike ride. In either case, it will be long and slow.

Tuesday: 4 x 2500 / 5′ rest

August 30, 2016August 30, 20166 Comments

Weather: Amazing! Cool and dry, very little wind. I launched just after 6:30.

Plan:

4 x 2500
5′ active rests
rate target: 26
pace target: 2:15

I am pretty darn happy with this workout. I would have been happier if it was faster, but I executed this workout to the best of my ability. No theatrics, no bailing out.

There was one weird thing with today’s workout. I was seeing a persistent difference in pace between the speedcoach and the GPS. Now, over a short span, I don’t expect them to read the same, but for basically the whole row downriver, I was seeing the GPS based numbers giving a pace 2 to 5 seconds faster than the impeller. Must be flow, you might be thinking. At least that was what I was thinking, but right now, there is essentially no flow. The water level is so low that basically nothing is going over the dam. And when I saw the same thing going up river, I decided that something was fishy with the speedcoach impeller. Either the cal was off, or there was something fouling the impeller.

Here is a comparison of the paces for the four pieces.

GPS — Imp –> Delta
2:12.0 — 2:14.6 –> 2.6
2:14.9 — 2:17.4 –> 2.5
2:16.1 — 2:18.7 –> 2.6
2:16.7 — 2:19.5 –> 2.8

I saw nothing on the impeller when I pulled the boat, so I will do the comparison again tomorrow and update the cal if there is still a difference.

Here’s the (slow) speedcoach data.

For comparison, here are the first 3 intervals based on TCX data from RIM. The pace data is a lot noisier, but the eyeball average is about 3 seconds faster. I had a glitch with the phone and the data for the 4th interval ended up in a different file.

Here’s the TCX data for the fourth interval.

Here are the tabulated results.

TCX Data from RIM
|Start|Dist_|Time_|_Pace__|_SPM__|avg HR|DPS_|Remarks
|00019|01203|07:11|02:59.1| 18.7 | 117 |09.0|Warming up
|01250|02496|10:59|02:12.0| 26.2 | 159 |08.7|rep #1 – downstream
|03746|00474|04:59|05:15.4| 16.1 | 125 |05.9|rest
|04269|02498|11:14|02:14.9| 26.2 | 167 |08.5|rep #2 – upstream
|06767|00424|03:53|04:34.8| 19.9 | 135 |05.5|rest
|07219|02501|11:21|02:16.1| 26.2 | 170 |08.4|Rep #3 – downstream
|00020|00280|03:22|06:00.7| 13.1 | 128 |06.4|rest
|00300|02498|11:23|02:16.7| 26.5 | 170 |08.3|rep #4 – upstream
|02798|01492|09:50|03:17.7| 19.7 | 139 |07.7|cool down
|—–|09993|44:57|02:14.9| 26.3 | 167 |08.5|Main Set

Impeller Data from Speedcoach
Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_1188_|_06:46_|_2:50.7_|_122___|_18.0_|_09.7_|_117___|_warmup
01220_|_2501_|_11:13_|_2:14.6_|_292___|_26.0_|_08.6_|_159___|_rep #1
03720_|_0389_|_02:59_|_3:49.8_|_052___|_17.4_|_07.5_|_126___|_rest
04093_|_2508_|_11:29_|_2:17.4_|_300___|_26.1_|_08.4_|_166___|_rep #2
06610_|_0299_|_02:15_|_3:45.9_|_039___|_17.3_|_07.7_|_128___|_rest
06900_|_2512_|_11:37_|_2:18.7_|_304___|_26.2_|_08.3_|_169___|_rep #3
09420_|_0302_|_02:35_|_4:17.0_|_039___|_15.1_|_07.7_|_134___|_rest
09700_|_2493_|_11:35_|_2:19.5_|_306___|_26.4_|_08.1_|_170___|_rep #4
12210_|_1364_|_08:20_|_3:03.2_|_166___|_19.9_|_08.2_|_136___|_cool down

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
01188_|_06:46_|_2:50.7_|_122___|_18.0_|_09.7_|_117___|_warmup
10014_|_45:54_|_2:17.5_|_1202___|_26.2_|_08.3_|_166___|_Main set

Tomorrow: 75′ Steady State, 20 spm, HR cap at 155.

Tuesday: 4 x 2700 / 4′ rest Threshold

August 9, 20166 Comments

Weather: Basically perfect. I launched at about 6:20, and I started my first piece around 6:45. Here’s the weather data for the most reliable station near the waltham end of the river. You can see it was basically flat calm and then the wind shifted and built into a gentle breeze from the northeast. This was a light headwind in the 3rd interval and a light tail wind in the fourth.

Plan:

4 x 2700m
4′ rest including a little paddling and a drink of water.
rate: 24-26
pace: 2:15
Heart rate: no cap. maximize time in TR zone (>164)
Technique: GET LONG AT THE CATCH.

The map view shows the little paddles I took between intervals.

The speedcoach data shows the pace impact in the s-turn. This was worst in 2nd and 3rd intervals when my line was less than ideal and I needed to turn a bit tighter. You can also see the rate tick up in the turn.

The TCX data (processed on rowsandall.com) shows the rests a bit more accurately. I wasn’t fastidious about the rest time. I generally took between 4 and 5 minutes of rest.

In terms of heart rate, I got a good 34 minutes of threshold work.

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_1129_|_06:25_|_2:50.5_|_115___|_17.9_|_09.8_|_119___|_
01142_|_2823_|_12:29_|_2:12.6_|_318___|_25.5_|_08.9_|_159___|_
03965_|_0395_|_02:53_|_3:39.0_|_051___|_17.7_|_07.7_|_116___|_
04360_|_2778_|_12:29_|_2:14.8_|_320___|_25.6_|_08.7_|_164___|_
07138_|_0357_|_02:23_|_3:20.0_|_041___|_17.2_|_08.7_|_125___|_
07495_|_2787_|_12:39_|_2:16.2_|_324___|_25.6_|_08.6_|_166___|_
10282_|_0353_|_02:40_|_3:47.1_|_046___|_17.2_|_07.7_|_126___|_
10635_|_2813_|_12:41_|_2:15.3_|_326___|_25.7_|_08.6_|_167___|_
13448_|_1205_|_07:42_|_3:11.9_|_144___|_18.7_|_08.4_|_126___|_

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
01129_|_06:25_|_2:50.5_|_115___|_17.9_|_09.8_|_119___|_warmup
11201_|_50:18_|_2:14.7_|_1288___|_25.6_|_08.7_|_164___|_Main set
01105_|_07:56_|_3:35.4_|_138___|_17.4_|_08.0_|_122___|_rest meters
01205_|_07:42_|_3:11.9_|_144___|_18.7_|_08.4_|_126___|_cool down
14640_|_12:21_|_2:28.3_|_1685___|_23.3_|_08.7_|_151___|_Total

And thanks to a blazing fast first interval, I managed to hit my target! And no quitting! This was a very good workout. Good pacing. Reasonable steering.

I’m starting to look forward to head racing.

Quantified Rowing

Measure – Adjust – Improve

Tag: Threshold

Friday: “The Hook” – 5.9km hard

Wednesday:4 x 5 x 2′

Monday: Equipment Problems Mar Threshold Session

Friday: 4 x ( 5 x 2′ hard / 30″ paddle) / 3′ rest (2x)

Wednesday: Twisty 4 x 2k / 4′ rest (2x)

Wednesday: 15 x 3′ / 1′ rest at Crossfit Anaerobic

Monday: Head Race Piece on Quinsig in a 2x

Friday: 5km Threshold in 2x

Tuesday: 4 x 2500 / 5′ rest

Tuesday: 4 x 2700 / 4′ rest Threshold