Suggestions for long rows

corpsrower · Post by **corpsrower** » April 11th, 2007, 9:27 am

I finished my first 15k yesterday as part of the Pete Plan, finishing in 61:53.9 (2:03.8 Split). I erg at my college's gym usually in the evenings after classes are done. What do fellow rowers here do for long pieces to avoid falling asleep b/c even though I love rowing, an hour on the erg gets very boring.

Yesterday I threw on my MP3 player loaded w/ some music w/o lyrics (for the beat), threw on a camelbak, and started and didn't feel too bad. Getting to the halfway point felt great, but then I realized I had another 7.5k left.

bscastro · Post by **bscastro** » April 11th, 2007, 11:17 am

I put podcasts of various talk shows on my iPod. I am a financial planner, so I have a couple financial planning shows and religious talk shows. I learn while I erg!

Of course, my longest pieces thus far have been 8k, so maybe you might need something else for that extra 7k.

Bryan

Kangaroo · Post by **Kangaroo** » April 11th, 2007, 11:56 am

This is something that I really struggle with, and haven't found a true solution that works perfectly for me. The best that I've come up with is music playing for the whole session.

Nosmo · Post by **Nosmo** » April 11th, 2007, 12:26 pm

Maybe I'm weird, but I never get bored on the erg. I don't like any distractions, no music no video, just concentrate on my rowing. If your bored may be you should just row harder

Sean Seamus · Post by **Sean Seamus** » April 11th, 2007, 1:11 pm

I love my time on the erg, and avoid all distractions, focussing intensely on each stroke. Occasionally I am amused when some trivial interruption such as the phone ringing or cat coming in the room ever so slightly derails my attention and a stroke or two are wobbly or weak.

I generally do steady state pieces with a very specific wattage / stroke rate, and concentrate on getting just that effort level molded into what I hope ( ! ) is as perfect a flow as possible. But even when I close my eyes and row "blind", I am deeply into the action and (trying to) analyze and perfect the cadence and sequence.

My longest continuous sessions are over an hour - which is sort of too long but that's another story - and I can honestly say I have never had one second of boredom over 4 million meters.

Focus.
"The perfect search for the endless stroke."
< I wish I'd written that >

jbell · Post by **jbell** » April 11th, 2007, 1:29 pm

You could always try watching tv / a movie while rowing for longer pieces. My first 90min piece was done watching TV. Wasn't bad at all, although my avg split was 2:13

. The next one I did was in the winter (first one was in the summer) and all I did was listen to the radio and focus. I think my average was 2:05 or so.

Bob S. · Post by **Bob S.** » April 11th, 2007, 3:03 pm

I have found that it helps to focus on the time for each km as it comes up. How do these compare with my previous times for those distances? I also play mental math games with the paces and projected times (or distances). The PM3 has really helped to relieve the boredom for me. The original (unnumbered) performance monitor on my old model B had very few features compared to the PM3 and even an hour seemed to drag on forever.

Bob S.

JoshK · Post by **JoshK** » April 11th, 2007, 4:56 pm

i prefer closing my eyes and imagining i'm on the water

works great for me

Snail Space · Post by **Snail Space** » April 11th, 2007, 5:29 pm

The Wolverine level 4 sessions are wonderful for long sessions: the rows are split into 6 or 10 minute pieces, often rowed continuously. Each piece is further segmented into 1, 2, 3, or 4 minute sections (2 minutes is the most common unit). Each unit has a prescribed pace, based on your best 2K time.

An example might be:
0-2min: 20spm@2:08
2-4min: 18spm@2:12
4-6min: 20spm@2:08
6-8min: 18spm@2:12
8-10min: 20spm@2:08

I have a spreadsheet that creates the plan for me, and calculates what cumulative distance should be covered after each 10 minute epoch. From memory the above plan should give about 2312 metres after 10 minutes, so my spreadsheet would show 2312m after 10 min, and 4624m after 20 minutes if I repeated the same pattern (I would prefer to vary it).

The concentration needed to stick accurately to the prescribed rate and pace means that you don't notice the passage of time, and long sessions cease to be a drag. Also, rowing at the low rates enables you to think hard about proper technique and establishing rhythm.

I find earphones irritating at best, and distracting at worst, so I row without music.

Cheers
Dave

icon · Post by **icon** » April 11th, 2007, 6:18 pm

I go for information overload...

during my long pieces I turn the TV on with closed captioning activated (I generally try to setup enough programs in my guide to fill the entire piece)

and have an Ipod Shuffle (2nd Gen) with upbeat random music. (its tiny/light so I can clip it to my unisuit and it has about 7-10 hrs of songs)

on the really long pieces (anything continuous in excess of about an 1.5 hrs) I keep a camel back with liquid in it (I don't like to wear it...)