How much data do others trace/analyse?

[p_b82]

Might be a question that's cropped up a few times, but I didn't feel it was one that was asked recently, so figured I'd make a new thread.

What data to others trace for defining progress, and which metrics are useful if you do?

I was bored during my lunch break and was updating a workbook I keep with some metrics - mostly to visualise the numbers from the logbook and I decided to look at my actual improvements so far this year (albeit all at r20 vs open rate currently).

I'm also not sure what other conclusion I can make from it - other than my 6k while a big jump - was weak in comparison to the 10k improvement; which I know as I went at the same pace for both pieces.

Code: Select all

Improvements	
	2k	00:15.7
	5k	
	6k	00:53.2
	10k	02:39.7
	HM	
	30’	207m
	60’	354m

Code: Select all

seconds per 500m
	2k	03.9
	5k	-
	6k	04.4
	10k	07.9
	HM	-
meters per minute
	30’	6.9
	60’	5.9

[JaapvanE]

I do record quite a lot of data, and analyse it as well using RowsAndAll.com.

I use OpenRowingMonitor in parallel with the PM5, which allows me to record basically every piece of data you can imagine, but some tools (painsled?) can do the same thing using bsaed on the BLE interface with the PM5.

One of the things I always look at Strava desktop is the speed as reported by the PM5. Somehow they recalculate data and when I start to miss catches, it will show as the speed starts to bounce up and down per stroke. For me, have an efficient session is important, so looking at that, I can see if and where it goes wrong (in my case, higher speeds, as my DF is still a bit too low for me).

Looking at RowsAndAll data, in an individual session I'm interested in several metrics

• Pace and heartrate, as it shows my consistency
• Stroke distance and stroke rate: what I noticed is that it shows fatigue quite well: my distance per stroke goes down slowly, while my stroke rate slightly goes up to compensata
• Drive length: again, I look at the consistency as it might show missed catches
• My force curves: I know my back swing has issues, causing a dip in the force curve. As I'm working on solving that issue, seeing how present that dip is, is important.

I also have my Garmin watch attached, which logs breathing rate. For me, doing a lot of Zone 2 stuff, it is a great indicator for having left zone 2. Typically, when stroke rate matches breathing, I'm firmly in zone 2. As soon as it goes to 1.5 times stroke rate, I left Zone 2 and HR will follow.

One key indicator I look at consistently across sessions is the weekly training load: I want 80% HR Zone 2 work, and 20% HR Zone 4 to 5 per week. RowsAndAll has decent tooling there, so that is easy to manage. Another is their Fitness curve, which you want to see go up. Both these trends are part of their subscription I believe.

Across sessions it depends on what I look at:

• Pace for a similar piece. I usually do 3 Steady State HR Zone 2 10K's a week. Once every few weeks I look if the pace trend of these pieces goes the right way.
• Distance per stroke across similar pieces, as it is a nice fatigue indicator for me. I see some slow improvement there, suggesting that my fatigue is setting in later.

[ukaserex]

I tend to go nuts with numbers, as it can take my mind off the discomfort and sometimes, the tedium of the longer rows.

On the slow-steady state stuff, I measure my sleep from the night before, the temperature in my garage ( I have to keep the garage door closed to keep the wasps and other annoying insects from bothering me while I'm strapped in. I have a bit of a phobia about those rascally insects), my split times, and how long it took to complete the row. The HR training is from Phil Maffetone, and I promised myself I'd give it a try. I'm still unconvinced, as his method has never articulated clearly to me when to do the mid and high intensity stuff. So, I only do the HR stuff 4 days a week. Supposedly, as we improve in our fitness, we should be able to go farther in the same amount of time. So far, I'm all over the place, within a minute or so on a 12k row. After over two years of his plan, yet to see any noticeable consistent improvement. But maybe he's referring to folks who started off as sedentary as opposed to those who are already fit. But, I digress.

On the mid and high intensity days, I measure sleep, temperature, and the time it takes for my heart rate to slow down to less than 50%. In that respect, I have seen some improvement, as my heart rate has reduced more quickly now than it has in the past.

On the stuff where I'm going for max row, if it's like a 100 meter sprint, I might take note of the time to see if I've done anything special. My best is 15.9, but that was a few years ago. I've written down that my goal is 15.5, but unless I start taking TRT, I don't see that happening. My best years are likely behind me. (I'm 56)
A few things I do track that don't necessarily have much to do with rowing directly are my blood pressure which historically is on the higher side (130/70 or so) and my weight, which I've always struggled to keep under control due to my affinity for chocolate. At 5'10", if my weight gets over 225, all my metrics are off - higher BP, slower row times, although my strength goes up a bit on the heavier lifts. Still, I think as I age, getting too heavy would only be bad for me.

[Dangerscouse]

Tbh, I don't do much analysis at all, which is why I wanted to start the Pete Plan. It's simple enough for me to follow it, and there's good tracking of progress, although I have gone a bit wayward in recent weeks / months due to life pressures.

What I usually do is use my intuition for what feels right on any given day, as I don't like to be rigid in what I'm doing.It's far from ideal for monitoring progress on a granular level, but it's there if I sift through it on a general basis, which suits me.

I am going to try and be more dedicated at sticking to defined targets, but it's always been a bit of an issue for me. I'll happily follow a plan if I go to a class, and I enjoy the structure in those circumstances, but if I'm on my own at home I all too easily go off piste, which has had some very notable successes / PBs as a consequence, along with some very notable failures I hasten to add.

[jamesg]

I don't have much to analyse, so using C2 WODs, put meters, time and strokes in a sheet, calculating W, Watts/Rating and Watts/kg. Can then add columns for anything else such as speed in m/min, m/stroke etc. Total about 90k a month.

[Sakly]

I only use the logbook capabilities and do not analyse much data.
Sometimes I look at long term changes, typical for 10k/60min sessions with same pace and how my HR changed over time for the effort.

[p_b82]

Some interesting comments made so far.

For completeness I'll add what I'm currently looking at.

Primarily I look at average pace for the month & meters made - This season I've massively dropped my volume but I've massively increased my pace - even with changing from 2 rows to 3 a week. From those two I've extrapolated the average power as well.
I plot in 6 bar charts the distance, split time for each month during the year and then two direct comparisons of the same thing (so I could play with scales)
For example for September22 I did ~90k@2:36.43; but this year I only did ~48k@2:12.14.

Last year I ended up average power output of 100W - this year so far I'm at 141.

After a pb, I'll break down what's in the log a little bit - distance per stroke, total number of strokes, Wmin, rating & compare to before; comparing my HR across the same splits & whether there were dips/drops in similar places as before during the piece.
That's mostly to see if whether I really was going all out, or if there's potentially more in the tank for it.

Seeing the tangible improvements - power increase, time reduction, pace improvement in terms of difference I find more helpful for quantifying things - other than "I went faster" which I only get from the total time/distance at the end.

Occasionally I might look at a session I do more frequently - 45mins this year is one of those - and see what the trends were; but that's more just a cursory occasional thing.

[Ombrax]

In my case very little. I have a small notebook in which I keep track of my weightlifting and rowing workouts.

For rowing I write down distance and average pace for the single-piece rows, and for intervals the overall distance and avg pace then the avg pace of each piece of the workout. It's enough to let me know if I'm improving, and helps give me rough idea of how hard to push myself as I plan my next workout. If for some reason I'm not feeling 100% due to, say lack of sleep the night before, or whatever, I'll make a note of that to explain a slower or shorter than usual workout.

[mromero680]

The two data points I pay most attention to are strokes per minute and HR. Those two together tell me if I'm getting more fit at similar paces. But I track everything in a spreadsheet!