Short and overweight - realistic goals?

[Phobos]

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
43:06.2 10,000m 2:09.3 162 857 22 158
8:35.7 2,000m 2:08.9 163 862 24 152
8:34.5 4,000m 2:08.6 164 866 21 157
8:38.4 6,000m 2:09.6 161 853 21 159
8:40.0 8,000m 2:10.0 159 848 23 159
8:37.6 10,000m 2:09.4 162 855 23 165

Yesterday's workout.
Was pretty hard for me - as the heart rate probably shows. Was quite a mental challenge for me to force me to continue. Tried changing the stroke rate a bit, but in the end I think I feel most comfortable at around 20-22.

[lindsayh]

Is it OK if I use this here as some kind of training journal? I somehow need to share my efforts/achievements with someone, and there's no one in my family or friends who rows and could appreciate it

you will probably find the "What training …" thread here more useful and supportive than this single one - more readership.

[gregsmith01748]

Hi,I'm late joining this thread, but I have an idea for you. It worked for me when I was starting out. I had weight to lose and at first i was just rowing as exercise. But the online rankings really hooked me. I didn't see your age in your posts, but I looked at the rankings for open weight men 40-49 in the 60 minute event.
25th %ile --> 2:13.2
50th %ile --> 2:05.9
75th %ile --> 1:58.6
90th %ile --> 1:53.7
There were 559 ranked results, so about 140 people per quartile.

When I got going, my first ranked results were usually below the 50th %ile. I would look over the rankings to see how many people I would beat by going a second faster on pace. It made me feel like I was making a lot of progress for a little improvement. I started to rank different distances to see which ones I score the highest in the rankings on. It is completely feasible for you to get to a 15K hour. But it is very difficult to predict how long it will take. I recommend strongly against date driven goals unless you have a really good understanding of what your rate of progress is. With date driven goals, there is a very narrow sweet spot where you need to work really hard and just reach the goal by the deadline. If you get there too soon, you feel like the goal was too easy. If you work really hard and miss the goal by the date, you feel bad, even though you've made great progress.

Anyway, you have to decide what works for you. The rankings were the key for me.

[ampire]

The 60 min event rankings seems to have disproportionately stronger athletes than the other events.

[Phobos]

Is it OK if I use this here as some kind of training journal? I somehow need to share my efforts/achievements with someone, and there's no one in my family or friends who rows and could appreciate it

you will probably find the "What training …" thread here more useful and supportive than this single one - more readership.

You're right - will do that from now on.


@Gregsmith:
Thanks - that's a great idea!
I'm mid 30s, so 2:04.9 (50th percentile for 10k) is my new goal now!

[ukaserex]

They say if you aim at nothing, you'll hit it, every time.

I completely get the needing a goal to aim for.

This is my suggestion:

Use Ergdata as your log, or a notepad of some sort - to note how many meters you rowed, your pace and your s/m.

You can row for an hour at 20 s/m at whatever pace you think you can hold and it may seem easy. Do the same hour at 25 s/m, even if at the same pace as what you had in the 20 s/m, it will be a different workout altogether! So, be sure to take note of all the details, as well as how you felt before, during and after.

Say you row for an hour at X s/m, and get yourself 14000 meters. The next week, aim for just 100 meters more in the same hour. Just a small 100 meter increase in the same span of time. Maybe you get it, maybe you don't - but you'll have a goal.

My absolute favorite workout is like that described, only it's set up as 1 minute intervals with no rest. The first minute, I have to get 150 meters - easy! Each minute interval, I have to increase my distance by 10 more meters. 160 meters per minute is still pretty simple for most of us. When you get up to 11 minutes, it's still only 250 meters for that minute. (a 2:00/500 m pace). It's at that point where things start to get difficult. A few minutes later, when I'm at 280 meters in a minute, after having rowed already for 14 minutes, I'm ready to stop, but I can't as I have to keep going until I can't meet the goal. And just so I'm not letting my inability to do it let me escape rowing, if I fail at 290 meters in minute 15, I have to try again the next minute for that same 290 until I've failed 3x.
I see no reason why you can't just extend that workout to a larger session without the intensity over the course of a longer period of time. You'll just compete against yourself.