The end of the challenge. The end of this blog.

So, a day off for my 40th celebrations and then back on the ergo today.

I thought I would do a 5k with the first 1,609 at a 1:45 split. Easy after the 40 before 40 I thought.

Er, no.

Without the push of the sponsored row even getting to 1,000m, 10 seconds slower than 1:40 pace was a struggle and I gave up at 1,200m in. The rest of the row was a bit of a farce. Stopping. Paddling, sprinting. I did not know quite what I was up to.

So, 5,000m today and back on to my old plan of not really knowing what I am up to. I need to get on to a plan. The Pete Plan beckons...

Now that the 40 before 40 is done there are so many people to thank. This is what I said on the Free Spirits rowing site...

I certainly could not have survived and completed it without the support of many many people. Lots to thank.

Firstly, a the people who donated. Without you I would not have finished. Simple as that. Some days I would be really low and tired and then I would get home to an email saying I had had a donation and this would force me out to the garage.
Secondly, my wife, Tamsin and my children. Tamsin thinks I am bonkers, but has never questioned my decision to do this. It has knocked holes in our normal life and a lot of the holes have been filled, uncomplainingly by her. It was particularly grim in the mid 30s of the rows when I was sore and knackered and my sense of humour had been left on the ergo at about row 30. My children have just accepted I am rowing more than usual and I was so touched when my eldest handed me her weekly pocket money as a donation.
Thirdly, my form at school, 7 Hart. They make me laugh and drive me crazy but they got together and managed to sell £68 worth of popcorn and biscuits in twenty minutes at school. Great support, they are brilliant and that was a great effort.
Lastly, all Free Spirits. It has been said many times, but the support on this site is fantastic. I have never felt alone. All those who rowed with me on RowPro. Brilliant. I felt loved. This helped a lot. All those who have left messages of support and advice have helped more than they know.

This is the last post on this blog.

Thank you very much.

Metres today: 5,000

Rep 40: PB in 3:07.8 @ 1:33.9 - And it is ALL OVER

The plan was to have three and a half days rest and then hit the final rep hard. This was upset somewhat by slipping on damp grass and falling amazingly heavily on my shoulders, neck and head and suffering whiplash. This happened on Sunday and by today (Tuesday) I was much better - although looking over my right shoulder is a bit of a problem.

I had a very quiet (child free) day and headed for Cambridge for a day out. Looking at HDTVs, drinking coffee without worrying about the kids, a nice Wagamama meal, lots of reading, the Fitzwilliam. Lovely.

Then a manic two hours of kids and cooking followed by the warm up for the race. The RowPro race was supposed to be fancy dress but I had decided to make my avatar row naked. I took a disproportionate amount of time getting the t-shirt and shorts to match the skin tone...

Anyway. The race. There was a good turn out, with five of us on the river. John was aiming for a 1:30 piece so I knew I would have something to chase. I also knew he might blow up (he'd warned me). My old rival Petr Oliva was there too as well as Bill and Plummy.

I had felt pretty odd warming up. With hindsight that might have been "lack of fatigue". The race started and I shot out of the blocks pulling 1:24s. The first 250m was a dream with me having to consciously back off to avoid burning out. I shot past John at around 300m - he'd obviously given up the ghost. He went backwards so fast I had a fleeting thought that his RowPro had crashed but the pain was kicking in and I gave it no further thought.

As I approached 500m I began to struggle, but my split was something amazing like 1:33.5 at this point. I knew that I could finish from 300m out so I dug in for the next 200m, aiming not to slip below 1:34 for any stroke. I was in severe pain through this but was amazed to see the average split hanging on to the high 1:33s throughout.

With 250m to go I knew I could hang on. I have now done enough races that I know you can pull it out for the finish, that it hurts like hell but can be borne. Sometimes I wonder whether the elite athletes feel throughout the race how I felt in the last 250m! I was fairly stunned to see that the split did not slip below 1:35 through this. I was not looking at the average split but the projected finish which was something stupid like 3:07.

I was really struggling as I hit the last 100m but raised the rate and went for it. It was gutbusting effort, increasing with every stroke, but all I managed was to keep the split at 1:35! I suspect that I was truly all out at this point. The effort was so great, I was working so hard but the split just did not change.

I felt nauseous for a fair while after the race. Now, two hours later my legs, particularly my calves ache, and my lungs are odd. But it was a monster personal best - 2.1 seconds inside my old best. I have no idea if I can beat that time, it was a massive row. Here are the results.

	Name	Time	Split
1	Thomas William-Powlett	3:07.8	1:33.9
2	Petr Oliva	3:13.7	1:36.9
3	John Glynn	3:19.3	1:39.7
4	William Docter	3:21.6	1:40.8
5	David Plumb	3:32.1	1:46.1

The last metre of the race was the last metre of my 5 millionth recorded with Concept 2. I think I get a certificate for that. Yay.

Metres today: 4,000

Rep 39: penultimate row - 1:39.6 with fast first half. Tough.

One left. My body has been hurting in the last week so yesterday I had an incredibly gentle half hour on the erg which helped ease a lot of my aches and pains.

Today I wanted to get the feel of the speed of a PB attempt again. And boy is it going to be hard. I did the first 500m in 1:33.8 but suspect that there is no way I could have held on to that for a full 500m. After going through 500m I dipped down to a 2:00 split and it took a lot of effort to get back on to the 1:46s I needed to finish on time. At one point I thought I wouldn't make it but gritted out the last 100m in under 1:45 to make sure of the time.

So, unless I have a complete failure on Tuesday night I will complete this task. There is no way I could have done it without the steady flow of sponsorship which was very very motivating. Several days (and most of the last week) the only thing getting me out to the garage has been the thought of boosting the money raised to my target of £1,000.

Tonight I visit my friends who are the driving force behind Project 40. No row and certainly no abstinence of any sort tonight. Then a gentle stretch out on Sunday night, complete rest on Monday and then on Tuesday my last row in my 30s. My last metre in my 30s will be the 5 millionth on my machine.

The final 1,000m row is on RowPro in "fancy dress". I have no idea of the ensemble I will be "wearing" but no doubt the shorts will be red to reflect the state of my backside.

Metres today: 3,004

Rep 38: 3:19.6 @ 1:38.8 - proving very tough

It has been getting harder recently - here is a post from freespiritsrowing.com:

Well, I am sitting here at the erg after a 2k warm up and now know one thing for sure. I am not mentally tough enough to do the 42. I said 40, 40's the target and 40 is what I will do.

I know this because as warming up I was pondering whether 42 was truly feasible. Given that I waled out here yawning and I could barely hold a 2:15 at a heart rate of 130 I think I have my answer. So, the rest of the time I was wondering how to get to Tuesday in the best possible shape for a PB given the state I am in right now. I have not really talked about the state my body is in because I'm such a hypochondriac that as soon as I admit it I'm done for. But now the floodgates have opened, lets see:

• My calves are sore and feel crampy all the time
• My shoulders are tight most of the time
• I am too tired to interact with the family properly
• I have not marked for a week (yay!)
• I dread coming out to row now - my metres are very low and I am very unlikely to reach my personal target of hitting 5 million lifetime before I am 40. I have about 24k to go on that.
• I am avoiding the booze at the moment!!!

All that has kept me going is donations. someone at work handed me a £10 note today, and it looks like my little form have raised £50 odd selling biscuits and popcorn the darlings. I have £100+ pledged so get ever nearer to the £1,000.
So, how to get to Tuesday in a position to row 1:34.9/3:09.8 (or better) for a 1k. Sadly I realise that the best thing to do is to do one tonight (38) one on Saturday morning (39) and save the last row for Tuesday 27th.

Then I rowed:

Small bonus on the metres front. So knackered yesterday I clearly forgot to upload the metres I rowed. So a bonus 5k.

The row was, er, not fun.

I have found starting off very hard in the last few days (strength waning?) so I lowered the drag to 118 (usually 125ish) and aimed to rate high (in the 30s). This was a good plan...for the firrst 500m. Getting to 500m was tough, and I was truly struggling at this point. The 1:39.9 pace boat started baring down on me. I was not sure I could hold it off since I had little to dig in with. I got there but not by much and could not have held on much longer.

Lifetime metres now 4,984,010 so I might make it after all with a slow stretch out tomorrow.

So, I am struggling. I need rest and more rest. No row tomorrow, one on Saturday morning and then a long rest before the final PB attempt on Tuesday night.

Metres today: 5,032

Rep 37: 3:16.1 @ 1:38.1 - hard but steady.

Warmed up properly today but didn't feel great. I wanted to do another faster one to make up for yesterday.

I duly delivered but it wasn't fun.

I am getting towards the end of this series and wonder whether I will be motivated to do the full 42 (+195) for a full marathon of sprinting.

Metres today: 5,000

Rep 36: 3:19.5 @ 1:39.8 - first 1,000m of nightmarish 5,000m row

Well, I finished the row. But it was hell. I am a complete idiot of course. I wanted to complete the Blue Moon challenge (2 x 5,000m) today so did a gentle 5,000m warm up followed almost immediately by a full on 5,000m with a 1,000m at 1:40 at the start!

Madness and I paid for it, getting slower and slower, not maintaining an even pace is a killer and I pretty much stopped three or four times. The row was a RowPro on-line session with five of us:

1	Peter Marston	0:00.0	5,000m	0:00.0
2	John Glynn	17:28.1	5,000m	1:44.8
3	Anthony Webb	17:49.0	5,000m	1:46.9
4	Evaluation User	18:10.3	5,000m	1:49.0
5	Thomas William-Powlett	18:35.6	5,000m	1:51.6

Something was up with RowPro because Pete certainly finished fast, but not THAT fast (the speed of light is certainly too much to ask).

My advice. Never, ever fly and die on a 5k.

Metres today: 11,000

Rep 35: Fatigue sets in - 3:19.3

Yesterday was a killer. Fantastic, I felt euphoric afterwards, but a killer. It was so good I was wondering whether I was going to fall ill today. I didn't but I did have a 3 mile walk pushing the pushchair up and down country lanes which was tiring. I am built to row not walk.

So, if I am not falling ill I need to plan for a massive 5k on Tuesday. This means a day off tomorrow and as gentle as possible today. I went off as hard as I could (i.e. pretty gently!) got a half length lead on the 1:40 pace boat and stuck to it like glue. It was pretty hard, much harder than a 3:19.3 should be. This was borne out by a final heart rate of 178 - much higher than any first row since the first week, and surely not totally related to my gentle 2k warm up.

So a rest day tomorrow and we'll see what happens on Tuesday night.

Metres today: 5,000