How to keep my head in a 2k?

[JimmyL]

Hello all,
My best 2k time is only a 7:22, with 500m's of 1:42, 1:50, 2:10, 1:40
That 3rd 500 is just killing me at the moment.
Last week I tried a different idea which was to keep my split at 1:48 for the whole 2k.
It worked - Until the 3rd 500m and resulted in a 7:25
1:47, 1:48, 2:00, 1:50

What should I be thinking about for each 500m?
This is really annoying me because I have the power, it's just keeping it going for the 2k is the problem.

My next 2k is on Tuesday so any ideas would be hugely appreciated.

[jamesg]

Do a 500 test, then race at about 10-11% slower in terms of pace (-30% Watts). There once was a French Protocol that said, using the 500 test as basis, race at 92, 88, 88 and 91% of the test speed. The 92% serves to avoid losing sight of the other lots' rudders. Some say negative splits all the way and ignore their rudders, they'll blow up anyway. In all cases you need to do the test first, to identify your reference speed.

Also: keep the drag low, and cruise with long slow effective strokes from 300 to 1800. If you get to 300 too soon and find yourself thinking this is easy, you MUST drop the speed immediately.

For a 7:20 (260W) you probably won't need to rate more than 26 if you're oarsman size.

If you can't stick to the French protocol, your long distance training hasn't been adequate. That's where we learn what a long slow effective stroke can do to us, and how to withstand 200 of them.

[JimmyL]

I think it may be down to my fitness, I can do 5 mile runs in less than 35 mins but I'm still not on par with the rest of my crew. But I'm stronger than them, I'm junior 16 and I'm 6 foot and 165lb (75kg)

I could easily do a 500m with a split of 1:35 or less.

The drag is set at 130 and my coach says to keep it at rate 28.

What do you try yourself? the french protocol?

[sheehc]

1) Break it down into smaller chunks in your mind and focus on very specific goals during each. I like to break the 3rd 500 into 7 stroke pieces. Each piece focuses on a different technical point. First a focus on leg drive with a connected back, then focusing on connecting the back swing with the legs, then drawing the arms, then putting it all together. By the end of those 28 strokes it's maybe 15 more to go till I'm in the final 500. That's just what I focus on, you figure out what works for you, but use small and achievable blocks rather than a large 500m block.

2) Go out at 1:51 and no faster. It sounds like you are physically faster than that, but for a mental block it's more important that you just get a piece done with a steady pacing than a major blowout pr. You push through the first 1000m at a steady 1:51 and you will have a bit more in the tank for the 3rd 500m and make it easier to stay consistent or even push a little bit. Then with a good sprint in the final 500m and you can still grab a pr.

[Carl Watts]

Work on you endurance by rowing longer pieces like 30 to 60 minutes with a focus on dropping your rating. Just because you can row at 1:35 for the 500m doesn't mean you can do the same for an entire 2K.

You need to row the whole 2K at the same pace per 500m. If you can row a 500m at 1:35 pace then your 2K average pace is very close to 1:45 or about a 7min 2K.

I find the 2K quite hard metally as on my first attempt I really went out hard and blew up big time. It's not a nice feeling and it's taking me a while to get over it.

[JimmyL]

I think your right Carl.
The regatta season is just starting though and we're working on 5min pieces for sprint work. And then on the water I'm training with a J18 quad so there's not much free time for extra erg work.

Once the season is over my training through the winter will be all about boosting my endurance. I've got the power, I just need to work on my fitness. It's good at the moment, but not as good as others.

I found this page and I think I'll follow it for my next 2k.
http://www.ergrowing.com/advanced-2k-er ... gy-part-1/
This is focused on people like myself who are sprinters more than endurance ergers.

Start
Go off hard – very hard. This is where you can get ahead and compensate for a slower middle section. But you need to know your limitations and ensure you sprint for only as long as you can without jeopardising the entire 2k. You are the best judge of this. It might for example be realistic for you to sprint for 200 and 400 meters.

Keep going until you feel like you need to settle into race pace and when you do settle – settle a lot. There is no point in trying to play the averages game with a big strong aerobic middle 1400 meters because you are not currently trained for this.

Middle
Here you should initially try to recover from your hard start. It might be that you settle to 1:45 after pulling 1:35 average for the start phase.

But you should still play to your strengths. Consider doing some power 10′s down the middle section making sure you spread them out well so you give yourself a chance to recover between bouts of power. A power 10 would for example go from 1:45 to 1:41 – 1:43 and you should aim to do no more than 3 -4.

But always ensure you pace yourself. Remember it is a 2k erg and you must budget your energy for this.

Finish
Towards the finish – do not go early. Leave it to a point where you can sprint again at maximum power until the last meter. Some sprinters can manage 20 seconds – around 100 meters. Others can do 30 – 45 seconds. The bottom line is that you are extracting the most from your natural ability – which is sprinting.

Sheehc, I'll also focus on your first point and break down the 3rd 500, I just need to get through that and then I can sprint for the last 500. With my PB 2k I held the last 350m at 1:35-1:37 which dropped the time massively.

I'm hoping to get down below 7:13, It'd be a pretty big confidence boost.

[Carl Watts]

Yes that's pretty close, but by "Go out really hard" at the start we are talking like 8 to 10 seconds so it doesn't have time to have a great effect on your heartrate and you see your average time on the monitor drop to the average time you want to keep going at for the whole 2K.

Sure if you feel you have gass left in the tank near the end then sprint, but it would have been better to lift your average pace just a fraction higher for the rest of the row. You should just hit the 2K finish line and feel like you cannot pull another stroke and that should result in the best time your capable of.

Perhaps thats why the 2K is so hard, it's a mix of power and endurance and its quite hard to pick your exact ave./500m pace you can sustain without experience. It is made harder if you are not on a performance plateau and are going through rapid improvements. It's so easy to get over confident and blow up !

[sheehc]

You should perhaps read the rest of the page that the author wrote, specifically this line:

"This type of approach to a 2k erg test is not the best way to get a good score."

[jamesg]

At age 16 I suggest you forget the erg and learn to row. This will get you fit, as it takes lots of long slow (as to rating) pieces. Don't overload yourself: your bones, joints, tendons and other soft bits are not yet up to it.

[KevJGK]

My next 2k is on Tuesday so any ideas would be hugely appreciated.

I recommend you study this thread - particularly Mike Caviston's comments which appear from page 2 onwards.

http://www.c2forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=326

His pacing advice is solid - it gave me the confidence to finally break 7 minutes.

Best of luck for Tuesday.

Let us know how you get on.

[JimmyL]

My next 2k is on Tuesday so any ideas would be hugely appreciated.

I recommend you study this thread - particularly Mike Caviston's comments which appear from page 2 onwards.

http://www.c2forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=326

His pacing advice is solid - it gave me the confidence to finally break 7 minutes.

Best of luck for Tuesday.

Let us know how you get on.

I understand what they're saying in the thread but when I put this into practice in my last 2k I burned out mid way through my 3rd 500m.
I think to the more experienced erger that would be the best approach but at the moment I don't think it'll work for me.
I feel I need to have a bit of a buffer zone for that 3rd 500m, so that I know if I ease up a little bit it won't ruin the whole time and then I can make up for it in the last 500.

At age 16 I suggest you forget the erg and learn to row. This will get you fit, as it takes lots of long slow (as to rating) pieces. Don't overload yourself: your bones, joints, tendons and other soft bits are not yet up to it.

I'm training 4 days a week with a J18 quad and then 2 days are dedicated to erg. I'm getting the best of both I think.
The problem is that the stretch of water we train on is less than a 2k..... so I can pump it for 1500m or 1700 but that little bit extra is killing me.


I'll keep you updated on how Tuesday goes. I've got sprint training today (fun, fun, fun.....) and then monday is my day off.

[KevJGK]

I understand what they're saying in the thread but when I put this into practice in my last 2k I burned out mid way through my 3rd 500m.

Yes - but that just means you need to go a bit slower for the first 1K.

Going out too fast for the 1st 500 is crazy - it just means you'll pay for it with interest later on.

If you do steady 01:50s you'll PB by 2 seconds - chances are if you do 01:50s for say 1,700m you'll be able to kill it over the last 300m & PB by even more.

In your last 2K you went off at 01:47/500m (07:08 2K pace) which was obviously too fast.

Steady 01:50s is the way - you'll love it.

Best of luck.

[JimmyL]

you're right kev.

Here's the gameplan, first 30 seconds at 1:44 to get the fan spinning.
I'll then fall back to 1:50's and see how it goes from there.
If I've got anything left at the tank at 250 I'll go flat out and hopefully shave another couple of second off.

[KevJGK]

Here's the gameplan, first 30 seconds at 1:44 to get the fan spinning.

No need for that - it will take too much out of you.

Drop straight onto 01:50s - the average will soon synchronize after a few 100 meters.

Save it all for the end when you'll need it.

[GlennTeddy]

I think you are going out too fast. my personal thought is give it about 5 good pulls to start off with to get the flywheel spinning settle in at 1:50 for the 100-1800 metres and then kick it with whatever you have left for the last 200 metres (maybe last 150) but finish strong don't handle down if you still have 10 metres left push right through till the monitor reads 0