Wolverine Plan Discussion

[[old] Polaco]

Thanks Mike!!<br /><br />This season I will try to follow the WP and your comments and advice are a big help for me.<br /><br />What I find difficult to follow is L4 training on water, as I don't have a PM3 in front of me . I can and I do monitor the rate but not the pace. I try to 'fix' in my mind the stroke I perform on the erg when doing L4 and translate it to the boat.<br /><br />Is it the right way or maybe is there any better way??<br /><br />

[[old] JimR]

As to LVL4 Progression ...<br /><br />With a 5x10' format (not including warmup/cooldown) where the LVL4 workout is done every other day (mingling the other 3 workouts into the remaining days) I have had long progressions if I jump one interval 4 strokes higher each time.<br /><br />So if Monday were 172/172/172/172/172 then Wednesday would be 172/172/176/172/172 and Friday would be 172/176/172/176/172. I generally try to have the lower (less strokes) intervals first and higher last or the lower intervals at both ends. I don't have a lot of luck with the fastest one last, it is the hardest approach according to perceived effort.<br /><br />I also take some intervals down so that others can go higher ... going from a 172/172/172/172/172 to a 168/172/176/176/172 so that while my stokes go up 4 (from 860 to 864).<br /><br />And if 2 sessions in a row seem too easy I will go up 8 strokes. But then I would have to have two too easy sessions in a row again before I jump 8. While I find there are periods I can progress a little faster I don't try to go nuts.<br /><br />Rules of thumb that seem to work for me and daughter ...<br /><br />JimR

[[old] ancho]

Mike: Thanks once again for sharing your valuable information.<br />I wonder if after your posts there are any letters left in your computer... <br />Now seriousely:<br />Actually we are prepairing to run a marathon.<br />As our main target is to continue rowing and competing on the water, we are making some sort of experiment (row as much as posiible, run as much as necessary, but as less as possible). We are basing on WP, and rowing as some sort of x-training for running. We will try to do the L3 and L4 running 2-3 times a week.<br />No idea how that's going to end, I will inform accordingly in a separate thread.<br />After the marathon we will pick up the rowing trainig focusing again on a maximum performance for the 2k.<br />I know you are not a big friend fo x-training, but I'd appreciate any comments/experiences.

[[old] Mike Caviston]

Polaco: I’ll revisit my observations about using the WP for workouts on the water sometime in the future. Changing conditions and less accurate feedback make it harder to implement the WP (or any structured program), but I think the results are worth it.<br /><br />Jim: You are on the right track (or at least, the track I would take), and I’ll give you some more thoughts when I get more time. One thing I try to do, though, is make sure I have at least a 4 spm spread in every workout. E.g., instead of 172/172/172/172 (which merely alternates between 16-18spm), I would want something like 168/172/176/172. Same number of strokes, but higher peak and more rates/paces to work with.<br /><br />ancho: it sounds like you are doing the right thing for someone who wants to row AND run. Strictly from a rowing perspective, you will be in better shape than if you didn’t do ANY long, continuous training – but not in as good shape as if you did those longer workouts on the erg. When I was coaching and we could only do a couple workouts per week on the erg, I had the team do higher intensity interval work on the erg and assigned longer runs for endurance.<br /><br />Thanks to those giving me encouragement for these posts. Don’t want to spend the time if no one’s interested. Back in a few days with more.<br /><br />Mike Caviston<br />

[[old] bmoore]

Mike,<br /><br />Keep it coming. We're sponges. I'm reading, rowing, reading again, and really learning how to pull this training program together. Thank you so much for the clarifications.

[[old] Jim Barry]

Thanks for all the updates Mike. I can not afford (time-wise) the full blown WP and so select from it as I can to make the best out of what I can give. I took on an L4 session once a week July to Jan 2003 (w/ progression up the ladder etc) and however it gets weighed, it is an inextricable part of my PB's. These updates just made me question why I ever left. It's clear in my log I was making progress from someone who could not do L4 at all to finally settling comfortably at 18/20 sequences (no grunting). I never made it to mixing in the 22 spm elements, but would bet the reward would be proportional to the effort to get there. <br /><br /><br />--Jim<br /><br />

[[old] bmoore]

Mike,<br /><br />Any thoughts on re-testing on the 2k to adjust my reference pace? I pulled a 7:14.9 in July after 1 month of 50k weeks and 1 month of 80-100k weeks while integrating WP elements.<br /><br />Here's my average pace best efforts so far on the workouts:<br /><br />8 x 500 - 1:39.4 on 9/26<br />4 x 1k - 1:46.0 on 9/19<br />L1 Pyramid - 1:45.4 on 9/12<br />4 x 2k - 1:53.2 on 9/15<br />5 x 1.5k - 1:51.6 on 9/29<br />L2 Pyramid - 1:52.9 on 9/22<br />L3 - 14k @ 2:01. I've been building 500m per week from 12k.<br /><br />6k - 22:26.8 on 9/24<br />10k - 38:14.0 on 9/17<br />5k - 18:56.9 on 9/12<br /><br />My goal was to get the 4x1k under 1:44 before attempting another 2k. The Sub-7 goal is tempting, but the bigger goal of being in the best shape possible for the rest of my life is the real goal. Should I try a 2k or wait for it to come up in the online fall race series in 9-10 weeks? Since I'm on an upswing in training and performance, how should I work in a new reference pace?<br /><br />Thanks in advance.

[[old] H_2O]

Mike,<br /><br />Thanks for the great elaboration on level 4 and answering so many questions.<br />

[[old] Mike Caviston]

Bill,<br /><br />The WP & L4 work especially well for people with an established 2K history. For people who have reached a plateau and are looking to build a foundation on which to reach a higher peak, I think Level 4 training can be very helpful. But the trickiest thing about the Wolverine Plan is determining the correct Ref Pace for a novice, or someone with rapidly advancing fitness. For someone with an established training history, the procedure may simply be to start a training season with a Ref Pace one second faster than the previous year. In my own case, I’ve been working with the same Ref Pace for four years, but I’ve been making small progress by starting each season with a slightly higher volume and/or at a slightly higher average stroke rate (and therefore advancing farther by the end of the season).<br /><br />You are in the position of someone whose fitness is improving at a rate that may be too great to be accommodated by a single Reference Pace. Your workouts indicate that you are getting close to a sub-7 2K. (BTW, to answer your question, I would wait the 8-10 weeks or so before attempting a full-out 2K. To break 7:00, I would suggest you can be pretty confident once your 4 x 1K gets to 1:45 or better; 1:44 would be great but I’m not aware of many people who can do 4 x 1K @ sub-2K pace. But I would also want your 4 x 2K to get down to 1:50 or better.) As for your Ref Pace, I don’t think you have mentioned what you are currently using. I would also want to know your weekly Level 4 volume (in minutes). Do the workouts you are doing now seem appropriately challenging (hard, but not TOO hard)? Given your current Level 4 workouts and formats, is there room to progress with the established L4 progressions for the next several weeks? If not, then you should readjust based on what you estimate your 2K to be based on your Level 1-2 training history. But if the workouts seem to be at the correct intensity, then just keep steadily building until this season is over and think about planning with more precision next year. For Levels 1-3, I propose guidelines for relationship between workout intensity and 2K pace. But I also encourage people not to become overly obsessed about the relationship (“If I pull x:xx for 2K, what should I pull for 4 x 1K, 10K, etc. etc.?”) The most important thing is to start where you can start and gradually, steadily, consistently build on that. Good luck!<br /><br />Mike Caviston<br />

[[old] mpukita]

Mike:<br /><br />Thanks for the great information. I have a question on behalf of us folks that have jobs, families, marriages, and businesses that take priority (gasp) over rowing from time-to-time. <br /><br />When using the Wolverine plan, and unable to stick to the strict schedule of 9 workouts each week, how should one plan the next workout after a missed day (or two)? Is it better to add an additional day of L4/L3 to kind of "make up" for missing a day and keep one's aerobic fitness as high as possible, or is it best to just go to the next workout as prescribed by the plan as if the day was not missed?<br /><br />Also, with 9 workouts a week, there are two days (or maybe more with an "off" day each week) with double workouts without even considering weight work. How do you combine these rowing workouts? As in, L1 in AM, and L4 in PM? Or, L2 in AM, L3 in PM? Etc.<br /><br />Sorry if this is a redundant question, or if it's been posted somewhere and I missed it.<br /><br />Thanks again ... Mark<br />

[[old] Mike Caviston]

Mark,<br /><br />Yes – you are being redundant, and the answers have been posted before. But that’s okay, I’m sure a lot of people missed it the first couple times around. I’ll revisit all your queries in the upcoming weeks. But I will point out that by no means does the Wolverine Plan have a “strict schedule of 9 workouts per week”, though I would recommend a minimum of 5 (I even wrote out a schedule once based on 4). I keep my weights sessions short (15-30’) and fit them in at the end of my rowing sessions. I don’t count them as separate workouts.<br /><br />Mike Caviston <br />

[[old] FrancoisA]

Mike,<br /><br />I have started the WP three weeks ago at 4 workouts/week, with the objective of eventually doing 6 per week. I am also doing 6 x 2 hours of swimming with the varsity, so I use erging as cross-training. I have found that swimming and erging complement each other very nicely.<br />So far:<br />L1: 8 x 500m at 1:40.6 (brutal! especially on same day as "L1" swimming)<br />L1: 4 x 1000m at 1:44.8 (hard)<br />L2: 4 x 2000m at 1:50.2 (a lot easier than L1)<br />L3: 10K at 1:56 (easy)<br />L4: 176,172,176,172 at 1:43 reference pace, adding 4 strokes every workout and 2-4 minutes every week to reach 60 min. I find the last 10 minutes hard, eventhough HR is low (< 140).<br /><br />I think that I have to work on strength since I have never been able to pull better than 1:36 for three consecutive strokes!<br /><br />Objectives for this year: 2K: 6:45, 5K:17:30, 10K:36:10<br /><br />Am I on the right path? Any comments would be greatly appreciated.<br /><br />Regards

[[old] mpukita]

<!--QuoteBegin-Mike Caviston+Sep 30 2005, 03:26 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(Mike Caviston @ Sep 30 2005, 03:26 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Mark,<br /><br />Yes – you are being redundant, and the answers have been posted before. But that’s okay, I’m sure a lot of people missed it the first couple times around.  I’ll revisit all your queries in the upcoming weeks.  But I will point out that by no means does the Wolverine Plan have a “strict schedule of 9 workouts per week”, though I would recommend a minimum of 5 (I even wrote out a schedule once based on 4).  I keep my weights sessions short (15-30’) and fit them in at the end of my rowing sessions.  I don’t count them as separate workouts.<br /><br />Mike Caviston <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />Mike:<br /><br />Great, thanks. Sorry for the redundancy, I probably haven't searched the archives the right way to find the anwers!<br /><br />I look forward to the next few weeks to pull together a WP schedule that works for me.<br /><br />Warm regards, and thanks,<br /><br />-- Mark

[[old] JimR]

All -<br /><br />A snip from a previous posting made by Mike about possible WP training schedules ... found this while I was looking for something else. I'm posting this as useful information and if you don't know the whole context of Mike and the WP topic it might leave you with other questions.<br /><br />I would love Mike's thoughts on how he might change this now, based on what has been learned in the last year or two.<br /><br />Enjoy ... JimR<br /><br />(Below previously posted by Mike Caviston) ...<br /><br />PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER <br />By far the most common question I get regarding the WP is something like, "Okay, I think I understand all this Level 1-2-3-4 business. But how the heck do I put it together into a weekly program? The Plan says something about 9 workouts a week, and I ain't doing that! So what gives?" Hey, the 9 per week is an ideal we've never really achieved at Michigan. Our team generally does 8 per week in season (that means during the fall and spring outdoor seasons, and includes 2 erg sessions along with 6 H2O workouts) and 6 erg sessions per week in the winter. I myself usually do 11 workouts per week for about half the year, and 7-9 per week the other half. At the lower end of the spectrum, I could see people making gains on 4 workouts per week. The first thing you need to do is decide how many workouts a week you will realistically commit to. A general rule is to always include a Level 1 workout and usually a Level 2, and then to supplement them with as much Level 3 & 4 as is practical or you are willing to do. Do them in roughly a ratio of twice as much Level 4 as Level 3. This refers to total meters more so than number of workouts. Now, bearing in mind the format can be flexible and these aren't carved in stone, here are some examples of possible plans using 4-8 session per week: <br /><br />4 Workouts/Week: Day 1: Level 1 OR Level 2 (alternate each week) <br />Day 2: Level 4 (40') <br />Day 3: Level 3 (12K) <br />Day 4: Level 4 (60') <br />· Alternate the Level 1 or 2 workouts until about 4 weeks before your big race. Then, while keeping Level 1, replace the Level 3 or one of the Level 4s with Level 2. <br />· You might occasionally use an interval format rather than a continuous format for Level 3 or 4 (see the Wolverine Plan for details). <br /><br />5 Workouts/Week: Day 1: Level 1 <br />Day 2: Level 4 (40') <br />Day 3: Level 2 <br />Day 4: Level 4 (60') <br />Day 5: Level 3 (12K) <br /><br />6 Workouts/Week: Day 1: Level 1 <br />Day 2: Level 4 (40') <br />Day3: Level 2 <br />Day 4: Level 4 (4 x 10') <br />Day 5: Level 3 (15K) <br />Day 6: Level 4 (60') <br /><br />7 Workouts/Week: Day 1, AM: Level 4 (40') Day 1, PM: Level 3 (10 x 3') <br />Day 2: Level 1 <br />Day 3: Level 4 (2 x 40') <br />Day 4: Level 2 <br />Day 5: Level 4 (4 x 10') <br />Day 6: Level 3 (12K) <br /><br />8 Workouts/Week: Day 1, AM: Level 4 (40') Day 1, PM: Level 3 (12 x 3') <br />Day 2: Level 1 <br />Day 3, AM: Level 4 (40') Day 3, PM: Level 4 (60') <br />Day 4: Level 2 <br />Day 5: Level 4 (4 x 10') <br />Day 6: Level 3 (15K) <br />· If doing more than one Level 3 or more than 2 Level 4s per week, do one using the interval format on a regular basis. <br />· The amounts listed for Level 3 & 4 may need to be built gradually over several weeks. <br /><br />So the general idea is to separate the high-intensity workouts with slower, more continuous workouts. It is possible to work hard on a daily basis within the framework of each type of workout by alternating workouts of different type. Level 1 doesn't have to be at the beginning of the week (I personally do mine in the middle of the week), but it's a good place if you need some extra recovery to be well rested and ready to perform at a high level. You may also periodically want to do time trials (such as a 95%-effort 2K or an all-out 6K) in place of the workout scheduled for the end of the week, and doing Level 1 early in the week allows you to recover without compromising your training. (Alternately, you may want to do a time trial at the beginning of the week, in place of the Level 1 workout, but I prefer not to go that route.) <br /><br />A REGULAR FORMAT OR SCHEDULE IS KEY <br />It is very important to develop a schedule you are comfortable with and then stick to it as closely as possible over the duration of your training cycle. I don't think that the exact order of workouts is a crucial factor but keeping the workouts in the same order on a weekly basis is necessary to allow consistent and reproducible improvement. Occasionally something will come up and you will have to use your best judgement about what alterations to make, but do your best to keep your schedule as consistent as possible. I don't have a hard and fast rule about which workout(s) to toss if you know you can't complete an entire week, but a couple general rules would be: 1) drop Level 1 if you are far away from competition and drop Level 3 if you are close to competition; and 2) all other things being equal, the workout you struggle with most is the last one you should drop. One of our biggest challenges at Michigan (and I imagine for all college crews) is to maintain a consistent schedule despite multiple variables like competitions and the associated travel, seasonal changes, facility availability, exams, class schedules, holidays etc. <br /><br /><br />

[[old] mpukita]

Jim:<br /><br />Bellisimo! That's exactly what I was looking for.<br /><br />Thanks & regards ... Mark