what training have free spirits been doing today?

[Huw Thomas]

Great Training Guys - impressive accuracy

[Ian Bee]

Thanks Huw (though Iain clearly has me beaten on metronomic accuracy).

I though today would be an easier session, but whether it was the rather unhealthy meal last night/slightly elevated temp of the rowing room/influence of "Don't Look Up" as my film selection, turned out a bit on the tough side:

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Garmin conked out prior to the end, but I have a suspicion that the drift continued but probably backed off to near enough to make rep 1 and 3 comparable. Compared to my last run through this session, rep 1 and 3 were quite a bit slower but rep 2 wasn't far off my most recent pace..... So: decent run and quite positive about very gently pushing on the slower reps next time.

[Iain]

Not sure what your comparison is Ian, on 25th the reps were shorter, so not surprising that thins got trickier at the end of the faster interval, but you had an extra rep at HM pace before the final MP interval, while 18/2 showed a similar HR for the part shown as well as further drift and the intervals were 3' shorter! So all in all a good result. Interesting that your rating seems to have dropped a bit. IIRC before you found staying at R20 for MP required a firmer stroke than you wished at times and here you are rowing R19. Similarly you are doing 10k at R23 rather than R24 now! Influence of WP?

[Ian Bee]

Last time through of this session (as in this round of my much longer sequence) was in fact March last year (!!!). But yes, the impact of the ultra, loosing focus, trying WP have all impacted to some degree I would imagine.

[Iain]

But yes, the impact of the ultra, loosing focus, trying WP have all impacted to some degree I would imagine.

I was seeing the lower rating as a positive!

[Ian Bee]

Oh I see - I was fixating on the pace rather than overall, so thanks for that reminder to not miss the wood for the trees

[jainser]

Nothing. Nada. Zip. That’s the full and glorious extent of my training for the last 17 days. I’ve basically been living the lifestyle of a Victorian fainting lady — reclining, immobile, and occasionally sighing dramatically. Had an operation on my foot, which transformed me into a sedentary gremlin who could barely hobble to the kettle without looking like an extra from The Walking Dead.

But rejoice! The consultant has finally waved his magic wand and declared me fit for “gentle exercise.” And by gentle, he means the SkiERG — the machine that looks innocent until you touch it, at which point it reveals its true identity as a medieval punishment device disguised as gym equipment.

Still, tomorrow I’ll be wriggling into my skiing onesie, sliding into my slippers like a glamorous pensioner, and stepping onto that SkiERG platform for some extremely polite, extremely non-threatening skiing. Think “Nordic warrior”… but after a two-week nap, a foot operation, and a mild identity crisis.

On the bright side, I’ve somehow managed to lose over 4lb during this whole “no walking, no training, no moving, no fun” period. Turns out watching calories like a hawk with night-vision goggles, spreadsheets, and a zero tolerance policy — actually works. At this point I’m basically a calorie accountant with a broken foot and a grudge against gym equipment.

[Iain]

I’m basically a calorie accountant with a broken foot and a grudge against gym equipment.

Glad to see you back on a C2 even if not a rowerg! Well done on not succombing to comfort eating / drinking and looking forward to seeing your increased activity.

[Ian Bee]

medieval punishment device disguised as gym equipment.

So many images

Had a suspicion that I would be knackered today, so approached with caution:

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Logical brain said: 6' is obviously less painful than yesterday, you can clearly beat that pace. Legs:

As it was, a reasonably comfortable session (though not one that fits into my 90mins slot in the morning.....).

[Iain]

Looks like you are being conservative with your 5k pace as you drifted up to similar HR with the 16' MP! Do you really need 4' rest between intervals? cutting to say 2:30 and you could fit into 90' while still dropping into green! Its interesting that you are using R26 for the 5k pace while R19 for some of the MP. I think you were quite a bit faster before when you rated up from R25 to R26.

[Ian Bee]

I may well cut the rest, but for the moment it's more worth it to be well recovered for the work (and be sure to finish). And yes: probably a touch conservative for 6' reps but I tend to find perceived effort is not dissimilar (rating at 20 isn't completely natural right now, but I may get back into the groove).

[Ian Bee]

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Still finishing the rowing week on a gentle session. Compared to March last year, pace is down but I may try to keep this as a decent low level cardio session (i.e. I don't want HR in the amber zone) to keep max benefit, brush off the foundations.

[danc]

Just joined up — been on a C2 RowErg at home for about three months, still very much building the base.
Wednesday evening I did a set of 6 × 2min on / 2min off at around 2:15/500m, r22, with a 5min warmup and cooldown either side — 6,450m in just under 32 minutes. The interesting bit was watching the HR drift through the set: started around 122bpm on the first rep and crept up to 145 by the last one, average 129.
Planning to do 45min steady state session later today.

Ian Bee — yours is a much more disciplined approach than mine. I let mine drift well into amber by the end of the intervals and told myself it was fine because the early reps were easy. Suspect I'm confusing "interval session" with "licence to redline."

[Mike Channin]

Welcome aboard. (Guessing you're called Dan?)
Looks like you're using a sensible training approach with warmup and cooldown - your body will thank you for it!
Depends on what you're aiming to achieve with your intervals, but 'license to redline' is often interchangeable with 'interval session'!
Let us know how the 45 min went.

[Iain]

Just joined up — been on a C2 RowErg at home for about three months, still very much building the base.
Wednesday evening I did a set of 6 × 2min on / 2min off at around 2:15/500m, r22, with a 5min warmup and cooldown either side — 6,450m in just under 32 minutes. The interesting bit was watching the HR drift through the set: started around 122bpm on the first rep and crept up to 145 by the last one, average 129.
Planning to do 45min steady state session later today.

Ian Bee — yours is a much more disciplined approach than mine. I let mine drift well into amber by the end of the intervals and told myself it was fine because the early reps were easy. Suspect I'm confusing "interval session" with "licence to redline."

Great to hear from you. HR is difficult to interpret without knowing at least how high you have previously seen it. If you aren't coming off training elsewhere, it is quite likely that your "threshold" is pretty low and so it may be a little while before you can do a significant session without seeing significant HR drift.

Look forward to hearing more about your training, background and objectives. Welcome to FS.

[Ian Bee]

Welcome Dan!

Look forward to hearing how you get on (I am not much for redlining, so I live vicariously through those brave enough to do so).

[danc]

Thanks for the welcome, all.
Mike — fair point on the intervals, I'll own the redline.

45-min steady state done this afternoon: 9km at 2:32/500m, r19, average HR 123. First session where I've genuinely held the stroke rate low the whole way through — the instructions were 18–20spm and it held, which felt like progress. HR stayed much flatter than Wednesday's set, which was the point.
Iain — to answer your questions: no endurance background, coming in fresh. Max HR is around 177–178, which actually makes Wednesday's 145 look less dramatic than I implied now that I'm looking at it — about 82%, so AT/low TR rather than properly redlined. Today's 123 average works out to ~69%, which is where I'm trying to stay for this kind of session. Following a polarised programme based on British Rowing methodology — heavy on UT2 base work, with the occasional harder session like Wednesday. Objective for now is building the aerobic engine properly rather than chasing splits.

[JonT]

Welcome to Free Spirits Dan.

If you change your affiliation on the Concept2 logbook (assuming you are using that) you will appear on the Meterboard which many people find quite motivating. This also means you will contribute to the team competitions which come around a couple of times per year. We also participate as a team in the Cross Team Challenge which you are welcome to join,

[Huw Thomas]

Welcome Dan

Sounds if you have a good UT2 based plan with some spicy bits/days.
I use the spicy days to try and record some ranking distances to benchmark any improvement, so perhaps choosing a hard (not necessary all out) 1k, 2k,5k , 30 min 10k and hour, after a relaxed warm up.

You can rank them on the C2 logbook site and use the utility on this site to get a pretty record at the bottom of your posts.

I'm back to rowing now I've retired and enjoying the increasing cardiovascular fitness it brings, and feeling relaxed with the rhythm long steady rows bring.

Welcome to the group!
Huw

[danc]

JonT — already sorted, as it happens — just checked and I'm showing up as Daniel Chabr on the Meterboard. Good to know about the CTC too.

Huw — not enough ranked sessions yet to have meaningful data to fill it in, but that's exactly why it's worth aiming for — gives you a proper benchmark to track against rather than just feeling your way through it. Good target to have in mind.

[Iain]

Dan, sounds like a sensible plan if you don't get bored doing the UT2's! If this is the first time you have rowed, you also should pay attention to your technique. Mine is terrible, but with 28MM behind me changes are painfully slow and partial so much more sensible to get a good stroke early on. Lots of good videos and commentary on U-Tube to teach you the basics.

Yesterday I did an "OCD" (ie identical splits) UT2 row. My threshold's are a little higher than average, so UT1 start around 80% and finishes around 90% for me. Felt harder than HR showed.

Code: Select all

Time 	Distnc 	Rate	 Pace	 Hrmax 	% 	HRmin	 %
15:00.0	3,151 	17	02:22.8	135 	73.4%	87	47.3%
15:00.0	3,151 	17	02:22.8	140 	76.1%	131	71.2%
15:00.0	3,151 	17	02:22.8	144 	78.3%	136	73.9%
15:00.0	3,151 	17	02:22.8	145 	78.8%	139	75.5%
15:00.0	3,151 	17	02:22.8	145 	78.8%	138	75.0%
15:00.0	3,151 	17	02:22.8	145 	78.8%	139	75.5%

1:30:00	18,904 	17.0 	02:22.8	145 	78.8%

[Claudius]

Hello. Just when I wanted to post more often, health problems, some would say minor problems, began to depress me. In this mood, I am simply unable to post. Nemesis is difficult to overcome. No one can deal with it. Now things are getting better, my numbers are slowly rising again, and stability seems to be returning. Congratulations to everyone who has managed endless streaks—sometimes you just need a break. So I'm not grieving. Toda IWD challenge. A go for precise 5k.

[JonT]

Claudius, I'm also sorry to hear you have been pulled down by some illness. I'm even more glad to see you back on the ergo and back on the forum.

[Iain]

Welcome back Claudius, I noticed your meters had dropped off as I started to get a little closer on the meterboard, but glad normality has returned!

[Ian Bee]

Very glad to see you posting again Claudius. Having had a succession of minor issues which accumulated (though not implying equivalence with your circumstance) I empathise with you. And yes: a break (whether chronological or philosophical) is sometimes the best thing.

Today:

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Very gentle again but felt on the money for the level of effort for this session. Could have gone faster, but the logical part of my brain was fortunately in hand to say: this needs to be cardio