ranger wrote:Henry--
Have you ever even won a medal, of any sort, in a major indoor rowing regatta--WIRC, BIRC, or EIRC?
If not, how do you even know what you are talking about?
To reach your "commonsensical" conclusions, are you just imagining, or speculating, or fantasizing, or what?
You don't have any personal experience that bears on the issue.
Why not see a high goal and work toward it, as I have been doing.
For instance, why not set the goal of breaking Andy Ripley's 50s lwt WR of 6:07.
It would be interesting to see what training program you would devise in order to try to get this done.
I suspect that the first thing you would have to do is row well (for a heavyweight).
That's 16 SPI.
How would you train yourself to do this?
ranger
Rich,
I have won BIRC (admittedly in not the hottest year, but BFD), and Australian Indoors. I've also won national championships on water, Henley, that sort of stuff. I wouldn't listen to a single one of your idiotic ideas about training. Just because you, or I, or anyone else, has won races doesn't qualify them to coach. You're a case in point. The more you think you know and attempt to apply, the slower you get.
The only reason I follow your bullshit is for the simple laughter value of seeing a 59 year old man with some sort of a brain and an engine make himself slow and obnoxious and keep telling himself that everything is perfect. I'd happily follow Henry's program, or one of my own devising - I do coach as well.
Instead of the rubbish you espouse, I'd nail down some sort of monitored program. It wouldn't require you to race every day.
I'd start by: Going to a physiology lab and establishing your physiological parameters. You don't know what your max HR is, do you? Your threshold output and HR? Training zones? A closed book to you, inasmuch as you have no idea what they actually are.
Then a relatively simple program.
You can do this one pretty much year-round, cutting back a little for regattas.
Monday S1: 5k warmup up to UT1 and R24. Then the workload of 1 stroke on / 1 off up to 30 on / 30 off at about 2k goal pace at r30 (let's call that 1:40, as that would give you the WR for the age group you're about to move to - 1:39 if you are actually going to beat Roy.) This builds a bit of strength (as it's pretty much a race start over the first few strokes until you hit the rate and pace) and a bit of lactate tolerance. Then a 5k cooldown at UT2.
Monday S2: 20 mins UT2 warmup on the erg. Then weights. Done properly,they won't weigh you down, and will give you the strength you need to pull 13 SPI (like anyone believes in that crap). Using lifts like: Clean / Deadlift / Deep Squats / Weighted chins / Bench press at 5*5 and about 90% of your 1RM.
Tuesday S1: Long UT2/1 paddle. 4k UT2 warmup, then 3*19 minute pyramids from 18/20/22/24/22/20/18 with your HR monitored and maxing at the border of UT2/low UT1. You'd record the meters, but not for racing, just to monitor your output, and track when you're training too much. Then about 2k UT2 warmdown.
Tuesday S2: If you were a heavyweight, I'd advocate a strength/power session like boxing, but as you're a lightweight, I'd say 90 minutes on the bike - again, not crazy high HRs. Take your rowing UT2 band and subtract 6-10 beats from it.
Wednesday S1: Solid 15/20 mins warmup, making sure that you're warm and limber. This is an ugly session. 20 * 25 strokes (probably something in the order of 350-375 metres at high resistance at SR 16/18. Obviously, you're aiming for high power output, but with reference to really good form. If you can't pull powerfully with good form, pull as hard as you can with good form. Long cool down and stretch.
Wed S2: As Monday S2
Thurs S1: Off. Get a sleep in.
Thurs S2: Cross training again. 90 mins to 2 hours of running / cycling / swimming, whatever floats your boat.
Friday S1: 10 mins W/U. 60 mins paddle at UT2 intensity at low (18-22) rate. 10 mins cooldown.
Friday S2: As Monday and Wed S2.
Saturday S1: 15-20 minutes warmup, with bursts of 1 min up to 2k pace. Then 3* 2500 or 5 * 1500 at increasing intensity. The 1500s at 2k + 5/2k + 3/2k pace. 2500s at + 12/+9/+6/+3/pace. This would change closer to racing, where the 1500s would move to be fairly close to 2k pace over the whole piece (flat pace) and the 2500s at 2k + 3 or 4 seconds per 500. Recovery is the paddle back.
Saturday S2: 10k technique paddle or 45 minute bike.
Sunday S1 (or Sat S3): 120 minutes bike at UT2 maximum. Go for a cruise if you can get on the road, otherwise, just put a DVD on and enjoy it.
There's not much racing in this one. And to be honest, if I were your coach I'd not be fussed if you didn't always hit the splits. Just so long as you can work out why: were you tired? Not recovered properly? Coming down with something?
What it doesn't have: fartleks; working much above your TR pace; any interest in SPI; emphasis on "technique"; three months of nothing less than 1:37
What it does have: Loads of aerobic miles to build the base without which you won't get faster; strength work so you can get strong and not worry about bulk.
Try that next year, Rich. Once you've failed again to get a WR, do this. If you do it, you will go faster. Your current program doesn't address physiological issues that you need to, nor the issues you suffer when you get to a race and haven't the mental fortitude to get through the race as planned.
Of course, you won't, which just goes to prove that:
a) I'm, as ever, a nay-sayer; and
b) you're a narcissistic idiot.
