Pete Plan 2017

[IefTheChief]

@mike Rowing with you would be great! But I won't do many Liverowing sessions as I want to keep pace, HR and SR data in the C2 log and this is not synced.

@calalli, thanks. You're also doing great on the longer distances, very good!

@greg, sounds good! My Raspberry Pi just arrived this week, was thinking along the same route. It's also possible to add the touch display (https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/ra ... h-display/) so it can be a complete standalone/portable solution in combination with an app. Would be interested to get in touch with your friend, thanks!

[Rowan McSheen]

Good afternoon ladies and gents ...

Weight loss ... I'm afraid I take a fatalistic view of this. When I was in my 20s I was 10 stone and 28-in waist and ate like a horse and all the wrong things, and was not into exercise. Now, 30 years on, I run and erg and eat sensibly and drink very little alcohol but struggle to stay below 12 stone and 34-in waist. I have inherited the family physique of solid but flabby torso with paunch and short limbs, and there's only so much I can do about it. I guess some of us will look athletic while being really unfit while others will be the opposite, it's largely in the genes and such is life ... (the Russians have a saying: "There should be plenty of a good person"!)

Rlboyles: ah yes, the PP pyramid ... I feel your pain, well done for manning up and seeing it through
Cal: might have been going a bit too fast on that 8k?

BPP week 12 session 2: 4 x 1500m / 3min rest. Did this only last week so wasn't expecting much in the way of progress. Target was 2:04.6, turned in 2:04.3, 2:04.2, 2:04.0 and 2:03.7, at 25 spm apart from 26 for the final rep. The plan was to hold it to target pace and see what I could manage on the last one, but it felt good so I just rolled with it. The final rep coincided with Pink Floyd's "One of These Days" on the stereo (a favourite track with a great driving beat) so I tuned into that and before I knew it I'd gone 1500 metres nearly a second ahead of pace. I'll pay for it next time .

[Anth_F]

Good afternoon ladies and gents ...

When I was in my 20s I was 10 stone and 28-in waist and ate like a horse and all the wrong things, and was not into exercise. Now, 30 years on, I run and erg and eat sensibly and drink very little alcohol but struggle to stay below 12 stone and 34-in waist. I have inherited the family physique of solid but flabby torso with paunch and short limbs, and there's only so much I can do about it. I guess some of us will look athletic while being really unfit while others will be the opposite, it's largely in the genes and such is life ... (the Russians have a saying: "There should be plenty of a good person"!)

I think it's the case for most of us tbh. I used to stuff my face with tons of crap back in my 20's and never gained so much as a pound and felt awesome even with a diet that was so out of whack with little vitamins.

Your metabolism simply slows when you get older so you need to get off your backside much more in order to stop everything going south and turning into a complete mess. Good genes are a bonus though!!!

[mdpfirrman]

I guess I disagree Rowan to a certain extent. My Dad was obese all his life pretty much (though my Mom was thin). I started getting bigger after quitting smoking and very quickly got obese. I was always told I have bad joints, I'm prone to put on weight, etc, etc. I'm in better shape now in my 50s than I was in my 20s (which is sad when you think about it!). I also believe that it does take time to happen. I've lifted 4 to 5 years consistent now and rowed 3. My body has completely changed. Personally, I loved running. Didn't love my body when I was running. For me, it completely wiped away my lower half mass and my stomach stayed while I was still losing weight. I wish I was built this well years ago. My wife tells me, "where was this guy in her 30s and 40s?" which is a fair question! Either way you look at it, at least we're fighting it!

[Gaucho1]

A friend of mine delivered a speech to his 60th birthday. One point was: My whole life was a fight against overweight
We really have luxury problems in Europe, USA and Australia.

To burn calories and to prepare a HM in May I did 60min today:

Time Meters /500m Watts Cal/Hr s/m HR
1:00:00.0 14,631m 2:03.0 188 946 20 161
12:00.0 2,923m 2:03.1 187 943 20 149
24:00.0 2,922m 2:03.2 187 943 20 157
36:00.0 2,900m 2:04.1 183 929 20 160
48:00.0 2,921m 2:03.2 187 943 21 166
1:00:00.0 2,966m 2:01.3 196 974 22 175

Burned 946 calories - so I have to drink two liters of beer if I want to keep my weigth
Best regards,
Dietmar

[sdr2017]

Cal, nice 8000 M, even if the end was tough.

Rowan, those 1500 M intervals were well done. I find that distance long enough to hurt but too short to just label it "long distance" and take it easy.

I mainly try to ignore my weight, and it works most of the time. When I have tried to diet, I think about food more, eat more, and gain weight. To the extent I do something right, it is moderating my snacking and a bit of portion control. I have a strict rule to only drink caloric drinks that contain alcohol. I recommend this approach! I work out to feel good, but I can always gain weight with more food.

BPP week 8.3
8000 M 36.35.3 2:17.2 19 s/m
splits:
2000 9:09.9 2:17.4 19
4000 9:11.5 2:17.8 19
6000 9:13.5 2:18.3 19
8000 9:00.4 2:15.1 19

The instructions were to pick the pace a bit for the final 2000 M.

BPP week 8.4 (25 min)
25:00 5543 M 2:15.3 19 s/m
05:00 1107 2:15.5 19
10:00 1109 2:15.2 19
15:00 1107 2:15.5 19
20:00 1109 2:15.2 19
25:00 1110 2:15.1 19

Steady as she goes!

[Street]

Burned 946 calories - so I have to drink two liters of beer if I want to keep my weigth

That sounds like my kind of diet and I'll be doing my best to stick to it tomorrow with a planned BBQ if the weather holds off. Good work on the hour too, don't think I've ever sat on the erg that long!

Nicely done on the intervals Rowan, destroyed your target pace!

I did a hard 5km this morning at 1:57.9 but it was harder going than it should have been, hopefully next week I'll be back on form and can start pushing a bit more. I got myself a C-Breeze a while back and it's been a god send this week now the temps have started going up. Maybe I need to invest in some aircon for the garage..

[mdpfirrman]

@ Stu - great 1500 intervals! Got so caught up in food (another passionate topic of mine) that I didn't mention that. Thanks for reminding me Andy!

@ Dietmar - the fact that you're rowing an hour and going to do a half next month is a testament to all your hard work. You should be proud of yourself!

@ Scott - steady is a great way to recover from a back. Glad you're holding up and back at it.

@ Andy - I wish coming back from sickness I could do a reasonable 1:57 something on a 5K! I did my hard row yesterday after a lift and it was all I could do to manage even close to a 2:00 pace on a 2K. I then did a 1K and a 500m just to stay in the realm of the plan and get back up to speed. It takes me a full week or two to get back up to the point that I think I can handle the plan again.

@ Ivo - I'd LOVE to see what you and Greg's friend could come up with. If any of you haven't checked out Greg's blog (quantitativerowing.com I think), it's a wealth of information. Greg is a data junkie and contributes a lot to the education of the community. I learned a lot from just lurking his posts early on.

I do plan to roll back into the plan on Sunday for another rotation. I didn't quite finish my first rotation so I was really disappointed with that. I want to get at least one full rotation in before I transition into a higher meter phase of training (which I've NEVER done).

[jackarabit]

http://quantifiedrowing.wordpress.com

[mdpfirrman]

http://quantifiedrowing.wordpress.com

Thanks Jack!

[Gaucho1]

@Mike - thanks for the good words. I am curious what will happen when you raise your volume. Do you have a goal/plan for km per week or month?
@street - have fun with the BBQ

I did a strapless SS unit today:
Time Meters /500m Watts Cal/Hr s/m
48:02.6 10,525m 2:16.9 136 767 18

Best regards,
Dietmar

[mdpfirrman]

@ Dietmar - nice work on the SS. I honestly don't know what to expect Dietmar. My first thought is (and this is a negative one) I hope I can do it and not come down with something again! My peak ever was around 65K meters a week. That was only for a couple months that I averaged that. I'm thinking around 80K meters for roughly four months. I've gotten much stronger on my strokes over the last year (as evidenced by I'm doing the same rows nearly the same pace at 2 to 3 SPM less than I did last year at this time). The problem is, I have a hard time rating up while maintaining the same power. I think in order to be able to do that, I need more volume and better cardio. Top rowers (like college) do 200K meters a week regularly. I'm hoping I can just do 80K or so. I also want to add in one day a week where I row a minimum of 75 minutes (or perhaps do a half marathon a week). Most 50' rows, I'm around 12.5K now, so take that times 5 and add in a long row and that's 75 to 78K. I think my distances will increase too the more I get used to the volume. Today, for instance, I shut it down at 8K and even with a towel off I was at 2:11 pace. I didn't really need the towel off, just wanted to keep HR down (I was at a 2:07 pace before that). I'm at the point now where I can do a comfortable 2:09 for an hour. I think that could come down to 2:05 / 2:04 and still be SS (at least that's the idea).

It's interesting to me when I looked over my training log summaries over the past 3 seasons (all that I've rowed) my PP times were by far the best after those two months of around 65K meters a week. I was putting in PP numbers that indicated I was close to a sub 19 5K and also a sub 7:10 on the 2K, then I got sick repeatedly and never quite got back to that stage (this was just last October). If you go into a longer meter phase, I've read it should be at least 12 to 16 weeks to see results.

[IefTheChief]

@mike, @jack - thanks for the pointers!

@greg, exciting stuff. We're all very busy with work and the PP and all but would love (and be honoured to) see if we can think of something that makes sense. Btw, I tried Painsled but didn't like it, the interface is too weird, it doesn't want me to get rowing. Why is there no app/site/anything that basically guides you through a process that I am going through, i.e. set a goal and get rowing with a structure that makes sense, combined with some social aspect like this forum? There is a sweetspot there I think.

@all - thank you for the stories about weight. I am now officially on a low carb high protein diet and decided to make supper for the whole family - there some great food I can prepare and they'll all love it and benefit from it, too. Also, I thought I had to focus on SS but understand that the best way to lose my last 7 kilos is to combine SS with HIIT sessions. But that's the Pete Plan isn't it, so I guess I should just continue here. I have to be patient and realize it will take much longer to lose this last belly than it took to lose the first 15 kilos. But the PP is starting to really get hard now so things should start moving soon I am sure. Will up the game a bit and do 15-1 countdown KB swing / squat workouts work on the free day.

Soooo, here we go cycle 5!

PP, C5D1S1, 8x500m/3'30r, target 1:53.2

15:00.7 4,000m 1:52.5 245 1142 25 155
1:53.3 500m 1:53.3 241 1128 25 150
1:53.1 500m 1:53.1 242 1132 25 152
1:53.1 500m 1:53.1 242 1132 25 154
1:53.1 500m 1:53.1 242 1132 25 156
1:53.1 500m 1:53.1 242 1132 25 156
1:53.1 500m 1:53.1 242 1132 25 156
1:53.1 500m 1:53.1 242 1132 25 158
1:48.9 500m 1:48.9 271 1231 28 163

Yes, it's getting hard now

PS I don't get "new message" mails anymore from this board...?

[IefTheChief]

http://quantifiedrowing.wordpress.com

This is amazing

[Rowan McSheen]

sdr: indeed, steady as she goes.
Street: enjoy the barbie! Not quite that for me tonight but a meal out with uni friends, some of them not seen in decades ... today's workout was equivalent to 2-3 beers (not litres!), which is about right for me. Unfortunately, the calories in the food will be additional. We just can't win.
Dietmar: impressed by whole ss rows strapless. I tried strapless once and nearly somersaulted off the back of the machine. I'm sure that says something about my technique.

Anyway ... BPP week 12 session 3: 3 x 10min / 2min rest. Instrux were to take these at ss pace and pick up a little in the 3rd rep. But I couldn't see the point of that, esp with the next session being 8k. With the talk later in the plan of 10k pb's I suspect Pete has UT1 rather than UT2 in mind for the ss rows. So I used this workout to see what pace I could hold within UT1. Came out as 2:09.6, 2:09.0 and 2:06.6, that last just one peaking at the top of UT1. Average 2:08.4 so I'll have that in mind next time.

Also, I checked the drag factor on my machine and it was 115. Seems low to me so I bumped it up to 125, which gave a cleaner catch and felt okay. Might experiment with this a little.