Training for WIRC (Virginia) and/or Crash-Bs (Boston)

[NavigationHazard]

Cheers, it's time to "retire" from the "Training for BRIC" thread for the current erging season and move on to new goals. Anyone else is free to post in here as well.

Right now, I'm thinking about the two big races coming up in the US in February 2018: the World Indoor Rowing Championships in Alexandria, VA on 2/17-18 and a week later, the mother of all erg competitions, the CRASH-B races in Boston on 2/24. As I will be back in New York as of mid-January, the two events are roughly equidistant from my apartment. They don't need to be an either/or proposition, should I feel inspired to enter both....

With a view to entering one or both of them, I climbed back on the erg yesterday in Wroclaw (Poland) after a rather protracted and difficult return trip from winning my age group at the British Rowing Indoor Championships in London. The problem wasn't so much the snow and wind Sunday evening. Rather, it's that Abu Dhabi and Dubai and Singapore evidently all possess more snow-removal equipment than the entire UK put together. When we got to Stansted Airport Sunday night the main terminal looked like a re-enactment of the Dunkirk evacuation minus the ships and sand: queues everywhere; beaten, exhausted faces; nobody knowing anything; everyone desperately hoping for transport that was nowhere in sight. Compounding the misery, the PA system kept announcing that passengers on cancelled flights needed to leave the airport, as there was "no availability until Thursday" (whatever that meant), and rebook from home. How anyone who'd somehow arrived by car was supposed to get out of the totally unplowed car parks and onto the largely unplowed roads to do so was not explained. Luckily, we were booked on a Ryan Air flight that was coming in from the continent and going back out again. This meant that we had a plane and a crew and a reasonable chance of evacuation. We eventually got home at maybe 2 am....

Worn out from racing and travel, I did 8 x 1:30 r32 on 1:30 passive rest late Monday afternoon, negative-splitted:

01] 458m 1:38.2 pace 369w r32
02] 465m 1:36.7 pace 386w r32
03] 469m 1:35.9 pace 396w r32
04] 471m 1:35.5 pace 401w r32
05] 472m 1:35.3 pace 404w r32
06] 473m 1:35.1 pace 406w r32
07] 475m 1:34.7 pace 412w r32
08] 486m 1:32.5 pace 441w r33

3766m total work distance in 12:00.0 net elapsed work time, 1:35.5 pace, 401w r32 [PM5/ErgData].

This felt nicely controlled. I'm pretty happy with the stroke-to-stroke consistency, which helps immeasurably with that sense of control. Here's probably the best of the intervals in that regard:

[JerekKruger]

Hah, we get "serious" snow so rarely here that it becomes a major news story. Charlie Brooker has a good piece pointing out how ridiculous it is from the last "major" snow we experienced - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO52SMQB7tE. And yes, I think the whole of England and Wales has one snowplow, with Scotland having a second.

[jbhop5857]

Oh I am into this. Would love to watch you guys/gals get ready for this. I am doing Crash-B this year for the first time. My dad has done it a number of times and he told me its time to step up.

I am basing my training on the Pete Plan, but the object right now is the sub 7 2k at Crash-B, so it makes more sense to post on this thread and possibly get more feedback about the specific timelines etc.

Awesome job at BRIC.

By the way, we just go about 5 inches of snow here, but the kids have school, not much cancelled. But this is Maine, we have more of an issue here when it is hot.

Have a great day,

David

[NavigationHazard]

16 x 250m r32 on 50" rest this afternoon:

01] 47.7 1:35.4 pace 403w r32 HR range 079-128 bpm
02] 47.4 1:34.8 pace 411w r32 HR range 123-141 bpm
03] 47.1 1:34.2 pace 419w r32 HR range 125-145 bpm
04] 46.8 1:33.6 pace 427w r32 HR range 128-148 bpm
05] 46.6 1:33.2 pace 432w r32 HR range 133-149 bpm
06] 46.6 1:33.2 pace 432w r32 HR range 138-155 bpm
07] 46.2 1:32.4 pace 444w r32 HR range 129-154 bpm
08] 46.2 1:32.4 pace 444w r32 HR range 133-155 bpm
09] 46.1 1:32,2 pace 447w r33 HR range 135-156 bpm
10] 46.0 1:32.0 pace 449w r33 HR range 138-157 bpm
11] 46.0 1:32.0 pace 449w r33 HR range 138-158 bpm
12] 46.0 1:32.0 pace 449w r33 HR range 136-158 bpm
13] 45.9 1:31.8 pace 452w r33 HR range 135-159 bpm
14] 45.8 1:31.6 pace 455w r33 HR range 143-163 bpm
15] 45.6 1:31.2 pace 461w r33 HR range 144-163 bpm
16] 42.7 1:25.4 pace 562w r37 HR range 151-166 bpm

4k total work distance in 12:18.7 net elapsed work time, 1:32.3 pace, 445w r32 [PM5]. Trademark fast last rep.

This was roughly comparable to workouts I was doing back in 2006-07, when I was in 6:20 trialing form for the C2 US Indoor Team. I don't feel like I'm anywhere near that fast right now, but it's much better to be surprised by a quick workout result than a slow one. As for the somewhat out-of-sequence initial HR on rep 6, I'd been moving around during the rest....

I added 30 minutes on the recline cycle at a nominal 344 watts, cadence 54, HR average about 136 bpm. For some reason the shuffle on my phone provided a bunch of vintage Police songs in the last 15 minutes or so.

Da da da da, da do do do is all I want to say to you....

[Rod]

There's a 60-64 30 minute race at the world championships so I think I'll enter that rather than the 2k as I'm more endurance than power based (.....which basically means I'm a stringy, weedy old git!).

I've checked with the organisers and yes, there is a Lightweight section of the race and there will be medals for the first 3 skinny twerps!

[NavigationHazard]

I'm pretty sure the 30 minute race is on Saturday, with the 2ks on Sunday. There's no reason you can't enter both

[Rod]

I'm pretty sure the 30 minute race is on Saturday, with the 2ks on Sunday. There's no reason you can't enter both

I can think of one reason......I'll be knackered!

[NavigationHazard]

8 x 1:40 r24 on 1:40 this afternoon, mildly negative-splitted:

01] 501m 1:39.8 pace 352w r24 HR range 090-139 bpm
02] 502m 1:39.6 pace 354w r24 HR range 100-146 bpm
03] 503m 1:39.4 pace 356w r23 HR range 099-150 bpm
04] 503m 1:39.4 pace 356w r24 HR range 110-154 bpm
05] 505m 1:39.0 pace 361w r24 HR range 111-155 bpm
06] 507m 1:38.6 pace 365w r24 HR range 117-157 bpm
07] 510m 1:38.0 pace 371w r24 HR range 117-161 bpm
08] 516m 1:36.8 pace 385w r24 HR range 122-162 bpm

4047m total work distance in 13:20.0 net elapsed work time, 1:38.8 pace, 362w r23 [PM5; it's a truncated value and true rating per stroke count is actually 23.9].

I added 45 minutes on the recline cycle at 277 watts, cadence 42, average HR 113 bpm, peak HR 117 bpm. This was actually a lot more draining than it might look....

[jbhop5857]

Good Day,
Simple Steady State 10k at 23spm and 2:06/500. HR zone of 135-145.

Last day to register for CrashB to get the discount!!!

Have a nice day,

David

[Rod]

Last day to register for CrashB to get the discount!!!

As the CrashB event is no longer the world championships and a week after the event that is I don't think I'll be doing it this time.

[jbhop5857]

Hello,
2x1000 on 5min rest with >30spm. Target 1:48/500

1 2 3
1000 151.2 149.5 148
1000 150.4 148.4 148
1000 151.1 147.4 148
1000 151.2 147.3 145.7

Avg 151 148.2 147.4

Painful progress.

Have a good day,

David

[NavigationHazard]

The rather odd total of 13 x 500m r24 on 1:40 rest:

01] 1:42.0 330w r24 HR range 080-141 bpm
02] 1:41.5 335w r24 HR range 088-147 bpm
03] 1:41.6 334w r23 HR range 101-150 bpm
04] 1:41.3 337w r24 HR range 107-151 bpm
05] 1:41.6 334w r24 HR range 108-151 bpm
06] 1:41.4 336w r24 HR range 113-154 bpm
07] 1:41.5 335w r23 HR range 113-153 bpm
08] 1:41.3 337w r24 HR range 115-154 bpm
09] 1:41.6 334w r24 HR range 117-155 bpm
10] 1:41.7 333w r24 HR range 118-157 bpm
11] 1:41.3 337w r24 HR range 119-158 bpm
12] 1:41.6 334w r24 HR range 121-158 bpm
13] 1:41.7 333w r24 HR range 123-159 bpm

6500m total work distance in 22:00.1 net elapsed work time, 1:41.5 average, 335w r23 [PM; truncation. I was 2 strokes off from rating exactly 24 and by stroke count the rating was 23.92].

I added 60' on the recline cycle at 288w, cadence 44, average HR 114 bpm, peak HR 118 bpm. Meh. I watched the first hour of a dubbed kung fu movie.

[jbhop5857]

Good Day,
Steady State day, difficult to keep stroke right in line.

10k at 23spm (some 24) at 2:04.2/500 pace. HR stayed below 145.

Still up in the air of what distance to do Saturday for distance unrestricted. I might just do 5k to stay off the erg a little bit.

David

[lindsayh]

this is an interesting Media release from World Rowing who seem to be taking some active "ownership" of indoor rowing as a legitimate sporting/athletic activity - happened in the UK and is happening here in Oz as well - is encouraging I think

THE FIRST WORLD ROWING INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS ANNOUNCED

For immediate release
Lausanne, 14 December 2017
World Rowing, in partnership with Concept2, USRowing and the Erg Sprints organising committee of Alexandria, Virginia, USA, are pleased to announce the first World Rowing Indoor Championships to be staged in Alexandria from 17 to 18 February 2018.
The partnership follows on from the successful staging of indoor rowing at the 2017 World Games in Wroclaw, Poland and is in recognition of the tremendous growth and development of indoor rowing as a full discipline within the sport of rowing.
Indoor rowing has long since been more than a training tool for on-water rowers, and indoor rowing machines can now be found in fitness gyms, rehabilitation clinics, schools, universities and CrossFit facilities all around the world. The first indoor rowing race took place in 1982, and since then the sport has continued to grow, with hundreds of races taking place worldwide each year.
“This partnership is designed to put indoor rowing exactly where it should be on the international sports map. Participation in indoor rowing at an elite and competitive level has been skyrocketing in recent years and it is time to give the sport an official championship status,” said Jean-Christophe Rolland, FISA President. “Indoor rowing continues to break new ground in innovation and World Rowing is very pleased to be joining forces,” added Rolland, an Olympic Champion who trains on the indoor rower nearly every day.
Peter Dreissigacker, co-founder of Concept2, "We at Concept2 are excited to support a new championship format, moving the event to different locations and showcasing a truly international sport. With World Rowing on board we hope to have the participation of the best athletes from all corners of the globe."
The championships in Alexandria will combine certain World Rowing Indoor Championship events with their annual Erg Sprints which will feature over 2500 competitors. For more information: https://ergsprints.com/

[Rod]

Looks like only the 2k's are actual ''World Championship'' events so I'll have to do the 2k after all if I want to actually be taking part....bahh...more pain!