Controlling heart rate

[bobwhite]

I put all of this good experience and advice to the test today and rowed my 5k M with 30 spm instead of 36 and concentrated on form and longer stokes. I shaved 1.5 minutes off of my previous 5k time and wasn’t even trying. More importantly, I didn’t kill myself doing it. In fact I found the workout fantastic and look forward to rowing more often now. Thanks to JaapvanE for “moving the boat” and not being so quick on the catch. I concentrate on those next!

[Ombrax]

Congratulations!

It's always nice to make changes that give immediate positive results.

Good luck with your training - as I often say here (and it's easier to say than do) the great thing about exercise is that if you put in the time and effort you're certain to be rewarded.

[p_b82]

Congrats that is great to read - you can keep testing tweaking the rate/effort to find if you've found your sweet spot or not quite yet, but either way you've made an improvement regardless there! and most importantly keep enjoying it

[mitchel674]

I put all of this good experience and advice to the test today and rowed my 5k M with 30 spm instead of 36 and concentrated on form and longer stokes. I shaved 1.5 minutes off of my previous 5k time and wasn’t even trying. More importantly, I didn’t kill myself doing it. In fact I found the workout fantastic and look forward to rowing more often now. Thanks to JaapvanE for “moving the boat” and not being so quick on the catch. I concentrate on those next!

This is great!

Consider some row along videos to help you maintain focus and work on key areas. I row at least twice a week with a video from Eric Murray. He live streams them every sunday for free. Talks a lot about "patience" and not rushing the stroke. Most are just around 30 minutes of rowing.

This from last week:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd_2Hgo ... el=asensei

[Dangerscouse]

I put all of this good experience and advice to the test today and rowed my 5k M with 30 spm instead of 36 and concentrated on form and longer stokes. I shaved 1.5 minutes off of my previous 5k time and wasn’t even trying. More importantly, I didn’t kill myself doing it. In fact I found the workout fantastic and look forward to rowing more often now. Thanks to JaapvanE for “moving the boat” and not being so quick on the catch. I concentrate on those next!

Really pleased to read this. Sometimes doing something that might seem counter intuitive is exactly what you need to do to make yourself more efficient and enjoy it more.

[johnlvs2run]

Bobwhite,
That's a nice big improvement. Well done.
Here's an example with lightweight (125 pound) women.
Women's lightweight double sculls <-- at the 2021 World Rowing Cup.
Women's lightweight crews average 57 kg (125.7 lb); no rower over 59 kg (130.1 lb).
The stroke rates are shown on the screen, averaging between 35 to 45 strokes per minute.

[Elizabeth]

It's so satisfying finding those technical improvements that result in a stronger performance with the same effort. Well done!

Bobwhite,
That's a nice big improvement. Well done.
Here's an example with lightweight (125 pound) women.
Women's lightweight double sculls <-- at the 2021 World Rowing Cup.
Women's lightweight crews average 57 kg (125.7 lb); no rower over 59 kg (130.1 lb).
The stroke rates are shown on the screen, averaging between 35 to 45 strokes per minute.

Can you please help me understand the relevance of rates in a 2k race to the rate for a longer training piece? I'm having a hard time seeing the connection.

[JaapvanE]

Can you please help me understand the relevance of rates in a 2k race to the rate for a longer training piece? I'm having a hard time seeing the connection.

The OP indicated she structurally rowed similar rates in training.

[Elizabeth]

Can you please help me understand the relevance of rates in a 2k race to the rate for a longer training piece? I'm having a hard time seeing the connection.

The OP indicated she structurally rowed similar rates in training.

Since OP was worried about her heart rate, I took this to be a more normal training piece and not an all-out training piece. I'm taller than her, so what may work for me may not be best for her, but most of my base training work is at rate 16-20, occasionally up to about 23. I will take a hard 5k at r27 (but understand that something like r30 may theoretically be better), a hard 2k at r33 or so, and a hard 1k closer to the r37 she was initially using. I am sure that the lightweight women crews aren't training everything at the high rates they show in racing.

Frequently, high rates for training is a sign of some form issues or rushing the slide, and my coach likes us to really focus on proper form at lower rates then try our best to maintain that in hard practices and race situations.

[johnlvs2run]

Can you please help me understand the relevance of rates in a 2k race to the rate for a longer training piece?

Training schedules from lightweight Eskild Ebbesen (70kg/154lbs) point to the importance of doing high intensity training many (6 to 8) times a week to simulate and prepare for the actual races. There was no or very little difference between his training and race intensity or efficiency, and the meters per stroke (stroke rating) was the same. He and his teammates also did low intensity training, but they avoided the middle intensities.

my coach likes us to really focus on proper form at lower rates then try our best to maintain that in hard practices and race situations.

It seems to me that rather than practicing to have high intensity at low efficiency in hard practices, it is better to have the most efficient rates in high intensity practices and in races -- because how we train is ultimately how we're going to race.

Here is a video of lightweight Henrik Stephansen <-- equaling his indoor 2k world record in 2014, at an average rating of 43 spm, which was 7.75 to 8 mps. Please point out any "form issues" you think he had that kept him from rowing any faster.

[Elizabeth]

OP, can you please confirm that I am correct in my assumption that your concern about your high heart rate is an indication that this was not meant to be a high intensity training session?

[btlifter]

Can you please help me understand the relevance of rates in a 2k race to the rate for a longer training piece?

Training schedules from lightweight Eskild Ebbesen (70kg/154lbs) point to the importance of doing high intensity training many (6 to 8) times a week to simulate and prepare for the actual races. There was no or very little difference between his training and race intensity or efficiency, and the meters per stroke (stroke rating) was the same. He and his teammates also did low intensity training, but they avoided the middle intensities.

my coach likes us to really focus on proper form at lower rates then try our best to maintain that in hard practices and race situations.

It seems to me that rather than practicing to have high intensity at low efficiency in hard practices, it is better to have the most efficient rates in high intensity practices and in races -- because how we train is ultimately how we're going to race.

Here is a video of lightweight Henrik Stephansen <-- equaling his indoor 2k world record in 2014, at an average rating of 43 spm, which was 7.75 to 8 mps. Please point out any "form issues" you think he had that kept him from rowing any faster.

I'm just trying to infer from your comments here..... Is your suggestion with this one that Henrik Stephansen and Eskild Ebbesen are at similar levels of development as the OP - and as such are helpful comparisons? Or, are you just being a bit "cantankerous"?

[johnlvs2run]

I simply took the average meters per stroke for top lightweights, and adjusted for height.

Here's an example with lightweight (125 pound) women.
Women's lightweight double sculls <-- at the 2021 World Rowing Cup.
Women's lightweight crews average 57 kg (125.7 lb); no rower over 59 kg (130.1 lb).
The stroke rates are shown on the screen, averaging between 35 to 45 strokes per minute.

With this information, I only adjusted for height to account for differences in drive length.
2000m / 7:00 / 40spm = 7.14mps ... 7.14 x 64/67.5" = 6.77mps ... 715m / 4' / 6.77mps = 26.40spm

Then did the same with the world champion lightweight (154lb) Danish men both indoor and on the water.
2000m / 6:00 / 43spm = 7.75mps ... 7.75 x 64/74" = 6.70mps ... 715m / 4' / 6.7mps = 26.68spm

As the pace gets faster, the meters per stroke stay the same, but the rating keeps increasing.
This doesn't need to be calculated though. Just practice rowing at the fastest most efficient free rating.
Within these examples, if 27spm is faster, then use 27spm. Then if 28spm is faster, then use 28spm and so on.

[iain]

As the pace gets faster, the meters per stroke stay the same, but the rating keeps increasing.

Not in my experience unless you deliberately control it to be. People with greater cardiac fitness tend to find that they are more efficient at higher ratings, while people who are stronger find that they can produce more power at lower ratings and so find the optimum to be lower. For most people I believe that if they keep the stroke length the same then there will be a low band of ratings where the intensity (and hence length that they can maintain that pace) increases from easy to maximal. This will be over a much lower range of paces than most train at due to the artificial restriction in the rating.