There's at least one rowing club near me that hosts a 1k race. Perhaps it is a more common distance for masters. I'm an indoor rower, but do plan to do a learn-to-row program in March so I'm training with a mission. I'm also slow, but have improved my 1k from 3:59.6 to 3:47.3 in 4 months thanks to the Wolverine Plan. There are a lot of smart and gifted athletes on these forums and I don't doubt that one of them can come along and provide you with some great comments. Until then, please consider my offering below.
I'd do no more than one sesion per week at race pace (2:00/500m), one set near race pace (2:08/500m), and then the rest of the week's sessions at an easier pace (2:16/500m). I've become a big believer in the value of warm-up and cool down meters as well as active recovery (rowing slowly between intervals as opposed to stopping to rest). You'd do well to look into the Pete Plan or Wolverine Plan. That would get you some good fixed-rate and steady state exercises.
I'm not a big fan of heart rate based training, but Concept2 is a great resource for that if you are interested. All of the workouts below are from Concept2's posted Workout of the Day (
http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/training/wod) along with warm-ups, cool downs, and target paces that I would recommend.
Your goal is to rack up quality meters during the week, really push yourself once per week, and to never stop working on technique. If you do a test (all out 1k), that counts as your 1 fast workout for the week. You really don't want to do that too often. A 4 x 500m with rest is goign to be much easier to recover from than an all-out 1k test.
No more than once per week:
20’ Warm-up at 2:48/500m
4 x 500m @ 2:00 / 2 min easy
Row four 500 meter pieces. Row for two minutes at light pressure between each 500.
20’ cool down at 2:48
No more than once per week:
15’ Warm-up at 2:48/500m
3 x 750m @ 2:08 / 2 min easy
Row three 750 meter pieces. Row for two minutes at light pressure between each 750.
15’ cool down at 2:48
10’ Warm-up at 2:48/500m
6 x 500m @ 2:16 / 1 min easy
Row six 500 meter pieces. Row for one minute at light pressure between each 500.
10’ cool down at 2:48
10’ Warm-up at 2:48/500m
3 x 750m @ 2:16 / 1 min easy
Row three 750 meter pieces. Row for one minute at light pressure between each 750.
10’ cool down at 2:48
10’ Warm-up at 2:48/500m
5 x 750m @ 2:16 / 1 min easy
Row five 750 meter pieces. Row for one minute at light pressure between each 750.
10’ cool down at 2:48
10’ Warm-up at 2:48/500m
3 x 1000m @ 2:16 / 3 min easy
Row three 1000 meter pieces. Row for three minutes at light pressure between each 1000.
10’ cool down at 2:48
10’ Warm-up at 2:48/500m
4 x 1000m @ 2:16 / 2 min easy
Row four 1000 meter pieces. Row for two minutes at light pressure between each 1000.
10’ cool down at 2:48
