These are good signs, correct?

[Frihed89]

I own a Concept 2. I have used it on and off for periods, without any real goals. That has changed and I have been working on improving my 10K time over what it was when I was in my 40s (and used a Concept 2 in a gym). I am 67 now. on my new scales i weigh 74.3K and am 5'9"" (176 cm).

After 2 months of rowing and getting my 10K time as low as 45' (2'15"/500 @ ~19) and training around 46'. I find the following:

My heart rate at the end of the row has fallen by 20 beats down to around 135. My standing heart rate has fallen from about 70 to 65. After sprints, my heart rate "recovers" much more quickly than before, but I can't give a single figure. It falls faster and goes lower.

If my heart were a power supply, then I would think i am swinging a larger and larger amount of B+ voltage faster and faster, which is a good thing. Right?

[bloomp]

Within even the first week of exercise, your blood volume begins to increase and your stroke volume must increase as well. Both contribute to a faster 'recovery', as you need to pump fewer times to move all your blood around - whether after exercise or at rest.

As for post-row HR, it may just be you need to push yourself more in the middle of the piece. As you don't know what it plateaus at, I really can't say how much harder. But for your age, that is a great pace! Keep up the good work.

[TabbRows]

Frihed,

If you are viewing your heart rate directly off the PM monitor at the very end of your row, remember it is only displaying your last heart beat, not he average for your row.

The type of rowing you have been doing is considered to be UT2 by the Concept 2 Training program. This is a general fitness, low intensity, fat burning type of a workout. These workouts target around 65% of max heart rate, so for someone your age and size, 135 is within the range; your max HR being around 160 (see the sticky for the heart rate calculation spreadsheet in the training forum). You should be able to talk somewhat during these seessions. If you are gasping for air and sweating profusely on these workouts, then your CV fitness level may not be up to wher eit needs ot be and you should back off on the effort and work to get yourself fit. If you have a HR monitor, the Step Test on the C2 site is a good place to get an idea of what your max HR is now versus what medical theory says it should be. As you do different types of training, you'll experience differnet heart rate patterns. For example, if you were to do an AT level training of say 3 x 6' @ a 26 spm, you'd most likely see your HR go up to 145 or so.

[Carl Watts]

Go into your PM memory if you have a PM3 or PM4 and have a look at your average HR for the row.

This can be used to do a rough comparison to other rows of the same distance/time and pace.

RowPro has an anaylise function that gives a better indication as to your improvements as it looks at the HR, pace and distance per stroke improvements on a % basis.

Falling average heart rates and faster recovery are both signs of improvement. Also the faster your heart responds to changes in pace, i.e. a faster pace the better

[Frihed89]

I don't have a heart rate monitor. I sometimes just do fixed time workouts, where I check my heart rate periodically with my finger and a watch. That's how I measure things.

It is fair to say that I am out of shape.

I can row 10K m at just under 45' for slightly less than 2.15/500. I start off at a stroke rate of 19, but by the end, it's really hard to get under 45' without alternating slow and fast, and I am sweating a lot, but then I have sweat pants and shirt on, too.

I thought once I could row this time consistently, i would automatically become in better shape. I guess not. So, now I am doing some sprint rowing, too.

I wonder if I'll ever get down to 2.00/500 in the 10K? It doesn't look good right now. Weight isn't a problem as I have cut my caloric intake a lot, anyway. I am getting more muscular and losing weight, which isn't ideal. I'd like to be able to eat less, train hard (45' /day, 5x a week), become more muscular and not loose weight, without putting any crap in my system.

[Carl Watts]

Did we mention time & patience ?

Your body is a Diary........it remembers everything.

The less physical activity you have done in the past, the longer it will take to get into shape now. 2:00ave/500M pace will come, its just a matter of time and consistant training one week at a time.

2:15 to 2:00 looks a long way away but the good news is your not on the really steep part of the exponential power curve. Going Sub 2:00 is a different story, the power requirement starts to climb through the roof !

Keep it up, the results you want will happen. Stick to distance rowing and gradually increase your pace, don't overdo it you need to train from one week to the next.

[chgoss]

I thought once I could row this time consistently, i would automatically become in better shape. I guess not. So, now I am doing some sprint rowing, too.
I wonder if I'll ever get down to 2.00/500 in the 10K? It doesn't look good right now. Weight isn't a problem as I have cut my caloric intake a lot, anyway. I am getting more muscular and losing weight, which isn't ideal. I'd like to be able to eat less, train hard (45' /day, 5x a week), become more muscular and not loose weight, without putting any crap in my system.

I have my own guaranteed successful training plan:
1. Get Row Pro, free eval copy at http://www.digitalrowing.com/downloads/
2. Show up and train with us monday-thursday at 7:30 PM EST
3. Do that for 3-4 month's, and you'll be faster than me (I have yet to meet ANYONE that followed the plan and wasnt faster than me within that time period , hence my undisputed title of "World Online Wooden Spoon Champion")

so, if you do that, you will be below a 40min 10k in 4 month's guaranteed, cause you'll be better than me, and I can pull a sub 39 10k.

hope to cya online!
-chad

[Carl Watts]

I would second that suggestion Chad.

RowPro has made all the difference for me. Had it now for about 5 months and rowing quicker times than I was 7 years ago when I first got my Erg....Oh no I'm beginning to sound like Ranger ! Seriously the best 20min I could do was 1:55 pace then fall off the Erg and die now I can do a 10K at 1:54 pace and still walk !

But seriously it gets you motivated, like a training partner at the Gym. The online RowPro community is great and you can chat online with like minded fellow rowers.

Try the evaluation version and if your online at arround 20:00GMT then Pam will talk you through it.