The Road To Boston 2008

Rowmaniac · Post by **Rowmaniac** » December 28th, 2007, 1:25 am

This morning's row in the quad was nice. I sat stroke (Bob, I tried to argue to get out of this spot, but your kind comments about the human metronome from last week urged me to just shut up and take the seat)

I was having some trouble with the rigging and ended up with odd bruises on m right hand. Ah, hmm, it turns out the boat was a lightweight boat, and I am so NOT a LWT. In any case, great to catch some water time, and I learned a few more things from the experienced rower who sat bow and was kind enough to coach and row. Now the rain has come, and so hopefully the erg will work well for the rainy weekend ahead.

Tom, thanks for the advice on the 2K testing. Unfortunately, I did go out at a pace I felt confident I could hold for the 2K, but the post-illness weakness seems to have taken over and won. I've learned a big lesson and plan to drop the whole incident from my RAM. It can go in the recesses of the hard drive--to be called upon only if I every contemplate repeating the idiocy.

Today was 3 x 17' UT1

The fastest target time for my UT1 band is 2:06 so that was the goal.

4046m 206.0 23spm
4047m 206.0 23spm
4050m 205.9 23 spm

w/u 2018m

c/d 2018m

Total meters 16, 179

My heart rate seemed to be back in normal ranges for all parts of the workout. I worked to keep the slide speed down, and if I'm not doing the math wrong, I think I got my mps up to about 10.36 which is an improvement for me.

I'm glad to be back in business and will try to do the 8 x 2' TR tomorrow. This will be my first TR workout. Right now I can feel some heaviness in my legs from the row (few hours ago), so we'll see how it goes tomorrow.

Bob S. · Post by **Bob S.** » December 28th, 2007, 3:26 pm

Rowmaniac wrote:This morning's row in the quad was nice. I sat stroke (Bob, I tried to argue to get out of this spot, but your kind comments about the human metronome from last week urged me to just shut up and take the seat)

Deborah,

It looks like you are back on track again. Good News!

Re the stroking: Every club has a strong need for people who are wlling and competent to:
Row in the stroke seat.
Row in the bow seat of a coxless crew.
Cox.
Repair boats.

Not necessarily in that order, but they are all essentially to a good program.

Bob S.

seat5 · Post by **seat5** » December 28th, 2007, 3:29 pm

Deborah--Nice job on the 3 x 17. I like that workout--but it feels like cheating to take the rests, doesn't it?

Today was 3 x 7 AT. This felt ok but was pretty hard the last minute of each set.

1775 1:58.3/26
1777 1:58.1/26
1774 1:58.3/26
av 9.76 mps

target for 7:24 is 1:57, target for 7:28 is 1:58. I am doing these slower than I wish I was but hopefully they will improve over the next few weeks.

Tomorrow is 8 x 2 TR; targ is 1:51--1:52/30. Just barely managed that last time I had TR and that time it was only 5 x 2--I'm a little anxious about it. Definitely will do the squats after the rowing and not before!!

Rowmaniac · Post by **Rowmaniac** » December 28th, 2007, 4:28 pm

Carla, yes, the rests on the UT1 workouts do feel odd. To tell you the truth, it takes me a few minutes to get going again, so I end up rowing 1/3 of the piece at over my pace goal and then the last 2/3 under b/c I lose something trying to get into the rhythm again. I suppose the rest is for a reason, but I totally agree with you. Once I'm rowing, I'd prefer to just keep going until the whole piece is done. Intervals are not fun.

Today I awoke to find surprisingly sore leg muscles. I am baffled. I rowed a lot of meters (for me 16K is a lot) yesterday, but the pace was so reasonable. Now I am thinking about switching one of my workouts for today and doing the TR tomorrow. Decisions, decisions. I am disappointed in my body's recovery. I did not feel like I was pushing or doing too much of anything yesterday. It felt quite good. Arghhhhhhhhh!

Carla, nice job on the 3 x 7'AT. Your mps are always so good. I did these 12 days or so ago at about 156.0 each which made me happy, but I look back now and see 2 of them were at 29spm and one was 28spm and that does not compare with your higher mps. I never really knew I was supposed to watch that aspect, although I am trying now.

Since I don't have your charts from last year, can you tell me what 2K time corresponds to the 156.0 split for AT? The AT target (fastest) for 7:27 on this year's plan is 2:00. I guess they changed some stuff from last year. My TR target is 1:50. Heaven knows how I'm going to do that for 8 intervals. All the goals and targets seem so hypothetical to me that perhaps it's not important, but I am curious. I was wondering if the paces and corresponding times you mention in your post are linear.

Anyone have any miracle suggestions for sore legs? I thought about a swim. I'm game for any ideas. I want to do my workout but I can feel that they are not ready yet. I'm at 19 hours since the other workout. Maybe I give it another 5-6 hours and see how it goes.

Bob, are you out in your snow shoes hiking these days?

I thought I was beyond being sore from a workout. Perhaps this the result of having to take those days off. Bummer.

Happy Friday, everyone.

seat5 · Post by **seat5** » December 28th, 2007, 7:03 pm

Here's a few lines from the chart so you can see what I'm working off of:

UT2 UT1 AT TR AN 2K Time
2:07 2:03 1:56 1:50 1:47 7:20
2:08 2:04.5 1:57 1:51 1:48.5 7:24
2:09 2:05 1:58 1:52 1:49 7:28

UT2 is supposed to be 20--22 spm, UT2 22-24, AT 26-28, TR 30-34, AN36-46;
I do them at the lower number but in a race anything goes.

I don't mind intervals for fast stuff, it just seems a bit silly on UT1 and absurd on UT2 since I can row an hour at my UT1 pace without stopping with a slightly higher rate. Sticking to the rate cap it's a little more challenging but not much. That's why I'm doing my "extra" 5th session (well, when I catch up again I will) because last year I lost my endurance base on the IP.

Did I post this link before: http://www.machars.net/
It's a split calculator and has an mps calculator. I never learned to do the math myself but this makes it easy to check yourself.

Hope that helps! I know I cannot do 8 x 2 min at 1:50--I'll be grateful to do it in 1:51--1:52.

TomR · Post by **TomR** » December 28th, 2007, 8:24 pm

AM: 40 min/9000+ mtrs./2.09+ pace, on the edge of UT1/2.

PM: 6x1 min, 1 min recover/1.45+ pace/ AN.

seat5 · Post by **seat5** » December 28th, 2007, 9:16 pm

TomR wrote:AM: 40 min/9000+ mtrs./2.09+ pace, on the edge of UT1/2.

PM: 6x1 min, 1 min recover/1.45+ pace/ AN.

double sessions?!! are you doing catch up?

tdekoekkoek · Post by **tdekoekkoek** » December 28th, 2007, 10:50 pm

4K piece in 14:21.
6K easy with some sprinting thrown in. LP 1:24

Still off from where I want to be, but the splits are beginning to come down. Will do a few more 4K tests before I start doing my 2Ks.

seat5 · Post by **seat5** » December 28th, 2007, 11:51 pm

tdekoekkoek wrote:4K piece in 14:21.
6K easy with some sprinting thrown in. LP 1:24

Still off from where I want to be, but the splits are beginning to come down. Will do a few more 4K tests before I start doing my 2Ks.

Holy crap! 1:47 for 4K! that's my AN pace....I think I'll take up knitting

tdekoekkoek · Post by **tdekoekkoek** » December 29th, 2007, 9:31 am

Carla it's all relative. You guys are inspiring with how hard you are working. BTW, what is the IP plan?

seat5 · Post by **seat5** » December 29th, 2007, 11:27 am

IP is the Interactive Plan. There's links to it on the UK Concept 2 website. You enter your age, 2K time, number of weeks till your race, fitness level, how many sessions you want to do a week, etc., and it spits out a plan for you. This year's is a little different from last years as you may have picked up from our posts back and forth. Last year it specified rates as well as paces and HR guidelines--this year the rates are left off and HR is more prominent. Last year the UT1 and UT2 bands were a little faster than they are this year for the same 2K time, and it seems the AN and TR are slower on last year's plan.

Rowmaniac · Post by **Rowmaniac** » December 29th, 2007, 4:18 pm

Well, I had my first TR workout ever. Carla, I noticed you got a 5 x 2' TR before having to do the 8 x 2' TR we both had this week. I had no idea what to expect, and would loved to have had fewer of these to try for my first go, but with supportive hubby and hound nearby, I set out to redeem some of my confidence and try my best.

My target range for TR work is 1:50 - 2:00.

150.0 545m 30 spm
149.8 546m 28 spm
149.4 548m 29 spm
149.4 548m 29 spm
149.6 547m 29 spm
149.8 546m 30 spm
150.7 542m 30 spm
149.8 546m 30 spm

Average /500m = 149.8

w/u 2016m
c/d 2036m

Total 8419m

I am not sure what happened on the 7th interval, except maybe I allowed myself to feel the lactic acid that most definitely showed up after about the 5th or 6th interval. I'm really not sure. I snapped out of it for the last one and was glad it was over.

Tomorrow is 3 x 10'AT which I plan to row just at my lowest band pace of 2:00 and nothing faster. It is another cold and rainy day here in California. I am considering a nice dinner of take-out Indian food as a treat for doing this workout and hitting the targets. Oink Oink. "Will erg for food."

There's something you never see standing on a street corner....

seat5 · Post by **seat5** » December 29th, 2007, 4:33 pm

How many mins rest are you doing? I can't decide what to do, have less rest to improve endurance or more rest to have faster intervals.

Rowmaniac · Post by **Rowmaniac** » December 29th, 2007, 4:51 pm

I did 1:1 ratio 2 minutes row, 2 minutes rest.

I had no idea if that was right, but read that somewhere.

Good luck!

Rowmaniac · Post by **Rowmaniac** » December 29th, 2007, 4:51 pm

What did you do with the 5 x 2' TR? Did you do 2 minutes rest?

Edited later: never mind. Re-read your 5 x 2' TR post and see you did do 2 minutes rest. Hmmm, I probably got it from you! I know I read it somewhere and it seemed to be about right.