Dec 8 2016
Well, that was a little disappointing. On the Concept2 logbook, I noticed that a 22km row would bring me just above 100k during the Holiday Challenge.
I almost dialed up a 22km row, but then I decided to just do a Just Row. I have a slightly sore throat. Not feeling the usual 110%.
Heart rate climbed faster than expected, so I reset my expectations to do a normal 15km.
Gliding scale thing. I stopped after 10km, paddled out to 11km and that was it.
Dec 6 2016
No training on Monday.
And today, another staple 15km of steady state. This time I did it as a 3x5km/1min rest interval workout. Outside temperature was -1C, but in my rowing basement it was a comfortable 6C.
Workout Summary - media/20161206-2005090o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|15317|64:04.0|02:05.5|191.9|21.5|161.6|175.0|11.1
W-|15000|61:04.0|02:02.2|194.9|21.5|161.9|175.0|11.4
R-|00320|03:00.0|04:41.6|076.8|19.8|151.5|175.0|01.4
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|05000|20:19.4|02:01.9|192.4|21.2|153.5|163.0|11.6
02|05000|20:18.3|02:01.8|195.4|21.3|164.7|173.0|11.6
03|05000|20:27.1|02:02.7|196.9|22.0|167.6|175.0|11.1
I had to stop in the last interval because the playlist ended with 3.5km to go. I figured it was better to start a new playlist than to row in silence. I have turned around the erg (Romana’s wish). The positive thing is that the cold outside air is now near the flywheel and my back is towards the inside of the house, which is good for preventing backpain. The downside is that the radio is not any more an arm reach from the erg. With the old setup, I could switch from bluetooth mode (playlist played from phone) to radio within one recovery. Now I have to get up.
I looked at the plot for Average/Peak Force ratio and it shows some interesting oscillations. I was wondering what this is, so here is the plot for the peak and average force.
It looks like the main variations are in the peak force.
Drive length doesn’t seem to depend on stroke rate, but again looking at the metric vs distance is interesting:
Definitely looks like some fatigue setting in, leading to shorter drives. And here is the reason why this is bad:
The shorter the drive length, the less energy in the stroke. This is a pretty good example of a strong correlation.
It’s fun to look at these data. My power histogram over this erg season is starting to show a strong steady state component:
Dec 4 2016
I was moved by a tribute video made for Michal Plocek, the 22 year old rowing talent who ended his life a week ago:
Michal Plocek Tribute – R.I.P from Bastian Faralisch on Vimeo.
I think the video catches very well what a tragic loss this is. Doing my steady state row of today, I had a lot of time to think about it. The Czech media and the Czech rowing community gossip is full of information around his death and I am unqualified to distinguish between facts and lies.
Still, this tragedy forces us to think about what we are doing, in our clubs, as coaches, as masters rowers, as members of club boards, to prevent. In my mind, whatever we do in rowing, building a positive community with love for the sport and being part of a team should come first, and winning races should be a result of a positive experience rather than the end goal. Sports clubs are one of the few places where the generations are not segregated and as rowing adults we may be role models, and we cannot deny that we may have a small influence on young people, and by enforcing the importance of good results in school, a positive attitude in life, or, in general, by making your rowing club a place where young people can build self confidence.
I am not and have never been a world class athlete. But still I think that rowing has taught me some very important skills that have helped make me the person I am, and I am grateful to my coaches and team mates for that. Rowing and sport have become a life long addiction for me, and I am reaping the benefits of that every day.
We should also be aware that sometimes people have such big struggles, that even though we try to be there and be positive, we cannot prevent a tragedy. There is only so much an individual can do, and it can make the difference, but sometimes it doesn’t, sadly.
So these were my thoughts during a 19km steady state row, rowed as 4km/3km/2km/1km/2km/3km/4km at 20/21/22/23/22/21/22 spm:
Workout Summary - media/20161204-1540090o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|19000|78:30.0|02:04.0|185.4|21.2|157.9|169.0|11.4
W-|19000|78:31.0|02:04.0|185.1|21.1|157.7|169.0|11.5
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|169.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|01000|04:07.2|02:03.6|180.3|20.2|130.0|140.0|12.0
02|01000|04:10.2|02:05.1|179.8|20.2|142.9|151.0|11.8
03|01000|04:07.0|02:03.5|184.7|20.4|146.8|153.0|11.9
04|01000|04:07.0|02:03.5|185.7|20.2|151.0|154.0|12.0
05|01000|04:05.3|02:02.7|189.8|21.0|155.7|158.0|11.7
06|01000|04:04.7|02:02.4|190.9|21.1|158.6|161.0|11.6
07|01000|04:05.8|02:02.9|188.5|21.2|159.8|163.0|11.5
08|01000|04:02.7|02:01.4|195.8|22.1|162.6|165.0|11.2
09|01000|04:02.3|02:01.1|197.0|22.2|164.0|166.0|11.2
10|01000|04:00.9|02:00.5|200.0|23.0|166.3|168.0|10.8
11|01000|04:03.3|02:01.7|194.5|22.4|166.6|168.0|11.0
12|01000|04:03.8|02:01.9|193.1|22.3|166.6|169.0|11.0
13|01000|04:08.0|02:04.0|183.6|21.3|163.1|166.0|11.3
14|01000|04:09.2|02:04.6|181.0|21.5|162.9|165.0|11.2
15|01000|04:09.7|02:04.8|180.0|21.2|162.5|165.0|11.4
16|01000|04:12.2|02:06.1|174.6|20.6|161.3|164.0|11.6
17|01000|04:13.2|02:06.6|172.6|20.4|160.1|162.0|11.6
18|01000|04:27.6|02:13.8|170.4|20.1|155.8|160.0|11.2 - change radio station
19|01000|04:11.0|02:05.5|177.1|20.8|159.9|162.0|11.5
Steady State does give you time to think.
Lactate measurement at the end: 1.3 mmol/L. Rate of perceived exertion: Time flew by.
Dec 2 2016
Thursday
I arrived around midnight on Wednesday night, and the last 2 hours of my travel was in a car through a snow storm.
I was tired form the trip.
I had a lot of things to do.
I didn’t feel 100%. The feeling that a cold is sneaking upon you.
I knew Thursday would be my only opportunity to finish implementing the Empower Oarlock data visualization on rowsandall.com.
So I decided to skip the training and spent the evening implementing, testing and debugging Empower Oarlock data. All of you who already own this great oarlock, I invite you to register, upload the CSV file that you can export from the LiNK software and start playing.
I cannot show you any pictures, as I don’t have my own data yet. Also, you may find a few undiscovered bugs. In that case, drop me a line please. Apart from bringing power based training to OTW rowing, the oarlock records a bunch of other useful data, and I am really excited about visualizing these data for you.
Friday
Managed to get all my work work done by 4pm and drove home quickly for a Steady State workout. This time, I chose a 2000/1750/1500/1250/1000/1000/1250/1500/1750/2000 format which is exactly 15km and a bit over an hour in my version:
Workout Summary - media/20161202-1630100o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|15000|61:46.0|02:03.5|189.6|20.1|159.1|176.0|12.1
W-|15000|61:46.0|02:03.6|188.6|20.0|158.3|176.0|12.2
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|176.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|02000|08:53.4|02:13.4|163.9|18.2|116.5|140.0|12.3
02|01750|07:12.3|02:03.5|185.7|19.4|147.7|157.0|12.5
03|01500|06:04.6|02:01.5|195.0|20.2|157.3|162.0|12.2
04|01250|05:01.8|02:00.7|198.8|21.2|162.2|164.0|11.7
05|01000|03:55.8|01:57.9|213.8|22.2|169.0|172.0|11.4
06|01000|03:58.3|01:59.1|206.8|22.2|170.0|171.0|11.3
07|01250|05:01.2|02:00.5|200.2|21.2|171.8|173.0|11.7
08|01500|06:07.0|02:02.3|191.3|20.4|170.4|174.0|12.0
09|01750|07:10.2|02:02.9|188.6|19.5|172.5|175.0|12.5
10|02000|08:22.3|02:05.6|177.0|18.8|170.3|176.0|12.7
I rowed this as a “Just Row” on the erg, using Painsled to record the data and send it to workouts @ rowsandall.com, and rowsandall.com to split this up in the right segments after the row.
And here are the plots:
I ended at a slightly higher Work Per Stroke (“SPI”) than I started. All in all I am happy with the workout, even though I found the heart rates a bit on the high side.
Nov 29 2016
Monday
I slept badly from Sunday to Monday and thus I was a bit tired when I started the row in the evening. I settled for a short, light, recovery row.
Today, I am travelling to Brussels on a business trip. When I landed in Brussels, Romana called me to tell me the shocking news of the death of Michal Plocek, a very talented Czech single sculler. They found him on Monday evening at the boat house of the Prague rowing club Dukla. I didn’t know him personally but I saw him at races, and he was a talented rower and a very nice guy.
There are speculations in the media (which are very rapidly jumping to conclusions as usual) and apparently the police is investigating the death.
Let me just say that it is a big loss to the Czech rowing community, and a huge and tragic loss to his family and friends.
Nov 22 2016
This is going to be a hard week to row according to my training plan. Both my boss and my former boss are in town. Yesterday, a full day with my boss and his team, followed by a dinner.
Today was a normal day. But tomorrow, I will have dinner with my former boss and his wife, and a few other colleagues, to celebrate is retirement. And on Thursday I will go to a concert.
As usual after a later dinner, I didn’t sleep well. So when it was time to do my steady state workout this evening, I was tired and not motivated. Still managed to row 12.5km.
I have also worked a bit on the performance of the rowsandall.com site. I can now make a plot of all my strokes over the past year, without crashing the site:
Yes, that’s all strokes rowed on the erg in the past 365 days.
Dec 11 2016
Holiday Challenge
We had a social event at the rowing club yesterday evening, the annual December party for the parents of the kids, combined with the official publication of the new Nude Calendar 2017 that our elite men made. It was a fun night. I believe that we decided to do a “nude rowing parents” calendar, and I hope everybody realizes that we were just kidding. As usual in this day and age, the photos are already on the internet:
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Woke up with a sore throat. I guess the party didn’t help.
Well, it gave me an excuse to take it easy today. I did a 1km warming up and then dialed up a 10k. That would just bring me over the threshold for the Concept 2 Holiday Challenge:
Concept2 will donate for every km rowed.
The row itself was fun. I let the stroke rate figure out itself and fell into a 23spm groove. Heart rate stayed low, so I guess I cannot use my man flu excuse any more.
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By sanderroosendaal • Uncategorized • 0 • Tags: concept2, erg, OTE, rowing, steady state, training