single

8x500b

Jul 27 2015

Pete Plan 8x500m in the single

At 6:15 in the morning. In 14 degrees C and rain. Light wind. No chop, good conditions.

After yesterday’s CTC, Romana and I made a short bike tour. We were on away for three hours. I felt the tiredness in my upper legs this morning and decided to go for a “not full out” 8x500m.

But I wanted to be under 2 minutes for each interval. It was difficult to hold in intervals 4, 5 and 6. Especially #5 was difficult, because of a sudden increase in the headwind. Still, it is interesting how this arbitrary target works. I ended up working much harder in the headwind intervals but it actually made me feel less tired. Interval #8 was an attempt to empty the tanks.

The stats show only part of the warming up. CrewNerd was misbehaving. After about 1200m of rowing (according the Garmin and according to experience) it showed 1500m and the pace was jumping between 1:30 and 2:50. I quit the app and reset it.

All 500s were with a running start.


|Dist_|Time_|Pace__|_SPM__|avg HR|max HR|DPS|Remarks
|00753|05:00|03:19.1| 19.7 | 132 | 153 |07.6|part of warming up
|00499|01:59|01:59.1| 26.9 | 153 | 166 |09.4|#1 tailwind
|00583|03:00|02:34.4| 18.4 | 141 | 167 |10.6|
|00498|01:59|01:59.4| 26.9 | 159 | 168 |09.3|#2
|00545|03:00|02:45.3| 18.0 | 140 | 168 |10.1|
|00500|01:59|01:59.0| 27.9 | 161 | 172 |09.0|#3
|00478|03:00|03:08.2| 18.4 | 142 | 171 |08.7|
|00500|02:00|02:00.1| 28.7 | 164 | 174 |08.7|#4 headwind
|00487|03:00|03:04.8| 17.9 | 143 | 174 |09.1|
|00499|02:04|02:04.1| 28.7 | 165 | 175 |08.4|#5
|00506|03:00|02:57.9| 18.4 | 146 | 175 |09.2|
|00499|02:01|02:01.2| 28.8 | 165 | 173 |08.6|#6
|00473|03:00|03:10.1| 19.2 | 146 | 173 |08.2|
|00499|01:58|01:58.3| 28.7 | 164 | 173 |08.9|#7 tailwind
|00503|03:00|02:59.1| 18.5 | 145 | 173 |09.1|
|00500|01:53|01:53.1| 31.2 | 168 | 176 |08.5|#8
|02056|12:16|02:59.0| 18.8 | 136 | 177 |08.9|cooling down

Summary:

dist_____|time_____|_pace___|_HR__|_SPM__|_DPS|comment
0753_____|_05:00____|_3:19.1|132|19.7|7.6|warmup
3994_____|_15:53____|_1:59.3|162|28.5|8.8|Main set
2056_____|_12:16____|_2:59.0|136|18.8|8.9|Cool down
3574_____|_21:00____|_2:56.3|143|18.4|9.3|rest meters
10377____|_54:09____|_2:36.5|147|20.9|9.2|_Total

8x500b

8x500

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dubbelzaterdag

Jul 25 2015

Last week: Party Time and Rowing

Monday

No rowing. Lots of stuff to do at work.

Tuesday

Long day at work, then to the rowing club to remove the boats from the trailer and rig them.

We had an unpleasant experience with our Wintech quad on Sunday afternoon. After Romana’s race in it, somebody informed us that some rowers from another club (not necessary to name them here) had bumped into our quad with theirs. Apparently the metal rudder construction on the hull had bumped into our boat.

We checked and discovered a nasty hole, so we went to ask the people involved.

Well, we got shouted at. Apparently it wasn’t “sportive” that we wanted them to take their responsibility for the damage. According to them our boat was in a stupid place (it was on the rack just below their boat), these things happen and it is absolutely normal that people damage other people’s boats at races and walk away without mentioning it.

The lady kept shouting at us, and wanted to give us 300 Kc for the repair “because we were so unpleasant”. We refused the 300 Kc (about 15 USD) and I went to see the race organizer.

The race organizer was very helpful, and suggested ways to resolve this if the club of the lady wouldn’t cooperate. Luckily, when I returned from that discussion, an official from that club had already approached us, apologized for the behaviour of the unpleasant lady, and offered that they pay for the repair.

So on Tuesday we were discussing the next steps. We would have to contact the Wintech rep and ask her how to carry out the repairs, to make sure the repair doesn’t impact the warranty we have on the boat, which is half a year old.

Then we opened the beer tap and fired the barbecue and had a splendid evening, celebrating the many medals our club has won in the past weekend.

Wednesday, Thursday

Alarm clock at 3am for the travel to Toulouse. Meetings in Toulouse on Wednesday and Thursday morning. Nice dinner in the town of Blagnac.

This week is turning into a rowing vacation. Not bad, relaxes the rowing mind. Also, I have a lot of work to do this week, with some deadlines coming up by the end of the month.

Friday

I couldn’t row in the early morning because of work and some car related stuff (needed to get a new battery), so I had to do it in the afternoon after work.

35 degrees C. On Friday afternoon. On such days, our lake turns into a giant swimming pool.

I took the single, and Romana went on a quad with a few ladies. Because of a logistics problem around my water bottle, I had to row without taking water with me. I did a leisurely 10km on the single. Nice rowing. Swimmers to the left, swimmers to the right. Inflatable boats. Pedal boats. Paddle boards. Kayaks. Fun. This time, I didn’t mind too much, made constant use of my mirror as well as turning my head, and slalomed between the other people.

skifvrijdag

Stroke rate around 20spm.

Back at the club, I drank a lot of water, gave my single a wash and then jumped into the lake, waiting for Romana and her quad to come back. The water in the lake was perfect, clear and a nice temperature, like swimming in a lukewarm bath.

The quad ladies arrived and joined me swimming.

Then we all hopped in the car and drove around the lake to the other rowing club. My double partner Radek was throwing a birthday party on his club. It was very nice. One of his friends is a good singer, so first she gave us a concert of two ladies singing slightly jazzy songs, accompanied by a good guitarists. Then she turned into Alanis Morissette (even looks a bit like her) and her band turned into an Alanis Morissette revival band.

In the mean time I had a few beers, some meat from the barbecue, some salad. Nice talking to friends, and looking over the lake from the other side. A nice change of perspective.

We left quite late. There was some (quite stupid) drunk naked swimming going on when we left (I wasn’t involved).

Saturday

Morning row to the castle, in the double with Romana. We saw something floating in the lake but luckily it wasn’t a drowned drunk swimmer.

We did steady state again but made it interesting by
a) rowing to the castle and beyond
b) doing Pete Plan rate ladders

dubbelzaterdag

Tomorrow: July CTC.

I made a plan that starts on Monday and ends on the World Rowing Masters Regatta in Hazewinkel.

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3x5x30a

Jul 9 2015

Thursday: Chop = Slow Splits but useful training

5:00 – up and drive to Prague.  Covered the 200km in 2 hours roughly. Good. At km 87 a standing truck in the left lane. Managed to switch lane smoothly but if there would have been a car next to me, I would have had to break hard, and you never know if the guy behind you isn’t making a phone call or texting, or sipping a coffee. Not pleasant.

Meetings in Prague. Left around 3pm. Made it to the rowing club at 7pm. Lots of traffic jams. Tired.

Windy. Chop.

The plan: 3x(5×30″)/8min rest. (1) 30″ 34spm / 30″ rest. (2) 30″ 36spm / 45″ rest. (3) 30″ 38spm / 60″ rest.

Here’s the summary. In the remarks column I put what CrewNerd told me, because at these short intervals it differs slightly from the spreadsheet analysis.

| Dist_ | Pace__ | _SPM | avg HR | max HR | DPS | Remarks
| 01969 | 02:57.7 | 19.0 | 144 | 162 | 08.9 | WU
| 00139 | 01:48.0 | 32.9 | 140 | 169 | 08.5 | 34spm #1 (31.9 / 1:48.5)
| 00108 | 02:23.3 | 21.4 | 170 | 172 | 09.8 | rest
| 00134 | 01:44.3 | 33.1 | 173 | 177 | 08.7 | 34 spm #2 (33.9 / 1:43.8)
| 00110 | 02:21.0 | 21.2 | 177 | 179 | 10.0 | rest
| 00130 | 01:51.4 | 32.7 | 176 | 179 | 08.2 | 34spm #3 (33.9 / 1:47.5)
| 00103 | 02:30.2 | 21.4 | 177 | 180 | 09.3 | rest
| 00130 | 01:55.3 | 33.3 | 175 | 179 | 07.8 | 34spm #4 (33.9 / 1:50.7)
| 00102 | 02:31.8 | 21.3 | 176 | 179 | 09.3 | rest
| 00127 | 01:54.3 | 32.2 | 175 | 178 | 08.1 | 34spm #5 (32.0 / 1:52.9)
| 01363 | 02:56.1 | 18.9 | 144 | 178 | 09.0 | rest 8min
| 00133 | 01:52.9 | 33.7 | 165 | 175 | 07.9 | 36spm #1 (33.9 / 1:52.1)
| 00151 | 02:32.3 | 22.2 | 174 | 178 | 08.9 | rest
| 00126 | 01:54.9 | 34.4 | 175 | 181 | 07.6 | 36spm #2 (33.9 / 1:53.2)
| 00126 | 03:02.1 | 20.7 | 177 | 181 | 08.0 | rest
| 00129 | 01:56.7 | 34.4 | 177 | 180 | 07.5 | 36spm #3 (33.9 / 1:56.4)
| 00134 | 02:47.4 | 20.5 | 177 | 181 | 08.8 | rest
| 00133 | 01:52.5 | 34.7 | 176 | 180 | 07.7 | 36spm #4 (35.9 / 1:52.3)
| 00122 | 03:09.2 | 19.1 | 177 | 182 | 08.3 | rest
| 00125 | 01:55.7 | 35.0 | 176 | 180 | 07.4 | 36spm #5 (33.9 / 1:58.9)
| 01301 | 03:04.0 | 19.4 | 150 | 181 | 08.4 | 8 min rest
| 00149 | 01:44.3 | 35.5 | 169 | 176 | 08.1 | 38spm #1 (35.9 / 1:43.1)
| 00203 | 02:27.5 | 22.0 | 174 | 177 | 09.2 | rest
| 00137 | 01:49.4 | 35.3 | 175 | 179 | 07.8 | 38spm #2 (35.9 / 1:49.4)
| 00185 | 02:42.4 | 20.5 | 174 | 180 | 09.0 | rest
| 00137 | 01:49.8 | 35.3 | 174 | 179 | 07.7 | 38spm #3 (35.9 /1:49.0)
| 00178 | 02:48.1 | 20.3 | 174 | 179 | 08.8 | rest
| 00124 | 02:01.3 | 34.5 | 172 | 178 | 07.2 | 38spm #4 ( (35.9 / 1:49.8)
| 00181 | 02:48.4 | 19.6 | 173 | 179 | 09.1 | rest
| 00131 | 01:50.3 | 36.7 | 173 | 179 | 07.4 | 38spm #5 (37.9 / 1:49.0)
| 00907 | 03:41.7 | 19.4 | 148 | 179 | 07.0 | CD

First set of 5×30″ was done with tailwind and increasing chop. Second set of 5×30″ in headwind and decreasing chop. Final set in tailwind and increasing chop.

What do I mean by that?

The north end of the lake was wind from the north and medium chop. The south end was wind from the same direction, but heavy chop. So in the first set, as the intervals progressed I entered more difficult water to row. I turned with about 2 minutes rest to go, and started doing the 36spm intervals into headwind. Last set was again rowed with tailwind.

Chop doesn’t speed you up. It was good exercise though to row in the rough at high rates. I imagined an end sprint situation at next week’s Masters Nationals, where there can be the same difficult conditions.

Related to my post of yesterday, I have been thinking a bit about effects which could explain why a “pull on the recovery” combined with a prominent and fast catch help the boat speeds. One hypothesis is about drag and boundary layers, combined with the rocking or tilting of the boat … which also could explain slowing down in choppy conditions, as I saw waves going over the deck regularly. Just a hypothesis for now. Perhaps the slowing down in choppy conditions is just due to balance and precision difficulties …

3x5x30b

3x5x30a

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3x5x30a

Jun 30 2015

Monday: Another typical On The Water workout

There would be no point in doing this on the ergometer. This one is really about getting used to high stroke rates in real conditions (wind, waves, chop, traffic, buoys, and wake). Anybody can get up to 40spm on the erg, but getting good boat speed at 38spm in a single is more difficult.

This is another one from my personal list of interesting workouts that I collected over the years. It says:

3x(5×30″)/R8 (1) 30″/30″ @36spm, (2) 30″/45″ @ 38spm, (3) 30″/60″ @40spm

So three sets of 5 times 30 seconds of hard work, with mini rests that get longer for the higher stroke rates. Eight minutes rest between the sets. This is the first time I am doing it this season and I am not sure whether the stroke rates weren’t originally intended for the double or even the quad, so I lowered the target spm by 2.

The conditions: Alternating sun and a few drops of rain, light wind from the north (the nearby weather stations reported something else but in this hill country a weather station 5km away on the other side of the hill can report something entirely different), about 24 degrees C.

Warming up was uneventful. I did 3 10 stroke bursts at slightly higher stroke rate than my normal “warming up” bursts, and I took 3km of warming up instead of 2.

The first set was with slight tailwind, the second set with headwind and the final set with tailwind again. In the first interval of the second set, I had to suddenly steer in another direction because I was on a collision course with a tourist ferry. During the first set I thought I would not be able to survive the second and third sets, but the slightly longer rests combined by the fact that I really got used to the high rates were enough to save me.

Here are the data.

| Dist_ | Pace__ | _SPM | avg HR | max HR | DPS | Remarks
| 03161 | 02:38.6 | 20.1 | 136 | 169 | 09.4 | WU
| 00140 | 01:47.3 | 32.9 | 159 | 172 | 08.5 | 34spm #1 (32.0 / 1:46.2)
| 00136 | 01:50.1 | 33.3 | 174 | 180 | 08.2 | 34 spm #2 (33.9 / 1:48.1)
| 00133 | 01:52.7 | 32.8 | 176 | 182 | 08.1 | 34spm #3 (33.9 / 1:49.9)
| 00142 | 01:45.4 | 32.9 | 177 | 182 | 08.7 | 34spm #4 (34.0 / 1:42.2)
| 00139 | 01:48.2 | 33.0 | 176 | 182 | 08.4 | 34spm #5 (34.0 / 1:48.1)
| 01414 | 02:49.7 | 20.1 | 147 | 183 | 08.8 | rest 8min
| 00126 | 01:55.4 | 34.6 | 169 | 178 | 07.5 | 36spm #1 (34.0 / 1:54.7), steering
| 00137 | 01:49.5 | 34.8 | 176 | 181 | 07.9 | 36spm #2 (36.0 / 1:49.1)
| 00134 | 01:51.5 | 35.6 | 178 | 182 | 07.6 | 36spm #3 (36.0 / 1:48.7)
| 00143 | 01:48.1 | 34.3 | 177 | 183 | 08.1 | 36spm #4 (35.9 / 1:45.9)
| 00137 | 01:49.7 | 35.1 | 179 | 185 | 07.8 | 36spm #5 (33.9 / 1:48.7)
| 01425 | 02:48.4 | 19.6 | 152 | 186 | 09.1 | 8 min rest
| 00143 | 01:44.7 | 37.1 | 167 | 177 | 07.7 | 38spm #1 (38.0 / 1:43.0)
| 00145 | 01:46.7 | 36.4 | 174 | 179 | 07.7 | 38spm #2 (38.0 / 1:43.7)
| 00149 | 01:40.6 | 37.1 | 176 | 181 | 08.0 | 38spm #3 (37.9 / 1:39.1)
| 00140 | 01:47.0 | 36.6 | 176 | 183 | 07.7 | 38spm #4 ( (36.0 / 1:45.8)
| 00137 | 01:49.6 | 36.8 | 175 | 182 | 07.4 | 38spm #5 (37.9 / 1:45.7)
| 01916 | 02:59.3 | 20.1 | 155 | 184 | 08.3 | CD

I have removed the data for the mini rests as they are not interesting. In the comments I captured what CrewNerd reports me. In these short intervals it is slightly different from the excel spreadsheet. I guess it gives you a feel for the accuracy. The intervals were just 17 to 19 strokes long, and with one data point per second there are bound to be rounding errors.

Summary:

dist_____|time_____|_pace___|_HR__|_SPM__|_DPS|comment
3161_____|_16:43____|_2:38.6|136|20.1|9.4|warmup
2082_____|_07:31____|_1:48.3|174|34.9|8.0|Main set
1916_____|_11:27____|_2:59.3|155|20.1|8.3|Cool down
4553_____|_24:59____|_2:44.6|159|20.3|9.0|rest meters
11712____|_00:40____|_2:35.4|154|21.0|9.2|_Total

Happy with the paces achieved and even more happy with the stroke rates. During the 36spm and 38spm I really felt how I could work fast and still get reasonable stroke length.

3x5x30a

This evening a session in the quad and I may have to do a 5km on the erg immediately after it to keep my promise to do each and every CTC of this year.

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IMG_0318-0

Jun 27 2015

Saturday part 1: 7x1km

Thursday

Up at 3:20. To airport, catch flight to Brussels. Have Admin Board meeting (interesting part estimated to be around 3% of total content), lunch with board members (110% worth it but not for the sandwiches). Back to airport, catch flight to Vienna. Home at 21:45. Nobody there because Romana, Dominik & Lenka are at the Youth Nationals and Robin stays with my mother in law. 

Surprisingly, I didn’t find time for a training. 

Friday

At work. It dawned on me that I could have stayed the weekend in The Netherlands and visit some friends there … Next time plan better, Sander!

Afternoon training. The plan was to do Greg’s 7x1km in the double with Radek, but he is recovering from a cold. So we did 10k technique. Catch drills were very useful. 

Home to empty house. In bed early. 

Dominik made it to the semifinals by finishing third in his heat. Saturday’s semi will decide if he will row Final A or B on Sunday. 

Lenka in the double also progressed by being 4th by a bow ball. She will row today and has to be third or fourth to make final B and first or second to make final A. Fifth and sixth place don’t row on Sunday. 

Saturday part I

Up at 5:30 and drove to the club for the first workout. 7x1km done in 24/26/28/30/28/26/24 spm. 

2000m warming up. I wasn’t sure about the rest intervals so I dialed up 3:00 rest. Turns out I should’ve used a longer rest interval. 

Flat water. A slight breeze from the north causing ripples but no chop. Intervals 1, 2, 4, and 6 were rowed in the tailwind. All intervals from standing race start. 

 Data will follow later. Somehow the image upload refuses service this morning in the mobile WordPress app. 

The first 28spm and the 30spm were rowed in 4:00. I lightened up on the pressure in the 30spm interval as I was getting tired and wanted to hit the prescribed stroke rates. Did I say I took very short rests? I barely rowed 250m, then turned around, a quick sip of water and then there were barely 15 seconds left to the starting command.   

Session total 12km. 

Now I am stretching in the gym and waiting for the mixed quad to arrive. A short row and then to the train station to catch a train to Prague and on to the race track. 

 
  

  

  

  

  

  

        

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cheops

Jun 25 2015

Pyramid better than expected

A busy day at work. In the morning a visit from a new Vice President. In the afternoon an interview with a major Czech newspaper. The interview went well, but these things are draining. Our communications guy later told me this lady regularly does interviews with prime ministers and the likes. Glad I didn’t know it beforehand.

Anyway, I arrived at the lake tired and uninspired. This is a problem, because my training plan has a fixed set of workout types per week (steady state, intervals, race prep, etc) but I decide on the spot what kind of workout I will do, depending on how I feel and what I have done earlier in the week. My week starting on Monday, I usually do short intervals on that day, but this week that had been  a fierce low rate row. I was hesitating between “long” intervals and “short” intervals.

First thing I did was checking the juniors and men’s training schedule on the notice board in the changing room. Hm, the Juniors had a 3x2km/2km rest at 24/26/28spm that seemed doable with my level of energy.

Unfortunately, when I launched I noticed that there was a sailing race going on in the bottom half of our lake. Doing 2kms would get me in the middle of the race in the final 750m. Rather not.

So I reverted to “Cheops”, the Pete Plan Pyramid session. But I allowed my self to rate down in the 750m and 1km sections.

No speed bursts during the warming up, just not feeling like it. Also, the weather was a transition between calm/cloudy and rainy,  with random wind speed and direction changes making it difficult to do anything  with decent form. Luckily, there was only a light chop.

The wind was still changing direction every 10 strokes or so, but it seemed to be calmer around Rokle,the upper part of our lake. So I dialled up the session on CrewNerd and started the first 250m with a race start. Start was good at 40spm, then quickly settling down for 30spm. Splits looking good at higher 1:40s or lower 1:50s.

About 15 strokes in I passed another single going in the other direction. It was my double partner Radek coming from Lodni Sporty. I wanted to discuss a training on Friday, so after the 250m I did a hard stop, stopped the session in CrewNerd, quick turn and rowed back to Rokle.

After that I knew of no other way to do the training than to restart the entire session. Well, I kind of enjoy those 250s anyway, so it wasn’t a big problem.

This time, with Radek on my tail, I managed a 1:49.0 average split at 32spm. Not bad.

Then a 500m from a rolling start. I focused on “swing” which enables me to keep the stroke rate high without too much effort. CrewNerd showed paces between 1:55 and 2:05 depending on the wind and reported a total time of 1:56.6 at 30spm, which I was happy with.

A few kids in sailing boats had ventured towards the 1000m mark, so I turned again to do the 750m towards Rokle. Doing this one in a calmer fashion, it turned out to be a 2:02.7 pace in 29spm.

Then the dreaded kilometer. I survived this one by counting strokes. One hundred and sixteen strokes at an average pace of 2:03.7, and 28spm.

The second 750m done in slightly calmer water but headwind. Again a 2:03.7 pace in 28spm.

I was now on the good side of the pyramid and as training usually does, my mental energy was slowly coming back to me. The 500m done in 1:58.6, 30spm and looking forward to the final 250m.

During the training the wind had definitely calmed down, and a few strokes before the start of the final 250m it started to rain heavily. I managed the 250m in 1:49.0 pace at 33spm, counting six sets of five strokes.

The rain was too cold so I had to stop and put on an additional layer before doing a cooling down.

cheops cheops2 cheops1

The spreadsheet gives slightly different paces than CrewNerd, which is caused by rounding errors.


|Start|Stop_|Dist_|Time_|Pace__|_SPM__|avg HR|max HR|DPS|Remarks
|00000|02056|02056|13:42|03:19.9| 17.9 | 123 | 145 |08.4|warming up
|02056|02306|00250|00:55|01:50.2| 31.5 | 146 | 170 |08.6|250m
|02306|02510|00205|04:01|09:49.2| 17.3 | 164 | 170 |02.9|chatting with Radek
|02510|02760|00250|00:54|01:48.0| 31.4 | 144 | 171 |08.8|250m
|02760|03010|00250|01:11|02:22.2| 20.7 | 165 | 172 |10.2|rest
|03010|03508|00499|01:57|01:57.3| 29.1 | 173 | 178 |08.8|500m
|03508|04019|00510|03:12|03:08.1| 18.6 | 149 | 177 |08.6|rest
|04019|04766|00747|03:03|02:02.5| 28.5 | 171 | 181 |08.6|750m
|04766|05540|00774|06:09|03:58.4| 17.2 | 138 | 180 |07.3|rest
|05540|06537|00997|04:07|02:03.8| 27.4 | 172 | 179 |08.8|1000m
|06537|07537|01000|05:38|02:49.0| 18.9 | 147 | 178 |09.4|rest
|07537|08285|00748|03:05|02:03.6| 27.8 | 174 | 180 |08.7|750m
|08285|09034|00749|04:59|03:19.7| 18.6 | 141 | 180 |08.1|rest
|09034|09532|00498|02:00|02:00.4| 28.5 | 166 | 178 |08.7|500m
|09532|10038|00506|02:46|02:44.1| 19.5 | 157 | 179 |09.4|rest
|10038|10287|00249|00:55|01:50.5| 31.3 | 166 | 176 |08.7|250m
|10287|11658|01371|08:45|03:11.5| 19.4 | 140 | 176 |08.1|cooling down

Summary stats:

dist_____|time_____|_pace___|_HR__|_SPM__|_DPS|comment
2056_____|_13:42____|_3:19.9|123|17.9|8.4|warmup
4238_____|_16:56____|_1:59.9|168|28.7|8.7|Main set
1371_____|_08:45____|_3:11.5|140|19.4|8.1|Cool down
3993_____|_27:56____|_3:29.9|148|18.3|7.7|rest meters
11658____|_07:19____|_2:53.2|147|20.5|8.5|_Total

Overall happy with having done this workout. Technique wasn’t bad.

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skif

Jun 22 2015

Fierce Steady State and a Tickle Story

Tickle Story

Sunday I did no training. The rowing club was closed because of long distance swimming championships, so we decided to make it a relax day.

Just a relax day, huh? Romana and I went to the spa resort that is close to the rowing club, and while driving there we were talking a bit about back pain and the back injury I had a few weeks ago. I have got feedback from different people that my back muscles are too tight and I should do something about it. Romana goes to massage regularly so she suggested I sign up for a massage session and see what that does.

OK.

Sounds like a good idea. I have been thinking about this already for a long time. Problem is, I am extremely ticklish. Always been. The other problem is that I have a pretty wide intimate space and always feel uncomfortable about unknown people entering it:

But it is time to bite the bullet. I am a fan of getting out of your comfort zone and I guess the only way to get over it is to learn how to deal with it when getting a back massage. I also imagined that if a sturdy masseur would work on my back it would rather hurt than tickle. I can handle pain.

So when we arrived I ordered that massage, and spent the time until my appointment by taking a sauna, then having a light lunch.

All relaxed and open to new experiences, I waited for the masseur to pick me up. Turns out the masseur was a she, a nice lady about half my age. I should have known. About all the staff in this resort is female and twenty-something.

This was a bit more out of my comfort zone than I expected.

Now I am normally not very prudish, but this was starting to get scary. Not to a normal person, but to me.

The lady asked me what I wanted to have massaged. I told her that I sometimes have problems with my back and would like to a massage. “OK,” she said. “Take off your sheet and lay down here.”

Again, I am normally not very prudish, but this also caught me by surprise. But after A, you have to be ready to say B. Right? So I did what she said. Slightly terrified now. And starting to sweat.

I am not an expert, but I have the feeling the massage was done well. She worked the muscles of my back thoroughly and I had the feeling I could relax and relieve the strain on those muscles. But of course there were moments where I would get a slight tickle response.

To me it was extremely controlled. Being my normal self, I would jump off the massage table, arms flailing and hysterically screaming. None of that. But of course I would not be relaxed.

The masseuse noticed of course. She “solved” it by saying “relax” in a soft voice, quite close to my ear. Right in that “intimate space” that I talked about above.

Anyway, probably much ado about nothing for normal people but it was quite an experience for me!

Still have to say that I did enjoy the massage and I do think I need to start seeing a masseur more regularly, but it will take time to get used to it and be comfortable with it.

Of course I told the whole story to Romana who just laughed.

Fierce steady state

Arriving at the lake this morning, the day starting at a chilly and humid 11C, I noticed that my temporary double partner Jiri was also launching. Usually, he starts his row when I am already cooling down, but today he had a lot of things to do and decided to start early.

We discussed a bit and discovered that both of us were doing steady state. Great. I like rowing next to somebody.

I knew there was a big risk that I would push too hard, but that I accepted that, and was actually looking forward to it. There has to be some fun in training as well, right?

Warming up and technique drills. Then off into a headwind for the first part of the steady state.

We were rowing next to each other and of course I was pushing a bit harder than normal. He’s 6:30 erg man, 82 kg heavy, so he should be fast. He gained half a length on my doing what I estimate to be 20spm. I was alternating 18/20/22spm in two minute intervals. He gained during the 18spm, but I gained back what I lost during the 22spm. Splits were faster than normal.

Turn at Sirka and same story back. He crabbed during the first 100m so he was rowing 30m behind me, but doing a 22spm he gained that back. At one point I looked at my phone and noticed I was doing 2:06 pace at 21spm!!

This continued all the way to Rokle where he finished one length ahead of me.

Silence for a minute or so. I took a glance at him and noticed he was breathing heavily, trying to disguise that. I was in a similar situation.

We commented that we had rowed 3km in a faster pace than on our 2km race of last weekend, at much much lower stroke rate. RIM Metrics look OK, I think.

| Dist_ | Time_ | Pace__ | _SPM | avg HR | max HR | DPS | Remarks
| 02247 | 11:32 | 02:34.0 | 16.5 | 129 | 141 | 11.8 | WU
| 00064 | 01:27 | 11:19.9 | 19.4 | 105 | 124 | 02.3 | headwind part starts
| 00420 | 02:01 | 02:23.9 | 18.8 | 138 | 151 | 11.1 |
| 00420 | 02:00 | 02:22.9 | 19.6 | 154 | 157 | 10.7 |
| 00431 | 02:00 | 02:19.1 | 20.9 | 161 | 166 | 10.3 |
| 00414 | 01:59 | 02:23.7 | 18.6 | 160 | 164 | 11.2 |
| 00430 | 02:01 | 02:20.7 | 19.7 | 160 | 162 | 10.8 |
| 00444 | 02:00 | 02:15.2 | 21.5 | 165 | 169 | 10.3 |
| 00419 | 02:00 | 02:23.1 | 18.7 | 163 | 169 | 11.2 |
| 00038 | 00:10 | 02:11.5 | 20.3 | 157 | 158 | 11.3 |
| 00062 | 00:48 | 06:28.7 | 19.2 | 151 | 157 | 04.0 | turn
| 00386 | 02:02 | 02:37.9 | 19.1 | 139 | 153 | 10.0 | tailwind part starts
| 00450 | 02:00 | 02:13.5 | 20.7 | 161 | 166 | 10.8 |
| 00440 | 02:00 | 02:16.4 | 20.7 | 166 | 169 | 10.6 |
| 00453 | 02:00 | 02:12.3 | 20.4 | 165 | 168 | 11.1 |
| 00471 | 02:00 | 02:07.3 | 22.4 | 171 | 174 | 10.5 |
| 00450 | 02:00 | 02:13.3 | 19.9 | 170 | 173 | 11.3 |
| 00433 | 02:00 | 02:18.7 | 21.8 | 169 | 170 | 09.9 |
| 00183 | 03:00 | 08:11.2 | 19.1 | 134 | 166 | 03.2 | turn
| 02047 | 10:04 | 02:27.5 | 19.1 | 154 | 164 | 10.7 | CD

chart

metrics

skif

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