WP L-4 average strokes vs. total time

[rlholtz]

So I'm doing one 60 min L-4 and one 40 min L-4 each week. Should the average number of strokes per 10 minutes be higher for the 40 minute session than the 60 minute session since it's shorter?

Thanks.

[Nosmo]

In general yes, But it really depends on how each fits into your program.

Also not a lot higher. If you follow Paul's law (do a forum search if your not sure what that is), then your average pace will be about 3 seconds slower on the longer piece. Therefore the rating maybe about 1 spm higher on the 40 minute piece.

edit for clarity.

[TabbRows]

One way I adjust for longer WP L-4 sessions is to adjust the starting rating. For shorter periods (30-40 minute seesions) I start out at 20/22/24/22/20. For longer sessions (40-60minutes) I begin with 18/20/22/20/18. I typically use the 10 minute sequences rather than the 6 minute but I have used the 6 minute sequence when just erging for shorter periods(under 30 minutes) as a second workout for the day or warming up prior to a Pilates class. Then I use a multiple spm sequence, say 18/20/22, then 20/22/24, then back to 18/20/22.

But for all sessions I focus on the recommended pace/rating relative to my target 2K pace.

[toby]

So I'm doing one 60 min L-4 and one 40 min L-4 each week. Should the average number of strokes per 10 minutes be higher for the 40 minute session than the 60 minute session since it's shorter?

Thanks.

Here is an excerpt from Mike Caviston on structuring L4 workouts (emphasis mine):

"The rate of increase would depend on how easily you tolerate each workout. Based on the Level 4 tables, calculate the goal for your workout in total meters. If you easily meet your goal, or exceed it without really trying, you can increase by more strokes per session. If you miss your goal, or struggle to reach it, you may choose to keep your number of strokes the same, or increase by a smaller amount, or even decrease if you think you need to make sure you have enough fitness before proceeding. My general rule of thumb is to increase by 1 stroke per 10’ per week (i.e., add 4 strokes to a 40’ session or 6 strokes to a 60’ session.) Add more or less in a given week as necessary (as many as 8 strokes for 60’). My goal, over the course of 20-30 weeks of training, is to build my average stroke rate up from around 18 to as close to 20 as I can get (I’ve only made it as far as 20spm myself once.) Two strokes per minute may not sound like much for a season’s work, but it results in several hundred more meters per hour (all done under controlled conditions)."

[rlholtz]

So: alternating +4 strokes and +8 strokes for 60 minutes might not be overdoing it on the +8 days?

[nharrigan]

rlholtz-

The average stroke rate will be similar for the 40 and 60 minute L4 each week. You should add 4-8 strokes total on a 60 minute piece from week to week. If you average is 18.0 spm in week 1, then if you add 6 strokes in week 2 your average for week two will be 18.1 .

You should reread the commentary by Mike Caviston.

http://www.c2forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=4190

Good luck,

Neil

[toby]

So: alternating +4 strokes and +8 strokes for 60 minutes might not be overdoing it on the +8 days?

Short answer: Probably not.
Longer answer: It depends on how fast your fitness is increasing, and for how many weeks you plan to train.

Longest answer:

I am now in my third season of the WP (a cut-down "3/4" version so the weekday workouts fit into 45 minutes but L1/L2/L3/L4 balance is maintained, see below). Based on my prior experience, and careful (re)reading of Mike Caviston's archived posts on the subject, I decide how many strokes to add each week to my L4 sessions based on how my training is going. I keep a week-by-week training log in Excel, where each day of the week has its own column: Monday (rest day), Tuesday (L1 3x1K), Wednesday (L4 40'), Thursday (L3 10K), Friday (L4 40'), Saturday (L2 3x2K), Sunday (L4 60'). In each cell I record the workout and split time (e.g., yesterday's entry is: L4 176/176/184/184 2:11.4). By scrolling up through past weeks, months, and training seasons I can see when progress is rapid, when it is slower, etc., and make adjustments accordingly to yield consistent gains without symptoms of overtraining.

For instance, I typically train about 40 weeks of the year (no erg access in summer). In my first two seasons I started L4 at 17.0spm and added 4 strokes/wk to the 40' L4 sessions and 4-8 strokes/wk to the 60' L4 session (averaging 6 strokes/wk). The problem I had was that by adding 0.1spm/wk there was no way I could go 40 straight weeks, because I would have ended up at 21.0spm for my L4 sessions, a rate too high to allow me to recover sufficiently to do an L2 or L3 the next day. So, in the first two seasons I simply stopped adding strokes when I got to L4 workouts consisting of "all-196," because my L1, L2, and L3 workouts started to suffer when I included any L4 of >196.

This year I am experimenting by adding an average of just 2 strokes per week to both the 40' and 60' L4 sessions. I started this season at L4=17.6spm (all-176), so if all goes according to plan I will finish at 19.6spm for the 40' sessions and around 19spm for the 60' session. If I feel like my endurance is suffering (for example, if my weekly L3 10K is slow relative to my L2 or L1), I would add more than 2 strokes/wk to my 60' L4 to try to improve my endurance. But I know from experience that my endurance is better than my strength when it comes to an all-out 2K -- my 10K is usually only 2K+10 or so.

To add an average of 2 strokes/wk I do the same L4 sessions for two weeks in a row, then add 4 strokes for the next two weeks. For an example from this season:

Weeks 1-2 L4 176/176/176/176 (40') L4 176/176/176/176/176/176 (60')
Weeks 3-4 L4 176/176/176/180 (40') L4 176/176/176/176/176/180 (60')

I don't use all the variety available in the WP -- I pretty much stick to just one kind of workout for each level so I can gauge my week-to-week progress easier (a valuable motivator for me). I use a 10K for my weekly L3 so that I can produce a rank-able piece every week (another motivator). I also use the L4 sequences that have at least a 4spm change in them (i.e., the 1_0, 1_4, and 1_6 sequences) because they keep me better focused on my technique and splits.

When my training is balanced my workout times relative to 2K look like this:

L1 3x1K 2K-1
L2 3x2K 2K+4
L3 10K 2K+11 (or 2K+10)

So, I generally know where my 2K is without having to actually do one. I rarely row a 2K test, not just because they hurt, but because the recovery from them screws up my training. I get a lot of satisfaction from watching my "virtual 2K" time improve as the splits for each workout get faster and faster every week. My PB (last season) for the L2 3x2K is 1:51.2 and for 10K 1:57.7, but I've never tried to do the ~7:10 2K they predict. Maybe when they predict sub-7 I will bite the bullet.