With a drag factor of 140 I am still hung up at 7:30

[mmayzak]

Thanks Dean.... I have high expectations for this next season.

[danielcccook]

For barbell exercises, I would focus on High-bar squats (low-bar if preparing for a power lifting meet), dead lifts, power cleans, barbell rows, and military press/bench press (for balancing/injury prevention).

In off season time OR when your km are relatively low I would focus on strength, so 5 sets of 5-8 reps of each exercise (dont do each every workout). I do this style of training in the Spring or Fall time in preparation for a powerlifting meet (which are awesome).

In the summer and winter I do high reps for the same exercises, drop the weights down and keep the calories lower. This is when I crank out the intensity of the rower in preparation for indoor rowing championships in winter, and usually a marathon row to rank on the log book in septemberish. It also brings me back from being a fatty during the high intensity PL training (where I eat....alot).

This keeps you lean and strong year round!

[danielcccook]

But yeah I've deadlifted 500lb and squated 400 and I don't go above 125 on drag factors for 2k's. I might go up to 140 for a 500m sprint, and if I'm feeling really good I MIGHT keep it at 140 for a 1000m but never longer then that. The DF isnt a matter of physical strength it is cardiovascular strength/power endurance.

[mmayzak]

Thanks Daniel,

In the 500 I set the drag high - I can SHINE in the 500, in the 1000 I can still put up a good number, but not ELITE good... the 2K is just a distance I continue to CHASE, not RACE.

I have a leg weakness I have been hiding behind my upper body, I am going to spend EVERY DAY in the gym working legs after I row until I develop the additional power I need to break in the LOW 7's.

It's a journey I know... a painful, lonely, sweaty journey.

[danielcccook]

You sound like me buddy! Big strong guy who gets huffing and puffing after a while...nothing wrong with that. Make sure you do the 1000m world indoor rowing sprints!

http://www.worldrowing.com/photos-video ... you-122260

[mmayzak]

I will... Looking for under 3:20.

[MarkEg]

I posted something not dissimilar a couple of months ago. Since then I have attempted perhaps one 2K (7-06) and really haven't even thought about my 2K time. I have instead actually listened to the comments and acted on them RE: creating a polarized program. In addition, I have massively built up my weekly meters. Some of my longer pieces will be in the 16/18K range at UT1 and UT2. Yes, I still do hard intervals: 6x500 or 8x500 but I do them as part of a longer piece usually, rather than as standalone workouts. The results -- from a stamina perspective -- have been amazing. I took 24 seconds off my 5K PB last night and the reason for that was the longer work I've been doing. When I got to 2K out in a 5K piece, knowing I had to continue at 1.53, I knew I could do it because I'd done the work. So, I'd say to anyone relatively new to rowing that they should forget about the 2K most of the time. Yes it's the yardstick, but the keys to improving it lie elsewhere in your wider program -- principally in the stamina work. These longer pieces. Just my thoughts anyway.

[mmayzak]

Once I get past the 1K sprint challenge i'll be focusing on distance... lots of distance... 30min rows and 10K's, I even plan to row a marathon before the end of the 'year' (so I can get the pin).

I am also working ALOT of leg strength... leg presses, leg extension, leg curls.

For me, legs is the weakness I need to focus on developing.

I really REALLY want to be under 7:00 for next years race season.

Mike from Oklahoma

[bisqeet]

Try some low rate rows.
30 min of R16.
Concentrate on exploding on the leg drive from the balls of your feet. Use the pauses to recover.
Try and head for the same pace add you do at R26 or so.
Your legs will have power. You just don't know how to use it....

[hjs]

Once I get past the 1K sprint challenge i'll be focusing on distance... lots of distance... 30min rows and 10K's, I even plan to row a marathon before the end of the 'year' (so I can get the pin).

I am also working ALOT of leg strength... leg presses, leg extension, leg curls.

For me, legs is the weakness I need to focus on developing.

I really REALLY want to be under 7:00 for next years race season.

Mike from Oklahoma

Mike, you short work is relative strong, so your strenght is plenty what is it, your only weakness is endurance. For a guy like you with relative poor endurance a marathon will do nothing good. It will be torture if you really try or you talk lots a breaks and get a very very mediocer result. You are thinking backwards. You don,t start building endurance with a marathon, but you build endurance to be able to do a marathon.

[mmayzak]

I am so freakin' trapped in the 'strong but poor endurance' place...

I am under the belief that distance will build endurance, but what your saying that distance for the sake of distance won't help me. Distance + intensity will build the endurance.

I want to row a marathon just to get that pin , it's a selfish reason I know.

I do enjoy this journey... I plan to do much better than participate next season.

Mike from Oklahoma

[hjs]

I am so freakin' trapped in the 'strong but poor endurance' place...

I am under the belief that distance will build endurance, but what your saying that distance for the sake of distance won't help me. Distance + intensity will build the endurance.

I want to row a marathon just to get that pin , it's a selfish reason I know.

I do enjoy this journey... I plan to do much better than participate next season.

Mike from Oklahoma

Mike number one is you having fun. If you want it go for that pin.

Trainingwise, think this. " I need to do 100 sessions at ut1/2 pace for 30/40 min. "

[Bob S.]

I am so freakin' trapped in the 'strong but poor endurance' place...

I am under the belief that distance will build endurance, but what your saying that distance for the sake of distance won't help me. Distance + intensity will build the endurance.

I want to row a marathon just to get that pin , it's a selfish reason I know.

I do enjoy this journey... I plan to do much better than participate next season.

Mike from Oklahoma

I don't do marathons or even half marathons any more, but I did several in the previous decade and I trained for them by doing longer and longer pieces, not so much to build up endurance - I have always been in the 'good endurance but low strength' place. However the hard part of the marathon is not the strain on the cardiovascular system but strain on the body in general. A series of long and longer pieces helped me to build up tolerance for the inevitable butt pain and also to get use to going as long as I could without water. With proper pre-hydration, I found that I could do a half marathon without any water breaks and I could get by with 1 or 2 water breaks in the full marathon.