New Wolverine Plan Thread

[wjschmidt2]

I finished 5 L4 sessions for an average of 17.4 spm. Time to start building upon those numbers. Looks like the next session will be an increase to 17.6 spm, something along the lines of 172, 184, 168, 176,180, 176. The L3 sessions worked out pretty well, the spm were lower than last season. The ref pace is 6:43 2k and the df for the L3 & L4 will hover right around 117 to 122 spm.

Hope to complete a L1 session this week, most likely a variation of some 250s, 500s, and 750s. I haven't been below a 1:40 ave for a while, so this will be interesting. The goal is to keep the ending average as close to 1:40.0 as possible. Not to sure how the spm will workout, normally, I rate around 33 to 36 spm when I going at the 1:40 pace.

Bill

[wjschmidt2]

Mon 12 Jul L4 60' 14702+12 df 116 ref pace 6:43 Felt good after pushing the pace yesterday.
Tues 13 Jul L1 250, 500, 750, 500, 250, 300, 250, 300, 250, 300, 250 1:39.6 ave, sr hovered around 32 to 36. I knew after the last 500 I could not hold the 1:40 pace for more than 300 without raising the rate, so I changed the workout to shorter intervals to meet the 1:40 goal. Rest time was 1:30 after the 250s and 300s, 2 min for the 500s, and 3 min for the 750.
Wednesday I hope to get a L4 session and then travel for a job interview on Thursday. (forced day off)

Bill

[Nosmo]

Mon 12 Jul L4 60' 14702+12 df 116 ref pace 6:43 Felt good after pushing the pace yesterday.
Tues 13 Jul L1 250, 500, 750, 500, 250, 300, 250, 300, 250, 300, 250 1:39.6 ave, sr hovered around 32 to 36. I knew after the last 500 I could not hold the 1:40 pace for more than 300 without raising the rate, so I changed the workout to shorter intervals to meet the 1:40 goal. Rest time was 1:30 after the 250s and 300s, 2 min for the 500s, and 3 min for the 750.
Wednesday I hope to get a L4 session and then travel for a job interview on Thursday. (forced day off)

These intervals are rather short for 2K training. You want to keep almost all of them over 500m.
The rests after the 500 and 750 are a bit short (try 3:00 and 4:30). That may help a lot.
Intervals are all about intensity, so you want to give yourself as much recovery as needed but not so much that you cool down. 1:30r per 250m is a reasonable rule of thumb.
If you can't keep the target pace for the next few L1's workouts perhaps you should re-evaluate what pace you are using. Or perhaps you should decrease the number of intervals until you can maintain the target pace. You are just starting this so it may take a while to figure out how you are responding and to adjust the paces for each level.

Keep up the good work. I'm looking forward to seeing how you improve.

[wjschmidt2]

Nosmo,

Thanks for the info. The plan for the workout was 250, 500, 750, 1000, 750, 500, 250, however, my lungs had other plans. I salvaged what I could for the first L1 session of the season, just wanting to get the speed back in my legs.

We'll see how the next L1 goes, mostly likely a standard 8x500 w/a lot of recovery time.

Bill

[wjschmidt2]

Wed 14 Jul L4 60' 14727+8 df 116 ref pace 6:43
172, 184, 172, 176, 176, 180, 176
Thurs 15 Jul L4 50' 12191+11 df 116 ref pace 6:43
176, 180, 172, 176, 184; wanted to go for a 176 at the end but the gym was very hot and humid, and I was a little dehydrated from traveling the last two days. Both workouts felt great. Hope to get a good L3 in tomorrow.

Bill

[wjschmidt2]

Fri 16 Jul L3 40' 10456 df 120 1:54.7 ave sr 24 to 25. Short workout today due to time constraints, but I did work on pulling as a slow rate.

Bill

[Nosmo]

Nosmo,

Thanks for the info. The plan for the workout was 250, 500, 750, 1000, 750, 500, 250, however, my lungs had other plans. I salvaged what I could for the first L1 session of the season, just wanting to get the speed back in my legs.

We'll see how the next L1 goes, mostly likely a standard 8x500 w/a lot of recovery time.

Bill

It will be worth re-reading the links on the first post of this thread. It takes several reads and some experience to really absorb it all.
For what it is worth I settled on 3:30 rest for the 500's. I know a lot of people luse 3:00 but I prefer slightly longer rests. 3:00 is usually enough, but occasionally it seems too short.

[wjschmidt2]

Nosmo,

I will definitely take you up on the 3:30 rest. Banging out race pace for 8x500 is a killer. The last time I did this workout I took the 3 mins plus I used a little extra time to write down my time.

Another L4 tomorrow and then most likely a L2 on Sunday.

Bill

[wjschmidt2]

Sat 17 Jul L4 60' 14743+15 df 116

Bill

[wjschmidt2]

Sun 18 Jul L2 5k wu, 4x2k 1.46.4 sr29, 1:45.5 sr29, 1:44.8 sr33, 1:45.8 sr31 df 125; 1500m paddle rest btwn intervals 1k cd; Another good effort for the L2 session.

Bill

[wjschmidt2]

Next goal for me using the WP: get my L4 sessions to 18.0 spm. Over the past two weeks I went straight to 60' L4 without starting at 18.0 spm, so I will back track and reduce my session time to either 40' or 50' and then maintain the 18.0 spm working my way up the mountain.

The L2 4x2k session today went well. My goal was to slightly improve upon the last L2 session, which I did. The spm were higher, however, I pushed the rate up on purpose to see how I would respond: When I kept the rate down I felt in control and my form stayed together, however, once I started pushing the spm up, my form started breaking down and it was much harder to maintain the pace. Still a ways to go to top form.

Bill

[PaulG]

With a little encouragement from bloomp, completed my first 60 min L4. 13,308 m at 17 spm average. Previously I had been doing two 20 min pieces. I took a very short beak at 30 mins to "scratch my butt, change the CD etc." but that did not seem to change the natural order of the universe. Mostly I had to drink water because it was over 80 F.

I generally nailed the 18 spm intervals but sometimes exceed the rate for 16 spm intervals. Hit all the paces or went slightly faster. Now, when is it appropriate to move to other sequences inTable 1 of the WP?

Yesterday I spent about an hour OTW practicing technique with my Echo Islander ocean shell. Later I went for a 45 min bike ride.

I'll be a little tired tomorrow.

Paul 54 YO LWT

[Nosmo]

Bill,
Good job on the L2! Make sure you keep your form. In the long run you are much better off maintaining form even if it means going slightly slower. You say you do a 1500m recovery. Is this all active recovery and do you maintain the minimum recovery pace?
You clearly can break your 2K and 5K season records. (probably some others too but I didn't work out the numbers for them).

[wjschmidt2]

Nosmo,

Thanks! I will definitely keep the pace slower for these sessions because the ultimate goal is to break the 6:40 barrier this season.

For the L2 recovery, I maintained a slow paddle between 2:25 and 2:30 w/ sr 20 to 25 for the 1500 meters.

Today I did a L4 50' 12312+17 (176, 184, 176, 180, 176); I was either at my ref pace or slightly below with the stroke rates staying right where they should. I was surprised at my 22 spm (1:53), I actually kept the correct pace without speeding up the spm. The gym was very hot and humid, and I had the pool of sweat beneath me after the workout, so I was doing a very good effort to maintain the form and pace.

Time for some refreshments!

Bill

[wjschmidt2]

Tues 20 Jul L4 60' 14778+15 df 116 1072 strokes 17.86 spm
(180, 176, 184, 176, 176, 180)

This session was conducted in a cooler gym and was a lot easier to handle. Next time out will go for the 18.0 spm.

The 180 sequence (4, 3, 2, 1) seems to be one of the more enjoyable segments while the 184 (3, 3, 3, 1) is tough but doable. Looking forward to the higher sequences!

Tomorrow is another travel day and forced day off. Final interview for possible new career.

Bill