Pondering the Beginner Pete Plan

[Kixram]

Those times are insanely fast for a beginner. I found the 2x 2k with 4 min break one of the hardest on pete's plan as well. I'm on week 4 and loving it. But reading this I too think I have been doing the endurance too fast.. I'm struggling to see how you can do 22 spm though. The lowest I can seem to do without physically stopping rowing is 23 but I am a short-ass. Last night I did 7k @ 33m33s. I'm guessing thats too fast? Was about 2:20/500m

Thanks, I'm not sure about you doing enduring too fast, the spm difference is probably due to our body length? I'm about 6ft 4. Seems you got some good advice on this already though.

I'm very proud of the 3x 2000m / 4min rest stats I managed to achieve today on Week 6 of the BPP.

I reached my first "noobie goal" of sub-8 2k back on August 20th, coming in at 1:59.7 at 20 strokes per minute, I almost can't believe I just managed to do this, noobie gains are insane;

First interval was 2:15.1 22s/m
Second interval 2:15.5 21 s/m
And then on the third I really gave it my absolute all and finished with 1:55.8 25 s/m for a time of 7:43.4

To think I reached sub 8 (barely) less than 8 weeks ago and now I can do a 7:34.4 after just doing 4k.. sorry don't want to sound like I'm bragging at all and I know very well that 99% of the people who post here can do this easily I'm just very very surprised at how fast one can progress when you put your mind to it.

[Dangerscouse]

To think I reached sub 8 (barely) less than 8 weeks ago and now I can do a 7:34.4 after just doing 4k.. sorry don't want to sound like I'm bragging at all and I know very well that 99% of the people who post here can do this easily I'm just very very surprised at how fast one can progress when you put your mind to it.

No need to apologise, being proud of your results is important, and you have improved really quickly.

Bragging to us is very different from being arrogant.

[mitchel674]

To think I reached sub 8 (barely) less than 8 weeks ago and now I can do a 7:34.4 after just doing 4k.. sorry don't want to sound like I'm bragging at all and I know very well that 99% of the people who post here can do this easily I'm just very very surprised at how fast one can progress when you put your mind to it.

No need to apologise, being proud of your results is important, and you have improved really quickly.

Bragging to us is very different from being arrogant.

Stu is right. We love hearing results like this here. It's not arrogant when you put up your numbers. Great work!

[Tandstad]

Some low rate intervals today to get some easier k's in.

4x15 min @20 rating @1 min rest
Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
1:00:00 15,486m 1:56.2 223 1067 20
15:00.0 3,901m 1:55.3 228 1084 20
15:00.0 4,035m 1:51.5 252 1168 20
15:00.0 3,767m 1:59.4 205 1006 20
15:00.0 3,783m 1:58.9 208 1015 20

Nice and easy no plan for speed today.

[Kixram]

Some low rate intervals today to get some easier k's in.

4x15 min @20 rating @1 min rest
Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
1:00:00 15,486m 1:56.2 223 1067 20
15:00.0 3,901m 1:55.3 228 1084 20
15:00.0 4,035m 1:51.5 252 1168 20
15:00.0 3,767m 1:59.4 205 1006 20
15:00.0 3,783m 1:58.9 208 1015 20

Nice and easy no plan for speed today.

How long have you been rowing? Your times seem insane (especially in signature)

[Tandstad]

Some low rate intervals today to get some easier k's in.

4x15 min @20 rating @1 min rest
Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
1:00:00 15,486m 1:56.2 223 1067 20
15:00.0 3,901m 1:55.3 228 1084 20
15:00.0 4,035m 1:51.5 252 1168 20
15:00.0 3,767m 1:59.4 205 1006 20
15:00.0 3,783m 1:58.9 208 1015 20

Nice and easy no plan for speed today.

How long have you been rowing? Your times seem insane (especially in signature)

Thanks Kixram,

I see now that I have actually posted my workout in the wrong thread

However, I have been erging since November 2019. Been doing different sports(terrain biking, mountain running, strength training) through the years

[Kixram]

Hey guys I could use a little advice on the steady state row days of the BPP.

Here are all my steady state distance rows thus far for reference
Week 1 5k 2:18.3 18s/m & 2:17.8 17 s/m
Week 2 5.5k 2:17.7 16 s/m & 2:16.8 19s/m
Week 3 6k 2:17.0 18 s/m & 2:28.7 16 s/m
Week 4 6.5k 2:16.4 19 s/m & 2:16.3 19 s/m
Week 5 7k 2:16.5 19 s/m & 2:16.8 18 s/m
Week 6 7.5k 2:15.8 20 s/m & 2:15.9 17 s/m
Week 7 8k 2:16.4 18/sm & 2:17.8 19 s/m
Week 8 8.5k 2:24.3 19 s/m

Okay so, in week 3 (underlined) I was sick for a week so bad times there, and week 8 (bold) is the current week of training.

As far as I understand the BPP goal is that each steady state you, at least try, to maintain the pace of your 5k steady state for all distances thereafter, however I'm wondering if I'm misunderstanding this because by week 6 and certainly week 7 following that I can't honestly call those rows "steady state" anymore (at least how I understand to judge being a steady state; being able to somewhat maintain a conversation while rowing or putting in about 6/10 effort) and they feltmore like I was going for PB's.

So my question is, going forward, from my data, what kind of pace would you suggest I aim for? I want to get the most out of the core 3 days a week of the BPP and I lack the experience to know if I'm better off trying to maintain around that 2:18 5k pace even as the distances increase to 10k or if I should try to find a more naturalsteady state pace for each row as they increase

[Dangerscouse]

As far as I understand the BPP goal is that each steady state you, at least try, to maintain the pace of your 5k steady state for all distances thereafter, however I'm wondering if I'm misunderstanding this because by week 6 and certainly week 7 following that I can't honestly call those rows "steady state" anymore (at least how I understand to judge being a steady state; being able to somewhat maintain a conversation while rowing or putting in about 6/10 effort) and they feltmore like I was going for PB's.

So my question is, going forward, from my data, what kind of pace would you suggest I aim for? I want to get the most out of the core 3 days a week of the BPP and I lack the experience to know if I'm better off trying to maintain around that 2:18 5k pace even as the distances increase to 10k or if I should try to find a more naturalsteady state pace for each row as they increase

I'm no expert on the Pete Plan, but I'd say that the intention for any steady state session has to be judged by feel and RPE.

Wipe clean your expectations, row at what feels 'steady' and then use that pace going forward. If you're feeling like it's a massive effort, for a planned easier session it won't be long before you're starting to notably regress.

Sometimes you need to take an step back to take two steps forward.

[mitchel674]

As far as I understand the BPP goal is that each steady state you, at least try, to maintain the pace of your 5k steady state for all distances thereafter, however I'm wondering if I'm misunderstanding this because by week 6 and certainly week 7 following that I can't honestly call those rows "steady state" anymore (at least how I understand to judge being a steady state; being able to somewhat maintain a conversation while rowing or putting in about 6/10 effort) and they feltmore like I was going for PB's.

So my question is, going forward, from my data, what kind of pace would you suggest I aim for? I want to get the most out of the core 3 days a week of the BPP and I lack the experience to know if I'm better off trying to maintain around that 2:18 5k pace even as the distances increase to 10k or if I should try to find a more naturalsteady state pace for each row as they increase

I think you are going at these steady state pieces too hard. They should not feel like PB attempts. These increase in distance rapidly during the BPP. The long rows are meant to help build your volume and endurance, not to test your best times at these distances with each row.

Based on your times posted, I would consider aiming for a consistent 2:20 pace for these rows at 20spm. You are setting yourself up for failure and burnout if you try to race this part of the plan.

[Boomer]

I’d recommend the BPP once you have got a few hundred KM under your belt. It’s a fair amount of meters and requires a bit of discipline but you make massive improvements. I generally row 400k a year in the football off season for the last 3 years, this year I did BPP during uk covid lockdown and around week 20 I realised I’d beaten my 5k Pb during a 30minute piece and I wasn’t even trying.

[Kixram]

Well, I finished the plan today!

I'm looking forward to trying other kinds of rows going forwards and am certainly going to use what I've learnt from this plan, which is a lot.

It's a shame that newer cards don't work very long, my brothers' 10+year old one that is cracked works completely fine yet I've gone through two of them in these 24 weeks keeping them in pristine condition until they fail to load ever again :p I'm hoping that either updating the firmware of the pm3 or upgrading to the pm5 lets me rip data off of them as it would suck to lose all that, luckily I did take photos of most workouts so I do have that would just take quite some time to format into a document.

Is there any plan that is usually good to follow after finishing this one? I'm feeling confident of making my own if not

[iain]

Is there any plan that is usually good to follow after finishing this one? I'm feeling confident of making my own if not

The Pete Plan?

[cnapmax]

Hey!

I know this thread is old, but as a newbie just starting out (3rd week rowing ever) this whole thread has been a gold mine for me.
I hope this will be around for future rowers and i plan on doing a similar thread on my progress.

[warnie]

After a little over 2 years I've started rowing again and thinking of doing the Pete Plan (beginner). Added the first week's workouts to ErgZone and starting tomorrow. As a short person I'm never going to row fast but really looking forward to building the endurance again and all round fitness the Erg gives you. I hope it's going to be fun!

Anyone else doing this one at the moment?

[Wouter]

I followed the BPP 2 years ago and struggled the last 8 weeks of the plan. Did not do all the essential training and stopped rowing. Goal at that time was a sub 8 min 2K, which I did manage (7:55,1)
Today I decided to try the BPP again.
5k 23:34,9 2:21,4 22spm
I am curious if I can complete all the 24 weeks this time!