Hi, Carla
Now I think I see what the problem is with our timing differences. I am on a 16 week plan, you are on an 18 week plan. I am just finishing week 5, with 11 weeks to go. Your Feb 24 race date is correct. The race is 11 weeks from tomorrow. Now some of the differences make sense.
I wasn't sure if my test 2K was going to put me anywhere close enough to actually consider going to the race, and when I finally tested before Thanksgiving, I had to choose the shortest plan the IP offers and jump in. Luckily I had not missed any AT work and had been rowing lots of good paced meters, so I jumped into the 3rd week and did 3 of the workouts. So I guess effectively I skipped the first 2 weeks of their plan, but I am adhering to the 16 week plan with the last day of my plan on race day.
It seems to me you could just reprint the 16 week plan and begin week 6, but then you already did week 6 so I don't know!
The one thing that still puzzles me is that for your race pace, last year's bands have you targeting lower times than this year's plan does for me. I wish I could see what you have for last year to compare. My AT band is 2:00- 2:06; TR is 1:50- 2:00 (seems awfully broad to me); and the AN is 1:47-1:50. Does your TR work have you targeting under 1:50? Ditto for AN at 1:47? Of course, I will have to do the 2K test after week 8 according to this thing, and I think you are supposed to redo your chart based on your new 2K time anyway, so if I can bring that test time down, maybe my targets will have to go down, too. (That assumes the time is lower, who the heck knows? I already dread doing that test.)
I think the thing about feet out is that I don't feel comfortable getting as much layback at the finish of the stroke. I do work on core/ab exercises almost daily, but I know that stronger abs would help. Thanks for your thoughts on that.
I just took my airline tickets to Boston off of "on hold" and purchased them, so I'm committed. 11 weeks to go. (I did use FF miles, and can put them back for a fee--I suppose I am still having trouble believing I can do this...)
Carla, since you add in one long row each week, what kind of pace do you do? I am tempted to add a long, steady state row today because I love how I feel when I finish (I have decided that if Freud know about erging, he might add a chapter to his psychology book called, "The compulsive erging affliction"), and I could use the workout to burn off some calories. I guess I could go for a medium cardio heart rate and just row, but I wondered how you choose how hard to row these extra 10Ks or 14Ks or whatever you do. If I go too hard, it could screw up tomorrow's workout.
Fwiw, I don't have another 45ish rower here at my club who trains like you do and is as closely matched to what I can do as you are. It's cool to know you are out there, and no matter what happens at the race, I really look fwd to meeting you.
