Quick time drop with long steady workouts?

[potomacsculler]

I am a high school rower trying to cut time off of my 2k. I am wondering about what sort of work I need to do to drop around 10 seconds off of my 6:46.0 in the next two months (as a supplement to my in-school workouts). A family member who happens to be a highly competitive rower recommended doing daily 30min pieces at 16-20spm with the fan at 10 in order to raise my aerobic base and build muscle/gain weight. Does anyone here think this strategy will work or have any alternate suggestions?
Thank you

160 lbs 6'2"

[mikvan52]

w/o going into details of your post:

Here are some references that might help you:

http://www.c2forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=5044

http://www.c2forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=7052



RowStrength
“What is rowing strength? It is strength that can be developed by crossing training with weights (free bar and machine), using body weight exercises, on water rowing at low stroke rates but with high effort (power) or rowing on the ergo using your present drag factor and rowing at low rates or raise your drag factor for selected workouts and challenge yourself by rowing at your training stroke rate but expecting to see higher watt or calorie output or lower pace. The goal is to make your selected stroke rate and regular drag factor feel easier as a result of improved strength.
The length of workouts, numbers of strokes, changes in drag factor or frequency of these types of workouts should follow a gradual progression to avoid over use injuries. Read you body, extra rest or lower intensity days are inevitable, during the summer be sure to overhydrate, maintain your stretching, abdominal and lower back strength activities.”

-Larry Gluckman: July, 2007

1. x-train w/weights
2. body weight exer.
3. Low rate work OTW
4. Low rate work OTErg (personal drag & high drag)

Goal: To be able to hold a higher wattage (lower 500m split) at your training stroke rate.

Time requirement: (Ideal) again, quoting Gluckman:
“(S)pend about 40 minutes on the erg 6 times a week .(Add) in stretching (yoga type) and ab/lower back to complete about 60 minutes.”

For the novice: try 4-5 days a week: adding another high endurance (recovery effort) aerobic activity on one (or two) of the “off” days.
-Mike van Beuren
1/1/08

[Carl Watts]

The short answer is yes and as listed above, but not with the fan at 10. Your interested in the actual "Drag Factor" and the manual setting on the fan is the adjustment to get the required DF. If the Erg is clean then I would suggest you never need to go above about a 7 with a low rating, which equates to a DF on my machine of 167. I have dropped mine recently to get it closer to 145. Make a note of the DF that suits you so you can set it up to be the same on any machine you Erg on.

By the way great 2K time.

[NavigationHazard]

You might want to take a look at http://concept2.co.uk/training/answers?id=40 from the UK Forum. The author is a former British Olympic rowing coach.

[ccwenk]

With 2 months to work with, you should definitely be able to make some progress. I am assuming that you are on the water right now. What is your training volume like? How many days do you practice and are you doing more than one workout a day?

How do you currently pace your 2k? Even splits, fly and die, negative split? If you don't have a consistent pacing strategy, there may be time to gain just from pacing. Don't sprint your start for 250m. You should be able to get to your pace in 4-6 strokes. You will pay later for every stroke you take below your pace.

Without the information above, I would say that the most effective thing you can add is 1 or 2 workouts a week of speed work, 8 x 500m, 4 x 1000m, 2 sets 10 x 1' on 1' off.

[johnlvs2run]

I am a high school rower trying to cut time off of my 2k. I am wondering about what sort of work I need to do to drop around 10 seconds off of my 6:46.0 in the next two months (as a supplement to my in-school workouts). A family member who happens to be a highly competitive rower recommended doing daily 30min pieces at 16-20spm with the fan at 10 in order to raise my aerobic base and build muscle/gain weight. Does anyone here think this strategy will work or have any alternate suggestions?
Thank you

160 lbs 6'2"

You're a lightweight. Why would you want to gain weight.

Sit around a lot, eat more food, take a lot more rests between strokes, all those would help you to gain weight.

[aharmer]

I know this concept is difficult to understand for many John, but not everybody wants to make/keep themselves small just to take advantage of the lightweight advantage in the rankings. Some people want to become larger and stronger in order to erg faster, even if they don't look quite as impressive in the rankings.

[chgoss]

My advice, incorporate some weights especially dead lifts and squats, start easy, consistency is the key.. Dont worry about gaining weight, focus on building strength.
HTH
-chad

[potomacsculler]

Thanks for the input everyone, this will help a lot in crafting some sort of training plan for the next few months.

With 2 months to work with, you should definitely be able to make some progress. I am assuming that you are on the water right now. What is your training volume like? How many days do you practice and are you doing more than one workout a day?

How do you currently pace your 2k? Even splits, fly and die, negative split? If you don't have a consistent pacing strategy, there may be time to gain just from pacing. Don't sprint your start for 250m. You should be able to get to your pace in 4-6 strokes. You will pay later for every stroke you take below your pace.

I did another 2k last week at a 6:43.0, but I did exactly what you advised against here. Pulling the first 200m at a 1:35 eliminated my sprint at the end. Usually though, I hold a consistent split and sprint the last 350m or so.

Currently I'm practicing 6 days a week in an eight. We do enough work now going into the championship season that I dont need to erg very much outside of practice.

Part of my desire to gain muscle mass is that I row my 2k's from 27-29 spm. I feel like I can maximize the potential of my (erg) racing style by getting more power with each stroke, obviously.

Thanks so much for the help again

[ccwenk]

You will pay later for every stroke you take below your pace.

I did another 2k last week at a 6:43.0, but I did exactly what you advised against here. Pulling the first 200m at a 1:35 eliminated my sprint at the end. Usually though, I hold a consistent split and sprint the last 350m or so.

What was your pacing like for the rest of the piece? Steady at around 1:41? Were you slowing at the finish, or just didn't have anything for a sprint?

Part of my desire to gain muscle mass is that I row my 2k's from 27-29 spm. I feel like I can maximize the potential of my (erg) racing style by getting more power with each stroke, obviously.

I don't believe that doing strength work will do anything for your ability to increase stroke rate. The best thing you can do to that end is to practice at higher stroke ratings. Your low rating (especially for someone so close to lightweight) is another indication that you have a lot of potential to improve. If you are doing an 8 x 500 or a 4 x 1000, try to push the rating up a little. The only way to get comfortable and effective at a higher rate is to practice there. Don't force it for your test, but maybe you can get more comfortable erging in the low 30's over the next several weeks.

Since you are 160 lbs and in high school, I am assuming that you are rowing on a hwt squad. Is that correct? Are you looking to get your score down for college recruiting purposes? I would imagine that you would be a pretty attractive recruit for a lightweight coach unless you don't think you can (or want to) make weight.

[potomacsculler]

I basically held the 1:41 for the entire piece apart from the beginning--no slipping.

I figure that stroke rate work is probably the best option, especially if I stay lightweight. However, I might grow a bit more, and therefore gain weight. I'm still a sophomore and I dont know much about recruiting procedures, but I suppose that recruitment would be convenient. Im just trying to improve in the most efficient way possible, particularly if I will have to row as a heavyweight (I do row on a hwt boat).
Thanks

[Jack Klok]

Hi Potomacsculler,

There are no easy wins here anymore. You are already in fairly good shape. To get serious gains you should improve in all energy bands. This should be considered in conjucture with your on water work to keep it balanced sensibly.

Usually in this part of the season there is a strong focus on 2k racing speed. So doing intervals on the erg extra is not nessecary. Adding a bit of low intensity long distance stuff may work well for you while it would not interfere with your on water work-outs too much. Say doing 30 -40 minutes at 1.54-1.56 3 times a week.

I do not believe in doing strength stuff to get your scores down. No research that I am aware of has ever shown racing speed to improve with strength training. While the opposit has been proven in research. Rowing with high pressure at low rations taxes your back enormously, frequently resulting in back trouble.

Doing a 2k piece at a rating below 30 is probably not optimal. Lower the lever a notch or 2 so that you feel comfortable rowing at rates that are similar to what you get when rowing on water with the same pressure. It could well be that you end up at 2-3. It will make your erging much more relevant for your boat speed. Keep this setting for your low intensity long distance stuff as well. It feels powerfull to row hard at rating below 20 but they are hard on your body even though you don't feel anything wrong yet. Many over-use injuries are correlated to this type training.

regards,