Trying To Stay Strong - 9 Irish records in 24hrs

The breakfast before the off

So - I did it - just - and it was a heck off a lot tougher than I thought or some people may have thought when comparing my PB's (mostly set within the last year) to the old records - there a scientific reasons for that which Q know best  :-D

See his views here Q-Power

The set up

Watched the TV during the Marathon - Film "2012"

Big thanks to all those who supported, rowed alongside, donated and basically helped me get through what I think was my toughest challenge to date - arguably tougher than the 100k and possibly not as bad as the 24hr - but then I didn't complete that one. Q as ever was immense with his approach and organisation but also there where guys on Facebook and Rowpro who helped probably more than they realised (too many to name all) but Adam Mell and Darren Simmons where huge - Adam actually rowed all the distances himself which was great inspiration and Darren's use of Twitter got us encouragement from some of the top rowers including Team GB. Also of course the Mrs who allows me to do these daft things and supports me during them.

So how did it go - well we had been up to Dublin (3hr one way trip) on the Thursday and Back on the Friday after a appointment at the childrens hospital (no huge emergency) - also I could still feel the effects of the 6k TT from earlier in the week (19:42.5) - but when am I ever rested :lol: so started off OK with the 6k bang on target and no issues, other than realising I could not see either predicted finish or ave pave rowing online - hmm - tried to sort it out to no avail. 1of 9 - 6k Record Taken ave 1:44.9

Then the 500m - without the pred finish or ave I was at a loss as to where I was - and I although I thought I had secured the record I found myself 0.1 too slow feck! 

So then the 1k - made sure I was comfortably under for this one. 

Then it was back to the 500m and nailed it keeping the pace under by a second. 

So onto the FM - had the Mrs in contact with Q to try and work out where I was with the split due to still not sorting it out and got that one knocked off - Rowpro was becoming a pain - tried to enjoy it and even took some selfies as I rowed lol. There would be a rest of just under a hour then the 10k.

Back in for the 10k and saw a few friendly faces online which was good as I needed them logged in and ready to go - READY - ROW - err I'm still sat there! FFS crashed again so set up a stand alone 10k and nailed that - so much easier with pred finish and ave pace. 

OK we'll do the 30min online - again some friendly faces and I'd also managed to get ave 500m pace showing - set off and it was tough but I got it. 

But after this is when Q and I needed to take stock so the first phone call was put in. The body was showing that it wasn't coping well with the pressures - two choices where revealed - one was to push the break out and do the hour and then the HM and 5k - the other was to swap the HM and hour round. I decided to crank the 5k out, rest and recover then hit the hour.

A bath and rest at this point.

OK back for the hour and from the start it was a struggle - I managed to get almost to 40 minutes - but with pace plummeting and HR soaring I had to make a decision - just finish it or bin it and get the HM done then push the hour out to the final hour of the 24. 

I took the second option - another quick call to Q - then went off on the HM - what's noticeable is that the 2:00.6 pace was a struggle for me and that the HR was actually dropping as the pace increased towards the end - a sure sign the body was close to being a bit naughty. Still HM completed and then left with the hour to do before 9am in the morning.

Up at just after 6 - weighed in and lost 2.5kg - quick breakfast then out with the dogs. Felt surprisingly well with the body - the skin not so much - I'm raw on my butt to the point of bleeding also the hands as well as two large areas on my chest where the HR strap rubbed. Still got dressed and then out to shed so not to wake the baby and got set - couple of technical issues meant I was delayed starting until about 7:55am - at 8am my phone alarm went off after I was about 4 minutes into the row - I tried to swipe at it three times to turn it off - no good as it was just too far so almost at a stop I got to it - turned it off and then back to the row - up to this point I was going quite well (target of 1:46.9 for the start) the pace boat was now over 10m in front of me and it took me till halfway to get level again - bearing in mind I needed to be 1:46.4 this wasn't helping. I had to dig in pretty deep and had more demons in my head than a row at this pace (for me) necessitated - but with the reasons being the row I put them to the fore and dug in - pretty much on my TT limit for the entire row I managed to get within the target and with two minutes to go called on Beowulf to carry me home - got it - thank god and thanks to all those people out there who believed in me and supported me.

Having done this challenge it really brought home to me how depression can set in - again looking at those old records they are so within me on a good day that it seems a simple task - but when you stack them up one on top of another - even though you know there are people out there supporting you and would be willing to do the task for you - ultimately you (I) are alone and sometimes that means you need to rearrange, sometimes you need to put that call in for help, I could well have failed today, would people think less of me, some may, others have more admiration for the fact you get so far, my one piece I would say is - if you need help don't be afraid to make that call - it can save something precious to you - samaritans website 

Just Giving Page for donations

Total Meters - 124,054 Rowing Time 7:44:44.3 Ave 500m 1:52.4

Written by Ad Mell

**** FM PB ****

Was out shopping with the Mrs yesterday and as she enjoyed looking at clothes - again - I mean how many clothes can you look at in a day? Anyway I had a quick scan of my phone and spotted Sam Blythe had beaten my FM time by 26 seconds (2h29m20.0sec) - FFS it was one of a few of the rankings I was ahead of him :lol: I was planning on a 30min TT at the weekend - but seeing that changed my mind so I planned on having a crack at it this morning - Mrs was taking the daughter to swim lessons so had an opportunity - OK not the best prep for a FM TT - walking round shopping all day the day before - but feck it. Got up this morning - porridge and dog walk - baby sorted - then and had to sort out the shed as I'd been moving stuff around and did a 1k warm up/test - camelback set up and off I set - had two pace boats set - Sam's time of 1:46.1 and another of 1:45.8 - left both of these behind early doors and cranked through 17,150m + in the first 60 min then settled in for the journey - HR behaved and my only issues where the usual foot going numb (right foot today) and right knee clicking for most of the row (this is the reason I rate quite high - takes the pressure of) - also sweat was very excessive - 23c on finishing in the shed (18c on starting) also lost a couple of chunks of skin from my butt :lol: still without any real training or prep work for it I'm pretty happy - almost got it under 2:28:30 ... Sam back to you sir

Garmin details - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/488058339

Workout Summary - Apr 27, 2014
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|Avg-|-Avg-
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|SPM-|-HR--
--|42195|148:30.9|01:45.6|27.4|160.2
Workout Details
#-|EDist|-Etime-|-SPace-|SPM-|AvgHR
01|02110|07:21.8|01:44.7|27.6|140.4
02|04220|14:43.3|01:44.6|27.6|150.0
03|06329|22:05.0|01:44.7|27.3|153.0
04|08439|29:26.7|01:44.7|27.4|155.3
05|10549|36:49.1|01:44.8|28.2|157.4
06|12659|44:12.1|01:45.0|27.6|158.2
07|14768|51:35.3|01:45.0|27.5|160.0
08|16878|58:59.8|01:45.4|27.1|159.3
09|18988|66:26.7|01:45.9|27.4|159.4
10|21098|73:53.6|01:45.9|27.0|159.9
11|23207|81:20.7|01:46.0|26.8|159.4
12|25317|88:47.5|01:45.9|27.1|162.3
13|27427|96:15.1|01:46.1|27.6|161.8
14|29537|103:42.9|01:46.1|27.3|163.9
15|31646|111:11.5|01:46.3|27.3|164.2
16|33756|118:42.1|01:46.8|27.2|165.6
17|35866|126:15.5|01:47.5|27.7|165.4
18|37976|133:46.9|01:47.0|26.8|166.2
19|40085|141:13.4|01:45.8|27.1|168.8
20|42195|148:30.9|01:43.7|28.3|172.4

**** FM PB **** sub 2h30m

Woke up this morning early with the intention of getting the dogs sorted then jumping on the erg for the FM - but - Mrs is sick and the baby woke early for a change - so even though I was up at 6am and the dogs where walked I decided it was best to play domestic duties and look after things in the house - so two loads of washing done - baby fed and changed - dishwasher loaded and unloaded - weekly shop done and dinner on the table for the family the Mrs said I could go row  :-D earn your browny points lads - guilt free rows.

So even though it wasn't the best prep - funnily I talked about this with Sam Blythe earlier on after he beat my HM by over 3 seconds (grumble gruff lol I'll have that back another day) and also mentioned with him and Lee Waddon about starting steady and keeping tough through the middle third of the row today - that helped me out a lot.

Got "2012" DVD for the row (said it was 2h32m run time - it lied!) and out to the shed - 1k warm up to test the systems and then set off - target was sub 1:46.9 with an eye on sub 2h30m (1:46.6 pace) after I settled down I decided to sit on 1:46.6 pace - about 26-28 spm - and just kept grinding it out - still having issues with my knees (both today) also after about an hour my left foot went numb - combination of sweat and a fan I have placed on the floor there I think. Went through half way with the HR still just under 160 (I use that as a guide - no matter what length of row - if my HR is under 160 at half way I'm looking good. Took fluids on at 30, 60 and 90min (camelbak) even managed to keep the split almost on target. Got a little tough towards the end - pred finish bouncing either side of 2h30m but kept telling myself to "hang tough" and I did - managed a little oomph at the end  ;-)

Back in the house to more nappy changing and fire building - the glamour

Garmin HR data - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/473995696

Workout Summary - Apr 05, 2014
--|Total|-Total-|-Total-|--Avg--|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Time--|-Pace--|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--
--|42195|149:45.9|149:45.9|01:46.5|27.0|156.4|175.0
Workout Details
#-|EDist|-Etime-|-Split-|-SPace-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR
01|02110|07:29.9|07:29.9|01:46.6|26.7|133.5|143.0
02|04220|14:59.7|07:29.8|01:46.6|26.3|142.1|149.0
03|06329|22:29.1|07:29.5|01:46.5|26.6|145.3|148.0
04|08439|29:58.3|07:29.1|01:46.4|26.1|149.0|155.0
05|10549|37:27.9|07:29.6|01:46.6|27.0|151.5|158.0
06|12659|44:56.7|07:28.9|01:46.4|26.9|153.7|163.0
07|14768|52:26.1|07:29.4|01:46.5|26.4|154.8|157.0
08|16878|59:55.6|07:29.4|01:46.5|26.4|155.7|158.0
09|18988|67:25.0|07:29.5|01:46.5|27.0|157.2|159.0
10|21098|74:54.6|07:29.6|01:46.6|26.6|157.5|160.0
11|23207|82:23.9|07:29.3|01:46.5|26.8|158.0|160.0
12|25317|89:53.2|07:29.3|01:46.5|27.1|158.0|161.0
13|27427|97:22.9|07:29.8|01:46.6|27.5|159.4|162.0
14|29537|104:52.6|07:29.7|01:46.6|27.1|160.2|162.0
15|31646|112:22.2|07:29.6|01:46.5|26.8|161.1|163.0
16|33756|119:51.9|07:29.7|01:46.6|27.1|162.6|164.0
17|35866|127:22.4|07:30.4|01:46.8|27.7|163.8|165.0
18|37976|134:52.8|07:30.5|01:46.8|27.2|165.2|168.0
19|40085|142:22.5|07:29.7|01:46.6|27.9|167.6|170.0
20|42195|149:45.9|07:23.4|01:45.1|28.3|169.6|175.0

FM Row Strong For Boston

That did not go amazingly

Forgot to turn music in before I started so did that in the go - the big fan was on low and not pointing in the right place so ended up grabbing mobile and calling the mrs while still erging to come out and move it - 10k in the knee started playing up not real bad but enough to be conscious of it - temp up at 23C - humidity 70% - no view of time or predicted finish being a schedule row - 9k from the end the knee got worse to the point I knee if I twisted it even slightly it would lock - nearly choked on a jelly - music stopped 4k from end so had to reset that! FFS - anyways the time for FM was 2:34:34.9 ;-)