On The Value Of Intervals

[[old] c2jonw]

I've been getting back into the erg- did 300k over 4 weeks in the Fall Rowing Challenge- mostly one hour rows at 2 minute pace. Figured I would just naturally be able to get my 10k times down pretty easily, but I was struggling to get below 38 minutes over the last couple of weeks. I decided to try some interval work just to "wake up" the speed/power system- Yesterday did 20x 1minute on, 1 minute rest with the damper setting starting at 1 on the first interval, up to 10 on the 10th and then back down to 1 on the 20th interval. Today did a warmup, then managed a 37:03 10 k that felt pretty good.<br />This served as a reminder to myself of the the value in doing over pace/power work.<br />Keep on rowing.......JonW

[[old] TomR/the elder]

Jon--<br /><br />What pace were the intervals? <br /><br />Tom

[[old] John Rupp]

<!--QuoteBegin-c2jonw+Oct 27 2005, 01:09 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(c2jonw @ Oct 27 2005, 01:09 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Yesterday did 20x 1minute on, 1 minute rest with the damper setting starting at 1 on the first interval, up to 10 on the 10th and then back down to 1 on the 20th interval. [right] </td></tr></table><br /><br />That's only 19 intervals. <br /><br />Thanks for sharing your sessions. Nice 10k.

[[old] c2jonw]

Tom- pace for the intervals ran in the 1:37-1:41 range, 30-33 stroke per min.<br />John- Oops- minor detail there- 20 was the number, I did 2 at the 10 setting- the second one was very tough......JonW

[[old] John Rupp]

Jon,<br /><br />I figured that was the case. <br /><br />I have started at 10 a few times and gradually nudged down the drag factor, which is also quite interesting.

[[old] TomR/the elder]

Jon--<br /><br />That looks like 20 intervals at a pace faster than your 2k pace. That's a beastlike performance.<br /><br />Tom

[[old] c2jonw]

Tom, Beastlike- now that's flattering. Granted it is a tough workout (intervals are supposed to be) but the minute rest helped to keep the quality up. Hopefully I can improve on my baseline 2k of 7:06 that I did today. JonW

[[old] ljwagner]

You also did it with essentially a great warm-up starting at the 1 and progressing to the 10 setting. <br /><br />Thorough warm-up is key. I've learned a lot about that the past year after a strained mitral valve, that was partly caused by too many workouts with insufficient warm-up.

[[old] c2jonw]

Right, Though I had done a 5-10 minute warm-up first. I often will "row into" a longer piece with no real warm-up- just start easy for the first couple of minutes. For higher intensity workouts, however, a good warm-up is important for a lot of reasons.......JonW