Monday morning rowing, Rowvember days 3 and 5, both of these are relatively short in duration so I decided to do day 3 ‘Rowing DT’ as a warm up, then day 5 ‘Top Quarter What?’ as the main workout.
‘Rowing DT’ 5 rounds of 12 strokes legs only, 9 strokes legs and hips only, 6 full strokes, 900 seconds rest, going for max distance.
I can’t say I enjoyed ‘Rowing DT’, going for max power for legs only and legs/hips, was very jarring on the lower spine and these first 2 actions felt nothing like any part of a normal rowing stroke.
My rest periods were probably closer to 60 seconds than 90, but since I was just guessing, they could have been any length, but were certainly never longer than 90 seconds, the monitor also stops recording the rest time after about 13 seconds.
I was hoping that ‘Top Quarter What?’ 15 minutes of 10 strokes 1/2 legs only, 10 strokes full legs only, 10 strokes legs and hips only was not going to jar quite as much.
This one was much better, as I was not hammering for max effort, I could get a decent rhythm going and just keep counting to 10 each time, I think I managed somewhere between 18 and 20 rounds.
Most of this one was done at around 36-38spm and was a great leg workout. I finished off with 30 minutes of steady state rowing (6,224m) and some stretching.
Tuesday was a rest day from strenuous exercise.
Tuesday evening archery, I had finally repacked my archery kit in the car, after removing it to take my daughter up to Lancaster a while back, so decided to see if I could remember how to shoot my recurve bow.
I only shot about 4 or 5 ends as I spent much of the evening talking with our former secretary who had come down to sign some bank mandates for me.
Wednesday morning rowing, Rowvember days 7 and 8, I thought I could use day 8 ‘Rapid Descent’ as a warm up and then day 7 ‘The Toughest Challenge’ as the main workout.
‘Rapid Descent’ 6:00 20-30spm, 5:00 22-30spm, 4:00 24-30spm, 3:00 26-30spm, 2:00 28-30spm, 1:00 30+spm, 1:45r, the idea is to increase the pace by 2spm every minute.
I pretty much nailed all of the stroke rates, with only a couple of the starting rate averages being off by 1.
for the last 2 rounds I ignored the 30 and 32spm parts and went for it, with the last one pushing for 300m.
After a short rest I was into the main workout Rowvember day 7 ‘The Toughest Challenge’ a 3,000m time trial.
My current PB was set on 06/09/2022 at 11:33.4 (1:55.6/500m pace), so after a brief rest to get my breath back, I programmed the 3K with a 1:55.6 pace boat so I could gauge how I was doing.
I started off a little fast and passed 500m in 1:51.4, I was about 5m up on the pace boat at this point.
I passed 1,000m in 3:42.7 (1:51.3/500m) and about 20m up on the pace boat.
I passed 2,000m in 7:31.4 (1:52.4/500m), a sub 11 minute time was just about still on the cards at this point, but I knew I could not maintain it as my pace had already dropped to around 1:55. I was by now about 40m up on the pace boat.
I held on and picked the pace up again in the last 7-800m, then really emptied the tank in the last 200m and finished with a time of 11:17.2 (1:52.8/500m) and a new PB by 16.4 seconds.
I finished over 54m ahead of the pace boat, a win that at a regatta would have been listed as ‘with ease’.
I finished off with a 2,234m (11:35) cool down and some stretching.
Thursday morning rowing, Rowvember day 9: ‘Throwback to 2019’ 3 x 750m @ 26spm, 2250m @ 22spm, 2:30r between all.
Nailed the stroke rates (as expected), went for paces that were relatively easy to maintain yet pushing just enough for a decent workout, aimed at 3:00 and 10:00 as goal times (9,000m + 2,494m ‘rest meters’).
I did not want to go all out on this one as I want to be reasonably fresh for the C2 SkiErg World Sprints (they run from 10-13 November) as I will be doing my 1,000m time trial tomorrow morning.
Finished off with 2,246m (12:06.3) cool down and stretching.
Friday morning skiing, C2 SkiErg World Sprints, 1,000m time trial.
I woke up at 03:00 for some crazy reason and then was awake for 2 hours before finally falling asleep again and oversleeping by half an hour.
Walked the dog, then 1,019m (5:08.8) warm up and a few minutes rest composing myself for the main event.
My PB from 30/09/2022 (September entry for the SkiErg Performance Series) was 3:59.1, which was my first sub 4 minute 1K, at an average pace of 1:59.6/500m and 47spm.
I programmed the workout in ErgData and set a pace skiier for 1:59.6.
I set off a bit too fast at around 1:47 pace and 48spm.
I hit 250m in 0:55.6, a new PB by 1.6 seconds, I already knew I would not be maintaining this for the full 1K, at this point I was up on the pacer by 18m.
I hit 500m in 1:51.2, a new 500m PB by 5.3 seconds, by now I was up on the pacer by 32m. My pace was already starting to drop.
Passed 750m in 2:51.5, a new PB by 5.6 seconds and 33m ahead of the pacer, I was fading fast at this point.
By now I had slowed to around 2:00/500m pace, but knew if I could just hold this pace then the pace skiier could not close the gap.
I managed to empty the tank and maintain the 2:00/500m pace to finish with a time of 3:51.5, a new PB by 7.6 seconds and 32m ahead of the pacer.
I collapsed into my office chair breathing very hard for several minutes while I recovered.
Finished off the session after about 10 minutes of rest with a 2,242m (12:02.7) cool down.
This also qualifies as my 1,000m November entry for the SkiErg Performance Series.
I don’t think I will be trying this one again before the end of the weekend.
Saturday morning masters rowing, 8+, stroke seat, steady state and power rowing, 500m+ piece at 31spm and 1:52/500m pace (13,667m).
Wandered into Staines for brunch at McDonalds before returning to the boat club.
Saturday afternoon leisure rowing, leisure 2x, stroke seat, teaching another of the leisure rowers how to steer (6,022m).
Came home and re-sanded the front drive as it had been dry for a few days now and I had blown out all the old sand when I pressure washed it.
Sunday morning masters rowing, fine 4-, #2 seat, mainly steady state, except for the ‘red mist’ episode when we decided to catch the boys quad.
I was almost ripped out of my #2 seat as the bow person steering left it a bit late to tell us to ‘hold it hard’ as he had misjudged the steering around a bridge and my oar hit the bridge upright, so I ultimately stopped the boat with my oar pinned against my chest!
Fortunately we were not going too fast at the time, we had been having issues with keeping this boat level all morning (it was quite a ‘tippy’ boat anyway) (8,416m).
Wandered into Staines for brunch at McDonalds before returning to the boat club for the Remembrance Day memorial.
Decided to have a solo outing in my 1x ‘Dark Horse’, had it up to 28spm for a while 2:36.5/500m pace, we are getting there slowly (6,550m).
Sunday afternoon leisure rowing, in my 1x ‘Dark Horse’ again, took it slightly easier as being my third session in one day, I was getting tired (5,228m).