The above photo shows the dusty top of our current hot water heater. It looks easier to work with than some of the water heaters I saw in some of the youtube videos watched yesterday. Tomorrow’s pre-rowing warmup might consist of disconnecting and removing the current water heater which has developed a leak, and replacing it with a new one of the same capacity. I say it might be tomorrow’s warmup, because some of the guys who made youtube videos of their work to remove and replace hot water heaters…. made the remark that they worked up a sweat in the process.
Today’s rowing consisted of 10,000 meters which was done about the same as yesterday with the exception that I used a lower stroke rate for the early few thousand meters and when I reached 7,000 meters I went from 185 Watts to a moderate sprint of around 230-250 Watts briefly, so as to quickly get the heart rate up to the goal of 158 BPM. Once HR topped 158, I immediately slowed to a tapering warm down for the remaining approximately 3,700 meters.
Finish screen for today’s 10KReport for today’s 10KRowPro graphs for today’s 10KConcept 2 online logbook graphs for today’s 10K
If the concrete under the hot water heater looks wet, you’re right. The water heater’s tank is leaking.
Today I didn’t take any fish oil supplement, on the suspicion that it was related to the occasional arrhythmia and that correlation was reinforced when there was no arrhythmia today. So I decided to stop taking fish oil and switch to a plant-based substitute instead. Walnuts and chia seeds are a couple sources of the necessary Omega-3 oils.
The almost two year supply of fish oil that I’d bought (it had been on sale) was returned after this photo was taken, because there had been too many instances of correlation with heart palpitations when I’d taken it and no heart palpitations on days when it had not been taken.
But as today’s title indicates, the water heater didn’t work as well as my heart because it (water heater) started leaking.
So I got a replacement water heater from Home Depot. I saved the $79 I was told that its delivery would cost if the Home Depot contracted installer delivered it, by taking it home and delivering it myself. I asked the Home Depot employee if I could also save some money on the installation by disposing of the old water heater myself instead of having the installer haul it away. He said that when I talked with the Home Depot contractor about the installation, the amount it would cost to haul away the old one would be mentioned and could be negotiated.
While I was talking with the Home Depot employee about the water heater installation, another customer overheard me asking about the Home Depot installation contractors and he decided to chime in to the conversation by saying “I’m 80 years old and I’ve NEVER had a good experience with contractors! All I’ve ever gotten from contractors is s**t, s**t, s**t! I’ve never met a contractor who was any good or gave me anything but s**t!”
I didn’t know if he was talking about contractors in general or Home Depot contractors in particular, so I just replied by telling him that I was an optimist and I hoped to meet a good one. He just looked at me without saying anything further.
After getting home, I talked with a representative of the Home Depot contractor (Delta Mechanical) that does installation and I was told that it would cost $787.91 to install the water heater, including delivery of new one and disposal of old one.
I told him I’d already delivered the new one myself, so I could save the $79 delivery fee and said that I could also haul away the old one myself. Then I asked how much both of those done-it-myself tasks would reduce the installation cost.
He replied that delivery and disposal were “free” and the cost to install it would be the same price of $787.91!! There was no negotiation. They were going to charge me for all the work, even if they didn’t have to do it all!
That contractor-quoted price to remove and replace a water heater was far too expensive for something that would take from 30 minutes to an hour, so I decided against having the Home Depot contractors do the work.
If I’d known the phone number of that 80 year-old man in Home Depot who used the rather profane language about contractors, I would have called him next and told him I was now inclined to agree with his opinion and his choice of adjectives.
But I didn’t know his phone number, so I thought about calling other plumbers. Before I could call anyone else, I had an idea to look on YouTube. So I navigated the internet to YouTube and made a pleasant discovery. It was well worth looking.
There happen to be a multitude of videos on the subject of removal & replacement of water heaters. After watching a few of those videos, the decision was made to DIY. The videos were made by many different guys, ranging from experienced professional plumbers, to professional handymen and ordinary Do-It-Yourselfers, to even people who were doing it for the first time ever.
This is a screenshot from one of the encouraging, inspiring youtube videos I watched today, each of which show various people removing and replacing their water heaters. This particular video featured a water heater with the same visible symptom as ours – evidence on the floor below it of a water leak from the tank.
Today’s rowing was 10K. I started out the same as yesterday but starting with the third 2,000 meters of the session, I took a slightly less rapid approach to increasing power than yesterday’s plan.
I started at 105 Watts for the first 2,000 meters, just like yesterday. Then, 145 Watts for the next 2,000 meters, which was also the same as yesterday. But at the start of the 3rd 2K, (during which yesterday’s arrhythmia had happened, I only increased the power by an additional 20 Watts instead of 40 Watts, raising the effort to 165 Watts and stayed there for 1,000 meters until increasing another 20 Watts, to 185 Watts. Everything worked smoothly without even a hiccup from the heart up to that point, so after finishing the third 2K at 185 Watts, I increased the power by another 20 Watts, to 205 Watts.
Heart rate finally eased up to the target of 158 BPM after I’d rowed a total of about 7,000 meters. For the remaining distance, I rowed easy to warm down.
Finish screen for today’s 10K.RowPro 5 for the Mac had a glitch today. You can see it in some of the columns of split 7 in its report for today’s 10K. The columns for Time, Avg Pace and Avg DPS are incorrect for Split line 7.RowPro shows no glitch in its drawing of today’s graphs. Graphs for today’s 10K.Concept 2 online logbook’s graphs for today’s 10K.
The above image was found on a blog website called The Sieve of Truth. The title of the particular article where the image was found is Does Your Head Rule Your Heart or Your Heart Rule Your Head? It’s a good question. It might depend upon the individual, but I think it is a daily contest for most if not all of us.
Supposedly, the heart has its own brain or perhaps “brain”. If the heart has a brain, I don’t know how to talk with it. It’s probably just as well, because we might get into an argument and make things worse.
Today’s indoor rowing plan was originally to do 10,000 meters. That part was done. But the plan was also to raise the overall effort level a bit, without exceeding zone 2 of the 5 heart rate zones mentioned yesterday. Specifically, I was going to row the first 2K at about 105 Watts, the second 2K at about 145 Watts, the third 2K at about 185 Watts and the fourth 2K at 225 Watts or until heart rate reached the magic number of 158 BPM which is the top end of my personal heart rate zone 2 of 5. After reaching 158, I was going to do a gradually tapering warm down for the remaining distance of the 10K.
But I just barely got into the third 2K, at somewhere between 145 Watts and 185 Watts, when the allegedly brainy heart started beating to a different drummer, getting irregular and going too fast too soon. I tried adjusting the effort level to bring it back to where it should be based on recent sessions, but it just went faster and reached 158 when I was rowing easy.
So, when there were about 3,000 meters remaining, I got off the rowing machine, got a drink of water, walked around a bit and basically didn’t do any rowing for about 15 minutes. It seemed to return to normal, so I finished the last 3,000 meters at a very easy pace, so as to not stir it up any more.
Will try another 10K tomorrow.
Finish screen view for today’s 10K.Reportfor today’s 10K.Graphsfor today’s 10K.
Today’s indoor rowing was a modification of yesterday’s. The distance was still 10,000 meters. The approach was to start at about 85 watts for the first 1,000 meters and increase the power by about 20 watts each subsequent 1,000 meters until heart rate reached 158, then shift to warming down for the remaining distance. The same, but different.
This lady is pointing to the plot of a heart rhythm which has an irregularity. In today’s rowing session, I was trying to make changes of effort level gradual enough to avoid stirring up any such irregularities.
Heart rate has been steady and without any arrhythmia since yesterday’s rowing session “cured” that problem. With today’s rowing, I wanted to keep it that way, but still get a good workout.
Today’s rowing goals were to (1) keep the distance to no more than 10,000 meters, (2) use the first part of the session to gradually warm up, (3) gradually reach for and arrive at the effort level that would raise heart rate to 158 BPM, (4) continue at whatever effort level was needed to maintain about 158 BPM until the remaining distance counted down to 2,000 meters remaining and then (5) gradually reduce the effort level using the last 2,000 meters as a tapered warm down.
The term “sweet spot” is used in baseball to refer to the optimal place on the bat with which to make contact with the baseball. In today’s rowing session, the optimal heart rate or “sweet spot” goal was 158 BPM because that is the highest rate that is still within the two lowest aerobic heart rate zones calculated for me, relative to my presumed “lactate threshold heart rate”. I won’t try to explain it in any detail but you can do what I did and look it up if you want to learn about it. I used information supplied in the book, “80/20 Running,” by Matt Fitzgerald, to calculate the heart rate zones shown in the image below.
It’s been a while since I’ve calculated my “lactate threshold heart rate” zones, so the above chart might not be exactly right, but those are the results from the most recent time they were calculated.
Zones 1 and 2 are the optimal ranges to sustain when doing aerobic exercise, so as to sufficiently work the body and heart without overdoing it. Zones 3 and above are to be avoided most of the time except when racing.
Those zones will be different and unique for each individual and will change, depending on a person’s activity levels and time spent working out. So… one of these days I should re-calculate those zones but in order to do that I have to race for 30 minutes and use the average heart rate for the last 10 minutes as the Lactate Threshold Heart Rate, which is the reference point for calculating all 5 ranges.
Below are the screen shots relating to today’s indoor rowing:
Finish screen view for today’s 10K.Report for today’s 10K.RowPro graphs for today’s 10K. The two vertical spikes in heart rate were the two times when the heart strap lost count of heart rate and its readout went blank. Those might have been two times when the heart was sputtering and wobbling a bit, but if so it quickly steadied itself and resumed a measurable beat each time.The Concept 2 online logbook chart for today’s 10K.
Immediately after yesterday’s rowing, I got irregular heartbeat. It has happened occasionally and usually goes away. When it doesn’t go away soon, it is a real bother. Yesterday it was a bother. And last night, during which I slept less than 3 hours. And this morning, when it was still persisting with that annoying lack of steady rhythm.
It probably wouldn’t have happened yesterday, if I’d done a better warm down.
So today, I made up for not doing a warm down yesterday. For today’s rowing session, I did 30 minutes and started out at a pace of about 2:40 for the first 1K, 2:35 for the next, 2:30 for the third and so on, with the 6th and final 1,000 meters being done at a pace of 2:15.
Notice also that my heart rate was higher, at 72, before today’s rowing session, than it normally is. Normally it is in the 60s or lower when I’m sitting.
The irregular heartbeat persisted until the last half of the 30 minutes, when it started to settle down and finally went away completely during the last 5 minutes. The photo immediately above shows the irregular heart rate indication on the screen of the blood pressure tester I used just before today’s rowing. And the photo immediately below shows NO irregular heart rate indication on the screen of the blood pressure tester I used just after today’s rowing.
Notice that heart rate is lower, right after rowing, than it was before rowing. When I have irregular heartbeat, it tends to be also an elevated higher than normal rate.
Below, are screenshots relating to today’s indoor rowing session:
Finish screen for today’s 30 minute session.Report for today’s 30 minute session. The “End HR” column shows zeros for the first 23 splits because heartbeat was so irregular that the heart strap couldn’t calculate a heart rate.RowPro graphs for today’s 30 minute session.Concept 2 online logbook graphs for today’s 30 minute session.
In the photo on the left, you see the remains of somebody’s stripped-down car. The photo on the right shows a Hyundai on the moon. I’m not sure, but I think that particular model of Hyundai is named “Tucson”. There must not be very many cars on the moon yet, because there is no visible smog.
The above photos have nothing to do with the title of today’s post nor do they have anything to do with today’s rowing. But I thought it was interesting that a lot of people have put cars and other things on the surface of the moon…. so why not a Concept 2 rowing machine? Diane volunteered to help put a rowing machine on the moon, so maybe soon … because she is a space cadet with the skills to do it.
The rower that I tried to get to race with me is the one who is going by the moniker of Meerkat.
Today’s blog post title was inspired by today’s rowing, which was a 30 minute online session with 12 other people. The above screen shot shows the Oarbits’ listing of the session results. The rower who is shown in 10th place is the one who called himself (or herself) Meerkat.
In case you happen to be a person who doesn’t know what a meerkat is, the above photo shows five of them hanging out together. They are a close-knit society of creatures who have a lot of fans in the society of people who like cute furry creatures. Diane is among the meerkat fans, but not exclusively. Diane is also a fan of squirrels, prairie dogs, beavers, otters, etc.
I paced Meerkat to stay within less than 1 meter of him (or her) throughout the first 23 minutes or so and then I increased my pace, to try to get Meerkat to row faster so we could perhaps have a fun race to the finish.
But Meerkat wouldn’t take the bait, so I raced my own shadow and the result was a tie.
Finish screenshot for today’s 30 minute online session. On this screenshot, Meerkat shows to be in 9th place. I don’t know why the Oarbits results show the same rower in 10th place.Report for today’s 30 minute online session.RowPro graphs for today’s 30 minute online session. I don’t know why the heart rate graph is so messy. Quite a few factors can affect it, including battery charge level, lack of sufficient moisture on skin and also whether the heart strap band is sufficiently snug around the chest.Concept 2 online logbook’s version of graphs for today’s 30 minute online session.
Happy rowing to you and your shadow and anyone who will race with the two of you.
A horse could run faster on only 3 legs, in the gravity of the moon, than it could run on all 4 legs in the gravity of earth. (the artist who made this picture is unknown but has a lot of talent because I’m guessing that he or she was very young when the picture was made.)
Part of the rationale for today’s title is the fact that the pull of gravity for someone on the Moon is only about 17% as much as the pull of gravity for someone on earth. If a horse which was accustomed to the gravity on earth were to experience gravity only 17% as strong, it could probably run faster on three legs in that weaker gravity, than it could run on 4 legs on earth. Keep that in mind when you read about the second online rowing session that I did today.
Today’s indoor rowing consisted of a 5 minute ultra slow session which I will call session 0 (zero) because it was almost zero effort. The main session was going to be limited to a single 30 minute online session. But one of the guys, who happened to be in Portugal (not that it matters, but I think its cool that people all over the world can row together online), asked if anyone would like to join him in a second 30 minute session, because he wanted to do more meters.
Nobody else wanted to, so I asked him what pace he would row the second 30 minute session. He said “Slowly, about 2:05.”
I replied, “I’m 71 and 2:05 is fastly for me.”
One of the other guys, who is located in Connecticut, chimed in with “LOL” and then added “Bigly fastly.” It was a joke which I immediately understood since I’ve been keeping up with current events in America but I don’t know whether any of the rowers in other parts of the world understood it.
Anyway, the guy in Portugal then said he could row the second 30 minutes slower, at between 2:10 and 2:15. I told him that I’d row with him at a pace of 2:10 and that when the 30 minute timer counted down to 4 minutes remaining, I’d increase my pace to around 2:00 and then he could see how many meters he could finish ahead of me.
So the two of us rowed the second 30 minute session and when the time counted down to 4 minutes remaining, I changed my pace from 2:10 to 2:00. At first, the other guy kept on rowing at the slower pace. But then he seemed to notice and he picked up his pace to around 1:52 and caught up to me. But he didn’t stay at the 1:52 pace and pass me. Instead, he slowed to match my pace for the remainder of the few minutes left and we finished almost even with each other.
Afterwards, I told him that I’d expected that he’d have finished about 100 meters ahead of me. Paraphrasing his reply, he said, “I was rowing with only one leg. I’ve got a cramp in the other leg. LOL”
So… If he had been located on the moon and rowing online from there…. he could have rowed a lot faster than me, even with only one good leg and the other leg cramped. I think everyone could row a huge amount faster, if gravity were only 17%.
Today’s rowing added up to more meters than I’d originally intended, but I’ll probably sleep better tonight because of it.
Finish screen for the first of two 30 minute sessions.Report for the first of two 30 minute sessions.Graphs for the first of two 30 minute sessions. The heart rate graph is messy in the first session because the heart strap battery is weak and the heart strap wasn’t 100% wet.Finish screen for the second and faster of today’s two 30 minute sessions.Report for the second and faster of today’s two 30 minute sessions.Graphs for the second and faster of today’s two 30 minute sessions. The heart rate graph is NOT messy for this session because it was 100% completely wet by the time this session started.
Happy rowing to you, whatever your gravity may be and however many arms and legs you have full use of.
This is a screen shot of one of the features of an Apple Watch app which is called Sleep Watch.
The title of today’s blog post is from among the words in a recent message generated by the sleep-tracking app that I’ve been using for quite a while. The app has a feature called “Discover,” which, if enabled, tries to find significant correlations between the health information that it has been given access to and my nightly sleep. As you see in the screenshot of its recent “Discover” message, there is more reason to believe that exercise is healthy for you.
Today’s indoor rowing was shorter than recent usual. Instead of doing at least 10K, I did only 5K. I will be doing shorter sessions between now and November 24th. On November 25th, I’ll start doing longer sessions of from 10K to half marathon or more per day and will continue doing longer sessions through December 25th. The reason for that is because Concept 2 is having its annual charity challenge and for everyone who participates, Concept 2 donates a few cents per 1,000 meters to one of the charities that they have pre-selected.
Today’s 5K piece was done online with 3 others. Two of the others were in Europe and one, besides myself, was in the U.S. The original tentative “plan” for today’s 5K was to do it at a pace of 2:02 or faster, so as to move up in the 5K world rankings at least one position. Those were very tentative plans. I ate lunch about 30 minutes before the rowing session and didn’t have time for any warm up.
After a little over 2,000 meters, I decided to slow down and do the remainder of the 5K at a warm down pace. When the remaining distance was 1,000 meters, I increased the pace to whatever it took, to keep the overall average pace at about 2:15. There was no particular reason or motivation for doing it that way – it’s just what I happened to feel like and agree to within my own mind, during the piece.
Session report for today’s online 5K piece. The session was done in the early afternoon, starting at about 1 pm locally. The guy who scheduled it named it Saturday Evening Row because he is located in Norway and it was early evening for him.RowPro graphs for today’s online 5K piece.Concept 2 online logbook graphs for today’s online 5K piece.
Happy rowing to you, whether short or long distance.
I couldn’t find a picture of a rowing machine on the moon. Diane says she can make a picture like that for me, for use sometime in the future.
Today for the first time in quite a few sessions, I rowed online with a few other people instead of alone. But things didn’t go perfectly smoothly. Something went wrong with the RowPro server, which is located in Houston. Four people started out together, then the server announced that there was a “false start” but it showed two people to be rowing. One of them never came back. The other one, though he appeared to be rowing (because his chat room avatar turned into circular arrows) actually was still there, because his avatar turned into a pencil when he started typing to inform the other two of us that he was still there.
So… three of us set up a QR which stands for “Quick Row” which means it is an unscheduled row and we rowed together. I don’t know what happened to the 4th guy. He may still be tangled up in the Houston server.
The session online was 10,000 meters. Before it started, I warmed up with 10 minutes very easy. During the 10K, I rowed the first 1K at about 2:20, then picked up the pace to around 2:15 which was also about 130 BPM heart rate today. (It varies from day to day). For the last 1,000 meters, I went faster so as to elevate the heart rate with a little bit of semi-high intensity sort of rowing, but not too hard.
Afterwards, we said good bye to each other then I did 5 minutes of supplemental rowing. Because it’s almost dinner time now, I’m not going to take the time to include screenshots of the 10 minute or 5 minute sessions and will only show the 10K session screenshots.
Finish screen for today’s main session, the 10K.Report for today’s main session, the 10K.RowPro graphs for today’s main session, the 10K.Apple Watch graph of heart rate for two minute recovery time immediately after stopped rowing the 10K.
