rowing

Nov 9 2015

From Trabant to Ferrari – testing

Lack of time for a serious erg session today, but I did have time doing a simple test. As described here, the “Rowing Faster” book has a simple test that intrigued me. It seems like a good way to quickly get a fingerprint of your fitness.

The irony is of course that the time saved by doing this test instead of a training session, is lost in obsession over the analysis.

I quote Greg:

Set the erg to maximum drag factor.

Setup a way to record the power for each stroke, either take a video of the monitor to review afterward, or use rowPro.

Do a 10 minute steady state warmup

Set the monitor for 1 minute intervals with 1 minute rest.

Paddle through the first minute and the first 50 seconds of the rest.

In the last 10 seconds of the rest, crank up the power so you can hit the beginning of the test period going full blast

Row as hard as you can with good form. Rate up as much as you like, as long as you are taking full strokes. Do not pace yourself. The objective is to pull as many watts as you can on each stroke.

As you continue through the minute, your power output will begin to fade. This is expected and is precisely what the point of the test is.

After you finish, throw up in a nearby trash can, cool down and then get working on data analysis.

I did a few things different:

After a 10 minute warming up, I programmed this month’s Cross Team Challenge into RowPro. This is a 250m/500m/750m/500m/250m with one minute rests
I did the first 250m at a very sustainable pace
The first minute of the first 500m was my test
Complete CTC at “sustainable pace”

In this way I would get a score in for the CTC, which is always a struggle for me, especially for challenges that do not resemble sound training …

Here is my graph, which unfortunately looks slightly different than the example graph from the book:

Looking at the shape, one may suspect that I should try a stronger fly-and-die approach in this test. I swear I tried to do that. In the first 10 strokes I frantically tried to bring back up the power to those “peak” values, without success. After 60 seconds, I reduced to a “leisurely” 28spm and continued for another 35 seconds to finish the 500m.

So Peak power 611W, average power 469W. 10% drop-off reached after 1 stroke (sic) and 35% drop-off reached after 56 seconds. For a 42 year old LW man, the targets are between 625W and 770W for max power and 490W to 690W for the average power. So I am a few percent under the low end of the range … Clearly in the Trabant category:

Well, it turns out these East German cars cannot be turned into something fast, but with good care and a lot of energy, they can be tough:

Here is the entire score for the CTC:

Workout Summary - Nov 09, 2015 --|Total|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg|-Avg --|Dist-|-Pace--|Watts|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS|-SPI --|02250|01:43.8|312.9|31.0|160.9|175.0|09.3|10.1 Workout Details #-|SDist|-SPace-|Watts|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-|-SPI|Comments 01|00250|01:47.7|280.4|27.9|131.4|152.0|10.0|10.1| 02|00500|01:35.9|397.2|33.8|167.0|175.0|09.3|11.8| 03|00750|01:47.7|280.1|29.3|166.1|173.0|09.5|09.5| 04|00500|01:45.8|295.6|30.6|161.9|172.0|09.3|09.7| 05|00250|01:40.2|348.1|34.7|159.6|172.0|08.6|10.0|

By sanderroosendaal • Uncategorized • 4 • Tags: anaerobic, OTE, rowing, test, testing

Nov 8 2015

A run in the sun

It was warm!

Romana and I drove to the rowing club with the plan to do an outing in the double. We arrived to see this:

Dream conditions. However, the dock is missing. We are rowing on a reservoir and in the winter the water level is gradually lowered. We usually remove our big dock in the fall and replace it with a small dock for pairs, doubles and singles. Yesterday, we did the first step, but the second one wasn’t done.

Not a problem for me. On the close-up you can see the little “beach” area where you can wade in.

Yes, you get very cold feet but it’s worth it … I wasn’t able to convince Romana to do so. She did a row in the erg room while I ran a 10k along the reservoir. I had too many clothes on so it was a very hot run. I sweated a lot.

Somehow, my Garmin Forerunner didn’t catch the GPS coordinates, which is very weird. It functioned normally, indicating distance, heart rate and pace during the run, but I wasn’t able to put the run on the map. Disappointing.

https://www.strava.com/activities/428650699

By sanderroosendaal • Uncategorized • 2 • Tags: rowing, running, training

Nov 7 2015

Low SPM OTW training

Skipped training on Friday because of work and because the flu shot nurse told me “no exercise, no alcohol”. OK.

The training schedule said running, but I had to bring my sons to the rowing club and the water was mirror flat, so I changed my mind.

It was raining a bit and about 7 degrees C. Not bad weather, actually. I tied an old bicycle inner tube around the shell and started rowing. Perfect exercise for technique. Everything slows down. Pace drops by about 30 seconds per 500m and the run of the boat is nice and slow, so you have enough time to set up each stroke perfectly, especially on this flat water. It’s also good for strength.

| Tstart_ | Tstop__ | Dist_ | Time_ | Pace__ | _SPM | avg HR | max HR | DPS | Remarks | 00:00.0 | 45:00.0 | 07615 | 45:00 | 02:57.3 | 15.7 | 136 | 148 | 10.8 | with band | 45:00.0 | 15:00.0 | 05718 | 30:00 | 02:37.4 | 18.3 | 140 | 153 | 10.4 | normal

After 45 minutes I removed the tube and rowed normally. When I arrived back at the club, the summer dock was being cleared away and the winter dock wasn’t prepared yet, so I had to step into the water. It was quite cold. During the 2 minutes or so that I needed to get out the sculls, my clothes, my phone and the XGPS160, my feet were freezing, almost starting to cramp. A good reminder of how it is when you fall in during a winter row. Unpleasant, to say the least.

The weather forecast for tomorrow is sunny and reaching 17 degrees. The plan is to go in the double with Romana and I almost can’t wait. A nice fast boat after so many kilometers on the erg and the single. It will be a nice training.

By sanderroosendaal • Uncategorized • 1 • Tags: lake, OTW, rowing, single, steady state, strength, training

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.

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?

By sanderroosendaal • Uncategorized • 5 • Tags: concept2, erg, flu shot, OTE, rowing, steady state, training

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.

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.

By sanderroosendaal • Uncategorized • 1 • Tags: concept2, erg, L2, OTE, pete plan, rowing, training

Oct 31 2015

Rowing in a Dream

It was misty when I set off but the sun soon cleared the fog. It was beautiful weather. I did a steady state towards the castle and back, interrupted many times because I had to take pictures. The kind of day when you know why you row …

Sunny - canyon towards castle — Sunny – canyon towards castle

When I arrived at Veveří castle I rowed into a mist bank, and I took many pictures. I cannot decide which one is the best, so I show a few of them:

The foot bridge is nice in itself:

Then I rowed back through the canyon:

From Wikipedia:

According to legend, the castle Veveří (“squirrel” in Czech) was founded by Přemyslid DukeConrad of Brno in the middle of the 11th Century, then only as a hunting lodge. Nevertheless, the first credible recorded mention about the castle is from the years 1213 and 1222, when King Přemysl Otakar I used the fortified castle as a prison for rebellious peers. Initially, it was apparently a wooden residence situated near the church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary west of the present compound. In the 1220s a stone castle on the extremity of the rocky promontory behind a deep moat cut out of the rock started to grow. The so-called keep is the only structure which has remained well-preserved from this oldest building stage.

King Jan of Luxembourg pledged the castle to nobleman Jan of Vartemberk in 1311, but his son, Margrave of Moravia Charles (later Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV), received the property as a debt settlement in 1335. Charles´ younger brother, Margrave Jan Jindřich (John Henry), then took a fancy for Veveří Castle. He was responsible for the building of its rear part with two towers and an outer ward. In the central area around the keep, he developed the main palace, which included a large hall and the Chapel of St. Prokop (later of St. Wenceslaus). The present appearance of the compound is the result of these building activities, giving the castle its basic silhouette of a medieval fortress.

And from the Czech Tourism web site:

For several centuries treasure hunters have taken turns in the Moravian castle Veveří near Brno. Legend has it that the Templars of France brought their valuables right there after the liquidation of the order in 1307. The treasure of the guardians of the biggest secrets of human history, however, has not been found to this day. Recent research on Veveří, though, has confirmed the existence of an underground space under the church near the castle and assumes their secret connection.According to mystery experts, there is a cipher of the name Molay, the last Grand Master of the Templar Order, above the entrance to the church.

One of the most important politicians of the 20th century is also connected with the Veveří castle. Winston Churchill stayed there three times with his friend, the former owner of the castle Baron de Foresta.

Quite a good place to row to!

Training wise this was 12km in the UT1 HR band.

By sanderroosendaal • Uncategorized • 2 • Tags: lake, OTW, river, rowing, single, steady state, training

Oct 30 2015

Some deliveries, rowing, strength training

Some deliveries

My sportgraphics.com photos arrived and I picked them up yesterday. Last week I received an email from the Czech Post, telling me that my merchandise from the US had arrived and that they could do the customs for me if I mailed them the original invoice. So I did. Due to travel and public holidays, it wasn’t until yesterday that I could pick up the parcel.

It’s a framed picture of Romana and I doing our Mixed 2x in Hazewinkel and it will be a birthday present. The only downside is that Czech Post also charged VAT over the delivery costs … not sure if that is correct. Well, I discovered way to late to protest.

On Wednesday, Romana and I were discussing the resistance bands for strength training and in an impulse I ordered these ones from Amazon.co.uk. The German Amazon appears to have a lower quality German rip-off of the originals, so I ended up going to Amazon.co.uk. While I was there I also threw in the 2nd edition of Rowing Faster and clicked on next day delivery, which seems to be very reasonably priced on the UK Amazon, compared to the German Amazon.

The bands and the book were delivered to our neighbours yesterday. My sons immediately got hold of the bands and started to play/exercise with them. The idea is that I throw one or two bands and a door anchor in my luggage and I can do a hotel room workout. The other use is to have a “home gym” without having to create a weights room. We’ll see how it works out. The price is much more pleasant than the TRX stuff that is popular with the big guys in my rowing club, so the decision wasn’t that hard. I am only regretting a bit that I went for the anti-snap handles, instead of the bands that connect to the handles with carabiners, which seems a bit more foldable and flexible to me, especially if you want to combine two or more bands to one handle.

Wednesday being a public holiday, I am taking Thursday and Friday off to relax. The original plan was to go to the mountains and do some hiking and mountainbiking, but we decided to skip the longish drive and enjoy a few lazy days at home. After writing up this blog, I will relax on the couch and read Rowing Faster.

After breakfast we headed to the rowing club and I did two sessions, a 40 minute extensive row in the single and a strength session.

Row

Perfect conditions:

After the many reactions to yesterday’s blog, I decided to do a few tests, so I added a few 15 stroke pushes at >30spm to the session. I am glad to say that something of a double peak appears on my RIM analyses at higher stroke rates:

Strength Session

Three rounds in the rowing club weights room:

Lat pull
Bench press
Row
Back
Sit ups
Bench Press
Biceps curl
Bench pull
Squat
Push ups

I had to guess the weights a bit, as this was with free weights which is different than the hotel gym system. If I managed less than 10 repeats in the first round, I lowered the weight for round two. If I underestimated my own strength (pah!) and easily managed the 15 repeats, I increased the weight for the second round.

As the girls were still working out, I played a bit with the bodylastics bands and tried to find the equivalent exercises using the bands, and determine which band strength is the one to throw in my travel bag. The exercise were of course slightly different, but I am confident I can create a demanding strength workout using them.

By sanderroosendaal • Uncategorized • 0 • Tags: OTW, rowing, single, strength, training

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rowing

From Trabant to Ferrari – testing

A run in the sun

Low SPM OTW training

15k recovery boring row and flu shot question

Waterfall After Dinner

Rowing in a Dream

Some deliveries, rowing, strength training

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