steady state

Today, I quickly packed my rowing bag before going to work. Actually, it was more throwing out than packing in. I admit that I didn’t touch my sports bag on Sunday and enjoyed a nice day off. I got messages from the lake about the perfect flat water, but I successfully ignored them. I had some work around the house, some groceries, some blog writing, and some other work to do.

But today I would get the boat from the trailer and take it for a steady state row. So that is why I packed that bag.

At the rowing club, I discovered I had forgotten to pack my Tickr X heart rate belt. This belt usually stays in the red rowing bag, except when I travel for work or, as last weekend, I travel with two bags. I picked my “broken” Tickr to use it with the Garmin watch (over ANT+) and then do data fusion later. However, it turns out the heart rate data were so erratic that I decided not to use them.

During the row, I focused on minimizing “Wash”. For this metric, lower is better, because it is essential the length of the final part of the drive where the force falls below 100N. For me, this has a lot to do with sitting in a strong, straight position at the catch. When I get that right, I have a powerful stroke which goes all the way to the finish. When I have a more bent back, a “C”, it is more difficult to hold the force/power and thus my “wash” value increases.

The graph shows the values over the entire duration of the row. It is quite erratic, but on the SpeedCoach direct feedback, I could concentrate and get numbers below 14 degrees, and when I didn’t focus, the number went up to above 14 degrees. I really like how you can use the technique metrics to add focus to your workout.

The training plan just said: “12km steady state at 20spm”. I decided to do rate ladders with a 20spm average. It’s almost the same but gives a few short sections with a higher stroke rate, just to get used to that head race pace.

I trained in the morning and I was a little time pressed, so when I discovered that the Wahoo Tickr didn’t pair with the SpeedCoach, and also not with the Garmin, I didn’t go back to the locker room to get the new Tickr X, but just pushed the boat off the dock and rowed without the heart rate belt.

It was pretty windy, so there is a lot of difference between the two rowing directions on the lake. In the last ladder I did a ‘head race start’ and tried to find that “light” stroke at 29spm. I think I am still rowing a bit too heavy.

Work per stroke is a bit higher than on my last 6k trial, in the high rate pieces.

I wonder why the Tickr was dead. I recently replaced the battery. Probably, Saturday’s issues with the SpeedCoach were also due to a low battery on the Tickr, so I will revert to my new Tickr X for the rest of the week. Except for Saturday’s race. I will row that one with an unmeasured heart.

Tomorrow: 5×5’/4′ at 22, 24, 26, 28 and 30spm.

This was just a very nice morning at the rowing club. Arrived at 9:30, in time for my son’s training time. Lenka helped me swap the oarlock pins on my single for better ones. Since I have backstays, I need the screw-thread on the top of the pin to be longer for all the bolts to fit on nicely. So that is now the case.

Then I took the single for this year’s first row on the lake.

Here is the graph from rowsandall.com:

During the row, I had set the SpeedCoach monitor to the most basic parameters you can have: Stroke Rate, Pace, Distance and Elapsed Time. I just focused on rowing. It was nice weather. This was a 12km steady state. I was tired from the week in Račice, and I didn’t feel like focusing on complex parameters.

The Empower Oarlock magnet moved a bit during the row. Even though I had screwed it tight. I suspect that the new pins are a bit greasy. This made the catch and finish angle measurements unusable, but all the other metrics are still valid. I leave it as an exercise to the reader to spot the headwind and tailwind segments. As a hint, the nearest airport (16km) reported 3kt wind from the North.

After the row, I took out our double and rigged it. It was nice to stand in the sun, mess around with a double, and chat with the other rowers.

I fell asleep in my chair while trying to process my workout. I guess I have some lack of sleep and accumulated fatigue.

I hope to persuade Romana to go for a technique outing in the double, followed by a sauna session. By the way, Romana was in Pardubice today to do rowing trainers’ exams. She passed. Yay! Now she is officially certified.