Pondering the Beginner Pete Plan

[PleaseLockIn]

Week 17 Day 2. 8*500m 1.5 min rest (adjusted down).

Somehow, I am still faster than before. 1:59-ish for all 7 and then down to 1:58 for the last. I overrated a couple intervals but that’ll do. 99% efforts are significantly harder to recover from than 90-95% efforts

Heart rate dropped several beats from before. Things are going north. But I need to get to my goal fast.

Since I have stuff to do I’d not do another 30R20 - perhaps more steady state with capped HR.

Week 23 8*500m 2R I might even cut out the rests entirely and row 4000m at 1:59 r20 pace, would be interesting

I might still be able to get a sub 2:00 30r20 in late Sep but even with things going very well, I will need to push even to the point of collapse to manage it.

[iain]

PLI, well done, good to see your improvement. Not sure why you want to arbitarily do a 4kR20. That is completely off schedule. You might like to try 1kr1' as a lead in. I leave it to you how many reps to do, but probably better to do 5-6 of these than a straight through 4k as I don't think you have done any 1kR20 at your target pace yet. 1' rest means that this is incomplete recovery so closer to a continuous session while 1k is long enough that you can't get through solely from ramp up and hanging on for a close finish. I do think that you need to work on your fitness at faster than target at a higher rate as you do need the endurance as well as the strength.

[Nomark]

Since I'm not doing the plan anymore until my fitness gets back to a similar ballpark to where I was in March I'll probably post my SSs on the workout of the day thread for the time being until I get back on the plan again so as not to go off topic.

Sod that, I'd miss you all too much. If I have to be on the plan to post here then so be it! (Changed my mind again and decided to get a baseline interval speed).

New plan... Repeat from week 11 interspaced with SS work until my times are back to my best, which means... Week 11.3 8x500m. Last time I averaged 1:53.9. I wasn't fooling myself with anything like that and I wasn't even sure if 2:00 was within reach but I did well if I say so myself.

Code: Select all

Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	Cal/Hr	S/M
15:27.3	4,000	1:55.9	225	1073	27
1:58.7	500	1:58.7	209	1020	26
1:57.9	500	1:57.9	214	1034	26
1:57.5	500	1:57.5	216	1042	27
1:55.2	500	1:55.2	229	1087	27
1:55.0	500	1:55.0	230	1092	27
1:54.8	500	1:54.8	231	1096	27
1:54.9	500	1:54.9	231	1094	28
1:53.3	500	1:53.3	241	1128	28
r113				

Almost managed a negative split apart from the 7th rep. 4th rep was accidentally too fast as I was only looking at the decimal trying to beat .5 and went over 2s faster(!). I didn't pull up any trees but it's a useful baseline, and a good target for next time. Exactly 2s/500 slower than my best.

Next few weeks will be 4x1500, 4x1k, 3x2k and 5x750. So in a month I'll be able to see where I'm at and hopefully getting quicker each time to be in a position to resume the plan as normal from Week 16.

More importantly, I feel great! Hadn't realised how much I missed this feeling after a hard workout, and looking forward to my next session already

[Joris]

Sod that, I'd miss you all too much. If I have to be on the plan to post here then so be it! (Changed my mind again and decided to get a baseline interval speed).

Welcome back Nomark!
Seems like your strategy is still the same, making a plan for the next few weeks, only to adjust that plan even before the next session.
Anyway, it seems your fitness is still in good shape and no doubt you will get back to your best times soon.

Possibly this topic has stalled a bit, because recently DJ1972, Reuben and I completed the BPP plan, so only PLI is still more or less active I think, but also he does not follow the plan entirely.

On the other hand, after finishing the BPP, we decided to start a new topic with the ambition to follow up with the regular Lunch Hour Pete plan.
Maybe you can join us there within a few weeks/months.

By the way, it seems like a good time to catch up with us because if I'm not mistaken DJ1972 would be taking a long break this summer (not sure if it had started already) and I myself have also been sidelined for a week now due to a bruised rib (I think), and in summer I will also be taking at least a 3 week break. So my main goal for now is to keep up my fitness via some running and biking (and hopefully erging again soon), and then to more meticulously follow a plan again after the summer holiday, around mid august.

Good luck with your next sessions.

@Reuben: what are your plans for the next weeks/months?

[Nomark]

Welcome back Nomark!
Seems like your strategy is still the same, making a plan for the next few weeks, only to adjust that plan even before the next session.

Haha. Yes it's true. And I've tweaked it again! I'm going to alternate 2x 10k steady states with an interval session. So if I do 3 sessions a week it will take a week per interval, if I do 5 or 6 it will be quicker until I'm back in the plan proper.

I just saw the new thread on the PP. Looks interesting and looking forward to joining in for the second(?) run through in a couple months.

On with my progress, another 10k today. Very happy with it, quicker than last week and felt more comfortable. Still a long way from my best, but it's a matter of perspective and I'm finding myself much more on the side of happy to be faster than last week rather than disappointed compared to where I was in April.

Code: Select all

Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	Cal/Hr	S/M
46:22.4	10,000	2:19.1	130	747	22
9:16.9	2,000	2:19.2	130	746	22
9:11.1	4,000	2:17.7	134	760	22
9:13.5	6,000	2:18.3	132	754	22
9:21.8	8,000	2:20.4	126	734	22
9:19.1	10,000	2:19.7	128	741	23

Which I think compares favourably with last week's SB of 47:14 with a gain of almost a minute. PB is in signature so still a couple of minutes to go, but the signs are encouraging. I'm going hard but not crazy. In fact I was thinking I may not even be quite fit enough for a 10k and would have been more comfortable/sensible building from, say 8k, but I've done it now so I'll keep going.

[Nomark]

Another 10k in the bank. Not my best effort, but progress isn't a straight line. I blame the heat as well as a busy day and yesterday's 10k. Still, quicker than last week's 2 efforts and I did it, so I'm happy.

Rest day coming up and then intervals again. Nominally 1500x4 but I may go shorter if I decide to be a coward and it's too daunting!

Code: Select all

Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	Cal/Hr	S/M
47:04.5	10,000	2:21.2	124	727	22
9:08.1	2,000	2:17.0	136	768	22
9:29.5	4,000	2:22.3	121	717	22
9:21.6	6,000	2:20.4	126	735	22
9:39.0	8,000	2:24.7	115	697	23
9:26.4	10,000	2:21.6	123	724	23

[PleaseLockIn]

Z2 very slow jog followed by 30 mins of UT1. Average HR low 160s max HR low 170s

2:22-2:23 pace r20. Splits a bit all over the place. But HR a lot cleaner. It was a bit uncomfortable to speak 5+ full sentences though halfway in but that’s UT1

RPE 3-4, a bit closer to 4 in the end.

I tried steady stating what people would recommend based off my 30R20, a bit more than 30R20 + 15 but this is UT1 not UT2. Could hold this for idk, a couple hours I guess

Other steady state stuff I’ll cap the HR below 160 then

[iain]

I tried steady stating what people would recommend based off my 30R20, a bit more than 30R20 + 15 but this is UT1 not UT2. Could hold this for idk, a couple hours I guess

Interesting, while I see the merit of getting used to the rhythm of R20, but as the stroke will necessarily be significantly lighter, not sure how comparable it will be. +15S seems a lot to me and is around the pace I would typically do for R17 UT2, but we are all different and I would have a higher HR at R20 at the same pace.

[grahamf]

Possibly this topic has stalled a bit, because recently DJ1972, Reuben and I completed the BPP plan, so only PLI is still more or less active I think, but also he does not follow the plan entirely.

I'll own up to lurking at the back. I'm now in my 3rd week but have had to make it Week 2.5 because the plan is building too quickly for me. The last couple of years I restarted my C2 rowing only to get hit by injuries, so I'm trying to take it more gently this time. The BPP seems to assume a pretty good fitness for beginners...

[Joris]

Possibly this topic has stalled a bit, because recently DJ1972, Reuben and I completed the BPP plan, so only PLI is still more or less active I think, but also he does not follow the plan entirely.

I'll own up to lurking at the back. I'm now in my 3rd week but have had to make it Week 2.5 because the plan is building too quickly for me. The last couple of years I restarted my C2 rowing only to get hit by injuries, so I'm trying to take it more gently this time. The BPP seems to assume a pretty good fitness for beginners...

Yes the BPP plan seems to require some kind of basic fitness level.
But it's a flexible plan and you can adapt it to your needs.

For example, if it's to heavy, you can pace the sessions a bit slower (especially the steady state ones), you can spread the five sessions a week over a longer time frame than one week (that's what I did), you can split the steady state sessions in two or three reps, ...

Good luck and don't hesitate to post your sessions here.
There are lots of people on this forum who can give you good and personal advice.

[Nomark]

I'll own up to lurking at the back. I'm now in my 3rd week but have had to make it Week 2.5 because the plan is building too quickly for me. The last couple of years I restarted my C2 rowing only to get hit by injuries, so I'm trying to take it more gently this time. The BPP seems to assume a pretty good fitness for beginners...

Welcome to the plan! There is loads of info on this thread and you can see everyones ups and downs. The main thing is to get started and keep going. The pace doesn't matter and if you feel it's too intense you can always repeat weeks to build your stamina or slow it down and spread 2 weeks over 3 for example. I didn't find it to bad at the beginning but I definitely needed a little break after about 10 weeks, and I got derailed completely after about 14 taking 2 months off before finally getting back on last week. I also find this thread *very* useful for accountability. I post (maybe a little bit too much!) about my workouts on here and it helps with motivation so if that might help you feel free to keep us updated day by day or week by week.

On with my progress. I decided to compromise between the 800 and 1500 and went for 4x1000 r3. Going off the progressive overload theory rather than overdoing it too soon by jumping up to 15's.

Code: Select all

Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	Cal/Hr	S/M
15:50.6	4,000	1:58.8	209	1017	26
3:57.5	1,000	1:58.7	209	1019	26
3:57.5	1,000	1:58.7	209	1019	26
3:57.6	1,000	1:58.8	209	1018	26
3:57.9	1,000	1:58.9	208	1015	26
r58

Happy with that and glad I didn't go with the longer reps. I wasn't sure how to pace it but it looks almost perfectly consistent with nothing left at the end. Ideally wouldn't have been those few tenths slower for the last rep but close enough. For reference my previous best at this exercise was 1:55.6 so I'm a little way off. 2 weeks down, 3 to go of my baselining before I restart BPP 2.0

[grahamf]

For example, if it's to heavy, you can pace the sessions a bit slower (especially the steady state ones), you can spread the five sessions a week over a longer time frame than one week (that's what I did), you can split the steady state sessions in two or three reps, ...

Thank you for the encouragement.

So far I've not managed to do more than the 3 core exercises a week. This week I've tried to put in a short HIIT on the off days to help with my cardio.

Good luck and don't hesitate to post your sessions here.
There are lots of people on this forum who can give you good and personal advice.

I'll see if I can work up the courage to post my stuff next week when I'm back onto the official Week 3, rather than the unofficial Week 2.5 that I am at the moment.

[Joris]

So far I've not managed to do more than the 3 core exercises a week. This week I've tried to put in a short HIIT on the off days to help with my cardio.

I'm not familiar with HIIT sessions, but as I understand it, and if you have the time, long steady state sessions should be the cornerstone of your training program, especially if your base fitness is still low.

3 sessions a week is certainly already very good.
My suggestion to do all five sessions, but spread out over a long time horizon was meant more as a possible tip to tone down the severity of the plan a bit. Because that way, you don't evolve the plan as quickly and consequently the distances of the sessions don't increase as quickly.
Of course, there are countless variations you can think of that allow you to adjust the training schedule based on your needs or your abilities, like repeating some weeks, etc.

[PleaseLockIn]

For example, if it's to heavy, you can pace the sessions a bit slower (especially the steady state ones), you can spread the five sessions a week over a longer time frame than one week (that's what I did), you can split the steady state sessions in two or three reps, ...

Thank you for the encouragement.

So far I've not managed to do more than the 3 core exercises a week. This week I've tried to put in a short HIIT on the off days to help with my cardio.

Good luck and don't hesitate to post your sessions here.
There are lots of people on this forum who can give you good and personal advice.

I'll see if I can work up the courage to post my stuff next week when I'm back onto the official Week 3, rather than the unofficial Week 2.5 that I am at the moment.

First we do mostly long easy steady state to build our endurance and aerobic base. HITT and intervals are for the anaerobic portion of fitness which needs an aerobic base to build on.

I do UT2 (steady state) for at least 60 minutes below 70% of my heart rate reserve. RPE is easy, around 2-3. Rate 18-20. Most say 50% of 2k watts, 6k + 14-17 but personally 30R20 + 20-23 is more accurate for me.

UT1 at least 30 minutes, 70-80% HRR. RPE is moderate, 4-5. Rate 20-22. I do this at 30R20 + 13-17 more or less.

For me and for most people, a lower rate with the same splits lowers the heart rate. It also trains a stronger stroke.

Today I managed 2:07, 2:06, 2:06, 2:03 2k for 4*2000m 4R at r24 all intervals. Is this bad compared to my ~7100m 30r20?

Grahamf, steady state is important. It makes the bulk of training. Start at a pace where you can converse several sentences easily, then hold for 30+ minutes. Work up to 60-120 minutes.

IMO 3 sessions a week of rowing is too little for very significant gains. Athletes in club-level in my university complain that 3x a week is too little for context.

Work up to 4-5 sessions a week. 1 hard interval, 3 steady state. Maybe 1 tempo session. 2x Strength to become stronger. If you feel good and want to test, add a test piece every several weeks. But make sure you feel very good beforehand!

You could try a 2k, or a 30R20 to test your aerobic base!

Good luck!

Next week I may not try 5*800m 2R. I may try 5*1000m 1R at 2:00 R1 and hope I do not die. But that week I am not doing any tempo (UT1) training

[grahamf]

IMO 3 sessions a week of rowing is too little for very significant gains. Athletes in club-level in my university complain that 3x a week is too little for context.

Ah yes, I can remember (just about) training eight times a week during my university days. (Eight times, because some days there were two sessions...)

However, sadly, I'm 71 rather than 17, so recovery is slower and damage takes a lot longer to heal.

I'm trying to do a short row on alternate days, just to get the stiffness out. As much as I'd like to make the short rows a HIIT, sometimes the body just doesn't want to know.

Point taken about the long, slow rows. I'm working up to them: it takes a while to get my butt accustomed to that amount of time on the torture seat. Plus, it's hot here and I am very conscious of blisters, even after liberally coating up with vaseline.

One thing I have noted: I did 5 years on the water at uni and just after. Even now, after all this time, I still raise my hands at the strike, and feather and push down at the end of the stroke. Total waste of energy.