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.

[gvcormac]

I'm a little over 4M this season, so on track for 6M by the end of April. Before you applaud too much, be aware that most of this is BikeErg, which generally only counts half. But for overall season meters, C2 lumps them all together.

Last year I did 5.7M so we'll see if I actually beat that. I've done fewer intense workouts this year, mostly because I have done those via outdoor running. So no (age category) Erg PBs this season.

It is easy to do 10k-20k on the BikeErg every morning, over coffee, email, social media, puzzles, and sometimes actual work.

Per-Erg totals:

Row: 286,808m
Ski: 46,334m
Bike: 3,741,135m

[Jbrown1215]

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.

Those are very impressive times and (achievable) goals for a relative newbie to this sport. You've clearly got the aptitude for this game -- looking forward to seeing how you get on in 2025.

[Jbrown1215]

Thanks for posting the question, Jonathan, as no doubt many of us are taking the time amidst the holidays to reflect on where we've been and where we want to go.

2024 was my first full year back in rowing, after a 16+ year break from the sport. When I hopped back on the erg for the first time in years in June of '23, the motivation at first was -- as is the case for many -- to lose some weight and get my bloodwork back in order after several rather sedentary and unhealthy years. I found that over the following few months, as 2023 came to a close, that my "why" morphed a bit into "wanting to see if the old man still had it", and it became a challenge to see just how fit and how fast I could get as I closed in on my 40th birthday. There's some deep psychology at play there going back to my childhood where I was bullied mercilessly and developed a chip on my shoulder feeling like I constantly needed to prove myself. This trait has been a double-edged sword in my adult life, for sure, but has helped me a lot in sports... In any case, call it a mid-life crisis if you will, but I needed to see what I was capable of.

If I had to summarize my rowing in 2024 in one word, it would be VOLUME. While I could have incorporated more cross-training and strength training into my program for a bit more variety, rowing is a rowing sport after all, and there is no substitute for time on the machine. I've done a handful of runs this year (almost entirely in the first half of the year), and since getting a BikeErg in November have been doing most of my UT2 on it, but the vast majority of my time and mileage have been on the rower, to the tune of ~4.1M+ meters when all is said and done on Dec. 31st.

Some fun stats and reflections as I look back on my training (full log viewable here for those so data-inclined: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... id=0#gid=0)

• 304 workouts on the rower (will be 308 at year-end) totaling ~4.1M meters. An average of ~13.4k meters per row.

• 11 strength training sessions...so virtually none and certainly nothing consistent. I highlight this to show that you can get pretty quick on the rower without regular resistance training, although it can certainly help if done in a very targeted way and balanced with time on the machine.

• 4 rows back on the water with a local masters club. After being humbled in a big way this past fall and realizing how rusty I was in a boat, I have some clear on-water goals for myself in 2025, like making the club's 40+ boat for the Head of the Charles. I have a significant fitness advantage compared to my peers there, but my on-water technique and boat feel need a LOT of work if I want that fitness to translate. This will require me to commit to getting out on the water at least 3-4x/month starting in the spring, which is the most I can do given I live an hour from the boathouse.

• All the PBs in my signature below were achieved in 2024. If you told me one year ago that I'd hit any of those times this calendar year, I would've asked you if you'd received a blow to the head. I'm getting close to equalling some of my all-time bests, and while I wasn't quite an elite/international level rower in college, I was no slouch either, so even being in the same ballpark now is still hard for me to comprehend. In fact, my 10k PB from earlier this week is the first time trial where I've beaten my college PB and set a true, lifetime PB at 40 years old. Wild.

As I look ahead to 2025, it's hard to say with any certainty if I'll still be training to this degree a year from now, but I've found the following things have helped me stay on track and keep a positive outlook this year:

• Changing goals every couple months -- For example, I'm focused on my 2k for my current ~3 month training block, but afterwards will most likely shift focus to longer stuff, perhaps a half marathon. Hammering away at one singular goal for months on end is a surefire recipe for burnout, at least for me.

• Recognizing that no one single workout will make or break my training. It's easy as endurance athletes to have anxiety when we miss workouts, thinking we're losing fitness, etc. etc.... Well, as a father of two small kids working full-time, life happens, and I'll inevitably miss a day here or there, or entire weeks if we're on vacation, etc. Consistency over time is the key, and I've found that when taking breaks this year (of up to ~10 days), very little fitness has been lost, if any. I actually welcome those breaks as a way to force myself to recharge and give my body and mind the time away from training that they need, as I may not be as disciplined about rest and recovery if left to my own devices...

• Recognizing that the ability to train like this at all is a privilege, and embracing a growth mindset. There are no bad workouts. Sure, I may miss my targets here or there, but there is always a lesson or two be learned from every single training session, and it's through stacking these lessons on top of each other that I've built the mental resilience needed to stick to it.

• Being an active member of the indoor rowing community... Whether it's via this forum, the Sub7 Indoor Rowing Club which I'm a part of, or social media, becoming more actively involved in the niche community that is indoor rowing has made the journey much more fun. I know many of you on this forum are very active as well and belong to various indoor rowing clubs, but if you haven't yet, check one out! Friendly competition and camaraderie go a long way in this otherwise solitary sport.

All in all, there is much to be thankful for — good health (I was lucky to make it through 2024 largely injury free!), and critically, the support of family, friends, and strangers on the internet .

Hoping all of you have a fantastic end to 2024, and a great start to 2025!

[nick rockliff]

Just another year older but still managed a British Record for the 65-69 MHWT 5k. Have plans for more before the end of the season but will need to get a few more metres in than I have recently. Hopefully will be able to retire soon if a suitable replacement can be found. Been saying that for nearly too years now though

Hope everybody had a great Christmas and have great New Year.

[Erik A]

My year started out pretty good with a goal to do another road marathon. Training was progressing quite well and the step up from a marathon to an ultra was already forming. Feb 2025 was to be my first ultra run. 50kms. However in May all my plans were shot down when I was diagnosed with severe osteoarthritis in my lower spine. So I ended up only doing a half marathon in which I did a PB to end off with. Since then I have been walking the dog and have done just over 4000kms running/walking in 2024.

2025 will see me with a new direction to head.
Significant time on the erg to keep my back strengthened and cardio
Keep walking the dog at least 5km a day
Start swimming . So am booking in for adult swim lessons. I can swim already but haven't for over 30 years so need to get the form back. As part of swimming will be looking at ocean
swim events to play around with and possibly look at an ultra swim in a couple of years.
Also playing with the idea of getting back on the bike.

[Dangerscouse]

I'd probably say that 2024 is best described as patchy.

I've been consistent, but I still don't feel like I've made progress, and I've probably regressed slightly. My mindset has been notably weakened, as life has took a toll on me at times, so I need to work on that as that used to be a very notable strength.

This month will be my biggest monthly distance since Oct 23, but it doesn't feel like I've done that much for some reason.

[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.

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.

I do realize that... although some institutions have surprisingly little added value compared to the same grades. Take the example of Newcastle (mid-tier RG) vs CUHK

CUHK social sciences (economics) has entry req. ABB-AAB (lower admission score) with other application stuff. Newcastle needs AAB. The entry standard is about the same.

https://www.ncl.ac.uk/undergraduate/degrees/l100/ vs https://www.econ.cuhk.edu.hk/econ/en-gb ... programmes and https://www.cuhk.edu.hk/adm/nonjupas/do ... Scores.pdf

As we can see if someone takes ECON 2011, ECON 2021, ECON 1101, ECON 1111, ECON 2121, and ECON 2901 (2 credits), and maybe 1 more course to fit the optional stuff, we have 20 credits.

People with CUHK advanced standing can reduce 17-24 units and shorten graduation to 3 years (same as Newcastle). Graduating on time, a semester would have 16-18 credits. Thus, CUHK can finish 2 semesters' worth of Newcastle work in ~1.2 semesters. It's crazy how two different unis with similar-ish entry standards can have such different levels of rigor in their courses.

I can do a similar analysis in other subjects...

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.

Honestly, I see it as enlightenment. At least I know now that I would've had to work very hard for years at badminton to compete at the university varsity level. For rowing... I could break into a decent team within a year or less.

I willbreak the 1:59 30r20 eventually as I have the genetics to do so. Yes, I am very light for a rower; yes, I am quite short; yes, my limbs are not particularly long (my legs are longer than average). But I know I have it in me to make it in a year. I am not bad at sports.

While some of my experiences were small t traumatic, I at least know I can survive and not fall apart. At least I had some good experiences there even if the university establishment wasn't friendly. I know I am not terrible with women (in fact managing to date more than a few). Despite my prior trauma with some ladies I did not fall into inceldom.

I would probably pursue the erg for a while, though of course supplement it with strength training and AW training To me it is the most efficient full-body workout that also trains cardio. I like doing TTs (maybe I am just masochistic that way). I will eventually break sub 7:30, sub 7 and sub 2:00 30r20, it can be done!

In hindsight... this did give me a better outlook on life.

[jcross485]

I'm a little over 4M this season, so on track for 6M by the end of April. Before you applaud too much, be aware that most of this is BikeErg, which generally only counts half. But for overall season meters, C2 lumps them all together.

Last year I did 5.7M so we'll see if I actually beat that. I've done fewer intense workouts this year, mostly because I have done those via outdoor running. So no (age category) Erg PBs this season.

It is easy to do 10k-20k on the BikeErg every morning, over coffee, email, social media, puzzles, and sometimes actual work.

Per-Erg totals:

Row: 286,808m
Ski: 46,334m
Bike: 3,741,135m

That's an awesome amount of training! I've contemplated adding a BikeErg to the garage so that I can spin and knock out some of the things I might be able to do sitting on a bike as opposed to on the rower but there is also a not so substantial part of me that likes to keep things blocked a bit, meaning work is work and training is training. For example, my company provides a cell phone for work; I could have everything forwarded to my personal cell to only carry one or just use my personal cell for everything but I like being able to keep those things separate.

Thanks for posting the question, Jonathan, as no doubt many of us are taking the time amidst the holidays to reflect on where we've been and where we want to go.

2024 was my first full year back in rowing, after a 16+ year break from the sport. When I hopped back on the erg for the first time in years in June of '23, the motivation at first was -- as is the case for many -- to lose some weight and get my bloodwork back in order after several rather sedentary and unhealthy years. I found that over the following few months, as 2023 came to a close, that my "why" morphed a bit into "wanting to see if the old man still had it", and it became a challenge to see just how fit and how fast I could get as I closed in on my 40th birthday. There's some deep psychology at play there going back to my childhood where I was bullied mercilessly and developed a chip on my shoulder feeling like I constantly needed to prove myself. This trait has been a double-edged sword in my adult life, for sure, but has helped me a lot in sports... In any case, call it a mid-life crisis if you will, but I needed to see what I was capable of.

If I had to summarize my rowing in 2024 in one word, it would be VOLUME. While I could have incorporated more cross-training and strength training into my program for a bit more variety, rowing is a rowing sport after all, and there is no substitute for time on the machine. I've done a handful of runs this year (almost entirely in the first half of the year), and since getting a BikeErg in November have been doing most of my UT2 on it, but the vast majority of my time and mileage have been on the rower, to the tune of ~4.1M+ meters when all is said and done on Dec. 31st.

Some fun stats and reflections as I look back on my training (full log viewable here for those so data-inclined: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... id=0#gid=0)

• 304 workouts on the rower (will be 308 at year-end) totaling ~4.1M meters. An average of ~13.4k meters per row.

• 11 strength training sessions...so virtually none and certainly nothing consistent. I highlight this to show that you can get pretty quick on the rower without regular resistance training, although it can certainly help if done in a very targeted way and balanced with time on the machine.

• 4 rows back on the water with a local masters club. After being humbled in a big way this past fall and realizing how rusty I was in a boat, I have some clear on-water goals for myself in 2025, like making the club's 40+ boat for the Head of the Charles. I have a significant fitness advantage compared to my peers there, but my on-water technique and boat feel need a LOT of work if I want that fitness to translate. This will require me to commit to getting out on the water at least 3-4x/month starting in the spring, which is the most I can do given I live an hour from the boathouse.

• All the PBs in my signature below were achieved in 2024. If you told me one year ago that I'd hit any of those times this calendar year, I would've asked you if you'd received a blow to the head. I'm getting close to equalling some of my all-time bests, and while I wasn't quite an elite/international level rower in college, I was no slouch either, so even being in the same ballpark now is still hard for me to comprehend. In fact, my 10k PB from earlier this week is the first time trial where I've beaten my college PB and set a true, lifetime PB at 40 years old. Wild.

As I look ahead to 2025, it's hard to say with any certainty if I'll still be training to this degree a year from now, but I've found the following things have helped me stay on track and keep a positive outlook this year:

• Changing goals every couple months -- For example, I'm focused on my 2k for my current ~3 month training block, but afterwards will most likely shift focus to longer stuff, perhaps a half marathon. Hammering away at one singular goal for months on end is a surefire recipe for burnout, at least for me.

• Recognizing that no one single workout will make or break my training. It's easy as endurance athletes to have anxiety when we miss workouts, thinking we're losing fitness, etc. etc.... Well, as a father of two small kids working full-time, life happens, and I'll inevitably miss a day here or there, or entire weeks if we're on vacation, etc. Consistency over time is the key, and I've found that when taking breaks this year (of up to ~10 days), very little fitness has been lost, if any. I actually welcome those breaks as a way to force myself to recharge and give my body and mind the time away from training that they need, as I may not be as disciplined about rest and recovery if left to my own devices...

• Recognizing that the ability to train like this at all is a privilege, and embracing a growth mindset. There are no bad workouts. Sure, I may miss my targets here or there, but there is always a lesson or two be learned from every single training session, and it's through stacking these lessons on top of each other that I've built the mental resilience needed to stick to it.

• Being an active member of the indoor rowing community... Whether it's via this forum, the Sub7 Indoor Rowing Club which I'm a part of, or social media, becoming more actively involved in the niche community that is indoor rowing has made the journey much more fun. I know many of you on this forum are very active as well and belong to various indoor rowing clubs, but if you haven't yet, check one out! Friendly competition and camaraderie go a long way in this otherwise solitary sport.

All in all, there is much to be thankful for — good health (I was lucky to make it through 2024 largely injury free!), and critically, the support of family, friends, and strangers on the internet .

Hoping all of you have a fantastic end to 2024, and a great start to 2025!

Thank you very much for the detailed response - your journey back to quite elite numbers on this weird machine we all use has been very motivating to watch! There are so many good nuggets to take from this.

Just another year older but still managed a British Record for the 65-69 MHWT 5k. Have plans for more before the end of the season but will need to get a few more metres in than I have recently. Hopefully will be able to retire soon if a suitable replacement can be found. Been saying that for nearly too years now though

Hope everybody had a great Christmas and have great New Year.

You're very humble; hitting records would be nothing to sneeze at and, in my opinion, much more substantial than just another year older. The comment on "retiring" is interesting though - do you mean retiring from the erg altogether or retiring from chasing times / records?

My year started out pretty good with a goal to do another road marathon. Training was progressing quite well and the step up from a marathon to an ultra was already forming. Feb 2025 was to be my first ultra run. 50kms. However in May all my plans were shot down when I was diagnosed with severe osteoarthritis in my lower spine. So I ended up only doing a half marathon in which I did a PB to end off with. Since then I have been walking the dog and have done just over 4000kms running/walking in 2024.

2025 will see me with a new direction to head.
Significant time on the erg to keep my back strengthened and cardio
Keep walking the dog at least 5km a day
Start swimming . So am booking in for adult swim lessons. I can swim already but haven't for over 30 years so need to get the form back. As part of swimming will be looking at ocean
swim events to play around with and possibly look at an ultra swim in a couple of years.
Also playing with the idea of getting back on the bike.

That is a very, very productive year of work despite the health issue - well done! I also really like the way you pivoted from what you might not be able to do, to focusing on things you can do; this is something I had to do at the end of the year when traveling for work and away from the equipment I normally have access to. I found that by doing what I could and putting legitimate effort into it, I was able to come back to what I like (the erg) with no real loss other than gaining just that upper percentage of specific fitness back.

I'd probably say that 2024 is best described as patchy.

I've been consistent, but I still don't feel like I've made progress, and I've probably regressed slightly. My mindset has been notably weakened, as life has took a toll on me at times, so I need to work on that as that used to be a very notable strength.

This month will be my biggest monthly distance since Oct 23, but it doesn't feel like I've done that much for some reason.

Consistency is a big win IMO. I would 100% call that a win and use that as a base to build momentum from. I won't be near the meters I hit last season for a few reasons but I stayed consistent with other training so I am looking at it as a very productive year for that reason.

Honestly, I see it as enlightenment. At least I know now that I would've had to work very hard for years at badminton to compete at the university varsity level. For rowing... I could break into a decent team within a year or less.

I willbreak the 1:59 30r20 eventually as I have the genetics to do so. Yes, I am very light for a rower; yes, I am quite short; yes, my limbs are not particularly long (my legs are longer than average). But I know I have it in me to make it in a year. I am not bad at sports.

While some of my experiences were small t traumatic, I at least know I can survive and not fall apart. At least I had some good experiences there even if the university establishment wasn't friendly. I know I am not terrible with women (in fact managing to date more than a few). Despite my prior trauma with some ladies I did not fall into inceldom.

I would probably pursue the erg for a while, though of course supplement it with strength training and AW training To me it is the most efficient full-body workout that also trains cardio. I like doing TTs (maybe I am just masochistic that way). I will eventually break sub 7:30, sub 7 and sub 2:00 30r20, it can be done!

In hindsight... this did give me a better outlook on life.

Having a positive view of the year and focusing on what you took away from it to apply to life moving forward is a big win! The sport I competed in, in college and beyond, was one that is similar to badminton; I started quite a bit younger and was competing at a decent level prior to college which helped. That said, there were many, many levels and even at relatively high level collegiate competition, it was clear that making an actual career out of sport (specifically competing) was the rare exception; I just did not have what it would take. That said though, if you enjoy a sport, don't give it up entirely - recognize it for what it is but enjoy it. I am in a position with rowing / erging where I know I would never be elite per se, but I am 100% ok with that. I train smart and hard, track progress, and worry about what is within my control, and that is improving on an individual level, as opposed to results in comparison to others.