how to improve my times

tubbydrawers · Post by **tubbydrawers** » August 26th, 2007, 6:44 am

hiya, although i got my rower a good 7 months ago and am now up to 860000 meters, i just cant seem to get my times down.

i usually row for an hour 4-5 days a week at night, ( have done this now for a few months) and my best distance for that was about 13400 meters. i sat about 2mins 18 for the 500m split.

i have even tried rowing a 5k hard and i managed 20 mins 2 secs.

my half marathon is about 1hr 30 mins.

i have seen people on the rankings site pull 1 min 50 or less for 500 meters but the best i can do is about 2 mins or more!!!

my question is how do people get their times down and how long does it usually take to reduce their times to fairly quick times.?

sorry for asking so many questions, i think i ams still sooo new to this!!!

thanks

Buckiller · Post by **Buckiller** » August 26th, 2007, 12:36 pm

I might suggest getting a heart rate monitor and using that as the "rate" meter. Each row try to keep it in the predetermined range. There are training plans online that show you a %MHR range for each day.

http://www.concept2.co.uk/training/interactive.php

hjs · Post by **hjs** » August 27th, 2007, 4:56 am

If you only row"long slow distance" you will stay "slow" To improve your speed/times, you also have to row shorter/faster.

jamesg · Post by **jamesg** » August 27th, 2007, 5:15 am

TD, could be you're very fast already, for your weight height age sex etc.
Apart from that, you're doing plenty of work as it is. Make sure your technique is not letting you down.

jamesg · Post by **jamesg** » August 27th, 2007, 5:17 am

double

tbartman · Post by **tbartman** » August 27th, 2007, 3:36 pm

I agree with jamesg - rowing long and slow(ish) will make you better at rowing long and slow.

I did a lot of that for weight loss for 9 months, but now that I'm where I want to be I've switched my erg emphasis towards getting fast at the 2k. I have seen tremendous improvement in just 5 weeks on a plan I created here:

http://www.concept2.co.uk/training/interactive.php

This will help you train all your systems for speed!

Curmudgeon · Post by **Curmudgeon** » August 30th, 2007, 3:36 pm

tbartman wrote:I agree with jamesg - rowing long and slow(ish) will make you better at rowing long and slow.

I did a lot of that for weight loss for 9 months, but now that I'm where I want to be I've switched my erg emphasis towards getting fast at the 2k.

I'm currently working on the long-and-slow plan for weight loss. I try to pull a 10k for every workout, but sometimes something comes up and I can only pull a 5k. Assuming that I can keep up with the long rows, is there any training or weight-loss benefit to mixing up the long rows with shorter/faster rows? Or am I better off building endurance and burning calories until I hit my target and then go for speed?

Washout · Post by **Washout** » August 30th, 2007, 7:03 pm

My training theory differs somewhat from the above posts. However, it has been the product of my personal experience, which gives it some credit as it applies to myself.

Medium Distance Rows: These sessions appear to be the most useful of all. They build your mental tolerance for erging, your pain tolerance, stroking power and cardio ability.
As it is clear, they carry a lot of benefits for a single session type. I classify medium distance rows as 8-12k at open rate (though I tend to settle at r24-26).
The pace should be moderately difficult.

Intervals/Short Distance Rows (250m-5k): I haven't yet seen the benefit of these sessions for fitness. However, they build experience for race pieces (which is very useful), allowing you to experiment with what you can do.
They also build pain tolerance. One very significant downside is that they wear you out fast.

Long Distance Rows: I suppose for a non competitive rower, these could be useful for weight loss without too much effort. Perhaps another training benefit could be to refine technique.

As previously mentioned, these ideas are somewhat unorthodox. But maybe they will help a bit

.