45' UT2 - much more like "me"

My lungs settled down (see previous post)after a whiff of seretide. I wanted to row today because it was a long, low heart rate (UT2 = 144) piece which is good for fat burn! Having looked again at my awful michelin man photo from BIRC last year fat burning sounds good.

Four days ago I did a 36' UT2 row and struggled home in some discomfort with a split of 2:04.9. Today, the C2 schedule indicated either a day off or a 45' UT2. I decided on the latter. I then found that nearly a year ago I had done 48' UT2 and had the stroke data. The opportunity for comparison was too good to miss so I dialled it up again. I set off at a comfortable split of a lazy 2:00-ish. I was aiming for a stroke rate of 19 and heart rate of 144. Compared with the previous row my heart was easy to control and I spent some time playing the game of trying to keep 19/144 on the screen continuously. The most I managed was 3 strokes, which is pretty good. My record ever was 5 strokes at 22/130. I was not really watching the split since I was watching the split, heart rate and also the film 'Swimming with sharks' that came free with The Independent last year some time. Interesting film. Wondering if there is a major twist at the end. We'll see.

Anyway, I was not surprised to find that my split when I finished the row was well inside the split for the 36' UT2 row. I wonder how much of that is down to virus and how much down to what Janet suggested - weather. Time will tell I guess. Another contributor could be a day of not teaching or the wine last night? Very lazy day by my standards - watching cricket on the sofa whilst the kids played with lego and then were taken out by MBH to buy birthday presents. The comparison with last August was telling. My heart rate climbed slower (albeit to a 5 pips higher level because of my increased HRmax), I rated slower and went much, much further - my split was 5 seconds faster this time.

Feeling much happier about my rowing. Maybe I will have another pop at the CTC by the end of the month and go for a first PB of the season? Oh yes, I also decided not to go for a new PM3/4 computer at all. I'll stick with what I've got for now. A PM4 with Suunto t6 is the best part of £600! Ouch.

Metres today: 13,133 (hope I make a dent in the meter board with that!)