The Road to Boston 2007

Bob S. · Post by **Bob S.** » November 28th, 2006, 2:21 am

Finally back on board after a 2 week bout with a nasty little critter known as a mycoplasma (MS Word spell check doesn’t like that, but that is how it is spelled).

I managed to keep up my daily routine of a 10’ wakeup erg piece followed by 45-60 minutes of stretches and light exercises, but I have stayed off the heavy stuff completely. I did get in a little work cleaning up the stall at the Saddle Club where my wife keeps her horse. She usually does the honors herself, but she came down with the same bug and was worse off than I was, so I took over for a few days of it. If someone had told me a few decades ago that if I made it to 82 I would find myself mucking out a horse’s stall, I would have figured that it was a good thing that it was unlikely that I would be around that long. You just never know what life is going to throw at you. In this case it was horse manure.

Back to the erg. Today was the first time since a 2x16’UT1 session on Nov. 10. I haven’t had a treadmill session since Nov. 11. Today’s set of 70 pushups was the first I did since a set of 82 on Nov 10. (Hey! Maybe that was what did me in — finally getting in that set of pushups equal to my age. I had done one shortly before my birthday, but my rule was to do it on or soon after each birthday.) I haven’t done any weight work since Nov. 5 and this was just after I decided to pay on a monthly basis instead of getting a card good for 20 visits. Talk about poor timing! Worst of all, I haven’t had a real hike since Oct. 24.

I had intended to start up just where I left off, but on looking over my IP schedule just now, I realize that I screwed up by bypassing those two weeks and jumping right into the regular schedule where I would have been without the layoff. I was supposed to be doing a 50’UT2, but ended up doing a 2x20’UT1. Then, if I stay with this, I get my first AN pieces on Wednesday — 4x1.5’AN.

Well anyway, today’s goal was 2x20’UT1, which would be at 24 spm and in the band 2:18.3 and 2:23.2. Well, it didn’t quite work out that way.

It started off bad even in the warm up. This was a 15’ rate pyramid, 3’ ea at 15/18/20/18/15. The problem was that the 3’ paces were 2:24.9/2:19.5/2:15.7/2:16.7/2:22.8. Even at 20 and 18 spm, I was having trouble slowing the pace down to the UT1 level.

I went ahead with the first piece and had no problem keeping a steady 24 spm, At first I was keeping the pace in the band, but after 8 minutes it started getting faster and by the time I was through, the average pace was 2:16.3. I had thought that I was getting the trick of pulling more lightly in order to take a longer stroke, but somehow I lost that over the layoff.

The second piece was worse. I decided to just go at a lower rate and kept a steady 20spm, my favorite rate since it is so easy to time. This didn’t help at all. I had it set for 2’ splits. The first was just barely out of the band at 2:17.2. The second was at 2:16.9 and, after that it was all at 2:15.4 and lower — no control whatsoever.

In both pieces, my HR got up into the 150s, especially in the second piece.

The cool down, a 12’ taper, 3’ each as 20/18/15/12, was at reasonable paces, but my HR stayed way up there, even hitting 159, until dropping to 122 at end.

I guess that I should have been doing that 50’UT2 and working harder at keeping a slow pace at 20spm.

Bob S.

Yankeerunner · Post by **Yankeerunner** » November 28th, 2006, 9:40 am

Thanks Anne, for "taking one for the team."

And Bob, tough couple of weeks.

I hope things are back to normal for both of you.

Today:3 X 12' UT1 (3'r)

2150m w/u in 10'

12' 2940m 2:02.5 21spm 147hr (recovered to 75hr during rest)
12' 2951m 2:02.0 21spm 152hr (rec. to 84hr)
12' 2964m 2:01.5 22spm 156hr (rec. to 84hr)

1032m c/d in 5'

Standard erg, 121df, 62 degrees, 46rhr. Started today a half-second/500m faster than the UT1 of Sunday, just to feel that I'm making progress. Again the HR went well above UT1 and to the top of my calculated AT, but things felt in control. Trying to work on straight arms on the leg drive and quicker hands-away at the finish. It gets sloppier as I get tired.

Rick

Anne · Post by **Anne** » November 28th, 2006, 3:01 pm

Today:3 X 17' UT1 (3'r) with the goal of just completing it..between yesterday's 2K and minimal sleep last night, I was off.

13' 3792m 2:14.4 24spm 165hr (recovered to 81hr during rest)
13' 3736m 2:16.5 24spm 175hr (rec. to 91hr)
13' 3577m 2:22.5 22spm 169hr - was totally focussed on HR staying under 170

Worked on technique and HR, rowed strapless and used a towel on the seat. My rear complains with the UT1 pieces.

TomR · Post by **TomR** » November 28th, 2006, 9:06 pm

AT 2x9

1.59.1/153 hr/25 spm
2.01.5/154 hr/24 spm

Felt dead. The warm-up told me it was going to be bad. The first interval was a struggle--stroke rate about 1.5-2 higher than normal.

Second interval was a touch better, probably because it was slower.

I appreciate training by HR limits on a day like today. If I were chasing pace, I would have been miserable, maybe even handled-down.

Tom

Anne · Post by **Anne** » November 28th, 2006, 10:19 pm

Tom, I agree on the HR approach (even though I try to follow pace more..I think the HR approach will provide better results long term). When I could barely manage my third interval today, I reverted to HR just so I'd finish the piece and not handle down. I do realize that I shouldn't swap approaches in the middle, but I didn't want to quit.

And, if that isn't enough ammunition to get voted off this island, I returned to the gym this evening and re-rowed the final 17' interval from this morning....just to prove I could. A rest period of 8 hours works wonders.

Tomorrow I will get back to the plan..assuming my body agrees.

seat5 · Post by **seat5** » November 29th, 2006, 12:21 am

Anne, you'd be voted into any boat I was in for that, not off the island! True Grit.

Hope you continue recovering, Bob, that sounds like it was a really unpleasant episode for both you and Mrs. S!

Will, any more AN this week for you?
NJSurf, I have bought a squat rack and hope to have it set up after getting rid of some stuff to make room for it this weekend. Haven't done any lifting for years so will be looking for newbie advice.

Rick, I also like training by pace rather than heart rate, but I haven't ever tried the heart rate way. I just think I would never push myself very hard if I was always worrying about staying in the right heart rate band.

Today was 2 x 13 UT1, max target 2:05. I do my UT1 and UT2 on slides; TR and AT on standard erg. 5K warm up.

3188 2:02.3/22
3181 2:02.6/22

We ended up eating dinner at 10:30 tonight to accomodate my rowing and Dave's karate class and also a good dose of procrastination thrown in for good measure. Must work on that!

whaskell · Post by **whaskell** » November 29th, 2006, 7:05 am

Mon: off

Tuesday Morning
10min WU - 2236m
UT1 3x15min / max pace 1:54.5 / 22-24 spm
Target: 3x15min / avg pace 1:57 / 23 spm /3min rest
Actual: 15min / avg pace 1:56.7 / 25spm / 3855m
Actual: 15min / avg pace 1:56.9 / 23spm / 3848m
Actual: 15min / avg pace 1:56.8 / 23spm / 3852m
Total session: 13543m

Good workout. Forgot what stroke rate to use on the first one and started out with my AT stroke rate of 27. Realized about halfway through the first rep that this seemed way too easy.

Wednesday Morning
10min WU - 2238m
TR 4x3min / max pace 1:44 / 32-36 spm
Target 4x3min / avg pace 1:46 / 33spm / 4min rest
Actual: 3min / avg pace 1:46.3 / 33spm / 847m
Actual: 3min / avg pace 1:45.6 / 33spm / 852m
Actual: 3min / avg pace 1:45.6 / 32spm / 852m
Actual: 3min / avg pace 1:45.1 / 32spm / 856m
Total session: 6923m

This felt good also - I could definitely feel the last one. It is tough for me to get above 32 spm at this pace, but I am not too worried about that.

How is everyone doing on the Holiday Challenge? After this morning's session I have completed 78,998m.

Yankeerunner · Post by **Yankeerunner** » November 29th, 2006, 9:21 am

Anne, I likes your style. You stay on the Island!

Today:2 X 7' AT (3.5'r)

2395m w/u in 11'

7' 1787m 1:57.5 24spm 146hr (recovered to 72hr during rest)
7' 1794m 1:57.0 24spm 153hr (rec. to 73hr)

1235m c/d in 6'

Standard erg, 122df, 57 degrees, 50rhr (Maybe a bit high because of a flu shot last night). Strapless, and still feeling a bit awkward. Also, after seeing my weight climb during my 13 day rest (including Thanksgiving eating) to a staggering 150 lbs even, I've already dropped back to my normal 148 lbs following a couple of normal workouts. So much for that idea of converting my weight gain into superhuman strength on the erg.

Rick

Bob S. · Post by **Bob S.** » November 29th, 2006, 1:32 pm

seat5 wrote: We ended up eating dinner at 10:30 tonight to accomodate my rowing and Dave's karate class and also a good dose of procrastination thrown in for good measure. Must work on that!

Requote: Must work on that!
Addendum: One of these days!

Sorry, I couldn't resist that.

Bob S.

Bob S. · Post by **Bob S.** » November 29th, 2006, 9:17 pm

Tuesday: Did my first mountain hike in over a month. Not much over 4 miles, but I started at about 8 thousand feet and got up to about 9 thousand, so it was a good exercise.

Today (Wednesday): Supposed to be 4x1.5’AN. Not good. Strictly an uncontrolled fly and die situation. The goals were:

Rates 36-46
Paces faster than 2:00.3
Passive rests for 1:30

Results:
1st interval: 411m, 1:43.4/500, 37spm, 160bpm. The inital rate was in the 40s for several strokes, but then dropped and held in the upper 30s.
2nd interval: 394m, 1:54.2/500, 34spm, 151bpm. The rate held in the high 30s about half the interval, but then dropped.
3rd interval: 370m, 2:01.6/500, 29spm, 151bpm. I couldn't hold a high pace at all, but just concentrated on getting a long drive.

After that I essentially handled down. I dropped the rate to about 20spm, completed the 4th interval and used the 4th rest as a cool down at 12spm.

4th interval: 325m, 2:18.4/500, 21spm, 125bpm.
4th rest (active): 335m?! That’s what it said. I can’t understand how I could have been doing a longer distance in the minute and a half active rest at 12spm than I did in the interval itself at 20spm. Perhaps it did not stop counting meters when the rest period ended and it coasted for that extra distance. I was certainly doing that active rest at a slower pace than 2:18.4. I would guess that it was more in the vicinity of 2:40, but the pace doesn’t register during the rest, so there is no way of knowing. The rest distance should have been considerably less than 300m.

Bob S.

Anne · Post by **Anne** » November 29th, 2006, 10:50 pm

You are right Bob....1:43 is FLYING....

Hey mates... Thanks for letting me stay on the island or the road

. Today I was fortunate because the Head Rowing Coach from UC helped me with technique. She had some good suggestions/ refinements and I am eager to try them out on a long row tomorrow. So, I may substitute a UT1 row for the TR row and do 5 sessions this week. Her help really re-energized me. The proof will be in the pudding.

Anne

Yankeerunner · Post by **Yankeerunner** » November 30th, 2006, 9:52 am

Serious fly & die Bob.

If you could have hung on for 13 seconds more it would have been a WR for 500m!

Anne, I'm sure that I could benefit from some one-on-one coaching on technique. I'm jealous.

Today:3 X 15' UT1 (3.75'r)

2147m w/u in 10'

15' 3689m 2:02.0 22spm 141hr (recovered to 73hr during rest)
15' 3704m 2:01.5 22spm 147hr (rec. to 81hr)
15' 3720m 2:01.0 22spm 153hr (rec. to 82hr)

1018m c/d in 5'

Standard erg, 121df, 59 degrees, 49rhr. Went both longer and faster than the other two UT1 workouts this week while the HR stayed slightly lower. Felt a bit smoother on the stroke too. Satisfied.

50,755m so far towards the Holiday Challenge.

Rick

Bob S. · Post by **Bob S.** » November 30th, 2006, 3:00 pm

Bob S. wrote: 4th interval: 325m, 2:18.4/500, 21spm, 125bpm.
4th rest (active): 335m?! That’s what it said. I can’t understand how I could have been doing a longer distance in the minute and a half active rest at 12spm than I did in the interval itself at 20spm. Perhaps it did not stop counting meters when the rest period ended and it coasted for that extra distance. I was certainly doing that active rest at a slower pace than 2:18.4. I would guess that it was more in the vicinity of 2:40, but the pace doesn’t register during the rest, so there is no way of knowing. The rest distance should have been considerably less than 300m.
Bob S.

I have had further thoughts on this issue. I have the feeling that there may have been "coast" meters logged in in each of the rest periods, including the 3 passive rests. I have never done intervals with passive rests before, so I haven't seen that happening. It would take only a few meters from each of the passive rests to account for the discrepancy.

Bob S.

njsurfboats · Post by **njsurfboats** » November 30th, 2006, 3:13 pm

Thursday: short AT intervals, working around 6k pace.
5' on, 5' active rest, x6
1:43.9, 1:43.4, 1:43.0, 1:42.7, 1:42.5, 1:40.6

Really was nailing the ratings on these, trying to teach my body to hit a 30 for 20 minutes. I've been gradually working down these splits, dropping the average about 4/10 over 500 each week, and definitely haven't hit a wall yet. Ideally I'd like to be averaging these out around 1:40-1:41 and I think that's pretty doable, hopefully putting me in the neighborhood of a 20 minute 6k. And from there I can hopefully really capitalize on my 2k.

Afterwards, did some lifting, chest and back, bench pulls/bench press/military press that sort of thing.

Tomorrow: lots of steady state, probably a half marathon at a nice relaxed pace, setting up for sculling in the morning and some longer AT intervals on Saturday. (Ideally would like to hit the squat rack but we'll see how my legs feel. Won't have done squats since Tuesday at that point though.)

seat5 · Post by **seat5** » November 30th, 2006, 8:27 pm

NJsurfboats, you are a machine!

Tom, I'm doing the Holiday Challenge, but I'm behind quite a bit--I'm only at about 14,000 if the plan is to do 6250/day. I'll have to catch up with some junk meters. Have you got this spreadsheet? http://subroc.net/Holiday_Challenge_2006.xls (from another thread, posted by Torpedo, I believe)

Bob, that session sounds nightmarish. Ugh. Amazing first split!

Anne, sounds like the coaching session was just what you needed. I had a few sessions with Tom Bohrer last winter and the things he told me and also Paul Smith when I saw him briefly at WIRC last year have made a big difference. At the very least it gives you something positive to work on besides just trying to push harder or go faster.

Rick, Tom B is pretty local for us, he's only in Concord MA and does private sessions, as many or as few as you want, you might want to give him a call and try it. I believe he coached Nav Haz a few sessions at one point. In any case I have really gained from his help even though it was only a few sessions as I said.

Today was 2 x 4' TR, max targ 1:53. First one was too fast--would have been better neg. splitted but oh well. It was consistant for that interval, and the second one was consistant within itself, just slower than the first.
5K warmup first. Standard erg.

1082 1:50.9/30
1073 1:51.8/30[/url]