Indoor rowing - Concept 2

hellarda · 24 Mar 2021 at 22:29

2k day today. Smashed my PB from November by about 5s although didn't quite hit my target of sub 6:20. Didn't push enough in the middle and left myself too much to do with the sprint at the end... I really need to learn to calm my nerves. I did a 500m piece yesterday (at 1:34) and my HR was 165 at the end of it... Look what it was at after 500m today

But boy was it a helluva sprint at the end :eek:

the prediction with 300m to go was 6:24 and I remember thinking to myself 'that won't do' so decided to go full has from 300m and hold on, which I managed to do just about but definitely came the closest I have to blacking out at the end. I felt utterly, utterly awful for about half an hour after finishing. Worse than I've ever felt before after a 2k.

Still, fairly happy

Dunners · 25 Mar 2021 at 19:30

hellarda said:
2k day today. Smashed my PB from November by about 5s although didn't quite hit my target of sub 6:20. Didn't push enough in the middle and left myself too much to do with the sprint at the end... I really need to learn to calm my nerves. I did a 500m piece yesterday (at 1:34) and my HR was 165 at the end of it... Look what it was at after 500m today

But boy was it a helluva sprint at the end the prediction with 300m to go was 6:24 and I remember thinking to myself 'that won't do' so decided to go full has from 300m and hold on, which I managed to do just about but definitely came the closest I have to blacking out at the end. I felt utterly, utterly awful for about half an hour after finishing. Worse than I've ever felt before after a 2k.

Still, fairly happy

That is seriously impressive. I was happy at getting under 20mins for 5k and could barely move afterwards. Your times look incredible to me.

SKILL · 25 Mar 2021 at 22:14

That HR looks incredible to me :eek:

Only did a 2k twice, my best is like a 7:36 I think it was, and I was dead, so dead, 6:20 is crazy talk

Street · 26 Mar 2021 at 15:26

hellarda said:
Still, fairly happy

Awesome work! That last split looks brutal.

Not trying to pee on your bonfire or anything but I've just seen the womens 2k record was broken yesterday as well, 6:21.1!

Converge · 26 Mar 2021 at 17:28

These times are madness. I feel so unfit by comparison!

I rarely get below 2:10 for consistent amounts of time without feeling like I’m going to die!

Has anyone got any good heart rate monitor recommendations? I read that wrist ones are a bit pants compared to chest. Any thoughts?

SKILL · 26 Mar 2021 at 19:12

Converge said:
These times are madness. I feel so unfit by comparison! I rarely get below 2:10 for consistent amounts of time without feeling like I’m going to die!

Has anyone got any good heart rate monitor recommendations? I read that wrist ones are a bit pants compared to chest. Any thoughts?

If it makes you feel any better that's where, or even better than, I'm at now...

Started the BPP a couple of weeks ago by attempting to hold 2:10 for the 5k and failed miserably, yesterday I managed 5.5k with an average of 2:10.5 which is a definite improvement

For HR I use the Wahoo Tickr, had it a few years and no complaints, has both BT and ANT+ so supports/supported by basically everything (usually gets detected as ANT+ by the rower it seems, but occasionally BT, and my PC uses BT for Zwift and it's fine)

Street · 26 Mar 2021 at 23:56

I finally beat one of my longest standing PBs tonight. I'm not built for sprints so haven't tried a 1km since 2019 but it was bugging me seeing it in my logbook from that far back!

Converge said:
Has anyone got any good heart rate monitor recommendations? I read that wrist ones are a bit pants compared to chest. Any thoughts?

I use a Garmin chest one that cost me £35. It's still going strong after a few years and seems pretty accurate but it annoys me wearing it when I'm pushing myself so only tend to use it on long steady state pieces.

SKILL said:
Started the BPP a couple of weeks ago by attempting to hold 2:10 for the 5k and failed miserably, yesterday I managed 5.5k with an average of 2:10.5 which is a definite improvement

Nice! It's surprising how quickly you gain fitness when you're doing it consistently. It's quite satisfying at the end too when you'll be smashing that original 5k pace for over twice the distance.

Dunners · 27 Mar 2021 at 12:53

Converge said:
These times are madness. I feel so unfit by comparison! I rarely get below 2:10 for consistent amounts of time without feeling like I’m going to die!

Has anyone got any good heart rate monitor recommendations? I read that wrist ones are a bit pants compared to chest. Any thoughts?

Garmin chest strap for me - it's been great. I do find I often do better when I don't know how high my HR is going for some reason...

Street · 27 Mar 2021 at 17:03

Dunners said:
Garmin chest strap for me - it's been great. I do find I often do better when I don't know how high my HR is going for some reason...

That's why I don't wear it on hard sessions. I don't like seeing my heart rate going through the roof as mentally it feels like it gives me another excuse to stop.

SAM81 · 27 Mar 2021 at 19:16

hellarda said:
2k day today. Smashed my PB from November by about 5s although didn't quite hit my target of sub 6:20. Didn't push enough in the middle and left myself too much to do with the sprint at the end... I really need to learn to calm my nerves. I did a 500m piece yesterday (at 1:34) and my HR was 165 at the end of it... Look what it was at after 500m today

But boy was it a helluva sprint at the end the prediction with 300m to go was 6:24 and I remember thinking to myself 'that won't do' so decided to go full has from 300m and hold on, which I managed to do just about but definitely came the closest I have to blacking out at the end. I felt utterly, utterly awful for about half an hour after finishing. Worse than I've ever felt before after a 2k.

Still, fairly happy

Wow, hugely impressive. The predicted time can be a brilliant motivator eh! After my 2k pb (which is not even in the same ball park as yours!) I felt close to puking and really had to focus on my breathing but it passed after a minute. To hear you still felt terrible after 30 minutes sounds like you really went to hell. Congrats.

hellarda · 31 Mar 2021 at 09:49

Street said:
Awesome work! That last split looks brutal.

Not trying to pee on your bonfire or anything but I've just seen the womens 2k record was broken yesterday as well, 6:21.1!

It was pretty horrible, not quite sure how I managed to hold on :cry:

I know I saw that, which is absolutely terrifying!

Street said:
I finally beat one of my longest standing PBs tonight. I'm not built for sprints so haven't tried a 1km since 2019 but it was bugging me seeing it in my logbook from that far back!

Nice work on the 1k, I haven't done a free rate one for ages (normally all 1ks we do are capped at r24)

Street said:
That's why I don't wear it on hard sessions. I don't like seeing my heart rate going through the roof as mentally it feels like it gives me another excuse to stop.

I don't have the HR on view during the piece, just put a little bit of tape over the field on the screen, but I like to be able to see what my heart was doing after

SAM81 said:
Wow, hugely impressive. The predicted time can be a brilliant motivator eh! After my 2k pb (which is not even in the same ball park as yours!) I felt close to puking and really had to focus on my breathing but it passed after a minute. To hear you still felt terrible after 30 minutes sounds like you really went to hell. Congrats.

Yeah, I never really look at it until the last 500 or so, and then decide how far into the bin I feel I can go

Which was a long way. Fully collapsed off at the end and couldn't really get up for a good 2/3 minutes and then just felt pretty awful for half an hour. Fortunately I never feel sick after them, but just get a hacking dry cough for the next few hours.

****

To put into perspective (for anyone looking at the splits and thinking how the hell are these achievable) I only started any form of training from May last year (started cycling 100k a week or so) and then started proper rowing training in September.

I did a 6k "steady state" in June last year which looked like this

And that was a huge struggle and I was knackered by the end of it. Now I can happily do 18k at 1:57/1:58 and feel fine after. It is really amazing how quickly you can build endurance fitness!

EDIT:

Also, I know this an indoor rowing thread, but we were back on the water yesterday, and it was absolutely glorious, was absolutely buzzing, even when my alarm went off at 0430...

Ignore the potato photo...

BennoUK · 12 Apr 2021 at 19:01

Big day today, first day back at the gym! I've only been running and lifting my own bodyweight at the local park so wasn't expecting much. Thought id try a 2k and hold a split in the 1:40s and see how I felt, turns out i felt fine so kept knocking some off the split each 500m.

Fairly happy with that, gives me something to work off and wasn't the total disaster I was expecting after 3 months of messing about!

Martynt74 · 13 Apr 2021 at 09:46

Man, i had my first go on the Ski ERG this morning. Absolutely loved it. Was a 20s/10s set and only for 4 minutes as part of a bigger workout but really enjoyed using that. From a space point of view it's preferable over the Rower too for home workouts. Might have to keep an eye out for one!

Cantankerous · 14 Apr 2021 at 17:32

Concept2 arrived and have started the beginners PetePlan. I've used them at the gym before but never properly and it's taking a while to get used to it and sort my form out. Comfortable enough managing 2:10ish /500m for 2k. Can very much tell I've sat at a desk and done nothing for too long.

Should the chain / pull feel a bit rough? I know there's a cogged gear that the chain goes around inside but it feels quite pronounced. Gym's opening up at the end of the month here so will be able to check another machine then.

Street · 27 Apr 2021 at 00:17

I've been following a slightly different plan recently with the aim of getting some of my times for the longer pieces down a bit so following on from my 6k PB last month I had another go tonight and knocked another 4 seconds off!

Cantankerous said:
Should the chain / pull feel a bit rough? I know there's a cogged gear that the chain goes around inside but it feels quite pronounced. Gym's opening up at the end of the month here so will be able to check another machine then.

Mine doesn't feel rough at all. Have you tried a bit of oil on the links?

Dano · 28 Apr 2021 at 10:06

Guess I'll be joining in soon

Street · 28 Apr 2021 at 16:07

Dano said:
Guess I'll be joining in soon

Nice one!

What was the waiting list like for it?

Dano · 28 Apr 2021 at 16:17

Street said:
Nice one! What was the waiting list like for it?

I signed up on Jan 11th and ordered within an hour of being able to, could have had it yesterday but it wasn't good for delivery, though had I known they would be on my doorstep at 6:45am I would have gone with it lmao

Street · 28 Apr 2021 at 23:09

Oof that's a fair wait. I thought it might have come down a bit now since last year.

Street · 5 May 2021 at 10:28

I've just been checking the C2 log for the past season and thanks to lockdown I did just over 2 million metres! I'm pretty happy with my ranked workouts as well, although it shows where my weakness lies as for short sprints and distances below 2km my pace drops off massively. This months aim is to do my one and only HM of the year at 2:00 pace and update my PB.