Lol nope.

did a very easy weights session today. Want to keep doing weights through this 5 week training block...really for ego reasons to keep a little bit of shape, but also need the body to recover from these intense workouts to be ready for the next ones

DB Bench 3x8 30kg DBs
seated DB press 3x8 22kg DBs
seated wide grip hammer row 3x8 130kg
preacher curl 3x8 40kg
power clean 3x3 80kg

really noticing the difference of two very low key booze weeks. I basically drink one beer each evening while walking the dog, just to take the edge off the day, but nothing more. intending to do this til the 5 weeks are up but...we'll see!

the final tough workout of the week, which was a relief - I actually completed it on Friday instead of Sat and swapped an easy one for tomorrow as I need to get it done early.

4x2mins at Max Power. 26 s/m, 28 s/m, 30 s/m 32 s/m

I'm enjoying all the lower rate max power stuff because it's really helping me focus on watts per stroke, which is super important and I think can get lost when you're trying to sprint through something.
It’s an interesting workout, because once it gets beyond 28spm it’s hard to think about maximising each stroke because you’re moving that much faster. Whereas if you’re at say r20, you have enough time to really focus on each pull

It was very difficult, albeit not a total destroyer until the final rep. My legs went at about 40 secs into the last leg...probably not surprising as I was tracking faster than 1k pr pace at a lower spm than I'll use in a time trial....and I'd already done the first 3 reps. Still a tiny bit dispiriting to improve by 2 splits in each of the first few reps and then basically do the same time for the final one. Although again, not surprising

quads were so fatigued that when I woke up at 5 for a pee, they were aching and throbbing so much that I couldn't get back to sleep

got into the gym early and finished my week off with something easy. Was supposed to be at 2.00 but it took me a while to warm up and I was happy just to relax and see where the stroke took me.

Now have 48 hours + of rest which I really need

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
36:00.0 8,842m 2:02.1 192 961 19

12:00.0 2,917m 2:03.4 186 940 18
24:00.0 2,964m 2:01.4 195 972 19
36:00.0 2,961m 2:01.5 195 970 20

You were able to walk unassisted to the bathroom? Must be taking things easy.

correct. I don't have the minerals these days

Annual blood test results from the doc today.

Mainly pretty good - all organs in good shape, prostate levels very low. Blood glucose, Thyroid good, testosterone near the top of the range

Cholesterol remains a tiny bit above the required range....they want total at 5.5 and below and mine is 5.7...the same as the past two years, but it's still a watch

Ferritin level is also high (healthy range finishes at 300, mine is 301) as I carry one of the two haemochromatosis genes, but not the one associated with a high risk of iron overload. Remedy is to give blood once or twice this year and see what net year's reading is. I forgot to do it this year.

Only new wrinkle is that one of my Proteins... Albumen is too high and another... Glutomon is too low and I've had to do a piss test to check kidney function...despite kidney readings being vg so IDK

classic unsatisfactory GP appointment though. 35 mins late and no apology, hadn't read anything at all in advance, gave no background or insight etc etc.

into the pain cave again

9x1min 90secs rest at 1k pace. The prescription for this one was 12 reps, which I knew was basically impossible....the same as the 1st session of each of the two previous weeks. So I decided to do as many at 1k pace as I could and then die, rather than complete 12 at a slower rate. I was planning to do 8 until about 45 secs after I'd completed by 8th when I decided to kill myself with a 9th just for mental strength purposes. And it did almost kill me - I had to pretend I was in the last 25 secs of a time trial to kid myself into finishing it fast. Very happy I did though.

this is week 3 of the 5 week program. It looks like the hardest week with two absolute ****ing killers on Weds and Sat. So I've got them to look forward to!

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
9:00.0 2,867m 1:34.1 419 1742 34

1:00.0 323m 1:32.8 437 1803 34
1:00.0 320m 1:33.7 425 1761 34
1:00.0 319m 1:34.0 421 1748 34
1:00.0 318m 1:34.3 417 1734 33
1:00.0 317m 1:34.6 413 1721 33
1:00.0 317m 1:34.6 413 1721 34
1:00.0 317m 1:34.6 413 1721 34
1:00.0 316m 1:34.9 409 1707 35
1:00.0 318m 1:34.3 417 1734 36

Glad to hear the blood test results were good, even if the process is annoying.

This program you're on is nuts; regardless of how things go in the race, I'd imagine one additional positive for you (outside of the physical training effect) is that a simple 1k should seem less daunting than some of the pieces programmed for you here.

Yes, very definitely an in-season test designed around peaking and not something for longer periods. Albeit I’m loving not worrying about grinding through too much steady state.

And yes, I think (hope) that as well as any overall benefits of doing a ton of speed and power work at my desired race pace and rate, it might also improve my mental strength and ability to not panic and stay comfortable for longer at the redline. And also to your point, a little less fear at the prospect of it.

Just did a 5k recovery row today r18 @2.03/500

Body was tired from yesterday and it was 95% humidity at 6pm when I trained at home

Back to the gym air con for more intervals tomorrow

The plan called for 5x90 secs 3r at 1k pace. As with Monday, I decided to do as many as I could at target pace rather than game it slightly to finish the 5 and the final 30 secs of rep 4 took all I had.

But still, 4 reps at 1.33.7/500 is very promising, particularly as my legs were still heavy from Monday.

To Monte’s point from the other day, I’m definitely getting more comfortable feeling uncomfortable which should hopefully help during the time trial.

Upper body weights tomorrow to rest my legs, an easy row on Fri and then a hard core effort on Sat when I’m subbing out the protocol to re-do the monthly CTC challenge to hopefully improve on my score

really fatigued today from the combo of the hard training and also consecutive nights of bad sleeps. Am glad there's only 2 weeks left on this plan - I'm walking round feeling broken for 3 days of every week and just about feeling recovered before the next session.

as a result, just went through the motions today with weight and decided not to do the power cleans, just to help a little more with quad recovery

DB Bench 3x8-30kg
Strict Press 3x8-45kg
seated Hammer wide grip row 3x8-140kg
Preacher Curl 3x8-45kg
Tricep Push Down/Extension 3x7/8 35/25

forgot to link up to erg data. Nice, easy ish session was just what I needed. Hoping the legs fully recover as I've got another tough one tomorrow

3x12 mins 1r

8,857m2:01.9 19

2966m 2.01.3 19
2965m 2.01.4 20
2925m 2.03.0 19

Is there a taper before your competition?

a small one and I have two options I’m weighing up

World Indoor Sprint is a virtual event where you get 4 days to log your fastest time for 1k. Which is great for me because it means I can do it at a normal time of day - the official world indoor champs are this weekend for 500m and 2k but in Toronto and the 2k which I would have qualified for is on a 3.15am in Sydney. Which would make it impossible to do a good time. It also means World Virtual is a bigger test in many regards because it’s open to everyone and not just the people who can get to Toronto or who can qualify for it (you need to be top 3 in your continent or top 5 in Europe to row virtually)

Either way the 4 day gap means I can do a fast one on the first day and still have enough time to back up and do another one on the last day if I’m not happy with it.

Long winded way of saying yes…I will do a taper but not a long one. I’m at the end of week 3 of my program which is supposed to be 5 weeks.

I think my plan right now is to do all of week 4 properly and then rest Sun, do most of the week 5 1st workout on the Mon, then rest Tues and race Weds. Unless I decide to bin the idea of doing it twice in which case I’d do the first 3 workouts of week 5 properly then taper and then do the row on the Sat (2 weeks time)

morale building CTC re-do from 3 weeks ago.

3mins, 2.5 mins, 2 mins, 1.5 mins, 1min each with 1 min rest

managed 101 metres, or 3.4 secs/500 faster than last time. While I think this is more of a 2k equivalent test rather than a 1k which is the focus right now, I thought both my power per stroke and certainly my stamina and endurance were markedly better than when I did it previously. I did it as a negative split and to be honest, I surprised myself with how much I had in the tank in the final two intervals. Probably could have found an extra 6m to get to 3000

So it's a nice indication that the training is working and the energy I had left at the end gives me confidence that i can go out hard and have more left in the tank to bring the 1k home

Really happy with this



Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M

10:00.0 2,994m 1:40.2 348 1497 31

3:00.0 887m 1:41.4 335 1453 30

r: 1:00 27m

2:30.0 742m 1:41.0 339 1466 31

r: 1:00 22m

2:00.0 597m 1:40.5 345 1486 32

r: 1:00 26m

1:30.0 451m 1:39.7 352 1512 33

r: 1:00 28m

1:00.0 316m 1:34.9 409 1707 35
r: 1:00 21m

This is what the elite indoor row sprinters look like. This is Cam Wharram (world record holder for 1min) on his way to 1.11.3 in the 500m at the World Indoors which are happening now in Toronto. He’s 6-4 118 kg. Amazingly he came second to Big Phil Clapp who is 6-9 and rowed 1.11.2

The 2k race I would have rowed was on last night. I chose not to enter because I’d either have had to fly round the world to Canada or raced at 3.15am here…neither of which would have been conducive to high performance. My season’s best time (6.39) would have come 9th but I think if I’d committed to the training for it over the past few months I would have improved enough for 8th (6.37) or potentially 7th (6.33) out of 25. But I didn’t. Not much FOMO tbh but still interesting. Not sure I’ll ever row in this event for time zone reasons - I can’t see it ever being anywhere other than the US or Europe

So, all you need to do is move to a more conducive time zone and become 6 to 9 inches taller?

And probably get stronger too. But yeah, simple

5k row then 6x45seconds at 1k pace, 30 secs rest

Another good session. I've done 8 reps of this at this pace but with 1 mins rest, so 6 with half the rest is good (I think/hope). Could have done a 7th but preserving my old legs a little as I have 2 very hard sessions later in the week that i want to do well at.

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
4:30.0 1,453m 1:32.9 436 1801 35

0:45.0 248m 1:30.7 469 1913 36
0:45.0 242m 1:32.9 435 1798 35
0:45.0 241m 1:33.3 430 1780 35
0:45.0 241m 1:33.3 430 1780 35
0:45.0 241m 1:33.3 430 1780 36
0:45.0 241m 1:33.3 430 1780 35

6 with only 30 seconds rest with one in the tank seems pretty great to me; looking forward to seeing how you do in the race in a few weeks.

thanks and I'm feeling confident. Exactly what pace I'll go out at and what I can sustain...hard to know and it does make it possible I'll do 2 tts for the event, either if I blow up and don't finish the first one or if I feel I got to the end and could have gone faster if I'd been punchier in the 1st 650m

I've got 6x1min with 2 mins rest on Sat. the extra 15 seconds of work per rep is quite a factor but I'm planning on doing this one at 1+ splits faster than today's one. That will definitely be faster than my 1k race pace but hopefully that session will help make the race pace more comfortable

log book didn't record the session. not much to see here. I continue to enjoy breaking up the longer, slower ones into formal intervals and also doing them quicker than prescribed 'steady state/UT2' zones and pace. Legs recovered fairly well from yesterday

3x12mins 1r at sr 19

8,871m at 2:01.7

Tomorrow is supposed to be 4x8mins 2r at 20sm at 2k pace +10 splits...which is approx 1.50/500m for me. I'm planning on subbing this for a 30r20 which is my Feb inter club competition requirement for sub 7. 30r20 will be a little slower than 1.50 pace I'm guessing and also more difficult if I go full whack at it, but it'll be interesting to see what pace I can sustain. I haven't done a max effort 30r20 for about 15 months

2x15 20s/m 3 mins rest. erg data issues again

Set out to do a 30r20 and was on pace for a PR but realised it would take a huge amount out of me and decided to stop at half way, have a drink and a towel down and then start again. Happy with the decision. It's really humid and hot still and I was in my non air conditioned home office all day and I don't think that was ideal conditions for a max effort 30 mins.

Tough ****ing workout the 30r20. In it's way as tough as a 2k if you're doing it hard. The longer stuff isn't my speciality but I would like to have a full crack at this one at some point later in the year...maybe after I do a bit more distance work and also get back to lower body strength training.

Either way, weights tomorrow and I get to rest my legs totally which is welcome after the past 3 days

Time Meters Pace S/M

15:00.0 3,955m 1.53.7 20

15:00.0 3,832m 1:57.4 20