Indoor Rowing and training when you workout by yourself

In the next couple of days I am going to put together a program that makes it interesting for anyone to workout. The goal is to bring variety into a training routine that encompasses endurance with strength training. Muscle gain and fat loss is a guarantee, so stay tuned, I am looking forward to this one.
XENO

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.

Another article about the importance of endurance training that can be directly used for indoor rowing:

Above, large men running in the Decathlon. They need aerobic as well as unaerobic capcity, truely the most complete athletes, I must say.

Hi,
What this article does not talk about is why the aerobic base is important for 7 minute efforts.
The aerobic cycle needs lactic acid to complete itself thus slowing down the acid accumulation during a 2k effort.
XENO


Pace yourself for marathon success

By Bill Shaw
The Facts
Published February 6, 2006

What gives you the aerobic base to finish a 5K or a 10K strong, or to endure those grueling 13.1 miles of a half-marathon or 26.2 miles of a marathon?

The slow, long-distance run.

“Long runs develop cardiovascular efficiency to its maximum,” writes Jeff Galloway in “Book on Running” (2nd ed., Shelter Publications, 2002). “They are the single most important element in your program.”

“Your aerobic base is only as good as its parts that are slowest to develop,” says Marty Jerome in “February: Fundamentals,” the month’s essay in “The Complete Runner’s Day-by-Day Log and Calendar 2006” (Random House).

You run aerobically, according to Galloway, when you “do not exceed the pace or distance for which you have trained.” You run anaerobically when you exceed the speed and/or distance for which you have trained; you push muscles beyond their capacity, and they need more oxygen than the body can supply.”

To perform your best in a shorter or a longer run, it is not enough to train short distances at maximum speed. If your goal is a 5K or 10K, for example, you need to build up a running base of a long-distance run of a greater distance, e.g., a weekly, slower run of five to 10 miles. Increase the distance proportionally as the distance of your race goal increases.

“The sustained pumping of the heart helps the heart, arteries and veins become more efficient in transporting the blood and allows the lungs to absorb oxygen more efficiently,” Galloway says. “When the muscles are pushed to their limits (as in a regularly scheduled, gradually increasingly long run), they will respond better and work longer because of this strengthening of the circulation system.”

Slower, long-distance runs also help to increase your lactic threshold, the point at which the waste product of burned glycogen or sugar fills up the muscles and slows them down and decreases their efficiency.

The longer the race, the higher lactic threshold you need.

According to Bob and Shelly-lynn Florence Glover in “The Competitive Runner’s Handbook” (2nd rev. ed., Penguin 1999), “a 100-yard sprint is 92 percent anaerobic, 8 percent aerobic; an all-out mile is 75 percent anaerobic, 25 percent aerobic; a 5K race is 7 percent anaerobic, 93 percent aerobic; a 10K race is 3 percent anaerobic, 97 percent aerobic; and a marathon is 1 percent anaerobic, 99 percent aerobic.”

You must include the long, slow run as part of your running regimen because, Jerome emphasizes, “you’re ultimately only as fit as your aerobic base.”

Building a strong aerobic base is important for both younger and older runners. A strong aerobic base makes younger runners faster and older runners stronger in the later stages of a race.

As an older runner, I am able to push my pace up a notch in the last mile of a 5K. As a triathlete, I am able to gain on those who beat me in the pool and on the bicycle.

I am one of the last swimmers out of the pool; in fact, I have been last out of the pool more than once. I overtake some triathletes on the cycle route.

My aerobic training gives me the strength to pass younger runners in the run segment. (Our ages are body-marked on our calves, so I know when I pass someone younger than I am.)

So I’m out at least once a week for a six- to eight-miler. The slow, long-distance run builds aerobic strength and character.

Running footnote: My apologies to Jason Culverhouse, 32, of West Columbia, the fastest Southern Brazoria male marathoner, whom I overlooked in my last column. Culverhouse finished in 3:09:30, a 7:13 pace. He was 195 overall and 172 in his gender.

Here is the link:
http://thefacts.com/story.lasso?ewcd=c4f1a87746f8d7b1

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.

Details about lactate testing with indoor rowing and other cross training exercises

Hi

Truely, I use the lactate testing in a very simple way.

First the goal is to figure out what lactate the athlete pushes for long distance work and then the target heart rate will be adjusted.

Secondly lactate testing is used to determine if the method of training keeps positively developing the aerobic capacity.

When cross training is part of an exercise program it is very useful to check lactate levels for long distance training for those different forms of exercises and adjust the heart rate accordingly.

Other details are:

If you are on the atkins diet you produce less lactic acid during long distance steady state, interesting effect, but I will not try it again...

If you did a hard weight lifting session, you will have a higher rest lactate level the day after and as long as you feel tender muscles.

If you are slightly sick, without even feeling symptoms, your lactate levels will be higher rapidly.

As for Doug's results the last three made sense the others not.

Resting lactate can be below 0.8. Usually it ranges from "lo" to 1.4. When you start rowing steadily it is not unusual to drop lactate level under the rest level. When we do nothing we tend to not use much aerobic energy.

The story could go on...

XENO

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.

Aerobic conditioning article from www.outside.away.com

Bodywork Special
Fitness Is an Adventure


[#1] Endurance
Widen Your Horizon
What defines endurance? How about running six-minute miles for an entire marathon with a heart rate of 155—a number most people hit on a light jog? That's what 34-year-old Tim DeBoom, two-time Ironman world champion, can do. The secret resides in a body that's become hyperefficient at burning oxygen to power athletic activity and equally efficient at removing stride-slowing lactic acid. The fuel efficiency was cultivated over seven years of consistent, focused training; the superior lactic flush comes from a few weeks of race-pace work prior to competition.

Ed McNeely, a strength-conditioning coach at Rowing Canada who has worked with 31 Olympic athletes in 17 different sports, explains the success of DeBoom's approach. "You can't gain endurance by training at your limit all the time," he says. "You'll exhaust yourself before your body creates the mechanisms needed to boost its efficiency."

Step Up
Think you can survive a world champion's cardio workout? CLICK HERE to see if you can match Andy Irons's heart-pounding regimen.
Ideally, says McNeely, you should develop your aerobic foundation first and save speed work for last. "You need to spend at least six weeks exercising four times a week to build a base," says McNeely. Then, like DeBoom, you'll go faster and farther each year.

The Workout
To build bonk-proof endurance, plan your training season in the following phases.

Base building: This phase should take up the first four-fifths of your training schedule, whether it's for an active summer season or a big event, like a marathon. The pace for building base is one that allows you to talk during a workout. Four times a week, aim for light but sustained workouts lasting at least one hour for runners, rowers, and swimmers, and two hours for cyclists.

Threshold training: Spend the last fifth of your conditioning schedule folding in high-intensity efforts at your lactic-acid threshold (LT), "the point where lactic-acid production exceeds its removal," says McNeely. That calls for up to, but no more than, six weeks of running for one hour, working in five- to ten-minute intervals. Start with ten minutes of recovery between each interval; by week six, recovery time should shrink to five minutes. By pushing into a high-intensity zone, you'll gradually knock back your breaking point.

"By now, I know my threshold by feel," says DeBoom, "and I'll hover right below it during a race."

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.

Thank you John for your kind words, XENO

I would also like to echo my appreciation to Xeno for all of his contributions to this forum. I found the discussion regarding the Long Beach Sprints/Crash B training especially good; not only Xeno's comments but those of other forum contributors as well.

I just wanted to comment on my experience with Xeno's coaching. I am 40 and scull in St. Louis. I have rowed since college and have been coached by many individuals over the years but I really was pleased with Xeno's coaching style. My parents live in LA so I go out there for frequent visits and I have had the pleasure of visiting Xeno's Iron Oarsman studio in Costa Mesa and taking part in one of his classes. This was a great experience. I was fascinated to see that the class participants were a mixture of on water rowers and people very new to indoor rowing. The amazing thing was that the class seemed very appropriate for everybody and it was really a great workout.

I have also done, on two occasions, on water sessions with me in a single and Xeno coaching out of the Newport aquatic center. Xeno filmed the session and I have it on DVD to watch whenever I want. It was a very valuable experience and being able to watch it again and again allows me to be reminded of the drills he taught me as well as the general coaching comments that otherwise might be forgotten as time passes.

I would encourage anyone visiting in Southern California to pay a visit to Xeno for either an indoor rowing session or an on water row.

BTW, I am the chairman of our indoor rowing regatta (hosted by Washington University and the St. Louis Rowing Club) to be held tomorrow (Saturday, Feb 4) at Washington University's athletic complex at 9 AM. It's a bit stressful organizing the event and competing but it should be fun.

John Mason
40, HWT
2K 6:38.2 (1-28-06)

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.