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Jul 30 2017

Saturday: steady State on the lake

It was a hot day yesterday. I took the boys to the rowing club where they had fun swimming in the lake, while I did 12k in the single. Then i took out kids’ singles for them and we had fun doing tricks like standing up, changing sculls etc. we got wet and prscticed climbing bsck into the single. Something like this:

Confidence drill: standing up

 

I switched the SpeedCoach settings to show stroke length and work per stroke. I was curious to see these metrics during the row. Absolute stroke length was a bit borijg to watch as it didn’t vary much. The work per stroke steadily decreased as I got tired.

Stroke length varied little but effective stroke length dropped

 

 

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Jul 29 2017

Double with Romana – inverted pyramid on Friday

Friday morning. It was a beautifully gray summer morning. The kind of morning that rowers love. The lake was mirror flat and the sun was coming up and starting to break through the clouds. There was a light wind from the south impacting the splits slightly, but nothing to complain about. 

Romana and I had a great row in the double. I was to do a sprinterval session this week, and I decided to spice up the rowing in the double by testing our race pace. I chose the 30″/30″ + 45″/45″ + 60″/60″ + 45″/45″ + 30″/30″ sets, which are to be rowed in race spm + 4, 2, 0, 2, and 4, so that would be 38/36/34/36/38.

We hadn’t done any race pace strokes together since May. Therefore, I started the first interval careful and lowered the spm by 4. As you can see from the summary, in the last interval I was confident and rowed it in 36 spm.


Work Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00136| 00:30 |01:50.2| 34.0| 140 | 158 | 8.0
02|00195| 00:45 |01:55.3| 32.0| 165 | 170 | 8.1
03|00259| 01:00 |01:55.8| 30.0| 166 | 173 | 8.6
04|00200| 00:45 |01:52.5| 32.0| 162 | 171 | 8.3
05|00137| 00:30 |01:49.4| 36.0| 164 | 175 | 7.6
Workout Summary
--|00927| 03:30 | 1:53.2| 32.3| 161 | 175 | 8.2

In the second interval, I started at 36 and worked down the inverse pyramid, or is it a double waterfall?

 

Work Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00135| 00:30 |01:51.1| 36.0| 139 | 161 | 7.5
02|00200| 00:45 |01:52.5| 33.3| 169 | 175 | 8.0
03|00267| 01:00 |01:52.3| 32.0| 171 | 177 | 8.3
04|00201| 00:45 |01:51.9| 33.3| 166 | 177 | 8.0
05|00140| 00:30 |01:47.1| 36.0| 170 | 177 | 7.8
Workout Summary
–|00943| 03:30 | 1:51.3| 33.7| 164 | 177 | 8.0

In the third interval I wanted to stick to 36/34/32/34/36 but I didn’t succeed. We were working on getting the catch timing right without stopping the boat, and that, as well as the knowledge that this was the final set, made me forget to check the speedcoach and just row on feel. 

 


Work Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00141| 00:30 |01:46.3| 36.0| 149 | 166 | 7.8
02|00198| 00:45 |01:53.6| 34.7| 172 | 179 | 7.6
03|00263| 01:00 |01:54.0| 34.0| 174 | 180 | 7.7
04|00201| 00:45 |01:51.9| 33.3| 169 | 177 | 8.0
05|00142| 00:30 |01:45.6| 38.0| 170 | 178 | 7.5
Workout Summary
--|00945| 03:30 | 1:51.1| 34.9| 168 | 180 | 7.7

Did I mention it was a great row?

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Jul 27 2017

Wednesday – a great row in the single

Wednesday morning. It was a windy morning, but I drove out to the rowing club anyway. It took 20 minutes to rig my single, which hadn’t been used since the Masters Nationals.

The wind was very gusty and constantly changing direction. That is challenging for rowers, normally, but on our lake, it has a huge advantage. The constantly changing conditions prevent the lake from building up significant chop. I wouldn’t say it was flat water conditions, especially not in front of our dock, but it was definitely rowable.

I had forgotten to check my training plan, and not done a detailed plan for this week, so I didn’t know what type of interval training I should be doing this day. I decided to do a slightly modified Pete Plan session. One of the sessions in that plan is a 5x1500m (on the erg) with 5 minute breaks. I thought that 5×6 minutes at 4 minutes rest would nicely fit into the length of the lake. I was also looking forward to rowing at head race pace around 28spm. This is one of the most efficient stroke rates if done well. You don’t get the highest boat speed, but you can really work on boat run at stroke rates that are approaching race rates but are slightly lower, so slightly easier.

Session overview. Compare pace and power, and you can get a feeling for how gusty the wind was


Workout Summary - media/20170726-165611-Sanders SpeedCoach 20170726 1050amo.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|12665|68:01.0|02:41.1|179.3|24.6|149.1|178.0|07.6
W-|09524|46:01.0|02:25.0|199.1|25.8|150.9|178.0|08.1
R-|03147|22:00.0|03:29.7|105.7|20.5|137.4|178.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|02205|12:00.0|02:43.3|146.2|26.2|121.9|147.0|07.0
01|01366|06:00.0|02:11.8|253.5|26.8|166.3|176.0|08.5
02|01029|05:00.0|02:25.8|237.8|26.2|164.7|173.0|07.8
03|01436|06:00.0|02:05.3|249.6|27.5|171.3|178.0|08.7
04|01351|06:00.0|02:13.2|233.6|27.5|169.2|177.0|08.2
05|01081|05:00.0|02:18.7|240.9|27.4|170.2|176.0|07.9
06|01056|06:01.3|02:51.1|098.5|18.8|127.5|132.0|09.3

It was a great outing. A strong gusty wind, but no chop, mostly crosswind, but it could change from headwind to tailwind and back within one interval. The water and the wind were challenging, but I managed to find a nice rhythm almost every time, adjusting stroke rate between 26 spm and 29 spm depending on the conditions.

Picture from the sailing camp 2016 edition

There was a sailing summer camp on the other shore, so there were lots of kids in small boats, plus a flotilla of three larger boats, each with about 5 kids and one adult, who set out to explore the north end of the lake. When I met them on my loop to Rokle, they happily greeted, so I greeted back. I always like that, when watermen greet each other.

During the fourth interval, those three sailing boats caught me in a trap. Two of them were sailing a zig zag course, and one of them was going straight, roughly in the direction I was going. So I decided the safest thing to do was to follow that boat’s course, catch up with it and pass it on port side. Which I did. At one point the sailing boat and I were going next to each other, with about 2 blade lengths between my blade and the sailing boats. The kids loved it, and I also enjoyed the sensation of speed when I passed them.

I had some handle down thoughts towards the end of the third interval, but I overcame them, and intervals four and five felt easier than that third one. Very satisfying to complete the session.

Metrics

I dutifully did a run through my metrics plots on rowsandall.com. However, this morning I was thinking about efficiency and it occurred to me that the Trend Flex plot could be used to figure out if I am looking at the right metrics. So I did. The result is this post.

Today: Some chores around the house, including buying a new washing machine, and planning a family excursion in the afternoon. I may be able to get in a short running training before dinner.

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IMG_1551_thumb.jpg

Jul 25 2017

Starting Preparation for Bled: Row in the 2x

Last Week

A week in the mountains with my family, including a friend of Lenka. We stayed at Romana’s family cottage in Paseky nad Jizerou, but we also did a 3 day trek of about 50km, doing a 900m climb to the Czech Republic’s highest mountain Snezka on the first day.

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Today

Back from the mountains but doing a week of vacation at home. We have some painting to do and a lot of work in the garden. We also want to do some excursions in South Moravia.

This morning, my brother-in-law Tomas arrived from Pardubice for a row in the double. It was a very windy day, so we rowed up to the castle in the relatively protected Svratka river gorge. A first training together after a long time, we decided to “just row” and enjoy the water. It was great.

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myimage (1)

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Jul 16 2017

Czech Masters Open – Sunday Race Report

Saturday night

On Friday night I was the serious, boring guy. Focused on my singles race, I started drinking water after two glasses of wine. Om Saturday night they made fun of me and I eased up on my limits. Romana and I had a nice dinner together, and then we joined the others at the beer brewery terrace:

It was a fun night. We saw the fireworks at 11, and then we walked to our hotel and went to bed.

Saturday

2x

First race at 11am. Masters C 2x. I rowed with Vojta Cernak from Perun Ostrava. We rowed four trainings together, two in Brno and two in Ostrava (Mordor). The favorites of the races were Petr Mitas and Martin Polasek. And then there were a few other dangerous doubles. 

Tailwind. We did a few fantastic practice starts, but our race start was not so good and we were in last position. Of course we quickly corrected that, but Polasek/Mitas were ahead of us. We raced in lane 6. Petr and Martin raced in lane 1. That made it difficult to judge their advantage. I stroked and didn’t watch them. After about 200m we were clear of the redt of the pack, and with 600m to go we were a couple of lengths ahead of the pack and one length behind Petr and Martin.

At that point I called “go”. We were behind and needed to do something, and we were leading the rest of the field by enough to risk. 

We didn’t catch them, finishing a few seconds behind them, and with a huge gap behind us and the rest of the field. We had rowed well and finished according the expectations. 

A third silver medal to my collection of this weekend. 

8+

The last race for me and also the very final race of the weekend was, at 3:30pm, the Masters Men’s eight. Four boats only. We hadn’t trained together since our win in Prague. Our opponents were a team of the best rowers from Prague, a combination of the best rowers from Moravia, among others Petr Mitas, Martin Polasek, my double partner Vojta Cernak, and my brother in law Tomas. We are a pure club eight from Brno. The fourth boat was a pure club team from Prague. 

So we were underdogs. The rest of this blog will be a picture blog:

Race prep

Discussing tactics

Crossing the finish line
Gold medal!
Happy team

The race was a thriller. We were lucky that we racted to the starting signal promptly and got a meter or so on Prague. Then we built that out to half a length. We rowed in lane 1, with Prague right next to us in lane 2. Their cox ess a 15 year old girl and every time she called a power ten, we heard her child’s voice announcing that we were going to be in trouble. To make matters worse, our cox led us into the buoys, so on every stroke our port side, including me, was praying not to hit a buoy, or worse, cstch a crab.

The two other boats, including the Moravian selection, were falling behind. 

We won by half a length in front of a finish area full of Brno fans, so the cheers were great. 

 

 

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Our_quad_500_375.jpg

Jul 16 2017

Czech Open Masters Race Report- Saturday

Friday

We left Brno around 11am and arrived at 2pm, including a one hour lunch in the nice village of Horni Cerekev. I decided to relax and not row. Romana and I just claimed a few bost stands for our club boats, I prepared my single, and then we went for a short bike tour. 

Saturday

1x

I launched at 8am for a quick row. I had left the SpeedCoach holder at the hotel so I rowed ‘unplugged’. I rowed to the 2k start, then did 2x 30 strokes at race pace, with a 500m paddle between. Then, at the 500m line, I did a 35 stroke interval consisting of 25 race pace strokes and 10 harder ones. The theory behind this is that doing this a few hours before e race will make the transition to  lactate burning easier during the race. Usually, the first race of the day hurts a lot agout 300m in, and because I had only two races on Saturday, I thought it would be good to do this. And I think it didn’t hurt.

My first race was a tough one. The Masters C single. I was up against Petr Mitas, a guy who always beats me, and a few other guys who shouldn’t be underestimated. Kazi Nedoba from Hodonin, Tomas Zeman from Prague. Six boats in total. I was super concentrated for this race. My plan was to be in front out of the start, then settle for a race pace around 325W, and start attacking whoever would be in front front of me with 500m to go. 

I think I was second out of the start, but I am not sure. I try not to look. There also was a strong cross/head wind which required a lot of attention in the beginning of the race. 

By the time I settled down to 34spm, I was in second position, a one third boat length ahead of the ‘pack’ and one boat length behind Petr. Petr battled on at high rate, so I rated back to 35.5 spm. That took me out of the pack but Petr had about 2 lengths on me. 

With 600m to go the pack was three lengths behind me and Petr was two oengths ahead of me. When I passed the 500m mark I launched my desperate attack. Stroke rate went up to 36spm and I managed to reduce the gap with Petr to a length and a half. At this point in the race I passed to members of my club who were rowing a cooling down from their Masters A 1x. It was great to have them their cheering for me.

Unfortunately, my engine stopped producing Watts with about 250m to go. In the cross/head wind I had difficulty keeping the rate and power up. All my muscles were burning and screaming. I tried to hold the power, even ousted two or three screams. But to be honest I basically collapsed. I finished in second place, 8 seconds behind Petr and 9 seconds before the rest of the pack, where a dramatic fight for third place ended unfavorably for my friend Kazi, who came in fourth. 

3:56 in head wind. Not bad. It took me along time to start breathing normally, then turn the boat. I collected my silver medal in the medal ceremony under the finish tower and started a long cooling down.

Mission failed but I guess it was mission impossible and miracles don’t exist.

4x-

In the afternoon it was time for the quad. We hadn’t rowed the quad since July 2016, at the same race exactly a year ago. This was a full field, six boats of Masters B quads. We knew Neratovice are good. They beat us two times in a row, and they have raced quad  smaller races in Bohemia, winning everything. 

We didn’t know the other boats. 

The weather, which had been quite diverse, changing every ten minutes throughout the entire day, showed an ugly face. During the warming up we got a really strong tailwind, throwing big waves. Our practice start was a disaster. 

The real start was even worse. The strong cross tailwind blew us into the next lane, the starter wouldn’t let us correct that so the only thing we could do was turn the boat at an angle that would bring us back into our lane. Sitting in stroke seat, I had to foot steer strongly to get us straight into our lane. 

By the time we were done steering and ready for a tactical move, we found ourselves rowing in second position, a lengh behind. The favorites and a little over a length ahead of the rest of the field.

We didn’t really try to catch up with Neratovice. Instead, we tried to tap down clean in the very heavy chop and row long strokes. I reduced the stroke rate to a safe 33/34 spm, and we just monitored the remaining four boats behind us. My friend Kazi stroked the Hodonin quad. They managed to manoeuver themselves in third place and subsequently caught a crab with 100m to go, and they ended in fifth place. We were second in 3:17. Not a fast time but with the cross wind and the chop there wasn’t much we could do to go faster.

Two silver medals

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Jul 13 2017

Wednesday Chop Day

I went out in the morning to avoid wind and chop.

I got wind and chop.

Another taper workout. 

30″/30″+45″/45″+60″/60″+45″/45″+30″/30″ at 38/36/34/36/38 spm. 

I did it as another mini workout in the taper. Six km in total. Three kilometers of warming up. A few higher spm bursts. Technique drill. Practice starts. 

Workout Summary - media/20170712-071021-Sanders SpeedCoach 20170712 0722amo.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|00988|03:30.0|01:46.3|391.9|35.5|172.9|181.0|07.9
W-|00991|03:30.0|01:45.9|390.5|35.5|173.2|181.0|08.0
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|181.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00147|00:30.0|01:42.1|444.1|37.2|160.2|173.0|07.9
01|00214|00:45.0|01:45.2|379.3|34.4|176.4|181.0|08.3
02|00277|01:00.0|01:48.1|371.2|33.9|176.7|181.0|08.2
03|00211|00:45.0|01:46.5|389.0|36.0|174.1|180.0|07.8
04|00142|00:30.0|01:45.9|394.2|37.6|173.4|178.0|07.5
 
I also looked at the metrics. Surprisingly good values given that I didn’t monitor them during the row and it was windy and choppy. Perhaps I should hope for chop and a cross tailwind on the races of coming weekend.
 

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