Heart Rate Vs Stroke Rate

[[old] windmill85]

I was looking at the Concept2's guide for training, which can be found at <a href='http://www.concept2.co.uk/guide/pdfs/tr ... ridged.pdf' target='_blank'>Abridged Training</a>, and I noticed that for my 2k of 6:27.6 (rounded up to a 6:28) at UT2 it recommends rowing at a 1:52 pace at 20-22 spm. When looking at my training log, I found that I rowed my last 1hr steady state piece at a 1:58.5 pace at 24spm. I dont think I would be able to row an hour at a 1:52 . So here are my two questions: <br /><br />1. Does that mean that I am not rowing hard enough and should try to get my split down?<br /><br />2. Is it more important for me to row at the 20-22spm prescribed by the guide, or is it better to row in the 55-70% of my max heart rate, 110-140 for me since I am 20 years old?<br /><br /><br />Any help/comments would be appreciated, as well as insight into what other people use (heart rate vs stroke rate). Thanks.<br /><br />

[[old] leonard]

<!--QuoteBegin-windmill85+Jun 14 2005, 01:13 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(windmill85 @ Jun 14 2005, 01:13 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I was looking at the Concept2's guide for training, which can be found at <a href='http://www.concept2.co.uk/guide/pdfs/tr ... ridged.pdf' target='_blank'>Abridged Training</a>, and I noticed that for my 2k of 6:27.6 (rounded up to a 6:28) at UT2 it recommends rowing at a 1:52 pace at 20-22 spm. When looking at my training log, I found that I rowed my last 1hr steady state piece at a 1:58.5 pace at 24spm. I dont think I would be able to row an hour at a 1:52 . So here are my two questions: <br /><br />1. Does that mean that I am not rowing hard enough and should try to get my split down?<br /><br />2. Is it more important for me to row at the 20-22spm prescribed by the guide, or is it better to row in the 55-70% of my max heart rate, 110-140 for me since I am 20 years old?<br /><br /><br />Any help/comments would be appreciated, as well as insight into what other people use (heart rate vs stroke rate). Thanks. <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />Hiya,<br /><br />There was a similar discussion a little while ago after I posed the same question - the general consensus was that the Concepts guides are pace bands and as such the UT2 band you refer to is the lowest level of that band e.g. UT training is that pace or slower.<br /><br />So, for UT2 and UT1 heart rates are the major aim rather than pace: over time a base of UT2 and UT1 work will hopefully see your pace speed up at the same heart rate. <br /><br />Also, note that the heart rate bands are not a calculation based on maximum heart rate - they are based on % of your working heart rate range: Maximum heart rate minus Resting heart rate. So if your max HR is as you say 200 and your resting heart rate is for example 60, then your UT2 HR band is 60/70% of 140 (200-60) plus your resting heart rate, i.e. 144-158.

[[old] neilb]

<!--QuoteBegin-windmill85+Jun 14 2005, 12:13 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(windmill85 @ Jun 14 2005, 12:13 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I dont think I would be able to row an hour at a 1:52 . </td></tr></table><br /><br />I think that you would. It may sound hard but if you can do 6:28 for 2k then holding 1:52 for 60 min at required levels should be fairly easy. It may take a few attempts to get there comfortably but worth doing.<br /><br />The secret for any really good 2k lies in a strong base and the stronger the base the better the potential 2k.<br /><br />Your 2k is good and something I would be happy to record but I suspect it will take me a lot of hard work to get there yet for me a standard 60 min row capped at 75% HRR is comfortable at 1:56.<br /><br />I tended to work at the HR caps but bearing in mind that without a proper max HR test the 220 - age part to arrive at max HR for the calculation is probably wrong. (My 10k PB was done yesterday with a recorded average HR of 91% and I know that I cannot maintain such a rate for nearly 36 mins!)<br /><br />This way my splits for a given HR came down over time and every second taken off the average for 60 min should translate into several seconds gained over 2k. (Well that is the theory!)<br /><br />Neil

[[old] Stretch]

The C2 pace targets in the interactive plan are by general agreement quite tough at the given rates. Another useful reference, both for assessing relative performances over different distances and for getting a general idea of your UT2 and UT1 bands, is this spreadsheet -- based, I believe, on performance data collected from the British men at the last Olympics.<br /><br /><a href='http://stevev.wirelessusers.co.uk/Lacta ... gBands.xls' target='_blank'>Lactate Training Bands (Excel download.)</a>

[[old] windmill85]

Thanks for all the replies. I changed my workout to work at my HRR instead of my MHR, and after listening to ya'lls advice I tried and successfully rowed 2 30'' pieces at 70% of my HRR (max of UT2) at only 0.4 seconds above the prescribed pace. Thanks for the help!