500 M Race Plan

[old] Fesse-a-l'os · Post by **[old] Fesse-a-l'os** » October 23rd, 2004, 10:58 am

What is your race plan when you erg 500m? What is your start strategy? Fast/short for a couple of strokes, then lengthen? Something else? What about the middle of it, say 150-350m? What about your finish? I'm certain there are a bunch of different strategies you can attempt for a really fast 500m. What do you do? Care to share?

[old] Godfried · Post by **[old] Godfried** » October 23rd, 2004, 11:11 am

A double but very slow warm-up. Then as fast as possible for a few strokes , after that ( regardless of how well I feel ) try to be only a tad faster than PB average ( even a little too fast and I will fail ), at the end just try to stay alive and pulling.

[old] John Rupp · Post by **[old] John Rupp** » October 23rd, 2004, 11:12 am

I set "projected pace", the splits for each 100 meters, then get to my goal pace by the 4th stroke and keep it there till the last 100 meters. In the last 100 meters it is usually all I can do to hold the pace, or else I will try to pick it up a little by the end. I did try starting slightly faster a few times, but the loss at the end was greater than any gain, so now I am very careful to keep the pace as even as possible all the way. My strokes are all the same, except the first drive is longer, i.e. takes more time.

[old] GeorgeD · Post by **[old] GeorgeD** » October 23rd, 2004, 3:42 pm

Couple of shorter strokes then as hard and fast as I can. For 2k I rate about 32/33 and 500m about 40 and I may bump the drag up a little on my 2k setting. There is no change of pace at the end because there is nothing left and no distance to make up ground anyway. Fly and die - 500m, 1:23.7 - George

[old] Rocket Roy · Post by **[old] Rocket Roy** » October 23rd, 2004, 4:01 pm

Since doing months of long distance metreage I'm finding it hard to get anywhere near my pb of 1.29.0 for the 500. It takes ages to get the speed back, i'm finding that anyway...1.34.3 is the closest I've got in the last month. Also my low pull of 1.17 is now 1.25, wierd. I'm with George fly and die for 500m, best way.

[old] ranger · Post by **[old] ranger** » October 25th, 2004, 4:10 pm

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td class='genmed'>QUOTE </td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>Since doing months of long distance metreage I'm finding it hard to get anywhere near my pb of 1.29.0 for the 500. It takes ages to get the speed back, i'm finding that anyway...1.34.3 is the closest I've got in the last month. Also my low pull of 1.17 is now 1.25, wierd.  </td></tr></table> Roy-- The effect you lament isn't "wierd" at all. If you row HMs or hour rows day after day at, say, 1:56 and close to 30 spm, you do all kinds of good things for your fitness, but you are rowing at only 7 SPI, which trains the drive of your stroke (legs, back, arms, etc.) to be light and slow. A 2K effort at, say, 6:36 takes 10 SPI; and your 500m attempt, I assume, would take at least 11 SPI. Therefore, when you try to do racing speed (of any sort), muscularly and nervously, you have trained yourself otherwise and your muscles and nerves must be retrained to handle the quickness and force. The way to get around this is to row your HMs and hour rows in the off-season at 1:56 and 20 spm rather than 30 spm. Then you are still rowing long and improving your endurance and fitness, but all the while, you are rowing at 11 SPI, just the drive speed and power you need to row 2K or 500m. Then when you switch to sharpening workouts in the fall, no transition period is needed. Of course, rowing 1:56 at 20 spm is also much harder than rowing it at 30 spm. Therefore, if you row at 20 spm in the off season rather than at 30 spm, you also come out with better fitness. Of course, as Mike Caviston suggests, an even better strategy is to row your long rows in the off-season a couple of SPI _above_ your racing SPI, but perhaps at an even slower stroke rate (e.g., 16-18 spm). Then when you up the rate to sharpen in the fall, the drive of your stroke will not only be used to 2K speed and force, you will actually be able to ease off a little in drive speed and force, which will help you with the added stress of upping the rate. Even better yet is to row strapless in the off-season to place additional stress on your big levers (i.e., your legs). No need for weight lifting! A high power strapless stroke carried over a HM does the trick just fine. If you keep up this sort of rowing for several months, leg muscles bulge out in places that, previously, were not even places! ranger

[old] John Rupp · Post by **[old] John Rupp** » October 25th, 2004, 5:27 pm

Rich, What races are you going to do this fall.

[old] ranger · Post by **[old] ranger** » October 26th, 2004, 3:43 am

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td class='genmed'>QUOTE (John Rupp @ Oct 25 2004, 04:27 PM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>Rich, What races are you going to do this fall. </td></tr></table> John-- All of them, I hope. As I mentioned before, I would like to go from the top/longest down. I think I am just about ready to row at marathon at 1:50 pace. I will do the other races as I feel I am in the position to make significant gains. 17K for an hour is a major goal, as is sub-35 for 10K and sub-17 for 5K. BIRC is my only scheduled 2K before the CRASH-B qualifiers. Among the qualifiers, I will probably go to both Elkhart and Toronto. The CRASH-Bs are a must this year. ranger

[old] ranger · Post by **[old] ranger** » October 26th, 2004, 5:03 am

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td class='genmed'>QUOTE (Rocket Roy @ Oct 23 2004, 03:01 PM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>Since doing months of long distance metreage I'm finding it hard to get anywhere near my pb of 1.29.0 for the 500. It takes ages to get the speed back, i'm finding that anyway...1.34.3 is the closest I've got in the last month. Also my low pull of 1.17 is now 1.25, wierd. I'm with George fly and die for 500m, best way.  </td></tr></table> As Caviston also recommends, if you row in the off season at low rates (16-22 spm) but above 2K SPI, you can reduce the transition time needed to row at 2K rate and power in the racing season even further by mixing in sessions where you maintain the high power but row at as high as 26 spm. For instance, if you rowed regularly in the off season at 12 SPI and 16-22 spm but occasionally lifted the rate to 26 spm for short periods, you would be rowing at 1:44, pretty close to your target pace for 2K (at (say) 36 spm and 10 SPI). And as you will find out, muscularly and nervously, rowing at 1:44 and 26 spm makes rowing at 1:39 and 36 spm feel like a breeze. ranger

[old] millertime · Post by **[old] millertime** » October 26th, 2004, 12:05 pm

I entered a 500m race last February, and found it useful in training to test damper settings vs rate.. Obviously, the higher the load, the lower the split, but you have to factor in the fade at the end. I'm a lightweight, so I couldn't handle much more than 140 drag. I went out like stink and basically held on for the middle, trying not to let the split fall too much, then cranked it up again for the last 100m. Did a 126.5 with a rate that hovered around 38. So my advice is to experiment with rate and drag to see where the sweet spot is. Millertime Ltw, 39

[old] PaulS · Post by **[old] PaulS** » October 26th, 2004, 1:05 pm

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td class='genmed'>QUOTE (millertime @ Oct 26 2004, 04:05 PM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quote'> I'm a lightweight, so I couldn't handle much more than 140 drag. Millertime Ltw, 39  </td></tr></table> So does that make you "Miller Lite"? - Paul Smith Hwt and see little point in going over DF140, except for maybe a serious "Thrash and Crash".

[old] millertime · Post by **[old] millertime** » October 26th, 2004, 4:52 pm

Ha! Yes, Lite indeed. I agree, Paul. 140 DF is madness, and felt rather heavy at the end. Perhaps this year I'll try 130 and see if I can bump the rate. It's all in good fun anyway, as no 500m race can be a picture of technical mastery. T

[old] wrez · Post by **[old] wrez** » October 26th, 2004, 5:30 pm

never tried 500 meters um i guess give it al u got lol

[old] PaulS · Post by **[old] PaulS** » October 26th, 2004, 5:46 pm

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td class='genmed'>QUOTE (wrez @ Oct 26 2004, 09:30 PM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quote'> never tried 500 meters um i guess give it al u got lol  </td></tr></table> You have nailed the strategy well for time trials. The tricky part is to time your having "given it all" to conincide with the Erg not requiring you to "give me 100 more meters". - Paul Smith

[old] wrez · Post by **[old] wrez** » October 26th, 2004, 6:30 pm

well i never tried it cuzz i dont compete... id like to but ive been shy to aproach my local rowing club

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