The Pete Plan etc

[cowboygrrl]

Today's workout was another 10k. I set up a RowPro session, and there were a few FS to row along with. Barbara H. rowed all the way with me, David P. and Paul V. were there and a few others. The next three Sat.'s will be 10k"s and I imagine I'll set up a RP session on all of them. Hope to see some FS again. Here's today's results.

52:22.3/10000/2:37.1/23



BTW, how do you insert am image in here?

[cowboygrrl]

12th week of the Beginner PP. Haven't rowed 4X1500 since the 8th week. Working a lot harder now; increased HR (159 b/m compared to 134) and a much faster pace (2:32.0 compared to 2:47.9). Today's results:

30:24.4/6000/2:32/23

[Paul Victory]

Excellent 4 x 1500m Kellie. =D> =D> =D> Huge progress since the previous cycle and I wouldn't be surprised if you go under 2:30 pace next time around.

[danfennell]

Nice to see the heart rate increasing and the splits decreasing Kellie! =D> =D> =D>

My 4 day break and the CTC kept me away from the PP for almost 2 weeks. Speed pyramid was the "row du jour".

This is one of my favorite (aka least worst) workouts. If I can complete the dreaded/evil/@#%% 1000 at the target pace it's kind of a sigh of relief that the worst is over.

Last time out (June 25th) I averaged 1:43.6. Plan for today was to go up at about 1:43 and bring the splits down a bit (if possible) on the way back down.

250 - 1:42.8 - 32
500 - 1:42.9 - 31
750 - 1:42.9 - 31
1000 - 1:42.8 - 32
750 - 1:42.5 - 32
500 - 1:41.0 - 33
250 - 1:30.2 - 39

4000 - 1:41.7 - 32

[luffy]

Just joined the forum as i have just started The Pete Plan after deciding to take my rowing more seriously. i don't want to take up this thread with my history but i found i was quite good at rowing through CrossFit which i have done for last 15mths so took leap in getting a Concept2 at home and will now do the Pete Plan alongside some of my CrossFit.

So i didn't do the Sprint intervals on Monday as coincidently we were doing 5x500m at CrossFit so i did that and kept a pace of 1:35-1:36 on all 5. this morning i did an 8k row this morning as I've never gone past 5k. finished with a time of 32:14,23spm. was a nice steady pace which felt good.

Got 5x1500m, only concern i have is knowing how to pace it, my best 2k is 6:55 so any suggestions as i have never done a 1500m?

thanks and look forward to joining in on the discussions!!!!

[danfennell]

Welcome to the forum luffy.

Pete gives some rough pacing guidelines but also states "these are neither targets for the first time you try a session, or even for the longer term."

For the 5 x 1500 he recommends your 5k PB pace. That seems to be pretty accurate for me.

Since this is your 1st try at this distance/workout you may want to err a bit on the conservative side for the 1st 4 reps and give the last one all you have.

Good luck!

[luffy]

Cheers Dan.

just did the 5x1500m and it went like so:

5:37.2 - 1:52.4 - 23spm
5:37.0 - 1:52.3 - 23
5:36.6 - 1:52.2 - 24
5:36.8 - 1:52.3 - 24
5:25.4 - 1:48.5 - 26spm

my pb 5k is 19:10 so pace of 1:55 i think but that was done a few months ago and i know i can go faster now so went for the slightly faster pace.

Felt Good, knowing i took 10sec off on my last row maybe means i should of gone faster but i suppose thats the beauty of this program, the next session will be faster when i do the average over the 5.

[danfennell]

Well done on the pacing and the workout. You definitely don't want to "overcook" one of the first few intervals as that can make for a very uncomfortable experience. Additionally, the Pete Plan quickly self adjusts and keeps you honest.

Next time (and on the similar distance intervals) you might experiment with increasing the SPM a bit. Most people tend to average @30spm on this type session.

[luffy]

Thanks for the advice Dan, the SPM is something i need to work on, coming from a Squating/Weightlifting background i tend to use more power with lower SPM.

What Drag setting do you use Dan, i have always had it on 7 which i believe might be to high?

[danfennell]

I came at rowing from a similar background. Never did a ton of cardio as I thought of it as a size/strength stealer. As I've gotten older that stuff isn't nearly as important and I was also tired of tweaking my back, shoulder, elbow...???

Since the drag factor at a given damper setting can vary from machine to machine the best way is to check it on the monitor. On the Main Menu, select More Options. Select Display Drag Factor. Begin rowing and the PM will display the drag factor after a few seconds. I tend to keep it between 125-145 which on my C2 is about 5-6. Everybody seems to have a slightly different preference but really high damper settings can be tough on the lower back.

Low rate work definitely has it's place in building power/endurance and I do mostly 20spm on my steady distance days. I sometimes have to remind myself to crank it up a bit on the intervals as well.

[strider77]

Nice work on the 4 x 1500s Kellie - you are coming along in leaps and bounds well done =D>

Dan-very nice speed pyramid, again its great seeing your progress since you started -well ahead of this geriatric pygmy

Luffy-welcome to the mad house.

Nice set of 1500s-by following the plan as Dan says its kind of self regulating, you WILL improve cycle after cycle, when the improvements get small take some time out to re-group.

When I do it I do the 3 weeks then have a week just doing longish east rows and maybe the CTC.

Good luck with it, look forward to reading your progress

[danfennell]

Today was the 4 x 2000. I had (and seized) the opportunity to take a short afternoon nap but rather than waking up refreshed I was lazier than when I started. I had a suspicion this wasn't going to be easy and I was correct!

Last time my average was 1:51.1 but instead of doing the 1st 3 at that pace and seeing what I had left for the last one I decided to punish myself and set out a bit faster.

2000 - 1:50.3 - 29 - felt like the 3rd one usually feels
2000 - 1:50.2 - 31 - felt like the last one usually feels
2000 - 1:50.1 - 32 - luckily there is no audio/video of this one
2000 - 1:49.3 - 33 - on a pain scale of 1 to 10 this was a 14 but the fact it was the last one kept me going

8000 - 1:50.0 - 31

[luffy]

5k hard row done today! My Prev pb was 19:11 not knowing how to pace myself and having damper on 7 .

Today's results

5000. - 18:34. - 1:51.4. - 28spn

Super happy with that! Would of been happy to go sub 19 but with damper at 5 (I have a pm2+ screen so not sure about drag factor) it felt a good pace at round 1:52/53 so kept it there til last 1k then dropped to 1:49 then last 400 went all out!!

[danfennell]

Great effort, pacing and results! =D> =D> =D>

I prefer to pace my distance rows that way as well. Stay a bit off the target pace and finish strong.

This updated 5k will give you a better sense of how to pace those other middle distance intervals.

[strider77]

Quality 5k Luffy well done - great improvement =D>

Dan-lovely set of 4 x 2ks =D>

[cowboygrrl]

As per Beginner PP, 3rd 10k in as many weeks in a row. I tried to go to 4x/week training this week but I was extremely tired all week and Tues.' row was painful. Sort of felt like a cold coming on so I kept it to 3X. Today psychologically not ready for another 10k but I'd set up a RP session so I decided to try it- no pressure, if I didn't feel well I'd decided to DH. I had a little trouble sustaining a satisfactory rhythm, but it all worked out OK. Had some FS there with me. Forgot to set reasonable splits so just the overall stats.

10000/52:04.4/36:2/23

[Paul Victory]

Well done Kellie. =D> =D> =D> Another 18 seconds off - great stuff, particularly considering the fact that you were feeling off colour beforehand.

[cowboygrrl]

Today's Beginner PP called for 4X1000. Used one rep for a TT. About a month ago my PB for 1000m was 4:52.

Today: 4:41.2/1000/2:20.6/24 Pretty happy as I felt like s$%t all week.

[danfennell]

Well done Kellie!

It's been quiet the last several days on this thread so I figured I'd sacrifice myself to bring it back to life.

4 x 1000 for me as well. Last time - June 9th - I averaged 1:45.2 and made a note then that I wasn't feeling too well and should have a bit more to offer next time. Nothing to complain about once the pain of the last rep faded away.

1000 - 1:43.7 - 31
1000 - 1:43.4 - 32
1000 - 1:43.4 - 33
1000 - 1:42.8 - 34

4000 - 1:43.3 - 32

[strider77]

Very nice work on the 4 x 1ks Kellie and Dan, huge improvements from both of you =D> =D>

The PP hurts so I am getting some longer rows in for a bit, will do more intervals nearer my first comp which is likely to be October so I will be back to the plan in late August some time or maybe September but I always look in to see your progress guys

[danfennell]

Hurts me too Alan!

But so far in a good way.

[Paul Victory]

Great 1k Kellie and great 4 x 1k Dan. =D> =D> =D> Makes me feel a bit guilty about my relative inactivity lately, but I'm sure I'll be back firing on all cylinders before too long. [-o<

[danfennell]

Wrapped up another cycle with the Waterfall.

Last time - June 7th - I averaged 1:51.8 but based on Pete's rough estimate of 5k + 1 that was a bit on the slow side.

3000 - 1:50.2 - 29
2500 - 1:49.9 - 30
2000 - 1:48.9 - 32

7500 - 1:49.8 - 30

[craig0402run]

Morning

Been following Novice Pete Plan (now on week 15) and decided to keep increasing the long row by 500m when the plan actually plateaus at 10k for a while. Managed 12k this morning at 23/24 spm - fairly steady apart from a bit of a wobble in the middle.
Averaged 2.09.0 today - should I be happy - my first 5k average was 2.10 - feel like I should be going faster (best 10k average was 2.06. Comments good/bad appreciated !!

[danfennell]

Welcome to the forum Craig! I also followed the PP Beginner and was very happy with the results and my progress.

Try not to focus too much on split times when you're doing the longer/endurance rows. The main purpose of these is to build your aerobic base so you shouldn't be going all out. The intervals are the ones you want to give your all.

Some people (myself included) use heart rate monitors to determine the training zone we want to be in for workouts. Others do it just by feel...work up a good sweat but no gasping for air. I wasn't monitoring my HR when I first started and was probably overdoing it a bit on the long rows. The other factor is your performance can vary quite a bit based on all sorts of variables (temperature, proper rest, nutrition and hydration, time of day...etc) so focusing solely on splits really isnt being fair to yourself. I do most of my endurance rows at 70% HRR and find my splits can vary by almost 5 seconds based on these variables.

Take a look around the forum and you'll find lots of great information and inspiration. Keep up the good work!