SkiErg 2K Time Trial

Today’s 2K on the SkiErg was done at RPE Level 9. If you play the session screen recording, you will be able to hear me quite out-of-breath when talking after the end of the 2K.
Today’s HRV reading gave a green light to race or workout as hard as I wanted.
Though last night’s sleep had a huge interruption, I managed to get enough sleep at 7 hours 35 minutes to still have a good HRV reading.

The main workout today was the shortest, a 2,000 meter session on the SkiErg. It might correctly be called a “time trial,” because though it was solo, I was trying to go as fast as possible for that distance. It felt like RPE level 9 but I’m new to the SkiErg, so there is lots of room for improvement.

A screen recording was made of the SkiErg 2k and it can be found at this link: SkiErg 2K 02162019

The longest workout session today was 8,000 meters on the rowing machine. It was done as a warmup for the SkiErg 2K and was done with a target heart rate zone of 133 to 158 and it felt like RPE Level 5. Heart rate was allowed to rise above 158 near the end because it felt good, I was barely perspiring and was breathing easy.

Finish screen for SkiErg 2K.
Report for SkiErg 2K.
RowPro graphs for SkiErg 2K.
Concept 2 online logbook chart for SkiErg 2K.
Finish screen for today’s 8K warmup.
RowPro report for today’s 8K warmup.
RowPro graphs for today’s 8K warmup.
Concept 2 online logbook chart for today’s 8K warmup.

Happy rowing to you!

Ten Intervals

Happy Valentine’s Day to all!

Happy Valentine’s day to you!

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.

Happy rowing to you!

Too Pretty To Eat?

This lovely display of fractal growth will be part of our dinner tonight. Its called by many different names including the one we know it by, which is “romanesque cauliflower”.

Today’s rowing was mainly 5000 meters with 3 intervals of 500 meters each woven into the session. Overall, I rate the 5K rowing at RPE Level 4. It was followed by a 1K rowing warm down at RPE Level 1.

There was also a 500 meter SkiErg session at RPE Level 10 and it was followed by a 1K warm down at RPE Level 1.

Today’s EliteHRV Morning Readiness reading looked auspicious.
Last night’s sleep was short at 5 hours 30 minutes.
Finish screen for today’s 5K rowing session.
Report for today’s 5K rowing session.
RowPro graphs for today’s 5K rowing session.
Concept 2 online logbook chart for today’s 5K rowing session.
Finish screen for today’s 500 meter SkiErg sprint.
Report for today’s 500 meter SkiErg sprint.
RowPro graphs for today’s 500 meter SkiErg sprint.
Concept 2 online logbook chart for today’s 500 meter SkiErg sprint.

Happy rowing to you.

Some Upright Erging

Finish screen for today’s 5K on the SkiErg.

Today’s aerobic exercise was done with the SkiErg. Mainly, it was a 5K. I started out at a pace of about 2:27 for the first 250 meters. Pace slowed to 2:28 for the next 250 meters. For the third 250 meters, it slowed to about 2:31. After that, I decided to aim for something around 2:45 to 2:40. By the last 500 meters, there was enough energy left to pick up the pace and finish the entire 5K at an average pace of about 2:38. It was placed into the rankings, which placed me second-to-last in 5K SkiErg rankings this season for men in my age group.

The 5K was done at RPE Level 4 and was followed by a 5 minute SkiErg warm down.

RowPro report for today’s 5K on the SkiErg.
RowPro graphs for today’s 5K on the SkiErg.
Concept 2 online logbook chart for today’s 5K on the SkiErg.
Today’s Morning Readiness score from EliteHRV
Last night’s sleep was good quality, 6 hours 30 minutes.

Happy rowing to you.

Racing My Past

Today’s EliteHRV Morning Readiness reading was done at the right time, in the morning. It indicated caution, but I interpret that differently – I’ve been doing “deep breathing” sessions daily for a while, which is supposed to have many benefits, including an increase in HRV. So my opinion is that while my HRV is increasing in response to my new habit of the breathing sessions, EliteHRV needs to establish a new baseline, which may take a while.
Three interruptions of sleep last night but other than that it was good quality sleep and sufficient quantity at 7 hours 55 minutes.

Today’s main rowing session was 8995 meters with the goal of staying ahead of my most recent session of the same distance by about 10 meters and then going a faster pace a few hundred meters from the finish until calories burned added up to 545. Once reaching 545 calories, I eased up for the few remaining meters of warm down. It was done at RPE level 5. A screen recording was made for those who’d like to row along with it. The screen recording is on YouTube at this link: Indoor Rowing 547 Calories 01262019

There was another 2K done very slowly on the rowing machine at RPE Level 1 and a few kilometers on the SkiErg at an easy effort level of RPE Level 2. All totaled, the distance on rower and SkiErg today came to 16177 meters.

Finish screenfor today’s 8995 meters.
Report for today’s 8995 meters.
RowPro graphs for today’s 8995 meters.
Concept 2 online logbook chart for today’s 8995 meters.
One of the sessions done on the SkiErg today was a very easy 5K. This is a screenshot of the Apple Watch heart rate graph for that particular session.
Listing of the four sessions done today.

Happy rowing to you!

Afib Truly Woke Me

This is a graph of this morning’s heart rate samples, taken every few minutes by the Apple Watch. You can see that at about 5 AM heart rate spiked a bit and stayed elevated from 5 AM until this screenshot was taken at about 9 AM. HR returned to normal sometime before noon.

There is no HRV analysis reading for this morning because I was having a bit of Afib at the time the HRV reading should have been taken. Afib during an HRV reading skews the reading and basically makes it worthless. So the EliteHRV app was skipped for today and instead I savored and drank black coffee.

The Afib started early this morning after I woke for a bathroom call at about 0500 and returned to bed. So… rather than lay awake, I got up. Sleep had been good until then but total sleep was a little short, at 5 hours 50 minutes.

Sleep was good and without interruptions from about 11 PM to 5 AM.

I felt okay, so I assumed the HRV reading would have been a “GO” for doing any workout. The goal for today’s aerobic activity was to burn 800 calories. The goal was reached with 3 sessions on the SkiErg and one on the rowing machine.

From first to last they were (1st): A 99 calorie warmup on SkiErg at RPE Level 3, (2nd): 1K on SkiErg at RPE Level 5 (3rd): 2K on SkiErg at RPE Level 6, (4th) 540 calories in 8,995 meters on rowing machine at RPE Level 5.

A screen recording for those who’d like to row-along was made of the rowing session and it is available at this link: Indoor Rowing 540 Calories 01232019

Summary data and chart for the SkiErg warmup.
Summary data and chart for the 1,000 meter session on SkiErg
Summary data and chart for 2,000 meter session on SkiErg
Finish screen for 540 Calorie session on rowing machine.
Report for main calorie session on rowing machine.
RowPro graphs for main calorie session on rowing machine.
Concept 2 online logbook chart for main calorie session on rowing machine.

Happy rowing to you!

Tingly All Over

Today’s EliteHRV Morning Readiness reading didn’t seem to have been dampened at all by yesterday’s workout and it even improved over yesterday’s.
Last night’s sleep was good, though a little short at 6 hours 35 minutes and with two brief interruptions.

After today’s aerobic workouts I felt tingly, all over. It’s a good feeling.

Today’s rowing was a preset distance of 13,400 meters. That distance was chosen based on the distance rowed yesterday to reach 800 calories. That was the main workout and it was done at RPE Level 6. It was followed by another attempt at doing a 500 meter sprint on the SkiErg, which was done at RPE Level 10. Lastly there was a 2 minute warmdown at RPE Level 1.

Screen recordings of each were made for those who’d like to row or SkiErg-along with either of them. The 13,400 meter indoor row is at this link:Indoor Rowing 13400 meters 01222019 and the 500 meter SkiErg sprint is at this link: Indoor Skiing 500 meters 01222019

Finish screen – today’s 13,400 meter session.
Report- today’s 13,400 meter session.
RowPro graphs- today’s 13,400 meter session.
Concept 2 online logbook chart- today’s 13,400 meter session.
Finish screen-today’s 500 meter sprint on SkiErg.
Report-today’s 500 meter sprint on SkiErg.
RowPro graphs-today’s 500 meter sprint on SkiErg.
Concept 2 online logbook chart-today’s 500 meter sprint on SkiErg.

Happy rowing to you!

800 Calories Was Just Dandy

Today’s EliteHRV morning readiness analysis was good again.
Last night’s sleep was a little short at 6 hours 10 minutes, but it was good sleep with no insomnia interruption.

Today’s main session was rowing until arriving at a total of 800 calories, done at RPE level 7. The main session is available as a screen recording for those who’d like to row-along. It’s link on YouTube is: Indoor Rowing 800 Calories 01212019

The Concept 2 rowing machine is an ergometer and it accurately measures work. It registered 800 calories for the main rowing session today, but the Apple Watch, which independently logged the workout as a rowing session, shows quite a few less calories than the Concept 2 ergometer. So don’t rely on the Apple Watch calorie count if you do a rowing workout.

Today’s second of three sessions was another attempt on the SkiErg to do a one minute sprint. The sprint was done at RPE level 9 and it was a better result than yesterday’s because I didn’t start out too fast and was able to maintain the pace for the entire minute. The third and last session today was going to be another attempt at a 500 meter sprint on the SkiErg, but I started out too fast or didn’t have a suitable drag factor setting (or perhaps I was too tired??), so I let that “sprint” fade into a warm down and the resulting RPE for the 500 meters was Level 4.

Finish screen for 800 calorie rowing.
Report for 800 calorie rowing at RPE level 7.
RowPro graphs for 800 calorie rowing.
Concept 2 online logbook chart for 800 calorie rowing.
There is no report or graph for the 100 meter sprint on SkiErg because it wasn’t done with RowPro but above is a screenshot of the summary data.
The final session for the day was 500 meters on the SkiErg which started out as an attempt to improve the previous, ranked result. But I started out too fast to maintain it so let it fade into a warm down. Heart rate fade lagged behind the fade of effort level.

Happy rowing to you.

1,153 Assorted Calories

Today’s HRV Morning Readiness analysis was good, so rowing was okay to do. Of course, it has been good for several days WITHOUT having done any rowing on those days… but today some rowing was actually done!

Today’s main workout was an aerobic row of 19,384 meters. It was at RPE level 2. It was followed by a first time attempt at a one minute sprint on the SkiErg, at what started out at RPE level 10 and faded. That was followed by 500 meters on the SkiErg at RPE level 5, to serve as a warm down for a warm down. Lastly, there was a SkiErg final warm down of about two minutes at RPE level 1.

A screen recording was made of the main aerobic rowing session and I will post the live link here: Indoor Rowing 1100 calories 01202019

Last night’s sleep had a bit of insomnia but total sleep was good at 7 hours 50 minutes
Finish screen for today’s rowing session of 19,384 meters. It started out as a full marathon in case I felt inclined to go that distance.
RowPro report for today’s main session. The finish screen at the time the RowPro session was stopped showed 1,100 calories. This report shows 1,097 calories. The Concept 2 logbook shows 1,095 calories. What’s a few calories, among friends?
RowPro graphs for today’s main session.
Concept 2 online logbook chart for today’s main session.
Chart for today’s first time ever 1 minute sprint attempt on SkiErg. You can see that though my effort level faded, heart rate did not fade with the fading effort level.
After the 1 minute SkiErg sprint I did two warmdowns. This was the first warm down, 500 meters on the SkiErg at RPE level 5.
:This was the final warm down: two minutes on the SkiErg at an RPE 1 effort level that allowed heart rate to slow down.

Happy rowing to you!

Yesterday 400 Meters, Today 400 Less Than Yesterday

That’s right – yesterday I only worked out for 400 meters. It was, however, at RPE level 10. The 400 meters yesterday consisted of four 100 meter sprints on the Concept 2 SkiErg. Summary screenshot below:

Of the four 100 meter sessions, the lastest was the fastest at 22.8 seconds, so I included it in the Concept 2 Online Logbook World Rankings for 100 meters on a SkiErg. I placed second to last…
Second to last is …. better than last, but not by much!

As today’s title implies, there was no workout on rowing machine or SkiErg today. But… the daily EliteHRV readings and sleep log graphs were captured and those exciting screenshots are displayed below:

January 17, 2019 EliteHRV Morning Readiness reading
January 17th, 2019 logged 7 hours 10 minutes sleep in spite of a bout of insomnia.
Today (January 18, 2019) also had a good Morning Readiness reading.
Only logged 5 hours 20 minutes sleep on the morning of January 18th, after a longish bit of insomnia and the necessity to get out of bed with an alarm clock, to assist in keeping a doctor’s appointment for my better half.

Happy rowing to you!