The Road to Boston 2007

[GeorgeD]

Several comments....I like the gears better...that domesticated beast doesn't make me work as hard on these pieces.
Sunday will certainly be a day of rest for me- today was a bit extreme with a morning training session (lifting weights), then a 2 mile run, then painting a room. When my husband suggested that our Saturday 'date" be a trip the gym and watching the Ohio State football game on TV, I wasn't too thrilled. I must be a slave to the IP workout, because I figured if I hauled myself to the gym, I might as well do the 57' UT2.

Plan calls for 2:21 (20-22)
I did 11,856 meters and that was 2:24, 22apm, HR 150.

The results weren't great...but I did it (and liked the slow pace). I could have done another hour, so I guess I didn't work hard enough. The fun of the piece was doing it strapless (aka George) and seeing if that made a difference. With so many other variables, I couldn't quite tell, but I sue felt free!

As for my technique questions, I will get some help from some water rowers. But, the question is ...at the finish, where is the weight in your feet? heels, evenly distributed???

Anne I think that if the opportunity presents then a 57' with distraction is just fine. As to the question about the feet I can only speak for myself, my heels are in the air at the catch then come down at the beginning of the drive, I have no real sensation of 'driving' thru the heels and would say at the finish my feet are flat as if I am standing with not a lot of pressure. If we broke a stroke down then I guess there should not be a lot of pressure on the feet at the end of the drive except that needed to counter balance the force applied by our arms on the handle - that does not make a lot of sense I know

When we start the drive the legs are (should be) fully involved and that is best generated by driving thru flat feet on the plate (then we are not losing anything in the flex) but as the drive continues the pressure of the leg diminishes and the back comes in then the arms (if we can manage the sequence). This means that at the end of the drive we are yanking on the chain applying force to the handle and this is counterbalanced by locking our core which transfer the force thru our legs to the footplate - so the force is less at the end than the beginning yada yada yada

Now what did you ask - ok the only force that keeps your feet on the pad when rowing strapless is the force you are applying to the handle with your arms, so rowing strapless teaches you to finish the stroke strongly with the arms. Watch someone at the gym who uses up the arms early and they will spend all their time tightening the straps on their feet as they are the only thing keeping then on the seat.

IMHO George

[GeorgeD]

Report on Friday's workout, delayed because the forum was down for several hours.

2nd week, 3rd session, 20' UT1.

Usual 10' warmup with four 10 stroke bursts. 2129m (2:20.9). Ave HR 123.
6' rest.

20' piece at 24 spm. 4609m (2:10.1). Ave. HR 140. 1' rest.

Usual 10' cool down. 2133m (2:20.6). Ave HR 131.

Couldn't match Monday's and Wednesday's sub 2:10 efforts, but the last two 2' segments were at 2:08.7 and 2:06.5, so I guess I could have put on a little more pressure in the middle. Next week is more UT1 stuff, but at increasingly longer intervals: 2x13', 2x14', and 2x15'.

Bob S.

Nice work Bob

Bob why do you rest so long after the warm-up. As I understand it the warm up prepares the body for the 'effort' to follow. HR is up, blood vessels become dilated and cooling systems are kicking in, plus all the hormones and chemicals that need to flow start to flow - If I waited six minutes after my warm-up I would be back to square one.

regds George

[GeorgeD]

I think a 26 week plan is to long.

George

[whaskell]

OH NO , 5 consecutive posts have I become Derangered

Shouldn't that be "enrangered"

[whaskell]

Saturday Morning:- IP 3 x 15min / max pace 1:54.5 / 22-24spm

Target:- 3 x 15min / avg pace 1:56.5 / 23spm / 5:00rest

Actual:- 15min / avg pace 1:56.3 / 23spm / 3869m
Actual:- 15min / avg pace 1:56.4 / 23spm / 3865m
Actual:- 15min / avg pace 1:56.4 / 24spm / 3865m

Total session 14803m

I still don't feel like I have the pace right on this - it still feels too hard compared to description of UT1. Going to slow it down some more next time.

[whaskell]

Sunday Morning:- IP 3 x 14min / max pace 1:54.5 / 22-24spm

Target:- 3 x 14min / avg pace 1:58.0 / 23spm / 5:00rest

Actual:- 14min / avg pace 1:58.0 / 23spm / 3560m
Actual:- 14min / avg pace 1:57.9 / 23spm / 3563m
Actual:- 14min / avg pace 1:57.9 / 23spm / 3561m

Total session 14064m

This felt better. I am going to continue my UT1 sessions at this pace and try to slowing bring the pace down towards the max pace.

[Yankeerunner]

I think a 26 week plan is to long.

George

You may be right. And I don't know if it is mental thing more than physical.

In my running days, when at my best, the fastest races I did came when I recovered from an injury or illness break with three months or less to get ready for a big event. Staying focused for that long wasn't much of a problem. Whenever I tried to plan further ahead some sort of a breakdown would occur some 3 or 4 months into it.

Even with the IP, as well thought out as it is, I have yet to make all 26 weeks without a couple of short breaks. Maybe I get too ambitious when it is supposed to be easy and do too much, leaving me a bit too tired when the harder stuff comes up. No fool like an old fool.

Rick

[Bob S.]

Bob why do you rest so long after the warm-up. As I understand it the warm up prepares the body for the 'effort' to follow. HR is up, blood vessels become dilated and cooling systems are kicking in, plus all the hormones and chemicals that need to flow start to flow - If I waited six minutes after my warm-up I would be back to square one.
regds George

George,

Normally I don't rest that long, but the addition of the 10 stroke bursts recommended in the IP leaves me feeling the need for a longer break. Also, it has been pointed out that, in an actual race situation, there is often a considerable break between warmups and the start of the race. The 8-10 minutes warmup suggested in the IP for prepartion for UT1 seems awfully short to me. Before I started the IP, I would do 15-20 minutes. Of course that was for doing time trials, but even with that, I would pick up steam during the trials, which suggests that I was still not really fully warmed up.

I just looked back at some of my old records. Most of my recent workouts were the 40' minute pieces that built up slowly at the start and tapered at the finish, in other words, they included a warmup and cooldown all in the one piece. When I did do workouts in separate parts, there was usually 4-5' rest after the warmup. That time was spent noting down the warmup details, setting up a fan, resetting the PM, perhaps turning the A/C on, getting a drink, etc.

It doesn't seem like I really lose too much in the break period, since my HR drops back only about halfway to resting HR and picks up much more quickly when I start the regular workout.

You are right, however. Six minutes is really too much, although it is often longer at a meet. I think that the best solution for me would be to go back to 15' warmups and keep the mid 30s bursts to the middle of the warmup instead of nearer to the end.

regards,

Bob S.

[Yankeerunner]

Bob, I don't think that there is a problem doing more warmup than suggested in the IP. I'm pretty sure that those guidlelines are meant to be minimums.

I don't get fussy about the gap between warmups and going full bore precisely because of what you mention about racing. Since I know that in a race situation it cannot be timed with accuracy (In the 2004 BIRC we sat for about 20 minutes due to computer problems) I don't mind long gaps on workout days. That way I can feel better propared mentally for a race day delay.

Rick

[TomR]

I think a 26 week plan is to long.

George

You may be right. And I don't know if it is mental thing more than physical.

Even with the IP, as well thought out as it is, I have yet to make all 26 weeks without a couple of short breaks. Maybe I get too ambitious when it is supposed to be easy and do too much, leaving me a bit too tired when the harder stuff comes up. No fool like an old fool.

Rick

What I notice is that the plan has 15 weeks of 2 sessions per week at race pace or faster, plus a session of AT. That's a long stretch of short fast stuff. I'm inclined to think that 10 weeks of that sort of intensity would be enough and that I (we?) might do better substituting a UT2/1 for one of the two race pace workouts.

Tom

[Yankeerunner]

Tom,

I'd say no, don't substitute a UT1 or UT2 for the faster stuff. While this may seem that I'm ignoring my own problems with keeping up with the program, I'd point out that my tendancy to overdo things either by choosing too many worouts per week or doing extra workouts gets me into more trouble than the program itself. (The first step in solving a problem is to recognize that I have a problem in the first place )

Mike Caviston advocates faster stuff much earlier in the Wolverine Plan, based on a theory that like a baby growing we need to grow all systems simultaneously. The IP doing something similar from 15 weeks out is actually more conservative.

And remember, we don't have to be at the fastest paces of those training bands 15 weeks ahead of race day. A TR workout only needs to be a couple of seconds faster than an AT to start reaping some of the benefits of stimulating the oxygen transport system. And the time spent in the zone is more modest early on than when we get to the dreaded 8 X 4' TR or other such monsters. Yet by doing some of it 15 weeks out, we'll be better prepared to handle the later workouts. Much more so than it we waited until 10 weeks ahead and tried to make the leap then.

My 2 cents anyway.

Rick

[TomR]

Thanx, Rick.

I was not thinking of avoiding all the early race pace work,

The WP has one level 1 (race pace) and one level 2 (AT) per week, whereas the IP includes a 3d fast session. It was that 3d session I was thinking of switching. I don't have to make a decision today and will see how things progress. I do wonder, though, how the "IP for old guys" would be different from the basic version.

Tom

[GeorgeD]

Tom & Rick, I made the comment without context to see what people thought.

Essentially pondering it over the past few days and doing some reading I think 26 weeks is a long time to remain focused on one goal. I realise that each individual test can be seen as a mini-goal but even so there is this long list of sessions set out in front of you. I agree with you Rick in that 3 months (12 weeks ) is probably about most peoples limit of focus where you are willing to make those little extra sacrifices to achieve the 'best' outcome. Longer than that and you can find 'resentment' creeping in.

It may then make sense to only print out that section of the programme that takes you thru to the next test ??

Just my thoughts and an interesting topic I think and very much relevant.

George

[GeorgeD]

Still managing the health but actually feel better when training than later on as it seems to open up all the breathing passages and clear the head.

So tonight was 30min with a HR capped at 134 which is about 70%, did 7447 at 2:01.3 about 19-20spm (forgot to write it down) and aHR of 130. I did reduce the drag as well to 120 (from 130) as it just seemed to heavy at the catch, no glide in the boat

George

[whaskell]

Monday morning: 5min WU - IP 57min / max pace 2:00 / 20-22spm

Target:- 57min / avg pace 2:02 / 21spm

Actual:- 57min / avg pace 2:01.8 / 21spm / 14041m

Another good UT2 session to start off the week.