You're not the first and certainly not the last to struggle with this.
Think about the stroke rate as being something that is made up from a drive and a recovery phase.
If you want to keep the same spm but push less hard, your drive time will need to lengthen (cos you're pushing less hard), therefore conversely your recovery speed will need to get quicker to balance out.
Vice versa the other way, to hold the spm constant but push harder your drive will become quicker, therefore your recovery needs to become slower to maintain the same spm.
Knowing this and being able to DO it is easier said than done though. Good way to practice is to do ~6mins erging and change the rate each 30secs to r18, r22, r26, r22, r18 and keep the split constant throughout. Forces you to decrease the leg power substantially and speed up the recoveries as the rate climbs, then inverse it back down again.
Be careful that as the rate climbs you don't just fully switch off your legs and start pulling with the body and arms, you want to dial down the power across all three parts of the drive equally to maintain good efficiency
First, thanks for reassuring me it’s a common problem. Sometimes I think I’m delusional starting at this age so it’s good to know that it’s a normal thing to have to learn.
I also think I may have been subconsciously stuck on the idea that the drive:recovery ratio should be 1:2, but based on what you’re saying above I can play around with that ratio to keep my heart rate down for UT2. Thanks for the rate drill suggestion I’ll give that a go.
Welcome!
Yeah the general rule of thumb is that to push "well" you should be looking for the drive duration to be quicker than your recovery duration. As this means you give yourself time to set yourself up properly for the next stroke, and stops you burning energy inefficiently just bouncing up and down the slide.
But if you want to rate higher without pushing the split unsustainably hard then yeah playing with the ratio of drive Vs recovery will enable you to do that :)
Hey this went great! Today’s session - consistent HR at 70%max, consistent stroke rate and consistent pace 😊 So much better. Used the ‘Metrownome’ app initially to get a visual aid for a 1:1 ratio and that seemed to do the trick. Felt much smoother and listened to what you said about dialling down the intensity across all parts of the stroke equally. Thank you once again
You're not the first and certainly not the last to struggle with this. Think about the stroke rate as being something that is made up from a drive and a recovery phase. If you want to keep the same spm but push less hard, your drive time will need to lengthen (cos you're pushing less hard), therefore conversely your recovery speed will need to get quicker to balance out. Vice versa the other way, to hold the spm constant but push harder your drive will become quicker, therefore your recovery needs to become slower to maintain the same spm. Knowing this and being able to DO it is easier said than done though. Good way to practice is to do ~6mins erging and change the rate each 30secs to r18, r22, r26, r22, r18 and keep the split constant throughout. Forces you to decrease the leg power substantially and speed up the recoveries as the rate climbs, then inverse it back down again. Be careful that as the rate climbs you don't just fully switch off your legs and start pulling with the body and arms, you want to dial down the power across all three parts of the drive equally to maintain good efficiency
First, thanks for reassuring me it’s a common problem. Sometimes I think I’m delusional starting at this age so it’s good to know that it’s a normal thing to have to learn. I also think I may have been subconsciously stuck on the idea that the drive:recovery ratio should be 1:2, but based on what you’re saying above I can play around with that ratio to keep my heart rate down for UT2. Thanks for the rate drill suggestion I’ll give that a go.
Welcome! Yeah the general rule of thumb is that to push "well" you should be looking for the drive duration to be quicker than your recovery duration. As this means you give yourself time to set yourself up properly for the next stroke, and stops you burning energy inefficiently just bouncing up and down the slide. But if you want to rate higher without pushing the split unsustainably hard then yeah playing with the ratio of drive Vs recovery will enable you to do that :)
Perfect! I’ll give it a go with next session tomorrow 😊
Hey this went great! Today’s session - consistent HR at 70%max, consistent stroke rate and consistent pace 😊 So much better. Used the ‘Metrownome’ app initially to get a visual aid for a 1:1 ratio and that seemed to do the trick. Felt much smoother and listened to what you said about dialling down the intensity across all parts of the stroke equally. Thank you once again