Monday morning rowing, I was still feeling a little beaten up after rowing 40,000m over 5 sessions on the weekend, so was not looking for another session to smash.
I chose to do the Rowvember day 10 workout ‘So You Think You Know Rowing’ 15:00 of 3 full strokes, 1 stroke arms only, 1 stroke arms and body only as a warm up, this is known as ‘Cutting the Cake’ or ‘The American Drill’.
I kept the rate high (30-32spm) so the flywheel had less chance of slowing down during the arms only pieces. I improved the transitions between strokes and arms only parts as the session progressed.
We did some of this yesterday in a double OTW, I have to say it works better with an actual oar (or two) as it has more mass and momentum, not quite the same with a handle, chain and flywheel.
for the main workout I did Rowvember day 12 workout ‘Quick Release’ 10 x 2:00@18spm, unstrap, stand up, sit down, strap in (‘One finger one thumb, keep moving’).
It took me about 10 seconds from stopping to starting again, then trying to dial in the average stroke rate again whist pulling back the average split.
Most of the actual rowing was at around 1:58-2:08, but with 10 seconds of spin down, the 2 minute average takes a serious hit.
This one was good fun and not too exhausting, the standing up was also good for easing my back.
Tuesday morning, rest day, no exercise today.
Tuesday evening archery, finally worked out why my arrows were all going to the right – I was still using my outdoors pressure button but was now using my indoor arrows! I swapped the pressure button and the arrows immediately started going where they were supposed to – go figure.
Wednesday morning rowing, Rowvember Day 11 ‘Rowing Chad’ 10,000m. This is one is pretty much a normal rowing day for me. In the absence of other workouts, I do this 3 times a week.
2,000 (9:55.3) warm up. I didn’t feel like doing it as a time trial, having been awake between 03:00 and 04:30, so just sat at a comfortably uncomfortable pace.
Nothing to write home about regarding the 2,000m times in this one, all around 8:46 and 9:32, looks like the pace dipped a bit for the middle 2K, I must have ‘zoned out’ whilst watching the last episode of Battlestar Galactica, but I picked it up again for the last two as I wanted to finish in under 46 minutes (45:59.9).
2,239m (12:14.4) cool down and some stretching.
Thursday morning rowing, for a warm up, I did Rowvember Day 16 ‘Technique-ing the Clock’ Arms, arms and body, legs, legs and body, full stroke, 12 rounds, first round 1 of each, 12th round 12 of each.
I managed to hit 81spm arms only (2:15/500m), 55spm for arms and body (2:13/500m), then 38 for legs (2:00/500m), 38 again for legs and body (1:59/500m) and finally 36spm for the full stroke (1:45/500m), all at drag factor 127 for a finish time of 9:17.1.
This was a great warm up piece, although I was not fond of the legs and body sections as they jar the lower back.
For the main workout I did Rowvember Day 13 ‘The Come Down’ 3 x 6:00@18spm, 3:00@20spm, 1:00@22spm, no rest.
Nailed the rates as usual, negative splits all round except for the 20spm piece on round 2. This one was a good ‘sweat fest’. Cooled off with 2,241m (10:40.2) and some stretching.
Friday morning skiing, I started off with a 1,000m (5:20.5) warm up before doing a 2,00m time trial for the C2 SkiErg Performance Series – November Edition, PB to beat from September is 8:16.3 (2:04.1/500m).
I set the pace skiier for 2:04.1 and off we go.
I passed 500m in 2:02.5, 6 seconds down on my 500m PB, but up by 6m on the pace skiier.
I passed 1,000m in 4:05.0, 3.9 seconds down on my 1,000m PB, but up by 13m on the pace skiier. I was starting to fade at this point, but so long as I kept at the pace skiier’s rate or better, it would not catch me.
I passed 1,500m in 6:08.5, a new 1,500m PB by 7.8 seconds and up by 15m on the pace skiier. Final push for the finish.
Passed the 2,000m finish line in 8:11.0, a new PB by 5.3 seconds and up by 22m on the pace skiier.
Tried to sprint for the finish, but had nothing left and was really only able to hang on to the 2:02/500m pace I had started with, despite upping the rating to 47spm.
I was initially hoping for my first sub 8 minute 2K on the SkiErg, but by the end was trying to hang on for a sub 8:10 and just missed out on that as well.
I am happy with the result and I paced it well, I just need to find that little extra bit of effort to get the average splits below 2:00 and I will have that sub 8 minute 2K.
Next up after 5 minutes of rest was Rowvember Day 14 (Ski Edition) ‘Its 50% Rest’ 10 x 1:00 work, 1:00 active recovery, 1-4 40spm, 5-8 44spm, 9-10 48spm (SPM changed to equivalent SkiErg rates).
Negative splits and increased distance every round, not so easy hitting rates on the SkiErg, especially with only a minute for the work duration, so some are a touch high (trying to hit 48spm, in the last 2 rounds, instead of the 50spm I was doing, was not going to happen, it would require more concentration than I had left).
Average active recovery meters were about 150m per round, it really helps doing this on the SkiErg or the flywheel slows down too much and the start of the next round takes too long and too many strokes to spin it back up again.
My arms were really starting to ache by the last couple of rounds, even during the active recovery and my heart rate was not dropping below 160 either.
Finished off with 1,138m (7:48.8) cool down.
Saturday morning masters rowing, 8+, stroke seat, steady state and power rowing, power pieces at increasing rates (13,200m).
A cup of tea and then I walked into Staines and had Thai spicy chicken and rice for lunch from the market.
Saturday afternoon leisure rowing, leisure 4x, stroke seat and coxing, looks like I forgot to turn the Speed Coach off, as it recorded my entire journey home! (19,398m, although only 5,000ish should qualify)
Sunday morning masters rowing, 8+, stroke seat, steady state and power rowing, power pieces at increasing rates, starting at 20spm and then about every 20 strokes, the cox had us going ‘up 2’ until we hit 28spm. We later 3 x 2:00-2:30 pieces at 30+spm (race pace) with a few ‘power 10’s’ thrown in on top for good measure (13,212m).
A cup of tea then off to Wetherspoons for a well earned full English cooked breakfast.
Sunday afternoon leisure rowing, leisure 2x, bow seat, steady state up to the motorway bridge, a short break for a chat, then all the way down to Silver Sands before heading back in, a nice leisurely row (6,233m).