On Monday I took a rest day. Something told me I should be rowing, but I didn’t. I was tired after the skiing exercise of the weekend, and in the evening I was struggling with a nasty software bug that prevented a user of rowsandall.com to import ErgData interval workouts from the Concept2 logbook and then export them to SportTracks.
It took a while to figure out the culprit, because it was an exotic bug, which only occured at some interval workouts, and only when recorded with ErgData, and only when imported through the Concept2 logbook, and only when exporting them to SportTracks. And when I had isolated the data path that led to failure, I had to follow it, line by line through the code, and compare with the working paths. In the end I found it, but I spent some time on Monday evening doing that.
On Tuesday I just had a very long day. I am on a business trip from today to the end of the week, so my regular work gets compressed in two days. On top of that, the trip preparation has to be done in those two days as well. And it’s the time of the year when we finalize performance assessments and compensation planning for our employees. That is a very important task. And not an easy one. So on Tuesday evening I arrived late from work and spent the rest of the evening with my family, rather than isolating myself in my rowing basement.
So, the idea was that after two rest days it would be a good idea to do a 5k test before heading to the airport.
I set off at my target pace of 1:51 (my PB being 1:50) and just tried to hold it, rating up and lightening up the strokes rather than increasing the drive force.
After about 5 minutes I knew I was going to blow this 5k attempt.
So I came up with a plan B. I would row a 4x(6min+9min)/4min workout that Greg Smith had rowed yesterday, with the 6min part of the 15 minutes interval at 5k pace and the 9min part at “Marathon pace”. I would finish the 5k like that, and then set up the proper 15 minute intervals on the PM. So here is the plot for the 5k row.
And here are the esoteric plots, including a new one looking at drive rhythm.
After that, I set up the 15 minutes, wondering if I had time to do all three remaining intervals plus a cooling down before I would have to go to the airport.
I didn’t have to worry. After a few minutes, I just dropped the handle, very unhappy with myself. I rowed out the rest of the interval as a cooling down and stopped.
Very unhappy with that. Normally, around this time of the winter, I am in PB form for longer erg rows. Not now.
Not sure how to continue. Reduce the volume? Reduce the intensity? Throw out all the test rows and just train? Give up Cross Team Challenge participation and other stuff that is fun but sometimes interferes with the training plan?
For the rest of the week, I will be out in France, on a business trip. Next week, I will have to train somehow. The week after that I am going to be in the mountains to do cross country skiing with a large group of rowers. Perhaps I will find my mojo there.
But right now, I find it hard to motivate myself to do workouts at all. And I find that really disappointing.
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Jan 18 2017
So – and what now?
On Monday I took a rest day. Something told me I should be rowing, but I didn’t. I was tired after the skiing exercise of the weekend, and in the evening I was struggling with a nasty software bug that prevented a user of rowsandall.com to import ErgData interval workouts from the Concept2 logbook and then export them to SportTracks.
It took a while to figure out the culprit, because it was an exotic bug, which only occured at some interval workouts, and only when recorded with ErgData, and only when imported through the Concept2 logbook, and only when exporting them to SportTracks. And when I had isolated the data path that led to failure, I had to follow it, line by line through the code, and compare with the working paths. In the end I found it, but I spent some time on Monday evening doing that.
On Tuesday I just had a very long day. I am on a business trip from today to the end of the week, so my regular work gets compressed in two days. On top of that, the trip preparation has to be done in those two days as well. And it’s the time of the year when we finalize performance assessments and compensation planning for our employees. That is a very important task. And not an easy one. So on Tuesday evening I arrived late from work and spent the rest of the evening with my family, rather than isolating myself in my rowing basement.
So, the idea was that after two rest days it would be a good idea to do a 5k test before heading to the airport.
I set off at my target pace of 1:51 (my PB being 1:50) and just tried to hold it, rating up and lightening up the strokes rather than increasing the drive force.
After about 5 minutes I knew I was going to blow this 5k attempt.
So I came up with a plan B. I would row a 4x(6min+9min)/4min workout that Greg Smith had rowed yesterday, with the 6min part of the 15 minutes interval at 5k pace and the 9min part at “Marathon pace”. I would finish the 5k like that, and then set up the proper 15 minute intervals on the PM. So here is the plot for the 5k row.
And here are the esoteric plots, including a new one looking at drive rhythm.
After that, I set up the 15 minutes, wondering if I had time to do all three remaining intervals plus a cooling down before I would have to go to the airport.
I didn’t have to worry. After a few minutes, I just dropped the handle, very unhappy with myself. I rowed out the rest of the interval as a cooling down and stopped.
Very unhappy with that. Normally, around this time of the winter, I am in PB form for longer erg rows. Not now.
Not sure how to continue. Reduce the volume? Reduce the intensity? Throw out all the test rows and just train? Give up Cross Team Challenge participation and other stuff that is fun but sometimes interferes with the training plan?
For the rest of the week, I will be out in France, on a business trip. Next week, I will have to train somehow. The week after that I am going to be in the mountains to do cross country skiing with a large group of rowers. Perhaps I will find my mojo there.
But right now, I find it hard to motivate myself to do workouts at all. And I find that really disappointing.
By sanderroosendaal • Uncategorized • 2 • Tags: rowing, threshold training, training