Erging Boredom vs Cross Training

[brad_herring]

I find that when I am doing longer distance pieces on the erg (30 min +) that I cannot stay motivated and get extremely bored sometimes leading to quitting. Anything less than that amount and I am fine. However, on the water this does not happen, and on long runs and cycling rides outdoors this does not happen. Is it ok for me to supplement my long erg pieces with say, an hour of hard cycling or a 10k/5k run?

[quickstepper]

I have found long distance erging is more mentally tough than physically tough. I find going at a slower pace, over 30-40minutes (long distance for me ), is mentally more difficult than going at a faster pace. I'm huffing and puffing more when going faster and that seems to drive me more. Maybe distracts me more as well. At the slower pace I have more time to think about the slow pace and how much less distance I'm going to travel and that makes me annoyed / defeated. Always want to do a PB

One way to break the monotony... Mix it up...
Do 10 power pulls every three minutes or so...
Change the spm every 3-5 minutes. Make it a pyramid.... 24/26/28/26/24/22 etc...
Up the pace for 2 minutes and then go back to the avg. Lower the pace for 2 and then back to avg.
Focus on negative splits... Get faster each interval
I'm mathematically inclined so to overcome boredom I do internal calculations about my current speed and what distance I will travel in an odd amount of time.

I'd love to hear what others do.

Regards,
Marco

[InlineJinn]

Gray's Anatomy on Neftlix

[DanielJ]

I have found long distance erging is more mentally tough than physically tough. I find going at a slower pace, over 30-40minutes (long distance for me ), is mentally more difficult than going at a faster pace. I'm huffing and puffing more when going faster and that seems to drive me more. Maybe distracts me more as well. At the slower pace I have more time to think about the slow pace and how much less distance I'm going to travel and that makes me annoyed / defeated. Always want to do a PB

One way to break the monotony... Mix it up...
Do 10 power pulls every three minutes or so...
Change the spm every 3-5 minutes. Make it a pyramid.... 24/26/28/26/24/22 etc...[1]
Up the pace for 2 minutes and then go back to the avg. Lower the pace for 2 and then back to avg.
Focus on negative splits... Get faster each interval
I'm mathematically inclined so to overcome boredom I do internal calculations about my current speed and what distance I will travel in an odd amount of time. [2]

I'd love to hear what others do.

Regards,
Marco

1: Yeah - we're getting close to Wolverine Level 4 stuff here. Wolverine Plan Level 4 workouts are meant to be 60-70 minutes (or perhaps 2x40 with a rest or 4x10 with rests (at higher intensity)), where the segments are broken down into 1-, 2- and 3-minute chunks at a set SPM and you try to nail the target pace. Concentrating on those numbers keeps one (me, at least) from getting bored.

2: Same here. I make lots of mental calculations as I'm rowing, such as my average metres per minute so far (and then think about raising my average to the next whole number, or something like that). It's not quite the same as when I used to do long-distance walking, though. There was that time I calculated 6^22...

One other thing I do is to change the display. The wattage histogram, for instance, can be used as a little game where you try to keep the bars identical in height. You might do that for, say, four or five scrolls. And then you change display again and perhaps leave the big font numbers on for five minutes... etc.

But anyway, for me there's enough variation among the realms of "long rows" for me to not get bored. Tonight's row will be 10k UT2 @ 18 spm, which might get a bit boring but the satisfaction of knowing I'm putting the work in, as well as the anticipation of tomorrow's 10x400m intervals, will keep me going; the next long row might be something @ 23 spm, or perhaps a PB effort or whatever.

Mind you, at the grand old age of 30, I'm not as easily bored as you, Brad! I also don't row on the water yet, so you probably have higher standards of what's exciting! For me, exciting is getting new slippers.

[Edward4492]

I did several months of longer rows (10 - 15k). At one point I had about a six week stretch of 15k's. I set my PM up for 1000m splits and tried to focus on hitting each split dead on at a pre-determined pace and rate, usually 20r and 2:00 to 2:10. I'm still working on the "perfect" screen shot with every split identical. I've always thought that at least one of the reasons for the Wolverine plan's focus on varying stroke rates was to help maintain focus and develop control. I became a very strong believer in the need for logging long rate controlled work outs at a reasonable to challenging pace, for me the hardest is about 10w/s which is approximately 2:00 pace at 20r. I'm also a firm believer in putting in your time on the erg. For fitness, cycling, running, etc. are fine. If your goal is to be truly fast, fast as you can possibly get, ya gotta do your hours. I row at home but I probably do over half my meters at the gym. More distraction. I guess coming from a cycling background where long rides are the norm, an hour of erging just doesn't seem to tough.

[hjs]

I find that when I am doing longer distance pieces on the erg (30 min +) that I cannot stay motivated and get extremely bored sometimes leading to quitting. Anything less than that amount and I am fine. However, on the water this does not happen, and on long runs and cycling rides outdoors this does not happen. Is it ok for me to supplement my long erg pieces with say, an hour of hard cycling or a 10k/5k run?

Nomatter what, long ergs are boring. Doing other stuff for aerobic fitness is fine. What is not wisemis doing hard work. Longer training should be aerobic. Doing it hard is beyond that. Your breathing should stay calm, if not its beginning to become anaerobic.
Other sports, not on a machine give lots more distractions, so easier to do.

[Edward4492]

Referencing Henry's post, I started using a HR monitor and was surprised to find out how high I was pushing it on some of my long rows, up around 90%. Most of my long stuff now I cap at 80% and stay in the 75-80% range. Currently this equates to a 2:08 to 2:10 range. I backed down to one 10k at 85 -90% in the fall, an d now with my first race next week I don't do any long hard rows. It's either short and as fast as I can go twice a week or 10k at basically recovery pace, around 2:10. HR is still in the 75% range, and I feel fresh. down to 50-60k weekly. Also diet is real tight as I race as a LWT so not eating a lot to fuel long hard efforts.

For most of the training cycle, 90% is training "no-man's land". You're going hard enough to get worn down to where it affects the next day's work out but not hard enough to dig deep and affect change and improvement. Daily training in this zone leads to plateaus and chronic fatigue.

As to max HR, this has been discussed at length before, forget the formulas...useless. there are several detailed protocols. But it's really pretty simple. Put the throttle down and max it out! (assuming medical clearance and not on beta blockers, etc.). After a long warm up I like to do a 2k with a fairly hard first 1000m, then keep ramping it up with a hard last 500m and as hard a sprint as I can muster. Currently my observed max is 176, as compared to 220-58 = 162. Using the standard formula would leave me grossly undertrained. Everybody is different due to genetics and training. HR gives you another metric to monitor and keep your mind occupied.

[dblinden]

It's not the activity, it's the person. I regularly see people at the gym I attend doing their workout on an elliptical or bike. These devices have TV's attached that are turned on, the person has an iPod in their ears and they are simultaneously checking their Facebook and email accounts on their phones while exercising. Would you be bored sitting for a couple hours in the woods or near a stream and just watch the water flowing? If yes, then you are likely to be bored on a rower for an hour as well as doing most other solitary and extended activities. Are gimmicks and distractions really the solution? I know this sounds preachy, but who has time to be bored?

Just some other thoughts.

Best, Dennis L

[Gettingold]

Wow
I guess you know you are bored when you need distractions such as tv, facebook, emails and i phones. Put down the gadgets and start living in the real world.

Focus on the purpose and desired outcome of your training. Understanding that the exercise itself is a "means to an end" is key. It sounds like your mental aspect needs training too. Concetration whilst training will yeild much higher gains than distractions. If you don't like what you are doing, then stop and pursue another direction. Intervals may be more your thing.