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.

Late Night in the Great Hall

Sometimes training doesn’t arrive at the perfect time.

Sometimes it’s late, the day has already taken most of what it wanted, and the only sensible option is to get into the shed and get the metres done.

Tonight was one of those.

40:00

9,621m

2:04.7 /500m

~r22

879 strokes

Nothing heroic. Nothing especially fast.

Just another forty minutes on the slides, trying to keep the movement smooth and the rhythm honest.

The first ten minutes were the quickest at around 2:03.4–2:03.5, then I settled into a very steady run of roughly 2:05 pace for most of the session before finishing the last five at 2:04.4.

That’s probably the bit I’m happiest with.

No big fade. No rate chasing. Just a controlled row at a sensible pace.

The Garmin HRM, meanwhile, continues its campaign of misinformation.

After believable readings of 130 and 137 bpm, it gradually decided I was apparently rowing at 2:05 pace with a heart rate of 83, 69, 61 and eventually 58 bpm.

So, once again, the heart-rate graph belongs in the fiction section until the replacement strap arrives.

There was one other number worth noting.

The Great Hall was sitting at roughly:

18°C

79% humidity

Not particularly hot.

But definitely muggy.

Which explains why the session turned into such a sweat fest.

At that level of humidity, there isn’t much chance of staying dry, and by the end the rail, the footplates and pretty much everything else looked like they’d been dragged through the North Sea.

Still, the ship moved.

The rhythm held.

And another forty minutes went into the bank.

Not every session needs to be a battle.

Sometimes it’s enough to head into the Great Hall late at night, put the oars in the water, and keep the ship moving.

The Ship Finds Its Pace

Yesterday was about sliding back into a training rhythm.

Today was about seeing whether that rhythm could carry a little more speed.

Same slides. Same r22 target. Same Great Hall.

40:00

9,723m

2:03.4 /500m

22 spm

879 strokes

DF 133

That’s 80 metres further than yesterday and 1.0 sec/500m faster, without increasing the stroke rate.

That’s the bit I like.

No need to thrash at the oars. No need to turn it into a test piece. Just a cleaner stroke and a little more pace from the same rhythm.

The middle of the row sat nicely around 2:02–2:03 at r22, which is probably the best sign yet that the slides are starting to make more sense.

The final five minutes drifted to 2:06.0, with HR finally showing a believable 148 bpm, so there’s still a clear limit there.

The HRM 200 continues to produce comedy numbers along the way, but Garmin have already agreed to replace it.

So for now, the useful takeaway is simple:

The rate stayed controlled.

The pace improved.

The slides felt better.

The ship is back in the water.

And now it’s starting to find its pace.

Sliding Back Into a Training Rhythm

For a few months, the rowing took a back seat.

There were good reasons. Life, work, family — and the small matter of spending most of the summer building what has now become the Great Hall. 😆

The BigShed is finally standing, the tools are mostly where they belong, and crucially there's now enough floor space to do something I've been meaning to do properly for years.

Use the slides.

I've actually owned a set of Concept2 slides for a long time. They've followed me around through various versions of the rowing setup, but other than a handful of attempts they've spent most of their life sitting unused.

Partly because they need space.

And partly because rowing on them immediately exposes things that a fixed erg politely lets you get away with.

I'm not, and never have been, a technically trained on-water rower. Most of what I know has been learned through millions of metres on an indoor rowing machine. Over the years I've become reasonably effective at moving the handle from one end of a Concept2 to the other, but effective and technically good aren't necessarily the same thing.

Now I've finally got the room to leave the slides set up and actually work at them.

So the longship has come out of dry dock.

Not launched at full sail. Not heading immediately into battle. Just eased back down the timbers and into the water, trying to find a smoother way of moving.

And that's really the purpose of these sessions.

I'm not using the slides because I expect some magical free speed. I'm using them because they force me to think about timing, sequencing and rhythm.

On a fixed erg, I move backwards and forwards.

On slides, most of that mass should stay relatively still while the machine moves underneath me.

Rush the recovery and the erg disappears towards the front.

Throw myself at the catch and I hit the stops.

Try to muscle the stroke rather than sequence it properly and the whole thing starts moving around underneath me.

There's nowhere near as much room to hide.

The first few sessions have therefore been less about pace and more about figuring out how to make the machine behave.

Or, more accurately, figuring out how I need to behave so the machine doesn't complain.

Forty minutes around r20 initially. Then gradually moving towards r22 as the timing started to feel a little less alien.

There have been a few distractions along the way.

The PM5 monitor arm decided it no longer fancied remaining upright, slowly drooping towards my knees during a couple of sessions and requiring regular intervention.

That's now fixed.

My Garmin HRM 200 has also developed an entertaining habit of deciding that, halfway through a reasonably hard row, my heart rate has suddenly dropped from the 140s to something resembling a Sunday afternoon nap.

Bluetooth was suspected.

So I tried ANT+.

It did exactly the same thing.

Garmin have now agreed to replace the monitor, which means until the new one arrives some of the heart-rate graphs need to be filed under creative writing.

Today's session was therefore deliberately simple:

40 minutes.

Rate 22.

Around 2:05 pace.

HR ceiling roughly 146 bpm.

And one other instruction:

Don't turn the opening ten minutes into a completely different workout.

That lesson came from the previous r22 attempt, when apparently "around 2:05" translated in my head to 2:00–2:01.

It felt great.

Until it didn't.

By the final ten minutes the heart rate was heading upwards while the pace was going in the opposite direction.

Today was better.

The opening five minutes were 2:05.9, followed by 2:05.4.

No rush.

No chasing numbers.

Then, as the rhythm settled, the pace began to come down by itself.

The final numbers:

40:00

9,643 metres

2:04.4 / 500m

22 spm

880 strokes

Drag factor 134

There was another fairly spectacular HR dropout later in the row, which makes the recorded average of 129 bpm meaningless, but before the signal vanished the progression looked sensible — 127, 133, 137 and eventually around the 146 ceiling.

More importantly, the rowing itself stayed together.

The rate stayed at 22.

The pace didn't collapse.

And for forty minutes I was increasingly moving with the slides rather than fighting against them.

That's the bit I'm interested in.

I've spent a lot of years worrying about splits, metres, heart rate, drag factor and stroke rate.

Maybe spending some time on something that punishes bad movement isn't such a bad idea.

The bigger sessions will come again. Faster 30r20 pieces. 1k and 2k work. Longer endurance rows. Eventually another 100km.

But that's further out to sea.

For now, after a few months in dry dock building the Great Hall, the ship is back in the water.

And perhaps, after all these years, I can make the bloke holding the oar a little better at rowing it.

Sliding back into a training rhythm.

Back on the Rail

4 June 2026

30:00 | 7177m | 2:05.4 | r20

May didn't finish the way I expected.

When EDS Awareness Month began, the plan was straightforward enough: row regularly, raise awareness, and keep the conversation going.

Then life got in the way.

Or more specifically, the shed did.

What started as a few evenings of groundwork gradually turned into drainage, levelling, concrete pads, bearers, measurements, re-measurements, and all the little jobs that somehow consume every spare hour. The rowing machine sat waiting while the focus shifted elsewhere.

Part of me was frustrated by that. The competitor in me always wants to finish what I started, tick every box, and complete every session.

But life doesn't always work like that.

The Conversation Continues

One thing EDS has taught our family is that progress is rarely a straight line.

Plans change. Circumstances change. Sometimes the best thing you can do is adapt, deal with what's in front of you, and keep moving forward.

So while EDS Awareness Month didn't finish with a perfectly completed rowing challenge, the awareness doesn't disappear just because the calendar turns to June.

The conversation continues.

Back to Work

Today was simply about getting back on the rail.

No heroics.

No testing.

No chasing numbers.

Just thirty controlled minutes in the work gym at r20.

The first few minutes felt exactly as a return row should feel. Slightly rusty. Slightly disconnected. Then the rhythm returned.

The splits tightened naturally throughout the session:

• 2:07.0
• 2:06.4
• 2:05.9
• 2:05.5
• 2:04.4
• 2:03.0

No surges. No forcing. Just a gradual build through the piece.

Quality Metres

The most encouraging part wasn't the pace.

It was the reminder that the aerobic base is still there.

After nearly two weeks of moving timber instead of moving a handle, the engine switched back on surprisingly quickly. The final split was the fastest of the day, the rate never changed, and everything remained under control.

That's something the old Road to Sub6 years taught me repeatedly.

Fitness isn't built through occasional heroics.

It's built through thousands of controlled decisions made over time.

One session doesn't make you fit.

One missed session doesn't make you unfit.

You simply keep turning up.

The shed isn't finished yet. There are still jobs to do.

But the handle is moving again.

And that's enough for today.

Built through control.

— Paul Buchanan

Road to Sub6

Chasing Stripes 016 — Removing Friction

May 22, 2026 – EDS Awareness Month

There are sessions where you chase numbers.

There are sessions where you chase rhythm.

And then there are sessions like this one — where the entire goal is simply to remove friction.

Not forcing the pace.

Not wrestling the handle.

Not trying to manufacture intensity that isn’t there.

Just sitting down in the middle of a workday, locking the monitor on r20, and building quality metres one stroke at a time.

For people living with EDS, consistency matters more than occasional perfect days. Sustainable training usually comes from repeatable loading, controlled progression, and learning where the line is before you cross it. Sometimes the smartest sessions are the ones that leave something in the tank.

That was today.

Session 016

40:00 continuous @ r20

Distance: 9,670m

Average Pace: 2:04.1/500m

Average HR: 135

Max HR: 146

Stroke Rate: 20 spm

5-minute splits:

2:05.9

2:05.4

2:04.8

2:04.4

2:03.8

2:03.4

2:02.9

2:01.8

The shape of the row mattered more than the headline number.

No spikes.

No panic pacing.

No mid-session collapse.

Just a gradual squeeze on the pace while the rate stayed nailed to twenty.

The final split came down naturally because the early part of the row stayed under control. That’s the part people often miss. Fast endings are usually built long before the last five minutes. They come from restraint early on — from not feeding the handle-down demons too soon.

The work gym sessions always feel different from the shed rows. Different atmosphere. Different distractions. Different fatigue. But in some ways they’re useful because they strip things back to basics. No perfect setup. No “race environment.” Just you, the erg, and whether you can stay disciplined for forty minutes.

That’s what this block is really about right now.

Building repeatable work.

Building fatigue resistance.

Building sessions that can stack together week after week.

Not forcing speed.

Just removing friction.

#MoveForEDS

#ChasingStripes

#BuiltThroughControl

#Concept2

#BeowulfIndoorRowingCrew