Rep 15: 3:18.6 @ 1:39.3

Oops, I was aghast to see the time click over to 1:39.3 average split after the last stroke. If I aim to row the next row "never slower" than the previous one, this makes my life a little more difficult.

I did a good warm up today and then tried to row the whole piece at a rating of 25 or below. Again, I couldn't sustain this beyond 500m and had to shift up to 30 strokes per minute to get home.

I thought I was right on the money for 3:19.4 but to my shock the last stroke took me to 3:19.3! I guess I should aim for that tomorrow but may stick to 3:19.4. We'll see how I feel.

My left thigh is much worse than my right - and the left is the one with the dodgy knee. No idea if they are related.

Metres today: 4,282

Reps 13: 3:19.0 @ 1:39.5 and rep 14: 3:18.9!

Buoyed by the donations yesterday, I wanted to do something special today so even though I usually have time pressure on a Tuesday I thought I would go for two in one session. I dashed home from school, fighting my way through the traffic, and was rowing by 4:30pm.

I aimed to do the first as controlled as possible but still hit the 3:19.0 time and did this well. The second I again thought that I would avoid the sprint start and just row long powerful strokes and see what happened. The second row was harder of course and I held the long strokes to 500m when it became clear that I would not hit the target time at this pace. I upped the rate to 30 and got home in a new fastest time, and the first in the 3:18.x bracket.

Typing now (5 hours later) my legs are again sore. I had been getting used to it but doing two is pretty tough. Hot baths with a but of thigh pummelling seem to help a lot too though I couldn't do that since I dashed out to sort out the kids then I was taking Elizabeth (7) to the school's excellent performance of "Olivia!".

My knee was very sore at the start of this 40 day trial and whilst it is much better it is still bothering me when I kneel down. This is best avoided I guess but I wish it would improve.

Metres today: 5,500

Rep 12: 3:19.0 @ 1:39.5 - no warm up - ow

I didn't fancy it today. But another donation shamed me in to going out to the garage once more. I have loads of work to do so just jumped on and pulled 1,000m without warm up. I thought I had pinged my back, and my seating was all over the place but I settled down and rowed a 1:39.5 pace - at last down to my 2k pb split, which has been a bit of a target. It was OK at the start bu hard all the way in. 500m seemed to take an age to come up. Given my heart was at resting when I surprised it with the first stroke it should not be surprising that it struggled to get up to only 171 in the piece. This gives me hope that when warmed up, should I get to the end of this a mile PB attempt should be possible. I am not sure about a 1,000m attempt since I reckon I couldn't keep up with the mental strain of rowing much faster. We'll see.

Oddness with the time - the PM3 monitor says 3:19.0 @ 1:39.5 and RowPro wasy 3:18.9 @ 1:39.4. Not sure what to make of that and will stick with the PM3 since that is what I watch during the row!

Typing straight after the row, I find as I type that my lungs are protesting a lot. If this had been a 2k race I would have been stuffed. I think I need to start taking my inhaler morning and evening AND, dare I say it, actually warm up.

Suitably chastened I am about to start a 2.5k warm down. Aiming for 2:00 split.

Metres today (will be): 3,500

Rep 11: 3:19.2 @ 1:39.6 - painful fly and die

Had one of the many dinner parties to celebrate my 40th last night and ate and drank too much. I had planned to have today off the rowing but the nagging feeling that I should try to row one 1,000m piece each day got to me and I dragged my aching and tired body out to the garage/office once more. As I said to my wife, she won't let me row the Atlantic so this is about the closest I can get with a full time job. How long one a day lasts I don't know but I kept it up today at least.

I felt dodgy swarming up so again elected to go off fast. I went off very fast. I had nearly half a length on the pace boat after 200m and stuck rigidly to the 1:40 split fot the next 500m; which seemed to go on for ever. I then had 300m to go and had about 1m on the pace boat. The 300m felt like another 1,000m and I only just kept to the target of 1:39.6 for 500m pace albeit with a slower overall row than yesterday morning. Talk about "fly and die".

Despite this I finished the row and thought "I'll do another". Quite where THAT thought came from I don't know. The lunacy of it struck me 500m in to a VERY gentle warm down when my legs were like jelly. I knew immediately that mentally I could not manage a 1,00m at 1:40 pace so paddled the rest of the warm-down with my metaphorical tail between my legs.

Metres today: 4,000

Rep 10: 3:19.1 @ 1:39.6 - v. tough (morning row)

Very tired from yesterday (and a couple of glasses of wine last night) during the warm up. Not sure as I warmed up whether I could make a 1:40 1,000m. I was stiff and sore. Very stiff and sore. The bath on Thursday may well have to be repeated frequently since Friday was the only morning where I have not woken up feeling stiff and sore.

Anyway, I knew the row would be tough and rowing long would be a trial so I set off at fast speed and high rate. The plan was to get to half way ahead of the 1:39.6 split which is my current target and then hold one to the end. This was exactly how it panned out - the first 300m was the worst. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest (which is usually a sign that I am in trouble) and to be honest if I had been on a normal training day I would have backed off at that point. But sub 1:40 is sub 1:40 so I had to plough on. I controlled my speed with my stroke rate, not my stroke power since the power didn't seem to want to come on! I rated this as an 8 in difficulty.

The 2.5km warm down was hard, I tried to go relatively hard at the start and keep my heart rate up for the first 1,000m, then eased back. Typing this I am pretty shattered. I am still pondering doing another on Sunday and staying one ahead, but we'll see. My body does appear to be adapting and a morning row straight after one the evening before is always going to be hard.

25% of the rows complete. 30 left though. erk.

Metres today: 5,231

Rep 9: 3:19.1 @ 1:39.6 - hurt!

This was an early (5:30pm) row to leave as much time as possible before the Saturday morning row. With the double header tomorrow I then can take Sunday off and not row again until Monday night.

I did a short warm up (500m) then the 1,000m piece. The row was fine until the last 200m when it became a struggle. After the row I was in a lot of trouble. Agonizing legs and lungs. I was amazed at my end heart rate of 175! The lowest yet. I had been entering sprint mode to keep at the 1:39.6 pace I had set myself and suspect I went a little too hard hencethe faster time and possibly the pain.

I had some insight to how hard a 1,000m is if you are not used to it today. A young trainee at work raced a 1,000m piece at his gym. He said it was a near death experience and rowed it nearly 30 seconds slower than any of my pieces so far. My favourite quote of his today was he went to bed worried he might not wake up because of the stresses he'd put his body through! Great fun. He wanted reassurance that I was not finishing these 1,000m pieces without being out of breath. I was able to put him right on that one!

2,500m warm down today, but the 2:00 pace was too hard with the pain in my legs so I backed off.

Metres today: 4,017

Reps 7: 3:19.4 @ 1:39.7 and rep 8: 3:19.3!

With my youngest coming down with a virus and my legs being more painful during the day I decided that I would endeavour to get ahead of the game. I may need a day off, and certainly want one before long. I was thinking of doing 2 on Saturday morning but that would have meant three in twelve hours. Ouch. So I realised that I should do two today if I felt good.

The first was done with little warm up, and I tried to keep to the 1:39.7 split from yesterday. It was OK.

The second one was 20 minutes later on RowPro with plummy from Free Spirits. I had a woeful start again but I am clearly getting fitter since the rest of the race was bearable. Much harder than the first (rated a "6") but doable. I had to concentrate on every stroke keeping up with the pace but did not need to "go for home".

I did a long, reasonably hard warm down today - 2,500m at a fair pace and 160 heart rate. It was amazingly nice to not sprint or do a gentle warm down. I'll do that again.

I must be getting fitter (or getting ill - the "pre-illness spike"?) - I just wish my legs didn't hurt all day, but I made my bed and I should lie in it. I hesitate to say it but today I started to enjoy the challenge at last.

Metres today: 6,002

Rep 6: 3:19.4 @ 1:39.7 - comfortable

It was a blip I think. Much much better today. After feeling woeful all day, with tired, sore legs I felt fantastic on the warm up and knew I would be fine. What a difference a day makes. There's a song there somewhere?

The race was on RowPro with six of us on the virtual race course. The adrenaline was pumping and I had a very responsive fast start. I was so busy watching the race on the monitor the first 200m flew by and I still felt great. I decided to make the most of this and rowed long and strong for the middle 500m. I was rating 26 and pulling 1:40 which was great. With 300m to go I started to concentrate on keeping the split where I wanted it. I was aiming for a 1:39.7 average split and in the end it was comfortable.

Hope they remain like this. I was so shattered today (I am sure that this was influenced by my daughter screaming her head off for an hour or so in the middle of the night), my legs were sore and leaden, and I was planning to factor in a rest day by doing two rows on Saturday morning. I think that this should still be the plan, and I hope that tomorrow is as good as today - then I will feel confident about the rows on Saturday morning. I could have done two today I think with 30mins rest or so between them.

Metres today: 6,075

My blades for this evening...

Should be in:
C:\Program Files\Digital Rowing\RowPro\Media\oar emblems

Rep 5: 3:19.8 @ 1:39.9- not fun

I did it but today was mentally hard. Headache after school, little time to warm up because of family and work commitments, then the row. Recovering, my lungs felt very odd - not a good sign. HR lower than the previous rows by some way (177). Physically the battle was OK though it took a lot of concentration to stay with the pace boat. I thought I had done enough to keep my "500m split ever faster" but it was not to be.

Hope this is a blip.

Metres today: 2,506

Rep 4: 3:19.6 @ 1:39.8

Straight after work and on the rower today. Lots and lots of GCSE coursework to mark!

I felt the best on a warm up that I have on any of the rows so far. There have only been 4 of course. I therefore decided to row "long and strong" and consciously lowered the rate. I had a good start and then aimed to pace my row from yesterday. I am toying with the idea of never having a 500m split slower than the previous row, so wanted a 1:38.8. If I have selecteda "too easy" pace at 1:40 (and I don't think I have at the moment) then never going slower will keep me honest.

The row went well. Another one in the bag. I seem to be doing a 2k before and after as warm up and warm down. I don't want to do too much, but I want to get to 5 million lifetime metres before I am 40 too so need about 5,000m a day to manage that.

Metres today: 5,002

Rep 3: 3:19.5 @ 1:39.8

I'd had a long rest, 36 hours, before this row. I felt a little tired when I was warming up but I had asked my wife to film this row so the adrenaline was flowing when she said "go".



I was not doing this row as an internet race and my start was therefore much better (I did not lose 1 second before I made the first stroke). The rest of the race was as comfortable as rowing 1,000m at this pace could be. I did not need to strike out for home and did my fastest row yet.

I feel much better in myself than I did after the first one. Wonder how long this will last.

8.5% of my target raised, 7.5% of the rows complete. Wonder how long I will stay ahead?

Metres today: 5,343

Rep 2: 3:19.8 @ 1:39.9

This had to be early morning because of family commitments. Only 8 hours after yesterdays, and my legs were aching when I was woken by my sallest daughter screaming "Daddy".

A long warm up then and the race was tough. Again RowPro gave me a very dodgy start despite me concentrating on my response time. I did not get ahead of the 1:40 split until the last 100m and had to "go for home" from 150m out just to make it that comfortable. Funnily enough the same time as yesterday but the PM3 monitor said 1:39.9 overall split (29k RowPro file) today.

So, 36 hours off. I am glad for that.

Metres today: 5,101

Rep 1: 3:19.8 @ 1:40.0

If I hadn't managed this one it would have been a little embarassing so I was unlikely to fail. I went to warm up at 7pm and realised that I had mucked up the internet session since it was scheduled for GMT and I am on British Summer Time. Luckily for me, A friend made the same mistake and we were joined on an ad hoc basis by an American rowing in Boston.

My wife was all set to film the first race for a youtube video but the camera turns out to have died at this vital moment! Gaagh. It looks to be beyond repair (in this modern World) so a new one will be sought.

Unused to internet racing I had a shocking, shocking start and after gunning the first few strokes found that I still was behind the pace. This made for an uncomfortable first half when I was always behind the pace and was rowing at something like 1:39 and always playing catch-up.

Once I had the pace the second half was more comfortable. The other two in the race were somewhat ahead by this stage and they both beat me. But they don't have another 39 to do!

Final time was 3:19.8 @ 1:40.0 per 500m (rowpro file)

Afterwards I was somewhat wobbly and did a long (5,000m) gentle (HR<130) warm down and felt better afterwards. It made me realise how I am pretty unprepared for this. How do I warm up? (I barely did today with the internet mucking around) How do I warm down?

Our American racer was very friendly and encouraged me to go to the CRASH-Bs (World Championships). How I would love to do that!

Metres today: 8,000

Getting a little worried...

So, two days off to rest my knee and a long row today.

I did a 10,000m row pretty gently with 500m bursts at 1:40 pace at 1,000, 3,000, 5,000, 7,000 and 9,000m. They got progressively harder and I wasn't sure I could complete the last one. I did it pretty well in the end.

Sometimes I think this random task I have set up for myself is going to be easy, but today I am a little worried. How will I feel if I cannot complete even a week?!

I broached this mad scheme with my form at school today. They seem to be up for helping raise a little money and that would be fabulous.

I have also started up a google spreadsheet to record details of each 1,000m piece. I am interested to see how the times and heart rate change.

Metres today: 10,000

Three days to go...

So, in 44 days I am going to be 40 years old.

I intend to row 1,000m flat out at a pace I could barely have achieved 20 years ago every day for forty days. 1 minute 40 seconds for each 500m means 3 minutes 20 seconds, or 10 seconds slower than my best ever time - which was set six months ago. I hope to finish on the day before my birthday and have a long, long bath. Actually I anticipate lots of baths!

This will be a challenge. I have never rowed every day for forty days! I have knackered my knee in a timely manner and not so long ago gave blood. Rowing 1,000m hard hurts a lot. I think that this should be possible physically as long as I warm up and down sensibly. The challenge will be to find the time to do that each day - I forsee some early mornings.

I have hardly rowed in the last two weeks. I am out of condition. Hopefully this new regime will sort me out. In my dreams I will find the last 1,000m row a doddle and set a new personal best but I suspect that I will stumble over the line. My nature is that if I find it easy I will just raise the stakes and make a new rule like "no row can count if it is slower than a previous row".

Currently the rules are:

1) Row 1,000m in 3 minutes 20 seconds or better;
2) No days off without some "rows in the bank".

I will try and do two on the first day with about half an hour in-between. If I can manage that I will be delighted.