How much does 2K time drop in off season?

[Cyclingman1]

Ok, so you've trained hard, done a plan, done intervals, etc and executed a SB or PB at a racing venue in Jan-Mar. But now you are in some kind of maintenance mode: less meters, more SS, fewer intervals. A couple of months later, you get a wild hair to find out where your 2K stands. How much of a drop off do you see? Let's say you are a 7:00 or 8:00 2Ker. Now are you +10s, +20s, +30s, etc? Are you panicking? A lot of hard work has gone under the bridge. How about 6 months later? Or the last thing in the world you would do is a 2K - you know better. JimG

[Cyclist2]

Good question, Jim. I'll be interested in the posts that follow.

It takes, like you say, a lot of hard, intense work to get a competitive 2K time. I've never gotten that wild hair you mentioned, so I can't answer from personal experience. Just let it be said that in the fall, IF I decide to train for the indoor races, it's starting from ground zero, even though I maintain a pretty good level of fitness through cycling and OTW rowing. I didn't make that commitment this past season, and it felt nice to not dread those AN zone intervals or 2K tests.

[bob01]

Hi.
Apart from academically does it matter?

You've peaked for your 2k and now you are going through the cycle again. Lots of base km to build your aerobic base and increase your potential

[Gammmmo]

Hi.
Apart from academically does it matter?

You've peaked for your 2k and now you are going through the cycle again. Lots of base km to build your aerobic base and increase your potential

Maybe it does matter if one is basing their training sessions on 2K time, so if this had slowed you might find say a longer session was becoming rather too hard if based on 2K ability during the season.

[hjs]

How can you really know, without testing. And if you test, you keep on training towards 2k.
Speaking for myself, I would say 10/15 seconds, but would never test in such a condition.
Maybe its not such a bad idea, to dare to let your peak let go for a while, as long as your general fitness stays ok.

I have had a long break from erging, at one point 10 year off, from end 20 to end 30. Restarted and in 3/4 months got to 95% of my 2k level.

For relative beginners, there is no such thing as a peak, so they won,t fall back, if they do, they are slacking of

If you take a relative break, I think its a good thing to really fresh up. Something I find tough to do. That does not mean get fat or unfit. Stay in a good overall shape, but don,t push yourself for a while. Get fresh, both in body and mind, and from there go for a next season.

[Cyclingman1]

The main point is can one mentally accept the drop off? No doubt, real veterans understand the cycle concept, peaking, etc. Nonetheless, it takes a lot of mental energy to keep reclimbing the fitness/racing hill. Makes it tempting to not have valleys. Maybe it is best to just not know how bad it has gotten.

Me, I was about 8 sec behind my last 2K venue time a couple of days ago, but not really a 100% effort. But that is only about 60 days after the race. Pretty sure it will drop more. But then again, I was hardly at a peak this year. Come Oct, I want to know exactly where I stand.

[nick rockliff]

I did my first race in Nov 2003 (BIRC) think I did a 6.33 which was a PB. All my training had been for that race. However, I entered the 2k race in Manchester Feb 04 and did a 6.31 and a few weeks later a 6.28 in Doncaster. Think there was some mile races in there too but can't remember the details. So didn't slow down across about 5 months, actually got faster.

The 2004/05 season was a lot of races, probably about 15 races. First race started with a 6.26 and last race was a 6.19 so again didn't slow down.

[ukaserex]

It's an interesting question. I consider myself still a bit of a novice, despite over a year rowing. I say this because despite logging over 2 million meters, it's only been in the past couple of weeks I've done any rate work. And still have a lot to learn.

Each time I've done a 2k for time, though, my time has improved. I keep wondering when the improvements will stop - but then, I haven't considered the notion of an off-season, since I don't row on the water. At my age, I'm kind of afraid to stop moving; I not be able to get moving again!

[Parky]

As a member of "The Old Farts" club, I have found that my times have dropped off quite a bit over the last 3 years. I just tried my first 60 mins of the season yesterday and was about 900 mtrs down on the last couple of years distance. I can just about break 8 mins for the 2k, but 21.15 for the 5k's and I'm pushing it at that. I'm still faster than most at the local gym, but haven't really raced.
One thing that has got better since turning 65 is my pension and that's about it.