Pondering the Beginner Pete Plan

[Nomark]

Nomark suggested me to go sub 2:05 and boy he was right, I had enough to get an average of ~2:03 even though before I had a stomachache, and i was so bloated because i drank far too much water. Having the mental discipline to survive the pain cave paid off. I forgot to clean the rower which didn't help.

Awesome! Congratulations. Now you know you can do it even in a sub-optimum state you'll be able to shave time off each week and push yourself further. I had a similar experience just now, but first, yesterday's SS row.

Week 4.1 6,500m steady state. Had a bit of a bug over the weekend. A bit snotty but felt fine, so I skipped the last optional workout to give myself a break but felt good enough for a steady state yesterday. Unfortunately parental duties came up about 2/3s of the way through, but I went back later and did another 3k at a similar pace. I broke the 3k down into 1,300m splits so that I could have 5 complete splits. Averaged 2.19.9s , but after feeling around up and down the rates the past few weeks I think I am comfortable with 2.18-2.22 as my SS right now, so happy with that.

Code: Select all

Metres  Time	Pace	Watts	S/M	
4,677m	22:21.7	2:23.4     119     22
1,300m	6:02.2 	2:19.3	129     25
1,300m	6:02.3	2:19.5	129     22
1,300m	6:08.2	2:21.6	123     22
  777m	3:42.1	2:22.9	120     20

3,000m	13:33.2	2:15.5     141     20
1,300m	6:03.2 	2:19.6	128     23
1,300m	6:02.7 	2:19.5	129     20
  400m.  1:27.3     1:49.1     269    32
DF 128

Went a bit mad for the last 400m just to see if I could
I'm not planning on splitting the steady state distance, but I'm presuming that doing so doesn't matter.

Today was 4.2 1000m X3. 3minute rest. Try at the same pace as 6x500 on week 1. That was 2:01 which sounded pretty daunting to me. But I thought I'd give it a go.

It. Was. Tough! Practically fell off the rower at the end and had to have a good 30 second lie down on the floor! It was both mentally and physically hard. My mind was saying "it's too much, you've been ill, you've done two reps at the right pace, the last one can slip". My wife put a sign up in our gym area that says "Be stronger than your excuses". I must admit Ive never really looked at it but I glanced at it a couple of times and it helped me push through

Pleased with the consistency and especially with the last rep. SR overall was between 25 and 30+, so happy with upping that a little too and each interval was much more consistent than I'd managed in the 500s. Break tomorrow I think and another steady state on Thursday.

Code: Select all

Metres  Time	Pace	Watts	S/M	
3,000m	12:04.2	2:00.7     199    27
1,000m	4:02.2 	2:01.1	197     27
1,000m	4:02.2	2:01.1	197     27
1,000m	3:59.8	1:59.9	203     27

[iain]

APologies for the name mess up, great training all around, the plan seems to be working!

[PleaseLockIn]

Nomark suggested me to go sub 2:05 and boy he was right, I had enough to get an average of ~2:03 even though before I had a stomachache, and i was so bloated because i drank far too much water. Having the mental discipline to survive the pain cave paid off. I forgot to clean the rower which didn't help.

Awesome! Congratulations. Now you know you can do it even in a sub-optimum state you'll be able to shave time off each week and push yourself further. I had a similar experience just now, but first, yesterday's SS row.

Week 4.1 6,500m steady state. Had a bit of a bug over the weekend. A bit snotty but felt fine, so I skipped the last optional workout to give myself a break but felt good enough for a steady state yesterday. Unfortunately parental duties came up about 2/3s of the way through, but I went back later and did another 3k at a similar pace. I broke the 3k down into 1,300m splits so that I could have 5 complete splits. Averaged 2.19.9s , but after feeling around up and down the rates the past few weeks I think I am comfortable with 2.18-2.22 as my SS right now, so happy with that.

Code: Select all

Metres  Time	Pace	Watts	S/M	
4,677m	22:21.7	2:23.4     119     22
1,300m	6:02.2 	2:19.3	129     25
1,300m	6:02.3	2:19.5	129     22
1,300m	6:08.2	2:21.6	123     22
  777m	3:42.1	2:22.9	120     20

3,000m	13:33.2	2:15.5     141     20
1,300m	6:03.2 	2:19.6	128     23
1,300m	6:02.7 	2:19.5	129     20
  400m.  1:27.3     1:49.1     269    32
DF 128

Went a bit mad for the last 400m just to see if I could
I'm not planning on splitting the steady state distance, but I'm presuming that doing so doesn't matter.

Today was 4.2 1000m X3. 3minute rest. Try at the same pace as 6x500 on week 1. That was 2:01 which sounded pretty daunting to me. But I thought I'd give it a go.

It. Was. Tough! Practically fell off the rower at the end and had to have a good 30 second lie down on the floor! It was both mentally and physically hard. My mind was saying "it's too much, you've been ill, you've done two reps at the right pace, the last one can slip". My wife put a sign up in our gym area that says "Be stronger than your excuses". I must admit Ive never really looked at it but I glanced at it a couple of times and it helped me push through

Pleased with the consistency and especially with the last rep. SR overall was between 25 and 30+, so happy with upping that a little too and each interval was much more consistent than I'd managed in the 500s. Break tomorrow I think and another steady state on Thursday.

Code: Select all

Metres  Time	Pace	Watts	S/M	
3,000m	12:04.2	2:00.7     199    27
1,000m	4:02.2 	2:01.1	197     27
1,000m	4:02.2	2:01.1	197     27
1,000m	3:59.8	1:59.9	203     27

It somewhat matters for the steady state not being split as there is a mental element, especially for the last bit where you need to hold on and not slow the pace. It's a mental determination and endurance thing.

4.1 was decent enough, I would suggest a 2:20-2:21 split but go down the stroke rate to 22, or even 20. I do my steady state at r18.

I also did that today - went mad for 300m.

Week 5 Day 3 - [7000m]
32:13.x so a 2:18.1 split (slightly faster). 133W so with my 65kg dehydrated weight, my steady state is over 2W/kg. However I need to eventually raise the rate to r20 while keeping the same strokes.

At the start of my cooldown I did as iain suggested - went for short burst of max power. I did 300m in 1:15, with the last 250m all done at 1:59.x pace with r20 strokes. Maybe for day 4 I will do more?

I did callisthenics and dips as my substitute weight training. i need to do more weight training

[AndyH]

Time to switch gears for a month or two. The BPP was great for building up a foundation. I'm making the jump to the rowalong 2k plan which was build around the Pete Plan. Goal is to go sub 8 at a couple of upcoming 2k erg events....

[Joris]

* Week 9 Day 5 [2 x 10min / 2min rest] – Aim to row the first piece just a second or so faster than the 8000m row, and then beat it on the second piece.

Since my available time was limited yesterday, I chose the shortest session to kick off week 9.
Given my slow steady state pace, the suggested pace of SS minus 1 second sounded way too unambitious for making it a proper training. On the other hand, I didn't want to make it a real interval session neither. That's why I targeted 2:18, which is somewhere in between my SS pace and my interval pace on this length.

The session went smoothly, and I think it was a good exercise to work on a faster pace for the steady state sessions.

* Week 9 Day 1 [9000m] – You’ve been going for a full 2 months now, and you’re probably starting to look ahead and wonder when these sessions will stop getting longer! Don’t worry, you’ll get a break from the increasing distance soon, and then you can start increasing the pace instead!

A new record distance, so I went back to my regular 2:30 pace.
After having obtained a higher heart rate than usual last week on this session, my heart rate returned to normal again.
This makes that I'm now doing 9k with the same average heart rate as I did earlier on 5k, 6k, 7k ...So it seems that the rhythm of the plan works out perfectly so far for me.

Two 8k's and an interval session of 4 x 800m left for week 9.

[PleaseLockIn]

Time to switch gears for a month or two. The BPP was great for building up a foundation. I'm making the jump to the rowalong 2k plan which was build around the Pete Plan. Goal is to go sub 8 at a couple of upcoming 2k erg events....

I was considering jumping the plan early like you... but thought it was too premature. Good on you for ~2:00 in those intervals for 4x800m in week 5, I could barely go under 2:03. Yet your steady state was around 2:22 and mine is 2:18 (tho to be fair my steady state is a bit more intense than most)

I feel like at this point... what I need to make a 1:59 30r20 in two months is something radical. I looked at the Pete Plan 5k and felt if I slowed down my steady state to 2:20-2:21 for the 10k+ steady state, then go harder for intervals, and go slower for some steady state if I didn't feel like it, I would manage.

I feel I could genuinely try the Pete Plan 5k and get as many weeks as possible before the trial day... that way I could peak just before the trial and manage to push myself forward.

(I wish i didn't start rowing this late... i might barely make college rowing at this point).

WEEK 5 Day 4 - [20 min]
4356m, 2:17.7 split, talk a few sentence pace, r18. I counted beats for 10s immediately after - 22 beats. I could barely feel my HR during the row... felt around 135-140. Idk what is my max heart rate... perhaps i should get a heart rate monitor and test it.

Then at the start of the cooldown i managed 10 strokes at r20, 2:00 pace. Max power training i guess.

I doubt power training after each cooldown of steady state is going to be enough. I need something radical, and fast.

Joris - Nice one, for 2x10min/2min rest, 2:18. I feel you could hold something slightly faster for SS...

[Joris]

Today was 4.2 1000m X3. 3minute rest. Try at the same pace as 6x500 on week 1. That was 2:01 which sounded pretty daunting to me. But I thought I'd give it a go.

Code: Select all

Metres  Time	Pace	Watts	S/M	
3,000m	12:04.2	2:00.7     199    27
1,000m	4:02.2 	2:01.1	197     27
1,000m	4:02.2	2:01.1	197     27
1,000m	3:59.8	1:59.9	203     27

Congrats. Nice sessions!
Although you are not as far along in the training schedule as I am, we are both on the edge of going under two minutes average pace now for several types of interval sessions.

Your quick improvements definitely help me as well to push a little extra during the interval sessions.

[iain]

Time to switch gears for a month or two. The BPP was great for building up a foundation. I'm making the jump to the rowalong 2k plan which was build around the Pete Plan. Goal is to go sub 8 at a couple of upcoming 2k erg events....

Best of luck with the switch

I feel like at this point... what I need to make a 1:59 30r20 in two months is something radical. I looked at the Pete Plan 5k and felt if I slowed down my steady state to 2:20-2:21 for the 10k+ steady state, then go harder for intervals, and go slower for some steady state if I didn't feel like it, I would manage.

I feel I could genuinely try the Pete Plan 5k and get as many weeks as possible before the trial day... that way I could peak just before the trial and manage to push myself forward...Then at the start of the cooldown i managed 10 strokes at r20, 2:00 pace. Max power training i guess.

I doubt power training after each cooldown of steady state is going to be enough. I need something radical, and fast.

Agreed that you need to do more than 10 strokes. 5k plan is good, but Pete's Plans are not designed to get you rowing fast at low stroke rates. You might like to see how it goes rowing the intervals at low rates. Perhaps R22 for the longer intervals and R20 for the short ones? Just a thought.

[PleaseLockIn]

Time to switch gears for a month or two. The BPP was great for building up a foundation. I'm making the jump to the rowalong 2k plan which was build around the Pete Plan. Goal is to go sub 8 at a couple of upcoming 2k erg events....

Best of luck with the switch

I feel like at this point... what I need to make a 1:59 30r20 in two months is something radical. I looked at the Pete Plan 5k and felt if I slowed down my steady state to 2:20-2:21 for the 10k+ steady state, then go harder for intervals, and go slower for some steady state if I didn't feel like it, I would manage.

I feel I could genuinely try the Pete Plan 5k and get as many weeks as possible before the trial day... that way I could peak just before the trial and manage to push myself forward...Then at the start of the cooldown i managed 10 strokes at r20, 2:00 pace. Max power training i guess.

I doubt power training after each cooldown of steady state is going to be enough. I need something radical, and fast.

Agreed that you need to do more than 10 strokes. 5k plan is good, but Pete's Plans are not designed to get you rowing fast at low stroke rates. You might like to see how it goes rowing the intervals at low rates. Perhaps R22 for the longer intervals and R20 for the short ones? Just a thought.

Let me clarify - I follow the Pete Plan 5k, but for the short intervals I row R20 and longer I row R22? Is that what you meant?

Also for the steady state - 10k at r18? Or more?

I am prepared to do a lot in order to get that 1:59 30r20 (university standard)

[iain]

You might like to see how it goes rowing the intervals at low rates. Perhaps R22 for the longer intervals and R20 for the short ones? Just a thought.

Let me clarify - I follow the Pete Plan 5k, but for the short intervals I row R20 and longer I row R22? Is that what you meant?

Also for the steady state - 10k at r18? Or more?

I am prepared to do a lot in order to get that 1:59 30r20 (university standard)

That was what I was suggesting, but you should use strong powerful strokes at the lower rates so as to improve the pace to 2:00 by the test. Continuing to do SS at R18 would be fine. I suggest that as these are a bit longer and you will already be doing a lot of low rate work, that you keep this to a more normal powered stroke and discontinue the "power strokes", although you might do a few of these towards the end of your warm 2:18.0up for the intervals to get ready for what's coming.

Not sure what power you can maintain, but perhaps try 2:10 pace for the 500s at R20. For the longer intervals maybe 2:07 at R22. Expect these to be tough, but try and hold the pace without letting the rating rise. If you can, go a bit quicker on the last but still try and keep to the rating restriction.

Good luck.

[AndyH]

Time to switch gears for a month or two. The BPP was great for building up a foundation. I'm making the jump to the rowalong 2k plan which was build around the Pete Plan. Goal is to go sub 8 at a couple of upcoming 2k erg events....

(I wish i didn't start rowing this late... i might barely make college rowing at this point).

Haha - the best time to start is now! I've just started a few months ago and I'm mid 50's.

Stick with it, keep the easy days easy, the hard days HARD, and the speed will come....or so I've been told.....

[p_b82]

I was considering jumping the plan early like you... but thought it was too premature. Good on you for ~2:00 in those intervals for 4x800m in week 5, I could barely go under 2:03. Yet your steady state was around 2:22 and mine is 2:18 (tho to be fair my steady state is a bit more intense than most)

I feel like at this point... what I need to make a 1:59 30r20 in two months is something radical. I looked at the Pete Plan 5k and felt if I slowed down my steady state to 2:20-2:21 for the 10k+ steady state, then go harder for intervals, and go slower for some steady state if I didn't feel like it, I would manage.

I doubt power training after each cooldown of steady state is going to be enough. I need something radical, and fast.

you're not a million miles off with the 2:03 pace, it's just under 190W, but not sure the rate without looking up.

While the BPP plan is aimed at 2k improvements, as Ian has said any of Pete's plans are not aimed at low rate training.

I think if I was in your shoes I'd go one of two ways.

• accept that for this try-out the pace requirements are bit steep for you just now - eps as lightweight, your competition is likely going to have both height and weight advantages on you.
  continue following any of the plans that work for you and just get fitter/stronger and aim for next try out.

• Really focus on the 10Wmin strokes going forwards
  Adjust your training to have the volume at slow pace for recovery but all your hard sessions are done at 10+Wmin

you can either do r20 @200W+ or ramp up the rating for sprints, but keep the Wmin the same - so r25 = 250W etc.

It might be worth having an honest and frank discussion with your coach to get his advice & opinion about your readiness - he'll have seen plenty of people in your shoes before and could/should be able to give you honest advice on what your odds are of making the cut with the time left to you.

[PleaseLockIn]

I was considering jumping the plan early like you... but thought it was too premature. Good on you for ~2:00 in those intervals for 4x800m in week 5, I could barely go under 2:03. Yet your steady state was around 2:22 and mine is 2:18 (tho to be fair my steady state is a bit more intense than most)

I feel like at this point... what I need to make a 1:59 30r20 in two months is something radical. I looked at the Pete Plan 5k and felt if I slowed down my steady state to 2:20-2:21 for the 10k+ steady state, then go harder for intervals, and go slower for some steady state if I didn't feel like it, I would manage.

I doubt power training after each cooldown of steady state is going to be enough. I need something radical, and fast.

you're not a million miles off with the 2:03 pace, it's just under 190W, but not sure the rate without looking up.

While the BPP plan is aimed at 2k improvements, as Ian has said any of Pete's plans are not aimed at low rate training.

I think if I was in your shoes I'd go one of two ways.

• accept that for this try-out the pace requirements are bit steep for you just now - eps as lightweight, your competition is likely going to have both height and weight advantages on you.
  continue following any of the plans that work for you and just get fitter/stronger and aim for next try out.

• Really focus on the 10Wmin strokes going forwards
  Adjust your training to have the volume at slow pace for recovery but all your hard sessions are done at 10+Wmin

you can either do r20 @200W+ or ramp up the rating for sprints, but keep the Wmin the same - so r25 = 250W etc.

It might be worth having an honest and frank discussion with your coach to get his advice & opinion about your readiness - he'll have seen plenty of people in your shoes before and could/should be able to give you honest advice on what your odds are of making the cut with the time left to you.

I don't even know what plan to follow... but are there any specialised plans for rowing low rate? Otherwise... i think i will jump to the Pete Plan 5k, do it low rate, have slow pace for recovery, and for my sprints i will keep r20 short r22 long intervals and keep the Wmin at 10 or above.

I will reallyfocus on the 10Wmin strokes going forwards, pushing as hard as I can on the intervals. If I fail... at least i very seriously tried.

Even to the point of jumping early from the BPP to do the Pete Plan 5k instead.

[p_b82]

I don't think there are any that focus on it - as it's not really any "use" as all TT's are done at higher rates and all these plans are aimed at open rate TT's.( all very loosely and down to individuals but roughly 500m's ~40spm, 2k's ~30spm and 5k's ~27spm).

so you'd need to look at what any plan has and "make it fit" by adjusting what the requirements are to something you can do.

When I did my own 2k >8min at r20 I started by doing 500m at target pace, and each hard session I increased the length of the splits until I got to 1700m at target pace. it wasn't a plan, but for me it was about teaching myself how to hold it for the time needed.

I started that challenge with an 8:14 2k open rate, so I wasn't a million miles off, but it was hard work all the same.

The result was I did a 2k open rate not long after and took another 14s off my time.

[alex9026]

I don't think there are any that focus on it - as it's not really any "use" as all TT's are done at higher rates and all these plans are aimed at open rate TT's.( all very loosely and down to individuals but roughly 500m's ~40spm, 2k's ~30spm and 5k's ~27spm).

so you'd need to look at what any plan has and "make it fit" by adjusting what the requirements are to something you can do.

+1 on this. You're overthinking this whole rate at 20 thing, fwiw this is an arbitrary figure that may not even be that efficient for you. On his "lunch hour plan" Pete recommends upwards of r24 on the steady days.

Keep the rating low on the steady days, but allow some freedom on the interval days, you've no real need to restrict the rating here (definitely not at this stage anyway). When I ran a few cycles of the lunch hour I did exactly that, plugging for the occasional 30r20, which naturally progressed.