Pete Plan Thread

[scottsaz1]

I don't know about the logbook, but the PM5 takes the HR at the end of the interval. That's why I set the intervals to be short. For example, you could' break 8k into 50 160m splits to get a better average.

Interesting, Ray - seems strange that it picked up a HR that wasn't even in the file. Oh well....will try shorter intervals next time!

[scottsaz1]

BPP 7.2, 7x500, 2' rest

After an awful 8k the other day, I went into this interval session yesterday with guarded apprehension.

Turns out it was my best row so far on the BPP. First time averaging under 1:50/500m



Today's 8k (BPP 7.3) was a nice recovery row, UT2 @ r19.

[RayOfSunshine]

BPP 7.2, 7x500, 2' rest

After an awful 8k the other day, I went into this interval session yesterday with guarded apprehension.

Turns out it was my best row so far on the BPP. First time averaging under 1:50/500m

That's a big mental boost right there. There are a lot more gains to be had as well. Keep up the great work!

[rascott]

hi all...have been off the rower (and everything else) for a couple of weeks with a cold. At the age of 49 the common cold seems to wipe me out for a couple of weeks from doing any hard exercise.

Decided I'd had enough time off so went for a 6K hard effort for PP 2.5. Probably not the best idea for a first row back but I am a stickler for a plan and my OCD wouldn't let me do an easy 5k. Anyway my PB is 23:50 and I got nowhere close to that. Nice to be back though,

[scottsaz1]

hi all...have been off the rower (and everything else) for a couple of weeks with a cold. At the age of 49 the common cold seems to wipe me out for a couple of weeks from doing any hard exercise.

Decided I'd had enough time off so went for a 6K hard effort for PP 2.5. Probably not the best idea for a first row back but I am a stickler for a plan and my OCD wouldn't let me do an easy 5k. Anyway my PB is 23:50 and I got nowhere close to that. Nice to be back though,

Robert - totally hear you on being sick and recovery. Over the years it has been the one thing that always seems to derail my progress (1 week turns into 4 months lol).

Nice job coming back even though it wasn't a PB. Impressively consistent rating

[ukaserex]

After running into a bit of a plateau a couple of weeks ago on the 8 reps of 500, I thought I would just break from Pete's Plan and do some steady state rows for most of the 10k's in the month of March to coincide with the 10k a day March Mud Challenge.

Today, I got back into it, and knocked out the 8 reps with a target pace of 137.7 My max HR is 178

ErgData didn't cooperate today. During the first rep, it stopped tracking, basically crashing, but I didn't notice until I was half way through my 3:00 rest.
I reprogrammed the workout, because when I tried to reconnect ErgData, the workout got lost. Pretty sure I restarted it within 3 minutes, though.
On the 7th rep, I noticed 100 meters in that ErgData disconnected again. I'm confident that's why I lost that half second in that split. I was distracted, and well, irritated.

The disturbing thing, aside from ErgData not working properly was how easy the first 300 meters are, and how hard the last 200 are. I did not use a rolling start with any of the reps. It took me about 140 meters to get my projected finish to agree with my average split pace.



time meter /500 s/m hr
12:54.8 4000 1:36.9 33
1:37.0 500 1:37.0 35 157
1:37.6 500 1:37.6 33 161
1:37.6 500 1:37.6 34 162
1:37.0 500 1:37 33 164
1:37.0 500 1:37 33 164
1:36.9 500 1:36.9 32 166
1:37.5 500 1:37.5 34 164
1:34.2 500 1:34.2 36 166


I have a 2k for time trial in a couple of weeks. Typically, I come out strong for 200 meters, and then settle into my race pace (this time I am hoping to keep a pace of 1:38 at worst, but really hoping I can hold onto 1:37.4 average split) and then with 200 meters left, I go full out, sometimes shortening my stroke to let my legs do almost all the work. This really brings the pace down, but I lose meters on the return. I think it's worth it, as the monitor reads a much faster split time, although the meters don't seem to drop from the distance left as fast as I'd like. Invariably, I realize this with 70-80 meters left and return to proper form, pushing as hard as I can, as fast as I can, often getting a rate of 42-48. I believe Cameron Nichol's YouTube video is at least partly behind my strategy, if not the source for all of it. I don't often "turn the screw" as he suggests with 750 meters left, as that's the worst part of the row for me.

For those who like the "Work" or Watts divided by S/M, All the values came up in the 11.x range, so I'm pretty pleased with the effort.

That said, it was really difficult to maintain the 1:36-1:38 pace for the 500 meters. The 2k trial is going to be here soon, and this may be the first time I don't improve my previous PR, as I don't think 10 weeks is enough time to get much improvement. Intellectually, I'm thinking I can at least improve by a second or two, but I really outdid myself in February; improving on it by even a second will be very hard. I want sub 6:30 so badly, I can taste it, though! I've been watching the diet, and I believe, doing some pretty good work on the rower. It's going to be a very tense time waiting to do that 2k...

[Tenshuu]

After running into a bit of a plateau a couple of weeks ago on the 8 reps of 500, I thought I would just break from Pete's Plan and do some steady state rows for most of the 10k's in the month of March to coincide with the 10k a day March Mud Challenge.

Today, I got back into it, and knocked out the 8 reps with a target pace of 137.7 My max HR is 178

ErgData didn't cooperate today. During the first rep, it stopped tracking, basically crashing, but I didn't notice until I was half way through my 3:00 rest.
I reprogrammed the workout, because when I tried to reconnect ErgData, the workout got lost. Pretty sure I restarted it within 3 minutes, though.
On the 7th rep, I noticed 100 meters in that ErgData disconnected again. I'm confident that's why I lost that half second in that split. I was distracted, and well, irritated.

The disturbing thing, aside from ErgData not working properly was how easy the first 300 meters are, and how hard the last 200 are. I did not use a rolling start with any of the reps. It took me about 140 meters to get my projected finish to agree with my average split pace.



time meter /500 s/m hr
12:54.8 4000 1:36.9 33
1:37.0 500 1:37.0 35 157
1:37.6 500 1:37.6 33 161
1:37.6 500 1:37.6 34 162
1:37.0 500 1:37 33 164
1:37.0 500 1:37 33 164
1:36.9 500 1:36.9 32 166
1:37.5 500 1:37.5 34 164
1:34.2 500 1:34.2 36 166


I have a 2k for time trial in a couple of weeks. Typically, I come out strong for 200 meters, and then settle into my race pace (this time I am hoping to keep a pace of 1:38 at worst, but really hoping I can hold onto 1:37.4 average split) and then with 200 meters left, I go full out, sometimes shortening my stroke to let my legs do almost all the work. This really brings the pace down, but I lose meters on the return. I think it's worth it, as the monitor reads a much faster split time, although the meters don't seem to drop from the distance left as fast as I'd like. Invariably, I realize this with 70-80 meters left and return to proper form, pushing as hard as I can, as fast as I can, often getting a rate of 42-48. I believe Cameron Nichol's YouTube video is at least partly behind my strategy, if not the source for all of it. I don't often "turn the screw" as he suggests with 750 meters left, as that's the worst part of the row for me.

For those who like the "Work" or Watts divided by S/M, All the values came up in the 11.x range, so I'm pretty pleased with the effort.

That said, it was really difficult to maintain the 1:36-1:38 pace for the 500 meters. The 2k trial is going to be here soon, and this may be the first time I don't improve my previous PR, as I don't think 10 weeks is enough time to get much improvement. Intellectually, I'm thinking I can at least improve by a second or two, but I really outdid myself in February; improving on it by even a second will be very hard. I want sub 6:30 so badly, I can taste it, though! I've been watching the diet, and I believe, doing some pretty good work on the rower. It's going to be a very tense time waiting to do that 2k...

Wishing you the best mindset and physical readiness you can have for your test bud. I'll be happy if I can hit sub 7 before the end of December (7:43 last PB done beginning of March -was actually the first interval of a 4x2000m workout I had setup).

[hjs]

6.30 sounds very tough on those 500m, don,t know how you do them, but around 3 seconds below 2k pace is very common, so without knowing anything and only seeing those numbers I would say, breaking 6.40 would be ok.
On 1 min rest 8x500 is much closer to 2k pace.

That said, the less raw speed you have, the relative worse you are at shorter reps.

Forget this right away, do your test and simply prove je wrong. good luck.

[KeithT]

After running into a bit of a plateau a couple of weeks ago on the 8 reps of 500, I thought I would just break from Pete's Plan and do some steady state rows for most of the 10k's in the month of March to coincide with the 10k a day March Mud Challenge.

Today, I got back into it, and knocked out the 8 reps with a target pace of 137.7 My max HR is 178

ErgData didn't cooperate today. During the first rep, it stopped tracking, basically crashing, but I didn't notice until I was half way through my 3:00 rest.
I reprogrammed the workout, because when I tried to reconnect ErgData, the workout got lost. Pretty sure I restarted it within 3 minutes, though.
On the 7th rep, I noticed 100 meters in that ErgData disconnected again. I'm confident that's why I lost that half second in that split. I was distracted, and well, irritated.

The disturbing thing, aside from ErgData not working properly was how easy the first 300 meters are, and how hard the last 200 are. I did not use a rolling start with any of the reps. It took me about 140 meters to get my projected finish to agree with my average split pace.



time meter /500 s/m hr
12:54.8 4000 1:36.9 33
1:37.0 500 1:37.0 35 157
1:37.6 500 1:37.6 33 161
1:37.6 500 1:37.6 34 162
1:37.0 500 1:37 33 164
1:37.0 500 1:37 33 164
1:36.9 500 1:36.9 32 166
1:37.5 500 1:37.5 34 164
1:34.2 500 1:34.2 36 166


I have a 2k for time trial in a couple of weeks. Typically, I come out strong for 200 meters, and then settle into my race pace (this time I am hoping to keep a pace of 1:38 at worst, but really hoping I can hold onto 1:37.4 average split) and then with 200 meters left, I go full out, sometimes shortening my stroke to let my legs do almost all the work. This really brings the pace down, but I lose meters on the return. I think it's worth it, as the monitor reads a much faster split time, although the meters don't seem to drop from the distance left as fast as I'd like. Invariably, I realize this with 70-80 meters left and return to proper form, pushing as hard as I can, as fast as I can, often getting a rate of 42-48. I believe Cameron Nichol's YouTube video is at least partly behind my strategy, if not the source for all of it. I don't often "turn the screw" as he suggests with 750 meters left, as that's the worst part of the row for me.

For those who like the "Work" or Watts divided by S/M, All the values came up in the 11.x range, so I'm pretty pleased with the effort.

That said, it was really difficult to maintain the 1:36-1:38 pace for the 500 meters. The 2k trial is going to be here soon, and this may be the first time I don't improve my previous PR, as I don't think 10 weeks is enough time to get much improvement. Intellectually, I'm thinking I can at least improve by a second or two, but I really outdid myself in February; improving on it by even a second will be very hard. I want sub 6:30 so badly, I can taste it, though! I've been watching the diet, and I believe, doing some pretty good work on the rower. It's going to be a very tense time waiting to do that 2k...

Agreeing with Henry that sub 6:30 will be tough based on that row - I just did my first 6:29.9/6:30.0 row in Feb, and my last time doing the 8x500 3r before it I averaged 1:35.4. Now I am better with shorter sprints but still think that workout should be a couple seconds faster than the planned 2K pace.

I love Cam Nichol's video and watch it I have watched it many times and my pacing strategy is similar and agree the turning the screw section is where I am just trying to maintain. If you are going for the sub 6:30 do what I did and do a quicker start (though I only do for 100m max) and then settle on 1:38 and hold that, later you can try to drop it if you feel you can. When I did mine my first split was just under 1:37 which was mostly the fast start and then 1:38, the 2nd and 3rd split was right about 1:38 and then 1:37 for last split which was 1:38 until a sprint at the end (last 200m).

[ukaserex]

I really appreciate the feedback. There is one detail I've left out which I have no way to account for - fresh legs. I did this row AFTER a 45 minute group fitness class where we did a number of "As Fast as Possible" rounds of 500 meters, 450m, 400m, etc on down to 100m, with a number of thrusters and core/legs/arm work in between rowing reps.

I fully expect the 1:36-1:37 pace to be more easily managed with a few days of "active recovery" in lieu of tough classes and Pete's Plan programming. Not that much more easily managed, but it certainly shouldn't be as hard with fresh legs.

I thought to myself this morning that I would not shoot for sub 6:30, unless I think I can hit it in the last 500m.

I plan to come out at a 1:33 pace for the first 200 meters, then relax to 1:36 for the next 300m, then relax to 1:38-1:39 for next 1k. With the final 500m, I will see how I'm feeling. I should be miserable, but managing the discomfort. If I can "turn the screw" to get back to 1:37, I will. If not, I'll just hold steady as best as I can.

0-200m 1:33/500m 37.2 seconds
201-500 1:36/500m 57.6 seconds
501-1500 1:39/500m 3:18 seconds
1501-1800 1:37.5/500m 58.5 seconds .... or maintain at 1:39 59.4 seconds
1801-2k 1:35/500m 38 seconds or maintain at 1:39 39.6 seconds
6:29.3 or 6:31.8

Excuse the ugly formatting. In short, I'll settle for 6:32, or even 6:34. Heck, just improving a second off my personal best would be okay. I aim to keep working at it until I get the sub 6:30, and when I get that, work harder to get sub 6:20 until I'm dead, or #1 in my age group of 50-59. (Which may never happen, but a guy has to have goals, right?)



And if I read your replies correctly, if I can hit 1:34.4 on the 8 reps with 3 minute rest, breaking 6:30 should be tough but doable?
Or, alternatively, if I can maintain 1:35-1:36 on 8 x 500 with 1 minute rest, again, tough but doable?

I'm getting excited about this and I think with fresh legs, I can nail 6:29.9-6:32

[hjs]

8x 500

On 3 rest, would be around 2k minus 3

On 1 rest around 2k pace.

After your feedback, it does sound differently ofcourse. I would have a rough goalplan, always go a bit on feel. You will do well!

[KeithT]

And if I read your replies correctly, if I can hit 1:34.4 on the 8 reps with 3 minute rest, breaking 6:30 should be tough but doable?
Or, alternatively, if I can maintain 1:35-1:36 on 8 x 500 with 1 minute rest, again, tough but doable?

I'm getting excited about this and I think with fresh legs, I can nail 6:29.9-6:32

If you do those times I would think you are set-up well for the bub 6:30. Anxious to hear how it goes!

[RayOfSunshine]

@ukaserex, I'm getting excited for you! Can't wait to hear how it goes..


Today was my 1st HR capped piece on the ski. Oh, I put the handle hooks on as well. Still trying to figure how SR & DF on the ski.

[MuadDale]

Hello all. First post with a dumb question about the BPP I didn't see answered anywhere:

Looking at Week 1 for instance, we see three core workouts followed by two additionals in brackets. What is the intended daily schedule for these? Are they intended to be completed straight through M-TU-W-TH-F with a weekend off if you're feeling froggy? Are they M-W-F with the additionals added in on a rest day somewhere if you're up to it? I understand not doing too much in a given week, the need for recovery time, and tailoring the timing for the individual, I just haven't seen anything spelling out what is intended.

Week 1:
5000m
6 x 500m / 2min rest
5000m
[20min]
[2 x 10min / 2min rest]

Thanks very much.

[mitchel674]

Hello all. First post with a dumb question about the BPP I didn't see answered anywhere:

Looking at Week 1 for instance, we see three core workouts followed by two additionals in brackets. What is the intended daily schedule for these? Are they intended to be completed straight through M-TU-W-TH-F with a weekend off if you're feeling froggy? Are they M-W-F with the additionals added in on a rest day somewhere if you're up to it? I understand not doing too much in a given week, the need for recovery time, and tailoring the timing for the individual, I just haven't seen anything spelling out what is intended.

Week 1:
5000m
6 x 500m / 2min rest
5000m
[20min]
[2 x 10min / 2min rest]

Thanks very much.

Welcome to the thread!

Good question that I've never seen answered. The first three rows are mandatory. Look at your week and figure out if you only have time for the three mandatory rows or will be able to complete all five sessions. Pete does warn new rowers to not overdo sessions early on. The BPP does ramp up quickly. I usually rest one day after the first long row prior to the first interval day. I do this to help my interval performance. The rest of the rows just come when I have the time.