TIME FOR A CHANGE!!!!!!

[nickverity]

Have just been getting back into this rowing malarky. I have rowed 276,000m this year, mostly doing the online rowing sessions, usually 30mins, my best for 30 mins is just under 7,100m, from my starting point of 6000m since jan. average Heart rate is about 150bpm. and stroke rate is 22spm.
My problem is I am starting to feel a little stale doing the constant row, chasing pb's every session. I am in need of variety!!!! lol.
Has any one any suggestions for a good starting point to build on my good start. Goals are general fitness, and weight loss. I am thinking of interval sessions, but don't know where to start, I would ideally like to build on the distance on the 30min row.
Many thanks in advance.


Age 38
sex...male
height 5 ft 10
weight...too much!!! 92kg

[jamesg]

You're doing well I think; 7100/30m/22 means a stroke worth 8W' of work, enough to load you and keep you fit and strong. Exactly how well depends on your age, sex and height.

I'm 68, M, 188cm and use more or less the same stroke. It creeps to 8.5 and even 9W' after I'm well warmed up, but beyond that pieces get short and nasty.

To make rowing more interesting what we can do is a) keep learning how by working on our stroke, b) mix the distances and speeds, c) race, d) go afloat.

You can see plenty of variety in the Interactive schedules on the UK site. You'll need a 2k time and it's important to put in accurate data.

[sheehc]

Mix up the stroke rate some. You can bump it up and down within the piece and this can help time go by. Maybe do something like 16/18/17/19 on 4'/3'/2'/1' or something more steady like 16/18/20/22 switching every 5'. The switching can make time go by faster and feel like you are doing more.

Alternatively, you can break the time into intervals like you say. Maybe once or twice a week you can do 3 x 10' or 2 x 15'. Two of my favorite long interval workouts are 4 x (4' AT/1' SS) and 10 x (1:40 AT/ 20" paddle). Pretty sure the interactive schedule/online rowing will define AT pacing for you, but lets just call it a pace that is challenging but certainly not all out (like a 7-8 out of 10). One or two sets of either workout will liven up the workout schedule (take 10' rest between sets for these).

If you want to do shorter work once a week just keep the total work time under 20' (like 4 x 5', or 5 x 3', 2 x 7', etc....). These ought to be tough, take a fair amount of rest and pace yourself the first couple times to get used to them.

[philwhite7]

Also consider shorter distance intervals like some of those in the Pete Plan:

I always find Pete's 8x500M, 8x625M or 5x750M to be a killer. The good thing about these is that you can alter the rest periods (e.g. 1 min or 90 sec rest for slower paced intervals, 3 min 30 sec rest for higher paced reps) to suit your needs, and mess with the stroke rates, too.

[nickverity]

have been looking for Petes plan...heard a lot about it...can't seem to find it!!!!

[philwhite7]

Here you go: http://thepeteplan.wordpress.com/the-pete-plan/

I am currently using the 5K version, which can be found here:

http://thepeteplan.wordpress.com/5k-training/

It's proving to be a challenging and effective training tool. Good luck.

[fishbust]

Muscles plateau at times. They sometimes do not like too much redundancy. Sometimes you do really well (in anything you are doing) with seemingly constant and linear gains but reach a point of 'blah' where the muscles plateau and continued redundancy offers little gain or even trouble maintaining. Sometimes overtraining some muscle groups while other muscle groups not quite stressed in redundant motions are neglected.

At these times, it is a good idea to crosstrain. Do something else almost entirely and do your 'usual' training once or twice a week for a while. Maybe give the cardio a break and do some weight training for a time and return to rowing feeling fresh.

Or better yet, incorporate another activity to create a 50/50 mix with your rowing, this way you are still burning the cardio type calories for the continued weight loss you are seeking.

Just a couple ideas and suggestions. The possibilities to combat redundant training plateaus and boredom are endless.

[excellence]

One should never be bored rowing, not with all the different training plans available. As was mentioned, you have the Pete Plan, the Wolverine Plan, Tabata Intervals, pyramids, etc. I f you're on a PM4 you can race against a pace boat. I'm unforunately on a PM2. I have worksheets that I made; 1 for intervals, and the other for Wolverine L4. We've been having a lot of conversation about the L4 of late, in regards to the lower spms, but yesterday i did it only using the higher numbers, and then bouncing sown to say 18. It was pretty intense.

I try rarely to put a rest in my intervals, just for the stamina, basically, and control. There are more than enough combinations to keep you entertained indefinitely.

[nickverity]

Thanks for the link to the legendary Pete's plan....going to start this evening!!!! Here Goes

[iain]

Thanks for the link to the legendary Pete's plan....going to start this evening!!!! Here Goes

There are 2 ways to do the PP. most Forumites use it for sharpening and are used to its rigours. They set off at a tough pace for the opening interval sessions, perhaps basing the pacing on the target paces Pete gives. few people manage to keep this up long term. if you do want to do it this way, i suggest you start a couple of seconds off the target and consider mixing in other session to the main PP (2k test, 1k, 500 r6'/4' neg split; 5*750r3:30; 5,4,3,2,1x250r1'/250 as examples for short intervals or 5 or 6k test, 1k, 1.5k, 2k, 1.5k, 1k r5'; 2x3.5kr5' etc. long intervals) to give a greater gap for improvement between redoing the same session.

Alternatively, follow Pete's recommendations and start at the modest pace at which you believe you could complete the distance of the intervals without the rest. This will get you used to the faster ratings and feel of intervals and to really attack the last interval each time.

Hope it goes well

- Iain

[PaulH]

You could try entering the c2ctc or nonathlon to provide some variety to your rowing - c2ctc in particular gives you something new to focus on every month.