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25 Oct
Rowing Machine – 3 x 45 on/45 off @ 1:51.7 pace
Thought I’d give it a bit more oomph in this session and this was in the middle of the pace for 7:40 rowers. Over in no time and able to take a few days completely off to prepare now.
28 Oct
Step Test – 3 mins. 15 sec heart beats = 34
Estimated VO2max = 54.21 ml/kg/minAt 69.8kg this puts my predicted 2k row at 7:41, but having seen my friend beat his estimated VO2max by 2 I looked at 56.2 as well, giving me a range of 7:32-7:41 meaning a 500m pace target of 1:53-1:55 which is where I expected to be…
Rowing Machine – 2000m in 7:29.2!!!
Oh lord this hurt. My only change in tactic was 4 hard strokes at the start instead of 2, and treating it as 4 x 500m, finding a rhythm in the first three then going hard. After four hard strokes I was holding 1:50/500m pace and rather than panic I just went with it. I got through 500m relatively well and my 1k time was something like 3:42. Then with what felt like the same effort I saw it slowly tick up to around 1:53, where I was fighting to stop it going to 1:54 and beyond. The last 370m (precise I know) was horrible, I increased my stroke rate to compensate for the reduced power per stroke and held on for the end. With 150m to go I knew I had it but saw the predicted finish time flick between 7:29 and 7:30, and since the former sounds so much better I dug deep to hold 1:53. When I finished I was on the floor for almost 10 minutes and requested a bucket in case I threw up. Really proud of how hard I pushed myself as I know from previous maximal fitness tests that I wuss out when it gets really hard on the lungs.
You can see split times below and I’ll put a video up on my channel of the whole training program review.
24 Oct
Rowing Machine – 3 mins @ 1:54.6/500m pace
Stretches – Middle Back, Lats, Triceps, Biceps, Quads, CalvesUsed this to pretend I was doing a full 2k, thought I would aim for 1:53 but slightly slower felt really natural for my rhythm which is key for a good 2k. Stretching helped afterwards, it’s taking me longer than I thought to feel ready so I’m glad the taper is this long. Have been eating the same so with reduced energy use in the sessions I should put on a bit of weight this week.
22 Oct
Basketball ~30 mins
Rowing Machine – 25 mins @ 2:20.8/500m pacePrior to this I was training my vertical jump and I wanted to have a quick run out and “shoot some hoops” as they say. Rowing was nice, the target was 2:19 to 2:33 so right down the lower end of that. This week looks really chilled, only 3 (!!) minutes of rowing on Wednesday and 2 mins 15 on Thursday. I still warm up properly and that is likely helping keep me loose. Will do some stretches tomorrow.
21 Oct
4 x 2 mins (2.5 mins) DF 130, avg 1:54.6/500m
Short and sweet, felt natural to hold ~1:54 pace. That would be 7:36 for 2k and I’d really like to go faster than that on race day. I don’t want a DNF or to be so tired I start pulling 2:00/500m and above, but I think it’s more dangerous to row entirely within myself and not challenge my mental strength. I can’t dig deep for 1k but I can certainly suffer a final 250-300m meaning I just need to get myself to 1.7k in one piece.
19 Oct
Push ups – 3 x 20
Batwing Rows – 3 x 15 x 15kg
Inverted Rows – 15,15,12
Hanging Leg Raises – 3 x 11
Swiss Ball Abs – 2 x 30 secsNice few exercises to keep the back strong. I feel better already from the easier workout on Wednesday and ready to give everything I can in the 2k row in 9 days time.
