A bunch of hard 250m intervals

The wind was strong and the water was very choppy, but I didn’t want to shy away from rowing high stroke rates in the chop. You never know what the conditions will be on race day.

The official training plan (from our club’s head coach) asked for 2x(4x250m/250m)/5min. I decided that I would do three sets of four. The prescribed stroke rate was “Race SPM+2”, and I decided that that would be 34spm. I wanted to row each 250m as the respective 250m segment in a 1000m race, so the first one from a standing start and the final one with a desparate push to the finish line. Race simulation on a chilly and rainy Thursday morning. I had the entire choppy surface of the lake for myself.

Pushed off the dock and rowed to the end of “Rokle”, where the water was a bit flatter. After the row, I discovered that I had not switched on the SpeedCoach for this 2.5 km of warming up. This always upsets me a bit. 2500m of unrecorded rowing!

On the SpeedCoach, I programmed the workout as 8x250m with no rest. When I got ready to start, I noticed that I had already moved 3 meters and the clock was ticking. Must have been the wind. So I set off and rowed. The final 100m of the first 250m is in a slight turn to starboard, so I was recording lower power on my (starboard) Empower oarlock.

This first set was done with tailwind. I forgot to focus on anything, except the final sprint in the fourth interval.

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Workout Summary - media/20170525-081041-Sanders SpeedCoach 20170525 0734amo.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|02015|09:13.0|02:17.3|243.0|27.5|166.5|182.0|07.9
W-|01007|03:47.0|01:52.8|325.3|32.8|169.6|182.0|08.1
R-|01009|05:26.0|02:41.9|149.0|21.5|163.3|182.0|09.2
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00257|01:03.5|02:03.4|331.8|32.4|153.9|176.0|07.5
01|00250|00:54.6|01:49.2|324.7|32.2|173.6|179.0|08.5
02|00250|00:55.1|01:50.2|322.9|33.3|175.3|179.0|08.2
03|00250|00:54.1|01:48.2|320.7|33.3|178.0|182.0|08.3

The second set of intervals was in headwind. After the first set, I noticed a ship steaming towards Rokle, so I decided to do the first two intervals in front of our rowing club. Worse chop and stronger wind, but no need to be on the alert for potential collisions. One of my club mates made a very wise remark yesterday: “The more tired you get, the more important it is to keep the technique perfect.” It is true, when the drive force starts to diminish, you get tired, your posture gets a little less strong, and the decline in boat speed keeps increasing.

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Workout Summary - media/20170525-081203-Sanders SpeedCoach 20170525 0747amo.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|02000|10:42.0|02:40.7|226.6|26.7|168.3|183.0|07.0
W-|01000|04:09.0|02:04.6|317.0|32.8|171.4|183.0|07.3
R-|01000|06:34.0|03:17.0|129.2|20.2|164.9|183.0|08.5
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00250|01:05.3|02:10.6|332.1|32.7|158.3|178.0|07.0
01|00250|01:01.9|02:03.8|320.2|32.2|175.1|181.0|07.5
02|00250|01:00.7|02:01.4|315.0|32.8|176.9|183.0|07.5
03|00250|01:01.4|02:02.8|299.9|33.5|176.0|182.0|07.3

The final set of intervals was in tailwind. I started them at the same point as the first interval. After the second set of intervals I was of course tired, but I judged that I should be able to finish another set.

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Workout Summary - media/20170525-081256-Sanders SpeedCoach 20170525 0801amo.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|02000|09:31.0|02:22.9|219.0|27.6|167.3|180.0|07.6
W-|01000|03:44.0|01:52.1|307.5|33.8|169.8|180.0|07.9
R-|01001|05:47.0|02:53.7|120.6|20.8|165.0|180.0|08.8
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00250|00:56.5|01:53.0|320.9|34.7|156.7|174.0|07.6
01|00250|00:56.1|01:52.2|310.6|33.0|174.8|179.0|08.1
02|00250|00:56.1|01:52.2|295.6|33.8|173.0|177.0|07.9
03|00250|00:55.5|01:51.0|302.9|33.5|174.8|180.0|08.1

I finished the workout with a 2 km paddle in the most choppy part of the lake.

All in all it was a good workout. I was happy that I managed to get the stroke rate up (at the cost of a slight reduction in finish angle, I am afraid). It was hard work to stay technically together in the windy and choppy conditions, and it was also hard work get the power output in the desired range.

I am trying to get in another workout at the end of the day. I will spend the coming weekend in Racice (where I did the training camp in the spring) to attend (not compete, of course) the European Rowing Championships, so I need to get my training load in before Saturday.

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