An increase in training volume

As a change of training stimulus I have increased the volume of training for a few days. My comfort zone at the moment is 30-40min rows each day (and even then probably averaging 4 or 5 sessions a week), so by increasing to 60min rows it will be a good boost to the training effect. The aim for each of these was simply to get through the distance while working reasonably hard, so each was rowed in a slightly different format.

Friday:

60mins = 16088m / 1:51.8 / 26
10min splits:
1:52.3 / 26
1:52.4 / 26
1:52.5 / 26
1:52.4 / 26
1:52.3 / 26
1:49.2 / 28

The aim of this row was simply to go over 16km for the hour, so it was rowed as a flat pace with a faster last 10mins when the finish line was in sight.

Saturday:

60mins = 15945m / 1:52.8 / 26
10min splits:
1:54.8 / 24
1:53.6 / 25
1:53.3 / 26
1:52.4 / 26
1:52.3 / 27
1:50.7 / 28

Saturday’s row was done with a format I like to mentally break up the longer rows. The base pace of the row was a fairly comfortable 1:56 / 1:57, with 10+1 harder strokes at each 2.5min point. So after 2min30 I do 10 harder strokes, after 5mins I do 11 harder strokes, and so on throughout the hour. The mental games of just remembering how many strokes you have to do next time gets you through it!

Sunday:

60mins = 16047m / 1:52.1 / 26
10min splits:
1:52.1 / 25
1:52.1 / 25
1:52.6 / 26
1:52.4 / 26
1:52.2 / 27
1:51.4 / 27

And Sunday was an amalgamation of the two. A steady first 20mins, then the 10+1 format for the last 40mins (just because I couldn’t face the monotony of another 40mins otherwise!).

Monday is likely to be a rest day as I tends to be my longest work day, solely due to the traffic on my commute being worse than any other day! Last week I fell foul of doing an interval session on Monday after work that didn’t quite go to plan, so Monday is the best day to rest, and not go through the week fatigued!

Cycle 2 – 8 x 500m / 2r

8 x 500m / 2min rest:
1:35.9 / 34
1:35.9 / 34
1:35.9 / 34
1:35.9 / 34
1:36.0 / 34
1:35.9 / 34
1:35.9 / 34
1:35.4 / 35

4k = 12:46.8 / 1:35.8 / 34

The previous post stated the targets for this new rotation of core sessions. Each time the aim will be to follow the standard Pete Plan methodology and do all but the final rep at the average pace of the previous session. So last time this session averaged 1:36.0 hence the target this time of 1:36.0 for the first 7 reps (0.1 faster is ok, 0.1 slower is not). I say 0.1 slower is not ok, not because it changes the desired training effect, but just because if the first 7 reps were 0.1 slower the overall average would not have been faster, and so the target would not move on.

I’m happy with this today as I have some fair DOMS from doing some strength training on Friday afternoon. Cleans with 50kg and deadlifts with 100kg, each for 5 sets of 5 reps. I am going to try to get some basic compound strength exercises in once a week as well as the two core erg sessions.

Rotation 1 complete

I set out late January to rotate through the core Pete Plan sessions, but with minor modifications. It took me a month from first to last, but I have now completed the first rotation and so have some numbers to work from. The longer intervals were exactly as in the PP, but for the shorter intervals I replaced the speed pyramid with a 5 x 750m, and stepped the rest periods up from 2min for the 500s, to 3:30 for the 750s, and the standard 5min for the 1ks. The results of the 6 core sessions were:

27 Jan ’13: 8 x 500m / 2r = 12:48.3 / 1:36.0 / 34

1 Feb ’13: 5 x 1500m / 5r = 26:07.4 / 1:44.9 / 29

4 Feb ’13: 5 x 750m / 3:30r = 12:08.8 / 1:37.1 / 33

8 Feb ’13: 4 x 2k / 5r = 27:49.2 / 1:44.3 / 29

19 Feb ’13: 4 x 1k / 5r = 13:06.5 / 1:38.3 / 32

27 Feb ’13: 3k, 2.5k, 2k / 5r = 26:25.3 / 1:45.6 / 28

So today it is time to step back to the 8 x 500m, and aim to hit 1:36.0 from the start, hopefully with a fast last rep to beat the average. Being 5 weeks since the last effort, and without a big volume of training and having travelled with work in the mean time, I am not 100% confident of doing that. There is only one way to find out though.