Pete Plan Group - Startup Aug 20th thru 22nd

[JohnAd]

I'm curious what your thinking/ strategy is on rate in terms of what you are currently doing be what you are hoping to do.

I'm not sure why but I think it would be a good idea if I could vary both pace and rate independently to some degree. I can see the logic of having a fixed lump of energy that you put into the wheel at each stroke and therefore to vary the pace you simply vary the rating. I find that certain ratings give me problems with my breathing patterns so it would be good to find a set of rates that work and having a mechanism for hitting any pace but avoiding the problem ones. I'm also a bit worried that my stroke is a bit awkward and upping the rate from my natural rate is one way to get me thinking about it rather than just drifting away into whatever podcast I'm listening to.

[G-dub]

One thing that I've learned with my current weight training inspired by Dan John is that you can go backwards to go forward. It enables you to regroup, "grease the groove" and then build on previous gains. There may be relevance to the PP in that regard. It would be hard to do, but as you say, maybe just greasing the groove on current pace, rate and stroke would still be good training then pick spots when the time is right to push past previous gains. It reminds me of how someone would approach acclimatizing to Everest I guess.

[G-dub]

I'm curious what your thinking/ strategy is on rate in terms of what you are currently doing be what you are hoping to do.

I'm not sure why but I think it would be a good idea if I could vary both pace and rate independently to some degree. I can see the logic of having a fixed lump of energy that you put into the wheel at each stroke and therefore to vary the pace you simply vary the rating. I find that certain ratings give me problems with my breathing patterns so it would be good to find a set of rates that work and having a mechanism for hitting any pace but avoiding the problem ones. I'm also a bit worried that my stroke is a bit awkward and upping the rate from my natural rate is one way to get me thinking about it rather than just drifting away into whatever podcast I'm listening to.

FWIW: Eventually to get faster you either have to rate higher or bring more power to the party or both as you know. But right now for me, training at low rate to make sure I'm not getting too soft, and then bringing a softer stroke / higher rate to the timed pieces feels awesome. I didn't appreciate until now how much my legs, arms were faltering more so than breath. Now it seems that its mostly about breath and rhythm until its crank down time at the end. Its worth trying anyway. I am going to see what r36 feels like with same paces I was doing at r30ish on speed intervals next week or two.

[Litewait]

BPP Week 4.4 2500m x 2 r2

blah...

22:44.3 5,000m 2:16.4 138 21
10:58.0 2,500m 2:11.6 154 21
11:46.3 2,500m 2:21.2 124 22

Target was 2:11, hopped on late for the second interval, went crazy for the first 500 and paid the price. At least I tried to feel the burn in the legs instead of the heart. Using a drag factor fit for a 13yr old girl, but I have to keep convincing myself to just "proceed".

@John - tried the mind game of most strokes with same consecutive split, got up to 3

Yesterday, started 2 x 2500 and killed myself in the first 2500 @ 2:09 and aborted mission, learning the hard way to set rational splits.

Does anyone have a (optional) day 6 recommendation for week 4 BPP? Really want to continue with something, Week 5 7000m seems insurmountable.

[G-dub]

But I have noticed (and Henry pointed this out to someone else) that my stroke got longer with the low rate work and to "spin" I needed to shorten it some. But even that feels pretty nice for a change - short and sweet without the feeling of it being a full body exercise! Just a quick blast. It really does bring in the reasoning for strapless too, which doesn't reward a big layback. We shall see where it goes. Heck, I will rate to 40 if it gets me 6:59.9

[G-dub]

Sorry I was blabbing in the middle of your post Tim!

We've all been there and its the best teacher. One thing that got me out of tough spots was to really (I mean REALLY) negative split longer intervals or things like 5K-6K. The temptation is to go out with fire and then hit that moment where you really wonder what the hell you are doing this for. But with a big ole negative split, you can decide to push or cruise. And usually once you see the barn door, the push happens and you feel great. One time, say on 5K, try to start a few or more seconds above where you want your average to be then bring it down each 1k or so. At mid point you will be much more inclined to finish - at least I am. And it can work on intervals too.

[Litewait]

One thing that got me out of tough spots was to really (I mean REALLY) negative split longer intervals or things like 5K-6K. The temptation is to go out with fire and then hit that moment where you really wonder what the hell you are doing this for.

@Glen - really needed to hear that, thanks.

[mdpfirrman]

Just try to do the work as best as you can Tim for now. You need work (from your times / paces) on both power and endurance. Endurance will come. The PP is not a plan (really) to work on power, but some power will come as a natural result of rowing. For now, your biggest issue is you're dying out - aerobic endurance. Like Glenn suggested, just pick a pace that feels like you can sustain for the optional rows and for the intervals one that's challenging (and can uncomfortably sustain a while). For the optional row, since it's optional, pick any distance - doesn't have to be 7K meters. If you did 2K, it's more than nothing.

[JohnAd]

Tim, I think 3 was my best for quite a long time, took me ages not to oscillate about the target. Also to add to what Glenn is saying on the 7k, you will be fine it is less of an uplift as a percentage than the 5 to 5.5. But if in doubt take it easy at the start, once you've done the first 500 you're back in known territory again. My recommendation for day 6 is rest, don't forget to let those muscles recover and rebuild.

[G-dub]

OK -this one felt a little rough. Easily could have bailed. Happy not. Henry, if you see this slap me around if this rate thing is getting out of control on the high side. Today I didn't have much in the legs, so it was out of desperation mainly, although I was checking out 35-36 to see how it felt. and it felt OK really. Breathing was pretty synchronized. True recovery tomorrow.

It won't let me upload my sheet. I guess we have overloaded the system! Here it is manually:
250 - 1:43.2 r37
500 - 1:44.2 r36
750 - 1:44.7 r36
1000 - 1:44.6 r36
750 - 1:44.8 r38
500 - 1:44.1 r38
250 - 1:42.8 r40

average: 144.4 r37

[Pie Man]

Another vote for rest from me Tim. You could go for a walk just to keep ticking over. Fitness crept up on me doing the BPP you won't hit every target but as you put the meters in as you are you will get better.

I find heat a real killer Gordon, I went very steady in my SS yesterday as the erg was in full sun.

Nice 30' John especially after a trip to the dentist.

So that is what you can do with tired legs Glenn! How much below your target were you?

Tonight was my hard distance of 6k. Best time previously was 2 months ago @ 24:11.5 done as part of the BPP.
2K warm up with 10 hard pulls every 500m.

6k 23:26.5 @1:57.2 (same pace as my current 5k pb)
Splits were

3:58.9
3:57.8
3:55.2
3:53.3
3:53.4
3:47.9
As often happens with me the first 2k was turgid. Once I got to half way I started to get it and my last 2000m all beit with a rolling start was a couple of seconds faster than my 2k pb. It may be best for me to enter two consecutive races at the BIRC so the first one can warm me up properly

[G-dub]

Awesome example of negative splitting your way to awesomeness Piers! Great row. Time for a cold one. I am heading to the fridge.

[S-man]

Piers, superb 6k – will be great to see you re-test your 2k at some stage, given how you ended that row.

Glenn, that is quite a rate up What do you normally do your sprints at? Did the splits come down much with that rate or were you trading pace for rate throughout the entire session? I've been keeping rates in check as much as I can while trying to keep improving speed through a progressively stronger stroke. It's tempting to crank up the rates and see what happens, but I think that's best done gradually in my case.

Missed the hard distance yesterday but decided to keep going with SS today as I’ll be OTW tomorrow and didn’t want to push myself too hard before that.
PP W4,D6 SS 8k aiming for 2:25 at low rate.
Average: 2:24.8 r19 Managed to drop the rate by a pip and keep the pace the same or faster than the usual for SS.
Sanz

[G-dub]

Sanz, today was one or two strokes higher than I planned, but you have to do what you have to do sometimes. My last 2k I did on r34 and 1:45.6. The ratios I've been training at work out to 1:44 and r34. But as mentioned, I'm experimenting with a little higher rates and softer stokes to see what it does. After all, we don't post our rate in our signature line, just the times. If r36 makes it possible for me to make my goal, then that's what I will do!

[lindsayh]

W1 S5
2k w/u, 4k c/d @2:15

5km - goal1-finish, g2 sub1:54, g3, sub1:53
A bit conservative I guess but fitted the hard rule but left room for some blue sky so happy enough

5k => 18:46.4 @1:52.6
df130 sr27 245w
1:53.4
1:52.8
1:53.3
1:53.2
1:50.4