head race prep

Don’t be scared. This is not another nerdy post about data and more data.

It’s just that it was a beautiful, cold, misty morning today. A cloud was resting on the water and just my head and shoulders were sticking out of it. First row this fall where I had to wear an extra layer with long sleeves.

I launched around 6:40 and this session turned out to be one of the most enjoyable ones of the year. It had everything. Rowing through a misty gorge, past rocks, a medieval castle, weekend houses. Seeing the sun rise through the mist (which blinded me for about 500m). Doing head race pace trial pieces of 30 seconds, just long enough to feel the boat rush forward and try to play with and optimize its speed, but short enough to not get tired. Then a long steady state section where I really fell into a groove. With the river turns and the great views, those 55 minutes passed by really quick.

Everything perfect, except a little rowsandall.com upload glitch. This happens only occasionally, and only on the FIT files, and I don’t know exactly what’s going on. The error happens in the part of the rowingdata code where I am creating the colored heart rate bars (this is code that Greg Smith wrote, but I “improved” it) and it leads to the data blowing up, creating 10 MB of data out of a 30 kB set of strokes. The funny thing is that it only happens in the on-line version, and not when I carefully repeat all the steps in an interactive Python session.

But enough nerdy data stuff. Here are the rows:

So, first a long warming up of 15 minutes, crossing the lake and going through the windy part of the river.

Then I did 2 sets of 5×30″/45″ rest. I rowed at 28-29spm, deliberately limiting the stroke rate to what I intend to do in the head race. I worked on technique and tried to see the effect on the GPS pace on the SpeedCoach. Rowing clean, with a strong finish, and not too much pressure right after the catch. That’s the recipe I need to follow. I don’t understand why it’s so hard for me to not just do that every stroke. The SpeedCoach is very clear about this. Gives me 2-3 seconds per 500m.


Work Details - Set 1
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00126| 00:30 |01:59.0| 30.0| 149 | 158 | 8.4 #1
02|00145| 00:45 |02:35.1| 20.0| 154 | 160 | 9.7
03|00127| 00:30 |01:58.1| 30.0| 160 | 166 | 8.5 #2
04|00138| 00:45 |02:43.0| 20.0| 159 | 168 | 9.2
05|00124| 00:30 |02:00.9| 28.0| 160 | 167 | 8.9 #3
06|00145| 00:45 |02:35.1| 20.0| 162 | 168 | 9.7
07|00128| 00:30 |01:57.1| 30.0| 162 | 171 | 8.5 #4
08|00145| 00:45 |02:35.1| 20.0| 164 | 171 | 9.7
09|00129| 00:30 |01:56.2| 30.0| 164 | 172 | 8.6 #5
10|00145| 00:45 |02:35.1| 20.0| 165 | 173 | 9.7
Workout Summary
--|01352| 06:15 | 2:18.6| 23.8| 160 | 173 | 9.1


Work Details - Set 2
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00130| 00:30 |01:55.3| 30.0| 150 | 164 | 8.7 #6
02|00148| 00:45 |02:32.0| 21.3| 160 | 166 | 9.2
03|00127| 00:30 |01:58.1| 30.0| 163 | 169 | 8.5 #7
04|00142| 00:45 |02:38.4| 21.3| 164 | 170 | 8.9
05|00129| 00:30 |01:56.2| 28.0| 164 | 171 | 9.2 #8
06|00140| 00:45 |02:40.7| 20.0| 164 | 171 | 9.3
07|00121| 00:30 |02:03.9| 30.0| 164 | 169 | 8.1 #9 - Swans
08|00136| 00:45 |02:45.4| 21.3| 160 | 168 | 8.5
09|00131| 00:30 |01:54.5| 30.0| 164 | 172 | 8.7 #10
10|00140| 00:45 |02:40.7| 20.0| 165 | 173 | 9.3
Workout Summary
--|01344| 06:15 | 2:19.5| 24.3| 162 | 173 | 8.8


The second set is going through a big turn but the fast bits were done in straight segments. In interval #9 I was rowing in collision course with two swans, who seemed to be very cool about it. I don’t trust these animals at all, so I slowed down and turned, and I checked almost every stroke what they were up to. That slowed me down a bit.

The second set is faster than the first one. The power calculations seem to suggest that that is due to a more favorable wind. I thought it was because I had found the perfect head race stroke. Probably the wind.

Then I had a quick sip of water and continued to row up the river, now in head race pace. I turned at this point, where there is a small barrier in the river so you can’t row any further.

Here is a picture of another place I passed:

And here is a (spring) picture of the castle. I have shown it many times on this blog, but I simply love rowing in this scenery:

After turning back, I gradually came into a groove, trying to focus on technique. I was doing paces between 2:22 and 2:28 per 500m and gradually lowered the stroke rate from 22spm to 19spm.

I took the average wind speed and direction to calculate the wind corrected pace. That is certainly correct for the river part (40 minutes and later) but I am not sure about rowing through the gorge. The water was mirror flat (or actually, green pea-soup flat because of an algae problem) on the row through the gorge. But yes, I think the 200W equivalent erg power is quite correct, considering my subjective rate of perceived exertion. Looking at the SPM part of the graph, you can nicely see how I dropped the rate during the row, while maintaining boat speed. One explanation is focus on technique. Another one is that it was helped by the wind.

Total distance: 17.3km. I was on the water for 90 minutes, including a few drinking breaks.