New 10k Pb!!!!!

[[old] John Rupp]

The top of one of my little toes has been rubbing on the straps so I've been rowing without straps for this week. A few days ago I did 10x 4:00 at 1:58 with 4:00 easy between, got a drink, then did another 5x at the same pace. All of these were kept at the same 30 spm, thus holding back the rating a bit as this would normally be 32 spm at 8 meters per stroke. Also I kept my heart rate in the 140's, so this was not a hard effort.<br /><br />This morning after warming up, and as it's going to be in the mid 70's today, I decided to play around a bit and do some fartlek for a 10k, beginning with a 1k at 1:58 and then going from there.<br /><br />Another MAJOR thing that I did this morning, that I've also been experimenting with the last few days, was focusing on keeping my arms LOW!!! Especially at the catch. I have done this before, but not to the extent combined with everything else as this morning. For example I am influenced a lot by the training of Rod Freed who, in an interview a few years ago said "a quick catch feels "easier" than a big "weightlifting type slug" at the catch, but the quick catch lets me go faster; KEEPING MY HANDS LOWER AT THE CATCH AND DURING THE DRIVE legs me go faster; etc."<br /><br />So this is what I did BIG TIME this morning.<br /><br />I've also been focusing on, relatedly, keeping my body and arms etc aligned with my CENTER OF GRAVITY, i.e. keeping the line of my drive as low as possible in relation to the line of the railing. As regards my thread about this a few days ago, the erg can be adjusted in any of several ways to accomplish this. The seat and foot plates can be raised, the erg can be connected so the railing AND front pieces are straight (having them perfectly straight results in the fan cage still being 2 inches from the floor), and/or connecting an additional pulling just forward of where the holder is for the handle, which greatly lowers the line of the chain.<br /><br />Well this morning I was thinking, why not just adjust this WITH MY ARMS while I'm rowing, i.e. lower this line EXACTLY HOW FREED SAYS TO DO IT. So this is what I did.<br /><br />Again I was not expecting anything and just planning to break up the 10k into bits.<br /><br />I started out at 30 spm and went right to 1:58 pace no problem. Because of rowing strapless I was also focusing on keeping my butt BACK at the end of the stroke, while rotating forward with my body. This actually feels like my butt is PUSHING my body forward from the back thus giving a lot of strength to my RECOVERY and not just the drive, but also putting me in a great POSITION for the driving, i.e. arms and body LOW at the catch.<br /><br />Then I was focusing on what Kudos said before about POP-swishhhhhhh though the drive.<br /><br />The result of all this is that it turned out to be almost impossible to keep at the 1:58 pace and I kept going faster. I knew this wasn't going to last and kept trying to easy off and bring the pace back to 1:58 and no faster. The monitor was on "projected pace" and kept getting down to 39:00 and below (1:57 pace). Very interesting. I'll do a 1k then back off since my breathing should be going well by then. I was clicking 1:55's now and then, going whoaa and coming back to 1:58, then with seemingly no effort it would be 1:55-1:56 again. This went on past 1k so I decided to keep it going to a 2k then ease off.<br /><br />Well by the time of 2k I was still doing the 1:55's and 1:56's but more easily and it was becoming more difficult to ease off!!!! Also I still wasn't getting out of breath or winded. Keeping my arms low, along with pushing with my butt from the back HELPS MY BREATHING ENORMOUSLY!!!! I went past the 2k this way and kept going. I've not recorded my splits yet (except 5k) but estimate the 2k was around 1:56. Not bad as my 10k PB is right around that. Hmmmm but no way I will keep this going. Let's see if I can get closer to 5k.<br /><br />Well the pace kept getting easier!!!! I was letting the rating go up a bit, first 31 spm then 32. Some 1:54's were showing up and I knew this was too fast to keep going. By this time it was hard to slow down to anything more than a 1:56 pace though I kept trying to do this, yet at the same time keeping my mind open to how easily this was feeling and monitoring my effort. A 1:54 pace is 33 spm. I've done 1 minute repeats strapless at 1:44 and also did my half marathon strapless at 8 meters per stroke, so keeping this pace going was certainly feasible provided my BREATHING and the effort was attainable.<br /><br />At this point my goal was to get to 5k under 19:10. I've not done any time trials for awhile close to 19 minutes so this would be good and then I could ease off at that point (the 5k turned out to be <b>19:07.2</b>). However by this time, still clicking off 1:54's and some 1:53's!! my breathing was still fine and the effort felt fine!!!! At this point I'm wondering what is going on and when it's all going to start crashing.<br /><br />Well I went past 5k and by this time there was nothing showing up slower than 1:54's and mostly I'm clicking along at 1:53's but STILL trying to hold back and not go any faster.<br /><br />I went past 6k this way, then 7k and the 1:53's were becoming very consistent, one right after the other. By the 8th kilometer I was almost laughing a few times as my stroke felt so strong and smooth, even 1:52's showing up STEADY ROWING. Now past 8k I was focusing on just keeping everything smooth, ARMS LOW AT THE CATCH, PUSH WITH MY BUTT FROM THE BACK OF THE DRIVE, steady steady stready right at 33 spm, keeping my balance perfect and every stroke strong.<br /><br />The last 2k was rather uneventful, still keeping the 1:52's right on while gradually the pace kept getting faster. On my last 10k and 5k PB's the last 2k was within a few seconds of my 2k PB and the very same here. Now through the 9k I was clicking off 1:51's and then 1:50's the last 500 down to 1:45's at the finish!!!! <br /><br />That might not sound very good but it is fast for me. My last 2k was 7:24.3 almost as fast as my best from a start!!!!!!<br /><br />Result: New 10 PB - <b>37:47.6</b>!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<br /><br />This is almost a 1 minute improvement from my previous time!!!! Granted that time was weak and I probably could have gone 38:22 or faster before but this is a major improvement!!!!!<br /><br />The reason I think this works so well, especially for me, is exactly this LINE OF FORCE / resistance / center of gravity in relation to the line of the slide. Someone with a very long torso like Rich Cureton already has a much high line of force than I do, compared to the location of the axle. This LOWERING OF THE ARMS helps to compensate for this. If you look at the Crash B video from 2004 you will see an example of this with Nina Gässler who keeps her arms this exact same way, almost going down to her feet with the handle at the catch! Also note that Nina is not nearly as tall as most of the lightweight women rowers, but she does very well with keeping her arms low in this manner.<br /><br />At first I thought her style was awkward but now it makes a lot of sense, as does the comments of Rod Freed.<br /><br />You can probably tell I am very excited about this and am looking forward to keep rowing this way and smash more of my PB's this same way.<br /><br />If anyone else tries this let me know. I'm interested to hear your results. It's not just accomplishing something but also sharing with others, so I hope that you can get the same results as me or even better for yourselves.<br /><br />In any case I am very happy about this and looking forward to put this time in my log. This is a day that I will remember for a very long time, the day that my times took another big leap forward!!!! This day of April 1st, 2005. <br /><br />Cheers!!

[[old] DavidA]

Congratulations John!<br />That is a huge improvement!<br />I know for someone who has been rowing for a while, and is a little older getting a PB is quite rare - way to go!<br />Good luck with the new stroke.<br /><br />David<br />

[[old] hennmart]

<!--QuoteBegin-John Rupp+Apr 1 2005, 10:21 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(John Rupp @ Apr 1 2005, 10:21 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin--><br />Result:  New 10 PB - <b>37:47.6</b>!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<br /><br /><br />Cheers!! <br /> </td></tr></table><br />Hallo John,<br /><br />Very good time and impovement! Good story too! <br /><br />Hennie

[[old] NavigationHazard]

Assuming that's not an April Fool story, JR, keep it up.<br /><br />Mechanical efficiency is a great thing wherever and whenever you find it.

[[old] John Rupp]

Thanks for your support as it is much appreciated!

[[old] jblamb1401]

Hi, <br />Congrats on the PB! I am going for my first 10k ever tomorrow morning. I've done 5k then a 30 min (about 11,500 total, I'm slow) with a 15 min break between the two but never a 10k. Thanks for a little motivation.

[[old] johnnybike]

Well done John, that is a significant improvement. Nice story as well.<br /><br />I am certainly envious of some of your times and I am 10 years younger.

[[old] DIESEL]

Congrats John! <br /><br />Now you've got to break this PB! Isn't the erg wonderful like that? <br /><br />Good show. <br />D

[[old] starboardrigged1seat]

Good work!

[[old] Carl Henrik]

Good work John, awesome time!<br /><br />Don't miss to update the PATT score in your signature, I see it's still based on your old PB.

[[old] Arno]

Great stuff John! I can feel your excitement about the whole thing. Especially interesting as you feel you have found out new ways of using your technique. If I understood it all correctly I will experiment myself. Still bear in mind that the answer for your splendid result is not any trick but your exceptional strong endurance base you have created and worked for over the years. I am keen on seeing your 2K PB to be crashed during coming weeks <br /><br />Cheers,<br />Arno

[[old] hwt]

Nice PB John, good work.

[[old] Canoeist]

Congratulations John!<br /><br />You have been rowing a lot of meters. I see your name on the front page of the annual metes board all the time. I suspect that your PB has a lot more to do with putting in a lot of distance than to a change in technique. But, for whatever reason, a PB as you get older is absolutely fantastic.<br /><br />I have also been trying to think of rowing with my hands lower - both on the recovery and on the pull. It might be imperceptable to someone watching, but it feels different. Maybe it helps breathing? I just try to let the arms "hang" on the handle on the drive. This uses the least amount of arm and shoulder effort - saving the energy until the shoulder pull at the end of the drive.<br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />Paul Flack

[[old] donm79]

I've noticed you haven't changed the 10k time in your signature. Does this mean this post was a joke, or have you just been too busy to change it?

[[old] PaulS]

Too Funny, how did I miss this April Fools post?<br /><br />The post is overly long for John and actually has some useful insights that he claims to have been putting to use, definitley something is amiss. <br /><br />Congrats on the New PB!