2K Ninja: Breaking Through the No-PR Plateau

Thanksgiving is over and winter training has officially commenced. I sat down to write about strategies for breaking through the no-PR plateau (when you're training and racing and should be getting faster but for some reason your 2K - or 6K - isn't showing it). And then I realized: who better to hear this from than someone who's just done it in a big, game-changing way?

I worked with this athlete - aka 2K Ninja #1 - this summer (along with her counterpart, 2K Ninja #2). After taking big chunks of time off her 2K in her first year of rowing, it had been months and months since she'd PR'd. Unfortunately, her 2K was right in the "maybe" zone - not slow, but not quite recruitable. The Ninjas put in a lot of hard work and in just under 2 months, 2K Ninja #1 was on her way with a 2K PR that got her recruited to - and accepted at - her dream college.

Our training mixed some of the things she was already doing, like steady state and longer hard pieces, with strength training, super-focused steady state, and some really tough 2K prep workouts. But as she puts it, it was something else that made the difference.

Here's our Q & A on how she broke through the plateau.

Esther: Let's talk numbers. What did you start with, and where'd you end up?

2K Ninja #1: I came in with a 7:30.3, which was basically where I'd been last winter and spring. Halfway through working with you, I pulled a 7:28.8. Then on the last day of our program I went 7:21.4. So in just under 8 weeks, I took 8.9 seconds off.

E: What was different about the work we did compared to what you were doing before?

2KN: I didn't expect for us to do so much steady state work (I kind of expected the hard stuff!) At first I was skeptical that it would help me, but as I kept working I saw my steady state split drop and drop, and then my 2K split as well!

E: What gain are you most proud of from last summer?

2KN: Probably even more than my 2K score, I'm proud of how I was able to mentally tackle each erg and water workout you gave me. At the beginning of the program, you wrote down these workouts that seemed insurmountable. But we worked on not just the physical aspects of the rowing, but the mental aspects as well. By the end of the program, I was able to mentally tackle any workout you wrote down and take it one stroke at a time, and I was able to translate that into my mental state during my 2K.

E: Sounds like a lot of hard work! If you had it to do over again, would you?

2KN: Yeah, it was, but it was definitely worth it. I not only dropped a significant chunk of time off my 2K, but I became stronger as an all-around rower. You pushed me harder than I'd ever been pushed before, and I learned things I'll take with me for the rest of my rowing career. I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

E: Is there any part of rowing you like better now?

2KN: I definitely have a better appreciation for longer steady state pieces and how they help build endurance and speed. I also developed a weird liking towards the erg. At different points in the program we would be doing the same workout each week, and each week you would lower the splits I was supposed to hit. The first week I was all over the place and not even close. But by the last week I was able to hit them right on, even though the splits were significantly faster. Being able to measure that difference on the monitor really helped me see that my hard work was paying off.

E: What did your parents think of how you spent your summer vacation?

2KN: My parents were amazed by both the process and what it accomplished. They'd seen me over and over again only being able to take tenths of seconds off my 2K, and seen my frustration. I don't think they were prepared for such a big PR. I would come home every day pretty worn out, but I don't think they really understood  the work we were doing until they heard my score.

E: What would you tell someone who's thinking about putting in the work you did to get better at rowing and to get a better 2K?

2KN: Go for it! If you're willing to put in the work and you have a good plan, the changes you'll see in your erg score and in your rowing overall will astonish you. Be willing to give everything you have and to push for one split lower. Also, "impossible" workouts are almost never impossible. Take it one stroke at a time and trust that you can accomplish what you set your mind to.

So there you have it! Set your big goal, figure out your plan to get there, commit to the work it'll take and to building the toughness it will definitely take, and then get after it...one stroke at a time!

Happy training,
Esther

A new year...and answers to your questions!

   There were a bunch of great questions from readers on my last blog post...I was able to put together answers to a few. The first few days of camp here in San Diego have been great! After a hard training push right up to the holidays, I headed home to Newport Beach and got in a lot of great training while having a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year with my family and friends. The Newport Aquatic Center, which has been my home base since I started rowing, continues to be tremendously supportive of my training and my racing goals for this summer, and I am so deeply grateful to Billy and the crew there! Thanks, guys!

Billy Whitford, NAC leader extraordinaire!

   And now for the questions and answers! You asked:
How do you keep motivated during long, boring, painful winter training?
   Well...a lot of it is pretty tedious. At some point, erging just becomes erging, no matter how creative you are at breaking up the pieces or changing the stroke rating. I like to set goals for myself for the winter as a whole and also for each workout. It's extremely helpful to keep a notebook with your splits and heartrates for workouts that you do again and again. When it comes to steady state, your notebook can motivate you because you see how your heartrate gets a little better (over time) as you hold the same splits. And for pieces, you can ballpark how much faster would be moderate improvement, and how much faster would be an awesome piece!

Photo: stronglifts.com

   I also try to get fresh music on my iPod as often as I can. Our team often rotates whose mp3 player is blasting for our workouts--even if it's not your favorite music, sometimes anything besides your one go-to playlist is what you need. (Side note...January playlist coming soon!)

   The other thing it's helpful to realize is that you can--and should!--work on technique on the erg. Erging in front of a mirror will allow you to check if you have a horizontal drive with a good sequence from catch to finish, and you can check if you're sitting up throughout the stroke and not picking up the work by opening your body. Nobody wants to be this guy!



    Another great question:
   Which is more effective in training...explosive/speed pieces or long ss [steady state] pieces? Also what is your diet? Do you take supplements?
    Both of those types of training belong in everyone's workout regimen, regardless of your training volume and training goals. What you are trying to train for should determine the specifics of those workouts--for example, if your major training goal is winning the Head of the Charles, it would be less important to focus on 2K-specific speed workouts than on longer, 5K-specific workouts. Since physiologically a 2K is akin to doing as many power high pulls as you can, at the highest weight you can manage, in 5 to 8 minutes, training should help you build rowing-related muscle strength and then aerobically and anaerobically condition that muscle strength.

   Most people will see benefits across the board from doing more steady state work. Aerobic fitness helps you build the system that delivers oxygen to your muscles, and is a big part of the middle 1500 meters of a 2K race. But anaerobic work--including longer, hard pieces and interval training--is needed so that you can push your body to its limit, break it down, and allow it to build back stronger and fitter than it was before. Every team I've ever been on does 2-3 "hard" practices each week, with the rest of the training time spent on steady state, cross-training, and lifting--a ratio that seems to work well. I have definitely benefited from both types!

    My diet isn't anything too special. About 95% of the time, I treat food like fuel. If it isn't going to help me perform better on the water or the erg, it's not worth eating. There's always room for fruits and vegetables, nuts, Greek yogurt, muesli, whole-grain pasta and quinoa, and lean meats--and a LOT of water, milk, and other hydration sources. I also use hydration and recovery drinks from Shaklee and nuun. The other 5%...well, we train a lot, and one of the luxuries of that is getting to have things like an ice cream or a beer once in a while. But staying on top of what you're using to fuel your body is a huge performance enhancer.

Photo: sportsmd.com.

    Taking supplements is very risky, because there are so many ones on the market that are unregulated and could contain things entirely different than what the label reads (and for our team and NCAA athletes, banned substances). I do take a few supplements--a multivitamin, fish oil, iron--very basic things. I only use companies that are specifically focused on quality (all of these companies market their products to athletes who are drug tested) and that have extreme quality control on their products. Right now, I rely on Shaklee products, which are extremely high in quality, developed with athletes in mind, and cover a range of needs from multivitamin to sports recovery to highly-specialized supplementation.

Photo: solgar.com

    A lot of the questions readers posted were training-specific, and while I'm not going to post my training journal on here, there are a lot of really good resources online that can help answer your questions! I would suggest always talking with your coach about what you want to work on, because your coach will likely have additional workouts (or stretches, or rest!) that they would prefer you do.

High Performance Rowing - well-researched journal/performance articles relevant to rowers.
Eat to Win and Paleo Diet for Athletes - these two books are helpful for understanding how to treat food as fuel. Just be sure to take both "plans" with a grain of salt, and be sure to meet with a nutritionist before starting any major shift in your diet.
Role Model Rowing and Drew Ginn's Youtube- Besides looking on YouTube, Carlos Dinares has a great collection of "good rowing" videos, both sweep and sculling, on his website. I also like to check out Drew Ginn's YouTube channel for videos of good sweep rowing.

Hopefully this provides some helpful answers--I'll try to respond to more of the questions next week! And, as always, feel free to leave comments or more questions here! Thanks and GO USA! -Esther