Couple of notes. As last year, we are doing a first erg test during the first week of September. The tests are: 20min R24 on Thursday (for Saturday masters) or Wednesday for Sunday Masters followed 1min max rate/split test on Saturday or Sunday for another group.
Those are the tests for the whole club. Novices are also doing the same format. No exception, unless you are injured or not able to do it for any health reason.
You have just two and a half weeks to prepare for the test. The supplementary workouts are:
1 ) SS (steady state) at R18. 2 x 20-25min
2) SS 20min, rest for 3min, 11 pressure pyramids (3min R18/2min R20/1min R22 /2min R20 /3min R18 ), rest 4min, SS 20min R18
3) SS 20min to warm up/ 1 x 19min (4min R18/ 3min R20/ 2min R22/ 1min R24/ 2min R22 / 3min R20 / 4min R18 )
4) 6000m (100m max split followed by 400m recovery pace)
5) SS 20min to warm up/ 8 x 1min R24 max pressure with 2min break between the sets.
6) SS 20min to warm up/ 2 x 10min R24 max pressure / 5min rest between sets.
Do the workout in your spare time. I would start with workout 1 and 2 and then progress as fitness level improves.
Day 1) Steady states. R20, clear blade work. Focus on keeping blades longer in the water during the drive time. It could be achieved by locking the blades earlier at the catch, prying with more patience and not loosing the pressure between first and second half of the drive. Aim for 12km +
Day 2) The meeting starts at 5:45pm. Boats on water by 6pm. The first piece starts at 6:25pm from the seawall side.
4 x 1000m R22/24/26/28
Day 3) 20min test, open rate. It is important for you to track the rate that you are holding during time trial. For example, if you were rating at R28 and next time you are doing R30, that means your endurance got better as well as oxygen consumption. And vice versa, if you held R30 during previous TT, covering lets say 4k, and now you are covering the same distance at R28, that means you have more aerobic power, efficiency of the stroke as well as better run of the boat. So the message here is track your distance, your times, your rate just to know what to aim for the next session, to know weak part of your race, efficiency. All those notes can help to give you and your coach important information about the improvements and areas to work on. Motivation comes from the small successful steps. Successful steps come from the knowledge.
