Monday – Steady State with Focus

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Today, I quickly packed my rowing bag before going to work. Actually, it was more throwing out than packing in. I admit that I didn’t touch my sports bag on Sunday and enjoyed a nice day off. I got messages from the lake about the perfect flat water, but I successfully ignored them. I had some work around the house, some groceries, some blog writing, and some other work to do.

But today I would get the boat from the trailer and take it for a steady state row. So that is why I packed that bag.

At the rowing club, I discovered I had forgotten to pack my Tickr X heart rate belt. This belt usually stays in the red rowing bag, except when I travel for work or, as last weekend, I travel with two bags. I picked my “broken” Tickr to use it with the Garmin watch (over ANT+) and then do data fusion later. However, it turns out the heart rate data were so erratic that I decided not to use them.

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During the row, I focused on minimizing “Wash”. For this metric, lower is better, because it is essential the length of the final part of the drive where the force falls below 100N. For me, this has a lot to do with sitting in a strong, straight position at the catch. When I get that right, I have a powerful stroke which goes all the way to the finish. When I have a more bent back, a “C”, it is more difficult to hold the force/power and thus my “wash” value increases.

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The graph shows the values over the entire duration of the row. It is quite erratic, but on the SpeedCoach direct feedback, I could concentrate and get numbers below 14 degrees, and when I didn’t focus, the number went up to above 14 degrees. I really like how you can use the technique metrics to add focus to your workout.

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