New Personal Best! Brag About That New Pb!

[Soleith]

New 15k PB! 1 hour 2 minutes 51 seconds!

Going to have a first attempt at a half marathon I think today, fingers crossed I manage it!

Well done, but you're not going to do a HM on the same as a 15k PB are you? Have I misread that?

Ah, the 15k pb was a couple of days ago.

In other news, first ever half marathon completed so defacto pb! 1 hour 29 minutes 49.3 seconds. Had decent energy levels so tried to speed up for the last few k but foot cramped up and limped across the finish line unfortunately. Pleased though, was hoping to do it under under an hour and a half!

[jimmyshand]

I’m delighted to report that I finally broke the horrific 8k in 30 min barrier after 3 years of trying! Pretty much smashed through it in fact and beat my prior 30 min PB by 83m. Very pleased!

30 min - 8051m - 1.51.7 - r28
Splits:

1.51.6 r27
1.52.5 r28
1.52.0 r28
1.52.3 r28
1.52.2 r29
1.52.5 r28
1.52.2 r28
1.52.2 r28
1.51.8 r29
1.48.4 r30

Nice! That's a great result - and looks a bit nasty.

[max_ratcliffe]

I’m delighted to report that I finally broke the horrific 8k in 30 min barrier after 3 years of trying! Pretty much smashed through it in fact and beat my prior 30 min PB by 83m. Very pleased!

30 min - 8051m - 1.51.7 - r28
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Very good Rob. I still don't understand how 8k is possible (let alone 9+ that the elites do!). Looks like almost perfect pacing too - very even with a gradual increase in rate.

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In other news, first ever half marathon completed so defacto pb! 1 hour 29 minutes 49.3 seconds. Had decent energy levels so tried to speed up for the last few k but foot cramped up and limped across the finish line unfortunately. Pleased though, was hoping to do it under under an hour and a half!

Well done. It can seem such a long way, and there's so much time for the chimps to start chattering. Plenty of scope for an even better result too if you had cramp and still made it under 90mins.

49 seconds off my 5k - 17.17.7

I'm very pleased with that - my target was 17:30.

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Might be a bit more in there (due to having a sprint in me at the end) but I'm happy to leave that PB for a while. It was unpleasant and sweaty, even though the gym was only 4c.

Well done J. I didn't expect results results like this from you yet with your background and obvious ability in the shorter stuff. Very enviable result - now I need to remind myself that comparison is the thief of joy!

[Dangerscouse]

Ah, the 15k pb was a couple of days ago.

In other news, first ever half marathon completed so defacto pb! 1 hour 29 minutes 49.3 seconds. Had decent energy levels so tried to speed up for the last few k but foot cramped up and limped across the finish line unfortunately. Pleased though, was hoping to do it under under an hour and a half!

Haha, that makes sense now. Well done on the HM, and as Max says, you're going to be able to shave more time off without the cramp. The first one or two HMs, are always learning experiences.

[Big J]

Thanks everyone - it's much appreciated. I'm finding the rowing community to be very supportive and I only hope I can get the work in to post some serious times next year.

Well done J. I didn't expect results results like this from you yet with your background and obvious ability in the shorter stuff. Very enviable result - now I need to remind myself that comparison is the thief of joy!

Very kind of you. The best explanation I can think of is that I competed in 10 mile time trials a lot aged 14 and 15. I used to average 100-150 miles a week (up to 300 once) but also cycle to school (2.4 miles) back home for lunch, back to school and back home again. I used to treat every commute as a time trial and I think doing that in my formative years built up a substantial latent cardiovascular capacity. I've honestly done no medium or high-intensity cardio since about the age of 21 (I'm 36 now). I run a forestry business, so do quite a lot of reasonably strenuous woodland walking on site visits, but nothing that compares to rowing.

It'll be interesting to see how the training and times go once I actually get fit. I've got a long way to go.

[RWAGR]

Thanks all!

[Soleith]

Many thanks for the HM congrats guys. Curious if anyone has any hydration strategy advice ahead of doing longer distances like this to avoid cramping.

Other difficulty I had was arse getting quite numb towards the end! I had a folded towel for padding to sit on. Do any others use anything else to make the seat more comfortable?

[robbiep]

Many thanks for the HM congrats guys. Curious if anyone has any hydration strategy advice ahead of doing longer distances like this to avoid cramping.

Other difficulty I had was arse getting quite numb towards the end! I had a folded towel for padding to sit on. Do any others use anything else to make the seat more comfortable?

Well done on the HM PB - I also PB'd my HM this morning, at 1:29:38.2, so we're both under the 90 minute mark !

I did a HM a couple of months ago, and really fell away at about 70 minutes in. Just had no power, stroke went to hell and back.

So afterwards, did some before / after weighing tests with 10k / 1 hr workouts, and found just how much weight I was losing during those sessions - the 60 minute row was resulting in a loss of about 1000g - and that's virtually all being lost as water, either through sweat or exhalation. I weigh 87kg, so that's a hell of a lot of dehydration, and that really makes a huge difference to performance

So my plan was, every 15 minutes to take a good couple of swigs from a bottle next to me - one hand on the handle, legs still working and keeping it going at a reduced rate. Drink, sweat towel, bite of food, drink, and then back up to speed.
That all took 30 seconds or less - and my pace during the break was 2:30, instead of 2:07 for those 30 seconds. So the actual cost to me was less than 5 seconds at target pace - a price I felt worth paying for not falling apart towards the end !

As for numbness, I have a C2 seat pad that I find moderately comfortable - that, along with some decent Under Armour shorts, make it far more bearable !

[Dangerscouse]

Thanks everyone - it's much appreciated. I'm finding the rowing community to be very supportive and I only hope I can get the work in to post some serious times next year.

Well done J. I didn't expect results results like this from you yet with your background and obvious ability in the shorter stuff. Very enviable result - now I need to remind myself that comparison is the thief of joy!

Very kind of you. The best explanation I can think of is that I competed in 10 mile time trials a lot aged 14 and 15. I used to average 100-150 miles a week (up to 300 once) but also cycle to school (2.4 miles) back home for lunch, back to school and back home again. I used to treat every commute as a time trial and I think doing that in my formative years built up a substantial latent cardiovascular capacity. I've honestly done no medium or high-intensity cardio since about the age of 21 (I'm 36 now). I run a forestry business, so do quite a lot of reasonably strenuous woodland walking on site visits, but nothing that compares to rowing.

It'll be interesting to see how the training and times go once I actually get fit. I've got a long way to go.

Totally agree Jonathan. Your CV system was built many years ago, and now the 'muscle memory' is coming into play.

Your potential, whilst always looking very good, is now looking extremely good with a 5k like that so early in your rowing career. Your 2k has proved your low end, and this 5k is proving your medium range.

[winniewinser]

Many thanks for the HM congrats guys. Curious if anyone has any hydration strategy advice ahead of doing longer distances like this to avoid cramping.

Other difficulty I had was arse getting quite numb towards the end! I had a folded towel for padding to sit on. Do any others use anything else to make the seat more comfortable?

I have a carb drink next to me and drink every 20mins or so. I found banana quite quick to eat while rowing do also have a plate of that next to me with some jelly babies or similar. I also only take those drinks/food towards the end of a split of say 3k....so I don't feel I need to catch up too hard.

Seat pad....used to use the C2 pad but now have a Citius Remex pad which has been a revolation for my butt. Very expensive but works for me. Only minor soreness when I did my only FM.

[Big J]

Totally agree Jonathan. Your CV system was built many years ago, and now the 'muscle memory' is coming into play.

Your potential, whilst always looking very good, is now looking extremely good with a 5k like that so early in your rowing career. Your 2k has proved your low end, and this 5k is proving your medium range.

Thanks Stu

I've got a little bit of pudge to lose as well (I'm about 19% BF at the moment) which once gone ought to help my aerobic capacity. When I was about 20-21, I was absolutely shredded, doing ridiculous amounts of exercise (weight training 5 times a week, cycling 50-70 miles a week and taekwondo 4 times a week, plus some running) and I ate like a horse. I remember regularly waking up at 4am, starving, getting myself 12 slices of toast and then going back to bed again but then having breakfast at 8am as normal.

My metabolism has slowed a bit now, and the bit of extra pudge is mostly from bulking from 105 to 120kg over spring and summer.

Anyway, it's 2ks again this evening. 5k at max effort isn't something I want to do too often!

[Big J]

Accidental 2k pb today. Set out to do a couple of sub 6:50 pace 2ks, but was sufficiently close to a decent pb at 1500m that I sprinted a bit to the end. Ended up with 6:40.1

Not max effort, but getting there.

[Tandstad]

Accidental 2k pb today. Set out to do a couple of sub 6:50 pace 2ks, but was sufficiently close to a decent pb at 1500m that I sprinted a bit to the end. Ended up with 6:40.1

Not max effort, but getting there.

Congrats Big J, you are becoming very fast Sub 6:40 next attempt! Will you be going for the longer distances too? Asking for a friend....

[Big J]

Accidental 2k pb today. Set out to do a couple of sub 6:50 pace 2ks, but was sufficiently close to a decent pb at 1500m that I sprinted a bit to the end. Ended up with 6:40.1

Not max effort, but getting there.

Congrats Big J, you are becoming very fast Sub 6:40 next attempt! Will you be going for the longer distances too? Asking for a friend....

Muchos gracias!

Nothing past 5k really. It's too counterproductive to me wanting to stay 120kg and fairly strong. I'll still train up to 10k rows, but I won't push them hard.

I'm having to restrain myself not to go for a 500m pb at the moment

[Dangerscouse]

Congrats Big J, you are becoming very fast Sub 6:40 next attempt! Will you be going for the longer distances too? Asking for a friend....

Hahahahaha