Achieving Realistic 2K Goals

[Piston]

On some of the other threads, folks are talking about trying to break 7 minutes or even 6 minutes for a 2K. Those are just not realisitic for me (female, mid 30s, 5'5" first thing in the morning, lightweight-ish). I've been following the UK training plan and managed to pull 7:53.5 (although my splits were not very consistent). Breaking the 8 minute barrier was a big deal for me, but as an old coach once said "never be satisfied", so my new goal is 7:45. Looking at CRASH-B or satellite results, it seems like a lot of LW women are pulling below 7:30, so I think 7:45 is reasonable, but I feel as though I need to change something up. What are these women doing to pull such good scores?

[hjs]

On some of the other threads, folks are talking about trying to break 7 minutes or even 6 minutes for a 2K. Those are just not realisitic for me (female, mid 30s, 5'5" first thing in the morning, lightweight-ish). I've been following the UK training plan and managed to pull 7:53.5 (although my splits were not very consistent). Breaking the 8 minute barrier was a big deal for me, but as an old coach once said "never be satisfied", so my new goal is 7:45. Looking at CRASH-B or satellite results, it seems like a lot of LW women are pulling below 7:30, so I think 7:45 is reasonable, but I feel as though I need to change something up. What are these women doing to pull such good scores?

You could start with saying what you do yourself and how you did progress to your current level. Without that it's hard to say something worthwhile.

[Bob S.]

On some of the other threads, folks are talking about trying to break 7 minutes or even 6 minutes for a 2K. Those are just not realisitic for me (female, mid 30s, 5'5" first thing in the morning, lightweight-ish). I've been following the UK training plan and managed to pull 7:53.5 (although my splits were not very consistent). Breaking the 8 minute barrier was a big deal for me, but as an old coach once said "never be satisfied", so my new goal is 7:45. Looking at CRASH-B or satellite results, it seems like a lot of LW women are pulling below 7:30, so I think 7:45 is reasonable, but I feel as though I need to change something up. What are these women doing to pull such good scores?

If you look at this season's rankings, the first place in the 30-39 lightweight women's division for the 2k had a time of 7:56.2, so if you posted yours you would be ranked # 1. What are you expecting? In the heavy weight division (i.e. over 135 pounds) there are eight faster times ranked with the fastest at 7:17.5, but the average is 9:31.0 for the heavyweight division and the 75th percentile time is well over 8'.

If you feel that you have the potential to rank in the top brackets, make sure that you are using the optimum technique. Even with good training videos and a mirror next to your indoor rower, it is not possible to be sure that your technique is optimal. It is best to have it checked out by a knowledgeable coach or, if there is no one available, have a video taken from the side and post it so that members of this forum (or the UK C2 forum) can give a critique. Many have found this to be very useful.

Bob S.

[Bob S.]

If you look at this season's rankings, the first place in the 30-39 lightweight women's division for the 2k had a time of 7:56.2, so if you posted yours you would be ranked # 1.

Bob S.

For this season, it is still early, of course, since the real competition occurs in January and February - at least in the U.S. So I checked out last season's rankings. Out 117 listed in the 30-39 LWT W division, there were only 12 who went under 8'.

When you say "lightweight-ish" how close are you to the magic number, i.e. 135#? There is no "ish" at the competitions. The weigh-in time is usually a couple of hours before the event and you are either at 135 or under - or you are in the open (HWT) category. Competition is tougher there, with 83 out of 321 going under 8' last season.

Bob S.

[Piston]

Thanks for the responses! Here are some more details:

I have been following the UK training program at http://concept2.co.uk/training/interactive (athlete level 4, 5 workouts per week, arbitrarily chose 16 weeks to race). I'm at about 5 weeks on the course. I sometimes miss a workout to get on the water (since I'm a sweep rower transitioning to sculling, OTW is all about technique not getting a workout). The training started with long steady pieces (40-60 minutes) and has progressed into shorter length intervals (8-15 minutes). Right now I am a couple of pounds above 135, but I normally am around 133-134 lbs. I would only race at that weight.

Here are a few details on the 2000 meter piece I just did:
Warmed up for about 5000 meters at about 2:20.
Went out too hard for first 500: 1:53 for the first 500 followed by 2:00 splits for the others.
Stroke rate around 30, but close to 40 for the first 250 meters

One other thing, if I were to do a 500 meter piece at 100% I think I would get 1:48 at best (but I haven't really done pieces that short). Do I need to add in other exercises to get more power in my leg drive? All I do now is erg/row, do some core exercises, and every now and then do a medicine ball workout with a 12 lb ball (need to be more consistent with that).

Thanks again!

[Bob S.]

Thanks for the responses! Here are some more details:

That presents an entirely different picture. Based on your initial post, I though that you might be a newbie, although I suppose that the old coach quote should have alerted me to the fact that it was not the case. As an experienced sweep-rower, you probably have had plenty of coaching about technique. That makes it tougher. A beginner can often gain a lot by technique improvements, but you are already there as far as knowing how to get the most out of an erg stroke. Obviously you could have benefited by better pacing, but you are well aware of that. If you could keep that first split at 1:58 or even 1:59 and then work your way down, I think that you could handle a 7:50 at this point.

Other data that would help would be results for both shorter pieces and longer as well. If your shorter piece times are slower than would be predicted from your 2k time, you would need to work on strength. If your longer pieces are slower, then it would be endurance that would require work. My guess is that your endurance is probably in good shape from following the U.K. IP. To improve your short piece strength it would help to do mix in a fair amount of interval work at this point. I found the Pete Plan to be useful to me on a couple of occasions. Each time it was after using the interactive program for several weeks. The Pete Plan calls for 2 days (of 6) of intervals. A day of short intervals, 1k and less, and a day of long intervals, like 2-3k. Just a suggestion.

Bob S.

[hjs]

Thanks for the responses! Here are some more details:

I have been following the UK training program at http://concept2.co.uk/training/interactive (athlete level 4, 5 workouts per week, arbitrarily chose 16 weeks to race). I'm at about 5 weeks on the course. I sometimes miss a workout to get on the water (since I'm a sweep rower transitioning to sculling, OTW is all about technique not getting a workout). The training started with long steady pieces (40-60 minutes) and has progressed into shorter length intervals (8-15 minutes). Right now I am a couple of pounds above 135, but I normally am around 133-134 lbs. I would only race at that weight.

Here are a few details on the 2000 meter piece I just did:
Warmed up for about 5000 meters at about 2:20.
Went out too hard for first 500: 1:53 for the first 500 followed by 2:00 splits for the others.
Stroke rate around 30, but close to 40 for the first 250 meters

One other thing, if I were to do a 500 meter piece at 100% I think I would get 1:48 at best (but I haven't really done pieces that short). Do I need to add in other exercises to get more power in my leg drive? All I do now is erg/row, do some core exercises, and every now and then do a medicine ball workout with a 12 lb ball (need to be more consistent with that).

Thanks again!

Cheers, The way you rowed your 2k is certainly not the best way, so that is good news, in rowing, certainly owt going out hard is common, but wil never get the best result, it is best to evenly pace the 2k.
If you try a next time Go out at your current 2k average (5 first fast stokes and no more) a keep it there if possible the first 1500/1600 meters from there pick the pace up and also the rate.
In training keep doing what you do but introduce some work that traines the 2k more. Here also aim for even splits and a faster last rep.
Things like 4 x 1k rest 5 minutes pace 2k plus 1 second, rate 2 k rate.
8x 500 meters rest 3 minutes. pace 2k minus 2/3 seconds rate 2k plus 1 / 2
10 x 1min/ 1 min off pace 2k minus 4
Etc or any other format make it around 4 k of work rest 2/3 minutes per any rowed 500 meter. Do 1 of these once a week.

Longer interval work. 5 x 1500, 4x 2000, 3k/2.5/2k, rest here 75% of rowing time again pace it evenly, goals pace 2k plus 8 %. Or any other format with 7.5 k of work, but keep the intervals above 1 k. This one also once a week.

Make sure sure you are rested before these session, you should do them serious and fast.

[Piston]

Thanks Bob S. and hjs. I'm going to start adding in sessions of short intervals 1x/wk and long intervals 1x/wk, with longer steady-state distances in between. I think the short interval work, in particular, is going to kick my butt (which is a good thing!). I'll do this for a few weeks before I test again. Thanks again!

[gregsmith01748]

Hi,

If you are doing distance work already, I totall agree that the way to get faster is to add intervals to the mix.

If you want a structure to integrate short and long interval work into your routine, I suggest that you check out the Pete Plan or Wolverine Plan. Both plans provide guidance on target splits for intervals based on current 2K times, plus suggestions on interval formats to keep things varied.

I did the Pete plan for a couple months and then moved on to the WP, which I have been loving. Over the past 6 months, using these structured plans, I've managed to take about 15 seconds off my 2K time.

Here is a link to info about the WP: http://www.c2forum.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... an#p106236

Here is a link for the Pete Plan: http://thepeteplan.wordpress.com/the-pete-plan/