Pete Plan 2017

[calalli]

@Tom - nice pyramid! Looking at that I would think you would nail the sub 7. Great speed.

@Derico - nice sessions. That 30 min at 18spm is pretty nice power real close to the 10W that james and others talk about, and strapless.

4/8/17 BPP 17.5 4x8 min / 2'r - I tried to keep these sub 2:00, but the rest is too short for me to recover. Although I had positive splits and died at the end still better than 2:05.8 average 3 weeks ago.

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr s/m endHR
32:00.0 7,898m 2:01.5 195 970 26
8:00.0 2,004m 1:59.7 204 1000 26 141
8:00.0 2,006m 1:59.6 204 1002 27 147
8:00.0 1,959m 2:02.5 190 954 25 143
8:00.0 1,928m 2:04.4 181 924 25 145

Did the CTC 200M before this, took three attempts because I could not stay on the seat. Finally did a 36.3 but even then I had to back off and reseat myself. Guess I need to practice the high stroke rates more.

[JerekKruger]

@Derek - thanks, though it helps a lot that I enjoy erging (even steady state). Nice 4x10min, that's quite a long time spent at sub 2.

@calalli - that looks like an unpleasant session to row. I've got 4x2000m/5:00r to do tomorrow: same distance you rowed but with two and a half times the rest, and I know it's a tough one. I suspect when you finish with the BPP and move onto the PP you'll find your speeds go up on this sort of session simply because of the extra rest.

By the way, what is CTC? I've seen it mentioned elsewhere but haven't been able to work out what it is.

Pete Plan 2.2: 45mins strapless
9:00 2168m, 2:04.5 at 20SPM, HR 151
18:00 2128m, 2:06.8 at 20SPM, HR 155
27:00 2115m, 2:07.6 at 19SPM, HR 158
36:00 2140m, 2:06.1 at 20SPM, HR 160
45:00 2176m, 2:04.0 at 20SPM, HR 167
Total: 10727m, 2:05.8 at 19SPM, average heart rate 158

Faster than last time, lower average heart rate than last time. Seems good to me.

[Citroen]

By the way, what is CTC? I've seen it mentioned elsewhere but haven't been able to work out what it is.

It's a monthly team based rowing challenge.
http://c2ctc.com

If you don't have a team there's the "independents" that's a free for all "team".
Registration is self-service at: http://c2ctc.com/person.php

[derico]

Further experimentation with 10 minute/4r intervals on 2:00 pace - will shorten the rest period next time - but pleasantly tired after this one!

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr s/m
1:00:00.0 15,063m 1:59.5 205 1005 21
10:00.0 2,506m 1:59.7 204 1001 21
10:00.0 2,504m 1:59.8 204 999 21
10:00.0 2,505m 1:59.7 204 1000 21
10:00.0 2,520m 1:59.0 207 1013 22
10:00.0 2,505m 1:59.7 204 1000 21
10:00.0 2,522m 1:58.9 208 1015 23

[JerekKruger]

@Citroen - cool, I might get involved at some point.

@Derek - that's a really impressive workout. An hour at sub 2 minute pace: I might have to try it out at some point.

Pete Plan 2.3: 4x2000m/5:00r
7:24.7 (1:51.1 average) at 26SPM, HR 180
7:25.3 (1:51.3 average) at 27SPM, HR 186
7:26.7 (1:51.6 average) at 27SPM, HR 188
7:38.4 (1:54.6 average) at 26SPM, HR 186
Average: 1:52.1 at 26SPM
Rest: 2014m

My aim was sub 1:53, which I did, but I got a little carried away with the first three intervals and blew up a bit on the third one. I am a bit annoyed at myself as I had it in me to pull sub 1:54 but gave up a bit during the middle. Other than that I am fairly pleased with this session.

[derico]

@Tom - inspired by your 4 * 2k / 5r interval session...

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr s/m
31:13.4 8,000m 1:57.0 218 1049 23
7:49.4 2,000m 1:57.3 217 1044 23
7:49.8 2,000m 1:57.4 216 1042 23
7:49.0 2,000m 1:57.2 217 1046 24
7:45.2 2,000m 1:56.3 222 1065 24
r1,722m

My target pace was 1:58 and I very nearly jacked it approaching the half way mark of the first rep, feeling tired and dispirited at that point. So was pleased to hang in to complete the first and felt fine on the remainder!

[barrec]

@Derek and @Jerek - great 4x2000k's!

@HJS - thanks for the tip. I will try to keep my strapless rates around 23-24.

Tough week overall as we endured a bit of a heat wave. Felt like the heat zapped any extra energy right out of me, but also made for some rewarding finishes.

PP 2.3.3 - Waterfall - Goal: 1:54.5
Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr s/m
28:36.0 7,500m 1:54.4 234 1103 28
11:27.1 3,000m 1:54.5 233 1101 28
9:32.5 2,500m 1:54.5 233 1101 28
7:36.5 2,000m 1:54.1 235 1109 28

The goal was .8 seconds faster than what was prescribed, but I wanted to compensate for being impacted by donating blood when doing it last cycle. I couldn't have sustained anything better, that's for sure!

PP 2.3.5 - Hard 10K - Goal: 1:59.0
Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr s/m
39:29.7 10,000m 1:58.4 210 1023 26
7:55.7 2,000m 1:58.9 208 1015 26
7:55.5 4,000m 1:58.8 208 1016 26
7:55.1 6,000m 1:58.7 209 1018 26
7:54.7 8,000m 1:58.6 209 1020 26
7:48.7 10,000m 1:57.1 218 1048 26

This was the longest hard row I'd ever done (I did a half-marathon once, but that was a SS). It was harder to sustain the pace than I thought it would be because of the higher stroke rate (my core didn't have as much time to recover between reps). I was very pleased and very happy to have finished it.

I finished the week with a 30'r20 today @2:06.6.

Two cycles down, one to go! We'll see how my 2k time improves, but I'm happy to say I'm down 7 pounds since starting the first cycle 6 weeks ago.

[JerekKruger]

@Derek - I'm impressed you did that with a stroke rate of 23/24. Good work on carrying on through it, it's a painful session.

@barrec - I like the name 'waterfall' for that workout, makes more sense than calling it a pyramid. Very nice pace on it and very nice 10k, I'm not sure I could go sub 40 on a 10k at the moment.

Pete Plan 2.4: 45mins strapless
9:00 2198m, 2:02.8 at 19SPM, HR 155
18:00 2132m, 2:06.6 at 19SPM, HR 158
27:00 2113m, 2:07.7 at 19SPM, HR 157
36:00 2135m, 2:06.4 at 19SPM, HR 163
45:00 2191m, 2:03.2 at 20SPM, HR 173
Total: 10768m, 2:05.3 at 19SPM, average heart rate 161

This session looks better than it actually was. I felt off throughout and I really shouldn't have sped up toward the end (173 is way too high for steady state, even if my average remained reasonable). Still, it got done.

Tomorrow I am going to try for a 1:54 on my 6k. Might be beyond me but given my last two endurance interval sessions I think it's doable.

[JerekKruger]

Pete Plan 2.5: 6000m in 22:40.1
1000m 3:44.3 (1:52.1 average) at 24SPM, HR 173
2000m 3:47.2 (1:53.6 average) at 25SPM, HR 178
3000m 3:46.8 (1:53.4 average) at 25SPM, HR 181
4000m 3:47.7 (1:53.8 average) at 26SPM, HR 184
5000m 3:48.2 (1:54.1 average) at 25SPM, HR 185 <- pro rate 5k PB of 18:54.2
6000m 3:45.9 (1:52.9 average) at 26SPM, HR 189
Average: 1:53.3 at 25SPM, HR 181

I am very pleased with this row. Not only did I manage to beat my goal and set a pro rata 5k pb, but I did so on the back of a really bad night's sleep. I almost decided to postpone the session to tomorrow because I really wasn't feel up to it, but decided to go ahead with it anyway and accept that it might not be as good as I wanted it to be. However after the warm up I was feeling a lot better the row itself felt pretty good (or as good as a hard 6k can).

I've got to say doing these harder endurance pieces is good for mental strength: I started to question my ability to complete it at pace at around the 3k mark and not letting myself drop the pace required a lot of mind games. However finishing when the piece has been tough makes you realise that you're capable of more than you imagine, and it makes future attempts less daunting.

[jans]

Hi all!

I'm new to this forum and fairly new to rowing.

Pete Plan 1.1: 5.000m in 24:06.8 (which I thought would be quite alright, but nope )

1000m 4:44.5 25 s/m
2000m 4:48.6 24 s/m
3000m 4:56.2 25 s/m
4000m 4:51.9 26 s/m
5000m 4:45.7 27 s/m

Felt like I was giving it all, maybe wanted to spread the pace a bit which made me slower. Not really sure what to think of this

PS: got like 4 blisters... any tips on that?!

[hjs]

Hi all!

I'm new to this forum and fairly new to rowing.

Pete Plan 1.1: 5.000m in 24:06.8 (which I thought would be quite alright, but nope )

1000m 4:44.5 25 s/m
2000m 4:48.6 24 s/m
3000m 4:56.2 25 s/m
4000m 4:51.9 26 s/m
5000m 4:45.7 27 s/m

Felt like I was giving it all, maybe wanted to spread the pace a bit which made me slower. Not really sure what to think of this

PS: got like 4 blisters... any tips on that?!

Blisters, after a few weeks thats mostly gone.

Re pace, bit depending on age/height, but still its slow if you are very untrained this will rapidly get better.

[JerekKruger]

Hi all!

I'm new to this forum and fairly new to rowing.

Welcome to the forum and to the Pete Plan thread Jans. Always nice to get a new addition.

Pete Plan 1.1: 5.000m in 24:06.8 (which I thought would be quite alright, but nope )

1000m 4:44.5 25 s/m
2000m 4:48.6 24 s/m
3000m 4:56.2 25 s/m
4000m 4:51.9 26 s/m
5000m 4:45.7 27 s/m

Felt like I was giving it all, maybe wanted to spread the pace a bit which made me slower. Not really sure what to think of this

First thing is not to worry about how is compares to other people and instead focus on competing with yourself.

Beyond that try to improve your technique by watching the technique videos that Concept 2 have on their website: bad technique will see you expending a lot of energy that doesn't get transferred to the flywheel of the machine and, hence, doesn't increase speed. Really try to focus on getting the sequence of the drive correct (legs, back/hips, arms) and keeping the recovery relaxed. Depending on how good/bad your technique is right now, this alone could see a big improvement in your speed with no extra energy expended.

Other than that, as Henry says if you're relatively untrained and new to rowing you'll likely see pretty fast improvements.

PS: got like 4 blisters... any tips on that?!

My advice: unless they tear leave them to dry out naturally, if they do tear then use plasters to protect the exposed skin whilst rowing. In my experience you tend to stop getting blisters quite quickly with indoor rowing (on the water rowing is a completely different matter) and you'll start forming calluses where there's the most friction. I also use hand moisturiser before going to sleep every night to keep them healthy: some people will no doubt criticise this, but having seen the state of my dad's hands after years of abuse I'm okay with that.

[calalli]

@Tom - Wow, some really impressive sessions during a busy week. That 6000M is really impressive.
@derico - Good job on the 10min intervals. You are really making progress lately. And the 4x2000 - I am impressed.
@barrec - great job on the 10k - is that a PB then?
@jans - welcome aboard. Don't worry about your paces yet if you are just starting. Just stay with it.

7/8/17 BPP 18.1 - 11000 M - strapless effort without any real goal. Felt pretty good throughout and kept my heart rate in check.
Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr s/m
46:07.9 11,000m 2:05.8 176 904 24

8/8/17 BPP 18.2 - 4x2000M /4'r - goal was to average 2:00 but failed badly. Felt off from the start with sore arms, but it was only 2 hours after my strength workout. No matter, meters logged and calories burned. I really feel like I am having trouble with intervals lately - getting back to a good pace after a rest is not going well.

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr s/m
32:44.1 8,000m 2:02.7 189 950 26
7:53.5 2,000m 1:58.3 211 1025 26 143
8:08.0 2,000m 2:02.0 193 962 27 142
8:23.4 2,000m 2:05.8 176 903 26 140
8:19.2 2,000m 2:04.8 180 919 26 143

[barrec]

@Jans Welcome to the thread! One piece of advice I've heard on blisters is they can be caused by holding the handle too tightly during the recovery. I dunno if that's true but I've always made an effort to relax my grip between strokes . I still get blisters but only when I get really sweaty - I thought about getting wristbands to help with but my calluses have developed just fine and I don't seem to be bothered much anymore.

@Tom - stellar 6k! I totally agree on the mental toughness piece. Conquering those hard, long distances makes shorter pieces easier to take on, to me any way.

@cal - indeed, I'll call it a PB. I don't think I've ever done a 10k TT before so it's probably the fastest I've rowed.

[derico]

@Cal - it's just around the corner for you!
@barrec - superb 10k effort suggests a lot more to come on the waterfall next time (on full recovery of blood levels)
@jans - welcome, ease your way into the routine and you'll be hardened up in not time
@Tom - I don't think your 5k should count as a PB, prefer to see you smash 18:50 on a separate effort!

Hard distance - 10K - Goal: to feel tired
Time Meters Pace s/m
40:22.3 10,000m 2:01.1 23
8:08 2,000m 2:02 23
8:02.4 4,000m 2:00.6 23
8:02 6,000m 2:00.5 23
8:06.4 8,000m 2:01.7 23
8:02.4 10,000m 2:00.6 23

Working away so rowing sessions more limited - hence will default to hard distance!