So i am racing for denison at the midwest erg sprints this weekend. am a pretty short ltwt for those that know anything about rowing 5’6’’ and 155 pounds
my PR two years ago was 6:26, have not rowed since then other than once or twice screwing around.
not sure how this will turn out with my puny tri-upper body.
7+30 to 8+00, or thereabouts…
My erg PR is right around 8 flat for 2K…that last 500m is pretty painful.
Spot
As a lightweight I pulled in the high 6:40s and always did OK at some of the smaller erg sprints.
The pain of erging is as bad as anything else. Quads hurt like hell, mouth dry…ugh.
It always helps to have a few friends there screaming at you!
As a ltwt about 155 in college I did a 6:40 in the SE Erg Sprints in Chattanooga. I then puked on the guys coxswain next to me. It was classic.
That got me into the finals where I BARELY went under 7. That same guy was next to me in the finals. But he had a different coxswain. 
Start at your PR pace then close your eyes after the first 500M, close them and count out 100 strokes to yourself, this will leave you about 600 meters to go, then its all guts and pride. The middle 1000M is the toughest, that’s why I would often close my eyes so I would not be de-motivated by the display screen.
You will be surprised, your body will remember the pain and your performance can be close to your rowing days, I would plan on a 6:35.
Dave in VA
based on my own experience of erging, I would say you’ll pull somwhere between 6:30 /6:40.
Reckon you’ll definitely still make sub-7. I had a comparable PB as lightweight (6.19 but I was right on limit of 72.5kg at the time) and managed a 6:43 in a competition at my local gym recently having not done much erging for a few years. Maybe set off at solid 7 minute pace (1:45 splits) for at least the first 1000m then see how it goes?
I say pull a power 10 at 500, 100 and 1500. Then at 1800 give it everything you have (then a little more). That’s the one thing, there is always just a little more. Go for it and report back. Good luck!!!
am a pretty short ltwt for those that know anything about rowing 5’6’’ and 155 pounds
Let me guess… you have a strong build… Heavy bone structure… right?
Dude you’re in for a world of pain. Sorry to say but no, the body doesn’t remember how to erg. In fact it forgets erging very quickly and blocks it out like a traumatic experience. I think you’ll go sub 7 just because your head won’t accept anything less, but it’s gon’ hurt. Only erging gets you in shape for erging. Not even rowing in a boat keeps you in shape for it and certainly not triathlon. I always pulled my best times after a winter of erging. Then after being on the water throughout the spring I’d pull about 10 sec slower on the 2k because my body got used to the boat moving underneath me rather than having to throw itself back and forth on a slide. (6:12 PR, feel like I’m doing a max leg press at 1:40/500 now!)
dude, if you’re a lwt who pulled a 6:26 you have to know that it has little to do with your upper body. it’s all about them legs and the drive.
I had probably the puniest upper body you could imagine when i weighed 139 and pulled a 6:39. I believe I was described as a walking skeleton.
push and hang on!
2000 sounds like a piece o’cake. We had to do 2500 back when I rowed. What I wouldn’t have given at the time to get up (or fall off) before that last 500.
Don’t worry about your puny tri upper body–it’s all legs & lats anyways. Good luck with it. Makes me hurt just thinking about it.
I’ll guess 6:50.
6:26 PR is pretty damn good…but if that was with a lot of rowing training and you haven’t really been on the erg since, I would personally be happy with something around 6:45-6:55 if 6:26 was my PR. Whatever you do, after the first 10, I wouldn’t go anywhere near PR pace until the end. Negative split the sucker.
My PR is 6:13 at 160 weight. Went 6:16 in prelims and 6:19 in finals at CRASH-B’s in 2001…good for 6th. The Italian next to me went something crazy like 6:06.
Right now, I’d be happy with 6:40 since I haven’t been on an erg in over a year.
Was that the year with “Don Key Punch”?
Not sure about that one, but Waz Sup, Kaiser Sosay and Samir Nagonnaworkhere were in attendance.
hahaha yeah,
i am thinking after the few times i have ergeg in the past two weeks that something around a 1:42 split is reasonable. going to hold that for the first 1000m and re-evalute there.
hope all goes well:-D
i have no clue where i could have gone with times that last season, that 6:26 was my first test in the early part of the season and then i rowed the whole year, kept getting faster but never tested again and then got hurt.
should be interesting regardelss.
I’m still a fan of jaxon rudduck’s “Rusty Trombone RC”
The guy turned beet red when the announcer asked him about it.
I think you should be happy if you’re much under 6:50. My PR is 6:02…I’ve been erging 3 days a week for the last month with the team I’m coaching after taking 4 years off of rowing while competing in triathlons. I’d be very happy to break 6:20 now…6:25 is probably closer to what I can do. The first time I tried holding my old race splits, I couldn’t believe how hard it felt. I’d take the advice of starting off slow and trying to get faster…otherwise, you’ll probably be toast.
aka Dan Walsh…now a member of the US National team.
So do you use the erg as part of your training routine? I rowed for 8 years & then coached for 4 but haven’t been on the water in almost two years. I just started doing a short erg as the warm-up/cool-down for my lifting and have been thinking of adding a session exclusively erg. The thing is I don’t know which workout to cut to fit it in.