L4

Tuesday

Meetings in Brussels. No training.

Wednesday

More meetings in Brussels. At 3pm, my old friend Arjan picked me up and we drove to Eindhoven, through rainstorms.

When we arrived at ERV Beatrix, my old club, the rain and wind had disappeared. The Eindhovens Kanaal was quiet as always. We took the club double that we always used to row in, adjusted the footstretchers and off we went.

We hadn’t rowed together in 7 years. The secret plan is to start in the C category at the Masters Worlds. First 2km warming up and drills. Then 4×12 minutes “L4” style:


| Dist_ | Time_ | _Pace__ | _SPM___ | avg HR | max HR | DPS | Remarks
| 04020 | 17:05 | 02:07.5 | 19.7 | 125 | 166 | 12.0 |
| 00450 | 02:00 | 02:13.3 | 18.1 | 137 | 155 | 12.4 |
| 00461 | 02:01 | 02:11.3 | 19.8 | 155 | 160 | 11.5 |
| 00481 | 02:00 | 02:04.8 | 20.9 | 158 | 161 | 11.5 |
| 00622 | 03:00 | 02:24.8 | 18.3 | 148 | 161 | 11.3 |
| 00456 | 02:00 | 02:11.7 | 19.6 | 150 | 159 | 11.6 |
| 00231 | 01:00 | 02:09.8 | 20.8 | 158 | 167 | 11.1 |
| 00240 | 00:59 | 02:03.0 | 21.9 | 165 | 169 | 11.1 |
| 00428 | 02:00 | 02:20.3 | 18.6 | 157 | 167 | 11.5 |
| 00451 | 02:01 | 02:14.1 | 20.0 | 153 | 164 | 11.2 |
| 00477 | 02:00 | 02:05.8 | 20.7 | 162 | 165 | 11.5 |
| 00646 | 03:00 | 02:19.4 | 19.1 | 155 | 163 | 11.3 |
| 00447 | 02:00 | 02:14.2 | 20.3 | 157 | 164 | 11.0 |
| 00065 | 01:00 | 07:44.1 | 12.4 | 155 | 160 | 05.2 |
| 00965 | 09:52 | 05:06.8 | 18.4 | 135 | 153 | 05.3 |
| 00419 | 01:59 | 02:22.1 | 20.3 | 148 | 154 | 10.4 |
| 00408 | 02:00 | 02:27.1 | 18.2 | 150 | 153 | 11.2 |
| 00441 | 02:01 | 02:17.1 | 19.1 | 151 | 163 | 11.5 |
| 00672 | 03:00 | 02:14.0 | 19.8 | 161 | 167 | 11.3 |
| 00431 | 02:00 | 02:19.1 | 18.3 | 151 | 158 | 11.8 |
| 00216 | 00:59 | 02:16.4 | 19.7 | 155 | 159 | 11.2 |
| 00220 | 01:01 | 02:18.9 | 19.8 | 156 | 158 | 10.9 |
| 00344 | 01:59 | 02:52.9 | 20.8 | 150 | 164 | 08.3 |
| 00412 | 02:01 | 02:26.9 | 18.2 | 149 | 157 | 11.2 |
| 00437 | 02:00 | 02:17.2 | 19.2 | 155 | 160 | 11.4 |
| 00524 | 03:00 | 02:51.7 | 21.1 | 160 | 169 | 08.3 |
| 00171 | 02:00 | 05:51.3 | 18.9 | 125 | 128 | 04.5 |
| 00152 | 01:00 | 03:16.9 | 19.7 | 122 | 127 | 07.7 |
| 02481 | 15:01 | 03:01.6 | 20.8 | 136 | 169 | 07.9 |


I guess the short summary is more useful:

dist_____|time_____|_pace___|_HR__|_SPM__|_DPS|comment
4020_____|_17:05____|_2:07.5|125|19.7|12.0|warmup
7813_____|_37:04____|_2:22.3|152|19.3|10.9|Main set
2481_____|_15:01____|_3:01.6|136|20.8|7.9|Cool down
3453_____|_22:49____|_3:18.2|144|19.1|7.8|rest meters
17767____|_31:59____|_2:35.3|144|18.6|10.4|_Total


It was good fun. Arjan remarked that he was feeling the zen of rowing again, so that made me happy. We discussed technique a lot and were working really hard and concentrated to get our strokes together.

What worked: We managed to get a nice swelling stroke and make the boat run. Arjan managed to time the finish better with me.

What didn’t work: We didn’t stick to the prescribed stroke rates. Instead, they tended to drift up by 1 or 2 spm. Sloppy tap-downs were not solved successfully. He didn’t pay me 1200 EURO for a successful rowing clinic. May not become a rich freelance rowing trainer. 🙂

What I would do differently next time: Nothing I can think of now!

I was scared by how narrow the Eindhovens Kanaal is. I guess I have really become a lake dweller:

Then we drove to his home in Weert, picked up some Chinese take away for dinner (another traditional thing that we used to do in our student days) and ended up spending a nice evening with his family.

Noisy GPS data because I had left the XGPS160 at home.

Thursday

Took the 6:29 train to Amsterdam.

No rowing training but something that may come in useful in rowing as well. For a change I can write about my business trip. This day I was in a coaching training at Honeywell in Amsterdam. The training was given by Inside Out, and it was excellent. Their founder is a tennis coach, and the guy who was training us was a qualified ski coach. So of course I chatted with him about coaching and self coaching in sports. It was very energizing.

A very simple thing that works is to write down after each session what worked, what didn’t work and what you would do differently next time. May try to implement it in my blogs.

At the end of the day I took the 8pm flight to Vienna and the take off from Amsterdam was great. The weather was very clear and beautiful, the plane flew right over the area where I grew up and of course with my seat nr 6A I had a fantastic view of Amsterdam, Diemen, Weesp, Naarden, the IJmeer, Gooimeer, IJsselmeer, all the way up to the Noord Holland and the Wadden Sea. An unexpected present.

The view was something like this, but much more beautiful:

Arrived home at midnight.

Now I need to pack for three days of racing and drive to Piestany.