This morning’s favorable Readiness score from the EliteHRV app left me looking forward to some energetic intervals.
Today’s workout consisted of a 10K rowing session online, with a 10 minute warm down. The 10K was originally planned to be a series of intervals of 30 strokes each and spaced to each start about 1,000 meters apart.
During the first part of the 10K, heart rate was too irregular to display. When It finally became regular enough to display, it was way too high for the effort level, so I slowed to an extremely slow pace. After about 2,000 meters, heart rate settled down to where it should be and the remainder of the 10K was somewhat normal. But I decided to skip using the SkiErg for today.
Last night, I took another dose of Valerian as a sleep aid. I suspect that it may have been at least a partial cause of the irregular and excessively high heart rate. The Valerian did help me sleep through the night, but it seemed to cause strange dreams.
Graphs of 10K rowing session as displayed on RowPro finish screen.
Report for today’s 10K rowing session. Notice splits 4, 5, 6 and 7 where heart rate is way too high for the low effort level.
The low pace during today’s hour session was in line with the recommendation of EliteHRV’s analysis.
Today’s main workout was 60 minutes rowing online. In addition to a low HRV score this morning (see above screenshot), heart rate was too high and irregular so I rowed at a low effort level and average pace of about 2:30/500 meters.
The graph of today’s 60 minute rowing session shows the “heart strangeness” symptom that caused me restrict the rowing effort to the slow side. When heart rate was regular enough to be displayed, it was way too high, at about 150 BPM, for the low pace which averaged about 2:30/500 meters.
The above screenshot shows how heart rate was too high for the low effort. Heart rate returned to normal after the 60 minute session was over. Heart rate remained normal during the 10 minute warm down session and during a 120 calorie SkiErg session that followed today’s rowing.
The EliteHRV Morning Readiness analysis was a good score but it may have been a false reading because there were two artifacts visible on the EliteHRV HR graph which were not detected.
Today’s main workout was a 60 minute online rowing session. The target was to row at a pace of 2:10 and then sprint near the end, for a season best time. But during the last 15 minutes heart rate spiked from a normal rate of around 150 to 198 and became irregular, so I immediately slowed and rowed slow for the rest of the hour.
Finish screen view for today’s online 60 minutes.
RowPro report for today’s online 60 minutes.
RowPro graphs for today’s online 60 minutes. You can see how HR went nuts during the last 15 minutes.
On this chart you can clearly see where HR first started acting up, at the tall spike.
This morning’s Red Light meant STOP- don’t do a workout.
Yesterday, the problem was insomnia. Today, the problem was the extremely low “Morning Readiness” reading from the EliteHRV app when it measured heart rate variability. So I didn’t row today.
The EliteHRV app counted 43 “artifacts” and even though it supposedly corrected for them, the result was still a very poor reading.
The problem causing the extremely poor reading was probably due to a bout of irregular heartbeat as you can see displayed in the EliteHRV graph above.
This is a much better reading. It was taken a lot later in the day, after a nap and after heartbeat had returned to normal.
I deleted that EliteHRV reading, had breakfast, skipped having any coffee and took some aspirin. Then I took a long nap. After the nap, I took another reading with EliteHRV and this time it was a good score. But it was too late in the day to do any rowing.
This morning’s HRV analysis gave a green light for any effort level during the workout.
Although I gave today’s workouts an overall RPE Level 4 rating, which is unremarkable, the observed lowest and highest heart rates seemed very remarkable.
One thing I have a habit of doing every morning is checking to see what my lowest/resting heart rate was during the night, and jotting it down in a notepad. The lowest heart rate during the night had been 53.
But after I changed into rowing clothes, put on the heart strap and sat on the rowing machine before starting to row, heart rate went as low as 51 BPM, which was 2 BPM lower than the lowest it had been during the night while I was laying motionless and in deep sleep!
Perhaps my body was anticipating morning coffee, with its dose of caffeine stimulant and was suppressing its own production of whatever comparable stimulant(s) it makes?
Heart rate was nice and low, before doing any rowing this morning. Just before I reached out to the keyboard to take this screenshot, displayed heart rate had been 51 BPM.
After today’s rowing session, I did a short session on the Concept 2 SkiErg. Heart rate managed to surprise me again by going to the other extreme and reaching as high as 185 during one of the SkiErg intervals.
After the workouts, I made coffee and enjoyed about 5 “cups” (30 liquid ounces) of dark black coffee during the next few hours of the morning.
After the 4th of 5 intervals during the SkiErg workout, HR went as high as 185. Its easy to work hard on the SkiErg…
The main workout today was 10K on the rowing machine. It was done online. This is a view of the finish screen for today’s 10K rowing session.
Report for today’s 10K rowing session.
RowPro graphs for today’s 10K rowing session.
Concept 2 online logbook data for today’s SkiErg session.
I wasn’t inclined to believe the analysis and recommendation of EliteHRV this morning…
As you can see from the above screenshot, the heart rate variability analysis from the EliteHRV app this morning recommended that I take it easy. I didn’t believe it and so I warmed up to do an attempt at a season best in rowing a 30 minute piece.
Last night’s sleep was good, at 7 hours 55 minutes logged by SleepWatch, but I felt very much like staying in bed and getting some more sleep,
But there were feelings of heart-skipping during the rowing warm-up, which frequently is a sign of impending Atrial fibrillation. So I decided to do a 30 minute session at 2:07/500m instead of aiming for a bit faster than 2:03.
Even at the slower pace of 2:07, Afib and elevated heart rate happened. So I slowed down significantly. After about one minute of the 30 minute session, heart rate started to rise disproportionately to effort. So I took a break to get an aspirin.
The atrial fibrillation continued after the 30 minute session was over. Above is a screenshot of the Apple Watch’s 2 minute graph of recovery heart rate after I stopped rowing and while I sat motionless for a couple minutes. Normally, heart rate steadily decreases during those two minutes. This time, it increased and behaved erratically.
The Afib continued through the rowing session but cleared up after the rowing was finished, after I started using the SkiErg. Go figure…
So I spent a while on the SkiErg and set two season best times for short sprints (100 meters and 1 minute) on the SkiErg.
I did 10 SkiErg pieces, for a total of 14 rowing + SkiErg. Instead of showing screenshots of each of the 14, I’ll just post screenshots of lists of the rowing and SkiErg sessions. If you really want to see them in more detail, it’s easy to do. You just visit the concept2.com online logbook where my rowing sessions are available to anybody who is logged in. You can find me by looking at the listing of virtual rowing clubs and clicking on RowPro Rowers, where I’m listed among the members.
These 4 rowing sessions were done first today.
These 10 SkiErg sessions were done after the rowing sessions. The ones highlighted in blue turned out to be season best times for those particular pieces.
This guy was knocked out of a race in the 2016 Olympics by an obstacle. At least he didn’t have Afib…
Today’s rowing session was a 30 minute online race. There was a total of 14 people in the race. After the race began and I watched everyone’s paces for a few minutes I decided that I could finish in 9th or 10th place, if I aimed for a pace of about 2:07.
That was working out well until about halfway through the half hour, when heart rhythm went into its Afib nutso-mode and I had to slow down. So I slowed, picked up the pace, slowed again and repeated that several times, but couldn’t shake the Afib. The result was that I finished last place. At least I finished. 🙂
Perhaps I should have warmed up a bit first?
A screen recording was made of the online race and is available for those who’d like to row-along with it. It’s YouTube link is: Indoor Rowing 30 Minutes with Afib 02242019
Today started out with a good reading from EliteHRV.
SleepWatch app recorded a good night’s sleep at 8 hours 10 minutes.
Finish screen for today’s 30 minute online session.
Report for today’s 30 minute online session.
RowPro graphs for today’s 30 minute online session.Concept 2 online logbook chart for today’s 30 minute online session.
Today’s Morning Readiness was good and HRV seems to be continuing to climb.
Today’s HRV reading seemed to become elevated a little more than halfway through the EliteHRV morning readiness reading session, when my heart sort of skipped a beat and then sort of went “thump” one time. You can see a little spike in the HR graph for the session at about that time, and you can see that the HRV graph raised a bit at that point, and stayed higher to the end.
Very good sleep last night. I may have been a bit dehydrated, because I didn’t wake one single time during the night. Total sleep 5 hours 55 minutes.
Today’s rowing wasn’t interrupted by heart strangeness – it was a constant thing throughout. The unusual behavior was a combination of irregular heart rate and heart rate way too high for the effort. Normally at that effort level my heart rate would be around 100 BPM, plus or minus a little bit. Hopefully, it will clear up later today and be gone tomorrow.
Today’s main session was 6K on the rowing machine. It was preceded by a 50 calorie warmup on the SkiErg.
Finish screen for today’s 6K which was done very slowly while heart rate raced too fast. The HR graph looks good in this view, but you can see the heart rate mess caused by irregular heartbeat in the RowPro graph and the Concept 2 online logbook chart, further below.RowPro report for today’s 6K.RowPro graphs for today’s 6K.Concept 2 online logbook chart for today’s 6K.
Plenty of sleep last night, at 8 hours 15 minutes.
Today’s main workout was 6,000 meters on the rowing machine. During the last half of the 6K, heart rate became irregular and too high, so I slowed down to let it return to normal. It returned to normal, but not until after the rowing session was finished.
Report for today’s 6,000 meters.
RowPro graphs for today’s 6,000 meters.
Concept 2 online logbook chart for today’s 6,000 meters.
Today’s Morning Readiness reading with the EliteHRV app shows me to be “readier” than yesterday or the day before. I think what’s happening is that the app is forming a new baseline in reaction to my HRV score becoming slightly higher. I hope so. That would be very nice.
Atrial fibrillation started and interfered with my sleep last night. It began at about 2 AM. I couldn’t sleep with it happening, so I got out of bed and sat on the living room sofa for about 3 hours. Heart rhythm returned to normal at about 5 AM. So I went back to bed and slept until an alarm clock woke me at about 10 AM, for a total of 6 hours 20 minutes sleep.
Today’s main session was 5K done at an easy pace on the SkiErg, but slightly faster than yesterday’s 5K SkiErg pace. It was done mostly at RPE Level 2, except for slight pickup in pace during part of the last 500 meters. I’m trying to get a feel for the “alien” body involvement with the SkiErg. It is alien, compared to what I’ve become so used to on the rowing machine. I’m liking the SkiErg more and more, as a supplement to rowing – it’s nice to be using some upper body muscles that aren’t used when rowing.
A screen recording was made of the SkiErg 5K, for those of you who’d like to row-along or ski-along with it. It is at this link on YouTube: Indoor Workout 5K SkiErg Easy 01272019
Finish screen for the 5,000 meter SkiErg session.
Report for the 5,000 meter SkiErg session.
RowPro graphs for the 5,000 meter SkiErg session.
Concept 2 online logbook chartfor the 5,000 meter SkiErg session.
After the 5K SkiErg piece, this rowing session was done. It was done at RPE Level 2. Its distance was 8995 meters.
RowPro graphs for the rowing session of 8995 meters.
