Pete Plan Thread

[mitchel674]

Welcome, Steve!

Great that you have dedicated to starting the BPP. I'm on my second go round. I'm curious about your pacing for the three pieces you listed. The two long (5000m) steady state pieces seem a little fast and your interval session seems a bit slow. Have you tried increasing the SPM on your interval pieces? I suspect you would be closer to 1:50 on those 500m intervals at 26-28spm.

[Dangerscouse]

Welcome to the forum Steve. I don't do the Pete Plan but I agree with Mitchel that you need to slow down the 5k and increase the 500m sprints.

The 500m sessions will hurt but you need to get used to them. Getting better and faster is a long road and will destroy your comfort zone but it's worth it

[hobbit]

Finally, something decent to report... My "weeks" have stretched with extra rest days and SS days. Plus a horrible half-finished pyramid that is best forgotten.

C2W2D3 4 x 2000m 5'r @2:05.9 29spm. A few tenths faster than last time. Finished in style, i.e. did not have to lie down .

Accompanied by the wonderful Cramps on Spotify. Good rousing stuff, with the classic "I'm a human fly" to help me through the last one.

[hobbit]

More snow here today, not the bucket loads that some places have seen, but the XC ski tracks are in good condition now. So, I've decided to stop the PP. Between XC skiing and running, there is not enough space in my schedule for a structured erging plan like PP. I'll go back to lots of SS with the odd interval session and TT. Still hoping to keep at around 50k a week.

I'll do a 2k TT to see what these 5 weeks have done for me.

Today: C2W2D4 SS: 15 min elliptics, 10min treadmill, 8k erg @2:18 19spm. Nice! The first time I've managed to keep my stroke rate so low.

[mitchel674]

BPP week 3 day 2 today did 3 x 2000m with 4 minutes rest at 2:06 for each of the intervals. Did these at the gym before my barbell workout today. When I got home I realized I was only supposed to do 2 intervals. These felt pretty good today at 28 spm.

[CaptSteve]

Hi thanks for the welcome.

Could I clarify when you say slow down on the steady state, is that pace, SPM or both? I did a couple of sessions trying to keep a slower SPM of 20 but found a natural rhythm to be more around 22 SPM. I also did a 10K instead of the 5.5K for the first session of the week to get my required time in for the Haul Challenge. I am pretty chuffed with completing the challenge, the biggest challenge I have done.

Thanks for the feedback, I will post my BPP wk 2 times when I complete the week. 4 x 750 r: 2mins tomorrow. I will try as you suggested and increase the SPM. My aim was to set an initial split and then try to increase it each week, so maybe I went a little easy on the 6 x 500, although I am not sure I would of been able to do 1:50!

Cheers Steve

[hjs]

Hi thanks for the welcome.

Could I clarify when you say slow down on the steady state, is that pace, SPM or both? I did a couple of sessions trying to keep a slower SPM of 20 but found a natural rhythm to be more around 22 SPM. I also did a 10K instead of the 5.5K for the first session of the week to get my required time in for the Haul Challenge. I am pretty chuffed with completing the challenge, the biggest challenge I have done.

Thanks for the feedback, I will post my BPP wk 2 times when I complete the week. 4 x 750 r: 2mins tomorrow. I will try as you suggested and increase the SPM. My aim was to set an initial split and then try to increase it each week, so maybe I went a little easy on the 6 x 500, although I am not sure I would of been able to do 1:50!

Cheers Steve

Speed = pace per 500

For longer "easy" rows a low spm is often best, this will build a strong stroke.

For intervals both spm and pace are faster.

Spm for longer work is often 18/22
2k racing 30 or higher.
500m sprint 40 or higher
Max pace, short sliding to around 60 spm.

Ease into everything. Good luck

[Dangerscouse]

I also find r22 to be more comfortable than r20. It's also more transferable to higher rates.

As you get used to r22 you will be able to go slower, but it's not an issue if you don't.

[CaptSteve]

I have now finished BPP week 2. I changed it up a bit, I have been used to rowing 45 minute sessions last month so I changed my 5500m to a 10,000m and a 44 minute, whilst I kept to the intervals of 750m r2' x 4. I took onboard what was said about the intervals and I went out hard and fast (for me). However, I wasn't consistent with it and felt it wasn't a good set of intervals. It was a good pace for me to do but I was not able to maintain the pace throughout the interval and was coming off the SPM and pace towards the end of each interval. I will need to work on my fitness to increase the SPM and I am going to try to be a bit more consistent with my next intervals, although probably slower.

BPP 2.1 - 31/1/2019 - 10k probably not a true SS as I was pushing it and achieved a PB

BPP 2.2 - 02/2/2019

BPP 2.3 - 03/2/2019 - I based this on HR keeping between 60%-70%, didn't manage to capture it on erg data.


BPP states to do the SS at a steady pace, I read earlier in the thread that this is U2 which I believe is 60-70% HR. So should I be looking at HR or should I be pacing it differently?

[bruinuclafan]

Hey all,

Just picked up a C2 rower 2 weeks ago and have been trying to fit it into my fitness routine. I stumbled across the Pete Plan and wanted to see if my approach was a good one. In short, I'm 34, 5'7", 170 lbs. I'm trying to get in better shape and am running the GZCLP weightlifting routine every other day. I am not a competitive rower, and have no interest in joining a rowing club or otherwise competing. This is purely for fitness. I have been rowing at Equinox and Orange Theory for about five years, albeit at much shorter distances. I recently quit all gym memberships to workout exclusively in my garage (hence the C2 purchase).

With all that said, the Pete Plan looks like a great fitness routine. I'm drawn more toward the regular plan than the beginner plan, simply because it achieves my goal of introducing a cardio routine that is roughly 30-60 minutes, and varies between steady state and interval training. I would run the PP as a 6 week cycle instead of 3, since I will only being doing cardio 3 times a week at most. I have two questions in this regard. First, is this a good approach to the PP given my goals? Second, am I making a mistake by not working through the BPP?

To give some context, I started yesterday with an 8k and finished at 2:21/500m average at 22 SPM. It was not hard and I was not short of breath, but it wasn't easy either since I had never rowed a distance like that before. To be frank, it felt awesome.

Thank you.

[CaptSteve]

Hi Bruin,

I can't really help with which plan would suit you better or not as I am just getting going on the BPP myself. I personally decided upon the BPP as I thought it will gradually build up my speed with the distances. I have been supplementing the rowing with additional pieces outside the plan or just extending the steady state sessions to a desired distance to do the time I want on the erg. Probably not a true BPP.

Good luck with it all and I look forward to hearing about your progress. I only have a C2 at work, I just need to convince my wife it would be a sound investment to have one at home!

[SowfLondonRower]

Hi Bruin. It sounds like you know your way around the erg, and know what you want to get out of it, so I don't see a problem with going on the full PP (but other people in this thread know more than me!).

Hi Steve, welcome to the BPP. I only just got a heartrate monitor, so the majority of the time I was on the plan I paced the SS pieces by feel - a pace where I knew I was working and the blood was pumping, but I wasn't begging for it to end, and could have gone on longer. That seemed to work for me, but I do now go by heart rate zones too, so I would say don't stress about small differences too much. My problem (and I think other people have the same) is going too fast on the longer sessions out of competitive spirit, so I always had to urge myself to err on the side of 'too slow'.

Also - nice consistency on the stroke rate! Took me a while to get that.

[Rowlers]

I didn't post for a while but kept rowing the past weeks. I have made it to week 24 of the BPP so really close to the end Two more rows and it is done. The past weeks were pretty straight forward and went quite well. The plan asked for a TT on the 10000m in week 23 so I gave it a go. The previous best was 41:12.6 so my goal was to finish within 41 minutes. My time was 40:53.0 with an average pace of 2:02.6 which felt pretty good.

BPP 22.1 - 12000m



BPP 22.2 - 4x2000m / 4 min rest



BPP 22.3 - 30min



BPP 23.1 - 10000m



BPP 23.2 - 8x500m / 2 min rest



BPP 23.3 - 2x15min / 2 min rest



BPP 24.1 - 12000m

[shadowpup]

Back on the Pete's Plan Wagon! Between work travel and prioritizing my climbing days, it's been two and a half days since I've rowed, and I've only done the SkiErg intervals. Nine climbing sessions and three strength training sessions managed - but that isn't moving my rowing forward. it was pretty painful to do 6000m today. I was a minute and a half slower than last time, sigh.


BPP 3.3 6000 30:06:01 /500m 2:30.5 23s/m

[bruinuclafan]

Thanks Steve and London. I've decided to go with the Pete Plan for now. I did the 5x1500/ 5:00 r this morning. Felt good for the first 2 intervals but was brutal after that. I was able to stay on pace, though, which I'm really happy about. On the last one, it was either fall off completely or go harder. For some reason there was no way I was going to keep that same pace. I've been in a daze the rest of the day. Results:

32:15.3 7500 m 2:09.0/500 27 s/m
6:29.3 1500 2:09.7 26
6:27.8 1500 2:09.2 27
6:28.4 1500 2:09.4 27
6:27.3 1500 2:09.1 28
6:22.5 1500 2:07.5 28

r3080