The plan was a "just row" and when warm to start a pyramid at my hoped for minimum 2k pace at BIRC (1:40) bursts increasing in length by 30 seconds. I would then row gently until my heart rate dipped below 120 before going again. All went to plan. To be fair, I felt strong and comfortable at 1:40 and generally rowed at 1:39 or 1:38 but it turned out that I had no stamina at all. I blew out on the 4th rep after 1:15 when aiming for 2 minutes. As I have said before, mental toughness is a long way off. It will come! I wonder how much of it is related to confidence in the training done already?
So I did the pyramid, but still felt strong on the bursts. So I then decided (no idea why) to do some 100m bursts.
I have had this theory that 100m might be best on low damper because you can get the wheel moving so quickly. So I did 3 100m sprints at damper 1, 4 and 10.
- Damper 1: Well, I got going really well but it was impossible to hold on to the rate which averaged 62. 17.2 seconds was OK but I felt that my idea was complete rubbish after this!
- Damper 4: Could keep hold of the wheel much better (average rate 55) but still could not keep up with the wheel. 16.4
- Damper 10: The previous one was close enough to my PB that I thought that at damper 10 I had a chance and could do something good on the ergo for the first time for a long while. I gritted my teeth and dug in. I rated 56 and pulled a 16.1 which equalled my PB. I am certain that when fit again I can beat the elusive 16 second barrier.
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