Sunday, September 15, 2013

A Man a Plan a Canal Panama

 I recently experienced in rowing the benefits of approaching something with a plan and being flexible with that plan. As part of my preparation for rowing head race season (head races are long distance races of about 5000 meters), I have turned in a time for 6000 meters on an erg (rowing machine). In the last two weeks or so, I gone on the erg three times. The first time was to get a feel for what 6000 meters feels like on an erg, so I rowed three 2000 meters pieces. The second and third times, I rowed 6000 meters straight.

This story requires an explanation of the information the erg provides me (or to anyone else) rowing on it. The machine has a digital display that displays a simulated distance that you have rowed. It shows how many strokes per minute you are rowing. It also displays a 500 meter split time based on (I believe) your most recent two strokes to give you an idea of the pace at which you are rowing. You can modify the display to show other information such as calories burned or to show a graph illustrating the power curve of the effort you put into your stroke. I prefer seeing the power curve.

In the trio of 2000 meter pieces that I rowed on my first outing, I rowed an average of 25 strokes per minute. When I added the three pieces together – which, admittedly, had three minute rest periods between each piece – I had a 6000 meter time of 25 minutes and 41 seconds. I didn't know what to expect in terms of a time, I was neither pleased nor displeased with the results. I determined that I needed to improve that time when I talked to some of my teammates who were turning in times in the 24 minute range.

The next week, I rowed a 6000 meter piece on the erg. I rowed it in 25 minutes and 31 seconds at an average stroke rate of 23 strokes per minute (spm). I was happy to not go backwards in comparing my time to aggregated time of my previous outing, but I knew I still needed to improve. I noticed a couple key facts on this outing. First, I was able to basically maintain the same time rowing 6000 meters straight as I did rowing three 2000 meter pieces that had rest breaks. I did this with a lower average stroke per minute rate. Rowing is funny in that a higher stroke rate doesn't necessarily equate to a better time or a faster boat. I also noticed that during my warm up I had started at an 18 spm with an estimated time better than what I was rowing at the 23 spm or 25 spm range.

For my third outing, I incorporated my observations into a plan for improving my 6000 meter time. The first step in my plan would be to reduce the effort I was expending in my warm up. My strongest power curves (taken from the digital readout) were coming from those 18 spm warm up strokes. I would use the warm up just for that: to warm up my muscles. My next step would be to lower my stroke rating at 22 spm. I have observed in the past that I felt I could “row all day” at 22 spm on long erg workouts or outings on the boat. I would start out with a very strong press – the kind I was seeing in my 18 spm workouts – take a long recovery, and press hard again. I knew that, over the course of the 6000 meters, that strong press would diminish. I would still get a very strong start. My last portion of my plan was to bump up my stroke rating at the very end, two spm at a time so that I would close out the piece rowing at 30 spm.

I started out rowing my 22 spm with strong strokes getting a 1:52 500 meter split estimate every two strokes (according to the digital readout). I held that split for about 1000 meters. I fell off that split in the next 1000 meters, so that my first 2000 meters came in at about eight minutes. I maintained my stroke rating and kept pressing so that my 500 meter split estimate remained between 2:00 and 2:10 for the next 2500 meters. During the last 500 meters, I had planned to up begin increasing my rating, but when I did that, my 500 meter split estimate worsened. I was increasing the stroke rating my lessening my recovery time and loosing power on my drive. I made a quick decision to hold onto my 22 spm rating for a little bit longer and my 500 meter split estimate improved again. I rose my stroke rating in the last 150 meters or so to about 27 and finished the entire piece in 24 minutes and 44 seconds.

24:44 still isn't a great time, it is in the middle of times worldwide for my age group (just below the 50th percentile). I was still pleased with my 47 second improvement and attributed it to approaching the piece with a plan and being willing to make quick adjustments to my plan while I was rowing. I could have just told myself to row as hard and as fast as I could and hope for the best, but I did better with having a plan.

The same concept can be applied to any of our endeavors. For years, I have done well in many of my efforts at work by just applying more energy and animation to whatever I was doing. That can be effective to a point. There are limits to what anyone can do by himself or herself by just applying more energy. At some point, applying that energy is just flopping around really fast. Planning our actions and working with others multiplies what we are able to accomplish. I realize as I type this that this is a basic concept, but my experience on the rowing machine provided me a concrete example of the benefits of having a plan.

I am using this experience to think about times at work or in volunteer work when I could have done better with a plan and with the willingness to be flexible in that plan. What experiences do you have where you know you benefited from having a plan?

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