Pete Plan Summer 2015 starts June 14

[hjs]

Its two plans, the pp could take everything but it does not. Not only the 4 stuff is left out but also the long endurance rows

I know a bit more about the beginning of the PP and its the reason I gave at first. Heavyweights don,t need L4 because they are strong enough. Which is simply wrong. You can never be too strong, too fit or technically too skilled.

The pp is fine for two rounds orso, for beginners 3 or 4 because they don,t known how to pace stuff, after that you run into a wall. You simply reach a plateau and need a change. If you are more mature as a rower its not suited in my very humble (yeah right ) opinion.

For you guys, all roughly beginners, its fine. It will teach you guys what you are good for. Enjoy

[G-dub]

So you wait this whole time before you tell us we are crazy!? We were all nice and cozy in here before today (you know I'm just kidding). It is really hard and not sustainable for very long, I agree. I cannot do both intervals in style and then turn around and try to go hard on 5K + every week unless a miracle happens in the second cycle. I wish I could. Anyway...

Today I turned 6K into 4K. I tried to start another round but the legs and head were not into it. I think the workouts this week previous to today took it out of me (shut up Henry). Maybe on these I should just admit I'm not going to post a good times and settle on a pace that just gets it done half UT1 and half AT. The heart rate cap business doesn't really work because you hit it and then can't finish the drill which makes one feel less than happy. Rest tomorrow and a reduced program next week and hopefully back in the saddle sharp on the beginning of the next cycle.

[hjs]

So you wait this whole time before you tell us we are crazy!? We were all nice and cozy in here before today (you know I'm just kidding). It is really hard and not sustainable for very long, I agree. I cannot do both intervals in style and then turn around and try to go hard on 5K + every week unless a miracle happens in the second cycle. I wish I could. Anyway...

Today I turned 6K into 4K. I tried to start another round but the legs and head were not into it. I think the workouts this week previous to today took it out of me (shut up Henry). Maybe on these I should just admit I'm not going to post a good times and settle on a pace that just gets it done half UT1 and half AT. The heart rate cap business doesn't really work because you hit it and then can't finish the drill which makes one feel less than happy. Rest tomorrow and a reduced program next week and hopefully back in the saddle sharp on the beginning of the next cycle.

I once managed to keep a pretty sharp 2k for a full year, but still pulled my best 2k, that year on june at home. With the races in winter. The last years I only focus a bit in winter, for the rest I ignore 2k work.

I choose not to interfere , you guys have a fun group together, make each other better!

[Bob S.]

I have long been convinced that the WP is the best way to go for a serious erger. I based this on the good results that MC had with the college group, on the benefit that he himself got out of it, and from comments made by elite rowers who told me that they found it beneficial to their own training. Then why haven't I ever used it? One very simple answer - I wasn't willing to take the time and effort to study it properly. As a lazy, old bum in his second childhood, I had neither the energy nor the attention span to do it properly and just using selected parts of it misses the whole point of the overall plan. My view of the L4 sessions, the core of the plan, is that they give a rower control. By continual changing of rate and pace, a rower learns just how each should feel. An L4 session, done properly, should not be physically demanding - that is for the L1 and L2 sessions. L4 is more cerebral – it is mentally demanding. Quite some time ago, I did try one session. I think that it was Greg who urged me to try it and thoughtfully sent me an L4 session schedule based on my capacity at the time. I did the session and was quite impressed with the concentration that it required to stick to the rates and paces that it called for. That is what made me realize just what the plan could do for me. Valuable stuff, in my opinion, but not enough to motivate me to tackle the job of mastering the plan – my loss. Nowadays, I am no longer doing anything that could really be called training. What workouts I actually do are only 2 to 3 a week. And other than an occasional time trial for ranking as a boost to a sagging, senile ego, my so-called workouts are just maintenance to keep the rate of deterioration down to a slow gallop.

Bob S.

[G-dub]

Henry, you can say whatever you want in this post if it keeps me from quitting I have read almost the entire 10 years worth of PP dialogue on the UK site and it's funny how often that someone will reach their 2K goal - usually the dreaded 7 minutes - and then disappear for ever! Some are able to really make fast progress on it too, though. My issue is that it has made indoor rowing the only thing I eat sleep and drink (well not drink) at the moment and its making me bonkers. I NEED TO WORK TOO!! AND I WANT TO RIDE MY BIKE!! It sort of gets one stung out a little. I am sure that if I was in my 30's it might not consume so much energy, but at 53...I also think that it would work better without pressure associated with a time. One could make slower, steadier and sustainable progress if one didn't think one's world will end if one didn't reach 7:00. Who decided that 7:00 is a big deal anyway!!!

[gregsmith01748]

Having done both the WP and PP, I have the following observations.

- I LOVE L4 workouts. The pace and rate changes are a delightful way to mark time and keep one entertained.

- This is probably personal physiology, but the paces for the L4 workouts are too fast for the sessions to stay aerobic for me. Unless I stick with the lowest stroke count workouts, I end up with heart rates up into AT and TR by the time I finish. This might also be due to the fact that I favored a 6 session a week plan with 3 L4s and each of them was 2x40'. If I was doing 4 to 6 40 minute L4s per week, the pacing probably would have been OK, but CV drift got the better of me every time.

- In addition to the omission of the L4s, the other thing about the PP is that it prescribes the exact sequence of workouts and specifically is focused on repeating the same workouts in each cycle. In the WP, Caviston encourages "users" to explore different workouts within the basic definitions of the L1, L2 and L3 format. I think this is probably a good idea if you are going to do the plan for longer than a few cycles to prevent burn out.

- The L3 workout is not exactly like the hard distance workout. L3s include some much longer workouts, and can also be interval based. My favorite was 15x3'/1' rest. An extremely challenging way to spend an hour.

I think the Pete Plan is a really good way to boot strap yourself into a formal training plan and also a great tool to come back to for 10 or so weeks before you have a race or time trial.

Where I have ended up for myself is sticking with the concept of 3 steady state sessions, one short interval, one long interval and one "threshold" workout per week. In the spring, I include shorter than short intervals because the OTW masters races are the inhuman and awful distance of 1000m. Over the summer I tend to do more long intervals and threshold work because the fall races are 5K to 6K long. But the basic format stays the same.

I imagine that most athletes end up adapting what they are doing to suit their circumstances. It's a good reason to try to understand what the purpose of each training session is and what physiological effect it supposed to have, versus just slavishly following a "plan".

[gregsmith01748]

Who decided that 7:00 is a big deal anyway!!!

It is ordained by God. Set down on the third tablet which dropped on the path down from mountain top.

[Bob S.]

Who decided that 7:00 is a big deal anyway!!!

It is ordained by God. Set down on the third tablet which dropped on the path down from mountain top.

Along with the distance 2k itself. Note: in 1995, the C-B distance was still 2500m and it had to be done twice - since they had a system of heats.

Bob S.

[jackarabit]

7+ would be nice; say 7:59.99. OK, you know I'd settle for 8:10 in a heartbeat (and to ensure having other heartbeats following on after that). Jack

[G-dub]

Sad thing is that once you get to 7:00, you either don't care anymore or you have to go for 6:50...

All right, bitching over. Next cycle will be a bit less unknown, which created some stress. Just have to beat the previous times. I am declaring here today Jack and Galeere, that I'm NOT going to put time pressure on the hard distance day - period. It will be a mid AT pace row hopefully 20-30 minutes long.

[Galeere]

At least you are rowing, Glenn, while I am mending a major engine trouble. A summer flu is really tiresome as weather is running with temperatures over 100°F.

[G-dub]

Yikes! BTW - where do you reside?

[jackarabit]

Week 3.5
30' @ 20spm (lost that battle)
UT1 HR cap/150bpm (intentionally took it off final 3')
6364m

Flavour of the day. I felt OK about it. No warmup made the early bits look suspiciously like L4 (to the untrained and impatient eye). Jack

[jackarabit]

IDR in Philly this weekend.

Well, it's fountains full of dogs and kids, and it's freaky apple pie
And it's the ones that's come to play and the ones just passin' by
And it's coats of many colors and it almost makes me cry
Lord, it's ice cream on a stick and it's somethin' you can't buy

--Guy Clark

Have a safe 4th or just be safe whatever your time zone, kit, and beverage.

[jackarabit]

Single screen tabulation of Jack's 30r20 of 7-02. Numbers change with a different split. Here i get closer to 20 spm av. This is the Burpee/Excel output on 2' splits. Previous was Rowpro on 1:30. Maybe Burpee crunches the numbers exceeding fine.