Boxing Day morning, another hour long walk with the dog and then loading up the car for a 2 hour drive to Gloucestershire for Christmas with my Mother and Step Father (yet another Christmas meal).
I received the following rowing/fitness related presents this year:
WOD Welder hand care system for when I tear my hands up OTW
Some bling for my RowErg – Vapor Fitness seat cover and phone holder both in yellow (not my erg in the photo).
A travel cover for my single scull (not waterproof).
A couple of canvases to make trestles to hold my single scull at regattas (I will be modifying a couple of steel tube ‘directors chairs’).
Some t-shirts and unisuits (more than what is shown here).
Bank Holiday Tuesday, still at my Mother’s, I went for a ‘walk around the block’ with my daughter – this is a 1 hour 40 minute affair that is just under 9km.
After lunch we pack up and head back to London.
Wednesday, still resting, just a short walk with the dog today.
Thursday morning, back to rowing, after the usual morning dog walk, 2,000m (10:08.0) warm up, then 10,000m
I didn’t have the best night’s sleep, so wasn’t really ready for a full on workout this morning, kept it light at around 2:25 pace, finished in 47:42.5, it was also quite late by now so no time for a cool down, just sone stretching before I finished off.
Friday morning skiing, 1,000m (5:36.7) warm up then 10,000m
Not the fastest, again not a great night’s sleep, finished in 56:31.6, again time was marching on, so no cool down.
Saturday morning, landing stage is still flooded, so no rowing on the water, off to Ikea for breakfast and shopping instead.
Several Concept 2 challenges are starting tomorrow, Virtual Team Challenge and January Revolutions, both challenges run from the 1st and 31st of January.
The Virtual Team Challenge is simply row as many meters as you can for your chosen team.
January Revolutions is 6 different challenges:
- The Stretch: Row, Ski or Ride for 20 days in January (min 500m each day)
- The Long Stretch: Row, Ski or Ride every day in January (min 500m each day)
- The Haul: Row, Ski or Ride for 15 hours in January
- The Long Haul: Row, Ski or Ride for 30 hours in January
- The Burn: Row, Ski or Ride for 10,000 calories in January (at 2:30/500m pace this is about 15 hours)
- The Big Burn: Row, Ski or Ride for 20,000 calories in January (at 2:30/500m pace this is about 30 hours)
Last year I opted for the Big Burn, but actually aimed to complete all 6 challenges, I only fell short on the Long Stretch as I missed 3 days, I will see if I can do better this year.
I have opted once again for the Big Burn, so it is easier to track calories (the C2 site does it for you), the other items are fairly easy to track.
Sunday morning – Happy New Year, let’s get going in style, 2,000m (9:20.3) warm up, then a rate capped 10,000m to match what some of the masters rowers did yesterday.
I capped the rate at 22spm, decided on a total time of 40 minutes or less, but I wasn’t looking to set any records and settled in at 2:00/500m pace.
The monitor said 39:59.9 when I finished, but seems to have rounded up when it saved – ah well, it’s good enough and I am happy with the steady state piece. 3,353m (16:06.7) cool down and some stretching.
As this is day one, the daily and running totals are the same: 1 day, 15,353m, 962 calories and 1:05 hours.
Sunday afternoon we went for a walk in Richmond Park.
During the month of December I managed a total of 138 hours of exercise, walked 266km, climbed 287 flights of stairs, skied 56km, rowed 298km on the Erg and 82km on the water.
By the end of the month my weight was 14 Stone 7lb (203lb/92kg), a gain of half a stone, largely due to Christmas over eating, looks like I have my work cut out once again in January.