Hour And A Half Pieces

[[old] row4lyfe]

i have a question...do you think that it helps 2k times to do 90 minute pieces?? i do mine at about a 28-30 spm and i was just wondering if you all think that it helps/ is worth it to do these looonnng pieces! thanks!

[[old] Sean H]

That's the question. <br /><br />I think there's a middle ground between: only train doing slow steady state half marathons, and: two minute all out intervals. I recently got a lactic acid test and sat in on a seminar where I was pretty convinced that I should be doing a lot more steady-state, sub-sub AT workouts and a much smaller amount close to or over threshold (with the strength work popping up/peaking before a big event).<br /><br />I think it's fact that _only_ doing interval/strength/peak work will actually damage your aerobic capabilities (something about sustained exposure to lactic acid damaging mitichondria).

[[old] Sean H]

and I'd make sure your 90mins isn't too high but somewhere around 70% of your 5k pace.

[[old] michaelb]

I don't know and I can't really pretend to give coaching advice. Many people on the forum seem to do long rows of an hour or more periodically, and a few people seem to row for hours each day. But I think there has to be a quality trade off at some point. So while I think long rows help build mental toughness and conditioning, I would think for 2k training you would generally do shorter distances, 10k or shorter.<br /><br />Also, 28-30 seems too high for long steady distance. Some training plans have you do really low SRs for long rows (16-20), and I would do long rows at 10 meters per stroke, so more in 20-25 range, depending on how fast you are.