Pete Plan Thread

[hjs]

Thanks Dangerscouse and hjs, there was me thinking I was too slow! I'll try lengthening and moving the trunk back more and slowing down the recovery. The resistance is a simple dial from 1-10, I have it at 3 at the moment, would I be better to up the resistance then to go slower?

Can,t tell really, but don,t think so. Concept2 has a spinning fan, the rower herself will create the resisance. If there is no fan thats works differently. I don,t know your machine so can,t give a good answer sorry.

[-marius-]

@livingkennedy - I guess most Norwegians would be on Tonga's national cross country team if they moved there Congrats on going the full 10K, massive improvement in pace as well

PP 3.4 Felt a bit discharged after the 10K yesterday so no waterfall session today. Did a couple of timed rate ladders instead. 2-3 minutes rest between the two.
Drag factor 134. Target start pace for both was 1:53@18SPM then reduce avg 500m pace by 2 sec per 2SPM increase.

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
20:00.0 5,514m 1:48.8 272 1234 22
4:00.0 1,062m 1:52.9 243 1134 18
8:00.0 1,082m 1:50.9 257 1182 20
12:00.0 1,102m 1:48.8 271 1232 22
16:00.0 1,123m 1:46.8 287 1286 24
20:00.0 1,145m 1:44.8 304 1345 26

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
21:00.0 5,913m 1:46.5 289 1295 24
3:00.0 797m 1:52.9 243 1135 18
6:00.0 811m 1:50.9 256 1180 20
9:00.0 826m 1:48.9 271 1230 22
12:00.0 841m 1:47.0 286 1281 24
15:00.0 858m 1:44.9 303 1342 26
18:00.0 875m 1:42.8 322 1405 28
21:00.0 905m 1:39.4 356 1523 30

[Dangerscouse]

Thanks Dangerscouse and hjs, there was me thinking I was too slow! I'll try lengthening and moving the trunk back more and slowing down the recovery. The resistance is a simple dial from 1-10, I have it at 3 at the moment, would I be better to up the resistance then to go slower?

Can,t tell really, but don,t think so. Concept2 has a spinning fan, the rower herself will create the resisance. If there is no fan thats works differently. I don,t know your machine so can,t give a good answer sorry.

I agree with Henry (HJS) on this. I'd suggest trying it on a higher resistance and see how it feels; just find what works best for you. Resistance is quite subjective so nudge it up slowly as a big change in resistance can lead to injury if it's too heavy for your current fitness.

It's a common mistake for people to start rowing too fast. I've been doing it for years!!

[rascott]

BPP 16.3 - 30min
rowed at 2:10.4 but sped up in last 4 minutes...my garage was below freezing i think! (its cold in the UK at the minute)

[mitchel674]

BPP 16.3 - 30min
rowed at 2:10.4 but sped up in last 4 minutes...my garage was below freezing i think! (its cold in the UK at the minute)

Good pacing there, Robert. You've almost broken 7k.

[RayOfSunshine]

@Robert nice work and a PB to boot

BPP 10.1: 9.5k

I bumped it up to 10k for the mud challenge. I will use this month's SS to get a feel for comfortable SPM (and, to a lesser degree, DF). Today, I didn't wear a HR monitor and didn't have a set pace, goal, etc. I just wanted a baseline.

[mdpfirrman]

Thanks Dangerscouse and hjs, there was me thinking I was too slow! I'll try lengthening and moving the trunk back more and slowing down the recovery. The resistance is a simple dial from 1-10, I have it at 3 at the moment, would I be better to up the resistance then to go slower?

Can,t tell really, but don,t think so. Concept2 has a spinning fan, the rower herself will create the resisance. If there is no fan thats works differently. I don,t know your machine so can,t give a good answer sorry.

I agree with Henry (HJS) on this. I'd suggest trying it on a higher resistance and see how it feels; just find what works best for you. Resistance is quite subjective so nudge it up slowly as a big change in resistance can lead to injury if it's too heavy for your current fitness.

It's a common mistake for people to start rowing too fast. I've been doing it for years!!

I agree with all of this advice too. Just wanted to add that the rowing speed comes more from momentum and how fast your power drive is from your legs. One of the videos I saw online that really hammered this home to me was one day I was watching erg videos on YouTube and saw a women's college crew team all rowing in syn on ergs. I was shocked at how slow and methodical the recovery was, but also by how fast and powerful the drives were.

I use a relatively low drag factor for a man (around a 103 to 105 for 2K races now). I've played around with drag a LOT over the past year. I've been able to rate up for races that way nicely, but eventually I'd like to be able to hold a bit of a higher drag at the same rates. Your stroke isn't bad at all for a beginner (it's actually quite good), just keep working on it.

[KarenB50]

Can,t tell really, but don,t think so. Concept2 has a spinning fan, the rower herself will create the resisance. If there is no fan thats works differently. I don,t know your machine so can,t give a good answer sorry.

I agree with Henry (HJS) on this. I'd suggest trying it on a higher resistance and see how it feels; just find what works best for you. Resistance is quite subjective so nudge it up slowly as a big change in resistance can lead to injury if it's too heavy for your current fitness.

It's a common mistake for people to start rowing too fast. I've been doing it for years!!

I agree with all of this advice too. Just wanted to add that the rowing speed comes more from momentum and how fast your power drive is from your legs. One of the videos I saw online that really hammered this home to me was one day I was watching erg videos on YouTube and saw a women's college crew team all rowing in syn on ergs. I was shocked at how slow and methodical the recovery was, but also by how fast and powerful the drives were.

I use a relatively low drag factor for a man (around a 103 to 105 for 2K races now). I've played around with drag a LOT over the past year. I've been able to rate up for races that way nicely, but eventually I'd like to be able to hold a bit of a higher drag at the same rates. Your stroke isn't bad at all for a beginner (it's actually quite good), just keep working on it.

Thanks all for the adivce - it's encouraging that I don't completely suck at this and am actually not totally hating it! I do feel like my legs need to work harder, it seems like more work is being done with back and arms than the legs at the moment.

Maybe for my 50th birthday I'll treat myself to a Concept2!

[Dangerscouse]

I definitely used to row too much upper body dominant, and I suspect that most people will do with out thinking about it as it's the handle and the chain that is what you consider to be the working element of the machine.

I found a good way of changing your mindset is to focus on pushing more with the left for one stroke then the right for one stroke then both together. You then get to better understand the feeling of pushing with your legs

Concept 2 rowers are the best so if you can treat yourself you should do it.

[Erik A]

back when i was on the erg about 15 years ago i have come to realise that i was more a brute force rower.

This time around after seeing and reading on these forums i have come to realise that there is a lot more finese involved.
a couple of things that i really need to concentrate on are.

1. Stroke rate. keeping the stroke rate at prescribed rates is quite difficult and requires real concentration on what you are doing.

2. 500m splits. keeping the power at an even level for an entire session is also a work in progress. i tend to go out a bit hard and then slack off a bit in the middle and then try and power down at the end. this seems to happen on all my sessions whether its 1 x 40 min or 4 x 10min. on the 4 x 10 min i will do a hard start on each 10 min and relax in the middle and then a hard finish. this results in an increase in split times.

and finally 3. keeping an eye on my form is starting to pay off. if i jump on and row with no thought i tend to fluctuate (see item2) . when i get on and concentrate on my form then i see a noticable increase in power out. ie i drop from 2:03-05 splits to 1:55-2:00 splits. this is really noticable when i focus on driving with the legs and relaxing on the recovery. This is still a work in progress and for me the recovery is quite difficult ie i power out on the drive then power in on the recovery so slowing that down is my next mission

[Street]

A bit of a rubbish session for me on the speed intervals this week, after a long day climbing on Saturday I just didn't have it in me and really struggled with my legs. Annoyingly I've been taking it easy this week as well as I was meant to be running a 10k this weekend and wanted to be fresh, however I've just found out it's been snowed off.. At least the rest will probably do me good!

PP 3.1 4x1km/5'r
15:15.5 - 4,000m - 1:54.4 - 26
3:50.7 - 1,000m - 1:55.3 - 26
3:50.4 - 1,000m - 1:55.2 - 25
3:50.3 - 1,000m - 1:55.1 - 26
3:44.0 - 1,000m - 1:52.0 - 27

[JerekKruger]

Just popping in to say I've spent the past week being ill. I had hoped that I might get back on the machine today, as I seemed to be getting a bit better yesterday, but alas I'm feeling a lot worse today. I will finish off my current cycle of the Pete Plan when I can, though I will probably have to take a week to get myself back into things before I can tackle week 3.

Anyway, good work everyone. Hopefully be back soon.

[RWAGR]

Get well soon Tom!

[Street]

Just popping in to say I've spent the past week being ill. I had hoped that I might get back on the machine today, as I seemed to be getting a bit better yesterday, but alas I'm feeling a lot worse today. I will finish off my current cycle of the Pete Plan when I can, though I will probably have to take a week to get myself back into things before I can tackle week 3.

Anyway, good work everyone. Hopefully be back soon.

It seems to be going around at the moment, everyone near me is dropping like flies! Get well soon.

[Dangerscouse]

Rest well Tom, it's hard to do but sometimes you just need to stop and not rush back. Easier said than done though