Pete Plan Group - Startup Aug 20th thru 22nd

[lindsayh]

PP 2.4.6
Sat rest
Sun AM repeat of Wed as last session before midweek racing - bring it on I reckon
3k w/u @2:15

10x 20"/60"R @1:25.7 (wed was 1:27)
DF145 Sr43 555w MHR148
Much better as first was 1:29 with a lot of 1:24.7 ones (LP 1:22)

5k @2:07
58km this week total

(BTW John N - Terry did a 2km TT yesterday 7:23.3)

[JohnAd]

I'm just back with a bit of jet lag and have been catching up on the last 10 days of post. There's been a lot of great sessions on all the plans. Good to see the BPP guys getting up to the 10k mark as well as the improvements for the PPers and PP5kers

Luke, fantastic result on smashing through the 7 barrier, all the more impressive because it sounds like you did it the hard way, by going out fast and holding on. Hope you can find some new targets to pick off to keep your motivation there.

I did manage a few 30 min SS type sessions on the cross trainer or stepping machine and a bit of dumbbell work while I was away so hopefully I can get back into the swing of things fairly quickly, might try a very slow SS session today to help tire me out physically and me get my sleep back on track after getting nothing last night on an overnight flight with too much turbulence.

[aussieluke]

Finished off my second cycle with

30' 2:02.2 r23

Plan was 2:05 but felt too easy. Cruised at 2:03 then up to 1:57ish for last 3 mins

Not sure what I'll do this week yet.

[jackarabit]

C2 40' for 40yrs. Challenge

Overall, a low AT average pace at low AT HR average. Unremarkable except I don't often see HR above 166 bpm on any workout (MAX by observation is 172 bpm). Wasn't gasping for breath; pulmonary load felt OK. Odd.

[Litewait]

BPP Week 11.5 4 x 1500' r3' DF125

25:40.2 6,000m 2:08.3 166 870 26
6:26.7 1,500m 2:08.9 163 860 26 147
6:26.8 1,500m 2:08.9 163 860 26 152
6:26.7 1,500m 2:08.9 163 860 26 157
6:19.9 1,500m 2:06.6 172 891 27 165

Upped the DF to something more manly, was aiming to keep an exact match of 2:08.9 from my last one of these, and see how the DF affected me. Found if my heart can hold out, higher DF allows me to keep the flywheel more on the pipe, pretty happy with the last 1500 as for once I wasn't just holding on for dear life as my HR climbed.

@jack - plenty in the tank there at the end !

[Slacker]

BPP 12.1 10km row
@2:17.8 R20

Second week in a row of the 10k. Plan calls to do it slightly faster than last week's 10k. I did @2:18.5 on the first one and aimed for @2:18.0 on this one. This distance is tough at my current fitness level. I'm glad the distance isn't getting longer at the moment. I'm also a day early for Day 1 so my routine is a little off. I have to leave town the middle of next week, so I'm shifting things up a bit to try and stay on schedule for a little longer. I'm going to take at least a week hit to schedule in early December, but might be able to make it through November still on track.

[mudgeg]

PP Beginners Week 10 Optional Day 5

8000m row. Target pace about same as Day 1 this week 9.5k @ 2:13.9

Actual: 35:28.5 / 8000m / 2:13.0

Didn't really push it very hard as it was the end of the week and it felt surprisingly easy.

[john_n]

Mike - Sounds like quite an adventure, flipping truck tires ! and hoisting huge KBs ! in lieu of C2. Thanks, regarding the 10K. It was enjoyable to the very finish and I’m already wanting to do another, a little faster, on the next hard distance session.

Paul - Thanks regarding what you said about 10K. It was fun and so I might go for a second installment of the 10K on the next hard distance. Good work on the recovery 8K. And good work and progress on the Nov 5th 3x2K. Your “legs whacked” (Nov 6th post) is “usually supposed to be a good sign” according to what I’ve read about DOMS.

Tim - If you’ve conquered your ego, you’ve pushed aside a huge stumbling block. Good job on the 25 mins Nov 4th. It all adds up. Good work on the Nov 6th 4 x 1500. Plenty of energy to spare ! when you got into the final interval.

Glenn - Strong 5K on Nov 3rd, especially with everything else you had to cope with. Re your general question about inserting images - I’ve been using Imgur also (others here use it) and it works fine as long as the image is not too wide for forum. (I think the forum rejects images wider or longer than 1025 pixels.)

Piers - Great 4x2K of Nov 3rd! You did 4 in a row, with your 4th at the same pace as my current SB 2K, so pardon me if I feel tired, just thinking about it.

Rohan - I tried doing my most recent SS recovery session for PP at about 50% of 2K watts like you mentioned and it felt very appropriate for recovery. Not so slow that it was boring. Thanks for what turned out to be a good idea, even if it “just worked out” that way.

You thoroughly thought out, planned and analyzed those impressive 4x1000 R5:00 sprint intervals on Nov 5th at the gym. Had to laugh at seeing the field for your last split of the 4th interval target filled with not a pace target value, but the word “Pain”.

Ben - An artful rowing accomplishment with your 25 min row on Nov 4th . Good work on your Nov 6th 10K. If you have time to spare for rowing while you’re traveling, you might be able to use the C2 rower finder http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/finder to find a gym/health club/YMCA etc rower where you could get your rowing “fix.”

Luke - In suspense, with the drama of whether you’ll prep for possible IRC race and after your Nov 6th 30’ 2:02 r23 report… still in suspense

Gordon - Good job on your Nov 5th optional 7x500. Though the last one wasn’t the pace you hoped for, it was good and it all adds up. Your Nov 6th 8K “felt surprisingly easy” ! I suspect your VO2max may be showing a lot of improvement, like Jack’s probably is.

Lindsay - Sizzling work on your 10x20” Tabatas! My congratulations to Terry on his 2K TT @ 7:23.3 and also gratitude for the inspiration he provides. Was he happy with the results or was he hoping to do better than 7:20.0?

John A - Welcome back, jet lag and all. Hopefully you will be greatly assisted with the help of regular PP "stress and recovery" sessions to help reset your biological clocks.

Jack - Everybody’s unique of course, but to my experience, HR still has a ways to go unless I’m breathing very hard for “a while.” Don’t ask me how long “a while” is, but I’d guess its at least 10 minutes. (I’ve never reached HRmax on a 2K, only on longer distances, so I guess I’ve never worked hard enough on 2Ks)

Anyway… for what its worth (and that’s probably not much) I’m guessing your HRmax is probably around 180 or higher since you weren’t out of breath. That's a great sign, not gasping when you had expected to.

Your rowing work has probably significantly increased your VO2max. Have you measured it using C2's VO2max calculator? You can plug in results of any 2K TT into it and see how your VO2max has improved from one of them to the next. That calculator is very accurate and is used by, among others, the Marine Corps, to measure increase in fitness over time.

Nov 4 PP Cycle 2 Week 1 Day 6
8K recovery. Result 37:28.1, average pace was 2:20.5
Targets in order of priority 1. Pace: 2:20.5 2. HR less than 75% max 3. Rating 22-25
Straps loose, DF 135.

Nov 5 was Rest Day

Nov 6 PP Cycle 2 Week 2 Day 1
Speed pyramid. Prior cycle average pace 1:54.6. Today’s resulting average pace=1:50.6.
Targets:
1. Pace: 1:54.6 for first 3 intervals, faster for last 4.
2. pace of 1:50 or better for 1K
3. pace of 1:49 or better for 2nd 750m
4. pace of 1:45 or better for 2nd 500m
5. pace of 1:40 or better for final 250 m
Straps loose for first 5, snug for last 2. DF 135.
5 min w/u, 10min w/d

[Anth_F]

2k splits @ 2:15.6-2:15.5-2:15.5-2:15.5 (Effortless row), tomorrows 8 x 750m/1'r won't be though.

Speshully on 1r. Showing some balls Paul!! I like it

Enjoy

[Slacker]

BPP 12.2
4x1500m/3:00r row

@2:06.6 r22 average, 4 weeks ago, This week @2:04.7 r25 average. No sprint left in the tank.

@2:04.8 r25
@2:04.7 r24
@2:04.6 r25
@2:04.5 r25

[aussieluke]

Need to take a break from the Pete Plan for at least this week. Got lots going on. The company I work for is being sold to another company. Had interview with the new company for my job last week. Interview with them again today for another job. Will find out this week if I have a new job, my same job or no job! And either way will mean big changes.

Going to try my 30 minute idea.

Started yesterday with an easy 30' at 2:02

Tonight 30' at r20 2:04.7

Measured HR tonight which I haven't done for a long while. Expected it to be very high at that lower rate compared to what u have been doing on the Pete Plan, but it was surprisingly low - av 136 and max 140 at 180w

...the PP must have really improved my fitness. My HR was always higher than that (140-150) when I was doing just SS work at much lower wattage (155-165)

Anyway I will treat this week as an experiment and a break from the Pete Plan. If I do decide to compete in a couple of weeks I'll make sure to do at least a couple of hard sessions beforehand. And whatever I do between now and then my fitness over 2k is unlikely to change very much.

[Pie Man]

Good luck with the interview Luke, when I have done my race the 30' sessions look tempting for a while.

[JohnAd]

Ben, nicely judged session, bold to go out over a second faster than your previous session but you held on.

John N, very nice pyramid, 4 seconds off is a lot and looks like you might got some more improvements to come next time from pacing a bit more evenly.

Luke, hope your work situation sorts itself out quickly and painlessly, takeovers can be quite unsettling. I'll be interested how your experiments pan out, a 30' holding pattern plan would be very useful in between bursts of enthusiasm.

My own experiment with taking a break and consuming too much food, beer and rum punch has been less successful at maintaining fitness

yesterday SS 4.2.6 (sort of) 60' SS 2:06.8 MHR 132

SS 4.3.1 4x1k 5'
Previous 1:45.1 r29
Target in my heart < 1.45.0 - in my head < 1.46.0
01:45.3 r30
01:45.1 r30
01:45.8 r29
01:45.8 r30
Avg 1.45.5 r29
MHR 172

Those last 2 reps were a nice reminder of all the pain I've been missing over the last couple of weeks as I went out a bit too fast, still glad I haven't slipped back too far, .4 off on the sprints is a about 10 days of gains which seems fair, the SS seems oddly to be better or at least looking at my HR but that may well be temperature related as it's certainly a lot colder here now.

[Kxthor911]

Hey guys, I really need to check in more often, seems like I'm always busy as heck. I'm sure most of us here are so that is not really an excuse. I'm going to try to do better.

Finished my 8 week yesterday with the 40 minutes for concept 2. I ended up doing right around 39000 for the week and I plan on starting week 9 later today or tomorrow with the 9000m at my normal pace of 2.22

[Kxthor911]

C2 40' for 40yrs. Challenge

Overall, a low AT average pace at low AT HR average. Unremarkable except I don't often see HR above 166 bpm on any workout (MAX by observation is 172 bpm). Wasn't gasping for breath; pulmonary load felt OK. Odd.

Jack, I did the 40 minute challenge too last night. I think I ended up with about 8100 meters. Started off slow and just gradually speed up.