Tuesday Chop Day

Monday

The plan called for a 1k full out as race preparation, but I decided that I better spend more time at work to finish some things, and I also think that taking some rest in the taper week is not a bad thing. I adapted my plan for Tuesday to compensate for that.

Tuesday

Short training. I arrived at the lake after work and it was very choppy. A few white caps here and there. The plan was a 750m at race pace and then two 250m full out sprints. That’s all. I managed to fit that into 6km including warming up and cooling down. It’s taper week.

Workout Summary - media/20170711-1805210o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|00750|02:46.0|01:51.2|331.3|32.6|173.1|185.0|08.3
W-|00750|02:46.0|01:51.3|330.7|32.6|173.5|185.0|08.3
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|185.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00250|00:55.2|01:50.3|363.2|33.5|156.2|177.0|08.1
01|00250|00:56.1|01:52.1|319.2|31.9|180.2|182.0|08.4
02|00250|00:55.8|01:51.5|310.1|32.4|183.7|185.0|08.3

I rowed the 750m in cross/tailwind with white caps. That caused the stroke rate to drop a bit below the envisioned 34spm. I also had to make sure I crossed in front of a big tourist boat, so that required some head turning, and I rowed through the wake of two sailboats who were enjoying the windy weather.

It was fun but it felt awful. I am surprised that the summary gives such a low power average for the final 250m, because despite the chop I thought I was able to bring up the power again. Probably, because I check the SpeedCoach only now and then during the row, some of the strokes in the chop were a lot below 300W. It happens. When it happens in a race, all have the same conditions and the one who deals with them best, wins.

I paddled for ten minutes and got ready for the first 250m.

Workout Summary - media/20170711-1805480o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|00250|00:59.0|01:59.0|343.6|35.3|152.2|178.0|07.1
W-|00250|00:59.0|01:59.8|345.2|35.2|153.6|178.0|07.2
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|178.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00050|00:16.5|02:44.6|318.1|37.7|118.6|132.0|04.8
01|00050|00:10.7|01:46.8|390.0|35.5|149.2|161.0|07.9
02|00050|00:10.4|01:43.7|373.5|34.8|167.5|171.0|08.3
03|00050|00:11.7|01:57.0|336.0|34.0|173.2|175.0|07.5
04|00050|00:10.7|01:46.9|324.9|33.1|176.7|178.0|08.5
I guess that the SpeedCoach started a few seconds too early, due to the chop, causing the strange value for the first few strokes.
After some paddling, I ran out of lake, so I turned around my single and did a 250m in the cross/headwind:
Workout Summary - media/20170711-1806110o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|00250|00:59.0|01:59.2|366.6|33.6|160.0|178.0|07.5
W-|00250|00:59.0|01:59.7|362.5|33.4|162.1|178.0|07.5
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|178.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00050|00:11.7|01:57.5|421.6|35.3|127.7|142.0|07.2
01|00050|00:11.4|01:53.7|395.5|34.1|156.8|164.0|07.7
02|00050|00:11.7|01:57.4|370.3|33.6|170.6|174.0|07.6
03|00050|00:12.5|02:05.3|309.5|32.4|175.3|177.0|07.4
04|00050|00:12.5|02:04.5|322.5|32.0|177.9|178.0|07.5
That was even more fun, battling against the wind.
 
Data Analytics
In the evening I had some fun with rowsandall.com’s new Trend Flex chart. I have improved it to show the value of the third parameter in the color of the bubble, and by running the chart through various metrics combinations for the past two months of rowing, there are some nice insights to be had from them:
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