Specific 2k Pacing (Per 500m)

[tomhz]

Mike, interesting analysis and I agree with your conclusions. I like to build my races with your 40%-30%-20%-10% protocol too.

But I think one sidenote is important: what about the pacing within the first 500m? Maybe Benton with his fast (1.06 above avarage) first 500m is allready rowing at average total pace after 250m, while an other fast starter is doing 1.06 average pace for the full first 500m.

When you advice a slight negative split, some people might interpret this as doing no start strokes at all and I don't think this is right. What do you advice for the first 200m?

Tom

[Mike Caviston]

I don’t believe it is wise to take any strokes significantly faster than the average for the race. If someone’s first 500m is 6% greater in power than the race average, but they back off in the second half of the first 500m so that the second 250m is actually performed at a power output similar to the final average – how incredibly fast and powerful will the opening 250m have to have been? Some heavyweights come out with the first couple strokes down near 1:10 (!!!) and take the first 10-15 strokes at sub-1:20. I don’t suppose the myth of “free strokes” will ever die, unfortunately. I’ve written about this at length, but to summarize: so much energy expended in the first 20 seconds or so rapidly depletes the muscles’ limited supply of creatine phosphate. This limits the ability to kick late in the race, and since the breakdown of CP consumes H+, using CP supplies early – before H+ has appreciably accumulated – wastes an opportunity to check the decline in muscle pH that is a factor in fatigue. (As an aside, many think the CP must be used early or it will be wasted. They cite as evidence the fact that they can’t produce those powerful sub-1:20 strokes at the end of a race. What they neglect is that near the end of the race, the muscles have accumulated the fatiguing metabolic byproducts of 5+ minutes of intense muscular contractions. So yeah, force production won’t be quite what it is when the muscles are fully rested. Furthermore, most people conceive of the various metabolic pathways – CP, LAS, and aerobic – as being compartmentalized. As in, first the CP stores are used, and then the LAS kicks in, then the aerobic pathway. In reality, they’re all activated instantly though the LAS and aerobic system take progressively longer to become fully functional. Once exercise is under way, they all remain active to some degree, even during moderate-intensity activity. So the CP pool will be partially depleted near the end of the race. However, waiting till the end of the race to take the monster strokes – if they are taken at all – is still the most efficient way to deploy CP stores.)

The most serious consequence of those hard 10-15 strokes at the start is they exponentially accelerate the fatigue process. Disproportionately greater production of H+, greater loss of intracellular K+, greater accumulation of NH3 from complete breakdown of ATP – all take their toll. Some feel that it all evens out – a slow start and a fast finish, or a fast start and a slow finish, what’s the difference? I’m trying to impress upon people – there’s a BIG difference.

Unfortunately the available data on rowing doesn’t allow analysis of smaller increments than 500m. But there is a clue in the data I’ve analyzed from speed skating. The skating 5K takes roughly the same amount of time as a rowing 2K, and the skating data includes splits for the first 200m (which takes about 19-20 seconds). The major difference between “winners” and “losers” in skating is the proportional intensity of the first 200m, with the body of the race being similar in speed and intensity for both groups, until the “losers” fade at the end. Those who start faster, finish slower.

In my opinion, the optimal start for a 2K erg race is to take no more than 10 firm strokes just powerful enough to overcome the flywheel’s inertia and get the monitor’s split to race pace but no faster.

Mike Caviston

[JimR]

Mike -

How do you factor in the effort it takes to get an 8+ moving on the water? It seems to be a lot more work than getting an erg or a pair of skates up to speed. I usually hear plans that go something like 3-5 short strokes, 10-20 hard strokes then settle to steady race pace.

So in an OTW race the first 10-25 strokes are very hard ... the opposite of the erg approach by a great degree.

I was talking to my daughter an in addition to this train of thought she was all in to the "keep it close" and "pull as hard as you can every stroke" logic ... noting that racing on the water is much different that an erg as the reasoning.

JimR

[Mike Caviston]

Getting an 8+ up to speed can be accomplished in 20 strokes or less without the necessity of any maximal, oar-breaking strokes. OTW, an effective start requires at least as much technique and finesse as brute force. Like most athletes on ergs, crews OTW expend more energy than necessary to get the boat up to speed and continue to expend energy at an excessively high rate far longer than is wise. It appears that few athletes at any level – high school, college, and elite – can get their heads around the concept that opening up an early lead is actually a disadvantage if it obliges you to disproportionately accelerate the process of fatigue. I’ve shown results from 10 years of international racing that indicate more successful crews are more cautious about expending too much energy early. The key to maximizing performance in any race is to strike the optimal balance between producing as much metabolic energy as possible while restricting the production of fatiguing byproducts for as long as possible. This is true for running, skating, swimming, cycling, skiing, pogo sticking, and rowing indoors as well as OTW. At this point I don’t know how I can express my position without repeating myself. I had hoped I had accumulated enough evidence to speak for itself.

Mike Caviston

[TomR]

Read an article yesterday about the upcoming Kentucky Derby that said that this year there is a substantial contingent of horses w/ early speed. The question was whether those who break fast will burn each other out, leaving the way for a horse that lays off the pace to take the race by coming from behind.

I'll be interested to see how 2k pacing strategy appies to the Derby, which happens to be 2k.

Tom

[Bob S.]

Read an article yesterday about the upcoming Kentucky Derby that said that this year there is a substantial contingent of horses w/ early speed. The question was whether those who break fast will burn each other out, leaving the way for a horse that lays off the pace to take the race by coming from behind.

I'll be interested to see how 2k pacing strategy appies to the Derby, which happens to be 2k.

Tom

An interesting analogy, but flawed because of the fact that horses are not limited to strict lanes like the rowers are - for most races, at least. Perhaps it is a different situation in bumpers and in the Head of the Charles - I don't know, I have never seen these. On the ergs there is no way to box some one in and no rail to force the passers to swing out wide.

Still, it would be interesting to hear what jockeys might say about their strategies.

Bob S.

[hjs]

Getting an 8+ up to speed can be accomplished in 20 strokes or less without the necessity of any maximal, oar-breaking strokes. OTW, an effective start requires at least as much technique and finesse as brute force. Like most athletes on ergs, crews OTW expend more energy than necessary to get the boat up to speed and continue to expend energy at an excessively high rate far longer than is wise. It appears that few athletes at any level – high school, college, and elite – can get their heads around the concept that opening up an early lead is actually a disadvantage if it obliges you to disproportionately accelerate the process of fatigue. I’ve shown results from 10 years of international racing that indicate more successful crews are more cautious about expending too much energy early. The key to maximizing performance in any race is to strike the optimal balance between producing as much metabolic energy as possible while restricting the production of fatiguing byproducts for as long as possible. This is true for running, skating, swimming, cycling, skiing, pogo sticking, and rowing indoors as well as OTW. At this point I don’t know how I can express my position without repeating myself. I had hoped I had accumulated enough evidence to speak for itself.

Mike Caviston

Some people wouldn,t even agree if you said snow is white ) so be it.

[Jim Barry]

Just interested in seeing how the LW open racers at the Crash-B and the BIRC paced themselves in the last 3 years. There is no 2004 split data for the Crash-B races (so replaced with 2003 races). Of the 6 races and 18 podium results, the average overall pace was 1:33.5. The 1st 500m averaged 1:32.8 or 100.7% faster than overall average. Of the top 9 results in the dataset, 5 of them went out fast, 1.6% faster than average pace. The other 4 were 1% slower for the first 500m (3 of them being Teti, Warner and Kaplan who consistently demonstrate a discipline not to go out hard). In the bottom 9 results, 7 racers went out faster for the first 500m (101.2% faster) while only 2 of them went out slower (0.5% slower). Reasonable conclusion: The faster times, as compared to the slower times, are more often conservative in first 500m. (furthering Mike's point with new data)

The thorn in the side here is Elia Luini, the WR holder, who has the fastest time in the dataset (not his WR time) and by far the fastest first 500m as well (a 103%). It is not his best time and that helps dismiss some of the value of the data point, but at the same time, I do not know how his best (WR) row is paced. I remain intrigued, but not convinced that this is an ideal or model race strategy. It may simply be what a bad WR attempt looks like. It'd be interesting to know what Elia was after that day.

[lyons9890]

My goal for my next 2k is to break 7...i should be doing my next 2k in the next couple of days, and I want to get a 6:59.9 ....2 questions

1) what type of training should i be doing on my erg (model A)

2) how should i pace myself throughout the 2k (plz give me split times)

[PaulS]

My goal for my next 2k is to break 7...i should be doing my next 2k in the next couple of days, and I want to get a 6:59.9 ....2 questions

1) what type of training should i be doing on my erg (model A)

2) how should i pace myself throughout the 2k (plz give me split times)

What type of monitor do you have on your Model A? Are you testing on the Model A or another machine?

[lyons9890]

My goal for my next 2k is to break 7...i should be doing my next 2k in the next couple of days, and I want to get a 6:59.9 ....2 questions

1) what type of training should i be doing on my erg (model A)

2) how should i pace myself throughout the 2k (plz give me split times)

What type of monitor do you have on your Model A? Are you testing on the Model A or another machine?

I dont know what the moniter is called..but it is the same moniter you would find on a model C erg.....

I train at home on my model A (its really good resitance training) and on the erg test i could either do the 2k on a model D or a model C...i prefer the model C's because of the handle, but the last time i did a 2k, was on a D, and i PR'd...

[Citroen]

I dont know what the moniter is called..but it is the same moniter you would find on a model C erg.....

So that could be a PM2, PM2+ or PM3

http://www.concept2.com/05/rower/service/PM2_intro.asp
http://www.concept2.com/05/rower/servic ... ervice.asp

[PaulS]

My goal for my next 2k is to break 7...i should be doing my next 2k in the next couple of days, and I want to get a 6:59.9 ....2 questions

1) what type of training should i be doing on my erg (model A)

2) how should i pace myself throughout the 2k (plz give me split times)

What type of monitor do you have on your Model A? Are you testing on the Model A or another machine?

I dont know what the moniter is called..but it is the same moniter you would find on a model C erg.....

I train at home on my model A (its really good resitance training) and on the erg test i could either do the 2k on a model D or a model C...i prefer the model C's because of the handle, but the last time i did a 2k, was on a D, and i PR'd...

It seems the tricky part would be figuring out the appropriate Drag Factor, how do you go about that between an A and a C or D? If you are feeling more fit since your last trial, take 1 second off the pace target for a 4 second bump in overall time, I'd stick with the negative splitting that has been suggested.

[lyons9890]

I dont know what the moniter is called..but it is the same moniter you would find on a model C erg.....

So that could be a PM2, PM2+ or PM3

http://www.concept2.com/05/rower/service/PM2_intro.asp
http://www.concept2.com/05/rower/servic ... ervice.asp

its a pm2+

[TomR]

As suggested, the Kentucky Derby supports Mike's theory. Early leaders fade woefully, and horses that start more conservatively pass them easily.

Apparently ergers should follow the example of successful stallions.

Tom