Hello, Concept2 Forum.

[Citroen]

I've tried to find good plans for beginners, but between the acronyms and other speak that goes above my head, that's proving more difficult to find than I thought it would be.

Read the decoder: http://www.c2forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=38

Try this plan: http://thepeteplan.wordpress.com/beginner-training/ (which is also written in British English).

[luckylindy]

Glass Joe - I agree with others on this site that the best thing to do is focus on endurance and technique. If you're going at a pace where you're a little out of breath, but can still talk some, you probably don't need to worry about warmup/cooldown much (although stretching a bit afterward can be helpful).

When I started, I rowed for 20-40 minutes per day, with very few "timed" pieces. I've now been rowing on and off for a couple months, and still haven't rowed my first timed 2k, nor have I embarked on a structured plan. But simply by rowing each day, I can row MUCH faster than when I started ... for example, in my first month I tried a 5k and did 19:10 (~1:55 pace) and almost lost my dinner and couldn't walk at all for ~5 minutes, but now will often row my 30-60 minute workouts at a faster pace and feel great (haven't tried another 5k time trial). It's amazing how much benefit you can get by just rowing consistently.

One note - I did get minor injuries early on ... this was probably partly due to trying to row every single day (when you're just starting you probably need some complete rest days), and also because I wasn't focusing on technique enough.

Best of luck!

[luckylindy]

GJ - how is your training progressing?

[GlassJoe]

Hey, double L.

Thanks so much for asking. I think it's going well. I'm still doing CrossFit twice a week, and some minor injuries have had me miss a few rowing days and one CrossFit session, but since you posted on the 9th....I guess that's 18 days...I've CrossFit'd four times (missed one while me and the missus mended) and rowed 11 days, so I've only taken off 4-5 days.

Anywho, I've rowed 56k so far since 1/4 (about three weeks). Rowed 18k in Week 1, 15k in Week 2, 17k in Week 3, and started this week off with 900m at CrossFit yesterday and 5k just now. Today was the first day of the 24-week Pete Plan that Citroen pointed me to. I stopped focusing distance after y'all posted around the 8th/9th and went to basically all timed pieces (20', 25', 25', 25', 30', 30', 20' (gassed ), 30' and then my 5k today.

I've done two 500m pulls just to compete with my nephew. 1:58.7 was my best time in week 1, and he proceeded to throw up a 1:51.3 (which I knew I couldn't get). So ten days later, I tried the 500m and got a 1:49.8. He tried a few times to beat me and gassed, and when he was over this Sunday, he tried again. After he gassed, I went and threw up a 1:43.3 (which just about killed me...but I did pace myself a little better and wasn't completely dead the last 150m like the 1:49 I had done just 5 days prior).

I've been here everyday, but since I know zilch, I really can't help much, so I'm more lurking. I've been checking out those looking for input (like jlawson) who are posting vids to try to check for things I can improve, but I'm guessing I need to just bite the bullet and take a video myself and get some of y'all's input on it. If/when I do, should I just maybe record 30' and then edit it down to a couple of minutes showing 20-second clips from beginning to end?

My 5k today took 24:46.1 (a sad average of 106.6w...which is apparently exactly where I want to be if I were half my current weight ).

Again, though, thanks for checking up. Still around....just can't help much yet. Maybe by 2012 I'll be more active on the boards.

[luckylindy]

Sounds like you are progressing well - you're doing your 5k at a pace faster than your 2k from a few weeks ago. That's awesome. Just keep it up and I'm sure you'll see the times continue to drop.

Regarding a video - if you want feedback from board veterans, you can probably just post a 20 second clip of you rowing. No need to spend a ton of time trying to edit a 30 minute piece into chunks (although this might provide some valuable insight).

Keep up the great work!