Wanting to win ATL Erg Sprints 2011. Looking for advice.

[Mattlikespeoples]

After only a year of rowing I got 3rd this year with a 6:19.2. The winner was 6:12. I know with my stats (6'8", 265ish) and relative lack of experience I've got a lot of potential. My plan was to lift heavy and build strength over the summer then phase in more erg work once fall comes around. I'm not solely lifting but thats 80% of what i'm currently doing and have taken my low pull from a 1:15 to a 1:09. This doesn't mean anything more than my anaerobic power has increased a good bit which wont help me TOO much in a 2k. With 4-5 months of dedicated training do you think i could get close to 6 flat? I feel like I want to be someone's project to see what they can do with me. Think Rocky IV with the russian. I'm the russian. Thoughts?


ps-I will break you

[bloomp]

Well Matt, if you're interested, I can message you a comprehensive training plan that'd incorporate lifting and some serious erging. It is mostly the Wolverine Plan (http://www.concept2.com/forums/wolverine_plan.htm), but with lifting and a little more distance work... If you're interested, I'm always here.

A few other questions. What's your age? How much did you train to get the 6:19.2? What is your athletic background?

[aharmer]

Assuming you are a real 6'8", 265 person asking for help, I'm sure there would be plenty of people here willing to see what they could do with you. It would be very refreshing to see somebody with talent for the sport not only willing to ask for help, but willing to post the results of their workouts in order to evaluate the workouts. Best of luck to you, I'm not the person to ask for help but look forward to seeing the results of your work.

[Mattlikespeoples]

Yes, real person that big. Haha! A bit of background. 26, rowing was my first actual sport but have been lifting and running/biking some (my size frame and running dont mix well) since high school so it's been quite an experience to be in an organized team sport. For that training leading up to the 6:19.2 it was about a good 6 weeks of 5-6 days a week of good workouts AFTER an entire head season so lots of base cardio built up.

Bloomp, feel free to PM me that modified Wolverine you've got I'm interested.

At summer practice today we were just screwing around. 350m in 52 seconds...avg about 1:14. Sat at a 1:10 for the first 80-90m after I got the fan going. I'll just keep that up for another 1650m. Cant be too difficult...

Pic of me at Lanier sprints

3 golds from that event. Open men, mens relay 4x500 (5:58), mixed relay (hardest 550m of my life making up a 90m deficit)

[tewbz]

Well Matt, if you're interested, I can message you a comprehensive training plan that'd incorporate lifting and some serious erging. It is mostly the Wolverine Plan (http://www.concept2.com/forums/wolverine_plan.htm), but with lifting and a little more distance work... If you're interested, I'm always here.

can you message me that modifief plan?

[bloomp]

Sorry for the delay - I have been out of town without my laptop (and am at work now). I'll send it along in a few hours.

[Mike Caviston]

By all means, follow a modified Wolverine Plan. You gotta figure an 18-year-old with a 7-minute 2K knows more about winning championships than me. Just sayin’.

[bloomp]

By all means, follow a modified Wolverine Plan. You gotta figure an 18-year-old with a 7-minute 2K knows more about winning championships than me. Just sayin’.

Excuse me? Don't be all high and mighty just because I'm offering to help people. I know how your plan works and I wanted to try using it with a few changes. If that really bothers you, maybe you should either update the document or offer individuals advice. All I do is make it easy to understand what is required by the WP.

[Mike Caviston]

Excuse me? Don't be all high and mighty just because I'm offering to help people. I know how your plan works and I wanted to try using it with a few changes. If that really bothers you, maybe you should either update the document or offer individuals advice. All I do is make it easy to understand what is required by the WP.

Feel free to offer anyone as much help as you like. Feel free to make any changes to the WP you want. Feel free to start your own “Paul Plan” as sort of a book-end to the “Pete Plan”. Meanwhile, I’ll feel free to observe that someone wanting to make some serious improvements on his 2K and win an erg race will get better results by following my interpretation of the WP rather than somebody else’s. I’ve made plenty of updates to the original WP and offered plenty of advice to individuals; you just have to look it up. If the OP can’t be bothered to look that info up himself and wants you to spoon feed him your interpretations, then go for it. But don’t fool yourself into thinking you really have an understanding of what is required by the WP:

http://rowingillustrated.com/boards/vie ... 4&start=30

http://www.c2forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3&start=4665

And by the way, lest there be any hard feelings, I’m always appreciative when someone like yourself has taken the time on several occasions to mention and praise the Wolverine Plan. So thanks very much. But I am proprietary about the info in the WP and am sensitive to how others represent it.

[bloomp]

Too often people see the low rate parts of a L4 piece and think of them as a 'rest'. They'll go hard for the 6'/10' of a higher count sequence and then drop it down to 'rest'. The whole point of the WP and L4 is consistency, so my goal in helping people is to get them to understand it's better to keep the rate low and pull every stroke identical to the previous one instead of rating up and causing things to go to hell. Row well at low rates to row well at high rates.

My lone change is to the L3 pieces. I feel that a lower pace at a 20-24 for a longer time at a low UT1 pace for 70-120' is just as effective as a hard 10-15k. Especially in the part of the year that you aren't aiming for maximum boat speed, just building on your endurance. I also try to find ways to work lifting into the plan, and counter an 'easier' workout with a lifting session.

And yes, the WP kicks ass. It works.

[NavigationHazard]

You don't look like you weigh 265. I'd have guessed maybe 235.... From your posts, it's clear that raw power isn't an issue with you. You almost certainly already have the requisite strength and short-distance speed for a 6:00 2k. It follows that you'll need to focus on sustaining that power, whatever plan/schedule you wind up doing.

What kind of time commitment to erg fitness can you make? Are you planning to continue OTW rowing into the Fall as well as erging? If so, it would make sense (to me, at least) for you to try to come up with complementary rather than counterproductive workouts. If nothing else, you'll help your chances a lot by remembering that rest is important too....

[TomR]

Read the Wolverine Plan. Lots of good info.

Also read this thread from the C2 archives:

http://www.c2forum.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... erine+plan

There are a number of exceptionally helpful posts from Mike. You can ignore the other posts (or not), but Mike explains the Wolverine Plan and training more generally. Even if you never do a single WP workout, the info here is priceless for a guy who wants to perform on the erg and on the water.

[TabbRows]

Matt....Good luck with your goals.

IMO, you can use either the Wolverine Plan, Pete's Plan, or C2's Interactive training plans. All are well thought out and have proven results. I know Pete Marston does provide guidance and coaching for a fee via his website, as a way to monitor how you are doing and give you feedback and answer questions as the training progresses. That's not a endorsement of Pete over any of the others; just a difference. There are also a number of web based seasoned, respectable coaches who can provide tailored plans for a cost and their philosophy may fit you better. I highly suggest you read all these plans carefully then decide which one you can use that will best fit your life, your time, your commitment, your view of the world. They all offer some minor degree of modification for adjustment to skill level and time. None are designed to be modified by "gee that's too hard, not-worth-my-time, I think I'll just cut X part out". The limiting factor in all these plans, coached or DIY, is U! Your commitment relative to other commitments in your life. Your time. Like a number of others on these boards, long out of school and deeper into family and career,I have found that rowing OTW with a crew training for races limits my time available for the erg. I can't do both OTW and train for erg racing. Maybe you can; and all power to you if that is so. So just find the one plan, or the coach, that you feel you can understand and follow as faithfully as the real world allows.

Whichever route you go, the best of rowing to you and come back here and let us know how you're doing.

[Nosmo]

For the WP plan the first post of this thread has the the most complete references.
www.c2forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8295

Read it all. Then re-read it. Then try it for a while and re-read it once more.

[Mattlikespeoples]

Thanks for all the feedback even though a couple of you are stepping on each other's toes... Going to know just what kind of time I can put into this starting mid/end of august Since I'll get back into a school schedule. Using the summer for putting on muscle for personal, non-rowing related goals then going to train 80% for this til about thanksgiving then solely focus on that 6min goal 110% til mid feb. I think it's around then. Was last year. Up to 270-275 depending on the day, diet, sweat loss and not liking it...Is it so wrong to train for performance AND aesthetics?