Pete Plan Autumn 2015

[Tyche]

I will only be able to train 4 days next week due to travel (Mon, Tue, Wed and Sun). How should i adapt this into W3 of the plan?

[G-dub]

That's a darn good question Tyche. I look forward to what others might say. I would think that it depends a little on where you are and what you are angling for during this training block. Having said that, I would probably keep in the speed intervals. Choose between the endurance interval and the hard distance. And then do two long steady rows and go long on those. My logic is that the hard distance and the endurance intervals work similar systems. And we want to make sure we have a high percentage of long steady in our diet so the long steady sessions, to me, are too important to toss out.

[bisqeet]

W1D6: Hm steady. Capped Hr (145).
1:30:30... Nice and steady.

[Tyche]

Nice going bisqeet, thats a long steady!

As a solution to my previous problem i dropped W2D6 and went straight to W3D1 making room for three longer rows in W3.


W1D3
4x1000 5'
1:42.9 30 s/m

[bisqeet]

Well, you definitely have the raw power for those intervals and the 5 k is very impressive. The training looks very sprint intensive. Try not to miss out on the longer stretches >8km. Looks like you are a natural, and you are using your size, age to full advantage.

[Fish out of water]

W3D3 PB 6K 18 spm, 2:38.5 pace.

Tried to stay in UT1 zone the whole time from the ISS website based on my 2K TT. Was hard not to go faster, but I'm going to keep doing these long, slow, aerobic workouts until I've built up some distance.

[bisqeet]

W2D2.
Pyramide
Tried to keep a 1:45 pace throughout. Failed on the 1km. Only managed a 1:48.
Way back down was borderline 1:45 and change.
2k wu, 5 k wd. Active rests 2:30 pace
Disappointed that I couldn't keep the pace, but this is the first circuit. Still a few weeks left till 2016 and the sub7 target.

[jackarabit]

@ Fish out of Water

Law of unintended consequences gets me every time--goldangit! Fish, the "PB" in your workout descriptor standing for Pete Beginner (Plan) is also commonly used for Personal Best (time to date). I'm the idiot who recently employed PB as shorthand for Pete Beginner in a post responding to your search for a good training plan so I will take the hit. Some use "PR" standing for Personal Record but even they will take for granted that PB is the same thing. The worst example of this that I've ever seen is the "R" in heart rate jargon which can stand in lieu of the words Resting, Rate, and Reserve as in Resting Heart Rate and Heart Rate Reserve (RHR and HRR). I'm not responsible for that one!! Jack

[G-dub]

HRR, MHR, RHR are used on the interactive 2K plan site.

[Fish out of water]

@ Fish out of Water

Law of unintended consequences gets me every time--goldangit! Fish, the "PB" in your workout descriptor standing for Pete Beginner (Plan) is also commonly used for Personal Best (time to date). I'm the idiot who recently employed PB as shorthand for Pete Beginner in a post responding to your search for a good training plan so I will take the hit. Some use "PR" standing for Personal Record but even they will take for granted that PB is the same thing. The worst example of this that I've ever seen is the "R" in heart rate jargon which can stand in lieu of the words Resting, Rate, and Reserve as in Resting Heart Rate and Heart Rate Reserve (RHR and HRR). I'm not responsible for that one!! Jack

My mistake. I should have known better. I will now write out Pete Beginner for my notation so as to remove all ambiguity. Going to try and do 6.5K tomorrow assuming my work schedule allows. Being a complete neophyte is fun as I'm setting new distance/time records every time out.

[jackarabit]

In W4 already, Fish! I'm interested to hear your take on superposing HR zones on Pete Begin Here Plan? I got to week 8 and stopped, probably because I was attempting to do the repeat distance rows full gas every time. Do you use a UT2 pace range or HR zone ceiling when you do the optional distance pieces?

[Fish out of water]

In W4 already, Fish! I'm interested to hear your take on superposing HR zones on Pete Begin Here Plan? I got to week 8 and stopped, probably because I was attempting to do the repeat distance rows full gas every time. Do you use a UT2 pace range or HR zone ceiling when you do the optional distance pieces?

Jack,
All of the physiology studies show that your best cardiovascular improvements come from being in an aerobic zone that is 60%-80% of your max heart rate. My heart rate monitor stopped working and I'm too lazy to get another one, but at the gym I can measure my HR as soon as I've completed my row so I can get a sense of where I am at the end. My last 6K row at 2:38 put mr HR @ 170 at the end of my workout, which is too high (I should be capped at 160). I used the ISS website you guys pointed to and based on my 2K time it suggested my UT2 zone was 2:50-2:35. I was obviously too close to the lower limit of that zone for my current strength/training so I'm going to try closer to 2:45 for my 6.5K row today and see how it goes.

From these studies it seems like you get a bump on all workouts that reach 30 minutes and then all workouts that reach 90 minutes you get a different kind of physiological change that has longer lasting implications for your aerobic capacity. I'm not anywhere close to 90 minutes at the moment, but hopefully in a couple of months I'll be there. For the optional distance pieces, I'm again going to be shooting for these very slow and steady rows in the UT2 zone and only on the shorter intervals I'll use 10 minutes of warmup and CD in the UT2 zone and then push it into anaerobic for the intervals. I think that for a beginner, this is the best course of action (and honestly probably for anyone but sprinters no matter how much experience they have).

Anyway, those are my thoughts. It makes for more boring rowing, but hopefully there's a payoff at the end.

[jackarabit]

Lower intensity makes possible more work. Certainly a sensible approach, Fish. I've not heard of the 90' "bump" to aerobic fitness. With exception of half marathons, I've never gone beyond 80' continuous. May be it makes sense that there's no reason to avoid 18-20K except daily time constraints and the pain calculation. I don't see myself sweating to 19K and not going for the HM!

[Fish out of water]

Lower intensity makes possible more work. Certainly a sensible approach, Fish. I've not heard of the 90' "bump" to aerobic fitness. With exception of half marathons, I've never gone beyond 80' continuous. May be it makes sense that there's no reason to avoid 18-20K except daily time constraints and the pain calculation. I don't see myself sweating to 19K and not going for the HM!

Yeah at one duration you start to increase the number of mitochondria you have in each cell (the energy producers) and at the other duration you increase the number of capillary blood vessels that oxygenate your tissues. 90 minutes seems like a long time to row. For running, people often run that long at least once a week, but it seems unusual to go that long on the erg with any regularity. Anyway, today was ...

W4D1 Pete Beginner, 6.5K UT2, 2:43 pace 19 SPM, HR was 158 max so I did a much better job of staying in my aerobic zone today and was very happy with the outcome. I'm hoping to be able to stay in this zone at a faster pace in the not too distant future, but for now I think this is where I need to be.

[bisqeet]

W2D3
4x2000m - R5min; active rest 1000m @2:30/500m pace because rowpro just doesn't like custom sessions mixing distance and active rests)
target was 1:55.
first felt really easy good, that i went a bit fast, which would have really peeved me if i didnt make the target:


2k warm up, 2 k warm down. total 16k