This is a photo of a snail because I felt a sluggish kinship with snails today.
Today was a low energy day but I did manage to include some time on both SkiErg and rowing machine. The sessions and their chronological order were: 2,331 meters warmup on SkiErg at 2:48 pace, 1,000 meter time trial on SkiErg at 1:59.1 pace, 324 meter SkiErg warm down, 5,107 meters on rowing machine which started out with the goal of 10K but I got tired and quit and finally a 1,510 meter session on the rowing machine which started out as a distance session of 4893 meters (the balance of the original 10K) but I got tired and quit that one also.
Screenshot from my Concept 2 online logbook, showing summary listing of today’s SkiErg and rowing erg sessions. The 1K SkiErg session is highlighted because it was a personal best on the SkiErg and ranked in the online world rankings.
Above is a summary listing of today’s sessions. The only screen shot of today’s charts and data is for the 1,000 meter time trial. It was done at RPE Level 8 and everything else was at RPE Level 1.
Chart and data for today’s 1,000 meter SkiErg time trial, the high point of today’s workouts.
Today’s heart rate variability analysis with EliteHRV app was a green light for any effort level.
Last night’s sleep was interrupted with a period of insomnia wakefulness but total sleep was sufficient at 7 hours 50 minutes.
Today’s main workout was a 30 minute rowing session with a target pace of 2 minutes 3 seconds/500m. It was interrupted by an urgent call. After returning to the erg, used most of the remaining minutes as a warm down.
The 30 minute session was uploaded to YouTube as a screen-recording. If you row-along with it and don’t take any breaks during the 30 minutes, you should have an easy time finishing ahead of me. It’s link is at this location: Indoor Rowing 30 minutes interrupted 03032019
Finish screen for today’s 30 minute rowing session.
Report for today’s 30 minute rowing session.
RowPro graphs for today’s 30 minute rowing session.
Today’s workouts consisted of first a 10 minute warmup on the rowing machine at RPE Level 1, followed by ten intervals on the SkiErg at RPE Levels 7 to 9. There was a 2 minute RPE Level 1 period of active rest after each interval.
The SkiErg intervals were arranged as 5 minutes at 40 SPM, 4 minutes at 42 SPM, 3 minutes at 44 SPM, 2 minutes at 46 SPM and 1 minute at 48 SPM. Each was followed immediately by the 2 minute active rest. The entire sequence was then repeated one more time.
It was VERY challenging, to achieve the target stroke ratings of 40, 42, 44, 46 and 48 SPM for each of the five intervals. I only managed to achieve the exact average for the target SPM for 3 of the 10 intervals.
For the first 5 minute interval I had the drag factor too high with the damper set at 7. For the next interval I reduced the drag factor by moving the damper to 6. After each subsequent interval, I moved the damper a bit lower until it was at 3 by the time the first 5 intervals were completed.
For the second 5 intervals, I left the damper at 3.
Today’s heart rate variability reading with EliteHRV was a green light for any kind of workout.
Last night’s sleep was good with 7 hours 10 minutes logged.
Finish screen for the 10 intervals done today on the SkiErg.
Report for the 10 intervals done today on the SkiErg.
RowPro graphical overview for the 10 intervals done today on the SkiErg.
Concept 2 online logbook chart for the first of 10 intervals done today on the SkiErg. You can see how heart rate kept rising even though my effort level was fading… that’s why I kept adjusting the damper level lower, looking for a drag factor that was sustainable for the entire interval. If you want to see charts for each of the rest of them, you can do so by logging in to your Concept 2 logbook account, finding me in the RowPro Rowers virtual club and clicking on my profile, then clicking to view my log, which is accessible to anybody who is logged in. Then click on the + sign to the right of today’s log entry for this session. On the next screen, you will see a line for each interval and a line for each rest. If you click on the line for each interval, you will be able to see the chart for each respective interval. There are no charts to see for the rests.
Today’s workout was a pair of 5k sessions, one on the SkiErg and one on the rowing machine.
For the SkiErg 5K, I reduced the drag factor to what I hoped would allow a rating of about 45 SPM. But the drag factor still seemed a bit high and most of the session was done at a rating of 37 to 42 SPM. That seems to be the “secret” to having a faster pace on the SkiErg – the SPM has to be a lot higher than it would ever be when rowing. Arms aren’t nearly as strong as legs, so the SkiErg stroke rate using mostly the arms has to be higher for any pace than stroke rate would be on the rowing machine which mostly uses leg power.
The SkiErg 5K was done at RPE Level 7 or at least it felt strenuous enough to be that level though I wasn’t breathing as hard as the RPE Level chart seems to indicate for Level 7. (You can see a copy of the RPE chart in the Terms and Abbreviations tab on the home page of this blog)
I sweated a lot during the SkiErg session but barely perspired during the rowing session, if that counts for anything regarding the Rates of Perceived Exertion.
After the SkiErg 5K, I did 5K at a more moderate effort on the rowing machine and included a 500 meter sprint at a moderate sprint pace, every 1000 meters for a total of three 500 meter sprint intervals. The 5K rowing session was done at RPE Level 4 for the slower rowing and RPE Level 8 for the 500 meter intervals.
Report for the SkiErg 5,000 meters.
RowPro graphs for the SkiErg 5,000 meters.
Concept 2 online logbook chartfor the SkiErg 5,000 meters.
Finish screen for the Rowing 5,000 meters.
Report for the Rowing 5,000 meters.
RowPro graphs for the Rowing 5,000 meters.
Concept 2 online logbook chart for the Rowing 5,000 meters.
Today’s EliteHRV Morning Readiness reading.
Last night’s sleep of 6 hours 45 minutes was good quality.
