Indoor rowing!

I recently took delivery of a NordicTrack RW600 rowing machine. It sits in my basement alongside the NordicTrack treadmill and exercise bike that I already have. They are all great pieces of equipment that really do help me primarily when I am recovering from injury. At heart I am a runner and yet of late I have spent more time on bikes/rowers and in the pool.

Rowing is something I have dabbled with a bit in gyms over the years. I think my first experience of rowing was probably 18 years ago when in the work gym they ran an event called the Smilebuster triathlon. There was a sprint event which included a 1.5km row, 6km on a bike followed by 2km on a treadmill. There was also a Pro event made up of a 4km row, 15km on the indoor bike and then 5km on the treadmill. I took part in both events and while my times are a dim and distant memory, I remember doing the 1.5km row in around 5:30/40. I also remember how hard they were, and this was 18 years ago!

I then worked in a new office with a gym and there was a challenge to row 5km in under 20 minutes. I remember doing it and how much it hurt, and I know I could do it sub 20 but the details are sketchy. Since then, I have rowed in gyms either doing 2km or 5km and trying to achieve sub 2min per 500m consistently.

All of this has been on Concept 2 rowing machines.

When looking to buy a rowing machine the decision to opt for a NordicTrack was made primarily as it has the large screen with workouts that you can stream to the device. In short, it’s a more family friendly machine than the more industrial looking and maybe scary Concept 2. It’s also more expensive so price wasn’t part of the discussion.

The machine was delivered quickly and needed some assembly. It took my son and I maybe half an hour to get it out of the box, built, connected to the internet and ready to go.

The immediate impression is that this is a lovely machine. It’s very aesthetic with a feel of being a quality build. A nice mix of matt plastic and metal with a nice screen.

The mechanism is very quiet and it’s easy to listen to the music and coaching whilst rowing that comes with the iFit subscription. The handle is comfortable and attached to the machine via a nylon strap – this adds to the quietness of the machine perhaps over the Concept 2 that uses a chain. The foot-straps are easy to adjust and secure. A large Velcro strap that you pull across. Everything has been thought out and this machine shows it.

As I am currently struggling and trying to recover from an injury, Achilles tendonitis, I have been using the machine a lot! Only this morning I did a half marathon on it as part of my training towards rowing a marathon. I hope to do this in maybe a month. This is where I have a question really and it concerns the performance of the machines. If you look at the indoor rowing events and races, look at the records and look at what the elite rowers train on it’s all Concept 2 machines. Is that because it is more realistic or do they just have a head start on marketing? There’s then a further question which is about the performance and are they different? If I am rowing at 2min per 500m on the NordicTrack is that transferable to the Concept 2 or is it harder or even easier?

My effort this morning was 21.012km in 1:14:45 giving an average of 1:46 per 500m. I was working hard and the machine was on the lowest setting but this feels too quick.

You could argue why does it matter – well it doesn’t but if I want to do an indoor rowing event and I think I’m a 1:46 rower but really, I’m a 2:05 rower I’d like to know that before I get on the machine!