Concept2 Forum

Hi, i've been rowing for 4 years now in my high school and i wanted to know if there were erg workouts that i could do that would get me used to Higher Stroke Rates for a 2k. Because when i hit high rates during my 2k, i tend to fly and slow down and die. I want to get it where i can hold 34-36 SR for a 2k. I'm 5'9'' and 150 lbs. So, is there anything i can do? i know that long, steady state, erg pieces are what get you better, but what gets you able to move faster?
Thanks

wtrey613 wrote: i know that long, steady state, erg pieces are what get you better

Trey, training for all endurance sports consists of three kinds of workouts: shorter, faster; intermediate distance between moderate and fast speed, and longer, slower. Doing only one of the three will not get you much better. If you notice, in the three types of workouts distance and pace are mentioned. In rowing there are other considerations like stroke rate and drag factor and then there is also technique. Assuming that the drag factor is reasonable (not too high or low) and the technique is acceptable that leaves stroke rate.

The stroke rate topic generates a fair amount of comment in these forums. There is a connection to pace. You can do what you train to do. You train at 20 SPM most of the time, that is what you can do. You cannot magically ramp up to 34 SPM to race. And as you are finding out there is a heck of difference between 20 and 34 SPM. The recovery time is way less and one has to be much aerobically fitter to row at 34 SPM.

Furthermore there is a trade off between SPM and how hard you pull. Yes, going slow allows one to develop strength on the drive phase, but you will have to back off on the force applied when going faster. You do not have the time to recover from that strong of a push/pull. You are simply going to have to incorporate 34 SPM in your training. You will have to find out how hard you can pull at that rate. It will be less than at 20 SPM. You apparently have not found that point yet, judging by your dying comment. You are correct in one thing: you will not maximize your times at 20 SPM. You will have to row in the 30's. As far as what gets you to move faster, that is easy. You get yourself to move faster.

34-36 is pretty high, but the best way to get there is to do your interval workouts at your "race pace" aka the same spm you want to do your 2k's at

One strategy is to incorporate short bursts of high rate in the middle of a long, moderate rate piece. Start with 10 stroke bursts every 2 or 3 minutes and work on increasing the number of strokes per burst on succeeding workouts. Another variant would be to decrease the time between bursts. This way you train yourself to get used to doing the higher rates for extended times.

Bob S.

A favorite workout of mine for this is to warm up for 2k-3k at say 2:10 and then alternate 250m at race rate (30-32) and pace or faster, say 1:42 if I'm aiming for around 7:00. Then recover for 250m, then repeat until 10k is done. That's 14-16 reps, 3500 to 4000m at race pace with almost enough recovery in between.

The following is from a list of workouts used (or once used) by Coach Linda Muri (Harvard Lwt. Crew)

If you throw in one of these every six or seven workouts it should help with being comfortable with race rate. (and pace!)



4. Race rate rowing at 5k pace minus 3-4 sec.
For example: If your 5k pace is 1:52 then row this workout at 1:48-1:49 at your race stroke rate

• 4 x 750m with 10 min. active paddling
•2 x 1500m with 10-15 min active paddling
•600 hard strokes equal work to rest in stroke count (10,20,30,30, 20, 10) x 5 with 2 min. rest between sets.



5. Race pace rowing or predictive pace workouts
Over time we have found that these two workouts provide erg rowers with pace information that is within a second plus/minus of their 2000 meter pace.

• 6 x 500m with 1 min. rest
• 4 x 1000 meter on 12 min. centers

6. Slightly faster than Race pace rowing
At 5k pace minus 5-7 seconds

• 3-4 x 1000 with 10-15 min. active paddling
• 5-7 x 500m with 8-10 min. active paddling
• 2-3(20 x 30sec work with 15 seconds rest) 5 min rest between sets. If you are a stroke counter it is 17 on and 5 off.


7. Maximal recruitment and power rowing

• 3 x 5-10 strokes on 2 min. centers- high stroke rate maximal power 6-8 min. active paddling complete this set 5 times for a maximum of 150 strokes.
• 10 x 30 strokes on 5 min. centers- race rate plus 2-4 strokes per minutes