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

60 r20 80% HRR - 2by1min

With a few missed days last week I had the capacity to push it a tad today and with that in mind I went after a 60r20 on 80% HRR - all went well apart from the Netflix episode stopping about fifteen minutes before the end of the row but good old long arms sorted that in two strokes :o) then 2 by 1min target 1:27 pace. Job done.

TE 3.8 Max HR 162 (target 160) Ave HR 155
16,520m 1:48.9

Been a bit stormy ... 2k r26 sub 6:30

So after thinking we'd escaped the tail end of Ophelia (storm/hurricane) it turns out she'd actually turned our satellite dish upside down and moved tiles on the roof which needed sorting before Storm Brian turned up.. that combined with two days of moving concrete slabs and emergency trips to the DIY store left little time for rowing. Still managed at about 9:30pm tonight to see some light at the end of this tunnel - got the TV sorted so Mrs is happy, bathed and fed the daughter so she was happy, walked and fed the dogs so they are happy and bought a chainsaw lol so I'm delighted - now I need more storms to knock a few trees down harmlessly so I can chop em up :o) oh ye the row - so I figured after a r24 1:40 pace effort a week or so back I could muster a r26 1:38 which is where I started but as I was a tad quicker at the start and saw the sub 6:30 pop up I figured Q would prefer that so went for the 1:37.5 ave (slightly faster) still funny to think that's only slightly faster than my 5k PB.

HR Max 173
TE 2.4

60r18 75% HRR - plus 2by1min 1r

Another day where I could happily have stayed indoors and watched TV ... well I would have been happy for a few minutes until I got restless lol so out to the shed at the bottom of the garden in my shorts and vest with headphones and phone to watch netflix (tonight was headhunters episode 2) 60 minutes set up and off I went - forgot how "tough" these easy sessions are once the heart and lungs are getting up to speed - nothing easy about rating 18 sub 1:50 pace for a hour lol still it's also pleasing to see the pace develop and not quite sub 1:50 yet but happily sub 1:51 with 16,224m 1:50.9 HR ave 150 TE 3.6 Max HR was 157 (target 153) and that was because I started thinking about hammering the two by 1 min - Jeff I blame you for that :o)

1min 368m 1:21.5 r40
1min 350m 1:25.7 r35

30r20 bosh

Well I could kinda dodge the 30r20 last night but needed to get it done tonight. Not really looking forward to it lol but just decided to get on without it and treat it as a piece of work. Staged it as three levels - bronze medal was to get it done - silver medal to beat this seasons best (8,531 1:45.5) gold medal sub 1:45 and low and behold gold medal achieved and cracked 8,600m too boot.

HR Max 178

TE 3.8

60r18 70% 2by1min 1r - back after four days off

OK back now after my cat walk modelling show, building a "shed" roof, and dealing with the tail end of hurricane ophelia. 60r18 70% called as not been on the erg for four days with 2by1min 1r - and would you believe it I've actually not lost any "fitness" in terms of distance for rate/HRR in fact I gained a few meters. 16,049m 1:52.1 ave TE 2.5 MAX HR 150 (that's what happens when the mind drifts to racing) AVE HR 142 (Target 146)