42,195 metres

[Zuman]

These aren't training hints, they're more about survival...
I've done a marathon each of the past two years, and the difference in butt pain between a half- and a full-marathon is monumental for me. I can't overemphasize this...get more emergency padding ready than you think you will need, just in case.
The easiest solution is bubble-wrap (not the tiniest nor the biggest bubbles). Cut several pieces to approximate size, and add a layer each time you think your derriere can't take any more.
Don't use any ancillary software (like RowPro) during your marathon. The risk of a crash invalidating all your effort is too real (don't ask me how I know). ErgData, of course, is fine.
I'm sure you know this, but there's a good chance that you'll need to use the bathroom during your row. Make sure you can do what you have to and get back on the rower before the session times-out. And do everything you can to make sure you don't need to do a #2 during your row! Similarly, make sure anyone else who's around truly understands how important this is to you so they have absolutely no expectation that you'll be able to stop and answer the door, let the dog out, etc.
I have several bottles of sports drink and/or water lined up by the rower. It helps me measure the passing of time and meters and makes sure I stay on track with my hydration. I also have things like Jelly Belly Sport Beans next to the rower: "carbohydrates to fuel your body during intense activity, electrolytes (sodium and potassium) vital for maintaining fluid balance, Vitamins B1, B2, & B3 to help burn carbohydrates and fat, Vitamin C to protect muscles and cells against oxidative damage" according to the package. Bike shops are a good source for these kind of energy snacks.
I also replace the battery in my PM5, clean the seat rollers, and lube the chain before starting out.
Good luck!

[fragandclear]

I'm hoping to complete a FM, would make sense to time this in for May at some stage.

I've just finished some "cobwebs" workouts after allowing things to slip at the end of the tax year/having COVID.

Good luck to anyone else attempting their first FM in the near future.

[Holly62]

Dang it, Holly. For a second there, I had an inspiration that a Heath Robinson might be some sort of repurposed sling like a sports bra for instance. See now it’s just a Rube Goldberg gravito-mechano mouse maze. Whatever you do, don’t drive the screw thru the udder—er ah—bladder.

That's hilarious, brilliant

[Holly62]

Well I'm still plodding on with my 10k training rows, some 10k's are really easy, get on row a bit, drift off into dream land, get off.. Meh in your face, easy..
Some are hard, tough push, the readout seems stuck at 7000k and there's a long way to go.
And.. Then there's the seriously ugly stroke by stroke battle with your will. Ive been here before, I know what this feels like, I'll just do one more stroke and then I'm going to stop.. and pull, again..
And then there are days when you abandon plan, form perfect, heart rate in the 130s,stroke rate 24/25,

And 1min 20 off my person best... Klf make mine a 99.

I gather that I'm going to get all of these 10k's in a full marathon, along with serious butt ache

[fragandclear]

These aren't training hints, they're more about survival...
I've done a marathon each of the past two years, and the difference in butt pain between a half- and a full-marathon is monumental for me. I can't overemphasize this...get more emergency padding ready than you think you will need, just in case.
The easiest solution is bubble-wrap (not the tiniest nor the biggest bubbles). Cut several pieces to approximate size, and add a layer each time you think your derriere can't take any more.
Don't use any ancillary software (like RowPro) during your marathon. The risk of a crash invalidating all your effort is too real (don't ask me how I know). ErgData, of course, is fine.
I'm sure you know this, but there's a good chance that you'll need to use the bathroom during your row. Make sure you can do what you have to and get back on the rower before the session times-out. And do everything you can to make sure you don't need to do a #2 during your row! Similarly, make sure anyone else who's around truly understands how important this is to you so they have absolutely no expectation that you'll be able to stop and answer the door, let the dog out, etc.
I have several bottles of sports drink and/or water lined up by the rower. It helps me measure the passing of time and meters and makes sure I stay on track with my hydration. I also have things like Jelly Belly Sport Beans next to the rower: "carbohydrates to fuel your body during intense activity, electrolytes (sodium and potassium) vital for maintaining fluid balance, Vitamins B1, B2, & B3 to help burn carbohydrates and fat, Vitamin C to protect muscles and cells against oxidative damage" according to the package. Bike shops are a good source for these kind of energy snacks.
I also replace the battery in my PM5, clean the seat rollers, and lube the chain before starting out.
Good luck!

Great tip Zuman, I'll be sure to give this a go.

[Elizabeth]

You've gotten a lot of great advice!

I usually train fasted (just black coffee), but anything around 20k+, I start to need something to eat or everything starts to feel unnecessarily hard. I really benefited from electrolytes and snacks when I rowed my marathon earlier this year. The seat of a chair was a perfect height to reach from the erg, and I had a plate with some snacks: banana, Clif blocks, Clif bar pre-cut into bite-sized pieces. Even if you're not planning on eating, I'd have something handy in case you want to change plans.

I don't think I've seen anything about sweat or blister management. It was really helpful having a sweat towel handy for periodically wiping down my hands.

If you're able to watch TV, I love settling into a good Netflix series for long rows. Captions help with understanding over the whir of the fan.

On the topic of breaks, if you're also tracking on ErgData, you can answer "Are you finished?" from the app. Which means that you can keep the session active if you take your phone along for the break...

From your comment about how some days it feels like the PM hangs at 7k, it sounds like you "Just Row". If you care about it "counting" officially (being eligible for submission to the leader boards), you can go to "Select Workout", and program in exactly 42,195m.

Concept2 has a page on training for a marathon where they recommend at least two 20k rows and a 30k trial leading up to it. I completed one with just two or three 20k rows in training. I finished. I was happy. My time left much room for improvement compared to my half marathon time, and I imagine the time trial may have helped if that had been my focus. However, I'm planning on something for the May challenge (undecided which distance), and I'm not planning on a 30k time trial to help prepare.

Best of luck!

[fragandclear]

You've gotten a lot of great advice!

I usually train fasted (just black coffee), but anything around 20k+, I start to need something to eat or everything starts to feel unnecessarily hard. I really benefited from electrolytes and snacks when I rowed my marathon earlier this year. The seat of a chair was a perfect height to reach from the erg, and I had a plate with some snacks: banana, Clif blocks, Clif bar pre-cut into bite-sized pieces. Even if you're not planning on eating, I'd have something handy in case you want to change plans.

I don't think I've seen anything about sweat or blister management. It was really helpful having a sweat towel handy for periodically wiping down my hands.

If you're able to watch TV, I love settling into a good Netflix series for long rows. Captions help with understanding over the whir of the fan.

On the topic of breaks, if you're also tracking on ErgData, you can answer "Are you finished?" from the app. Which means that you can keep the session active if you take your phone along for the break...

From your comment about how some days it feels like the PM hangs at 7k, it sounds like you "Just Row". If you care about it "counting" officially (being eligible for submission to the leader boards), you can go to "Select Workout", and program in exactly 42,195m.

Concept2 has a page on training for a marathon where they recommend at least two 20k rows and a 30k trial leading up to it. I completed one with just two or three 20k rows in training. I finished. I was happy. My time left much room for improvement compared to my half marathon time, and I imagine the time trial may have helped if that had been my focus. However, I'm planning on something for the May challenge (undecided which distance), and I'm not planning on a 30k time trial to help prepare.

Best of luck!

Hi Elizabeth.

Regarding the the concept 2 Marathon challenge, do I need to "activate" anything on their site, or will my completed marathon be picked up automatically (assuming I complete the exact distance in the given date range)?

Many thanks.

[Holly62]

Hi Elizabeth, thank you so much for taking the time to post, I'm not doing just row though, I'm a bit obsessive about clicking the 10k and watching it count down to zero, in fact my whole 10k rowing plan is dependent on where I am in the process, first thousand metres warm up and form check, etc, I'm sure everyone does the same, or something like it.
I need to get the most inspirational music tracks, to come on line, when I'm at my weakest states during each 10k, one of those being the 7k mark, last train to transcentral cured that jump

[MPx]

Regarding the the concept 2 Marathon challenge, do I need to "activate" anything on their site, or will my completed marathon be picked up automatically (assuming I complete the exact distance in the given date range)?

In the past any qualifying piece logged has always been picked up automatically, no need to sign up for anything....

[fragandclear]

Regarding the the concept 2 Marathon challenge, do I need to "activate" anything on their site, or will my completed marathon be picked up automatically (assuming I complete the exact distance in the given date range)?

In the past any qualifying piece logged has always been picked up automatically, no need to sign up for anything....

Sounds foolproof. Wonder if I'll still muck it up though!

[Elizabeth]

Holly, that's good to hear! I misinterpreted what you said. It took me entirely too long to realize that you could program in workouts, and for a while I'd use "Just Row" for things like 500m repeats with a defined rest period, trying to do all this math in my head about when I needed to start and stop.

Regarding the the concept 2 Marathon challenge, do I need to "activate" anything on their site, or will my completed marathon be picked up automatically (assuming I complete the exact distance in the given date range)?

In the past any qualifying piece logged has always been picked up automatically, no need to sign up for anything....

Sounds foolproof. Wonder if I'll still muck it up though!

The challenge website for this cycle (https://log.concept2.com/challenges/marathon) states that no sign up is necessary, and that meters must be entered online. That seems straight-forward enough!

[Zuman]

I'm pretty sure you have to specifically select a marathon from the distance menu for it to "officially count." When you do that, the PM5 doesn't allow you to pause the clock like in a "Just Row." In other words, when you stop rowing before the distance target is reached, the clock keeps running. That stops people from setting records by rowing 2k at a time then taking a five minute break!

[Sakly]

I'm pretty sure you have to specifically select a marathon from the distance menu for it to "officially count."

There is no marathon or half marathon entry in the distance menu. You have to program the exact amount of metres as distance workout, that's it.
But you are correct, clock runs until you finished the distance. This is always the case for distance workouts

[Dangerscouse]

There is no marathon or half marathon entry in the distance menu. You have to program the exact amount of metres as distance workout, that's it.
But you are correct, clock runs until you finished the distance. This is always the case for distance workouts

There is a FM option, but not a HM, and that's why it's not very unusual to see people do 21,098m.

If you use the FM option it defaults to 2k splits, so that's why I don't use it.

[Sakly]

There is no marathon or half marathon entry in the distance menu. You have to program the exact amount of metres as distance workout, that's it.
But you are correct, clock runs until you finished the distance. This is always the case for distance workouts

There is a FM option, but not a HM, and that's why it's not very unusual to see people do 21,098m.

If you use the FM option it defaults to 2k splits, so that's why I don't use it.

Oh, ok, so I could not remember correct menu entries - sorry
I knew that I had to enter my HM manually and could not remember that I saw an FM entry...

Splits can only be changed in manual entry, right?