what training have free spirits been doing today?

[plummy]

Welcome Cat, great to have you with us and thanks for choosing Free Spirits.

2:16.5 @ 20spm for a 55 LW F - very impressive

Feel free to tell us a bit more about yourself on "the place to introduce yourself" thread (no obligation though )

Plummy

[catdailey]

Well, today was harder, mainly due to the hard 12.5k we did otw this morning in a quad. Today’s erg was the 4th in my week two program: 2x20’ UT1. Usual warmup and cooldown. My target is 2:10-2:16, Sr 22-24. Did a 2:09.9 and a 2:10, both Sr 23. Total 12,479m. One thing that bugs me is that I always seem to pull an odd numbered SR; 21, not 20; 23, not 24. What’s up with that? Also, if I don’t focus, my splits will drift up 2 seconds or so, so I try to do focus type things for a number of strokes at a time. One of the High School crews came up to the erg room during my second 20’. Mother of god, they’re loud! Took all of my focus to try to tune them out and stay on my splits.

[Grobi]

That's quite tough training regime, otw rowing in the morning and erging in the afternoon! And yes, noisy people around the erg are really annoying!

[catdailey]

Yesterday had a doubles row otw and was pretty tired, so I almost bailed on my erg workout, which called for a long UT2 (54 minutes). Tried to justify it to myself that I had already done a 12k steady state otw. Then I thought about winter, and how hard it is to sometimes motivate myself in the freezing cold and dark, and thought, “you have no excuse today.” Went back to the boathouse and did it. Usual warmup and cooldown, 54’ UT2. Ended up 2:17/Sr 20-21. All in about 13.5k meters. The UT2 is feeling much, much easier than two weeks ago. I did have some pretty significant heart rate drift because it was so hot up in the erg room. Should I just stay on pace, or go easier to stay in my hr zone when that happens? Not sure...

[Liefcat]

Well done Cat, keeping going on that long, long UT2 erg session

For the first time in 3-4-5 years, can´t remember exactly, I´m back in spinning sessions. Started one week ago, have been a little under 200w av. till now, so today was motivated to cut the 200w, and got it with 213w. Nowadays it is pretty much administrating power, especially when HR gets above 130 - AHR=125 MHR=139:

ECP_171206_1901.pdf

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[plummy]

Good numbers Cat and well done in getting on the horse when you really didn't want to.

[Paul Victory]

I decided to do my first 10k of the season on Tuesday, but bailed after just over 6k when my heart rate went through the roof. So I decided to start off more slowly today and to finish the distance come what may, even if this meant slowing down to a snail's crawl.

It went fine for the first 5k, with a slight negative split. Then I began to struggle to maintain my pace and slowed down slightly until around the 7k mark when the wheels came off and I had to slow right down. My heart rate reading disappeared, which suggested it might have been bouncing all over the place, so I took it easy until the last couple of hundred meters, when I managed to do a final sprint. Final time was a fairly pedestrian 42:11.3 @ 2:06.5 pace, which I guess is relatively consistent with my 2:02.7 split for 5k a few days previously. Hopefully, I'll be able to judge things better if I can get back into a routine of erging more regularly.

Splits were as follows:

Distance Time Pace Rating Heart Rate
1000 4:13.6 2:06.80 26 134
2000 4:12.9 2:06.45 28 146
3000 4:12.3 2:06.15 29 152
4000 4:11.2 2:05.60 29 159
5000 4:09.1 2:04.55 30 165
6000 4:10.3 2:05.15 29 167
7000 4:12.8 2:06.40 29 163
8000 4:19.3 2:09.65 28 162
9000 4:19.0 2:09.50 28 -
10000 4:10.8 2:05.40 30 -

10000 42:11.3 2:06.57 28 156

[Liefcat]

Well done hanging in there, Paul

Yes, I guess you are right, with more consistent erging your times will soon go down...

[plummy]

Hardly a snail's pace - more "steady" I think...

[Paul Victory]

Still sticking to my 'every second day' routine. Today I decided to do a slow hour, with the sole objective of keeping going for the full hour. I started off at just under 2:12 pace and kept it there until the last 5 or 6 minutes, when I cranked it up slightly (but not significantly). Finished with 13726m @ 2:11.1 pace. Splits were as follows:

Split Pace Rating Heart Rate
1151 2:10.32 27 125
1138 2:11.81 28 133
1140 2:11.58 28 139
1138 2:11.81 28 142
1139 2:11.69 28 149
1141 2:11.46 28 149
1138 2:11.81 26 150
1139 2:11.69 27 155
1141 2:11.46 26 158
1142 2:11.35 26 160
1146 2:10.89 27 159
1174 2:07.77 28 165

13727 2:11.13 27 148

[Liefcat]

Very sensible plan with that "second day" routine, Paul And well done sticking to it when the hour gets harder and harder

Another spinning class today - now "comfortably" over 200w av: Av=224w, AvHR=123 MHR=139

ECP_180110_1901.pdf

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[Liefcat]

.In "our" Team Relay today did 1k twice. Far better than expected, both stints were faster than my SB: 3:17.8 and 3:15.9 Can begin to push a bit again, but technique still lacking, especially with much shorter strokes than "before" - as someone rightfully pointed out

Edit: Also a ski-erg in the room, did some 100m, fastest was 18.8

[Paul Victory]

That's good news Erik. Definitely on your way back after your scare last year.

[Paul Victory]

My 500m time was decidedly soft at 1:47, so I decided to have a go at this today after a 10 minute warm up. I set the DF to 175 (which turned out to be a bit too high - note to self) and struggled to get the pace much below 1:40, but kept it fairly consistent around the 1:38/1:39 mark to finish in 1:38.8.

Then I decided to have a go at this month's CTC (VERY bad idea) and bailed after the first 250m interval. But I did manage to knock almost 6 seconds off my 1k SB (down to 3:47.5) in the first interval, so I improved my nonathlon score by 90 points in total (including the 500m).

I'm heading away for a two day break on Sunday morning, so it may be a while before I'm back on the erg, unless I decide to go for three days in a row tomorrow. Anyway, some progress being made, but still a long way from where I would like to be.

Paul V

[Liefcat]

Thanks, Paul Also feeling more energetic after workouts, as a contrast to earlier when I felt completely exhausted...

Yes, you are certainly also making progress, Paul You´re getting faster and faster Well done still continuing your erging, while we know you are still not satisfied with your erging "results" - compared to earlier AND 2 SBs are 2 SBs

[Paul Victory]

Thanks Erik. As you know, I'm trying to get back into more regular erging and so far my back is holding up reasonably well. Today, I decided to have a go at 30 minutes, with a target of sub 2:05 pace.

I started off slightly slower than this, but managed a slight negative split to finish with 7266 meters @ 2:03.86 pace. Splits were as follows:

Split Time Pace Rating
1439 6:00.0 2:05.1 29
1446 6:00.0 2:04.5 31
1452 6:00.0 2:04.0 32
1456 6:00.0 2:03.6 31
1473 6:00.0 2:02.2 31

7266 30:00.0 2:03.9 30

[plummy]

Has that always been your stroke rate Paul or have you increased it to take the pressure off your back?

[Paul Victory]

Has that always been your stroke rate Paul or have you increased it to take the pressure off your back?

It's always been a bit on the high side plummy, but not quite that high. I think typically I used to rate 30 or thereabouts over 5k/6k and 28 or thereabouts over longer distances up to a HM. When I did my 2:52 full marathon in April 2015 (which I still rate as my 'best ever' row), I averaged 26.5 SPM.

[Paul Victory]

I decided to have a go at the HM today. My only target was to finish without HDing, so pace was fairly irrelevant. Having said this, I tried to keep it under 2:20 per 500m, which I managed for the most part. Kept my HR reasonably low until close to the finish and managed a final sprint to get the total time under 97 minutes. By far my slowest ever HM, but as Stan says, "there's no such thing as a bad HM".

Splits were as follows:

Split Time Pace Rating Heart Rate
2000 9:07.9 2:16.97 24 113
2000 9:19.3 2:19.83 23 127
2000 9:17.0 2:19.25 23 133
2000 9:20.2 2:20.05 23 139
2000 9:11.9 2:17.97 24 146
2000 9:13.4 2:18.35 25 151
2000 9:14.9 2:18.73 25 148
2000 9:14.2 2:18.55 25 154
2000 9:13.1 2:18.28 25 155
2000 9:08.4 2:17.10 26 159
1097 4:39.0 2:07.16 32 171

21097 1:36:59.0 2:17.91 24 145

Paul V

[Liefcat]

Well done, Paul

From my personal experience I know the challenges of having to go at a much slower pace than you are used to...

[paulgould]

Yes, Well done, Mr V.

You inspired me to attempt the same session this morning as I am trying to build my base fitness back up after my back injury.
Managed 1:28.55 at spm 24.8 on DF 300.
Only a minute or so slower than my SB(and I can still walk unaided) so not too unhappy.

Paul G

[Paul Victory]

Quite tired today after yesterday's HM (slow and all as it was). Do I just did a very slow 35 minutes just row at close to 2:15 pace. Maybe I'll be able to do something more meaningful tomorrow?

[Paul Victory]

Quite tired today after yesterday's HM (slow and all as it was). So I just did a very slow 35 minutes just row at close to 2:15 pace. Maybe I'll be able to do something more meaningful tomorrow

[paulgould]

Paul,
At this stage of your comeback you shouldn't pressure yourself worrying about your pace.
Just spend a while doing long slow distance stuff and as you get stronger your pace will take care of itself.
That's what worked for me anyway .

Paul G

[Paul Victory]

Paul,
At this stage of your comeback you shouldn't pressure yourself worrying about your pace.
Just spend a while doing long slow distance stuff and as you get stronger your pace will take care of itself.
That's what worked for me anyway .

Paul G

Thanks Paul

That's good advice. I hope I have the sense to follow it.

Paul V