Sub 7 Indoor Rowing Club (UK)

[MPx]

Well I seem to have gone awol since the end of June...not sure what happened there.

Interested in your BR subscription Susan. I thought about it briefly but thought it didn't really offer me anything. That may well be wrong...you obviously think it does. What's that then?? And hopefully your gym will be open by the end of the month?

Amazing to knock out a HM with so little prep Glenn. I find anything over 10k horrendous so only do the 60min and HM when absolutely forced by competition - and I wont do a FM for any reason!

My routine has carried on as normal:
1/7 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm in 32:32.0
2/7 AWL Pyramid @ 20 spm in 31:42.6
4/7 2112m for the CTC in 7:33.6 @ 1:47.3 (target sub 7:30 but blew up half way)
5/7 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm in 32:52.1
6/7 16x250m r90". Last time 1:37.7 avg. This time blocks of 4 in 1:39; 1:38; 1:37; and 1:36. for a 1:37.3 avg. Pleased with that.
7/7 5x2k r2 @ 20 spm target 2:00 pace. Nearly but not quite spot on for 39:59.9.
8/7 60 mins for the FMMC. 15200m in 1:58.4. Struggled towards the end (last 12 mins bad), but gradually wound it back up for a final sprint which brought the slit back on target. My best at this for many years! And HR went to my max of 170 - not seen that for a while either!
9/7 Dumbbells and 5k @ 20 spm (short of time and motivation!) in 20:40.1 so not quite!
10/7 30 mins vari pace in the grey zone for 7667m
12/7 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm in 32:12.0
13/7 30 minutes starting slow and getting slower and slower for 7227m
14/7 6x500 2r. Last time 1:41.4. This time 5x 1:41.x and a faster last for 1:40.9 avg.
16/7 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm in 32:12.3 (spot on!)
17/7 5x2k 2r @ 20 spm in 41:39.6
18/7 5k TT for the Sub7 ITC. 18:36 @ 1:51.6. Not quite my fastest but best for a year or two so pleased with that.
19/7 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm in 33:03.1
20/7 30 mins vari pace in the grey zone for 7557m
21/7 10x1min 1r. Last time tried for 304 per rep and just failed (3038) but as I felt tired before I started decided to target just 300 per rep this time. Felt hard going on the way but managed a fast last and a 3022 total, so not as far off as I thought.
22/7 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm in 32:12.1

[MPx]

Yay...happy days. My birthday last Thur so had a couple of days of lockdown lite out and about and no erg time. With that scientifically proven "taper" in the bank, I went for a 2k TT on my return to the erg today and managed a 6:58.5 (@ 1:44.6) - my first sub 7 since 2018. Thought those days might be behind me, so dead chuffed to be back in the club.

[GlennUk]

Mike

congrats on the birthday, althogh its just 'another birthday' compared with the sub7 2k, exceedingly impressed.

And not just in, but well inside to boot, well done, obviously need more of the tapering time outs.

Whats next then?

[GlennUk]

Thanks re the thoughts about fuel, could be, althohg i suspect that the lack pf prep had a lot to do with it.

Although i am on the erg most days, im following a 'get fit' plan from RowPro so not really geared to doing a HM which wont have helped.

I hear gyms are opening so hopefully you can get back to the gym and pick up where you left off before lockdown.

fingers crossed for you.

[Dangerscouse]

Yay...happy days. My birthday last Thur so had a couple of days of lockdown lite out and about and no erg time. With that scientifically proven "taper" in the bank, I went for a 2k TT on my return to the erg today and managed a 6:58.5 (@ 1:44.6) - my first sub 7 since 2018. Thought those days might be behind me, so dead chuffed to be back in the club.

Well done Mike, that is a great result and happy belated birthday

[Two Pudding Kid]

Just a quick visit from me tonight so wont be able to respond to others tonight.

1st 2 sessions on the erg for over 4 months.

As we are on 50 mins session and that includes getting ready and loo break the aim is to put a lot of effort into a short time, (4kg over LWT and need to hit that as a priority).

Sat - 5k in 23:03. Started off at a cocky 2:15 pace and flopped it after halfway. Its a start and left me in a sweat and aching shoulder.

Sun - well it was meant to be a 5k in sub 23 mins. Started off keen enough but blew after 3k in nearly 14 mins and stopped. Eased my way into 5 mins of slow rate stuff and a few pressups and burpees as a finale. A little peeved that although officially we can only book 1 sess a day at least 6 of the people on the 3pm session had come out from the 2pm taken a breather outside and walked back in.

Not sure if Monday will be an ergo or not - fancy something else perhaps and then fling out some energy on Weds evening on a 5k.

[MPx]

Mike

congrats on the birthday, althou - gh its just 'another birthday' compared with the sub7 2k, exceedingly impressed.

And not just in, but well inside to boot, well done, obviously need more of the tapering time outs.

Whats next then?

Thanks very much Glenn. Happy that the stars aligned for once. Nothing special "next" - just trying to maintain standards generally and avoid the inevitable decline for as long as poss.

Well done Mike, that is a great result and happy belated birthday

Thanks Stu certainly had a good few days..

[MPx]

Welcome back to the fun of the erg Susan! You'll soon be back to knocking out 5ks as virtually sprint distant pieces for you. I have been amazed how erg fitness disappears whenever I've taken a prolonged break, but it does come back, just more slowly as we get older. Stick with it, but give yourself time to recover. Best of luck.

[lindsayh]

Welcome back to the fun of the erg Susan! You'll soon be back to knocking out 5ks as virtually sprint distant pieces for you. I have been amazed how erg fitness disappears whenever I've taken a prolonged break, but it does come back, just more slowly as we get older. Stick with it, but give yourself time to recover. Best of luck.

Mighty impressive to be sub7 Mike - very nice work

[DavidA]

Yay...happy days. My birthday last Thur so had a couple of days of lockdown lite out and about and no erg time. With that scientifically proven "taper" in the bank, I went for a 2k TT on my return to the erg today and managed a 6:58.5 (@ 1:44.6) - my first sub 7 since 2018. Thought those days might be behind me, so dead chuffed to be back in the club.

Woo Hoo!!
Congratulations on the sub-7, and happy birthday.

David

[MPx]

Thanks very much Lindsay and David - kind of you to drop by and say.

[Rod]

My birthday last Thur . I went for a 2k TT on my return to the erg today and managed a 6:58.5 (@ 1:44.6) - my first sub 7 since 2018.

Belated Happy Birthday Mike and big congrats on getting back under the ''barrier'' again, top effort me ol' mate!

[MPx]

Cheers Rod, much appreciated. Maybe getting older isn't so bad... best for September.

[GlennUk]

Hi all

Susan well done for getting back to the gym, the work you were doing will no doubt help and it wont be long before your beating your targets.

Mike re fitness dropping off as you get older, until lockdown my only exercise was occasional orienteering 'runs' and walking up stairs/escalators when out at about in london. I found that if i wasnt in the office for a week and therefore didnt use the stairs/escalators i noticed it. Since May when i dusted the erg off not quite sure it would be quite as bad, but no doubt as we get older it does drop off more quickly, although i suspect if we compared ourselves to our peers (even me with only a couple of months on the erg) we would find we were much fitter than many our age.

Irrespective I erg for myself, and pleased to be back on the erg despite the physical pressure towards the end, but i love to compete with myself (only person i stand a chance of beating ) ) although this time im trying very hard to not keep trying to beat my previous rsates/times every time i get on the erg! doesnt always work, took another 9 seconds of my recent pb for the 1k.

My 1st Rowpro Training plan comes to an end on the 17th and ive already programmed in a 'competitive' plan traning for a 2k (reminder to self, get bucket next to erg!!!).

Hope everyone has a good weekend and enjoys the weather.

[MPx]

I agree Glenn, I also just erg for myself. Goals are to stay strong enough and fit enough to do all the other things I like to do. Since that often seems to involve heavy construction and landscaping, the stronger and fitter I can stay, the better! Obviously to an extent age degradation can be disguised if we weren't that well trained when younger. Although I've been erging since the late '90s, I trained smarter in the noughties and set new PBs, and then smarter and longer in the early 2010s to improve many of them yet again. At this stage I'm not getting any smarter and not prepared to put in more time, so I cant rationally target PBs any more ... but there are some "standards" that I'll fight to hang on to as long as poss. I'm best at the short stuff and my standards there are 350m 1 Min; sub 1:30 500, sub 3:20 1k; and the biggy, sub 7 2k. The longer stuff I've always been poor at so still dream of achieving the "standards" there : an 8k 30 min or a sub 38 min 10k, but never done it and probably a forlorn hope at this stage! To that end...latest sessions:

26/7 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm in 33:03.0 - flat pace
27/7 5x2k 2r r20/22/24/22/20 pace 2:02; 2:00; 1:56; 2:00; 2:02 not quite all spot on but the correct 40:00.0 total time!
28/7 5k slow. Nearly didn't bother as very tired, but changed out of habit so thought I might as well do something. Just targeted an OCD screen at 2:04 pace which I missed but got the 20:40.0 total
29/7 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm in 32:12.0 - neg split
31/7 AWL Pyramid hard. Target sub 1:50 pace ideally sub 1:49. Had to slow at the 700 and 600 on the way down before getting back on track which meant a 1:49.7 avg. One to beat next time.
1/8 5x2k 2r at 2:02 pace. Missed OCD screen again and a 40:40.2 total.
2/8 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm in 32:22.3 - flat pace (spot on!)