New Personal Best! Brag About That New Pb!

[rlk]

I must say theses PR's by the old guys are VERY impressive! Must be fun bein' in your 60's and positively trashing the young guys in the gym.

Fun when that happens. I just turned 50 early this year, but not a lot of youngsters in the gym can keep up with what I consider to be a relaxed HM pace for more than a few minutes, if that. I do have to say watching some off these folks row is a bit scary, technique-wise.

A number of years ago, there was an intern who rowed LW (I think) for one of the local colleges (this is Boston area, so lots of 'em). We were doing a 10m race, for whatever reason. I did my low 2900's or so that I expected to, with my usual slightly negative splits, and this whippersnapper confidently predicts he'll do 3100. He starts off firing 1:25's (which is faster than my individual low pull), but not for long...after a while he was up over 2:00 and managed about 2600.

[hjs]

I must say theses PR's by the old guys are VERY impressive! Must be fun bein' in your 60's and positively trashing the young guys in the gym.

Fun when that happens. I just turned 50 early this year, but not a lot of youngsters in the gym can keep up with what I consider to be a relaxed HM pace for more than a few minutes, if that. I do have to say watching some off these folks row is a bit scary, technique-wise.

A number of years ago, there was an intern who rowed LW (I think) for one of the local colleges (this is Boston area, so lots of 'em). We were doing a 10m race, for whatever reason. I did my low 2900's or so that I expected to, with my usual slightly negative splits, and this whippersnapper confidently predicts he'll do 3100. He starts off firing 1:25's (which is faster than my individual low pull), but not for long...after a while he was up over 2:00 and managed about 2600.

The only reason young people are often not good on the erg is because they don,t train om them. If we old guys would do a running race, ropeclimbing, or a ballgame we would be piss poor at it. Young who row do it on water, not on the erg.
The erg is luckily very age friendly, bit thats all.

Ps congrats on all the pb s, nothing beats pb ing when you are training for it.

[Edward4492]

hjs- You're absolutely correct, of course. I think we all know that erg-specific training allows us to lay down some decent times compared to the young gym rat who doesn't train on the erg. By way of mention, a friend of mine's son is a 24 year old who is very fit and trains on the erg once or twice a week, but definitely not a full-time rower/erg'er. The kid's six foot, about 155lbs,
and pulls a 6:33. He was thinking about going to CRASH B's until he found out 6:30 wouldn't get him into the top 30. But, by way of comparison the world record in 55-59 LWT is around 6:43 (Roy Brooks I believe). So the fastest 55+ time is 10- 15s slower than some kid in his garage pullin' 10k a week.

Father time marches on and shows no mercy.

[hjs]

hjs- You're absolutely correct, of course. I think we all know that erg-specific training allows us to lay down some decent times compared to the young gym rat who doesn't train on the erg. By way of mention, a friend of mine's son is a 24 year old who is very fit and trains on the erg once or twice a week, but definitely not a full-time rower/erg'er. The kid's six foot, about 155lbs,
and pulls a 6:33. He was thinking about going to CRASH B's until he found out 6:30 wouldn't get him into the top 30. But, by way of comparison the world record in 55-59 LWT is around 6:43 (Roy Brooks I believe). So the fastest 55+ time is 10- 15s slower than some kid in his garage pullin' 10k a week.

Father time marches on and shows no mercy.

Indeed FT does not show merci

If he pulles that time on only 10k a week, it sure would not be a bad idea to train a bit more. Sub 6.20 for a lightweight, at any age is very respectable and seems not that far off. If he has to feeling for otw, he could be usefull, Although for that 24 is already "old" given the technique that is needed.

[rlk]

Two more this past week. That's it for the middle distances for now, at least until after the fall challenge.

9/9: 10K/35:18.8 (old: 35:51.8 standalone, 35:44.7 split). Target pace was 1:46; hoped for a bit faster. I was running a bit hot in the middle (1:45.6 pace), on target for 35:12 pace, but I slowed down after 30:00 and really fell off in the last 1K (3:36.0). I had to fight like crazy to even break 35:20, but I succeeded and got 1:45.9 pace. HR maxed at 173, which is low for that kind of workout and suggests that it wasn't a great day.

9:12: 5K/17:05.2 (old: 17:34.8 standalone, 17:27.5 split). Target pace was 1:43, upside 1:42.5'ish. Quite different from Tuesday. Held the 1:43 pace for the first 1K and resisted the temptation to let the pace go too hot, and then negative split, closing it out with 2 1:42.2's and a final 1:41.7. HR hit 176, which is about what I expected. I was hurting at the end! Went for another 30m after that, 7822, but I was picking up the pace as I recovered and the last 5:00 split was at 1:53.0.

Still have to do a 6K one of these days. Target pace for that would be 1:43.5-1:44 (20:42-20:48). Current PR for that is 20:57.5 split (never done it standalone), so I don't expect the same kind of improvement as on the 5K and 10K.

[hjs]

Congrats, strong pb s, you must be a real long distance man looking at your speedwork.

Keep it comming.

[rlk]

Congrats, strong pb s, you must be a real long distance man looking at your speedwork.

Keep it comming.

Thanks. Yes, I'm much more endurance than force.

[Edward4492]

Very nice numbers! Keep up the good work.

[lindsayh]

rlk - those are very fine numbers indeed - well done.

6km TT today to help Terry Dargan set a new WR for 70+ mlwt - 22:56.5 @1:54.7 - broke old one by about 15secs. (he set a new 10k one in August)
I did 22:15.4 @1:52.2 - a new PB for me so all very satisfying.

[lindsayh]

30min = 8003 @1:52.4 = PB by 50m

(Terry did 7770 which is a PB for him too)

[jackarabit]

Lindsay writes:

6km TT today to help Terry Dargan set a new WR for 70+ mlwt

Curious how you help your bud with his WR effort, Lindsay? If you weren't also on the erg I would guess you were coaching, catching the splits, footing the erg, shouting encouragement. I know he ain't drafting and hope he doesn't need a cut man! At 8K over 30' I would guess you have to pace your own effort and not much left over? Is it the case that appearing to "make it a race" helps you both or do you have some responsibility for controlling/setting tempo for the record effort? Or are your attempts same day, same venue but not rowed at the same time? I know WR times are set in competition but these longer times would seem to me to call for a calculated, flat paced, metronomic TT performance. Thinking of Jens Voigt dusting off the Hour Record on the track got me wondering about similarities and departures of method and psychology from bike to erg.

Congrats on the PBs. Old dogs but no small dogs in Oz I'll wager. Jack

[lindsayh]

Lindsay writes:

6km TT today to help Terry Dargan set a new WR for 70+ mlwt

Curious how you help your bud with his WR effort, Lindsay? If you weren't also on the erg I would guess you were coaching, catching the splits, footing the erg, shouting encouragement. I know he ain't drafting and hope he doesn't need a cut man! At 8K over 30' I would guess you have to pace your own effort and not much left over? Is it the case that appearing to "make it a race" helps you both or do you have some responsibility for controlling/setting tempo for the record effort? Or are your attempts same day, same venue but not rowed at the same time? I know WR times are set in competition but these longer times would seem to me to call for a calculated, flat paced, metronomic TT performance. Thinking of Jens Voigt dusting off the Hour Record on the track got me wondering about similarities and departures of method and psychology from bike to erg.
Congrats on the PBs. Old dogs but no small dogs in Oz I'll wager. Jack

Thanks Jack. We do the chosen pieces together and often with one or two others as well as I have built a bit of a team at the gym. We do a lot of training sessions as well using timed intervals to keep together, again often 3 or 4 at the same time. I am a bit faster than Terry and go as hard as I can and it suits him to just go at his pace. He is very disciplined but likes having people around him - often one at about his pace as well as my faster one. My stroke rate is very similar so we are going stroke for stroke. We do a bit of urging at the end to help him finish but he is always negative splitting anyway.
My 30 min piece was a close to 100% effort as I reached 170 MHR which is close to my max I think.

The WR times don't have to be set in a race with the exception of the 2km. There is a process of weigh in and witnessing combined with the IND_V code in the PM4 to verify it. In my experience the best way to do them is as you suggest with a flat and very deliberate pace with just enough to finish strongly. My internet friend Richard Steventon in the UK though has suggested that for the 1 hour TT you swing from a faster than pace 1k to a slower 1k rather than flat pacing - might just give that a go.

[jackarabit]

My internet friend Richard Steventon in the UK though has suggested that for the 1 hour TT you swing from a faster than pace 1k to a slower 1k rather than flat pacing - might just give that a go.

Sounds like what I call Resting While Rowing, last resort of the perpetual red zoner. All too easy for me to fall into a pattern of doing what it takes for .5 or a K and then falling off by 5" in the next and then pulling it back down a bit. It's a good day if I can keep making this wave or undulation in split times over 21K. The problem arises when I have to adjust my expectations of doable pace and the over pace number becomes the new goal. I'm gonna remember the word "swing" as a very optimistic word for what feels like clawing one's way back. Jack

[rlk]

Got my HM today -- 77:19.7 (1:49.96), besting my old 77:33.5. Another second or so, as it turns out, and it would have rounded to 1:49.9, but I didn't have anything left.

I started off quite a bit slower than last week -- my first 4K was 13.6 seconds slower than last Tuesday. But that let me go hard, averaging under 1:49 for all but the last 3K when I got tired, but I didn't collapse (final 1097 was 4:01, about 9 seconds, more than 4 seconds of pace, faster than last week, and the final 5K was 38 seconds faster).

DF 112, r28-29. Drag was maybe 1-2 points higher than normal. Didn't feel like a great day although the end result was good, and my chart suggests I should be about .35 sec faster (17:05), but obviously it's going to vary day to day, and other than the challenges I rarely do HM's. I'm planning to do one really hard HM each week for the rest of the challenge, so I have three more shots at it, and with lots more HM's to go my body should get more used to the distance.

[Edward4492]

Finally slayed the 2k beast today with my first time under 7m.
2000m @ 6:59.1 304w 144.7 31r
This has been a psychological as well as physical barrier for me for the past several months, probably more mental. I think I pushed it all the way because I was only able to hold 1:45 for the last 500m split, I can usually sprint that out pretty hard but there was nothing left. This moves me into 6th in the 50-59 LWT, second behind Tom Phillips if I narrow it down to 55-59.

As I have mentioned in other posts, I came off four weeks of long, steady 20r rows. Spent the last three weeks doing speed work with my best being (6)x500m at 1:42 with 5 minutes rest in between. The week before a race or 2k PR attempt I like to do a 1300m at my desired pace with no sprint at the end, just trying to get to the end as comfortably as possible. I find these to be a decent predictor with-out the mental stress of a full 2k. On Thursday I hit 1300m at a 144.8.

Now back to the long stuff for another cycle. Congrats to all of the folks posting up their PR's, there are some real beasts posting here! And of course congrats to anyone putting up a personal best regardless of the number. That's why it's called a "personal best"!