2 Months For Improvement

[heptasyllabic]

Hi all,

I have been browsing this forum for a little while, recently registered, and it seems like a great resource. So, here I am asking for some advice!

I am a 20year old hwt female rower, on a university team. I'm not very fast, and would like to get faster. I have been rowing for two and a half years and pulled my PB 2k a year and a half ago. It was a 7:46. Today I pulled a 2k and it was a 7:50. This is better than what I pulled a few months ago - a 7:52. My most recent 6k time is a 24:42.

Here is where I need advice. My next foreseeable erg tests ( 2k and 6k) are in two months - the middle of June. What kind of training should I be doing between now and then to improve my times by ~5-10 seconds? I will be rowing on the water once a day and have time for one on-land workout a day as well. Should I be doing sprint work? Slow long distance? I really enjoy doing weights, should I be including those as well? I have looked at the Wolverine plan and it seems very complex. I do not have a heart rate monitor, nor the $$ to purchase one. I have access to ergs, weights, running, etc. No bike access though, unfortunately.

Basically, what workout philosophy/plan should I be following in order to maximize return on effort and help me get faster over the next few months?

[jliddil]

Take a look at some of the training listed in the training guide on the UK site:
http://concept2.co.uk/training/guide

Or even some of the information on the US site under training. There are workout of the day you can use.
http://www.concept2.com/us/training/advanced/tips.asp

You can still take heart via an artery:

http://www.acefitness.org/fitnessqanda/ ... itemid=323

You can also use perceived exertion.

There is also Petes Plan

There is a guy on a university rowing team here who can probably help you out more than I can.

[mikvan52]

I suggest you look into the website: tbfit.com

I was under similar time constraints to improve in a hurry and wanted a comprehensive program to take me there.

I dropped my 2k time from 6:53 to 6:47 and an couple months later: my 5k from 18:05 to 17:49.
I went on to win Crash-Bs in my age/weight group.
All this without compromising my OTW stroke too much.
(That took more work though with Tom's help at tbfit)

= Mike van Beuren

[NavigationHazard]

IMO a quality 2k and a quality 6k are rather different pieces. They're going to involve a different mix of energy pathways, and as a mechanical matter you're probably going to row them at different rates. It follows that optimum training for one won't necessarily 'scale' into optimum training for the other.

My immediate response, for whatever it's worth, is that you should focus on whichever of the two trials is more important in the immediate context of your collegiate rowing. If getting a good 2k score puts you in consideration for a seat in the varsity viii, and improving your 6k score gets you a pat on the back for your fitness, self-interest suggests pointing towards the 2k. If that's not the case, then I think you'd do better to work on your 6k score. In the long term a better 6k (predicated mainly on better aerobic fitness) will help bring down your 2k score as you add in anaerobic work.
You also may need to think about whether any supplemental workouts will affect your present OTW performance. If you start dragging in practice because you're trying to do too much outside the scheduled workouts your coaches may not like it....

As for pre-trial supplemental workouts, you could do far worse than alternating 6ks on the erg with interval sessions: longer intervals (e.g. 24-30' worth of 5-8' pieces on 5' rest) if you're emphasizing power-endurance and shorter intervals (e.g. 15' worth of 3' pieces on 5' rest) if you're emphasizing speed. If that's too boring, may I suggest you take a look at some of the suggested workouts for the old US Indoor Rowing Squad: http://www.c2forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=4441

They'll do you just fine if you're focusing on a 6k. If you're pointing specifically for a 2k in 2 months do 3 weeks of the longer workouts and scroll up to http://www.c2forum.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 86&start=0 There's some very good advice there from Larry Gluckman on how to switch over to 2k race prep.

[heptasyllabic]

I think that the 2k is the more important piece, it will be for summer rowing. Also, my coach has said if we don't get down to 7:40 by September, we won't be taken to Nationals whereas there are no requirements for our 6k times.

Would it be best to do some long, steady state erging and weights for the next month or so, and then in the weeks coming up to the test add in some higher rate/lower split pieces?

[NavigationHazard]

Depends a bit on what you're doing on the water. But on the whole, yes, I'd recommend 3 or 4 weeks of mostly longer stuff and then bang away at the speed. The energy you use in your 2k will likely be >80-85% from aerobic pathways, <15-20% from anaerobic pathways. It makes sense to allocate training time accordingly.

[mikvan52]

Depends a bit on what you're doing on the water. But on the whole, yes, I'd recommend 3 or 4 weeks of mostly longer stuff and then bang away at the speed. The energy you use in your 2k will likely be >80-85% from aerobic pathways, <15-20% from anaerobic pathways. It makes sense to allocate training time accordingly.

Great advice!

[Carl Watts]

+2

Work on getting some decent distance rows in and it will translate to better 2K times anyway. Your pretty much in a similar place as me building stamina and fitness to allow your body to cope with a 2K at race pace. I have been 4 months just working to get the distance up each week and moving to 5 days a week rowing this week from the current 4. Yet to even do a 2K at race pace and would prefer to get my 40min pace the same as an hour or a sub 38min for the 10K.

[jamesg]

HS said: I'm not very fast, and would like to get faster.

This means you need to improve your technique. Boat speed does NOT come from training, this only lets you increase the time you can hold your speed. Only good technique in each single stroke makes the boat go further and faster.

Incidentally, good technique makes you work harder, so will train you more too; so you'll need to reduce your training time. This is always a good thing, as it gives you more time for recovery, which is when the improvement happens.

The single type of training that can also help with technique is the Wolverine L4. In a simplified form, you could A decide your 2k Wattage, B decide your 2k rating (during the middle cruise phase); C calculate your work/stroke by dividing A by B; D use that ratio at all ratings from say 20 to 26. A month of this, if you have room for improvement, will take up that room. I'm not sure whether you should use this type of work nearer the race date, but in any case you'll be reducing WO times as to coaches orders.

The other important point is race strategy: how do you plan to row your 2k?

[heptasyllabic]

When I said that I wasn't very fast, I was referring to my erg times. Although I am not super speedy on the water, I am more effective there than my erg time would suggest - likely a combination of rowing with people who are WAY better than me and not having a lot of weight to pull around (for a hwt).

I race my 2k on a negative split plan. The first 800m are raced at 1s above my desired avg (ie 1:56), the next 600m are raced at my desired avg (1:55). The next 400m are at 1s below that (1:54) and the last 200m are an all-out sprint. I do a typical 10-stroke start, average at a rate 30 (which I would like to bump up to a 32)

That wattage/stroke rate sounds interesting. I will have to investigate my wattage at some rates and see what I can find out.

[ThatMoos3Guy]

That wattage/stroke rate sounds interesting. I will have to investigate my wattage at some rates and see what I can find out.

Here's a good website that has some watts calculations: http://www.machars.net/ultimate.php

And here's the Wolverine Plan that he was talking about: http://www.concept2.com/forums/wolverine_plan.htm

[heptasyllabic]

It looks like I am rowing at about 7-7.25 SPI when racing. Not too stellar? Is there a chart that would allow me to see poor/average/good numbers for these stats? I have been rowing for a while and feel like I have a good handle on it (ie pull hard!) but you guys seem to approach it in a way totally different than anyone else I've met.

[ranger]

It looks like I am rowing at about 7-7.25 SPI when racing. Not too stellar? Is there a chart that would allow me to see poor/average/good numbers for these stats? I have been rowing for a while and feel like I have a good handle on it (ie pull hard!) but you guys seem to approach it in a way totally different than anyone else I've met.

These things are always relative to your talent, ambition, and training history to this point, but I suspect that the best heavyweight women pull as much as 12 SPI in a 2K.

This means that they would want to pull as much as 13 SPI, or even 14 SPI, in their everyday low rate training (16-26 spm), as in the Wolverine Plan Level 4 sequences.

This doesn't at all mean that you need to pull 13 SPI in your low rate training, but it _does_ underline what good technique can accomplish.

These women are accomplishing twice as much as you are on each stroke right now.

Their stroking is 100% stronger than yours.

You can get more power into your stroke from a dozen or so places--compression at the catch, sequencing of your levers, posture, quicker legs, quicker finishes, overall rhythmicity, the inclusion of levers that your are omitting, the pairing up of levers that you are now separating, length at the finish, timing of your back, angle of swing from the hips, footwork, etc.

ranger

ranger

[ranger]

It looks like I am rowing at about 7-7.25 SPI when racing. Not too stellar? Is there a chart that would allow me to see poor/average/good numbers for these stats? I have been rowing for a while and feel like I have a good handle on it (ie pull hard!) but you guys seem to approach it in a way totally different than anyone else I've met.

These things are always relative to your talent, ambition, and training history to this point, but I suspect that the best heavyweight women pull as much as 12 SPI in a 2K.

This means that they pull as much as 13 SPI, or even 14 SPI, in their everyday low rate training (16-26 spm), as in the Wolverine Plan Level 4 sequences.

This doesn't at all mean that you need to pull 13-14 SPI in your low rate training, but it _does_ underline what good technique can accomplish.

These women are accomplishing twice as much on each stroke as you are at the moment.

Their stroking is 100% stronger than yours.

You can get more power into your stroke from a dozen or so places--compression at the catch, sequencing of your levers, posture, quicker legs, quicker finishes, overall rhythmicity, the inclusion of levers that your are omitting, the pairing up of levers that you are now separating, length at the finish, timing of your back, angle of swing from the hips, footwork, relaxation, consistency, preparation at the catch, angles of leverage, overlapping of levers, acceleration of the handle during the course of the drive, etc.

A more effective stroke can make an enormous difference when the rate is raised to 32 spm, as in a 2K race.

At 32 spm, the difference in wattage between a rower who uses a stroke that is 7 SPI and a rower who uses a stroke that is 12 SPI is 160 watts, or almost 20 seconds per 500m.

That's a minute and twenty seconds over 2K, the difference between 7:50 and 6:30.

ranger

[jamesg]

My guess is that stroke work = 7 is somewhat low; but this depends on your height and build. I'd say there are no good or bad values, just values that let us move the "boat" faster, train better and reflect what's needed in a race.

If our target were to row a 2k at 300W (i.e. 7 minutes) at rating 30, then we will necessarily work in the race at 10W'/stroke; in training it will be of use to see how to do this and then do it at all ratings, such as 200W at 20, near enough.

As to erg technique, most videos here show short strokes on the erg. But as we need at least 20-30 cm to catch up with the flywheel, if the stroke is short we lose length even further, limiting the strokework. Then we are forced to up the rating and/or yank the handle to produce the Power needed. Power = Stroke Work x Rating and Stroke Work = Net Length x average Handle force. So an important part of the erg stroke technique is to keep it long.

You're probably just as good, but anyway this is what we like to see:

http://www.britishrowing.org/rowing-stroke

No doubt you have an equivalent your side of the ditch.

Your race strategy looks perfect.