2by5k 5r - Working on Weaknesses

I hate 5k rows.

Always have.

Not really sure why, but they’ve never sat right with me.

Which probably made today’s session exactly the one I needed.

2×5k

5:00 rest

r26

on slides

Rep 1:

18:40.5

1:52.0/500m

Avg HR 143

Max HR 155

Rep 2:

18:34.3

1:51.4/500m

Avg HR 157

Max HR 168

Total work:

10,000m

37:14.8

1:51.7/500m average

The main focus was the same as the recent 4×2k.

Don’t blast the start.

Don’t fade through the middle.

Don’t rely on a heroic finish to rescue the piece.

Pick the pace.

Sit on it.

Accept the grind.

Rep 1 was controlled.

Rep 2 was where it started to bite.

The heart rate stepped up, the breathing got heavier, and the mental bargaining started.

Back off a touch.

Take the pressure down.

You’ve already done enough.

Then The Pretender came on.

“What if I say I’ll never surrender?”

That was enough.

Hold the pace.

Keep moving.

Then squeeze.

The final 625m came down to 1:48.0.

Sweaty.

Spitty.

Done.

I still hate 5k rows.

But today I didn’t let that matter.

Holding Back to Move Forward

Lunchtime row at home.

60:00
14,802m
2:01.6/500m
r20
1,200 strokes
DF130
Avg HR 137

The important bit wasn’t the pace.

It was controlling it.

The first couple of splits were around 1:59–2:00, but as the heart rate started to rise I deliberately backed the pace away.

Not because the legs couldn’t do more.

Because that wasn’t the point.

The split progression tells the story:

1:59.4 — HR 132
1:59.3 — HR 137
2:00.3 — HR 137
2:00.9 — HR 139
2:02.3 — HR 139
2:03.4 — HR 139
2:03.7 — HR 140
2:03.2 — HR 140

The pace slowed.

The heart rate didn’t really move.

That was the session.

Sometimes progression isn’t about pulling harder.

Sometimes it’s about having enough control to hold back.

By keeping the heart rate contained, I could keep pushing the body forward without turning another aerobic session into a fight.

Restraint became progression.

Another hour into the base.

Hold Fast

After the last couple of days, tonight had one job.

Engine work.

60:00

14,936m

2:00.5/500m

r20

1,200 strokes

DF131

Avg HR 142

The interesting bit wasn’t really the distance.

It was the lack of cardiac drift.

The pace stayed locked around 2:00–2:01/500m.

HR went:

139

141

142

143

144

144

144

144

Once it settled, it barely moved.

Same pace.

Same rate.

Same power.

And through the second half, essentially the same cardiovascular cost.

That’s what I want from this sort of work.

Not just finishing the hour.

Finishing it efficiently.

After the recent harder sessions, this was back to widening the base.

The pace stayed locked.

The heart rate held.

Hold fast.

4by2k 3r r24

Lunchtime in work.

4×2k.

Three minutes rest.

Rate capped at 24.

Yesterday’s 30r20 had moved the benchmark.

Today was about seeing whether the next layer of the pyramid would move with it.

The result:

8,000m

29:20.6

1:50.0/500m average

r24

The splits:

7:24.2 — 1:51.0 — HR 152

7:22.1 — 1:50.5 — HR 157

7:20.1 — 1:50.0 — HR 162

7:14.2 — 1:48.5 — HR 169

One of the main things I wanted to work on today was maintaining the pace through each rep.

Not blasting the first few hundred metres, fading in the middle, then trying to rescue it with a hard finish.

Pick the pace.

Sit on it.

Get used to the grind.

That sounds simple enough until you’re halfway through a 2k and your head starts offering you all sorts of reasons to back off.

There were definitely a few mental battles in there today.

But that was part of the point.

Hold the pace when it starts to feel uncomfortable.

Stay patient.

Keep the rate where it should be.

And trust the work.

The overall progression between reps was exactly what I wanted too.

No mad first rep.

No hanging on by the third.

Just controlled pressure, then a little more, then a proper last one.

Compared with the last 4×2k on 20 October, which averaged 1:53.0, today was 3 seconds per 500m quicker across the full 8k.

That’s a serious move in a couple of weeks.

And it fits the old Q-Power idea nicely.

Build the base wider.

Then the layers above it start to rise.

Yesterday the 30r20 moved.

Today the 4×2k moved with it.

That’s the knock-on effect I’ve been waiting to see.

30r20 open HR

Today was the one I’d been waiting for.

A proper 30r20.

No HR cap.

No holding back.

Just thirty minutes, twenty strokes a minute, and see where the engine is now.

The target going in was around 1:56.8/500m.

The result:

30:00

7,842m

1:54.7/500m

r20

600 strokes

DF 131

That’s a big jump from the last one:

7,568m

1:58.9/500m

So today was:

+274m

4.2 sec/500m faster

And every stroke counted.

Thirty minutes at r20 should be 600 strokes.

That’s exactly what it was.

The pacing was probably the bit I’m happiest with:

1:55.8

1:55.8

1:55.7

1:55.6

1:54.9

1:54.6

1:54.3

1:51.2

So no heroic opening.

No blowing up halfway.

Just gradually squeezing it harder and harder until the final 3:45 became a proper finish.

The HR trace looked sensible too, rising through the 130s and 140s and finishing around 163, rather than the random dropouts I’ve been getting from the HRM-200.

And yes, the Spotify soundtrack helped.

The Prodigy’s No Good (Start the Dance) landed right in the middle of the piece and fitted the mood perfectly.

That middle section is where a 30r20 gets interesting.

Too far in to feel fresh.

Too far out to start celebrating.

Just sit there and keep applying pressure.

This is also where the Q-Power idea starts to matter.

One benchmark moves, and the others have to respond.

The 30r20 had been lagging behind the recent 4×2k work.

Not anymore.

At 1:54.7, the aerobic base has just got wider.

And that’s the point of the pyramid.

The wider and stronger the base becomes, the higher the spire can eventually rise.

The next 4×2k target gets quicker.

The next layer gets added.

Still a long way from where I ultimately want to be.

But today widened the foundations.

And that gives us more height to build towards.

10k, nearly...

Tonight was supposed to be easy.

Just enough work to keep the engine ticking over before a proper 30r20 tomorrow.

So the plan was simple:

40 minutes.

r20.

Keep it controlled.

No heroics.

The result:

40:00

9,998m

2:00.0/500m

r20

800 strokes

Avg HR 141

DF 138

14°C

~78% humidity

Two metres short of 10k.

Typical. 😆

But the number I’m actually happiest with is the 800 strokes.

Forty minutes at r20 should be 800 strokes.

And that’s exactly what it was.

No rate creep.

No surging.

No hiding behind an average.

Just proper control.

The other useful change tonight was the heart-rate strap.

I went back to an old Garmin Premium strap after the HRM-200 had spent the last few sessions inventing heart rates in the 70s while I was still rowing normally.

Tonight the trace finally looked believable again.

136

137

140

142

143

144

146

147

Exactly the sort of gradual rise I’d expect from a steady aerobic piece.

And then there are the slides.

Back on 20 September, one of my first proper 40-minute attempts on them produced:

8,689m

2:18.1/500m

around r22 overall

The rate was all over the place, the pace was all over the place, and I was basically learning how not to launch myself off the front of the rails.

Tonight:

9,998m

2:00.0/500m

r20

800 strokes

That’s a very different session.

The slides have gone from something I was trying to survive to something I can actually use properly for training.

That probably matters more than the missing two metres.

Almost 10k.

At r20.

Controlled.

Tomorrow we find out what that engine has got in a hard 30r20.

Through the midnight hour...

Last night I started at midnight.

Tonight I rowed through it.

23:40 to 00:20.

Apparently Midnight Mass is becoming a series. 😆

Tonight was supposed to be simple.

40 minutes.

r20.

Keep it aerobic.

Keep it controlled.

The result:

40:00

9,920m

2:00.9/500m

r20

DF 136

198W average

The first five minutes were a little slower, then the pace settled almost immediately into the 2:00–2:01 range and stayed there.

The stroke rate stayed where it was supposed to as well.

r20.

Every split.

That part I’m happy with.

The heart-rate monitor, less so.

It looked perfectly believable early on:

134

139

138

142

144

Then, while the pace and rate barely changed, it suddenly decided I was rowing at 72 and 74 bpm.

A few minutes later it was back up around 152.

So the average HR is useless again.

At this stage I’m seriously considering going back to the Garmin Premium strap for rowing, because the HRM-200 just doesn’t seem to like life on the erg.

Still, the useful numbers are all there.

The session was steady.

The rate stayed controlled.

The pace was actually a little quicker than the recent aerobic work without turning into a test.

Another session done.

Another forty minutes in the bank.

Sometimes the work has to fit around life.

Sometimes that means starting at midnight.

Sometimes it means finishing after it.

Either way, the work still gets done.