jacket wrote: ↑October 9th, 2018, 4:53 pm
Hi all
I'm following the 5k plan but the 3 times a week option. That said I have, 5 weeks in, just started adding an extra distance session. For my distance pieces I'm doing 45 mins and aiming for 22-24 spm. My current 5k time is about 20 mins though I think I could go under 20 mins now. My question is, when doing the distance piece what should my split times be, I've done one at 2:07.4 which gave me an AHB of 136 but today I did 2:04.9 but my AHB was 142. My age is 58 and I recon my MHR is about 167. I have read that AHB during training should be 70-80% of max. but never over 85%, but also that ones MHB can vary +/- 20 BPM from any calculation. The piece I rowed today I did with my eyes closed most of the time so I was not conscious of my splits but just kept to a pace that I felt comfortable with. I was sweating at the end of it but not panting. I don't want to be "over training" but at the same time I want to make sure I am getting the maximum benifit from it. So, should I stick with the slightly faster rate and higher AHB or slow down to keep my AHB in the 70-80% window? All thoughts welcome.
Many thanks. jp
JP, first of all, if you're closing in on sub 20 minute 5K, that's fantastic, especially for 58! Nice work.
There are varying opinions on Polarized training. First of all, you're doing the 3 day 5K PP option. For those that don't know, that's a short/hard interval day (1' rest), an intermediate day (again rest shortened) and a TT day -- all essentially hard rows. Now you're adding on a longer optional SS day (much like you can do on the BPP).
Your comments on AHR (avg HR) depends on which session your doing but it seems you're asking about the longer, optional piece. To me, your paces seem a bit fast. You're already doing 3 harder pieces a week. The only purpose to add a fourth session is to build your "engine", your cardio. You don't want that session to be too fast. Most of my SS sessions are around 2:08 to 2:10 and I'm just a tad faster than you currently (but you might pass me up very soon!). I prefer Watts training over HR training. I like to keep my Watts around 60% to 70% of what I would do on a 2K. My Watts for my PB 2K this year was around a 283, so for me, I keep my SS work around mid to high 160s on Watts. To me, being over 50, I feel I need that to recover for the harder rows.
The other rule of thumb for the PP is keep your SS (longer Steady state) rows around 18 to 25 seconds slower than your 2K pace, which right now, for you, should be around a 1:49/1:50 pace (based on your 5K pace being around 20 minutes). If you're talking true Polarized training, you want to keep your SS sessions feeling like a 6 on a scale from 1 - 10. If you honestly feel like rowing at 2:04/2:05 feels like a 6 in effort, then continue. For me, that would feel more like a 7 or so, not too hard, but certainly not that easy either. If it's too hard, you're not adding in meters for cardio, you're making a 3 hard session per week plan into a 4 hard session per week plan. I don't know if that would be beneficial and it might even take away from your harder sessions and make them less productive.
This thread had some interesting discussions on the topic.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=184487
