Pete Plan 2017

[barrec]

@Al - welcome to the thread! I just recently started posting after lurking myself. I'm curious - what is your SPM like for those longer interval sessions? You may find some success in adjusting your rate to maximize your effort. I also like @mdpfirman's idea of examining the plan you're using. I completed the BPP recently and loved it - and it offers the flexibility of 3-5 sessions a week. Many of them are the same as in the original PP with different rest periods. Since you have a great base of fitness, you could probably drop in somewhere in the middle depending on what workload you like.

As for my week, I had a tough go of the 4x2000 intervals. I was sore from playing basketball the night before and I worked out in the morning and felt a little off. I made my goal and it hurt a lot. It seemed like a very good psychological test and victory.

PP 1.2.3 - 4x2000m, 5' rest - Goal: 1:54.5
Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr s/m
30:28.0 8,000m 1:54.2 235 1107 27
7:38.0 2,000m 1:54.5 233 1101 28
7:38.1 2,000m 1:54.5 233 1101 27
7:37.9 2,000m 1:54.4 233 1102 28
7:34.0 2,000m 1:53.5 239 1123 28

I did a steady row yesterday and will be doing a hard 6K today.

[TimDoyle]

4 x 800m/2min with a short warm-up and warm down. Felt really good and I almost managed to negative split but missed on the 3rd interval by just a little.
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|05300|33:29.0|03:09.6|167.8|22.2|133.9|159.0|07.1
W-|03200|13:18.0|02:04.8|184.6|22.7|137.3|159.0|10.6
R-|02103|15:11.0|03:36.6|157.9|22.9|137.5|159.0|10.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00800|03:23.1|02:06.9|180.1|22.5|130.4|147.0|10.5
02|00800|03:20.5|02:05.3|184.8|22.8|136.3|153.0|10.5
03|00800|03:21.2|02:05.7|183.1|22.7|139.5|154.0|10.5
04|00800|03:14.2|02:01.3|190.9|22.9|143.1|159.0|10.8

Much improved on the same session done 4 weeks ago when I averaged 2:07 but the final interval was a horrible 2:10.8.

This is what today's looked liked.

Time plot.jpg (86.33 KiB) Viewed 8545 times

[calalli]

Derek, barrec, marius - good job on the PP progress guys, watching your progress closely, looking forward to my turn in about 3 months
Tim, Al, Bor - good to see some newer blood here. Keep up the good work!
Mike - Glad to see you are still around! Hope the longer distance work is agreeing with you

I took a couple of days off for the holiday here after doing a couple of 30 minute / 7100M sessions over the weekend, got back to the BPP yesterday

5/7/17 BPP 13.1 10000M - previous best effort was 2:06.6 pace, beat it by a bit
Time Meters /500m Watts Cal/Hr s/m
41:36.6 10,000m 2:04.8 180 918 24 157

6/7/17 BPP 13.2 4x1000M /3'r - target pace was 154.5 - did better than that but splits were uneven, I was trying to negative split the entire time

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr s/m end HR
14:48.6 4,000m 1:51.0 255 1178 28
3:42.7 1,000m 1:51.3 254 1171 27 151
3:43.1 1,000m 1:51.5 252 1167 27 157
3:41.0 1,000m 1:50.5 259 1192 29 160
3:41.8 1,000m 1:50.9 257 1182 30 161

[derico]

@Calalli - hey Cal, those are impressive intervals indicative of a conservative pacing on your 10k?

Resolved the issue of my 30" pace being quicker than my 5k by bring the latter in a few tenths quicker on 1.59.4 pace. This my PP hard distance of week 2.

[Al Cowen]

Thanks all for the good advice. Except for the guy who called me fat.

I think the advice to change to the BPP is right. I will jump into that at week 6 and keep you posted.

[-marius-]

@barrec - Very good 4x2000m. Nice negative splits.
@derico - Very good 4x2000m as well. It is harder than it looks on the paper
@calalli - Nice progress on the long and short distances


W2.5 Hard distance. Not ready for any long distances this morning. Decided to go for 4' sprint and a 2000m divided up into 500/1000/500 with 30sec rest between intervals.

4:00 Row Target 1300m. DF=175, a little to high, forgot to reduce it after warmup.
Time Meters /500m Watts Cal/Hr s/m
4:00.0 1,297m 1:32.5 442 1819 37
1:00.0 323m 1:32.8 437 1801 36
2:00.0 324m 1:32.5 441 1815 37
3:00.0 324m 1:32.5 441 1815 36
4:00.0 327m 1:31.7 453 1858 39

-15 minutes rest, not enough and still pretty exhausted before the intervals.

Intervals 500/1000/500/30 sec rest. Target was below 6:30 total time.
DF=159
Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr s/m
6:28.2 2,000m 1:37.0 383 1616 34
1:37.0 500m 1:37.0 383 1618 33
r: 0:30 16m
3:14.7 1,000m 1:37.3 379 1604 34
r: 0:30 17m
1:36.5 500m 1:36.5 389 1639 37

[derico]

PP hard distance 10k coming in on slight PB on 2.01.4 pace. Still using Glasgow gym whilst working away, so pleased to keep it going!

[calalli]

@marius - impressive numbers again! That looks like a lot of hard slogging.
#derek - Yeah, I think I go out too slowly on the longer pieces, that last one was 2:06 pace for the first 2000. Frankly, I am still trying to maintain a focus on weight loss, and the rowing is the second workout of my day so my main objective is to burn calories. I tend to get caught up in the times and PBs and have to check myself a bit now and then.

7/7/17 BPP 10.3 2x15min / 2'r - my target was 2:04.4 based on the 3x10 last week. I pushed a little harder since it is a short week for me. Got the HR up there a bit.
Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr s/m end HR
30:00.0 7,394m 2:01.7 194 967 24
15:00.0 3,684m 2:02.1 192 960 23 152
15:00.0 3,710m 2:01.2 196 974 25 161

[TimDoyle]

Full of cold + hot weather + post epic Lions 3rd test match = FAIL!

Just couldn't complete the 8k I was supposed to do today. Managed to hang on to get to 4k but that was it...not happy . I'll put this one away as an "extra" for the week and try the 8k again tomorrow. What is especially annoying is that I was holding reasonable pace (for me anyway) and 2k in I was OK but at 3k I started to feel it. Colds and urging don't mix I guess!

Fail.jpg (73.79 KiB) Viewed 8419 times

[-marius-]

W3.1 4x1000m/5:00r Starting around 2k pace and focusing on negative splits on the intervals.
Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr s/m
13:05.1 4,000m 1:38.1 370 1573 33
3:19.8 1,000m 1:39.9 351 1506 32
3:18.0 1,000m 1:39.0 361 1540 32
3:15.9 1,000m 1:37.9 372 1580 33
3:11.3 1,000m 1:35.6 400 1675 35

Nothing special, but it is nice to see that I now can row 3:10s without any hard effort, so stamina seems to be picking up
Hopefully I will be ready for a proper 2K test soon.

[barrec]

@Marius - fantastic splits! That was my tactic for my 4x1000m piece yesterday, but not nearly as impressive rates.

My first tour of the PP in a while has gone well - challenging and doable. The 4x1000m proved to be the most difficult one yet. I was debating between 1:49 or 1:50 as a goal, and opted for 1:50 while negative splitting the whole way. Though I did just that, it was far more taxing than I was anticipating:

PP 1.3.1 - 4x1000m, 5' rest - Goal 1:50.0 (approximate 2K+1)
Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr s/m
14:37.8 4,000m 1:49.7 265 1211 29
3:39.9 1,000m 1:49.9 263 1205 29
3:39.6 1,000m 1:49.8 264 1209 29
3:39.4 1,000m 1:49.7 265 1211 29
3:38.9 1,000m 1:49.4 267 1217 29

There were a few reasons why it was so difficult - the first being I was out late the night before and may have had a pint or two too many .

However, I am wondering if donating blood the Friday before had the bigger impact. Does anyone have any insight into this? I donated double red (not whole blood) so though I came away fully hydrated, I lost twice as many red blood cells as a typical donation. I've done it many times before but never while doing a demanding exercise program. I gave myself a full 48 hours before working out again, too. I've read from marathoners that shorter distances and low-mid intensity workouts shouldn't be effected, but that long distances/high intensity stuff could be. We'll see!

[calalli]

@marius - impressive job on the 4x1000M - I can only dream of splits like that
@barrec - nice job as well. it seems to me that since it is the red blood cells that carry oxygen you would still be a bit depleted. You hit your target even with the added challenge, good job!
@TimDoyle - Good attitude - do what you can and move on, every meter rowed is better than nothing.

10/7/17 BPP 14.1 10000M - BPP says I should try to beat 2:04.8. I had been feeling pain in my right leg all day and went into this with the attitude that I would go 2000M and decide if I wanted to finish. I completed it but fought the HD demons the whole way and it showed in my times. Oh well, meters accumulated at the least.

Time Meters /500m Watts Cal/Hr s/m
42:53.2 10,000m 2:08.6 164 865 22
8:39.0 2,000m 2:09.7 160 851 23 139
8:14.4 4,000m 2:03.6 185 937 22 145
8:26.3 6,000m 2:06.5 173 893 22 143
8:44.5 8,000m 2:11.1 155 834 22 144
8:49.1 10,000m 2:12.2 151 820 21 144

[mdpfirrman]

@ Cal - You've been doing great and very consistent. Listen to your body, though, if it's telling you something. In the long run, taking a few days off, if you have to, won't make much difference in either your fitness or your weight (I know that's one goal of yours). It would hurt a lot more if you have to take 2 or 3 weeks off because you're injured! Been there, done that too many times. Glad you're still working hard Cal (and everyone else)!

Just an update. I'm in around week 6 of my longer meters building phase. Around 6 to 8 more and I might come back for a round or two of the PP and retest. I see progress in my workouts. My form has improved and I've gotten more consistent in my longer rows. Had one off week (took a Sunday off, which is my long, slow day) when my daughter was in town. That's been my only week under 60K meters. Averaging around 65 to 68K meters a week, which is a significant bump for me. Doing very limited hard rows and just a few sprints. My lifting has been minimal, but I've been getting some in 3X a week still.

For those that don't remember me, I started the thread but was stagnating after a few rounds of the PP. I love the plan, but it only takes you so far. You have to really have a great aerobic base and a certain level of strength if you ever want to be sub-7, which is one of my goals. I noticed that my best PP times on the various intervals was directly after a period in which I put up the most meters I ever had in a four month period. People used to tell me that the PP isn't a year round plan and I never understood why. Now I do. The PP just sharpens the pencil. More meters (a very strong aerobic base), your underlying fitness and strength really determine how well you're going to do. The PP just brings all that out. I've stepped back to working volume meters to get faster in the long run.

Keep up the great work everyone! It makes me want to work harder seeing all the great times on here.

[lwtguy]

I completed it but fought the HD demons the whole way and it showed in my times.

One thing I've found in my 10 seasons of rowing is that sessions like that are the most important. It's easy to finish a piece on a good day. The biggest physiological challenge you will face is how you perform on a bad day.

[barrec]

@Cal - I think you are absolutely right. I read elsewhere today that donating whole blood requires about 10 days to recover one's red blood cells (from one pint). I donated twice as many red blood cells so I'm guessing 20 days max to feel back to normal. Assuming I am being impacted by it, I wonder if there'll be any benefit to my training these next few weeks.

I did the waterfall today and am definitely feeling impacted from donating blood last week. It was weird - I wasn't in great pain, but I was simply lethargic on the erg. I didn't cramp nor did my lungs feel on fire, but about half way through the second rep, I felt almost exasperated.

PP 1.3.4 - 3k, 2.5k, 2k, 5' rest (the waterfall) - Goal: 1:55.5
Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr s/m
28:51.7 7,500m 1:55.4 227 1082 27
11:33.1 3,000m 1:55.5 227 1080 27
9:37.5 2,500m 1:55.5 227 1081 27
7:41.1 2,000m 1:55.2 228 1085 27

I'm proud for finishing and meeting my goal! And I'm guessing it'll feel a bit different the next cycle.