What Was Your Work Out Today?

@kmp9881 brr…it looks cold there. And I thought it was cold here. I had to wear a pull over on the way to the gym.

Back to stationary bike today, Monday, same workout format as the end of last week, 17k + 3' CD. 84W average, interpreted by the bike as 11.85 miles at 14.6 mph. For me, almost an even split between HR zones 2 & 3, just a small edge to time in zone 2.

Today workout is going to be Biceps and triceps. First day back in a week so not going to crazy but ready to get back at it.

Treadmill run, one hour, 5.5 miles.

Bodyweight circuit today:

Pike pushups, Pullups, decline pushups, rows, single leg squats, hip thrusts, core work (one abdominal, one lower back). Repeat.

Today's workout is going to be a Shoulders and ABs. Dont have much time this morning so might have to compress my workout.

Tuesday, breast cancer survivors rowing team practice. Dynamic stretching; rowing machine warm-up of 2'-3'-4'-5' pieces with occasional pauses at the finish, and breaks between the pieces; main part of workout was 4 x (10' on, 3' off) with pausing at the finish every stroke on the 5' mark of each piece (except one) for 1'; dynamic stretching. All of the rowing was at the "bread and butter" watts/pace determined last week, focusing on the power curve of each stroke.

One of the pieces didn't have the pauses in it, because subgroups of us would rotate off the Concept 2 machines and onto RP3 machines for one of the 10' pieces. The people on the RP3s didn't do the pauses. The RP3 monitors produce a little more detailed power curve display than the Concept 2s do. The coaches set it up to show an ideal curve (they control parameters of that curve). The rower then tries to make their power curve fit close to that ideal curve, which remains on screen as the rower's curve changes each stroke. (Certain kinds of individual variances from the ideal dispaly are OK, because they relate to things like limb length.)

Power curve is (ideally) sort of a bell curve shape, peak slightly shifted to the left (early, maybe 30-40% of the way through the drive rather than right in the middle). It should be a smooth slope up, smooth slope down, basically a safe ski slope with no foothills, no moguls 😉. It shows your power application during the stroke. (I routinely keep my C2 erg at home set on the power curve display, because it gives me the best feedback.) The coaches helped me understand why I sometimes have a very slight dip in the middle of the down-slope part of the curve. I need to engage glutes better when transferring from the leg part of the drive to the body swing. Now, I just need to fix that problem. 😆

Wednesday, stationary bike shortly after breakfast. Same 17k + 3' format, picking an intensity based on what feels right that day. Having ended yesterday depleted, apparently I wasn't super recharged today: Just a 75W average, supposedly 11.83 miles at 14 mph average . . . more HR zone 1 than zone 2 (!), around 60/40, and nothing higher intensity.

Later, physical therapy appointment.

@DiscusTank5 , I looooove physical therapy, get referrals every time it seems remotely rational. 😆 I then pepper the PT with questions . . . some of them not even related to the official point of the PT referral, if the specific PT is open to that. I've learned a lot from PTs, and keep track of the home exercises so I can repeat them later if needed. Overall, it's been super helpful physically, IMO/IME part of staying tuned up to remain active. I especially love my current PT, who is insightful, knowledgeable, and as a bonus a funny/engaging person. She owns the practice there; I met her as the volunteer PT for my survivors rowing team.

Cardio: Stationary bike, 60 min

Tried something different for kicks and giggles. Wasn't giggling when I climbed off at the end, and my glutes weren't letting me walk normally until after a hot shower loosened things up again.

WED: 25 min. swim

THURS: 5 min Helix; 35 min. exercise bike; 30 min strength and conditioning; 15 min stretches; 25 min. outdoor walks

TODAY: rest

@AnnPT77 that's good to hear about your experiences with PT. My elbow didn't bother me at all during my swim Wed. and seemed better yesterday, but I still need to call for an appt. When I stretch, I usually incorporate some of the exercises the PT rec'd last year when I went (but that's doing them 2X / week, not daily).

Another machine row day, repeat of the format I'd decided to use through the Holiday Challenge when rowing at home:  1k, 3 x 2k, 750m, with 2' of wipe sweat/drink water/row easy in between, wrapping with 2' CD. 7750 during the pieces, 1055 in the 2' breaks/CD. Averages from the pieces: 89W, 2:38.1 split, 17 spm.

Keeping strokes per minute low because I'm alternating attention between 5-6 different specific things I need to improve on the drive/recovery, and there's no way to focus on all of them at once, let alone focus enough even on one at high spm.

Took about 51' end to end, 25% of the time HR zone 4, 48% zone 3, remainder below.

Yes, that's low strokes per minute. Different kinds of rowing workouts deliver different training benefits. Some people think it's not possible to get any workout intensity without going to high spm. They're wrong. (I'm guessing those people need to work on their technique. 😆 When regular people tell me they can't get a good workout on a rowing machine anymore even if they go as fast as they can move and set "resistance" (🤣 which it's not) at max, that's a clear sign of technique problems.)

In the long run, one dimension of reaching maximum workout intensity results from developing the technique that can make a workout at under 20 spm reasonably intense - as low as 14-16 potentially, maybe lower. Then, that technique can be moved to higher spm, similar meters per stroke for example, but more strokes per minute. That's hard to do, because technique often breaks down at high spm.

Back to stationary bike for around 48', 17k + 3' CD at 85W average (bike says 11.84 miles at 14.5 mph), around 1/3 HR zone 3, 2/3 zone 2, except for about 1' below that at the start.

Day 9 of 28 in the C2 Holiday Challenge, 71610 of 200k challenge meters completed.