Two million metre season

[mpeard]

Hi all,

I've been on and off the C2 for the past decade but recent years of reduced exercise and over eating have lead to the inevitable weight gain. I've set myself a goal of 2 million meters for the season and plan to do 40,000m each week. I last did a 2 million metre season in 2012/13 so I know I can do it.

With the first week of the season over I've completed 42k and I just wondered what other people do in terms of workouts over similar yearly distances. I want to limit my rowing to five days a week so I intend to do 10,000m each Mon/Wed/Fri and 5,000m on the Tue and Thurs. I'll probably throw in the odd 2,000m on a Saturday just to get a few metres in the bank so I don't miss the target.

[mitchel674]

Congrats on your ambitious plan and return to rowing!

You schedule will get you there, but you may want to consider making at least one of those 5k days into an interval day. Plus, those 10k rows will not seem all that long once you have a few months under your belt. 15k will likely become your preferred long distance once or twice a week.

[mpeard]

Well, four weeks in and just short of 200k so far so ahead of plan. I've settled in to resting over the weekend and starting on the Mondays with a half marathon. Tuesday I was doing 5k but now I've split this into 3 x 2k rows with effectively a warmup, max effort and warm down. Wed is a 10k, Thurs a 5k and Fri an easy 10k.

I've surprised myself as to my mental state to get through some of the sessions. A long way off my 2012 figures but 8 years older (and the wrong side of 50), as well as over 3 stone of additional weight doesn't help!. Half a stone off in these four weeks so happy with that.

Happy erging everyone.

Mark

[Carl Watts]

All depends on pace but 2 million meters for me is a bit of a push. It relies on no injury or significant sickness, however I really don't do any really long rows and low low heartrates. If I wanted to jump on and row all day at 2:15 pace just to hit pure distance, then its no problem.

You can jump on the Concept 2 pace calculator and take your season stats to work out your average pace for the whole year. Last year had a hard time hitting 1 million meters exactly (torn Achilles) but the average pace for all the meters was 2:02.7 pace.

High distances are not hard as long as you have the time to waste sitting their going really slow so pace is a factor.

[swingshiftworker]

My rowing has been up and down over the 3 full years that I've owned/used mine.

Did 1.6M meters in 2017/2018 and 2.1M meters in 2018/2019. An elbow injury sidelined me in 2019/2020 during which I only did 700k meters due to an elbow injury and travel plans that limited how much I could and/or wanted to row last year.

Back on track again, starting on 5/1/2020, rowing 5km/day/7 days a week, which will yield over 1.8M meters by the end of 2020/2021.

Slow and steady (like the turtle, not the hare) is my approach. I'll do a double (5km x 2), if I miss a day but I don't like rowing that much in a day if I don't have to do so. Could easily add a few doubles during the year to top 2M meters in 2020-2021 again, but that isn't my goal.

I'm 69 (going on 70) and my goal is simply to maintain my health and fitness, which involves exercising in a way that minimizes overexertion and the risk of injury.

My 500m pace is typically around 2:20-2:30. This gets my HR up a bit and causes me to sweat just a little bit. I'm certainly not "killing" myself rowing at this "relaxed" pace but it's what I find comfortable to do. I can row at a sub-2 min/500m pace but that's not "fun" for me. However, I will throw in a fast/short row once in awhile to break up the monotony.

In addition to rowing, I also do some weight lifting and spin biking. I'm also on the Wait List to buy a SkiErg as soon as they become available again. So, I'm doing what I can do to get in the 30 mins/day of exercise as is "recommended" for seniors.

[mict450]

Swing, I sense a kindred spirit re: training methodology. LISS, LSD, for me, whatever you want to call it. 6 days a week, minimum 1.5 hrs a day, plus bodyweight exercises. My days of HIIT, intervals, minute drills, burpees pyramids, heavy lifting, complexes, etc, etc are far in the past for me. More gentle on the body, well within my recovery window. No nagging pains that can turn into injuries. You would need an hour glass to time my 500 split.

I can't recommend the skierg highly enough. I have an Ercolina poling machine & I find the poling stroke less taxing on the body than the rower. Also, not as technique intensive. You will love the skierg.

[swingshiftworker]

Swing, I sense a kindred spirit re: training methodology. LISS, LSD, for me, whatever you want to call it. 6 days a week, minimum 1.5 hrs a day, plus bodyweight exercises. My days of HIIT, intervals, minute drills, burpees pyramids, heavy lifting, complexes, etc, etc are far in the past for me. More gentle on the body, well within my recovery window. No nagging pains that can turn into injuries. You would need an hour glass to time my 500 split.

I can't recommend the skierg highly enough. I have an Ercolina poling machine & I find the poling stroke less taxing on the body than the rower. Also, not as technique intensive. You will love the skierg.

Yes, I think we are thinking alike as far as the rigours of erg and other training are concerned.

Injured myself once too often trying to lift "too much" weight, when my ego overcame my common sense -- a familiar "male" condition regardless of age. LOL!

Besides, I developed a chronic debilitating condition in my right elbow (arthritis, prior tendon damage and other issues) which causes acute pain when aggravated and prevents me from doing any "heavy" liftng using my arms any more. A novel treatment was attempted but failed.

So, no more pushups or pullups (which instigated the problem) or any BPs, OHPs, curls, etc, which is why I am on the list ot buy a SkiErg. Wanted a lower impact way to incorporate some more upper body work into my routine.

In the meantime, I'm occasionally doing a simulated SkiErg single/double poling routine using light dumbbells.

My lifting now mainly involves lower body work doing SQTs, DLs and sissy squats (using wts & a stand) and upper body work which limit elbow movement, like pullovers and dumbbell flies, as well as some hanging leg raises using arm slings attached to my rack.

Don't have the same "doing too much" problem rowing but I have done a couple of 4 min tabata routines in the past that nearly killed me. Took me almost a full 30 mins to recover. So, I'm not doing any more of those unless there's some really good reason why I need to do so.

The numbers that other people (even those as old as me) put on their rowers for distance and quickness of pace that I see on Annual Meters Honor Board when I logon to the C2 Logbook are truly amazing but they are not anything I care to try to compete with or emulate.

I did however just recently pass 5M meters on my rower, which actually was a short term goal of mine.

Was able to reach it in 1 month over 4 years or an average of about 1.25M meters/year despite only rowing 1/2 a year in 2016/2017 and 2019/2020. The next 5M mark is at least 3 years away, if I average 1.8M/yr from now on, if I live so long

So, I'm not going to worry about that now.

PS: I am also thinking about buying a pair of slides (currently out of stock) to make rowing a little more interesting but they won't change the amount of effort that I care to exert doing it.

[mict450]

I stay out of checking the logbook. Otherwise I start getting ideas that would lead me to do stupid stuff & get injured. Those who are my age & older who still do the hard training.....man, I've got nothing but RESPECT!!!

[mpeard]

Currently at half a million meters at week 14 but two of those weeks no rowing took place due to holiday. Still on track for the two million season and just hit over 4m lifetime metres too. Plan to do another HM tomorrow.....that will be my 5th this season.

I've lost a stone plus since starting up again and to think 14 weeks ago 2k was an effort......