Pete Plan Thread

[hobbit]

Thanks for the comments folks!

C1W2D2 SS 10k @2:18 21spm df 117. Nice! The pace was slow enough and the stroke rate steady. Finished sweaty, but hardly breathing hard. As it should be. Helped along by Spotify's selection of cool Ethiopian jazz.

[RayOfSunshine]

@hobbit -- Ethiopian jazz? Hmmmmm

[mitchel674]

Ray, have you started the BPP over again? I may join you.

Oops! Just noted you are on the skierg. Good luck with that!

[shadowpup]

Wow, so glad I reviewed the BPP instructions after getting everyone's advice! Consistency was far harder than the longer distance or even keeping an even heart rate. Two identical strokes in a row was a victory.

My goal, 2:27, roughly the average of my last 5k+ row, and getting my stroke rate to 21s/m.

24:28.8 5000 2:26.8 21

4:54.6 1000 2:27.3 22
4:52.3 2000 2:26.1 21
4:53.4 3000 2:26.7 21
4:55.5 4000 2:27.1 21
4:53.1 5000 2:26.5 20

[SowfLondonRower]

Good sessions everyone!

Back to it for me after a small Xmas break

BPP 22.1: 12,000m


BPP 22.2: 4x2km, 4min rest. Got a heart rate monitor from my parents for Xmas, and the end of this last rep must be pretty near my absolute max I reckon. Was absolutely wrecked!


BPP 22.3: 30mins. According to my calculations, 153 is the upper limit of UT2 for me, so this was pretty much within that.


BPP 22.4: 3x10mins, 2min rest. See above.

[RayOfSunshine]

@Mitchel, if you're feeling the need for structure... go for it! The 5k PP or regular PP are good options as well.

@ShadowPup, sometimes on the SS pieces, I'll count how many exact stokes I can get in a row... e.g. 2:20 @ 24 spm. It can be very frustrating. Another thing I've learned is to set the splits. On a PM5, you can have up to 50 splits. For the 60' rows, I use 50 1:12 splits. I did a 30' TT and my goal was 7500m (2:00 pace), so I set it for 15 2:00 splits. I didn't get it the 1st time, but I could tell a lot about where it went wrong. I nailed it the 2nd time.

Now that I've joined FB and the concept 2 page, I see these OCD rowers. It blows my mind how they can be so consistent.

@Rob... that's an outstanding 2k set. Paced beautifully with a crushing final rep! You won that battle.

BPP 22.2: 4x2km, 4min rest. Got a heart rate monitor from my parents for Xmas, and the end of this last rep must be pretty near my absolute max I reckon. Was absolutely wrecked!

[shadowpup]

Happy start of the first weekend in 2019!

For the experienced BPP folk, do you find it more beneficial to set a goal of completing the three "required" BPP workouts in a week, or to stretch your "week" into ten days and do the 3+2 workouts? Or did you ever repeat a week? I learned quite a bit about what I *don't* know from BPP 1. Can't decide whether to repeat/extend that first week to solidify the lessons, or whether it's better to move on to BPP 2 and just trust the process to help solidify all those gaps I discovered … To be clear, it isn't the distances or the time or the endurance - it's the ability to be consistent. I'm also wondering if it is okay to increase my target pace for BPP 2.1 by a little, since BPP 2.2 and 2.3 pace is set from the average of BPP 2.1 .

[Ombrax]

Back to it for me after a small Xmas break

BPP 22.1: 12,000m

Rob, what happened in that third split? Looks like your stroke rate went haywire for a bit there.

Then your time for the fourth - you slowed waaaay down.

I have to say, you're a machine. Try as I might (mostly just for kicks) I can't come anywhere close to that sort of consistency.

[RayOfSunshine]

For the experienced BPP folk, do you find it more beneficial to set a goal of completing the three "required" BPP workouts in a week, or to stretch your "week" into ten days and do the 3+2 workouts? Or did you ever repeat a week? I learned quite a bit about what I *don't* know from BPP 1. Can't decide whether to repeat/extend that first week to solidify the lessons, or whether it's better to move on to BPP 2 and just trust the process to help solidify all those gaps I discovered … To be clear, it isn't the distances or the time or the endurance - it's the ability to be consistent. I'm also wondering if it is okay to increase my target pace for BPP 2.1 by a little, since BPP 2.2 and 2.3 pace is set from the average of BPP 2.1 .

Great questions!
I originally started out with the intention of doing all 5 workouts in a 7 day week. Work, injuries (or my body screaming to take a break), mini-vacays, etc. quickly threw a wrench into that. I then changed my goal to make sure I did all 5 workouts for all weeks. Sometimes it would be done in a 7, 10, or 12 days. I learned (by failure) to listen to my body. I'm guessing the BPP took me 35-40 weeks.

I did repeat 2 or 3 of the weeks early on because I felt it would be best. I wasn't competing against time or anyone else, so it really is just a personal choice.

I increased my target paces almost every week for over half the program. Every person is different, but I was making a lot of big early gains and needed to increase my targets to make it challenging. The gains became less dramatic as the plan went on, so the need to set aggressive targets diminished.

[RayOfSunshine]

Rob, what happened in that third split? Looks like your stroke rate went haywire for a bit there.

Then your time for the fourth - you slowed waaaay down.

Pure slop!!! Re-row!

[mitchel674]

Happy start of the first weekend in 2019!

For the experienced BPP folk, do you find it more beneficial to set a goal of completing the three "required" BPP workouts in a week, or to stretch your "week" into ten days and do the 3+2 workouts? Or did you ever repeat a week? I learned quite a bit about what I *don't* know from BPP 1. Can't decide whether to repeat/extend that first week to solidify the lessons, or whether it's better to move on to BPP 2 and just trust the process to help solidify all those gaps I discovered … To be clear, it isn't the distances or the time or the endurance - it's the ability to be consistent. I'm also wondering if it is okay to increase my target pace for BPP 2.1 by a little, since BPP 2.2 and 2.3 pace is set from the average of BPP 2.1 .

I finished the complete BPP last year. I would view those optional rows as optional and focus on getting the three required rows in each week. The benefit to me of advancing weekly was the steadily increasing distance on the steady state rows. Don't get caught up in doing all 5 rows each week. Just move on to the next week. It's a long plan and you make great strides as you are constantly challenging your pace from prior rows.

[RayOfSunshine]

I just found this... it took me 33 weeks & 2 days to finish the BPP.

12/16/2017 - 8/6/2018

BPP 25.5
4x1k, 3r



RIP BPP
12/16/2017 - 8/6/2018

[hobbit]

Had an unplanned rest day yesterday - slight chill & cough. Back on course today with a little cracker:

Pete Plan C1 W2 D3 4 x 2k at 5k pace + 0.5. I decided to aim for 2:06.

And first time out with my heart rate monitor - a Wahoo Tickr. Was OK, apart from claiming that I died briefly during the last interval



This was tough. I was counting the strokes left on the last one. And I faded a little bit. But I hit the target on the nail. Nice.

[SowfLondonRower]

@Rob... that's an outstanding 2k set. Paced beautifully with a crushing final rep! You won that battle.

Thanks Ray, i really dug deep and got a good sense of achievement out of it!

For the experienced BPP folk, do you find it more beneficial to set a goal of completing the three "required" BPP workouts in a week, or to stretch your "week" into ten days and do the 3+2 workouts?

I would agree with what others have said, I try to do a week of the plan in a week of time, which means that sometimes I only get the 3 core sessions in, sometimes 4 and sometimes all 5. Moving up the distances on the SS sessions, and seeing the improvement from repeating interval sessions every few weeks were for me the real motivating factors of the plan. Of course sometimes life gets in the way so a few times I've had to stretch a week of sessions over 14 days or so.

Rob, what happened in that third split? Looks like your stroke rate went haywire for a bit there.

Haha, I knew someone would pick up on my inconsistency! I've found that the only way to stop myself from pushing too hard on longer sessions is to put my entire focus on hitting the splits exactly (and it makes a pretty screen!)

This was tough. I was counting the strokes left on the last one. And I faded a little bit. But I hit the target on the nail. Nice.

Nice work grinding out the last rep. My HRM is a wahoo tickr too, seems to be working well for me so far.

Another faster session for me today, another tough one. BPP 22.5: 5x800m, 2min rest


P.S. sorry for the long post but there's a lot more activity in this thread now which is great!

[hobbit]

Pete Plan C1W2D4 SS 8k. Don't usually post these, but first time with my heart monitor - confirmed that I am in UT2 territory