how fast can you row 2000 metres ?

how fast can you row 2000 metres ?

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MacGee

2,513 posts

229 months

Monday 9th March 2015
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Technique..final arm whip at end of pull.practice lots of slow powerful sets...30r20 is excellent

johnxjsc1985

15,948 posts

163 months

Monday 9th March 2015
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MacGee said:
Technique..final arm whip at end of pull.practice lots of slow powerful sets...30r20 is excellent
Technique tends to suffer when the pressure is on doesn't it.

clonmult

10,529 posts

208 months

Monday 9th March 2015
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johnxjsc1985 said:
MacGee said:
Technique..final arm whip at end of pull.practice lots of slow powerful sets...30r20 is excellent
Technique tends to suffer when the pressure is on doesn't it.
Sometimes ... my first competition (EIRC a few years back) knocked 13 seconds off my PB. I went sub 7 before christmas. Then had little training on the run up to the BRIC and kinda sucked on the day (put in my 4th best 2k, but it was way too slow)

But aside from wondering what I've got to do to improve my 500, I've got to rest for a few days. Pulled my back over the weekend ...

johnxjsc1985

15,948 posts

163 months

Monday 9th March 2015
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clonmult said:
Sometimes ... my first competition (EIRC a few years back) knocked 13 seconds off my PB. I went sub 7 before christmas. Then had little training on the run up to the BRIC and kinda sucked on the day (put in my 4th best 2k, but it was way too slow)

But aside from wondering what I've got to do to improve my 500, I've got to rest for a few days. Pulled my back over the weekend ...
I think sub 7 is probably more about fitness rather than strength of technique.
I am not the strongest (was not) but I had a cycling back ground and had good lungs but I still managed a sub 6.40 at the age of 45.
I would say until you get below 6.30 concentrate on overall fitness.your doing fine

clonmult

10,529 posts

208 months

Monday 16th March 2015
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Ooooh eck, I've gone and signed up for something interesting.

Sub7 are going to have an attempt on a 24 hour distance record, done in teams. Each team member (I think 3 or 4 per team) does a minute ... kinda like the relay from hell. Target is apparently about 1:48 average. But as I won't be able to be there from the start, I'm going to have to make up some time - so I'll have to be doing the first shift (or two) as doubles.

So had a little go on minute intervals last night. 25x1 minute, 1 minute rest. Average 1:44.6. Would have kept going except boredom struck, and I wanted to do something other than rowing whilst down at the gym .... treated the last as the sprint finish on a 2k, and after doing most of them at 1:44.8, finished at 1:40.

And its good practice for the EIRC; trying to find a rhythm for sub 1:45 pace.

clonmult

10,529 posts

208 months

Tuesday 17th March 2015
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Not related to my rowing ...

But has anyone seen the recent 500m by Ross Love?

100m splits of .... 1:09, 1:08.5, 1:11, 1:13.5, 1:17.5. Total time of 1m12.

This is effectively a world record, as the existing record was set on a PM1 that calculates power totally different. The guy has an ability on the erg over this distance that is beyond the ability of even olympic rowers. Quite awesome. Nice guy as well!

dtmpower

3,972 posts

244 months

Wednesday 18th March 2015
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Got back on the rower at the weekend, following an extended break. Thought I'd do a 30 minute session, nice steady 2:10-2:15 pace with a speed up in the last few minutes. I blew up at 6700m ! (predicted finish distance was just north of 7km) I realise now that my times I set on the wiki are going to be a challenge to work back up to. I was rowing every lunch break back then. Just shows how quickly the fitness falls off the cliff.

I'm going to force myself to get on it everyday now.

rhinochopig

17,932 posts

197 months

Wednesday 18th March 2015
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clonmult said:
johnxjsc1985 said:
rhinochopig said:
I've never vomited over said women after a session though. If the visual tunnel isn't narrowing and your stomach isn't rising then you've kept something back wink
its been a while but at the end of a 2k all I can focus on is getting my feet out the straps its like a 1000 volts surging through my calfs and although its maybe only a few seconds from the end of the row it feels like an age.
I used to do a lot of my 2k's with my eyes closed so as to focus on the pain.
I did an 8x500 (3:30 rest) last week, target pace was 1:41.5. Wasn't sure I could do it, but ... I did. From the third break onwards I had that feeling of just wanting to get my feet out of the straps. Utterly, utterly horrible. Average pace was 1:41.4. Which was a huge surprise.

A 2k sprint almost feels easy in comparison to that.

But my question for the day. I've got my 2k down to 6:57.9. But I can't get my 500m under 1:31. Got a reasonable amount of leg strength (140kg deadlift). So what the fark do I need to do to get an improvement in my 500m?

Tried a different gym yesterday with a friend, she's been saying since then that I should be able to pull down to about 1:20 (!!!!).
500m are very anearobic events. So you *may* need to work on your lactate tolerance levels. Also maintaining good length and technique is important. It's VERY easy to reduce your stroke length when going for a 500m time.

Some exercises / drills you may want to try.

First one: Set the fan between 1-3 and then practise rating at a high stroke rate 35-40 SPM. Ignore the time and don't put in much effort but focus purely on technique, making sure that the catch is good, i.e. shoulders fully forward so they don't give when you apply effort and that the chain is perfectly horzontal. Then on the finish make sure that your hands are super fast away to give you time to breath on the recovery. I can't stress enough don't put in much effort, the focus is on developing the muscle memory here not strength.

Second one: keep doing the interval / fartleks. They will pay dividends in the long run. Another one you can do is essentially similar to a bleep test on an erg. Warm up for 10 mins at an easy steady state. Then start off at 2:00/500m at a stroke rate you're comfortable with and then every 20 seconds drop a second off your split time and keep going until you're shot.

Finally make sure the fan setting suits your strength / aerobic fitness ratio. You want to be towards the 10 end if you're very strong but not that CV fit and towards the 1 end if you're not that strong but very CV fit.

clonmult

10,529 posts

208 months

Thursday 19th March 2015
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rhinochopig said:
500m are very anearobic events. So you *may* need to work on your lactate tolerance levels. Also maintaining good length and technique is important. It's VERY easy to reduce your stroke length when going for a 500m time.

Some exercises / drills you may want to try.

First one: Set the fan between 1-3 and then practise rating at a high stroke rate 35-40 SPM. Ignore the time and don't put in much effort but focus purely on technique, making sure that the catch is good, i.e. shoulders fully forward so they don't give when you apply effort and that the chain is perfectly horzontal. Then on the finish make sure that your hands are super fast away to give you time to breath on the recovery. I can't stress enough don't put in much effort, the focus is on developing the muscle memory here not strength.

Second one: keep doing the interval / fartleks. They will pay dividends in the long run. Another one you can do is essentially similar to a bleep test on an erg. Warm up for 10 mins at an easy steady state. Then start off at 2:00/500m at a stroke rate you're comfortable with and then every 20 seconds drop a second off your split time and keep going until you're shot.

Finally make sure the fan setting suits your strength / aerobic fitness ratio. You want to be towards the 10 end if you're very strong but not that CV fit and towards the 1 end if you're not that strong but very CV fit.
Its now so close to the event that I doubt I can get any major improvements; target for the EIRC is a 2k PB (hoping for 6:55 or under), then just fly and die on the 500m a few hours later.

This months CTC has been an interesting challenge, 3x250, couple of times I had those closing in on 1:25 pace ... first time the erg moved too much, second time the chain went (ergs at the basingstoke aquadrome have never been serviced, oiled, etc.)

Although I'm definitely going to try that bleep test in the next few days.

dtmpower

3,972 posts

244 months

Friday 20th March 2015
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Thought I'd draw a line in the sand and set a 2k time - well off my previous best at 7:41 but still happy given the circumstances.

Once thing though, is it acceptable to adjust the fan (drag factor) during a timed event ? I dropped it down at about 4 minutes until 6 minutes then pushed it back up.

johnxjsc1985

15,948 posts

163 months

Friday 20th March 2015
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dtmpower said:
Thought I'd draw a line in the sand and set a 2k time - well off my previous best at 7:41 but still happy given the circumstances.

Once thing though, is it acceptable to adjust the fan (drag factor) during a timed event ? I dropped it down at about 4 minutes until 6 minutes then pushed it back up.
good for you as you cant cheat a clock.
As for changing the fan why not its not something i have seen before but if it works for you go for it

clonmult

10,529 posts

208 months

Friday 27th March 2015
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johnxjsc1985 said:
dtmpower said:
Thought I'd draw a line in the sand and set a 2k time - well off my previous best at 7:41 but still happy given the circumstances.

Once thing though, is it acceptable to adjust the fan (drag factor) during a timed event ? I dropped it down at about 4 minutes until 6 minutes then pushed it back up.
good for you as you cant cheat a clock.
As for changing the fan why not its not something i have seen before but if it works for you go for it
Rules of racing normally state that you can't adjust the DF during the race.

Anyway, EIRC on Sunday. Go for it on the 2k, then see whats left for the 500. I'll be there with a bunch of friends, so it'll be a good day out. Chasing down one who's PB is about 5 seconds ahead of me ....

clonmult

10,529 posts

208 months

Wednesday 1st April 2015
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EIRC performance wasn't good, only put in a 7:09, although having done naff all training for the 500, I was only 1.2 secs off my PB, despite chronic fade in the last 100.

These rowing comps are most entertaining.

Highway Star

3,573 posts

230 months

Monday 20th April 2015
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Just bought myself a Concept 2 for the garage. Not managed any club swimming training since my son was born seven months ago due to session times and cycling to work means I can't get home in time for bath time. So hopefully will manage a few sessions a week.

Was pleased to manage 5095m in 20 minutes tonight.

clonmult

10,529 posts

208 months

Tuesday 21st April 2015
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Highway Star said:
Just bought myself a Concept 2 for the garage. Not managed any club swimming training since my son was born seven months ago due to session times and cycling to work means I can't get home in time for bath time. So hopefully will manage a few sessions a week.

Was pleased to manage 5095m in 20 minutes tonight.
Nice session; I've found that rowing and cycling complement each other quite nicely. Strength based work on the erg (primarily low rate) have resulted in huge benefits on hills.

Signed up for something slightly daunting. 24 hour large team sprint relay. Due to the wonders of the C2 ranking system, we're actually guaranteed a world record .... but rowing on and off throughout 24 hours. That'll hurt. A lot.

Davey S2

13,075 posts

253 months

Wednesday 22nd April 2015
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Highway Star said:
Just bought myself a Concept 2 for the garage. Not managed any club swimming training since my son was born seven months ago due to session times and cycling to work means I can't get home in time for bath time. So hopefully will manage a few sessions a week.

Was pleased to manage 5095m in 20 minutes tonight.
I'm in the same boat. Daughter is 1 and since the wife went back to work full time in Jan my morning gym sessions have really suffered so looking at a getting a rower at home .

Did you buy a new one or used? prices of decent Model Ds seem to be so good that it seems easier to buy a new one.

I've also looked at Waterrowers which would be better for indoor use but I've not actually used one before.

johnxjsc1985

15,948 posts

163 months

Wednesday 22nd April 2015
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Davey S2 said:
I'm in the same boat. Daughter is 1 and since the wife went back to work full time in Jan my morning gym sessions have really suffered so looking at a getting a rower at home .

Did you buy a new one or used? prices of decent Model Ds seem to be so good that it seems easier to buy a new one.

I've also looked at Waterrowers which would be better for indoor use but I've not actually used one before.
if all you want to do is get fit in the Garage then the Model c is more than good enough.
£3-400 will get you a very nice one.

clonmult

10,529 posts

208 months

Thursday 23rd April 2015
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johnxjsc1985 said:
Davey S2 said:
I'm in the same boat. Daughter is 1 and since the wife went back to work full time in Jan my morning gym sessions have really suffered so looking at a getting a rower at home .

Did you buy a new one or used? prices of decent Model Ds seem to be so good that it seems easier to buy a new one.

I've also looked at Waterrowers which would be better for indoor use but I've not actually used one before.
if all you want to do is get fit in the Garage then the Model c is more than good enough.
£3-400 will get you a very nice one.
I'd stick with a C2, they're pretty much the definitive rowing machine. Waterrowers may be okay, but if you catch the erging bug, you'll find yourself logging details on the Concept 2 Logbook, finding someone a few tenths ahead you, then bettering them ....

Agree that a model C would fine fine, with a possible upgrade to a PM3/4. The PM2 is okay, but the later models have a much improved interface.

Highway Star

3,573 posts

230 months

Sunday 26th April 2015
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I managed to win a model D with PM3 for just over £500 on ebay which I thought was a decent price, especially as it was about 10 miles away, so pick up costs were minimal. I'd been beaten to quite a few over a number of weeks though and got lucky on one.

Managed 30 minutes at an average of 1.58.5/500m at around 22spm last night, so was quite pleased with that. I wouldn't say I've caught the 'bug' just yet - still too many painful memories of erging when rowing at uni, but compared to the alternatives I have at the moment, its a massive improvement.

johnxjsc1985

15,948 posts

163 months

Sunday 26th April 2015
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Highway Star said:
I managed to win a model D with PM3 for just over £500 on ebay which I thought was a decent price, especially as it was about 10 miles away, so pick up costs were minimal. I'd been beaten to quite a few over a number of weeks though and got lucky on one.

Managed 30 minutes at an average of 1.58.5/500m at around 22spm last night, so was quite pleased with that. I wouldn't say I've caught the 'bug' just yet - still too many painful memories of erging when rowing at uni, but compared to the alternatives I have at the moment, its a massive improvement.
I have an Model C, a Spinning bike and a treadmill in a room I like to go in there and look at them and say "no not yet" and then I have a cup of tea and a slice of cake.