Aug 31 2016
4x2km with difficulty
I am in the first week of a 6 week block with a focus on “Aerobic Power” (or AT/VO2 training zone). Today the AEP training was the good old Pete Plan 4x2km, at 5 minutes rest. Here are the training zones I am referring to:
The Pete Plan way of doing this is to take a target power (or pace) and try to hold it, then go all out in the final interval. The session average is the new target pace.
A year ago I read books on rowing training (for Masters rowers) and a book on swimming training (Olbrecht). This year I am reading “Watt-Messung im Radsport und Triathlon” (English original “Training and Racing with a Power Meter”) by Allen and Coggan, the guys behind TrainingPeaks.com. The book is focusing on cycling training. They have a different philosophy on intervals and recommend to continue doing the intervals until you are not able to do it at a minimum percentage (of Power) of the third interval. Yes, the third interval. Not the first or the second, but the third. The idea is that in the first two intervals you are searching for the “right” power and in the third one you have found it. Then you continue until you cannot hold
- 95%-97% of that power for 20 minute intervals
- 94%-96% for 10 minute intervals
- 93%-95% for 5 minute intervals
- 91%-92% for 3 minute intervals
- 88%-90% for 1 and 2 minute intervals
- 85%-88% for 30 second intervals
For rowing on the Concept2 erg, where you can keep your Watts in a very narrow band from stroke to stroke, it is easier to find the “right” power already in the first interval, but I decided to stick to the book’s “third interval” rule. In cycling, the power meter swings much more than in OTE rowing, so I guessed that I needed to row with less constant feedback. To simulate that I covered part of the PM5 so I would only see heart rate and meters left, then checking the average power during the break.
So a 5% drop signals the last interval. When executing the workout I didn’t reread the relevant section of the book and I wrongly remembered a 10% drop. Here is the result:
So in Watts, this is
- 244W – 104%
- 242W – 103%
- 234W – 100%
- 219W – 93%
It was a very hard workout. I wanted to stop after 2 intervals.
A few pictures have emerged from last weekend’s regatta:
Sep 1 2016
Sprintervals with long rest – OTW
Finally an OTW day again. Couldn’t do the row in the morning, as it is the First Day of School after the vacation, and I didn’t want to miss the breakfast with the kids this morning.
Arrived at the lake around 5pm. It was warm, around 28 degrees, and the lake was calm. There were fewer swimmers and paddlers and other recreational vessels than during the vacation, but there was still enough for me to be nervous and wear the mirrors.
The problem is always the same. Nobody estimates the rowing boat’s speed correctly. There is a very simple way to determine if you will pass in front of or behind a vessel, or are on collision course. If the other boat is moving forward relative to a fixed point on the shore (horizon), you will pass behind it. If it is moving backwards relative to the shore, you will pass in front of it. If the horizon doesn’t move with respect to the other boat, you are on a collision course. Assuming none of the vessels changes course or speeds up/slows down.
I was still struggling with the SpeedCoach workout menu. I wanted to do 20×30″/60″ rest. Being lazy, I thought I could program that as 10x(30″/60″/30″/60″), so the rest periods would also be captured. However, I forgot to change the rest between the series. I discovered that after the first two 30 second speed bursts, when the SpeedCoach went to a “break” of 10 minutes. I stopped and reprogrammed, reducing the rest between “sets” to the minimum of 30″. I guess the right way to program this workout is to do 30/60/30/60/30/60/… etc, at least if you want the rest period to be recorded. Here are the plots for the 18 intervals I did after reprogramming:
Workout data for the first 2 intervals:
Work Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00129| 00:30 | 1:56.2| 32.0| 145 | 170 | 8.1
02|00193| 01:00 | 2:35.4| 21.0| 166 | 172 | 9.2
03|00129| 00:30 | 1:56.2| 32.0| 164 | 164 | 8.1
04|00190| 01:00 | 2:37.8| 20.0| 167 | 170 | 9.5
Workout Summary
--|00641| 03:00 | 2:20.4| 24.3| 161 | 172 | 8.8
and for the 18 intervals (removed the 60″ rest intervals):
Work Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00131| 00:30 | 1:54.5| 34.0| 150 | 157 | 7.7 - headwind
03|00129| 00:30 | 1:56.2| 32.0| 166 | 176 | 8.1
05|00135| 00:30 | 1:51.1| 34.0| 165 | 169 | 7.9 - tailwind
07|00134| 00:30 | 1:51.9| 34.0| 173 | 182 | 7.9
09|00135| 00:30 | 1:51.1| 34.0| 174 | 176 | 7.9
11|00139| 00:30 | 1:47.9| 32.0| 172 | 179 | 8.7
13|00105| 00:30 | 2:22.8| 22.0| 151 | 154 | 9.5 - forgot to sprint
15|00138| 00:30 | 1:48.6| 34.0| 163 | 173 | 8.1
17|00135| 00:30 | 1:51.1| 32.0| 163 | 169 | 8.4
19|00138| 00:30 | 1:48.6| 32.0| 171 | 174 | 8.6
21|00137| 00:30 | 1:49.4| 32.0| 167 | 173 | 8.6
23|00123| 00:30 | 2:01.9| 32.0| 160 | 162 | 7.7 - headwind
25|00127| 00:30 | 1:58.1| 32.0| 162 | 165 | 7.9
27|00129| 00:30 | 1:56.2| 32.0| 169 | 173 | 8.1
29|00127| 00:30 | 1:58.1| 32.0| 150 | 153 | 7.9
31|00124| 00:30 | 2:00.9| 32.0| 168 | 170 | 7.8
33|00125| 00:30 | 1:59.9| 30.0| 164 | 169 | 8.3
35|00129| 00:30 | 1:56.2| 30.0| 159 | 159 | 8.6
Workout Summary
--|05500| 27:00 | 2:27.2| 23.1| 166 | 186 | 8.8
The setup of the SpeedCoach confused me in such a way that I forgot to sprint during one of the 30″ intervals.
I didn’t go all out on the sprints but tried to reach a good boat speed by technique, especially trying to accelerate slightly in the last part of the recovery. I think I am seeing a boat speed improvement doing this, but it is too early to proclaim victory.
By sanderroosendaal • Uncategorized • 2 • Tags: lake, OTW, rowing, single, sprintervals, training