Rojabo

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gregsmith01748
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Rojabo

Post by gregsmith01748 »

Hi,

I am thinking about giving Rojabo a try starting in October. I would appreciate any feedback from Free Spirits about previous experience with the program. I am also interested in finding other folks who would be willing to give it a try with me. I went through the thread over on the c2 forum in the US and it looks like a very different approach from what I have been doing so far.

http://rojabo.com/

My objectives are:

1. Add a bit of variety to my training regime for the winter erg season
2. Set a 2K PB. the one distance that I didn't manage to bag in the last erg season.

Thanks in advance.
Greg - Age: 53 H: 182cm W: 88Kg (should be 83Kg)
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sander
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Re: Rojabo

Post by sander »

Greg, I have been doing rojabo for 2 seasons. The problem I had with it is a bit too much variability. I was never doing the same training as my training partners, and I don't think a training ever came back during the two seasons. So you only have your monthly endurance testing and the occasional time/distance trial to test your fitness.

The time based workouts are very good for execution OTW. OTE, I prefer distance based workouts for the interval work.
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gregsmith01748
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Re: Rojabo

Post by gregsmith01748 »

sander wrote:Greg, I have been doing rojabo for 2 seasons. The problem I had with it is a bit too much variability. I was never doing the same training as my training partners, and I don't think a training ever came back during the two seasons. So you only have your monthly endurance testing and the occasional time/distance trial to test your fitness.

The time based workouts are very good for execution OTW. OTE, I prefer distance based workouts for the interval work.
Thanks for the feedback. I agree that it is a disadvantage not having the same sessions as others. I found it quite motivational when I was in the training group with Mike, Raoul, Larry, Huw and a few other folks. I think it might be good to be able to compare notes, even if the sessions are different.

I think I am ready for a change on the erg. I've been doing distance based interval work for a number of seasons. Going to a time based training program will certainly be a big change. I didn't much like it when I did the interactive program, but that was a long time ago.
Greg - Age: 53 H: 182cm W: 88Kg (should be 83Kg)
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gregsmith01748
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Re: Rojabo

Post by gregsmith01748 »

Well I took the plunge, at least for the free trial. I have done the tests and the first couple workouts. One on the erg and one on the water.

Here's a summary.

Wednesday: Raining buckets and windy. Decided it would be the perfect morning to redo the rojabo tests.

A week ago, I did the power test and did not pay adequate attention to the instructions that it was NOT supposed to be a near death experience. I ended up with power levels that forced an incredibly early termination in the endurance test (less than a minute into the 22 spm part of the test). Also, since I did them as a second session in the evening after 14K OTW in the morning, it seemed likely that I could get a much more accurate result by giving it another go.

I did the power test exactly per the instructions: http://rojabo.com/member/tests/power_ef ... ests/guide

I am a little bummed, but my HR strap decided that it did not want to pair with my phone, so I didn't get HR data for the session.

I did a nice long warmup, 15' in a somewhat fletcher format, with increasing intensity and 1' bursts of higher stroke rates. Then I waited the 5 minutes, just like the instructions said.

I taped over the watts display as directed and rowed it at "firm pressure". The guideline says you should be able to row a 4'+4'+4' at 22/24/26 at the pressure without failure. By the end, I was glad it was over, but I could have gone on at the 28 spm pressure for another minute or 2 without blowing up, so I think I got it about right.

Image

This resulted in the following "power guide"
Image

I rested about 10 minutes or so and then started the endurance test, per the instructions:

http://rojabo.com/member/tests/endurance_tests/guide

This is essentially a 4' step test to the point of failure. The difference between this and other step tests that I have done is that it starts at a significantly higher intensity. You use the power guide and row the first 4' at 20 spm and the power from your power guide, then you move on to 22 SPM for another 4', and so on until you give up. The instructions actually encourage you to do the test with people there cheering you on. They really want you to take it to the limit. I was really bummed that I didn't have a HR monitor, because it would have kept me a bit more honest with myself. I wouldn't have quit until I saw something close to my maxHR for a minute or so. As it was, I had to just push until I lost the will to continue. I think with additional motivation, I might have made it another minute or so. But it's a good starting point. Here are the results from that:

Image

I made it through the 4' at 26, but only by counting strokes and gutting it out. When the transition to r28 hit and I needed to up the power another 20 watts, I just couldn't do it. I bailed 20 seconds in.

The combination of these two tests gave me a Rojabo score of 310.
My predicted current 2K was 6:53, which pretty close to what I think I could pull, maybe a couple seconds faster.
My predicted potential max was a 6:35. Since my all time PB is a 6:36 and I trained like hell to pull a 6:37.6 last winter, I think this is pretty close too. I am hoping to break my 6:36 PB, but it will be a struggle.

All in all, the process gave me some confidence that the tests have reasonable predictive value and would likely generate useful training.

After I regained consciousness, I looked at my training plan and saw that it had generated a session for Wednesday. I still had some time before my work day was going to start, so I decided to give it a go.

The workout definition was:
D - Endurance
10min/3 + 8min
spm 20/22

translation: row 10 minutes at 20 spm and 212W. Rest for 3 minutes. Row 8 minutes at 22 spm and 232W.

So, that's what I did. I was interrupted in the middle of the 10' piece by a phone call and took 10 seconds to see if I needed to answer it (I didn't).

By the end of the second interval, I was counting strokes and praying for the end. Which, considering I had done a step test to failure immediately prior is neither surprising, nor particularly worrying.

Here's the whole session:
Image

Thursday: Rojabo on the water.

The workout proscribed for today was:
C - Aerobic Capacity - 392 points
2x10 min/3
24 spm

OK, so on the water, you don't get a power guide, so I decided that I should do a bit of rate versus pace experimentation during my warm-up.

So, for a warmup, I did 6 minutes at 18, just getting settled, then 3' at 20, 2' at 22, 1' at 24, then 1' paddle, then 1' at 26, 28 and 30, each with a 1' paddle afterwards.

The paces that I got were.

20 - 2:24
22 - 2:21
24 - 2:17
26 - 2:11
28 - 2:04
30 - 1:59

Close enough. For today, I would shoot to get my 10' pieces done faster than a 2:17 pace and see if that killed me. Since I am typing this now, pretty obviously, it didn't.

The weather was very nice, sunny, cool, with a 10km/h which was roughly a head wind when rowing up river. So the first 10' was into the headwind and the second was with a tail wind. It only effected me a few times. In general the river is pretty sheltered from this wind direction.

Start__|_Dist__|__Time_|_Pace__ |_Strks__|_SPM_|_DPS_ |_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_1080_|_05:46_|_2:40.0_|_105___|_18.2_|_10.3_|_124___|_r18 warmup
01100_|_0620_|_02:59_|_2:24.4_|_061___|_20.4_|_10.2_|_139___|_3' r20 test
01720_|_0520_|_02:27_|_2:21.1_|_054___|_22.1_|_09.6_|_149___|_2' r22 test
02240_|_0140_|_00:38_|_2:17.1_|_016___|_25.0_|_08.8_|_154___|_1' r24 test
02380_|_0200_|_01:01_|_2:32.8_|_019___|_18.7_|_10.5_|_150___|_paddle
02580_|_0220_|_00:58_|_2:11.4_|_025___|_26.0_|_08.8_|_154___|_1' r26 test
02800_|_0200_|_01:03_|_2:37.2_|_021___|_20.0_|_09.5_|_148___|_1' paddle
03000_|_0220_|_00:54_|_2:03.9_|_026___|_28.6_|_08.5_|_157___|_1' r28 test
03220_|_0160_|_01:00_|_3:07.2_|_017___|_17.0_|_09.4_|_149___|_1' paddle
03380_|_0260_|_01:02_|_1:59.4_|_032___|_30.9_|_08.1_|_159___|_1' r30 test
03640_|_0340_|_01:57_|_2:51.3_|_035___|_18.0_|_09.7_|_142___|_rest
04020_|_2200_|_09:59_|_2:16.1_|_243___|_24.4_|_09.1_|_164___|_10' @ 24
06220_|_0460_|_02:50_|_3:04.7_|_049___|_17.3_|_09.4_|_145___|_rest
06680_|_2240_|_10:01_|_2:14.2_|_241___|_24.0_|_09.3_|_173___|_10' @ 24
08920_|_0360_|_02:10_|_3:00.7_|_039___|_18.0_|_09.2_|_155___|_rest
09280_|_2580_|_13:20_|_2:35.0_|_251___|_18.8_|_10.3_|_158___|_cd
11860_|_1480_|_08:50_|_2:58.9_|_166___|_18.8_|_08.9_|_140___|_feet out cd

Dist___|_Time__|_Pace__ |_Strks__|_SPM_|_DPS_ |_AvgHR_|_Remarks
03960_|_19:45_|_2:29.6_|_411___|_20.8_|_09.6_|_141___|_warmup
04440_|_20:00_|_2:15.1_|_484___|_24.2_|_09.2_|_169___|_Main set
00820_|_05:00_|_3:02.9_|_088___|_17.6_|_09.3_|_149___|_rest meters
04060_|_22:09_|_2:43.7_|_417___|_18.8_|_09.7_|_151___|_cool down
13280_|_06:54_|_2:31.1_|_1400__|_20.9_|_09.5_|_153___|_Total

Image

Image

Holy crap that was hard! Having a pace target and a rate cap meant that there was no escape, and I wasn't about to let it go. I beat the pace target by a couple seconds, so that was cool. I think this could work! It will be fun to have some new workouts.

Tomorrow: On the water again.
D - Endurance - 415 points
2 x 15 min/4
spm: 20 (pace 2:24)
Greg - Age: 53 H: 182cm W: 88Kg (should be 83Kg)
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gregsmith01748
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Re: Rojabo

Post by gregsmith01748 »

Plan: The Rojabo instructions were:
Image

On the erg, this would have been at a 1:58 pace. On the water, my guess was it should be 2:24 or faster.

It was a great workout, but not without some challenges.

First, it turns out that at my r20 pace, my river is not quite long enough. I can row from end to end in just a bit less than 14 minutes. That makes a 15 minute interval a bit of a challenge.

So, since I had to cut them a bit short, I did a third one as penance! :twisted:

So the workout turned out to be:

14' / 3r / 13:30 / 3r / 13:10

That's about ten more work minutes than planned, but 3 more rest minutes too. The main reason I did it was that I finished at the far end of the river and needed to get home, and I didn't feel like doing drills all the way back.

Second, I really have no idea about the right intensity for this workout. It was way more intense than other endurance type workouts I have done. It was not a near death experience, and I felt like there was never a risk of not completing it, but it was HARD. If this is endurance intensity, then I am a bit worried that I will not get enough recovery.

Third, about a minute into the second interval, a weed fouled my speedcoach impeller and it dropped out for about 200m and gave very dodgy readings for another 200m before it seemed to pop back. I had the crewnerd app running on my iphone, so I could just look at that, so it was no big deal, just an annoyance.

Here's the pace plot from the speedcoach. You can see the divot in the second interval where I snagged the weed. Other wise, the only remarkable thing is that I was working pretty damn hard. Of course I did end up going nearly 3 seconds faster than target pace!

Image

Here's the rate plot. All good here. I ended up with average stroke rates of right around 20 for all intervals.
Image

Here are the spilts
Start_|_Dist_|__Time_|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_3800_|_19:29_|_2:33.8_|_369___|_18.9_|_10.3_|_136___|_warm up and SBR
03820_|_3040_|_14:19_|_2:21.3_|_288___|_20.1_|_10.6_|_160___|_~15' @ r20
07040_|_0420_|_03:14_|_3:50.6_|_065___|_20.1_|_06.5_|_153___|_start of 15', weeds on impeller
07460_|_2300_|_10:50_|_2:21.4_|_220___|_20.3_|_10.5_|_167___|_~15' @ r20
09800_|_2840_|_13:24_|_2:21.5_|_271___|_20.2_|_10.5_|_165___|_~15' @ r20
12640_|_1800_|_10:04_|_2:47.8_|_204___|_20.3_|_08.8_|_143___|_feet out cd

08180_|_38:33_|_2:21.4_|_779___|_20.2_|_10.5_|_164___|_Main set

By comparison, the crewnerd data for the intervals was:
8656__|_40:48_|_2:21.4_|_827____|_20.3_|_10.5_|_Main set

Notice the pace. Considering that I had two upstream reps and one downstream, it looks like my speedcoach might be a tiny bit stingy, but it's pretty darn close to right on.

Tomorrow:
B - (517 points)
6min / 3 + 5min / 3 + 3 min / 3 + 3 min
SPM: 24 / 28 / 30 / 32

This will be a real adventure, since I don't think I have ever rowed at r32 for more than about 10 strokes!
Greg - Age: 53 H: 182cm W: 88Kg (should be 83Kg)
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Re: Rojabo

Post by Paul Victory »

Wow! You've really signed up for a very prescriptive training regime. I'm not sure I'd have the patience to follow such a detailed program.

I found that the Pete Plan worked quite well for me in that it provided a structure, but there were only two sessions a week that were fully prescribed.

It will be very interesting to see what progress you make over the next few months.
M 68 6'1" 124kg (May05), 92kg (Feb06), 122kg (Aug10), 95kg (Sep11), 117kg (Jun13), now 98kg
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Re: Rojabo

Post by gregsmith01748 »

Paul: I was ready for a change from the Pete Plan. And I liked the idea to ceding control of what to do on a daily basis to someone (or in this case cyber-someone) else.

I survived today's workout, but just barely. It was a killer.

Plan:
6min/3 + 5min/3 + 3min/3 + 3min
spm: 24/28/30/32

This is a "B" workout, which has the following definition inn the Rojabo Dictionary

B 28+ (TR)
Aerob power – The maximum oxygen uptake is the primary focus in this category.


The challenge of doing this on the water added some spice, since I rarely practice above 28 SPM and so my technique up there, to put it charitably, needs a bit of work.

I got that chance today!

Results:

The workout was extremely challenging and I had to back off the power at the highest rates because I couldn't sustain the pace for the full 3 minutes, but as can be seen from the HR charts, I was working close to my maximum. Although I am not satisfied with the pace, I expect that that is more related to high rate technique than anything else. All in all a terrific workout.

Image
Image

Start_|_Dist_|__Time_|_Split Pace_|_Strokes_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_Remarks
00000_|_1522_|_07:18_|_2:23.9_____|_157_____|_21.5_|_09.7_|_2nd half of warmup
01522_|_0332_|_04:43_|_7:06.2_____|_034_____|_07.2_|_09.8_|_rest
01854_|_1340_|_05:59_|_2:14.0_____|_147_____|_24.6_|_09.1_|_6' @ 24
03194_|_0547_|_03:07_|_2:51.0_____|_066_____|_21.2_|_08.3_|_rest
03741_|_1371_|_05:58_|_2:10.6_____|_168_____|_28.2_|_08.2_|_6' @ 28
05112_|_0448_|_02:57_|_3:17.5_____|_054_____|_18.3_|_08.3_|_rest
05560_|_0080_|_00:20_|_2:05.1_____|_008_____|_24.0_|_10.0_|_1st bit of 3' @ 30
05640_|_0110_|_00:31_|_2:20.8_____|_009_____|_17.4_|_12.2_|_fix speedcoach
05750_|_0500_|_02:07_|_2:07.0_____|_063_____|_29.8_|_07.9_|_2nd bit of 3' @ 30 (waked at end)
06266_|_0276_|_02:29_|_4:29.9_____|_038_____|_15.3_|_07.3_|_rest
06542_|_0712_|_03:00_|_2:06.4_____|_093_____|_31.0_|_07.7_|_3' @ 32
07254_|_0748_|_06:03_|_4:02.7_____|_087_____|_14.4_|_08.6_|_rest
08002_|_1924_|_09:38_|_2:30.2_____|_156_____|_16.2_|_12.3_|_feet out cd
09926_|_0147_|_07:24_|_25:09.9____|_020_____|_02.7_|_07.4_|_paddle to dock

Distance_|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strokes_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_Remarks
1522_____|_07:18_|_2:23.9_|_157_____|_21.5_|_09.7_|_warmup
4003_____|_17:24_|_2:10.4_|_479_____|_27.5_|_08.4_|_Main set
2071_____|_17:02_|_4:06.7_|_176_____|_10.3_|_11.8_|_Cool down
2461_____|_19:50_|_4:01.8_|_288_____|_14.5_|_08.5_|_rest meters
10057_____|_01:34_|_3:03.7_|_1100_____|_17.9_|_09.1_|_Total

I've earned a rest day for tomorrow!
Greg - Age: 53 H: 182cm W: 88Kg (should be 83Kg)
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Re: Rojabo

Post by Rodger »

Greg, I think your rojabo free trial must be coming to an end now. I, for one, am very interested to read how you got on.

(Do you think it's better than other training approaches? Is it motivational? Would it be sustainable in the longer run? Has it given you new insights? Are you planning to subscribe to the main program? Do you think the individual and day-by-day customisation of the training is really helpful and necessary? Or is it mainly a commercial defense strategy to prevent recycling the same workouts and discourage other people from copying workouts?)

Not that I'm seriously thinking of subscribing myself, rojabo seems to be targeted towards elite rowers or at least towards very serious rowers who want to take part in live races and I'm not nearly good enough. I just find the different approaches to training very interesting. If you'd like to share some of your experience with the trial, that would be great.
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Re: Rojabo

Post by gregsmith01748 »

Rodger wrote:Greg, I think your rojabo free trial must be coming to an end now. I, for one, am very interested to read how you got on.

(Do you think it's better than other training approaches? Is it motivational? Would it be sustainable in the longer run? Has it given you new insights? Are you planning to subscribe to the main program? Do you think the individual and day-by-day customisation of the training is really helpful and necessary? Or is it mainly a commercial defense strategy to prevent recycling the same workouts and discourage other people from copying workouts?)

Not that I'm seriously thinking of subscribing myself, rojabo seems to be targeted towards elite rowers or at least towards very serious rowers who want to take part in live races and I'm not nearly good enough. I just find the different approaches to training very interesting. If you'd like to share some of your experience with the trial, that would be great.
So, I am a month in and I decided to pay my money and continue for another 6 months. I have yet to redo my tests, but I will try to do that sometime in the next couple of weeks. I basically need really bad weather one morning so I am on an erg instead of the river. It doesn't make any sense to put meters on the erg when I have a race coming in less than a month unless it is the only option.

The Rojabo plan is designed around the erg, and so I have been adapting the workouts for on the water sessions. This is a hit and miss adventure because there are so many variables that you contend with, but based on what I hear from other Rojabo-ians, I think I am getting the intensity about right.

Now, on to your questions.

Do you think it's better than other training approaches? I don't know yet. If training is measured by results achieved, then I will let you know for sure on March 2nd right after the CRASH-Bs. It is certainly different that other training approaches. There is no such thing as a low intensity session. There is anecdotal evidence that it works. Lot's of testimonial kind of stuff on different message boards, but I have seen no real evidence based research showing that the approach works as well or better than something else. The only thing that I have seen published evidence about is highly polarized training with 80% of the training time with lactates below 4mmol/l. However, that does not mean that it doesn't work, just that no one has published results or explained the theory behind it.

Is it motivational? The workouts are quite challenging. I am starting to be more successful with them, at least some of them. And that gets me pumped up. However, the hardest workouts are hard enough that failure is definitely an option. In some of them I think it is unavoidable. If you are someone who is comfortable with pushing yourself hard, a noble failure isn't such a bad outcome, but it can shake ones resolve. I would say if you are motivated by trying to achieve a result, like a certain time for a race or something, then Rojabo makes you feel like you are doing everything you can to achieve the goal. One thing to note, since each workout is formatted as timed pieces with prescribed stroke rates, your ability to do things like rate up to crush an interval are limited. This takes a bit of getting used to, but learning to crush at r20 has it's own rewards.

Would it be sustainable in the longer run? I seriously doubt it. I plan to use it from now to March and then do something else for a while. I do not think I have the ability to do this year round. But I think that's OK. The main reason I signed up was that I was feeling stale after a few years of WP/PP format workouts and this is certainly a refreshing change.

Do you think the individual and day-by-day customisation of the training is really helpful and necessary? Or is it mainly a commercial defense strategy to prevent recycling the same workouts and discourage other people from copying workouts?

I think the customization is driven by two main purposes. The first is that the program is really all about varying the intensity on a weekly cadence. You have a hard week followed by a harder one, followed by another yet harder, and then it eases off. The program also takes into account when your next race is and what kind of race it is and sets up sessions appropriate to that event. So, for head races, it is giving me tons of long intervals. I assume for 2K prep, I will have a lot more work at r30 and r32. Trying to coordinate the varying weekly intensities, with the scheduling of races and the right balance of sprint and base sessions was something that I was not sure I understood well and something that I had heard Rojabo does well. And that has been my experience.

The other thing that the customization does is prevent the tower of ascending expectations that repeating the same sessions over and over again does. Every time I did a 4x2K, I felt my previous best performances haunting me. This was motivational in general, but sometimes it just bummed me out knowing that I had done the session once with all reps below 1:45, but now I would only manage a 1:50. With Rojabo, you get your session, you aim at your targets, you make it, you miss it, you move on. You retest, get new targets, and new sessions. It seems to help me avoid racing my training.

So, to summarize.
- I would do Rojabo if you have a specific event that you want to train for and do well at.
- I would not recommend for general fitness
- If you do it, be very careful to not go too hard on the power tests. If you do, you will set yourself up for endless misery. If you go too easy in the power test, then the subsequent tests will push you further.
Greg - Age: 53 H: 182cm W: 88Kg (should be 83Kg)
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Re: Rojabo

Post by Rodger »

Thanks for the thorough answer, Greg. I put my questions in brackets, hoping you wouldn't feel obliged to answer all of them, but you did answer them anyway. Cool.

Following such a precise and custom training program, designed for the erg, but partly executed otw, must be a vast challenge on more than one level.

This training method looks intriguing to me. Maybe I will do the two tests soon, out of curiosity and to get my ‘power guide’ and the 2k potential prediction.
M | 48 | 1.78 m | 76 kg
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Re: Rojabo

Post by gregsmith01748 »

I've been on the Rojabo plan for the past 6 week or so. I have done almost all the workouts on the water, in my single, but I have tried to stick to the prescribed workouts. I've had the opportunity to do couple of workouts on the erg when time constraints or conditions were not conducive to rowing outside. I thought some folks the board would be interested in what Rojabo workouts are like.

9/24/2014 -

The workout plan from Rojabo is described as follows:
Rojabo D (607 pts)
3 x (4min + 2min + 1min + 45sec)/4
spm: 22/26/30/34
paces: 1:54/1:51/1:44/1:40

What does that mean?
A D workout is an endurance workout. There are 5 kinds of workouts A through E. A is a short, sprinty intense session, usually at stroke rates at or above 30. B is longer intervals (4 to 6 minutes) at 24 to 30 spm. C is usually longer pieces of 10 to 15' with increasing intensities at stroke rates from 24 to 28. I've never seen an "E", I think those are recovery type workouts that come in to the plan if you specify more than 6 workouts per week.

The number of points indicates the total training load of the session. It's kind of like TRIMP, and these are totaled over a week and one of the key things that Rojabo does is modulate the weekly load to implement meso-cycles of intensity, trying to get your performance peaked at the right time. 607pts is a pretty heavy workout. Mine have be ranged 350pts to about 800pts. If you are fitter (or bigger) than I am, the points are higher.

The workout description is gibberish to the uninitiated. It means:
Row 4 minutes at r22 and a 1:54 pace, then increase rate to r26 and maintain a 1:48 pace for 2 minutes, then increase the rate to r30 and maintain a 1:44 pace for a minute, then up it again to r34 and maintain 1:40 for 45 seconds. Take a 4 minute rest and then do that whole thing again 2 more times.

This was not a normal endurance workout. They are usually much more likely to be something like 3x10'/3'r all at r20 or 15'@r20 / 3'r /15'@r22. But one of the reasons to do Rojabo is for the variety and challenge of different workouts, and it sure delivers on that.

As it turned out, I only had time to do 2 reps in this workout. Here's how it went.
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I had three strikes against me on this workout. First, I was planning to do it in my boat, so I didn't have shoes, so I erged in socks. I do not like to erg in socks. Second, I did this workout right after getting off the redeye flight from LAX back home, so I had about 3 hours of sleep in a vertical position. Third was a meeting at 9AM that I couldn't be late to. Combine them all and 3 reps turned into two.

It was an interesting and challenging workout, but it was nothing like any other endurance workout I've ever done.

Fast forward to today, October 2nd.
The weather was awful. Temp around 50F. Wind was 15-20km/h with higher gusts and there was moderate rain. The forecast said it would be improving, but at the point when I was driving past my dock, I made the executive decision that doing today's workout on the erg was a much less stupid thing to do. So, I kept going and went to the fitness center at work.

The plan:
Rojabo C (429 pts)
2 x (5min + 5min)/4
spm: 24/26

Pace Targets:
r24 - 1:51 on the erg
r26 - 1:48 on the erg

Warmup was 2000m with 20 stroke bumps at 1500, 1000 and 500 left to go.

The main workout was quite tough. Again, I was rowing in socks, but strapped down and I was slipping around a bit. The first rep was a grind, but totally uneventful. The second one, I had a mental break about 2 minutes into the r26 section and almost handled down. I restarted immediately and over the next 30 seconds brought my pace back to something close to target. By then there were two minutes to go, my HR was at 184, which is the highest I have seen in 18 months, and I just hung on for dear life imagining that it was the last 2 minutes of the race and there was someone right behind me. Even with the breakdown, I only finished 0.3sec slower than the pace target.

I didn't do a full fledged flop after that, and I swear that had nothing to do with the cute blond who was doing one arm dumbell rows right in front of the erg, but it did take me a good couple of minutes before I could collect myself, write down the results, take a drink and start my cool down.

There in no conceivable way I can image doing this workout plan over an entire winter.

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I am racing this Sunday at the Textile River Regatta, so tomorrow and Saturday will be short, tapered workouts. Believe it or not, today's was supposed to be part of that taper too! The race is 5800m downstream, which should take somewhere in the vicinity of 26 minutes to complete. Last year I finished 9th or 11 after handicaps were applied. This year, entries are up to 19 in my event. I hope I can do better than last year.

I'm excited to see how the past month and a half of very intense training has prepared me for the race. I'm hopeful and worried all at the same time.
Greg - Age: 53 H: 182cm W: 88Kg (should be 83Kg)
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Training blog: https://quantifiedrowing.wordpress.com/
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