HAWT!! (Which one are you?)

4 hours sleep after a(nother) boozy dinner, so did something very light, just to do something

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
30:00.5 6,934m 2:09.8 160 850 17

this will be the last session of 2021. I'll put together an overly long and self indulgent write up at some point and look back at what my goals were etc but...while I've tailed off a little over the past few months, I'm happy with how it went from a fitness perspective.

Happy New Year to you all and let's hope 2022 is a good one

iirc, loco was the eliptical king for a few weeks while nursing an old man calf injury so let's call him the muscly handsome dude and I can be his lady

2021 wrap

I started this thread this time last year as a motivational accompaniment to my goal to get to my 50th birthday in July in as good physical shape as I could. I had a set of lifting, assault bike and rowing PRs as goals that I wanted to use as incentives to focus on and then looser goals around my cholesterol, alcohol intake and body fat that I wanted to improve on.

With the exception of the body fat (which I didn't test when I had hoped to...and it would have been close at that time but I don't think I would have achieved), I hit all my goals...but what I hadn't expected was to start competing in the rowing and for the relative success I ended up having. My more single minded focus on rowing from July to Nov had a detrimental impact on my lifting numbers, which are now down lower than they were when I started the year, but it brought me a level of engagement, focus and fulfilment that I didn't think possible. And I certainly didn't expect to be winning a State Championship or National Medals or finishing as high in the quasi rankings as has ended up happening.

Helicopter view

I trained 290 times
I hit 10,000 steps 329 times (step count average was a little over 14,000....not bad, given I had three weeks off walking when my broken foot was at it's worst)
I had 184 Alcohol Free days (this is the highest ever since I started recording....albeit I think it's likely I've drunk more on the alcohol days than in previous years...and it's still more days than I would like, so this is not a victory)

Cholesterol dropped by almost 10% in my annual blood test in July, although again, I'd like it to drop more.
I weigh 1kg less than this time last year, although I think body comp has improved a little more. I'll be doing two DEXAs at end Jan and then in July and improving body comp more will again be a focus...albeit I need to counterbalance weight loss with rowing goals..with rowing performance being favoured by more body weight)


Bench PR went from 105 to 107.5kg
Press PR went from 67.5 to 72.5kg

Assault Bike 100cals went from 3.11 to 2.44
Assault Bike 50 cals went from 1.07 to 52 secs

1k row PR went from 3.17.9 to 3.09.8, which is 100th percentile and ranked 8th out of 914 verified times on the C2 world rankings among heavyweight rowers in my age group

2k row PR went from 6.59.5 to 6.42.6 which is 99th percentile ranked 34th out of 1876 verified times.

5k row PR went from 18.42 to 18.15 which is 96th percentile ranked 72nd out of 2016 verified times.

I won the New South Wales State Championships in the 2k row and came 2nd in the 1k and 500m at the same event (beaten by people who only raced one event)

I came third in the Australian Championships in the 1k row.

Most importantly, I've really enjoyed it. It's given me something to be passionate about and to focus on outside of my (really quite stressful tbh) family life and business. And I'm very much hoping I can continue to train and strive for improvement in 2022.

thanks for anyone who has contributed, particularly Monte and Arjun. And I wish you all a healthy and fulfilling 2022

2022 goals.

I've trained off a little these past two months and rowing is such a complex balance of physical and mental that I need to train my mind back to where it was too. I think one of my strengths is my ability to go into a dark place on the erg and I've lost that too...as my fitness has waned a little. I think my body was more broken by the two competitions and the mental focus leading up to them than I realised at the time and also that my mind softened with all the focus on UT2 work since then.

My plan is to get back to where I was physically and mentally by the end of March at the latest and to have new PRs for 1k, 2 and 5k by the end of the C2 ranking year on 30th April. I have two main strategies to achieve that

- get back on Pete's Plan doing 4 days per week or speed & longer intervals and then a steady distance and a harder distance effort.
- improve my power per stroke by increasing my lower body and pulling strength by committing to lower body lifts in both my twice weekly lifting sessions.

Rowing Goals:

1k
3.06.9 by end of April. (which would currently be the world leading verified time on the C2 rankings in my age group)
3.04.9 by end of 2022

2k
6.34.9 by end of April.
6.29.9 by end of 2022

5k
17.59 by end of April
17.44.9 by end of 2022

Other goals

300 Training Sessions
200 Alcohol Free Days in 2022
340 10k steps days

Congrats on all the PRs and a great year. The goals look like the good middle ground between too easy and too hard. Just imagine how fast you would be without the alcohol.

+1, except to the part where Arjun suggested sobriety for a locked down Australian with teenagers.

Watching you crush it this year was both enjoyable and completely expected. I'm excited to see you reach this year's goals (maybe even excited enough to peak for a race or two of my own).

Montecore vs Feelwrath 2k Row 2022

Feel Wrath -300
Montecore +250

Sad to see the Grandpa such a favorite vs the Tin Man, but no heart is problem on the C2

If he gets to 6:30, those odds aren't nearly long enough.

50 min steady distance. zzz, meh, fine

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
50:01.0 11,849m 2:06.6 172 893 19

If he trained for it, I reckon it'd be much closer to evens.

Anything 10k + is loltastically Monte AINEC

I'm more of a natural sprinter, so I suspect 1k and below is mine

2k and 5k would be the battleground - I have the times on the board right now, but I feel confident given his length and training (and my lack of heart for the longer distances) that Monte could get a faster 5k time than me, although I'm hoping my commitment to doing the longer intervals on PP will improve my times at that distance.

either way, it's a moot conversation given Monte's coach won't ever release him from prison to allow him (us) to see what he's got

hard to know for sure, although in the two months before my competitions when I was only drinking once a week, my RHR dropped to it's lowest average so it would definitely have some effect.

on the positive side, I'm hoping that an increase in my lower body strength will really improve my speed and watts per stroke.

I think we'd be closer on distance work then you give yourself credit for, especially given I'm not exactly excited about having to do a 1:50 5k or whatever it would take to catch you.

The lack of peaking is entirely on me; I just need to find an indoor event to train for and he said he'll adjust programming for me to peak; I'll find something after we move (we are in the process of buying a new house right now, so moving and all that).

I think it was 1.49.5/500. Sub 18 means 1.47.9 which is very intimidating still for me.

I do think it would take you a couple of efforts at a 5k, purely because of the psychological challenge of rowing so much faster than you’ve done before. My pr was achieved with quite an aggressive negative split and i think that while not efficient from a rowing POV it was effective because I didn’t have the same level of erg fear I would have had going out at that pace and attempting to hold on

here's a link to US indoor rowing events. iirc you're Indy? looks like there's a state champs event in Feb.

https://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/racing/calendar

if not, or if that's too soon, you could use the end of the C2 'rowing year' at end of April as the deadline to have lodged a tt for all your target events and then let your boy work through a program?

10x1min 1r drag 130

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
10:00.0 3,092m 1:37.0 383 1618 34

1:00.0 310m 1:36.7 386 1629 34
1:00.0 309m 1:37.0 382 1616 34
1:00.0 310m 1:36.7 386 1629 34
1:00.0 310m 1:36.7 386 1629 34
1:00.0 309m 1:37.0 382 1616 33
1:00.0 310m 1:36.7 386 1629 34
1:00.0 310m 1:36.7 386 1629 34
1:00.0 312m 1:36.1 394 1654 35
1:00.0 308m 1:37.4 379 1603 34
1:00.0 305m 1:38.3 368 1565 34


first max effort session for a while and it felt great to blow the cobwebs off - there's only so much steady distance work a man can do!

Last time I did this was when I was in my competition shape, so I wasn't expecting to go as fast - my plan was to go sub 1.37.5 for each interval, so this was actually a little quicker than my goal.

I missed the start on the 8th interval and then took a lot of energy out of myself catching up with race pace and this made the final two intervals a lot harder. Had nothing left for #10.

drag was a little lower than the last time (unintentionally) and this may explain why I stroked at 34 vs the 32 then

a good confidence booster as I get myself prepped to go back onto a 'hard training' schedule in 2 weeks time.

so I have something new to target - world indoor rowing sprint championships in March.

it's a virtual competition over 1000m, which is (I think) my best distance and you get 4 days to record your best time. I can't imagine attempting the tt more than once, but perhaps I might do it on day 1 and then on day 4 if I wasn't happy with the first effort?

I'm in touch on the C2 board with the guy who won last year in my age group with a quite remarkable time of 2.57 and he's a 6ft 4 mass monster, as are most of last year's top 10. My time from the Aus championships would have come 17/600 ish last year. Looking at the times I'd think top 10 is out of reach but it'll be a good thing to aim an early peak for

https://log.concept2.com/challenges/indoor-sprints

Bench 3x7-80
DB Flye/Bench SS - 3x7/7-22.5
Seated Military Press/Lat Raise SS 3x7/10-45/12.5kg
Close Grip Bench 3x8-70
Bent over Row/DB Row 3x8/10-70/22.5kg
RDL/DB lunge 3x9/6-87.5/12.5

long session in humid conditions at home. enjoying the increased focus on lower body...even in this session, which is the upper body dominant of the 2 weekly weights sessions I'm doing

45 min steady state in 95% humidity. Fortunately, only 26 degrees C so was bearable but had to stop once or twice for a quick towel down

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
45:00.8 10,817m 2:04.8 180 919 19

am going out for dinner tonight, but if I can keep a lid on my drinking I'm gonna try a hard distance piece tomorrow

5kr20

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
19:20.3 5,001m 1:56.0 224 1071 20

was supposed to be a 30r 20 but the humidity (92%) got me.

also 2k warm up & 2k warm down at ss pace

Just a terrible sleep last night - Fitbit said 3 hrs 15 so happy I managed to do something

5x4 Front Squat - 70kg
4x4 Deadlift - 120kd
4x6 DB press 22.5kg
4x7 Bench 75kg

Can’t wait to get to bed tonight

I’ve been fighting off a bug - not the Rona (I don’t think) but just a weakness in my chest and legs. Didn’t train Tues.

Did 20 mins UT3 on Weds 4542m at 2.12/500…basically just to do something as I’m now up the coast on a camping/surfing holiday for a week

I’ll be active and will mountain bike to and from the beach a few times each day, walk a ton and be in the water a lot, but it’s unlikely I’ll train much - might do a soft sand beach run or sth..we’ll see.

Hope you feel better.

I was supposed to go on a ski trip to Utah and stay with a buddy who has a house there, but with the vid ripping and all the packing to do, it just didn't seem like the right time. When I booked this trip, the wife booked an Airbnb to the bunny slopes (Michigan) for the kids' first time, so I'll go with them. It's only two full days of skiing instead of five, but it will give me three days off of rowing (which I'll probably need).

first session back after my week away up the coast

steady state. 10,002m in 41:47.9 at 2:05.3/500m

my body feels strong after a week of no training, but my heart rate was higher than it should have been.

looking forward to getting back into a training routine and embracing some clean living for the next 6-7 weeks. I'm going to focus my training on shorter intervals along with strength/power training and a couple of UT2 type sessions to get into shape before the 1000m world champs in mid March.

wifey and I have committed to not drinking at home at all for 2 months and after eating and drinking like it's my last night on earth for the past month or so, I can't wait for some cleanliness and sobriety

Really fun trip and I was pretty active while away - averaged over 19k steps and also rode my bike a lot with the kids and was in the water a few hours each day. the swells were massive...particularly post the Tongan volcano eruption which provoked a tsunami warning up the entire east coast of Aus...there was some panic for half an hour or so when we were told about the warning, given we were camping on flat land about 100 yards from the beach.

yep, smart move. shame though...I cancelled a ton of breaks & trips the past two years and it sucks. hope the trip you did take was fun.