What are some good erg workouts that you find particularly helpful to lower 2k times?

Steady state! Longer pieces (45-70min total) help to increase your aerobic capacity which in turn allows you to go harder for longer. The key is to do them at a consistent, manageable pace so that your heart rate is consistently in the 140-170bpm range, give or take a little depending on your individual fitness. If you’re going out and doing long pieces but at a high percentage of your max heart rate, you’re most likely going above your anaerobic threshold which is counter-intuitive.

You also want to keep the stroke rates fairly low – somewhere in the 18-22ish range is usually good. If you know your 2k split you want your steady state split to be 16-18ish seconds above that. If you’re going off your 6k split it should be about 10-12 seconds above that.

Some examples of workouts include 7×10′ (2′ off between pieces), 10k at 18-20spm, 3 x 20′, etc. There’s tons of good examples on the /r/rowing sub on Reddit – just search “steady state” and you’ll easily be able to see what other people are doing.

Don’t forget to include interval stuff as well – 8x500m, 4x1k, 1:40 on/0:20 off, etc. In order to row well you’ve got to have a good balance of aerobic and anaerobic fitness so that you can go hard and fast when you need to and then be able to settle into a solid pace for an extended period of time.