Pete Plan 2017

[hjs]

Your 6.1x.x goal is very soft

I'm a conservative man

In this case yes, you are now already sub 6.20

[JerekKruger]

I decided to do a fast 500m today. Not sure why, but I felt like it.

500m 1:28.0 at 37SPM, HR 180
100m 17.2 (1:26.0 average) at 42SPM, HR 166
200m 17.3 (1:26.5 average) at 38SPM, HR 180
300m 17.1 (1:25.5 average) at 39SPM, HR 183
400m 17.5 (1:27.5 average) at 38SPM, HR 186
500m 18.9 (1:34.5 average) at 32SPM, HR 185

I didn't know how to pace it so it was a little fly and die, but it's a full 3s faster than I pulled in a competition back in 2004 so I'm pleased.

Pete Plan 3.6: 45mins strapless
9:00 2012m, 2:14.1 at 17SPM, HR 158
18:00 2044m, 2:12.0 at 18SPM, HR 158
27:00 2111m, 2:07.9 at 19SPM, HR 160
36:00 2148m, 2:05.6 at 20SPM, HR 157
45:00 2224m, 2:01.4 at 21SPM, HR 167
Total: 10538m, 2:09.1 at 19SPM, average heart rate 160

My aim here was to simply keep my heart rate at or just below 160 (excluding the last couple of minutes) which lead to the strange experience of having a steady state speed up throughout.

And that's the end of my second cycle on the Pete Plan. This time I did 158,497m in total, 368m more than my first cycle.

[Rowan McSheen]

Hello again all. Some old faces still here, and some new ones too

After several weeks off due to a hip/lower back issue that just wouldn't go away, I think I'm ready to start over again. Same plan as before: running and rowing on alternate days. Unfortunately, during periods of enforced inactivity I tend to overeat and gain weight. And smoke (with the attendant self-loathing). But I am now clean.

So back to basics to undo the damage. Yesterday was BPP week 1 session 1: 5000m steady @ 18/19 spm 2:19.3/500. Felt okay but shocking pace compared to where I was. Hr also higher. But I should be back in the groove before too long. Gently does it.

[JerekKruger]

Welcome back Stu!

[-marius-]

@JerekKruger - Nice finish for the second round of Pete's plan. Another round?

Good luck with the 18spm sub 7' 2k target. Some of us would just be happy to crack sub 7' any way we can!!!!!!

Thanks Tried again today, but failed. Anyway a good improvement from last time.

W1.4
Total of 6K strapless@21SPM slow paced, then a 2k@18 SPM:
Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
7:05.7 2,010m 1:45.9 295 1313 18
5:00.0 1,416m 1:45.9 294 1312 18
7:05.7 595m 1:45.6 297 1321 18

Getting closer to sub 7' @18SPM

[barrec]

Great job, all! Though I haven't posted in a few days I enjoy reading about everyone's hard work. And welcome back Stu!

3.2.1 - Pyramid - Goal: 1:45.3
Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
13:58.9 4,000m 1:44.8 304 1343 31
0:52.7 250m 1:45.4 299 1327 31
1:45.2 500m 1:45.2 301 1333 31
2:37.9 750m 1:45.2 300 1331 31
3:30.5 1,000m 1:45.2 300 1332 31
2:37.5 750m 1:45.0 302 1339 31
1:44.8 500m 1:44.8 304 1345 31
0:50.3 250m 1:40.6 344 1481 32

I was very happy all the way around. I am pleasantly surprised with my sprints. It could just be I haven't been pushing myself hard enough, but it seems I've made a lot of growth this summer doing the PP.

3.2.3 - 4x2k - Goal: 1:52.5
Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
29:57.8 8,000m 1:52.3 247 1148 27
7:30.2 2,000m 1:52.5 245 1144 28
7:30.0 2,000m 1:52.5 246 1145 28
7:29.8 2,000m 1:52.4 246 1146 27
7:27.8 2,000m 1:51.9 249 1157 27

I'm especially proud of this piece as the target from the last cycle was actually 1:53.6. I decided to up it for two reasons: this session for each of the last 2 sessions were done when I wasn't feeling very well; and I'm planning on doing the 5k PP next and am trying to nail down a TT pace. My goal is to do a pre-5kPP TT around 1:52.0 which suggests I should have been able to do 1:52.5 - which I did! I felt good through the first two, but those last two were tough.

I'm doing a hard 6k tomorrow (probably gunning for a PR), then finishing my last original PP cycle, and then a 2k TT!

[JerekKruger]

@Marius - I will probably carry on with the Pete Plan, but I might be taking a break for a while whilst I work on improving my technique. I'm getting some coaching soon so I'll see what my coach thinks is best.

@barrec - two very nice sessions there!

I'm planning on doing a 2k TT tomorrow, so today I just did a relatively easy 30mins, covering 7472m at 20SPM. I find that I don't perform as well after a day of complete rest, hence my decision to do something today.

[JerekKruger]

Today was my 2k TT.

2000m in 6:53.3 (1:43.3 average) at 30SPM
500m 1:42.1 at 30SPM
1000m 1:44.7 at 30SPM
1500m 1:43.7 at 30SPM
2000m 1:42.8 at 31SPM

I am pretty pleased with this result. I was fairly confident I could go sub 7, but wasn't sure if I was able to go much below it, so beating 1:44 felt good. Memories of the 2k I did twelve years ago also had me rather nervous of this one but it didn't feel as bad as I remember my old PB feeling (my old PB was almost certainly a fly and die affair). I suspect I could go a little faster than I did based on my splits, but it's handy simply knowing that I can do ~1:44 and thus I can start working my way down from there.

[derico]

Well done Tom/@Jerek, there was no doubt in my mind that you would achieve your goal given your impressive training numbers. And to do so by a comfortable margin has the added bonus of being something you know you could repeat - not just a one-off performance on a particular day! I much enjoyed your insightful postings and shared thoughts through the process - and look forward to many more!

[derico]

Various bits and pieces over past 5 days:
Wednesday in Edinburgh Pure Gym: attempted 10k @ 2:00 but HD at 6k (having just learned the term from @Jerek) due to lack of will power,
Thursday - no rowing,
Friday = no rowing,
Saturday - back home in Wiltshire so access to own machine resumed for 6k strapless morning row,
Sunday am - 6k strapless morning row

Sunday pm - endurance intervals 5 * 1500m (5r) with target pace 1:56 from previous 2 weeks ago
Time Meters Pace Watt Cal S/M
28:43.8 7,500m 1:54.9 231 1093 23
5:43.7 1,500m 1:54.5 233 1100 23
5:44.5 1,500m 1:54.8 231 1094 22
5:44.1 1,500m 1:54.7 232 1097 23
5:44.2 1,500m 1:54.7 232 1096 24
5:47.2 1,500m 1:55.7 226 1076 24

So this interval session went better than expected - I had to bail out of the same session 3 weeks ago on 1:57 pace.

[barrec]

@Tom - congrats on hitting your goal! My goal is to hit sub-7 too, but I don't think I'll be anywhere near sub 6:56.0 like you ;o).

@Derico - nice interval session! Gotta love those workouts that go better than expected.

PP 3.2.5 - Hard 6K (TT) - Goal: 1:53.0
Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
22:31.6 6,000m 1:52.6 245 1142 27
5:38.9 1,500m 1:52.9 243 1134 27
5:39.0 3,000m 1:53.0 243 1134 27
5:38.4 4,500m 1:52.8 244 1138 27
5:35.3 6,000m 1:51.7 251 1162 27

This was hard. It turned out to be an important session for me to get some more mental toughness and to work through the pain. It was also interesting as I've just recently began displaying the force curve graph on the PM to help with form rather than interval splits. Though the curve helped me focus, I was curious throughout the session about the splits and pleasantly surprised by the results (I always try to negative split). I also think this session will help a lot when I do the 5K TT in a few weeks!

[-marius-]

@JerekKruger - Great row, welcome to the sub 7' club Nice negative splits, I'm pretty sure you could already shave some seconds of your 2K PB
@barrec - Very nice row with negative splits. Congrats on your new PB I guess we can expect a new PB for the 5K as well
@derico - Nice improvement on the 5x1500m session

W1.5 - Plan says hard distance, but I wanted to try and improve this month's CTC(200m - 30,9) and the 100m as well. Totally failed I guess I have to stick to improving my distance rowing(1K and above) for now and stop thinking about sprints.
6K total, strapless: 22:41.6 - 22SPM
200m: 31.1 , then 100m: 15.7
Finished with a rather hard interval session:
4x500m/0:45r row
6:07.7 2,000m 1:31.9 451 1849 36
1:32.3 500m 1:32.3 445 1830 36
1:32.3 500m 1:32.3 445 1830 36
1:32.2 500m 1:32.2 447 1835 36
1:30.8 500m 1:30.8 468 1907 39

Maybe try 30sec rest next time.

W1.6
Total of 9K strapless @ 20SPM
Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
34:10.2 9,000m 1:53.9 237 1114 20

[JerekKruger]

@Derek - thanks, and you're completely right about the comfortable margin. Very nice endurance intervals there, it's a good feeling when you beat your target so convincingly!

@barrec - wow, very nice 6k, I think you'll do really well on your 5k TT based off it (in fact I wouldn't be surprised if the first 5k of that 6k was a pro-rata PB)! I've really come to view the mental aspect of the hard endurance pieces as really important.

@marius - thanks for the welcome. I think that physically you're probably right about going a little faster: my heart rate topped out at 187 whilst I've seen it go to 190 in some of my training sessions so I probably could have pushed a little harder (especially through the middle). That said, I don't know that I'd have had the mental strength to do that yet.

So I've decided to start another cycle of the Pete Plan tomorrow. I might have to interrupt it after I see my coach on the 30th, but until then I might as well keep doing it. I'm going to replace the weekly 6k with a weekly 30min row and I might split my steady state days into 2x30mins (either with a small break or split through the day) as my back has started aching towards the end of my 45min rows.

[derico]

Slow starting 6k strapless morning row:
Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
30:00.0 6,932m 2:09.8 160 850 17

Followed by 10k teatime hard distance (a 20 sec PB)
Time Meters Pace S/M
40:03.0 10,000m 2:00.1 22

Consequently I crept over 1M for the season!

[-marius-]

@derico - 1M already? I'm just at 600k and I thought I had done many meters

W2.1 - Pyramid workout. Target was lowering the previous PP try(12:34.2, avg pace 1:34.2)
Result from the CTC for July was better(12:20.5) but I did not push as close to max effort as I did on the CTC
Intervals
Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
12:22.3 4,000m 1:32.7 438 1806 36
0:45.5 250m 1:31.0 464 1896 37
r: 1:30 183m
1:32.7 500m 1:32.7 439 1810 35
r: 3:00 372m
2:19.4 750m 1:32.9 436 1799 35
r: 4:30 435m
3:09.0 1,000m 1:34.5 415 1725 35
r: 6:00 430m
2:20.4 750m 1:33.6 427 1767 35
r: 4:30 424m
1:32.5 500m 1:32.5 442 1820 37
r: 3:00 404m
0:42.8 250m 1:25.6 558 2218 43
r: 1:30 255m
r2,503m