training questions

[vito]

I have a few training questions. I have been rowing for about 2 months and am achieving about 6:30 2000m. I am 6'5'' and 270 lbs 38 years old. I am a basketball player but have never trained long distances. I find on rows over 30 minutes that I am fatiguing in my upper hams/glutes whereas my quads are not tired at all. Is this common? Or is this poor technique or just a personal weakness. I also find that my heart rate is higher than predicted on the long rows. I am averaging in the low 150's hr with a 10000m time of 36:30-37:00.
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[jamesg]

Fatigue
Not surprising that a 36-37' 10k makes you feel your legs, that's fast for someone new to the game. If you are rating higher than 20-22 then any pain in the wrong places might be due to your dragging yourself forward too fast and taking quick shortish strokes, rather than long slow ones, so not using your legs much at all for the actual handle work. The typical difficulty in rowing is in making the legs pull the handle. It's all done by levers, and technique and length are the answer. Have a look at some rowing videos, you'll see that oarsmen use their entire extension from shins vertical to slight layback, keeping the back stable.
Heart Rate.
MHR calculations such as 220-age or 205-½age (better) can be around 5% out which is ok for engineers (indeed very accurate) but may make the de cuius a bit unhappy. Did you do a test to find your max? If you take 205-38/2 = 186 as max and 60 as minimum, then min + 75% of range (high UT1) = 155, and you are OK in the 10k pull.

[Infomage]

I have one question about long rows anything after 45 minutes becomes a royal pain in the butt. Am i sitting wrong or do i just need to gut it out to get past it?

[igoeja]

I row well and/or technically correct, and I've always fatigued in areas other than my quads. I've taken this to be normal, since my quads have always been stronger and proportionately larger. My glutes are the point of pain for me, as I don't have much ass and, when lean, sit on bone. Also, my arms fatigue much more, and again, it is fairly obvious for me that the point is really the proportionate size of my arms.

If your technique is good, it might simply be the relative ability of your muscle groups.

[gsedun]

I imagine that your problem is that you are not connecting with your legs. Or you break your arms too soon, which forces the upper body to pull instead of the legs.

[michaelb]

As others say, you may have problems with form on the drive. But I would guess getting tired in the glutes and hams is from pulling yourself up the slide.

I would start by rowing without your feet strapped in. Many of us row this way for all our training rows. That should also lower your stroke rate. 20-22 may feel low, but for a 10k, something in the 20-25 range would be a good target for most.

Otherwise, you times are fast and you must be strong. When I was playing volleyball, I felt that rowing really helped with jumping endurance and recovery, since it is sort of like jumping 25 times a minute under control.