The Most Time off a 2k?

[kblanchard]

I'm about 5'8, 125-126 pounds in season, and my best 2k time is an 8:36. Is it possible for me to drop my time over winter conditioning to around an 8 flat, or is that way too high of an expectation like I suspect?

I want to go into rowing in college, possibly lightweight or DII. Is that realistic? I'm afraid to send my current erg scores to colleges I'm interested in because it's pretty bad.

Thanks.

[Atorrante]

You are not short, so an 8 flat should be done. It is best to state your gender and to state how much time are you involved in the sport. Are those times in the erg or on the water? Apart from that, with your actual times, 8 flat is within your reach.

[jamesg]

An 8 minute 2k is 200W. You can do this by pulling 40 a minute at 5W'/stroke, or 20/minute at 10; or somewhere in between. So the first thing to do is identify a doable stroke; then use it 500-1000 at a time; then up the rating to the necessary level.

[patbloke]

Hi there,

How is your training / target going?

I started serious C2 rowing in May this year after watching folks at work rattling of reasonable rowing times. I for the life of me could not beat 8 mins 2000k, yet I thought I was fairly fit! I spent a long long time watching videos of good and bad rowing technique. I also put my details into a 16 week training plan on this website... After much sweat, pain and fun I am now addicted to the C2 rower and have recently achieved a time of 07:20 for 2k (I'm 52 and 99kg).

I think you should keep setting yourself realistic goals... my first was to crack 8 minutes, then I went on from there... My ambition is to beat 7 minutes, but I am not sure whether my posture is right because I do get a sore back quite often which must be down to rowing.

I have 'leaned' up considerably since I started in May and feel very proud of my records, and beating all of my office team and being the oldest in the room...

Keep the faith, study technique, set achievable targets and above all enjoy!!!

PatBloke (UK)

[Citroen]

I think you should keep setting yourself realistic goals... my first was to crack 8 minutes, then I went on from there... My ambition is to beat 7 minutes, but I am not sure whether my posture is right because I do get a sore back quite often which must be down to rowing.

That's probably due to having crap technique and having the damper lever (drag factor) too high.

Since you're from the UK you should look at http://concept2.co.uk/forum (which is a much more lively place than this forum).

[patbloke]

Crap technique? very likely I suppose... I will drop the drag factor and find myself a club/coach... and I will get on that uk forum asap... vroom vroom!!!

[j1huegel]

I am 49.9yo, 5'8" at the lightweight boundary after a lot of weight loss. Started erging in July, where I rowed about an 8:00 after some weeks of training. I got that down to 7:38 before downloading and starting the UK training plan. My starting plan time was 7:28 and I'm down to 7:14 in the middle of it. I'm aiming to break 7:00, but you can see that I have trimmed 45 seconds off my 2k time.

So yes, you can do it. Don't take any "crap", just work hard and you will get faster. Lots of long rows in Aerobic zones UT2 and UT1 with some speedwork sprinkled in there will get you going.