Rowing. There is no substitute.

[gcanyon]

(with apologies to Porsche)

Two years ago I was rowing every day. I had a set of standard workouts I did pretty randomly, from an easy 5K, to a medium 10K, to a hard 30 minute row. I tracked my average and max heart rate when doing those rows. During that time I ran a half marathon, a 10K, and a 5K. I did not train for those at all; I literally ran about ten miles total training for those three runs. The half-marathon went well. The 10K I ran about as fast as I had ever run a 10K in the past when I was running much more. The 5K I ran much faster than any other 5K I have run.

So: sample size of 1, but rowing can absolutely prepare you for running, although for longer distances, a bit of distance running would be helpful.

Lately I've been alternating daily between running and strength training. I run treadmill 5Ks, 10Ks and other distances. The weather has warmed up a bit so I put the erg on the balcony and tried the easy 5K workout. When I was doing it regularly two years ago, my average heart rate for the 5K was about 120 BPM -- like I said, easy. Yesterday doing a 5K I averaged 151 BPM. That's really disappointing.

So yeah, back on the erg.

[Gammmmo]

What are your HM, 10K and 5K run times, out of interest? I'm going to speculate that you've never got that near your ceiling with regard to running. Generally with any sport specificity is key.

[gyomalley]

Hi Gammo and GCanyon,
I'm a fairly new to erging but a long-time runner. I'm planning to incorporate erging into my next half-marathon (running) training plan.
What would you recommend my training plan (general) should be? Or do you have recommendation on any training plan that's available online that I can utilize?
Thanks!

[hobbit]

I'm using rowing for cross training for running. I'd suggest that you just do steady state rowing to improve your base cardio fitness, without the stress on the joints that running causes.

If you really get the erging bug and want to improve your times, then you can look at the various Pete Plans, which are exhaustively discusssed on their own thread.