Pondering the Beginner Pete Plan

[fancyoats]

W23S5 4x2000m/4:00
Target was from last week - 2:15.5. I was dreading this and procrastinating hard this morning, but I crushed it. Had coffee before sitting down for it and I think the caffeine helped, lol. I'm still kind of shaky and adrenaline-y.



Just one week left of the plan!!!

[Rowan McSheen]

W11 S3 8000m



UT1 (120-130 bpm) as usual for the second distance piece. I expect about 2:15 for these. The hr was slow to rise and stayed stubbornly in UT2 territory until I was beyond 5000m. It then woke up as I pushed the pace a little and I finished a little ahead of target on a negative split and with hr comfortably within limits. Happy with that.

I'm nearing the halfway point on this plan, where in the past I have bailed out and gone off in search of something different before returning. I do love the BPP but it gets a bit samey after a while so I shall ponder. However, the basic ingredients of training plans remain the same so I guess there's only so much variety to be had.

Any thoughts on completing The Plan, FO? The full-fat Pete Plan? You're churning out decent mileage, do you want to focus on distance or pace going forward?

[fancyoats]

W24S1 12000m but I did 13500m

Instructions said "don't work too hard" so I covered the monitor and went easy (read slooooowww)

Any thoughts on completing The Plan, FO? The full-fat Pete Plan? You're churning out decent mileage, do you want to focus on distance or pace going forward?

I think distance. I like the long slow stuff best I'm finding. I was thinking of building up to a marathon, but not entirely sure how to go about it - Just keep adding distance every week? Do I still mix in the harder intervals? I need to ask around in the endurance thread. I do love the structure of a plan to follow - it removes the decision-making factor but it might be nice to make it up as I go, too.

[Rowan McSheen]

W11 S5 4 x 1500m 3 mins rest



Done out of sequence because looking ahead, S4 looks better for tired legs the day after tomorrow's planned run. Should be running today but it's blowing a gale outside so maybe the coastal trail isn't the place to be. Cliffs and steep drops and all that.

Instrux are to hold W8 pace for first three reps (2:08.1) and beat it on the fourth, which went well enough with still some left in the tank for next time.

Also passed a milestone:



Top tip: erging lots doesn't necessarily lead to erging fast

[fancyoats]

W24S2 5x1500/3:00

Target was 2:!5.6 from week 21.



My average turned out better than the target, but I didn't pace these very well. Instructions said to do the first 4 at minimum effort for the target, but I overshot and flew a little close to the sun, inflated by the 4x2000 from Saturday. Maybe that's the difference between coffee and no coffee. Good sleep and not very good sleep. Oh well. I've been embarrassed by my bad pacing before.

[fancyoats]

Top tip: erging lots doesn't necessarily lead to erging fast

take comfort in the fact that you are still way faster than me!!!

[Rowan McSheen]

We're not slow, we're endurance athletes

[fancyoats]

We're not slow, we're endurance athletes

And congrats on 16 million! Aspirational!!!

[fancyoats]

W24S3 30:00
Instructions said "use your judgment" and "pace according to how you feel" so I decided to try another 30r20. Not quite as many meters as the previous one, but still felt good.



599 strokes. so close.

[Rowan McSheen]

W11 S4 25 minutes



No instrux on this other than work on technique so I opted for a stroke ladder, 5 minutes each at 20-22-24-22-20 spm. 22 and 24 spm generally feel natural to me and I have to concentrate at 20. More so for 18 spm, which I usually avoid. A pleasant enough session.

Week 11 complete as I did S5 earlier.

[fancyoats]

W24S4 2x15:00/2:00



Tomorrow is the final session. After that, I figure I'll do a 2K TT to get myself a benchmark and then settle into building some distance. I'll miss this thread. It's been a great source of support and advice. <3

[swag72]

Out of interest... what do people do after completing this plan? Is there another available that is a natural follow on?

[fancyoats]

Out of interest... what do people do after completing this plan? Is there another available that is a natural follow on?

I mean there’s probably not just one answer but it seems a lot of people go for the actual Pete plan (i.e., not the beginner one)

[Rowan McSheen]

W12 S1 10000m



Done as UT2 as always. Went well enough but more slowdown towards the end than I would have liked. Still a decent workout though.

As for what comes next, the full-fat Pete Plan is a popular choice although I would probably modify it a little for my own purposes (those 3:30 rests for 500 metres, for example, are likely meant to be interval time x 2). I never got my head round the Wolverine but that only means I'm not in the intended demographic. Rowalong has some plans as well, pegged to certain target distances. But when all is said and done there's only so much variety that can be injected into an erg (or running for that matter) training plan.

[fancyoats]

W24S5 4x1000/3:00

Target was 2:11.4 from week 21.



Plan complete

New max observed HR: 188

I think I will plan to do a 2k on Monday morning. Pete says I should be able to hold the pace of the most recent 8x500 for the 2k. So for me, that would be 2:08.0. It's going to be a tough but not an unreasonable target!