Monday morning rowing, not feeling great this morning, so just did a slow 10,000m
As the day progressed I developed a chesty cough.
Tuesday morning, cough is far worse, I ache and feel cold, really not in the mood for rowing or archery today, so having a rest day.
Wednesday morning rowing, feeling slightly better, so I decided on another slow 10,000m for Mud Season Madness:
Thursday morning rowing, feeling much better this morning, so picked the pace up a little on today’s 10,000m for Mud Season Madness:
I also passed 5 million meters this morning, so that is another big milestone.
Friday morning skiing, 10,000m for Mud Season Madness:
Felt good doing this so decided to add a slightly faster 3,119m (16:33.3) piece to take me over the 100,000m mark for the World Erg Challenge.
Saturday morning rowing, stream on the river is too fast for rowing, so Ergs at home it is.
During the day on Friday, the state of the river was being discussed on our mens masters group chat, due to the recent rain, and although officially it was ‘yellow boards’ the flow was up around 110m3/s
and on the increase with ‘red boards’ either side of our section. The decision was made for Ergs rather than OTW rowing for Saturday morning.
The Safety Officer, who was conveniently not available for rowing this weekend, suggested that everyone do 28K at 24spm (joking that it was one of my workouts), naturally this was met with various levels of horror and disdain, with some asking if this could be done collectively or over several weeks.
They were also talking about doing whatever workout at the boat house, then drinking tea whilst watching me complete the 28K.
I of course thought that this sounded like something achievable and worth giving a go.
Saturday morning the river was officially on ‘red boards’ with a flow rate of 143m3/s
and the landing stage several inches under water (water height is controlled by weirs, this is a non tidal section of the Thames).
The official workout for those who turned up at the boat house was 12 x 2:00, 1:30r (or about 6-7K in sprints plus rest meters).
I stayed at home, looked for a film that would last just over 2 hours, and settled on watching ‘John Carter’ for probably the 10th time (2 hours 12 minutes including credits).
Still recovering from a chest infection, and as this is not a TT distance, I did not want to go too mad on the pace, plus I was rate capped at 24spm, so opted for a pace somewhere between 2:10/500m and 2:20/500m.
You can see from my heart rate that I was just cruising for the majority of the distance, ‘zoning out’ and enjoying the film, but decided to put in some more effort with about 8-10K to go.
I was determined that I would finish the distance before the credits ended on the film, so as each 2K was completed, I dropped a few more seconds off the pace, whilst keeping true to the 24spm rate cap.
I eventually finished on 1:56/500m, still at 24spm and a time of 2:10:33.5, the credits were rolling, but I had reached the end ahead of them finishing.
I was pleased with the outcome and felt good physically as well as mentally, these distance pieces are as much a mental battle as they are physical.
After a few minutes to catch my breath I decided to round off to 30K for the day with a 2,246m (10:52.3) cool down to work the lactic acid out of my legs that I had built up pushing hard in the last 2-4K, before finishing off with some stretching.
I then posted my ‘proof’ on the group chat with the comment ‘Did someone ask for 28,000m @24spm?’ at 10:00, and well ahead of any of the rest of the group posting any proof of their workouts.
This was met with a ‘crunchy nutter!!’ response from the safety officer, which probably sums me up quite well.
This workout started off as a joke along with some throw away comments from the safety officer, but actually turned out to be a really good training piece.
This completed day 21 of the required 25 for Mud Season Madness (I am doing 10K+ a day) and took me to just over 130,000m for the World Erg Challenge.
Sunday morning rowing, the river is still on ‘red boards’, more ergs at home, 2,00m (10:45.4) warm up, 10,000m for Mud Season Madness:
2,245m (12:02.1) cool down and stretching.