steady state

figure_1-1

Jun 3 2016

Technique & Steady State

Worked from home today. By 4pm we all headed to the lake. In the morning it was damp and humid, gray weather but after lunch it cleared up.

With the races tomorrow, I was conscious not to hit any higher heart rates. So I just rowed and rowed. And rowed. And rowed. Twenty strokes per minute in the single:

Click here for a nice interactive plot of my row

Around 2:20 pace in the light tailwind, 2:30 pace in headwind.

I have been playing a bit with my rowing physics model today. Trying to get the calculation of corresponding ergometer power right. I am not there yet. Here is a plot of what I am trying to achieve:figure_1-1

Looking at my heart rate and how the row “feels”, I would say I was rowing at a pace that on the static ergometer is somewhere around 2:00 – 2:02. My calculations give me something between 1:55 and 2:00. I don’t know about you, but for me the difference between 2:00 and 1:55 is huge. And rowing at 1:58 on the erg, I definitely achieve higher heart rates. Being an experimental physicist by education, I have no ego problems admitting that I am in the stage where theory and experiment don’t match.

(The other explanation would be that I am a superior rower and lousy on the erg.)

Bill Atkinson has, very timely, started the discussion about internal energy dissipation in rowers on rec.sport.rowing. Also today, I received an email from Marinus van Holst mentioning that in anticipation of the Olympics, the Nederlandse Natuurkundige Vereniging (Dutch Physics Society) has devoted the June issue of its Tijdschrift voor de Natuurkunde (Dutch Journal of Physics) to Physics and Sports. Of course, being Dutch, they focus on swimming and speed skating, but still this was interesting enough to order a copy. (I am a member of this society but living abroad I don’t get the journal.)

I am very excited about this. Ultimately, when I have sorted the physics and found something that I understand and is correlating well between my humble OTW and OTE results, I want to offer the erg to water power calculations to the members who register on rowsandall.com.

Racing tomorrow. It’s not exactly Oxford vs Cambridge, but it’s the fourth year in a row of Piestany vs Brno vs Neratovice Masters Eights on the Moldau (Vltava) river in Prague. Sixteen Masters rowers will be disappointed. Eight Masters rowers will feel they own the universe. 🙂

 

 

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kasteel2

May 30 2016

Cleaning up and rate ladders

I normally prefer a rest day after races, but Tuesday is a travel day, so I decided to turn it around.

After work I headed to the rowing club. Everybody was already busy offloading boats from the trailers, giving them a wash and putting riggers on. It took me an hour to get the single and double ready. I am not sure if these things can be done faster. Personally I want to be precise, make sure that each bolt is tightened, all the covers are folded and put away, and also the washing is something I take time to do.

At 6pm I was ready and went for a row. A steady state row was on the menu, and I always like to spice these up by doing rate ladders. The rate ladders are also a good way to work on technique, in my mind. At 18spm, there is time enough to focus on each attention point. After a few minutes, you switch to 20spm. Just slightly faster so transferring the good stroke is not so difficult. After a few minutes, on to 22spm, then on to 24spm.

There was some chop on the lake. Nothing that would make it unrowable, but I fancied a change so I rowed up to the castle and back.

The water was brown. There has been a big thunderstorm two nights ago. Apparently the muddy water has now reached our lake.

http://rowsandall.com/rowers/workout/225 

kasteel2

 

Tomorrow: Travel

 

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figure_1-12

May 18 2016

Rate Ladders in the Single

I arrived at the lake early, and saw mirror flat water. Of course I launched at the usual after-school training time for all the juniors, so the lake was buzzing with shells and coach launches. The launches create waves which reflect off the shores, which makes for interesting, long standing waves. That’s different than rowing in chop. These buggers throw your single to the left, then to the right, then up, down, and back again.

I did a 2k warming up and then rate ladders. Four times 2/2/2/3/2/1 minutes in stroke rate 18/20/22/20/22/24. A very nice series. A bit shorter than one lake. One minute to turn on the lower end of the lake. A little longer on the long end, because I had this pre-programmed as 2x(2/2/2/3/2/1)/R1 in CrewNerd, and after one double lake I had to repeat the workout, which gave me some time to drink a bit.

My workout as hosted on rowsandall.com. Picture created from uploaded TCX file.

I have to market my own new site rowsandall.com a bit. The picture above was made fully automatically through that site and hosted there. It also can upload the row to the Concept2 (development) logbook, from which you can also import workouts. Here are the workout stats (note that the notion head/tailwind is very weak, there was hardly any wind today):
Workout Summary - 2016-05-18-1607.CSV
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|14252|68:29.0|02:19.7|21.0|151.4|157.2|10.2
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|01968| 09:59 |02:31.9|19.3|133.0|162.0|10.2 - warming up
02|00416| 02:00 |02:24.3|18.5|131.0|142.0|11.2 - headwind
03|00431| 02:00 |02:19.3|20.0|143.0|147.0|10.8
04|00422| 02:00 |02:22.2|22.0|147.0|153.0|09.6
05|00641| 03:00 |02:20.4|20.3|152.0|154.0|10.5
06|00441| 02:00 |02:15.9|22.0|155.0|161.0|10.0
07|00227| 01:00 |02:11.7|24.0|162.0|164.0|09.5
08|00411| 02:00 |02:26.2|19.0|138.0|147.0|10.8 - tailwind
09|00429| 02:00 |02:20.1|20.0|148.0|155.0|10.7
10|00443| 02:00 |02:15.6|21.5|156.0|160.0|10.3
11|00644| 03:00 |02:19.8|19.7|153.0|160.0|10.9
12|00452| 02:00 |02:12.6|22.5|158.0|164.0|10.0
13|00238| 01:00 |02:06.3|24.0|166.0|168.0|09.9
14|00398| 02:00 |02:30.8|18.5|140.0|147.0|10.8 - headwind
15|00424| 02:00 |02:21.7|21.0|154.0|159.0|10.1
16|00436| 02:00 |02:17.7|22.5|161.0|165.0|09.7
17|00634| 03:00 |02:22.1|20.7|160.0|164.0|10.2
18|00435| 02:00 |02:18.0|22.5|162.0|165.0|09.7
19|00224| 01:00 |02:13.6|24.0|164.0|165.0|09.3
20|00404| 02:00 |02:28.4|19.5|141.0|144.0|10.4 - tailwind
21|00420| 02:00 |02:23.1|20.0|149.0|153.0|10.5
22|00443| 02:00 |02:15.6|21.0|155.0|159.0|10.5
23|00638| 03:00 |02:21.1|19.3|153.0|159.0|11.0
24|00440| 02:00 |02:16.6|22.0|156.0|160.0|10.0
25|00231| 01:00 |02:10.2|24.0|161.0|165.0|09.6
26|01962| 10:30 |02:37.2|19.3|139.0|145.0|09.9 - cooling down

These one are from the desktop version of the same tool, but this can be added to the website. Also, I am thinking of adding my “patented” power calculations. One function that I am thinking of is calculating pace and power to “erg equivalent pace” for OTW workouts. I think that would be useful for comparison.

Here is the second plot from the desktop tool. I find it interesting to see how the meters/stroke dip every time I change rate.

figure_2

And finally, the pie chart.

figure_1-13

lake

Tomorrow a high rate interval workout in the eight.

 

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figure_1-2

Apr 22 2016

Another steady state row in the single

Not much to report. Except that the XGPS160 failures are starting to annoy me. The XGPS160 as an external GPS is good for two things:

  1. More accurate and frequent GPS updates – less need for smoothing, more lively pace feedback
  2. Save battery of cellphone

But having to reset the bloody thing twice during a training is a bit much. Looking at the data, I have been rowing half of it with a non-functioning XGPS160 anyway:

figure_1

Workout Summary - 2016-04-22-1645.CSV
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|11088|61:10.0|03:10.0|20.0|148.3|159.7|09.2
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|01955| 11:19 |02:51.7|19.3|139.0|155.0|09.1 | warming up
02|02870| 13:40 |02:21.4|19.8|148.0|159.0|10.7 | tailwind
03|00000| 02:43 |0000:00|20.2|147.0|161.0|00.0 | headwind, GPS off
04|02296| 12:27 |02:39.3|21.7|162.0|169.0|08.7 | headwind
05|02859| 14:33 |02:32.0|19.0|151.0|161.0|10.4 | tailwind
06|01108| 06:28 |02:51.8|20.2|143.0|153.0|08.7 | cooling down

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wind 002

Apr 20 2016

A windy outing

A quick row during the lunch hour. I did manage to take some wind speed measurements. It was very windy today. It was interesting to do the measurements. The device measures wind speed and show the instantaneous, average, and peak wind during the measurement.

  • First measurement: average 1.9 m/s with a peak of 3.7 m/s.
  • Second measurement: average 2.8 m/s with a peak of 3.8 m/s.
  • Third measurement: average 1.5 m/s with a peak of 2.4 m/s
  • Fourth measurement: average 1.9 m/s with a peak of 3.5 m/s
  • Final measurement (back on the dock): average 3.8 m/s with a peak of 6.1 m/s.

SportTracks synthesized an average wind over the nearby weather stations and informed me that the average wind over my session was 2.1 m/s with a maximum of 3.6 m/s.

The final measurement was taking over 2 minutes. The other ones were shorter, of course. Anyway, today was a windy day. Lots of chop as well. Here is how the lake looked at that final measurement:

wind 002 wind 004

The row itself was a steady state row with interruptions. Here is an ugly plot. My algorithms don’t do corrections for paces slower than 3:00.

figure_1-5

I used an average wind speed of 3.0 m/s. Quite conservative. Looking at the data, it seems that the GPS160 had it’s hickups again, 35 minutes into the row. 🙁

 

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figure_1-4

Apr 19 2016

In the single on a cold lake

Early row. Just steady state with a focus on technique. Windy and “medium” choppy. I still have difficulty believing what the weather stations around the lake tell me, so I am going to visit a shop specializing in weather equipment this afternoon, just to see what’s available.

I alternated 18spm and 20spm every 2 minutes. Nothing else to report. It was slightly colder, around 6 degrees this morning. Oh yes, I am 44 now … 🙁

Guessing 2 m/s as wind correction gave me around 200W. I think that is about right. Mind you, this is all power. Comparing to the erg display of a static erg will be difficult, because the erg doesn’t measure the power you spend bouncing up and down the slide, which at 20spm is about 20-30W (estimated). I may have to spend some time to calculate real erg watts. I am curious.

figure_1-4 figure_2 figure_1-3


Workout Summary - 2016-04-19-0718.CSV
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|11532|59:11.0|02:31.8|19.2|148.4|158.4|10.4
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|01998| 11:17 |02:47.1|17.8|141.0|154.0|10.1 | warming up
02|02884| 13:32 |02:20.8|19.0|150.0|160.0|11.2 | tailwind
03|02792| 14:12 |02:32.7|19.4|158.0|168.0|10.2 | headwind
04|03078| 15:57 |02:24.1|20.2|150.0|159.0|10.3 | tailwind
05|00780| 04:13 |02:36.5|19.4|143.0|151.0|09.9 | cooling down

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stravakaartje

Apr 12 2016

OTW Steady State

Mirror flat water this morning. I copied the workout from yesterday, but for time reasons I had to skip the final 12 minute interval.

A little problem with the XGPS160. I have noticed that it works perfectly if you switch it on while CrewNerd is already running. My natural behaviour is to attach the XGPS160 to the boat and switch it on while still on the dock. I only switch on CrewNerd when I am already sitting in the boat and on the water. I need to remember to do it in the right order. This led to noisy data and suspicious pace values in the first two intervals (especially in the second one, which apparently I had rowed in 1:56 average pace.

I also suspect that the system doesn’t work well when other apps using GPS position are running in the background (like Waze, in this case).


Workout Summary - 2016-04-12-0726.CSV
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|13271|59:52.0|02:16.7|19.1|148.2|157.2|11.5
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|01345| 05:55 |02:11.6|17.8|125.0|139.0|12.8 | warming up
02|02721| 12:00 |02:12.3|18.9|149.0|160.0|12.0 | interval 1
03|03089| 12:00 |01:56.4|19.7|156.0|166.0|13.1 | suspicious
04|02502| 12:00 |02:23.9|20.3|160.0|167.0|10.3 | interval 3
05|02513| 12:00 |02:23.2|20.1|159.0|166.0|10.4 | interval 4
06|01101| 05:57 |02:41.9|17.8|140.0|145.0|10.4 | cooling down

Here is a map of the row from Strava, from the CrewNerd app:

stravakaartje.JPG

You can see the straight line for the third and fourth intervals, after I had reset the XGPS160, and the wobbly line from the first and second intervals, before the reset.

Here is the same segment as recorded by the Garmin Forerunner:

garminkaartje.JPG

The colorful plots:

figure_1.png
First 30 minutes suspicious pace data – rest is OK

figure_3.png

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