Rate of Perceived Exertion 1

We Are Spirits

Heard this song whose lyrics follow, among the music in a random play list recently, while using the erg:

“Spirits In the Material World”

Song by The Police

Oh!

There is no political solution
To our troubled evolution
Have no faith in constitution
There is no bloody revolution

We are spirits in the material world
Are spirits in the material world
Are spirits in the material world
Are spirits in the material world

Our so-called leaders speak
With words, they try to jail ya
They subjugate the meek
But it’s the rhetoric of failure

We are spirits in the material world
Are spirits in the material world
Are spirits in the material world
Are spirits in the material world

Where does the answer lie?
Living from day to day
If it’s something we can’t buy
There must be another way

We are spirits in the material world
Are spirits in the material world
Are spirits in the material world
Are spirits in the material world

Are spirits in the material world
Are spirits in the material world
Are spirits in the material world
Are spirits in the material world

Songwriters: Gordon Matthew Sumner. For non-commercial use only.

The reason I’m sharing it is simply because I was surprised to hear that true statement (the “we are spirits” part) in a pop song by a band that (as far as I know) had no reputation for writing songs that were spiritual or protest songs or otherwise particularly meaningful.

It is true that we are spirits. Though it is easy for a person to think of himself or herself as a physical being composed entirely of atoms and molecules… we only “inhabit” our physical bodies and we depart from those physical bodies when death happens. Dying is a word for the separation of a person’s spirit from that person’s body. The body remains behind, at death, and the spirit goes elsewhere.

So… Thanks to Gordon Matthew Sumner, for a few words of “food for thought” in an otherwise not-worthy-of-fame song.

For anyone who sincerely wants to comment on this or any other post, you can reach me through the email system of the concept2.com logbook if you yourself also have a logbook account.

Merely Four Missing Beats

Heart behavior seemed normal except that the heart rate display vanished 4 times during the rowing session

Virtuously early this morning, I rose from bed.

Argument might be made by some that rising early has nothing to do with virtue.

Nonetheless, it somehow feels virtuous.

I will accept virtuous feelings where they can be found.

Surprisingly, that virtue was sort of swallowed by about three hours of doing nothing in particular before finally taking the reins and spurring myself to change into workout clothes and start that sort of work.

Happily, once the workout strokes were started, they flowed unabated until the sessions were adorned with sweat and completed.

In keeping with recent practice the first workout session was 200 Calories on the SkiErg.

Next after the SkiErg a bit of rebellious protest made itself heard from the subconscious realm. It expressed desire to do only 3K rowing today, like yesterday’s had been, instead of the more usual 10K.

Getting right down to business bargaining with my subconscious, we arrived at a prompt agreement to compromise with 5K rowing instead of the full 10K or a more paltry 3K.

So the workout sessions were quickly done and without irregularity on the part of the heart except for what is alluded to in today’s title: four brief vanishings of heart rate from the display.

Chart and data for today’s SkiErg session.

Finish screen for today’s 5K rowing session.

Happy rowing to you.

Perhaps Better On Empty

Perhaps, but not definitively. Yesterday the question arose as to whether the cause for heart strangeness (atrial fibrillation rearing its head) during the last two of yesterday’s five 2K pieces was having eaten a large breakfast and then resumed rowing while the stomach was feeling full.

Early this morning, before having so much as a crumb of food or a sip of coffee, I began the day’s workouts.

Remembering yesterday’s words, “Perhaps I will try duplicating today’s workout again tomorrow…” but on an empty stomach from start to finish, that thought was put into action and fulfilled this morning.

Happily, there was no heart strangeness from start to finish.

Actually, I did feel a tiny bit of cardio flitter-flutter in the chest. It happened one time and was during the third 2K. But it was so ephemeral that it bordered on being imaginary, though vividly so. Heart rate did not vanish from the display like it does when Afib is more persistent, so I will attribute it to being an imagination of the heart.

Perhaps rowing on a full stomach isn’t a good idea. But on the other hand, perhaps it is merely a coincidence.

Scientific experiment, this was not. Scientific experiments are more thorough. Experiment, it was. And I will keep it in mind for future reference.

Following are screenshots and data for today’s workouts.

Chart and data for the first workout session today.

Finish screen for the fifth of five 2K sessions this morning. The ending heart rate of 119 was a normal heart rate for the effort and was within a very few beats per second of the finish heart rate for each of the previous four 2K sessions.

Report and graph for first of five 2K rowing sessions.

Report and graph for second of five 2K rowing sessions.

Report and graph for third of five 2K rowing sessions.

Report and graph for 4th of five 2K rowing sessions.

Report and graph for last of five 2K rowing sessions.

Happy rowing to you!

Things Got Irregular

Finish screen for today’s 10K rowing session. The circled area of the heart rate plot shows where heart rate shifted too high though effort remained the same or slower.

At the start of today’s sessions everything seemed normal. I decided to row 10K first and then burn some calories on the SkiErg.

For the first half of the 10K rowing session everything continued to seem normal, though heart rate disappeared from the RowPro display a few times.

I decided to take an aspirin break after about 4,000 meters of rowing. The break lasted between two and three minutes. Sometimes a little aspirin seems to help heart rate become regular again.

But this time it didn’t help and after I returned from the rowing break it became more irregular. Also, heart rate shifted to become too high.

I didn’t let a little Afib (atrial fibrillation) put too much of a damper on things though, because I wanted to earn another exercise-induced “sleeping pill” for tonight’s sleep.

The 10K was finished. It was followed by two SkiErg sessions of about 100 Calories each. After the SkiErg sessions, a very slow 500 meter rowing session was done.

Heart rate remained irregular and too high through all of the remaining workout. But it’s okay now. The exercise-induced “sleeping pill” was earned and it’s effect can already be felt, early in the evening. No need for Sleepytime tea.

RowPro report for today’s 10K rowing session.

RowPro graphs for today’s 10K rowing session.

Concept 2 online logbook chart for today’s 10K rowing session.

Report for the very slow 500 meter rowing session. Heart rate (circled) was about 40 BPM too high for the low effort level.

Happy rowing to you!

The Fire Was Out

Effort was made to do workouts today but they were done slowly.

Main reason for pushing myself to do work on SkiErg and rowing machine: If I don’t exercise I won’t sleep well.

Because of the desire for the “sleeping pill” effect of aerobic exercise, I burned 200 Calories on the SkiErg at RPE Level 1.

Energy for SkiErg was low, but energy for rowing was lower. After the 200 Calorie SkiErg session my subconscious suggested I take a break before doing any rowing. The break stretched out and extended in the dimension of time….

Realizing that my subconscious was trying to con me out of doing any rowing at all, I dragged myself to the rowing machine and set it up for a 10,000 meter session.

Some incentive to keep rowing was provided by watching a screen recording of a slow 10,000 meters session done February 24, 2018. I allowed myself a 1,200 meter head start before that screen recording began and prodded myself to stay ahead of it. By the finish of my 10K, I was still ahead of the screen recording but my lead had diminished to about 200 meters.

Finish screen for the 10,000 meter rowing session.

Report for the 10,000 meter rowing session.

Happy rowing to you!

A Minimalist Workout Day

Today’s workout was a bare minimum of aerobic activity.

Today’s workout time was limited.

I managed to get one workout done, first thing in the morning.

Minimal turned out to be 200 Calories in about 17 minutes on the SkiErg.

Each Calorie felt good, as it slipped by on the SkiErg monitor.

Chart and data for today’s single workout on the SkiErg.

Happy rowing to you!

For The Dog Days

Dependably, every August Concept 2 features the “Dog Days of Summer” challenge. That challenge was one motivation for today’s low-energy workouts.

Other than a minimal number of specified meters each week of August, there are no other requirements for this easy challenge.

Going slowly was today’s workout approach. The workouts consisted of 200 Calories burned slowly on the SkiErg and 10,000 meters even more slowly on the rowing erg.

Chart and data for 200 Calorie SkiErg session.

Report for today’s ultra-slow 10K rowing.

Happy rowing to you!

Done With Trazadone, Strange Dreams Lingered

This is a No-Trazadone Zone after yesterday’s experience.

Really I have no proof that the one single dose of Trazadone had any effect on my dreams. I don’t remember any specifics about them. But I do remember that they were very strange.

On the chance that Trazadone was the cause, I’m guessing that the strange dreams I had last night were also Trazadone-related and were a lingering aftereffect of the single dose taken the day before.

With the trial of Trazadone behind me I’m now turning back to rowing daily. I missed workouts for two days in a row. One of the most important factors in good sleep for me is to use the rowing machine or SkiErg daily and burn a few hundred Calories in the process. The quality of sleep seems to improve in direct proportion to the number of Calories burned each day on the ergs. The benefit of working harder while on the rowing machine or SkiErg is mainly that it takes less time to burn the Calories. A longer, slower workout of 700 Calories seems as good for sleep as a shorter, faster workout that also burns 700 Calories.

Hopefully, the remainder of Trazedone will be gone before bedtime tonight and the strange dreams will be gone with it.

Today’s workouts were a 10,000 meter session on the Rowing erg and 100 Calories on the SkiErg for a total of 689 Calories in about 54 minutes. AFTERNOON UPDATE: Did three more brief sessions on SkiErg and rowing machine to bring day’s Calorie burn total from 689 to 842.

Finish screen for today’s 10,000 meter rowing session. After about 8,000 meters, heart rate became irregular and too high.

RowPro report for today’s 10,000 meter rowing session.

RowPro graphs for today’s 10,000 meter rowing session.

Concept 2 online logbook chart for today’s 10,000 meter rowing session.

Chart and data for today’s morning SkiErg session.

Happy rowing to you!

High and Low Energy

Care to guess which is high and which is low energy?

Erg workouts today were a single session on each machine again.

Repeating yesterday’s SkiErg session of 200 Calories, the SkiErg session today was done slightly faster than yesterday’s. Today’s pace was 2:18. Yesterday’s was a slower 2:19. Today’s SkiErg RPE was level 3.

Getting lazy after sitting on the rowing machine, I watched videos and rowed very slowly. The rowing distance today was 7,000 meters at a pace of about 2:41. Though it was a tiny bit faster than yesterday’s rowing session, it was 3,000 meters shorter. Today’s rowing RPE was level 1.

Finish screen for today’s 7,000 meters rowing.

RowPro graphs for today’s 7,000 meters rowing.

Happy rowing to you !

One Of Each

Today’s workout was one session each, on SkiErg and rowing erg.

While the SkiErg session was set to count down from 200 Calories, it also had another goal which was a target pace of 2:19/500 meters. I bounced around within about 0.1 second above and below the pace target throughout the session and managed to finish within 0.1 second of target pace. It was done at RPE Level 2.

On the rowing erg, the work was easier. It was set to count down from 10,000 meters but its only objective was to burn some Calories by going the entire distance at any pace. The result was a pace that varied, averaged 2:21.5 and burned 570 Calories. It was done at RPE Level 1.

This post has the tag “heart strangeness” only because it might be concluded that there was some paroxysmal atrial fibrillation due to the look of its graph. The multitude of vertical lines in the heart rate plot happen when heart rate stops displaying a reading. Though that’s what it looks like when heart rate is irregular, I didn’t feel anything unusual. There was no fluttering etc., so I suspect that the transmitter battery may be low. I can’t be certain unless I check it, but the particular model is the Polar H7, which consumes energy about twice the rate of most other heart straps. It does so because it has not just one, but two transmitters which simultaneously transmit in two different formats. The Polar H7 is on its first battery and I’ve never logged hours-of-use vs battery life for this (or any) heart strap, so it’s merely conjecture at this point.

Finish screen for today’s 10,000 meter rowing session.

Report for today’s 10,000 meter rowing session.

Happy rowing to you.