How to factor in non-Erg training

[Mlevison]

As the weather in Ottawa gets to be beautiful for a few brief months, I will spend more time outside. Most weekends I will either 10+ km hiking or 50+ km of bike. Would you replace a longer steady state workout with one of these? or just push it on a couple of days?

[Dangerscouse]

That totally depends on your available time and ability to recover. Both activities will be beneficial and I'm an advocate of doing different sports, so if possible try and do it all and then analyse how you're progressing.

[Tandstad]

I did almost all of my all time PB's coming off of a season of quite intense mountain running. I had been focusing on a race in my neighbourhood, where I was pushing for months and months to do sub 1 hour to the top. Once I did it(59:34) I was quite tired of running, and did not train again for some months. This was in June, and I bought my erg in October since my conditioning was on a rapid decrease. But after about 4 months on the erg with low volume(20-30k weekly) I did my PB's. What I read from this is that doing other activities will also build a big engine. I feel like if you sit on the erg through the summer months "just" to get the volume in, that will be counter-beneficial. Enjoy some hiking, swimming, biking etc in the summer time, the autumn will be there fast enough

What I have tried to do(but not always succeed at) is aiming for a weekly erg volume of say 50k. If you do a mountain hike, it could count for 5-10 of those k's. If you do a bike trip, another 5-10k off of the erg volume. But I would always opt to do 2-3 erg sessions per week to keep some specific training.

If you could also mix in some strength, even better!

The above is ONLY my opinion, and I am not a trainer

[dabatey]

I'm going the other way. Kinda went to switch in some cycling to get more outdoors a couple of years ago, and as my better half started cycling with me the erg just faded out (confirmed by buying a smart bike trainer). I've now broken the c2 out of storage having been loathe to get rid of it, and am quite interested to see how the rise in aerobic capacity from 2 years cycling will affect my rowing times. Had my first session Wednesday and it's clear I need to build up rowing 'strength' as what I thought would be quite a conservative 'easy' pace had to be slowed. However my HR was 15-20bpm lower compared to the same effort when I started rowing 2.5 years ago so bodes well I think for future rowing.

My plan is (whilst still cycling) to do a month of 'easy' rows (HR wise) to get some basic strength back, and then maybe another couple months of building the pace (and strength) through some UT1, before moving the emphasis to rowing over winter with intervals (and still some online cycling to keep my hand in) to see where I get to.

[hikeplusrow]

I tend to do two days erging followed by one day hiking (moderate/hard + moderate + hike). I think it's important to do other activities to get the legs operating independently - which they obviously don't do with rowing/erging.

[Dangerscouse]

I tend to do two days erging followed by one day hiking (moderate/hard + moderate + hike). I think it's important to do other activities to get the legs operating independently - which they obviously don't do with rowing/erging.

That is good point. Erging operates in quite a limited plane of motion, so it definitely helps, if only in a holistic way, to not getting imbalances by doing different movements.

There's an element of specificity to any exercise regime, but I always think that there's also a tipping point when it's more beneficial to add in different stuff.

[dabatey]

I tend to do two days erging followed by one day hiking (moderate/hard + moderate + hike). I think it's important to do other activities to get the legs operating independently - which they obviously don't do with rowing/erging.

I also get a short 1.5 hours at hiking pace in every day giving my lurcher dog a walk up the woods. (+ another more sedate [for me] shorter walk later). TBH I've not been considering it training though it certainly affects food level intakes.

[hikeplusrow]

I tend to do two days erging followed by one day hiking (moderate/hard + moderate + hike). I think it's important to do other activities to get the legs operating independently - which they obviously don't do with rowing/erging.

I also get a short 1.5 hours at hiking pace in every day giving my lurcher dog a walk up the woods. (+ another more sedate [for me] shorter walk later). TBH I've not been considering it training though it certainly affects food level intakes.

There's considerable debate among so called 'influencers' as to whether walking can be classified as exercise/cardio/training - the argument being that it's just a normal human function. I'm not bothered about all that, frankly. I walk because I enjoy it, it provides 'active rest' between erging sessions and it's great for mental health. It's also a great calorie burner - which is what you alluded to.

[dabatey]

I tend to do two days erging followed by one day hiking (moderate/hard + moderate + hike). I think it's important to do other activities to get the legs operating independently - which they obviously don't do with rowing/erging.

I also get a short 1.5 hours at hiking pace in every day giving my lurcher dog a walk up the woods. (+ another more sedate [for me] shorter walk later). TBH I've not been considering it training though it certainly affects food level intakes.

There's considerable debate among so called 'influencers' as to whether walking can be classified as exercise/cardio/training - the argument being that it's just a normal human function. I'm not bothered about all that, frankly. I walk because I enjoy it, it provides 'active rest' between erging sessions and it's great for mental health. It's also a great calorie burner - which is what you alluded to.

Walking is certainly something that can be carried into old age, so it's a great habit to have. If hiking is long distance it would certainly be considered endurance training I think, especially if up hills.

[hikeplusrow]

I also get a short 1.5 hours at hiking pace in every day giving my lurcher dog a walk up the woods. (+ another more sedate [for me] shorter walk later). TBH I've not been considering it training though it certainly affects food level intakes.

There's considerable debate among so called 'influencers' as to whether walking can be classified as exercise/cardio/training - the argument being that it's just a normal human function. I'm not bothered about all that, frankly. I walk because I enjoy it, it provides 'active rest' between erging sessions and it's great for mental health. It's also a great calorie burner - which is what you alluded to.

Walking is certainly something that can be carried into old age, so it's a great habit to have. If hiking is long distance it would certainly be considered endurance training I think, especially if up hills.

Spot on. Distance and, especially, terrain are key.

[Dangerscouse]

There's considerable debate among so called 'influencers' as to whether walking can be classified as exercise/cardio/training - the argument being that it's just a normal human function. I'm not bothered about all that, frankly. I walk because I enjoy it, it provides 'active rest' between erging sessions and it's great for mental health. It's also a great calorie burner - which is what you alluded to.

Ditto. We have two weekly morning walks, both about 5km, and then dog walks (as she's getting old and has always been a bit odd with her walks, they're never very long and it's only one a day) which I love. I don't count them as training, but I wouldn't want to not do them as they are great for my mental health.

[hikeplusrow]

There's considerable debate among so called 'influencers' as to whether walking can be classified as exercise/cardio/training - the argument being that it's just a normal human function. I'm not bothered about all that, frankly. I walk because I enjoy it, it provides 'active rest' between erging sessions and it's great for mental health. It's also a great calorie burner - which is what you alluded to.

Ditto. We have two weekly morning walks, both about 5km, and then dog walks (as she's getting old and has always been a bit odd with her walks, they're never very long and it's only one a day) which I love. I don't count them as training, but I wouldn't want to not do them as they are great for my mental health.

I must say I miss dog walks massively.

[Dangerscouse]

I must say I miss dog walks massively.

We've had ours for eight years, but as she's a rescue and was estimated to be four when we got her, she's got her issues, albeit they pale into insignificance compared to her attributes.

The only thing we would change about her is her dysfunctional walking. There's no way we can have to walk somewhere in particular and decide to take her with us, as it's been a very regular occurrence that we have to carry her, and at 20kg it's not too easy. Nowadays we just let her go where she wants to go, which can be quite random at times, so we also miss dog walking but in a different way to yours

[Mlevison]

Interesting comments all. However, I don't think anyone answered my original question. I just completed 70km of riding, I had time for a nice coffee along the way. It was a mix of Zone 3 (over 90 mins) and Zone 4 (last 40 minutes mostly on the final climb home). With respect to Erging would you just skip your next regular long row and move on to Sprint work? Or would you do the 7km because it is next on the schedule? With the warm weather, as a Canadian, my inclination is to spend every extra second outside.

An aside - Erging has clearly improved my fitness. This was my longest ride in years and I was able to sustain faster speeds than in the past.

[alex9026]

Interesting comments all. However, I don't think anyone answered my original question. I just completed 70km of riding, I had time for a nice coffee along the way. It was a mix of Zone 3 (over 90 mins) and Zone 4 (last 40 minutes mostly on the final climb home). With respect to Erging would you just skip your next regular long row and move on to Sprint work? Or would you do the 7km because it is next on the schedule?

Maybe it wasn't answered because we don't know how you feel post ride. I can't tell you go row your 7k sprint work session and you feel like garbage...

My riding is dependant on the weather so it isn't planned, whereby my Erg'ing more or less is. If I ride a hard 3-4 hours, I'll probably make the next day on the Erg an easy one, but I'm not very conditioned to riding these days. I don't get out as much as I'd like, so I'll ride in place of whatever row I have planned and adjust my schedule accordingly.The internet can't give you a definitive answer, so I'd suggest warm up for whatever you have planned next and see how you feel. Either move the sprint work, take a rest day, or get the additional aerobic work in. On the grand scheme of things, providing you aren't putting a dent in your recovery, it doesn't really matter...