Solstice challenge?

[jackarabit]

For those of you who will do the 21K distance row on the longest day but will not attempt the single piece marathon/2, how will you chop up the distance? Would say 2X10K meters and a 1000 separated by off the rower recovery be the way to go for an accomplished rower? for a newby rower with 2 months on the erg? I know I can do the 10K because I did it in a single piece last week on the day after I graduated from cardiac rehab. I don't know if dehydration and fatigue would prevent me from doing a second 10K piece in a 24 hr. period. The max recovery would space these two big efforts 22 hrs. apart in the calendar day and the odd K would have to tag up somewhere. Obvious to me is that stretching, Gatorade, and bananas may be necessary. Would a ladder of increasing and decreasing distances be a better strategic choice? Say 7 pieces of 1-2-4-7-4-2-1 K meters. I lean toward the big gulp approach but my head tells me there might be a big sting in the second 10,000m.

Jack

[Citroen]

Try doing it as
6K, 1min rest, 5K, 2min rest ,4K, 3Min rest, 3K, 4min rest, 2K, 5min rest, 1K and finish getting progressively faster.

[jackarabit]

The descending distance ladder appeals to my sense of how good bludgeoning feels right after crucifiction! Thankyou. Those rest periods may have to be extended in my case which is not the best case by a long chalk.

Jack

[jackarabit]

FINISHED under 2 hrs. 21785m in 1:57. Done as 4 pieces: 3 x 30' and 1 x 5K. So much for descending ladders. I actually thought about doing 4 x 30' but the tIme on the third piece convinced me to shorten the effort. The rest periods were extended a bit with muffins, banana, Gatorade and water to 10 to 20' between.

Jack

[Citroen]

The descending distance ladder appeals to my sense of how good bludgeoning feels right after crucifiction! Thankyou. Those rest periods may have to be extended in my case which is not the best case by a long chalk.

Jack

I did it in 1hr 35 (6K, 5K, 4K, 3K, 2K, 1K) with 15'10" rest (1',2',3',4',5' & 0:10) for a total of 21112m (in 1hr 50 total time).

[jackarabit]

I exploited the time rule to the limit. Started at 12:09AM local time with 30' and off to bed, remainder after daylight finishing at 12:06PM. So around 12hrs. total elapsed time to complete. Going in, the thought occurred that if I pulled a muscle or cramped or bonked, I could patch together a bunch of 3-5' efforts for a lot of yardage. I was happy not to have to scrape quite that deep.

Jack

[jackarabit]

Update: Did legitimate half marathon for fourth week Dog Days challenge 1: 57.21. I planned again for a ladder of distances and breaks and then threw it all out mid row for a 6' minute break after 11k and then the remaining 10 and change. The big gulp approach has psychological benefits despite the discomfort and probable negative effect on time. [Monitor metrics on the Brag about PBs thread in the Training pigeonhole] Jack