Is it bad to sprint the 1st 200m on the 2k?

[thestraycat]

My 4th 2k of my first year as a rower, still pretty new to this stuff. Generally in sports im a sprinter, so I sprinted the 1st 200m and then i settle down then go back to sprinting the last 200m. They said its better to use endurance. What's your say?

[hjs]

No, keeping the av flat is better, you do sprint the last 200 but if its ok you don't have much left. Start and after 5/7 strokes settle at the rate and pace you can handle, don't let the split slip to much. From 600 to go try to increese the rate and give it all you got in the last minute. Going to fast will cost you time ..

[jamesg]

To pull 2ks you need both endurance and technique (=sprint capability). Sprinting early on in long races went out of fashion at least 2000 years ago according to Aesop, and in any case it might not be needed.

[OarConsequences]

Read this thread: http://www.c2forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=326&start=15

[thestraycat]

The 1st 100m or so i was pulling a 1:40 and my friend said its best not to go so fast.
(Im new to rowing so my avg isn't too impressive yet)
And my overall avg for that 2k was 2:17.

[Cyclingman1]

What is done by almost all good rowers is pull a bit harder than normal enough times to get the average pace down to what you want it to be for the race or slightly below. Then resume normal pace at your projected average. The number of hard pulls I would think would vary from 5 to 15. The distance of hard pulls would be 50-100 meters. You certainly do NOT want to go into severe O2 debt when doing this. You have a long ways to go in the 2K.

Sprinting 200m at the end is an entirely different matter. You do want to go into O2 debt. 20-25 hard pulls are often done. You can recover after the race is over.

[thestraycat]

What should be a my ideal 2k time by the end of the season?
Im 5'2 and 99lbs girl.

[jvincent]

What should be a my ideal 2k time by the end of the season?
Im 5'2 and 99lbs girl.

You are probably outside of the main audience for the rowing community, but I would check the online rankings for your age group (make sure to use the lightweight filter) and see what times are posted there.

Those are probably good targets for your training.