Pondering the Beginner Pete Plan

[Nomark]

After a break from BPP to complete the 200k Holiday challenge,

Week 6.5 [6 x 500m / 2min rest]

Congratulations on the 200k. That's amazing. I toyed with the idea briefly before realising after a few days that it wasn't going to be achievable for me, so that's some going! And a half marathon! Seeing as the BPP seems to be about getting us prepared to do 10-12k consistently, sounds like you've smashed it. Those 6x500s are looking good tooz and more to come judging by the last rep. It really shows that steady state metres really fuel all out improvements which is so counter intuitive to my thinking before I discovered this forum and the plan. Great to see.

Anyway, onto my progress. I discovered I'm not an athlete yet because after a couple of days of Christmas the erg was sadly forgotten from my mind. Did week 6.2 on December 20th, and then had to force myself back on the 29th after a generous week off. Only managed a pitiful 1800m before giving myself a proverbial slap on New Year's Eve and continuing with the plan - week 6.3, 7.5k. Was ok although my brain was sabotaging me the whole way saying "it's been 2 weeks, that's enough now. Just another 500m and then give up". But screw him, I did it and I upped the pace just to teach him a lesson (I'm not schizophrenic, honest!)

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Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	S/M		
34:17.4 7,500m	2:17.1	136	24
6:55.5  1,500m	2:18.5	132	24
6:48.1	1,500m	2:16.0	139	24
6:50.0	1,500m	2:16.6  137	24
6:53.6	1,500m	2:17.8  134	25
6:50.1	1,500m	2:16.7  137	25

Yesterday was a "cheat" day as I didn't have much time - 500m to fulfill the January challenge.

Week 6.4 - 5k today. Which I decided to make a time trial just before I started just "because"... And also SS is boring sometimes

Happy with the result. Sub 21 minutes, smashing my previous best if 23.21 before Pete. I spent half the time arguing with myself again - "you started too fast, just give up now before you blow up". I don't know about other people but I find having things done in my memory makes them infinitely more doable the next time, rather than going out into the unknown. So I started dreaming of a sub 20 minute, before quickly realising that I can barely do 2k at that pace so no chance of 5k. But then having done a 1.59 2k and a 2.15 6.5k I managed to persuade myself that doing the middle 2/3k at 2.05/2.10 is achievable at my level so I decided to aim for 21 minutes and see where I ended up. Just beat it and it's another positive day. New goal - sub 20minutes. Now I know I can do 21 minutes, next time will be easier. I just struggle a bit with pacing new things. The 5k was almost a perfect parabola on the chart though, so that was nice.

Tomorrow or Saturday will be a more gentle 20 minutes (week5.4) - I will try and keep my ego in check and aim for a nice and easy 2.20.

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Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	S/M		
20:54.9 5,000m	2:05.4	177	26
4:03.1  1,000m	2:01.5	195	27
4:13.0	1,000m	2:06.5	173	26
4:17.4	1,000m	2:08.7  164	26
4:16.9	1,000m	2:08.4  165	25
4:04.6	1,000m	2:02.3  191	26

[DJ1972]

After a break from BPP to complete the 200k Holiday challenge,

Week 6.5 [6 x 500m / 2min rest]

Congratulations on the 200k. That's amazing. I toyed with the idea briefly before realising after a few days that it wasn't going to be achievable for me, so that's some going! And a half marathon! Seeing as the BPP seems to be about getting us prepared to do 10-12k consistently, sounds like you've smashed it. Those 6x500s are looking good tooz and more to come judging by the last rep. It really shows that steady state metres really fuel all out improvements which is so counter intuitive to my thinking before I discovered this forum and the plan. Great to see.

Thanks. As this was a challenge, 200k seemed to be achievable at this point of the BPP (week 7) and of my personal training plan. Time was more of an issue for me as 10k sessions were above 45 min long. HM was completed due to the fact that I had done nothing for a couple of days. I had to recuperate a session. It gave me hope that I will do a FM later in 2025.

Week 7.2 [7 x 500m / 2min rest]

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Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	Cal/Hr	S/M	
11:48.4	3,000m	1:58.0	213	1031	27	158
1:58.7	500m	1:58.7	209	1020	26	150
r: 2:00	19m						
1:58.0	500m	1:58.0	213	1033	27	154
r: 2:00	20m						
1:58.3	500m	1:58.3	211	1027	27	160
r: 2:00	16m						
1:56.8	500m	1:56.8	220	1055	28	161
r: 2:00	14m						
1:58.8	500m	1:58.8	209	1018	28	165
r: 2:00	18m						
1:57.9	500m	1:57.9	214	1034	28	163
r87m					

My 7th 500m

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Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	Cal/Hr	S/M	
1:45.5	500m	1:45.5	298	1325	34	167

The idea of maintaining nearly 300 W sounded unbelievable when I started 5 months ago. Dropping my drag factor helped. I made the mistake to set it up too high and I couldn't reach above 30 SR.

BPP definitively guides you well. Progress is slow but steady when you stick to it. It has become a priority for me. After all, I bought the equipment for this reason.

[iain]

Week 6.4 - 5k today. Which I decided to make a time trial just before I started just "because"... And also SS is boring sometimes

Happy with the result. Sub 21 minutes

Congratulations, takes a lot of mental strength to go that much further than you have done at approaching that pace. 5k is right on the aerobic edge for us slower rowers (I firmly believe that it is the time that determines the experience so suspect that those who row sub 1:45 for this experience something similar for 6k but different for 5k). This is the CTC challenge for January. You need to be in a team, but there are plenty of options from "independent" to my own team who accept all comers and have a parallel forum (see signature), so why not enter it to start your year? See https://ctc1.insideindoor.com/ Pete used to say that in any TT if you don't worry about being able to keep it up by 40% through you could have gone faster, so sounds like you got this right. That was a really strong finish, so next time you can remember how you felt and know that you managed to accelerate regardless so have more confidence to keep going!

DJ, great set of intervals with a fantastic finish. It is worth experimenting with DF to get the feel optimum for you. While quite a lot of people put it up for 500M TTs or less, 500 intervals are a different beast so normal DF is the usual prescription.

[p_b82]

Anyway, onto my progress. I discovered I'm not an athlete yet because after a couple of days of Christmas the erg was sadly forgotten from my mind. Did week 6.2 on December 20th, and then had to force myself back on the 29th after a generous week off. Only managed a pitiful 1800m before giving myself a proverbial slap on New Year's Eve and continuing with the plan - week 6.3, 7.5k. Was ok although my brain was sabotaging me the whole way saying "it's been 2 weeks, that's enough now. Just another 500m and then give up". But screw him, I did it and I upped the pace just to teach him a lesson (I'm not schizophrenic, honest!)

It seems we're very closely matched in terms of our mindset and our current performances (and age& dimensions) - well done on winning the mental battle on the return, it's so easy to just decide to not bother and to let it become a habit!

Happy with the result. Sub 21 minutes, smashing my previous best if 23.21 before Pete. I spent half the time arguing with myself again - "you started too fast, just give up now before you blow up". I don't know about other people but I find having things done in my memory makes them infinitely more doable the next time, rather than going out into the unknown.

Congrats on that 5k time - that's a huge drop in pace; I think you've got even more in the tank if you pace it better.

I find shortening my split distances makes it slightly easier to keep at it - it's all in the mind as the distance is the same, but "just another 500m" (i make sure to stop staring at the pm5/app for a few strokes to stop distance watching immediately as well) feels so much better than another 850m to me.

If you take a look at my row below, i don't have quite as much of a dip in the middle, which means you don't have to chase quite as much at the end - I reckon you've got 180w+ average in you currently given how you went out and finished.
my 5k

[Joris]

After an 8-day absence, I got back on the rowing machine yesterday and today. During the holidays I did manage to go jogging regularly, so I wasn't too worried about having lost fitness, but maybe strength in the arms? So I was curious to see if I could just pick up again with the BPP plan, back where I left off, or if I would have to redo some sessions to get back into the rhythm.

Fortunately, it was the former, with an interesting insight on top of it.

* Week 11 - Day 1 [10000m]
I had to kick off with a new milestone, 10k!
To my satisfaction, I was able to maintain the same (slow) pace as before and my heart rate was even one beat per minute lower than in the similar session of Week 10 - Day 1.
So far so good, but I did notice that I had subconsciously maintained a slightly higher pace than before. (around r21 instead of r20)

* Week 11 - Day 2 [8 x 500m / 2min rest]
Last similar interval session I achieved 6 x 1:59 + 1:55 on the final rep.
Since this session included an extra rep, I targeted the same pace and managed to succeed (7 x 1:59 + 1,56 on the final rep).
After the aforementioned break, I was more than satisfied with this too.
But even more pronounced than in my steady state session of yesterday, my rowing rate went up quite a bit, from 28-30 last time till 30-33 today.

In other words, it looks like I lost some arm muscle, but managed to compensate with increased speed.
Or to approach it in a positive way, if I can get my arm muscles strengthened back a bit in the upcoming sessions my times should be able to come down further.

Given the rapid progress of the other forum members here, rather a necessary prospect than a luxury though.

[Nomark]

The idea of maintaining nearly 300 W sounded unbelievable when I started 5 months ago. Dropping my drag factor helped. I made the mistake to set it up too high and I couldn't reach above 30 SR.

Wow, that last rep is incredible. Especially after 3k at sub 2 mins. That's the thing with this plan, sometimes you make incremental changes and sometimes you shock yourself. I bet it feels like it will be tough to top that, but I can see the same happening at an even quicker average pace next time. But I know exactly what you mean about the plan. If you stick to it, the changes in distance and reps happen so slowly that you shock yourself with how far you come each month.

This is the CTC challenge for January. You need to be in a team, but there are plenty of options from "independent" to my own team who accept all comers and have a parallel forum (see signature), so why not enter it to start your year? See https://ctc1.insideindoor.com/ Pete used to say that in any TT if you don't worry about being able to keep it up by 40% through you could have gone faster, so sounds like you got this right. That was a really strong finish, so next time you can remember how you felt and know that you managed to accelerate regardless so have more confidence to keep going!

Thanks. I've seen a little about the CTC on the forum and was wondering how it worked. I might sign up, thanks for the invite.

As I said in my earlier post, a lot of this is going into the unknown for me, so I go too fast or too slow and it's not very efficient. The same happened on my 2k. But as you say I have a benchmark now, so should be safe in the knowledge that I can maintain that pace next time. In praise of the BPP, 5k was a "lot* just 2 months ago. Now it feels like a shortish distance compared to 7.5k steady states.

I find shortening my split distances makes it slightly easier to keep at it - it's all in the mind as the distance is the same, but "just another 500m"

If you take a look at my row below, i don't have quite as much of a dip in the middle, which means you don't have to chase quite as much at the end - I reckon you've got 180w+ average in you currently given how you went out and finished.

Thanks, I'll try shorter intervals next time - any psychological advantage will help!

That's a very consistent 5k, maybe I can replicate it next time. My brain knows the theory and that Watts has a polynomial relationship to split, so consistent is better and more efficient, but my pacing goes to pot when I'm all out. Partly because of tiredness I'm sure, but partly as a literal representation of the argument going on in my mind of "whew, too tired let's slow down" Vs "don't give up loser, not far to go". Lol. I'm going to carry on blaming inexperience until I have a few under my belt and can't use that excuse any more!

Here's the detail on my 5k for anyone who wants a laugh!

Onto my progress. Yesterday was another 500m for the challenge. Feels like cheating but thems the rules. I did it mostly as an upper body workout with no leg movement just to spice it up. Might carry on as it should increase my upper body strength hopefully (the exercise with dumbbells is called upright rows for a reason, right?).

Today I moved on to week 7.1 - 8k steady state. I was going to wait for Monday, but I figured why not?I don't enjoy steady state very much. It definitely works and I appreciate the gains but I get bored and end up pushing it, and sometimes the distance feels too far. Not today. It felt fine. Watched some TV (Arrested Development today) and tried to lower my average time every split which I managed. Started as SS, and crept into SS+ (as I call it) by the end. Not so much to be unsustainable but just a bit more challenging. Again, I know the theory on UTs and SS pace, but I want to feel like I've had a good workout too.

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Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	S/M		
37:09.2 8,000m	2:19.3	129	23
7:30.8  1,600m	2:20.8	125	23
7:26.5	1,600m	2:19.5	129	23
7:25.7	1,600m	2:19.2  130	24
7:24.9	1,600m	2:19.0  130	24
7:21.4	1,600m	2:17.9  133	24
HR 113 (Fitbit)