Pondering the Beginner Pete Plan

[RayOfSunshine]

Great job Mitchel!

Today was much better than a week ago. It was supposed to be the same pace as last week (2:10.1) for the 1st 3, then faster. I blew up on the 2nd interval last week, so I just targeted the same thing. I had doubts, but it went well. Top is this week, bottom last. Picking up the spm which is good b/c mine is much lower than most.

[RayOfSunshine]

BPP 5.3 7k SS, but I decided to go for it on the final 3k. In all seriousness, that's about as close as I'll get to an OCD ski/row. Very happy with the consistent SPM.

[RayOfSunshine]

Solid week. Getting more comfortable on the ski.

[Rowan McSheen]

Back at it with week 11 begun, after a week of a mixture of laziness and just life getting in the way. I was pondering whether to jump off the BPP at this stage since it continues in much the same vein and I'm not yet halfway through. But I have decided to man up and will see it through to the end.

[thaloun]

Checking in after week 16. Super busy week and couldn't get all five workouts in. Felt strong though, following the plan. I've switched my phone to the pacer view and it's helped me a lot in following the suggested pacing of matching the average then going hard on the last interval.

I'm really looking forward to the 500m intervals today. I'm curious to see how they feel, given it's supposedly a pretty good proxy of the 2k pace and I've never done a true 2k test yet.

[Rowan McSheen]

I think my pace may have culminated on these shorter distances at 1:59. Week 11 has 8 x 500m so I'll find out soon enough!

Just done the 8 x 500m and yes, I was overcooking the shorter intervals. I last did an all-out 2k a few years ago and came in at 8:08 so that's 2:02/500m. Holding 1:59 for six reps is one thing, for eight proved a little too much. So I recalibrated and decided to shoot for anything below 2k pace for starters. Averaged 2:00.8 so fairly pleased with that. It also felt more controlled and less like a mad thrash so probably more beneficial. Strange how going just 1 second per 500m slower feels so different!

[RayOfSunshine]

I think my pace may have culminated on these shorter distances at 1:59. Week 11 has 8 x 500m so I'll find out soon enough!

Just done the 8 x 500m and yes, I was overcooking the shorter intervals. I last did an all-out 2k a few years ago and came in at 8:08 so that's 2:02/500m. Holding 1:59 for six reps is one thing, for eight proved a little too much. So I recalibrated and decided to shoot for anything below 2k pace for starters. Averaged 2:00.8 so fairly pleased with that. It also felt more controlled and less like a mad thrash so probably more beneficial. Strange how going just 1 second per 500m slower feels so different!

I completely understand. I've been purposefully pushing on my workouts knowing I may recalibrate (given I've been through this plan before).

Today, my legs and lungs wanted to give out on the "steady state" repeat of 7500m. Missed target... but no worries. Moving forward.

[thaloun]

I think my pace may have culminated on these shorter distances at 1:59. Week 11 has 8 x 500m so I'll find out soon enough!

Just done the 8 x 500m and yes, I was overcooking the shorter intervals. I last did an all-out 2k a few years ago and came in at 8:08 so that's 2:02/500m. Holding 1:59 for six reps is one thing, for eight proved a little too much. So I recalibrated and decided to shoot for anything below 2k pace for starters. Averaged 2:00.8 so fairly pleased with that. It also felt more controlled and less like a mad thrash so probably more beneficial. Strange how going just 1 second per 500m slower feels so different!

I know the feeling. I just did the 2nd go at 8x intervals and thought I was flying and reduced my overall pace from 1:55.4 to.... 1:55.3 lol. I blame it on having an appointment and not taking enough time to warm up fully.

[RayOfSunshine]

Week 6 complete on the ski

[thaloun]

Week 17 done. Aside from not seeing the improvement I was expecting on the 500m intervals things went well. Random weekly musings as usual:

- Experimented with upping the damper a bit more, up to ~127ish. I think it's made me stroke rate go down as I feel I'm able to put more power in to each pull. Maybe it's all placebo though. Tough to know for sure.
- Don't use the 'repeat workout' function in ergdata if you're trying to follow the plan's method of incremental time improvement. Each interval will have a different target pace corresponding to the exact same interval from the previous run. This is in fact why I didn't go faster I think on the 500s. The last interval was already faster as it remembered I pushed hard on the final one the previous time!
- On the Thursday 'slow and correct' workout I tried without strapping in my feet. That was interesting. I feel like I can't lean back as much and also can't push the legs as hard, yet my pace was good and I wasn't laboured, so maybe I was pulling more efficiently? Seems like it would be very hard to do at high rates.

[RayOfSunshine]

- On the Thursday 'slow and correct' workout I tried without strapping in my feet. That was interesting. I feel like I can't lean back as much and also can't push the legs as hard, yet my pace was good and I wasn't laboured, so maybe I was pulling more efficiently? Seems like it would be very hard to do at high rates.

I do these often. It really helps me with my form. I definitely wouldn't do it on anything other than a steady state.

[Dalos]

Wow, a lot of pages to read through here! Glad to see it's still pumping!

Time for a but of a vent / life story.

I had a bit of a nightmare. Went overseas for 5 weeks mid Aug- late Sept. Put the BPP on pause, but was regularly grabbing UT2 7500m rows at local gyms in the morning just to keep active. (I didn't fancy doing any of the high intensity sessions, laying gasping for a minute after, in an unfamiliar gym). I was feeling absolutely fantastic, my UT2 was steadily dropping and down to 2:31.5-2:32 (had been 2:34.5 at the start of the plan and 2:38 back when I first started rowing).

Caught a horrible Flu, not COVID, that put me down for 10 days. Caught Gastro, again, down for 4. Got food poisoning as well as an added bonus. (some holiday, have two kids under 4 and they copped it to a much lesser extent too, wife magically stayed clear but had that to deal with). Arrived back in Aus feeling absolutely terrible and having been more ill in the prior 3-4 months (I was sick multiple times prior to the trip too) than I had been, combined, over the last 15 years.

Thyroid was fine (discovered last year I was Hypo) but I was (still am) pretty anemic, worse than I've ever been, and doc put me on a month of rest. Worried with all the sickness it was something immune system related (Thyroid is caused by that already), all clear, just really unlucky! Green lit to start again, slowly now.

First row back today, 7500m, 2:42.1 (last 1500m at 2:48 - barely moving!), and that at +10 my normal HR (though perceived level of effort was still UT2, was talking to my son during). I've never been that slow, even when I was just starting after 15 years of inactivity. Hoping it's a blip / clearing the pipes.

I'm never going to be an athlete then! Just glad to be back at it. Hoping to have a month maybe of 3-5 UT2 sessions a week just to ease back in then start the plan for a third(!) time.

On the plus side all that illness, and keeping a clean diet (though not at weight loss Cals) even when not training, dropped more weight. Down to 77kg (from 92kg when I started rowing, 97kg before that, 82kg before the trip) though I expect my BF% took a hit losing some of the little muscle I have. Aim was to get back to the 65-75kg I've been most of my life so nearly there, soon get to switch to LWT in my log too!

[RayOfSunshine]

On the plus side all that illness, and keeping a clean diet (though not at weight loss Cals) even when not training, dropped more weight. Down to 77kg (from 92kg when I started rowing, 97kg before that, 82kg before the trip) though I expect my BF% took a hit losing some of the little muscle I have. Aim was to get back to the 65-75kg I've been most of my life so nearly there, soon get to switch to LWT in my log too!

Dang... sounds like you've been through the ringer, but I like how you ended with the positive!

[mitchel674]

Wow, a lot of pages to read through here! Glad to see it's still pumping!

Time for a but of a vent / life story.

I had a bit of a nightmare. Went overseas for 5 weeks mid Aug- late Sept. Put the BPP on pause, but was regularly grabbing UT2 7500m rows at local gyms in the morning just to keep active. (I didn't fancy doing any of the high intensity sessions, laying gasping for a minute after, in an unfamiliar gym). I was feeling absolutely fantastic, my UT2 was steadily dropping and down to 2:31.5-2:32 (had been 2:34.5 at the start of the plan and 2:38 back when I first started rowing).

Caught a horrible Flu, not COVID, that put me down for 10 days. Caught Gastro, again, down for 4. Got food poisoning as well as an added bonus. (some holiday, have two kids under 4 and they copped it to a much lesser extent too, wife magically stayed clear but had that to deal with). Arrived back in Aus feeling absolutely terrible and having been more ill in the prior 3-4 months (I was sick multiple times prior to the trip too) than I had been, combined, over the last 15 years.

Thyroid was fine (discovered last year I was Hypo) but I was (still am) pretty anemic, worse than I've ever been, and doc put me on a month of rest. Worried with all the sickness it was something immune system related (Thyroid is caused by that already), all clear, just really unlucky! Green lit to start again, slowly now.

First row back today, 7500m, 2:42.1 (last 1500m at 2:48 - barely moving!), and that at +10 my normal HR (though perceived level of effort was still UT2, was talking to my son during). I've never been that slow, even when I was just starting after 15 years of inactivity. Hoping it's a blip / clearing the pipes.

I'm never going to be an athlete then! Just glad to be back at it. Hoping to have a month maybe of 3-5 UT2 sessions a week just to ease back in then start the plan for a third(!) time.

On the plus side all that illness, and keeping a clean diet (though not at weight loss Cals) even when not training, dropped more weight. Down to 77kg (from 92kg when I started rowing, 97kg before that, 82kg before the trip) though I expect my BF% took a hit losing some of the little muscle I have. Aim was to get back to the 65-75kg I've been most of my life so nearly there, soon get to switch to LWT in my log too!

Why are you anemic? Depending on how low you are, anemia can certainly affect your performance. More importantly, why are you anemic?

[Dalos]

I'm an eternal optimist!

Short answer to why - don't know, not iron, not anything scary (cancer). Likely thyroid, checking ever few months. 135g/L m- 180g/L is common, athletes can have more. I'm 110-125 the last few tests and not really improving.

Long answer, at the risk of sharing my life story!

I've likely had Hashimotos (really common thyroid auto-immune issue) since I was a teenager. It can start hypo (I had near 100 resting HR and couldn't get above 50kgs until my early 20s) then slowly goes Hypo and gets worse over time. I thought it was just age. Much of my 20s I was then able to put on muscle and easily has a low BF%, late 20s that waned badly, I put on weight easily but struggled to maintain the same muscle / BF, just got worse through my 30s until I went to do something about it a few years ago (rowing, diet) and really struggle to shift it. Losing muscle mass and fat in equal % even with a really high fat% to start - was due to thyroid.

Common side effect of Chronic Hypothyroid is anemia, but it should recover when that is fixed, but mine isn't. From what I read long term chronic impacts the heart and muscles (less bloodflow needed but less energy used etc.) and can take a long time to come back even after the hormone is fixed, the same way it takes a long time to have a training effect to perforate muscle with capillaries etc.(years). I suggested to the Doc it's low because I have had such low muscle / high Bodyfat due to it (likely chronically, for years) but also because I don't have the normal energy processing structures and bloodflow and so my body hasn't needed more cells in my blood, and that might take a while to shift. Response was - maybe, go easy and let's monitor.

I'm speculating that is it, but don't know. Had hoped it would come back up as I trained but hasn't yet, though I really haven't done any significant volume. maybe when hitting millions of metres.