New Personal Best! Brag About That New Pb!

[hjs]

New 7:18.3 - 2 May, 2006

Well done. You can set your sights firmly on 7mins now.

Thanks Dougie. My goal is sub 7 by January of next year, so I'm trying to knock off 0.1 seconds a week.

Saw your 1:35.7 for 500. Fantastic and really well done!

I must be doing something wrong. Since my 1:38.7 in late January I have tried twice for 1:36 and just can't seem to hold it under 1:39. Can't get the speed. I noticed yesterday that I was quite comfortably holding 1:50 and even the occasional 1:49 at 27 SPM. But when I try to translate the power to 31 - 32 SPM to get to a 1:36 (at 10 m/stroke), I almost fall off the seat. Any advice? Every third week I do 7 x 500 and am down to a roughly 1:48.5 average with the last piece under 1:47, so I am training for a little speed. I just can't seem to get the "real" speed I had that one day in January, even after 1M meters between then and now.

Jeff

Not that strange.
Rowing long and slow will never make you faster on the very short stuff. This needs special training.
To train speed you can do short intervalls with quit long rest's. Pace it so that you hold your technic, as soon as your pace starts slipping stop and recover.
This isn,t really straining and good fun. Warm up very well and also cool down well.

[tennstrike]

Not that strange.
Rowing long and slow will never make you faster on the very short stuff. This needs special training.
To train speed you can do short intervalls with quit long rest's. Pace it so that you hold your technic, as soon as your pace starts slipping stop and recover.
This isn,t really straining and good fun. Warm up very well and also cool down well.

Thanks for the input. I think what I'll do is stop "cheating" on my every third week pyramid. I had been leaving off the 250's thinking them something of a waste. I'll put them in (has the advantage of getting to Mike C.'s 4,000 meters) and try your advice re: technique.

[jjpisano]

Tennstrike:

Dr. Stephen Seiler says that 500m speed is most closely related to muscle mass. Dr. Seiler has some very helpful articles in his Master Athlete Physiology and Performance (MAPP)website and in the Rower's World website.

With that in mind, about 2 years ago I decided that I would increase my muscle mass. Dr. Seilor details some helpful strength training workouts performed on the rowing machine. I latched onto the workout he calls Heavy 10's and I did this type of workout for months on end and completely neglected my aerobic training.

At the end of months of this type of training, I had piled on muscle and I went for 500m personal best attempt. I had not trained above 12 strokes per minute for months and only did elevated stroke rate work during the warmup the day of the personal best attempt.

I did a 1:29.6. I was a 38 year old light weight at the time.

So the point I'm tring to get at is strength work could help you get the extra speed your looking for in the 500m sprint. I'd recommend strength work on the rowing machine and Heavy 10's type workouts in particular.

Let me warn you though that strength workouts on the rowing machine should be considered just as potentially hazardous as heavy weight workouts are. The loads on the muscles and joints can be tremendous. Make sure you are well warmed up and perhaps consider easing into the workout by working on the timing initially and slowly increasing the intensity through the workout.

[jjpisano]

Tennstrike:

Let me just add that you don't need to go to the extreme that I went to but it might help if you add a Heavy 10's type workout to your repertoir of workouts.

Generally a Heavy 10's workout needs lots of recovery time; think of it as a heavy weight workout. You may be able to schedule it right before a day off in your schedule.

[tennstrike]

Tennstrike:

Let me just add that you don't need to go to the extreme that I went to but it might help if you add a Heavy 10's type workout to your repertoir of workouts.

Generally a Heavy 10's workout needs lots of recovery time; think of it as a heavy weight workout. You may be able to schedule it right before a day off in your schedule.

Wow. That's a lot more than I have in mind. My real goal is to go sub 7 on the 2K. I was worried that I was doing something wrong because my 500 meter time (at max attempt) was not coming down as well. But my training workouts at 500 are coming down by my target of 0.3 every third week. I'll just let the Wolverine Plan continue and not worry about PB at 500 for a while. It should take care of itself. In any case, all I want is to hold 1:44.9 for just under 7 minutes.

Thanks for the input, though.

[ancho]

Tennstrike:
Nice splitting, keep it on!

Regarding 500m, you will have to forget lots of things that are running around the forum, such as s10mps, negative splitting etc.
500 m has much of fly&die:
I did my PB starting at about 40 spm and with 1:24 splits. The last 100 m were very hard, I suppose I'd been better off starting at about 1:27.
I put the footplate very high and do very short strokes. It is good if domeone holds the erg, so it won't move!
Some of my friends with better times than me row at even higher rates, and with DF at maximum.
I don't say you must go at 40 spm, but 32 is dfinitively too low.

Make a very extense warmup, and be careful not to hurt yourself!
Good luck.

[tennstrike]

Tennstrike:
Nice splitting, keep it on!

Regarding 500m, you will have to forget lots of things that are running around the forum, such as s10mps, negative splitting etc.
500 m has much of fly&die:
I did my PB starting at about 40 spm and with 1:24 splits. The last 100 m were very hard, I suppose I'd been better off starting at about 1:27.
I put the footplate very high and do very short strokes. It is good if domeone holds the erg, so it won't move!
Some of my friends with better times than me row at even higher rates, and with DF at maximum.
I don't say you must go at 40 spm, but 32 is dfinitively too low.

Make a very extense warmup, and be careful not to hurt yourself!
Good luck.

I have found that it is better to try for a PB in the 500 after two or three "warmup" 500's, unlike a 2K attempt at PB. I also did read that "fly and die" is the way to go in a 500 and did that for my 1:38.7. Get the speed in while you can. You would not believe the last fifteen or so strokes in that row! I had my right knee outside of my right elbow to try and change the leverage I was generating with my absolutely beat up thigh muscles.

My problem is trying to go 32 or 33, much less 40! I guess the shorter strokes might work. I haven't really tried to see what kind of split time I can get with a shorter stroke. I've been pretty focused on maintaining a nice, even, long stroke from around 12.5 meters/stroke at 14 SPM up to around 10.0 meters per stroke at 29 SPM. There's just no way I can get this body to do that full stroke then all the way to a catch and do it much more than 30 times per minute!!

I'll try the short stroke on my next pyramid on the 250's and maybe "play around" a little after my 50' L4 row this evening.

Thanks.

Jeff

[Citroen]

I must be doing something wrong. Since my 1:38.7 in late January I have tried twice for 1:36 and just can't seem to hold it under 1:39. Can't get the speed. I noticed yesterday that I was quite comfortably holding 1:50 and even the occasional 1:49 at 27 SPM. But when I try to translate the power to 31 - 32 SPM to get to a 1:36 (at 10 m/stroke), I almost fall off the seat. Any advice? Every third week I do 7 x 500 and am down to a roughly 1:48.5 average with the last piece under 1:47, so I am training for a little speed. I just can't seem to get the "real" speed I had that one day in January, even after 1M meters between then and now.

Jeff

I did the 500m using the technique I learned for the 300m.

Do it from cold, no warm-up (yes, I know this is silly).
Lift the footplates by one hole.
Shove the damper up from 3 (115df) to 8 (160df).
Six big strokes to get a 1:29 (or better split).
Then hang in there at 35SPM (and higher) short strokes for the next minute and a half.

And enjoy the pain of the lactic in your quads

Falling off the seat on those first six big strokes is a risk.

[Bob S.]

Shove the damper up from 3 (115df) to 8 (160df).

Citroen,

Aren't you over simplifying a lot here? At any particular damper setting, the df can wander all over the place, depending on the cleanliness of the cage, the atmospheric pressure, the temperature, and, possibly, the humidity. With my damper set at 5, I got a df reading of about 125 when the temperature was 55° F recently. A few days later, after a warm spell, it was 119 at 65° and when I checked later, in the warm afternoon, it was 115 at 78°. I am sure that the cage did not collect that much dirt in those few days. Since I am at 4000 ft of elevation, all of these df values are expected to be lower than what they would be at sea level. The point of all this is that just setting the damper isn't enough; a df check is essential if you want some sort of consistency. But I am convinced that you know all this quite well. I was just wondering why you ignored it.

Bob S.

[hjs]

[quote="Citroen
Do it from cold, no warm-up (yes, I know this is silly).
[/quote]


Don,t do this. You need a very good warmup. Doug man, how can you say this?????????????

[Chad Williams]

Fun and games at the boat house last night, coach got called away early so we set out to see who could pull the lowest splits, we set the clock to 10 seconds with 30 seconds active rest x 5.

I got the split down to 1.05 at 44spm, a lot of the crew hit 1.07 to 1.10.

This is a best for me. Not a good thing to do every day though, but good fun as a one off.

[Citroen]

[quote="Citroen
Do it from cold, no warm-up (yes, I know this is silly).

Don,t do this. You need a very good warmup. Doug man, how can you say this?????????????[/quote]

Because I normally cycled 5Km from home to the gym, that's a free warm-up.

[Francois]

Do it from cold, no warm-up (yes, I know this is silly).

Don,t do this. You need a very good warmup. Doug man, how can you say this?????????????

Because I normally cycled 5Km from home to the gym, that's a free warm-up.

Dougie, after 5k on the bike, your shoulders and back are not warmed-up for the erging. What you are suggesting is extremely dangerous. Even your legs are not properly warmed-up; ten minutes on the bike is insufficient.

Warming-up has to be specific to the task. For instance, even after 60 minutes on the erg, I am not fully warm-up for running. It takes me 1.5k before I can cruise at my normal speed.

[hjs]

[quote="Citroen
Do it from cold, no warm-up (yes, I know this is silly).

Don,t do this. You need a very good warmup. Doug man, how can you say this?????????????

Because I normally cycled 5Km from home to the gym, that's a free warm-up.[/quote]

A starter yes. The shorter the distance the more important the warm up. A 10 k or more, yes then a warm up is not important, 5 /10 min easy rowing is enough.

[rowan]

This is my first post, but just thought I'd share my 2k PB.
You can check out the video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ7PyhdD7Ag
This also shows Rowpro in action, projected in all it's 83 inch glory on the screen in front of my erg.
Marc

Cool video and great setup.
Nice to see a video of someone doing a 2k, with being able to watch the rowpro screen and so easily see exactly what is going on with heart rate, speed etc. Ouch, the end looked painful!
Useful video for showing people what internet rowing is about.
I see you did the row with the damper on 10, that's not recommended by most, maybe you can improve a few seconds just by adjusting your drag factor down a bit.
Really enjoyed watching it, if you video your next attempt, I'd like to watch it.
Thanks