Ranger's training thread

[ranger]

We will see the truth in your next race.

Say what?

You make it sound as though I don't race.

I race more than anyone.

This last year, no one my age and weight came within 20 seconds of my 2K, even though I didn't prepare to race and pulled my races at max drag.

Yep.

That's the truth.

So, no need to wait for the truth.

You already have it.

RANKING RESULTS 2010
Indoor Rower | Individual and Race Results | 2000m | Men's | Lightweight | Custom Age Range (59–70) | 2010 Season

You are number 1 of 172

1 Rich Cureton 59 Ann Arbor MI USA 6:41.4 RACE
2 Hugh Pite 65 Victoria BC CAN 7:02.7 RACE
3 Robert Lakin 61 Wichita KS USA 7:03.6 RACE
4 Gregory Brock 62 santa cruz ca USA 7:03.9 IND
5 Rolf Meek 59 Oslo NOR 7:05.4 IND
6 Jerry Lawson 62 USA 7:06.0 RACE
6 Gerald Lawson 62 Winona MN USA 7:06.0 IND
8 Leif Petersen 64 DEN 7:08.5 RACE
9 Peter Francis 61 Denver CO USA 7:09.3 RACE
10 Roger Prowse 65 Isle of Wight GBR 7:10.3 RACE

This year I will race fully prepared, rowing (pretty darn) well (12 SPI?) at low drag (118 df.).

If things go well, this year, no one my age and weight will come within 40 seconds of my 2K.

ranger

[ranger]

Out of the comfort zone (160 bpm, etc.).

Yea, time to leave the armchair, ditch the Canadian Club and give your liver a break. Heck you might even be dried out by BIRC.

Nope.

No dehydration to make weight this year.

I am working hard on my weight.

My goal is to get to 155 lbs., 5% body fat, by the time BIRC comes around.

I am now riding my bike 90min, twice a day.

That burns about a pound of calories.

I am now losing weight, hand over fist.

ranger

[whp4]

Out of the comfort zone (160 bpm, etc.).

Yea, time to leave the armchair, ditch the Canadian Club and give your liver a break. Heck you might even be dried out by BIRC.

Nope.

No dehydration to make weight this year.

I am working hard on my weight.

My goal is to get to 155 lbs., 5% body fat, by the time BIRC comes around.

I am now riding my bike 90min, twice a day.

That burns about a pound of calories.

I am now losing weight, hand over fist.

ranger

Sure you are. Post a picture a day for 10 days straight showing that weight loss.

[NavigationHazard]

What level of racing do you think is "way better" than Mike's?

What "level" of racing?

Don't know what you mean by that.

You get to the regattas you can get to.

I haven't been preparing to race, but for the last two years I have had the best 55s lwt time, nonetheless.

I have also been just learning to row (well at low drag).

This year, I will row well at low drag, fully prepared.

I usually get about a dozen seconds over 2K from hard sharpening.

Not sure what I will get from rowing well at low drag, but quite a bit, I think, perhaps about as much as I get from sharpening.

That should give you an idea of what I might do for 2K this year.

ranger

What part of my question don't you get? Maybe this will help remind you that it's YOUR phraseology:

Because I am training and racing at a level _waaay_ beyond what you are doing at the moment, if you want to get better, you should try what I am doing, not the other way around.

I reiterate. What racing are you doing >at the moment< that's "at a level_waaay_beyond" [sic] whatever Mike is doing at the moment? None. You've never competed OTW and the last time anything of yours was ranked OTE was on 2/21/10. Since then Mike has won multiple national championships OTW while you've evidently been eating pies for England. Factual trophies beat fantasies every time.

[DUThomas]

I am not racing.
I am training.

Because I am training and racing at a level blah blah blah blah blah

Mike's AWESOME 5K must really be eating at you. You can't even keep your story straight for a whole day.

From the sound of your posts today, you are consumed with jealousy!

Again, Mike, wow!

[BrianStaff]

I DNS more than anyone.

Fixed it for you

[mikvan52]

A student of erg stats might notice a problem with merely doing a search on the ranking records by themselves...

Can any one spot the grave error with these complete 1-5 55-59 lwt listings since ranger turned 55?

The answer will be in the next post by me...

RANKING RESULTS 2007

1
Rich Cureton 55 USA 6:42.6 RACE
2
Roy Brook 55 GBR 6:43.1 RACE
3
Franz Plitzner 55 GER 6:50.0 RACE
4
Rolf Meek 56 Oslo NOR 6:51.7 IND
5
Henry Baker 59 CA USA 6:54.6 RACE


RANKING RESULTS 2008

1
Michael van Beuren 55 Hartland VT USA 6:45.1 RACE
2
Roy Brook 56 London GBR 6:46.5 RACE
3
Tor Arne Simonsen 57 NOR 6:51.2 RACE
4
Wally Braul 55 CAN 6:55.8 RACE
5
Ed Pabst 58 Terre Haute IN USA 7:02.9 IND


RANKING RESULTS 2009

1
Rich Cureton 58 Ann Arbor MI USA 6:41.0 RACE
2
Rocketroy Brook 57 GBR 6:43.8 RACE
3
John Busk 55 Slangerup GBR 6:47.5 RACE
4
Mike Van Beuren 56 Annapolis MD USA 6:50.0 RACE
5
Brian Leonard Phipps 59 Rongotea Manawatu NZL 6:56.9 RACE


RANKING RESULTS 2010

1
Rich Cureton 59 Ann Arbor MI USA 6:41.4 RACE
2
Michael van Beuren 57 Hartland VT USA 6:47.6 IND_V
3
Jonathan Rich 56 Winter Park FL USA 6:52.3 RACE
4
Eric Winterbottom 58 Bodytalk GBR 7:01.9 RACE
5
Gary Passler 55 amesbury ma USA 7:05.0 RACE


It is not a minor "grave error" either...

[mikvan52]

(buzzer sounds)
Time's up!

(I know I didn't give you guys enough time but here's the correction/addition to the record:

In the 2007 season here's another shred of info:
It's sort of pertinent to the discussion of who's "top dog" for the HUGE category 55-59 graybeards

WORLD RECORD

6:38.1 55 Roy Brook 2006 Indoor rowing race

ranger has tried RWB, the stepper, the bike, jackknives, crunchies, munchies, undies in a bunchie...
nothing has gotten him close to Roy's record.
Five long years!
The pressure is huge.

Let's give him the emotional support that warrants his winning and generous attitude.

[mikvan52]

I want people to notice how many sub 6:40 lwt 2ks were logged by ranger in the last 4++++ years...


Zero....None... Zilch....
The big negatory, good buddy.

And before fall is done he'll do.... (what?)

Aw, let him tell us... again
(Where's "Ned" when we need him the most?)

[leadville]

(encouraging guidance from MvB)
-snip-

True.

Gotta do it now.

Doing hard 5Ks, day after day, is the best training for 2K.

Repeat 5Ks, pretty close to maximal, are also good training for 5K, 6K, 30min, and 10K.

AT

I need to get used to riding my HR at 175 bpm, _above_ my anaerobic threshold.

Out of the comfort zone (160 bpm, etc.).



ranger

Note to all not familiar with the basic concepts of exercise physiology. "Doing hard 5Ks, day after day, is the best training for 2K." is absolute nonsense, based on no scientific evidence, no research, no study or meta-analysis. It is nothing more than the result of the mis-firing of horribly confused synapses in what passes for a brain in rangerboy's head.

Perhaps that endless neck-snapping at the end of the drive has led to irreversible brain trauma.

As reported by Stephen Seiler and others, the best training for the 2k, and the 1k and 5k for that matter, is LOTS of low intensity mileage. This is what the best international rowers do, year after year, and for a variety of logical reasons it is far more productive than 5ks day after day.

I could discuss this at length, but Dr Seiler does a far better job than I ever could here - http://www.sportsci.org/2009/index.html (see the article beginning with 'intervals'.

Briefly, what rangerboy is recommending is a daily regimen of relatively high intensity intervals - above AT. This is counterproductive at best, and damaging to one's health at worst. Best results are obtained by doing NO MORE THAN 4 INTERVAL SESSIONS EVERY TWO WEEKS.

The reason is simple - intervals wear you down so the body can recover and rebuild, stronger and more capable than it was pre-interval. And, as we age - yes, even you age, rangerboy - there's less testosterone, which means it takes longer to rebuild and recover. Thus, three interval sessions a fortnight (that's fourteen days, rangerboy) is probably best for those of us over 40.

rangerboy, just when you've got me thinking you couldn't say anything dumber, you up and do it.

congratulations. you did it again. 'm impressed!

[Byron Drachman]

The reason is simple - intervals wear you down so the body can recover and rebuild, stronger and more capable than it was pre-interval. And, as we age - yes, even you age, rangerboy - there's less testosterone, which means it takes longer to rebuild and recover. Thus, three interval sessions a fortnight (that's fourteen days, rangerboy) is probably best for those of us over 40.

Hi Joe,
Thanks for that reminder. The sound of the water rushing against the boat at the higher speeds is intoxicating and it is easy to get carried away and do too much.

[aharmer]

We will see the truth in your next race.

Say what?

You make it sound as though I don't race.

I race more than anyone.

ranger

Maybe so. Unfortunately, before these races you make outrageous claims about the times you will pull. Then you claim that this time it's different because you're now sharpening and the previous time you didn't. You claim never to have claimed to sharpen, but you've been proven a liar many times over on this. You then show up to your race, pull exactly what everybody expects you to pull, then say it's because you didn't sharpen, when you were claiming to be sharpening leading up the race.

And you're surprised everybody isn't jumping up and down with excitement over your next race?

Let's compare this year. Outrageous time that you will pull at BIRC. Check. Claim to be sharpening, and that's what makes this WR attempt different because you've never sharpened before. Check. Even though you're doing sharpening workouts, you refuse to show any of your sharpening training on your 'training' thread. Check. The only remaining question is whether you will go the route of finding an excuse not to race at BIRC, or simply pull a 6:43 and claim it's because you did no sharpening. Which still doesn't explain why you aren't within 12 seconds of your goal of 6:16. You should be able to sit down and pull 6:28 at any moment in time.

By the way, a recent post made it sound like you're about to embark on daily 5k's in preparation for BIRC. In fact, it sounded to me like tomorrow you'd be doing one of these. Could you clarify when you plan to start these, and whether you plan to show the results of these sessions? I know, ha ha, no chance, but I feel obligated to ask.

[mrfit]

rangerboy, just when you've got me thinking you couldn't say anything dumber, you up and do it.

congratulations. you did it again. 'm impressed!

Wait, it's not like he only says dumb things, he lies, and will pussy out of his boasts, too.

[ranger]

Unfortunately, before these races you make outrageous claims about the times you will pull.

No, not really.

I have just made claims about the limits of my potential, when I have learned to row and am finally rowing (pretty darn) well (12-13 SPI) at low drag (118 df.).

My talk about the times I would like to achieve has been talk about my long-term goals.

I have made it clear: Over the last seven years, I haven't had any short-term goals.

How could I?

Over the last seven years, I haven't even been training to race.

I have been learning how to row, training almost exclusively at low rates and high stroking powers, working on technique.

From the beginning, the claim has been that the limit of my potential--fully trained, rowing well (12-13 SPI) at low drag (118 df.)--is 6:16.

That still seems right to me.

I don't see any reason to change it.

If I rate 36 spm when I race, which seems more and more likely, now that I am sharpening, there is an 8 second per 500m spread between 10 SPI (which I used to pull when I rowed poorly at high drag) and 13 SPI (rowing perfectly).

At 36 spm,

10 SPI is 1:39
10.5 SPI is 1:37.5
11 SPI is 1:36
11.5 SPI is 1:34.5
12 SPI is 1:33
12.5 SPI is 1:32
13 SPI is 1:31

As I am sharpening over the next six weeks, this is the ladder I will modulate up and down when I am at race rate.

All of these stroking powers are now well within my capabilities, rowing at low drag (118 df.).

I can pull 16 SPI for 500m at 1:30.

At 36 spm, 6:16 is about 11.6 SPI, pretty much, the exact midpoint in the range.

ranger

[whp4]

Unfortunately, before these races you make outrageous claims about the times you will pull.

No, not really.

I have just made claims about the limits of my potential, when I have learned to row and am finally rowing (pretty darn) well (12-13 SPI) at low drag (118 df.).

no, you made specific predictions about how you would row at WIRC the last time you went. You missed by a country mile, of course. Then there was the season where you were going to start at 6:4x and ratchet it down in 6 or 7 successive rows. That didn't turn out the way you predicted, either.

All of these are now well within my capabilities, rowing at low drag (118 df.).

I can pull 16 SPI for 500m at 1:30.

You have never done so at low drag. You don't have the stroke for it, either.