30r20 80% HRR - why 2by2k's?

Firstly why do I sometimes row 2 by 2k's at competitions (three times this season, Bristol, British & English Opens and age group) basically I enjoy testing myself and pushing myself - that's why I enjoy the sport so much - it's all about you vs the machine and I like to beat it as many times as possible :lol: (OK so we never truly beat it) another reason which is becoming more apparent to me is the training benefit I get from it - not physical (although there may be some) it's the mental benefit of being able to drive yourself through that pain twice in a day - remember back in the old CRASH-B format they used to row twice and apparently OTW there is something similar going on (I wouldn't know about that) but take Sunday for instance - I finished the race in the morning in absolute bits - crawled of the machine (well fell of) then crawled over to the side for a while (actually I think I rolled) then staggered over to a warm up erg and rolled up and down on that for a few minutes – took myself to the back of the area and just lied down for about 30min waiting for the headache to go and the heart to stop trying to escape my chest eventually I felt able to re-join the human race – Q asked me if I was going to do the second race and by this point I was ready to say yes – but why would I? – only an outside shot of a medal with everyone rowing to form (as it turned out I came 4th) – because I wanted to see what I could do. I can tell you something else – I had more HD thoughts to overcome on that 2k than any other I have ever done – but I beat them – I kept rowing – I even finished with the 5th fastest time of the day (I think) and it’s precisely because of being able to dig in and keep going on that second race that today I was able to force myself through today’s session – and one day when I think I’m going to HD that day will pop in my mind and I will know that not only can I keep going I will and I can even find a little more at the end – so why – well it’s added another link in my armour

 

So todays row – after only getting back home last night after the travels I’m pretty tired – originally I thought about a 30r18 65% HR row – but then looking at the schedule I noticed my old favourite 30r20 TT – I didn’t think I’d have it in my to do that but said I’d start and see what happened – currently have a few tweaks to my stroke and although at the start that seemed to help me after about ten minutes I knew I needed to get a lid on this to make it to the end so capped it at 80% HRR (160bpm) and drove on – like I said getting through that second erg has strengthened my resolve and it certainly helped today.