Rowing. There is no substitute.
Posted: March 5th, 2019, 4:40 pm
(with apologies to Porsche)
Two years ago I was rowing every day. I had a set of standard workouts I did pretty randomly, from an easy 5K, to a medium 10K, to a hard 30 minute row. I tracked my average and max heart rate when doing those rows. During that time I ran a half marathon, a 10K, and a 5K. I did not train for those at all; I literally ran about ten miles total training for those three runs. The half-marathon went well. The 10K I ran about as fast as I had ever run a 10K in the past when I was running much more. The 5K I ran much faster than any other 5K I have run.
So: sample size of 1, but rowing can absolutely prepare you for running, although for longer distances, a bit of distance running would be helpful.
Lately I've been alternating daily between running and strength training. I run treadmill 5Ks, 10Ks and other distances. The weather has warmed up a bit so I put the erg on the balcony and tried the easy 5K workout. When I was doing it regularly two years ago, my average heart rate for the 5K was about 120 BPM -- like I said, easy. Yesterday doing a 5K I averaged 151 BPM. That's really disappointing.
So yeah, back on the erg.
Two years ago I was rowing every day. I had a set of standard workouts I did pretty randomly, from an easy 5K, to a medium 10K, to a hard 30 minute row. I tracked my average and max heart rate when doing those rows. During that time I ran a half marathon, a 10K, and a 5K. I did not train for those at all; I literally ran about ten miles total training for those three runs. The half-marathon went well. The 10K I ran about as fast as I had ever run a 10K in the past when I was running much more. The 5K I ran much faster than any other 5K I have run.
So: sample size of 1, but rowing can absolutely prepare you for running, although for longer distances, a bit of distance running would be helpful.
Lately I've been alternating daily between running and strength training. I run treadmill 5Ks, 10Ks and other distances. The weather has warmed up a bit so I put the erg on the balcony and tried the easy 5K workout. When I was doing it regularly two years ago, my average heart rate for the 5K was about 120 BPM -- like I said, easy. Yesterday doing a 5K I averaged 151 BPM. That's really disappointing.
So yeah, back on the erg.