Discussion: 500s

That looks like a pretty ferocious workout. I hope I can jolly my back up enough to try it. Good for you! That should pay a lot of dividends when you are trying to light up the 70-79 rankings at 2000 M.

why not take 1 1/2 or 2 minutes rest and see if that lets you stay at your goal pace? then you can work on whittling down the rest, but you will have the feel for the faster pace.

....That should pay a lot of dividends...

Well I hope so! But my problem is pacing; I just go out too fast, then fade in the middle, and finish with a frantic sprint. Your pacing, even for the infrequent pieces you're doing these days, is usually 'spot-on.'

Before you begin a piece, do you establish any sort of goal time and pace for yourself? Then how do you make that a reality, so that you don't 'run out of gas' halfway through?

The computer won't allow the pre-set program to be adjusted. The 500m should take a bit more than 120 seconds, then 60 seconds rest...sounds reasonable to me. To take longer rests, I'd have to simply turn off the computer and just row, using my watch to time the rest periods.

But as I understand it, the goal when doing repeats, is to limit rest periods in order to build aerobic capacity...both during the piece, and during the short rests. True?

Well, according to some reputable coaches (not me)and just reading what you describe above... if you are having trouble maintaining a pace, it makes more sense to take more rest than to struggle and negate much of the benefit, or shorten or slow the repeat. During the interval you are properly training your aerobic capacity, (at a pace that is appropriate for you, challenging but not impossible), and as you increase fitness you can shorten the rest to make it more challenging aerobically without stressing the musculature etc. excessively.

Wow, seems like your machinery should have a way to accommodate that...

I agree with matzah ball that you could try a slower pace until you can do them without running out of gas, or you could do fewer of them. 8 at a fast pace is really a hard workout. It is nice and convenient to do a pre-set workout. A bit harder to program in your own, but possible.

I am perhaps a bit conservative with these things, row at a pace I am pretty sure I can keep, and then gradually pick it up once I am confident I can maintain. Not sure if that is the best strategy, but it saves me from losing it in the middle. I just don't have much tolerance for completely running out of gas.

OK. Good advice...from both of you. Thanks! But I think I'll just slow down, as you say, until I can do the series with 'nicely negative' splits all the way through.