60 000 m a week is killing me

[Bradycardia]

Thank you all for showing interest in my problems.

Today I covered the PM screen with a towel and rowed easy for 70 min. I tried to pause at the finish, then hands away, body over, then slowly going to recovery with my hands before the catch phase again. The results were quite surprising. My average stroke rate was 19 spm. It's usually 26 spm when doing 60 min easy rows at higher DF.

1:10:04.5 ------14,428m (2:25.7)
Average Watts 113
Calories Per Hour 689
Stroke Rate 19
Stroke Count 1372
Drag Factor 108

Today it felt fine but as someone already mentioned the pace was "slow" relative to myself. I still managed to average 69 % of MHR. I guess this is because of longer, harder pulls.

Someone mentioned upper body adaptation. I'll admit I'm weak but I never had issues with upper body after tough rowing. It's my legs.
Yesterday, I was thinking of another factor causing fatigue to my legs. Could wrong foot placement in the foot stretcher be an explanation? My shoe size is US 8.5 and normally I set the foot plate/board to "2". After testing "3" today, this setting felt more normal. The strap was a bit higher up just below the big toe. I felt less pressure on my hamstrings and hip flexors.

By the way, I ended up doing 75 km this week. Maybe I need the change the topic headings

[ampire]

If you have the cash for it you should consider slides, they help me get mileage in because it feels much easier on the body.

[Erik A]

interesting on your foot position... i also row with it set at the number 2 slot...... but i have size 13 feet

[Carl Watts]

I'm on position "4" as printed on the stretcher which is the 3rd set of holes down from the top with size US 10.5 feet.

It should be determined by your foot size, the strap is supposed to go over the ball of your big toe ? any closer to my ankle and its going to affect my heel from raising, which is probably not supposed to happen but its pretty hard to keep my feet totally flat throughout the whole drive and recovery cycle.

[Dangerscouse]

I row with foot position 4 and I'm a size 10. I've tried higher and lower and they don't feel right to me.

[jamesg]

My legs will however still be a mess since I go hard while doing intervals.
70 minutes: Average Watts 113 - Stroke Rate 19 - 69 % of MHR - 63 kg -
I tried to pause at the finish, then hands away, body over, then slowly going to recovery with my hands before the catch phase again.
The results were quite surprising

What our legs feel depends on the stroke and on drag. Evidently you are using them, and putting together all your data, it's very clear that as an extreme LW you're doing very well, even without knowing your age or the ratings in most of the pieces you mention. See the C2 logbook for MLW your cohort. You're probably giving away 10kg to most people there.

In the example above your stroke was worth 113/19 = 6 watt minutes average. If your 85 minute ½M (200W) was done at 30, the stroke was worth almost 7, for an hour and a half.

That 70 minute piece with roughly the same stroke is effective training despite being a lot slower. It could be useful to maintain a slightly bigger stroke, perhaps via length, using rating to limit the CV impact. Remains to be understood what 69% of MHR means: %range or max? If of max, 69% is very low, and even if of HR range is still UT2, which is in line with the rating, 19.

The results are not surprising, your description corresponds to standard rowing style. Reducing the rating while keeping the stroke solid is how rowing endurance training is done.

[Gammmmo]

Is 60 000 m too much? Of course I know about periodization, so next week I'll do maybe only 45 000m. My legs will however still be a mess since I go hard while doing intervals.

Sounds like it for you with your current training composition. Why not experiment with a different volume/composition? You may get faster depending on your preferred distances you want to improve at. I personally think on the erg that base meters (at least for amateurs at this level) just makes you good at slow distance work....yes, you need volume but it's alot of the sessions right around the pace you want to achieve for a PB that really focus the mind and body. A polarised approach works best when you can do ALOT of base, probably more than most people can absorb on the erg due to it's nature.

If I'm honest I'm surprised you're not faster already given your running speed i.e. v good engine. Are you still running? FWIW I think whenever you've done alot of a particular sport [and are trying something new] or you are mixing sports you'll always struggle to maximise your results. For example I probably did too much cycling to ever be any good at running because I put on too much size, even for my modest frame, in my legs, and the muscle firing patterns and relative short/long/tight/weak muscles were so ingrained.

How many meters a week do you guys row?

About 25K/week but before I started weights x2/week I was doing ~60K/week and absorbing it.

[Dino]

I'm doing 60 000m a week, usually 4-5 sessions.
....So my only chance being fairly competitive is at longer distances, HM to marathon. This is why I row that many meters a week.
...Is 60 000 m too much?

If have the time and going for longer distances, have you thought about hopping on something like the Eddie Fletcher Marathon plan? This is a 14 week program, and there are programs for 4 or 5 days a week. This is quite tightly controlled with quite a reasonable expected starting fitness, prescribed green, orange and red weeks, set daily workouts using your 5k,10k,MP with set heart rates as well. For me the green (easiest weeks) worked out at about 60k, orange 75k and red 90+k (I did the 5 days a week program - 2 rest days and didn't do much else apart from rowing). Its worth a read, even if its just for interest and decide not to follow it. May at least give an idea of workouts to do to sustain 60+ a week.

[ampire]

I row with foot position 4 and I'm a size 10. I've tried higher and lower and they don't feel right to me.

I am also size 10 and use #4. I think that the strap goes over the foot best on position 4 for those of with a 10 as shoe size. The raised toe plate also corresponds better on #4 for me.

I put 1/16" adhesive backed hard rubber sheet under the flexfoot, big improvement for me, keeps the loose flexfoot from turning by adding some friction under it, and it reduces the angle of the foot stretcher. I started getting a bit more particular about the footstretchers after I went to slides, I think slides change dynamics of the leg drive.

[Anth_F]

I put 1/16" adhesive backed hard rubber sheet under the flexfoot, big improvement for me, keeps the loose flexfoot from turning by adding some friction under it, and it reduces the angle of the foot stretcher.

Surely by reducing the angle of the foot stretcher can't be a good thing!!! You're putting it into a weaker position for which to apply force. That makes no sense at all. You're getting more of a vertical drive than horizontal lol.

[ampire]

I have an adhesive foam pad on the seat which adds like 1/4-1/2", so I am sitting higher which might be part of it, I like the angle now, but mainly its adding friction to the bottom of the flexfeet, the older model C2 had smaller holes on the flexfeet so they didn't wiggle around unlike the current.

[Carl Watts]

I put 1/16" adhesive backed hard rubber sheet under the flexfoot, big improvement for me, keeps the loose flexfoot from turning by adding some friction under it, and it reduces the angle of the foot stretcher.

Surely by reducing the angle of the foot stretcher can't be a good thing!!! You're putting it into a weaker position for which to apply force. That makes no sense at all. You're getting more of a vertical drive than horizontal lol.

Your footware has a bigger effect. The difference between some flat shoes and some running shoes with a raised heal is huge, forget about the 1/16th on an inch !!!! in an ideal world your heals don't want to come off the stretchers and I suspect this is pretty hard at the end of the recovery for most people, myself included.

[Anth_F]

I put 1/16" adhesive backed hard rubber sheet under the flexfoot, big improvement for me, keeps the loose flexfoot from turning by adding some friction under it, and it reduces the angle of the foot stretcher.

Surely by reducing the angle of the foot stretcher can't be a good thing!!! You're putting it into a weaker position for which to apply force. That makes no sense at all. You're getting more of a vertical drive than horizontal lol.

Your footware has a bigger effect. The difference between some flat shoes and some running shoes with a raised heal is huge, forget about the 1/16th on an inch !!!! in an ideal world your heals don't want to come off the stretchers and I suspect this is pretty hard at the end of the recovery for most people, myself included.

Yeah definitely!

I done a 30min recently and my usual pace felt harder, and then i remembered i rowed it in my new running shoes instead of my flat soled shoes that i always wear. Went back to the flat soled and done another 30min same pace and was back in the comfort zone. I bet over time the reduced angle could take it's toll on the joints.

[Ombrax]

Regarding minimalist shoes, I've been using FiveFingers KSO's for years for indoor rowing and general gym workouts, and really like them. The only down side it that it takes a few seconds to put them on, but other than that, they're great.

https://us.vibram.com/shop/fivefingers/

[jackarabit]

Minimalist shoes are crap imo. Zero drop up to 4° drop is desirable. You can get that in a cheap UnderArmor with enuf stiffness in the soles to avoid cracking a metatarsal or detaching a plantar fascia.