60 000 m a week is killing me

[Ombrax]

Minimalist shoes are crap imo. Zero drop up to 4° drop is desirable. You can get that in a cheap UnderArmor with enuf stiffness in the soles to avoid cracking a metatarsal or detaching a plantar fascia.

YMMV

[edinborogh]

there is no point to suffer.
in my experience, i felt really bad if i did too many HIIT intervals with in a week. today i would do HIIT no more then once or twice a week. ill start with a 2K worm up, some movement / stretching / mobility and then 5K easy pace. then ill do my HIIT intervals for no longer then 20 minutes inclusive of active rest. the rest of the days ( 3 or 4 days ) ill just do a steady state of an hour or 12Km, and once a month ill do a HM. try to reduce your high intensity volume.

[Bradycardia]

I put 1/16" adhesive backed hard rubber sheet under the flexfoot, big improvement for me, keeps the loose flexfoot from turning by adding some friction under it, and it reduces the angle of the foot stretcher.

Surely by reducing the angle of the foot stretcher can't be a good thing!!! You're putting it into a weaker position for which to apply force. That makes no sense at all. You're getting more of a vertical drive than horizontal lol.

Your footware has a bigger effect. The difference between some flat shoes and some running shoes with a raised heal is huge, forget about the 1/16th on an inch !!!! in an ideal world your heals don't want to come off the stretchers and I suspect this is pretty hard at the end of the recovery for most people, myself included.

I've been doing only 60 min sessions at 18-19 spm after showing symtomps of overtraining. My legs feel much better but all the "slow" pace has left me feeling sluggish. For instance if I row for 20 min @18spm and then try to go hard for 30 sec I get tired right away.

Can you guys explain the shoe thing again? For my HM PR I used Nike Streak LT4, which is a lightweight racing shoe for 5K.
The other day I was thinking that a shoe such as Hoka or Nike Vaporfly 4% would be more benefical because of their cushion (and carbon plate). These shoes would make me taller by 3-4 cm and give me a small height advantage.
Am I missing something here? If I understood you guys correct, you mean that flat shoes are more beneficial?

[ampire]

-My understanding is that Concept 2 designed the foot stretcher angle to be used with running shoes which have an elevated heel.
-However, running shoes are not the best for energy transfer because they employ a soft sole.
-I use weight lifting shoes, Adidas Powerlift 4, which have a very hard sole, but have a elevated heel and a low toe. I wear them really loose so my heel can pivot, seems to work well for me. They could use more ventilation though.
-I also tried Crossfit Nano 4s for quite awhile which are minimalist and flat and fairly firm soled. These were great for energy transfer because they didn't have much compressible material under the foot so the drive felt really connected.
-I found that having a heel helped me personally because I didn't have to lift the heels as much on the recovery going into the catch and I could get a quicker engagement in the midfoot through heel on the drive. I also found that my ankles and knees were more comfortable with the heel because otherwise the foot stretcher felt too vertical for me. I have a foam cushion on my C2 which puts me about 1/2" higher in the air and that changes the angle so maybe thats it. I am able to get my legs flat even with having the heel so I don't feel I am losing anything on the drive.
-Some do not like heeled shoes on the erg because depending on your leg dimensions, you may not be making the most of the leg drive, your legs might not be fully extended horizontal when the heel comes down fully if you are wearing a shoe with a heel, but for me they are, but maybe thats because of my foam cushion.
-Femur to tibia length ratios might play a part in what shoes work for you.
-You could try rowing barefoot to simulate a flat shoe.

This humorous video by Cameron Buchan can help with shoes, he prefers flatter shoes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfeM2Xu6jt4

Also I personally recommend slides if you want to do a lot of distance per week, I seem to recover better from slide workouts as they seem a lot easier on the body, so I really like them but it took some getting used to.

[Allan Olesen]

These shoes would make me taller by 3-4 cm and give me a small height advantage.

A higher rower has the advantage of a naturally longer stroke.

Which advantage will a higher sole give you? I can't see how it can make the stroke longer.

[Ombrax]

Which advantage will a higher sole give you? I can't see how it can make the stroke longer.

Correct - it changes your static position on the rail by shifting you back a bit, but not the net extended - contracted position. Otherwise, I'd get a pair of these and set new records at every distance!

[DavidA]

Which advantage will a higher sole give you? I can't see how it can make the stroke longer.

Correct - it changes your static position on the rail by shifting you back a bit, but not the net extended - contracted position. Otherwise, I'd get a pair of these and set new records at every distance!

Those are regular rowing shoes !

David