lake

rb1075291

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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Taper_500_416.png

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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IMG_0151

Jul 12 2017

Tuesday Chop Day

Monday

The plan called for a 1k full out as race preparation, but I decided that I better spend more time at work to finish some things, and I also think that taking some rest in the taper week is not a bad thing. I adapted my plan for Tuesday to compensate for that.

Tuesday

Short training. I arrived at the lake after work and it was very choppy. A few white caps here and there. The plan was a 750m at race pace and then two 250m full out sprints. That’s all. I managed to fit that into 6km including warming up and cooling down. It’s taper week.

Workout Summary - media/20170711-1805210o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|00750|02:46.0|01:51.2|331.3|32.6|173.1|185.0|08.3
W-|00750|02:46.0|01:51.3|330.7|32.6|173.5|185.0|08.3
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|185.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00250|00:55.2|01:50.3|363.2|33.5|156.2|177.0|08.1
01|00250|00:56.1|01:52.1|319.2|31.9|180.2|182.0|08.4
02|00250|00:55.8|01:51.5|310.1|32.4|183.7|185.0|08.3

I rowed the 750m in cross/tailwind with white caps. That caused the stroke rate to drop a bit below the envisioned 34spm. I also had to make sure I crossed in front of a big tourist boat, so that required some head turning, and I rowed through the wake of two sailboats who were enjoying the windy weather.

It was fun but it felt awful. I am surprised that the summary gives such a low power average for the final 250m, because despite the chop I thought I was able to bring up the power again. Probably, because I check the SpeedCoach only now and then during the row, some of the strokes in the chop were a lot below 300W. It happens. When it happens in a race, all have the same conditions and the one who deals with them best, wins.

I paddled for ten minutes and got ready for the first 250m.

Workout Summary - media/20170711-1805480o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|00250|00:59.0|01:59.0|343.6|35.3|152.2|178.0|07.1
W-|00250|00:59.0|01:59.8|345.2|35.2|153.6|178.0|07.2
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|178.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00050|00:16.5|02:44.6|318.1|37.7|118.6|132.0|04.8
01|00050|00:10.7|01:46.8|390.0|35.5|149.2|161.0|07.9
02|00050|00:10.4|01:43.7|373.5|34.8|167.5|171.0|08.3
03|00050|00:11.7|01:57.0|336.0|34.0|173.2|175.0|07.5
04|00050|00:10.7|01:46.9|324.9|33.1|176.7|178.0|08.5
I guess that the SpeedCoach started a few seconds too early, due to the chop, causing the strange value for the first few strokes.
After some paddling, I ran out of lake, so I turned around my single and did a 250m in the cross/headwind:
Workout Summary - media/20170711-1806110o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|00250|00:59.0|01:59.2|366.6|33.6|160.0|178.0|07.5
W-|00250|00:59.0|01:59.7|362.5|33.4|162.1|178.0|07.5
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|178.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00050|00:11.7|01:57.5|421.6|35.3|127.7|142.0|07.2
01|00050|00:11.4|01:53.7|395.5|34.1|156.8|164.0|07.7
02|00050|00:11.7|01:57.4|370.3|33.6|170.6|174.0|07.6
03|00050|00:12.5|02:05.3|309.5|32.4|175.3|177.0|07.4
04|00050|00:12.5|02:04.5|322.5|32.0|177.9|178.0|07.5
That was even more fun, battling against the wind.
 
Data Analytics
In the evening I had some fun with rowsandall.com’s new Trend Flex chart. I have improved it to show the value of the third parameter in the color of the bubble, and by running the chart through various metrics combinations for the past two months of rowing, there are some nice insights to be had from them:

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Jul 8 2017

Saturday – Fartlek

The wind forecsst urged me to go to the lake as early as possible, but I didn’t skip sleeping in properly and a decent weekend breakfast, so I arrived at 9:30. To my surprise the lake was mirror flat. Also, it was already hot.

When I was about to launch, a Masters ladies eight just came back from their training. This is s group of older ladies from all over the Czech Republic and they are having a training camp at our club to prepare for Bled. I rowed a 3km warming uding some 10 stroke bursts and a practice start. Then I lined up at the start of the 2k course for the first interval. I was going to do a 300 W effort and try to hold on as long as possible. 

With the SpeedCoach set to show SPM and instantaneous power on the top row and elapsed time and average power on the bottom row, this is a nice thing to do. You set out at a certain wattage and then try to hold it as long as possible. My cutoff criterium is that the average has dropped 5W below the target. At 300 W, I managed 5 minutes and I could have continued longer. 


Workout Summary - media/20170708-102438-Sanders SpeedCoach 20170708 0945amo.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|04061|22:00.0|02:42.5|176.0|22.9|157.5|185.0|08.0
W-|01239|05:00.0|02:01.1|300.8|29.8|176.6|185.0|08.3
R-|02826|17:00.0|03:00.5|113.0|19.5|147.9|185.0|08.5
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00248|01:00.0|02:01.0|317.6|30.5|155.1|174.0|08.1
01|00246|01:00.0|02:01.9|297.6|29.2|178.3|181.0|08.4
02|00248|01:00.0|02:01.0|305.2|29.4|181.9|184.0|08.4
03|00251|01:00.0|01:59.5|302.6|30.1|183.6|185.0|08.3
04|00245|01:00.0|02:02.2|280.8|29.9|184.2|185.0|08.2

 

After 5 minutes, I slowly continued all the way to the 2k finish, then turned around to row back to the start, doing some square blade rowing in the mean time. The next test was 350W. That didn’t last much longer than 2 minutes, a fact I am not happy about. 


Workout Summary - media/20170708-102509-Sanders SpeedCoach 20170708 1007amo.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|04029|22:00.0|02:43.8|162.7|22.1|157.1|186.0|08.3
W-|00520|02:00.0|01:55.3|347.9|33.4|173.7|186.0|07.8
R-|03510|20:00.0|02:50.9|129.1|20.0|154.2|186.0|08.8
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00261|01:00.0|01:55.0|356.6|34.0|164.0|181.0|07.7
01|00259|01:00.0|01:55.6|339.2|32.8|183.4|186.0|07.9

When I lined up for the third time at the 2k start, it was to do a 325W effort. Around 1:30 in, it looked like I would not hold this much longer than 2 minutes, but passing the 2 minute mark gave me inspiration to go all the way to three minutes:


Workout Summary - media/20170708-102534-Sanders SpeedCoach 20170708 1030amo.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|01336|07:00.0|02:37.2|226.9|26.9|165.6|187.0|07.1
W-|00769|03:00.0|01:57.0|315.2|32.3|175.5|187.0|07.9
R-|00568|04:00.0|03:31.1|083.5|18.0|149.5|187.0|07.9
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00258|01:00.0|01:56.4|337.5|32.8|160.4|177.0|07.9
01|00255|01:00.0|01:57.8|313.3|31.6|180.8|184.0|08.1
02|00257|01:00.0|01:56.7|294.8|32.6|185.2|187.0|07.9

A few minutes after that, I found energy for another start and a one minute effort:


Workout Summary - media/20170708-102559-Sanders SpeedCoach 20170708 1037amo.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|01608|09:37.0|02:59.6|154.3|21.9|145.9|182.0|07.6
W-|00283|01:00.0|01:45.9|411.9|37.6|164.5|182.0|07.5
R-|01325|08:37.0|03:15.3|093.0|18.2|141.8|182.0|08.4
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
00|00146|00:30.0|01:42.7|449.0|38.3|151.2|172.0|07.6
01|00137|00:30.0|01:49.3|374.9|36.9|177.8|182.0|07.4

 

Uploading to rowsandall.com, I was hoping for a ‘breakthrough’ notification. I thought that the 300 W for 5 minutes would qualify. Alas. Here is my CP chart before the row:

And here is the after picture:

A breakthrough workout is defined as having a red dot above the red line. I did manage to move the green line slightly closer to the red one, though. Perhaps it would be more motivating if I made the criterium easier?

As I saved today’s session in multiple workouts, because I reset the SpeedCoach at the beginning of each interval, I couldn’t use the normal flex chart to look at all the strokes. Of course I could use the Stroke Analysis, setting the date rwnge to cover only today:

However, selecting all of today’s workouts with the new Trend Flex chart, I had fun producing different charts and thinking about them.

First, I looked at pace. Looks like in today”s weather rowing 1:50 would mean holding 35 spm at 350W. In terms of power, below 40 spm there are no diminishing returns. Or, in other words, I can go up to 40spm without losing form, and the question is only how long I can hold it. Looking at pace, there were no surprises either. Increasing the stroke rate inicreases boat speed. The drive length charts confirm that there is nothing wrong with my form. The outliers are really the start strokes, which of course are shorter. 

Judge for yourself, but I do believe that this new chart is useful.

After the row, I did a swim in the lake. After the thunderstorms of Friday evening, the water was a lot colder than last week, so I didn’t swim longer than 10 minutes. I hung up my wet uni in my locker, not realizing that the water was dripping all over my other clothes, so I ended up wearing wet shorts, which looked a bit weird when I went shopping afterwards. 

I also mounted a new bow ball on our double. The old one had suffered from a collision when my daughter rowed it at the Hodonin regatta. It was still a fully functioning bow ball, but I don’t want to risk not passing the checks at the Masters Nationals.

Tomorrow: a trip to Mordor.

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Double_500_416.png

Jul 8 2017

Friday: good old mixed double

When I was in America, Romana had a racing weekend in Brno. Unfortunately, at the start of the Women 4-, sitting at stroke seat, she hurt her back badly. Of course she finished the race and proceeded to race another two 2k races on that day. 

The result was that she couldn’t do much fir two weeks and then had to slowly get back to exercising. She did massages and fysio ij the mean time, but we had to cancel our participation to next week’s mixed 2x event at the Masters Nationals.

As Romana’s back became gradually better, I started to ask if we could do a row in the double again. Yesterday was the first day when I got ‘yes’ as an answer. 

Of course we did a gentle steady state and some technique drills, but it was a great row. A good start of the training for Bled.

Power estimated by rowsandall.com physics module

 

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myimage21-1.png

Jul 4 2017

Monday – chop, Tuesday – race pace

Monday

Tired legs from the Sunday workout and a hectic day at work. I was wondering if I should work out. In the end I did drive to the lake, but about an hour later than planned. I decided to do what was planned. A short, light workout in the single. Main goal: Recover.

myimage (19)

As you can see from the pace part of the chart, there was quite a strong wind, pushing me to 2:40 and slower on the warming up and to 3:00 pace on the headwind segment Sirka – Rokle, while speeding me up to 2:20 on the Rokle – Sirka segment and in the cooling down. There was quite some chop. The kind that occasionally breaks on your front stays and splashes your elbows and back. It was fun, actually.

Then a nice chat with the rowers at the club, about the National Championships (Juniors & Open) of last weekend. Our club has done quite well. One of our junior scullers, who wasn’t selected for the National Squad, turned his disgust into energy and took his Filippi to a strong victory in the J18 1x field, winning his heat, semifinal, and final with ease. The second place in the final was taken by another guy who didn’t get selected. We also had a guy in the winning (national squad) J18 4x-.

In the J16 fields, our club won virtually everything on the sweep side. On the girls side (Romana’s team), the results were varying, and disappointing in the final, getting beaten by crews that they beat easily in the heats on Friday. Lenka has just come back from a long illness, so three days of racing is a lot for her, currently. Iva wants to win so bad that she forgets about technique (not her strongest point) and tries to outpower everyone in the first 1k, then dies in the second 1k with people rowing cleaner and longer passing her. Well, she’s 16 so there is time for her to learn how to race.

Tuesday

Out early to get in a workout before heading to the airport. Today’s workout was a 2x(12x35sec/25sec)/6min with a target stroke rate of 30 to 32spm. Short and sweet.

I made a point of rowing strokes with stops during the warming up, focusing on body position during the recovery. This helps me tremendously in approaching the catch on “a stable platform” and getting the most (length, catch efficiency) out of every stroke.

The workout itself was interesting. I had to program it as 30″/30″ intervals, because the SpeedCoach doesn’t take less than 15 second steps. However, I used the final 5 seconds of each rest interval to take to strokes at full power (but lower stroke rate) to get up to speed. That worked out quite well. A 25 second rest is really short! Still, I was able to row well, and only in the second half of the second set (in a headwind) did the rowing start to fall apart – slightly. I think I could have managed a third set, but two weeks to the Championships, I prefer my workouts to be shorter.


Work Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00134| 00:30 |01:51.9| 34.0| 145 | 161 | 7.9 - tailwind
02|00131| 00:30 |01:54.5| 32.0| 164 | 170 | 8.2
03|00133| 00:30 |01:52.7| 32.0| 165 | 171 | 8.3
04|00134| 00:30 |01:51.9| 32.0| 168 | 173 | 8.4
05|00134| 00:30 |01:51.9| 32.0| 168 | 174 | 8.4
06|00135| 00:30 |01:51.1| 32.0| 170 | 175 | 8.4
07|00134| 00:30 |01:51.9| 34.0| 171 | 176 | 7.9
08|00134| 00:30 |01:51.9| 32.0| 172 | 176 | 8.4
09|00134| 00:30 |01:51.9| 32.0| 170 | 175 | 8.4
10|00135| 00:30 |01:51.1| 34.0| 173 | 179 | 7.9
11|00133| 00:30 |01:52.7| 34.0| 172 | 176 | 7.8
12|00136| 00:30 |01:50.2| 34.0| 172 | 178 | 8.0
13|00132| 00:30 |01:53.6| 32.0| 160 | 168 | 8.2 - headwind starts here
14|00128| 00:30 |01:57.1| 34.0| 170 | 176 | 7.5
15|00131| 00:30 |01:54.5| 34.0| 173 | 179 | 7.7
16|00129| 00:30 |01:56.2| 32.0| 174 | 178 | 8.1
17|00126| 00:30 |01:59.0| 32.0| 175 | 179 | 7.9
18|00127| 00:30 |01:58.1| 34.0| 175 | 179 | 7.5
19|00128| 00:30 |01:57.1| 34.0| 175 | 180 | 7.5
20|00125| 00:30 |01:59.9| 32.0| 175 | 179 | 7.8
21|00126| 00:30 |01:59.0| 32.0| 175 | 180 | 7.9
22|00125| 00:30 |01:59.9| 32.0| 176 | 179 | 7.8
23|00126| 00:30 |01:59.0| 32.0| 175 | 179 | 7.9
24|00137| 00:30 |01:49.4| 36.0| 176 | 179 | 7.6 - tailwind
Workout Summary
--|03147| 12:00 | 1:54.3| 32.9| 170 | 180 | 8.0

Here is the pace and SPM plot from the FIT export from the SpeedCoach:

myimage (20)

 

Here is the same plot from the CSV export.

myimage (21)

 

The SpeedCoach CSV doesn’t denote the “rest” intervals as rest. In fact, it doesn’t contain any strokes taken during the rest at all. I find that quite disappointing, and will urge NK to change that. The FIT at least contains the time stamps, so you can see how the intervals are spaced apart, and it doesn’t fool rowsandall.com into believing that I have rowed a “breakthrough” workout:

image

 

Anyway, I was able to contantly push the power above 340-350W.

Some technique related charts. Try to guess where the rowing started to fall apart:

 

Now, I am sitting at the gate at Munich Airport, waiting for my connection to Brussels.

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big_1409057377_image

Jun 30 2017

Wash no more!

Yesterday evening I read the book “How bad do you want it?”, which caused me to think about mental toughness and my rowing. I have always been more of a training animal than a racing animal, meaning that I regularly beat guys in training, who were able to beat me in races. The theory laid out in the book is that the conscious mind decides at what percentage of your true potential you work. In contrast to the “central governor” theory (which is about the unconscious), the theory promises that you can influence this. From my observations, there is a lot of truth in that. I improve by getting more fit, so my “comfort zone” shifts to higher power, but I don’t get as far out of my comfort zone as some other rowers.

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In 1k sprint racing, “comfort zone” being a relative thing. If you would climb the stairs at home and suddenly feel the pain you feel 600m in to a full out 1k, you would drop to the floor, start crying and think you are dying. (I am only exaggerating a bit, here.) In a 1k race, you don’t, because you anticipate the pain, which helps you coping with it. I think yesterday’s failure was a combination of being tired and expecting everything to go easy.

The book focuses on “flow”, a state where you are just doing what you do, instead of constantly judging what you are doing. Logically, but unfortunately, there isn’t a simple 5 step plan that will guarantee to improve your mental toughness if you follow it.

Now, let’s apply it to my training. I have two weeks to go to the Masters Nationals. I haven’t fully finished reading the book, so my recommendations may be premature, but what I took away from it for now is the following:

  • Mental toughness is a large factor in endurance performance
  • Mental toughness can be trained, mainly by doing a lot of the taxing endurance performances
  • The best way to cope with the perception of hard exercise is to find a state of flow, where the attention is focused outward, as opposed to judging and inward

Today, I was able to leave work early and get to the lake for an afternoon session in the single. So how to apply the lessons from the book?

I was scheduled for a steady state session, but I was also unhappy with yesterday’s 1k effort. At the same time, I want to avoid falling in a trap of focusing too much on 1k trials. Here is what I came up with:

  • Replace steady state with fartlek. Do race pace pieces as I feel
  • Enjoy the strong, gusty crosswinds. Build mental toughness by ignoring the weather and trying to put out a good effort despite it
  • Focus on “feeling” the boat, try to work in such a way that the boat moves forward in the most efficient way. Focus on the rhythm.

I also decided that in these final two weeks before the Masters Nationals, I would not focus on Wash and Effective Length any more during the row. I reprogrammed the SpeedCoach to show Stroke Rate, Power, Time, and Average Power.

No more wash! No more effective length! Over with technique metrics. Just feel the boat!

Being the quantitative guy, I was still obsessed with trying to improve my CP curve, though. I had to find a way to combine that with all of the above.

After a bit of thinking, I had it. I would just row on time (as opposed to distance), trying to hold an average power. So, I would for example row at 300W, and try to hold the average above 300W as long as possible. Note the time when I stop. Then, next time, try to add at least 10 seconds. And all of that in the worst possible conditions. Cross winds. Chop. Wind gusts. Trying to get the best out of the boat in all these conditions.

So here is how it went:

myimage (12)

 

The first 18 minutes I rowed a warming up with three pace/spm bursts. Then I turned around and rowed back to the start of the 2k.

myimage (13)

From the 2k start, in a nasty crosswind, I did a 300W effort from a standing start. After 4 minutes of rowing at 300W, seeing 307W on the SpeedCoach Average Power window, I bailed out. I rowed to the 2k finish, turned around, and rowed back to the start. Half way, I did a 30 stroke burst with 10 strokes at 300W, 10 strokes increase power by increasing length (at same stroke rate), then 10 strokes increase power by increasing stroke rate. I was imagining passing an opponent. First, I would creep on him by increasing only power (by increasing length), then I would increase the stroke rate and quickly pass him.

myimage (14)

From the 2k start, I did a piece at 400W from a standing start, again in heavy crosswind and a lot of chop. After 1 minute, seeing an average power close to 400W, I decided to stop. I rowed to the finish of the 2k again, then turned and rowed another 1k.

myimage (15)

 

There, I reset the SpeedCoach and did a standing start and then tried to hold 350W. I managed 2 minutes in the head/crosswind.

myimage (16)

Then, it was time for a cooling down, but I was excited, and started from a standing start for a 325W effort. After 2 minutes, I had enough of it.

I am not sure how this training affects my physical fitness, but I liked it. It was fun to do, and funny enough rowing against time had a liberating effect. That may change now that I have some benchmarks.

Here is my CP chart before:

bokeh plot (35)

 

And here it is after the row:
bokeh plot (36)

I didn’t get any of the “Wow! A breakthrough workout!” message that I programmed into rowsandall.com, but I did manage to move the green curve. You get the “Wow” message when you row an effort above (or to the right) of the red curve. All I managed was to bring the red dots and the green curve closer to the red one.

Perhaps I should change the algorithm that determines if the workout is “WoW!”?

oh, here is the summary of today’s fartlek row in terms of power vs time:

Anyway, it was a great workout, and I think it helps me being this guy:

farside-larson-work-ethic

And I am looking forward to two weeks of sharpening and enjoying it, Sophia style:

Well … Sophia style but the Daddy’s Army Masters Rowing version of it. I happened to listen to the Dean Martin version of this song on the radio and I loved the careless, silly happiness that it radiated. So I searched for it on YouTube and found the version with Sophia. It made me very happy.

Tomorrow: Cycling with the boys.

Sunday: To Ostrava for a session in the double with Vojta. It’s gonna be fun!

The collective analysis plots from rowsandall.com for today’s session are fun too:

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