Did some rowing.. 40r20 70% HRR

Well after two weeks of new job starting / hall/stairs/landing painting and looking after a nine month pregnant wife and four year old daughter I finally got back on the rowing machine tonight and have a plan to get some sessions in... for a while at least.. lol

HM @20 75% HRR

First row after two days off - trying to get home ready for baby arrival in not so very long now.....

With the crazy Bear Challenge on I decided to plum for a HM @20 75% HRR as that fitted with the current training - was watching "In the line of duty" and of course the big finale chase scene coincided with the end of the row hence HR racing a little lol

8by500 1m30s the addiction of pain

After last night's 4by750 you'd think the last thing I'd want to do is more speed work, but when you get through a session like last night, by the skin of your teeth, then you do want to bury yourself again. So with a target of 1:32.2 in mind and a rate of 30 I set off and counted fifteen strokes a time. Focusing on the rep I was in and trying to get the flow going. On the final rep I just cruised on 1:31 pace and then in the last two hundred dropped the power to get the sub 1:30.

4by750 3r - if there is a more brutal row to do after a week off....

please don't tell me what it is cos I don't want to know lol

so started painting a welsh dresser last week we got, it was pine, it's now grey/green (looks better than it sounds) and that turned into redecorating the entire kitchen ... so ceiling prepped and painted, walls prepped and painted, woodwork... tiled floor I actually got down and scrubbed by hand (well with a scrubbing brush) and that meant being up till 2 am one night, then the kitchen table got repainted to match the dresser - this combined with sorting the two family cars out with services and tests and new tires and day to day stuff sucked up my life, the reason is I'm starting a new job next week and we've a baby due in December which means it's all hands to the pump to get things sorted.

OK today we got the last of the stuff done so I got the opportunity to row - I decided to have a crack at the 4by750 which I had scheduled last week and I felt would give me the best training benefit. Not sure where to pin it - needed to keep the rate down as I didn't want to burn the lungs so originally thought r28 1:32 pace - but then after the warm up figured r30 would be wiser.

First rep was not too bad so on the second rep I went a little harder, the third rep was OK until the last 300m then I had to back of a little. Rep 4 and the fun began in earnest when I finally got to the last 200m I was dropping back to 1:35 pace so - switched the brain off and just rode the pain, it was brutal, managed to get over the line and then had a little lie down lol

60r18 70% HRR row - new training partner

I will call him George and I will hug him and pet him and squeeze him....

https://youtu.be/ArNz8U7tgU4



Spotted him running along the shelf up above the front of my erg seemingly with a care in the world :) used to keep mice as a kid. Prefer a mouse in the shed to a cat in my garden any day.

As for the row - went well and managed a SB on this particular row

TE 2.5 MAX HR 149 Target HR 146 AVE HR 143 16,116m 1:52.7

6by1min 1r - maybe not as bad as I thought

Bat man... felt more like Fat man.. by the end I was lying on the floor fecked man lol schedule called for 6by1 min on 1 min rest - not really sure where to target it so went with my recent 2by1min pace of 1:27 and see how I got on but deliberately increased the rate to 34 in order to get the lungs working - that plan worked. After warming up I felt flat as a pancake - in fact I started the first rep and stopped as I was just not switched on and need to be on these to look after the back. After the 4th one I really wanted to quit but decided to crack on and try to shut down that part of the brain... it worked - felt like getting sick after the 6th and had a little lie down for myself. Definitely need to drop some more bey weight but now after looking back at previous scores today's was actually pretty good considering.

1:26.8 r34 TE 2.7 Max HR 174

7th October 2016 - 1:29.2
18th July 2014 - 1:26.4 (40 age group PB)

Is that a light at the end of the tunnel... 4by2k r24 5r

Or just some ******* holding a torch bringing me more work.. well in this regard that is good news as I have been offered a job - yay - still have the contract to sign but I actually can't wait to get back into the "workforce" and getting some semblance of a routine.... that is until the baby is born in December... lol

So tonight 4by2k r24 5r - target 1:45 pace - was falling asleep around 6pm so wasn't sure I would get the drive to get out in the shed to do this - but I managed and once under way got to enjoy it

October CTC plus late night 30r20 70% HRR

In between getting ready for Halloween and trick or treating without the need for a mask on my part... I managed to get a one of pop at the CTC 500m 2r 1250m 1r 250m - slightly slower in the 1250 than I originally wanted and the one minute rest wasn't much of a ..rest lol

Later on I got out for a row - should have been a HM r20 70% HRR but after about 30 minutes I knew I didn't have the energy levels and so took the sensible option to pull the plug.

30r20 SB

So another couple of days without a row, went out last night, late, but after five minutes I just didn't have the energy and came in. Another day of helping the father in law with painting today, then home and pumpkin carving :) put Lilly to bed and got dogs walked then a cup of coffee to try and get some get up and go.... only just worked and after about two songs into the warm up I heard the sound track from Louis's 3D scan of his heart beating :) after that no mattee what happened I couldn't really stop tonight's row.

So off I set on a 30r20 started hard and it wasn't too bad at the start but with 12 minutes left I was telling myself that the only way I was stopping was if something broke (me or the erg) or I puked (and I said if I puked I'd carry on) as I got to the end I pushed myself to break my seasons best.

2k r28 1:35/36 target - tough couple of days

Interview yesterday followed by phone call to say Mrs was in hospital for observation (she's pregnant at 32 weeks currently and for those who may not know our baby boy Louis was delivered still born last July after finding out in May he had Edwards Syndrome) but all OK with this baby so far and Mrs was let loose to cause havoc this afternoon lol first port of call was dressing our little girl (aged 4) for her school Halloween party which was followed by McDonalds and washing all the face paint off then getting her to bed and walking the dogs.. So 10pm - no rowing for two days - a day helping the father in law paint tomorrow so not likely I'll want to row to hard if at all tomorrow.... also have a feeling a cold is brewing... mainly due to the onset of runny nose and sore throat ... I could have been a detective!!

So what to do... I had one of those songs in my head about basically not sitting about and regretting what you could have done - so with a target of 1:35/36 at strict rate 28 I got changed and headed to the shed (making sure Mrs and daughter sound asleep) got the warm up done and showing a final split HR of 168 where it normally is 160 bpm I knew there was more evidence of a bug in the system. So off I set listening to suicide squad album and concentrating on the rate - unfortunately a lapse of concentration in the top end of the final 1k let that drop to 27 spm and that basically cost me the sub 6:20 - (176 strokes in total 177 strokes would have been 28 spm and that one stroke would be enough to drop that pace under 1:35) still I was at the top end of my target so walked away satisfied.


HR Max 177
TE 2.6

4by750m 3r r28 1:35.0

Headed out to the shed tonight in two minds as to whether or not do a 2k r28 at 1:35/36 pace or 750's at the same. One thing Q has got into me is to commit to a TT and as I was humming and arring about it plus a few issues I decided to opt for 750's - one big reason is I haven't done any high rate work really so not sure how this would pan out. Turned out about where I expected and managed to kick for home which was nice.

24 Million lifetime meters - 60r18 70% HRR and 2by1min 1r

So tonight I crossed the 24 million meters mark and all I got was this lousy certificate lol - I'm joking - I love my C2 certs :) but looking forward to 25 million and the "additional prizes" :o) so the row was a simple 60r18 70% HRR but I knew from sitting on the erg that the HR was reading a little high and true to form the overall meters dipped on recent rows of the same ilk (1:52.1 ave last time vs 1:53.0 today) could be one of a few factors, nothing major but good to have the HR figures there to keep it in check. Didn't really look forward to the 2by1min - it's late, dark, cold and damp - but go them done and now to rest and recover.

15,929m 1:53.0 Ave HR 142 Max HR 150 (got to stop thinking about 2k's during these rows) TE 2.6