Cross Training: Rowing

[simonp]

I bettered my time last night by going slower, but I overdid the warm up somewhat with a 50 minute spin & abs class!
Tonight I'm going to an aqua fit class so I will do the rowing first instead. Interestingly my heart rate was much lower doing the rowing than it was spinning. This may well mean I'm doing it wrong!

You need to link your Concept II log to Facebook.

[Feline]

This may well mean I'm doing it wrong!

Or possibly not. My heart rate on the rowing machine means something completely different to that when I'm cycling.

When I do 2x20 intervals on the bike, I maintain 165bpm for each work segment, or thereabouts. It feels tough, but sustainable for that length of time - just. If I tried that kind of heart rate on the rower, I would die.

When I'm balls-out going for it on the rower, the "about to puke" point is about 140bpm.

Ah this is interesting. I've bought a bluetooth polar HR band because it works with all the gym equipment and my iPhone iCardio app.

I don't think I have configured my iCardio personal settings quite right because it had me at above my max HR for 15% of the 50 mins spinning and at VO2Max (HR 162-179) for 53%. My max HR was 186. http://my.digifit.com/site/share/workout/91d8eea1068511e297bb3f62a51bf2ea.html  Basically it thinks my max HR should be 179 based on age etc., but I know I can hit 190 on a double chevron bike climb. When I first started cycling and got my Garmin I managed a HR over 200 (but felt like I was near death at the time, couldn't stop because I knew I hadn't the energy to unclip).

On the rowing machine I didn't make it above 173bpm, although I was only doing 1000m so I guess it would have climbed if I had kept going into anaerobicness! http://my.digifit.com/site/share/workout/74c34d07068811e29f1d3f62a51bf2ea.html

[Feline]

I bettered my time last night by going slower, but I overdid the warm up somewhat with a 50 minute spin & abs class!
Tonight I'm going to an aqua fit class so I will do the rowing first instead. Interestingly my heart rate was much lower doing the rowing than it was spinning. This may well mean I'm doing it wrong!

You need to link your Concept II log to Facebook.

What, and tell everyone how rubbish I am? 

[Panoramix]

I bettered my time last night by going slower, but I overdid the warm up somewhat with a 50 minute spin & abs class!
Tonight I'm going to an aqua fit class so I will do the rowing first instead. Interestingly my heart rate was much lower doing the rowing than it was spinning. This may well mean I'm doing it wrong!

IMHO You probably need to perfect your technique, you should be able to reach stupidly high bpm on the rowing machine. Legs, stomach muscles, shoulders and arms should all be sore after! At least this is how it used to work for me.

[Feline]

I bettered my time last night by going slower, but I overdid the warm up somewhat with a 50 minute spin & abs class!
Tonight I'm going to an aqua fit class so I will do the rowing first instead. Interestingly my heart rate was much lower doing the rowing than it was spinning. This may well mean I'm doing it wrong!

IMHO You probably need to perfect your technique, you should be able to reach stupidly high bpm on the rowing machine. Legs, stomach muscles, shoulders and arms should all be sore after! At least this is how it used to work for me.

I have now watched the technique video so I should have more of a clue when I next try. Tonight everything aches, but that is probably a result of suddenly attending a heap of classes and gym sessions in the same week when my body hasn't yet got with the program!

[Panoramix]

A good tip is to try to get the speed as high as possible keeping the stroke rate very low (sub 20). It will force you to think about technique and concentrate on pushiing hard on the feet and having a strong back.

[L CC]

It might help if you grunt, in a Monica Seles style-ee.

Or possibly that's just me. 

[Mrs Pingu]

I tried a 2000m row tonight. Slowed down a bit at the pukey feeling and then went a bit mad in the end to just scrape below 10 mind at 9m 50.
That was after me trying to increase my running intervals by sprinting with the incline set at 4% and failing ( another fantastic piece of advice from the dude that visited my work on friday - not).
Tired nao

[Mrs Pingu]

Oh, I meant to ask, does anyone have any top tips about the toe straps? Both the machines i've used at the gym thus far have had straps that loosened themselves, and the bloke next to me seemed to be having the same issue.

[Gus]

I have the same problem when using running  shoes, but not when I use shoes with no cushion.

[simonp]

We went to the gym. After hitting my max HR in the spinning class (194bpm) and then doing a gym induction session we both did 2000m. I was 19s shy of my PB, but it’s the first time I’ve been on a rowing machine in a year - 7:45.6.

[Feline]

I tried a 2000m for the first time tonight. It went quite well with faster 500m splits than I managed in the initial 2 sessions doing 1000m. Time was 9:15:1 which gives me a lot of room for improvement 

[thesloth]

Went down to the garage to fire up my rower which has laid idle during the summer & found that the display on the monitor has packed up.
It's an old PM2. The digits are very faint only visible at an extreme angle.
A fair bit on the concept 2 forums about this. They say it's often caused by corrosion. Sure enough mine has allot of nasty stuff around the battery contacts.
Will look inside and see what I can achieve with my suspect skills. If I fail I guess its going to be:
Pro repair
New/used PM2
New/used PM3

[thesloth]

If it's really dead (have you tried new batteries?), you can have my old PM2, for postage cost. I stumbled across it in my garage the other day, wrapped in an old jiffy bag. I replaced it with a secondhand PM3 a year or two ago.

Thank you, that's a very kind offer. I have tried new batteries and they don't help. I'll open mine up tonight to see if there are any obvious faults that I can rectify first. If I don't have any joy I'll PM you.

[thesloth]

Back in business! I had a look inside and the circuit board looked good. I clean one bit of gunk that looked like it was bridging two tracks. Looked like most of the heavy corrosion was around the battery contacts which I removed with a bit of vinegar.
All seems to be working now.
Tested it with a 2000m this morning. Now I just need to do some work on the engine.

[Feline]

I think I might have a bizarre rowing injury. This might fall into the TMI category, but I have a very painful sore area over my coxyx that I don't remember injuring. It is making sitting down painful. The only way I think it could have happened is while rowing. Has anyone else had a similar problem? I'm wondering if I should row in padded cycling shorts in future or take a cushion. It's not like I've tried any long distances yet either 

[mike]

not uncommon - fold a towel and sit on it or you can buy seat pads from godfrey (?), some people with bony arses need'em. 

we need a pic really, to judge bony-ness, then we can *really* help.....

[L CC]

I have no problems.
I have a LOT of cushioning.

These may be connected...

[simonp]

I think I might have a bizarre rowing injury. This might fall into the TMI category, but I have a very painful sore area over my coxyx that I don't remember injuring. It is making sitting down painful. The only way I think it could have happened is while rowing. Has anyone else had a similar problem? I'm wondering if I should row in padded cycling shorts in future or take a cushion. It's not like I've tried any long distances yet either 

I think these are the seat pads Mike refers to, some gyms have them:

http://concept2.co.uk/shop/product/seat_pad_deluxe

[simonp]

We both went for PBs on 2000m today, and both got them.

Given Feline’s still coughing from lurgy, and I’ve been feeling run down, we didn’t do too bad. Mine was a 7:20.3, which given that this is only my 4th go on an erg after a 12 month gap, I am quite surprised. It was bloody hard work though.

Interestingly my 5K times are still lagging by some way.
 

[Gus]

Just started up on rowing again, using it as warmup for other execises.
Lowered my 30 min record  to 7222 meter, so in better shape than last year.
I hope to improve fitness over winter coming out stronger and faster than
I've been the last 10 years. 

[Feline]

I felt like I was going to die, rowing today (probably because I've not had much sleep in 48 hours working nights). Another new PB of 8:55 for 2000m. The concept 2 seat cushion is really good, it will be coming with me to the gym every time now.

[LancashireLarry]

Well, I posted a search for rowing / cycling cross training and this link came up. I haven't read through all 48pages (yet) so not sure if what I am about to ask has come up yet...

I have got a Concept II rower I've had for a number of years (I used to do a lot of rowing at local Leisure Centre around 2000/2001) and bought one for home use but then got in to the Audax riding and have progressed with that since.

As I aim to do longer rides, up to 400km's at moment I am aware of issues with aching neck and back and believe that a stronger core / upper body will help there - something I know that the rower was very good at developing.

Can anyone recommend which way round to do a mixed session of turbo training / rowing - say for three nights a week with  about 90minutes available for each session.

Interesting to see mention of the Comic Relief million metre row - that was what got me hooked in 2000 - though I found out about it late on and ended up doing the million metres in 12weeks - it was before we had kids and I had nothing else better to do with my time - I used to pay £2 entry to the Leisure Centre and get my monies worth - up to 3.5 hours rowing (up to 50km sessions). I went from the heavyweight >75kg down in to the lightweight <75kg category about 4 weeks in to the rowing.

One of the issues I've had with getting going on the rowing is how disappointing my times are now, to be expected after many years not rowing and a few years older - I used to do the marathon (42195mts in rowing speak) in <2hr 45mins but was never that good at the shorter distances (probably why the Audax riding appeals and not time trialling as well!)

Anyway, I'll say thank you to some of you because reading through has definitely pushed me to get going again, stop focussing on what I could achieve previously and see what I can achieve now! Hopefully, I'll be back with some times soon - though I wont be rushing straight in to multi-hour sesssions just yet!

[Feline]

Well, I posted a search for rowing / cycling cross training and this link came up. I haven't read through all 48pages (yet) so not sure if what I am about to ask has come up yet...

I have got a Concept II rower I've had for a number of years (I used to do a lot of rowing at local Leisure Centre around 2000/2001) and bought one for home use but then got in to the Audax riding and have progressed with that since.

As I aim to do longer rides, up to 400km's at moment I am aware of issues with aching neck and back and believe that a stronger core / upper body will help there - something I know that the rower was very good at developing.

Can anyone recommend which way round to do a mixed session of turbo training / rowing - say for three nights a week with  about 90minutes available for each session.

Interesting to see mention of the Comic Relief million metre row - that was what got me hooked in 2000 - though I found out about it late on and ended up doing the million metres in 12weeks - it was before we had kids and I had nothing else better to do with my time - I used to pay £2 entry to the Leisure Centre and get my monies worth - up to 3.5 hours rowing (up to 50km sessions). I went from the heavyweight >75kg down in to the lightweight <75kg category about 4 weeks in to the rowing.

One of the issues I've had with getting going on the rowing is how disappointing my times are now, to be expected after many years not rowing and a few years older - I used to do the marathon (42195mts in rowing speak) in <2hr 45mins but was never that good at the shorter distances (probably why the Audax riding appeals and not time trialling as well!)

Anyway, I'll say thank you to some of you because reading through has definitely pushed me to get going again, stop focussing on what I could achieve previously and see what I can achieve now! Hopefully, I'll be back with some times soon - though I wont be rushing straight in to multi-hour sesssions just yet!

Sounds like your rowing achievements are very impressive Larry. I can't imagine doing it for hours, I find it pushes my heart rate much higher than running.

The problems you're having on your bike might be positional, if this were (lazy) me I would probably be getting a pro bike fit rather than rowing uber-miles!

[LancashireLarry]

Thank you for the feeback.

I've had a professional bike fit which has successfully removed the issues I had with my knees and has improved my lower back and neck to the point where it is not an acute problem.
I guess I am just aware that the cycling alone is not going to do much for core strength, though maybe the increased percentage of winter MTBing might help a little - the rowing should be of a general benefit and help with the back and neck.
I have no intention of building up to rowing marathon distances again - if I had that sort of time free now I would be out on the bike! The training sessions indoors are strictly for mid-week evenings through winter.

Mark (the LancashireLarry tag is simply a nickname I got when I came to work in Lincolnshire.)