Pete Plan Thread

[RayOfSunshine]

Welcome Cujo!


Here's a link to some acronyms. Feel free to ask anything on here.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=110942

As far as pacing... I wish I would've read the instructions more often when I did the BPP
"The three key points you want to concentrate on during all of your erg sessions are technique, relaxation, and efficiency. Use the single distance pieces to work on the different elements of the stroke you read about in the technique section. Aim for a feeling of smooth acceleration through the drive, and to be slow and relaxed during the recovery."

I have been rowing a little over a year and still watch videos on form/technique often.

[Dangerscouse]

@ Cujo, in addition to what Mitchel and Ray have covered , don't forget a lot of us have been rowing for years and we were all slow to start with too; everyone is!

There are no short cuts to lots and lots of metres on the rower at varying stroke rates and intensities.

For your steady state sessions keep your HR at 65-70% and intervals I'd not bother with HR and just push it as hard as you feel able to. I always find HR to be a limiting factor for the faster paced sessions.

Best of luck with it all and don't hesitate to ask questions

[hobbit]

After my first few tries, my times are embarrassingly slow. At my age, my goal is just better overall fitness. It’s amazing how fast and strong most of the people on here are!

Welcome to the forum! As a relative newcomer myself, I reckon that nowhere is friendlier. You just have to remember that some of the posters are among the fastest in the world for their age, and in several cases are actual world record holders. To get there, they have worked hard and long. So, you have to learn to "erg your own erg". We're all different with different goals. Have fun!

[Leomarweb]

New C2 rower here with some light experience from OrangeTheory. I started the BPP last Friday and did the second week 1 5000m with the following stats...

5000m
2:07.3/500m
21 s/m
No breaks

Should I be finishing up these longer, slower sessions completely gassed or should they be truly slower with room at the end for more? I've read the accompanying descriptions for the workouts and I get the focus on consistency, I am just not clear on what state I should be leaving the rower by the time the workout is over.

[mitchel674]

New C2 rower here with some light experience from OrangeTheory. I started the BPP last Friday and did the second week 1 5000m with the following stats...

5000m
2:07.3/500m
21 s/m
No breaks

Should I be finishing up these longer, slower sessions completely gassed or should they be truly slower with room at the end for more? I've read the accompanying descriptions for the workouts and I get the focus on consistency, I am just not clear on what state I should be leaving the rower by the time the workout is over.

Welcome! Hard to say anything about your pace without knowing anything about your level of fitness and rowing acumen.

It's great that you were able to finish the first 5000m session. Pete describes these first few long rows as an opportunity to work on your form and technique at a slower pace. Time spent honing your rowing skills now will pay off big for you in the future. Resist the urge to go out too strong (orangetheory) for these long rows. Since you are familiar with HR monitoring through Orangetheory, you may want to consider using one for these long rows and aim for 70% of your MHR.

[RayOfSunshine]

New C2 rower here with some light experience from OrangeTheory. I started the BPP last Friday and did the second week 1 5000m with the following stats...

5000m
2:07.3/500m
21 s/m
No breaks

Should I be finishing up these longer, slower sessions completely gassed or should they be truly slower with room at the end for more? I've read the accompanying descriptions for the workouts and I get the focus on consistency, I am just not clear on what state I should be leaving the rower by the time the workout is over.

Definitely not gassed!! If you don't have a HR monitor, I'd say the pace of a decent jog where you can still converse.

[shadowpup]

Back to my rower! Had to make several adjustments between work and snow, since I last logged the rower on 1/12. In the meantime, though, I did several other workouts: SkiErg 4000m, three climbing sessions, strength work, and a handful of mobility exercises. It also took me about two hours to shovel out the driveway and deck

For this session, the last of BPP week 2, I was aiming for 2:22 with higher quality than the last time I did a long piece.

BPP 2.3 5500 26:01.1 2:21.9 24 s/m.

Heart rate ranged from high green/70% towards the top of yellow (80-90% HRM), not breaking into red this time. My recovery time from 90% HRM, down to 50% HRM, was around 3 minutes.

I alternated between focusing on an even stroke rate, hitting my desired 500m time, and the "feel" of a strong even push with my legs and a relaxed return. Changing focus every 1K meters or so in rotation. As a brand new rower (at least, never having done more than warm up on one before getting this one around Thanksgiving), this seems to help keep things interesting as well as reinforce different ways of assessing quality ...

[mitchel674]

Back to my rower! Had to make several adjustments between work and snow, since I last logged the rower on 1/12. In the meantime, though, I did several other workouts: SkiErg 4000m, three climbing sessions, strength work, and a handful of mobility exercises. It also took me about two hours to shovel out the driveway and deck

For this session, the last of BPP week 2, I was aiming for 2:22 with higher quality than the last time I did a long piece.

BPP 2.3 5500 26:01.1 2:21.9 24 s/m.

Heart rate ranged from high green/70% towards the top of yellow (80-90% HRM), not breaking into red this time. My recovery time from 90% HRM, down to 50% HRM, was around 3 minutes.

I alternated between focusing on an even stroke rate, hitting my desired 500m time, and the "feel" of a strong even push with my legs and a relaxed return. Changing focus every 1K meters or so in rotation. As a brand new rower (at least, never having done more than warm up on one before getting this one around Thanksgiving), this seems to help keep things interesting as well as reinforce different ways of assessing quality ...

Sounds great!

I also completed BPP 2.3 yesterday for 5500m at 2:14 r22. This was a nice warmup for me prior to my barbell workout at the gym. I don't have any snow here to shovel in Florida.

[Leomarweb]

Definitely not gassed!! If you don't have a HR monitor, I'd say the pace of a decent jog where you can still converse.

That's definitely not where I was getting off the rower. The only thing I could say in between panting was "f***!". I do see my split times decreasing throughout the week starting from 1.1 2:13 dropping to 1.5 2:01. My goal with last night 2x10:00 was to net 5000m to better position myself for a strong start going into wk 2. I fell short by 52m which sucked because there were several second in the second set when I got down to 3 minutes left where I let my brain win before I regained my form and resituated myself and got back down to a 2:00-2:02 split.

4,952m
2x10:00/2:00r
2:01.1/500m
22 s/m
r34

What I was happy to see and which also distracted me a bit causing me to push harder in the first interval was that I pulled a sub 8min 2k. I definitely need to work on focusing on the session at hand.

Welcome! Hard to say anything about your pace without knowing anything about your level of fitness and rowing acumen.

It's great that you were able to finish the first 5000m session. Pete describes these first few long rows as an opportunity to work on your form and technique at a slower pace. Time spent honing your rowing skills now will pay off big for you in the future. Resist the urge to go out too strong (orangetheory) for these long rows. Since you are familiar with HR monitoring through Orangetheory, you may want to consider using one for these long rows and aim for 70% of your MHR.

Not sure how to accurately convey my fitness level. About a year ago, just before I started OTF, I weighed 30lbs more than I do now and my activity level was sedentary with a proficiency in opening chip bags. As far as rowing is concerned, I never did any rowing prior to OTF and I went from being able to barely do a 500m (yep, no zero missing there) to being a fairly strong rower comparatively speaking, at least on sprints which is generally what OTF is focused on.

I went into the 5k confident I could finish and I managed a fairly consistent pace but I was definitely ready to catch my breath. I just ordered a Polar H10 today so I will be able to track my HR and use that as a good gauge. It's tough to do that with the OTF HRM due to proprietary nonsense and my FitBit doesn't do the % very well.

[mitchel674]

New C2 rower here with some light experience from OrangeTheory. I started the BPP last Friday and did the second week 1 5000m with the following stats...

5000m
2:07.3/500m
21 s/m
No breaks

Should I be finishing up these longer, slower sessions completely gassed or should they be truly slower with room at the end for more? I've read the accompanying descriptions for the workouts and I get the focus on consistency, I am just not clear on what state I should be leaving the rower by the time the workout is over.

Definitely not gassed!! If you don't have a HR monitor, I'd say the pace of a decent jog where you can still converse.

That's definitely not where I was getting off the rower. The only thing I could say in between panting was "f***!". I do see my split times decreasing throughout the week starting from 1.1 2:13 dropping to 1.5 2:01. My goal with last night 2x10:00 was to net 5000m to better position myself for a strong start going into wk 2. I fell short by 52m which sucked because there were several second in the second set when I got down to 3 minutes left where I let my brain win before I regained my form and resituated my self and got back down to a 2:00-2:02 split.

4,952m
2x10:00/2:00r
2:01.1/500m
22 s/m
r34

What I was happy to see and which also distracted me a bit causing me to push harder in the first interval was that I pulled a sub 8min 2k. I definitely need to work on focusing on the session at hand.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you are doing too much too fast. These early weeks on the BPP are your foundation. Resist the urge to go full blast on all these pieces. Future sessions will be based on these early times and you are not getting the benefit of the longer steady state rows.

Follow Pete's advice:

5000m – Look back at the average pace of your last 5000m session a few days ago. Aim to row at that pace consistently through this session, and don’t give in to any temptations to go faster, especially towards the start. Remember “technique, relaxation, efficiency”.

[20min] – First week and you’re already thinking about doing extra sessions? Make sure you’re not over-doing it early on, rest is a very important part of any training plan. Whether your 5000m sessions have been taking you more or less than 20mins, aim to row this session at a slower pace, concentrating on making each stroke more efficient than the last.

[2 x 10min / 2min rest] – 5 sessions in the first week, you must be keen. Have a go at your first longer interval session. Breaking up the 20min row like this allows you a short break to regain your full concentration, and make sure to take on some water while you can. Row the first 10min at the same pace as your 20min session, and then aim to just beat the distance on the second 10min.

[Leomarweb]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you are doing too much too fast. These early weeks on the BPP are your foundation. Resist the urge to go full blast on all these pieces. Future sessions will be based on these early times and you are not getting the benefit of the longer steady state rows.

Follow Pete's advice:

5000m – Look back at the average pace of your last 5000m session a few days ago. Aim to row at that pace consistently through this session, and don’t give in to any temptations to go faster, especially towards the start. Remember “technique, relaxation, efficiency”.

[20min] – First week and you’re already thinking about doing extra sessions? Make sure you’re not over-doing it early on, rest is a very important part of any training plan. Whether your 5000m sessions have been taking you more or less than 20mins, aim to row this session at a slower pace, concentrating on making each stroke more efficient than the last.

[2 x 10min / 2min rest] – 5 sessions in the first week, you must be keen. Have a go at your first longer interval session. Breaking up the 20min row like this allows you a short break to regain your full concentration, and make sure to take on some water while you can. Row the first 10min at the same pace as your 20min session, and then aim to just beat the distance on the second 10min.

Thanks, Mitchel! I went back and edited my previous comment to also include a response to yours from yesterday. Other than wanting to go all in on these workouts, I think part of the issue for me was I had never done a 2k in one sitting, let alone a 5k, so I didn't know what a manageable pace would be. I may go back through week 1 just to get a better base line now that I have a better idea of where I have ended up so that I do not end up putting too much pressure on myself in the following weeks of BPP.

[mitchel674]

@leomarwab Great enthusiasm!

Just remember that the BPP is a 24 week slog meant for beginners. Don't get burnt out early by trying to crush every workout those first few weeks. The interval training is where you put in that crushing effort to see what you can do. The longer pieces are meant to gradually build your steady state base at a reasonable pace.

[hobbit]

Pete Plan C2W1D1 8 x 500m R3:30. Averaged @1:56.3 32spm 145bpm.

Really pleased. Last time was @1:58.5 with much more drama. 2 second improvement in pace. I won't be doing that very often.

Warm-up: 10min elliptics + 10 x 1min run/1min walk on the treadmill 11km/h / 5.5km/h. Getting back into running.

Warm down: 2k @2:20 20spm.

[shadowpup]

Sounds great!

I also completed BPP 2.3 yesterday for 5500m at 2:14 r22. This was a nice warmup for me prior to my barbell workout at the gym. I don't have any snow here to shovel in Florida.

That's a nice time, especially since yours felt like a warmup! And I suspect most of your stroke rate actually was 22, not a series of 20, 24, … as mine was.

When it gets cold in Florida, lizards fall from the trees. Or so it appeared from last year's pics. I don't want to think what snow would cause Maryland snow doesn't get as bad as what I was used to in Idaho and eastern Washington, in terms of snow depth, but the drivers are far more of a menace.

We have more snow incoming, and if it sticks, this weekend will be weights and rowing and the SkiErg, and climbing will have to wait.

[Cujo]

Thanks for the warm welcome! I finally read through this entire thread and am starting to grasp some of the concepts a bit better!

Also, I appreciate Mitchel, Ray, Stu, and Hobbit for answering my questions. Thanks again! There are a bunch of core contributors here that are extremely knowledgeable that help, motivate, and educate. Not to mention, they are world class athletes. Pretty neat if you ask me!