Getting Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable, Again

There are some distances I’ve never particularly liked on the erg.

The 5k and 6k sit firmly in that category.

They’re too long to bluff your way through on power, but short enough that there’s nowhere to hide aerobically. You spend most of the piece knowing exactly how uncomfortable it is, with far too much time left to think about it.

Historically, they’ve never been my strongest events either. Compared with some of my better performances over 2k, 30 minutes, 60 minutes and the longer distances, my 5k and particularly my 6k have always felt a little underwhelming.

So naturally, I decided to do both.

5,000m

The plan beforehand was somewhere around 1:55–1:57 pace, without turning it into an all-out effort.

It came out at:

5,000m — 19:00.0

1:54.0/500m

236W

r28 average

HR 152 average

DF 135

The pacing was remarkably steady, basically sitting around 1:54 for the whole piece before squeezing the final section down to about 1:52.4.

The annoying bit?

The finish screen initially flashed 18:59.

For one glorious moment I thought I’d sneaked under 19 minutes.

Then it rounded up to 19:00.0.

Grr.

Rage Against the Machine provided the soundtrack, which probably explains why the original “controlled 5k” plan quietly disappeared somewhere around halfway.

6,000m

After a decent recovery, I got back on for the 6k.

This one really was supposed to be the controlled piece. Sit around 1:58–2:00, keep the rate sensible, and just get the distance done.

For most of it, that’s exactly what happened.

6,000m — 23:27.8

1:57.3/500m

217W

r26 average

DF 135

The first 5,250m stayed pretty close to 1:58 pace.

Then apparently Rage Against the Machine, Linkin Park and the Red Hot Chili Peppers collectively decided that sensible pacing was no longer required.

The final 750m came down to around 1:50.8 pace.

So much for the gentle finish.

Getting Comfortable Again

What I’m enjoying at the moment is getting reacquainted with that uncomfortable middle ground.

The really short stuff is obvious: go hard, hang on, stop.

The long rows are almost meditative once you settle into them.

But 5k and 6k are different.

They force you to sit with discomfort for long enough that you can’t just ignore it. You have to accept it, control it, and keep rowing anyway.

That’s something I used to be much better at.

And maybe that’s what this little run of different distances on the slides is really doing — not just rebuilding fitness, but rebuilding the ability to be uncomfortable without immediately wanting to back away from it.

Today was 11,000m of proper work across the two pieces.

5k — 19:00.0

6k — 23:27.8

Not spectacular by old standards.

But definitely a step in the right direction.

Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable, again.

Reset Button

jumped on the slides at lunchtime with a fairly simple plan: keep the half marathon controlled, sit somewhere around 2:06 pace, and let the stroke rate settle in the low-to-mid 20s.

It ended up coming out a bit quicker than that.

21,097m — 1:27:34.6

2:04.5/500m average

181W average

24 spm average

The pacing was pleasingly steady. Most of the row sat around 2:04–2:05, and I let it come down a little over the final section, with the last chunk averaging about 2:02.4 pace.

What I was happiest with, though, was the heart rate.

Garmin gave me 141 bpm average and 155 max, and the detailed trace was exactly the sort of thing I like to see on a longer row: a quick rise at the start, then a long, gradual climb rather than anything running away from me.

The 10-minute averages were:

124 → 135 → 138 → 142 → 143 → 145 → 146 → 148 → 150

Garmin also had 69% of the row in Zone 2, 15% in Zone 1, 11% in Zone 3, and nothing in Zone 4.

That is probably the bit I find most interesting.

For me, these longer rows often feel like they hit a kind of reset button on the heart rate.

After a run of shorter, harder pieces — 2k, 1k, 500m, one minute — everything can start to feel a little sharp and frantic. Then I sit down for 60–90 minutes, keep the pace sensible, settle into a rhythm, and the whole system seems to calm down again.

I’m not claiming there’s some grand scientific explanation behind that. It’s just something I’ve noticed repeatedly over the years, and today’s HR trace was a pretty good example of it.

I also had the CamelBak set up beside me and took a few pulls around each 5k marker, which worked well. No need to stop, no messing about, just enough to keep things comfortable.

Judging by the state of the seat afterwards, the hydration was probably justified. 😆

So, not a dramatic session.

Just a long, steady half marathon on the slides, a nicely controlled heart-rate trace, and one of those rows that leaves everything feeling a little more settled again.

Testing the Gears

Tonight was less about one big session and more about trying a few different pieces on the slides.

I’m getting more comfortable with them now, so the idea was to see how they felt across a range of distances, rates and power rather than just sitting in steady-state territory.

First up was 1,000m, which came out at 3:21.9 / 1:40.9 pace. The legs felt a bit heavy and the breathing was definitely working, but the pace stayed pretty even and I finished slightly quicker than I started.

After a recovery, I moved down to 500m and hit 1:30.1. That one should probably have sneaked under 1:30 — I had time for one more stroke at the end and somehow just sat there watching the screen instead. Brain fade at exactly the wrong moment.

Then came 1 minute, finishing with 348m at 1:26.2 pace. By that stage the earlier pieces were catching up with me, but there was still enough left to lift the final 20 seconds.

So tonight ended up as:

1,000m — 3:21.9

500m — 1:30.1

1 minute — 348m

A very different session from the longer r20–22 work I’ve been doing lately, and probably exactly what I needed — a chance to feel how the slides behave at higher rates, shorter pieces and different levels of effort.

And by the end of it, yes, I was definitely feeling my age. 😆

Plenty more combinations to try, but that was enough for one night.

Finding Another Gear on the Slides

The last few sessions on the slides have mostly been about getting comfortable — steady rates, longer pieces and trying not to fight the movement.

Today I wanted to change that.

Now that the slides are starting to feel a little more natural, it was time to see what happened when I pushed the rate and pace up.

The main piece was a 2,000m, aiming somewhere around 1:50 pace. I ended up with:

2,000m — 7:13.9

1:48.5/500m — 274 watts — DF 130

Average rate around 31 spm

It was controlled enough on the monitor, but breathing-wise it was definitely rough. The final 500m came down nicely though, finishing with a bit left to push.

After recovering I had a couple of goes at 100m. The first was 14.9, then another attempt produced 14.3 seconds, averaging 945 watts.

Very different rowing from the steady r20–22 work I've been doing recently, and useful just to feel how the slides behave when the rate gets properly high.

I'd originally planned to finish with a 6,000m, but a fair chunk of the session disappeared while swapping monitors, setting everything up and getting the replacement Garmin HRM 200 connected. I also spent more time than expected experimenting with rates and getting comfortable with the setup.

The good news is the new HR strap behaved itself. After months of questionable readings and dropouts, today's 2k gave a clean, believable rise all the way through.

So the 6k can wait.

For now, another little step forward — less about simply surviving the slides and more about starting to find out what I can actually do on them.

The Ship Learns the Sea

First proper 60-minute row on the slides today.

60:00 — 14,318 m — 2:05.7/500m — r20 — Avg HR 139

Still a bit clunky on the slides, especially when I rush the recovery, but there were stretches where it started to feel smoother.

Best section was 2:03.2/500m, before backing off and settling into proper aerobic work.

The biggest win? The heart-rate monitor actually behaved. No dropouts, no ridiculous readings — just a steady rise through the hour, finishing at 146 bpm.

Training is starting to feel structured again.

Not every row needs to be a test.

Sometimes it’s just about getting the hour done, improving the rhythm and building the base.

The ship still rocks a little. But at least we’re sailing again.

Two by Four - building the frame out

Today’s case: 4 × 2,000m @ r24, 3:00 rest.

Venue: work gym.

Machine: static Concept2.

The brief was controlled progression.

The evidence:

1:56.4 → 1:55.9 → 1:55.2 → 1:52.8

Overall:

8,000m

30:41.9 work time

1:55.1/500m average

The first three were almost exactly on the planned pace.

The fourth was not.

It was considerably quicker.

That is generally a better problem to have.

Heart rate behaved for rep one, lost the plot during rep two, then recovered enough to be useful again later. The old strap remains an unreliable witness.

The useful finding is simpler:

1:55 pace was controlled, and there was still plenty left for the final 2k.

No objections.

Next case.

30r20 Returns

Today’s business in the work gym was simple.

A return to the 30r20.

No grand claims. No chasing ghosts. Just a straightforward objective: hold sub-2:00 pace, rate 20, and finish the job.

Result:

30:00

7,568m

1:58.9/500m

20 spm

600 strokes

208 watts

Drag factor 134

In summary: sub-2:00 achieved, job done.

The pacing was pleasingly consistent, and the finish was the strongest part of the piece. That, in itself, is evidence that the outing was controlled rather than reckless.

As for the heart-rate data, it failed partway through and descended into fiction. At various points it suggested I was rowing hard while apparently only barely alive. Accordingly, the HR file is dismissed without further comment.

The real point is this: the hard 30r20 is back.

This session was not about old personal bests. It was about re-establishing contact with a session that tells the truth. A proper 30r20 has a habit of showing you, with admirable clarity, where the line between life and near death is.

Today, I found that line again.

Proceedings will continue.