Erg group!

It’s getting to be that time of year again when we spend less or no time on the water and hit the ergs for wintertime fun.

For those of you who erg’d alot and did the races last winter, I’d like you to put some thoughts into an email and send it out to me or to the group so that we can all benefit, both in what to do this winter and in what not to do. For example, I remember one member saying in early spring that they since they paddled at a low resistance setting on the erg all winter, the switch to water was really tough – water had too much resistance! I learned that lesson years ago which is why I pretty much keep the erg fan at max resistance all winter, even if it gives me slower race times.

As of now, I’d like to plan on lots of lower pace erg work for the bulk of the work. We’ll slightly vary the speeds or HR’s so that we can build metabolic and neuro efficiency as we go. For instance, I think we all tend to keep two aerobic speeds – one at our personal LSD pace and the other at our personal marathon race pace. The paces in between are surprisingly less comfortable and we feel less efficient there. But we’ll try to build on all those steps in between to broaden our base of efficiency and to help pass the time.

I like doing the regular 500 or 1000, but it might be best to do these infrequently, too. For example, do one session of them every 2 weeks or so with none in between. That way we’ll lessen the risk of peaking and burning out by mid-winter or spring, and the regular “tests” will give us a measure of current fitness.

Please think about some other ideas for the weekly races. I’ll be sure to throw in a couple of the “portage” races, too, only they won’t be as dastardly as they were last winter.

I just moved from Wisconsin to Washington a month ago, and it will take me about 2 weeks or so to get the erg in working order. So, lets try to start something the first or second week of November.

Erik Borgnes
Sequim, Washington