Indoor Sport Services Training Guide

Introduction

The full marathon distance is 42,195m and the half marathon 21,097m. Indoor rowing marathons are becoming increasingly popular and as such Concept 2 now promote an annual Indoor Rowing Marathon Day which coincides with the London Marathon each year.

Structuring a Marathon Programme

Indoor rowing marathons are very demanding and require careful preparation to ensure the best result. Rather than structuring your training programme on the Training Bands model, we recommend you base it around your predicted marathon pace. If you have already completed a marathon, then you know what your pace will be. If you are going for a personal best then base your training around the pace of your new target.

Training Pace

The following marathon training plans make use of these training paces:

• Expected pace for 5,000m.
• Expected pace for 10,000m.
• Expected pace for half marathon.
• Expected pace for marathon.

If you have not established a time for all of these distances then the following is suggested. Take your 500m pace for 5,000m and your 500m pace for 10,000m and calculate the difference. (If you don't have a best time for these distances then row a set piece for both distances at some stage during the first meso-cycle to give you some meaningful figures to work from).

Add the difference between your 500m paces at 5,000m and 10,000m to your 500m pace for 10,000m to give you an approximation of your likely 500m pace for the half marathon. Add twice this difference to your likely 500m pace for the half marathon pace to give you your likely per 500m pace for the full marathon.

For example, if your 500m pace for 5,000m and 10,000m are 1:51 and 1:53 respectively, then the difference is two seconds. Your predicted half marathon 500m pace will be 1:55 and your predicted marathon 500m pace will be 1:59.

You will notice that these predictions vary significantly from those predicted in Table 5.14. The truth is that the times in the training plans err on the side of caution and are based on data from marathons completed on foot rather than the Indoor Rower, as it was compiled at a time when very little Indoor Rower based data was available. It's now becoming increasingly clear that the percentage drop off in pace as you move through the distances on the Indoor Rower is significantly less than the drop off when running due to the less stressful nature of indoor rowing. However, it should be noted that the above formula is for guidance only and, for example, a power based athletes' performance is likely to drop off more rapidly than implied as the distance increases, whereas an endurance based athlete might be able to beat the above drop offs.

As you work through the programme, the times that you find yourself completing the long weekly row in will give you a feel for how accurate your original estimate is and you can adjust accordingly.

Common sense needs to be applied when using these `expected paces'. For example, if the above implies that you should be able to maintain 2:00, 2:03 and 2:09 pace for 10,000m, half marathon and full marathon respectively but, when you try to hold these paces for a lactate threshold session, you find you simply can't hold the pace towards the end of the session, then try 2:01, 2:04 and 2:10. Likewise, if after a few weeks 2:00, 2:03 and 2:09 start feeling significantly easier, then try 1:59, 2:02 and 2:08, and so on.

The long weekly row should be conducted at a steady pace. As a guideline, you should be able to hold a conversation with someone throughout. Over time expect your steady pace at a given distance to improve. If you feel "too" comfortable at the end of a long row, next time you row that distance try a slightly faster pace.