Sub 7 Indoor Rowing Club (UK)

[Amazing Amazon]

Bit of a toss up what I did today, but ended up repeating the 4x750R3 I did the same time last year.

Last year I was targeting 2 minute pace and averaged 1:59.8 i.e. I was aiming at doing it at 2k pace. This time I targeted 1:58 pace and averaged 1:57.9. with individual reps at 1:58.8, 1:58.3, 1:57.9, 1:56.8 pace. so it would be really nice if that improvement could be reproduced in my comparative 2k times in Cardiff on Saturday, though to be honest I'm not expecting to be that fast.

[Two Pudding Kid]

Just a quick shout out for those going to Cardiff tomorrow - hope you do well and have a great time.

Me - not doing 2k just yet but will pull one out for December. 10 minutes is probably do-able - hip moving nicely but obvious lack of fitness and power.

C2CTC - managed to get spm over 30 but never going for it bigtime. 5:44.5 or 2:22 pace.
4 mins - 801m.

Been back on the Wattbike to encourage me to power my left leg against resistance, and given the stairmaster a go, (not my favourite as concentration has to be very high to walk up it at a steady rate - although should be working the glutes )

[Amazing Amazon]

Racing in Cardiff tomorrow, so just a 1000m sprint to keep the circulation going .

Having completed my last 4x750R3 rep at 1:56.8 targeting 1:57 pace for the 1000m seemed not unreasonable.
Rowed at 1:57.4 (31), 1:58.2 (29), 1:58.4 (30), 1:55.2 (33) pace for the 4 250m splits for an overall 3:54.6 (1:57.3 pace) which was a useful improvement on the 1:57.8 pace of my 4 minute effort 6 days ago.
Also good enough for 1007 Nonathlon points and 1st in the Rankings.
Row was 'manageably hard' with no temptation to blow up and I finished the sprint at the end on 1:48 pace and 39 spm with the feeling that I had a bit to spare.

Just hoping the heavy rain we are promised in Devon won't muck up my CrossCountry train travel tomorrow.

[Amazing Amazon]

Susan, good to hear of your progress on the ergo and other gym machines.

Will you be able to take up your running again once you've got some leg strength back?

[le grand fromage]

Not quite sure how I've accomplished my present condition as I don't feel I've done much structured training since about March/April time but I'll take it

Another big ‘lift’ mentally today, beat last November’s 6 x 500 R1 and with a slower stroke rate, well happy and happy there’s not too many sprint sessions left to do, prior to BRIC this year. Hate this stuff with a passion so really pleased just to complete it.

6 x 500 R1

24/11/17 24/11/18

1:35.6 – 33 1:35.5 - 33
1:35.7 – 33 1:35.5 - 32
1:35.6 – 33 1:35.5 - 32
1:35.6 – 33 1:35.5 - 32
1:35.6 – 33 1:35.5 - 32
1:34.8 – 33 1:33.9 – 33

24/11/17 - 9:32.8 - 3k – 402 – 33 - 1:35.4
24/11/18 – 9:31.3 – 3k – 405 – 32 – 1:35.2

[Rod]

I couldn't make the Welsh Championships today so a bit of 2k practice with ''experimental'' pacing.

1:44.0
1:44.1
1:43.7
1:42.4

Average..........1:43.5
Total..............6:54.2


Not quite what I wanted but at only 0.1 on total time slower than the Lwt PB I set 2 weeks ago.

I can't complain as it wasn't too bad a training session and it would have won both the 60-69 Lwt and Hwt races in Cardiff.

[MPx]

Susan: Back on the horse and pulling some times - great going in only 3 months. Numbers will no doubt quickly return to normal in 2019.

Marjorie: Lots of sessions in there to inspire confidence. I just watched your Welsh IRC race online and see that you more than met your targets set out last week - well done indeed. Shame for you that there was no direct competition although the two slightly younger ladies next to you seemed to have a good tussle. That was a heck of a heat to be part of with "Sam" was it (?) pulling a 6:09.2. Good to watch.

Rod: the impressive training sessions continue and bode very well for BRIC. Both the 500 and 1k sessions sound brutal! But that second 6:54 2k shows how well its all paying off. Niiiice!

Richard: loving that 6x500 on 1min rests session. Only 1 minute rests - that really must be tough - I struggle on 2 mins, though as you know I much prefer the sprints and intervals over the longer stuff you love - so exactly opposite to you!

[MPx]

More training interruptions and off sessions for me but one highlight too.

19/11 6x500 r1 @20. Worked too hard outside and was exhausted but having missed the day before decided to just paddle for a few meters. Targetted exactly 2:00 pace and hit it twice but otherwise 0.1 under. Also my first go using Ergdata on my phone rather than RowPro on an old laptop. Seems to work well enough...
20/11 Dumbbells and 30 mins varipace for 7617m
then had a day out, a day working to exhaustion, another day out, which gets us to today just spent in the office so no excuses.
24/11 AWL Pyramid. Did my usual variable pace but started quicker and managed to average 1:48.6 which is as good as I've done for a very long time. Happy with that!

[Amazing Amazon]

Marjorie: Lots of sessions in there to inspire confidence. I just watched your Welsh IRC race online and see that you more than met your targets set out last week - well done indeed. Shame for you that there was no direct competition although the two slightly younger ladies next to you seemed to have a good tussle. That was a heck of a heat to be part of with "Sam" was it (?) pulling a 6:09.2. Good to watch.

Hi Mike, Yes, happy with my race, less than 2 seconds outside 8 minutes for the 2k, significantly much better than both my WIRC (8:04.4) and BRIC (8:03.5) last year. I'll have to see if I can get under 8 at BRIC. My splits were: 2:00.6 (28), 2:00.9 (29), 2:01.1 (29), 1:59.3 (32). Both my fast times last year were done by doing 1:57s over the last 500m so unsure whether to try and repeat that or instead target my average split earlier in the race. There wasn't a competitor in my category (and no nothing showing on my PM5), Lesley Amos should have been in my race but had cracked both her kneecap in a fall. I did catch the competiveness next to me in the women's 50+ but having glanced across at the nearest's early (1:52) pace on her PM5 I knew they were out of my class and they finished well before me.

FWIW Sam Blythe 'anticipated' the "ROW" but didn't actually false start (someone else did in a later race), which would have helped his time. Our Warren Matthews has had a virus so didn't compete, though he came along to watch. There were some good races later on, including an adaptive world record (Sean Pritchard), a junior 11 girl (Beri Tomkins) who pulled 498m in 2 minutes and Paul Nash winning the 50+ in 6:17.

Later I did 500m in 1:50.1, compared to the 1:50.5 I did at WIRC last year. Annoyingly although my second 250m 1:49.4 was faster than my first 250m 1:50.6 I was dying in the last 50m and the overall time got rounded up at the last. Nevertheless happy with my 1018 Nonathlon points.

Cardiff is a great venue. Been going there every year they have held it since 2003. Not too big, not hot or dry, plenty of warm-up ergos. Did my 2k PB (7:45.5) there. These days it's also useful race prep for BRIC being just 2 weeks before. This year they have had a refurbishment and they were using the new C2 race software, which hopefully will be in use at BRIC too. A good sprinkling of Sub7 there but it would have been nice to see more of us.

[Rod]

10 x 500m. 2 minute recoveries (all static starts).

DF.................... 125
Average pace.......1:41.7
SPM...................37


This was 0.3 on average pace faster than last time which was 10 days ago so ''bedding in'' that slightly faster than 2k race pace very nicely.

It felt good too so can't complain...for a change!

Marjorie.............well done at the Welsh...see you at Bric.

Mike...............Thanks for the kind words, good to see you're training well....more good stuff to come I'm sure.

[Amazing Amazon]

Steady improvement there Rod. You should do a great time at BRIC.

Had my flu jab on Monday. Minor soreness at the injection site.

Yesterday just did my regular 20 Fletcher warm-up and an 10 minute warm down: at least it put some metres into my Holiday Challenge .

Today had a go at the 6k. I was hoping to improve on the 2:06.1 pace I did for the IRL 6344m on the 11th,when I did the first 6k in 25:17.5, but found it a bit too hard about 1/4 in and almost dropped out for a few strokes, came back at a slower pace then managed to get something back by gradually negative splitting evemtually getting pace in the last 1000m.

1000 2:06.5 26
2000 2:11.7 26
3000 2:08.6 26
4000 2:08.2 27
5000 2:07.2 27
5500 2:05.2 28
6000 1:59.7 32

Total time 25:30.2, pace: 2:07.5, spm 27.

Enough for a first in the C2 rankings (by 50 seconds!) but obviously below what I should be doing.

[Amazing Amazon]

Yesterday's OTW row cancelled due to bad weather. Hope to get another go tomorrow. Did my usual 1800m swim and took 64 minutes rather than the 60 minutes the week previous so suspect that I have been getting some reaction to my flu jab.

Nevertheless decided to see if I could improve on Wednesday's 6000m (25:30.2, 2:07.5 pace) and I did

Started off fractionally slower (and slower than my earlier 6344m, where I did been pulling 2:06.5s for the first 4k), however this time I was able to maintain pace and slowly get faster with a stronger spurt at the end:

1000 2:06.8 27
2000 2:06.8 27
3000 2:06.7 27
4000 2:06.6 28
5000 2:06.2 28
6000 2:03.6 30

So overall time 25:13.4, pace 2:06.1 spm 27.

That's just 3.3 seconds slower than last season's SB achieved at the end of January. That almost what it should be - based on my pre-flu jab 6344m and 2000m I think I should have gone 2.2 seconds faster.

Looking at the entries I see I've no opponents at either 2000m or 500m at BRIC. Which is a shame.

[Rod]

4 x 1k.5'r

1).........1:43.9
2).........1:43.8
3).........1:43.7
4).........1:43.3

Average....1:43.7
SPM.........36
DF...........120

Last tough session before the British Championships next Saturday, just easy stuff from now on.

Target was to go at the same pace as last time 10 days ago but with a bit more control....mission accomplished...and 0.1 faster on pace for the last rep.

OK....next time...it's a 2k race!

[MPx]

Marjorie: Great effort on that second 6k to come in @2:06.1 deffo worth the second go! Shame there's no oppo for you again at BRIC - you've obviously frightened everyone off!

Rod: Liking the 10x500 r2 and 4x1k r5. Both brutal and both accomplished on target so should translate to a great performance on Saturday - you certainly deserve it with all the work put in.

I've backed off a little this week to see if training to a heart rate cap will do me any good. I don't like it because I feel I can go faster so therefore "I'm not trying" but always training in the TR and anaerobic zones is obviously a bit dumb! So:

25/11 Dumbbells and 30 mins 138 HR cap for 7447m
26/11 6x500 r2. Still trying to get all reps sub 1:40 pace. Managed 4 this week then 1:44.1 and 1:43.9 for a 1:41.2avg...b****r!
27/11 5x2k r2 @20 with 140 HR cap. Did 4 @ 1:59.9 but HR drifted up to 141 in the 4th so the last I did @2:04.4.
28/11 Dumbbells and 30 mins 135 HR cap for 7337m
29/11 6K TT. Started at TT pace (sub 1:54) but head wasn't in it so backed off to target a time of 23:45.6 and came in 0.4 under.
30/11 1k @2kTT pace. Felt fine.
2/12 2kTT. After my 2k failure a week or so back I needed to go again to restore confidence. Decided to wait for December so I could use it for the Sub7 ITC. Simple target of 1:44 pace all through. Managed quite well through the first 3 500s but struggled over the last. Can normally summon 10 bigger strokes over the last 100 but actually went the other way after 3 or 4 so clearly that was all I had. Managed 6:57.1 (1:43.7; 1:44.1; 1:44.3; 1:45.1) which was a recent best by all of 0.1s - but still happy enough with that! Will be interesting to see how it compares to everyone at BRIC - albeit quite different without the race start, at my normal evening training time, and in my own gym with no one around to hear the embarrassing screams!

My very best wishes to everyone racing at BRIC - I shall be cheering you on from the stands...

[Two Pudding Kid]

Dont know where all the time goes but hey ho - just had to give a 2k a go. 9:07.5 - 2:17 pace throughout at 30spm. You bet I am happy but hoping to go sub-9 in a fortnights time. Might consider Manchester 3 Feb. Dont know exactly where I will be volunteering Saturday but may see you around.