Beginner: Best use of 4 hours

[chan_va]

First time poster - have been rowing for 3 months now and am looking for feedback on this plan.

Stats - 46 M, 5' 7'', 163lbs, in moderate/poor physical shape.
3 month Goal: lose 5 lbs, sub 8 min 2k, (currently pb is 8:13) and sub 21 min 5k (currently pb is 22:08).

I have about 4 hours a week to train, and am considering the following breakdown

3x 1 hour sessions steady state at UT2 intensity
1x 30 min session with hard longer intervals - say 10 min rows
1x 30 min session with speed intervals - 500m rows

2 rest days.

Does this sound reasonable? Any changes you would recommend? Thanks!

[mitchel674]

Your plan and numbers sound eerily like my own!

Three long steady state rows followed by a few high intensity interval sessions is a good way to mix things up. You will build your aerobic base while also keeping some speed work in the mix. It's a great combination.

My only suggestion would be to train and target for a specific distance or PB. Perhaps pick your 5 k goal and tailor your interval training towards that task. 1000k or even 1500k intervals might be a better fit for that distance.

[dabatey]

The only thing I'd say is that when you add a warm up and rests, what at first sounds like a 30 minute interval session can end up taking more like an hour.

If you can't afford more than 30 minutes, then the 30 minute sessions might be better completed as fast UT1 sessions as you might struggle to fit in enough intervals to be productive.

[Tsnor]

You plan sound just about perfect. You could mix in some weights if you have access.

[kini62]

IMO you would be better off doing 3 10Ks per week at a higher intensity or pace than the 1 hour UT2 pace.

Rowing for 1 hour at low intensity makes you good at rowing for an hour at low intensity. It does little for your 2K and 5K rows.

It would be different if your were training for 8 hours or more per week, then you could throw in the low intensity stuff, but given your time constraints you're just wasting that time doing 3 hours of paddling.

[chan_va]

Thats interesting - I thought I read that you need to build up your aerobic base with longer low intensity workouts.

IMO you would be better off doing 3 10Ks per week at a higher intensity or pace than the 1 hour UT2 pace.

Rowing for 1 hour at low intensity makes you good at rowing for an hour at low intensity. It does little for your 2K and 5K rows.

It would be different if your were training for 8 hours or more per week, then you could throw in the low intensity stuff, but given your time constraints you're just wasting that time doing 3 hours of paddling.

[kini62]

Thats interesting - I thought I read that you need to build up your aerobic base with longer low intensity workouts.

IMO you would be better off doing 3 10Ks per week at a higher intensity or pace than the 1 hour UT2 pace.

Rowing for 1 hour at low intensity makes you good at rowing for an hour at low intensity. It does little for your 2K and 5K rows.

It would be different if your were training for 8 hours or more per week, then you could throw in the low intensity stuff, but given your time constraints you're just wasting that time doing 3 hours of paddling.

10ks will also build up your aerobic base just as well as an hour will but you'll build your "FTP" faster which is what you need to do for 2K and 5K rows.

For 4 hours per week you can go pretty hard for every workout if you want even if you're not super fit at the moment. Just listen to your body, get a HR monitor and rest when you need to.

[Tsnor]

Thats interesting - I thought I read that you need to build up your aerobic base with longer low intensity workouts.

Agree with you. His plan of "3 X 1 hour of SS plus 2 x Intervals" should give better results than a "2 X Threshold plus 2 X intervals".

When they tried it 4 hard workouts a week had worse results than 3 hard workouts a week.

[jamesg]

3x 1 hour sessions steady state at UT2 intensity
1x 30 min session with hard longer intervals - say 10 min rows
1x 30 min session with speed intervals - 500m rows

Maybe to avoid boredom, you may need to cut the three hours solid.

The effects are caused by the sine qua non stroke: long and hard. Ergdata supplies the information.

[btlifter]

3x 1 hour sessions steady state at UT2 intensity
1x 30 min session with hard longer intervals - say 10 min rows
1x 30 min session with speed intervals - 500m rows

2 rest days.

This is precissly how I would schedule 4 hours of training.

[chan_va]

Thanks folks.