Burning More Than A Snickers

Burning calories is one of the common motivations people have for running on a treadmill.

Before starting today’s workout session there was no plan for what to do.

Usually, I decide what the workouts will be before entering the 10 foot by 10 foot room where SkiErg and rowing machine hang out, but not this morning. This morning, I was detachedly observing my subconscious as it tried to steer me away from that room.

Rather than give in to the subconscious nudges urging me to procrastinate, I just walked into the room and changed into workout clothes.

Normally this is enough to get things going and it worked again today.

The main workout today was a 200 Calorie session on the SkiErg. That session had a goal of keeping pace as close as possible to 2:17/500 meters. It was done at RPE Level 3.

Following the SkiErg session, there was a 1,000 meter rowing warm down which was interrupted for a few minutes after about 500 meters.

All totaled, the two sessions burned a little more energy than a 1.9 ounce, 250 Calorie Snickers candy bar. It has been years since I’ve had a candy bar but I may still be carrying around some calories from a few of the candy bars I ate in the distant past.

Though the figures above are for woman who is 5’7″, 35 years old and weighs 144 lbs, its gives a good ballpark figure of comparison for how hard anyone has to work to burn a Snickers.

The total workout time for today’s two rather brief and easy sessions was about 24 minutes.

Chart and data for today’s SkiErg session.
RowPro report for today’s very short rowing 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.

Chart and data for today’s SkiErg session.
Finish screen for today’s 7,000 meters rowing.
Report 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.

Chart and data for SkiErg session.
Finish screen for today’s 10,000 meter rowing session.
Report for today’s 10,000 meter rowing session.
RowPro graphs for today’s 10,000 meter rowing session.

Happy rowing to you.

SkiErg 6K Today

The SkiErg imitates the motions and measures the work of cross-country skiing.

Today’s erg activity was on the SkiErg. Due to time constraints, the only workout was a single 6,000 meter session on that machine. Goals were: maintain average pace of 2 minutes 17 seconds per 500 meters for the first 5K and then a bit faster during the remaining 1,000 meters. The result was an overall average pace of 2:15.7 which burned 353 Calories and averaged 140 Watts. It was done at RPE Level 4.

There was also a warm down. I don’t count it as a workout. It consisted of 1,000 meters rowing at a pace of 2:48.7. It burned 52 Calories and was RPE Level 1 or less. I won’t post any screenshots of it but it’s available for examination in the online logbook.

Chart and data for today’s main session on the SkiErg.

Happy rowing to you!

For The Mitochondria

A happy mitochondrion.

For the first time in many weeks, I managed to do the day’s workouts in the morning before breakfast. That’s supposed to be very good for the mitochondria, if breakfast happens at least 12 hours after most recent previous eating and exercise is included in that 12 hours or more of fasting time.

So, the most satisfying thing about today’s erg sessions was that they were done in the morning, before breakfast and they benefited the body’s vital little buddies, the mitochondria.

The second most satisfying thing was: a SkiErg 5K in improved time.

Also, I was rewarded with a move up in the SkiErg 5K world rankings. The move up was only one place, from 6th to 5th out of 10 total entries. But it’s progress in the right direction, so I’m happy and sort of have a little smile about it, like the little smile on the face of the mitochondrion.

The SkiErg 5K was done at RPE Level 5 and was mentally absorbing because I had to focus on a pace target of 2:16 for the first 4K then tentatively explored faster paces during the final 1,000 meter split.

There was some rowing done also – a very slow 10K session at RPE Level 1. It was not “mentally absorbing,” because it was so slow that my mind wandered all over the place.

Today’s most satisfying session, a 5K on the SkiErg.
Finish screen for today’s very slow and somewhat fartleky 10K.
Reportfor today’s very slow and somewhat fartleky 10K.
RowPro graphsfor today’s very slow and somewhat fartleky 10K.

Happy rowing to you!

Fartlek Is What You Make It

Most people who are familiar with the term “fartlek” think of it in connection with running, but a varying pace can apply to any activity that involves pacing. In today’s case it was rowing. It is no coincidence that these runners look happy – happiness is one of the purposes of changing the pace.

The above photo was found among many photos relevant to fartlek, on a website called Running In India, in an article on that site, titled “Fartleking Around,” by Christine Pemberton.

Today’s workout was limited to rowing only and it was an accomplishment to simply get it done, because there was an inner wrestling match with inertia until the last minute. At the last minute, when I was comfortable and chatting like a bluejay on the sofa, the household muse provided the necessary inspiration to overcome the inertia when she inquired, “Are you ever going to row?” And … off I went, to row.

The piece of rowing was 10,000 meters done as a fartlek. Fartlek is a somewhat strange word (unless you speak Swedish) which means a variable pace. But depending on which source you consult for a definition of fartlek, the definite meaning will vary. However, no matter which particular definition you prefer, all definitions have one thing in common which is a varying pace.

I chose to understand the word to mean a deliberate and somewhat chaotic varying of pace, without further specification.

Sometimes, a constant pace is what my inner rower desires. But not today. Today my inner rower wanted a measure of chaos and variety.

Finish screen for today’s 10,000 meter rowing session.
Report for today’s 10,000 meter rowing session.
RowPro graphs for today’s 10,000 meter rowing session.
Concept 2 chart, and more, for today’s 10,000 meter rowing session.

Happy rowing to you!

Settling For Brisk

The only workout today was a 10,000 meter rowing session. Instead of choosing a pace in advance, I decided to row at whatever I settled into that felt good, which turned out to be a pace of around 2:10 at RPE Level 4.

Finish screen for today’s brisk 10K rowing session.
Report for today’s brisk 10K rowing session.
RowPro graphs for today’s brisk 10K rowing session.
Concept 2 online logbook chart for today’s brisk 10K rowing session.

Happy rowing to you!

A Sixteen Year Old Heart Rate

Finish screen view for today’s moderate 500 meter sprint. Heart rate was 196 at finish but it got a bit higher earlier in the 500 meters (see one of the screenshots below).

Are you familiar with the formula for determining your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220? The formula may be written: 220 – AGE = HRmax.

If you know a person’s maximum heart rate, you can thereby deduce the person’s age by rearranging the formula as: 220 – HRmax = AGE.

Today in one of the workout sessions my heart rate maxed out at 204, therefore today it was acting very juvenile. To be precise, it was acting 220-204= sixteen years old. I was so focused on the effort during that 2,000 meter SkiErg piece, that I didn’t notice how high my teeny-bopper heart rate reached until afterwards. After uploading the results, I looked at the graphs closely, the way the Concept 2 online logbook lets you do if you use their app (ErgData) and it if it was wirelessly connected to the SkiErg monitor during the session.

Heart was in the range of a 16-year-old’s and it also seemed interested in hip-hop dance moves of some sort.

One session was recorded and posted on YouTube, the 500 meter rowing sprint. It can be found at this link: Indoor Rowing 500 meters in 1 minute 58 seconds 07232019

In total there were five sessions today, which were in this chronological order, one right after the other. A summary list of the workouts is below, (but I will only include data/graph screenshots for three of them):

  1. A brief warmup on SkiErg
  2. An attempt at a 2,000 meter sprint on SkiErg
  3. A brief SkiErg warm down
  4. A 500 meter moderate rowing sprint and
  5. A 2000 meter supplemental warm down.
Summary list of today’s 5 workouts, with chronological order from first to fifth displayed on left.
Report for today’s 500 meter rowing at a moderate sprint effort.
Chart of the moderate-effort 500 meter rowing sprint.
Close up of area on 500 meter rowing chart where heart rate reached 204.
Chart and data for 2,000 meter SkiErg sprint. The place where my effort/pace suddenly drops was after about 1,500 meters when I started feeling a bit too tired. I had been trying to do it in a time that would have placed me second in the current world rankings for my age bracket. After I gave up and was breathing easier, I
Close up of area on SkiErg 2000 meter chart where heart rate reached 200.
I was aiming for second-place in the 70-79 year-old current SkiErg world rankings, but had to settle for 3rd.
Report for final session today, a very easy 2,000 meter warm down.
Graphs for today’s 2000 meter rowing warm down. Heart rate was mostly absent from the display because it was doing some kind of a hip-hop dance and the heart strap transmitter had a hard time counting the beat.

Happy rowing to you!

Mostly Low Energy With A 1,000 Meter High

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.

Happy rowing to you!

Chaos-Free, Mostly

Finish screen for today’s 1K rowing session. Notice how much lower heart rate was at today’s finish than yesterday’s finishing heart rate of 192.

Today’s workouts had orderly heart behavior compared to yesterday. The workouts were: a SkiErg session of 182 Calories, a rowing session of 1,000 meters at 2:4.7/500 meters and a super-slow 10K rowing session with average pace of 3:26 including a couple of breaks.

The 1K rowing session was uploaded to YouTube at: Indoor Rowing 1,000 meters at 2mins 4.7seconds pace 07212019

Report for today’s 1,000 meter rowing session.
RowPro graphs for today’s 1,000 meter rowing session.
Concept 2 online logbook chart for today’s 1,000 meter rowing session.
Report for today’s super-slow 10K rowing session.
Chart and data for today’s SkiErg session. Heart rate was normal range and rhythm for today’s SkiErg session.

Happy rowing to you!