Pondering the Beginner Pete Plan

[Ombrax]

I'm not sure what you mean by UT2/UT3? That terminology isn't something I'm familiar with.

https://www.freespiritsrowing.com/forum ... calculator

[mitchel674]

I started the plan today, aiming for the 2:15-2:20 pace as suggested above, I ended up doing 2:18.3 at 18 s/m which felt good, was certainly hard to hold back and not go faster, especially towards the end - I'm pretty confident I can maintain this pace by week 4 for the 6500m and I'm very curious to see how the first set of internals goes on Thursday -- which I'm planning to aim for about a 2:00 pace I think, being the 6x500m / 2min rest...

That's great. Don't race your training. Those long steady rows serve a purpose. Pete talks about a smooth drive coupled with a slow and relaxed recovery. These rows are a great opportunity to really focus on your technique. Consider trying to keep them at 2:20 and 18-22spm. I think I was too fast on those rows during my first time through the Pete Plan. Consider doing the optional long row each week if you're making such good progress.

[jamesg]

But for those of you trying to give advice on my weight

Sorry about that, apologies. 152-158 and extremely sedentary lifestyle are louder alarm bells than most. If all is already under control, very well done indeed.

[Kixram]

But for those of you trying to give advice on my weight

Sorry about that, apologies. 152-158 and extremely sedentary lifestyle are louder alarm bells than most. If all is already under control, very well done indeed.

No worries - Diet wise, well more-so lifestyle eating habbits wise I've been eating a lot more healthy for the past 9 months or so, I used to consume a lot of sugar pretty much every day (chocolate, sweets, cakes and the like) and I haven't had a single one of any of these things since before Christmas of last year. That is also the same time I started a time-restricted eating routine of an 8 hour eating period then 16 hours without food, as opposed to previously eating at completely random times, sometimes having my main meal of the day right before sleep.

These changes, on top of rowing have made an insane difference to how I feel, my body feels so much less pain, I sleep better, I'm more alert and energetic all the time and I don't get labored breath from doing basic things like walking up my stairs. I've tried many diets in the past, which seemed fine for a month or two then I completely gave up on them. My main focus from rowing is to improve my fitness whilst also progressing my rows, I like going for personal bests and comparing them to previous weeks - All in all I feel I'm on the right path for me and the best thing is I feel like I can stick to this.

For those curious, my first interval session was today in which I aimed for 2:00 pace, I ended up doing 1:57.8 overall with 25 s/m, which broke down to be 1:58.5ish per rep and then 1:51.2 on the 6th one.

[thr1961]

I am on week 13 of the BPP and am also very new to the world of rowing. I am also about 6 months shy of age 60, and started actively using my model d when my work ordered us to be at home until the end of the year.

Reading this thread, I suspect that I have been going too fast on the long pieces, as my last 10k was at 2:13, which I know isn't fast, but may be too much for someone working to regain fitness. I am 6' 1" and now weigh 213 pounds ( down from 235 at the end of May!)

I don't have much to offer here being a newbie and all, but I am definitely seeing a rewarding trend of progressive improvement. Based on the numbers you are already putting up, unclear if you will see a dramatic change, but I suspect you will.

Happy to compare notes along the way. Keep going!

[Dangerscouse]

Reading this thread, I suspect that I have been going too fast on the long pieces, as my last 10k was at 2:13, which I know isn't fast, but may be too much for someone working to regain fitness. I am 6' 1" and now weigh 213 pounds ( down from 235 at the end of May!)

If the 10k is supposed to be a steady pace, which I assume it is, I'm fairly sure that is too fast for a newbie.

A good judge of pace for steadiness is can you hold a conversation for a few sentences, or sing a few lines of a song. You want your steady pace to be circa 6/10 in terms of effort, and don't let your ego dictate your decisions.

[mitchel674]

Reading this thread, I suspect that I have been going too fast on the long pieces, as my last 10k was at 2:13, which I know isn't fast, but may be too much for someone working to regain fitness. I am 6' 1" and now weigh 213 pounds ( down from 235 at the end of May!)

If the 10k is supposed to be a steady pace, which I assume it is, I'm fairly sure that is too fast for a newbie.

A good judge of pace for steadiness is can you hold a conversation for a few sentences, or sing a few lines of a song. You want your steady pace to be circa 6/10 in terms of effort, and don't let your ego dictate your decisions.

I agree with Stu. That pace seems too fast for a newbie at the 10k level of the BPP. I believe I rushed my long pieces my first time through the BPP. I suspect this left me with a weaker stroke that I made up for by increasing my rate. I went through the BPP a second time and forced myself to slow my rate and focus on my individual strokes on those long pieces with better results. YMMV, but I still do most of my long SS work at 20-22spm and 2:20 pace.

[Ombrax]

I would guess that given how long it takes to do a 10k, if you can maintain an ~ fixed pace for the entire piece and feel OK at the end, then that pace was most likely not too fast for you.

Personally, what I tend to do unless I really catch myself, (and what I think is "racing" your long, steady state workouts) is to do everything as fast as possible for a given distance, such that I complete the piece, but have nothing left at the end because I went hard then sprinted the last 1k or so. That's what I think is the wrong thing to do for long workouts. If you feel good at the end, say, such that you could have gone another 1k at that pace, then you certainly weren't (IMO) going too hard.

Caveat: I'm no expert on the BPP (nor the PP)

[Kixram]

So I'm about to start week 3 of the BPP and wanted to share my progress thus far. Firstly, I weighed myself for the first time in forever and while I previously guessed I weighed 24-25 stone I actually weigh about 23&1/2 (328lb), it would have been interesting to weigh myself before starting to row months ago to see the difference but oh well, at least I can do that in future.

My week 2 rows were

5500m 2:17.7 16s/m (following previous week 5000m 2:17.8 17 s/m)
4x 750m 1:57.4 24 s/m
5500m 2:16.8 19 s/m

I'm about to row my first 6k, which I'm feeling confident about, that 2k x2 with 4min rest on the next training day however is spooky!

[Kixram]

Just thought I'd share my progress so far, it seems crazy to me the progression one can have with their fitness! It's fun for me to look at my past month of steady-state rows and compare them.

1st September 5000m 2:18.3 /500m 18s/m
4th October 7000m 2:16.8 /500m 18s/m
7th October 7500m 2:15.8 /500m 20s/m

How's it going for the rest of you?

[Tony Cook]

Just thought I'd share my progress so far, it seems crazy to me the progression one can have with their fitness! It's fun for me to look at my past month of steady-state rows and compare them.

1st September 5000m 2:18.3 /500m 18s/m
4th October 7000m 2:16.8 /500m 18s/m
7th October 7500m 2:15.8 /500m 20s/m

How's it going for the rest of you?

Good stuff Kixram, a plan is great, and you have the discipline to stick to it. So you are reaping the rewards. Getting quicker and going further steadily is definitely working for you.

[mitchel674]

Just thought I'd share my progress so far, it seems crazy to me the progression one can have with their fitness! It's fun for me to look at my past month of steady-state rows and compare them.

1st September 5000m 2:18.3 /500m 18s/m
4th October 7000m 2:16.8 /500m 18s/m
7th October 7500m 2:15.8 /500m 20s/m

How's it going for the rest of you?

Great work! Beginner gains are the best. It's also very motivating to see your numbers improve so quickly. Kudos to you for sticking with it.

[withnail69]

So I'm about to start week 3 of the BPP and wanted to share my progress thus far. Firstly, I weighed myself for the first time in forever and while I previously guessed I weighed 24-25 stone I actually weigh about 23&1/2 (328lb), it would have been interesting to weigh myself before starting to row months ago to see the difference but oh well, at least I can do that in future.

My week 2 rows were

5500m 2:17.7 16s/m (following previous week 5000m 2:17.8 17 s/m)
4x 750m 1:57.4 24 s/m
5500m 2:16.8 19 s/m

I'm about to row my first 6k, which I'm feeling confident about, that 2k x2 with 4min rest on the next training day however is spooky!

Those times are insanely fast for a beginner. I found the 2x 2k with 4 min break one of the hardest on pete's plan as well. I'm on week 4 and loving it. But reading this I too think I have been doing the endurance too fast.. I'm struggling to see how you can do 22 spm though. The lowest I can seem to do without physically stopping rowing is 23 but I am a short-ass. Last night I did 7k @ 33m33s. I'm guessing thats too fast? Was about 2:20/500m

[Dangerscouse]

I'm struggling to see how you can do 22 spm though. The lowest I can seem to do without physically stopping rowing is 23 but I am a short-ass. Last night I did 7k @ 33m33s. I'm guessing thats too fast? Was about 2:20/500m

If you're not tall, r22 is probably as low as you will want to go to maintain proper form, so sticking with r23 is a good idea.

As for your pace, there's no set pace that is right as it's more based on either HR ranges, or RPE: if you can't talk fairly easily, you're going too fast.

[withnail69]

Thanks dangerscouse Have a great weekend