Question 1

How do you forecast a rowing 2K from watts?

Accepted Answer

Watts convert to pace through the Concept2 relationship pace = (2.8 / watts) ^ (1/3), giving seconds per metre. A 2K is 2000 times that. Each test's watts are first divided by a factor to give the power you could actually hold for a full 2K: 1.9 for the 7-stroke test, 1.53 for the 60-second, 0.685 for the 30-minute rate-20. Those three are blended 5 / 15 / 80.

Question 2

What does alactic mean in rowing?

Accepted Answer

Alactic means without lactate. It is the ATP-PC system: a small store of phosphates in the muscle that releases energy without oxygen and without producing lactate, enough for roughly the first eight to ten seconds of a maximal effort. Seven strokes is about as long as it lasts, which is why the peak power test is that short.

Question 3

What is a 30r20 test?

Accepted Answer

Thirty minutes on the ergometer with the stroke rate capped at 20 strokes per minute, as hard as you can hold. Capping the rate forces the power to come from the stroke rather than from rating up, so the test measures aerobic base instead of gearing.

Question 4

Which energy system limits my rowing 2K?

Accepted Answer

The one whose individual forecast is slowest. Each of the three tests forecasts a 2K on its own, and the slowest of those forecasts is the system holding the others back. Where two forecasts fall within 10 seconds of each other they are treated as tied, because a gap that small is not a meaningful ranking.

Question 5

How is the 1K forecast calculated?

Accepted Answer

A 1K is rowed at roughly 7/6 of 2K power. The 1K time is 1000 times the pace at that higher power, which works out to about 0.475 of the 2K time.

Question 6

What is Kurt Jensen's rowing power profile?

Accepted Answer

A set of ratios between maximal efforts at different durations, each expressed as a percentage of 2000m average power: 10 seconds at 173%, 60 seconds at 153%, 2000m at 100%, 6000m at 85% and 60 minutes at 76%. Kurt Jensen collected erg results from world-class rowers over many years and found the ratios held almost identical for men and women, heavyweights and lightweights.

Question 7

How do you convert a rowing piece into a 2K equivalent?

Accepted Answer

Divide the average watts by that duration's ratio. A 60-second effort at 470 W divided by 1.53 gives 307 W of 2K-equivalent power, which is a 2K of 6:57.8 through the Concept2 relationship pace = (2.8 / watts) ^ (1/3). One piece is enough; a second one lets the two be compared.

Question 8

What is the 7x2 minute rowing step test?

Accepted Answer

An incremental ergometer test that estimates VO2max without a gas analyser. Step 1 is 40% of your 2K average power and every subsequent two-minute step adds another 10% of it, so step 7 lands on 100%. You row continuously until you cannot hold the next step, and the maximal power output reached predicts VO2max.

Question 9

How do you estimate VO2max from a rowing ergometer?

Accepted Answer

From the maximal power output in the 7x2 minute step test. For male rowers VO2max in mL/min is 11.49 times MPO plus 810, with a standard error of 136 mL/min. For female rowers it is 9.58 times MPO plus 958, with a standard error of 162 mL/min. The equations are not interchangeable between sexes.

Question 10

Which erg test distance should I use for testing?

Accepted Answer

Different durations interrogate different systems, which is why Jensen used five. Short pieces show raw power and anaerobic capacity; 6000m and 60 minutes show aerobic power and aerobic base. Whichever sits furthest below its ratio is the one holding the profile back.

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