6 months off the erg

[smokersteve]

I haven’t used my concept 2 since April...I’ve been outside riding my road bikes all summer. It’s just to nice outside in SoCal for me to be inside
Did a 30 minute row yesterday and my core is thrashed today.
Before my break a good 30 minute workout for me was a 2:05 pace. Figured I’m in good shape so I’ll keep it under 2:10. That was the first mistake. Second was starting out to hard. 10 minutes in I was struggling. Countless other mistakes were also made
I finished the 30 minutes with a 2:09 pace and like I said earlier my core is feeling it.
Interesting thing is the last half I kept catching my spm higher than what I know it should be. Maybe because when I’m cycling and struggling some my go to is a higher cadence. Didn’t work for me on the erg. Looking back at older 30 minute workouts my spm was 21-22. Kept catching my spm yesterday at 25-26.
Anyway it still feels good to be back on the rower and I look forward to getting back into it.

[Boomer]

These ergs have memories, if you don’t pay them enough attention they punish you in all sorts of terrible ways when you return! Main thing is not to get down about it. 5-6 sessions you’ll be back to steady improvements.

I also play aerobic sports in the winter season and when I go back to the erg after 6 months it’s like I’d never rowed before and after 6 months just when I’m getting quite fast I have to stop again. The good thing is that my times have been stable steady over the last few years so there is some residual fitness and technique offsetting the ageing process...or so I like to think.