How can I improve my time on 5000m row?

[nikkiseven]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has a suggestion on how to improve my time on the 5000m? I have only started timing myself and have had 5 attempts at the 5K. Today my time was 28 minutes 41 seconds 8 tenths. Only a slight improvement on my first attempt that was completed in 31 minutes 43 seconds.
I am about 5" 8 and just under 2 stone overweight but not unfit with it (I can do 2 spin classes back to back without much of a problem). I am new to rowing so I was wondering if anyone has any tips?

Thanks everyone

Nikki

[hjs]

First, proberly look at your technique, very often newbies make lots of mistakes. More info can help, drag? Strokes per min. Etc.

Second, volume, 5k is very much about making meters. Nothing magicly, just time on the sadle.

Look at videos for guidence, second film yourself and see how you do. Possibly post it online.

[Carl Watts]

Yep like Hjs said its about fitness and doing more meters. Your not going to get significantly faster at the 5K by only rowing 5K at a time, you need to up the rows to 30 to 40 minutes and do distance, 45K a week.

Obviously the longer rows at a lower heartrate will shift the weight, this will get you gains on its own, not to mention the improvement in fitness.

I found the 5K the crossover point between strength and endurance.

[jamesg]

Only a slight improvement

Your first 5k was at 51 W (31:43) and the later (28:42) at 69 W. So in terms of power and endurance you have a 35% improvement.

If that took you just 5 outings, very well done indeed. This improvement may be due to technique, fitness or both.

Don't be discouraged by time readings, they are not linear with your real effort. 28.7/31.7 = 0.9, i.e only 10% difference.

At 5'8" you could have an "ideal" weight of around 65-70 kg; so currently with 69 W you are working at 1 W/kg, which is enough to show fitness improvement, as your data demonstrates. As you get better at it, this number will increase, but how much depends on sex and age.

Watching your Watt/Rating ratio can help improve technique, which is mainly a question of stroke length and speed and a strong posture at the catch.

NB: boats go fast because they have low drag.

[nikkiseven]

Thank you for the feedback guys. I'm going to try some of the challenges later on in the year so i will start building up my time on the rower. I had a slight improvement on the 5k again tonight now at 28.13.6 after watching the videos to gt my technique right.

[PolkadotNat]

If you're new to rowing I wouldn't go about doing a 5k test every week, it puts a lot of strain and also repeating the same test distance is repetitive - Especially if you're training solo you might find your body just settles with what it finds comfortable and they'll be a mental barrier that'll stop you from pushing through.

I know from experience as I only made very small improvements on my 5k for a long time (1/2 secs) and then this year with a new squad I took off over a minute (now at 19:58.7).

Mix up your training with long distance, low effort pieces. Like 2 x 6k or 2 x 8k at something like a 3:00 split (HR 170 or lower, rate 18-20) or something that feels easy. It'll be a long work out, but quite quickly you'll see your UT2 pace drop and then you'll be doings these 6k pieces at your current 5k split easy peasy. Rowing longer distances (especially 8k) will trick your brain into thinking 5k is nothing and you'll find that distance easier and easier - it won't feel like such a daunting task!

And at 5' 8" trying to get to 65-70KG is not really necessary. If you're not vying to enter into LWT categories (or are not a competitive on water rower where weight in the boat slows it down) then there's no reason to lose so much weight. If you think you're overweight then just lose until you feel comfortable, happy and fit. I'm a HWT rower myself and my summer race weight is around 75KG, my winter weight can bulk up to 85KG before I start to trim down and focus on fat loss over muscle wastage (I'm 5' 9" by the way, my coach has no issue with me weighing 80KG or more in Head season as long as I get results).

The important thing about training and weight loss is if you notice your splits flat line or get worse then take a pause on the diet until you gain momentum, so train hard and diet until you notice no improvement in your training then relax the diet and train harder until the results show through again. There's not point losing weight if it makes you weaker.

Another way to improve 5k time is to add weights in. You say you go spinning which is excellent cross-training for the ergo and it's a great thing to keep up, but maybe add in at least 1 day of heavy weights training. If you're at a gym ask one of the trainers there to teach you about squats, cleans, deadlifts, bench pulls and bench press. This increase in strength will definitely drive down your 5k time and also promote further fat and weight loss, if that's your goal. Also, if you are a member of a gym and that includes classes (I am making assumptions based on the spinning classes) then see if they do any HIIT circuit sessions or any high intensity circuits. Pushing yourself for short amounts of time (1-2 mins) will improve your overall fitness and it will reflect on your 5k and most certainly on your 2k if you ever decide to do that test.

Other tests are 1 hour (rate 18-20), 30 mins (rate 20), 6k (aim for rate 26-28) and 2k (aim for rate 30-32). For a 5k test you should be aiming for rate 28, at such a high rate you'll find the first 1k is just tapping the handle along and will feel effortless just don't take that as invincibility and aim to make a split you find comfortable feel effortless, then the hardest bit is mentally pushing through the pain barrier half way through. Even in that pain you have got to have confidence in yourself that you can achieve this split (6k and 8ks help with this) and stay steady, don't let the split change, and then in the final 600m really push on and try and get that split lower and lower each 10 strokes.

Technique wise you might even want to pop down to your local rowing club and take a 'Learn to Row' course! They will teach you a lot about rowing machine technique and you'll get a chance to have a play in a real boat!

Telling yourself "I can do this. I can beat this 5k." Will do wonders for your split. Good luck!

[nikkiseven]

Thank you for all the excellent tips. I have started increasing the distances I row and have got up to 10,000m on some workouts. Usually it takes me over an hour and I try and mix up the intensity of the workouts. I have been doing more weights and kettlebell classes and this seems to be improving my overall fitness too. Unfortunately I hurt my shoulder so I haven't been rowing as much. I have been building it back up this week and shall start again next week. Hopefully I will see improvement soon.

[swingshiftworker]

This is an old thread and I know it's in the "Women's Forum" but I thought that I'd just mention that, as a male noob, I found the info/advice provided very useful (regardless of the gender of the rower) and that I intend to keep it in mind for the purpose of improving my 5km times. Thanks!