Midnight Row Mass

Midnight....

Probably not the most sensible time to start a 60-minute row.

But sometimes you just have to get the work done when you can.

I went looking for a suitable midnight theme afterwards and found this description of Midnight Mass:

Blind faith. Religious extremism. Guilt. Addiction.

Seems about right. 😆

Blind faith that all these steady metres are going somewhere.

A slightly worrying level of devotion to r20.

Guilt if the session gets skipped.

And addiction?

Well… I was sitting on a Concept2 at midnight.

Tonight was another straightforward engine session:

60:00

14,615m

2:03.2/500m

r20

DF 136

187W average

The aim was the same as before.

Hold the rate.

Keep the effort aerobic.

Don’t turn it into a test.

The first half moved along nicely around 2:02 pace before things naturally drifted a little later in the hour.

The HR strap also performed its now-traditional disappearing act, dropping to 80 bpm in one split while I was still rowing normally.

So that number can join the growing collection of Garmin fiction.

The useful data is elsewhere.

Every split at r20.

Another full hour completed.

And compared with the 60r20 last week — 14,600m at 2:03.3 — tonight was 15 metres further and fractionally quicker.

Nothing dramatic.

Which is exactly the point.

The aerobic engine isn’t rebuilt in one heroic session.

It comes back through repetition.

Hour after hour.

Stroke after stroke.

Sometimes, apparently, starting at midnight.

Amen.