Though I’ve been doing workouts daily, there have been no blog posts for about 5 days, since March 30th.
Today’s main workout was a half marathon done with a 100% full online RowPro session. The maximum capacity for an online session is 16 people and 16 signed up. Four of them had problems and couldn’t start which resulted in a DNF (Did Not Finish) for each of those.
I felt low energy and was having a bit of atrial fibrillation that came and went during the session, so I took it very slow and finished last. By the time I finished, 21 minutes had passed since the last person ahead had finished, so I didn’t expect to find anyone still there after I crossed the finish line. But four of the other rowers were still there in the session chat room and one of them said, “Hey John, welcome to the finish line party.” Another one said, “Ohoo John well done” which was probably referring to the very short sprint I made for the last couple hundred meters to the finish line. Other than that tiny sprint, it was a long, slow slog of a workout at an average pace of 2:37.1/500 meters.
Results for today’s half marathon.
Finish screen for today’s half marathon.
Report for today’s half marathon.
Graphs for today’s half marathon.
All data and live, granular clickable graphs can be seen via this link to the online logbook.
To see any session’s data and its interactive graph, click the
corresponding “+” sign in the “Action” column for the relevant session.
Today’s main workout was 30 minutes rowing online with virtual company. There were sixteen people who signed up for the online rowing session but some had problems and only twelve other people managed to get connected and stay connected for the rowing session. Those twelve others consisted of eleven guys and one gal. They were located in several different countries in Europe and North America.
Screenshot showing a view of the screen after completion of today’s 30 minute online rowing session.
Though I’ve been doing workouts daily, there have been no blog posts for about nine days, since March 21st.
All data and live, granular clickable graphs can be seen via this link to the online logbook. To see any session’s data and its interactive graph, click the corresponding “+” sign in the “Action” column for the relevant session.
Yes, today is another bleeping day of quarantine because of the China virus. There have been quite a few more online rowing sessions lately than before the communist government of China gave the rest of the world the “gift” of COVID-19. The RowPro servers have been very busy with the extra numbers of people who are observing quarantine and staying home as part of “social distancing.”
Ordinarily, I’d be inclined to use the medical reference “COVID-19” for the current plague spreading around the world nd that is the term I did use for a while. But because there are China communist propagandists trying to accuse either the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation or the US Army for the bat virus they themselves let loose on the world, I will use the name which refers to where on earth it originated: China. China is the country where it originated.
Just like the 1918 H1N1 influenza virus is also referred to as the Spanish flu, COVID-19 is the China flu because it came from China. A variant of the 1918 H1N1 happened in 2009 and it is called the swine flu because it definitely originated in swine but it hasn’t been ascertained if it first appeared in Asian pigs or pigs in Mexico. S0 the 2009 flu doesn’t get a place name and is simply referred to in connection with swine, the first creatures known to be carriers of it. The China flu first appeared in bats in China but it hasn’t been referred to as bat flu because everyone knows the geographic location where it first appeared: the communist country of China.
A notable number of the recently scheduled online rowing sessions have something in their name that makes reference to the batty necessity to quarantine because communists in China did the first thing they usually do after something bad happens in their country: they try to cover it up to keep it a secret. They punished and threatened the first people who mentioned it to the world.
Today’s main workout was an online 6K race named “Quarantine 6K” and that was one of the nicer session names referring to the necessity to quarantine.
It was a good race with a wide range of paces. I was among the slowest but nonetheless managed to row with enough effort to work up a modicum of healthy sweat. The fastest rowers were pacing at world-class speeds that were inspiring to watch.
The publicly posted results of today’s Quarantine 6K
Yesterday I did some workouts but didn’t blog about them. There was atrial fibrillation yesterday and those graphs look sloppy and weird.
All data and live, granular clickable graphs can be seen via this link to the online logbook. To see any session’s data and its interactive graph, click the corresponding “+” sign in the “Action” column for the relevant session.
Today’s 6K race was recorded for any who would like to row along with or race against it. It is uploaded to YouTube at this link: Indoor Rowing 6K race 03212020.
Screenshot of today’s 6K online race at the moment of the start signal.
Report for today’s 6K online race.
Graphs for today’s 6K online race. There was no atrial fibrillation today.
Finish screen view for today’s 6K online race. Most of the others had already finished and left the session to do their warm down etc.
(This is a pre-COVID-19 social-distancing era photo.)
The main rowing session today was done with a group of 8 virtual people. Real people connected to each rower avatar, a little bit like people were connected to their avatars in the movie Avatar. The real rowers for each boat were located in North America and Europe.
There were nine people to start with but one of them had a technical problem and therefore there were only 8 active participants in the session.
It was done as a sort of game whose guidelines were that the turtle (the slowest rower) would begin rowing immediately at the start signal and everyone else would wait and start later. The turtle would pace himself so that he would cover a distance of 5,000 meters in 27 minutes. Each of the faster rowers individually decided what their pace would be and calculated how much time it would take them to row 5K. Each of the faster rowers would subtract their 5K time from 27 minutes and wait at the starting line for the amount of time equal to the difference. The goal was to give the turtle a head start and then catch up to him by the time he reached 5K in 27 minutes. That would leave 3 of the 30 minutes, which everyone would either use for a warm down or whatever they felt inclined to do. Everyone was free to modify what they did to suit their preferences.
There were three other sessions today besides the session with a group of eight participants. All data and live, granular clickable graphs can be seen via this link to the online logbook. To see any session’s data and its interactive graph, click the corresponding “+” sign in the “Action” column for the relevant session.
Screenshot of today’s group session with one minute and ten seconds remaining.
Report for today’s group of eight session.
Graphs for today’s group of eight session. The two spikes near the end were brief intervals that I incorporated into my version of the catch-up game. I didn’t use the heart strap because I was having atrial fibrillation and knew that the HR graph would be very messy. A straight line heart rate graph is about as neat as it gets.
Today started a little early which is always nice. It’s beyond nice, actually, but I usually need a reason to set an alarm to get up a little early.
The day started early because I had to do the once-a-week task of taking the garbage cans from their protected enclosure and placing them at the edge of the street in front of our house. I can’t do that the night before because if they are left unprotected all night, the local wild pigs will overturn them and scatter the trash, naughty piggies that they are.
So after taking care of that task I started the daily rowing sessions and got them done early enough to enjoy some coffee afterward while it was still very much morning time. I make it a rule to try to avoid coffee after noon.
As you might have already guessed if you studied the thoughtfully chosen series of public domain photos at the top of the page, today’s workout time was divided into five sessions.
The pace of each session followed a natural progression related to how warm I was. The first session was 2,000 meters at a snail’s pace because I was not warm at all. Also, one of my knees clicked a bit with each drive stroke and I generally felt a bit sluggish. (Yes, I know a slug isn’t the same as a snail. But sluggish seems to fit better than snailish and I’m not sure if snailish is even a word allowed for usage by anyone without a poetic license whereas I’m absolutely certain that sluggish is a word for which a license is not required.)
The second session was 3,000 meters and a bit faster at perhaps tortoise speed and the clicking knee had lubricated itself and was free from any clicks.
The third session was 5,000 meters and faster yet at what felt sort of like the effort of strolling speed.
The fourth session was 4,000 meters and not fast at all but it was the fastest of all rowing done today and felt like the effort of a slow jogging speed.
The fifth and last session was 1,111 meters. (Trivia: 1,111 is an odd number but it is not a prime number.) That 1,111 meters was done at a pace that felt like the effort of an easy walk.
Screenshot for just one of today’s five sessions, the “slow jogging speed” session.
Good news regarding my personal pest, atrial fibrillation: There was atrial fibrillation all night and it was still ongoing this morning when the rowing began but it fled the scene and heart behavior returned to normal sometime during the 3rd or 4th rowing session today. If you are feeling hippy, you can cheer! Hip, hip hurray! (Have you ever felt a hippy? I have 🙂 )
All today’s data and live, granular clickable graphs can be seen via this link to the online logbook. To see any session’s data and its interactive graph, click the corresponding “+” sign in the “Action” column for the relevant session.
Happy rowing to you!
P.S.: If this blog post is grammatically correct and all words which do not require a poetic license are spelled correctly, credit is due to the diligent and somewhat perfectionist hippy who proofreads it for me.
Heart rate graphs were too messy to make sense today.
Yes there were workout sessions today but their HR graphs are all rather messy because I’ve been having that dratted atrial fibrillation again. So I’m not going to bother showing any screenshots of the workout sessions.
But in case you’ve never seen an ECG of atrial fibrillation, there’s a screen shot of one of those immediately below this paragraph. No two are the same … of course.
All today’s data and live, granular clickable graphs can be seen via this link to the online logbook. To see any session’s data and its interactive graph, click the corresponding “+” sign in the “Action” column for the relevant session.
This is a view of today’s rowing session at a fraction of one second after the start signal. According to the numbers on the right of the screen, I was one of 8 rowers who showed an instantaneous pace of 00.0/500m (or blank, as two of them are) and therefore I hadn’t started to move yet. Another clue that I hadn’t yet started to move at this instant is that my heart rate, visible in the lower right corner of the screen, is still in its resting rate range at 54 beats per minute. Seven other rowers had quicker reflexes and they all show a pace of other than 00.0. The one who was furthest ahead of me at this instant by +4 meters is the one whose initials are WH and he is a former Olympic rower.
Today’s title refers to today’s main workout. It was 10,000 meters in the virtual company of 15 other rowers in Europe and North America. The maximum number of virtual boats in one session is 16 and it was full. By the time the session was over only 9 remained because of whatever problems or interruptions were experienced by 7 of the rowers. There were multiple problems getting the session started and one of the 16 was not able to rejoin after an alternate session was set up. So… by the time the 16 person session started there were only 15 who tried to start and row the 10K.
I was one of the fortunate ones who was able to start and complete the entire 10K.
I hadn’t recorded a rowing session in quite a while, so I thought this would be a nice one to put on YouTube. It is uploaded as a screen recording with no sound track and it can be found at this link: Indoor Rowing 10K Online 03152020.
There has been no atrial fibrillation today.
All today’s data and live, granular clickable graphs can be seen via this link to the online logbook. To see any session’s data and its interactive graph, click the corresponding “+” sign in the “Action” column for the relevant session.
Report for today’s online 10K session.
Graphs for today’s online 10K session.
Finish screen for today’s online 10K session. Everyone else was gone by the time I finished because they needed to immediately warm down instead of waiting for me.
What does having a butterfly perched on your hand have in common with rowing?
Today I did something similar to yesterday. For inspiration, I looked to see what my training partners had done today. Two of them had done some rowing. I decided to row three sessions: The first would be 2K at the same average pace as the pre-warmdown pace (4:25.0/500m) of the slowest of those two training partners. During that session my heart rate averaged less than 74 beats per minute.
The second session would be 5K at a steady pace averaging the same (2:42.9/500m) as the faster of those two had done. During that session my heart rate averaged 92 beats per minute.
The third session would be 2K at whatever felt good and didn’t raise heart rate so it felt very high. There was no atrial fibrillation today and the theory was that if heart rate wasn’t raised too high (whatever THAT is) it would continue its good behavior.
There were five sessions in all, if the warm up and warm down are counted.
The first two of those three sessions were done at a much slower pace than seemed natural to what my body was inclined to do and that is probably as good an explanation as any for why I had to concentrate so hard during each of those two sessions. The mental focus I had to maintain during each of the first two of those three sessions was similar to the mental focus of holding one’s hand perfectly still after a butterfly has landed on it, so as not to startle it into flying away.
All today’s data and live, granular clickable graphs can be seen via this link to the online logbook. To see any session’s data & clickable interactive graph, click the corresponding “+” sign in the “Action” column for the relevant session.
Screenshot of logbook data for today’s 2K at 4:25.0/500m.
Screenshot of logbook data for today’s 5K at 2:42.9/500m.
Screenshot of logbook data for today’s 2K at whatever pace felt good.
Inspiration for today’s bit of workout time came from my training partners. Four of them had logged workouts today. I looked at what they had done, released the reins of my thoughts and the next idea that trotted into my head was: do four separate workouts, each at the average pace done in each of 4 workouts done by my training partners.
I started with the one that had been done at the slowest average pace of 4:44.2 per 500 meters. I made that the shortest distance workout of 500 meters. It turned out to be the hardest goal to reach and I came close but failed by ending up with an average pace of 4:45.4 instead of 4:44.2. I couldn’t get the hang of maintaining a steady pace near 4:44.2.
This was the slowest pace target and the hardest to do. The blue line shows instantaneous pace and you can see that it wandered all over the place as I tried to keep the projected target pace at 4:44.2.
The second workout session was easier. In fact, all of the remaining sessions were easier because I found it much easier to stay near the projected target pace when the target pace was a bit faster than 4:44.2. The second one was 2,000 meters with an average pace target of 2:54.2/500m.
This session had as its goal the average pace of 2:54.2/500m
The third workout session was 7,000 meters with an average pace target of 2:34.2/500m.
Graph of the third workout session.
None of the 4 workout sessions were fast but the 4th workout had the fastest target pace of 2:22.7/500 meters. The distance chosen for the 4th session was 4,000 meters. But the session was interrupted before 1,000 meters was completed when the iPhone and ErgData app lost its connection to the PM5 monitor or the WiFi network. So that 4th session was divided up into two sessions that totaled 4,000 meters.
This is the graph of the last part of the interrupted 4K session. Its target was a steady average pace of 2:22.7/500 meters.
There were actually six sessions done today. They were the four above mentioned, a brief test session at the start and another session because the 4th session was interrupted and broken up into two pieces.
The goal for each session was a steady average pace. That goal was mostly achieved. But heart rate was something else because the heart was still in atrial fibrillation for… what? the third day now? So the heart rate graphs wandered and did not resemble the graphs of the pace.
All today’s data and live, granular clickable graphs can be seen via this link to the online logbook. To see any session’s data & clickable interactive graph, click the corresponding “+” sign in the “Action” column for the particular session.
Why was Mary so contrary and how did it affect men’s hearts?
Today’s workout times were late in the afternoon instead of the morning which seems to work better. The heart was in its atrial fibrillation mode and percolating like the unsteady rhythm of one of those old percolator coffee pots. Though heart rate made its appearance most of the time in the graphs, it was quite contrary … like Mary in the garden with her cockle shells. In other words, it spent quite a bit of the workout time responding in a rather opposite manner to what it should have been doing in relation to the effort being expended in rowing.
All today’s data and live, clickable graphs can be seen via this link to the online logbook. To see any session’s data & graph, click the corresponding “+” sign in the “Action” column for the particular session.
