Good 5k Time For A Beginner???

[[old] Sleepy_Floyd]

okay. I'm 40 years old, 183 lbs and relatively new to erging, I've always been pretty active in sports.. playing basketball and volleyball for most of my life.. I just got my C2 Model D, about a 3 weeks ago.. For the most part, I've been sticking to 5K's just because that seems to be a good distance and time for me to work with.. <br /><br />Thus far my PB for a 5K is 22:55.8. By nature, I'm a pretty competitive person, and when read through these forums I'm sort of getting discouraged looking at other people's PB's and comparing them to mine. <br /><br />I realize that most of you have been rowing for quite some time, years, maybe decades so I can accept that... but I read one post of a 13 year old girl rowing a 2K in 7:13, its really hard for me to ever see myself getting down to anywhere near that... I'd have to 2+ minutes off my best time 2K time.<br /><br />My question: Whats a good time for a beginner rowing a 5K? and for you older rowers, what times were you getting for your 5K's when you first started? <br /><br />-SF<br /><br />oops.. i just realized this would be better suited for the Training Forum.. could a Mod please move this... sorry about that.

[[old] Shepherd]

Floyd, if you use the Concept2 online logbook and rank your workouts, then pick "ranked workouts" at the top of the logbook page, it will show where you rank among people in your age and lightweight/heavyweight bracket.<br /><br />I always shoot for 50%, personally. I'm in reasonable shape, but not hyper-dedicated to rowing, and don't have a "rower's build" (I'm 5'9 and broad, rather than 6'+ and lean), so being at the 50% mark is pretty awesome for me, I figure. I've been at it since March, more or less. <br /><br />But the logbook will give you a good idea of what others are ranking at. <br /><br />My current 5000m, as a heavyweight in the 30-39 age range, is 19:48.6 best time, or 55%. That gives me something to work on. <br /><br /><br />

[[old] Sleepy_Floyd]

<!--QuoteBegin-Shepherd+Aug 12 2005, 10:13 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(Shepherd @ Aug 12 2005, 10:13 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Floyd, if you use the Concept2 online logbook and rank your workouts, then pick "ranked workouts" at the top of the logbook page, it will show where you rank among people in your age and lightweight/heavyweight bracket.<br /><br />I always shoot for 50%, personally. I'm in reasonable shape, but not hyper-dedicated to rowing, and don't have a "rower's build" (I'm 5'9 and broad, rather than 6'+ and lean), so being at the 50% mark is pretty awesome for me, I figure. I've been at it since March, more or less. <br /><br />But the logbook will give you a good idea of what others are ranking at. <br /><br />My current 5000m, as a heavyweight in the 30-39 age range, is 19:48.6 best time, or 55%. That gives me something to work on. <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br /><br />WOW!! thanks, I didnt know about the ranked workout... though since all my workouts are around 97%, i guess I have alot of work to do.. <br /><br />I'm 5'9" too.. and i guess I'm medium build.. so.. we're probably pretty similar in size. I'd be happy with a 50% ranking.. I'm curious what your times were when you started? and how long have you been rowing? I know I have alot of work ahead of me.. but it would be helpful to know how much of an improvement curve I have to go through..<br /><br />thanks,<br /><br />SF<br /><br />PS - call me Sleepy... My real name isnt Floyd, Sleepy Floyd it just a name I chose as my online name.

[[old] FrancoisA]

<!--QuoteBegin-Sleepy_Floyd+Aug 12 2005, 01:23 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(Sleepy_Floyd @ Aug 12 2005, 01:23 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->My question:  Whats a good time for a beginner rowing a 5K?  and for you older rowers, what times were you getting for your 5K's when you first started?  <br /> </td></tr></table><br />I am 46 and 154 lbs. I got my Model D in February 2004. I did a 5K in 18:59.8 two days after getting the machine. Five weeks later I did 18:07.<br />My background is swimming (10 hours/week), and I use the erg as cross-training every other day.<br />So what is a good time for a beginner? I guess it depends on your background. A beginner will do well if he or she has good cardio and strength; you need both. I remember a very fit runner in his forty who was running his 10K in 31 min but had trouble keeping a 2:00 pace on the erg. On the other hand, some beginners can pull amazing paces for a couple of strokes but don't have the endurance to last.<br />As you keep erging, you will get both. At your age and weight, and since you have been active all your life, improvements will come quickly; work on technique and do longer pieces. Also, don't do TT too often, even if you are competitive, but build instead a strong endurance foundation.<br /><br />You made a wise choice in starting to row. Rowing is the most complete sport (after swimming of course !)

[[old] michaelb]

I am 5' 9", 39, and 175 lbs. I played volleyball for years (gave it up finally last year), and have rowed since 1997. Looking back at my log, and I don't remember ever trying to row fast back then, I did a 21:29 5k after about 9 months of lazy rowing. No idea if that was hard at the time, but it looks like the first time I recorded a 5k time. My PB now is 18:40.<br /><br />I think we can say confidently that you will get a lot faster. For the most part, everyone has a pretty steep improvement in the beginning as they adapt to rowing. Because the power requirements are not linear, it is also "easier" to go faster at the slower paces (there was a thread recently that had a power per pace chart that showed this pretty clearly). So going from a 9 min 2k to an 8 min 2k is much easier than getting down to 7 min, etc. I think you can hope/expect to get down to a 7:13 2k at some point, although that is better than 50% for 40s HWT, and would involve serious hard work.<br /><br />There are lots of good discussions about rowing technique here, many recent, that I won't repeat since I don't really give rowing advice. But since you have a model D, take a look at the force curve. Do you have an explosive start to the stroke and a left leaning haystack, or is it a slow easy low hill? I would guess you will benefit by working on your technique to increase your power. Think of it like jumping or exploding off the blocks (within reason and control of course).<br />

[[old] Sleepy_Floyd]

thanks for the responses... having played basketball and volleyball, I'm used to using my legs for most of my power.. so, I'm pretty sure my power curves are left leaning haystacks.. and not a slow rolling upward hill. though, I"m sure they're not as explosive as it used to be, thats okay.. it'll give me something to work on.<br /><br /><br />SF

[[old] swavo1]

You should try to do your 5k's at a relatively low stroke rate, probably around 20-22. This will help you gain power and make sure you have good technique on the erg.

[[old] Citroen]

<!--QuoteBegin-Sleepy_Floyd+Aug 12 2005, 02:23 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(Sleepy_Floyd @ Aug 12 2005, 02:23 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->okay. I'm 40 years old, 183 lbs and relatively new to erging ...<br /><br />Thus far my PB for a 5K is 22:55.8.  <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />I'm 42, 171lbs and 5'7.5".<br /><br />I've been rowing for 18months. I've done a 19:01.3 5K. <br />I want to go sub 19 for 5K and sub 7 for 2K.

[[old] Sleepy_Floyd]

<!--QuoteBegin-Citroen+Aug 12 2005, 07:06 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(Citroen @ Aug 12 2005, 07:06 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin-Sleepy_Floyd+Aug 12 2005, 02:23 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(Sleepy_Floyd @ Aug 12 2005, 02:23 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->okay. I'm 40 years old, 183 lbs and relatively new to erging ...<br /><br />Thus far my PB for a 5K is 22:55.8.  <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />I'm 42, 171lbs and 5'7.5".<br /><br />I've been rowing for 18months. I've done a 19:01.3 5K. <br />I want to go sub 19 for 5K and sub 7 for 2K. <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />oh man.. that 1.3 seconds would be killing me.. keep at it, I"m sure you'll get below 19... I'm gonna keep working at it for me too..<br /><br />-SF

[[old] mpukita]

Maybe this will help ...<br /><br />I'm 46, 170lb, 5'7" (and trying to lose just 5 more pounds to get to lightweight). Started rowing May 4. 2005 and while normally a regular runner (5K+ @ 4 to 6 times each week) who had run distance events all three seasons in high school, had put on 10 pounds over the past year and got to a high of 183. With rowing, lost 13 pounds (so far), and my 5K PR times have been:<br /><br />5/12/05 -- 21:53.3<br />5/31/05 -- 21:20.3<br />7/03/05 -- 21:03.6<br />7/10/05 -- 20:26.9<br /><br />I'd hope to get down 19:30 by 2005 year's end, and 19:00 or under by 2006 year end. The last PR was relatively easy after doing a month of 10K to 20K each day. Building an aerobic base helped me significantly, which is why I feel 19:30 is in reach, even though it's almost a minute faster than my current PR, by 2005's end.<br /><br />Good luck!

[[old] Citroen]

<!--QuoteBegin-mpukita+Aug 18 2005, 12:36 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(mpukita @ Aug 18 2005, 12:36 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Building an aerobic base helped me significantly, which is why I feel 19:30 is in reach, even though it's almost a minute faster than my current PR, by 2005's end. <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />You should be aiming for 18:59.9 like I am.