The Road To Sub 6:10

[old] Pete Marston · Post by **[old] Pete Marston** » January 18th, 2005, 2:29 pm

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td class='genmed'>QUOTE (PaulS @ Jan 18 2005, 02:48 PM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quote'> Pete is just a really aggressive trainer, when we first were discussing this the 5k's were to have "plenty of rest" between them, and my impression was that he was going to be doing them in 2 different sessions during the day rather than 1. 3 minutes is very short, and if he continues to plan the single daily session I would suggest moving them to a 2 x 4k x 3 min, or the single 6k mentioned. S10PS controls the rate based on the pace target.  </td></tr></table> Did I misunderstand then? I thought you'd said 2 x 5k with 3min rest. So that was meant to be 2 x 5k in 2 sessions? Ok. Well the 2 x 5k with 3mins rest seems a good one anyway, but maybe I will move to a single 6k, or 2 x 4k, and continue down the target paces. Roy, no they're not free rate, constrained by being strapless and 10mps as Paul says. My 2k pb pace is 1:39.4, though currently I'd be maybe 1 to 2 sec off that pace. I did my 10k recovery row today at 1:54.0. It's feeling much more relaxed and efficient now, and this felt quite easy compared with the last one at 1:55. Unfortunately in the house move I'm still not sure where my HRM is, and I didn't borrow one from the gym today, so no HR info. From tomorrow then I will move onto 2 x 4k with 3min rest, target pace for tomorrow will be 1:47 and 1:46. Should be ok. I'll keep stepping down the pace on the recovery rows by 1sec each time too. As I say I'm now able to race in Manchester, which is good. I'm not aiming to row particularly fast there, though I am off to Phoenix with work for 7 days the day after, so will probably be ergo-less for that time, so it might be the case that I ma as well beast myself for a week before, row 6:15, take a week off, then start back off where I left off the strapless rowing. I'll discuss this on email with Paul, what he thinks best. Maybe I should continue as I am and do the 2k in Manchester strapless?

[old] PaulS · Post by **[old] PaulS** » January 18th, 2005, 2:49 pm

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td class='genmed'>QUOTE (Pete Marston @ Jan 18 2005, 10:29 AM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quote'> Did I misunderstand then? I thought you'd said 2 x 5k with 3min rest. So that was meant to be 2 x 5k in 2 sessions? Ok. Well the 2 x 5k with 3mins rest seems a good one anyway, but maybe I will move to a single 6k, or 2 x 4k, and continue down the target paces. I'll discuss this on email with Paul, what he thinks best. Maybe I should continue as I am and do the 2k in Manchester strapless?  </td></tr></table> Nope, you only read what I wrote in email, where I cut and pasted "5"k instead of "4k" without realizing it. Remember, it can take several attempts at a particular pairing, if we could advance every time it would be a matter of months before WR's were being knocked off easily. I won't be recommending Strapless Racing anytime soon. Oh, and I think Pete means that his 6K PB was in the 1:39 range, rather than 2K.

[old] Pete Marston · Post by **[old] Pete Marston** » January 20th, 2005, 4:24 am

Had my first go at the 2 x 4k with 3min rest last night. Preferable to the 2 x 5k at the moment thanks. Met the target of 1:47.0 and 1:46.0. Hopefully the next target will be ok, though it's going to be tough from here. Saying that, I think I have now got to a rate and pace combination (or my technique has improved sufficiently) where I don't seem to notice not having the straps any more, so maybe I can push on a bit further. Paul - I would welcome any suggestions of anything I should do differently in order to be race ready on 13th Feb. If you think the best course of action is to stick to what I'm doing now, then I'll do that.

[old] dennish · Post by **[old] dennish** » January 21st, 2005, 3:35 pm

Pete, When you get to Phoenix (P-hoe-nicks ) you can probably erg at the Rio Salado boathouse. They are pretty decent folk and welcome people who come south to train. Also Dwayne rows out of that site. You should talk to Jason Eley or Pat Walsh, explain to them your situation and they can probably work out something that would allow you to train.

[old] Pete Marston · Post by **[old] Pete Marston** » January 29th, 2005, 6:30 pm

I'm booked to go to Arizona now, I fly out on Feb 14th and back to the UK on Feb 20th. Although I fly into Phoenix the place I am actually going is about an hour south I believe, a place called Casa Grande (possibly spelt wrong). I will be doing the final race of the British GP series the day before I go on Feb 13th in Manchester. Training going ok the last week or two. Work is still very busy so it's been hard fitting in as much training as I'd like, but down to 1:45 and 1:44 for the next 2 x 4k now.

[old] dennish · Post by **[old] dennish** » January 30th, 2005, 11:01 am

Pete, Yeah you will be pretty far from the Rio boathouse. Try some of the local gyms in Casa Grande. Most have a C2 someplace that is rarely used, stuck back in the corner somewhere. Bad timing, I'm going to be in Tempe to be a referee at the desert sprints the last weekend in Feb. train hard, train smart live strong. dennis

[old] PaulS · Post by **[old] PaulS** » January 30th, 2005, 11:42 am

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(Pete Marston @ Jan 29 2005, 02:30 PM)</div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>I'm booked to go to Arizona now, I fly out on Feb 14th and back to the UK on Feb 20th. Although I fly into Phoenix the place I am actually going is about an hour south I believe, a place called Casa Grande (possibly spelt wrong). I will be doing the final race of the British GP series the day before I go on Feb 13th in Manchester. Training going ok the last week or two. Work is still very busy so it's been hard fitting in as much training as I'd like, but down to 1:45 and 1:44 for the next 2 x 4k now. </td></tr></table> Pete, Just put your last "hard day" on the 10th or 11th, then do some warm-up rehearsals along with race plan execution over a "short course", as little as 100M quarters (400M total, two or three reps) but no more than 250m quarters (1k, one rep) on the day or two prior to your race.

[old] Pete Marston · Post by **[old] Pete Marston** » February 9th, 2005, 5:54 am

Well 4 days away now from my first race in a while. As I've not done any 2k prep training I'm not expecting to be too fast, probably only 6:25 or so. Then off to Phoenix the day after for a week, when on my return I will train hard and get that sub 6:10 early into next season.

[old] Pete Marston · Post by **[old] Pete Marston** » February 24th, 2005, 12:25 pm

I did the race in Manchester back on Feb 13th, and did do a fairly comfortable 6:25.4 to get 5th place, and my overall silver medal for the GP series. Shame the screen was behind us, and I didn't take notice on my monitor of how far away the people ahead of me were (except for the position I was in, knowing that 9th or better was all I needed), as I should have been able to get in the medals for that race if I tried a bit harder. Then went off to Arizona the day after, and got back this Monday, so currently adjusting back from the 7 hour time difference, and getting back into training.

[old] JaapR · Post by **[old] JaapR** » February 27th, 2005, 5:53 pm

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(Pete Marston @ Jan 5 2005, 03:45 AM)</div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>My goal for some time now has been to row a sub 6:10 for 2k. Towards the back end of last season I rowed a 6:11.8 in competition, and a bit faster than that in the gym. I continued to gain fitness towards the end of the season, but with races only over 2500m and 1609m didn't have the opportunity to do a race 2k. This season hasn't been a good one so far (best 2k 6:14.7) for a few reasons, summed up by "life getting in the way". Training has been very patchy for a few months now, but things are now much more settled, and so I'm ready to get right back on track with my training and push on to my goals. Initially I am going to aim at middle distance times, firstly to get back to where I was (17k+ for 60mins, 34:22 for 10k, 16:34 for 5k) and then to push on faster. Only when I've done that will I go back to focussing on the 2k. So initial goals are to get back to 10k < 34:40 and 5k < 16:45, hopefully that'll take just a few weeks of focus. I'll report back on my progress. Pete </td></tr></table> Hi Pete, I've read most of this topic with great interest. Hope you will soon be back in shape. Did you set the targets above for this C2 season or for a particular race? It's very motivating to read about the training programs you do. Thought I was working out a lot, following the interactive C2 training program for 5x per week. Are you training 7x pw? About 75km? Did you already tried a 5k or 10k race? Being a newbie at the forum, I never had heard about S10PS. The explanation "strapless 10 mps" also did not ring any bells, but there is a great "search archived forum" where I read all about it by entering the keyword "strapless". Today I gave it a try during warming up and cooling down. First, feet were coming loose from the board. By bringing the handle faster to the front (fast recover) this was solved. Don't know if this is right. It will take a few weeks to get used to it. For this C2 season (up to april, may), I will not do any serious 2k training anymore. But I will do some 5k and 10k attempts also with the 16:45 and 34:40 targets. Next season, for me starting in september 2005, a sub 6:10 would be a good target. So please keep your progress posted. Don't have the experience with technique training and other training programs except from the period 1986-1989 in which I rowed on the water. Success, Jaap

[old] Pete Marston · Post by **[old] Pete Marston** » March 1st, 2005, 10:08 am

Hi Jaap, No at the moment I have not set any time scales on getting back to my best time from a year ago. I will just keep training, and keep getting slightly faster in the middle distance times until my 5k and 10k are back when I want them. Pete

[old] Pete Marston · Post by **[old] Pete Marston** » March 14th, 2005, 10:39 am

The strapless rowing is going well. I'm getting to the stage now, even though I've not been training as often as I would like, that I'm not really noticing not having the straps on. Last night I did a strapless 8k and towards the end was stroking along at 30spm and 1:40 pace. However, due to team requirements for an event coming up in a few weeks, and a look ahead to the next competition season, I am going to alter my training in a week or so. I am going to move back to my tried and tested training method - the Pete Plan. But with a difference, I think I will continue to do most of the steady rowing in the plan strapless. Now off for 3 days to a conference in the Hilton hotel in Cardiff. get back for a few days then off to Barcelona for 5 days over easter weekend. Hotel in Cardiff has a good gym, so the plan is to try and fit in some good training while I'm there.