Ranger's training thread

[ranger]

I am going to rate a steady 30 spm at BIRC 2010, at least for the first 1700m.

Then, if I can, I will try to raise the rate to 36 spm or so.

So then, the BIRC is to be a rate limited workout for you?
Is that the criterium you set for yourself when you race... rate rather than pace?

No, I am not _limiting_ the rate.

Rowing at low drag (120 df.), I now get maximal pace from technical matters like length, leverage, rhythm, ratio, timing, etc.

I don't get maximal pace by just hauling the handle as hard and fast as I can.

If I stay long and firm and keep the rate low, at low drag, the ratio gets _very_ high, the wheel really spins for a long time on the recoveries, and I am rewarded for my technical patience and precision.

1:35 is plenty fast.

No need to go any faster

That's my target for BIRC 2010.

ranger

[ranger]

This morning, I was pulling 1:35 @ 30 spm, but that was a surprise.

I usually do 1:37 @ 30 spm (13 SPI).

You do realize that this statement does not imply an specific performance, don't you?

For it to mean anything you need to include uninterrupted durations and the the rests...(or paddles)

1:35/30 spm...

Yes, I am afraid I am not "performing" much in my sessions.

And I will probably need to over the next week, just to make sure where I am at.

The issue for me is still taking good strokes, getting it technically right.

When I get it technically right, it goes _very_ well.

My effectiveness and efficiency go sky high.

So I keep trying to get it right.

I won't have any problem rating 30 spm for 2K.

My fitness is great, as is my weight.

The question is how well I can row at 30 spm: quickness, length, timing, sequencing, leverage, etc.

I keep working on it, now at race rate and pace, and so, sharpening as I go along.

When I get it right, I am now pulling 13-14 SPI.

ranger

[jliddil]

If I stay long and firm

[DUThomas]

Ranger, according to your posts, sharpening takes about 6 weeks, you started sharpening (hard sharpening, even) 8 or 9 or so weeks ago, and yet you don't think you'll be fully sharpened by BIRC. What went wrong? How could you not be fully sharpened by now?

[mikvan52]

1:35 is plenty fast.

Why don't you just say "buzz off" instead of failing to answer the question?

Once again: Please tell us the structure of the work out.

you most certainly did not keep the 1:35 going for very long... What were you doing the rest of the time?

[ranger]

Please tell us the structure of the work out.

Take good strokes, 1:35 @ 30 spm.

Work on length, leverage, timing, sequencing, relaxation, smoothness, precision, breathing, etc.

Do it as long as you can.

Get as good as you can get.

Maximize effectiveness and efficiency.

I won't have any problem rowing a 2K @ 30 spm.

The question is how well I will row, because I am now getting both effectiveness and efficiency from technical matters: length, leverage, timing, sequencing, relaxation, smoothness, precision, breathing, posture, etc.

So I keep working on it, now at race pace and rate, sharpening as I go along.

ranger

[mrfit]

Please tell us the structure of the work out.

Take good strokes, 1:35 @ 30 spm.

Do it as long as you can.

ranger

They call it Fartlek in Sweden.

[PaulH]

This morning, I was pulling 1:35 @ 30 spm, but that was a surprise.

I usually do 1:37 @ 30 spm (13 SPI).

How could it be a surprise? You've made it absolutely crystal clear that you've entirely established your 'rowing naturally' pace. Ergo (no pun intended) you were rowing unnaturally, and hence went at a pace you wouldn't expect to. No surprise there.

[lancs]

It's often around this time pre-BIRC/WIRC that we get a reversion to a drag factor of 180 and the introduction of a 'Sprack Back' or something similarly ludicrous. Although I suppose this year's version of that may be the 'Sweep Stroke' that the Pathological One employs on the erg...

[ranger]

Mike--

Given your superior OTW rowing, I am amazed at what you do OTErg.

OTW, you work endlessly on technique, reducing the rate further and further, getting as much as you can with each stroke, maximizing effectiveness and efficiency, length and leverage, etc.

Then, when you get OTErg, you throw all of this away.

You thrash up and down the slide like a novice rower, ineffectively and inefficiently, with no regard for technique at all, just pulling as hard and fast as you can, as I did back in 2003, when I was just a gym rat who didn't know shit about rowing.

Heck, I am surprised you don't put the drag up to max, too, given your other behavior OTErg.

The best OTW rowers who do well OTErg don't do what you do at all.

People like Dick Cashin erg at 15.5 SPI and only rate 26-28 spm for 2K.

When they row OTErg, these experienced OTW rowers get the most out of every stroke, and just as though they were OTW, they milk the spinning wheel on the recovery for all it can give them.

They let the boat run!

Result:

They end up with erging WRs, perhaps on very little training at all.

You work like a demon OTErg, never come anywhere near a WR, and from year to year, just get worse and worse.

ranger

[ranger]

It's often around this time pre-BIRC/WIRC that we get a reversion to a drag factor of 180 and the introduction of a 'Sprack Back' or something similarly ludicrous. Although I suppose this year's version of that may be the 'Sweep Stroke' that the Pathological One employs on the erg...

Nope.

Just rowing well (13-14 SPI) at low drag (120 df.), working on technique, as I do whenever I am OTW.

The only difference from what I have done in the last eight years is that I am now doing this work at race pace and rate, in this case, 1:35 @ 30 spm (13.7 SPI), rather than 1:46 @ 21 spm (13.8 SPI), or whatever, as I did the last two years, and at low drag (120 df.), rather than max drag, as I did the last two years.

I am no longer doing low rate rowing, or even distance rowing.

I am sharpening/racing.

Oh well.

I guess I am still learning how to row.

At BIRC 2010, I'll just do a 2Kr30, whatever that comes out to be in terms of pace, given my technique.

ranger

[ranger]

Mike--

If you rowed _really well_ OTErg, as I now do, you would reach your 2K race pace, 1:42.5, at about 24 spm (13.5 SPI).

The limited rate would not be a result of technique, but of your severely limited aerobic capacity, your maxHR of 163 bpm, down from 230 bpm, when you were younger.

ranger

[ranger]

I see that Rocket Roy is now doing things like 7 (!!) SPI, wondering what the hell is going on.

So it goes.

If he got in a boat, he'd know.

But he has never been in a boat.

ranger

[ranger]

At BIRC 2010, I suspect that no one else in in the 55s lwt race will do better than 1:42 pace for 2K.

At 30 spm, that's 11 SPI.

I _never_ row at 11 SPI.

I am now rowing at 13-14 SPI.

ranger

[ranger]

If I can get up for it, I'll do an at-home 2K @ 30 spm on Thursday morning before I get on the plane for Birmingham.

ranger