Today’s indoor rowing could have been much longer than 8,000 meters. But it was 8,000 meters and no more. Ethereal, but brief. I was inclined to keep it short, on a sort of whim, while considering that I’m committed to rowing enough to burn 20,000 calories during January.
I haven’t become tired of the HOCR Rowing Power Workout yet, so I rowed along with it and did the nine intervals it includes.
Today there was only enough time for 8,000 meters, instead of 10K or more. It was because of the previously mentioned water heater removal and replacement, which I decided to do myself. It was all complete except for the hauling away of the old water heater.
So… today I hauled the old water heater, plus its former housing, which was made of galvanized metal, to a local metal recycling location. By “local,” I mean it was only a 25 mile drive each way, for a round trip of 50 miles.
The amount I was paid for the scrap metal was $9.05, which was more than enough to cover the round trip cost of gasoline.
But, even if they had paid nothing for the old water heater, it would still have been a bargain, compared to the $700 which would have been charged by the Home Depot contractor, for delivery of the new one, removal and replacement and then hauling away of the old one. The contractor would not reduce the cost of installing the new water heater if I delivered the new one myself and hauled away the old one myself, because he said that those services were “free”. So, since he wouldn’t negotiate at all, he lost the entire job.
The round trip to take the old water heater to the metal recycling facility took about two hours. I had to drive on to a scale, have the truck weighed before it was unloaded, then have it weighed again afterwards. The place was very muddy, so after I returned home I had to spend another hour hosing and brushing the mud off the truck.
Today’s 8K was done with the first 2K as warm up, then I watched the HOCR Rowing Power Workout video again and did some of its intervals. I skipped the last interval, so that the last 800 meters or so could serve as a warm down.
Today’s indoor rowing was 10,000 meters similar to yesterday’s but different in these respects: The warmup portion was shorter and lasted only about 2,000 meters. The video I watched, which provided timing for the intervals was the same as yesterday, HOCR Rowing Power Workout, but when I did the intervals, I used less effort than yesterday. For the active rest portion following each interval, I rowed easier than when resting between intervals yesterday. Finally, the warm down portion at the end was longer and easier than it has been for similar sessions the previous five days.
I made those changes, so as to try to avoid the heart contrariness experienced yesterday and it seems to have worked. Searching for the “sweet spot” of not too hard but not too easy. It was probably on the too easy side today but that’s okay.
One of the videos I watched while warming up has nothing to do with today’s rowing except that it was humorous and I enjoyed it. It relates mostly to OTW (on the water) rowing, though it did show the guy who was being introduced to rowing when he tried using a Concept 2 rowing machine and fell off the seat. I suspect that he might have done that on purpose, because there is no special skill needed to sit on a rowing machine.
The answer to the question, how hard can rowing be? is: as hard as you want. There is no limit except the limit your own mind imposes upon you.
Today’s rowing was 10,000 meters. The first part was a warm up, then I watched the youtube video HOCR Rowing Power Workout and did nine intervals for the remainder.
After the ninth interval, I didn’t slow down completely and my heart decided to protest. The word “decided” in the previous sentence is a bit more than a figure of speech, it seems, because according to some articles I’ve read about the human heart, it has its own “brain”?!?! By “protest”, I mean my heart didn’t slow down like it normally does after the 10,000 meters was finished and -in addition to that- it even went higher during the last hundred meters or so. It was acting very contrary, to say the least.
After the 10K was over, it remained up in the 140+ BPM area, so I tried doing a 10 minute “warm down” even though I wasn’t hot. It still refused to slow down to normal. So I thought something to the effect of, “the heck with it!” and changed clothes.
It seems to be close to normal now, at around 70 BPM while I’m sitting here typing. So maybe the heart repented of its protest. Though 70+ does seem a bit high, for only moving one finger at a time on the keyboard.
Today’s indoor rowing was a total of 12,000 meters, split into a 10K session and a 2K ultra-slow warm down. During the first half of the 10K, I rowed slowly as a warmup. During the warmup, I watched miscellaneous videos related to rowing on the water. The highlight of those videos was the one for which you see a screenshot, above, of a coxswain “surfing” while her crew of 8 rowers propels the boat at a moderate effort. The crew cheers her, when she manages to stand up and “surf” while maintaining her balance, which is no easy task with the alternating applications of sudden accelerating power when the crew pulls the oars and the sudden deceleration and “glide” as the crew recovers and re-positions for the next stroke.
The second half of today’s 10K was a series of intervals, while watching the same video as yesterday’s session (HOCR Power Workout).
The final 2,000 meters was an ultra-slow-and-easy warm down.
Today’s rowing session followed the idea that was mentioned in yesterday’s blog article. I rowed along with the entire youtube video titled HOCR Power Workout.
Before starting the video, I rowed for about 15 minutes as a warmup.
I didn’t push too hard during the intervals, but hard enough to have some fun.
Today’s rowing session started out with me in a pensive mood, after having returned from a bi-annual doctor visit. The rowing piece chosen was 10,000 meters which I opted to do offline because I was fairly certain that my average pace would be far too slow for any of my most usual online companions.
Starting out, I decided to watch some video documentaries on youtube. I had to row very slow, to be able to give attention to what was being said and to be able to hear it clearly.
After about 5,000 meters of that, I switched to a rowing video on youtube which was about 28 minutes in duration and which included several intervals of 30 seconds and 60 seconds duration. That was quite enjoyable, so the Idea For Tomorrow’s Rowing Session is to do 10,000 meters while watching that same video and use whatever distance remains of the 10K after the 28 minute video is finished, for a warm down. If that is done tomorrow, the blog post will include a screen shot of the video and a link to it, for anyone else who wants to try rowing with it.
It has a sound track with a musical rhythm that works well with its alternating scenes of relatively slow rowing and sprint intervals.
Today’s indoor rowing was 10K done online. It was scheduled about 15 minutes in advance and one other rower joined, Linda L. who said she was new to rowing and it was her first time to row online. After the session was started, something happened with her connection or perhaps she started pulling the chain before the start signal. At any rate, the session seemed to crash.
So I set up a replacement 10K online as a QR and rowed it alone. The average pace was extremely slow, because I was watching a series of narrated videos on youtube while rowing.
Today’s main indoor rowing was 4,829 meters, which is about three miles. It was done while watching a youtube video of someone rowing the HOCR 2014 race. I started when he started and finished when he finished. Of course, I didn’t have to steer a boar or avoid colliding with other boats, which are some of the things he had to contend with.
The main session was followed by a few minutes of easy rowing in “just row” mode.