New Personal Best! Brag About That New Pb!

[RWAGR]

paced it awfully but got there.

It’s true that’s sub-optimal pacing BUT the fact that you held on shows a huge amount of mental fortitude and in many ways makes it more of an achievement than a “standard” paced 2k. Probably also shows you have more there, on a day when you hit prime pacing.

[p_b82]

That's a significant improvement!

Great effort p_b82. You've been threatening this for a while. Sub 8mins at 19-20 is tough. Well done. More PBs before long based on this performance.

What a great way to iron out the frustration of a bad day. Big improvement and a milestone broken too

Thanks all; 5k, (potentially another 6k as I was disappointed/recovering from covid) and perhaps HM, before I get back on rating up... Very conscious that I've been creeping lower and lower on the ratings during these challenges.

[robhely]

Managed to shave 30 seconds off my previous best 5k time, which I was very happy with! I know it's early season, but it feels good to hit the 90th percentile in the LW 50 - 54 category.

Up to week 11 on the BPP, which feels like it's really paying off in terms of fitness and technique.

Time Meters Pace S/M HR
18:46.0 5000 1:52.6 27 172
3:44.5 1000 1:52.2 29 161
3:45.1 2000 1:52.5 28 170
3:45.9 3000 1:52.9 27 174
3:46.2 4000 1:53.1 27 177
3:44.3 5000 1:52.1 27 182

I was hoping for a sub 19 with ~1:54 splits, so was really happy that I could hold the pace at 1:52.6. This bodes well for my 2k, where my ultimate goal is a 7min 2k. My best attempt so far is 7:22.6 / 1:50.6, but after today's row I feel like I could get that down to at least 1:49, working towards the goal of 1:45.

With my intervals, I'm managing 1:48s with 6 x 500m / 1r, which isn't quite where I'd like to be, but perhaps somewhat of a predictor for the 2k.

[p_b82]

Managed to shave 30 seconds off my previous best 5k time, which I was very happy with! I know it's early season, but it feels good to hit the 90th percentile in the LW 50 - 54 category.

Congrats - big gain that!

[Dangerscouse]

Managed to shave 30 seconds off my previous best 5k time, which I was very happy with! I know it's early season, but it feels good to hit the 90th percentile in the LW 50 - 54 category.

Up to week 11 on the BPP, which feels like it's really paying off in terms of fitness and technique.

Time Meters Pace S/M HR
18:46.0 5000 1:52.6 27 172
3:44.5 1000 1:52.2 29 161
3:45.1 2000 1:52.5 28 170
3:45.9 3000 1:52.9 27 174
3:46.2 4000 1:53.1 27 177
3:44.3 5000 1:52.1 27 182

I was hoping for a sub 19 with ~1:54 splits, so was really happy that I could hold the pace at 1:52.6. This bodes well for my 2k, where my ultimate goal is a 7min 2k. My best attempt so far is 7:22.6 / 1:50.6, but after today's row I feel like I could get that down to at least 1:49, working towards the goal of 1:45.

With my intervals, I'm managing 1:48s with 6 x 500m / 1r, which isn't quite where I'd like to be, but perhaps somewhat of a predictor for the 2k.

That's an impressive lump of progress!! Well done Rob, great to see the BPP working so well.

1:49s is a good target to aim for if 1:50.6 is your previous PB. A hard target but you might be able to get it down to low 49s

[aussie nick]

Managed to shave 30 seconds off my previous best 5k time, which I was very happy with! I know it's early season, but it feels good to hit the 90th percentile in the LW 50 - 54 category.

Up to week 11 on the BPP, which feels like it's really paying off in terms of fitness and technique.

Time Meters Pace S/M HR
18:46.0 5000 1:52.6 27 172
3:44.5 1000 1:52.2 29 161
3:45.1 2000 1:52.5 28 170
3:45.9 3000 1:52.9 27 174
3:46.2 4000 1:53.1 27 177
3:44.3 5000 1:52.1 27 182

I was hoping for a sub 19 with ~1:54 splits, so was really happy that I could hold the pace at 1:52.6. This bodes well for my 2k, where my ultimate goal is a 7min 2k. My best attempt so far is 7:22.6 / 1:50.6, but after today's row I feel like I could get that down to at least 1:49, working towards the goal of 1:45.

With my intervals, I'm managing 1:48s with 6 x 500m / 1r, which isn't quite where I'd like to be, but perhaps somewhat of a predictor for the 2k.

awesome time - well done

[KeithT]

Managed to shave 30 seconds off my previous best 5k time, which I was very happy with! I know it's early season, but it feels good to hit the 90th percentile in the LW 50 - 54 category.

Up to week 11 on the BPP, which feels like it's really paying off in terms of fitness and technique.

Time Meters Pace S/M HR
18:46.0 5000 1:52.6 27 172
3:44.5 1000 1:52.2 29 161
3:45.1 2000 1:52.5 28 170
3:45.9 3000 1:52.9 27 174
3:46.2 4000 1:53.1 27 177
3:44.3 5000 1:52.1 27 182

I was hoping for a sub 19 with ~1:54 splits, so was really happy that I could hold the pace at 1:52.6. This bodes well for my 2k, where my ultimate goal is a 7min 2k. My best attempt so far is 7:22.6 / 1:50.6, but after today's row I feel like I could get that down to at least 1:49, working towards the goal of 1:45.

With my intervals, I'm managing 1:48s with 6 x 500m / 1r, which isn't quite where I'd like to be, but perhaps somewhat of a predictor for the 2k.

Huge improvement! The 1:49 pace for the 2K should be no problem - I would think you could go lower.

[robhely]

Huge improvement! The 1:49 pace for the 2K should be no problem - I would think you could go lower.

I hope so, although I always seem to do worse on the shorter distances (my 500m is embarrassing!). Perhaps this is a lightweight thing?

[HornetMaX]

Huge improvement! The 1:49 pace for the 2K should be no problem - I would think you could go lower.

I hope so, although I always seem to do worse on the shorter distances (my 500m is embarrassing!). Perhaps this is a lightweight thing?

I'm curious, what's your 500m PB ? We're roughly same age & weight but you're way faster on 5K (and most likely on 2K too now).

[robhely]

I'm curious, what's your 500m PB ? We're roughly same age & weight but you're way faster on 5K (and most likely on 2K too now).

My PB on the 500m is 1:39.7. Even pulling as hard as I can for short bursts, I can't seem to get the splits down anywhere near 1:30, so I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong. Maybe I just don't have the power? Or I lack the technique to rate up over 35, which is probably what I'd need to do to get faster on sprints.

[HornetMaX]

I'm sure others will provide more useful advice, to me there's no real reason for you to be not as good on 500m as you are on a 2K.
Maybe you're losing time at start (more of a penalty on a 500m) ? Or maybe it's a matter of using a different (higher ?) drag factor ?

[Dangerscouse]

My PB on the 500m is 1:39.7. Even pulling as hard as I can for short bursts, I can't seem to get the splits down anywhere near 1:30, so I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong. Maybe I just don't have the power? Or I lack the technique to rate up over 35, which is probably what I'd need to do to get faster on sprints.

What's your 2k PB pace? I don't think the SPM is an issue, but it might be a little bit if you're a LWT, which I can't remember now if you are?

Do you do much weight training?

[robhely]

What's your 2k PB pace? I don't think the SPM is an issue, but it might be a little bit if you're a LWT, which I can't remember now if you are?

Do you do much weight training?

My PB pace, from several months back was 1:50.6. I'm 69 - 70kg, so LWT.

I've been recovering from a shoulder injury which has limited other training activities, but have been getting back into weight training over the last few weeks. Since I got into rowing I have found it hard to fit in weight training as well as I also spend a lot of time mountain biking and trail building, both of which are quite strenuous activities. Lately, it's been a chore to do weights after rowing 10,000m or doing intervals. I imagine that for rowing deadlifts, squats and lats work would be beneficial. Maybe also some core work.

[robhely]

I'm sure others will provide more useful advice, to me there's no real reason for you to be not as good on 500m as you are on a 2K.
Maybe you're losing time at start (more of a penalty on a 500m) ? Or maybe it's a matter of using a different (higher ?) drag factor ?

I have recently tried a different approach to the start of 500m sprints, which is taking 5 shorter strokes, building up to the full stroke. If I did another 500m attempt now that might shave off a second or so. I have also thought about drag factor, I accidentally bumped the lever one day and ended up doing 6 x 500m with it set to 130, which actually felt quite good compared to my usual 125. It made me wonder if even higher might be an advantage. I'd never want it higher than 125 for longer distances though, through trial and error 125 is the sweet spot for me.

Assuming I can pull a 7:16 on my next 2k attempt, what would the expected 500m time be based on that? Rowing level predicts these times, which are well off for my longer distances:

500m 01:36
1000m 03:29
2000m 07:16
5000m 19:50
10000m 41:07

My actual times for the 5000m and 10000m are 18:46 and 39:35.

[MPx]

Interesting Rob - you appear to have a very strong engine with that 5k but (relatively) less power as distances shorten. The FreeSpirits predictor works for many for distances over 500 so looking good for a sub7 2k!