Good form vs. long distance?

[Cyclingman1]

And form notwithstanding, rowing doesn't get strenuously tiring for me until we're talking half marathon.

What? You need to reread your original post. You, in fact, do get tired after 20 min of rowing when using an efficient rowing stroke, because you seem to not be able to dial back with such a stroke. 60 min is apparently easy, because you (1) slow down to a crawl and (2) your form deteriorates, which apparently is easier for you. You seem to be more confused than most posters here. Rowing is really not all that complicated. One needs reasonable form and good fitness. Both are works in progress. If both are pursued, then results will happen. OTOH, if one continually repeats bad habits, there will little or no progress. 60 min rows is not what you should be doing. How about some reasonably paced intervals, say 500m, and 5Ks and 30 min. You need form and fitness, not slogging through mega meters.

[hjs]

Pace 2.15 for a guy your height simply means a pretty long drive time. Ratio 2:1 can,t happen, forget it.
Low drag and low spm are needed.

If you row 2.15 pace rate 25 you need to use such a soft stroke, that you hardly put energy in.

A guy you height should indeed be able to pull 2.05 for longer, if you can,t your fitness is the weak link. Don,t forget you tought yourself a weak, slow stroke. Which means you are poorly trained. Can,t put it anyway else sorry.

No need to be sorry. Thanks for all the advice. How long would you expect me to be able to pull 2:05?

A guy you height and with the meters you make should pretty easily keep this for an hour. But you obviously can,t. Thats technique for a but, but still mostly fitness.
You do like longer work, but you proberly would do yourself good to do shorter pieces now. Use a good stroke and good pace, if you need a break take it. Like I said before, you look not strong enough and training the way you did didn,t help you.

[G-dub]

The video was meant to inspire a strong push at r20 and the rhythm. I light went off for me when I watched it a year or so ago. Obviously the whole room wouldn't have "perfect" form.

[gcanyon]

The video was meant to inspire a strong push at r20 and the rhythm. I light went off for me when I watched it a year or so ago. Obviously the whole room wouldn't have "perfect" form.

Okay, then I'll take it as inspiration. Thanks!

[gcanyon]

Pace 2.15 for a guy your height simply means a pretty long drive time. Ratio 2:1 can,t happen, forget it.
Low drag and low spm are needed.

If you row 2.15 pace rate 25 you need to use such a soft stroke, that you hardly put energy in.

A guy you height should indeed be able to pull 2.05 for longer, if you can,t your fitness is the weak link. Don,t forget you tought yourself a weak, slow stroke. Which means you are poorly trained. Can,t put it anyway else sorry.

No need to be sorry. Thanks for all the advice. How long would you expect me to be able to pull 2:05?

A guy you height and with the meters you make should pretty easily keep this for an hour. But you obviously can,t. Thats technique for a but, but still mostly fitness.
You do like longer work, but you proberly would do yourself good to do shorter pieces now. Use a good stroke and good pace, if you need a break take it. Like I said before, you look not strong enough and training the way you did didn,t help you.

Just FYI, since this post I managed a 10K at a 2:04 pace. I think my form is much better after this discussion, although I still don't manage a St.-Louis-Arch-shaped force curve all the time. I'm working on it, and I'm doing shorter distances, interval training, and lifting weights to improve strength. At some point when I feel like I've made some significant progress I'll post another video for comparison. Thx again!

[hjs]

Nice to hear, well done! Keep working on it and enjoy!

[jackarabit]

I know for a fact you're putting in the meters, Geoff! The form will come.

[H2O]

You can get very fit and even reasonably fast using poor technique but this is not recommended
since obviously with good technique and the same effort you will be faster.

I used to do large volume with poor technique and got back problems.
As to not being fatigued: this is only a question of pace. I am fatigued on all pieces regardles
of distance unless the express purpose is recovery.

My favorite technique is in this video by the guy in the front (Eric Murray I believe):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOVmIrWZdWA
The guy right behind him (Hamish Bond I believe) uses an entirely different technique
but both are on their way to world records (half marathon and 60 minutes respectively)
so it is hard to argue with what they are doing.

The video has to be watched muted since the "music" is so horrible.

[left coaster]

Amazing how relaxed the first guy looks when pulling 1:37... he starts rate up and get tense when pushing the pace but that smooth roll at 1:37 is truly impressive!