Račice day 3 – Steady State

Steady state row before breakfast. Breakfast. Drive to Prague. Traffic Jam. Park at first Underground station. Metro to work. Work. Metro back to other side of the city. Drive back to rowing canal.

Is there more I can say about today’s workout, you’re asking?

Yes, there is. Even though this was a time-pressed steady state at 18spm, there are a couple of things I would like to mention.

First, even though it started raining lightly during the workout and the temperatures were a lot lower than yesterday (about 3 degrees C), this was a superb row. The water was mirror flat, and I was the only person on the water. The birds were singing. The water was so flat that I did use the first 2k for drills, drills, drills. On our moody home lake, the water often is not suitable for doing drills.

Second, I tried a new thing. The Empower Oarlock with the SpeedCoach set to the “skills” display. I chose to work on finish angle and wash, which seemed a good one after the square blade rowing I had finished the drills with.

The SpeedCoach/Oarlock/HR belt combo hung up on me after about 3/4 of the workout, so the graphs come in two parts.

Here are the metrics plots. I still have to get a feel for it, but I think the Wash values are good for 18spm (at higher rates and pressure it is easier to get to lower slip and wash values). I also noticed that, indeed, when focusing on good form and a clean tap-down, the wash number was lower. When I concentrated, I could get the value below 10 degrees.

I am also quite proud on the constant stroke rate in the second part of the workout. Mind you, I only had finish angle and wash on my display. No other information. No stroke rate, no pace.

They are working hard to renovate the rowing canal and be ready for the European Championships in May. Here is an artist’s impression of the end state:

Most of it is done.