sentinel93 wrote:I do agree that long distance pieces are important, but why do you choose the 60 minute piece?
No special reason, other than experience and convenience.
Do more or less if you would like, but an hour of rowing (running, swimming, etc.) is a good bit of exercise without being too drawn out or time-consuming.
Therefore, I think it is a good norm for a session.
60min is long enough to be flexibly performed in a variety of ways, long enough to let you warm up gradually and naturally, long enough to let you hit your most natural and relaxed rowing for quite a while, long enough to build endurance and encourage good technical habits, and long enough still for you to work as hard as you want near the end.
Across a 60min piece, if you just relax and let your body do the rest, I think you will find your pace slowly picking up, just naturally, without any special effort, perhaps as much as 10 seconds per 500m by the end.
For instance, you might begin a 60min piece at 2K + 18 and end at 2K + 8, perhaps for as long as a couple of Ks.
The "forumulas" I am using to predict 2K results from distance rows are just general rules of thumb, statistically supported in many ways, I think, but not true for everyone, especially those with skewed training of various sorts or those with specialized abilities and interests.
FM is done at 2K + 14.
HM is done at 2K + 11.
60min is done at 2K + 10.
10K is done at 2K + 8.
30min is done at 2K + 7.
6K is done at 2K + 6.
5K is done at 2K + 5.
Yes, I am exactly suggesting that you only _gain_ time over 2K, relative to some pb, by improving your Level 4 and Level 3 rowing, which work on effectiveness and efficiency over long distances, establishing a technical and physiological training base that you can then bring up to speed with Level 2 and Level 1 training.
If you have established pbs, you are not going to get better by doing a lot of Level 2 and Level 1 workouts.
To get better, you need to improve your base.
It is a pretty odd situation, but in rowing, you don't need to row fast in order to get _very_ good over 2K, and those that do a lot of fast rowing, in the end, become bad.
You also don't need to row fast in order to know, pretty much, what you can do for 2K once you sharpen up your base.
Just do a distance trial or two and use the formulas above.
If you don't like what the formulas predict for 2K, keep working on your base until you do.
On the other hand, when you are pleased with what you are doing with your basic training, switch gears and put the pedal to the metal.
Sharpen up (with a lot of level 2 and level 1 training) and then race.
Usually 2-3 months is enough sharpening to get to some peak of 2K performance, given your base, whatever that might be.
BTW, both as sessions and as a training regimen all its own, 60min rows are especially effective, I think, if they are done twice a day.
ranger
