erg

30min

Nov 5 2015

Wednesday: Cycle / Thursday: Erg + “Weights”

Wednesday

Just rode home from work on the bicycle. Because of the darkness, I decided to try a new route, straight through the center of the town. My traditional route is less busy but also has a few bike paths that are badly illuminated. I have enough  lights on my bike to be seen, but I cannot use it to avoid holes in a dirt bike track in the dark.

It was better than I thought. I ended up riding at about the same speed as the trams, and faster than the cars.

https://www.strava.com/activities/426401831

In time, it is not longer.

Thursday

30 minutes on the erg, just a slow row.

30min

Then three rounds of “weights” at home, using body weight and the Bodylastics(TM) bands.

  1. Biceps Curl (blue band)
  2. Squat (black band)
  3. press up
  4. sit ups
  5. pistol squat
  6. pull up
  7. squat (black band)
  8. dips
  9. dorsal raise
  10. “bench press” (blue band and actually “inclined chest press”)
  11. row (orange band)

15 repeats for each exercise (15 per leg for the pistol squats) and three rounds. I had to look up the fancy English names for some of the exercises, so I hope I got them right. “Pistol squat” is what I would call in prosaic Dutch “kniebuigingen op een been” (knee bending on one leg).

The strength training took me about 40 minutes to complete. I am wondering if I should do one longer session per week or three 15 minute ones after the extensive steady state OTE rows.

In the nerdy section, I worked on my excel list of strength exercises. I have more than hundred of them now. I have information on recommended weight and equipment needed and main muscles trained. Then I created a pivot table which will come in handy when I need to improvise a weight/body weight circuit. It will be good for inspiration when stuck a hotel. Within a few seconds I can create a suggested list of workouts given the equipment available, ordered by muscle group worked. Probably doesn’t save a lot of time, but I enjoy creating something that gives the impression of being organized.

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15k

Nov 3 2015

15k recovery boring row and flu shot question

I had steady state on the schedule and originally planned to do a 3x20min row. Then I found a 15k planned row on RowPro at exactly the right time. Signed up for it. There were two of us.

Lost connection at almost 4km in. Lost some time trying to reconnect during the row.

After 10k my podcast stopped, so I had to switch on the radio. I really need to sign up for some educative listening. I checked “the teaching company” as recommended by Greg, but was overwhelmed with the choice of courses, and the price of the more interesting ones. I guess I will just sign up for a cheap one with good reviews and try it out.

When I completed the row, I got a RowPro window telling me that the connection was lost during the row, and that was it. No option to save stroke data. So I am left with just the bare data.

15k

Average HR 143 bpm. Average pace 2:08.2 including the breaks. Most of the time I was going at 2:04 – 2:07.

On Friday morning I will get my annual flu shot. I have been trying to get information about training on the day of the flu shot. My original plan has a strength session there. Romana tells me I should take total rest. I am thinking of moving the weights session to Thursday and do a gentle row on Friday. Any thougts from the readers?

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wf1

Nov 2 2015

Waterfall After Dinner

In a comment to yesterday’s blog, Greg Smith of Quantified Rowing fame encouraged me to follow my dreams. I guess even in my dreams my wishes are relatively small, like in a song by Daniel Landa. Here are English lyrics in my bad English translation:

I am grateful for the chance
that there is heaven after life
where they give you a dry blanket
and maybe they have nice trees there
and clean toilets, I would appreciate those

The song is about a guy waiting to be rescued after a car accident. That’s a slightly more serious situation than being uncomfortable during an erg session. Still I can very much relate to feeling lucky with a dry blanket, dry socks, clean toilets …

The day started with another bike ride to work. It was cold initially, but after 10 minutes it was OK. Strava tells me I broke my record for Na Lesnou nadrazi (towards Lesna railway station). I know exactly why. At Kralovo Pole railway station, another cyclist entered from the park and rode in front of me. On the Strava segment Za Kociankou which is a “false flat”, I passed him, which meant that on the climb to the Lesna station I had to stay in front of him.

In the afternoon, I left the bike at work and took the train home. After dinner it was time for the dreaded Wolverine/Pete Plan Waterfall session: 3km, 2.5km, 2km at 5 minutes rest.

After a 2km warming up with some “speed” bursts (at 24spm, 28spm and 30spm), I started. Knowing the Handle Down risk, I took the 3km very conservatively. As a precaution, I also played one of my favorite erg music lists, Rowbeats #1, which has quite the right rhythm for L2 sessions, enabling you to forget that you still have 2230m to go and just take it stroke after stroke on the beat of the music.

I also started the 2.5km carefully. I usually give up a session somewhere at the beginning of the second interval. About a kilometer into the 2.5km I lost the fear and started to pull. The final 2km was fun.

wf2 wf1


Workout Summary - Nov 02, 2015
--|Total|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Pace--|Watts|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS|-SPI
--|07500|01:52.9|243.3|26.5|168.4|183.0|10.0|09.2
Workout Details


#-|SDist|-SPace-|Watts|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-|-SPI|Comments
01|00500|01:54.4|233.5|25.2|141.5|158.0|10.4|09.3|3km
02|00500|01:54.6|232.6|25.1|160.5|164.0|10.4|09.3|
03|00500|01:54.1|235.3|25.8|165.6|168.0|10.2|09.1|
04|00500|01:54.2|234.8|25.2|168.0|171.0|10.4|09.3|
05|00500|01:54.1|235.8|25.8|171.1|173.0|10.2|09.1|
06|00500|01:54.6|232.8|26.2|173.1|174.0|10.0|08.9|


07|00500|01:54.0|235.9|26.3|154.4|173.0|10.0|09.0|2.5km
08|00500|01:54.0|236.4|26.3|170.0|172.0|10.0|09.0|
09|00500|01:53.6|239.0|26.4|173.1|175.0|10.0|09.0|
10|00500|01:51.9|249.8|26.3|176.4|178.0|10.2|09.5|
11|00500|01:50.7|257.7|27.6|179.3|180.0|09.8|09.3|


12|00500|01:51.6|252.1|27.4|158.4|180.0|09.8|09.2|2km
13|00500|01:52.7|244.3|27.1|174.0|177.0|09.8|09.0|
14|00500|01:51.5|252.5|27.4|178.1|181.0|09.8|09.2|
15|00500|01:47.2|284.1|30.2|180.8|183.0|09.3|09.4|

Happy with the result.

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Erg 002

Oct 27 2015

Tuesday: 4x2km in Blagnac

Monday

Flying to Toulouse, this time through Zurich. A grandiose view on the Alps during the Fokker 100 flight from Zurich to Toulouse. Never boring.

In meetings all afternoon and evening. No training.

Tuesday

Up early after a night in a too warm hotel room. Couldn’t get the climate control to start cooling. Couldn’t open the window. I chose this hotel only because of the gym and C2 erg. Not sure if I will stay with this.

It was very warm in the gym as well but I wanted to finish a 4x2km session this time. This meant that, after a 2km warming up, I started conservatively, at 1:55 pace, with a 1:55 pace boat. I rowed the first 2km flat, with a few fast pace intervals when there was someone passing. The second to fourth row I changed strategy. I started with 10 strong strokes, then flat at 1:55, then a ten strokes push at the 1km mark, and rowing the final 500m a bit faster. In the last interval I wanted to be under 7:30, and succeeded.

I made a nice puddle under the erg.

Erg 002

I managed a nice 2km cooling down.

Erg 003

https://www.strava.com/activities/421107956

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30min

Oct 6 2015

Tuesday: 30 minute erg + circuit training

Working from home today because in the afternoon I had to give a lecture at the technical university, which is close to my home.

So just before lunch I took an hour to do my workout for the day. I am mixing strength workouts into the mix, and the current recipe is 30 min erg (or running) followed by either weights or body weight circuit.

I am still not settled on the exact format of my strength training, so today I was going to go with what I could do from home, with the limited equipment I had.

First, 30 minutes of light erging (after a warming up of course):

30min

Perhaps I should try Greg’s method of starting slower, then increasing. And I guess that without lactate testing this a bit a shot in the dark. Had I not worn my HR belt, I would probably have gone a little faster …

Then, the circuit. Here’s my draft circuit:

  1. Triceps dips using a chair 20 reps
  2. Dorsal Raise 30 reps
  3. Press Up 20 reps – leg assisted when form started to break down
  4. Sit up 30 reps
  5. Pull ups – as many as possible with good form (not many, too embarrassed to tell the number)
  6. Burpee – 20

I did three rounds which took me about 20 minutes. I will probably expand this to 30 minutes but I don’t think it is wise to ignore that I am in a lousy shape, strength exercise wise, so I will try to do the number of reps that I can do with good form.

The good thing about this circuit is that there is nothing that cannot be done in a hotel room.

I am also reading up on strength exercise, so maybe with increased wisdom absorption I may change the routine.

Actually, I hope to change the routine, unless the literature tells me that I have to absolutely do the exact same routine every time. I am hoping for variation, though.

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DSC_0257

Oct 1 2015

Thursday: Cycling and Steady State OTE

I posted about rankings earlier today. Here is a pic of my mate Arjan and myself studying the rankings / results in Hazewinkel:

DSC_0257

The results were also on-line immediately after the race but I like the old-fashioned way of discovering the results on a notice board and discussing them immediately with your opponents.

Cycled home from work today. As usual. Average HR 128, 43 minutes. As an experiment I used the Strava app on the iphone to record the ride. The advantage is that it gets correctly marked as a bike ride and automatically uploaded to Strava. Then Tapiriik does it’s magic and it all appears in SportTracks and Garmin Connect as well.

https://www.strava.com/activities/404166429

After dinner I set up a 30 minute and a 25 minute session on RowPro. The 30 minute session was a solo row, but for the 25 min I had company from the UK. I did steady state with bursts. In the 30 minute session I did a faster 1 minute every 6 minutes. Same for the 25 minute session, but with a 5 minute cycle. The “bursts” were at 22, 24, 26, 28 & 30 spm in the 30 minute row and at 30, 28, 26, 24 & 22 spm in the 25 minute row.

30min

25min

Tomorrow:

Pick up my trailer from Jundrov, drive to lake. Join work related call from clubhouse. Row. Load trailer. Sprint races on Saturday.

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0565_fi_00_p_751x371

Sep 29 2015

Blagnac Hotel Gym

Monday

Up at 3:20 to travel to the airport. A few meetings in Brussels and 2 flights later, I arrive in my hotel room in Toulouse Blagnac at 11:30pm. No training.

Tuesday

If I wanted to get some exercise in, I had to get up at 6am and work out in the hotel gym. Did that. I had to enter the date and time into the Concept2 erg and adjust the brightness so it didn’t show Mura defects.

The plan was to do a 4x2km intensive session, but after such a long day and a short night, I discovered during the warming up that I didn’t have the mental strength to do it.

So after the 2km warming up I did 20 minutes steady state. Very easy, because I didn’t feel like more:

pullman 002

Then I did a few strength exercises. Three sets of eight repeats for each exercise. I discovered a mat and a Pezzi ball, so I used them for situps, back, classical pushups. I also did squats, and all the arm and shoulder exercises possible with the fitness machine, adjusting the weights after the first set if necessary. Thirty minutes in total. It was a bit light on the legs in my opinion. Overall it was probably a bit light but I want to gradually work this into my routine, not do an all out once and then never again.

The Pullman hotel gym. There's a mirror so it's much smaller than it looks on the picture
The Pullman hotel gym. There’s a mirror so it’s much smaller than it looks on the picture

Then a 1km cooling down and some stretching. Has to be enough for the day.

Having dinner at the Brussels Airlines lounge at Brussels, I finished my exercise planner in excel. It calculates time in different zones. I already used it today to capture what I have done so far this week and adjust the rest of the week to hit the right percentages and fit my schedule.

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