New Personal Best! Brag About That New Pb!

[tewbz]

set a new low pull tonight of 1:18.1!!!!
and i did it under 140 lbs

[60 Evo]

Greg, terrific effort! I’m not sure what your background is, but you are already sub 7 for the 2k, so in very good shape. I’m relatively new to indoor rowing, but to hold a sub 2 minute pace for an hour is great. Beating a PB by 1.8 sec /500 at that distance is awesome. It’s especially fun when you can feel the horses and just turn ‘ em loose. I may never get quite that quick, but I can understand the feeling of improving more than expected and needing to use it up.

Steve, you did the same thing, on a different distance and at an earlier stage. Actually Petes for Beginners will indeed let you attack PB’s as you see them near. He says the plan will not prep you for any particular distance, but you will in fact be better next week than you were this week while doing the plan. I’m at week 11 and preparing for my first 2k race this weekend. I’ve added a few more short interval workouts lately, but otherwise am staying on plan. Being sub 2 min pace for the intervals is just now in my reach, and I look forward to going sub 8 for 2k and working down from there.

[ThatMoos3Guy]

Erg test today! Good ol' 2k.

Plan was:

500m 1:42.5  1:42.5 30
850m 1:43.0  2:55.1 29
250m 1:42.0  0:51.0 30
200m 1:41.0  0:40.4 32
200m 1:40.0  0:40.0 34
2000m 1:42.2 6:49.0

Ended up like this:

500m 1:42.6 1:42.6 32
1000m 1:43.1 3:25.7 29
1500m 1:42.9 5:08.6 29
2000m 1:40.5 6:49.1 31

Overall: 2000m 6:49.1 1:42.2avg 30spm

Almost exactly on target. I settled a little too much during the middle 1000m and was a tenth off on the first 500m. However, my last 500m was real solid. Had trouble during the last 1500m, but it wasn't my lungs holding me back like usual, it was my legs. Couldn't hold the rating as high as I was hoping, but it'll get there for my next one. A week or two ago I was planning on a 6:48, but considering I missed about 5 days of training being sick I'm pretty content with the results. PR by over 5 seconds so definitely can't complain. Just glad it's over.

[MRapp]

Great job! A good plan executed perfectly!

[clubberlang]

5,000 meters, 18:07.6.

[mattmor]

A friend of mine and I have been going back and forth on 500m and 2k times. It's just another motivator rather than trying for best your own times.

To date my best 500m was 1:38.4, and yesterday my friend busted out a 1:36.0. Thinking I left everything I had on the 1:38.4 - I set out this morning to beat that and hopefully him. I started too fast and blew up the last 100-150 meters - but still finished at 1:35.9 - goal acheived. Now I just need to work on pacing, because I think if I can start a little slower and negative split every 100m I could be faster.

Do you just throw everything out there from the first pull or do you meter effort in such a short time period? Thanks!

-matt

[gregsmith01748]

@clubberlang: That is a really awesome 5K time. With that time, I bet you have a much faster 2K in your near future.

@mattmor: Nice job. Reminds me of the story about not needing to outrun the bear, just the person you're camping with. I have been avoiding doing a 500m time trial for just the reason you're talking about. I have a lot of trouble pacing them. I guess the best method is to set a target (say 1:35) and just camp on that until you've got about 100m to go and then go all biblical on it.

I posted a PB of my own today. 5K in 18:22.0 (1:50.2). This is 28.5 seconds faster than my previous PB at 5K, set in November.

[markman]

I did my 1st 2k in competition this past Saturday at the Atlanta ERG Sprints and managed a PR, by 4 seconds. I was hoping to get sub 7 but would have been happy with anything below 7:10. I pulled a 7:08.5 Here are the splits:

500m 1:43.8 32SPM
1000m 3:31.6 (1:47.8) 29SPM
1500m 5:20.7 (1:49.1) 28SPM- I was really hurting here
2000m 7:08.5 (1:47.7) 31SPM-decent recovery but no real "sprint"

I've only been rowing for 2 months so I was very happy with the time. As a cyclist my upper body had a lot of work to do to catch up to the aerobic capacity and lower body. I'm feeling like it's finally coming together. I plan on doing 2-3 rows a week through the Spring-Summer to keep the gains I've made. My plan is to do 5-10k at a time and make the sessions a solid aerobic workout. I'll start adding shorter/more intense intervals in the Fall when outdoor cycling is winding down. I think it's realistic to be shooting for 6:45-6:50 for next year.

[goblin]

A friend of mine and I have been going back and forth on 500m and 2k times. It's just another motivator rather than trying for best your own times.

To date my best 500m was 1:38.4, and yesterday my friend busted out a 1:36.0. Thinking I left everything I had on the 1:38.4 - I set out this morning to beat that and hopefully him. I started too fast and blew up the last 100-150 meters - but still finished at 1:35.9 - goal acheived. Now I just need to work on pacing, because I think if I can start a little slower and negative split every 100m I could be faster.

Do you just throw everything out there from the first pull or do you meter effort in such a short time period? Thanks!

-matt

My best efforts, I've found, have come from just throwing everything out there from the first pull. I wouldn't recommend negative splitting - its such a short piece.

If anything, you could pace it like a 2k - have a hard start with a high stroke rate for 20 strokes to get the fan really spinning, then lengthen out to a base pace at a slightly lower rate so that you can recover a little bit for the middle 20 strokes, then wind up the stroke rate in the last 20 strokes.

[GlassJoe]

Not a PB time, but a mile marker reached today (or kilometer marker, I suppose).

Just crossed over 100k. Took me six weeks, but if I follow the Pete Plan (at least four sessions a week), it looks like my next 100k will only take me four weeks. I'm just starting my fourth week (6500m) and just missed rowing that in 30' flat (30:09.5). I go by watts, though, as it seems to help keep me focused better for some reason. Kept it right around 125w with the occasional strong 500m (strong for me...it's all relative) and ended up just a hair under 130w (129.8). Not bad considering I was at 106.6w for first 5k in the Pete Plan just 3 weeks ago.

200w here I come! (next time I row a 500m ).

[markman]

Not a PB time, but a mile marker reached today (or kilometer marker, I suppose).

Just crossed over 100k. Took me six weeks, but if I follow the Pete Plan (at least four sessions a week), it looks like my next 100k will only take me four weeks. I'm just starting my fourth week (6500m) and just missed rowing that in 30' flat (30:09.5). I go by watts, though, as it seems to help keep me focused better for some reason. Kept it right around 125w with the occasional strong 500m (strong for me...it's all relative) and ended up just a hair under 130w (129.8). Not bad considering I was at 106.6w for first 5k in the Pete Plan just 3 weeks ago.

200w here I come! (next time I row a 500m ).

Good job! It takes some time to get used to the rowing machine but once you do you will find your times going down and your watts going up. Using watts to monitor your training is a great way to go. I've used watts for several years on my bike and they definitely keep you on track as far as doing the right amount of work.

[GlassJoe]

Thanks for the encouragement, Markman. I really am loving it so far. I'm a long way away from 200w rows for anything much north of 500m, but I'll be completely stoked once I can get my 2k down to 8:00 (202.5w). 2:00 splits seems like quite an undertaking, though. I was able to do two 2ks with a 4' rest at 2:12.6 (8:50.5 total time - 150.1w), but I'm not sure how that would equate if I were trying to do just one balls-to-the-wall 2k. I'm guessing 8:30 would be about the best I could hope for, but since I'm trying to stick to the Pete Plan, I don't see me trying it anytime soon (thank God!).

Peace!

[jlawson58]

Set a PB for distance today by quite a bit. Did a nice controlled half marathon.I have only ever had one row over 12k and that was a 15k a month ago. The time is pretty pathetic compared to most of you but I did a 1:32:32 which went by pretty quickly for most of it while I watched TV. The last 20 minutes were harder as my butt (sitz bones?) were killing me and the back and shoulders were getting pretty fatigued.

[gregsmith01748]

I guess it was worthwhile putting in 4M meters over the past 18 months.

At the CRASH-Bs today, I rowed a 6:43.6, 8.3 seconds faster than my previous PB.

I had planned to row between 1:41 and 1:42 for the first 1500m and then see what was left. The plan seemed to work, although I have never experienced time passing as slowly as it did in the first 500m. I have no recollection of the middle 1000m, but apparently my splits never wavered from 1:41. In the last 500m, the nice race official coxed me, kept telling me that I was a machine, and in the last 100m, counted down the strokes for me. I think he saved my a$$.

[MRapp]

Great work Greg!