first time doing this for 5 weeks.

4x1000m 5 mins rest

3.30.4 1.45.2/500m sr 28
3.30.1 1.45.0/500m sr 29
3.30.2 1.45.1/500m sr29
3.30.9 1.45.4/500m sr30

ave 3.30.4 1.45.2/500m sr 29

an improvement of 1.1sec per 1k 0.5sec/500m on last time

really happy with this. haven't had a great last 2 weeks of training, with bad sleep and way too much boozing, so extremely happy to have had some improvement.

also happy with my restraint not to go balls out to keep the last interval on pace...it would have taken max effort to bring it in a second faster and I chose not to.

Pretty sick work! Sub 1:45 across next time for sure.

I almost got there a few months back, but then blew up on the last interval to 1:47+ and finished at 1:45.1 in total. Felt pretty bad.

I bet you did. Definitely wasn’t there for me today.

I do think I’m gonna have to buy a HRM though - the Fitbit one is just totally unreliable. I was 165 post the second interval and then 130 after the third!

It's taken me a while to not care what the number is while I'm rowing, but I'd encourage you to not worry too much about it until you have a better idea what HR corresponds to the desired RPE.

Look if the wife got you the fitbit, then it would be super rude to show up with a baller $1000 Garmin.

But you can get an $80 chest strap that is super accurate and it might even connect to the fitbit.

Training

5x3 Strict Press - 60kg
3x8 DB Press - 24kg
3x7 Bent Over Row - 75k
3x9 Hammer high pull row - 110kg

cycled through the warm up reps of Press with a more vertical hand positioning. Found it uncomfortable as the weight increased so switched back into my standard hand positioning for the working sets, but will keep going with this and the switch will happen

loving how my back and shoulders feel, now that I'm getting more pulling work done

have managed 4 days without alcohol which I'm happy about and feeling better for it. Sleep has been ok and definitely cleaner, albeit the past few days I've been kept up late and then woken up at my normal time, so haven't got the longer sleep I'd prefer

dinner out tonight but I've volunteered as designated driver, so I can only drink a max of two glasses of wine, then back on the wagon and keen to keep this going for a while

60 mins UT2 2.06.7/500 - 14202m...17 s/m

fitbit didn't capture heart beat but I'd say it was about right from an effort perspective, maybe just a little too easy. the negative split worked well. felt very good after and could have easily continued. mental boredom the only limiting factor.

12 min intervals went

2.09.2/500
2.07.9/500
2.06.2/500
2.05.5/500
2.04.7/500

that's the longest I've ever rowed by 10 mins. I was happy to have a really good podcast to listen to (the Rewatchables on Lethal Weapon) to take my mind off the mundanity of it.

I only have 1 UT2 per fortnight scheduled and I'm ok with that.


* also...managed to navigate dinner at a restaurant with my parents last night without alcohol, which I think is the first time I've done in way more than a decade (my mother is extremely high maintenance and alcohol is GTO for any situation where you can't escape her) so this is a huge success. I'm not 5 days sans booze and I'm over the hump and feeling great. Hopeful I can stay dry for a while from here

Looks like a pretty great UT2 session - it sounds like it was paced perfectly if you had more left.

Re: booze, great work. I had pretty much none for the first few months of the year; I need to get back to abstaining even on the weekends, because I end up snacking a ton when I do it because I'm up later.

. Definitely no way I could have done it in 2.00/500 like the chart suggests

On the one hand, the numbers don't seem *that* far off since I think I can knock a bit off of my current reasonable effort sub-2:04 pace, but on the other hand, it kind of is a ways away - I'd have to be finishing UT2 pieces at somewhere around 1:57 to even have a chance. Maybe it's possible medium-term assuming technique improvements too? Hard to say. I'm just going the general trend line keeps sloping downwards and see what happens. And, of course, whenever I get there I hope I'm faster everywhere else too, so who knows.

first time doing the Pyramid interval session in 6 weeks. I learned from last time and kept the pacing on the first 3 intervals a little easier than last time, which allowed for a more controlled pace in the 1k and second 750 and still allowed for a decent PR

250m 1.41.8/500 ave 90 secs rest
500m 1.42.3/500 ave 3 mins rest
750m 1.42.7/500 ave 4 mins 30 rest
1000m 1.44.4/500 ave 6 mins rest
750m 1.43.2/500 ave 4 mins 30 rest
500m 1.40.8/500 ave 3 mins rest
250m 1.38.6/500 ave

overall 13 mins 41 secs at an average of 1.42.6/500 for a 0.7/500 improvement on the previous time.

was done at an RPE of 9 as well. the only accurate heart rate I took at after the 1k when fitbit showed 178bpm

felt good this morning. 7 nights sober sleep now and the resting heart beat is down 6bpm from 8 days ago

Congrats on the week without booze!

And awesome session; that is one I definitely don't miss. Pretty nice to be able to live vicariously through you on these without having to do them myself!

Re booze, thank you. I just feel so much better now in only a week that it makes me feel incredibly dumb to have been drinking so often recently. I need to get out of the habit of drinking at home so much - it’s just an easy crutch to reach for and it’s a net negative in my life but I find it really hard to shake

Re the rowing, I did my standard nervous crap just before I started knowing what I was in for...albeit it wasn’t as painful as last time.

Tbh I really enjoy the structure of the interval sessions and having something to refer back to/aim for and it was the adjustment I needed to make from the plan on that link to ensure my training remains fun. They’re by far the most enjoyable sessions for me after the time trials themselves. Much prefer them to the most straightforward sessions, albeit I did enjoy having a negative split approach to the UT2 the other day and at least setting out with a dynamic plan for the it1, UT2 type rows

Have you seen the rogue pump n row challenge? It looks right up your alley. It is a 2k row followed by max bodyweight bench presses. Every rep takes 10 seconds off your 2k time.

Prop bet?

I haven’t. Definitely seems like it would suit the lifters over the rowers. What gap is allowed between the row and the lift?

I'm actually kind of interested in how I'd do at this if I could ever actually consistently lift and row at the same time; 185x10 *should* be a basal level strength benchmark for me, but the chances of me even approaching that right now are, sadly, pretty small even when rested, much less at some point soon after rowing a 2k.

What are your 2k row times? I've never really rowed, but would like to vy for the title of fittest 50yr old Australian in H & F.

I havent seen that challenge but it looks dumb when a non-rower can beat a rower.

I mean Spy is probably going to row an hour for a 2k but then take it all off by benching bw x infinity.

Same thing for me, my first row ever was 500m 1:49. So I gotta be good for 7:30 2k. Then take off about three minutes from the benching.

Dumb.

Rowing seems easy so as a completely untrained rower with terrible cardio I would guess 16 min for 2k.

FW gets 7.5 min?

I would have to do 51 reps more than him just to break even.

I think I'd be a decent dog in reality if we put it to a real contest.

the key variable is how long between the row and the benching because that will determine how hard you can/should push on the erg.

Spy, my 2k pr is 6.54. I would guess I can do 7 reps at 200lbs on the bench, so my time would be approx 5.44 rested. But if I had to immediately follow a 2k with some benching, I wouldn't want to row faster than say 7.20, maybe even 7.30

I would guess you might be able to get somewhere around 8.15/8.30 for a 2k time trial. Let's give you 9 mins if you had to immediately follow it with a bench ..so you would need 9 more bw reps on the bench than me.

ridiculous. maybe I'm overestimating your 2k speed, but I just don't think it's that difficult to row a 2k in under 9 mins.

FW can redline a 6:50-6:55, but redlining the 2k is going to be massively fatiguing and will almost certainly cost you a few bench reps (at least). I'd guess that a comfortable 7:15 should be reasonably doable without adversely affect bench performance all that much, though.

Given spy's mile time, I'd be shocked if it took him more than 9:30 to row 2k, which puts the rep gap at 10-12; feels like a hard gap to make up, but who knows.

I'm not sure that 500 time correlates to a 2k. my 500m PR is 1.28 and my 500m speed average on the 2k is 1.44

with a similar multiplier for you (1.18x ave speed) I think we'd be looking at about 8.30. not saying you couldn't row faster than that and I think it's likely that you would given your running cardio, but those raw numbers don't point to that.

You could be right. I really have no clue as I've done more running in the past decade than rowing.

But even given your generous assumption of my virgin rowing abilities I would say the line is pretty close.