“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” ~the apt quotation paired with this heartwarming snapshot is unverified but attributed to Mark Twain
I don’t know whether or not today’s training session actually did anything to help improve my times in 5 and 6K, as is its stated purpose according to the RowPro training plan generator. But it was literally heartwarming, which was especially appreciated on today’s chilly morning.
“Chilly” is relative, of course… the house was 64° F which would be considered warm in other parts of the country, but definitely chilly to those of us who are accustomed to summer temperatures in the triple digits.
Today’s RowPro 5 for the Mac software-generated training session consisted of a 500m warmup, a main session of 14K and a 750m warm down. The 14K portion was subdivided to include two “slow pressure” 1500m intervals and the remainder of the 14K was to be done at an easy pace. Screenshots below.
Today I had a phone conversation with my oldest daughter who was on her way to watch her daughter play in a soccer game. As we made the segue to disconnect from the call, I said “Have fun at the soccer game,” to which she replied, “have fun rowing.” To which, I replied, “I’ll have as much fun as I possibly can, rowing…” To which, she replied with a laugh.
Her laugh was good seasoning added to the rowing session today, which was another RowPro software-generated training session of 8K at an easy pace with target zones for both HR and rating.
While rowing, I listened to K-LOVE, a local radio station whose music competed with the sound of the erg during the 8K. The thought and memory of laughter about having maximum fun while rowing mixed with the other ambient sounds and led to the observation that rowing at a pace that kept HR inside the painted zone wasn’t as much fun as it should be. I suspect that the algorithm RowPro 5 for the Mac uses for painting the HR zone uses the formula HRmax = 220-age. That formula doesn’t work for me. Never has.
So I picked up the pace to what felt like fun while still rowing in easy, recovery mode.
Maximum fun was a little ways outside and above the HR box.
An actual view of this blog post in progress as I’m taking a few moments to think about what to call it
Today’s session of the 12 week RowPro software-generated training session was as shown in the screenshot of training details somewhere below: 500m warmup, 6K easy, 500m warmdown.
The rowing alone wasn’t enough work to complete the “move” circle of my apple watch activity app, so I guess I’ll have to find something else to do today, like perhaps walk up and down a flight of stairs a few dozen times.
The apple watch activity app reminds me to stand up at least once every hour, exercise at least 30 minutes per day and also to move sufficiently to burn my daily quota of apple watch activity units. It actually calls them “calories,” but I call them apple watch activity units because it gives me a daily quota of so-called “calories” which currently is 570. But I burn a lot more calories than what it credits me for in exercise on the erg.
For example: The apple watch activity app counted the rowing session today as 260 calories, but the Concept 2 erg, which is a precise measuring instrument, registered it to be actually 393 calories. That’s quite a discrepancy if you really care. But that’s okay because I don’t care that the apple watch activity app isn’t a precise measuring instrument. I am not one single iota less satisfied with the apple watch because of that discrepancy. I consider the “calories” recorded by the apple watch activity app to be either apple watch units or “relative” calories. Relative, in the sense of being somehow related, like perhaps “cousins” of the actual calories.
I’m sure you will understand, because you are a genius – as was explained in yesterday’s post.
Screenshot view of finish screen for the 6K portion of today’s session.Today’s session details.
The title is a non-sequitur in relation to today’s rowing session. According to the above quotation attributed to Einstein, you are a genius. Feel good about yourself, in that respect.
Today’s rowing training session was 10K which included a couple of 1K intervals which I did in a gentle fashion. The first 1K interval was done at the most gentle pace and the second 1K was done slightly faster. I followed the instructions in the training details and “relaxed and let it happen” while watching what passed for news on TV.
But… now that I think about it more, I guess I didn’t follow the guidance in the details as well as I could, because I didn’t work hard enough to develop any additional strength or endurance. Hmm… How do you “relax” and work hard enough to push like that?
So I guess I did relax but did not develop any additional strength or endurance. C’est la vie.
The stated purpose of today’s RowPro software-generated training session was to develop endurance. Whatever it did, it was exercise, for most of an hour. The main session was 10K with 500m warm up and 750m warm down.
It’s rowing, so of course you don’t need a snorkel!
Today’s RowPro 5 for the Mac software-generated training session was as the screen print of details below explains. There was an additional 3K warmup done before the training session, and that is all the “extra” rowing that will be done for the rest of this week, because with that extra 3K plus all the scheduled training sessions for this week, the week’s total will add up to more than 70,000 meters and that is sufficient to continue maintaining a daily average of 10K+.
Everything about today’s rowing session is displayed in the four screenshots below…
Finish screen after the 6K piece.Descriptive details.
Today’s training session was a mix of faster and slower intervals totalling 10,000 meters. Shorthand for the session is 3x1000r750.
More specifically, three intervals of 1000 meters each, with the first two followed by 750 meters active rest and the third followed by what was left of the 10K.
Today’s session was another “just doing the distance” training session. Distance was 6K with 500m warmup and warm down. Plus an additional 3K not shown in this post.
Today’s ride on the erg was so easy it felt like a ride for a child.
Today’s rowing session was another easy recovery session like yesterday. Except that it was shorter. After doing today’s session, I did another session of 3K, to bring total meters rowed for today up to 10K. The supplemental 3K was actually done with more effort than the training session… because I wanted to hurry up and get the rowing finished for today. But the 3K was still very much in the ballpark of easy.
Descriptive details of today’s training sessionFinish screen for 6KTraining session reportTraining session graphsfinish screen for supplemental 3K
