Concept2 Forum

This morning I was doing 3x15 min pyramids (5 min @20; 4 min @24; 3 min @28; 2 min @ 32 and 1 min @36)
I could not get the rate higher than 34 and even at 34 i had a hard time maintaining that hate for more than 5-10 sec. At 32s/m the split was around 1:49, but the output was around 167 watts. Just for comparison, at rate 28 s/m, which i can maintain for 12-15 min, the split is 1:55 and the output is above 200 watts. is there a training designed specifically to improve high rate tolerance?

Misha

mishab wrote:This morning I was doing 3x15 min pyramids (5 min @20; 4 min @24; 3 min @28; 2 min @ 32 and 1 min @36)
I could not get the rate higher than 34 and even at 34 i had a hard time maintaining that hate for more than 5-10 sec. At 32s/m the split was around 1:49, but the output was around 167 watts. Just for comparison, at rate 28 s/m, which i can maintain for 12-15 min, the split is 1:55 and the output is above 200 watts. is there a training designed specifically to improve high rate tolerance?

Misha

Well, how tall are you? It matters.

P.

185 cm or 6.1

mishab wrote:185 cm or 6.1

Similar to me but it also depends on your body type and what end of the spectrum your at, i.e. if endurance is your strong suit or power is your strong suit or you have a good balance of both.

How much do you weight ? personally I cannot rate over 32 spm either but at that rating the pace is down at like 1:40 for a 2K.

Hi, I did the following to get my rate and pace up.

1: lowered the drag down to about 3 and practiced very high rate 100m sprints.
2: once I was able to pull in the mid 50's sr for 100m on a df of 3 I slowly moved the df up while working to maintain stroke rate in mid 50's
3: gradually got the drag up to 8 while maintaining a sr of 54 for 100m and after a while doing this hit 15.5 sec at a split of 1:17.5

The longer I go the lower my sr ends up being. At 1 minute I'm down to 45, for a recent 500m I was at 39 although I gassed bad for the last 70m so I'm thinking my best effort will end up somewhere in the mid 40's as well.

Dropping the drag was mission critical for me in terms of learning how to sprint on the erg. I'm the same height as you but this is still relatively short compared to some folks and personally I have shorter arms for my height - rating up is important. Slowly working the drag up while maintaining SR pushes the speed up while maintaining the same SR, it taught me a lot about the balance of strength and speed on the erg. Still a beginner, but I'm getting close to having the first 500m on the thing rather sorted

Having said all that, I recently discovered how relaxing it can be to set the drag at 8 for slow steady state distance work. It seems I'm able to relax and just lean my body weight back and that I cruise along at about 2:05 in a rather effortless Zen state at sr 18-19. I think this has recently evolved after doing all the high df sprint work -- there's something there that I'll continue to explore.

mishab wrote:This morning I was doing 3x15 min pyramids (5 min @20; 4 min @24; 3 min @28; 2 min @ 32 and 1 min @36)
I could not get the rate higher than 34 and even at 34 i had a hard time maintaining that hate for more than 5-10 sec. At 32s/m the split was around 1:49, but the output was around 167 watts. Just for comparison, at rate 28 s/m, which i can maintain for 12-15 min, the split is 1:55 and the output is above 200 watts. is there a training designed specifically to improve high rate tolerance?

Misha

Only one solution, get fitter, its not the rate but the energy needed you can,t sustain.
Also without knowing you are 1.49 rate 32 is not very efficient, to much rate for such a pace. My advice would, get gitter, instead of rating higher, rate lower in training, do most sessions low rated and aerobic. This will build and a stronger stroke and better aerobic fitness. In time this will transfer to being able to rate higher.

That said I myself never rated above 31 ish in a 2k, same height as you, times a good bit faster though, so I don,t rate higher but get more power per stroke in.