Intervals too intense?

[frogmeister]

When you are doing any kind of interval session you always want to emphasize consistency. Say, for example, you are about to embark on a 10 x 1k session with a 1 min recovery and want to be rowing 4:00 for each rep. It's ok to do one or two reps in 4:01 or 4:02 as long as the overall session is consistent and around the 4:00 mark as an average. Of course you are going to feel fresher during the early reps but this is where you have to exercise discipline and keep some energy in reserve as they will get tougher and you will be pushing your HR up as you move through the piece. Typically you always want to finish a session stronger than when you start it. This helps with the mental side of a race or timed piece. You will hear the term 'negative split' banded about and this simply means that you should always aim for a quicker second half of a race. If you achieve this (in a race or in an interval session), then it means you have been able to really focus on your pacing and have been mentally tough enough to get it done when it really matters.

That being said, you don't want to do 9 reps in 4:00 then finish with a 3:40! This just means you should have been pushing harder on the earlier reps. However a 5-8 second faster last couple of reps (using a 1k distance in this example) is a good sign that you are training well and have the discipline to do these kind of sessions and dig into the tank when it matters. I would also agree with the poster who mentioned the warm up. For shorter, sharper TR or AT sessions you need at least 15 minutes of warm up and warm down. Respect the session and what it will take out of your body. You need to warm up and warm down correctly. Jumping on an erg, doing a quick 3 minute warm up then going balls to the wall in a rep session is just asking for trouble. Even if I am doing a UT1 session I will still do a 10 minute warm up just to get the blood flowing and to keep loose.

I am 38 years old and 5' 8" and I struggle to work out at a 24 stroke rate. Most of my rep work is done around 28 -30 and my 2k races are up in the mid 30's. For longer, slower pieces I am at around 24 if this is of any use.

Good luck.