Pete Plan 2017

[Rod]

The Pete Plan sessions seem to be paying off nicely;

Last nights torture was 4 x 1k.5’r.

1) 1:46.0……35spm
2) 1:46.0……36spm
3) 1:45.9……36spm
4) 1:45.0……36spm

Average…..1:45.7….35spm. Drag Factor 130

This was 0.7 on average pace faster than last time I did it 10 days ago so speeding up nicely.

The Pete Plan says this is around 2k time plus 1 second so a sub 7 looks on at the English champs on the 5th of February....although I still have to put the effort in on the day of course!

I doubt it will get me a medal but will be good practice for next year when I'll be in the over 60 Lightweights.

I'm doing 6 x 1k.1'r tomorrow and 8 x 500.3;30r on Friday finishing the week with 30'r20spm on Sunday.

For the 2 weeks after that I'll be dropping the 5k paced sessions (3 x 2k and 6 x 1k) and doing just the 500's, 750's and 4 x 1k. A tough 2 weeks but I should be ready for a decent 2k after that lot!

[JohnAd]

Got a bit behind on posting my sessions

Friday PP07Lite 3.3 3x2k 3'
This is the sub-max 2k in middle interval session
Target 1:49.5 by neg splitting 1:51 1:50 1:49 1:48
Approx splits
01:51.0
01:50.5
01:50.5
01:49.9
Avg 1:50.5 r29 MHR 165

Really struggled to speed up and legs really feeling it from the start.

Sunday 10k SS 2:04 ish long and slow I seem to be able to do.

Monday PP07Lite 4.1 10x500m 1'r but I forgot to do 10 and only did 8
Target <1:50 (which is a few tenths faster than the last set of sprints which was 1:50.4)
01:49.8
01:49.9
01:49.8
01:49.7
01:49.5
01:49.9
01:49.8
01:46.4
Avg 1:49.3 r27 MHR 161
Felt a bit better, but then I missed 2 intervals off what I was supposed to do. I seem to struggle to go much faster than this at the moment but hopefully that will come.

[Street]

Really struggled this morning after last nights 12km and weights and nearly gave up on the last rep. I wasn't quite as fast as I'd wanted to go but still beat my target time. My legs are feeling it now though!

BPP 20.1 5x1.5km/3' rest Target 1:55.8
28:48.5 / 7,500m / 1:55.2 / 25
5:46.6 / 1,500m / 1:55.5 / 26
5:46.6 / 1,500m / 1:55.5 / 25
5:46.3 / 1,500m / 1:55.4 / 25
5:47.0 / 1,500m / 1:55.6 / 26
5:42.0 / 1,500m / 1:54.0 / 25

[Slacker]

@Andy: No worries. Can't go hard everyday, so have to pick and choose which ones to knock-out.
@Tim: I can't go too easy right now, as I'm leaving the country middle of next week and will have to delay a week or so of workouts.

I'm proud of the BPP crew that is in the last 6 weeks - 1 month of the plan. It's a longer plan than most of the others are doing and we lost a few guys along the way. Everyone is doing longer distances than before and at faster paces than the shorter distances that we started out. It's a bit early for the finish line, but I was just noting that the group seems to taking strides lately.

I finished up week 18 (BPP18.4) with a 10k row.
Managed @2:11.0 r21

I was holding about 2:11.X at the halfway mark and thought about making a push for faster times the second half but quickly decided against chasing numbers on the PM. I didn't eat or sleep well yesterday. I have another 10k in a few days, so I thought I'd finish this one off with a steady effort and try to make a run at the next one. It was amazing to me that once I decided not to go harder, how difficult it was mentally to maintain the current pace. The mind is a funny thing sometimes.

[mdpfirrman]

Woke up this AM - actually all night. No doubt I've managed to come down with something again! 3rd time sick this Winter and I'm sick of being sick. No doubt the full PP has played a part in it - it is very taxing on the body but this is ridiculous. This weekend's race (my warm up race) is probably out for now and I'm taking a few days off to see if I can get back in the groove by next week. This year's race will be a bad performance but honestly rowing's a progression and I feel stronger this year (by far) than last year at this time. Have to keep things in perspective. Very disappointed to be feeling sick again but if I look back at August (the first two rounds of the PP), I was hitting my best times ever by a long shot. Have to keep that in mind.

[Slacker]

Sorry, Mike. Get to feeling better soon.

[mudgeg]

Mike - hope you shake that off pretty soon. The PP and the BPP are very taxing but I think you have just been unlucky. There seems to be a lot of contradictory advice on whether exercise temporarily suppresses the immune system.

[mdpfirrman]

Nice job Paul. You keep progressing. It's my second day off. I used to feel bad about taking breaks (even when sick) but no more. After all, the PP (or any plan) is about improving health. Already this head thing is progressing to my chest so I would hope in a couple of days I'll be feeling myself again.

The break is allowing me to really, though, go back and look at my training. I have to say, my best times on the PP were directly after a long period of doing lots of UT2 work mixed with just a bit of very hard, intense interval work. I've been looking back at my log through the year using my interval performance as a benchmark of progress and where I was at different times. It's clear that I was performing best in August and early September (by far - nearly 2 seconds ahead on pace per 500 from where I am now). That was my first couple rounds of the full PP. I suspect that my body probably responds better to an 80/20 approach to training (like the polarization that was just recently mentioned).

After my race in February, I'm going back to that.

[Litewait]

BPP 21.2 4 x 1000m r3' DF123

16:33.5 4,000m 2:04.1 183 929 29
4:04.5 1,000m 2:02.2 192 960 31 152
4:05.1 1,000m 2:02.5 190 953 29 158
4:08.4 1,000m 2:04.2 183 929 29 160
4:15.4 1,000m 2:07.7 168 877 29 157

Fly and die, legs disappeared half way through the third (I think this happened on last of these too). Serves me right for bettering my distance pieces.

[mdpfirrman]

Nice work Tim pushing the limits though. Sometimes you never know until you push the envelope. Now you do. Sometimes a crash and burn like that just means you started a second or so too fast. I'd try one second slower the next time starting out and then seeing if you can finish strong. Or start at 2:04.1 and hit that the first two and a half and if you have energy left, push the last two intervals harder.

[Rowan McSheen]

Oh dear Mike. Sending get-well-soon vibes in your direction. We all hate missing training but sometimes the body says it needs a day or two off ...

BPP week 1 optional 5th session - 2 x 10 minutes 2 min rest, Pete says aim to maintain previous 20 mins ss pace in first interval and just beat it in the second. But since my hr in the steady states has been in the lower half of my UT2 band I decided to push a little. Instead of 2:14.0 I turned in
2:09.7 average hr 121 peak 134, and
2:09.3 average hr 130 peak 140
both at 23 spm.
Those averages work out as mid point of UT2 and peak UT2/base of UT1. Felt comfortable throughout. The steady states get longer but I think I'll up my target pace for them to 2:12 while aiming for hr well within UT1. Yet to land on the optimum pace, I think.

Only problem was part way through the first interval: a small spider suddenly descended from the ceiling right in front of my face on the catch and went up my nose. Could have done without that.

[Street]

Get well soon Mike, you'll probably come back stronger for a few days off.

Only problem was part way through the first interval: a small spider suddenly descended from the ceiling right in front of my face on the catch and went up my nose. Could have done without that.

Fair play for carrying on though, especially nearly 6 seconds faster than your target.. I'd have have probably fallen off in a fit of sneezing and choking!

[JohnAd]

Paul, you really are showing me how to should be done on the extending distance sessions, very impressive consistent improvement.

Mike, sorry to hear you're getting ill again, I hope it's something quick like your wife rather than something longer lasting. I think trying to combine lifting and rowing is pretty tough on the body, I'm finding recovery from lifting is taking me longer than recovery from even a hard interval session. I wonder if the 80/20 kind of ratio should be across all training types not just the rowing and if lifting is in the 20.

Rod, great 4x1k, looking good for sub-7, definitely taper in the last week, do just enough to keep everything ticking over but don't go too hard, that worked for me at least.

Andy, nicely gritted out, those sessions really build the pain as 3' isn't really enough to fully recover.

Ben, agree with the comments on the BPP plan and the mind. The various bit of the BPP seem to be coming together for everyone, and great too see so many sticking the course. On the mental side it does seem to be that once you give the subconscious the opportunity to slow down it will grab it.

Tim, good work for finishing though, many would have HDed one that last one. Those limited rest sessions are really on a knife-edge as you get to the later ones.

Rowan, nasty, does that mean you now have special spider powers?

Wednesday PP07Lite 4.2 ish was supposed to do 4x1250 4'r but swapped it out for the CTC 4x4' 4'r which seemed pretty close
Target 1:49.5
1093m 01:49.7 28
1096m 01:49.4 28
1097m 01:49.3 28
1125m 01:46.6 30
4411m Avg 1:48.8 r28 MHR 170

Was a bit stiff from some weights and kettlebells on Tuesday but good to be back in more sensible place on pacing and was properly able to empty the tank at the end.

[JerekKruger]

I'm a newish* rower, 32 years old, 6'6", ~95kg and my (very old) 2k PB was 7:13. Late last year I started using the Concept2s at my local gym regularly and I decided to start the Beginner Pete Plan on New Years Day (at 6:30am no less). Here are my sessions so far:

01/01/17: 5000m in 20:09.5 (average of 2:00.9) at 23SPM average

03/01/17: 6x500m/2min rest
1:41.3 at 28SPM
1:46.6 at 28SPM
1:49.8 at 27SPM
1:51.8 at 27SPM
1:50.5 at 27SPM
1:48.8 at 29SPM
Average: 1:48.0 at 27SPM

05/01/17: 5000m in 19:54.9 (average of 1:59.4) at 22SPM average

08/01/17: 5500m in 21:54.5 (average of 1:59.5) at 22SPM average

10/01/17: 4x750m/2min rest
2:39.1 (average 1:46.0) at 25SPM
2:41.4 (average 1:47.6) at 26SPM
2:50.4 (average 1:53.6) at 25SPM
2:50.8 (average 1:53.8) at 25SPM
Average: 2:45.4 (average 1:50.2) at 25SPM

12/01/17: 5500m in 21:58.3 (average of 1:59.8) at 21SPM average

Ideally I'd like to maintain sub 2:00 averages for the steady state rows all the way up to the first 10k, although based on current performance that might prove difficult. I think what I need to focus on is consistency, as at the moment I tend to row the first 1000m and last 500m at around 1:55s whilst letting the mid-late 500s go as high as 2:03s. I suspect if I could keep my pace at 1:59 throughout it would be easier. Probably I also need to push through the discomfort a bit more.

*I rowed for two terms (at a fairly low standard) at uni, so am not a complete beginner, but it has been over ten years now since I last did any vaguely serious erging.

[mudgeg]

BPP Week 16 Optional Day 5

4 x 1000m, target same pace as the parallel sesssion in Week13 (1:59.0).

1. 3:59.1 / 1000 / 1:59.5
2. 3:57.6 / 1000 / 1:58.8
3. 3:57.3 / 1000 / 1:58.7
4. 3:57.2 / 1000 / 1:58.6

So, better than Week 13 but everyone of those felt hard.

My training has been really on and off either side of Christmas with work and family commitments. I am going to do a couple of non-plan SS rows tomorrow and Saturday and then Sunday and Monday will be two more enforced rest days. I hope to get back properly in the zone next Tuesday.