6K erg strategy

[Ruderer]

Hey,

I am thinking about testing myself on 6k meters. I have only done one 6k test during the fall season. What kind of strategies work best on 6k? I would imagine they are a bit more varied than the 2k strategies.

Thanks,

Ruderer

[jvincent]

I think the race strategy is the same, just the pace is different.

I.e. the best strategy from an energy expenditure point of view is to get to your target pace quickly and then hold that pace until you are ready for a final sprint.

The two keys are figuring out the right target pace so that you don't burn out quickly and figuring out when to start your sprint.

[Atorrante]

When doing the 6K I think in 1-3-2K laps. First K lap is for warming up and get the max cruise speed I can predict to hold for the next 3 laps, then when there is only 2 K laps to go that is the moment to go for it, or die.

[nswrower]

A popular one that I have heard is negative splitting each 1.5 or 2k by 1 second/500, alternatively you could neg.split by 0.5 per 1K, as the idea of holding target pace for 6K IMO is too tough.

[The_Giant0]

I have only done two 6Ks. The first one I went 1:52. I thought I could hold 1:51 so that is where I started, big mistake. What you have to realize is that underestimating your potential by .5 is not a big deal, but overestimating is very bad. In the first case you will have a little more energy for the second 3K (or at whatever point you realize you can go faster). You are slightly less efficient in making up the time, but it is not a huge deal because you can handle the lactic acid in the second half. In the second case you accumulate lactic acid way to early and you will go much slower than you would have otherwise. The second time I did a 6k I went 1:46. I did this by doing 1:46.8; 1:46.4; 1:46; 1:45.6; 1:45.2 (per 500) for each 1.2K

[igoeja]

I have often read that a reverse split is better from a strategy and performance perspective.

- I have noticed that 5K/6K splits run about 7 seconds slower than 2K splits, and more like 9 among open rowers; I mention this because the usual algorithm suggest adding 5 seconds per split when doubling distance, and only recently realized my error in calculating my targets.

Using myself - I am a moderately-fit 51 year old that workouts 4 times per week, so this is in no way assumed to be high-performance - with a 7:20 2K, or 1:50 per split:

- Target 7 seconds slower per split than your 2K split, in this case 1:57 per 500M
- Start 2 seconds slower than your target split for the first 500M, so 1:59
- Work down across the pieces so that your last split 1:55 or less
- Save your kick for the last 500 to 250M
- Someone invariably writes that the reverse split should be narrower, so start 1 second above target (1:58) and finish at one second below target (1:56)

If you find that you have something left at 1000M to go, or that your longer pieces are generally faster or slower than your shorter pieces, you can adjust accordingly.