Around the World Row!

Shannon · Post by **Shannon** » May 15th, 2006, 4:40 pm

Great job on that fantastic row Francois!!!

I saw it listed on the CTC site and quickly called John to come and look. He was totally impressed too!

I am going to give the 5K one more try, but I am going to wait until later on in the month, so I can psyche myself up!!

Shannon

ulu · Post by **ulu** » May 15th, 2006, 5:02 pm

Wow, nice row Francois. Well done.

I was going to try and shave off 10 seconds and see if I could back into the Eh!Team number one boat, but I see Mark Read has posted an excellent 18:07. Another great row!

To get back into the Number 1 boat I am going to have to displace Yukon John at 18:25 or 32 seconds off my previous best. This sounds painful,

hmmm... that 2nd boat is starting to look pretty cozy.

Keep on rowin, eh!

Jim

Shannon · Post by **Shannon** » May 15th, 2006, 5:55 pm

ulu wrote:
To get back into the Number 1 boat I am going to have to displace Yukon John at 18:25 or 32 seconds off my previous best. This sounds painful, hmmm... that 2nd boat is starting to look pretty cozy.

Keep on rowin, eh!

Jim

I totally agree Jim! I would have to go 31 seconds faster to catch Brigitte! Not a chance, this month anyway!! But I would be happy to shave off a few more seconds, to help the second boat.

Shannon

BriK · Post by **BriK** » May 15th, 2006, 7:12 pm

Awesome time, Francois! It's just amazing what a pace you can keep up for such a distance!
I tried to improve my 5k last weekend too, but after 4k I didn't have the energy for the remaining distance

... oh well! So I guess this is as good as it gets right now. Maybe I'll have another try at the end of the month.
Trevor has joined the CTC too!!!

Only one more and we'll have 3 boats on the water!

Brigitte

Yukon John · Post by **Yukon John** » May 15th, 2006, 10:17 pm

Brigitte, I ran into the same wall that you did last weekend during a 5k try, but someone had moved it up another 300 metres

. So I sympathize with you

.

Francois, you truly amaze me with your times! You are one incredible athlete! Well done (I'm envious

!)

Trevor, You were so close to breaking 20:00! Really well done! If you are reading this, you might want to consider writing in the forum and telling us about your race (how your pacing went, when was it the hardest, average stroke rate, etc.) Fellow members of the Eh Team (and other people reading the forum) have given me great advice based on the information I've provided. If you ever plan on traveling up the highway, let me know and maybe we can go out for a beer or if we're feeling health conscious, we could go to a gym and help each other out with our technique (goes for anyone else that might be passing through Whitehorse.) YJ

Francois · Post by **Francois** » May 16th, 2006, 10:48 am

Thanks everyone for those nice pats on the back!

Trevor, good job on your 5K! Like John, I am also interested on your pacing and stroke rates.

There are two crucial aspect to performing to one's best ability in a time trial: proper warm-up and pacing. Mike Caviston, the author of the Wolverine Plan, has written extensively on those subject here. Just search in the page for "The Importance of Pacing" and "Warming up".

As much as I enjoy training everyday, I am not too excited by races and time trials, especially those that are done alone in my basement!

I find a parallel with studying: I really enjoyed attending classes, doing the assignments and projects, but didn't like the exams.
Races can be disruptive of training since they require some tapering and recovery. Using a simplistic analogy, one could say that training is like putting money in the bank and racing is making a small withdrawal.
On the other hand, when used sparingly, races and time trials are stimulating as they provide goals and the impetus to train for them.

Just my 2 cents.

Have a great day, and happy training!

Trevor · Post by **Trevor** » May 16th, 2006, 11:50 am

I was aiming for sub 20 minutes for the 5K and was bitterly disappointed to miss by such a narrow margin. I warmed up for 23 minutes (5K keeping my heart rate between 120 and 130 bpm, my resting is 57 so this is a little more than 2Xresting and the stroke rate around 20 and bursts of ten strokes at race pace (2 minutes/500m) at 10, 15 and 23 minutes). I then rested until my heart rate returned to 100 bpm; about 5 minutes.

The actual row: I started at 24 strokes/minute and enough force to keep me at 2 minutes/500 m. However at four minutes I experienced nausea and anoxia and had to slow to 2:05 to 2:08. I hit 2K at 8:11 and was able to speed up to 2:00 and 24spm. However at 15 minutes I was still behind my goal at 3700 m. I was still optimistic and my aim was to go flat out at 18 minutes.. From 18 I was able to sustain at 1:43 to 1:45 but it was too little too late.

Did I warm up too long and hard? Was it the birthday cake slice I ate 30 minutes before rowing? Was itstarting too fast? I intend to try again this month. In the mean time, my goal is too row 10k daily until May 25 so I will reach 5 million metres before my 52nd birthday.

DavidA · Post by **DavidA** » May 16th, 2006, 11:55 am

Francois wrote: I was aiming for 17:58, and started at 1:48.5, than 1:47.6 and 1:47.4 for the 2nd and 3rd K. At that point, sub 17:55 looked feasible so I started to put the pedal to the metal: the 4th K was done at 1:46.2, and the last at 1:44.0

Not the ideal pacing but very close to the best I can do at this stage.

Yes, there is still life in an old LWT!

Cheers!

Francois

Francois,
All of your times and distances are very impressive to me!

To be be in the upper end of the 40's bracket and lwt, with those number - whew !!!

David

Francois · Post by **Francois** » May 16th, 2006, 12:45 pm

Trevor wrote:I was aiming for sub 20 minutes for the 5K and was bitterly disappointed to miss by such a narrow margin. I warmed up for 23 minutes (5K keeping my heart rate between 120 and 130 bpm, my resting is 57 so this is a little more than 2Xresting and the stroke rate around 20 and bursts of ten strokes at race pace (2 minutes/500m) at 10, 15 and 23 minutes). I then rested until my heart rate returned to 100 bpm; about 5 minutes.

The actual row: I started at 24 strokes/minute and enough force to keep me at 2 minutes/500 m. However at four minutes I experienced nausea and anoxia and had to slow to 2:05 to 2:08. I hit 2K at 8:11 and was able to speed up to 2:00 and 24spm. However at 15 minutes I was still behind my goal at 3700 m. I was still optimistic and my aim was to go flat out at 18 minutes.. From 18 I was able to sustain at 1:43 to 1:45 but it was too little too late.

Did I warm up too long and hard? Was it the birthday cake slice I ate 30 minutes before rowing? Was itstarting too fast? I intend to try again this month. In the mean time, my goal is too row 10k daily until May 25 so I will reach 5 million metres before my 52nd birthday.

Trevor,

There are several suggestions and observations I can make:

1) If anything, your warm-up should have been more intense. Make those "burst" longer and increasing in speed. For instance, after a having done an easy 2K, start with 250m at race pace + 4, followed by an easy 250m, then, do another one at race pace + 2, another at race pace and a last one at race pace -2. After that, row an easy 500m. Relax for 5 to 10 minutes before the time trial.

2) Having a piece of cake 30 minutes before a time trial was not a good idea!

3) 24 spm for a 5k is somewhat low. Try 26-28 spm and see how it feels.

4) Regarding pacing, you could try to start at goal pace +2 for the first K (2:02 in your case), and then slowly increase the pace.

5) The fact that you were able to pull 1:43 to 1:45 at the end of the 5K shows that you have plenty of strength! What you should work on is your endurance. If you focus your training on building a good aerobic base, you will be able to go sub 19 minutes on your 5K. That means doing increasingly longer row with your HR in the range of 70% to 85% of Max HR. There are several training plans that might be of interest to you, if you are no using one already.

All the best!

Francois

Shannon · Post by **Shannon** » May 16th, 2006, 12:53 pm

Hi Team,

We now have three boats in the water!!! I convinced my friend, Ellen, to join our cause. She is really from the States, but considering that she actually made it through the two episodes of Royal Canadian Air Farce that I sent her, she deserves Honourary Canadian status!!!

She is in the "over 60" category and entered a time of 26:17.0 for 5K. I think she can shave lots more off that time, it was just a training row. Go Ellen!

Shannon

Francois · Post by **Francois** » May 16th, 2006, 1:00 pm

DavidA wrote:Francois,
All of your times and distances are very impressive to me! To be be in the upper end of the 40's bracket and lwt, with those number - whew !!!

David

Thanks David for your kind words!
I can not take all the credit since I am fortunate to be able to devote several hours a day to training.

All the best!

Francois

ChrisH · Post by **ChrisH** » May 16th, 2006, 1:23 pm

Hi Ellen,

Welcome to the Eh Team Boat III. You're lucky to have Honorary Canadian status. I have watched Hockey Night In Canada for years and have not been offered the same accommodation.

I've been following the CTC times posted by other Eh Team members. Big Time Respect for everyone!

Chris

Bob S. · Post by **Bob S.** » May 16th, 2006, 1:46 pm

Trevor wrote: Was it the birthday cake slice I ate 30 minutes before rowing?

I know that "multi-tasking" is all the rage nowadays, but asking your body to do the hard work of digestion at the same time that you are expecting it to do a hard erg piece is a bit much.

Bob S.

Trevor · Post by **Trevor** » May 16th, 2006, 2:19 pm

I realized at the time that I was asking my body to do the impossible, however I caved to peer pressure. One of my employees was leaving and I did the socially graceful thing of accepting. Afterwards I read the ingredients label and the slice was 10 trillion calories and 400 thousand grams of fat per cubic centimetre

. However by then I had already gone three quarters of the way done the road in psychologically prepping myself for the time trail so I elected to press onwards. Usually I have a strict rule of no food for two hours before exercise as I get nausea. For some delusional reason I thought a massive infusion of fat and sugar would be a good idea. Or at least not completely stupid.

At least this is my excuse for the moment. Should I fail next time I will have to find another convenient scapegoat.

Thanks for the advice, I will try it out. By the way is 20 spm and keeping the watts or calories per hour up a good way to do base aerobic training?

Francois · Post by **Francois** » May 16th, 2006, 5:01 pm

Trevor wrote:By the way is 20 spm and keeping the watts or calories per hour up a good way to do base aerobic training?

What is important is how long and often you spend in the "zone" of 70 to 85% of Max HR. In fact you could cross-train and build an aerobic base. In my case swimming is the main activity, with erging used as a complement.

I think you would be limiting yourself by doing most of your aerobic workout at 20spm, plus it would be quite boring IMO! Also what do you mean by "keeping the watts or calories up" ? One needs more precise metric to track intensities and progress, which is precisely what you find in a training plan like the Wolverine Plan or the one on the Concept2 UK site.

I am partial to the Wolverine Plan, which I am following with some modifications to accommodate the main emphasis on swimming. This is an efficient, systematic and demanding plan to optimize a 2K performance. If you are interested you can find more information here, as well as more discussions and comments by Mike Caviston there.

Francois