Pondering the Beginner Pete Plan

[Rowan McSheen]

Bonus non-BPP workout



After yesterday's hilly half marathon and with creaky legs I decided to put off the next BPP session and just do 5000m "freestyle". I tried FO's trick of covering up the PM and left just the distance visible, and went at what I felt was about UT2 pace. Which it was more or less although a second or two down. Interesting how motivation slackens in the absence of a familiar metric. More importantly, I feel much looser after this; the erg is a brilliant non-impact way of flushing all the crap out of the legs after a hard race.

As I understand the instrux for your session, FO, it's to start off slow and gradually ease up to last week's 10k pace by halfway? Not all the way through. But still, 12000m with a negative split is an impressive workout!

[Dom82]

W1 - S5 - 2x10min

Code: Select all

Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	Cal/Hr	S/M	
20:00.0	4,287m	2:19.9	128	739	20	170
10:00.0	2,143m	2:19.9	128	739	20	165
10:00.0	2,144m	2:19.9	128	739	20	176

[flabby100]

W6S1: 7.5k @ 2:20

https://imgur.com/a/rnsxFuC

W6S3: 7.5k @ 2:19

https://imgur.com/a/qPgYU7F

[fancyoats]

W20S2 5x1500/3:00
Target was 2:16.7 from Week 16's 5x1500



RH 95%

[Rowan McSheen]

W9 S5 2 x 10 mins 2 mins rest



I don't see the point of these 10-minute intervals as they overlap with the 1500m and 2000m ones. So I do them as stroke ladders: 4-3-2-1 minutes at 20-22-24-26 spm, aiming for 2:20-2:15-2:10-2:05 and more or less hitting that although struggling a little at 26 spm. I enjoy stroke ladders and as I was feeling a little frisky today I did a third one

[fancyoats]

W20S3 30:00 row
Instructions say to target your 10k pb pace (2:33.9) and hold steady all the way.



RH 87%

Rowan, I think Pete says later in the plan that those 10 minute intervals are meant to be approached as if they are all together in one long distance, just with a quick break for water. But as always, you gotta make it work for you.

[Rowan McSheen]

W10 S1 9500m



This distance is so near to 10000m that I thought I might as well go the whole hog. UT2 as always with the first distance piece of the week. Reasonably happy with this, a little slower than the previous 9000m but to be expected.

Still aiming to dip below the hwt threshold (11st 11lb). Now consistently 11st 10lb but I figure I need to drop another lb or two to be safe and outside the daily weight variation.

FO, that makes sense given that he sets a longer rest for the 1500/2000 intervals which I guess he wants us to do faster.

[flabby100]

W7S1: 8k @ 2:25

Kept heart rate at under 140 for most of it.

https://imgur.com/a/H26MBZb

[fancyoats]

W20S4 10000m
Instructions say not to worry about pace, just technique relaxation and efficiency so I covered the monitor again for this one. Felt good.



RH 95%

[flabby100]

W7S2: 7 x 500m / 2:00r @ 2:00.1

Instructions were to beat my pace from W1S2 which was 2:01.5.

https://imgur.com/a/TGXUu20

[fancyoats]

W20S5 8x500/2:00

Target was 2:09.0 from the last time I did this session in Week 17.



RH 88%

[Rowan McSheen]

Excellent performances on the 500m intervals, guys. Those targets are there to be beaten and negative splitting qualifies as hitting them out the park!

I fear that I shall be hors de combat for a few days. Took part in a 20km race along the local coastal path, very tough terrain and uneven surfaces, and managed to trip and tumble not once but three times. Bashed knee, skinned shoulder, but worst of all a very painful sprained hand/thumb. Hopefully the war wounds will quickly subside but in the meantime I trust in you to keep the thread ticking over and no slacking please.

[fancyoats]

Oh no Rowan!!! I hope all your parts heal up fast!

[flabby100]

+1 I hope you mend up well.

W7S3 8k

No time/pace measured. Instead, played around with technique today. Hadn’t looked at force curves before but I figured it’s time.

I’m still focusing a lot on breaking up the stroke into distinct phases so I think it’s unsurprising that I had multiple peaks.

https://imgur.com/a/Cz3cYsm

After some effort blending the phases and trying to avoid those power drops it looked more like:

https://imgur.com/a/8GpQqSp

Still a long ways to go. I really have to focus hard or the power drops come back in.

[fancyoats]

W21S1 10000m
Instructions say to build up to your pb pace (which was 2:33.9 for me) by about 5000m left, hold it for 2k and then go faster if you can manage.

Got a new PB.



RH 93%

In other news, I woke in the middle of the night, like 3:30 AM, to the smell of smoke and red lights flashing out on the street. An army of fire trucks were outside. Apparently the house two doors down from us was fully on fire. A neighbor said it started from a car and spread to two houses. I don't think anyone was hurt and I'm pretty sure no one was living in either of the houses, but I definitely couldn't go back to sleep after that.

Selfishly, I wondered if the smoke would negatively affect rowing but I guess not too terribly.