Half marathon training paces

[hikeplusrow]

I've done a few half marathons on the RowErg, and tend to do all my training at 'race pace' or faster. Is this less polarized approach suitable for the HM. If not, what proportion of HM preparation should be done at slower than race pace? I use watts as my primary training metric, and average upper UT1 over the HM distance. I erg 5/6 times per week. Age: 63, weight: 70kg, best HM: 1.39.

[JaapvanE]

I do a weekly HM below or at 70% MaxHR. But I row almost daily, with one really intense training per week, so allowing yourself to recover becomes an issue.

[Dangerscouse]

I do most of my training at low to mid UT2, with occasional grey zone and sharper sessions.

I'd suggest that your training is grey zone ie not fast enough to make you faster and not slow enough to adapt. It has a place, but ime it should be used deliberately rather than as a standard, and UT2 will probably be beneficial

[jcross485]

I think total weekly volume will dictate how you lay out your training and intensity within sessions. How many meters are you averaging weekly over the last month, three months, etc.?

I am averaging about 75k per week with a bit of up and down due to work travel - some lighter weeks around 50k, have pushed upwards of 100k as well. I am looking to take that up a bit over the next 12-14 weeks as I push distance further.

My training was not likely ideal but about 90% of my total volume was between :04 and :07 slower (per 500m) that my HM pace with 10% of my total volume pretty close to or slightly faster than, by about :01 (per 500m), my HM pace.

I'm also looking at watts more so recently so to use that - about 90% of my training is 85% of my HM power with about 10% of my training between 100%-105% HM power.

I really don't think you need to do a ton of volume at that HM intensity to be good at it though. The HM is largely aerobic; 90% of my volume is focused more around the aerobic base. I had about 10% of volume near that HM effort so I was familiar with it.

[hikeplusrow]

Thanks for the responses.

I think the problem with the HM is that because the pace is relatively slow compared to 2k, 5k etc, its easy to be seduced into doing a lot of work at race pace or faster. You guys have confirmed my suspicion that I need to do more UT2 - actually I don't do any currently, but have in the past when training for shorter distances.

For some reason, there are limited online resources relating to HM row training, to the extent that I've been looking at HM running plans to see what's transferrable - I am an ex runner as it happens.

I do 50-60k a week on the erg, by the way. I also do a couple of 40 min stairmill sessions, and a couple of 2 hour hikes.

[Elizabeth]

I feel like running 10 miles and half marathon plans are pretty transferable. My 10 mile run time is really close to my rowing half marathon time.

Jack Daniel's book provides a sample plan with one day of interval repeats, one tempo run, one long run, and four easy runs - which seems reasonable on the RowErg as well. I wouldn't expect that much time at actual half marathon pace.

[Dangerscouse]

Thanks for the responses.

I think the problem with the HM is that because the pace is relatively slow compared to 2k, 5k etc, its easy to be seduced into doing a lot of work at race pace or faster. You guys have confirmed my suspicion that I need to do more UT2 - actually I don't do any currently, but have in the past when training for shorter distances.

For some reason, there are limited online resources relating to HM row training, to the extent that I've been looking at HM running plans to see what's transferrable - I am an ex runner as it happens.

I suspect that ex-runners have an issue with adapting to the variety that is possible and necessary within rowing. (I hate running, as it wrecks my knees)

For serious runners, at least from what I have seen, there's always a need to run fast or fairly fast. Slow is only an option for newbies, and I wonder if it's to do with ego, as running is almost always done in a public context?

If this is transferred on to a rower, it will more often than not be detrimental, although there are outliers who still thrive on always going hard at it. Learning to love going slower is an iterative process which slowly becomes acceptable, but to start with it will feel like you're wasting your time. The golden rule is to then make sure you maximise your more intense sessions, which if done correctly, will mean you crave a slower, less intense session.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is stroke rate. Do you do everything at the same stroke rate? This can fundamentally change the dynamics of a session and the perceived effort. I assume that you right quite high, as you're an ex-runner and have a solid cardio base?

[Elizabeth]

Stu, in running there wouldn't be the decision-making about taking your steady state at r18 vs r24, but the base mileage is still slow for the athlete. Molly Seidel (Olympic marathoner) just ran the Chicago Marathon at a 5:24/mi but does a lot of her training runs in the 7:30-8:30 range. I chose her as an example sheerly because her Strava is open and so I feel confident I'm not just making numbers up.

I do see a tendency in newer runners to not want to slow down, and that seems to be similar in rowing.

[hikeplusrow]

Personally, I have found that with running and rowing (and to an extent with cycling) going deliberately slowly feels somewhat awkward. My form on the erg is definitely better when I'm 'pushing on'. I also suffer from a neurological condition known as 'exercise induced focal dystonia'. This is where the muscles in a certain part of the body (in my case, lower left leg extending to foot) get confused and struggle to fire in the correct order. Again, for me, this tends to be worse at lower intensities when the muscles have more time to think about what they're doing! I'm receiving treatment for this condition.

On the question of stroke rate, I generally average 18-21 spm - quite low. My best HM was done at 21. I have to say that I'm 'all legs' - my upper body very much struggles to keep up and is vulnerable to injuries and niggles.

Thanks for the info on Jack Daniels. His regime reminded me very much of an article I read years go, I think written for 'The Runner' by an American Olympic marathoner, which stated there are essentially three key training paces in the marathon - short and fast (intervals/repeats), long and slow (distance/overdistance) and 'right on' (continuous run at race pace). I love the symmetry of this.

Again, thanks for the input.

[ShortAndStout]

I do a weekly HM below or at 70% MaxHR. But I row almost daily, with one really intense training per week, so allowing yourself to recover becomes an issue.

What does your really intense session look like?

[JaapvanE]

I do a weekly HM below or at 70% MaxHR. But I row almost daily, with one really intense training per week, so allowing yourself to recover becomes an issue.

What does your really intense session look like?

Typically that is shorter training (5K to 10K) in HR Zone 4 and 5, or an interval training at the same zones.

Rest of my trainings are all HR Zone 2. Big benefit of the Zone 2 trainings is that you still train the rowing movement, but don't exhaust yourself. And you can watch a movie or something similar.