Ranger's training thread

[ranger]

it's pretty clear you are deliberately misusing words to create the false impression that you have an ability that in fact you do not possess

Not at all.

Race preparation is not an "ability."

Everyone prepares to race in pretty much the same way and with pretty much the same benefit.

The effects of race preparation are also pretty short-lived.

They come and go.

"Abilities" don't come and go.

At best, they slowly erode if neglected or slowly improve if given close attention.

_Very_ slowly!

It is _very_ difficult to get better at something.

It is a no-brainer to prepare to race.

Race preparation is fail-safe.

Everyone can do it.

Everyone succeeds in doing it, if they try.

Getting better at something is a much more haphazard, difficult, and uncertain enterprise.

Besides me, no male WR-holder, 40-70, has ever gotten any better, much less substantially better.

They have only gotten worse and worse--precipitously.

None of the major training plans for rowing have anything at all to say about how to get better at rowing.

They are all about race preparation, temporary improvements in fitness that come and go with each racing season, leaving you pretty much where you were the season before, or if you are getting older, and therefore in terms of fitness are declining with age, significantly worse.

Ten years ago, at 40, Mike C. pulled 6:18.

Now, at 50, he pulls 6:36.

And where does that leave him?

The WR that he pulled ten years no longer stands, and the time he pulls now for 2K is a dozen seconds off of the WR for his present age and weight.

Clearly, for those who have been maximally fit in the past, the WP is irrelevant, if not substantially detrimental.

It doesn't tell you how to get better, and by concentrating on fitness rather than rowing well, it throws any opportunity you might have to improve (permanently?) away.

ranger

[ranger]

Ten years ago, at 40, Mike C. pulled 6:18.

Now, at 50, he pulls 6:36.

And where does that leave him?

The WR that he pulled ten years no longer stands, and the time he pulls now for 2K is a dozen seconds off of the WR for his present age and weight.

Ten years ago, when I was just 51, I pulled 6:27.5 for 2K in my first race.

My goal this winter, ten years later, when I will be just 61, is to pull 6:16 for 2K.

At the time, my 6:27.5 was 4 seconds under the 50s lwt 2K WR at the time.

6:16 is 26 seconds under the present 60s lwt 2K WR.

Needless to say, to get better at rowing over the last decade, I didn't follow the WP.

ranger

[Fred]

So you are saying that you "can" do a 2:32:0 FM (average pace 1:48), but you can't do it right now.

You are deliberately misusing the word "can", you should be using "could", as in "I think I should be able to".

My talk in this way is entirely legitimate if you know endurance sports (and rowing in particular).
<lots of stuff about how great you are>

Actually, no. Regardless of how much of a lock you consider your future 2:32:0 FM (average pace 1:48) is, that doesn't allow you to misuse a word.

You can say "I consider my upcoming 2:32:0 FM (average pace 1:48) a lock, even though I can not do it right now, I will be able to because <insert your endless "I'm so great speach">"

You can NOT say "I can do a 2:32:0 FM (average pace 1:48)"

[Fred]

it's pretty clear you are deliberately misusing words to create the false impression that you have an ability that in fact you do not possess

Not at all.
<bunch more stuff about why you consider your future 2:32:0 FM (average pace 1:48) a lock>

reference my other post

Regardless of how much a lock you consider it, you need to use the proper word "could", not "can".

[Citroen]

Ten years ago, when I was just 51, I pulled 6:27.5 for 2K in my first race.

My goal this winter, ten years later, when I will be just 61, is to pull 6:16 for 2K.

At the time, my 6:27.5 was 4 seconds under the 50s lwt 2K WR at the time.

6:16 is 26 seconds under the present 60s lwt 2K WR.

Needless to say, to get better at rowing over the last decade, I didn't follow the WP.

ranger

The biggest worry is that you appear to believe that.
You can't even get under SEVEN MINUTES and you still think you can pull a 6:16.

Dream on, fella. Dream on.

[ranger]

can

a. Used to indicate physical or mental ability.
...
c. Used to indicate possession of a specified capability or skill.

Any lightweight who rows well at low drag can row a FM @ 1:48, if they prepare for it.

They have "the physical and mental ability," "the specific capability and skill."

And then, even if you don't row well at low drag (e.g., because you are a heavyweight), if you can row a FM @ !:48, if you prepare for them, you can row a HM @ 1:45, 60min @ 1:44, 10K @ 1:42, 30min @ 1:41, 6K @ 1:40, 5K @ 1:39, and 2K @ 1:34.

In the bag.

ranger

[Citroen]

Any [sic] lightweight who rows well at low drag can row a FM @ 1:48, if they prepare for it.

Hodgson is 100 years old and LWT. He wouldn't do that. So your conjecture is sunk.

You really should a) think about what you write and b) re-read it before you post it. Else you end up looking like an even bigger pratt than ever.

[ranger]

Any [sic] lightweight who rows well at low drag can row a FM @ 1:48, if they prepare for it.

Hodgson is 100 years old and LWT. He wouldn't do that. So your conjecture is sunk.

At the upper limit, rowing well is 13 SPI for lightweights; 16 SPI for heavyweights.

Sure, if Hodgson rowed well at low drag, he could indeed pull a FM @ 1:48.

ranger

[Fred]

can
a. Used to indicate physical or mental ability.
...
c. Used to indicate possession of a specified capability or skill.<stuff on why you think it is a lock

again, deliberate misuse, you cropped that portion of the definition that clarified the tense (current or future). Similar to the way you crop the % body fat out of your weight pictures. You have crossed the line from being "vague in an attempt to create an false impression" to deliberate deception.

a. Used to indicate physical or mental ability: I can carry both suitcases. Can you remember the war?

[ranger]

again, deliberate misuse, you cropped that portion of the definition that clarified the tense (current or future). Similar to the way you crop the % body fat out of your weight pictures. You have crossed the line from being "vague in an attempt to create an false impression" to deliberate deception.

a. Used to indicate physical or mental ability: I can carry both suitcases. Can you remember the war?

No, not at all.

You don't have to have ever carried suitcases at all to know that you can.

You just have to have the requisite ability, skill, etc.

These abilities and skills don't presuppose any specific past act performed.

Negation is the logical test for presupposition.

This is fine:

"Sure, I can carry both suitcases, although I never have. I have always just carried one."

ranger

[ranger]

Any lighweight who rows well at low drag can pull a FM @ 1:48, if they prepare for it, even if they have never done a FM, even if they have never had any interest in doing one.

Race preparation is fail-safe.

Everyone who tries to do it succeeds.

A FM tests your effectiveness and efficiency as a rower, how much work you get done, just naturally, on each stroke, relative to your weight.

It doesn't have anything much at all to do with fitness.

ranger

[ranger]

What doesn't follow, Fred, is that if you prepare for a FM @ 1:48, you will succeed in doing it.

Why?

You need to have the requisite skills and abilities.

Race preparation is not enough.

In particular, if you are lightweight, you need to row well at low drag.

The major training plans for rowing have nothing to say about how to train yourself to row well at low drag, how to acquire the requisite skills and abilities.

ranger

[ranger]

The 60s lwt FM WR is 2:00 pace, rather than 1:48, because no 60s lwt has ever pulled much more than 9 SPI.

They haven't had the requisite skills and abilities.

9 SPI misses rowing well by right around 50%.

ranger

[ben990]

can

a. Used to indicate physical or mental ability.
...
c. Used to indicate possession of a specified capability or skill.

ranger

Oh, I get it now.

ranger can barely pull under 7:03 for a 2K.

Thanks for clearing that up!

[ranger]

Here's how to train yourself to row well at low drag (or at least, it worked for me):

Re: Ranger's training thread‬
by ‪ranger » June 9th, 2011, 3:24 am
ranger wrote:
If you want to row, rather than just get fit using rowing, I would suggest this regimen as a training plan.

(A) Never use rowing just to improve your fitness. If you do, you'll never reach your potential as a rower. Sure, you'll get fit, but end up rowing badly. Rowing badly vs. rowing well is worth 10 seconds per 500 across all of the distances, a _gigantic_ margin that is large enough to convert anyone from one of the worst rowers to one of the best. If you aren't fit (e.g., because you are old, or because you have been a couch potato for a decade or two, or because you are young and have never had any experience with doing something that taxes your skeletal-motor and physiological capacities, etc.), get fit in other ways. Run, skip, bike, step, swim--a lot--a couple hours a day. Work easily at first, but long, and then work up to exerting yourself to the limit of your endurance, aerobic capacity, skeletal-motor abilities, etc. in as many ways as possible using your entire body. The most efficient way to do this, probably, is just hard, totally exhausting physical labor--chopping down trees, digging holes, carrying rocks, hiking mountains with a 50-lb. pack, etc.

(B) Always use rowing to improve your rowing. Make a checklist of the major things you must do in the stroke cycle to row well for your weight (13 SPI for lightweights, 16 SPI for heavyweights). These might be included in your list.

(1) Get good length. Get all the way to shins vertical at the catch. The front of your seat should be only six inches from front stops when you fire off with your legs.

(2) Keep your hips/back forward at a good angle when you fire off with your legs. Hold that angle until your legs are done. At this point, the handle should be over your feet.

(3) Get your weight securely up on the balls of your feet at the catch, driving with your quads. Do _not_ take the catch with your heels and hams.

(4) Relax your shoulders at the catch.

(5) Relax your core at the catch.

(6) After about .1 seconds set your heels and stand up on the footplate, flattening your legs out with your hams. As in (2), at this point, the handle should be over your feet.

(7) Open your hips and swing your back with your core.

(8) While you are swinging your back, roll back up onto the balls of your feet and drive down on the footplate with the front of your foot using your calves.

(9) Keep your shoulders relaxed even though you have engaged your core, back, and calves.

(10) Pull through with your arms into your chest.

(11) Keep your elbows level as you pull the handle into your chest.

(11) Get a substantial lean with your back at the finish.

(12) Keep in good contact with the footplate at the finish. Point your toes and push the footplate away from you by digging in with your toes.

(13) Recover your arms as quickly as they finish.

(14) When you recover your arms, sit up tall and push the handle down toward your knees.

(15) Keep your knees flat on the rail until the handle sweeps past them.

(16) Recover your back as quick and fully as you did when you engaged it in the drive, returning to shins vertical (Prep Position). As in (2) and (6), at this point the handle should be over your feet, legs flat on the rail.

(17) The movements from (1) to (16) should be _very_ fast, 3/8 of the stroke cycle, at the most. If you count "And-ONE-and-TWO-and-THREE-and-FOUR" as you do the stroke cycle as a whole, execute the movements from (1) to (16) in the first three pulses of this counting/beating: "And-ONE-and."

(18) Set you heels firmly when as you get into prep position.

(19) Break your knees and move the seat slowly toward the catch.

(20) As you do this, roll your weight slowly from your heels to the balls of your feet.

If technique in rowing is worth about 10 seconds per 500m, then as an approximation, each of these 20 technical points, I think, miight be worth a couple of seconds over 2K (.5 seconds per 500m).

All twenty of these technical points, taken together and mastered completely, are worth forty seconds over 2K (10 seconds per 500m).

When you get on the erg, your task in training is to master these things.

Each time you row, work on one of these twenty things, or some subset of these twenty things, that you know you do poorly, until you have mastered them all.

Put in 20K a session.

If you are fit, master all of these technical aspects of rowing, and are a big lightweight (e.g., 6', 165 lbs., right at the weight limit), you should pull a nice 1:43 @ 25 spm (13 SPI), just naturally.

If you are fit, master all of these technical aspects of rowing, and are a big heavyweight (e.g., 6'5", 220 lbs.), you should pull a nice 1:36 @ 25 spm (16 SPI), just naturally.

You are now one of the best rowers in the world.

ranger