Today’s main rowing session was 10K with a target heart rate of 123 BPM. That target was chosen because it is the top end of what is assumed to be my “UT2 training band”.
If a target heart rate is specified with RowPro, it paints a target zone on the screen. To make that target zone a bit wider than what would have been a horizontal line for 123 BPM, I specified a lower value of 120 and upper value of 126, then tried to keep the HR line in the middle of that area while rowing. It sounds easy, but sometimes the heart behaves a bit illogically and takes a dive though the effort level is unchanged. Or should I say, though I didn’t perceive the effort level to have changed? The heart did that a few times, so I had to spike the effort when it acted that way, to bring it right back up into the painted zone. Each time I spiked the effort, heart rate would sort of reluctantly climb back up into the zone, then I would slow down but it would usually overshoot the zone anyway, so I’d have to slow down even more.
It reminded me of the idiom, “herding cats,” which also inspired today’s title.
The above photo of a dog who seems intent on herding a cat who appears intent on ignoring the dog was found on the website/blog called To Breathe Is To Write.
A screen recording was made and is available for any of you who would like to row along with it, at this link: Indoor Rowing 10K w Target HR 123 12012018
Happy rowing to you.