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svratka 001

Feb 4 2016

3x20min and longing for water

Took an easy day today. I had some stuff to do in Jundrov, so I left the office around lunch time.

Jundrov is the part of town where our “river” club house is. I had some time before my next appointment, so I walked along the river for 15 minutes.

svratka 001svratka 002svratka 003

It’s a nice stretch of river, about 2.5km is rowable. I bit narrow and there are many turns, but in contrast to our lake it isn’t frozen.

jundrov.JPG

Our club house is on the lower left of this picture. I could store my single there for a few weeks but it would have to be outside. The club house is OK, but the boat house has a bad roof and is generally in bad shape. Actually, before the winter we took all the old boats to the lake to conserve them in case the boat house would fall in a winter storm. So I would have to store my single outside, and I am really not comfortable with that. Perhaps I could do it in a weekend, just have a few boats there for 3 or 4 trainings over 2 or 3 days.

Then I went to the lake location of our rowing club to row my 3x20min. I just had enough of doing it in my basement. Wanted to see some people, hear the gossip, and work out in the club erg room. I put the erg on sliders and it was nice.

Still, the winter is really long. Now, when the weather turns almost to spring, the longing for real rowing is strong. In a few days, the winter may come back though.

https://www.strava.com/activities/485889133

After that, Romana and I went to the cinema. There was a nice Polish movie Ida. Beautifully filmed and a moving story.

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12593988_1011436252247980_2935957548791690902_o

Feb 1 2016

February CTC test – fail

Perhaps I should have scheduled a rest day but this week’s work schedule works out better if I take the rest day on Wednesday. So I planned the Pete Plan waterfall for today.

Then I checked what this month’s CTC is: A 3x7min at 5 minutes rest, with standing starts. Decided to do that one. It’s shorter. 🙂 But, I don’t like time based intervals. 🙁

I wanted to try 1:49.0 pace but it was hard from rep 1. I managed 1925m so I decided to copy that for rep 2 and then max out in rep 3. I was naive. I managed rep 2 but it was harder than rep 1. Then I missed the start of rep 2 by 2 seconds, so I was looking at lousy average pace which I slowly tried to get back to 1:49.0.

Thousand meters into the third rep I almost HD’ed, then  dropped pace to 1:55-1:58 for 600m, only to take it up again in the last minute to at least get the distance over 1900m.

3x7min.jpg

Unfortunately, my notebook went into sleep mode during the second rep. The reason, I discovered later, was that I didn’t push the plug into the power socket deep enough.

Here’s the data I have.

3x7min partly.jpg

Some more pictures have surfaced from the race.

Also, the Czech rowing site Veslo.cz published an interview with our recordman Jiri Pfeifer:

I translate a few interesting bits:

How did the race go?

“The race in Pardubice went according to expectations. After a relatively fast 500m I found myself in second place behind Jan Vesecky, who started in a younger age category, so no stress. I tried to hold an average of 1:35, which I succeeded in at a stroke rate of 28-29spm. I expected that at this pace I would gradually come closer to Jan, just as in the December race in Hostivice. At the start of the last 500m  my average pace was 1:35.2, and I thought: You cannot spoil such a well opened race. I tried to ignore the pain and only concentrated at getting the average pace under 1:35. I felt tired from Tuesday, but I tried not to think abouot that. In the end it was more a question of willpower than fitness. In Hostivice, I didn’t know I could row 6:20.5, but now I really wanted to go under 6:20.

Your time was indeed faster than the 6:20.5 that you mentioned. Then, your time could not be an official record because of your birth year (1966). So did you look for a revanche? You must have been disappointed in December.

Yes, I was disappointed in December, because I was allowed to start in the 50-59 age class. I had no idea that I would not qualify for a record. If I had started in the 40-49 age category, then I would know I could not change the record (5:46.1 by Vaclav Chalupa).

[…]

My record will surely fall soon. Next year, Vaclav Chalupa will be 50, and we shouldn’t forget the president of the Czech Rowing Association, Dusan Machacek, who is also from 1966 and will definitely try to break my record.

[…]

 

What is your profession? Do you have other hobbies?

I own a transport company. I have no time for other hobbies. I train in the morning, then quickly to work, and if I don’t come home too late, I do another training before going to bed.

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3x20min

Jan 31 2016

3x20min with a big grin

After yesterday’s race I drove to a “vinoteka” to buy some bubbles to celebrate.  I got a Riesling sekt made by a winery about 25km south of Brno, who, in contrast to the big Sekt brands, use the bottle fermentation process. Nice wine to celebrate a PB.

This morning we drove home from Pardubice. I enjoyed the pleasure of updating my nonathlon 2k score (+2 points, yay!), sending a PB notice to the Free Spirits board and entering my score on the concept2 site. Sure I am going to enjoy every minute of a new 2k PB.

During today’s 3x20min row I kept bringing back to mind moments from yesterday. Like this nice fight between two guys in one of the Junior’s heat. With 500m to go the guy on the right is leading. The one on the left wins, though. I filmed them for 30 seconds, then I stopped and just watched the fight. The guy on the left gets his virtual bow ball in front of the other guy with 3 strokes to go.

Today I did a 3x20min, using Painsled to capture the data. It turned out to be  a “Watts come easy” day and I had no trouble to hold the score above 200W. In fact, I tried to row 5000m exactly for each 20 min interval. I guess positive race experiences also helped, because in the end I measured 2.0 mmol/L lactate after the 3rd interval.

3x20min.jpg

Average heart rate 165 bpm. Stroke rate between 21 and 23 spm. Distance covered 15001m (5000, 5001, 5000).

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pardubice 006

Jan 30 2016

Pardubice – 3rd round Czech Indoor Rowing Cup

This weekend, Romana’s brother, my brother-in-law Tomas, organized the 3rd round of the Czech Indoor Rowing Cup.

It was the first time he organizes an erg regatta, so you can imagine the nerves. As Romana’s girls were starting early, we arrived on time. Early enough to catch a bit of nature almost in the middle of the town:

reeen2

The race was ready to be started. First races were the adaptive categories. They were also the test case. There were some delays because the printer didn’t work, and the jury was a bit slow in figuring out the winners in the various adaptive categories, but in the end all was well and winners could be decorated.

tomas
Tomas nervous before the start of the race
zdravotnik
First aid guy – later on the day he would get scared as hell seeing people faint after their race
warmingup
Warming up area
race1
Race erg ready. We had to put one black Concept2 among 11 gray ones

The sports center was much newer and nicer than in Neratovice, and the changing rooms and toilets were perfect. On the downside, the air was much much dryer. Some rowers are sensitive to this, and not everyone was able to show his or her best performance.

CVK Brno girls arriving at venue:

holky

 

Then it was time for the girls 15/16 to row. Lenka rowed 5 seconds slower than her PB, and Iva 10 seconds. Lenka has been ill so I consider it a good row. Iva was super nervous and still wants to row below 8 minutes, but the nervousness actually makes her slower.

Lenka after the race:

 

Some random shots from other races throughout the day:

 

 

Klara, rowing in the 17/18 age group, was rowing her very first erg race. She started rowing in September and managed a good 8:26.

Then it was time for me to change clothes and get ready for my race. I did a 6k Fletcher-style warming up. Then it was time for the main event.

Big focus on Jiri Pfeiffer, from my rowing club, who wanted to beat the Czech record for the 50-59 year age category.

I wanted to be faster than in Neratovice but didn’t know if I had it in me. Also quite nervous about the higher temperatures and dry air.

Went out with ten hard strokes and saw 1:39 when I opened my eyes. Immediately back to 1:44-1:45 pace which I had no trouble holding in the first 500m. Saw the occasional 1:46, but mostly solid 1:44 and 1:45. Second 500m was no different. I even mixed in a few 1:43s. With 1000m to go I did ten hard strokes, which turned out to be 1:42-1:43, but then I got into trouble. I saw more and more 1:46 and Romana behind me had to cheer quite a lot to get me back to 1:44-1:45 pace. With 600m to go I had to count strokes. Then with 500m to go I started counting again. With 250m to go I finally got over the hard bit and started to wind it in. My average pace at that point had dropped from 1:44.0 to 1:44.2. Rating up and even pulling 1:41 and 1:40 strokes, I managed to get it down to 1:40.0 with 5 strokes to go. I pulled as hard as I can and prayed I could see the average pace drop even more, and in the 2 final strokes I saw 1:43.9 average pace.

A new PB of 6:55.6. My splits were 1:44.0/1:44.0/1:44.6/1:43.0. Here are the official results:

vysledek

Pretty good race. I beat only 2 guys in my heat of 9, but who cares. Another PB!

Jiri Pfeiffer did set a new 50-59 Czech Record in a PB of 6:19.8. In my age group I got beaten badly by Vesecky and Nevrala. Funny, I beat Nevrala in the single and Romana and I beat him and his partner (who won one of the Masters Women races) in the mixed double by 2 lengths. 🙂

Anyway, a third place is a podium place, and even  though there are scores of people who beat me in this, I thoroughly enjoyed getting a medal, a kiss from the young lady on the left, and some other goodies:

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5k

Jan 25 2016

5k PB without reserve gas tank

The 5k isn’t a distance I row frequently. I live in a country where all the endurance tests are a 6k. There is always more reason to do a 6k, and the 5k seems too close to do a separate attempt. One could then also do a 7k or a 4k or a 3245m row and keep records of personal best times.

But the 5k is on the list of nonathlon events, so once a winter I row it. And because it is this month’s Cross Team Challenge, I had to do it in January. And because I will be out of town for business for the rest of the week, I had to do it today.

I wasn’t sure about the strategy. My PB was 18:26 and I feel I can go faster. On the other hand, I spent a lot of time snow shoveling and speed skating over the weekend, so I guess my reserves are quite depleted. I decided to aim for a PB anyway, and the plan was to negative split to something between 18:16 and 18:26.

I set up pace boats at 1:50 pace (18:20), 1:51 (18:30) and a final, slow one at 1:52 pace (18:40) to have something to keep behind me in case I would go bust. That’s how certain I was.

Ended up rowing a length behind the fast pace boat, a length ahead of the second one. Tried to create light between me and the 1:51 boat and not lose too much on the 1:50 one. The plan was to then push on the gas in  the last 1500m and get the average down to close to 1:50, row right through and finish a bow ball in front of him.

Reality was different. With 1500m to go I started to push, then with 1000m to go I couldn’t hold 1:49 and started to see the occasional 1:52. I decided to back down a bit and just stay ahead of the 1:51 pace boat. With 500m to go the predicted end time was oscillating between 18:25 and 18:26. That gave me enough energy to push at least a bit and get 18:24 on the predicted end time.

Workout Summary - Jan 26, 2016
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|Watts|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|05000|18:24.9|01:50.5|259.5|27.0|175.7|183.0|10.1
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|Watts|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-|Comments
01|00500|01:50.7|01:50.7|257.9|26.6|151.7|169.0|10.2|
02|00500|01:51.0|01:51.0|256.1|26.0|170.1|172.0|10.4|
03|00500|01:50.6|01:50.6|258.9|26.6|174.2|176.0|10.2|
04|00500|01:50.6|01:50.6|258.5|26.6|176.3|178.0|10.2|
05|00500|01:50.0|01:50.0|262.6|26.7|178.5|181.0|10.2|
06|00500|01:50.4|01:50.4|259.9|26.6|179.8|181.0|10.2|
07|00500|01:50.3|01:50.3|261.1|27.2|180.5|181.0|10.0|
08|00500|01:49.7|01:49.7|265.3|27.4|181.2|182.0|10.0|
09|00500|01:51.0|01:51.0|256.2|27.6|181.8|183.0|09.8|
10|00500|01:50.6|01:50.6|258.7|28.8|181.6|183.0|09.4|

5k.jpg

5k_spm.jpg

In the first graph you can see very well the short pace dips around 11 and 13 minutes. That is a sign of trouble.

Happy with the result. Still believe I can go faster when well rested, but I will leave it at this attempt.

Romana registered me for a 2k erg race coming Saturday. I will be up against our club’s fastest Masters rower. He rowed a 6:20.5 2k in December and wants to repeat it now that he is 50, to set a new Czech record for the 50-59 category. I will be flying home on Friday after a week in Brussels, so we’ll see what the 2k brings me.

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2speed

Jan 22 2016

Plan, Periodise, Train, Adjust and Win Part II

On December 18th, 5 weeks ago, I did the two speed lactate test. Read my blog of 18 December about it.

Today, I planned to repeat it. I tried to copy the protocol as much as possible. So first a Fletcher warming up:

fletcher.jpg

Higher heart rates than 5 weeks ago.

Then the main event, two 1k tests spaced 15 minutes apart. The first one at head race pace. Second one at 2k pace or faster (full out allowed). I looked up my stroke rate of 5 weeks ago. They were 27 spm for the first one and 31 spm for the second one.

2speed2.jpg

Again, a higher heart rate in the second 1k.


Workout Summary - Jan 22, 2016
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|Watts|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|02000|06:58.5|01:44.6|305.6|29.5|173.9|185.0|09.7
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|Watts|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-|Comments
01|01000|03:36.5|01:48.3|275.8|27.4|168.7|180.0|10.1| 2.6 mmol/L (1.9)
02|01000|03:22.0|01:41.0|339.9|31.8|178.8|185.0|09.3| 4.1 mmol/L (3.2)

So, compared to 5 weeks ago, there are the following differences:

  • 2 seconds faster split on the first 1k (stroke rate 0.4 spm up)
  • HR 10 bpm higher on the first 1k
  • Lactate 0.4 mmol/L lower after the first 1k
  • 2.3 seconds faster split on the second 1k (stroke rate 1 spm up)
  • HR 7 bpm higher on the 2nd 1k
  • Lactate 0.4 mmol/L lower

So I am faster at lower lactate but higher heart rate. This sounds plausible. For the aerobic energy path way, the heart rate has to go up when delivering higher power.

In a graph, it looks like this:

2speed.jpg

To be honest, I had hoped for a right shifted first point and a steeper curve. You can’t say I didn’t try. The second 1k is a Season’s Best.

I did another lactate test after a 2k cooling down. 2.3 mmol/L

So I guess my aerobic fitness has increased. Next test in 5 weeks.

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3x20interrupted

Jan 20 2016

Concessions

Monday

Plan: Free form steady state

Execution: Did a 4x2000m “biathlon game” Concept2 with 250m penalty rounds each interval for

  1. Exceeding 190 strokes – penalty round 250m for every 10 strokes)
  2. A 250m round for each second above 2:00 average pace for the interval (2:00.9 – zero penalty; 2:01.0 – 2:01.9 – one penalty; and so on)
  3. A 250m round for each part of the interval where HR was 161 or higher.

I ended up doing a few penalty rounds as you can imagine. It made the time pass quick.

Tuesday

Plan: No training, rest day

Execution:

  1. Alarm clock at 2:30 am to catch taxi to airport, then flight to Brussels
  2. 10 am to 5pm – meetings in Brussels
  3. 7pm to 11:30pm – travel home by flight to Vienna, then taxi home

What a rest day!

Wednesday

Plan: 3×20 minute steady state erg @ 200 W

Difficulty to wake up. Decided to work from home and do the workout before work. Would give me time in the evening to spend with my family.

Execution:

  1. Wrote important email briefing on Tuesday’s meeting to my boss and other stakeholders. I bring home a few facts that may change a few important decisions. Then quickly sat down on erg. Between this and my first meeting of the day, there was only just enough time to do the workout and a quick shower
  2. A 1km warming up, followed by the 3x20min
  3. Power seemed to come easy. HR was high but the perceived rate of exertion (PRE) was OK and I didn’t have difficulty holding the 200W average.
  4. Started second interval. RPE was a bit higher now. Still holding 200W.
  5. A few minutes into the second interval, my audio stopped (I was playing some course material) and I noticed an incoming call from my boss. Stopped to answer the call and talked to him for the rest of the interval and the beginning of the third interval.
  6. Finished 3rd interval and measured lactate: 1.7 mmol/L

I am not sure about the significance of the Lactate reading as I had an interrupted row.

3x20interrupted.jpg

I had 10 minutes left between end of shower and first meeting. Made a coffee and went to work.

Did some of the urgent “emergency” tasks, multitasking during the meeting and am now caught up enough to take 10 minutes to write this blog.

I had to make a few concessions but this week there are a more than a few crucial work topics to finalize and decisions to make. Also, I preferred a compromised row in the morning over spending the evening in the erg room without seeing the kids.

It’s a low volume week anyway, and the recovery is the most important part of the training. So, in that light, the decision to sleep in that caused the compromised row was a great one.

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