Pete Plan Autumn 2015

[G-dub]

Nice work Chris! Solid pacing with a great last 500.

[christopherregisryan]

Very nice, racing would give you a bit extra proberly. 6.35 ish?

Thanks, Gents. You have a good eye, Henry. I feel like sub-6:36 is a reasonable stretch goal for Boston. If I can row a better version of yesterday's race, I should be able to achieve that. Not much left to do. Two or three Pete Plan Speed Intervals at 2k pace, a workout with my daughter's team, a few recovery rows interspersed and a six day taper. At this point, I either have it or I don't. Best. - Chris

[Sideshow Bob]

Followed yesterday's 500m race with a 2k test at Row House NYC with my CRASH-B team mates. Very pleased with the piece. I wanted to ride a 1:40 split for about 1700m and then see what was in the tank. I was happy to find that my tank had 30-something pulls of 1:35/1:36 to get down to a 1:39.5 avg split and a 6:38.2 time. A 0.6 second PR.

My 500m splits were: 1:40.1; 1:40.4; 1:40.1; 1:37.5.

I am encouraged. My legs were burning by the end probably somewhat because of yesterday's race. I hope to find a couple of seconds up in Boston with a few PP speed interval workouts at 2k pace followed by a taper over the coming three weeks. Today's test has me convinced that the modified PP is working. Best. - Chris

Way to go, Chris! You are killing it!!

Did the waterfall yesterday. Started off ok on the first 3500 (1:58 pace), but my lower back was still screaming at me from the 4x1k 2 days prior. Had to handle down on the 2500 with 500m to go. I may need to start putting more days between the speed interval and endurance interval sessions. My ability to recover seems to be getting worse.

[G-dub]

Bob, what you are describing is exactly what I was going through this fall. It never felt like I was recovering and each workout seemed to go in the wrong direction. Occasionally I had a half decent one, but never one after the other. And it almost seemed like I couldn't get enough days in between! For me, I think, trying to do speed intervals and endurance intervals in the same week was too much. I've managed to do two speed sessions a week lately - one about 2-3 K of work and the other 3-4 K of work and that has seemed to work OK - one seems to support the other. I do UT paces in between. The other thing I did was to do 2/3 of the intervals being asked for from the PP for a couple of weeks. So instead of 8 x 500 I did 6 x 500. It helped me get some momentum back and the sessions were more fun and crisp. Finally, I get bogged down a little with the routine, so I made up some sessions too - it seemed to take some pressure off. Not saying it is what you should do by any means. But I guess I am saying that changing things up really helped me mentally and physically.

[mdpfirrman]

Did the 4 X 1000 today. Goal was supposed to be 1:52.5 (PB 2K plus 1). It was speed work and from what I've read that's not a bad thing the week of a race.

1:52.2 / 28 / 165
1:51.8 / 28 / 173
1:51.7 / 29 / 177
1:51.3 / 29 / 179

1:51.7 / 28 Avg.

Felt pretty strong throughout. HR was pushing 180 and I still had some left in me. Going to take it a bit easier than normal this week on the steady state pieces (what I've read mostly you should taper).

[G-dub]

Great confidence booster Mike! Beautifully negative split too. You are ready it looks like. Maybe a short speed session on Wednesday just to keep the legs lively?

[hjs]

Did the 4 X 1000 today. Goal was supposed to be 1:52.5 (PB 2K plus 1). It was speed work and from what I've read that's not a bad thing the week of a race.

1:52.2 / 28 / 165
1:51.8 / 28 / 173
1:51.7 / 29 / 177
1:51.3 / 29 / 179

1:51.7 / 28 Avg.

Felt pretty strong throughout. HR was pushing 180 and I still had some left in me. Going to take it a bit easier than normal this week on the steady state pieces (what I've read mostly you should taper).

Nice, good confidence builder, keep doing what you do.

[jackarabit]

Imprint the neural pathways with that one, Mike, and have a good run at the races.

[Sideshow Bob]

Bob, what you are describing is exactly what I was going through this fall. It never felt like I was recovering and each workout seemed to go in the wrong direction. Occasionally I had a half decent one, but never one after the other. And it almost seemed like I couldn't get enough days in between! For me, I think, trying to do speed intervals and endurance intervals in the same week was too much. I've managed to do two speed sessions a week lately - one about 2-3 K of work and the other 3-4 K of work and that has seemed to work OK - one seems to support the other. I do UT paces in between. The other thing I did was to do 2/3 of the intervals being asked for from the PP for a couple of weeks. So instead of 8 x 500 I did 6 x 500. It helped me get some momentum back and the sessions were more fun and crisp. Finally, I get bogged down a little with the routine, so I made up some sessions too - it seemed to take some pressure off. Not saying it is what you should do by any means. But I guess I am saying that changing things up really helped me mentally and physically.

Some great suggestions - thanks for your input. In spite of my downward trajectory, I've been reluctant to deviate too far from the Plan (I had already dropped the HD session and added a 2nd rest day)...but I may need to rethink. At some point, the suffering stops being fun...

Great job on the 4x1k, Mike. I see another PB in your near future!

[mdpfirrman]

Thanks all!

@ Bob - Two things I've added in as of late that have helped me (PP is actually refreshing to me most days) are I do a warm up like Jack talks about before each piece. Some like to go almost cold, others do a very long warm up. That Eddie Fletcher W/U is very detailed. For a 2K, it's basically 4 minutes @ 18, then 4 minutes @ 20 SPM / 2 @ 22 / 1 @ 24. Something like 30 / 40 secs speeding up a bit (not 100%, closer to 90%), 2 minutes @ 18 / Speed up for 30 again / 2 @ 18 SPM / 30 second all out / 2 @ 18 SPM again. Don't know if this is exact but it's close. I plan on doing the Eddie Fletcher W/U before my race.

The other thing that has helped me is while I'm warm after cooling down, I do some aggressive hamstring and glute stretches. I had a back issue my first month and a massage therapist said that is usually all from tight glutes and hammies. Make sure to stretch after a row and really work on aggressively working out tight muscles. This has helped my back a lot.

[jackarabit]

Enlarging on Mike's mention of the Fletcher, this warmup also has prescribed paces based on your 2k pace so it's tailored for you personally. Get it @ http://www.fletchersportscience.co.uk

[Sideshow Bob]

Much appreciated, gents. I will check out that Fletcher stuff. Tbh, my usual warmup is a quick 500m and then a bit of stretching. Probably not ideal!

[Bob S.]

Much appreciated, gents. I will check out that Fletcher stuff. Tbh, my usual warmup is a quick 500m and then a bit of stretching. Probably not ideal!

The EF warmup is specifically intended for a 2k race (or time trial). Any warm up should be tailored to the workout - short warmups for LSD endurance pieces and long warm ups for intense workouts. As an example, the IP calls for at least 5' for UT2, 8' for UT1, 10' for AT, 12' for TR, and 15' for AN. Note that these times are minimums. The site actually gives a range for each and I think that the tops of the ranges are 8, 10, 12, 15, and 20. Since a 2k TT would generally been the TR zone, the EF is a tad on the long side compared to this table. However, it is more detailed and includes the brief sprints which should be helpful in the execution of the race or TT. For a public race, it is more complicated, since there is usually a break some sort between the time that you have for the warm up and the race itself. So there is inevitably some loss while you are waiting up to 20-30 minutes in some cases. Not usually a problem for a time trial at home and certainly not for an ordinary workout.

[hjs]

Much appreciated, gents. I will check out that Fletcher stuff. Tbh, my usual warmup is a quick 500m and then a bit of stretching. Probably not ideal!

The EF warmup is specifically intended for a 2k race (or time trial). Any warm up should be tailored to the workout - short warmups for LSD endurance pieces and long warm ups for intense workouts. As an example, the IP calls for at least 5' for UT2, 8' for UT1, 10' for AT, 12' for TR, and 15' for AN. Note that these times are minimums. The site actually gives a range for each and I think that the tops of the ranges are 8, 10, 12, 15, and 20. Since a 2k TT would generally been the TR zone, the EF is a tad on the long side compared to this table. However, it is more detailed and includes the brief sprints which should be helpful in the execution of the race or TT. For a public race, it is more complicated, since there is usually a break some sort between the time that you have for the warm up and the race itself. So there is inevitably some loss while you are waiting up to 20-30 minutes in some cases. Not usually a problem for a time trial at home and certainly not for an ordinary workout.

One point which is not often mentioned is how active you have been before and how long you are awake. Two important points. Sometimes in the afternoon when I come home I dont need a warm up at all. For morning sessions I need a good bit.
For longer aerobic sessions, I use the first minute to get on pace nothing else needed.

Cool downs are only important if you did a session (mostly) where you really went anaerobic. If not the cool down is not much needed.
Just hopping on the erg for a hard session is leaving time on the table.
Not cooling down if needed is hindering/slowing down your recovery.

Last point, age and level of fitness, the younger the less warm up is needed. The better trained the more wu we need.

[blacklab]

Just starting Week 5 of the Pete Plan. Will do the 7,000 meter today.

My goal is general fitness and improvement in my cardio endurance. No current plans to do any erg competitions, but who knows?

From what I've read on this Forum thus far (and will read more), it seems I should aim for longer sessions of a minimum of 30+ minutes.

For longer sessions, 45 min and longer, what do you do to avoid the mental fatigue (boredom)? Listen to music? Watch video or TV? Concentrate 100% all the time on technique, pace, etc.? Close your eyes and visualize other activities? What else?

From a physical standpoint, my biggest challenge right now is that I get winded way before I feel physically tired, even when I stay in my UT1 zone and keep my SPM around 20 (+/- 2)

Here are my HR stats based on the 2000 meter test I did when I first started with a time of 10:00. My Resting Heart Rate of 60 and my estimated Maximum Heart Rate of 156.


Zone Heart Rate HRR%
UT2 - Aerobic Endurance 122 - 127
UT1 - Intense Aerobic 127 - 137
AT - Threshold 137 - 142
TR - Transport 142 - 151
AN - Max 151 - 156

Cheers,

Bryan
Portland, Oregon