Training more but getting slower/not improving

[dknickerbocker]

Before i started taking training really seriously I was doing the very short erg sessions and usually about 10 k on the water, 5 easy and 5 as a piece back. Jumped into about 2 or 3 x6k when I got my own erg and doubled the number off sessions. I can't remember how much rest I was taking but am now on 1 day off a week and tempted by two. Then recently when I listened to a podcast on polarised training recommending 90mins plus on the erg in one go started that the next day which may not have been the brightest move. I'm not a total idiot tho I promise aha. However I do believe I started doing these workouts at a true ut2 level and my sits dropped by about 15 seconds to something strenuous but easily mangeable for prolonged periods. Doing my decent mileage before hand at ut1 at ut2 volumes may have led to overtraining when it should have been used as a recovery/aerobic base work.

I've heard things about 3 week blocks of training. Starting with 1 easy week, followed by a medium level week and then a high intensity week which would go hand in hand with the idea of the planned overload to help you adapt and change with time but previously every week had been the same probably moderate to high difficulty week which isn't sustainable long term and might explain the decline in performance

Patience is unfortunately not one of my virtues no matter how hard I try for it to be. I always want to see my results as soon as possible as afterwards but the current situation would give me time to not have to stress about seeing results, despite the increase of ergs and numerical data

lol we know your'e not a total idiot, you're just very motivated! getting this balance right is the art and science of training and it's not easy. It's the rest balanced against the recovery, because that's how your body adapts. And none of us can say that we've never made the wrong choice sometimes in how we balance this.

curious, what was the podcast about polarised for rowing? I am familiar with teh approach for cycling, but it'll be different than for rowing because cycle races can be like 6 or 7 hours long. Maybe the order of priorities should be, first maintain or even increase the quality of your hard days, and second, start adding volume onto your long day. what are your hard days like, btw?

Also, yeah, you might end up trying doing a week or two harder than you're currently doing, followed by a rest and recovery period of more than a day. Consistently training at teh same level, you can stagnate.

[CharlieV453]

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Patience is unfortunately not one of my virtues no matter how hard I try for it to be. I always want to see my results as soon as possible as afterwards but the current situation would give me time to not have to stress about seeing results, despite the increase of ergs and numerical data

What do we want? More patience!
When do we want it? Now!

Yeah, look this won't quite work with someone your age, but the best approach for people with a few more miles on the clock who are daunted by a long timeframe is to look backwards instead of forwards. Imagine someone who is told that they need to lose, say, 25kg for their health, and they should take a year to do it. If they project forwards, it just seems too long. But if you ask them where they were a year ago, and say "if you'd started this programme [or whatever] in April 2019, you'd already be at your target weight", it can make things a bit more digestible.

Perhaps you might be able to use that to your advantage (or risk tying yourself in mental knots imagining how you will be looking back in two years' time).

Or this approach might help:

Imagine yourself as an 18yo pulling 6:16 (your target may be different, but humour me...). You need to get faster by 1 second/month. If you workout 20 times a month, each workout has to contribute 0.05s. Now I don't of course mean that your progress will be linear quite like that, but that's how gradual your progress can be and still achieve great things.

Precisely. Truer words couldn't be said.

I like those ways of thinking, comparing it to the past rather to create a much smaller appearance of size and then the other looking at it in bitesize chunks. Hopefully be a little lower by then in the 6.05-6.10 range maybe but we'll see

[CharlieV453]

Before i started taking training really seriously I was doing the very short erg sessions and usually about 10 k on the water, 5 easy and 5 as a piece back. Jumped into about 2 or 3 x6k when I got my own erg and doubled the number off sessions. I can't remember how much rest I was taking but am now on 1 day off a week and tempted by two. Then recently when I listened to a podcast on polarised training recommending 90mins plus on the erg in one go started that the next day which may not have been the brightest move. I'm not a total idiot tho I promise aha. However I do believe I started doing these workouts at a true ut2 level and my sits dropped by about 15 seconds to something strenuous but easily mangeable for prolonged periods. Doing my decent mileage before hand at ut1 at ut2 volumes may have led to overtraining when it should have been used as a recovery/aerobic base work.

I've heard things about 3 week blocks of training. Starting with 1 easy week, followed by a medium level week and then a high intensity week which would go hand in hand with the idea of the planned overload to help you adapt and change with time but previously every week had been the same probably moderate to high difficulty week which isn't sustainable long term and might explain the decline in performance

Patience is unfortunately not one of my virtues no matter how hard I try for it to be. I always want to see my results as soon as possible as afterwards but the current situation would give me time to not have to stress about seeing results, despite the increase of ergs and numerical data

lol we know your'e not a total idiot, you're just very motivated! getting this balance right is the art and science of training and it's not easy. It's the rest balanced against the recovery, because that's how your body adapts. And none of us can say that we've never made the wrong choice sometimes in how we balance this.

curious, what was the podcast about polarised for rowing? I am familiar with teh approach for cycling, but it'll be different than for rowing because cycle races can be like 6 or 7 hours long. Maybe the order of priorities should be, first maintain or even increase the quality of your hard days, and second, start adding volume onto your long day. what are your hard days like, btw?

Also, yeah, you might end up trying doing a week or two harder than you're currently doing, followed by a rest and recovery period of more than a day. Consistently training at teh same level, you can stagnate.

Here's the podcast on the polarised training. It doesn't cover rowing specifically but is definatley applicable I think. https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0c ... TQ5OGNmOGQ

I haven't done much in the way of hard days recently to be honest but when I do I quite like 5 or 7 x3mins or something similar to that.

Ok maybe starting a cycle would be a good idea to make sure I'm recovering properly. How would you suggest doing this. Is it more volume or more high intensity pieces or just more sessions required in the harder week?

[dknickerbocker]

i've been waiting to respond to this because i don't know that much about rowing, many many more years of my experience are with cycling. I was hoping someone with more experience in periodizing / building rowing training programs would chime in here.

what's an "average" week for you like? Go through and post the workouts. then we can brainstorm a plan for you that might help.

[lindsayh]

i've been waiting to respond to this because i don't know that much about rowing, many many more years of my experience are with cycling. I was hoping someone with more experience in periodizing / building rowing training programs would chime in here. what's an "average" week for you like? Go through and post the workouts. then we can brainstorm a plan for you that might help.

Greg Smith has written a lot about polarisation/periodisation over the years and is very thoughtful
https://quantifiedrowing.com/

there will some threads here as well