Newbie Questions

[Dangerscouse]

Still a bit confused about drag factor, I can't decide if it's easier or harder at 120 vs 125. I guess the logic is that the lower the DF, the faster the rower has to pull to maintain the same pace.

Don't overthink drag factor. It's purely a means to an end and you'll settle on whatever works best for you, but make sure you give it at least 4 or 5 sessions on different settings before you decide, as it can instantly feel wrong, but quite quickly feel better.

[Elizabeth]

I have a similar max HR to you, and most of my endurance work is capped at a heart rate of 139. I stayed around HR 128-130 today. This usually comes out to a pace around 5k+20 to 5k+23, at stroke rate 20. Going easier still builds endurance and lets you recover to smash the hard pieces!

[robhely]

Just wondering with the Pete Plan, how hard should I be going on the longer pieces? I've been assessing output using heart rate, my max on a hard-out piece seems to be around 185, so should I aim for around 80%, which is around 148? I guess this would be UT1. Should I go up to AT for the intervals?

Pete has put in notes about the desired training effect and pace which I'll copy below. I'd suggest less hard on the longer pieces (UT2). Certainly the short intervals being speed work have no HR restriction and are properly hard. The speed endurance section aka the longer intervals is aimed at AT, but I'm guessing most would find it harder than that!

I think UT2 will be a challenge for me as this will be very slow splits to keep my heart rate that low.

Yep, I was thinking the intervals should be hard, like trying to hold my 2000m pace over the 500m intervals. And keep it consistent from one interval to the next, not drop off and get slower each time.

I've never done longer intervals, but looking forward to them. AT will be easily achieved here.

[robhely]

I have a similar max HR to you, and most of my endurance work is capped at a heart rate of 139. I stayed around HR 128-130 today. This usually comes out to a pace around 5k+20 to 5k+23, at stroke rate 20. Going easier still builds endurance and lets you recover to smash the hard pieces!

So by 5k+20 pace you mean taking my fastest 5000m pace (1:58 per 500m) and adding 20 seconds to aim for a pace of ~ 2:20? That would definitely get my HR down to 139 or less, which puts me in the UT2 zone. I imagine this would feel quite enjoyable and leisurely, not something I've experienced on the erg yet! I like the idea of going slower to ultimately go faster.

How often do you recommend smashing PBs? The Pete Plan is many months of training, I can't imagine not wanting to sneak in a few all-out attempts during that time to see how I'm progressing.

[Ombrax]

So by 5k+20 pace you mean taking my fastest 5000m pace (1:58 per 500m) and adding 20 seconds to aim for a pace of ~ 2:20?

Correct.

"Xk +YY" is a standard way to discuss "effort" or pace levels for folks of different capabilities on the rower.

Something like "2k + some number" is the most common one used, since 2k is a super-common benchmark, but obviously there are lots of different workouts where other paces may be more relevant

[jamesg]

So something like 5 x 30 - 40min rows in a week at AT wouldn't be 'overtraining' at my level?

That's the upper limit. We need only do so much work per week, since fitness is a cell growth function that can't go any faster than cells can increase in number, same as hair or nails.

This is a week's work from the middle of two of the shorter Interactive plans for racing 2k:

Level 2
3x10'AT 2x15'UT1 3x3'TR 2x15'UT1 Total 99 minutes plus warmup/down
Level 3
2x16'UT1 3x7'AT 2x8'AT 2x4'TR Total 87 minutes plus wu/d.

[MPx]

I think UT2 will be a challenge for me as this will be very slow splits to keep my heart rate that low.

Yep, I was thinking the intervals should be hard, like trying to hold my 2000m pace over the 500m intervals. And keep it consistent from one interval to the next, not drop off and get slower each time.

I've never done longer intervals, but looking forward to them. AT will be easily achieved here.

Yes..UT2 is slow - but as long as you do enough of it, it develops aerobic capacity while not overly fatiguing - but you do need to do a lot of it.

Depending on rest times, the 500s might well be faster than 2k. I can't remember what the various PPs prescribe, but I do 6x500 on 2 min rests and 8x500 on 3:30 and I can do both of those at 2k -3 or so on a good day. However, it doesn't take long to ratchet down to a very demanding session so its not a bad idea for your first one to start at your current 2k pace with a faster last. You should aim for all the same pace except the last which is all in and hopefully a little faster to set a lower avg pace to start at next time. Once you've done one set - even if it goes wrong and you have to slow - you will get an avg pace. It is that avg that you start from next time.

Again pacing is tough to guage at first on longer intervals. As a start, consider trying them at 5k pace and use the same flat with a faster last ratchet effect to hone in on where you're fitness really allows.

[Elizabeth]

I have a similar max HR to you, and most of my endurance work is capped at a heart rate of 139. I stayed around HR 128-130 today. This usually comes out to a pace around 5k+20 to 5k+23, at stroke rate 20. Going easier still builds endurance and lets you recover to smash the hard pieces!

So by 5k+20 pace you mean taking my fastest 5000m pace (1:58 per 500m) and adding 20 seconds to aim for a pace of ~ 2:20? That would definitely get my HR down to 139 or less, which puts me in the UT2 zone. I imagine this would feel quite enjoyable and leisurely, not something I've experienced on the erg yet! I like the idea of going slower to ultimately go faster.

How often do you recommend smashing PBs? The Pete Plan is many months of training, I can't imagine not wanting to sneak in a few all-out attempts during that time to see how I'm progressing.

Yep, you got it on the pace! I frequently have two hard sessions and one UT1 session per week, and everything else is at that easy pace.

I had a "PR Friday" for a while, as the long/hard piece on the Pete Lunch Hour Plan. It worked as someone newer to rowing. It wasn't sustainable. At this point I'm hitting PR attempts much less frequently. A few all-out time trials can be a lot of fun, just treat them as all-out attempts when planning how many hard workouts you're doing that week. It looks like Pete's Beginner Plan has one hard interval session and a second optional one each week, so maybe replace the optional intervals with a time trial and keep the steady state in there as-is.

[robhely]

Thanks for all the tips, I've learned so much about more effective ways to train on the erg. It's really motivating to hear from experienced rowers how to do things properly - up until now I've been flying blind and making a lot of mistakes along the way! Youtube videos are great for finessing technique and how to use the erg, but there's not a lot of specific information on training programs for particular goals.

At my height and weight I feel reasonably sure I'll never be great at the 500m and 2000m, but I feel confident that with the right training I'll be able to dramatically improve my 5000m, 30min and 10,000m results.

[robhely]

Loving the Pete Program, after a full week I had a crack at my PB on the 5000m and managed to take 26 seconds off my time! Really thought I'd started out a bit fast, but managed to maintain the same splits the entire time. Heart rate was over 180 for the last 5 mins, so I was working hard.

Plan is to make attempts on the 5000m, 30 mins and 10000m after every 2 weeks of the program.

I assume it's best to have a full rest day before an attempt?

[Elizabeth]

Loving the Pete Program, after a full week I had a crack at my PB on the 5000m and managed to take 26 seconds off my time! Really thought I'd started out a bit fast, but managed to maintain the same splits the entire time. Heart rate was over 180 for the last 5 mins, so I was working hard.

Plan is to make attempts on the 5000m, 30 mins and 10000m after every 2 weeks of the program.

I assume it's best to have a full rest day before an attempt?

Rob, what an awesome improvement! Congratulations on the new PB!

I often don't take full rest days before hard attempts, but avoid having two hard sessions in a row, especially if I care about the second. My 1k and 2k PBs followed a full rest day, while my 6k PB was the day after about 14k easy. (Also worth noting that 14k isn't a high volume session for me.) You can play around and see what works best for you.

[Dangerscouse]

Loving the Pete Program, after a full week I had a crack at my PB on the 5000m and managed to take 26 seconds off my time! Really thought I'd started out a bit fast, but managed to maintain the same splits the entire time. Heart rate was over 180 for the last 5 mins, so I was working hard.

Plan is to make attempts on the 5000m, 30 mins and 10000m after every 2 weeks of the program.

I assume it's best to have a full rest day before an attempt?

Congratulations Rob, that's a huge improvement.

I'm the same as Elizabeth and I don't ever plan a rest day before a PB attempt, as it just doesn't work for me, albeit sometimes it does happen due to circumstances. As an example my 60 mins and FM PBs were on consecutive days, but that was a very fertile patch of training (during lockdown), so I doubt I'd try that again.

Imo, it's best to see what works for you, and also what feels right. Having a confidence boost due to you perceiving you've done something beneficial shouldn't be discounted. That may be due to a rest day or due to staying active, as we are all different.

[iain]

I would agree with the above. It all depends what our priorities are. These 3 PBs should stay roughly in line if (I know, an unreasonable constraint) done in a similar state. So even if your training is focussed on optimising these, I would stick to doing one at a time and cycle through them. There is nothing better than being ahead of your PB schedule to motivate you through the tough sections of a PB attempt. This is only realistic (after the easy early gains) if it has been several weeks if not months since the last serious attempt. As for a rest day, I find that it helps, but if building fitness is a more important goal, better to prioritise an interval session over the PB attempts and do that after your rest day. Also some people find that they perform better after an easy day than a rest day, we have to find what works best for ourselves.