The MOVEO 1000 km Project

[Paul Victory]

I just saw this crazy post on FaceBook about our very own Plummy planning a 1 million meter attempt with Stuart Thorp and Anke Molkenthin in Germany starting on February 15th.

Apologies for stealing your thunder, but would you care to fill us in on the details David?

Paul V

[plummy]

I've no problem with you stealing any thunder Paul - no need to worry there. I did debate whether to actual put this up but as many FS members do not do Facebook it seems fair to have a slot here too - although it maybe belongs in the Marathons, Ultras and other Crazy Talk thread given that Crazy is the most apt word....

This "plan" has been bouncing around my head for a while and the ticking of the age clock to 50 brought it to a head as there is currently no 50+LWT World Record for the Million Metre Row. There is a 40+ and a 60+ (Joe Keating) so figured that my best shot at this was early in my 50's.

As I have rowed with Anke Molkenthin (German Paralympian and Uber distance running specialist - 13 times entrant of the Marathon Des Sables and one time winner) a couple of times we discussed challenges and I mentioned that this had parked itself on the edge of my radar and despite my efforts to ignore it, it would not go away. She also became engrossed in this challenge and after initially discussing a tandem effort we had to discount this as she has to row on slides (allowed for her owing to her disability) and I cannot for a WR attempt.

She has managed through her connections to find a gym in Nunchritz near Dresden that have not only agreed to stay open 24 hours a day for 7~8 days but also who have taken this attempt to heart and involved sponsors, local media, charities and a large support mechanism - something I would be unable to find in the UK I think.

In addition, Stuart Thorp (a good northern lad although not a Free Spirit) is joining us and we three are all attempting to set World Records for individual 1,000,000m rows. Stuart only has 5 days owing to work/flight restrictions whereas I have allowed myself 8 days along with Anke (who will probably only need 6).

I have had a strategy, then I changed it, then changed it again and as I type it's still not cast in any sort of stone. Basically, the clock starts when I first pull the handle on the Saturday morning and stops when I hit 1 million metres. I can rest/sleep/go to the cinema/eat/ fly a kite - anything I want but the clock ticks continually until 1 million are done.

I intend to log this on Rowpro (offline) and on a log card as well as a manual entry log (pen and paper).

I have created a basic spreadsheet on a Google doc so people can follow along and as Paul says, there is a Facebook page to:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... _web#gid=0

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-MOVE ... 5298829542 (I think - Facebook still confuses me)

Despite this being large on my horizon I still can't get my head around the magnitude of what I'm taking on and I realistically think my chances of success are quite small - but - if I don't try, I'll never know. I've done a lot of training (30 x HM's in 45 days before Christmas was good stuff) and figure it's now or not at all.
I have a fallback position in that although I am in Germany for 8 days, it does not preclude me from having to catch my flight home on Sunday 23rd and carrying on once back in the UK. The big debate is at what point do I press on regardless (there is no existing record so 10, 11, 12 etc days would still count). What I don't want to do is wimp out but I also am experienced enough to know when it is either nonsense or unsafe to continue for health reasons

I'm making this up on the fly but think as long as I don't actually keel over and become totally unable to continue I figure the following maybe a guide to how I would feel at each stage if I stopped whilst in Nunchritz:

>250,000 - disaster. Wasted a weeks holiday and £350.00 though I do get to see a lot of a gym in a small town in Germany and meet some nice people hopefully.

500,000+ - good effort. Not close and certainly no cigar but a hell of a lot of metres and will know that 1,000,000 is out of my reach.

750,000 - Gaah! I'll either have run out of time or run out of hand and arse skin. Continuation would depend entirely on my condition but would think if at all possible to push on when I get home

850,000+ - will have no choice but to carry on so long as I can move. It may be slow ugly and utterly horrible but somehow I'll get it done.

Any support arriving via this thread or the Facebook page will be massively helpful. There will be laptops a plenty I hope although this one will be diligently recording Rowpro (please don't fail me!! - he says knowing the battery on this laptop is dead and any glitch in the mains will turn it off instantly)

[Paul Victory]

Fair dues Plummy. I hope all three of you make it and I look forward to keeping track of your progress.

Paul V

[Rodger]

That is absolutely immense!
I will certainly be following your progress.
Best of luck, David!

[strider77]

Good luck Plummy

Will they have a live feed-WebCam for this ?

I would love to watch events unfold

[plummy]

I did suggest it but it's not high on the list of priorities - unless our host has a surprise in store for us.

It could be better described as "live feeding" as we will be spending sooo much time on the ergs, there will be little time for stopping for eating.

Go check out the new cover cartoon if you have facebook though - just brilliant.

[GrantR]

The Facebook page I think has become "private" or something as of about a month or so ago. I used to be able to see posts, now I can't (and the new Facebook feed link here on this website can't see the posts either)

You know you're insane, right? but what I find amazing is that you're not the first person to try and do this.

I figure if you did something like set a 10k, row it at like 2:25-2:30 pace for 48 minutes. get up for 10 mins to have a walk around, pee, food, drink, make some internet posts, sit back down and set another 10k, and just keep doing that. Get a good night's sleep each night, you can probably get 15 10ks a day, so it would take 7 days to hit 1 million meters. That sounds easy, right?

[strider77]

Cartoon is amazing

[plummy]

Grant - you are remarkably close to the nearest thing I have to a plan. I think the first two 10k's should be OK - after that....only 98 to go!!

[Paul Victory]

What do you intend doing as regards sleep? Assuming you have to stop at some stage to get some sleep, will the gym provide somewhere that you can get some sleep or will you need to travel?

[plummy]

There are two "quiet" rooms allocated for us to sleep in and blow up mattresses and bedding are being provided. There is a LIDL just across the street from the gym apparently for food sustenance and we have volunteers to wash sweaty kit (I did say they had taken it to heart!).
It's basically, row, eat, drink, poop, shower, sleep and repeat (oh, and watch naked Zumba classes to keep us alert (they may have been joking about that!))

[Paul Victory]

Sounds very well organised. I guess the German reputation for efficiency is not totally unfounded.

[Shang-Chi]

Just saw this an hour ago on Facebook and pushed: like. All I can say, is, good luck Although I would advice anybody, not to attempt this challange, which is surely devastating for the body on the short and long run. Yes you can do it, but you must ask yourself: "Is it healthy" I once did 100K, and after that, I totally lost the bug to row any distance. Even my back told me so!

[Richard Lindner]

Good luck Plummy. An incredible challenge Have you worked out how many calories you will be burning each day? 10 minutes rest an hour for 15 hours a day doesn't leave much time for eating

[plummy]

At the moment I'm thinking of setting Rowpro for 13 x 12km no rest and stopping after each 12k and letting Rowpro sit until I'm ready to start again (maybe 10~15 minutes to eat, drink, relax). I'm treating 12 reps as a necessary minimum (to start, as I actually have 8 days and 125km is just enough) but if the 13th is ready programmed in and I feel like I can do even portion of that, each 1k I do is 1k I don't need to do on the last day. I can just press "Stop Row" if I want to bail on it.

Calories - dunno - shed loads. I'm glad I like German food!

[Stan]

Plummy I cant believe the extremes you will go to to overtake me on the lifetime metre board!
I wish you the best of luck and will be following your exploits.

[Richard Lindner]

According to this:
http://therowingcompany.com/training/bmr
If you row at 2:20 pace for 13 hours you will burn ~16,000 calories per day That's a lot of Bratwurst

[strider77]

Plummy, I am sure that you have done this already but Joe Keating must be the guru when it comes to these ultra ultra long rows, have you asked him what strategy he used for his amazing World Record ?

He may have some tips about chafing, how to get the best seat for the Zumba dancing that sort of thing

[plummy]

Hi Alan,
I had a chat with Joe a looonnggg time ago when this first popped into my head and know the structure of his strategy (although not his nutrition). He had a lot of box sets of UK TV series to watch but in Germany I'm not sure that 13 hours a day of Andre Rieu or German TV (I know about 10 words) will be much help. Hopefully the Zumba will do it for me.

[chipmunkcheeks]

Good luck with this - you are 3 brave people!!!

[webberg]

Good luck Plummy.

Many years ago I did a Land's End to John O'Groats cycle. We picked a route that was just over 1,000 miles by going to places like the Lizard and Meriden etc.

We found that the first two days were good, the next 3 bloody hard and just grinding and then each day after that progressively easier.

It may be that you find a similar pattern and if that is the case, then perhaps more than the minimum required on "good" days in order to give you some leeway on "bad" days?

I'm sure you know better than me anyway so I'll be looking on with interest.

[Paul Victory]

I'd say the half way point will be a big psychological barrier. Once you reach it, it's (kind of) downhill from there.

Anyway, please bear in mind that we will all be cheering you on and please allow that to add some wind to your sails when the going gets tough.

Paul V

[plummy]

Thanks guys. My last training session is done (posted on the "What Training" thread at 20SPM - 124BPM @ 2:20 pace). Joe Keating who has the World Record for 60+LWT did his at 2:35 pace but had very short rests (6 minutes per hour and a 30 minute break every 5 hours).
I've come up with a different plan to the one in my post above - that being starting with 2 x 15km @ 2:20 pace (maybe 2:25) with a 15~20 minute break between. Then 5 x 12k @2:25 pace with 15 minutes inbetween and then 6 x 10k @2:30 pace with the same break allocated. That way the rest to rowing ratio is getting better as the day goes on and the pace is easing off.

I've set this up on Rowpro as a variable interval set with no rest so once the interval is accomplished, I can just handle down and rest/eat/re-hydrate until I feel ready to start again. It also means I can stop anytime mid interval or, once I have (if I get that far) got to 125km I can elect to hit stop row and quit for the day.

As I am in Germany for 8 days I intend to fully utilise them so 125km is my minimum per day realistically.

My dilemma as per above posts is - if 1MM is yet another bridge too far, do I just keep plodding on for as large a number of metres I can (as I can't exactly hop on a plane at no notice and head off home) or just become part of the support team for others (there's no prizes for 1~999,999 metres)

[Liefcat]

Best of luck, Dave & "the rest"...

Will be following your historical efforts!!!

[nervtoeter]

Cross fingers, good luck!