Endurance erging - A place to discuss 42, 50, 100k upwards.

[MiddleAgeCRISIS]

Sounds interesting Glenn, having done a 100k back in September I've gradually worked my way down in distance to the Marathon, Half Marathon and now training for crack at improving my PB for 60 minutes around the end of March.

Once I've got all the way down to a bit of sprinting (ouch...I hate the short stuff!) I'll work back up again...well it keeps me off the streets!

It would be interesting to hear from any others on here who may be interested in rowing the longer distances......we can't be the only crazy fools around here Glenn.....or can we?

Hi Rod, it would be great to hear of what you do to maintain muscle flexibility and elasticity. I'm rowing a lot and finding myself getting tight. All the best Rob

[GlennUk]

I was referring to the 18 spm low HR sessions only Glenn not the DMP sessions or anything faster than that, I always hope to see improvement on those as the plan progresses.

Ok,

No I didn't get off at all, I was chasing the world record so couldn't take any risks with dropping the pace as I would have wasted too much energy trying to get it back.....although having said that I did lose around 30 seconds when I stopped after about 30 minutes to get rid of a layer of bubble wrap I'd added to the seat pad set up....putting it there was a bad mistake so I paid for breaking the golden rule of not doing anything different on the day that I'd done before....I'd not fully tested the bubble wrap on a long row...very silly of me.

Interesting to hear that, my biggest fear is numberness/pain which cause me to fail.

I didn't need to go to the loo which was unusual for so long but may have been helped by the slightly warm conditions. When I do it again (yes I'm daft enough to repeat it as I think I can do a much better time...) I'll be doing it under a Gazeebo on the decking/patio outside the back door of our house and in all honesty if I feel the need to ''go'' will just have to do it as I row because again...I have to be careful about losing time when the margins are so tight.

My understanding is that needing to urinate is in part a matter of electrolyte balance which may be why you didn't need to go. I have been drinking but not electrolyte replacement as im practising the mechanics more than anything else and find the need to pass water is a problem.

My erg is in our annexe which is good because its relatively cool as the doors i look out of (when not focussed intently on the PM5) faces north and gets a lot of shade.

RE the not getting off, my desire is to do the same, its unlikely ill be anywhere near a world record, but it is the plan to do the final 116k in one go if i can.

Mind you never say never, who knows what one can do if one tries hard.

[Rod]

Hi Rod, it would be great to hear of what you do to maintain muscle flexibility and elasticity. I'm rowing a lot and finding myself getting tight. All the best Rob

Hi Rob, sorry to give a boring answer, I run, cycle and do weights but don't specifically do anything to maintain muscle flexibility and elasticity, I just row and it all feels fine, I've never found any part of me getting tight.

[MiddleAgeCRISIS]

Hi Rod, it would be great to hear of what you do to maintain muscle flexibility and elasticity. I'm rowing a lot and finding myself getting tight. All the best Rob

Hi Rob, sorry to give a boring answer, I run, cycle and do weights but don't specifically do anything to maintain muscle flexibility and elasticity, I just row and it all feels fine, I've never found any part of me getting tight.

I'm jealous Rod! I seem to accumulate tightness but I am a bit useless at remembering to stretch.

[GlennUk]

Hi Rod, it would be great to hear of what you do to maintain muscle flexibility and elasticity. I'm rowing a lot and finding myself getting tight. All the best Rob

Hi Rob, sorry to give a boring answer, I run, cycle and do weights but don't specifically do anything to maintain muscle flexibility and elasticity, I just row and it all feels fine, I've never found any part of me getting tight.

I'm jealous Rod! I seem to accumulate tightness but I am a bit useless at remembering to stretch.

MiddleAgeCrisis what's your regime, how old are you?

FWIW I do not suffer from any tightness and i dont stretch, my warm-up down has typically been 500-750m before/after a session depending on what i am doing.

Mostly at the moment there is nothing before/after the sessions based on guidance from the Eddie Fletcher plan, although i vary from that to suit my situation, the key point is that mostly i dont add much and have never spent a lot of time stretching before/after.

[Rod]

I am a bit useless at remembering to stretch.

I don't stretch at all.

[MiddleAgeCRISIS]

Hi Rob, sorry to give a boring answer, I run, cycle and do weights but don't specifically do anything to maintain muscle flexibility and elasticity, I just row and it all feels fine, I've never found any part of me getting tight.

I'm jealous Rod! I seem to accumulate tightness but I am a bit useless at remembering to stretch.

MiddleAgeCrisis what's your regime, how old are you?

FWIW I do not suffer from any tightness and i dont stretch, my warm-up down has typically been 500-750m before/after a session depending on what i am doing.

Mostly at the moment there is nothing before/after the sessions based on guidance from the Eddie Fletcher plan, although i vary from that to suit my situation, the key point is that mostly i dont add much and have never spent a lot of time stretching before/after.

Hi Glenn, I'm 46 and do 20km per day in 2 sessions for 330 days in a row.

I was doing a lot of cycling before this which i think has caused the problem and in Jan Feb March 2020 i wasnt able to walk down slopes or stairs without a catastrophic knee collapse.

[GlennUk]

HI Middleagecrisis

I cannot say why you experience tightness, i thought maybe you were one of us 'oldies'. I have never stretched pre or post exercise and dont find i have any issues with tightness.

In my mid 20s to mid 30s i used to run, cycle, swim and weight train, same, no stretching. I started erging regularly in 2009 till around end of 2011, then got too busy at work and knocked it on the head.

Started again in May last year, currently preparing for a 60k at the end of May with the plan being just under 116K at the end of the year, all based on Eddie Fletchers Marathon/100k training plan (M/100).

This week i only have three sessions, all at R18-20, 70% maxHR and2:24.0 for me. So a real easy week.

Mostly its five sessions a week with variable HR up to 92.5% maxHR , 28spm, 2:08.0 pace of varying durations but up to 90 minutes beng the longest sessions.

Whenever i warm up it has mainly been at a slower pace of the exercise i am about to do. Eddie suggest a similar approach for his M/100 plan.

Have you had anyone look at your technique to see if there is anything obviously that may cause your issues?

[GlennUk]

Been an interesting few weeks, not on Im now on Week 8 of the EF Marathon plan, lots of low stroke rate (18-20)/low heart rate (70% maxHR) mixed in with some 26/28spm pieces at faster paces.

Progress seemed to be slow, but then i have started 'grading' each rep, depending on whether i hit 0, 1, 2 or 3 targets (i.e. pace, SPM, HR). Noticing that the faster pieces at 80-92.5% maxHR are becoming 'easier' although the targets for 75% maxHR reps seem a way of yet in terms of reaching all three targets (can meet spm/HR but not the pace).

The other spin off has been a reduction in resting HR, at the start of the year my average was c.58bpm its now down to 51bpm (measured over 7 days, 24/7 recording via my sons (borrowed) garmin watch).

This coming week, starts today with 75mins at 20-22spm, 141bpm (75% maxHR), with a total of 6hrs 23 minutes exercising scheduled this week split over 5 sessions (which is about an hour more than last week).

FInding my derriere is suffering a lot less than i thought given the time im spending erging, have a concept 2 seat pad beneath my Citius Remex seat pad (thanks for the idea Rod).

[Mortie31]

I did my first marathon a couple of weeks ago, basically to give some moral to support a friend who was doing a 24hr row, I had just finished 12 weeks of steadily increasing distance up to 2hrs and had just started the EF 5 day marathon plan, So thought I’d just give it a go and see how it went, fully expecting to get to 2hrs and then stop, I set a target, steady even pace of 2:12 and ended up finishing at a pace of 2:13. Having had 2 forced breaks, one to get a parcel from Amazon!! the other to shut the window when it started throwing it down. I’m now at the end of EF week 3 but realised I had been going off my HRR zones rather than max HR... oops, but not a huge difference when at 85-90%, more at lower rates. Following along to learn from you guys... also in sub7 as is Michas who did the 24hr row.

[GlennUk]

Hi Mortie

good effort to get close to your target pace and it appears feeling fine too.

Re the forced breaks, depending on the weather, i erg with the door open, its a problem if it rains though, fortunately last time only half the room, my PC, screen , erg and power supply got aoked, but not me

Im learning too, so its good to see others posting their experiences/thoughts too.

[GlennUk]

Interesting couple of weeks.

I started taking protein shakes, having monitored my diet for a week or so, its probable that my protein intake was significantly below values recommended in the EF marathon plan. Taking two shakes a day on top of normal meals puts me in the region of 1.5g/kg body weight. I wasn't really expecting to see any difference and i still cannot work out if i am deluding myself or seeing something real.

After the 1st couple of days, a general 'achiness' i had felt in my muscles disappeared, nothing i would have complained about, just it was there and now no longer is. Probably kidding myself, be interested in others experiences.

Also feel that my stroke was wrong and may have been hampering breathing. I had always thought that longer strokes would be better and to that end as i recovered and moved to the catch, i was leaning my upper body towards my knees to reach as far forward as i could. I am pretty certain i have been doing this for a while and i saw a thread somewhere on here talking about different individual's strokes which made me think about what i was doing.

I am now consciously trying not to lean forward at the end of the recovery stage, hence my stroke length is slightly reduced but it appears from the few sessions i have done that i am getting closer to my HR targets for a given pace and stroke rate (my current plan is based around HR levels with the HR being the most critical value for me). It may not make me go any faster, however, given my target is to row 115972m in a single session, anything i can do to make the journey more achievable will pay dividends down the line.

Ill keep monitoring and report back shortly,

[Mal]

Hi everyone, new to this forum - but I am planning to do a 100k row in September. It is in support of a charity event (mate will do a 100k skierg!).

Great tips on this forum, much appreciated. I've done about 5 marathons previously and 2 x 50ks (times below) - so I need to build up a bit from a relatively strong base. Issue for me will be not over-training. I currently do about 10k average every day - a bit longer on Sunday. I envisage doing a longer row once a month leading up to September. I don't take a break on any days unless my body starts screaming. That usually kicks in at about each 20 days, generally following some kind of PB effort.

Anyway - I'll update as I progress and will welcome any tips. Main issue for me is continuity - every time I stop for a drink, snack or adjustment, I tend to lose the rythym. From here on in I'll be trialling different ways to keep going without stops, as I'd like to not only finish the distance, but give the time a shake.

[pagomichaelh]

Interesting couple of weeks.

I started taking protein shakes, having monitored my diet for a week or so, its probable that my protein intake was significantly below values recommended in the EF marathon plan. Taking two shakes a day on top of normal meals puts me in the region of 1.5g/kg body weight. I wasn't really expecting to see any difference and i still cannot work out if i am deluding myself or seeing something real.

After the 1st couple of days, a general 'achiness' i had felt in my muscles disappeared, nothing i would have complained about, just it was there and now no longer is. Probably kidding myself, be interested in others experiences.

...

Ill keep monitoring and report back shortly,

I've been doing the Eddie Fisher plan now for three weeks; my first experience with heart-rate training.

I can't help but to wonder if, besides conditioning the heart, if I'm learning how to train (manual) my heart rate, like a yogic adept.

And, if so, what would this do to conditioning; positive, neutral, or negative?

[GlennUk]

I cant answer that re yoga etc.

All i can tell you is that my resting HR has dropped since Jan when i started training for endurance using low HR, then starting the EF plan, from memory my RHR was c.58-60 when i started, and is now c.51bpm measured over 7 days 24/7.

With regards to the impact on my training, when i 1st started on the EF plan, i was getting nowhere near the HR/paces recommended, I'm now just starting W11 today and find that i am not getting much closer to the recommended HR values for a given spm and pace.

Im following the Marathon plan at the moment with a plan to do 60K 23.5 followed by doing the 100k plan with a 115972m row towards the end of the year.

I figured that whilst i have used the erg since May last year, prior to that i had only used infrequently after getting distracted by work (bought my erg in 2009). i wanted to develop my endurance abilities leading up to the longer erg at the end of the year, rather than diving straight in to it.

Be interesting to see how the training works out for me at the end of May. The theory sounds great, of course the proof will be in the pudding as they say. All i can say is that generally i feel more relaxed at a given pace and less prone to HR/spm/pace drift than i did prior to starting the programme.