Heart rate vs Power

[left coaster]

Thanks James, I can be a bit of a dullard with these topics so please bear with me.

The FTP on a bike would give an estimate of my sustained watts per hour capacity. As I understand it, the test is 20 minutes at max output and this is transformed into an estimate of what I could maintain over an hour. Given my propensity for sprinting I expect this 20 minute test may actually over estimate my full hour FTP, but that's for a different thread.

The FTP estimate is then used by the 'smart trainer' to set the intensity of the various workouts I do and is also a benchmark that I would return to to measure progress.

On the rowing erg, getting a max watts/body weight measurement seems rather straightforward. As you mention, warm up REALLY WELL and then hit the erg as hard as possible for 10-15 strokes to determine the max output/watts I can generate. Divide by body weight and, voila!

What I'm less certain about is how to estimate watts over time on the erg and what the best time duration would be. I think this has been touched on above, is it one minute, one hour, or? I have seen many, many posts and threads on this forum about training heart rate zones but from what I've read about the FTP assessment on the bike heart rate is different for everyone and difficult to pin down in a standardized way. Sustained power/weight is more objective and really the thing that makes you go fast on a bike and also on the water in a boat.

What I'm thinking at this point is that I may use the FTP test on the bike as my endurance measure and the peak power on the erg as my power/strength measure. This way I can also tend towards intervals and sprints on the erg, which plays to my strength there, while focusing on building distance endurance on the bike...

[jamesg]

What I'm less certain about is how to estimate watts over time on the erg and what the best time duration would be

Simplest is pull every stroke as hard and long as you can with standard technique, and adjust the rating according to distance, feel and experience, including during pieces.

For long pieces, low intensity, keep the rating at 18-20. Medium intensity, I use 22-24. High say 26-28. Adjust up as you get fitter and closer to race day.

Maybe you can adapt these plans to your needs:
https://www.britishrowing.org/indoor-ro ... ing-plans/

Peak power during the pull is what we do in every stroke, not the result of some test. It will be roughly 4 times the average shown on PM at rating 20. At least afloat, today the tendency is to use ratings up to 48 rather than a high peak power.