I just realized that I am over 100,000 meters for the month, and that's half of my season (May-April) meters, all in less than three weeks. If I keep it up I'll hit the 1 million meters mark by the end of the season. That's a lot of time on the erg. In total, I've rowed about 65 hours on the erg. I just used the C2 pace calculator to figure out that my lifetime split is 2:19/500m.
What does all of this tell me? Well, for one, I have too much time on my hands, and my obsession with math is confirmed. It is sort of interesting though. I wonder what some of my friends' lifetime splits are. If I was really crazy, I might figure out my lifetime splits for distances over and under 2k or for times over and under a certain time. My warm up, cool down, and rest meters might skew this. I could take all my pieces with a split over 2:19 and under 2:19 and analyze those. Presumably the number of meters should be the same because it's an average. Anyway, enough rambling. I just wanted to recognize my a progress and mention the million meter mark that I am fast approaching.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Oh How My Heart Beats
I pulled out my heart rate monitor yesterday. Now I have one more number to think about as I work out.
It is really interesting to see how my exertion affects my heart rate and what my rate stabilizes at. For example, today there was a point where my hr was just kind of sitting at 162 for a while.
When I first bought the monitor a couple years ago, I looked into heart rate ranges to see what my different ranges were for different levels of exercise. It was kind of helpful but I don't remember any of the specifics. I kind of remember the general idea though. In reality, I can gage pretty well what level of exertion I am at without it, and when I am wearing it I can use the numbers to monitor my exertion even more exactly. Some ranges I know about are 135ish is what I'm at when I'm riding my bike to the boathouse, 140-150 is warm up level, 160 is good cardio, 170 is probably near my AT (anaerobic threshold) and this is when I start to push it a little. I haven't gone all out with it on this time around, but I remember getting my heart rate over 190 when I was using it before. I think that the formula that get used a lot says that your max hr is 220 minus your age. So this would put me a little above 190. I think the percentages used for the ranges are percentages of this number, your max.
As I was surfing around looking up info on heart rate stuff I found this website, which has all kinds of interesting info. http://www.topendsports.com/ and the heart rate training range info is here http://www.topendsports.com/fitness/heartrate-range.htm
It is really interesting to see how my exertion affects my heart rate and what my rate stabilizes at. For example, today there was a point where my hr was just kind of sitting at 162 for a while.
When I first bought the monitor a couple years ago, I looked into heart rate ranges to see what my different ranges were for different levels of exercise. It was kind of helpful but I don't remember any of the specifics. I kind of remember the general idea though. In reality, I can gage pretty well what level of exertion I am at without it, and when I am wearing it I can use the numbers to monitor my exertion even more exactly. Some ranges I know about are 135ish is what I'm at when I'm riding my bike to the boathouse, 140-150 is warm up level, 160 is good cardio, 170 is probably near my AT (anaerobic threshold) and this is when I start to push it a little. I haven't gone all out with it on this time around, but I remember getting my heart rate over 190 when I was using it before. I think that the formula that get used a lot says that your max hr is 220 minus your age. So this would put me a little above 190. I think the percentages used for the ranges are percentages of this number, your max.
As I was surfing around looking up info on heart rate stuff I found this website, which has all kinds of interesting info. http://www.topendsports.com/ and the heart rate training range info is here http://www.topendsports.com/fitness/heartrate-range.htm
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Erg Golf
Last night I tried a new workout called Erg Golf. The idea is that you row "holes" of a certain number of meters. For example the first hole is 365 meters and the object is to get the lowest time possible. The scoring is set up with a 1:45/500m pace on every hole, with the longest hole at 525 meters and the shortest 150 meters.
Well, I finished eight holes ok, and then on the ninth, which was 525 meters, I died. I got about 200 meters in and then I could barely finish it at a crawl. So now I know where I stand. I was trying to go for the 1:45 pace; next time maybe I'll try 1:50. It's amazing the difference between those five seconds. Ultimately it's the difference between a 7:00 2k and a 7:20, which is considerable. And my goal for the 2k this winter is roughly 7:20. I was able to pull that in Dec. of 2007 and I pulled a 7:15 in March of 2006, granted that second one was near my peak conditioning at St. John's. Next time around I'll try to finish all 18 holes.
Yesterday marked my 10th workout since Jan. 2nd. More than I've worked out in a long time. I'm feeling some sore spots/painful spots, of which I'm trying to be mindful. One spot is in my shoulders and near my spine between my shoulder blades. My housemate showed me some exercises I can do to strengthen those muscles. The problem, she thinks, is that I hold my head too far forward and those muscles are stretched out too much. The solution is to strengthen the opposing muscles that hold my head back over my shoulders. I've had this same kind of pain in the same shoulder area before. Maybe these exercises will help.
Today I plan on doing a long, steady state workout, perhaps two 30 minute pieces. Another note: I have increased my drag up to about 110 or the middle of the 4 on most ergs.
Happy errrrrrggging.
p.s. I did a 10k. Felt pretty good.
Well, I finished eight holes ok, and then on the ninth, which was 525 meters, I died. I got about 200 meters in and then I could barely finish it at a crawl. So now I know where I stand. I was trying to go for the 1:45 pace; next time maybe I'll try 1:50. It's amazing the difference between those five seconds. Ultimately it's the difference between a 7:00 2k and a 7:20, which is considerable. And my goal for the 2k this winter is roughly 7:20. I was able to pull that in Dec. of 2007 and I pulled a 7:15 in March of 2006, granted that second one was near my peak conditioning at St. John's. Next time around I'll try to finish all 18 holes.
Yesterday marked my 10th workout since Jan. 2nd. More than I've worked out in a long time. I'm feeling some sore spots/painful spots, of which I'm trying to be mindful. One spot is in my shoulders and near my spine between my shoulder blades. My housemate showed me some exercises I can do to strengthen those muscles. The problem, she thinks, is that I hold my head too far forward and those muscles are stretched out too much. The solution is to strengthen the opposing muscles that hold my head back over my shoulders. I've had this same kind of pain in the same shoulder area before. Maybe these exercises will help.
Today I plan on doing a long, steady state workout, perhaps two 30 minute pieces. Another note: I have increased my drag up to about 110 or the middle of the 4 on most ergs.
Happy errrrrrggging.
p.s. I did a 10k. Felt pretty good.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Day 6
I'm about to go erg, and once I've done that, today will be the sixth day in a row I have worked out.
Last night I went down to the boathouse in the evening for the club erg session. It was kind of strange to erg with other people there, but nice. It makes the work out go faster. I did three pieces: one 20' and two 10'. I did the 20 minute piece to see how it felt to go that long without a break. I hadn't done more than 15' straight so far. It felt fine. Then I did a 10' because I wasn't sure if I wanted to do another 20', and after that 10', I still felt good enough to do 10' more. On the second 10', I went at a 2:09 pace. My goal was to go at or under 2:10.
My general target paces right now are: 2:20 @ 20spm for medium pieces, slower for lower stroke rates and faster for higher, 2:10-2:15 for harder pieces above 20spm, and less than 2:10 for the hardest pieces.
I'm not sure what kind of work out I want to do today. I could do a long steady piece. The other day I did a series of 4x10' with variable stroke rates and split targets. My general lay out was 1st set: 2' at 16, 18, 20, 18, 16; 2nd set: 2' at 18, 20, 22, 20, 18; 3rd set same as 2nd; 4th set same as 1st. My targets were 2:30 for 16spm, 2:25 for 18, 2:20 for 20, and 2:18 for 22. It was interesting at least. I could do some short and hard, four or five sets perhaps. I could do 40' straight or just 30'.
I may or may not be able to get up on Saturday to row. If I don't then I might get up to go canvass for Measures 66 and 67. If I can get myself up at 8:00 to go knock on doors, then why can't I get myself up at 7:00 to go row? We shall see.
I'll check in after my workout to see what I decided to do.
Last night I went down to the boathouse in the evening for the club erg session. It was kind of strange to erg with other people there, but nice. It makes the work out go faster. I did three pieces: one 20' and two 10'. I did the 20 minute piece to see how it felt to go that long without a break. I hadn't done more than 15' straight so far. It felt fine. Then I did a 10' because I wasn't sure if I wanted to do another 20', and after that 10', I still felt good enough to do 10' more. On the second 10', I went at a 2:09 pace. My goal was to go at or under 2:10.
My general target paces right now are: 2:20 @ 20spm for medium pieces, slower for lower stroke rates and faster for higher, 2:10-2:15 for harder pieces above 20spm, and less than 2:10 for the hardest pieces.
I'm not sure what kind of work out I want to do today. I could do a long steady piece. The other day I did a series of 4x10' with variable stroke rates and split targets. My general lay out was 1st set: 2' at 16, 18, 20, 18, 16; 2nd set: 2' at 18, 20, 22, 20, 18; 3rd set same as 2nd; 4th set same as 1st. My targets were 2:30 for 16spm, 2:25 for 18, 2:20 for 20, and 2:18 for 22. It was interesting at least. I could do some short and hard, four or five sets perhaps. I could do 40' straight or just 30'.
I may or may not be able to get up on Saturday to row. If I don't then I might get up to go canvass for Measures 66 and 67. If I can get myself up at 8:00 to go knock on doors, then why can't I get myself up at 7:00 to go row? We shall see.
I'll check in after my workout to see what I decided to do.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Back In The Game
So I've started erging again. I've gone to the boathouse for the last three days and I'm feeling pretty good. I did two 15 min pieces with a short rest for the first two days. Today I did three 2k pieces. The first was at a hard pace, the second was medium-hard, and the third was medium-light.
I have been looking back at my Concept2 logbook also. It's interesting to see what kind of times I was able to do at St. John's and then a couple years ago and now. I found my best 2k from St. John's. It was 7:15.6, which is a 1:48.9 split. In 2008 I have record of doing 500m intervals at about 1:50. I was also able to do an hour at a 2:16.5 average split. If I could get to a 7:20 2k, which is a 1:50 split, that would be awesome. I also want to work up to doing hour pieces again. That felt really good to be able to go for a straight hour.
My enthusiasm for working out is part of my plan to weigh 200 pounds by the time I'm 30. The last time I weighed that was the end of Senior year when I finished up the crew season. It's totally doable. I weigh right about 235 right now so if you average the days that comes out to approximately 0.05 pounds per day, or 0.38 pounds per week, or 1.66 pounds per month. So if I weigh 233.34 pounds on February 1st then I'm right on track. Putting it this way sounds great!
I imagine most of my exercise will be on the erg. Some day I may figure out that a bicycle can be used for more than transportation. Or, god forbid, I go for a jog.
Happy errrrrgging.
I have been looking back at my Concept2 logbook also. It's interesting to see what kind of times I was able to do at St. John's and then a couple years ago and now. I found my best 2k from St. John's. It was 7:15.6, which is a 1:48.9 split. In 2008 I have record of doing 500m intervals at about 1:50. I was also able to do an hour at a 2:16.5 average split. If I could get to a 7:20 2k, which is a 1:50 split, that would be awesome. I also want to work up to doing hour pieces again. That felt really good to be able to go for a straight hour.
My enthusiasm for working out is part of my plan to weigh 200 pounds by the time I'm 30. The last time I weighed that was the end of Senior year when I finished up the crew season. It's totally doable. I weigh right about 235 right now so if you average the days that comes out to approximately 0.05 pounds per day, or 0.38 pounds per week, or 1.66 pounds per month. So if I weigh 233.34 pounds on February 1st then I'm right on track. Putting it this way sounds great!
I imagine most of my exercise will be on the erg. Some day I may figure out that a bicycle can be used for more than transportation. Or, god forbid, I go for a jog.
Happy errrrrgging.
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