The Pete Plan etc

[spidermac]

Power strokes today a la Mr Murray. 9x1min on/45sec off at drf 172 see spm below; rets 3min then 3x1min on/45s off at drf 125.
Last time - 1.48.6/25spm/148HR/3312m
Wup - 2k
Time Dist spm HR Split Prev
01:00.0 246 19 136 02:01.9 (2.02.4) - meant to be 18spm!
01:00.0 257 21 141 01:56.7 (1.56.2) - meant to be 20spm
01:00.0 265 22 148 01:53.2 (1.54.0) -back on track.
01:00.0 266 22 149 01:52.7 (1.53.2)
01:00.0 275 24 153 01:49.0 (1.50.2)
01:00.0 276 24 151 01:48.6 (1.49.4)
01:00.0 282 26 158 01:46.3 (1.46.7)
01:00.0 284 26 160 01:45.6 (1.46.0)
01:00.0 291 28 161 01:43.0) (1.43.
01:00.0 293 31 160 01:42.3 (1.42.7) - should be 30spm!!
01:00.0 296 32 165 01:41.3 (1.43.
01:00.0 303 38 168 01:39.0 (1.39.6)
12:00.0 3335 26 154 01:47.9 (1.48.6)
CD - 2k
Felt good on this workout & good 0.7sec improvement. Struggled to get on spm for first 2 sets then settled into it. First time have managed to -ve split whole session. Glutes feeling it now!!

[JonT]

That's a great session Spider

[Iain]

Well done Spider, really fast and consistent. Today for me a "Grey Zone Session" pre-covid vaccine. 60 min keeping HR around 90% of max (168).

Time Distnc Rate Pace HRmin-max comment
10:00 2,383 23 02:05.9 81-162 - Unsure of pace, flattening at 161-2 suggests could be my threshold
10:00 2,365 22 02:06.8 160-168 - Needed to slow at the end, feeling good
10:00 2,324 21 02:09.1 159 170 - HR dropped then spiked, but generally fine
10:00 2,275 20 02:11.9 165 169 - Having to slow, felt strange as easier than earlier
10:00 2,263 19 02:12.6 165 169 - Comfortable
10:00 2,262 19 02:12.6 165 169 - Is that it?
1:00 13864 20.7 2:09.8

[spidermac]

Thanks for the comments guys. Iain 60mins is never a bad wout!!. Had my vaccine on thursday so wasn`t sure what to expect today.
4x1k scheduled - Last time - 1.48.5/32spm/163HR
wup - 2k
Time Dist spm HR SPlit Prev
03:37.8 1000 32 156 01:48.9 (1.49.5)
03:37.2 1000 33 160 01:48.6 (1.49.0)
03:36.6 1000 33 162 01:48.3 (1.48.2)
03:35.3 1000 35 0 01:47.6 (1.47.5)
14:26.9 4000 33 159 01:48.3 (1.48.5)
CD - 2k
Happy enuff - I fnd this the hardest wout to improve, it really bites if you go too fast in the first round, which I almost did as I couldn`t match the previous last 2 splits. SPm a bit higher.

[JonT]

I had the AZ vaccine on Wednesday and have felt pretty ropey since Thursday evening. A lot better today so I expect I will do a steady UT2. So much going on work wise at the moment that I just can't risk any ill effects.

[Iain]

Spider, great session, that is a significant gain, well done to keep the negative splits, it is inevitable that the paces get a bit closer together as we progress as we are working closer to our limits. Jon, I have heard quite a lot of people are getting significant flu like symptoms, the good news is that it tends to be over in 3 days. I was lucky, while HR "astride" as Stan used to say was about 10BPM elevated yesterday a little sore around injection site, had a headache (but probably caffeine withdrawal) that went away with a paracetamol (with caffeine) and more stiffness than expected after the previous day's session, but nothing to bother me yesterday, so did an easy 2 hours and will try and fit in a more substantial session today. Hope you feel better now.

- Iain

[spidermac]

Easyish row today 30min HR cap of 148 but no rate restriction.
wup - 1k
Time Dist spm HR split
10:00.0 2428 24 141 02:03.5
10:00.0 2428 24 146 02:03.5
10:00.0 2420 24 147 02:03.9
30:00.0 7276 24 144 02:03.6
CD - 2k
Just getting some HR stuff in, plan was for 60mins but had a bit of a blood sugar crash so cut short at 30mins.

[Wolfmiester]

Nice session Wed Spidey

[spidermac]

So HD on waterfall yesterday in R2 - not sure what is going on was trying to go very slightly faster than last session - but just ran out of steam. Decided to do HR capped 60mins today to restore confidence in longer distances again.
Wup - 1k
Time Dist spm HR Split Prev
10:00.0 2460 26 146 02:01.9 (2.03.9)
10:00.0 2431 25 149 02:03.4 (2.04.3) - cap meant to be 148
10:00.0 2397 24 149 02:05.1 (2.04. - ditto
10:00.0 2375 24 148 02:06.3 (2.06.1)
10:00.0 2364 25 148 02:06.9 (2.06.
10:00.0 2363 26 148 02:06.9 (2.06.6)
01:00:00 14385 25 148 02:05.1 (2.05.4)
CD - 2k
Have done this session at 2.05 so not too far off. PM4 HR readings up to te usual tricks as was barely Will have another go at wfall this weekend.

[spidermac]

Power strokes today - 7x3min R90s. Sets 1-6 at drf 170; set 7 at drf 120. Last time was 1.53.7/25spm/5637m/161HR
Wup - 2k
Time Dist spm HR Split Prev
03:00.0 790 23 153 01:53.9 (1.54.2)
03:00.0 796 23 154 01:53.0 (1.53.6)
03:00.0 810 25 0 01:51.1 (1.51.5)
03:00.0 814 25 162 01:50.5 (1.51.1)
03:00.0 817 27 165 01:50.1 (1.50.5)
03:00.0 813 26 165 01:50.7 (1.50.7) - missed the rolling start!!!
03:00.0 817 31 165 01:50.1 (1.50.4)
21:00.0 5657 25 160 01:51.3 (1.51.7)
CD-2k
Could have been a better split if hadn`t messed up R6!!! Still good session.

[spidermac]

Today another go at the waterfall. Was determined to finnish the session whatever the split!!!
Wup - 2k
Time Dist spm HR split Prev
11:31.6 3000 29 155 01:55.2 (1.54.6) - struggling to get a rythm
09:35.9 2500 30 162 01:55.1 (1.54.4) - had to fight to just -ve split
07:37.8 2000 32 163 01:54.4 (1.53.3) - very tuff
28:45.3 7500 30 160 01:55.0 (1.54.2)
CD - 2k
Don`t know what is going on, couldn`t seem to generate much power with the legs & had to rate up. Well down on last 2 goes on this session. A real mental battle from the off but glad I finnished.

[Iain]

Well done for winning the mental battle. I wouldn't call 0.8S/500M "well down", I have worse than that coming up! We all have some worse days and your confidence must have been down after the H/D. Good hour and powerful strokes (that show today was an aberation).

- Iain

[spidermac]

Thanks Iain as you know winning these mental battles is a big part of erging!!! Today legs still feeling yesterday so the old favourite 30minR20 HR cap of 148. Last time 2.04.2/20spm/146HR.
Wup - 1k
Time Dist spm HR split Prev
06:00.0 1457 20 142 02:03.5 (2.03.7)
06:00.0 1455 20 147 02:03.7 (2.03.7)
06:00.0 1451 20 148 02:04.0 (2.03.7)
06:00.0 1430 20 149 02:05.8 (2.04.2)
06:00.0 1422 20 147 02:06.5 (2.05.6)
30:00.0 7213 20 146 02:04.7 (2.04.2)
CD - 1k
Felt like hard work but not too far of last times average.

[Iain]

Had my own battle today. Second attempt at 6k CTC. Thought I would try and hold under 2:02 pace at 25-6 SPM (2:01 recommended plus 1S for a week of inactivity). Turned into a fly and die:

Time Distnc Rate Pace HRmin-max comment
04:02.5 1,000 24 02:01.3 100-168 - Fairly comfortable, will I regret faster pace or lower rating?
04:02.9 1,000 25 02:01.5 161-176 - Twinge in lower back, HR fluctuating wildly
04:05.7 1,000 24 02:02.8 173-176 - Gave up on 2:02s, can't keep rating up
04:06.4 1,000 24 02:03.2 174-179 - survival, HR mainly 95-96% so not much in hand
04:08.2 1,000 23 02:04.1 177-179 - hanging on watching pace tumble although surprised at 23SPM avg (didn't notice any)
04:01.3 1,000 25 02:00.8 178-182 - slow start 2:04.2 average after 400m, then pushed to end, managed 1:50 at end.
24:27.0 6000 24.2 2:02.3


Clearly lost alot, glad to cross this off. Plans of an hour and preparing for FM in May look tough!

Did 30' cooldown (after 6 min rest) at 2:30 and HR shot to 154 (83%) and barely budged, clearly 6k took it out of me!

[spidermac]

Good effort Iain, 10 out of 10 for finnishing, see you started around my pacing suggestion of 2.01 looks pretty rough after 3k - apologies if it blew you off course!! Thinking I may try this on wedns.

[spidermac]

So yesterday intended to do CTC - 6k but got out of bed & seem to have pulled something in my back. Warmed up for 2k & decided to bag it. Today bit of a test to see how much damage was done - went for 30minR20 again.
wup - 1k
Time dist spm hr split
06:00.0 1456 20 143 02:03.6
06:00.0 1455 20 0 02:03.7
06:00.0 1452 20 149 02:03.9
06:00.0 1455 20 145 02:03.7
06:00.0 1457 20 152 02:03.5
30:00.0 7273 20 147 02:03.7
CD - 2k
HR monitor all over the place & after R2 decide to just stick to 2.03/2.04 pace. Back held up OK so hopefully just a minor strain.

[Iain]

I've struggled with lower back since the 6k as well. Hope the improvement is permanent. Brave chpoice for recovery from back injury! Today felt a slight twinge warming up so did an LSD at slightly reduced DF instead (105' avg . 2:25.1 R16 HR avg 71% of max).

Normally my HR rises steadily for 12 mins or so. Today it dropped after 3 mins and stuck on 55% (often higher than that contemplating an erg). Upped the pace and it rose steadily but way below normal for pace, then 7 mins of this it suddenly shot up from 65% to 82%. Thought it might have been my optical HRM. But after a call of nature the same happened again (took longer as my increased pace was only half of the amount above normal as first time). Any thoughts? Wondered whether it is a drop in caffeine. I am very sensitive to it but have been having way too much, so am cutting it right down over Easter. Might have had a similar effect during the 6k as HR steadied at 90% of max then suddenly increased to 94%, although I took that to be a jump after stuck at threshold. I could feel my heart pounding when it was unusually low, so suspect I was just operating at a much higher stroke volume. That said, once it went up it remained high and I had to drop the pace to below normal to get into and stay in band.

[Iain]

Had a thought to try a 4k, 3k, 2k, 1k, but priority was to row the 4k at 10k pace as prep'n for a 10k soon. needless to say the lack of commitment meant H/D early in 3k having gone too quickly in 4k (2:03.3 R24). So did 6k fartlek 1k on (2:01.2 R25.7) and 1k off (2:25.5 R17.7). Finished with 30' LSD when 2:30 felt hard and was really shaky again.

[JonT]

I'm still loitering here in the background, and still struggling since the vaccine (though that could just be a coincidence of course).

I'm just feeling pretty drained at the moment and when I do a UT2 row I am having to go at snail's pace to keep within HR zone. I would normally be rowing a sessio0n like the one below at 2:12ish. Not a chance of that right now.

Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	Cal/Hr	S/M	HR
40:00.0	8,763m	2:16.9	136	769	19	152
10:00.0	2,173m	2:18.0	133	757	18	150
10:00.0	2,219m	2:15.1	142	787	20	154
10:00.0	2,184m	2:17.3	135	764	18	153
10:00.0	2,189m	2:17.0	136	767	20	151

Bored of fighting with heart zones, I did a Rowalong, 5k training, mid-tier session today instead. Format is 7x4min r28 2:30r. I set my target pace at 5k+3 ( 1:58.8 ) and rating at 28spm. It was more of a struggle than it should have been, but at least I got it completed.

Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	Cal/Hr	S/M	HR
28:00.0	7,149m	1:57.4	216	1042	28	175
4:00.0	1,018m	1:57.8	214	1035	29	166
4:00.0	1,018m	1:57.8	214	1035	28	171
4:00.0	1,022m	1:57.4	216	1044	28	175
4:00.0	1,023m	1:57.3	217	1046	28	176
4:00.0	1,023m	1:57.3	217	1046	28	178
4:00.0	1,021m	1:57.5	216	1041	28	179
4:00.0	1,025m	1:57.0	218	1050	28	180
	r1,823m

[spidermac]

Hi Iain - have had similar experience with too much caffeine - I know some folk think it helps endurance but too much makes me shaky & light headed. Bad luck with the 4/3/2/1/session - maybe try again when well rested at more conservative pace.
JonT been wondering the same thing had my jag 2.5 weeks ago but antibodies meant to kick in at 3 weeks - feel like I have a minor temperature when erging & legs/lungs don`t seem to have the same zip, also resting HR before sessions about 4-6 beats higher than usual & don`t seem to get my hR up as hi as previously!
Today HD on R3 of 8x500 normally a good session for me - wondering if I have come to the end of the road with the PP for now as improvements getting very hard to come by. Will review in a weeks time.
So after calming down decided to do an EM session i did last nov - 4x10minR90s at various spm see below.
Last time was 2.04.4/22spm/9645m/148HR
Wup - 4k ( including 2x500m lol)
Time Dist spm HR split Prev
10:00.0 2431 21 0 02:03.4 (2.05.0) 5min@20spm+5min@22spm
10:00.0 2464 21 152 02:01.7 (2.05.2) 2min ea @ 20;22;20;22;20spm
10:00.0 2476 22 154 02:01.1 (2.04.6) 2min ea @ 20/22/24/22/20spm
10:00.0 2473 23 151 02:01.3 (2.02.6) 2min ea @ 20/22/24/26/20spm
40:00.0 9845 21 152 02:01.8 (2.04.4)
CD - 1k
So ended up being a good test for the back!!! Big improvement over last time but not sure if it was all out tho HR not much higher. This time was prety much all the legs had in them.

[spidermac]

So wanted to do a 60min HR cappede row but trouble with HR strap turned it into a 6x10min R60s.
Wup - 1k
Time Dist spm HR split
10:00.0 2440 25 142 02:02.9
10:00.0 2442 26 0 02:02.8
10:00.0 2436 25 149 02:03.1- PM4 as usual taking highest HR hit this for a few secs.
10:00.0 2414 25 147 02:04.2
10:00.0 2413 26 148 02:04.3
10:00.0 2414 26 147 02:04.2
01:00:00 14559 25 147 02:03.6
CD - 1k
1.4sec better than my best split on a continuous 60min HR row - those 60 sec make a difference!!!

[JonT]

You seem to have endless trouble with the HR strap Spider

Meanwhile, I finally seem to be getting my UT2 pace back to normal. Today's session was 3x13:30 r20-22-20 1:30r.

I said in my last post that I would expect a longish UT2 row to be at around 2:12 pace. Well, I did slightly better than that today, albeit probably because of the r22 session in the middle. This is a lot better than last week's sessions.

Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	Cal/Hr	S/M	HR
40:30.0	9,259m	2:11.2	155	833	20	148
13:30.0	3,059m	2:12.3	151	819	20	144
13:30.0	3,149m	2:08.6	165	866	22	150
13:30.0	3,051m	2:12.7	150	814	20	151

[Iain]

Nice sessions Jon & Spider. My HR "astride"was up 10-15BPM after my jab, but by second day only slightly up, but everyone responds in their own way. Spider, I use an optical HRM (Polar OH) and have found it excellent.

After having done 16.5 k in 11 days, I have rowed 105km in the last 4 days (target to do >10km / day for the year and I was getting behind). Legs stiff for the last 2, mainly UT2 as HR raised on these rows I have only managed 2:28 pace consistently, but if I am gouing to do the marathon challenges I need some distance in my legs!

[spidermac]

OK guys have ordered a new HR strap & a few bits to service the rower - see if it cures the problem! Serious mileage there Iain, i only manage about 180k a month.
Today a rare 3rd day on for me - EM session 4x8min R 2min at various spm.
wup - 3k
Time Dist spm HR split
08:00.0 1966 21 148 02:02.0 - 4min@20spm+4min@22spm
08:00.0 1998 22 152 02:00.1 - 4@20;2@22;2@24spm
08:00.0 2029 25 155 01:58.2 - 2 ea @22;24;26;28
08:00.0 2019 27 154 01:58.8 - 1 ea @23-30spm
32:00.0 8013 23 152 01:59.8
CD - 2k
Last round found it hard going up 1spm per minute & holding it steady, also legs were feeling the earlier rounds.

[Iain]

still a great session Spider. Your increased strength showed in how you shattered your previous time on Sunday despite the false start.

Since I took my current job (6 Jan) I have been averaging 150k per month! That's why I needed to do some distance and why I am feeling it a bit more than it should!