Rowers are obsessive counters. From strokes per minute to the breakdown of the four-component stroke (catch, drive, finish, recover), a lot of rowers spend most of their mental effort counting through the agony. Combine that with the PM II monitor on the Concept2 erg, and a typical workout becomes a major exercise in Distance=Rate x Time.
Today I stepped up the first week’s average training distance of 5K to 6K. The focus for me now is weight loss (I don’t have a scale, so I can’t express my current fatitude). Weight loss is a function of time as a low heart rate. Low heart rate means the body goes after fat for fuel. Therefore, I need to work up to 45 to 60 minute pieces. Going for speed and trying to set records over shorter distance comes later in the training cycle.
The good news is after 8 days I can maintain a sub 2:00 split, coming down 5 seconds in a week. Anything over 2:00 is a grandmotherly pace for me. I know I’m in shape when I can cruise at a sub 1:55 pace.
Hey!
Cool to see that you are rowing.
It might interest you to know that I run an indoor rowing studio here in Costa Mesa, CA.
I won two Olympic medals in the in the men’s single scull. Gold in 1996 and silver in 2000. I filmed a bunch of indoor rowing workouts, which might make it more interesting for you to row farther. Do you log your miles on the concept2 website? You are right, we do count the meters. We would love to have you part of our virtual team IRON OARSMAN. Currently we are number two in the cyber world.
It is always great to find people willing to share their rowing with others.
All the best,
XENO
http://www.ironoarsman.com
Xeno — we met at the Newport Aquatic Center during the winter of 2004. I was working for a Costa Mesa startup and using the boathouse thanks to my Boston coach, Tom Bohrer at the Union Boat Club. Been a big fan of yours for years, following your career at Brown under Gladstone, and of course, within Switzerland when I was working in Zurich.
I rowed competitively in high school and college and have been involved in masters rowing the past ten years, with a few strong CRASH-B finishes.
I’m really interested in learning more about what you do at Iron Oarsman. I drove by your place a few times on my way to the boathouse in Newport Beach. It looks pretty cool — the concept of a group erg workout — sort of like spinning I imagine.
I do log on Concept2 via RowPro 2.0. I like to do some internet races, but right now am coming off of a back injury and trying to do some low and slow pieces to get weight off before getting back into the sub 1:40 split madness that put me in trouble last fall.
I log my meters with Yale University — I know Iron Oarsman is #2. Who is first? supercanoa?
Hello Great to hear back from you.
Number one is Free Spirits. They have a horde of people. That is pretty good.
When will you come back to OC. You should come in and say hi.
Thanks for your kind words.
All the best,
XENO