Ranger's training thread

[ranger]

Wow.

Dictating what kinds of training can be done, and then reported, and what not, is a _very_ odd sort of behavior by a moderator of a training forum, especially when the only sorts of training that are judged acceptable, and therefore reportable, only make those who train that way worse and worse.

_Very_ odd.

What is this?

Enforced failure?

You can't participate here unless you are failing to improve?

_Very_ odd.

ranger

[ranger]

How many strokes until you've settled into 1:48@21spm? Then, after a few strokes, you stop. Was your last stroke at 1:48/21spm? If so, why did you stop? Why not just keep on taking "good strokes"? If not, what forced you out of your 1:48/21spm groove?

Like a pitcher, you stop if you are doing something wrong. You think about it. Then you try to correct it.

Do you paddle in between these strings of "good strokes"

Naw. I think about what I did wrong--and why. Then I try to correct it.

How long (give or take a minute or two) are these breaks?

A few seconds. Long enough to think about what I did wrong and then try to correct it.

Is the monitor still running when you start again or does it count back up from 0?

Sure. The monitor is still going.

If and when you have to start a new Just Row session, do you write down the distances for each interval, or do you add it up in your head as you go along?

The monitor tells you how far you have rowed.

How do you deduct all the strokes you don't take at 1:48/21spm, ie the first few each time you need to get the flywheel going and the last few before each break? Do you just lump them in with the rest, or do you make a mental note of how long you paddled/eased up? That's a lot of adding and subtracting you have to keep track of, all the while making sure your levers are in sequence and your footwork is perfect.

Don't care about this stuff. This stuff doesn't matter. Training is an opportunity to get better. It isn't a race.

ranger

[lancs]

No, I think Paul's just trying to discourage outright lies....

[ranger]

No, I think Paul's just trying to discourage outright lies....

The biggest lie in and around this sport is the claim that the standard training plans for rowing can make you better at the sport.

They can't.

They just prepare you to race.

But when you have prepared to race, even once, the only thing you can do with these training plans is prepare to race again, and again, and again, and again.

No one has ever gotten better at rowing by just preparing to race.

So, no one has ever used the standard training plans for rowing to slowly build to full their potential as a rower.

If they have followed one of these training plans, they have just raced and raced, raced and raced, raced and raced, staying pretty much the same, or if they were older, and their fitness was declining, they have just gotten worse and worse, worse and worse.

There is _overwhelming_ factual evidence for this observation.

In his middle 20s, Pete Marston pulled 6:11 for 2K.

Now, in his early 30s, he is 10 seconds slower.

Why?

ranger

[snowleopard]

The biggest lie in and around this sport is that the standard training plans for rowing can make you better at the sport.

That's just your opinion. And opinions are as common as arseholes.

You've a few minutes left BTW ...

[PaulH]

Dictating what kinds of training can be done, and then reported, and what not, is a _very_ odd sort of behavior by a moderator of a training forum

Indeed it would be, and I wouldn't stand for it. Fortunately:

I'm not trying to make you train (or race) in any particular way, I'm just asking that you tell the truth.

You're free to train and race any way you want. But if you choose to post about it, what you post should be true. This wasn't.

10 minutes...

[ranger]

That's just your opinion.

Nope.

There is overwhelming factual evidence for this observation.

ranger

[ranger]

I'm not trying to make you train (or race) in any particular way, I'm just asking that you tell the truth.

Total B.S.

You're free to train and race any way you want. But if you choose to post about it, what you post should be true.

I took 15K of good strokes, 1:48 @ 21 spm, as they would be measured by a stroke counter on a speed coach, such as my NK XL2.

If you don't go up and down the slide, the counter does not register another stroke.

If your boat doesn't go anywhere, the distance counter doesn't register any distance.

It just pauses.

Of course, when the wheel comes to a stop, to clock on the PM4 also stops.

That's usually about five seconds after your last stroke.

This means that what is going on here isn't my fault at all.

It's just that the PM4 isn't designed to register what I am doing.

It doesn't have a stroke counter.

And it doesn't count good strokes (discounting others).

The PM4 is designed to register workouts done following all of those training programs that just make you worse and worse.

It isn't designed for someone who is trying to get better by learning to row well.

ranger

ranger

[macroth]

Sorry folks, nothing new in ranger's response. We can keep on assuming he does 10k's worth of crappy, middling intensity intervals, a couple hundred meters here, a couple hundred meters there, seeing 1:48/500m once in a while on the screen, averaging anywhere between 20 and 25 spm, with his HR skyrocketing a few times in the mix.

Then there is this.

Today, ranger posted at 1:53 am, 2:35, 2:36, 4:16, 4:18 (this is where he reported his so-called 15k in the general vicinity, give or take a training band, of "1:48@21spm getting _very_ easy"), 4:26, 4:37(multiple edits), etc.

In Door County, I believe that's 00:53 am, 1:35, 1:36, 3:16, and so on.

Either way, maybe ranger can be excused for sounding like a barely coherent, drunken, bitter old fool; he barely sleeps at night! We can't expect him to know what the hell is going on while he's yanking on a chain at 2 in the morning.

[leadville]

Most veteran rowers have exactly the same problem.

Leadville is _already_ there, and he has eons to go before he is 60 years old.

ranger

Rangerboy - you still haven't answered my question. How can you, as one who has never finished a race otw, know what it takes to win one?

I'd remind you that your time for the head of the grand is now measured in months, and the clock is still ticking.

Oh, and your lwt Erg time is what, two seconds better than mine? wow. If your technique wasn't so abominable you might actually have a chance of besting me otw. Alas since you are a coward you will never race otw.

[macroth]

I took 15K of good strokes, 1:48 @ 21 spm, as they would be measured by a stroke counter on a speed coach, such as my NK XL2.

If you don't go up and down the slide, the counter does not register another stroke.

If your boat doesn't go anywhere, the distance counter doesn't register any distance.

It just pauses.

ranger

If this were true, you could simply go to your PM's memory and take a nice pic of your last workout, 15k in 54 minutes. Care to explain why you can't?

[snowleopard]

I took 15K of good strokes, 1:48 @ 21 spm, as they would be measured by a stroke counter on a speed coach, such as my NK XL2.

WTF has the XL2 got to do with it? You say you did 15K OTErg.

It's all in the PM4. Recall it. Take a picture. Post it.

[PaulH]

Bye all

[PaulH]

A minor update: ranger has persistently posted without meeting either of the conditions for his return. I checked in again with him today, to be absolutely sure, and he has indicated that he doesn't wish to meet either condition. As a result I'm reluctantly banning him permanently.

You may be interested to know that he's going to be doing a sub-19:40 6k by the end of the month - check the c2ctc for the exact time.

Cheers, Paul the evil mod.