November 1k CTC

[ArenT]

Sorry Iain!

I just managed to get an effort in, been battling with a bit of illness, started to come back to full health but ran out of days: so was a case of now or never.

I kind of bailed on my effort, still recovering back to fitness (see other thread) as although the harsh pace I started out at was very demanding, I started it in a still fatigued/not fresh state, so think the pacing was correct had I been 100% healthy rather than about 90%, e.g. had I been able to do it today, for example. After having a brief couple of h/d demons and stopping for a couple of seconds (see the massive pace plunge in the chart), managed to force myself to continue, determined that ANY result was better than no result, and given my the decent-ish finish (last 200m was my fastest), shows that really I should have been able to complete without a stoppage, even if it meant slightly tailing off in pace. So don't give in...

Despite this, still set a PB over the 1000m, though I think that more reflects that I didn't fully set a representative time from 2013/2014, as having done 00:07:18 for 2k in 2014, I should probably have a better 1000m. I'll take the win anyway, as a PB is still a PB. I think rather like the last CTC, my best effort-time should be very close to Ian Bee's effort based on the watts I think in theory I should be able to sustain and based on this actual effort. Anyway, my CTC efforts are now assisted by the fact I'm back under 75kg and lightweight again (sorry again Iain ), so I have a more realistic prospect of getting a seat instead of always battling against heavyweight wattsmeisters. My reward for getting back in shape and easing off on the chocolate digestives, haha.

Incidental side note: setting up lightweight is actually quite obfuscated/requires remembering to set it in lots of places:

1. On your main Concept 2 profile/settings
2. In the settings inside ErgZone (if you use ErgZone)
3. In the main "Account" page on your Inside Indoor account
4. (The really confusing one) In your separate CTC profile page inside your Inside Indoor account AS WELL (you can access the "My Profile" link from the "Participate" listings page, near the time entry box). Basically, you need to set it in two entirely separate places, or rather, to put it another way, Inside Indoor has the CTC settings entirely separate from your main user settings page, which is no doubt because the CTC stuff was "added on" to the existing Inside Indoor website.

[Iain]

Well done ARen for finishing. I don't mind that you hammered my time while stopping for a cup of tea in the 4th interval impressive pace for the other 4 intervals. I realised weeks ago that I will be fighting for LW seat in 3rd (or 4th where Spider takes part) boats at best once you managed to resist the biscuits for a few days. Can't say that I understand the HRV graph you posted, was this saying that you were in a less fit state in recovery than during the Covid itself? I do think the long Covid debate has been complicated by very different situations. The official definition of symptoms persisting beyond 13 weeks is too simplistic. This includes people whose fitness returns quickly but not their sense of smell, as well as those that spent a week in bed and so take time to get back the base fitness lost. I think gaseous exchange experiments have shown that there are significant persistent issues for some sufferers. Stu (Dangerscouse) on the C2 forum was effected for several months, so it can get people who are very fit. But rowing at >300W shows that you are over it now even if you need to reestablish your previous fitness level!

[ArenT]

Iain, yes, the HRV graph does in effect show that. It's interesting stuff to ponder. Or to be more specific, what it shows is that the aftermath after the acute phase -- the "acute" phase here being the fever/weakness/flu-like feelings that (for me) lasted a matter of hours, and mainly at night -- was where the damage/effects occurred. As to exactly what those specific inflammatory damage mechanisms are, I don't think anyone really knows, because in truth we know far less about biology/physiology than most people perhaps realise, despite our seeming miraculous scientific progress.

Regardless of the exact nature of the underlying problem, what the HRV drop shows is that there is suppressive effect on the autonomic immune system, presumably as a protective mechanism, and therefore the nervous system regulation of the heart is impacted, which results in less "dynamism"; i.e. the interplay of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system mechanisms is negatively effected. This then results in reduced physical performance/recovery.

The question, no doubt a research question that will remain open for many years, is exactly what "problem" is occurring. Here is my hypothesis, which I have no way of establishing, but purely based on my observations/experience and limited biological knowledge:

1. The virus, like many viruses, damages all of the sensitive tissues of the nose/upper respiratory tract. This causes nosebleeds, blocked nose, lymphatic inflammation, and has the effect of impairing your sleep quality. In my case only my nose was affected, never my throat etc., and fortunately never any loss of smell. But it has the effect of leading to poor sleep, which further compounds your fatigue. We all know that even if you're 100%, if you have one bad night of sleep, it impacts your performance slightly the next day. Several bad nights have a severely detrimental effect.
2. Obviously any type of illness which weakens your immune system makes your more vulnerable to other things, like the common cold. I think I also had a touch of that.
3. My THEORY, and the one I believe is the real "longer term" issue (i.e. the one that lingers for week(s), or for some unlucky people, months) is the wrecking effect it has on your gut fauna/digestive health. There are increasing amounts of research showing that it is the symbiotic relationship of your digestive enzymes together with permanently present bacterial fauna that is critical for countless aspects of health. I believe that it is this part that takes the longest to re-balance. I noticed that my appetite was slightly off, meals didn't sit as well as they normally would, and just generally, my normal natural cravings for more food than I need/sweet desserts after dinner had completely disappeared. It was slower and more difficult to get off to sleep at night.


Re: the confusing lag, I think this mirrors the lag you get in terms of physical fitness adaptations/gains from training. We all know that the training you do today, and over the coming weeks, only really manifests some weeks later as the body makes adaptations. In fact in the short term by exercising we are deliberately "damaging" ourselves to actually reduce our fitness in the short-term, to super-compensate in the medium and longer term. The same type of lag always occurs with HRV. Once you're familiar with it, it is quite a useful warning: if it suddenly drops and stays low for several days, beware, you're almost certain to wake up one morning and suddenly find you've developed a cold or suchlike. But the drop always occurs first, then symptoms a few days later. So that is consistent with the graph. But yes, otherwise it is quite confusing: it all looked good at the moment of initial illness! In fact if there is any mystery, it is the surprise it didn't drop lower, earlier, and stay there. So apparently my immune system coped quite well with the initial hit, but then succumbed later on. Perhaps I was too over-enthusiastic with exercise immediately post-illness, and that overloaded the immune system. Who knows...

[Iain]

It might also be that your body worked hard to throw off the initial illness and so your heart had to work harder "at rest" and, perhaps more importantly, didn't get a chance to drop to recuperative levels. This would then show as fatigue afterwards perhaps compounded as you say by your early exercise.

I have had a nightmare at work so limited sleep over weekend and no training. As a result HR didn't get that high on CTC attempt Monday and today was elevated on what was supposed to be UT1.

[ArenT]

Yes, I hate it when that happens. Sometimes you just have a heavy week at work and so the most important thing is just to do anything, even if isn't your intended training. Sleep deprivation is really challenging because it zaps your willpower as well as the direct physical effects.