Ranger's training thread

[ranger]

All credit to you for taking the road less travelled. Sometimes it does, as Frost said, it makes all the difference.

Thanks.

Yes, I agree with Frost on this.

It _does_ make a difference, as he demonstrated.

Frost wasn't a revolutionary, though.

He was conservative, if not reactionary, while still being modern, new.

He liked to call himhself "revisionary."

For instance, he is one of the great modern writers of songs and sonnets.

But those songs and sonnets are not at all the same old, the same old.

They are new.

They are distinctively modern.

He took old forms and gave them new life.

ranger

[ranger]

If you're training to pull a sub 6:20 and you reckon you're going to gain about 12 seconds over 2k, how do you think you can do that if all you can do is a 6:41. That puts you at 6:29.

I did my 2Ks this winter at max drag, which was a mistake, and without completing my distance rowing, which I will do this summer.

When I complete my distance rowing, say, September 1st, I will need to pull 6:28 for 2K.

So, that's the plan.

Distance rowing this summer.

Then an at-home 6:28 2K trial on September 1st, done with good technique at 123 df., before I start to sharpen for BIRC 2010.

ranger

[ranger]

race prepartion does not consist of 2 or 3 months of nothing but rating 30 and 40. You might do 2 or 3 sessions a week of 10-12 session at those high ratings - maybe 3-4 submax * 1500s or something similar, but not every session.

Maybe, maybe not.

During sharpening, I like to keep the ratings high, but as you say, not necessarily working maximally every day.

There are easy ways of doing high ratings, e.g., race pace 500s or Zatopeks.

These can be mixed with hard anaerobic interval workouts, maximal efforts.

ranger

[whp4]

The experiment in training that I have been conducting is this:

To see what part of a 2K on the erg is due to technique.

Anyone who has ever seen you on the erg in your prime nearly a decade ago already knows the answer to this:

not much!

[ranger]

Anyone who has ever seen you on the erg in your prime nearly a decade ago already knows the answer to this:

not much!

True.

But for someone who is already the best, that small increment, five seconds per 500m or so, 50 watts, can be important.

And then, there is also the issue of rowing OTW.

You _can't_ row OTW with the technique I used in 2002-2003, hauling with your core, back, and arms, dragging your legs behind.

Your center of gravity is too high and unstable.

You fall out of the boat.

ranger

[lancs]

But for someone who is already the best

You're not the best Prof. Two people have rowed faster than your old 50's WR and you have been unable to get within 3 seconds of Roy's WR. Nearly the best. But not quite..

[ranger]

[quote="lancs""]Two people have rowed faster than your old 50's WR[/quote]

No wonder, given that I was a complete novice, who didn't know how to row.

What is surprising is that no one just shy of 53 has pulled 6:28, as I did, although that might not be entirely surprising.

Veterans decline at the rate of 1.7 seconds over 2K per year, so my 6:28 at 53 is the equivalent of 6:23 at 50.

ranger

[ranger]

you have been unable to get within 3 seconds of Roy's WR

I haven't even tried yet, although I will indeed try at BIRC 2010.

My work on technique is now done.

If Roy return to rowing, like MIke VB, he will now have a hard time pulling 6:50.

ranger

[ranger]

[quote="lancs""]Two people have rowed faster than your old 50's WR[/quote]

If all goes well at BIRC 2010, I should pull under Siebach's 50s lwt WR, too.

This would put me in a good position to take on Hendershott's 60s _heavyweight_ WR in one or more of the WIRC qualifiers in the winter races, after I turn 60, although I will row as a lightweight at WIRC.

ranger

[lancs]

If...

There's your favourite word again I see Prof..

[ranger]

This morning: an hour erg, an hour bike.

I need to push both of these to two hours.

ranger

[ranger]

If...

There's your favourite word again I see Prof..

Training is essentially hypothetical, lancs.

If you think it isn't, you don't know how to train.

ranger

[Carl Watts]

If...

There's your favourite word again I see Prof..

Training is essentially hypothetical, lancs.

If you think it isn't, you don't know how to train.

ranger

Yes thats true, I also sit on the couch to do all my training and imagine I have just rowed a FM at 1:46 pace.

Amazing stuff 147 DF.....why do it at 123 when you can make it mentally harder on yourself ?

Full slide nice and easy only 20 SPM....even though my legs are shorter than the slide, perhaps I'm wearing high heels ?

The boat just glides through the water.....WTF there's actually a boat in my head as well ? this can only mean I'm the greatest OTW rower of all time !

HR not even UT2 hardly goes above my resting HR....had no idea I was this fit ?....no cardiac drift ? impressive stuff.

I'm glad this TV came with a remote control.....getting off the couch all the time to change channel would be exhausting.

Ahhh where would we be without a laugh every day.

[ranger]

Yes thats true, I also sit on the couch to do all my training and imagine I have just rowed a FM at 1:46 pace.

Amazing stuff 147 DF.....why do it at 123 when you can make it mentally harder on yourself ?

Full slide nice and easy only 20 SPM....even though my legs are shorter than the slide, perhaps I'm wearing high heels ?

The boat just glides through the water.....WTF there's actually a boat in my head as well ? this can only mean I'm the greatest OTW rower of all time !

HR not even UT2 hardly goes above my resting HR....had no idea I was this fit ?....no cardiac drift ? impressive stuff.

Not sure what your point is, Carl.

I think my training is coming along just fine.

I did a 6:29.7 2K in competition when I was 55 years old, without even preparing for it, just on the basis of the kind of low rate training you are doing now--with no distance rowing at higher rates, no distance trials, and no hard sharpening, and even so, at high drag, still struggling with a host of technical problems.

Since then, training has continued to go well.

In particular, I have completed my low rate rowing, lowered my stroking power, added distance rowing at higher rates to my training, lowered the drag, and rowed quite a bit OTW.

All of these things heighten efficiency and bring me closer to race rates and paces in my everyday rowing.

In my distance rowing, once I warm up thoroughly, I am now doing 1:45 @ 27 spm (11 SPI) at 80% HRR, amazingly effective and efficient stuff, given my age and weight.

You have to be _very_ fit and skilled to do 1:45 @ 27 spm at 80% HRR as a 60s lightweight.

For instance, this last year, it is not clear that any lightweight of any age convincingly demonstrated that they can do this, because no lightweight logged in 17K or more for 60min.

This last year, no 60s lwt pulled 1:45 for 2K.

Since 2006, I have consistently averaged a couple of hours of physical work per day in my training, if you include rowing on the erg, rowing OTW, and cross-training (skipping, biking, stepping, running, swimming, etc.), rarely missing a day. I don't take rest days.

Next up is distance trials, working up to a 2K trial on September 1st.

Then I will sharpen hard in September, October, and November in preparation for BIRC 2010.

BTW, I have also changed my diet and now keep myself light and lean for all of my training. No more need to lose a lot of weight in order to row as a lightweight.

This is quite an advance, too, given my goals.

ranger

[ranger]

Getting better and better at rowing is largely a game played between the two types of UT rowing, levels 4 and 3, low rate rowing and distance rowing.

Anyone can train themselves to race in a few months.

You just sharpen.

But training so that you get better and better is another issue entirely.

UT2/Level 4/low rate rowing should be done 2 SPI above your 2K SPI.

UT1/level 3/distance rowing should be done at your 2K SPI.

In the dialectic between the two types of UT rowing, UT2/level 4/low rate rowing is the gas.

UT1/Level 3/distance rowing is the motor.

UT2 rowing logically precedes UT1 rowing.

To train for rowing, stockpile some gas (of a certain octane) and then throw it in your motor and go.

Given a certain stockpile of gas, run the motor until you can do 60min at 10 MPS and your 2K SPI.

When you can do that, return to level 4/UT2/low rate rowing and try to raise the octane of your gas.

Then throw it in your motor and try again.

UT2 rowing should be done at 16-22 spm.

UT1 rowing should be done at 26-32 spm.

23-25 spm are ratings that transition between the two.

ranger