Pondering the Beginner Pete Plan

[DJ1972]

I would not say weeks, more likely months.

In all reality, I think you're right. Chipping off 3.4 seconds is a really big effort at r20, when you felt like you were giving your all.

It can happen if you keep working hard, but it shouldn't be under estimated how much it takes. I'd highly recommend training your mind for the last 10 mins, which are always horrible when you're really pushing the limits. Try not to let your inner chimp take over with negative thoughts of doom.

It will probably also help to not go out quite so fast for the first six minutes, and just trying to squeeze out more pace as you progress. I say probably, as not everyone benefits from neg or flat splits, but they are the outliers.

I extended the 30 min BPP sessions into 30R20 as I believed that strength (and mental) development would be beneficial (in my case).
I wrongly assumed that I could hold a 2:02 pace when I felt ok in the first 6 min...but there are 24 min to hold after. I will follow your advice on pace.

Overall, it is an exercise worth integrating on the technique and stability of the stroke as tiredness kicks in. I noticed that, after the 20 min mark, my technique was affected and focusing on it again resulted in maintaining pace....so negative thoughts counter-balanced with technique focus!

[Sakly]

I would not say weeks, more likely months.

In all reality, I think you're right. Chipping off 3.4 seconds is a really big effort at r20, when you felt like you were giving your all.

Fully agree.
Somewhere I read something about gaining 20W/year with a proper training. This was likely based on an already good trained athlete and a 2k power output, so not directly translating to the 30r20, but it shows what we are talking about (and for myself this estimate is close to what I got for my 2k journey). You need to step up nearly 20W average to get the 30r20 sub 2:00 pace, and keep in mind this is more focused on strength and less on cardiac output, when you can see faster gains on the latter one.

[DJ1972]

Week 18.2
4 x 2000m / 4min rest – In week 14 you did this session with 3 reps. Do the first 3 reps at the pace you managed for that session, and the month of work you’ve done since will allow you the extra rep.

Target was at 1:59.2 with one more interval. Work via 30R20 helped me produced enough from my legs to maintain pace and have a go on the last rep.

Code: Select all

Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	Cal/Hr	S/M	
31:44.7	8,000	1:59.0	207	1014	24	164
7:58.5	2,000	1:59.6	204	1003	23	158
r: 4:00	21						
7:58.6	2,000	1:59.6	204	1003	25	163
r: 4:00	18						
7:58.5	2,000	1:59.6	204	1003	25	166
r: 4:00	17						
7:49.1	2,000	1:57.2	217	1046	26	170
r56	

I am not too sure how to handle the stroke rate on the 1st rep (SR 23). Perhaps this is low and the session should be completed with the same SR 25/26 as for 2nd to 4th. However, I did not do that so my HR would not immediately go too high.

[Joris]

Thanks for the feedback Dangerscouse, Reuben and DJ1972.

FWIW, this is my opinion. You'll necessarily hit the buffers on pace, as you'll find the limit of your current ability, so this may be about right or lower than expected due to under recovery. It's important to be honest with yourself as both of these have different solutions.

It sounds like you're going through a bit of rough patch with other life stresses, so if it is, I'd rein it in a bit, based on the fact that the last rep is open to ramping up the pace anyway. You should be able to fairly quickly figure out if it's a temporary issue and something you can fight through or not.

Dropping back on the pace on SS can quite often be a good idea, as long as you're mindful of what you're doing and not letting it become an easy way out. There's a subtle but important difference between doing what you should and what you could.

It's not entirely clear to me what you recommend for the steady state sessions. Going a bit slower or letting myself not be influenced too much by a higher heart rate and just doing the same thing I was doing, even though steady states start to feel more and more like heavy sessions?

Personally, I find it more tempting at steady states to keep aiming for a faster time, because that is more fun and challenging than maintaining the same pace as previous sessions, let alone going slower.
But as a beginner who has little to no experience with endurance sports, I don't want to force myself and risk stagnation or fatigue or injury. From what I've read, I still mainly remember that the goal is not to go as fast as possible during steady states but to gradually build up a condition base. I consider the heart rate monitor as a helpful tool to learn about my own abilities and as a monitor to keep building up patiently rather than unconsciously building up the intensity of my steady states.

This happened to me when I was moving from the 8k to 10k SS rows. Up until that point I had been able to maintain the same pace for the SS rows as they increased in length, but then hit a bit of a wall. I'm retired, wasn't sick, had just the "normal" stressors, so I guess I just got to the point where my body couldn't maintain the progression, and I had to back off a bit and consolidate. So I lowered my SS pace by 1 or 2s, persevered (aka ground out the meters at whatever pace I could manage), and then came out fine a few weeks later, even lowering my pace slightly in the last week or two. I don't recall any difference in my intervals during that stretch. YMMV and all that.

Recognizable, and I followed your advice to lower my SS pace a bit.

Welcome back! On a personal basis, I repeated the same week when I had a break and added some steady state until I felt that I could progress to the next week of plan.

For now I'm going to continue with the plan, but I did replace the day 5 session with a steady state session.
So far I don't feel like it's getting much better yet, so maybe I'll eventually repeat a week or add some random ss sessions.

Week 20.3 [30 min]:
I decided to use this session as a way to rediscover my "real" current steady state pace. So no target time, just heart rate driven, whereby I set myself a maximum heart rate of 140. The ida was that I could then use that same pace afterwards for the next longer steady states.
I ended up with a split of 2:23 and an average heart rate of 135.

Week 20.4 [10k]:
Although I felt as well rested as previous session (30 min - 2:23 - avergage heart rate 135) my heart rate went up again quite a bit (144 instead of 135) despite following the same pace of 2:23.
The reason was not that the distance of this session was longer, because my heart rate went above 140 already from minute 9 and did not drop below it afterwards, while I reached a maximum of 140 the previous session. The only positive I got out of it was that my heart rate remained more or less constant throughout the entire session and thus did not show a (sharply) rising curve towards the end.

Week 20.5 [10k]
Based on the previous session, I thought it would be more useful to do another steady state session instead of an interval session.
So I swapped the 8 x 500m with a 10k session.
By again choosing a pace of 2:23, I hoped this would show that the previous session was a negative outlier. Unfortunately, my heart rate once again reached 143, following a similar patern as the other 10k session.
So for now it looks like I will have to keep this pace for a bit, or maybe even go a little slower for the ss sessions.

The last session of week 20 remaining is interval session 20.2 [5 x 1,500k]. Although the stars are not favorable I will make the best of it and try to achieve at least the same target as that of session 16.2. Based on the result of that session I can evaluate where I'm at for the interval sessions and how I can follow up for the next sessions.

[reuben]

So I lowered my SS pace by 1 or 2s, persevered (aka ground out the meters at whatever pace I could manage), and then came out fine a few weeks later, even lowering my pace slightly in the last week or two.

I should clarify this. "I lowered my SS pace by 1 or 2s" - I rowed slower by 1-2s/500m, which I don't think was a potentially confusing statement. But when I said "lowering my pace slightly in the last week or two.", I lowered my time/500m, and thus actually increased my pace as my body adapted to the longer distances. It was a poor choice of words on my part.

I'm on Week 18 of the BPP, and I rowed the 11k at a pace almost another second faster, so after slowing down 1-2s/500m for the SS state sessions for a few weeks I'm now actually a bit faster than I was before I slowed down.

[Dangerscouse]

So far I don't feel like it's getting much better yet, so maybe I'll eventually repeat a week or add some random ss sessions.

This might be the biggest issue that you're not addressing. Progress isn't linear, nor rapid, so you need to learn to love the process and not focus on progress. When you just enjoy doing what you're doing, you'll go much further than focusing on your progress at a granular level.

Steady state could be either really easy, medium effort, or somewhere in between but they shouldn't get harder and harder. HR could be a good guide for you to use, as that theoretically takes the guesswork out of it, as you sound like you're too tempted to go too hard too often.

[DJ1972]

So far I don't feel like it's getting much better yet, so maybe I'll eventually repeat a week or add some random ss sessions.

This might be the biggest issue that you're not addressing. Progress isn't linear, nor rapid, so you need to learn to love the process and not focus on progress. When you just enjoy doing what you're doing, you'll go much further than focusing on your progress at a granular level.

Steady state could be either really easy, medium effort, or somewhere in between but they shouldn't get harder and harder. HR could be a good guide for you to use, as that theoretically takes the guesswork out of it, as you sound like you're too tempted to go too hard too often.

I am on the same line with the above comments. From personal experience, you expect (and desire) progress to come steadily and fastly but you may just stagnate for a while. Some days, I see a mix of improvement and not so good session in terms of HR. I come to realize that this will take me years to achieve. The BPP is focus on the 2k prep and I am currently doing it before I focus more on 5k and 10k

I am lucky to have found this erg as I don't want to jog and run to stress too much joints, I don't want to cycle as you train mostly the bottom part of the body, I add swimming in the summer and squash and this brings me to

Week 18.4
[10000m] – Try restricting the stroke rate to a strict 20spm for the first half of this row, working on technique. From half way allow yourself to increase the rate only with a corresponding increase in pace.

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Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	Cal/Hr	S/M	
50:27.4	11,000	2:17.6	134	762	21	142
27:32.8	6,000	2:17.7	134	761	21	142
r: 2:00	15						
22:54.6	5,000	2:17.4	135	763	22	142
r15				

I changed the session to my usual steady state with one 1k extra as I have now passed the 1000k with the erg. One milestone ticked, more to go!

[PleaseLockIn]

Came down with some upper respiratory infection, with symptoms below the neck for some days. Tried to row anyways.

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Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	Cal/Hr	S/M	HR
48:19.1	10,000	2:24.9	115	695	19	176
9:40.1	2,000	2:25.0	115	694	20
9:39.6	4,000	2:24.9	115	695	20
9:41.0	6,000	2:25.2	114	693	20
9:40.0	8,000	2:25.0	115	695	20
9:38.4	10,000	2:24.6	116	698	20	176

For some reason, didn't record the HR. It started over 160 at 2k and then drifted up. But considering my sinuses were significantly blocked, and it was hot (25*C), it ain't bad per se. At least I can get myself to row.

Too many exams/quizzes. But I genuinely enjoy the academic pressure. Which means I will need to dig deep to push the rowing... for the next several months.

[reuben]

Week 18. Yuck. Well, more like "blah", really. I felt dead all week. No energy, little motivation. But I didn't feel sick in any way, so I trudged on.

11k
Despite my lethargy, I actually rowed this at a slightly faster pace than the 10.5k last week. Some things are inexplicable.

4x2k 4r
I was looking forward to this last week when I felt good, but not today. I managed to row the first 3 at the same pace as the 3x2k 4r a few weeks ago, but then lost about 1.5s in pace on the last interval. I guess that's not bad considering how I felt. I was actually planning to speed up a bit in the last interval, but that idea went out the window pretty quick. In the late afternoon I fell asleep while reading. Seems as though my body was trying to tell me something.

30min
In Week 16 Pete had us do this at our 10k pace, and suggested speeding up at the end. At the time I thought it was an easy target, and I was right, as I sped up several seconds toward the end and still had some left over. So this week I had a faster SS target in mind, but Pete's notes were more specific this time - row at the earlier 11k pace for 20min, then speed up every two minutes thereafter. It's kinda hard to tell how much I'm speeding up over a short time period like that, but I tried to increase my pace by about 1s/2min, then went for it the last two minutes, ending at about 2:10 pace, although some strokes were faster. The fact that I felt a bit more like my normal self surely helped. Got up near my max HR, which I believe is around 165, as that's the highest number I've seen while rowing. It's little more than an minimally educated guess, though.

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Time 	Meters 	Pace 	Watts 	Cal/Hr 	S/M 	
30:00.0 	6,234 	2:24.3 	116 	700 	22 	141
06:00.0 	1,232 	2:26.1 	112 	686 	22 	129
12:00.0 	1,230 	2:26.3 	112 	684 	21 	134
18:00.0 	1,233 	2:25.9 	112 	687 	22 	139
24:00.0 	1,244 	2:24.6 	116 	697 	22 	148
30:00.0 	1,296 	2:18.8 	131 	749 	25 	159

[Nomark]

Back on the horse, after about 3 weeks off. A combination of working hard on some landscaping in the garden and lots of shifting and lifting, a minor cold that meant I wasn't feeling great for a few days and some beautiful weather that meant I'd rather be outside than in, along with general life meant that I kept making excuses to say "mañana". It doesn't help that the business end of the BPP means 45 minutes workouts, which I probably should have ignored for an occasional quick 20 minute blitz to keep myself ticking over but oh well. Can't remember what week I'm on but I repeated the first workout and did another 10k. Might do a few more SS before I get back on with the plan properly, or I might not - I'm nothing if not indecisive (I prefer instinctive, it sounds better!).

Anyway, mixed bag. Went too fast probably. Especially at the begining when it felt too easy and I rowed like a noob and sped up. Decent pace in the end - had a couple of phone calls from my better half who was confused buying wallpaper which added 30-50s to a couple of splits, but I wasn't worried about time, just getting back to it. Last couple of k was pretty hard, not gonna lie. So I'll take the win of finishing it at a decent pace for me and ready to carry on now with whatevers next. Hands are shredded again... Onwards and upwards!

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Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	Cal/Hr	S/M
45:24.4	10,000	2:16.2	138	776	22
8:39.8	2,000	2:09.9	159	848	23
9:35.4	4,000	2:23.8	118	704	20
9:12.9	6,000	2:18.2	133	756	23
8:59.8	8,000	2:14.9	142	790	23
8:56.5	10,000	2:14.1	145	799	23

[DJ1972]

I have restarted squash after a 5-month interruption. I felt lactic acid in some specific muscles (trapezus muscles, gluteus medium and minimum, and tibialis anterior). My guess is that those muscles are not that much implicated in the rowing gesture.
Interesting to see also that I could cope a lot better against the same opponent in terms of HR. I can see the effect of all the SS base work carried out in the winter. Very satisfactory!

Week 19.1
10000m – For the past 3 weeks you have rowed over 10000m for your first session of the week. Look back in your diary to week 15 when you last did this, and see if you can beat that personal best time. If you ever have a session where you feel you can’t maintain the pace, just back off slightly and slow down, but try never to fail to complete the session.

Too much to do these days between work and gardening (with many hours at UT2).

I had to adapt the session and I managed a 10k continuously without my normal 2min rest that I add to maintain HR in UT2.
I will make a pause in the plan for a few days and squeeze a session when I feel recovered enough. Personal bests can wait.

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Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	Cal/Hr	S/M	
45:55.4	10,000	2:17.7	134	760	22	137
9:09.7	2,000	2:17.4	135	764	22	132
9:12.4	4,000	2:18.1	133	757	22	134
9:12.7	6,000	2:18.1	133	756	22	141
9:11.7	8,000	2:17.9	133	759	22	141
9:08.9	10,000	2:17.2	135	766	22	139

[PleaseLockIn]

Week 10 Day 3, bailed out too early. Should have hydrated. Happens. But whatever.

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Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	Cal/Hr	S/M	
38:40.7	8,000	2:25.0	115	694	20	159
4:50.1	1,000	2:25.0	115	694	20	157
4:50.2	2,000	2:25.1	115	694	20
4:50.0	3,000	2:25.0	115	695	20
4:49.7	4,000	2:24.8	115	696	20	159
4:50.1	5,000	2:25.0	115	694	20
4:50.2	6,000	2:25.1	115	694	21
4:50.0	7,000	2:25.0	115	695	20	163
4:50.3	8,000	2:25.1	114	693	20	158

Surprisingly little heart rate drift after 15 mins. I reduced the drag factor to 90 from my usual low 100s for steady state. Not sure why it helps - perhaps I can recover slower?

But I need to keep to r20 for steady state. Needs to be a bit more consistent.

Unfortunately not getting into strength training caused me to regress a bit in strength, especially grip strength in deadlifts.

Seem to be either plateauing or improving glacially slowly. I’ll try different exercises in strength training and eating more protein to see if that helps. I’ll also try not to get into too much interpersonal drama because the stresses can affect my training.

[Dangerscouse]

Seem to be either plateauing or improving glacially slowly.

In weight training, erging or both? Weight training is hard and possibly you've tried to go too heavy too soon and your CNS isn't recovering quickly enough.

Do you also do lighter weights and higher reps or heavy lower reps? Maybe doing a bodyweight routine will be better for you? There's loads of exercises you can do, at a pace to suit your recovery, and if you add in resistance bands you'll definitely get benefits from it

[Nomark]

On Thursday evening I did Week 14.3 - 4x8minutes, 2 minutes rest. Skipped the 3x 2k hard session because I'm scared/ I need some more SS time to get my fitness back*

*Delete as appropriate.

It went as well as I could have hoped doing the reps at around 2:06- 2:09. In fact it went so well that I decided to stop being a coward and do week 14.2 2kx3, 4 minutes rest today.

It went... Not so well. My fitness has clearly dropped off a bit. I ditched the music after the second rep as it didn't seem to be helping only to do even worse, so maybe that was an error (!).

The goal should have been my 4x1500 which was 2:00.4. After a few weeks off I was willing to give myself a second or so of leeway, but clearly it wasn't enough.

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Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	Cal/Hr	S/M
24:30.7	6,000	2:02.5	190	954	24
8:02.4	2,000	2:00.6	200	986	24
8:06.5	2,000	2:01.6	195	969	24
8:21.8	2,000	2:05.4	177	910	24

I even eased up on the third rep and decided to target 2:03 consistently rather than my usual sub 2:00 to 2:05 swing over the distance in an attempt to be more efficient but even that was too fast for me to hold on the third rep. A strong finish masked a horrible 7 minutes where my legs felt like they had nothing in them and the instantaneous times hit as high as 2:18 briefly.

Oh well, put that to bed, I've had time off the erg so it makes sense that, despite my thoughts to the contrary, I'm not a medical miracle and my fitness has dropped off.
Better to ex-cent-tu-ate the positives:
- I conquered my Everest. I can't tell you how much of a mental block 3x2k has been. I've been dreading it and I'm sure 4x2k will be even worse.
- I didn't HD despite every fibre of my being wanting to after the second rep and the devil on my shoulder telling me it's fine.
- 2:02.5 isn't a terrible time and it gives me a new normal to work off of. I can carry on with the plan now knowing where my current level is.
- I'm back on the plan. 3 sessions in 5 days means it's becoming a habit again. Every missed day increases the chances of not restarting (and the excuses not to!).

On to the optional rows or more likely week 15.

[Nomark]

This might be the biggest issue that you're not addressing. Progress isn't linear, nor rapid, so you need to learn to love the process and not focus on progress. When you just enjoy doing what you're doing, you'll go much further than focusing on your progress at a granular level.

Ain't that the truth. After a few weeks off I've lost a little pace. I didn't used to mind hard sessions because the endorphins came from setting pbs. Now I have to change my mindset because it's hard and I'm not pulling up any (personal) trees either. Hopefully the next one will come soon but it would be better to focus on the process and trust the results to come when they feel like it