Your relative lack of volume doesn't seem to be hindering you all that much!

11/1
UT3 - 30'
6706m/2:14.2/13.9 spm/123 HR/136 MHR

Best UT3 HR since I've been back; hopefully a sign of things to come. I focused on being less tense on the erg too, so maybe that helped.

one of the real weapons on the C2 board who does a ton of distance (2 HMs a week and then at least 2-3 60 mins sessions) swears by rowing with his eyes closed to relax his body and mind and just feel the stroke and rhythm. I can't do more than about 5 strokes without feeling nervous - you ever tried it?

I came to update my log and it's gone

Anyway to recover?

11/2
LD17 (UT2) - 60'
14394m/2:05.5/16.7 spm/154 HR/165 MHR
r2285m (10' warmup)

Didn't have time for 90', but this felt fine enough. Good HR throughout.

I haven't; I need to tape over the HR part of the PM5 so I can't see it I think. Just watching the TV helps too, but rowing with nothing to watch for long UT2 just isn't doable for me.

11/3
UT3 - 30'
6682m/2:14.6/13.9 spm/130 HR/146 MHR

K enough.

11/4
LD18 (TR) - 6x3'/6'r @116 df
5011m/1:47.7/27 spm/188 MHR
3'_1: 818m/1:50.0/24 spm/172 HR
3'_2: 828m/1:48.6/25 spm/181 HR
3'_3: 835m/1:47.7/26 spm/184 HR
3'_4: 840m/1:47.1/27 spm/186 HR
3'_5: 842m/1:46.8/28 spm/186 HR
3'_6: 848m/1:46.1/29 spm/188 HR
16529m (20' warmup + 36' interval paddle + 20' cooldown)

Managed to get a sixth interval today, so great success I suppose; this was probably the appropriate level of painful, but I did manage to relax a bit more at the higher stroke rates. Had some innerEV thoughts while waiting for the sixth interval, but I didn't want to read any drive by yapping from loco so just counted strokes until it was over.

I took a few minutes off here and there to drink water during the interval paddles, but kept going otherwise. Still my longest session since I came back, I think.

huge session (well over a HM) and great to see so much progress.

I'll insert my regular comment about my mind being boggled that you row the intervals so fast despite your hr barely dropping due to you paddling through the rest period. just looking at your graph, you're spending a **** ton of time at 170+ bpm

big thumb

Thanks!

I really don't think it's that big of a deal; if you check the graphs, my HR is in the vicinity of 145-155 at the start of each interval, and I don't think fully resting for all but the first and last 30 seconds (that's the minimum I have to row in those sessions) as opposed to what I'm doing would really keep my HR that much lower for that much longer once I start back up - maybe it buys me 5-10 extra seconds before 170ville. I don't think it's adding appreciable systemic fatigue but I could certainly be wrong. Estimating that I rested 3 minutes out of the 36 minutes of rest periods total, 7200 meters over 33 minutes is a 2:17.5 pace - not exactly setting land speed records, just trying to keep moving so I don't stiffen up.

Also recall I'm still finishing my UT2 in 170+ range (though hopefully that comes back down to where it used to be soon) so the pain is as much mental as it is physical, at least until 185+ comes knocking. Not looking forward to going for a 7th (or 8th, for that matter), but successfully doing so will probably be kind of cool in hindsight.

11/5
UT3 - 30'
6676m/2:14.8/13.7 spm/135 HR/152 MHR

Still a little tired from yesterday.

11/6
LD19 (UT2) - 30'
7122m/2:06.4/16.5 spm/163 HR/174 MHR
r2253m (10' warmup)

Had the option to do 40'-60' today, but given I had to do this in the morning, I was still fatigued from Thursday evening so kept it light (even so, my HR spiked). 90' scheduled for Wednesday, which hopefully I'll be ready for.

11/8
LD20 (UT2) - 50'
11979m/2:05.2/16.7 spm/174 MHR
r2274m (10' warmup)

Did a decently rugged ~3 mile hike with the minis yesterday; today's row felt good apart from my HRM going out for the middle half of the ride. Assuming it was accurate when it came back on, a 174 MHR at this intensity is reasonably k. 90' piece on Wednesday.

11/9
UT3 - 30'
6672m/2:14.9/13.7 spm/130 HR/143 MHR

K.

11/10
LD21 (UT2) - 60'
14276m/2:06.1/16.6 spm/166 HR/181 MHR
r2279m (10' warmup)

Big meh; started out more slowly than normal and just didn't have it; even 10' extra was a grind.

11/12
LD22 (UT2) - 80'
18935m/2:06.7/16.3 spm/161 HR/171 MHR
r2267m (10' warmup)

Got a scolding over text from TG, and he told me to show down and make sure I did it today, so here we are. Kept it between 2:09 and 2:06 for the first hour, then sped up a bit for the last twenty minutes. It was still harder than it should have been, so here we are. Maybe I'll slow down my UT2 by a few seconds and see if that helps manage fatigue at all.

Accountability partners ftw! Seems like that investment in coaching has been a really good thing.

Nice long session! Were you tempted to get through to the HM?

What heart rate range does he want you in?

I’m trying to really focus on heart rate vs pace on my steady distance and that results in me being a couple of splits lower. Flip side is that I don’t enjoy it as much which ultimately is the most important thing because I won’t do it if I don’t enjoy it

Floppy,

Definitely!

FW,

I'll call it a half marathon based on total distance including warmup, but I didn't have much more in me.

I think I posted about HR vs perceived effort earlier, but he doesn't really care about absolute HR as much as perceived exertion - go faster if you feel better that day, go slower if you don't (that part is hard for me). It could be that today is how UT2 is supposed to feel as opposed to my 1 hr sessions; I was definitely much more controlled and increased speed more gradually. I might give it a try moving forward and just accept that I'll be a few seconds slower and see if it helps my recovery any.

yes you did mention it before. I'm just old and hungover

FW,

Me too! Private dinner with friends and we got hammered - six bottles of wine for the six of us.

11/13
UT3 - 30'
6673m/2:14.8/13.7 spm/130 HR/145 MHR

K enough.

11/14
LD23 (UT2) - 30'
7096m/2:06.8/15.7 spm/151 HR/161 MHR
r2274m (10' warmup)

Started out a bit faster than Friday, but kept the increases reasonably gradual and it felt alright. Getting double vaxxed today (flu + booster), so depending on how that goes I'll do my next loading day either Tuesday or Wednesday.

11/16
UT3 - 30'
6676m/2:14.8/13.3 spm/130 HR/146 MHR

K. Felt tired yesterday after THE JAB so I decided to actually be intelligent and take a day off.

11/17
LD24 (AT) - 2x16'/8'r (1:30 on @24 spm/0:30 off)
16'_1 - 4071m/1:57.9/~23 spm/181 MHR
16'_2 - 4017m/1:59.4/~23 spm/184 MHR
r7010m (20' warmup + 8' rest btwn intervals + 10' cooldown)

1:30s @1:49-1:53, 36 total strokes

Did the work sections a bit faster and the light paddles a bit slower, so even though the overall pace was slower I think this is a bit of an improvement. Taped over the HR on the PM, so it was a nice surprise seeing where I ended up; probably will be a more interesting experiment for UT2 work.

11/18
UT3 - 30'
6690m/2:14.5/13.8 spm/144 HR/156 MHR

Assume the high heart rate is from doing this the AM after a hard PM row, but we'll see. Wanted to bank a few extra hours of rest for tomorrow's UT1.

just had a look at your graphs on the c2 site. quite interesting how your hr drops less in the 30 sec 'break' towards the end of each of the two 16 min intervals as you get closer to redline.

11/19
LD25 (UT1) - 20'
5192m/1:55.7/24.0 spm/173 HR/183 MHR
r9320m (20' warmup + 20' cooldown)

Much better session today; felt now controlled and definitely could have gone longer. Getting the hang of how he wants it done; negative split the whole way from 1:57.5 to 1:54.5 and kept the spm constant at 24.