McNeely power workouts

[DSurber]

I've seen a number of references to Ed McNeely's Peak Power https://peakcentre.wordpress.com/2009/0 ... rformance/. I'd like to hear any experience that anyone has with the power workouts he describes.

I've been erging for just over a year. I lack both power and endurance. Recently I've been doing long slow distance almost exclusively. Spurred by the polarization thread I thought I'd add McNeely's power workout once or twice a week. The article suggests substantial improvement in 6 to 8 weeks.

The workout is max effort 10 second intervals on 1 minute rest so long as average watts exceeds 90% of max watts. When average watts drops below 90%, rest 5 minutes then go again for a total of 20 intervals. This is done with the drag factor set at 200. Every stroke is full slide.

I gave it a try this morning but ran into two problems. First the PM5 has a minimum interval time of 20 seconds. There doesn't seem to be any way to get a 10 second interval. Instead I programmed 20sec work/50sec rest. I only pulled for the first 10 seconds. That worked sort of but the data collection is off.

Second I can't average 90% of max watts over 10 seconds. My problem is low power on the first couple of strokes. Once I get the flywheel moving I can bring the average up but I run out of time before I can get the average over 90%. The last few strokes are around or even over my max pull but it's too little too late. I was rating over 40 SPM.

I'm 58. Erging is the first athletic endeavor I've pursued seriously. I'm 6' 225lb (down from 245lb) with short arms and legs. My best 2k is 7:47.3. I got a max pull of 561 and was using 505 as the 90% limit though I saw 578 while doing the workout. I've been doing 8-10k UT2 five days a week for several months and believe it's helped my aerobic endurance a lot. I hoped the McNeely workout would improve my power.

Douglas

[mdpfirrman]

I've done that workout Douglas but I do it at the end of a long row and in the last 10 minutes or so (longer if I have the energy). I just literally use the rower time. I think you're right - no way to program it lower than this. Pete Marston has some similar workouts on his Pete Lunch Hour plan blog (under the HIIT label). Marston also addresses the lack of ability to program short sprint internals on the PM. I think he does 20 seconds with much longer break than you're doing.

[jackarabit]

Set as 30"/30"R and take the wattage by eye on the final complete stroke in 10" and the 50" balance as rest as you have been doIng. I wouldn't worry my little head about average wattage over 4 or 5 strokes from a dead wheel start and apparently no one else has either until McNeely.

[hjs]

Its not about average power, but max power. So need to know your max pull. Say that is 400watt, you need to keep reaching 90% of that, 360 in this case.

[left coaster]

watch your back with that workout plan!

The most risky instruction on the page (for me at least) is the bit about not using a racing start and using a full stroke from the very first pull. During my recent sprints my first pull has started with the handle on my knees bent at about 90 degrees, back fully locked and arms extended. Generating anything close to this power without proper ergonomic form would cause a lower back injury for me as it did the first time I tried the power test as outlined on the page. It was minor, and only took a few days to recover from, but that was enough.

My modified approach would be 80% for the reps/workout and doing the initial power test and subsequent training with a shorter first stroke to save my back unneeded stress. Perhaps at 20 I could do it as outlined, definitely not at 45!

[mdpfirrman]

I hurt my back too Lefty first couple of times except I'm stubborn and keep doing it the same way and hurting my back again and again. I'm sure my chiropractor loves me doing sprints like this...