Concept2 Forum

Cardiac drift - do you adjust for it to keep yourself in the "correct" zone

I don't change my pace all I do is look at the average HR for the row in the results at the finish and thats the figure I use to tell what zone I have been in.

All depends on pace, the drift can be pretty low if your rowing slow and its Aerobic anyway but I do not alter my pace to stop the HR going over a set limit or "Cap".

Its as simple or as complex as you want to make it, some people break down the times they have spent in each "Zone" during the row, I don't bother.

The graphs are quite useful in the logbook, the flatter the graph at a set pace the better. Ideally your HR comes up to match the effort and just near flatlines with minimal drift. Taken to the extreme in elite rowers it just comes up near the max and they are able to hold it there for the duration of the row like a 5k. Not only can they stay in a higher zone for longer, the drift is low as well because of their level of fitness.

wpuk wrote: ↑

April 2nd, 2022, 5:24 pm

Cardiac drift - do you adjust for it to keep yourself in the "correct" zone

I don't do it very often nowadays as I know roughly how hard i need to work, but I used to use a cap as it's a better comparison of progress as long as you use quite a few sessions.

Having said that, cardiac drift can be influenced by quite a few factors, eg heat, dehydration, tiredness etc, so it's good to use your intuition and the rate of perceived exertion (RPE) in addition to HR.

I'm mainly doing longer rows (my log books all out of whack) and try to keep myself towards the top of zone 2.

As I'm not very fit at the mo I'm not sure (on my HR) what is drift and what is fatigue. I suppose it'll be easier to tell as I get fitter.

I did a good few weeks early in the year just picking a pace (from perceived excertion) and sticking with it. Now I'm using the HR monitor again them rows were probably mid to lower zone 2.

The first part of my life I spent training destructively (as it was what I needed at the time) now I'm happy to try and get "best benefit" to take me into old age.

I don't mind drifting into zone 3 on my zone 2 work outs if it's not "really" classed as zone 3 but really just optimised? zone 2

I'm likely over thinking it I'm just after getting better long term results

Just keep up the training you should see good results. Your age weight and height is close to mine so plenty of room to improve. Good luck.

Different people are referring to different things, and have different intentions, when talking about various "zones".

Having said that, if one's intention is to train in Zone 2 to optimize their aerobic development, primarily through mitochondrial changes... I would argue that it is quite important to remain in that zone for the entirety of a session. That's not to say other adaptations won't occur if one bounces around the zones, but that's really not typically the intention of zone-based training.

Now, as far as the impact of "cardiac drift" goes - it's difficult to say with certainty. Ultimately, hr isn't actually what defines our intensity ones, but it is a relatively useful proxy. With that in mind, if I'm going to use hr as my metric, I will absolutely implement a "strict cap", at least for the first 98% of a low-intensity session.

Of course, you can always simplify and just make sure that you are able to hold a conversation any time you are intending to be in "zone 2". While also imperfect, this is also a useful proxy for intensity.

I guess it depends on whether one follows a particular plan aiming to optimise the benefits of such plans. My plan suggests that for training, HR is the most important with values set for each different part of the plan, followed by stroke rate and then pace being the least important.

Heartrate is really important for monitoring your performance gains as well as staying in a sustainable training mode so you can row week after week for the whole year.

Unfortunately it doesn't get any easier at age 50 and there are definite advantages to keep the HR below 150 for sustainable training for me or else I just hit a brick wall.

Pushing hard to get to 5k a day average at present and while its tempting to push the pace when your online with RowPro, you can really pay for it the next day. Sometimes that extra couple of hundred meters for the 30 minute is really not worth it if it stops you from getting up the next day and doing another row.

Cardiac drift - do you adjust for it to keep yourself in the "correct" zone

If using HR as control, suggest you reduce load by maintaining stroke quality, but at lower rating. If that's not enough, stop and rest: Intervals.

Your legs are strong enough to offer plenty of training stimulus at all ratings, if you use them. UT2 starts at rate 18, and basic training is done at 18-20.

wpuk wrote: ↑

April 2nd, 2022, 5:24 pm

Cardiac drift - do you adjust for it to keep yourself in the "correct" zone

I have "battled" with monitoring HR for the last couple years on longer rows. I got frustrated with it but it did show me I was going too hard on steady state rows and I adjusted. I will often set a cap but....if I want to maintain a pace and I am slightly over my cap and have spent most of the row below it I will allow it to be over (so I guess its a suggested cap - lol). I try not to stress too much about it and use experience to guide me but if HR drifts too high than you are going out of the target zone and best to slow down some if trying to be in that zone. You will experience less drift the more you do longer rows.

I've settled on doing a bit of both - sometimes I will go out and row to a target heart rate, other times row to a set pace. As Carl pointed out above though, I also tend to take reference from the average heart rate for the entire piece as to ultimately what overall zone I was in, it was in rather than overly obsessing split-by-split.

For me, an hour long UT2 looks like this (seems I get about 20, 25mins in, then have to start reducing intensity):



Meanwhile, an hour long fixed pace at UT1/transitioning to AN looks like the below. Linear rise in HR (asides from the YOLO strokes for 200 at the end!!)

wpuk wrote: ↑

April 2nd, 2022, 5:24 pm

Cardiac drift - do you adjust for it to keep yourself in the "correct" zone

HR is a proxy for Lactate Levels in your blood. Keeping the HR below 70-75% of max heart rate is a good GUESS at the point where you start seeing rising lactate levels in your blood. Elite athlete use blood tests to confirm the HR range works for them.

On a long piece if you are seeing rising heart rates after 15 mins or so then one or more of these may apply:
1. You are dehydrated. Drink more.
2. You are overheated. Get a fan. A big one.
3. You are rowing too hard to stay below your first lactate threshold.
4. You have increased your workout duration, the drift should be at the very end.

Slowing down as you notice HR drift is a good thing if you are doing a long/slow workout, but you should not be seeing much HR drift at all in a UT2 piece. Re-confirm the HR you are using. Take your target HR down 5 beats/min and see if your HR flattens out. If so use that HR for UT2 sessions.

If you are rowing 3 days/week or less -- no worry, let that HR drift up. Good workout.

If you are rowing 3 or more days/week (or doing other intense workouts cycling, lifting, etc) then you need to keep your UT2 level workout easy -- this is recovery time for the harder workouts. It's important that you fine tune your UT2 effort level.