I’ve started RowAlong’s 10k rowing plan, wanting to get a bit more into long distance rowing.
So for anyone wanting to join me, either on your own indoor rower or on a rower on the gym, the minimum you’ll need is a smart phone with YouTube and an internet connection wherever your rower is.
To prepare, just subscribe to the RowAlong YouTube channel youtube.com/c/RowAlongFreeI... and you can also just click on the links below and RowAlong to his Instructions. (There is also a Facebook site, just search for RowAlong.)
(Optional) For those who are keeping a Concept2 logbook and want to program in the PM5, the best solution is to download the app ErgZone, connect to your Logbook, ideally put in your 2k pace, and find the RowAlong channel on it. ErgZone can take the hastle out of programming the PM5 (but just rowing to the videos is also ok).
Week 8 Session 1 – 5 x 8mins with 3 min rests – split the 8 minutes in half youtu.be/qNsh2cs6RNg
Week 8 Session 2 – Alternate 18spm and 20spm every 3 minutes for 30minutes youtu.be/_MAjJtzovCs
Week 8 Session 3 – 10Km Prep: Row 3 minutes at 5K Stroke rate and pace – then 17minutes at 18spm youtu.be/zbL29Be_PLo
REST DAY HERE – RECOVER BEFORE THE 10K ROW!!
Week 8 Session 4 – 10Km time trial. (CBDB’s note: Make sure you use the Concept2 online logbook, as can then track and compare your improvements of your 10ks)
Week 8 Session 5 – 30 mins at 20spm / 2K+18 with 10 power strokes (still at 20spm) every 4:30
Great start to the 10k plan today, certainly liked this week 1 so much better than week 1 of the 2k plan. So I think it was a great decision for me to move over to the 10k plan.
RowAlong’s John Steventon recently posted in a reply that for some rowers new to the sport the following sequence of plans might be a great choice:
1. 30x30 plan
2. 10k plan
3. Revisit 30x30 plan
4. 500m plan
5. Revisit 30x30 plan
6. 5k plan
7. Revisit 30x30 plan
8. 500m plan
9. Revisit 30x30 plan
10. 2k plan
And that also sounds like it would fit me.
The row of the 10k plan’s Week 1 Row 1 was great but I ended up faffing-about with tech quite a bit at the start, which one can see in the first set of 10min as I ended up under the targeted pace.
Second set of 10 min, wanting to catch up the time missed during my faffing about, I took the next 10 min slightly too fast.
Held back in 3rd and 4th sets of 10minutes, and then pushed a bit more in last set.
It felt very doable, no backache (I had some in the beginning of my rowing journey), and felt I could push more. But having rowed 4+4+50+2=60 minutes without any issues was a great experience and I think this is my first 60 minute row ever. I can see how rowing 10k is so doable, and it feels comfortable.
I have experienced now how my beloved slow joggling running could find an equivalent of a slow sloggle of a row! And I was sweaty by the end of it without my heart rate having gone up very much! Delicious sloggle of a row!
So really looking forward to more of those, as well as the whole plan!
For some reason it didn’t feel as easy as yesterday’s row (maybe 10min sets helped, or 18/20 swaps) but I’m getting the hang of consistently keeping to my target SPM and pace.
On Zwift I came across a waterfall, so now off to a shower!
10k plan , a low intensity row.A fairly easy ramble row with a Zwift run, which felt quite doable. And i’m also getting a satisfaction out of hitting the target pace !
A 35min straight row at effort level 7 out of 10. (20 SPM 2k +18)
I normally don’t like these straight rows, as they used to bore me. But nowadays I have Coach RowAlong chatting technique, his video keeping my strokes in sync, ErgZone App’s pace feature keeping me aiming at a very specific speed, and Zwift providing the scenic views. (I even got a virtual Running Channel T-shirt as part of the 5k race I row-ran!)
After a bit of a break as my glutes we’re getting quite tight. So more yoga and stretching and today the medium effort row with 11 + 11 + 11 min at 18/22/18 and 2k+18/14/18
Well, I came down with symptoms the evening I started week 3 last Monday. Completely horizontal and in bed by Thursday, which was also the first day of testing positive!
Thur - Sunday was coughing, headaches, sniffling, aching limbs, wheezing and overall weakness.
Today, Monday after my last row, I did RowAlongs build me up series, which RA filmed whilst he was recovering from Covid earlier this year.
So 5 min warmup, 5 min easy row, and a good stretch afterwards.
Yup, my legs feel wobbly now even though I took it really easy. But it’s good to be doing some activity!
Row 9/8/7/6/5/4/3/2/1 with no rests. Alternate 20spm 2k+18 and 18spm and 2k+20 as you work through it.
This was hard as it’s medium-to-high effort but for 45min without any rest. So one of the longest rows that were not on the bottom on scale. I got to 7.5k, so I might reach 10k in an hour row.
WEEK 4 SESSION 3 and 4 all done. WEEK 4 SESSION 5 was a doozy.
In between I did this month’s C2C challenge. c2ctc.com
I’m beginning to think that the last boat of them all is the place to be, as throughout the month, it’s likely for the last boats to repeatedly get stranded on the shore and, with the help of the next rower, to be floated, again several times over.
I really liked this one!
I’m super-slow as ever, but this took me out of various comfort zones. And that felt great! And I might just put that warm-up into a separate ErgZone workout. I loved that warm-up!
Thank you, Coach RowAlong, and everyone in our CTC boats. Keep on keeping, everyone!
Yesterday had a rubbish time trying to do this session due to repeated Bluetooth blackouts (or should it be blue-outs?).
I started the video together with Ergzone three times, but every time ca 10-15 min into the session, headphones stopped, YouTube crashed, ergzone continued, and my Zeift runner lost any BT connection and stood there looking around as if she was astounded herself to not be running.
.i stopped trying after three attempts, a total of only 20 minutes from three warmup routines.
All in all very unsatisfactory. But these sessions are there to test us.
There is the suggestion that this was the heaviest until the 10k race (in rowing called “time trial”). From here on in, we’re tapering!
And it was pretty intense, although I still had more in the can, so to speak. So my take-away from this is that I might be becoming a stronger rower! Wouldn’t that be great!
Also tried a 5k row yesterday with 100% nose-breathing. That was interesting? Probably equivalent to Maffetone method in running.
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