Effectiveness of 500m intervals for cardio?

rachaelmw · Post by **rachaelmw** » July 30th, 2007, 2:25 pm

Hi all,

I've just reached the end of my second full week of rowing. The first week was relatively easy. I worked on my form and didn't pay much attention to power or speed. I tried to focus on speed this past week, and I must say, rowing is bloody difficult when you actually put some effort into it. On Saturday, I rowed 5000m in 25:02, and almost passed out from exhaustion afterwards. I'm 5'8", 54kg, and an avid runner, so the fact that I could barely breath after the workout was a bit disconcerting. Yesterday I ended up doing six 500m intervals instead. Would doing these intervals, say 3 times a week, help to increase my cardio abilities at all? Also, what would be an optimal rest time between the 500m lengths? My times yesterday weren't great (2:15 for the first five, and 2:12 on the last), but were probably as hard as I could have pushed myself.

-Rachael

johnlvs2run · Post by **johnlvs2run** » July 30th, 2007, 3:53 pm

Hi Rachel,

You have very good times already, especially for just starting out.

The best cardio workout is rowing the 5k straight through.
Another would be alternating fast and slow 500's for 5000 meters.

Doing 500's with rests are good too but not as helpful for a 5k. If your aim is the 5k then taking 1 minute between should be plenty. Or do a 5k first, take a few minutes rest, then 4x 500 with 1 minute rests, then a warm down.