Monday rowing, 2km warm up, 10km fat burner and 2.2km cool down, watched ‘Doom Patrol’ Season 2 Episode 7
Tuesday calisthenics, repeated last Tuesday’s workout, but increased some of the reps and times a bit.
- Straight Arm Plank – 3 x 1:30
- Inverse Bent Knee Row – 3 x 8
- Reverse Plank – 3 x 1:30
- Bent Knee Row – 3 x 8
- Full Squat – 3 x 25
- Scapular Pull – 3 x 0:20
- Band Assisted Pull Up (Purple) – 3 x 5
- Band Assisted Chin Up (Purple) – 3 x 5
- Asian Squat – 3 x 3:00
Swapped from Inverse to band assisted on the pull/chin ups, this was all done as 3 x supersets.
Tuesday Evening archery – weather was not great so shot indoors, chose to shoot a Portsmouth round with my compound bow, scored 481, not great, but I haven’t shot this bow in nearly 3 years, so happy with that.
Wednesday – walked the dog for 30 minutes and then set up the rower for my usual 2K, 10K, 2K Wednesday session.
Felt good during the 10 minute warm up, completed 2K in 9:32, carried on to 2116m to round out the 10 minutes.
I then intended to watch an episode of something whilst rowing the 10K, however my air pods were playing up and would not connect, (it later turned out they just needed recharging).
I decided, since I could not watch anything, I would instead have another bash at a sub 40 minute 10km time trial.
I knew to have a chance I would need to do five back to back sub 8 minute 2K sets and for that I would need to maintain a sub 2:00 split for the duration of the 10km piece.
The first 2K was the slowest at 7:59.1 and only just broke 2:00 pace at 1:59.7, I spent at least half of that distance chasing down the split from 2:02, whilst maintaining 1:58 pace.
The 2:02 would have been a fine initial set and wold have had minimal impact on the overall time, however I was determined that all 2km segments were going to show as sub 2:00 pace.
I kept the same pace up for the duration of the second 2k, and finished that in 7:51.6 for an average split of 1:57.9.
Passed 5000m at 19:47.0, 29 seconds off my 5K PB.
The third 2k was where some of the fatigue started to set in along with some aches in the glutes, this one completed in 7:54.7 with an average split of 1:58.6.
Passed 6000m at 23:45.4, 16 seconds off my 6K PB.
The 4th 2k was probably the most difficult as it was very much a mental battle by this point, my backside ached and my heart rate was up around 173bpm but I battled through to complete it in 7:57.7 with an average split of 1:59.4.
The last 2K was the run for home, it is so satisfying to see the remaining metres drop below 2000 and then you know you are on the home stretch. Then when it finally drops below 1000m you are down to 3 figures and can start counting down the strokes.
I rowed most of this 2K at 1:58 and then pushed the pace for the last 300m up to 1:54 to complete it in 7:51.0 with an average split of 1:57.7. By the end my heart rate was at 178bpm.
This gave me a final time of 39:34.1 for the 10km and a sustained average pace of 1:58.7, I was hoping maybe for 39:30 during that last dash for home, but had nothing else left to shave off those last few seconds.
In total I cut over 43 seconds off my PB from 21 days ago and absolutely smashed that 40 minute barrier. Finished off the session with a 10 minute 2K cool down and some stretching.
Thursday calisthenics, repeated last Thursday’s workout, but increased some of the reps and times and changed up the order.
- Incline Push Ups – 3 x 10 – parallettes and knees
- Close Squat – 3 x 20
- Bent Knee L Sit – 3 x 0:10 – dip station
- Hip Bridge – 3 x 2:00
- Frog Stand – 3 x 0:10
- Lying Knee Tuck – 3 x 30
- Bar Support Hold – 3 x 0:40
- Lying Alternate Knee Tuck – 3 x 40
- Band Assisted Dip (Green) – 3 x 10
- Straight Bridges – 3 x 20
- Leg Raises 9cm – 90degrees 3 x 20
Added in straight bridges and removed the red the band on the dips, this was done as 3 x supersets.
Friday I didn’t feel like doing another 10K this morning so decided to do Shane Farmer’s 20 minute 16spm ‘beat the coach’ distance challenge.
I have done this twice before, first on 12/08/2021, 12 days after receiving my RowERG, with a distance of 4364m, then again on 18/10/2021 with a distance of 4670m.
Shane suggests to re-test this every 8 weeks. My last one was October last year, so a few more than 8 weeks since my last effort.
I had already done my usual 2k in 10 minutes warm up so skipped the warm up part of the video.
I managed a distance of 4782m, for an improvement of 112m.
I am still unsure what the optimal drag factor is for this one, however all mine have been done at 135, so can be directly compared.
For reference, Shane manages to cover 5263m! although he does not mention this in the video (I looked it up on Strava).
I was going to stop there, but the next one that popped up was a 2 x 2K ‘catch the coach’ row along and it just seemed too good to pass up.
This one has a number of staggered start times based on intended split with the aim that everyone crosses the finish line at or near the same time.
I optimistically decided to start at the 1:45 split (same as Shane) for a 7:00 2K, then completely failed to maintain it at his 26spm stroke rate that I had chosen to follow.
I did manage to maintain a respectable 1:50.6 pace for a time of 7:22.4.
4 minutes rest, then into the second one, where I thought I would go with the more realistic 1:50 pace start time, then promptly failed to maintain that as well, fatigue from the 20 minute low stroke rate session combined with the previous 2K meant I could only maintain 1:54.7.
I crossed the line for the second time with an equally respectable 7:39.0.
I chose to pass on Shane’s suggestion of doing a third set! I finished off with a 2.2K, 11 minute cool down and a load of stretching.
Saturday, involved a 5.4km walk with the dog, drive to Northala Fields, with my son and our dog, 5km ParkRun, drive home again.
First time ParkRun, for both my son and the dog, so I agreed to stay with them, rather than push for a new PB.
Turns out the dog had no interest in running unless there was another dog up ahead, so I almost had to drag him around, even at walking pace.
This was not necessarily a bad thing as I don’t believe my son was actually capable of going much faster anyway.
My son decided to try and run some of the last kilometer, the dog was still having none of it, so I picked him up and ran with him in my arms (#whoneedsaweightvest).
I crossed the line with the dog in my arms in a time of 42:45 which placed me 256/276, which was nothing special for me but a first time and automatic PB for my son.
Sunday I had a rest and did no exercise, the dog also appeared to be limping a bit as a result of the ParkRun, so I did not do a particularly long morning walk with him.