Concept2 Forum

Further to our conversation in early July, I have done another 2k and improved my time by over 30 seconds. This morning I did 2k in 8:03, compared to 8:35 on 29th June. My splits were 1:58.7, 2:01.9, 2:02.1 and 2:00.3. I used a much higher drag factor of 118, compared to mid 70s last time. Stroke ra...

Thanks for the advice, chaps. I will try a few different drag factors to see what suits me best. But as dangerscouse recommends I won’t become too obsessed with it. Certainly as I am still new to this. In my training life over the years- strength, swim, cycle and running - ive found the most importa...

Is ideal df at all dependent on body weight and/or height? Being short and relatively light I’m wondering if my df should be lower than your classic 190cm 90kg rower…

Further to the drag factor discussion, I found a cleaner machine and was able to row at drag factor 104. This is up from my previous levels of 72 or 84 on my normal machine. This felt really strong. I was able to average 2:02 and 191w for 8*2:00/3:00r. Pretty confident I could hold 2:05 for 1500m th...

I’ve taken the advice to check my drag factor and discovered that 4 on the damper amounted to a drag factor of only 72, way less than the recommended 100-125. I kept lifting the leaver and even at 10 the drag factor was only 84. This did feel a lot better however. I was able to average 180watts /2:0...

That’s a new way of looking at it, thank you. I hadn’t been aware of work per stroke. For the final 500 i was 30spm at 192watts which was 6.4 w/min per stroke, so i was losing some power compared to 6.7 and 6.95 in the 2nd and 3rd 500s. Is that a big drop in watts per stroke?

Yes that is a very important point. In one of John’s videos he does emphasise that one can row the same spm but still go slower or faster, so I have fortunately avoided falling for that fallacy!

I’m glad to hear he is popular. He has done wonders for my technique. I really benefit from the frequent reminders to keep my hips in position and not overreach etc. matching his stroke also stops me going too fast. I have been following the Beginners Pete Plan and now combine it with John’s videos ...

I was comfortable at 2:11 with 23 spm. This is probably also something to look at. 23spm is very low for a 'race' to go fast. Everyone has a sweet spot of rate for a given distance, but I wouldn't assume yours (or anyone else's) is at 23. Typical value for a 2k is around 30, some use a bit lower ra...

The damper was set on 4. Not actually sure what drag factor that equals. I have used this number since I started back in April. I’ve read that most rowers should have it on between 4 and 6. I figured that becuase i am relatively light and short compared to most rowers, i should keep the number on th...

Thanks Iain. Sage advice. From reading various posts it does seem my spm was abnormally low. I will increase it next time and try to keep the same power. Now I have a baseline I can build on it. I was a bit conservative as I didn’t want to crash and burn too early. I’ve read that some rowers are mor...

Yes that is agood point. Looking back to when i did 7*500/2r i was pulling spm 28 at 2:08 pace on average. So will look to do something similar for my next 2k. I was basically far too conservative at first, worried out flying and dying. This is the learning curve. Hopefully with a few more attempts ...

Hi all

I have been enjoying the rowalong workouts on youtube. I find the technical pointers very useful as i am still new to rowing. Does anyone else have a view on these videos?

Thanks
Jamie

Thanks for the reply Ombrax. Looking back i think i could have picked up the pace at least a few hundred metres earlier. I was rowing somewhat conservatively the first two splits then picked up a : little inthe 3rd but still controlled. It was only with 300 to go that i went flat out. I think i coul...

Hi all Newbie rower here looking for some pacing advice. Just completed my first 2k test but feel my pacing was not optimal: overall time 8:35 with the following splits 2:11.7, 2:11.1, 2:09.9, 2:02.2. I feel my first three 500s were a bit slow compared to my final 500m. At 300m to go i went flat out...