Winter Madness - an amazing effort draws to a close

[Mike Channin]

Massive shout out to Plummy, for going all that way to provide support in person. Really shows dedication to the team and to helping others.
Fantastic effort from the rowers too. Such a tough challenge to take on.
All of this makes me really proud and privileged to be part of such a great team with such amazing people.

[spidermac]

Commeserations all round but a great effort. As already said I think 99.99% of the rowing communty wouldn`t even think of attempting this!!

[plummy]

Massive shout out to Plummy, for going all that way to provide support in person. Really shows dedication to the team and to helping others.
Fantastic effort from the rowers too. Such a tough challenge to take on.
All of this makes me really proud and privileged to be part of such a great team with such amazing people.

Cheers Mike, very much appreciated. I was savvy enough to book a hotel I could cancel before 1pm (just in case) so when Iain's wheels fell off around midday, I cancelled it so it was only time and some fuel. I always had the opportunity to re-book it if Iain rallied and frankly I would rather that happened because attempts of this magnitude are worthy of a few pairs of eyes seeing them unfurl. I was great to see the guys give it a heck of a go if nothing else. If my being there got Ian B (and thus by default, the team) a bit further along by shuttling back and forth between Ian valiantly pulling out an extra 20 mins then another extra 20 on top of that whilst hoping Iain (sleeping/shivering and looking VERY wobbly) would recover, then it was well worth it.

I told Ian to relax, reflect, refuel and in no way regret not getting over the line. I know only too well how brutal and unforgiving these tests are.

Hopefully they are both tucked up in front of a tv with a frothy one, some junk/comfort food and enjoying the rest of weekend (and their good ladies give them the extra day off ). Good luck on that one guys!

[Tyelander]

Can only echo what has been said, Very well done guys brilliant effort



All the very best on your recoveries!

[Ian Bee]

So. We didn’t succeed in our stated objective. It's fair to say I've tossed the attempt around in my head a fair bit, and the following is my processing. It's a tad jumbled and having read it back a few times I'd like to start by saying all the support got us to where we did and it was amazing.

It's fair to say the first 8 hours flew past and inspired a disproportionate level of confidence. The 20 minute sessions were a good pace, 1 hour sessions were similar. We both felt ok come the start of day two, but things quite quickly went awry.

But there’s a lot to process on this. Many things are buzzing around my head. In no particular order:

What could we have done differently?
What did we do right?
Were we ever likely to succeed?
What happens next?

The first two are a bit of a jumble for me, and while I’m stating we, I really mean what could I have done differently.
There’s subheadings to this clearly:
Preparation
Nutrition
Training
Support
Pacing
Goals

Preparation wise, I think I arguably did not fully consider the scale of the endeavour thoroughly. Should we have had support from the start? Arguably, sessions alone can be draining and motivation can ebb and flow drastically. In the event, and again this crosses over to other points, pace drifted to a point where the overall goal was not going to be achieved within around 20 hours. If there was an objective set of eyes there, could that have been resisted? - after all there was no target for the million. Success would have been to finish, irrespective of the time after all.
Arguably there was not the degree of seat padding we needed available from the start. The gel pad Dave brought along made it painfully obvious that should have been a huge consideration.
I particularly needed distractions. Dave commented about music, television etc and I was very much of this mind. It became clear that the rowing room did not have good internet access until an adjustment late on, nor was it truly ever a good temperature for the attempt. Perhaps a real issue behind pacing and backing off could have been to not loose sight of the objective too quickly and hold a pace which appeared motivational?

Nutrition wise, I think I had most of the bases covered and food was digestible and there were no signs of hitting a energy wall. The flip side (perhaps pacing and preparation) was that perhaps we should have allowed for better breakfast/lunch/dinner breaks to not force these meals down too quickly or partially as happened. I wonder if deficiencies might have been exposed later - would pure sugars have been an issue?

Training wise, the adapted marathon plan did seem to leave me with capacity to continue even after 32 hours. What stopped me was hunger and motivation once Iain could not carry on. Therefore, the question becomes a matter of not singular training but joint training. Knowing what the partner can and should do. Operate as a team and do not allow one or both to pace beyond their capabilities. The two hour sessions particularly were likely the source of the eventual HD, with pace well inside realistic target. Training therefore should have included defining and practicing paces, not just a simple “holding” pace for 20 minutes reps but how this must be allowed to drift over the period of the challenge, and more than that the focus to not ignore these targets.

Support. It's fair to say that this didn’t really get the attention it needed from me, though the Free spirits team were very much there to support virtually which made a huge difference. Dave clearly was ready and able, but as I noted above attendance earlier in the attempt may have pushed the point to slow down, keep calm and focus on the big picture.

Pacing is an element I have dwelt on, but I think its fair to say that (and this is now stupidly obvious), I should have thought through and mentally prepared myself for the need to slow down and not even come close to a consistent pace throughout the attempt. This lack of consideration is frankly laughable after the fact.

It was a little while into the attempt when I began to consider was the concept of a bronze, silver, gold goal markers a worthwhile thought. Again with hindsight, that would definitely have been worth it. Simple stuff - what is realistic for 100k, 24 hours, the tandem continuous record, 500k etc - why didn’t that occur beforehand? Just these targets, and being realistic about them, would have obliged more thought about pace and have significantly helped I am forced to admit.

So then. Were we ever likely to succeed? Brutally: no. To fixate on a single goal, with all targets pushed to meet that objective,there was very limited chance that we would achieve our objectives. Was it worth trying?

Yes. Without question.

What did I achieve:
Rowed further than I’ve rowed before (previous 100k)
Rowed through a longer period than before (previously 8.5hrs)
Achieved a record for LWT, 40s tandem continuous row (pending…..)
Raised a decent amount for charity
Learned a great deal

What next? I know what I did well, what I didn't deal with well and what I can easily improve on. I’ve a couple of years left in the 40s, so be on notice that next time somebody puts their hand up about ultra distances I’ve not been put off…….

[Mike Channin]

Fantastic write-up, Ian!

[plummy]

Some deep thoughts there Ian and all realistic. I had lots of thoughts re this attempt before and during but was desperate to let you "do your thing your way" as much as possible but had doubts from very shortly after arriving at chez Barnes, but I'll speak to you via PM on these (if you want) rather than on a an open mic here.

The most telling thing you wrote above is "I’ve a couple of years left in the 40s, so be on notice that next time somebody puts their hand up about ultra distances I’ve not been put off" - this gives me great hope...

The above said, what you achieved is still immense and subject to ratification, still a world record!

[Mike Channin]

If it was easy, it wouldn't be much of a challenge, would it?
And, as Plummy rightly says, a (pending) world record is most definitely an achievement we are all proud of you for achieving.

[strider77]

Brilliant write up Ian, a lot of great learning points there.

Definitely worth getting Plummy's input he's been there and a great and generous resource.

Easy to say start slow in an attempt such as this but when I saw both your splits I was a bit concerned.

The main thing is you both achieved so much already it's a great stepping stone to another attempt , should you ever get the mad urge to do so .

Just know that all us Free Spirits are in awe of what you both achieved.

[Iain]

Thanks for the kind words.

Please forgive long indulgent post.

It was a really bizarre experience. Up to the end of my second 2hr interval just over 24hr in, everything was almost too easy. In retrospect I was lulled into going too fast. I was dreading those long sessions and mentally was flying to get through them so easily. But what I found was that despite only doing 20’ at a time afterwards, I was struggling to get to the same pace I had managed for most of the 2 hrs for more than a few strokes together. Rather than resetting my expectations, I stubbornly tried to get back to day 1 pace in the irrational belief that I just needed to get back to previous rhythm.

It was then a downward spiral as getting close to front stops got harder and harder. By the end, my drive length (normally 1:15) was rarely above 1:06 and frequently down to 1M. So despite slower pace, this was at R18 when on day 1 I had been at R16-17. I was panting after each 20 mins. Then I had several spasms in left quad. These continued every min or so and for last 20 the mild nausea I had had for a couple of hours made every recovery feel like I was going to heave and concentrating on this, my drive was even shorter.

Ian & Plummy were great. But I had pushed too hard for too long and had little mental resilience to face it. I lay down in hope the nausea would subside. I had eaten nothing for several hours and probably drunk too much of my high sugar drink (I was also dehydrated) so dare not have any more. Although I asked for a drink of water, I did not drink it. In retrospect if I had downed a pint or so of water, I may have been sick, but I would have been able to resume rowing. So easy to see now, but the crushing defeat had removed my ability to rationalise clearly. Similarly although I think now it was arrogant of me to think I could finish the million tandem, if I had reset my thoughts on extending the continuous row as far as possible, I might have pushed myself to carry on for a significant amount more as each interval would have been a success and not an infinitesimal part of what was required for success on the million.

Many lessons learned, not least an appreciation of what Plummy achieved on his million.

Now have read Ian’s great post above. I would add that I was not properly prepared. When Ian contacted me to say he was willing, after 5 years of thinking about it, I jumped at the chance. But realistically at that time I was in marathon not ultra shape. 4 months training improved on that, but was getting myself to the sort of shape I should have been in 6 months before the attempt. I would now say that I would not approach any such challenge without a really challenging row in the build up. I had done lots of 2hr+ rows, but I had tried to make these hard by fixating on a required rate and pace throughout. That was detrimental when faced with just continuing. I should have given myself at least a solo 100k or possibly that followed by an fm+ without full recovery to acclimatise to rowing with a mountain to climb when shattered. This would have needed weeks of recovery and would have required a longer build up. So why didn’t we give ourselves that time? My fault, I replied to the first contact saying I needed at least 3 months. In the event there were reasons to push it back a bit, but we never discussed a deliberate extension to the build up. Can’t speak for Ian (which demonstrates my failing, we should have explored the options together, reinforcing Ian’s comment on teamwork) but I was more concerned with it never happening than I was properly prepared. So my training was what I had time to do NOT what I needed.

I did agonise somewhat with what was required, but couldn’t get any idea of pacing or preparation for the tandem. I had been too quick to dismiss the person who is the ultra king (sorry Plummy) Jo Keating. He prepared for million solo by doing lots of very long sessions at 3:00 pace, often doing back to back 4 Hr sessions. I cannot contemplate another attempt (at the moment), but to advise anyone else, I would say pick a pace slower than you think then learn to row well at that pace for long periods. I knew my stroke fell apart at slow paces. This was only my second row with drive length visible (first our brief trial). I would love to know whether I was going past vertical to increase my drive length. If so this explains why my legs were failing me with pain to get near front stops. I needed to fix an easy slow stroke before getting started. It was easy to schedule rowing at 3:00 pace, but having not rowed below 2:30 for 3’ in a row for months, how did I think this would just happen?

Nutrition, in retrospect this needed more attention. I think my drink would have been fine if I had remained hydrated. But 8hrs when I was trying to sleep or rowing would always have left me dehydrated. I should have prioritised rehydration rather than ensuring mammal carb intake around this. But weight remained relatively stable and I never felt I was at the wall, so I think other than hydration it worked.

Preparation: other than training above, training with a seat pad I forgot to take was unforgivable. I have days now before I cease to be reminded of that. Also Plummy got access to 2 successful million tandem rowers, we didn’t, that was a costly failure. Knowing how multi-day sessions of intervals would develop was what allowed us to continue too fast. I had managed to maintain and increase my pace during 24hr from above target from the start. So I did not recognise the stupidity of my actions.

So I think Ian deserves a better partner for his next attempt. I am hugely proud of what he achieved and am glad I may have played a part in the build up to what will be his great ultra triumphs in the future. I am glad to know what pushing myself to ultra failure felt like and am proud at what Ian achieved despite carrying me as well as my small part in occupying the seat during this row. Thanks for bearing with me.

[Mike Channin]

Don't beat yourselves up - you tried something truly incredible.
Well done for baring your souls, too. I'm sure the advice and honesty above will be a great help to whoever tries this kind of madness next....

[Ian Bee]

Iain - for my part there was no carrying and I am proud of what *we* achieved.

Let's collectively look at the massive positive, and I'm biting fingernails until Concept come back!

[Mike Channin]

Out of interest, where are the current records listed. I found some on a C2 page, but it didn’t have much in the way of tandem records…

[Ian Bee]

https://www.concept2.co.uk/indoor-rower ... tinual-row

Search for Plumb.

[Ian Bee]

Drum roll:

Screenshot_20250211-163521_Drive~2.png (334.93 KiB) Viewed 7141 times

I've asked for my real name to go on, but Concept will be updating their website shortly.

[JonT]

Drum roll:

I've asked for my real name to go on, but Concept will be updating their website shortly.

Yes!

Brilliant news. You guys can be extremely proud. Hardly anyone would have the guts to pull that off and attempt the 1million.

Jon

[plummy]

That is long long time to be thrashing up and down a rail. Congrats to both of you - well done indeed

[strider77]

Well done to our new World Record Holders Iain Greenwood and Ian Bee

[Grobi]

Congratulations on your world record guys!

[piggydwarf]

A major achievement for you both!

[stumpy]

Truly awesome effort from you guys, Congratulations on your wonderful New World Record well done guys.

[William]

Congratulations on your world record both of you. Inspirational.