The Road to Boston 2007

seat5 · Post by **seat5** » September 22nd, 2006, 1:07 am

RE: slides
I am trying out rowing without slides again, as I know I have to compete on a standard erg. Over the last year I've done a lot of flexibility work, had some technique coaching to work on making sure I'm not opening the back too soon, and some ab strengthening work. So far so good. Lower back is tight and sore but only a little more than usual rowing with slides.

Probably I will use slides on long rows as they really do help the situation but I plan on doing all the shorter stuff standard. If I find I'm really getting screwed up from rowing standard I'm not sure what I'll do, maybe just train on slides and then race standard. But I'd rather train the way I have to race. It's a little bit risky--anyone who's seriously blown out their back before doesn't want to go back there....

Should I be using the "fit" schedule or the "trained" schedule? I'm going to look at the "trained" one and see whether it looks better.

I guess the first week is an "easy" one, so that explains why it looks too light.

Also I see it is actually 22 weeks till the race, so this 24 week plan is not going to work, now, is it?!

Anne, good luck at your OTW race!

TomR · Post by **TomR** » September 22nd, 2006, 1:35 pm

Carla--

Rick is training on slides, I think. I'm not sure how he makes the transition when race season arises. He'd be helpful on that point, I'm sure.

How many times a week are you planning to train?

Tom

Yankeerunner · Post by **Yankeerunner** » September 22nd, 2006, 3:32 pm

Carla,

In the past I've weaned off the slides gradually from about 2 months ahead of the race, starting with the AN workouts, then the TR's, etc., until doing all standard erg workouts in the few weeks before race day.

This time around I've been switching more frequently, doing all the UT2, UT1 and AT workouts on slides but doing most of the ranking pieces and TR's and AN's off the slides. I'm trying to do as Paul Smith suggests and get the feeling to be as close as possible on and off.

So far the only time I have trouble is if I warmup on slides, remember than I'd intended to do the piece off slides, and launch into a piece without a second warmup standard. It felt terrible when I've done that. (I guess this means I'm not close enough yet to being the same

)

I'd suggest just making sure that you take a good warmup, perhaps even a bit longer with a more gradual ramp up to speed, on the days you do workouts off the slides, just to get a good feel for your lower back.

Rick

seat5 · Post by **seat5** » September 22nd, 2006, 6:08 pm

Tom--4 times a week, officially, and that leaves a possible 5th for doing CTC challenges.

Rick--I didn't know you used slides at all. When did you get them? I'm so used to them now, basiclly the only difference I feel in the actual rowing is that I can rate higher on slides and that there's less lower back soreness the day after. I've never warmed up one way and rowed the other, though, that might be pretty strange.

BTW what is the date for your Newburyport race this year?

GeorgeD · Post by **GeorgeD** » September 22nd, 2006, 9:20 pm

Saturday morning: IP 2x15min UT1 / max pace 1:50 / 22-24spm

Target:- 2x15min / avg pace <1:52 / 23spm / 3min rest

Actual:- 15min / avg pace 1:58.1 / 22spm / 3808m
Actual:- 15min / avg pace 1:59.5 / 22spm / 3763m

Total Session: 10571m

After 4 days away for work I wondered

Turned out to be a mix of putting the handle down or paddling, breathing was like trying to suck air thru a sponge while my heart danced a jig. I hate hotels and airtravel and airconditioning

- not happy, and sick of this cough

Tomorrow is an AT session.

George

TomR · Post by **TomR** » September 22nd, 2006, 9:29 pm

Hang in there, George.

Bob S. · Post by **Bob S.** » September 22nd, 2006, 11:32 pm

Friday, September 22. 4th week, 3rd session. 8'AT

24'warmup.

5'rest.

Workout: 8' 1902m.
Ave pace 2:06.1. 2' split paces: 2:05.2/2:07.6/2:07.1/2:05.0.
Ave HR 153. 2' split HRs: 154/153/155/153.
2'split rates: 27/27/28/28.

1'rest.

15' cool down. HRs: 142/143/142/140/116.

I picked 2:07 as an easier goal than the last session and managed to get under the goal, but my heart rate was much too high. The one good thing in this session was the stroke rate. I had planned to stick with 26-28 and was there for the most part. I did see a reading of 30 once or twice, but it was under much better control than the previous session. I don't know what was going on with the HR today. Even in the warmup, it got up to 155 just a little over half way through. At that point (the 4th of 6 4' splits), the rate was only 20 and the pace was only 2:17.6.

I had my semi-annual cardiologist appointment this afternoon and asked about HR max. I told her that I had been regularly getting into the mid 140s and had done the 8' piece in the mid 150s, but she cautioned me against any long pieces at anything above the mid 130s. I didn't have the nerve to ask what she meant by a long piece. I am tempted to go back to not using the monitor.

Bob S.

TomR · Post by **TomR** » September 23rd, 2006, 10:47 am

AT 2x8'/max HR 152

1.59.8/150hr/23-24spm
2.00.9/153hr/23 spsm

I'm able to hold the stroke rate down and hit my paces. That is good, assuming that when I raise the pace I don't blow up. We'll see.

Tom

Yankeerunner · Post by **Yankeerunner** » September 23rd, 2006, 11:56 am

Carla, I've had slides for about two and a half years now. I think that they ease the pressure on my lower back, although I still get achy at times.

Tentatively, the Newburyport race is scheduled for Sunday, January 21.

Rick

seat5 · Post by **seat5** » September 23rd, 2006, 12:15 pm

Question: My paces/spms are supposed to be as follows

UT1 2:16 20--22
UT2 2:12 22--24
AT 2:04 26--28
TR 1:50 30--34
AN 1:55 34--46

These stroke rates seem way too high for the paces for training but reasonable for AN. If 2:00 pace at 25 spm results in 10MPS, without bothering to do the math I can see these must be somewhere around 8MPS. That doesn't seem like good training to me. Any thoughts?

This is level 3 (fit). Should I be using level 4? Or using a faster 2K than I can do right now? I haven't been following a training plan for 2 years, which is the description of level 4, so I chose 3. Or should I just do what the plan says?

GeorgeD · Post by **GeorgeD** » September 23rd, 2006, 4:44 pm

seat5 wrote:Question: My paces/spms are supposed to be as follows

UT1 2:16 20--22
UT2 2:12 22--24
AT 2:04 26--28
TR 1:50 30--34
AN 1:55 34--46

These stroke rates seem way too high for the paces for training but reasonable for AN. If 2:00 pace at 25 spm results in 10MPS, without bothering to do the math I can see these must be somewhere around 8MPS. That doesn't seem like good training to me. Any thoughts?

This is level 3 (fit). Should I be using level 4? Or using a faster 2K than I can do right now? I haven't been following a training plan for 2 years, which is the description of level 4, so I chose 3. Or should I just do what the plan says?

Hi Carla,

I am guessing that the above TR should read 1:58 pace

and that is at 30-34spm. Looking back at your 2k test you average 33spm at an overall average pace of 1:57.5 so I would think that rowing at 1:58 pace at say 30spm would still be reasonably challenging

The other point I would make is that if you feel the rates are to high then there is no harm in working at the bottom end of them as long as you are confident of being able to pick up the rate later on without any impact on technique.

I would not change your 'level' yet till you reach the first test but look to work at the top end of the paces and bottom end of the rates and see how that feels for a while.

George

ps your UT2 is the slowest pace and at 2:16 / 22spm this is also 10mps, as is your UT1 top pace at 23spm.

seat5 · Post by **seat5** » September 23rd, 2006, 4:57 pm

Oops, you're right on that, typo!
For the 2K or any "race" I rate free but for all other rowing I stick to 10MPS. I guess this comes out all right if I stay on the low spm number. I am more math challenged than I thought!

........

And possibly an idiot. I just did session #2. It was supposed to be UT 2 for 36 minutes (I decided to go ahead and do Level 4--if it's too much I'll back off but it looks good to me). Then I copied the wrong thing down, and wrote the pace/spm for UT1 and took it down to the erg. So I ended up doing UT1 pace/spm for 36 minutes, which was 2:12 22 spm. However, I had the monitor set to show me the force curve, and was concentrating on that and making sure my back was not opening up too soon and it seemed the pace just kept gravitating to around 2:11, 2:10, 2:09. It really felt very much like the descripton of UT1--not conversational but decent steady work, easy. I wasn't very tired when I finished. The average at the end was 2:10.3, 22 spm. So even if I'm dyslexic or cross eyed as far as giving myself the right assignment, I think I made the right choice to at least go with Level 4.

The next session is supposed to be 2 x 15' at UT1, since 36 min UT1 was a walk in the park this is way off kilter...

GeorgeD · Post by **GeorgeD** » September 23rd, 2006, 7:59 pm

Carla the IP is a bit of a 'jack of all trades' in that those of us who are not using HR as a factor may well find sessions managable but that does not mean that they are being done in the 'spirit' of the plan where HR's are capped.

Having said that the plan again for most of us is being used as a tool whereby those of us who constantly tinker with our training and in the end dont build any progression into it are in general 'strapped' in by using the IP. But it should never be rigid I dont believe.

As to your desire to follow a strict 10mps formula and the IP I dont know if that is possible as I have not looked at the numbers in that much detail, but I do know at my paces it is way over 10mps at UT2 and UT1 and I would think AT as well.

George

GeorgeD · Post by **GeorgeD** » September 23rd, 2006, 8:04 pm

TomR wrote:Hang in there, George.

Took your advice Tom and backed off for today, pretty frustrating and pretty warm but it does prove most of us need to breathe to erg (unlike someone we know)

So the IP was set aside and did 2 x 10min with a stretch and drink in between at about 2:00 pace and 20/21spm breathing was ok. Then a 5min piece at 1:49.2 and 24spm which left me a little raspy and coughing, so another 2 x 10min at 2:00 and 20/21spm.

All up it was about 11,400m and I dont feel as bad today as yesterday after cooling down, so maybe tomorrow will see more of an upside.

George

TomR · Post by **TomR** » September 24th, 2006, 1:41 pm

seat5 wrote: The next session is supposed to be 2 x 15' at UT1, since 36 min UT1 was a walk in the park this is way off kilter...

Carla--

Remember, you're in an "easy" week. For me the point of following a program is to trust that the expert who developed it knows more than I do. I resist the almost overwhelming temptation to improvise. There's a purpose to the structure, so I try to be obedient. As you can see, though, I do the sessions at lower stroke rates than the plan calls for.

Look beyond the easy weeks. To me, some will be plenty demanding. Also, there's another test coming up, which will enable you to readjust paces.

My sessions today was UT1 3x13/3.15 rest

2.07.1/137hr/21spm
2.07.6/144hr/21spm
2.08.6/147hr/20-21spm--slowed down to 2.10 for the final 4 mins to keep heart rate in zone.

Disappointed in final interval, but tomorrow is another day.

Tom