L4s, etc...the Wolverine(sque) Plan

[Ian Bee]

Looks a tough session Iain - similarly dog walking pushed me over the edge on Saturday (so my L3 was remarkably civilised and downbeat).

Today was L1:

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Based on feel was a pretty gentle start to the week. Nice to see a pretty flat pace (accepting a little bumpiness due to SPM changes). A little frustrated that I missed out on a longer cooldown as I'm psychologically fixed on this being beneficial to me.....

[Ian Bee]

L3:

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If nothing else a lesson in how the C2 rounds up/down and manages to say 18spm.....

Easy session and nice metrics to boot. Quite why my rate peaks at the start of the cooldown is a bit of a mystery.

[Iain]

Could it be due to the high force to deliver 2:13 pace at R15? I'm interested in the averaging as PM3 rounds down the average of the intervals however long so would have shown 16 for the session!

Also did L3, HR a bit higher, but stayed at threshold until I took the pace up at the end, only 0.8S/500M slower than SB.

Time Distnc Rate Pace Hrmax. % HRmin. %
10:00.0 2,274 22 02:11.9 152 82.6% 087 47.3%
10:00.0 2,274 22 02:11.9 158 85.9% 149 81.0%
10:00.0 2,274 22 02:11.9 163 88.6% 157 85.3%
10:00.0 2,275 22 02:11.9 165 89.7% 160 87.0%
10:00.0 2,276 22 02:11.8 165 89.7% 162 88.0%
10:00.0 2,320 22 02:09.3 170 92.4% 164 89.1%
1:00 13,689 22.0 02:11.5 170

[Ian Bee]

Iain - possibly, but something for me to watch out for to avoid any tweaking of back/arms..... I may fiddle with ergzone to just show stroke count to keep me more honest.
L2 today:

Screenshot 2025-11-26 100856.jpg (39.89 KiB) Viewed 676 times

Last time through may have been in the midst of squiffyness, so a flat 2m pace for the reps didn't seem out of reach to push a little, but I was conscious of time this morning so that might have applied a little mind game to the session.

As it was, whilst challenging I could see that peak effort never got unrealistic (what I would consider majorly anaerobic) alongside a decent return back to recovery during rest phases. I particularly dislike 2k reps, so I glad this is over with but equally will focus on not pushing the pace too much on this with the objective of keeping a consistent pace across the reps.

[spidermac]

Agree 2k reps are horrible!
Lvl4 today 2x 180/184/188
Wup - 1k
Time Dist spm HR split
10:00.0 2203 18 144 02:16.1 - (+4)
10:00.0 2218 19 148 02:15.2 - (+5)
10:00.0 2228 19 143 02:14.6 - (+5)
10:00.0 2204 18 149 02:16.1 - (+5)
10:00.0 2210 19 150 02:15.7 - (-3)
10:00.0 2218 19 143 02:15.2 - (-5)
01:00:00 13277 18 146 02:15.5 - (+11)
CD - 1k
That felt like hard work - struggled in the last 2 sequences to hit pace. Also overstroking in the 184 sequences AGAIN!! Happy to finnish as legs just didn`t have any zip. Rest day tomorrow,

[Iain]

L4 today now CTC done. 80'. Some trepidation due to hard session yesterday, but despite HR starting and climbing faster than usual at start, settled to normal band.

Time Distnc Rate Pace Hrmax. % HRmin. %
10:00.0 2,219 18.8 02:15.2 158 85.9% 081 44.0% +14M
10:00.0 2,209 18.4 02:15.8 161 87.5% 144 78.3% +18M
10:00.0 2,187 18.0 02:17.2 163 88.6% 147 79.9% +12M
10:00.0 2,222 18.8 02:15.0 167 90.8% 152 82.6% +17M
10:00.0 2,181 18.0 02:17.6 165 89.7% 149 81.0% +6M
10:00.0 2,200 18.4 02:16.4 165 89.7% 151 82.1% +9M
10:00.0 2,168 17.6 02:18.4 162 88.0% 151 82.1% +8M
10:00.0 2,252 19.6 02:13.2 167 90.8% 156 84.8% +15M
1:20:00 17631 18.5 02:16.1 167 90.8% +92M

[Iain]

My usual Tuesday L3 augmented to 70' from an hour. Legs felt sore today before I reached 10', gave up on trying to maintain R22 after the half hour as couldn't hit consistent rhythm at rate & pace. Amazed that managed 7.7 SPI on last 10'. relatively comfortable in last 2-3' at 2:06:

Time Distnc Rate Pace Hrmax. % HRmin. %
10:00.0 2,275 22 02:11.9 148 80.4% 83 45.1%
10:00.0 2,276 22 02:11.8 157 85.3% 148 80.4%
10:00.0 2,276 22 02:11.8 159 86.4% 153 83.2%
10:00.0 2,276 21 02:11.8 162 88.0% 158 85.9%
10:00.0 2,276 21 02:11.8 164 89.1% 158 85.9%
10:00.0 2,276 21 02:11.8 166 90.2% 161 87.5%
10:00.0 2,320 21 02:09.3 170 92.4% 162 88.0%
1:10 15,973 21.4 02:11.5 170 92.4%

[Ian Bee]

Nice sessions chaps - joining you all with HR variability (nothing to do with a few days away (including a visit to the Lindt museum.....)) - so I wasn't looking forward to this L2:

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In terms of lies, damned lies, and statistics, SPM was on the button for the work reps with a very very slight improvement in pace (though the psychology of a 2k distance apparently hits even in this session). Peak HR was quite similar to the last run through, though return to recovery was better.

[Iain]

Ian, good to see your still around and faithfully churning out the L2s with commendable consistency. You have an amazingly consistent HR, even when the pace is a little variable. Maybe I am too introspective when rowing exaggerating every thought in the HR trace!

I really have to get back to L2s as I really want to replace some early placeholder Nonathlon times now that my fitness has begun to recover from its summer slump. Plan is to have a go at the CTC tomorrow if I feel up to it and then do L2 at weekend.

[Ian Bee]

Thanks Iain. I do tend to observe a fairly rapid rise and then a fairly stable HR for most pieces once I'm warmed up. I don't think I'm alone in seeing variability though (as mentioned, I tend to watch films so I really need to avoid being to keen during car chases/fight scenes, or indeed as this morning rating to the beat of the music.....).

My version of an L4 this morning:

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Mostly at rate targets but pacing for this sequence seems to be hitting a brick wall in the 18spm and 24 spm, so I'll be looking to consolidate on this session so I don't end up going backwards or heading to injury-ville.

[Iain]

Nice session Ian, looks challenging!

[Ian Bee]

It was.....

More L2:

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Same format as earlier in the week, but the target pace was a little more conservative but still very much felt the sessions of the week in my lungs so HR definitely showed this was a push.

[Iain]

Oh for me to do any long interval workout at under 90% HRMax at any but the most pedestrian pace... I use a lower rest and don't impose an R24 cap, but hope to have a go at 4 x 2k & the Waterfall over the next couple of weeks for comparison. Very much finding my feet again after several fails on these despite a more impressive CTC performance and improving L3 results. Most importantly I need to be more disciplined and NOT get carried away and start below target, so I will try and learn from your great example on that score. We will see.

Interested that it was your lungs that held you back. I have started breathing almost comically deeply recently and that this has often been my limiting factor on anaerobic threshold pace work like this. However I have found that this limits the rate I can maintain.

[Iain]

80 min L4 done today with slightly raised 192; 184; 180; 188; 180; 184; 180; 196 sequences. Also as I have rarely rowed at the 2:09 pace I had set for R22, upped this for target distances to 2:08 which is more in line with the WP tables.

Got in a real mess in second sequence and over stroked, also messed up the 188 when I started at R16, so did 1' R16; 2' R18, 1' R16, 2' R18, 2' R20 & 2' R22 instead. Legs tired, but HR similar to before despite 9 more strokes so happy with that.

Time Distnc Rate Pace Hrmax. % HRmin. %
10:00.0 2,242 19.2 02:13.8 153 83.2% 094 51.1% +18M
10:00.0 2,229 18.5 02:14.6 159 86.4% 142 77.2% +32M (target assumes 1 extra stroke, may have been more)
10:00.0 2,199 18.0 02:16.4 161 87.5% 144 78.3% +22M Struggled to slow to R16 pace
10:00.0 2,226 18.8 02:14.8 165 89.7% 150 81.5% +17M Regretting earlier extra metres, messed up rate at start
10:00.0 2,190 18.0 02:17.0 164 89.1% 149 81.0% +13M Deliberately trying to stay to pace
10:00.0 2,204 18.4 02:16.1 164 89.1% 149 81.0% +11M periods below target
10:00.0 2,183 18.0 02:17.4 165 89.7% 149 81.0% +6M R16 below target for 3'
10:00.0 2,254 19.6 02:13.1 167 90.8% 156 84.8% +13M Glad to see end
1:20:00 17723 18.6 02:15.4 167 90.8%

[Ian Bee]

Really well done Iain Those minor but sustained improvements are impressive.

Meanwhile, L1 this morning:

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This felt a good deal worse than it looked. It could be that my CTC effort was still in my legs, or simply that 1k at any reasonable pace just got in my head. In any event, slightly improved pace from last time though I let the rate cap slide.

[Iain]

0.6S improvement is no mean feat Ian, great session. This is my least favourite interval session. Each interval seems to last almost as long as the long intervals but the pace is significantly harder. Beating the "speed pyramid) average is even more impressive!