The Equalizer

[ranger]

you haven't actually done anything that makes for a valid comparison.

I suppose this is a judgment call, but I am not sure that this is the case.

IMHO, the lightweight 6:28 I pulled when I was 53 years old is the full equivalent of Mike C.'s 6:18 at 40.

The difference, though, was when we pulled these comparable times, given our different ages, I was an English professor and complete novice as a rower who had never even been in a boat and didn't even know how to row, while Mike had been rowing for over twenty years, both OTW and off, was a professional trainer, both for rowing and other other sports, and had been training intensively, using his own training plan for rowing, for five years in order to reach his full potential.

For some proof of my claim that 6:28 at 53 is the full equivalent of 6:18 at 40, we'll have to wait and see whether Mike C. can pull a lwt 6:28 when he is 53 in five years.

For similar proof that I am now considerably better than I was in 2002-2003, when I pulled that lwt 6:28, we'll have to wait until I am fully trained and race a 2K.

Hopefully, that will be this winter at WIRC 2010.

ranger

[ranger]

Eh? What are we waiting for?

Waiting?

Odd way to refer to training.

I don't know about you, but I don't call 2-4 hours of hard training a day "waiting."

I am done with my foundational training.

I am now doing distance rowing.

When I am done with distance rowing (including distance trials), I will sharpen (with anaerobic intervals) and race.

If I pull a lwt 6:16 at 60, it won't show that Mike C. and I are comparable in our performances.

According to the arc of times with age at this time, a lwt 6:16 at 60 is right about seven seconds per 500m better than a lwt 6:18 at 40.

The 60s lwt WR is 6:42.

There's that seven seconds per 500m again!

ranger

[ranger]

A lwt 6:16 would make you a potential olympic medal winner

Yes, a lwt 6:16 on the erg meets the erging standard to qualify for the US National team.

Nice!

ranger

[ranger]

You have great difficulty making weight and as you get older this gets more and more burdensome.

Yes, I have to pay close attention to my weight to race as a lightweight.

But this isn't unusual at all.

As I understand, when Tom Kay raced OTW as a lightweight, he walked around in the off-season at 180 lbs.

Luckily, making weight gets easier and easier as you get older.

As you age, you get lighter.

You lose non-fat body mass.

When I was 53 years old, my non-fat body mass was 151 lbs.

Now, my non-fat body mass is 144 lbs.

Seven pounds makes a lot of difference when you are a heavy lightweight trying to make weight.

It is _much_ easier for me to make weight now than it was seven hears ago, and it will become easier and easier yet as I get older.

I suspect that I will walk around easily as a lightweight when I am 70.

By that time, my non-fat body mass will be 132 lbs.

With 132 lbs. of non-fat body mass, I can be 25% fat and still make weight.

Now, I have to be about 14% fat to make weight.

Back in 2002-2003, I had to be less than 10% fat to make weight.

ranger

[ranger]

A lwt 6:16 would make you a potential olympic medal winner

Distance rowing is coming along beautifully.

I now have a _very_ relaxed 1:44 @ 28 spm, tucked in under my anaerobic threshold.

When all is said and done, I think I'll do this for a HM.

1:43 @ 29 (11 SPI, 10 MPS) is now my anaerobic threshold.

That's an improvement of five seconds per 500m from what I could do back in 2002-2203.

A HM at 1:44 predicts a 6:12 2K.

A 6:12 2K by a 60-year-old lightweight would be right about the minimal decline over 40 years from the Open lwt WR by a 20-year-old lightweight.

The minimal decline with age over 2K due to loss of aerobic capacity is .3 seconds per year.

I am just doing a lot of threshold rowing now.

Put it on 1:43 @ 29 spm (11 SPI, 10 MPS) and row.

I would like to stretch this rowing to two hours (followed by two hours of cross-training on my bike).

ranger

[hjs]

You have great difficulty making weight and as you get older this gets more and more burdensome.

Luckily, making weight gets easier and easier as you get older.

As you age, you get lighter.

You lose non-fat body mass.

ranger

But that doesn,t influence your performances!, it's only hair, teeth and nails that you are losing.

[ranger]

You have great difficulty making weight and as you get older this gets more and more burdensome.

Luckily, making weight gets easier and easier as you get older.

As you age, you get lighter.

You lose non-fat body mass.

ranger

But that doesn,t influence your performances!, it's only hair, teeth and nails that you are losing.

No, nails are fine.

Hair and teeth, though, are going, going, gone.



ranger

[ranger]

Once you have learned to row well and therefore no longer need to do foundational rowing, the sine qua non of training for rowing is the hard 60min row.

Just get on the erg and row at your anaerobic threshold for an hour.

When you can do 60min at your 2K target pace plus 10 seconds, sharpen and race.

The world is your oyster.

ranger

[mrfit]

Not to pop your bubble, but

your anaerobic threshold (pace you can hold for an hour) is not 1:43 as you claim.

[hjs]

Not to pop your bubble, but

your anaerobic threshold (pace you can hold for an hour) is not 1:43 as you claim.

Given his usual around 7.00 season start it will be more close to 1.55 but it "feels" like 1.43 though

[ranger]

Not to pop your bubble, but

your anaerobic threshold (pace you can hold for an hour) is not 1:43 as you claim.

If I pull 60min @ 1:43, yes, it is.

You can't row for an hour above your anaerobic threshold.

ranger

[ranger]

Not to pop your bubble, but

your anaerobic threshold (pace you can hold for an hour) is not 1:43 as you claim.

Given his usual around 7.00 season start it will be more close to 1.55 but it "feels" like 1.43 though

If I pull 60min @ 1:43, that's better than 8 x 2K @ 6:52, no rest.

That's why you do hard distance rowing before you sharpen and race.

To get used to rowing for sustained periods aerobically, right at your anaerobic threshold.

Then sharpening brings up you anaerobic capacities.

I haven't done either hard distance rowing or full sharpening since 2003.

I usually get about a dozen seconds over 2K from each.

ranger

[Steve G]

Rich
9 posts already this morning, do you train betewwn posts, or wait until you have finished and do a continuous row?

Steve

[hjs]

Not to pop your bubble, but

your anaerobic threshold (pace you can hold for an hour) is not 1:43 as you claim.

Given his usual around 7.00 season start it will be more close to 1.55 but it "feels" like 1.43 though

That's why you do hard distance rowing before you sharpen and race.


ranger

Do ? You don,t do anything, at least you don,t dare to say what you CAN don. hahah

[ranger]

You don't do anything

Because I don't race my training and report the times over the distances raced?

Ah.

Well, this morning, I did 20K on the erg and a hard hour on my bike.

That's something, I think.

Over the winter I will coax these daily sessions up to two hours on the erg and two hours on my bike.

That's quite a bit.

IMHO, the only wasted sessions are those you race.

I don't race my training because I don't want to waste it.

ranger