4x(3min/2min/1min)/R3 in the single – and more eights racing

Today’s workout was from a list of typical Threshold Workouts. The instruction was:

(2-5)x3/2/1min @ 26/30/34spm, 3 min rest

I decided to do 4 of them, because 24 minutes is about the duration of next week’s head race. I also suspect that the 30/34spm is for elite rowers, so I made it a bit more easy by allowing myself to do this in 26/28/30spm. This would also be a good test for head race stroke rate.

The youth rowed their hard 6km today. Because Romana was down at the river helping with the regatta, I had to take care of the girls a bit. So I rowed a long (4km) warming up, in order to arrive at Rokle with all the others. Coach Doubek’s boys and 3 girls in singles (Lenka has an ear infection and didn’t row today). It was an impressive sight. Twelve boats, pairs, singles and doubles, at Rokle. I set off with the first (slowest) but did my 4x6min workout, which means that I got to turn earlier, and had a chance to cheer for the crews rowing down to Sirka (the south end of our lake).


Work Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00713| 03:00 |02:06.2| 25.7| 162 | 170 | 9.3 - tailwind
02|00506| 02:00 |01:58.5| 28.5| 175 | 178 | 8.9
03|00259| 01:00 |01:55.8| 31.0| 179 | 181 | 8.4
04|00483| 03:00 |03:06.3| 19.0| 156 | 180 | 8.5 - rest
05|00653| 03:00 |02:17.8| 25.3| 169 | 175 | 8.6 - headwind
06|00459| 02:00 |02:10.7| 27.5| 179 | 182 | 8.3
07|00239| 01:00 |02:05.5| 30.0| 183 | 185 | 8.0
08|00434| 03:00 |03:27.3| 18.0| 155 | 185 | 8.0 - rest
09|00703| 03:00 |02:08.0| 26.0| 168 | 176 | 9.0 - tailwind
10|00489| 02:00 |02:02.6| 28.0| 179 | 181 | 8.7
11|00253| 01:00 |01:58.5| 29.0| 183 | 184 | 8.7
12|00402| 03:00 |03:43.8| 15.7| 150 | 182 | 8.6 - rest
13|00676| 03:00 |02:13.1| 26.0| 170 | 179 | 8.7 - headwind
14|00457| 02:00 |02:11.2| 27.5| 180 | 184 | 8.3
15|00240| 01:00 |02:05.0| 30.0| 184 | 186 | 8.0
16|00477| 03:00 |03:08.6| 17.7| 155 | 186 | 9.0 - rest
Workout Summary
--|07443| 36:00 | 2:25.1| 24.0| 169 | 186 | 8.6

There was a 1 m/s wind blowing from NNW, so my intervals were alternating tail and head wind. It was a nice but very hard workout. You start at 26spm which is very sustainable, and get to work a bit on boat efficiency. Then, after 3 minutes, you step up to 28spm and you are rowing a real head race pace, trying to maintain good technique. Then, finally, a fierce 1 minute at “last 1000m of the head race” pace. It wears you out quickly, and the 3 minutes of rest are a bit short. But it’s really a good way to simulate head race pace.

I am adding another esoteric plot. It’s the drive speed (m/s) versus average drive force:

download-25

Multiplying these two parameters gives you something that has the dimension of Power. Of course, in OTW rowing, drive speed and average drive force are coupled through boat speed and rigging parameters, but still I find it interesting to think about this plot.

univerzitni-osmy-001
Traffic sign near the river. Czech humour.

After the row, we left our lake boathouse and drove to the river, where it was the second day of the University Eights. Yesterday it was a “duel” between the eights of the two Brno based universities. Today, we had 5 eights, with three boats from universities from other towns. We puzzled a bit to find a format that would be attractive, but in the end we came up with the following:

  1. All five eights row the course solo to set a time. The fastest boat goes to the semifinal directly
  2. Two “quarter finals”. The two winners and the fastest losing boat go to the semifinal.
  3. Two “semi finals”.
  4. The semi final winners meet each other in the final. The losing boats get to race for third place.

In this way, all eights got to row three or four times in one morning, and it was attractive for the public.

I took some video so you get an impression of the atmosphere. Warning. This is not The Boat Race. This is a tiny regatta.