Sub 6:30 by October. Training advice

[dsoucek]

I'm no expert, but doing a 10K time trial every week until the end of October sounds like a good way to run yourself into the ground. Maybe we think of time trials in different ways though.
Dave

[Dangerscouse]

I'd swap the 10k and the 4 x 1.5k days, and make the 10k a more steady session too as mentioned by Dave. There's no need to hammer yourself with a hard 10k if you're doing your intervals hard enough.

Long steady sessions may feel worthless but they really help with all sessions of 1k and above.

Splitting the interval days will help maximise your efforts. 24hrs isn't much rest if you're going max pace for both.

[mitchel674]

I'd swap the 10k and the 4 x 1.5k days, and make the 10k a more steady session too as mentioned by Dave. There's no need to hammer yourself with a hard 10k if you're doing your intervals hard enough.

Long steady sessions may feel worthless but they really help with all sessions of 1k and above.

Splitting the interval days will help maximise your efforts. 24hrs isn't much rest if you're going max pace for both.

This sounds like a solid plan.

[JimS]

Okay. V 3

Mon. 4 x 1500. 5 min rest
Tue. Circuit.
Wed:. 45 min SS (1:55 target. 25 sr)
Thur: 8 x 500m. 2:20
Fri. Hard 30m.

Sat. Optional circuit.

I went back and reread the Pete plan.

"Hard distance doesn’t have to mean flat out every week, just that you can go faster than the steady distance days, and over the 25spm limit."

I was thinking the hard distance needed to be flat out, But this makes a lot more sense.

I reduced the 10k to 30m for now. I think I need to be realistic with how much time i can make for myself in the morning.

I would like to incorporate 2k tests somewhere. Maybe later on. My experience with really pushing my 5k PB is that practice matters. You get a really good feel for pacing and exactly how hard you can push yourself at any part of the race. I want to make sure i get that for 2k, which I haven't dont that much in the last year.

Edit. Switched SS to wed

[JimS]

Week 7 of 9.

4 x 1500. 5 minutes rest.

Pace

1:42.4
1:42.4
1:42.2
1:40.9

Average pace. 1:42.0

This is 0.3 seconds faster than last week

This is getting real hard. 3 weeks left. Need some advice as to whether to stick with the plan or make adjustments. See below.

[JimS]

Okay. So i have 3 full weeks left.

Plan was to stick with the same routine for weeks 7 and 8. Then do some kind of sharpening/taper in week 9. (I'll need advice on that closer to the date.)

Current weekly routine looks like.

Mon: 4 x 1500 with 5 minutes rest
Tues: weight circuit.
Wed: 45 minutes SS
Thur: 8 x 500 with 2:20 rest
Fri: hard 30

Mon. Thur. Fri. Have been trying to increase pace by about 0.5 second per Week, but thats been challenging for the last few. I reckon I'm gonna be pretty beat up if i keep flogging myself 3 times per week.

I'm worried I've peaked a little too soon, and will be getting over fatigued coming into the race. So considering a few options.

Option 1. Stick with it.

0.3 seconds per week is still great progress. It's supposed to be hard now. Suck it up.

Option 2. Slow down.

Try and improve by less each week. Maybe 0.1 or 0.2

Option 3. Reduce workload. Same pace.

Do something like switch to 3 x 1500 or 6 x 500 but keep pushing the pace. This is basically a mini taper.

Option 4.

Change routine. Not sure on this. Maybe swap the hard 30 for another SS piece? Keeps the volume but with less fatigue. That gives me 2 really hard sessions per week.

Thoughts? Anything else I could consider?

I'm leaning towards option 1 or 2 right now.

[max_ratcliffe]

Jim, the guidance from the Indoor Rowing Training Guide is:

Taper Period (the last seven to ten days of the Competition Period)
Intensity and duration of training is dramatically reduced to allow the body to fully recover from the intense training of the Competition Period.
Athlete focuses on race strategy and pre-race warm up, keeping the sessions short. This is also an opportunity to polish up technique.

So, a taper this far out looks a bit too long.

If you're wanting to tweak the programme to focus on your race and periodise the plan, then there's plenty of guidance in that doc, around page 4.08 (sheet 54 in the pdf). In the competition phase, 4 sessions a week has 1 off AT, 2 off TR and 1 off AN sessions and that's it. All about the intensity and not much volume.

But, given the progress you've made thus far, why change? If you're really knackered, you could ease up a bit on the "hard row" (no more 30' PBs!) then that might do the trick (and don't push the weights too much).

Now over to others who've actually walked the walk!

[lindsayh]

Jim I would vote for starting to drop the volume back a bit too - the interactive plan certainly suggests that n the last 3 weeks before the race with the taper starting 7/10 days out. I followed it pretty closely in the lead up to Boston in '17 and it felt pretty right. This is what is suggested for the last 4 weeks (of 26 - the MHL is medium heavy light):

23 M 2x16’UT1 6x1’AN 3x3’TR 3x10’AT 3x5’TR
24 H 2x18’UT1 8x45sAN 4x3’TR 3x12’AT 3x6’TR
25 L 2x15UT1 6x1.5’AN 2x5’TR 2x8’AT 4x2’TR
26 25’UT2 1x3’TR 3x1.5’AN 3x45s AN RACE

[JimS]

Thanks both.

I dont want to include any new workouts. I'd have no idea what to do on pacing.

I'm thinking I might.

Slow the 45 SS down by a second or 2.
Slow the hard 30 down to about 8200 metres. Hard, but not too bad.
Depending on how the legs are feeling. Change the 8 x 500 to 7 x 800.

Week 7 and 8 like that. Week 9 tapering.

That plus make sure i get enough sleep.

[lindsayh]

sleep is good
I would still try to do some AN sessions to get some pieces at faster than 2k pace - I used a goal of 120% of 2k target in watts which is the suggestion of the IP. Long and steady sessions won't really improve fitness this close to the race but sharpening will make you faster.

[max_ratcliffe]

Thanks both.

I dont want to include any new workouts. I'd have no idea what to do on pacing.

I'm thinking I might.

Slow the 45 SS down by a second or 2.
Slow the hard 30 down to about 8200 metres. Hard, but not too bad.
Depending on how the legs are feeling. Change the 8 x 500 to 7 x 800.

Week 7 and 8 like that. Week 9 tapering.

That plus make sure i get enough sleep.

The pacing comment is a good point.

As I understand it you can decrease the volume, and replace one of the longer sessions with some more speed work. So, perhaps drop the 45' ss altogether and do another interval session (one that focuses on pure speed). Then for the final week taper, do the 30' at ss pace instead of your challenging pace (so UT2, not UT1), and drop the number of 500m intervals.

This really needs one of the experienced rowers to chime in. I'm half your speed and had my worst w/o in months today. I don't want to be responsible for derailing all your work at the 11th hour!

[max_ratcliffe]

<>

But if you did what I suggest, you'd have to rearrange your days (so you don't have two consecutive interval days). Perhaps best to ignore me altogether!

[Dangerscouse]

Don't overthink and follow the advice above and you will be fine. Your training has been really good so you have got the base fitness and strength.

[JimS]

Sorry. What's an AN session?

[Dangerscouse]

I assume Lindsay means AT (Anaerobic Threshold) but I might be wrong. I haven't heard of AN