Rowing for Ironman Training/Jack Nunn

[Turner100]

Triathlete, endurance athlete here with One 12 Hour Ironman under my belt. I also happen to love rowing and read an article on Jack Nunn training (and excelling) for an Ironman using 80% rowing.

Has anyone tried this before? What did your training look like? I’be got 51 weeks until Ironman WI, and am planning on 5x/week - 10K or longer rows with 1 swim, bike, run for the next 21 weeks, then shifting to more traditional triathlon training.

General Thoughts?

Thanks Turner100

[hobbit]

"80% of training for a triathlon on the erg" - That's a pretty amazing strategy, which goes right against the usual thought that training is very sport-specific. Still his arguments for indoor rowing as fitness training are ones that we can all agree with here.

Here's Jack Nunn's article: https://www.triathlete.com/2019/03/trai ... man_353683.

Training for running, I do alternate days of running and erging, with occasional doubles adding easy erging several hours after a running session. I'm still ramping up the running following a torn knee meniscus, so no remarkable running results yet .

[Turner100]

I agree, of course Jack Nunn is a genetic beast with Olympic bloodlines. Right now, I’m all about long and slow- and 2 hours on Erg is more enjoyable than 3/4 hours on my bike.

What’s a good long distance to build up too? My Half Marathon Row PR is 1:36.

Thanks Turner100

[Jackstack]

Hello everyone. Jack Nunn here and thanks for the comments and would be happy to answer any wuestions you have about training on the rowing machine for triathlon fitness gains. Here is a good program to start for any fitness level https://roworx.com/30day-rowing-workout-plan/

[Turner100]

Hi Jack, thanks for the reply! Quick background, I’m 47, 5’8”, 200 lbs. and my 2K is right around 7:30 and my one and only Ironman was Wisconsin 2018, with a 12:23 time.

I took off 2019, but am signed up for Wisconsin 2020. Right now, I’m using a modified Pete’s 5K plan, 6 session/week as an off-season build plus a few bikes & runs. Training for my last Ironman, I built up to a 110 bike with 4 century rides, and a weekly trail run up to 16 miles.

My question is how do you replace the long bike & runs with the rower? For your Ironman, what was your longest row? I can easily row a half marathon- but haven’t rowed longer than 2 hours at a time vs. some 4-5 hours on the bike trainer.

Thanks Rob D.

[Jackstack]

Hello Rob,
  Thanks for reaching out to me and sorry for the delayed reply. 
Congrats on your Ironman finish and time. Wisconsin was one of my favorite Ironman races in the US. 
 I'll send some rowing links for sample workouts you can use but my philosophy is all about how many quality hours of training you are putting in each week leading up to Ironman races. The more hours you average per week + Intensity (Watts/splits) Power + Consistency = Generally Faster Ironman Times and less muscle fatigue
 For example I usually average 15+ hours a week of fitness training at least 6 months out before an Ironman race.10hrs of indoor rowing classes per week + 5hrs of indoor cycling training on zwift with my Kikr trainer ... I swim once a week for 1-2 hrs and run only a couple times per week.
 Mostly rowing workouts with short intervals is what I do in classes....
 20 minute warm up with pick drills / stretching  10 minutes of 10 on 10 off or 20 on 20 off high intensity strokes 
 Then in Concept 2 menu... Custom list use the :30 :30 ... pyramid 1...1... 7 ...or 1:40 :20 workout in the custom list. Main thing is to mix up the rowing so its not boring and to make sure you do at least an hour or more with your heartrate in zone 3-4
 Here are some articles below....
https://roworx.com/30day-rowing-workout-plan/ 
https://www.triathlete.com/2019/03/trai ... man_353683 

 I do offer remote triathlon coaching btw... if you are interested. Here is more details on it. I've coached many athletes to their first Ironman and half Ironman finishes as well as improved their times substantially with my training approach
https://roworx.com/coaching/triathlon-training/  

 Let me know and thank you... hope this helps 
 All the best,