Concept2 Forum

Jim Castellan was actually the first to report (on the July 5k Trial thread), with his fine 18:01.7. Then Dean Smith on the WR thread. Today I did mine.

18:44.9, no WR like Dean Smith , but an improvement of 12.4 seconds from July.
Details:

2642m warmup in 12', including 30" accelerations to get up to test pace.

500m splits,

0500m 1:54.0 31spm 135hr
1000m 1:53.5 31spm 141hr
1500m 1:53.0 32spm 145hr
2000m 1:52.6 32spm 149hr
2500m 1:52.3 32spm 152hr
3000m 1:51.9 33spm 155hr
3500m 1:51.7 32spm 157hr
4000m 1:52.5 32spm 158hr
4500m 1:52.5 31spm 159hr
5000m 1:50.8 32spm 159hr

1418m cooldown in 7'

Standard erg, 105 drag factor, 68 degrees, listening to Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited album.

I've calculated my AT heartrate top to be 154, and my TR to be 159, so since both stroke rate and heartrate were in the TR zone I'll consider this to be a replacement for my scheduled TR workout this week.

Satisfied for this point in the season.

Rick

Hey that piece looked great. It's so important (I think) to take splits down throughout a piece. I tell the rowers I coach again and again about not going out to hard and that they have plenty of time. It's difficult for them to do that though. They like seeing those low numbers in the beginning and then they pay for it.

I'm doing mine tomorrow.

Carie

Bakes, Well done. Nice improvement. I'm not giving it a go till Thursday. VO2max intervals on the bike tomorrow and Thursday after the 5k. d

Completed the 5 km time trial today with so-so results. 21:58.9, which is 2.4 seconds better than the July trial, but 24 seconds slower than my PB (only?) for 5 km last season. I really didn't expect any PBs this season, for various reasons including aging, but I improved on the 6 km by 8 seconds and on the half marathon by 1:44.4. I haven't done a marathon yet, but I have fallen far short on the other six ranked distances/times, especially the three short races which were really crap. My best 2 km time this season is 32 seconds off my last season's best.

Bob S.

Alright -I did it: 156.3 in 19.23.1.

Again I was overlly agressive in the beginning -I'm older and should know better- and didn't control the piece, the piece controlled me. So now since I've done 2 of these. I'm going to start off with next one at 156.0 spilt and move down from there.

Carie

Notwithstanding ongoing root canal work + abcess + medications, here's my August 5k:

17:01.5 (1:42.1 pace) r28



Splits:

0500 1:42.5 r29
1000 1:42.8 r29
1500 1:42.5 r29
2000 1:42.5 r28
2500 1:42.4 r29
3000 1:42.2 r28
3500 1:42.1 r28
4000 1:43.1 r27
4500 1:41.9 r26
5000 1:39.6 r29

Given my medical/dental state at the moment, I wasn't at all sure what I could hold w/o blowing up. Thus I tried to negative-split the row. I had a couple of total raspy-throated & phlegm moments around 3200m and again at about the 4k mark or I think I'd have dipped well under 17'.

Onward and upward....

Last day and got it done this morning. I had forgot how debilitating these things are. I was going to go down to Denver (5200ft) and do this at a gym there but time and circumstance voided that idea so I did it at the club here (7600). At 3k I was thinking, "why the f#*% am I doing this. Just closed my eyes at that point and let happen what ever was going to happen. Last 500 I was adamant about holding rate but wanted to see what I could do with the pace. For those of you who know John Harvey, its what he refers to as "close your eyes and repeat, courage, courage, courage." Weight before was 159lbs, after 157. DF of 108. Time 17:53.6 (1:47.4)

Pace SR HR
1:47.4 30
1:48.1 29 161
1:48.1 29
1:48.0 29 167
1:48.0 29
1:47.9 29 174
1:47.7 29
1:47.7 30 175
1:47.4 30 176
1:43.3 30 181

After I started to see clearly again I gathered myself up to go do the bike workout that the coach had scheduled, Hes not sympathetic at all to erging, wants me on the bike. Todays workout was VO2max intervals, (6 x 3 min/ 2min rest) x 2. Vo2max for me is HR of 159, so these are all supposed to be at least 159. Lets just say I fell a bit short, the best one was 150. OK, so today the erg won. Pleased with my time so that will make the rants of the bike coach more palatable. live well, live strong dennis

Good stuff. It looks like we're all improving, some more than others.

It's interesting to see that even experienced ergers can occasionally be too aggressive in the beginning. Most of us do know better but still can't help hoping for minor miracles. I'm glad I'm not alone.

Dennis, I'm amazed not only by your raw time but by how long you can sustain a 170+ heart rate. I don't think that I've lasted more than about 2 minutes at the end of 2km PB's since turning 50. You must have been up there for about 9 minutes. And I don't think that I can hit 180 at all any more. You da man!

Rick

These test peices are great! Just give me about 20-30 minutes after the last test piece (3 days ago) which as I recall hurt a lot. I've already got got great plans for the next one.

Just take me out and shoot me!

carie

My time for the 5000 meter August Test was 18.17.4 averaging 149.7 per 500 meter. I rowed this test at Circuit Training, which about four seconds faster than my earlier test time.

I'm in total awe of Dennis's 17:53.6 @ 7600' !! At weight, to boot.

A little tardy for August, but 5k 18:32.0 @ 169# today

I'm still doing long runs for a Nov 5 NYC marathon attempt, so I
haven't been erging much.

I'm going to try a little high altitude training myself on Monday in
the Mt Baldy run2top: 6000' to 10,000' in 8miles.