Pondering the Beginner Pete Plan

[reuben]

Given the various interruptions in my training lately and the fact that I am currently still struggling to schedule regular training sessions, I allowed myself to be guided mainly by feeling and heart rate, rather than previous performances, with the ambition to especially not go too fast during the steady states.

We are on the same boat. Due to work and other activities but also added tiredness, it has been difficult to schedule properly. I will basically fit Week 19 to Week 21 in literally 4 weeks, now that I can focus more on traning.

That makes three of us, and I'm retired!

The only erging I did in Week 20 was the 12k, as life had other plans for me. So I rowed the other two Week 20 core sessions in Week 21, so that I wouldn't "lose" a week, and have to repeat anything.

Week 20

12k - To paraphrase Pete, "You've never rowed this far in your life." And since this is rowing of a sort, I looked at some old seafaring maps, and sure enough, at the 12k mark, where the seas cascade off the edge of the earth, they all said "Here Be Dragons".

I started about 3s/500 slower than normal in the first 1-2k (Pete suggested 5s), then sped up above target rate in the second 2k, which brought my average pace to my target, and what I consider to be my average 10k pace. I concentrated on just keeping this pace until 1k to go, when I gave it a little juice. Overall, it was my 3rd fastest session at 10k or above. Some days are unexpectedly good.

Week 21

First, I had to complete the the last two Week 20 core sessions.

5x1500 3r - This was evenly paced the same as previous similar sessions, with a heart rate nearing max at the end like the previous sessions. Tough but good.

30min - Like some of my intervals, I can look back and see a sharp acceleration at the end of recent 30min sessions, indicating that I rowed way too slow for a considerable chunk of the session. So this time I started 2s faster than the last 30min, sped up another 1s after 10min, and then held that pace to the end without too much trouble, even speeding up a bit in the last minute. My average pace was 4s faster than the last two 30min sessions, and will be my new base pace. I later noticed that I did this at almost exactly the same pace as a 2x15min 2r session earlier this month.

10k - Pete's commentary suggests negatively splitting this piece, creating a sort of barbell session, which I did. I'm not clear on the value of this for a SS session, since it's not SS anymore, but he knows a lot more than I, so I did it. In the end I posted my third fastest session of 10k or more. The two sessions with faster paces were 10.5 and 11k, and today's 10k pace was a tie with my recent 12k.

4x1k 3r - I really didn't know how to pace this. Pete suggested looking at the most recent 4x1k and 8x500. Well, my last 4x1k 3r was almost 2 months ago, and that 2:16 seems to be way too slow now. On the other hand, my recent 8x500 2r was 2:07, which didn't sound viable. I looked at some other similar and recent sessions but didn't have any flashes of insight. So I decided to start with something close to 2:07, and then see how I felt after the first two reps, keeping an eye on both my max heart rate during each rep and how much it came down between reps, hoping that the 3r would help. My back was sore which I initially put down to 4 consecutive days of rowing, which I'm not used to, but then I realized it probably had to do with wrestling the tiller in the veggie garden.

Started the first rep too fast, and slowed down twice by about the halfway point, after feeling that 2:09 might be about right. All 4 reps got pretty darn hard with about 400m to go. The first three went OK, but then I just couldn't quite hold it on the last rep.

I averaged 2:09, but you can see that I definitely fell off at the end of the last rep. If I had focused more on the PM5/ergData I could have held it a bit better, but I let my mind drift, and when that happens the body drifts with it. Still, I'm happy with the result, and 2:09-2:10 is my new benchmark for something like this. And I felt pretty comfortable at 27-28spm, which definitely wasn't the case a few months ago. I also saw 168 on the PM5 a few times, so I guess my periodically revised max HR isn't 165 anymore. Whatever the true number is, I was definitely bumping up against it in the last two reps.

Code: Select all

Time 	Meters 	Pace 	Watts 	Cal/Hr 	S/M 	
17:12.6 4,000 	2:09.0 	163 	860 	27 	163
4:17.4 	1,000 	2:08.7 	164 	865 	27 	157
4:18.1 	1,000 	2:09.0 	163 	860 	26 	163
4:17.8 	1,000 	2:08.9 	163 	862 	27 	166
4:19.4 	1,000 	2:09.7 	160 	852 	28 	167

4x8min 2r - I felt tired, with little energy, so decided to take it relatively easy, and watch my heart rate and recovery between intervals. They looked OK, so I guess it was more muscular fatigue. I paced it ever so slightly faster than the last time I did this or something like it, to account for the fatigue and just get the session done.

[reuben]

As sessions get harder and volumes higher, it is definitely more challenging to achieve better / improve. Surely a mix of lack of recovery and too much training volume + newbie gains 'over' and plateauing. I guess I am in this phase and I need to find something new: adapt the plan ? what changes do I need to implement or do I wait to complete as it is and then move to an 'adapted' classic Peter Plan (i need my 2k time at 7:20 for 2025).

Well, if you need your 2k to be 7:20 or faster, then pick a 2k plan. I think that the "main" Pete Plan is oriented to 2k, as is the Beginner PP. Other 2k plans abound.

Don't forget rest and nutrition.

Good luck, whatever way you go.