Rowing

In the work gym they had a rowing challenge over 500m, 1000m, 2000m, 5k and 10k. 

I was interested in the challenges in the gym but only the longer ones. I did the 5k in 19.29 then the following day I did the 10k in 40:48. It hurt like hell and I think I tweeted at the time that I wouldn't be doing that again.

A day's a long time.

Saturday night I was bored and started browsing on the Concept2 website where I stumbled upon the marathon training programme http://concept2.co.uk/assets/docs/training/training_marathon_training_guide.pdf

The seed was planted and I started thinking.......

Anyway, I decided to try it and see how it went, no pressure. Opting for the 4 session a week plan I noted what was required and had a go.

Week 1
Session 1: 2x30mins with 3 mins recovery. Alternating between 7.5mins at 10k pace And 7.5mins at marathon pace.
Session 2: 4x15mins with 4 mins recovery. 6mins @ 10k pace/9min @ MP.
Session 3: 3x20mins with 2 min recovery. 1-MP, 2-HMP, 3-10k pace
Session 4: 4x15mins with 4 mins recovery. 6mins @ 5k pace/9min @ MP.

More rowing than i have done possibly in my life combined.

It actually wasn't that bad, the mixture of pacing worked and i actually felt pretty good after each session. I'm not going to say it was easy as it really wasn't. This morning's 4x15mins was really difficult and all day my legs felt empty. Even now they don't feel particularly energised but then i guess that's a good feeling as i've worked them hard.

I'm pretty chuffed with my numbers for the week although don't really have a concept of whether they are good or just ok. If anyone knows please leave me some comments.

I totalled 56,442metres for the week in 4hrs of rowing.56km! i'm pretty chuffed with that! I've not looked at next weeks programme yet but suspect its further and longer.

So will i do a marathon row? 

I still don't really know, i'd like to do something like that. I still cannot run and cycling to work and back is better than nothing but doesn't really cut it in terms of any endurance or real solid fitness benefit. Rowing is definitely ticking those boxes, in terms of making me dig in and grunt it out and use some stamina. I'm going to take it week-by-week until i'm convinced i can do it.

If anyone knows about rowing and has any comments on my numbers please leave me a comment.

Are dogs psychic?

On Sunday I went out, taking the car, for a couple of hours. Both times when I came home Frankie, our year old Fox Terrier/Mini-schnauzer cross, jumped up to the window in my front room getting agitated less than a minute before I pulled on to the drive. You could say this is coincidence except that the front room is not a room we use much during the day and also Frankie ran from the back of the house to get to the window, so much do that Sue thought there was something wrong with her.

So are dogs psychic or was that just two coincidences?