Felt good when I arrived at the gym. Normally by the time I'm changed and the adrenalin is starting to flow my HR is in the mid-90s. If it's over 100 I know something's not quite right, but tonight it was 87.

Got into a race again in my supposed warm-up. I should really know better, but some of these guys at the gym see fat old me in my AIO and just think they're going to be able to show me up. Started out at 1:53s but then took it down into the 1:40s, negative-splitting all the way.

4K 14:09.3 (1:46.2) 30 195
1K splits:
3:42.8 (1:51.4) 27
3:33.2 (1:46.6) 30
3:29.2 (1:44.6) 31
3:24.2 (1:42.1) 33

Pretty damn pleasing given the slow first km, and doing the second 2K in 6:53.4 was a great confidence booster for BIRC. Compares very favourably with the 1K intervals I did yesterday morning, and this with no rest at all and from cold. HR did go a bit crazy though... 195 is high, even for me.

Followed this up with:
3K 11:27.2 (1:54.5) 28

Then took it easy with:
2K 7:56.3 (1:59.8) 27

This was all leading up to a CTC attempt. Not very clever given the 4K starter, but I decided to give it a go anyway. Handled down after just over a minute though. Not sure why - solid 1:35s to there, but maybe I'd done myself mentally, thinking I'd never hold the pace after the previous pieces. Oh well. At least it means I've still got something to aim for there - the O'Neill "excellent" rating eludes me for the moment.

Then thought I'd have a go at a few low pull attempts, in light of Paul Gould's recent thread on this on the forum. Played about with a few different foot positions and damper settings, but wasn't really attacking it at all. 1:19s were the best I was getting.

Started on another steady 2K, but settled in fairly fast at 1:48s. After about 800m, seeing the projected finish reading 7:12, I had a really crazy idea that maybe I could go for another sub-7. Not the brightest move in the world when you're already nearly halfway through, but:

2K 6:57.1 (1:44.3) 33
500m splits:
1:48.4 30
1:47.4 32
1:43.7 34
1:37.5 37

Big sprint finish needed to get there, but I made it, and with a bit to spare! 1:20 split at the end, which is madness - how can I pull 1:20 at the end of a 2K, and yet only 1:19 when I'm trying to do a low pull? Not sure on the HR, but from checking the monitor later it wasn't higher than the 195 I'd got in the 4K.

Needed a breather after that, then did some supposedly easier work to round out the session, though it was all beginning to feel a bit hard by this stage - the rate was climbing but so was the split:

3K 11:18.6 (1:53.1) 30
4K 15:13.4 (1:54.2) 30

Finally a short warm-down:

1K 4:06.5 (2:03.3) 26

All in all, an excellent session from a results perspective, but I really do need to work on my self-control and not get drawn into racing when I'm supposed to be warming up. Never going to happen though.

Metres: 19,390
Alcohol: Tues: 3 (better!); today: 0 (even better!)

Did manage to get up at 6am after a slightly patchy nights sleep, and got to the gym shortly before 7am.

5K warm-up: 19:09.0 25

Decided on some longer intervals this morning - 1Ks with 3' rest. Set a pace boat for 1:45.0, but thought I should be able to go a second or so inside this.

3:27.0 32 186
3:26.9 32 189
3:26.8 32 191

Blew up just before halfway of the fourth one. I blame this on not having decided in my own mind whether I was doing four or five of them in total. Started the fourth one almost flat out as if I was just doing four, then realised I'd never manage a fifth going at that pace, so throttled back. Did so too much until I was below target pace (and by that stage only pulling 1:45s), and then didn't feel like making the effort to claw it back again.

These were pretty hard work anyway, as the HR proves. Four would probably have been a more sensible target at that pace.

2K warm down: 8:12.5 25

Metres: 10,467
Alcohol: Mon: 3; today: none yet! It's only 9am

Not blog entry, though I did that too yesterday, but session, as I didn't go this evening. Had been feeling a bit under the weather again Saturday evening and yesterday (though fine again now) so had already decided to give it a miss before I woke up this morning.

Will try and get an early night, wake up extra early tomorrow and go for a session before work. Haven't done this during the week for as long as I can remember, so it might be a complete disaster, but I'll give it a go. Reason for this being that I don't want to go tomorrow evening as I'll miss Spooks (which I love, even though it's completely silly), and I do want to go Wednesday evening as it's Halloween and it'll keep me out the house for most of the evening, which is a good thing as I'm a miserable miserly bastard and hate children and being disturbed, and can't think of anything worse than being disturbed by children wanting free stuff. Well, not quite perhaps, but I really don't see the point of Halloween.

Metres: 0 (both days)
Alcohol: 0 (Sunday); maybe some later tonight

Went to the gym without a real plan for this mornings session. Only decided on intervals after the warm-up piece.

5K warm up: 19:18.9 25

On to the intervals. No namby-pamby 1:42s today. It wasn't like I'd had a failed race piece in advance of them like the last couple of times, so these were full-on, race pace, race rate plus. Decided to up the rest from two minutes to three, and set the pace boat at 1:40, because I pretty much always make sure I beat it.

10x500m 3' rest

1:39.2 34
1:39.4 33
1:39.0 33
1:38.8 33
1:38.6 33
1:38.3 34
1:38.3 34
1:37.2 35
1:36.9 35
1:35.4 38

Very pleased with these. Considered quitting after 6 and 8, but stuck it out for the full 10, and found something extra for the last few. Wasn't wearing the HR monitor, but suspect it was pretty much all 180s, though the extra minute rest makes a big difference on the recovery.


5K warm down: 19:54.8 26

Despite my general intentions, I've noticed that I'm sub-consciously moving towards doing shorter more high-intensity sessions in the last few weeks before BIRC. I like to think this is probably a good thing.


Metres: 15,000
Alcohol: 0

That's the sound of me falling off the wagon tonight. Not just a minor technicality either, but a whole bottle of wine. Oh well. Gym in the morning should make me pay for it.

Metres: 0
Alcohol: 10

So much for feeling better yesterday... felt really bad. Went to work for an hour or so for a crisis meeting then came home again and spent the day in bed. Better today, though incredibly tired. Probably due to not eating more than anything, but I had a decent amount of lunch and malt loaf (yum!) during the afternoon and decided I was going to go to the gym anyway, but take it fairly easy (yeah, right!).

Fast 4K warm up in just under 15 mins. Then decided that since I'd failed on my 2K test on Monday, I should make sure that no matter how I was feeling, I could still do a sub-7. Was a bit harder than I thought it would be, took it steady for 1500m and then put on a little burst to knock a few seconds off at the end... came home in 6:56.4. Felt reasonably happy with this considering the day or so of sickness and lack of food, but I know I need to do a proper 2K test in the next week or so.

Another sub-15 4K to follow that, and then a couple of 2.5K warm down pieces at around 10 minutes each. Decided that was enough and I shouldn't overdo it. Think I will go and do a longer session on Saturday morning.

Metres: 15,000
Alcohol: 0 (but I'm having crispy duck tomorrow, and just can't not have a glass of wine or two to go with it, so the no alcohol regime is sure to end).

Nothing like as bad as last night though. Had a protracted debate with myself this morning about phoning in sick, but the contractors' incentive won out in the end and I eventually dragged myself out of bed and off to work.

Bit off colour all day, but bearable.... definitely feeling better this evening though. Assuming I'm going to be pretty much okay again by tomorrow. Probably going to give training a miss in the evening though, and go on Thursday instead to give myself another day to recover from whatever it was.

Metres: 0
Alcohol: 0

Supposed to be doing a 2K test today to see how things are going in the run-up to BIRC. Didn't feel wonderful, and HR a bit elevated, but decided to try anyway and see how things went. Aim (at least before feeling like I did) was to go sub 6:40, maybe even PB.

4K warm-up at close to 1:56 pace. First 500m of the 2K in 1:40.0. Supposed to then up the pace to 1:39, but just didn't seem to have anything extra there. Second 500m in 1:41.5, but by that stage I'd already given up. Handled down at the halfway mark. Could probably have got close to 6:45, but not where I was expecting to be at all. Bugger.

Did a 3K at sub 1:54 pace to round that piece off to 4K, then thought that as the gym was fairly quiet I'd have a go at 8 x 500m 2' rest. Again, having failed on the 2K, I decided not to push it, so set a pace boat for 1:43:

1:42.1
1:42.2
1:42.2
1:42.2
1:42.1
1:42.1
1:42.0
1:41.1

HR into the mid 180s for most of these. Definitely a bit on the high side, but it seemed to be recovering quite well, down to about 120 in the rests. Much more consistent than the previous set of intervals I did.

Followed that up with a steady 4K at around 1:56 again, then a quicker one at sub 1:51 pace (there was someone spoiling for a race - he wasn't at all bad compared with most people in the gym, and not the biggest guy in the world - managed 2K at 1:54ish without totally killing himself), and finally finished off with 2K at just sub 2:00 to warm down.

Later... stomach cramps. Not feeling good at all now. Maybe something I ate, or sickening for something. Might explain the HR and missing edge in my performance this evening.

Metres: 22,000
Alcohol: Sun: 0; today: 0 (still! going well so far!)

...so didn't erg today at all. So much for a lot of metres this long weekend. Oh well... at least I should be fresh the next time I do feel like it. England lost the rugby too, as expected.

Metres: 0
Alcohol: 0

Day off. Went into town to do some shopping, get my hair cut and drop financial statements / CT return off at the accountants in the morning. Back home for lunch and then went out to the garage to row at about quarter past two.

No idea why, but just didn't feel like doing it though... no motivation at all. Everything was fine; felt great physically; very sunny day but the garage was still quite cool, but for some reason I just didn't want to be out there. Gave it a nice slow 5K r23/24 in 19:35, and still didn't feel like it, so jacked it in. So much for a long row today.

Metres: 5,000
Alcohol: 0 (should I try and have a dry month in the run-up to BIRC? Whaddaya think?)

Got home to Hereford this evening. First time I've been back for a while, and all my recently ordered kit was waiting for me:

Two more Free Spirits AIOs (bringing my total to five) and on these ones I got my name added. Will have to keep one of them in near pristine condition for BIRC... I find even with hand-washing and then rinsing in the machine the colours run in a few months.

Two pairs of Gripmaster hand pads. My original pair were only six months old, but starting to fall apart. I'd already ordered the new ones when I left the first lot at the gym last Saturday. Asked about them on Monday, and one of the fitness instructors had found them and thrown them out because they stank so much! Two sessions without them, and I've already got a few blisters again, having been blister-free almost since having the pads, so very glad I've got the new ones now.

Metres: 0
Alcohol: 0

Started tonight with two 3K warm-up pieces (a bit too quick for warming up - at my usual steady 1:52-1:54 kind of pace) to really get the blood flowing before the sprint.

Then the 500m PB attempt. Didn't get a great start, and was only pulling 1:25s rather than the 1:23/24s I'd been pulling on the one I handled down on a while back. Legs felt heavy, and faded quite a bit in the second half, with a lot of 1:27s and even 1:28s showing up. Even coasted the last couple of metres to the line rather than rowing through, which probably cost me another tenth.

1:26.6 41 spm

The PB was so weak before though that this was still a new one by a whole 0.5s, but I definitely think that sub 1:26 ought to be easily doable.

Once I'd got my breath back, I followed it with a steady 2.5K to round out the distance, another steady 3K and finally a 3K warm down to finish. Didn't have the energy to have a go at the CTC too... would probably have struggled to get much over 1200, so there didn't seem to be a lot of point.

Metres: 15,000
Alcohol: 0

Looking forward to the weekend already. I'm taking a couple of days off (Friday and Monday), just because I feel like I need a break, and going home (which I failed to do last weekend) so plan to get lots of erging done on at least a couple of days.

Since that'll mostly be just distance I think, I need to go for a few sprints tomorrow, but which ones? There's another CTC attempt, 500m PB attempt (which should be really easy to get on a good day), 1K PB attempt (bit harder, but eminently doable), and 2K test all needing doing. Best maybe to try and take the 500m, then see if I've got anything a bit later on in the session to have a go at the CTC.

Metres: 0
Alcohol: Sat night: 3; Sun: 5; tonight: 0 so far, probably 5 later

Repeating last Tuesday's workout with this one, and aiming to try harder and get somewhere close to the pace targets I set after last time. Arrived rather late (7:30ish) and there were a couple of girls on the erg who (and this is something of a rarity in my gym, male or female) actually seemed to know what they were doing and be capable of pulling some decent splits. Especially the bigger of the two, who had thighs like tree trunks (MUCH bigger than mine) and seemed to be pulling 2:06s without any real effort. Not quite so sure about their endurance though, as I only saw them do a 250, 500, 750m set.

Didn't quite hit all the pace targets I aimed for... missed on the quickest ones, but this was probably because a) I wasn't up for feeling much pain and b) the average pace was actually pretty quick, as I went well inside some of the other pace targets. I reversed the planned target paces for the 3rd and 4th sets (better recovery for the second flat out one), though this made the 3rd pretty hard, and I didn't hit that either.

11:11.0 (1:51.8) (-3.2)
10:36.0 (1:46.0) (+1.0)
11:17.2 (1:52.9) (+0.9)
11:34.8 (1:55.8) (-1.2)
10:44.9 (1:47.5) (+0.5)
11:21.7 (1:53.6) (-3.4)
11:56.3 (1:59.4) (-0.6)

Almost a second quicker on average than the planned pace targets, and a very healthy 1:52.4 split over the seven pieces, including the warm down. Feeling pretty pleased with that.

Metres: 21,000
Alcohol: 0

Started bright and early at 8:15am with a 30' warmup. Aiming for 2:00 split, and managed to hit it spot on for 7500m. Now thoroughly warmed up, unlike last time, went for a CTC attempt at sub 1:36 (1250m+). First two minutes were spot on - 313m then 314m, then about 10-15 seconds into the third minute, just when it was starting to hurt, I decided to quit. Definite mental weakness when it comes to morning rows.

2K loosener (8:03.3), and then thought that since the gym was so quiet, I could try some sprint intervals, which I hardly ever do, and decided on 10 x 500m, 2' rest. I guess this should probably be done at 2K - 1 pace or something like that, so 1:38 or so for me, but having already handled down once today, I thought I wouldn't risk a second one, and so take it easy and do something I knew I should be able to achieve comfortably (I know, doesn't that defeat the point of intervals?), so started out aiming for 1:45:

1:44.1 34 172
1:43.1 34 173
1:43.5 34 172
1:43.8 34 173
1:43.2 34 175 (must try a bit harder)
1:43.2 34 177
1:42.9 34 179 (still too easy)
1:42.7 33 181
1:42.2 34 183 (still quite a lot left)
1:34.0 40 189 (now I'm done in)

Definitely think this shows I wasn't pushing myself enough. 2 minutes isn't enough for my HR to get back to pre-exercise levels (generally it was dropping to 130 instead of 110), but still managed to negative split most of them, and had loads left (aerobically at least) for the last one (was pretty much half-sliding it by the end though, as my calves were starting to lock up).

Finished with a 5K cooldown (4K @ 1:57ish then 1K @ 2:06ish) to take me over the 20K.

Metres: 20,218
Alcohol: 0 (but the rugby's on soon!)

Not sure I actually am getting fatter... just feeling it this week. Definitely been piling on the calories though. Long session planned for tomorrow morning to try and offset it... not sure what exactly yet - just going to turn up and do what I feel like. Need to do a sprint piece as well though, either another CTC, 1K PB attempt or 2K test.

Metres: 0
Alcohol: 5

That's how most of the evening was spent, as Thomas, Shrek and I got together for a drink or two and a meal. A pleasant time, and the meal at Ware Tandoori was pretty good too. I ate too much, but that's just par for the course.

Metres: 0
Alcohol: 5

Work has been pretty fraught this week. Recently discovered a big gap in functionality in the software I'm currently working on that everyone seems to have conveniently forgotten about up until now, and it's needed for the next release in a few weeks time, so generally quite stressed out.

Do find the erg helps with this though... nothing like a good hard session to get work out of your head at the end of the day. And not just for that day either; the beneficial (to the mind at least) effects of a hard 20k seem to carry over to the next day as well. Muscles may ache, but I always find myself a bit more relaxed and concentrate better the day after erging.

Metres: 0
Alcohol: 5 (this helps with the stress too!)

Instead of the usual 5x4k, decided to do it slightly differently today with 7x3k, mainly because I wasn't feeling up for too hard a session, and so thought I wouldn't probably want to keep close to the necessary 1:52.5 to get the 4k done in 15 mins. As it turned out, I probably could have done it as 5x4, as the times were fairly reasonable:

11:29.0 (1:54.8)
11:18.5 (1:53.1)
10:45.7 (1:47.6)
11:41.4 (1:56.9)
11:08.1 (1:51.4)
11:13.5 (1:52.2)
12:22.9 (2:03.8)

Quite enjoyed how this went... might start doing more of this session, as it gives the opportunity for a couple of decent fast efforts (which should probably really be the second and fifth pieces). Pace targets maybe something like: 1:55, 1:45, 1:57, 1:52, 1:47, 1:57 and 2:00 for next time.

Metres: 21,000
Alcohol: 0

Of erging at least, though not of work. Am going to the gym tomorrow night and will hopefully be up for a hard session, but that's probably it until Saturday... Wednesday I won't go, Thursday I'm meeting other Free Spirits for a drink and dinner in Ware, and Friday I'll be driving home and won't get back until late.

Metres: 0
Alcohol: 5

Unfortunately, there wasn't much good in the erging. 10K yesterday morning before I set off for Oxford to meet friends and watch the rugby. HR was massively elevated... 15-20bpm above normal at rest, and the same under strain.

Did the piece at low 1:58s, which should normally be UT2, maybe UT1 by the end, but was rapidly topping UT1 and then well into TR. Had originally thought I might make it a HM, but decided the 10K was quite enough. Assume I must have a virus, but otherwise feeling quite okay (barring a few aches and pains that I think are exercise-related), so can't really explain it.

Then off to Oxford. Arrived in plenty of time to find a pub to watch the rugby in. England 12-10 Australia. Come on! Drinking started early, and carried on slowly but steadily for most of the day. Nice Chinese meal at the Pink Giraffe, then back home to watch France upset the All Blacks as well. Great stuff.

Didn't feel too hungover today, but wasn't going to be erging anyway. Mooched around; cheered Fiji on against the Sprinkboks, but another upset was just too much to hope for; then drove back from Oxford just now.

Metres: Sat: 10,000; Sun: 0
Alcohol: Fri night: 5 (oops); Sat: err... say 25 maybe (double oops); Sun: 0

Yesterday's slight lack of energy during my session made me think a bit about my diet today.

Generally speaking, I do everything to excess: plenty of fruit and veg, but also too much salt, alcohol, saturated fat etc., and I'm not too worried about the calories, as my weight seems to be pretty stable in the high 90s (kg) and my body shape still seems to be improving (definitely less lard lining on the belly these days, and improved muscle definition... still a long way to go though), but what I perhaps ought to worry about is eating to optimize performance in rowing.

I suspect this may become a serious issue during my break from work, with all the endurance erging I've got planned, but if yesterday is anything to go by, it's already a problem. I mean, it's not rocket science, understanding the principles of carbo-loading before the energy is required, but I seem to have got it all back-to-front this week.

Wednesday night was a light dinner, then no breakfast on Thursday, followed by a lightish (and mostly protein and fat) lunch. Not the best way of building up to an erg session.

Then last night after getting back from the session was: a ham and mushroom pasta meal for two, salad, Jaffa cake bars and chocolate (I was hungry, okay). No shortage of carbohydrates (or fat, for that matter) there, both complex and simple.

But I wasn't going to the gym today.

And then tonight, I'm back on the (mostly) protein dinner, with crispy duck pancakes, hoi sin sauce, etc. etc. again. My favourite, but not quite the carbs for a planned erg session tomorrow morning.

I think the real issue is that I eat whatever I want, when I want, and I erg as much as I want, when I want, and the two things don't necessarily synchronize into giving me the energy I need for the session I want to do.

Metres: 0
Alcohol: 0 (yet)

Hamstring niggle seemed to have gone away, so repeated the 5 x 4000m from last Wednesday. More consistent splits, but I found it tougher going this time (and took longer breaks, probably about 6 minutes average).

Maybe the after effects of Tuesday's row, even though it didn't seem too bad at the time. Might have been a little low on carbs as well: not very carb-oriented dinner last night, no breakfast this morning, and only a smoked salmon and cream cheese baguette and a little chunk of fruit cake for lunch.

15:03.1 (1:52.9)
14:54.3 (1:51.8)
15:02.3 (1:52.8)
14:50.6 (1:51.3)
15:47.4 (1:58.4)

About 25 seconds slower than last week (only 0.6s on the split). Still sub-76 minutes, which is the benchmark at the moment, and a bit quicker than the original idea of 1:55s. Definitely felt this afterwards though, and dodgy knee still aching a bit now.

Metres: 20,000
Alcohol: 0

Only slight, so possibly nothing. Probably caused by that "warm-up" and CTC effort at the start of yesterdays session. Will hopefully disappear before my session tomorrow evening... shouldn't be a problem anyway as that's going to be lots of steady state 1:55 work and no sprinting (well, unless anyone wants to try and race me, of course!) .

Metres: 0
Alcohol: 4

Learning from the mistake of September, I made sure to get my first attempt at the October CTC on the board as soon as possible, made somewhat easier my the fact that unlike the 10K, 4 minutes doesn't get other gym members complaining about me hogging the machine.

Decided to do a short fast warm-up, completely the wrong thing for a sprint piece. Think I should really have done something like 4K @ 2:10 then 4K @ 2:00 to get properly loose without generating any lactic acid, but instead did just 3K @ 1:52.5 (11:14.9).

Then the main event. Pacing was terrible: got stuck in at 1:35 split for the first minute, easing off through the second and third minutes all the way down to 1:41, then pulled it together with a 1:34 final minute. Total 1233m (1:37.3).

Not bad for a first attempt, though I definitely think with a better warm up, better pacing and more commitment I can get the average split down below 1:36 (1250m+). I've only done the 4 minute row a handful of times before, with a previous best of 1214m, so tonight was actually a PB by 19m, and the first I've had since almost the very beginning of the season (HM on 3rd May).

Hamstrings and forearms (what are the muscles in the forearm called?) were very tight immediately after this row (probably showing how useless the warm up was), so did a 3K loosener. Followed this up with a couple of 4K pieces, and then a 5K warm down to take it over 20K for the session.

Metres: 20,233
Alcohol: 0

Not sure what happened at the weekend... just one of those things I suppose. Didn't erg today, but will go tomorrow evening. Might have a crack at the October CTC to actually get a piece on the board early in the month.

Metres: 0
Alcohol: 5