The rowing session today began about 2 1/2 hours after sunrise. It was 12,000 meters, done mostly in heart rate zone 1.
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| Today's RowPro finish screen |
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| Report for today's session. |
Sunday, March 13, 2016
No Daylight Savings Needed Here
At 0200 this morning, most of the country officially switched to Daylight Savings Time. But Arizona is more sensible and does not mess with their clocks so I wasn't aware of the annual advent until reading about it in today's national news.
The rowing session today began about 2 1/2 hours after sunrise. It was 12,000 meters, done mostly in heart rate zone 1.
The rowing session today began about 2 1/2 hours after sunrise. It was 12,000 meters, done mostly in heart rate zone 1.
Saturday, March 12, 2016
More Base Building
Today's session was done at a very easy level of effort, with one short high-intensity sprint of 2 minutes or less.
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| RowPro finish screen today |
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| There was a lot of distraction during this session. |
Friday, March 11, 2016
Racing Without Training is Racing for Fun
Today was the first of three days in which anyone who wants to participate in the World Indoor Rowing 1,000 meter sprint challenge can participate.
Since I haven't trained for a 1K sprint, I just did it. Today. With the only preparation being to first drink a few ounces of water, eat a banana and drink about 1/4 of a cup of black coffee. The water and banana were for the purpose of buffering the black coffee. The black coffee was because those first sips taste so good first thing in the morning.
The FINAL RESULTS won't be until after midnight GMT on March 13th, but at the moment I am placed about 90th out of 205 in my age category. There will probably from 100 to several hundred more, before midnight on the 13th.
The total rowing today was first a 6K warmup in zone 1-2, then the 1K sprint, then a 5K warmdown.
I faded in the 1K sprint (my pace began slowing) right from the first 100 meters and for each following split of 100 meters but faded the most after about 500 meters, when it started to feel anaerobic. By the end of the sprint, my upper windpipe was irritated/itchy and felt like it had either been dried out by the faster than normal passage of dry air or because some dust or something had been inhaled and was irritating it. As this is being written, it is two hours later and I'm still coughing a bit and clearing my throat, in reaction to that irritation. But the irritation is almost completely gone.
It was fun and I look forward to the next such challenge!
Since I haven't trained for a 1K sprint, I just did it. Today. With the only preparation being to first drink a few ounces of water, eat a banana and drink about 1/4 of a cup of black coffee. The water and banana were for the purpose of buffering the black coffee. The black coffee was because those first sips taste so good first thing in the morning.
The FINAL RESULTS won't be until after midnight GMT on March 13th, but at the moment I am placed about 90th out of 205 in my age category. There will probably from 100 to several hundred more, before midnight on the 13th.
The total rowing today was first a 6K warmup in zone 1-2, then the 1K sprint, then a 5K warmdown.
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| From top to bottom: RowPro finish screen graphs of warm up, 1K sprint and warm down |
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| Session report for warm up |
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| Session report for 1K sprint |
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| Session report for warm down |
It was fun and I look forward to the next such challenge!
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Why Row 12K Slow?
The reason for limiting yesterday's 12K to heart zone 1 is to stay rested for a 1K race which will happen on one or more of the dates March 11, 12 and/or 13th. It's for fun and it's called World Rowing Indoor Sprints . It's something new that Concept 2 is co-sponsoring - a race that anybody can participate in no matter where they are, even from home. There will be some kind of prizes for first, second and third place in each 10-year-spanning age group category, but the main object is doing it just for the fun of it.
Today's 12K was also limited to heart zone 1.
The prize for finishing today's session was a cup of tasty, black regular coffee.
Today's 12K was also limited to heart zone 1.
The prize for finishing today's session was a cup of tasty, black regular coffee.
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| Today's RowPro finish screen |
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| Today's session report. |
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Why Row 12,000 Meters?
Answers: Because yesterday I reached and passed a goal this season, to raise daily average meters to 8,311 meters/day. Another answer is: Because 12K takes less time than rowing for an hour, even if it is done in the lowest aerobic heart rate zone.
And that was today's plan: row 12K in the very lowest HR zone, zone 1. I'll explain why tomorrow.
And that was today's plan: row 12K in the very lowest HR zone, zone 1. I'll explain why tomorrow.
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| Today's 12K finish screen done in HRzone #1 |
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| Today's session report |
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Coffee - Friend and Faux
Today's coffee was both friend and faux - one of each. Friend coffee was decaf instant. (We are still out of regular coffee, though a parcel of regular coffee should be delivered tomorrow.)
The instant coffee is friend because when I look at it I don't try to rationalize or reason in any way to attempt to satisfy the left brain. As far as Lefty is concerned ... just the facts matter and there is nothing to be happy or sad about. Lefty lets Righty handle emotions. Or so some people think, at least... so ... instead I just focus on qualities like "steaming hot," "lovely brown coffee color," "smells good," "tastes ... okay," etc ... without using any words...because Righty doesn't use words... and the right brain gathers and jumbles it all together with the result that it is as happy in a friendly fashion, with a cup of decaf instant, as it would be with a cup of regular coffee.
The other part of today's coffee, the faux, was the 1/2 No-Doz pill, 100 mg caffeine.
It is NOT coffee, but as any of the people in the documentary movie "Caffeinated" would agree... it is the ingredient that puts spring in the steps and thoughts of coffee lovers. It doesn't take much at all, really. "A little dab'l do ya...." ...as long as you are not excessively sleep deprived.
The plan for today's hour of indoor rowing was simply to maintain as consistent a pace as possible while watching the 4th episode of 4 in a documentary series on the history of mathematics. The strategy for maintaining a consistent pace was simply to avoid reaching for the remote control once the documentary started. The ethereal element of indoor rowing was definitely enhanced by the documentary coverage of recent history of mathematics, including such topics as "Kurt Godel, who showed that the unknowable is an integral part of mathematics" and "Paul Cohen, who established that there are several different sorts of mathematics in which conflicting answers to the same question are possible."
All in all, the 4th episode was more "breathtaking" than the best episode of any of the Star Trek series or movies.
The instant coffee is friend because when I look at it I don't try to rationalize or reason in any way to attempt to satisfy the left brain. As far as Lefty is concerned ... just the facts matter and there is nothing to be happy or sad about. Lefty lets Righty handle emotions. Or so some people think, at least... so ... instead I just focus on qualities like "steaming hot," "lovely brown coffee color," "smells good," "tastes ... okay," etc ... without using any words...because Righty doesn't use words... and the right brain gathers and jumbles it all together with the result that it is as happy in a friendly fashion, with a cup of decaf instant, as it would be with a cup of regular coffee.
The other part of today's coffee, the faux, was the 1/2 No-Doz pill, 100 mg caffeine.
The plan for today's hour of indoor rowing was simply to maintain as consistent a pace as possible while watching the 4th episode of 4 in a documentary series on the history of mathematics. The strategy for maintaining a consistent pace was simply to avoid reaching for the remote control once the documentary started. The ethereal element of indoor rowing was definitely enhanced by the documentary coverage of recent history of mathematics, including such topics as "Kurt Godel, who showed that the unknowable is an integral part of mathematics" and "Paul Cohen, who established that there are several different sorts of mathematics in which conflicting answers to the same question are possible."
All in all, the 4th episode was more "breathtaking" than the best episode of any of the Star Trek series or movies.
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| RowPro finish screen for today's session. |
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| RowPro session report for today's finish screen. |
Monday, March 7, 2016
Coffee First
Yesterday's relaxed rowing session was just a bit too relaxed, which is to say that I was so relaxed afterward that I took a long afternoon nap even though I was not at all sleep deprived. It may have had something to do with the fact that we were out of regular, caffeine-loaded coffee and so there was no caffeine fix yesterday.
Today we are still out of regular coffee, so I substituted 1/2 of a No-Doz caffeine tablet. That did the trick and my mental state doesn't seem the least bit inclined toward a nap today.
But I expected today's pre-rowing heart rate to be somewhat higher than yesterday's of 49 bpm and there was no noticeable elevation in heart rate due to caffeine. However, my subjective opinion is that though the starting effort today was the same as yesterday, heart rate seemed to accelerate a lot more quickly today, to get right up into zone one. Yesterday, it seemed to take a lot more time to get up into zone 1.
Today's ethereal hour of indoor rowing was more or less the same as yesterday's with the exception that there were a few more interruptions to operate the remote control while rewinding a few sections of a documentary on history of mathematics in the 18th century.
Today we are still out of regular coffee, so I substituted 1/2 of a No-Doz caffeine tablet. That did the trick and my mental state doesn't seem the least bit inclined toward a nap today.
But I expected today's pre-rowing heart rate to be somewhat higher than yesterday's of 49 bpm and there was no noticeable elevation in heart rate due to caffeine. However, my subjective opinion is that though the starting effort today was the same as yesterday, heart rate seemed to accelerate a lot more quickly today, to get right up into zone one. Yesterday, it seemed to take a lot more time to get up into zone 1.
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| 100 mg of caffeine didn't raise resting heart rate. |
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| RowPro finish screen for today's hour session. |
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| RowPro session report for today's hour. |
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