Ranger's training thread

[Byron Drachman]

This year, I'm going to give my old bod' a rest in anticipation for a big -6-0- coming up in 15 months. I will still race at 5k OTW. Old guys take note... It hard on you to keep hitting it hard year after year.

Hi Mike,

Those are words of wisdom. From what I am reading these days, some people are re-discovering something that some successful cyclists knew many years ago. Basically, keep away from the middle heart rate zones. Do the steady state rowing slow enough that you are actually recovering and rebuilding, and keep the high intensity intervals short and simple. By any chance have you come across The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing by Maffetone? There are some things I disagree with, but a lot of what he says makes sense to me. Even if you disagree with everything else in the book, he has some good recipes.

Stay well.

Byron

[ausrwr]

You can talk about your 17:10 from 8 years ago. That's it. You'll never post an IND_V 5k again, let alone something within a minute of your PB. You have every right to prove me wrong...or just talk about how you're going to.

Sure, I will.

But not until I post a FM, HM, 60min, 10K, and 6K.

Race preparation is best done from the top down.

My focus now is a FM @ 1:48 and a HM @ 1:45.

The former is six seconds per 500m faster than I was eight years ago.

The latter is four seconds per 500m faster than I was eight years ago.

ranger

And the point to this is? You will never post another time. Whether it's at FM, HM, or 1 stroke max.

[atklein90]

Yet Mike is FASTER than you!

Hardly.

Now, as he is approaching 60, fully prepared, MIke pulls 6:50, perhaps even 6:55.

ranger

How many times must we remind you....as you were approaching 60, while still 59, the best time of this season for you was 7:02!

6:55 IS FASTER THAN 7:02.

You sir, are an idiot.

[Carl Watts]

Hey don't go posting facts here mate, they just don't belong here.

This is pure fantasy and we were enjoying the story.

[ranger]

My FM training is becomes pretty simple, I think.

Given my technique now--the low drag (95 df.) and the high ratios (4-to-1, etc.)--all I need to do is keep the rate up to 26 spm for the 2.5 hours, modulating my effort as needed to stay on pace.

In a race, no matter how long, no one needs to row in a ratio higher than 4-to-1, and if I rate right on 26 spm for the 2.5 hours, I can't possibly do anything slower than 1:48 pace.

I just can't stroke any more lightly than that.

10.5 SPI

1:48 @ 26 spm must be close to 10 MPS.

I could probably just pull along on the zeros to pass the time.

1:47 @ 28 spm is 10 MPS at 10 SPI.

I suppose if I were better yet (at recoveries, etc.), I could just hold the 28 spm and pull 10 MPS @ 1:47, on the button.

Hmm.

Perhaps I should try that.

I wonder whether I can get so I can do 10 MPS @ 28 spm (1:47) with a top-end UT2 HR and 10 MPS @ 29 spm (1:43) with a top-end UT1 HR.

I suppose that would be ideal.

At 95 df., it might be possible, given the high ratios.

At such a light drag, and therefore short drive time, these higher rates don't feel frenetic at all, even for something as long as a FM.

If I could do that, the only difference between a FM and a HM/60min trial would be a bit more power in the middle of the stroke.

The rate would be pretty much the same, only 1 spm difference.

Keep the rate up!

With the drag down to 95 df., 10 MPS at 28-29 spm is lively, spirited stroking.

Quick little drives; quick little recoveries.

Light resistance; light pushing and pulling.

"Frothing"



Keep it smooth.

Keep it easy.

ranger

[ranger]

Yikes, here we go again.

Perhaps PaulS is right.

The best way to do my training rows might be to just pull on the zeros, doing a steady 10 MPS, starting at 26 spm (1:55) and building to 29 spm (1:43).

To get the feel of it, I'll see if I can do something like this today.

1:55 @ 26 spm is _really_ light stroking!

8.8 SPI

ranger

[PaulH]

Yikes, here we go again.

Perhaps PaulS is right.

The best way to do my training rows might be to just pull on the zeros, doing a steady 10 MPS, starting at 26 spm (1:55) and building to 29 spm (1:43).

To get the feel of it, I'll see if I can do something like this today.

1:55 @ 26 spm is _really_ light stroking!

8.8 SPI

ranger

Why did you post this, ranger? Nobody here expects that you'll stick with it for more than a week or two, because you never do. So why bother mentioning it?

[ranger]

From what I am reading these days, some people are re-discovering something that some successful cyclists knew many years ago. Basically, keep away from the middle heart rate zones. Do the steady state rowing slow enough that you are actually recovering and rebuilding, and keep the high intensity intervals short and simple. By any chance have you come across The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing by Maffetone? There are some things I disagree with, but a lot of what he says makes sense to me. Even if you disagree with everything else in the book, he has some good recipes.

Sure.

But the best way to avoid everything you need to do to be good at this sport is to do nothing at all.

Lop around on the couch all day.

Watch a lot of TV.

Drink a lot of beer.

Slather the mustard on those hot dogs until they are a sea of yellow.

Sprinkle on some onions and kraut.

And _really_ rest up.

If you train this way, you really get in shape!

ranger

[ranger]

Why did you post this, ranger? Nobody here expects that you'll stick with it for more than a week or two, because you never do. So why bother mentioning it?

Yea.

You're right.

I tried it.

I can't do the 10 MPS thing at all, not for a week or two, not for a day, heck, not for a session.

At 95 df., my stroke is now too good for such nonsense.



It appears that I _can_ do base pace (27 spm) now at a FM HR (155 bpm), though.

Delighted with that.

It's just that when I am doing 27 spm, I am not going along at 1:51 (10 MPS).

Most of the time, I am going along at 1:44, sometimes even 1:42.

So I am now doing a spectacular 12 SPI or so with this easy distance rowing at 95 df.

Lots of rowing at 27 spm now until I can do it for 2.5 hours.

Just play some music and sit in the groove.

Go as long as I can.

Then do it the next day.

At 95 df., even at 27 spm, the ratio is still _huge_--almost 4-to-1.

This makes it a piece of cake to get _great_ length and preparation for each drive.

It also makes it easy to keep checking other aspects of technique (relaxation, recoveries, footwork, angles of leverage, etc.), as I go along.

No longer any reason to stop in order to correct myself.

I am now doing my technique work on the fly.

A FM HR (155 bpm) is _very_ comfortable.

Middlin' UT1

It's like riding my bike for a couple of hours, cross-training.

I am nowhere near my anaerobic threshold (172 bpm), where the pain starts to set in.

ranger

[ranger]

Today, I will finish up my grading for the winter semester.

Then I can take my computer over to the tech in our department so that he can get bootcamp going for me on my macbook pro.

Then I can see if I can get ergmonitor up and running.

It will be fun to see if I am right about these peak forces, stroking powers, and ratios when I am rowing at 95 df.

The weather is finally turning around here in Ann Arbor.

Leaves are popping out.

Flowers are springing up.

The sun is warm.

The grass is growing.

Time to get the boat out on the river.

For my daily training, I would love to see if I can now hold a steady 27 spm OTW, too.

ranger

[ranger]

When I first took up rowing back in 2000, I also rowed long distances at high rates.

But pulling along at max drag, technically, my stroke was _very_ ineffective.

I only pulled about 8 SPI.

I shortened the slide.

I didn't sequence my levers.

Heck, I didn't even really use my legs.

I just grabbed the wheel with my back and arms at the catch, dragging my legs behind.

Given that I have been a lifelong canoeist, I paddled.

Rowing with good technique at 95 df., my stroke now does 50% more work.

With the same effort, I am pulling 12 SPI rather than 8 SPI.

Pulling at 8 SPI, 30 spm is 1:54 pace.

Pulling at 12 SPI, 30 spm is 1:39.

The difference is 15 seconds per 500m at the same rate.

ranger

[hjs]

Last recorded event shows Mike currently faster than you are.

"Events" in erging have nothing to do with anything.
What matters is how fast you are.
It doesn't matter where and when you do it.

ranger

Indeed, and you don't do it anywhere or anytime. Not now, not "soon", not when you are "ready", never ever. And you will also never show any home attempt. Only "unprepared" raced, slower and slower.
I expect at some point you will fake some sort of "injuree" that forces you to stop rowing, preventing to show your "potential".


You are a liar, a cheat and a coward, but one of the best internet trolls ever. That I must give you that.

[Byron Drachman]

Feb 18, 2011: A month or so of double-session "Steamrollering" should get me plenty ready for FM and HM trials. Then I will get back to "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" rowing at 26 spm and a threshold HR in order to prepare for 60min, 10K, and 30min trials. Then I will be ready for some AT training (e.g., 4 x 2K) to prepare for 5K and 6K trials. I think I should be able to get all of this training and racing in by the end of the indoor rowing season, April 30th. If I am successful in this training and racing, by April 30th, I should hold all of the 60s hwt WRs from 5K to a FM. Then, at the end of April, it might be interesting to do an at-home 2K trial to see if I can beat do better than Hendershott's 6:24. After that, all of my rowing will be OTW.

I just checked and didn't find any new records.

Don't tell me. Let me guess: You just learned a new stroke and need time to habituate it, you can't rush these things, all in good time, you'll be rowing for the next 30 years, yakity, yakity.

[ranger]

Don't tell me. Let me guess: You just learned a new stroke and need time to habituate it, you can't rush these things, all in good time

My distance stroke is now set.

27 spm

11 SPI-13 SPI (depending on how much I push with my heels in the middle of the leg drive)

1:40-1:45 pace

95 df.

3.5-to-1 ratio.

Feels great.

No reason to change anything.

Great "base pace" stroke.

Professional quality.

As good as any lightweight of any age.

So, it's back to 2000-2002 and my normal training routine.

As with the marathon running I did for a quarter of a century, in my daily training, I just like to sit down on the erg and work steadily for an hour or two with a UT1 HR., starting out with a low UT1 HR and working toward a top-end UT1 HR.

That's what I did when I first took up rowing, but I did it rowing badly (8-10 SPI) at max drag (200+ df.).

Now I can just do the same again, but rowing well (11-13 SPI) at low drag (95 df.).

ranger

[bellboy]

Well its the end of the month kids. For some strange reason i havn't seen any new distance records posted this week which is a tad disappointing but fear not the world record FM will be smashed today! Its been a long and emotional six weeks to reach this point but his stroke is set. Fait accompli. Butta etc etc. To the batcave and get yanking Richard.

P.S. Iv pre warned Concept and they will have someone waiting to verify this row for posterity.