I'm aware. Access isn't a problem, as my erg is in my basement/office, but given I haven't even hit 400k meters in a month yet, maybe not yet indicated. I could definitely see tossing in an extra 60:00 steady state session once or twice a week once I lengthen everything else out, though.

I saw the location of the erg

Rowers always did do long sessions on the water, because it's a pita to get the boat out etc etc. Also obsessing about atuning to their environment.

But mid and long dist runners will do a shortish session, almost always easy (30m, maybe 40m) when they get up and then eat, rest and do another longer session in the afternoon - obviously varying depending on the focus of the main session. (Actually many mid dist will do 3 sessions a day with the third one later just to put in a few more miles.)

Obv, practicality varies for people across lifestyles. (Talking about running because that's maybe the closest analogue to erg-rowing.)

tchaz,

Ah, got it. Knocking out my main session in the morning is definitely easier for me wrt work/family, so your original supposition was correct.

7/7
AP C1D2 - 60:00
13339 m/2:14.9/19 spm
Warmup: 10:00 - 2161m

Just something easy to recover from yesterday; tried to keep the stroke rate a bit lower, and it felt good. Just one quick ten second break at 30:00, otherwise straight through.

Interesting. I'm not sure how I would feel about it, but I suppose (if you want to put in 90m+ a day) you could flip the "usual" pattern and do the longer work out when you get up (that is what you are already doing, right,? even tho' frankly I'd find that scary as f***, but your call) and then do a short, just get in a few more km/miles, session before bed.

tchaz,

Certainly a possibility, though I think I still need to get more comfortable with the extended (for me) distances before I add in two a days.

7/8
AP C1D3 - 1:33:45.3
21105 m/2:13.2/19 spm
Warmup: 10:00 - 2183m

Planned to try to do 90 minutes, then realized I might as well do a half marathon if I was going that far. Felt ok enough.

7/9
AP C1D4 - 30r20
7249 m/2:04.1/20 spm
6:00 - 1440 m/2:05.0/20 spm
12:00 - 1448 m/2:04.3/20 spm
18:00 - 1445 m/2:04.5/20 spm
24:00 - 1447 m/2:04.3/20 spm
30:00 - 1469 m/2:02.5/20 spm
Warmup: 10:00 - 2193m

First ever 30r20; tried to keep the pace reasonable (i.e. in the UT1 range), and it wasn't too bad. As near as I can tell, I hit exactly 120 strokes per split, so I was pretty regular there.

I can definitely go faster; I'll probably plan to do these once per cycle and inch up towards 2:00 over the next five or six cycles. I can see how doing it as a rating piece would suck ass, though.

When are you back? I'm only 160k meters behind you. I hope you're having fun!

Drove back yesterday (16 hours); extended the trip because the kids were having fun. I was planning on doing some light steady state through Sunday (maybe 60:00/day), then picking up where I left off with my 5x1500 session on Monday.

7/23
SS - 1:00:01
13397 m/2:14.4/18 spm
Warmup: 10:00 - 2232 m

Just a few steady state sessions to get back on the horse. Legs felt good, so tried to lower the stroke rate and focus on pushing through my legs a bit more.

Good to have you back!

Nonathlon is a fun little year long competition where you just enter your ranking distance times and get an overall score that is age graded and based on weight. So you can compare a 30yo lightweight man to a 74yo heavyweight woman for instance.

Arjun,

I signed up, so we'll see what we see; I guess this is your way of getting me to fully adopt the AP and do a ranking piece every two weeks.

7/24
SS - 59:59
13462 m/2:13.7/19 spm
Warmup: 10:00 - 2147 m

Definitely a bit fatigued today; yesterday I averaged 18 spm on the button and today it was 19, so even though I did it at a slightly faster pace, the SPI was lower. Just going to try to keep accumulating meters through Sunday then get back into it.

Haha!

I just looked, your 2k and 5k scores are 839 and 834. My scores are 836 and 837. We are tied! Pretty nuts

I guess old cancels out manlet.

7/25
SS - 1:15:03
16769 m/2:14.2 /19 spm
Warmup: 10:00 - 2196 m

Another day of MTA (more than Arjun) steady state; two 15 second water breaks at 25:00 and 50:00, but otherwise straight through.

Might just do an easy 40 minutes tomorrow and then lead back in to the program.

7/26
SS - 10000m
44:37.1/2:13.8/19 spm
Warmup: 10:00 - 2210 m

Just a light recovery 10k; 5x1500 tomorrow.

7/27
AP C1D5 - 5x1500/5:00r
4500 m/16:47.3/1:51.9/26 spm
1500_1 - 5:35.2/1:51.7/26 spm
1500_2 - 5:35.0/1:51.6/26 spm
1500_3 - 5:37.1/1:52.3/26 spm
r3078 (10:00 warmup + interval rests)

Went out a bit too quickly and ran out of steam a third of the way through the fourth leg. Better pacing next time, hopefully.

7/28
AP C1D6 - 60:00
13380 m/2:15.0/19 spm
Warmup: 10:00 - 2181 m

Did 20:00 of steady state, then had to take a half an hour for a call, then 40:00 after.

Fell off the wagon a few days ago; drank a lot and ate terribly over the last week, but hopefully I'm out of it now. Just jumped on the rower and did an hour of steady state at 2:15, and I'll do that again tomorrow. I'll restart the AP on Monday and be less of an ******* about doing it.

8/3
WP C1D1 - 8x500m/3:30r
4000 m/13:39.8/1:42.4/35 spm
500_1 - 1:43.7/33 spm
500_2 - 1:43.2/34 spm
500_3 - 1:42.8/34 spm
500_4 - 1:42.5/35 spm
500_5 - 1:42.2/35 spm
500_6 - 1:40.8/36 spm
500_7 - 1:41.5/36 spm
500_8 - 1:43.1/37 spm
r7399m (15:00 warmup + interval rests)

Hard training reset now.

Had no real idea what to expect today, but given how terrible my diet, training, and rest had gone the last month, I figured anything in the ~1:45 range would be a victory. First few intervals felt ok, so I just kept my head down for the first 10-15 hard strokes, glanced up at the monitor, then head down again for the next 10.

I probably went out too quickly on the last few intervals, because I was so gassed I didn't have it in me to recovery row during the rest interval, bit overall ending up only half a second off of my PR pace after my last month is somewhat heartening. Time to get back to it.

I was getting worried. Lots of heart in that session!

Indeed. Less floor alcohol and late night snacking and more getting until bed at a reasonable time (i.e. by 9 pm) should help keep things on the straight and narrow.

Given how wrecked I feel, I'm going to give myself a week then work in a pushup/dip/pull-up program next week.

8/4
WP C1D2 - 60:00
13622 m/2:12.1/20 spm
Warmup: 10:00 - 2206 m

Probably a bit faster than I should have gone, but whatever; feels good to sweat a bit. I'll see how I feel tomorrow re: UT1 or UT2.

Monte, I know nothing about rowing.


Should I row for fat loss to alleviate the boredom of treadmilling? Two of my regular gyms just got C2 rowers (and one got an anal assault bike) Is it exceptionally anaerobically taxing? How would you do it for fat loss?

explain like I am 5/like I am an ABP

8/6
WP C1D3 - 75:00
16952 m/2:12.8/19 spm
Warmup: 10:00 - 2239 m

Felt better after a rest day, unsurprisingly. UT1 tomorrow, UT2 Saturday, rest Sunday, then into a 6 day per week split after that.

Rowing certainly isn't going to be less boring, but it will be a different kind of boring for sure. Rowing for fat loss would probably just end up looking like what I just logged - steady state, low-ish stroke rate, keeping your heart rate in whatever zone you're looking to maintain.

There is a technique issue to rowing, and a learning curve; while I know nothing about bodybuilding, I'm skeptical that it would be worth the extra mental energy (and potential injury risk, though it is low) to try to learn something new while calorically depleted. If you're still interested, though, I can give you a few decent beginner videos to skim through.