2024 is winding down, 2025 is upon us - how did your year go?

[jcross485]

I fully understand the C2 season doesn't coincide with the calendar.

That said, did you set any measurable goals for 2024? How did you do with those goals?

Are you looking at 2025 with a new set of goals? What are those goals and what are you doing to ensure to hit them?

[alex9026]

First full year on the Erg. I went 6:31 before a hernia op in March so set the goal of going sub 6:20 at BRIC in December. A little ambitious at the time, but I had a very good summer and scraped under 6:24 in August so was well on track, but the wheels fell off in October.

I've the same ambition in 2025 but from a stronger starting point. I'm taking a bottoms up approach of targeting 500m, 1k, then 2k. If I stay consistent I'm more than confident I'll be there with the 2k in twelve months time.

[Sakly]

I'll try to stay right behind Alex
Missed some TTs this year again, but had much fun in different challenges and in training overall. Ramped up the milage and got a bigger engine and speed, got stronger from my strength work and had nearly no issues or injuries. Would be nice, if it goes further this way in 2025 and I find my first in-person competition to participate.

[PleaseLockIn]

The first year I came on the erg. Before then I never even realized indoor rowing was a thing.

2024 was tumultuous. I left my previous uni for various reasons, some quite personal, and mostly coasted through the summer and early part of 2024. Long story short, it was one of my lost years—drifting with nearly nowhere to go.

At least I realized the course was pretty bare-bones. Besides, some people gave me trouble—strangers to... even social services for some reason. It was an RG uni, and yet the course was surprisingly terrible. For context, with other unis of the same entrance requirements, the course has much less in it. This shows that there is much less value added for that university than other universities.

Besides, I should have stayed at home. I did not expect them in the UK to be that strict. Especially to some students (especially under-18s)
Luckily, my hometown is a lot more flexible...

Despite various incidents, I slogged through. I finally decided to start the BPP in Nov and am trying to slog through the PP5k. My procrastination has cost me a whole lot in life. Only by sheer grit could I push forwards.

For any questions, you are free to PM me.

[iain]

The first year I came on the erg. Before then I never even realized indoor rowing was a thing.

2024 was tumultuous. I left my previous uni for various reasons, some quite personal, and mostly coasted through the summer and early part of 2024. Long story short, it was one of my lost years—drifting with nearly nowhere to go.

At least I realized the course was pretty bare-bones. Besides, some people gave me trouble—strangers to... even social services for some reason. It was an RG uni, and yet the course was surprisingly terrible. For context, with other unis of the same entrance requirements, the course has much less in it. This shows that there is much less value added for that university than other universities.

Besides, I should have stayed at home. I did not expect them in the UK to be that strict. Especially to some students (especially under-18s)
Luckily, my hometown is a lot more flexible...

Despite various incidents, I slogged through. I finally decided to start the BPP in Nov and am trying to slog through the PP5k. My procrastination has cost me a whole lot in life. Only by sheer grit could I push forwards.

For any questions, you are free to PM me.

Sorry to hear that 2024 didn't work out for you. Russel Group Unis vary a lot as different institutions have addressed the reduced funding in different ways from gearing up to international students to maximise income to reducing compulsory contact hours and leaving it to the students.

Glad you have now found some focus and wish you a better 2025.

[jcross485]

First full year on the Erg. I went 6:31 before a hernia op in March so set the goal of going sub 6:20 at BRIC in December. A little ambitious at the time, but I had a very good summer and scraped under 6:24 in August so was well on track, but the wheels fell off in October.

I've the same ambition in 2025 but from a stronger starting point. I'm taking a bottoms up approach of targeting 500m, 1k, then 2k. If I stay consistent I'm more than confident I'll be there with the 2k in twelve months time.

That's an awesome first full year! Setting ambitious goals tends to get you further ahead than being very conservative; if you miss, you tend to be closer than had you set something that was easily achievable. I like your bottoms up approach with respect to building speed and power and letting it translate to distance; I am taking a bit of a similar approach myself and finding it to be paying off.

I'll try to stay right behind Alex
Missed some TTs this year again, but had much fun in different challenges and in training overall. Ramped up the milage and got a bigger engine and speed, got stronger from my strength work and had nearly no issues or injuries. Would be nice, if it goes further this way in 2025 and I find my first in-person competition to participate.

Sounds not too dissimilar to me; it might not be the year you were hoping for when it comes to erg specific numbers but it's a great year nonetheless and one that lays a great base to build upon in the future. I like the idea of in person competition!

The first year I came on the erg. Before then I never even realized indoor rowing was a thing.

2024 was tumultuous. I left my previous uni for various reasons, some quite personal, and mostly coasted through the summer and early part of 2024. Long story short, it was one of my lost years—drifting with nearly nowhere to go.

At least I realized the course was pretty bare-bones. Besides, some people gave me trouble—strangers to... even social services for some reason. It was an RG uni, and yet the course was surprisingly terrible. For context, with other unis of the same entrance requirements, the course has much less in it. This shows that there is much less value added for that university than other universities.

Besides, I should have stayed at home. I did not expect them in the UK to be that strict. Especially to some students (especially under-18s)
Luckily, my hometown is a lot more flexible...

Despite various incidents, I slogged through. I finally decided to start the BPP in Nov and am trying to slog through the PP5k. My procrastination has cost me a whole lot in life. Only by sheer grit could I push forwards.

For any questions, you are free to PM me.

You're at an interesting point in life - please don't take what I say as any kind of insult or attack by any means as any of us who are older than you currently went through similar things.

You're young, you have a ton of time in front of you. It might feel like a "lost year" but it certainly was not. My first year of college / university felt lost at the time. What I chose to study didn't turn out to be what I expected. I did not gel with my collegiate coach or a lot of my teammates. I did not feel like I fit in at the college / university I chose outside of a few close friends I made who played other sports. I ended up transferring after my first year to another school (funny enough, the few close friends I made all ended up doing the same) and felt right at home - I switched majors to a different yet related focus and enjoyed all three years of study, my new coach and I connected right away and we're still in touch regularly, my teammates and I are still in contact and still see each other from time to time despite being spread across the US, and the college / university was where I needed to be. That first year was not lost in hindsight because I experienced a lot of things that taught me and led me from what I thought I wanted to what I really wanted.

I share this because time is the ultimate educator - as I am going on 40 now, I am able to pull many more lessons out of things I experienced when I was younger than I did at the time. It's given me a bit of a different outlook; now, I don't think much of anything is a waste provided I can learn from it. Based on what you've noted, I wouldn't call it a wasted year as you've gained experience and learned things that you can apply moving foward.

One thing that fitness has given me, whether it be strength training, running, rowing, or a mix of things, is the sense that what I put into something is going to dictate what I get out of it. Whether you continue to pursue the erg and indoor rowing or not, having some kind of athletic or fitness activity where you are chasing a result is so valuable and, IMO, missing from a lot of peoples lives. It will teach you so many lessons that transfer to life that cannot be replicated elsewhere.

[alex9026]

That's an awesome first full year! Setting ambitious goals tends to get you further ahead than being very conservative; if you miss, you tend to be closer than had you set something that was easily achievable. I like your bottoms up approach with respect to building speed and power and letting it translate to distance; I am taking a bit of a similar approach myself and finding it to be paying off.

It's the "how can I expect to row X distance for X time, if my shorter distance pace is only X" approach. It served me well running (until it didn't), and is just a different approach to how I took it a year ago. I fully expect to revert to a top down manner when the initial improvements dry up.