Pete Plan 2017

[mdpfirrman]

@nhopkins - good on you to do the workout and finish! That is what matters. I'm curious, where are you located? I'm just outside Portland, OR and have also been affected by smoke from wild fires. No babies, though

Has anyone here done the PP5k? Or have ideas about pacing? I looked through the workouts and cycles and am thrown by 1' rest on the shorter distances...

Generally, the way I understand it is if you're working on speed/power, you want more rest and fully recovered. Don't forget that the PP is for the 2K. The assumption about the PP is that you've been doing a large volume of base building before you undertake it. As middle aged want-to-be athletes (like me), when most of us started the PP, that wasn't the case. Instead, the PP was the largest volume of meters we'd ever done! So the PP is meant to build on the endurance you are supposed to already have when you start the PP and the longer rests are so that you maximize gains in strength and speed. Most believe that speed is the easiest and quickest aspect to train in rowing. Yeah and no. We're not going to get as strong as some of these guys overnight (or ever!). But you can improve speed pretty quickly.

The shorter the rest, the more you're working on your aerobic capacity, much more important in a 5K than in a 2K. So you don't want to recover fully. You don't need to be fast to do a great 5K. Some that excel at the 5K have horrible 500m times and the best 500m sprinters are horrible at 5Ks for the most part. Working opposite ends. The 2K is kind of a balancing act between power and endurance. 5K not so much.

[calalli]

@nhopkins - as the others have said - you are doing well and are making progress. As long as you continue to work consistently the progress will continue. I have found myself getting a bit discouraged at what seems slow progress but when I look at my logs I see a PB somewhere every week or so. Not everyday is going to be better than the last; it is hard to shed yourself of that idea but you will be better for it. Mike was talking about weight loss which I think is a useful analogy. I weigh myself everyday but I don't focus on the daily number. I take the average each week and compare it to the prior weeks average. There are good days and bad, but I want to see a bit of progress each week overall.

@Mike - glad to see you around. Do you see yourself going back to the PP soon? I have 4 weeks left on the BPP and then I intend to start the regular PP ( although I have been thinking about the 5kPP as well barrec).

5/9/17 BPP 20.1 - 12000M - this was supposed to be a bit faster than my last 10K but I never quite hit the speed although I was strapless and tried to stay at 20SPM
Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
52:28.2 12,000m 2:11.1 155 833 20
8:56.1 2,000m 2:14.0 145 800 20 125
8:49.9 4,000m 2:12.4 151 817 20 131
8:42.6 6,000m 2:10.6 157 839 20 133
8:41.5 8,000m 2:10.3 158 843 20 138
8:40.4 10,000m 2:10.1 159 846 20 139
8:37.7 12,000m 2:09.4 161 855 20 142

6/9/17 BPP 20.2 - 5x1500M /3'r - hanging my head. On warm-up I felt pain in seemingly every joint, elbows, hip flexors, back of the knees, left ankle. It was like a flare up of tendinitis everywhere. I did the first rep, started the second and then HD. I'll try it again Saturday

7/9/17 BPP 20.3 - 30min - Pete seems to be calling for a hard 30 here. I did a 6 min warmup and then 6000M for the team challenge - and personal TT since it was my lowest ranked piece. I wanted to break a 2:00 pace and almost went HD after about 3500M, felt like I was never going to make it. I coasted to 4000M then decided I would at least try to break 20min for 5000M but after that kept going and finished the 6000M. It was an adventure and the crazy pacing shows it. But hey, made my goal.

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
23:47.5 6,000m 1:58.9 208 1015 25
4:01.7 1,000m 2:00.8 198 982 24 137
3:59.5 2,000m 1:59.7 204 1000 24 144
3:57.2 3,000m 1:58.6 210 1021 25 148
3:59.6 4,000m 1:59.8 204 1000 26 150
3:52.4 5,000m 1:56.2 223 1067 26 159
3:57.2 6,000m 1:58.6 210 1021 27 160

[mdpfirrman]

Cal, that's a great 6K! Nicely done. Not sure I could do that right now. Doing all the meters I've been doing, haven't been pushing all that hard (because you can't and still do that volume).

I was wanting to do a round of the PP soon, but I have vacation coming up and no access to the C2. Probably best as I could probably stand a bit of a break (haven't taken one all year). This is a one week vacation, not a two week like last year so hopefully I won't lose too much progress.

In around 4 weeks, I'm hoping to do one round of the PP, so I'll keep lurking and see if I can join up with you. My first round probably won't be pretty. This is the longest in a while I've gone without doing many intervals. However, we'll see if all the volume helps with the aerobic capacity. They say the hardest thing to build is your aerobic "engine". Well, I've been working at that now 16 weeks. We'll see if it pays off come race season this year. I probably won't do more than 2 rounds this time around. I'll wait till closer to my race in February before I do 3 or so rounds. Beyond 3 full PP rounds, you're not going to get much faster is what I've found. Some get faster after 4 or so rounds, but those are usually the ones that are holding back a bit. I'm always living on the HD edge!

If I do two rounds in a month, that will put me up until mid November. That gives me another 5 weeks or so of heavy volume and then back to 2/3 more rounds of PP. At least that's the plan for now barring the flu/illness that sidelined me a lot of last Fall. I think I've been smarter this year. When I'm not feeling it, I don't push it too hard.

[jans]

BPP 2.2: 4 x 750m / 2 min R

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal S/M HR
12:02.4 3,000m 2:00.4 201 989 21
2:49.1 750m 1:52.7 244 1140 23 118
3:03.6 750m 2:02.4 191 956 20 123
3:05.2 750m 2:03.4 186 939 19 128
3:04.6 750m 2:03.0 188 945 22 166

First round was all in. Rest was a bit doubtfull: go for S/M (easier) or Watts, but I think creating the Watts at lower S/M has priority (for the sake of the exercise, so for longer pieces).
Pace is a few seconds better than my 500m intervals from the first week.

[nhopkins]

Thanks every one for the words of encouragement, I know things will get better as my fitness and technique increase but sometimes its frustrating.

@nhopkins - good on you to do the workout and finish! That is what matters. I'm curious, where are you located? I'm just outside Portland, OR and have also been affected by smoke from wild fires. No babies, though

Im out side of Victoria on Vancouver island, we haven't seen the sun in over a week no and everything is covered in ash. No excuses though

BPP 2.5 3X 8min 1r

went alright today got a bit distracted on the first break and lost about 15 seconds i tried to make it up and need up just making the entire interval a little slower.

24:00.0 5,661m 2:07.1 170 885 22
8:00.0 1,919m 2:05.0 179 915 22
8:00.0 1,849m 2:09.8 160 850 24
8:00.0 1,892m 2:06.8 171 889 22

week 2 is done... finally. weirdly looking forward to next week though.

[calalli]

8/9/17 BPP 20.4 - 10000M SS - planned to stay under 20SPM, then forgot at the beginning. My goal here is to work up to 10W/S but I have a long way to go

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
44:23.7 10,000m 2:13.1 148 809 19
9:24.9 2,000m 2:21.2 124 727 21 118
8:57.7 4,000m 2:14.4 144 795 18 128
8:38.8 6,000m 2:09.7 160 851 19 137
8:37.0 8,000m 2:09.2 162 857 19 139
8:45.2 10,000m 2:11.3 155 831 18 143

[nhopkins]

BPP 3.1 6000m pace 2:07-2:08 (same pace as lat weeks 5500m)

decided that 2 days off in a row was too much rest and its too hard to get going again. Im going to try and with come up with a 6 day peek plan or just spit the days off we will see what works best over the next couple of weeks. I can feel my fitness level increasing. still having a little trouble when it comes to the last 1500m but powers through and finished none the less.

25:43.6 6,000m 2:08.6 164 865 22
2:09.1 500m 2:09.1 163 859 25
2:06.9 1,000m 2:06.9 171 889 22
2:05.7 1,500m 2:05.7 176 906 22
2:07.2 2,000m 2:07.2 170 884 22
2:07.0 2,500m 2:07.0 171 887 22
2:06.3 3,000m 2:06.3 174 897 21
2:05.8 3,500m 2:05.8 176 904 22
2:09.4 4,000m 2:09.4 162 855 22
2:13.7 4,500m 2:13.7 146 803 22
2:10.0 5,000m 2:10.0 159 847 21
2:13.3 5,500m 2:13.3 148 808 25

[barrec]

@ben and @mike - thank you both for the insight. I actually just completed a 5k TT and have a good sense of my max effort but I'm not sure how to pace the interval sessions in the PP5K from that number. Well, I have an idea but want to be sure and push myself appropriately (something like 5K-1). I'm basing my initial pace on how fast I think I could do 6x1000m with 1' rest today since that is at the end of week 3. The longer intervals are closer to ones I've done in other plans and feel confident there.

[jans]

@nhopkins: good one!

BPP 2.3: 5.500m


Time Meters Pace Watts Cal S/M HR
23:22.9 5,500m 2:07.5 169 880 19 171

4:37.3 1,100m 2:06.0 175 901 19 158
4:39.8 2,200m 2:07.1 170 885 18 167
4:41.3 3,300m 2:07.8 167 875 18 174
4:42.6 4,400m 2:08.4 165 867 19 177
4:41.9 5,500m 2:08.1 166 872 20 183

Did 1.5 sec of my previous 5.5k. #progress Trying to keep low s/m and higher Watts.

[nhopkins]

@jans nice pace!

BPP3.2 2X 2000m 4r @ 2:05 pace


Felt great today. I went a little hard for the first interval I thought, but the 4 min rest was long enough to catch my breath for sure. felt like it should have been one or 2 intervals longer... oh well I'm sure by the end of the week i will fell differently about that.

16:33.0 4,000m 2:04.1 183 929 20
8:12.2 2,000m 2:03.0 188 946 21
8:20.7 2,000m 2:05.1 178 913 20

[DNA_Rower]

In theory I start the regular Pete Plan today. What is the advice if you're not able to do 6 sessions a week? I reckon on average I will manage 3.

Did a 10k - was aiming for a PB, even though I've been mostly off the erg for the past 3 weeks. I was lulled in to a false sense of achievement by managing to get a PB whilst on a hotel erg on holiday but that was largely due to the fact the gym was about 16C compared to my annoyingly warm Berlin gym. Anyway, I ended up missing the 10k PB by nearly 1min! I was on pace for the first 5K but in the 2nd half I just couldn't cope with the heat so eased off. Oh I miss that lovely Norwegian erg...

[JerekKruger]

@DNA_Rower - two suggestions: (i) simply spread each week of the Pete Plan over two weeks, otherwise following it as written, so one week your do the speed intervals, a long piece and the endurance intervals, then the next you'd do two long pieces and the hard endurance piece; (ii) if you can stretch to for sessions then I'd suggest something like: session 1 alternate between speed and endurance intervals, session 2 long piece, session 3 hard endurance, session 4 long piece (you could change it to have more regular speed work as you get closer to a TT).

[mdpfirrman]

In theory I start the regular Pete Plan today. What is the advice if you're not able to do 6 sessions a week? I reckon on average I will manage 3.

Did a 10k - was aiming for a PB, even though I've been mostly off the erg for the past 3 weeks. I was lulled in to a false sense of achievement by managing to get a PB whilst on a hotel erg on holiday but that was largely due to the fact the gym was about 16C compared to my annoyingly warm Berlin gym. Anyway, I ended up missing the 10k PB by nearly 1min! I was on pace for the first 5K but in the 2nd half I just couldn't cope with the heat so eased off. Oh I miss that lovely Norwegian erg...

I don't know if I'd try to work a 6 day plan into a 3 day plan. I'd be more apt to keep meters if I were you. Something like 12K meters each day. Now, if you wanted to add in some PP type intervals in the middle of the workout, fine. Something like Day 1, 5000K W/U. Then 6 X 500m followed by 4K CD. Day two, skip the W/U and go into 4 X 2000, 2 or 4K C/D (10K or 12K meters). Day three - 10K hardish with 2K C/D. You could alternate the hard day 3 every other week and on the "off" weeks just do a 12K SS row (maybe with a 2' rest @ 6K - I love 2X6K/2' rows).

[nhopkins]

BPP 3.3 6000m @ 2:07

today was alright still hitting a wall at around 40000m that i have to really push to break through. I guess it will get easier with time and practice. Still better time and more consistent than the first 6000m this week.

25:32.8 6,000m 2:07.7 168 877 18
2:07.0 500m 2:07.0 171 887 21
2:06.4 1,000m 2:06.4 173 896 19
2:05.8 1,500m 2:05.8 176 904 19
2:05.6 2,000m 2:05.6 177 907 19
2:05.8 2,500m 2:05.8 176 904 19
2:06.5 3,000m 2:06.5 173 894 18
2:06.7 3,500m 2:06.7 172 891 18
2:11.4 4,000m 2:11.4 154 830 18
2:12.8 4,500m 2:12.8 149 814 19
2:06.5 5,000m 2:06.5 173 894 19
2:10.3 5,500m 2:10.3 158 844 19
2:08.0 6,000m 2:08.0 167 874 19

[JerekKruger]

still hitting a wall at around 40000m that i have to really push to break through.

Well 40000m is almost a full marathon so I think it's okay to be a little tired by that point