Ranger's training thread

[mikvan52]

Mike--

Sorry, but in your long response I didn't get what you are doing these days...

You are so kind to ask about my training.
I plan to oblige by posting all my workouts here from here on out. THis will fill in the gaps as you do not post accounts of anything beyond RWB...

Here's my first offering:
I am on the comeback trail:

View Detail
10000M
Feb 16 2011

time meter /500m s/m ♥
39:11.8 10000 1:57.5 21 141

8:02.9 2000 2:00.7 20 129
7:48.7 4000 1:57.1 22 137
7:47.8 6000 1:56.9 22 141
7:49.4 8000 1:57.3 22 147
7:42.9 10000 1:55.7 23 155

no warm ~ on slides ~ very comfortable ~ watching power curve.

1k cool down

FYI pertinent HR details: my lab measured max HR is 163 and my AT is 143 bpm (2008)

This is not as good as my ranked piece from last November. "I am much worse than that now"
10,000m 38:28.3 1:55.4 ranked 2011 11/10/2010

I encourage everyone to post their workouts so we have something to talk about here in the future. THis will make things more interesting now that you've retired from racing.

[jliddil]

I encourage everyone to post their workouts so we have something to talk about here in the future. THis will make things more interesting now that you've retired from racing.

More than happy to when my surgeon allows me to erg again. That's my ONLY excuse

[mikvan52]

I encourage everyone to post their workouts so we have something to talk about here in the future. THis will make things more interesting.....(snip)

More than happy to when my surgeon allows me to erg again. That's my ONLY excuse

Those pins look pretty darn spooky!
Do they stay there for good?

Hope your recovery continues to progress well.

[aharmer]

Good idea Mike. I'll post my workout from the training thread here. Not impressive, but timely because ranger would claim this workout to be beneath him and too easy to even bother with. I'd bet he couldn't do it, and he most certainly wont prove that he can.

8x500m, 2'r: avg 1:40.3/r28

For somebody with ranger's supposed talent, this could basically serve as his warmup. Why not prove us wrong for once and post the exact same specs?

[leadville]

I encourage everyone to post their workouts so we have something to talk about here in the future. THis will make things more interesting now that you've retired from racing.

More than happy to when my surgeon allows me to erg again. That's my ONLY excuse

J - let me know when you want to spend some quality time on the erg at my place - just a half hour away! I also help coach Guilford HS in the spring. great bunch of kids.

hope your recovery (the hip one) goes well.

[jliddil]

Cannulated screws. You can read the blog. http://fractured-hip.blogspot.com/

No sympathy, please. Yes Leadville I want to get some lessons. Time to move on. Do not say

[Mike Caviston]

The erg may be a truth machine but why did you claim Mike C was watching you race, sitting next to your son, when it was not possible?

You are assuming that Mike is remembering correctly.

He isn't.

The event was eight years ago.

Mike was right in the stands in front of me while I was rowing.

I remember back in 2002 when I set the Senior LW record at CRASH-Bs. The King of Sweden was right behind my erg, and immediately after the race he said, “Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world.” I said, Thanks, King”.

[ranger]

In your everyday training, when you are rowing along at 26 spm, steady state, just stroking naturally, it makes quite a bit of difference if you are going 1:42, as I do now, rather than 1:52, as I did back in 2002-2003, especially if you are now rowing at 119 df., as I am now, rather than 200+ df., as I was back in 2002-2003.

As you lower the rate that you use for some pace, you raise your ratio, and therefore get to rest longer between drives.

And as you lower the drag, your drive time becomes shorter and shorter and therefore your recovery time at the same rate even longer.

This is especially true if you are rowing at a high stroking power, such as 13 SPI, as I am now, and have short little lightweight legs and therefore not much drive length to work with in the first place.

All things equal, as you raise your stroking power, you shorten your drive time.

And all things equal, as the shorten your drive length, you shorten your drive time.

I now do 26 spm in a 3.6-to-1 ratio at 119 df.

.5 seconds for the drive.

1.8 seconds for the recovery.

Doing 1:42 with a ratio of this magnitude for long periods of time over long distances takes some time to get used to.

But, yikes, rowing in this way, I get to rest almost two seconds between each drive, even though I am going along at what amounts to WR 2K pace and the drive is only a half a second long.

As the distance of a row increases, the effect of a massive ratio of this sort becomes more and more significant.

For instance, rowing 1:42 @ 26 spm in a 3.6-to-1 ratio, during a 17:00 5K, I am only working for 3:45.

I am resting for 13:15.

If I maintain the same stroking power and drag and lower the rate to 22 spm, as I might in a FM, I am in a 4.5-to-1 ratio.

So, over the course of two and half hours of rowing, I am resting for over two hours and working for less than a half an hour.

As I find more and more ways to maximize my relaxation and breathing during the long rest periods between drives, this _very_ effective rowing becomes more and more efficient.

_Astonishingly_ efficient.

Rowing is not continuous work, like running, biking, swimming, or skating.

Both legs are used at the same time, and only for a short time, and then you get to rest, often for a long time.

The work you do in rowing is intermittent.

ranger

[ranger]

I encourage everyone to post their workouts so we have something to talk about here in the future. THis will make things more interesting now that you've retired from racing.

As I mentioned, my goal over the next few months is to do distance trials in all of the events from 5K to a FM.

If I hit my targets, when I am done with these trials, I will hold all of the 60s hwt WRs from 5K to a FM by 4-6 seconds per 500m.

That will be a nice training platform to use in order to sharpen for a lwt 60s 2K.

The 60s hwt 2K WR is 4 seconds per 500m faster than the lwt 60s 2K WR.

ranger

[ranger]

Removed by request of thread initiator.

[Izzzmeister]

My 2-year erging anniversary was Feb. 7th, so I don't have a long history of rowing to fall back on. Here's my last sharpening workout before Boston, where I'll be racing in Race 11, Heat 3 (50-54M HWT), aiming to break 6:40:

1,500m wu, 2:10 down to 1:48. (5:55.5, 1:58.5 splits)
1K - 3:17.4 (1:36/1:41.4 fly & die)
500 cd, 1:46.0

300m, r2:00 x 7:
300@55.7, Damper setting 10 (205df)
300@56.7, ds 9
300@:56.8, ds 8
300@:55.7, ds 7 (164df)
300@:57.4, ds 6 heart rate at 165 (183 max)
300@:57.3, ds 5
300@:59.2, ds 4 (119df)
r1,279m

2K CD - 8:02.3 (2:00.5)

[ranger]

Distance trials are best done from the top down, from the FM to the 5K.

So, the sine qua non of my work over the next few months is a FM @ 1:48.

1:48 is Slocum's long-standing 50s hwt WR for the FM.

Once a FM @ 1:48 is in the bag, my targets at the other distances will come along in good order, just naturally.

If you rowing is balanced in terms of endurance and power, as mine is, all distance trials implicate all other distance trials, formulaically, by something like "double the d, add 3."

FM 1:48
HM 1:45
60min 1:44
10K 1:42
30min 1:41
6K 1:40
5K 1:39

ranger

[Izzzmeister]

The erg may be a truth machine but why did you claim Mike C was watching you race, sitting next to your son, when it was not possible?

You are assuming that Mike is remembering correctly.

He isn't.

The event was eight years ago.

Mike was right in the stands in front of me while I was rowing.

I remember back in 2002 when I set the Senior LW record at CRASH-Bs. The King of Sweden was right behind my erg, and immediately after the race he said, “Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world.” I said, "Thanks, King”.

No wonder you were distracted from remembering Ranger! That 2002 memory must've driven the 2003 memory of sitting in the stands in front of Ranger from your mind!

[ranger]

Just stroking naturally, I now pull 1:46 @ 22 spm in my "Steamroller" sessions.

That's right on 13 SPI, which is rowing well for a lightweight of any age.

119 df.

This is a little faster than my FM target (1:48) and so is perfect FM training for me.

The only constraint on this FM training, I think, should be to try to work up to 40K a day and then hold it there until I feel ready for a trial.

Two sessions of 20K would probably be best, one in the morning before breakfast and one in the afternoon before dinner.

The major work in this rowing is just on relaxation and technical consistency, given the mild HR (middlin' UT1, 155 bpm).

Fitness and endurance aren't issues at all.

My fitness and endurance have been maximal for a decade.

To keep my technique consistent, on each stroke, I check the catch by putting my knees in my armpits and sitting up tall. I check the finish by pushing the footplate away on each stroke and keeping my forearms level into the finish. I check the recovery by flicking the handle across my knees before breaking my legs and going down the slide into the catch. I check my rhythm by staying right on the 12/8 beat of "Steamroller," pulling with my arms on the downbeats. I check my overall stroking power by staying right at 1:46.

This rowing is really exciting to do, especially if I can stretch it to a FM, steady state, because to this point, it has just been wildly impossible for a 60s lwt like me.

The normal maxHR of a 60-year-old is in and around 160 bpm. So no 60-year-olds to this point have been able to row along for a FM running a HR of 155 bpm.

My maxHR is still 190 bpm. So this is no problem at all for me.

Because of this, though, to do this sort of rowing at 22 spm without spiking their heart rate up to AT, 60s lwts have had to reduce their normal stroking power, from whatever that might be (e.g., 10 SPI).

And there comes the second problem.

I am rowing at 13 SPI, not 10 SPI.

No 60s lwt has ever had a stroking power much better than 10 SPI to work with in the first place.

So, to do this sort of rowing, given their restricted aerobic capacity, 60s lwts to this point have had to reduce their stroking power to 9 SPI.

These things then snowball, of course.

If you can't train well, your various capacities fall off, precipitously.

The more you row at 9 SPI, the more 13 SPI just seems ridiculously impossible.

The more you row at 2:00 for long distances, the more 1:46 seems like dreamland.

And then as your aerobic capacity continues to fall as you age, these things get even worse.

And worse.

And worse.

On the other hand, the rowing I am now doing in my "Steamroller" sessions is world class for a lightweight of any age.

Doing it for 40K each day makes it so that I am not subjected to this spiraling decline at all.

I maintain both my youthful aerobic capacity and my youthful skeletal-motor strength, quickness, and skill.

Nice!

When I a get to a FM, 1:48 @ 22 spm, with this training, all of my other targets will come along, just naturally, and when I am fully sharpened up for it, I will pull 1:34/6:16 for 2K.

A FM is done at 2K + 14.

ranger

[macroth]

For instance, rowing 1:42 @ 26 spm in a 3.6-to-1 ratio, during a 17:00 5K, I am only working for 3:45.

I am resting for 13:15.

"I am", "I am", should of course be "I would be" and "I would be". Another way that this statement could make sense is if you said:

For instance, during a 17:00 period of time during which I'm thinking about rowing 1:42 @ 26 spm, I am only actually holding the handle for 3:45.

I am catching my breath and posting on the Internet for 13:15.

On the other hand, maybe you have a screenshot of this 17' 5K? Splendid!

here's another test we can do, right now. Let's see who can hold 13 SPI, 26 spm, 119 df the longest. No breaks, no heart rate limits (I don't have a HR monitor anyway), just row at 26 spm until the average creeps above 1:42 and you can't get it back down. You do 20K of this every morning at a steady UT1 HR, right? Piece of cake!

You can compare to what I manage to do, and that will give you a clue as to where you are in terms of 2K times, since you seem to have no idea whatsoever. Whaddya say? I know your PM3 is camera-shy, so I'll go first.