Ranger's training thread

[ranger]

Rich, your dreaming mate.

Of course.

That's what dedication to some difficult task is all about.

Without the dream, why bother?

Deeds cannot dream what dreams can do.

ranger

[Citroen]

Rich, you're dreaming mate.

It ain't a dream, it's a full on, 100% nightmare.

[ranger]

My logic in life is simple - get good at one thing and stay good at it.

Simple, but foolish, as you will discover.

Life isn't kind to those who put all of their eggs in one basket.

If you do that, you are just begging for an omelette.

ranger

[ranger]

If so, when will you admit that you will never actually do any of the things you claim to be able to do and quit this sport?

"Never?"

On the erg, I have already done everything that I said I could do--repeatedly.

To keep it interesting, each time I have reached a goal, I have upped the ante.

We'll soon see how this round turns out.

Nothing motivates like success.

ranger

[ranger]

Look, just get back to us when you've actually done something, ok?

In erging, your UT training is the major doing, and by and large, with respect to my goal of rowing 6:16 @ 60, that's now done, fait accompli.

I now pull 1:48 @ 25 spm with just over a UT2 heart rate, 150-155 bpm.

Back in 2002-2003, I pulled 1:48 with a heart rate of 172 bpm, top-end UT1.

This improvement is _massive_.

I am now better by an entire training band.

I have described what I have done in training to achieve this improvement here on the forum, blow by blow, for the last eight years.

i guess you missed it.

ranger

[ranger]

I now pull 1:48 @ 25 spm with just over a UT2 heart rate, 150-155 bpm.

I take that back.

Wow.

This morning I was hitting it right on the money, 10 MPS, 1:43 @ 29 spm, with a HR in and around 155 bpm.

Gorgeous stuff.

I have really caught on to the longer slide, bigger legs, and lower drag.

The best thing about this rowing, though, is not its speed but its ease.

I am just running a middle-of-the-road UT1 heart rate.

So, if I want to, I can do this rowing every day, easily, and up to as much as 30K per session.

It has taken me a heck of a long time to get to this point at an appropriate stroking power (11 SPI) and efficiency (155 bpm/75% HRR), but I now can't help but agree with PaulS that the best rowing to do from day-to-day on the erg is an hour or two at 10 MPS and one SPI below your 2K SPI.

The only thing Paul leaves out, and it is a pretty big thing, I think, is the rider about stroking power.

I emphatically do _not_ think it is productive to just pull easily at 10 MPS (e.g., 1:55 @ 26 spm, 8.8 SPI).

Being efficient is no virtue, if you are ineffective.

When you take a stroke, you need to pull some water.

You need to spin that wheel.

ranger

[ranger]

It would be great to be able to rate 29 spm in my everyday rowing OTW, too.

If you add 18 seconds per 500m to 1:43 @ 29 spm, you get 2:01 @ 29 spm.

There's that Head of the Charles Stroke again!



ranger

[ausrwr]

Rich, before you start frothing at the mouth at the prospect of rating 29 OTW the whole time, perhaps try to get it right at 16-20 first...

You may 'now row well' on the ergo*, but by your own lights you are a novice on the water.

*[Opinions vary on this statement]

[ranger]

At some point in this 10 MPS rowing, 1:43 @ 29 spm, a 5K pb is going to be _very_ easy.

In the fall of 2002-2003, I started off each of my erging sessions with a 1:45/17:30 5K.

I should be able to do the same now at 1:43/17:10 (or faster), my 5K pb pace.

Brian Bailey's 60s lwt 5K WR is 17:26.

T.J. Osterling's 60s hwt 5K WR is 17:18.

In the fall of 2003, I did a lot of 4Ks @ 1:42.

ranger

[whp4]

If so, when will you admit that you will never actually do any of the things you claim to be able to do and quit this sport?

"Never?"

On the erg, I have already done everything that I said I could do--repeatedly.

You mean like breaking Roy's "soft" WR? You've done the saying "I think I can ..." part repeatedly, I'll grant you that!

Too bad those heartless, unthinking bastards at C2 can't follow your logic about your feel for your UT2 stroke that determines all else, or your name would be there in the record books, alongside the illustrious folks who actually, you know, row their pieces...

[ranger]

Rich, before you start frothing at the mouth at the prospect of rating 29 OTW the whole time, perhaps try to get it right at 16-20 first...

You may 'now row well' on the ergo*, but by your own lights you are a novice on the water.

*[Opinions vary on this statement]

Sure, that, too.

But if, at 60 years old, I can rate 29 spm OTW over 5K, start to finish, I will do _very_ well, regardless.

ranger

[whp4]

At some point in this 10 MPS rowing, 1:43 @ 29 spm, a 5K pb is going to be _very_ easy.

In the fall of 2002-2003, I started off each of my erging sessions with a 1:45/17:30 5K.

I should be able to do the same now at 1:43/17:10 (or faster), my 5K pb pace.

You should be able to, if you have made the improvements you claim, but you cannot. Therefore, your improvements are nothing but fantasies, and you've destroyed your former impressive distance abilities in the process of "improving" your erging. As a cross-check on this, one need merely look at your recent 2K results (there's that 13 seconds slower again!) and get the confirmation that your 5K, 60 minute, and FM results are in no way able to eclipse or even equal the 2002-2003 results you submitted (all done without independent verification, of course).

[ranger]

You mean like breaking Roy's "soft" WR?

I will finally give it a go, at weight and fully trained, at BIRC 2010.

The goal will be to put the 55s lwt WR well below Siebach's 50s lwt WR.

ranger

[ranger]

You should be able to, if you have made the improvements you claim, but you cannot.

To your mind, you can't do something until you do it.

Sorry.

Training doesn't work that way.

Everything you achieve in racing some distance in this sport depends on training that both _precedes_ the race and is not itself like the race, but quite a bit different.

So it goes.

Doing 2K trials, over and over, is not at all the way to train yourself to row well for 2K.

ranger

[KevJGK]

I will finally give it a go, at weight and fully trained, at BIRC 2010.

You have absolutely ZERO chance of breaking Roys' WR!