30r20 70% HRR Party Meters - 4by2k r24 Party Keg

So up early today and got in for some "Party Meters" - 30r20 70% HRR 3m short of yesterdays but 1bpm lower average over the course of the 30 :o)

Then for lunchtime I wanted something with a little more in it - I'm travelling to Kettering tomorrow for the day so no training and decided to have a punt at the 4by2k r24 - looking back over my blog I spotted I used to do this at 1:42 pace so decided that would be good - of course back in those days this was a tad easier - still managed to complete the 4 and negative split them - if the 70% HRR work are the party meters then this is the keg of beer that gets the party happy :o)

Party meters - 30r20 70% HRR - and a couple of party poppers

So after Saturdays 15 by 1min on 1min off CTC r28 one - well two things became very clear to me in terms of my current rowing

1) My endurance is not very good at all in comparison to where I was
2) My ability to deal with a high rate while maintaining the power/length in the stroke is also poor

So with that in mind need to increase my endurance - so plenty of r20 meters required - I'm calling these my "Party meters" because when I do need to drop into a TT or race these are the ones that will allow me to enjoy the party :o) and also I'm going to drop in some one minute power blasts to keep the mind and body in check with the higher rate - they are the Party Poppers lol

So - 30r20 70% HRR and 2by1min 1r this morning before work

Best thing about the 30 minutes - I was watching netflix so ergdata was unplugged but still managed bang on 600 strokes :o)

CTC r28 for Joan

Thank you Joan for helping me through this - any regular ctc and I would have been looking to wrap it up on the 4th rep and finished on the 6th but thinking of what the session was about meant I kept going thinking about having Joan in my corner cheering me on in the shed.

The row came out of the blue and with little prep other than getting changed - hadn't planned on rowing today but a opportunity arouse and I grabbed it. Up to the shed and after a full race warm up at old race pace targets I was pretty much cooked before I started lol but dialled in the 15 by 1 min with 1 min rest and using a target of sub 1:32 (so 327m) I set off on the model B. First two reps went well as they tend to but the third started to bite and on finishing the 4th I knew I was in trouble. A lack of erg fitness (or any other kind of fitness) was a problem and that coupled with messing up timings for the start (hitting 1:50 first split for a lot of the reps) meant digging deep and in order to try and keep the stroke rate to 28 meant I lost a minimum of 3m on a lot of the later reps ( ie I'd take my last stroke and see predicted finish of 320 and end with 317) still a good training effect from the session and a plus 1 on the mental peg board should see me in good stead for a few days at least. Nearly sick after the 6th rep and pretty much every one after lol.

control the controllable 60r20 HRR 70%

so life is throwing some curve balls at the moment which are basically getting me frustrated and down - also making me lose the little sleep I get and become tired - so little later up today than I wanted meant I got into work and changed to row but would only have a 20 minute at best session - so got undressed and showered and up to work twenty minutes early and so when lunchtime came I was torn between going to the garage and buying smokes or rowing - I went with rowing and stuck on a TV series on netflix to watch - target was 60r20 70% HRR and that's something I can control - today at least

oh can you guess the TV series?

"Naked" row

Wanted to erg at the weekend but "life" got in the way so although I put the model D in the boot on Friday it stayed there until I got back to work today :o( This morning I woke tired, grumpy and feeling fat and old - no change there then - and just did not have the motivation to get up early to row before work so only a lunchtime session and once down and changed I realised I'd left my "electronics" upstairs - so no ergdata, no headphones, no watch (HR) and no music hence "naked" row. The row itself was OK - just set 40 minutes and cranked 20 stokes per minute while keeping the HR in and around 143 (70% HRR when firing)

Race warm up at lunch - 40r20 after work

Had a bit of a accident yesterday afternoon and fell on my back - not a high fall and didn't hurt - but later on and today I "felt it" so at lunchtime I just went through the race warm up - felt ok and so after work with a opportunity to row I went through a 40r20 - still no HR at moment so just went for split - what a mess!

interruptions ...

planned on doing a 30r20 at lunch - again no HR so decided to put the push on and see how it went - had the Wednesday induction class which I soon scattered as I dragged out the erg and off I set seemed to find a not too uncomfortable rythym at around 1:48 pace - still pushing but not destroying - then it happened - phone rang ... stopped - then rang again .... stopped and for a third time - so by this point I stopped to check the emergency - "Do I want to look at Halloween decorations?" hmmm we might have a real corpse strapped to our front door if that happens again.

So what to do - could bin the session (nearly did) but I'm enjoying myself at moment - so started off - couldn't get back into the same rhythm and nearly stopped after two minutes but - that's not going to help anything - also by carrying on it meant I cracked over the 100km since my operation :o)

Building the engine 60r20

so although the power isn't too bad one thing I have lost is the "engine" so need to build that back and the only way I find is long low rate work - so - 60 minutes r20 and I was going to go at 75% HRR - but as my HR strap has given up today I had to judge it and therefore went off with a target of 1:55 for first half hour and drop it to 2:00 splits by the end - first split went through at 1:53.5 so I just added a second and stuck with it - all seemed well with the back but will be "listening" to it closely


the one thing I have noticed is my stroke length has shrunk (get details on the ergdata app) down to between 1.5 and 1.57 where it used to be 1.6 plus on these rows - not sure if it's a subconscious thing or the body not as flexible - will keep an eye on it

Just get over the hump - CTC r26

I'll admit that was a lot tougher than expected - after the r24 1:35.7 I was looking for a rate 26 sub 1:34 - so that worked out at 320m a minute - I started this on Friday and got 6 reps in then just didn't have the energy - not broken as such by it - just tired - I guess it was my first full week back in work and just lacked the energy. So after a gentle row this morning I was looking for something to sink my teeth into and this fit the bill. 1k warm up and off I set - messed the first rep up timing wise and ended on 317m so binned it and started again lol was a lot better on the first rep but messed up the second - oh well no time to start again so plodded on. At about the 6th rep i was questioning my sanity and just said to myself "get over the hump at least" ie the 8th rep - from there it was downhill lol so dragged my heavy ass up and down and got passed the 8th - at about the 10th I felt a little sick but managed to finish off the set - definitely suffering from lack of "fitness" if I do go to r28 I can see it getting quite horrid indeed.

No matter how slow you go ..

.. as long as you are "going" your better than you where. With that in mind I went for a strict 70% HRR 30r20 this morning - and although the end split was massively off what I can do when the engine is running (I think around 1:47) that's the point of these rows - to tune the engine up - going to need patience for a while and just chip away at it - the positive is of course that I can actually do this - onwards and upwards!

3by2k 3r r24 - positive steps

The session should really be 4by2k r24 with 5 minutes rest - but allowing for work/back I opted to shorten it to three and also drop the rest to 3 minutes. Target is usually 30 min TT +3 - so that would be 1:44.5 based on 40+ 30 minute TT (8,864m 1:41.5) hmm I didn't actually realise that - and just picked sub 1:45 out of the air - oops - still I reckon that did me some good and think I could of pulled of a 4th even on the shortened rest - yay - positive steps