Half Marathon Pace

[chris5150]

New to the forum, have read a lot on here, but not posted anything yet. Have to say its a fantastic source of info.
Basically I am a cyclist, but have a rower in my garage as winter rains means its nice to have an alternative to the bike. Also good to do such a good overall exercise that's working different muscles etc
Anyway I seem to have got a bit addicted to the rower over this windy & rainy winter now, quite pleased with my progress in that just over 500k meters, I have managed to get a 38mins 50 secs 10k row and am relatively ok rowing at a pace of sub 2.00 per 500 regularly upto 15k mtrs. ( I am 50 yrs old )
Anyway did the half marathon, 21097 mtrs few weeks back and put in a 1.27.43.7 ( 2.04.7 avg ) , last week did the best 15k yet at 59.18 avg 1.58.6
So this weekend I want to break the 2.00m/500 avg for the half marathon, question is whats the best way to row it?...should I try to level off at a set pace throughout, or is it best to vary the pace?...previously I may do say 500m at 1.55, back off to 500m at 2.05 etc to keep the average, maybe then do 1000m at say 1.57/58, back off a bit next 1000 etc. Move my hands about a bit as well , wide grip for 500, then hands closer In for the next etc..just try to mix it up a bit.
I wear a HR strap, and monitor that, on my 15k row mentioned above HR avg was 158, a steady 10k row ( say 41 mins ) sees me averaging 140.
Any advice as to how best to pace the half marathon and manage my HR in the process,would be greatly appreciated, always aware when I up my pace into the sub 1.55,my HR goes up very quickly, so not sure if the best policy is to just nail the pace on 1.59.8 ish & grind it out for the duration, rather than vary the pace.
I have found I setup my rower on 5, drag factor of 138 ish works well for me so happy with that setting
thanks

[Cyclingman1]

Cycling is a very good entry way into rowing - especially endurance rowing.

Even pace is almost always the best for endurance events. I could see you doing 2:00 for the first 15K and then re-evaluating where you are. You may have to just hang on or you may have some extra energy. If so, drop the pace by a sec for a while. Then re-evaluate.

All endurance athletes constantly do re-evaluation of their performance while in the midst of it. How am I feeling? How am I doing? Adjustments are always called for for maximum performance. That is where experience and self-knowledge come in to play.

I will say putting in fast 500's is definitely counterproductive. The average pace will go down, but you will waste your body's reserves.

[OarConsequences]

I would wager that fluctuating from 1:55 to 2:05 would give you far worse results than just holding 2:00.

From a physics standpoint you will expend the least amount of energy for any given overall time by keeping the exact same average split over the entire duration. From a physiological and psychological standpoint though, backing off every so often might get you better results. Just know that it isn't because it's more efficient.

Another possible strategy would be negative splitting but I would assume that doing that over a marathon distance would lose most of its benefit apart from being hard to keep pace to. That said, having to mentally track to certain splits for the duration might help to pass the time since there'd be more tuning to be done over the duration.

In short, I would just stick to 2:00 splits throughout. The exceptions being to pick up the pace before and/or after drink breaks so that you can maintain an overall 2:00 average and your final sprint at the end.

[chris5150]

Thanks chaps, a steady pace it shall be then,and will see how it goes...always seem to be able to speed up towards the end, so get a bit back that end if I slip a little.
Going out of the blocks at a steady 1.59/2.00 for the first 11097 will be fairly easy for me, and then just grind out the second 10k
Intrigued you mention drink breaks, that's not something I do or plan to do...quite well hydrated in the morning, have a pint of water directly pre row & couple of pints straight after....do people actually stop and have a drink mid row at time?

[OarConsequences]

Short answer, yes, you should eat and drink. You don't have to but your performance will suffer if you don't.

See: http://therowingcompany.com/assets/docs ... _guide.pdf sections 3.3 and 3.4 in particular. It is for marathon training but obviously applies at least in part to half-marathon as well.

[Bob S.]

In my own experience, the half marathon is short enough even at my slow pace that I never needed food or water. The marathon is a different matter.

I heartily agree with the other respondents that even pacing is the way to go - with a solid sprint at the end.

Bob S.

[OarConsequences]

Did a little more digging and found the following article: http://www.runnersworld.com/drinks-hydr ... f-marathon

Key paragraph states:

Drinking less, however, did result in greater physiological stress. Runners' body temperatures and heart rates were higher when they followed the thirst-based approach, but the difference didn’t impact their time, leading the researchers to conclude that drinking more offers no performance benefit during a half marathon in hot conditions.

I recalled reading that losing fluids (more than 1% or 2% of body weight through sweat) caused physiological stress. Didn't realize that it didn't affect performance though. At least not in this study for 1/2 marathon distance.

[c2jonw]

I'm with Bob- eat and drink well in the 24 hours before the row and there's no need to stop for a drink. Certainly have something available if you think you might "need" it, but make sure it's something that won't upset your stomach and practice your one-armed paddling before the piece. If you can do 15K at a 1:58.6 then a 2:00 for the half is doable, but the closer to steady pace the better. A second or two off pace to either side of your target is ok but any more than that is going to cost you in efficiency. Psychologically starting out slightly slower than target pace and increasing during the piece can be good, but again I would keep it within 2 seconds of target pace. Good Luck with it........C2JonW

[Yankeerunner]

Add me to the list of those who don't drink in a half-marathon. As Jon says, load decently (but don't overload and get logy) the day before and things will be fine. Even for a marathon I have gradually cut down on fluid intake, getting by with less than 24oz. taken in sips of less than 2oz each every 3K.