Pete Plan 2017

[G-dub]

Nice work Mike! Way to stick with it through thick and thin. Hopefully next year will bring less interruptions and more good health.

[JohnAd]

Mike, well done, amazing performance considering the ups and downs over the last few months.

[IefTheChief]

Nice session Paul and well done for completing cycle 1. Not looking forward to this 8x500m in the second cycle, still found it the heaviest session so far. Good I still have a week to train for it

[Litewait]

@mike - that is a fantastic effort given all that has transpired in the last few months!

[mdpfirrman]

Nice work Mike! Way to stick with it through thick and thin. Hopefully next year will bring less interruptions and more good health.

And a few more tests!! That's really what I'm kicking myself for more than anything is I didn't do a test when I knew I was much improved in August / September.
Thanks Glenn!

Thanks John, Tim! The support on this thread got me through the training and kept me from quitting a few times. Frustrating Winter so far. I'll try to get some time this week and put down my approach this year to training. I think that's am important consideration of the PP - where it fits in to the year. I think after two years of doing it, I'm finally figuring that part out. Been thinking long and hard on it and reading up on it. Also, I've experimented with a few approaches this year and I think I'm finding what personally works best for me.

Nice job Paul on one complete cycle! Don't burn yourself out. Great execution on that 8 X 500!

[Slacker]

Mike: Good job on your race. Thanks for sharing your progress.

BPP22.1
12k row
@2:14.4 r22

A week ago my Day 1 I felt poor pre-row and had a great row. Today I felt good before but had a very tough row. Guess pre-row feeling is not a very good indicator. Just glad to get it done. Tomorrow is another day.

[mudgeg]

@Slacker - Ben, it's completely unpredictable. Week just gone I have felt fine, not too busy at the office, sleeping well, eating regular meals and yet two of the worst sessions all plan. Other weeks, end to end meetings, lousy coffee rushed meals yet hop on the erg and a PB.

BPP Week 19 Optional Day 5

4 x 2000. Target pace same as last week's average (2:05)

1. 8:21.4 / 2000 / 2:05.3
2. 8:18.6 / 2000 / 2:04.6
3. 8:15.9 / 2000 / 2:03.9
4. 8:19.3 / 2000 / 2:04.8

Much the same as last week except final rep which in Week 18 was far better at 2:02.2.

[Litewait]

BPP 22.1 12,000m DF125 r25 @ 2:15.6

Target was anything better than 2:17.1 (my last one). I am tired.

[Slacker]

Tim: Yes, these 12ks are tough for us on the BPP we aren't yet used to the distance. Only one left in the plan for you and me though.

I've been thinking a bit about what is next. I don't think I will be jumping over to the Pete Plan. I will maybe do a test but for continuation I need a written down plan. I've decided to increase the distances (and slow down of course) from what we are doing now. I'm going to setup another schedule that increases to around HM distance, much the same way the BPP made small increases. It will have a similar structure as we have been rowing in the BPP.

[Litewait]

@ben - I've been thinking about what to do after week 24 as well. I know the most important thing to me is to have a plan, without that all I would have been doing patting myself on the back every week for getting 10 more meters on my 30'. Secondly, having a place to post my progress and to have some virtual partners on the pond is a real motivation. I don't know that aiming at a HM is in my future, the toll longer rows take on my arthritic joints make me shy away from pushing it further. If you come up with a plan let me know though. I was thinking of doing PP or PP5k or something similar. Disappointed I am probably a couple seconds away from 8', so probably going to fall in to something that gives me a shot at getting there. Chasing you and Gordon has been a godsend.

[Slacker]

The plan keeps me getting on the machine regularly and with purpose as well. The partners helps me mid-row when I see numbers on the PM and decide, I can do that and push a bit harder. I don't think I'd have pushed as much on some rows if others hadn't turned in the times or been talking about them.

I know you had a little trouble lately with back and time off. You were doing really well before that. We get the 8 x 500m intervals next week which should be a good indicator for us. The PP version is faster, but they get more rest. Ours should be pretty close to 2k pace.

I think the PP is too short term and I'd just be delaying the what's next plan for me. Since I don't have any current race/test aspirations, I'm fine just continuing on training.

[mdpfirrman]

@ Ben / Tim - basically, I was going to write a post on this. Part of the consideration of the PP is what do you do after the PP. My first year of the Pete Plan, I made the comment that I'd just continue on week after week doing the PP. Glenn, Henry and some others told me that "you don't really do the Pete Plan year round...". Even Marston said his plan isn't meant to be a year round plan. It's a plan to sharpen the saw so to speak. You should do one or two rounds of it (or maybe three) and then test your 2K. That was honestly my biggest regret this year. I did the PP once before I started the original thread and then once with the group. My second full round times were better than I could have hoped for. My thought process was I'll keep doing the PP over and over and getting better and better. I didn't. I got sick. Did another round, got sick again. The plan's intensity (the full plan) is so hard that you can only do around 3 rounds before you start to fade / fatigue. It's meant to "peak" your performance but the problem is maintaining the peak is incredibly hard. Marston suggests lessening the pace a round or so or a week or so if you feel tired or you're dragging.

I would say if you're dragging, you're beyond peaking. Perhaps deload some and then try again.

I'm moving into more of a Periodization Plan now. But, to have a plan, you need an end goal in mind. That's why racing is so nice for me. I have an end in mind with the race date. If not a race, it could be a virtual race (via LiveRowing or other rowing app), it could be a Concept2 contest (I think there's a 1000m virtual sprint in March). A lot of guys do the IRC (I think that's right) monthly challenges. It simply could be a TT going for your PB.
But your plan has to start there, with an end in mind (if you want to plan to peak).

From there, you have to decide if you want a plan that is periodized (blocked into stages) or traditional (similar from week to week). The more I read on periodization, the more convinced that's the way for best performance. Most periodization plans have similar themes. They start with a season in mind (whether a race, season or event), they have different phases and usually move from longer aerobic work to more intense work gradually over time. I read an article recently by a woman's Olympic champion that described it as a Pyramid. Your large base consists of lots of volume - slower, hard strokes and lifting that reflects that - high rep, lower weight lifting. I can tell you this year I tried to lift daily (lighter weights). For some guys, this works. Not with rowing and the intense demands it required with my 52 year old body. I had MUCH better results with lifting 2 or 3 days a week, more intense, on my hard rowing days (separated by hours for best results) and leaving the SS days just that - recovery days. You can also get the best of both worlds with Periodization along with Polarization (the concept of working at the extremes only - rowing very hard 20% of the time and relatively easy to moderate 80% of the time) if your SS work during the base building phase (the bottom of the pyramid) is also at UT2 (or a 5/6 on intensity level of a 1 - 10 scale, 10 being the hardest). I've also read that you "peak" in around 26 weeks from a strong periodization plan. That leaves two "peaks" in a year possible. Periodization also has a 3 phases typically (and there are variations of this) - macrocycle, mesocycle and microcycle. Macrocycle is the longer term outlook / overall plan for the year. The Mesocycle is like the Pete Plan - this is around a month of specific training to arrive at a result (whether training for a 2K race or a half marathon). The Mesocycle is typically around 4 weeks and mean to achieve a specific purpose. The last stage is the microcycle - which typically is around a week. That could be one week of the Pete Plan, a taper or anything that takes a week to change your training. What I learned from reading how some Olympic training programs are structured is that the weight lifting mirrors the rowing. Going from long aerobic work / high rep light weight work to more intense rowing work / low rep explosive work (that builds more fast twitch muscles the closer to race or event).

So, where does that leave the Pete Plan related to the rest and how do you apply the structure of the Pete Plan to a Periodization / Polarization year long plan?

It's easy actually to modify. The full PP works very well to adapt from and keep the structure by just slightly changing the paces and the number of intervals (along with adding in other things for fun). My Mesocycle will include doing 6 days a week, roughly 60K meters a week and only taking around 3 to 4 weeks off either planned or through illness. The base building phase of my plan (within the mesocycle) will look like this (the next 20 or so weeks) --

Sunday - a few very fast sprints (either 250 X 5 or maybe 500 X 3 or maybe the Ed McNeely Power Plan). Add in meters with lots of warm up and lots of other cardio for fun / cross training, especially early in the year. (like day 1 of the PP).

Monday - SS work but making sure that I remain in UT2 (like day 2 of the PP - only change being really watch HR / effort to make it light)

Tuesday - Longer intervals near 5K (or under 5K PB) pace. 1500 or 2000 meters. Just do one or so early in season. Two later in season (with 5' rest). This is like day 3 of the PP.

Wed - SS work again.

Thursday - 5K or longer hardish (same as PP) - harder as the season gets closer.

Friday - SS work again (again in UT2).

I can keep this rough plan for 16 or so weeks. Longer if I want. But around 16 weeks or so to see the results of all the aerobic work. If I want to peak twice in a year, this is around the minimum time for this - 4 months or so. I can gradually get more intense with my lifting / rowing but not the SS work - that has to stay relatively / moderately easy.

Next Phase - full PP (as written)

7 to 10 weeks before an event or TT or race, switch to the full PP (mesocycle). This would allow two or three full PP cycles and then one week taper.

Next Phase -- Taper

Week before race - keep SS minimum / do shortened intervals fast / taper (microcycle).

This approach is just an idea of what I'm going to do personally based on what works for me. Unfortunately, I didn't really know about the 26 weeks to achieve the best results (why I peaked in the Summer). I got there and then tried to sustain that by staying in the mesocycle (the full PP) and disaster entailed (constantly overtrained / sick).

Hope this gives you some ideas about what next. If you haven't done the full PP (you're finishing the BPP), I'd strongly suggest you do a round or two of the full PP and then a 2K test. After that, it's up to you, but hopefully the long ramble that I have above gives you some ideas to think about (and perhaps learn from my mistakes).

[e-Clair]

Mike, you might find interesting Bompa's take on periodisation. He has the resistance training aspect following stages rehabilitation/absolute strength/endurance/maintenance, or if rehabilitation is not needed, it could be interpreted as hypertrophy/absolute strength/endurance/maintenance. So the reps per set don't necessarily progress in one direction by Bompa's thinking.
highperformancerowing.net/journal/2012/2/7/annual-planning-periodisation-and-its-variations.html

[Street]

Good work on the race Mike! .3 off your PB is good considering your training hasn't gone to plan. Sounds like it was a good day though.

I jumped back on the rower last night after a week off, intending to start BPP week 23 which was a PB attempt at the 10km. It pretty soon became apparent in the warm up that my legs weren't up to any sort of effort so I took it easy and did a 5km at 2:07.5 instead which was a lot harder than it should have been! I think last week took it out of me more than I realised with 5 long hard days and not eating as well as I do at home, so this week I'll take it easy and get back on it properly next week.

[mudgeg]

@Mike - Mike many thanks for that thoughtful and helpful post. I am just about to embark on Week 20 of the BPP and thoughts are inevitably turning to what to do next, so this is timely.

The BPP has been very good in establishing a base fitness and I do not want to lose that. I have had several PB's along the way and even though my times are still modest they far exceed what I was doing before - even five years ago. That is particularly pleasing because I was very sick and the cardiologist looking after me said I would never get back to those times. Well, I have got back and exceeded them. Yesterday everyone of the 4 x 2k times I did was better than my PB 2k before the plan.

The biggest factor I think is your comment about having a goal. If it is a race that is a big incentive but even along the way a virtual challenge or just a date in the diary for a 2k or 5k PB attempt would work. My first goal is going to be a 2k PB attempt for which I will do your mesocycle (I assume one complete round say 3/4 weeks of the PP).

@Litewait @Slacker. Tim/Ben, the amount I have been helped/pushed along by having you guys on the BPP cannot be underestimated. I did (for me at the time) a great 5k in Week 1 - clearly nothing to do with the BPP but everything to do with not wanting to post a crap time and it has been like that ever since. The C2 log has a virtual training partner option - don't know how that works but we could give it a try, and/or if you are up for it we could put some dates in the diary for a virtual race every now and then?