well the damn indoor rowing championship is in 2 days. i have probably rowed 6 miles a day for 4-5 days a week for 2 months at low intensity (rockford files training). lately, i do a 10k with two 8 min 2k's in it. but no high intensity anaerobic training on the rower to speak of.
now i'd like to skip the race saturday because of the after effects (cough, sore throat, etc.) i have been there done that. i can probably turn a 6:45-50, which may not be enough to win depending on who shows up, and the winning is the only thing that balances out the pain.
skip it or harden the heck up?
Fear factor
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Yankeerunner
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) To elaborate,
My advice is always to race if you are going to learn something. Doesn't matter what kind of shape you are in, if you learn something about racing or yourself then it is worth doing.
You may merely learn that it is stupid to race without doing a bunch of intervals first. You may learn that you wimped out and be pissed enough with yourself that you never wimp out again. You may learn that you need to stick to your race plan. Or you may learn that you can race very well if you don't put any pressure on yourself.
My advice is go into the race trying to do everything right. Then afterwards evaluate what you did right and wrong, and what you can do better.
My advice is always to race if you are going to learn something. Doesn't matter what kind of shape you are in, if you learn something about racing or yourself then it is worth doing.
You may merely learn that it is stupid to race without doing a bunch of intervals first. You may learn that you wimped out and be pissed enough with yourself that you never wimp out again. You may learn that you need to stick to your race plan. Or you may learn that you can race very well if you don't put any pressure on yourself.
My advice is go into the race trying to do everything right. Then afterwards evaluate what you did right and wrong, and what you can do better.
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gregory.cook
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Harden up - it never hurts to try to beat a PR or beat someone head to head. Competition is what makes us better rowers, if we lose, we have more to work for, if we win, we have that much more to preserve. Only by not competing do you never give yourself the motivation to work.
Also, cough? Sore throat? I've had like sore feet and nausea after a 2k but nothing like that (and the feeling of puking passed after a minute or so). Man, maybe you're training too hard if you're getting sick!
Also, cough? Sore throat? I've had like sore feet and nausea after a 2k but nothing like that (and the feeling of puking passed after a minute or so). Man, maybe you're training too hard if you're getting sick!
well, what i learned today: don't ask the concept2 forum if you should race or not....
again, like last year, i had that thing won at 1000 meters. then died a thousand deaths and crawled in at 6:48 for 4th. layed on the floor for 5-10 minutes gasping. went outside and hurled once. now have coughing and throat pain and am shot. which i knew would happen going in...
anyhow, so i went from 6:39 to 6:45 to 6:48 over three years. the first year i trained pretty hard and was motivated. the last two years: mainly just 45 minute 10k's no intensity. i think i like just the 45 minute rows, i.e. get pumped up and it burns calories.
hopefully won't be dumb enough to go back next year
again, like last year, i had that thing won at 1000 meters. then died a thousand deaths and crawled in at 6:48 for 4th. layed on the floor for 5-10 minutes gasping. went outside and hurled once. now have coughing and throat pain and am shot. which i knew would happen going in...
anyhow, so i went from 6:39 to 6:45 to 6:48 over three years. the first year i trained pretty hard and was motivated. the last two years: mainly just 45 minute 10k's no intensity. i think i like just the 45 minute rows, i.e. get pumped up and it burns calories.
hopefully won't be dumb enough to go back next year
So you learned that you should never ask us for advice? Is that really what you should take from this experience? I hope not!
How about:
1) you didn't have the race won at 1000m you lost it in the first 1000m.
2) you need to have a good idea of how fast you can go and need a race plan to follow. You should be going much slower and speed up as the race goes on not slowing down. If you died a 1000 deaths in the second half, then clearly you could have gone faster and suffered left with an intelligent race plan.
3) You need to do some real intensity in training first. You need practice at race pace. Doing 10Ks will not teach you how to row at 2K pace, and will not get your body ready to go at 2k pace.
Looks to me like you have no idea how to race. You know how to suffer but you don't know how to race.
How did you warm up? did you get at least 25 minutes in, with some of it at race pace or faster. One reason you are getting sick may be that you haven't gotten your body prepared. That said I sometimes have gotten sick after races. It happens if you push your self sufficiently. The one time it happened last year (out of 8 races) was when I went out too fast (I still had the fastest time but it may have cost me a second place finish on age handicap). The one time it happened the year (out of 12 races) before we did a near perfect race and won big time)
Since you clearly know how to push your self to the limit you clearly have the chops to race if you prepare and can follow an intelligent race plan.
The question is do you have the chops to prepare and follow a good race plan?
How about:
1) you didn't have the race won at 1000m you lost it in the first 1000m.
2) you need to have a good idea of how fast you can go and need a race plan to follow. You should be going much slower and speed up as the race goes on not slowing down. If you died a 1000 deaths in the second half, then clearly you could have gone faster and suffered left with an intelligent race plan.
3) You need to do some real intensity in training first. You need practice at race pace. Doing 10Ks will not teach you how to row at 2K pace, and will not get your body ready to go at 2k pace.
Looks to me like you have no idea how to race. You know how to suffer but you don't know how to race.
How did you warm up? did you get at least 25 minutes in, with some of it at race pace or faster. One reason you are getting sick may be that you haven't gotten your body prepared. That said I sometimes have gotten sick after races. It happens if you push your self sufficiently. The one time it happened last year (out of 8 races) was when I went out too fast (I still had the fastest time but it may have cost me a second place finish on age handicap). The one time it happened the year (out of 12 races) before we did a near perfect race and won big time)
Since you clearly know how to push your self to the limit you clearly have the chops to race if you prepare and can follow an intelligent race plan.
The question is do you have the chops to prepare and follow a good race plan?
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RowtheRockies
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nosmo, i am not worthy.
your post is right on the money, i actually never planned on doing the race, but for some reason pulled into the parking lot. i did get a fairly decent warmup - did a couple sets of 2k at 2:00 then did a 500 at 1:32 or so. i'm an experienced racer, have done probably over 200 races of some type (bike races, ironmans, etc) or the other over the years, there's not much margin in a sub 7 minute race for error.
anyhow it is good suffering, but completely no fun at all.
and the short answer on chops in sticking to a plan is NO!
your post is right on the money, i actually never planned on doing the race, but for some reason pulled into the parking lot. i did get a fairly decent warmup - did a couple sets of 2k at 2:00 then did a 500 at 1:32 or so. i'm an experienced racer, have done probably over 200 races of some type (bike races, ironmans, etc) or the other over the years, there's not much margin in a sub 7 minute race for error.
anyhow it is good suffering, but completely no fun at all.
and the short answer on chops in sticking to a plan is NO!
Really you biggest issue is the fear of failure. Lets face it most of us don't actually know where the cut off point is. We don't know where failure lies.
My suggestion is start doing workouts with the plan of not being able to finish.
The best I have found for this is 15x 3min on 3min off.
The goal should be to completely max out your body on the first 10 strokes of the 3 minutes. Then continue that press as hard as possible. Find where the breaking point is. where you keep the stored energy and what barriers your mind has put up in order to keep you from dying. If you can get past those barrier you will find your estimates are a little safe and you can grab seconds on each 2k you pull.
The biggest thing we avoid in rowing is failure, I think you need to learn where failure truly is in order to race right on the edge and thus go as fast as you possibly can.
My suggestion is start doing workouts with the plan of not being able to finish.
The best I have found for this is 15x 3min on 3min off.
The goal should be to completely max out your body on the first 10 strokes of the 3 minutes. Then continue that press as hard as possible. Find where the breaking point is. where you keep the stored energy and what barriers your mind has put up in order to keep you from dying. If you can get past those barrier you will find your estimates are a little safe and you can grab seconds on each 2k you pull.
The biggest thing we avoid in rowing is failure, I think you need to learn where failure truly is in order to race right on the edge and thus go as fast as you possibly can.