What am I allowed to do?

[Thomas W-P]

I am on the Concept 2 2000m structured training programme.

But I want to do some ELM challenges and the 1 minute Concept 2 challenge.

How does one work this in without screwing up the structured programme?

[johnglynn]

Not sure Thomas, my training plan is not very rigid, but there are still 4 training sessions I want to do each 5 day week, so I have similar problems

What I do is try and get sessions close to what I normally do . I.e instead of my normal 10K I would do a 8848 (Everest), or a 45 min (~12K)

The short ones <5K are a problem to fit in though as most of my training is endurance based (because thats where I'm weak overall) so I try to do them on Thursday (free-ish day) .

Another way is to be not so precious about your times (I find this much easier said then done, but that could just be my personality) , i.e. if the ELM distance is 3K, do your standard trainings 5K, and record your final 3 splits, or 1st 3 if you flew and died, throw them into excel and get your 3K time , this will be a lot slower then a dedicated 3K but it allows you to do your normal training and still have a ELM entry.

Very short distances (i.e. 1 minute) can be done 5/10 minutes after your main row, but your performace will be much lower then a 1 minute row after a warmup before your session.
And you couldn't really do a 1 minute before your normal training as your muscles will be shattered for the normal training.

If most of your training programmes distances are intervals most of the above will not work

[Mike Channin]

As the pieces you're wanting to do are maximal pieces, just substitute them for one of the harder workouts in your plan (but not the easy ones - the UT1 & UT2 stuff).

Also, as John suggests, you could use slightly longer pieces to pick up shorter distance times 'on the way'. I'd suggest that, out of proper form, these should be the starting point to the required distance, as this way you're pulling from a stationary erg. (In reality in makes very very little difference, but I always like to play by the 'rules'). This kind of thing encourages some aggressive positive splitting workouts, which can be very tough and quite productive if viewed in the right way (see my comments on the failed workouts in Tips and Training).

Treat your training plan as a guide, rather than something rigid and inflexible. More to make sure you're doing the right amount and kind of work, rather than EXACTLY what they say.

Does this help?

[Thomas W-P]

I did my C2 1 minute (and the 288m ELM) after my 3 x UT1 today. HArd work, and very slow...