Concentration!

[old] jus gray · Post by **[old] jus gray** » December 1st, 2004, 5:04 pm

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td class='genmed'>QUOTE (Steve_R @ Nov 28 2004, 10:03 PM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quote'> Trident- I think the most compelling reason is the fact that Jus started rowing a few weeks ago (Nov '04) Jus- Just keep focusing on rowing technique - your time will fall. I started just under 9min @ 2k the first time I sat down. It took me about 7 weeks to get to 7:36. My previous best was 8:03 and I realized that if I was still standing at the end of it, I wasn't pushing hard enough. That was what got me to improve my PB by :27 in the course of a week. Since then, I haven't attemped another 2k, just rowed. I'll probably try another again after the holiday challenge is over. As far as distractions, I get several. Having my erg at home, my four year old loves to beg me to get off the rower so that he can row. When that doesn't work, he tries other distractions. I don't cover up the display. Being a new rower, my stroke is not brainless and I find myself shifting concentration between drive, recovery, finish, catch, mental time calculations, S10PS, pace, rate, etc. I also add in 20 heavy strokes every 5 min during my 45 min workouts. Distraction is necessary for me to stop thinking about the time elapsed. The key for me is to concentrate on anything but the time. As far as time goes, I find it is easier to count down time or meters than watch it count up. I just think, "it is only another 15 mins" not "I'm 30 mins into my workout." Totally psychological but it may work for you. Steve  </td></tr></table> Thanks Steve much apprechiated mate.

[old] michaelb · Post by **[old] michaelb** » December 1st, 2004, 11:49 pm

I posted this pic of my rowing setup in an earlier thread, but here it is again. I have a TV, music playing, and rowpro all to keep me entertained. This already seems like the perfect view, but I would like to add dual wide screen LCDs and a Cbreeze some day. <a href='http://sorella3.myfastmail.com/rowpro2.jpg' target='_blank'>http://sorella3.myfastmail.com/rowpro2. ... br> And then you get days like today. Five minutes into an hour long row, I realized with horror that the next thing on TV was the Jessica Simpson Holiday Christmas Special. We all face moments like this in our rows when we want to go handle down. As we struggle to continue, we hope that if we can hold on for the next few minutes the pain will fade. But this was beyond belief (ok, as far as I could tell, they sang Christmas songs with their tongues frozen to a cold metal pole). I do hour long rows to build mental strength. It is a testament to the seductive power of rowpro that I was able to finish this row and survive the ordeal.

[old] whp4 · Post by **[old] whp4** » December 1st, 2004, 11:56 pm

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td class='genmed'>QUOTE (michaelb @ Dec 2 2004, 03:49 AM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quote'> And then you get days like today. Five minutes into an hour long row, I realized with horror that the next thing on TV was the Jessica Simpson Holiday Christmas Special. We all face moments like this in our rows when we want to go handle down. As we struggle to continue, we hope that if we can hold on for the next few minutes the pain will fade. But this was beyond belief (ok, as far as I could tell, they sang Christmas songs with their tongues frozen to a cold metal pole). I do hour long rows to build mental strength. It is a testament to the seductive power of rowpro that I was able to finish this row and survive the ordeal. </td></tr></table> And I thought staying on the erg for 100k in one go was tough - you da man!

[old] Sid9DC · Post by **[old] Sid9DC** » December 2nd, 2004, 1:10 am

The best inspiration I have is as a result of the PM3 monitor. I used to think with the PM2 that I would just die of boredom after much more than 6k. Now I always do 10k pieces at maximum effort. There are two reasons why the PM3 is particularly good for this: (1) With the Rerow feature, I can choose an old workout just slightly slower than I expect to row. That way, as long as I see myself ahead of my old time, I feel compelled to finish the piece just to beat myself, even if I'm not setting a personal best. (2) The standard splits stored on the PM3 for a 10k row are every 2k meters. (The times displayed are the standard /500m times, but they're only saved every 2k meters.) Which means that if you do Rerow, you're rowing for the first 2k against your average for the first 2k from the old workout selected, and then your average for the second 2k and so forth. Because my times (/500m) tend to go up a second or two for each 2k except for the last one, what this means (if I were to row at exactly the pace of a previous row) is that I pull ahead for the first half of each 2k mini-piece but struggle to keep up for the second half. Which has the effect of making me look forward to the beginning of the next 2k -- which by the time I'm struggling is never too far off -- when I can add more open water between my current race and the Rerow boat displayed on the screen. With the PM2, all I could look forward to was getting off the erg. Hope this helps. Sid

[old] DavidA · Post by **[old] DavidA** » December 2nd, 2004, 3:05 pm

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td class='genmed'>QUOTE (michaelb @ Dec 1 2004, 11:49 PM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quote'> And then you get days like today. Five minutes into an hour long row, I realized with horror that the next thing on TV was the Jessica Simpson Holiday Christmas Special. We all face moments like this in our rows when we want to go handle down. As we struggle to continue, we hope that if we can hold on for the next few minutes the pain will fade. But this was beyond belief (ok, as far as I could tell, they sang Christmas songs with their tongues frozen to a cold metal pole). I do hour long rows to build mental strength. It is a testament to the seductive power of rowpro that I was able to finish this row and survive the ordeal.  </td></tr></table> That's why I try and keep the TV remote on a low surface where I can reach while rowing. During a recovery I can quickly reach for the change channel button. I can usually get in one press per recovery. I don't normally watch TV, but I like it as distraction for most of rowing, which is most often 30 min or more. I am willing to put up with some level of stupidity, but many shows are soooooo bad that I just can't do it. I don't know how you managed to do it for so long . The last 5 min of an hour row - okay, but the last 55 min

[old] neilb · Post by **[old] neilb** » December 11th, 2004, 1:59 pm

Others coming and going with poor technique/fitness provides inspiration and determination to keep going (am I too smug when someone next to me doing 35+ strokes per minute with crap technique looks across and sees that my split time for 500m is way better than theirs before and after even at only say 21 spm). On 5k and 10k rows I tend to try and break them down. For example on 5k 5,000 - 4,000 still fresh and strong, techinque and timing are key. 4,000 - 3,500m; first 1,000m done, next 500m concentrate on technique. 3,500 - 3,000m; focus on maintaining split time, then only 3k to go (2/5 ths done!) 3,000 - 2,500m only 3k to go (2/5 ths done!) then next 500m will be halfway!. Maintain split and and technique. 2,500 - 2,000m; next 500m leaves only 2k, and that is easy, so again just concentrate on technique and split time. Once I get to 2k I need to focus on timing to avoid getting carried away and burning out. 2,000-1,000m; so far so go so why waste the good work so far; need to press on and achieve good result. This is where concentration can wander so I will start to use the "ten count". For me each stroke is about 10 metres and so counting down the stokes 10 - 0 takes 100 metrs off and then you start again. I find this helps maintain the rhythm and avoids my mind wandering (this is the hard stage and I find that if I start to look elsewhere then I start to lose it.) 1000- 500m; home straight -once this is done then only 500m left which we all know is easy! again concentrate on the split time to avoid burnt out. 500 - end; only 5 counts of 10. So, 10 good smooth stokes and only 400m to go and so on. Quite sad I know but it works me me. 10k just needs good steady 5k bolted onto the front of this. At the end of the day it is what works for you; if you can use the distractions to help time pass WITHOUT this affecting your times then great and helpful if just plodding along but if you want to get good results each time then need to have a focus be it the chain, split times, strokes or combination of these.

[old] jus gray · Post by **[old] jus gray** » December 11th, 2004, 2:35 pm

Thanks neilb excelent breakdown of your rowing.

[old] Godfried · Post by **[old] Godfried** » December 11th, 2004, 2:41 pm

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td class='genmed'>QUOTE (neilb @ Dec 11 2004, 07:59 PM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>2,000-1,000m; so far so go so why waste the good work so far . . . Quite sad I know but it works me me. </td></tr></table> Thanks for sharing. Nothing sad in there!

[old] Willa · Post by **[old] Willa** » December 12th, 2004, 7:38 pm

i feel like i'm in the same boat here (worringly). I pull a 2k time of about 8mins atm, and I am a reasonably fit guy who has been rowing for a couple of months now. Admitably I don't feel achey afterwards, the bit which screams "stop" is the sick feeling I get, am I right in saying this suggests I've not got v good stamina? So should I tackle that with doing erging for long time periods? How can I get that 2k time down (I reckon if I went for it full on with motivation from a friend I could go perhaps 7:40 but I really want to go 7:30 comfortably.....someone help please!)

[old] neilb · Post by **[old] neilb** » December 13th, 2004, 8:33 am

Willa, I always say that you need plenty of the basic building blocks which as you have identified are the longer sessions. There are a number of detailed training schedules within the training guides on this site but underpinning it all is lots of good solid 5k, 10k, 30min, 45min etc sessions. I recall Steve Redgrave writing that this was one of the things that made a difference to their training in the early days; less sprints and more big long rows. Also, make sure you technique is solid and remains so even when pushing for the really fast times. (and remember to breath!)

[old] Mark Keating · Post by **[old] Mark Keating** » December 14th, 2004, 9:43 pm

Hi Willa; I haven't been rowing that long, but one of the tips that I picked up from this forum that I feel really helped is to row strapless for a period of time. I felt that this has really helped my balance and forced me to concentrate on a stronger leg drive than what I was doing previously. You may also want to try a lower stroke rate, I am not sure.

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