Sub 7 Indoor Rowing Club (UK)

[MPx]

Oooooer all gone a bit silent on here. Oh well...FWIW

It turned out my 3:15.8 was good for 4th this year in the world sprints which I was very pleased with as despite not earning a medal, was 4th from 413 instead of 3rd from 231 in 2022...so in my view a stronger result. Anyway, since then:

28/3 RS sprint pyramid 250/500/750/1k and back with targets of 1:39/1:41/1:43/1:45 and back. Managed to creep just under that so happy enough.
4/4 700/600/500/400/300/200/100 with 70"/60"/50"/40"/30"/20"r for the CTC. Always tough to pace the CTCs. Decided to try starting at 1:44 and take a sec off each rep. Nearly made it (slight fail on the 200) but happy overall with a 9:31.5 total @ 1:42 avg pace.
8/4 6k TT for the Sub7 ITC. Wanted to stay under 1:54 pace. Managed that for a 22:47.3 @ 1:53.9. Good.
15/4 500 TT for the IRL. I'm one of the believers in a controlled fly and die as the best way to tackle a fast 500. I try to go steady 1:26 for 300 then die as slowly as poss. Worked out on this (the second attempt!) to get a 1:28.5 result. Always happy to be sub 1:30.
18/4 6x500 2r. Last time 1:42.9 avg so started at that and with a faster last got a 1:42.0 avg. Good.
22/4 4x1500 5r. Set off @ 1:52 with a slight neg to get a 1:50.5 avg. Good.

The end of April/Season saw a bit of nonsense. I was aiming for a 2555552m annual total. I failed on my basic arithmetic during what should have been my final session (Doh!) and got to 2555502 just as we were about to go on a few days break. It turns out you can't set a distance of less than 100m nor save a sub 100m Just Row, so I'd blown it. Then the hotel we were in happened to have a poorly maintained D/PM3 so I did a couple of slow 5ks and a round up session, and as a result I eventually finished the year with 2567652. A palindrome at least, but not really a looker!

The new season started with a blood doning session on on 4th which always b****rs me up for a while. I managed to get in the CTC challenge on the 2nd but have been struggling since then. Mostly SS sessions but a couple of outings testing out my current HM pace. I couldn't get it done by the 15/5 cut off for the C2 challenge, but managed one today for the Sub7 ITC.

2/5 4x1k 2r for the CTC. Target was sub 1:50 pace. Managed 1:49.8/5/3 and a 1:47.8 last for a 14:33.2 total @ 1:49.1 avg. Happy with that!
20/5 HM for the Sub7 ITC. I'm mentally weak at the mo so the plan was a pos split with 3k each @ 1:59/2:00/2:01/2:02/2:03/2:04/2:05 which should have resulted in 2:02 avg and sub 1:26:00 time. Managed to stick to the plan - indeed very slightly ahead - so finished with 1:25:25.7 @ 2:01.5 avg. Amazingly that's 5 secs quicker than last year, but some way off the 2:00 pace that I feel I should be able to do.

[MPx]

Seem to have been going through yet another lull for the last few weeks. Maybe this age thing is real after all! In a no doubt futile effort to face down that possibility I'm currently blaming the heat for my inability to attain any of the scores I'd expect to be able to post. My max HR (last seen in 2022 - is 170). In the recent heat I've been clocking HRs in the 160s for what I would normally consider UT1 sessions (with a 144 cap). Pace has been slow, hard sessions fail, not good! My excuse is that my gym has been showing 26 degrees at the start of my sessions and goes up from there. Of the relatively few hard sessions attempted:

23/5 16x250 90"r. Plan was 3x @ 1:39/8/7/6/5 with a faster last. One of the rare recent occasions when I made it! Wooohoo!
30/5 RS sprint pyramid 250/500/750/1k and back on 90" per 250 r. Target 1:39/1:41/1:43/1:45 and back. Only made the first two and the faster last(!), the rest all over the place and a laughable 1:46.3 avg.
3/6 3x2k 5r. Target sub 7:30s. Managed 7:29.8, 7:29.2, 7:27.7. Pleased with that.
13/6 4min TT for the CTC. Fail! Target is 1200. Plan is fast start and settle back to 1:39/40s after 5 or 6 strokes and keep it there for as long as poss. About half way is not nearly long enough! Two attempts at getting back on pace also failed but did push the result up to 1175 from something horribly lower predicted.
17/6 4x2k 4r for the Sub7 ITC (only slowest to count). Off the back of the 3/6 outing, stupidly tried for sub 7:30s. Only managed 1!! Crashed in the second to 7:44.7 so decided to just keep in front of that for the last two as a backup score to post.
20/6 4min TT for the CTC 2nd attempt. Same target/approach as on the 13th. Got much further and didn't blow as badly but still a disappoiting fail with a 1193m result. That had to do!
27/6 4(3)x 3k 4r for the Sub7 ITC 2nd attempt. Target set to 7:33.7 as the slowest. Managed 7:33.7; 7:33.3; but only got half way through the third before yet another fail and paddled in for 7:55.6 and a rare HD from me, there being no point in continuing as I already had a faster entry.

Not sure what I'm going to do if these scores don't improve when the weather cools down a bit!

[MPx]

Richard (LGF) dropping by on another thread reminded me I haven't posted here for a while again. Training continues in much the same vein with a few highlights, but also several disppointments. Of the hard sessions:

4/7 9x333 1r for the CTC. Stretch target sub 10 mins, so I knew I needed 1:06.6 reps. Chuffed to have managed that for a 9:56.9 total.
8/7 5k TT for the Sub7 ITC. Target was 1:53 pace for a 18:50 ish total. Only managed 2k on target, had to slow, but by slowly ramping up again limited the damage to 19.06.4 (1:54.6) - so poor but a useful backup.
11/7 RS Sprint Pyramid - 250/500/750/1k and back 90"r per 250. Last time blew badly on this so set soft target of all sub 1:45. Managed that with a 1:44 avg pace, but found it much harder than I should at that pace.
18/7 (6)5x500m r2. Last time managed a 1:42 avg after a faster last, so set off to try all reps at 1:42. Ran out of fight after 5 (1:41.8 avg) and stopped.
22/7 5k TT for the Sub7 ITC. Same target and tactic as on the 8th but this time kept the 1:53s going to finish with an 18:47.9 (1:52.7) - Good!
25/7 (10)5x1min 1r. Target was just 301m per rep (I should be at 303!) but even so couldn't get it done and gave up after just 5. Used my anger at myself to have three goes at the 100m dash, and despite the tired legs managed a 16.1 which was only 0.1 slower than last year. I'll have to try that again when fresher!
1/8 8x500m 3:30r. After the failure on 2min rests decided on a softer approach. First at 1:46 then knock 1s off per rep. Got very tough over the last three but pleased to have stuck with it, so boxes ticked and a 1:42.4 avg.
6/8 7777m 7r for the Sub7 ITC. Decided to do this as 3x2k 2r; 1k 1r; 777m. Target 2ks <1:54; 1k <1:52; 777 <1:50. Apart from the 1k which was dead on 1:52 instead of under, boxes ticked for a 29:18.2 total which was just under a second faster than last year. Good enough!
8/8 (16)15 x250m 90"r. My usual target for this is 3x @ 1:39/8/7/6/5 and a faster last. Missed a couple by 0.1s but basically on target, then mistimed the start of the 15. I use a rolling start for these and occasionally that goes wrong. Typically first stroke is high 1:20s or low 1:30s. On the 15th it was 2:47. Despite digging deep I couldn't get the avg back down to 1:35 - finished 1:37.4 - and decided to stop as completely gassed. Overall avg for the 15 was 1:37.7.
12/8 100/200/300/400/500 and back 1r for the CTC. Keen to try to get sub 1:40 for a sub 8:20 total. Decided on trying for <1:35;1:37;1:39;1:41;1:43 and back. Mostly on track, but lost concentration on the second 400 and tried for 1:41 instead of sub 1:41. Probably cost me less than a second and pleased enough with an 8:16.7 (1:39.3) overall so won't be going again!
15/8 RS Sprint Pyramid, seems to have come back around very quickly. After a softer outing last time went back to my stretch target of <1:39/41/43/45 and back. Was OK through the 1k, but the second 750 was really tough. Somehow managed to force out the 500 and 250 on target, but left me screaming, dizzy and feeling sick. So really great to have scored an on target 13.37.9 (1:42.2avg) but absoutely at the limit of what I can do. And I wont be digging that deep again for a while!!

[MPx]

and more of the hard stuff - though less than normal following blood letting at the end of Aug:

19/8 4x1k 5r. Last time avg pace was 1:46.3 which felt ambitious! Set target to start at 1:48 and knock of 1s per rep. Box ticked! 14:11.6 @ 1:46.4
29/8 6x500 2r. Last time only managed 5x at 1:42 target. Set off to try again but only managed 3x this time. Revised target to 1:48 to give a 1:45 avg across the 6 and managed to beat that (1:44.2) but a poor session overall.
12/9 CTC inverted pyramid 1k/750/500/250/500/750/1k. 3/2/2/2/3r. Set targets at <1:50/48/6/4 and back. Kept inside that for a 16:56.6 (1:47.0) overall score - pleased with that!

Apart from that I've been working up to doing the Sub7 ITC which is 60 mins this month. I should be capable of 2:00 pace but a few taster sessions have not gone well. Could be the unusual heat for Sept (tho now cooling down), could be the blood letting (tho nearing the end of my iron supplements course), or it could just be hopeless mental frailty on a piece I hate. Hmmmm! We'll see...

[MPx]

Having gotten away with it for three years, I finally succumbed and went Covid positive in early Oct. Hit me bad for a day or two but seems not to have been too bad for me, my wife got it a week earlier and had a much harder time. It seems to have knocked my form as I'd expect, but as ever with me its never clear if it really is a physical weakness or much more just mental frailty. Anyway, pickiung up the harder sessions:

19/9 6x1min 1 r. Should have been 10x. Target was only 300m. Managed 3x300 and 3x301. Cross about stopping so set off again after 5 mins and did 4 more @ 301. And then after another 5 mins did 2 more at 304 and 316. So the speed is there but the brain wont fight for it.
23/9 60 mins for the Sub7 ITC. Target was 15k. Set off at 1:59 to build a buffer. Had a wobble at 45 mins and had to back off, but gradually brought the pace back up and finished on 15052 (1:59.5) so was very happy with that.
26/9 8x500m 3:30r. I should be doing these around 1:42 but struggle to "just do it". Decided to start at <1:46 and take 1sec off per rep. Managed that for a 1:42.2 avg which was right on target - so it really can be done!
7/10 200m for the CTC. This turned out to be the day before I tested positive for Covid. I knew something was wrong as I had no power. Best stroke was 1:18 (whereas my low pull is 1:16) and quickly faded from there. My 32.6 result was still realatively well placed, but really felt like a fail.

Retired to my bed for the next couple of days, but then got back on the erg for a slow 5k per day to get my Fall Team Challenge total to 200002.

17/10 8x250m 90"r. I usually do 16x of these and with a neg split in 3x chunks. Decided to try just constant pace <1:40 which is my starting pace. Was having to goad myself to "just one more" after only 4 and finally decided on a faster 8th and then stop! So only half way and slower - but the first hard session I'd tried so not too bad...
21/10 Thought I'd have another go at the 200m. Pleased to see the power return with several 1:16 strokes and I didn't fade too badly either. Funny really, totally satisfied with this - with a 16.0 first 100 (which equals my stand alone 100 PB) and a 16.3 2nd 100. Chalk and cheese compared to the 7/10 effort, but the 32.3 total was just 0.3 faster than that "fail". Ha! Also dialed in a Rugby Test for the Sub7 ITC as I wanted to have a score in reserve to keep my particiapation going. Target sub 1:50 to get under 12 mins. Managed a slight neg for an 11:43.9 total. My slowest go at this -prob 20 secs over expectation when fit...but could have been worse!

[Dangerscouse]

Having gotten away with it for three years, I finally succumbed and went Covid positive in early Oct. Hit me bad for a day or two but seems not to have been too bad for me, my wife got it a week earlier and had a much harder time. It seems to have knocked my form as I'd expect, but as ever with me its never clear if it really is a physical weakness or much more just mental frailty.

Sorry to read this Mike, and that's very impressive to have avoided it for so long.

[MPx]

Cheers Stu - one of the benefits of being a partial recluse I suspect! I'm just hoping its not got the sting in the tail that you and many others have suffered - I like being lucky!

[MPx]

Looks like Covid hasn't left a mark thankfully although there's plenty of failure interspersed with the better that I could try to excuse. Rather weakens the case though when there's some strong sessions in the mix. Here's the latest of the harder sessions:

24/10 RS Sprint Pyramid 250>1k and back 90"r/250. Target was <1:40/2/4/6/4/2/0. Managed all but the middle 1k which I gave up on for a 1:52.6 resulting in a 1:44.9 avg overall.
28/10 Rugby Test for the Sub7 ITC (2nd go). Much better this time with all intervals within target for an 11:19.4 overall (1:44.5) - good!
31/10 6x500m 2r. Target was 1:42 managed 5x on target but struggled in the 6th to 1:43.7 for a 1:42.3 overall avg.
7/11 500m TT for the Sub7 ITC. Race plan was set off at 1:26 for 300, 1:28 for 100; try not to die too badly on the last 100. On target through 300 then just quit within 2 strokes for no apparent reason - most odd - 1:36.4 recorded. Very cross with myself so put up a 100m and used the anger to equal my PB of 16.0. Amazing how many times I've done 16.0 now...one day it'll be a 15.9!
11/11 500m TT for the Sub7 ITC. Same plan as on the 7th but stuck with it this time for a 1:28.9 finish. 1s slower than last year so a bit disappointing but good enough for 65+ top ranking at this pre-competition stage of the season.
14/11 1min TT. Needed to get a score for this year's ranking and didn't fancy my scheduled sprint interval session! 354m result equals my 65+ BR so good but actually disappointed because YET AGAIN (!) I failed to row through the finish and I'm sure it cost me a meter. How many times do I have to do that before I learn. Doh!
17/11 10k TT for the CTC. 2nd attempt. Only got to 5k on target and had no fight to finish it. Paddled in.
27/11 10k TT for the CTC. 3rd attempt. Disappointed to not be in sub 39min form but after 2 other goes at this needed to be realistic to set a better time. Settled on 1:58 pace and managed to carry it through with a faster finish for a 39:12.2 (1:57.6)
28/11 10x1min 1r. Didn't really feel up for it so set a soft target of 300m reps. Managed 5 spot on, but didn't have the fight to carry on. Probably could have done another 1 or 2 but another 5 was too much. Anyway aborted and did an SS 6k to up the meter count a bit.
2/12 2963/2185 5r for the CTC. Would have liked a sub 19 (1:50.6 avg). Thought I should be able to do the first at 1:52 and the second at <1:50. No way - It turns out I'm nowhere near that form! But despite slowing to 1:56 in the last 1k in the first rep it still came out at 1:52.5. Did the second mostly at 1:53/4 with a faster finish to get 1:52.1 so 19:16.6 overall 1:52.3. Good enough, wont be going again, but suggests my 5k pace isn't currently the 1:53 I expect!

[MPx]

Got some catching up to do...
5/12 3x1min 1r. Should have been 10x but broke the right hand footrest at the start of the 4th and had to stop. Fortunately C2 came through with the parts very quickly and was back up and running by the 7th.
12/12 10x1m 1r. Set target as 301m. Managed 6x - then 3x 289 - and a 319 to finish but failed my basic expectation of a 3k total - 2993m
16/12 2k TT for the Sub7 ITC. My first 2k test this season. Set off with the unrealistc hope of a sub 7 but quickly came to my senses so: 1:44.7/1:46.4/1:47.1/1:44.5 for a 7:02.8. Happy enough with the result other than the disappoinment of no longer being a sub 7 erger - now 2 years since my last.
23/12 2k TT for the Sub7 ITC. Only lasted 500m then went fartlek for a 7:22.7 finish.
27/12 8x500m 3:30r. Target set as < 1:47/6/5/4/3/2/1/0. Managed that so pleased!
2/1 6x250m 1r @ 20 spm for the CTC. Did a set all over the place which established that I had 17 strokes to get an r20 result at the pace I could manage - which I then did 6x with a slowest of 51.6 (2nd rep). Could have probably got a 51 dead if going again, but won't bother!
5/1 10k TT for the Sub7 ITC. Felt like erging in gloop. Only held pace for 2k and finished it as an SS piece. Fail!
6/1 4x1500m r5. After previous day's fail, went for a slightly soft target of <5:40s. Managed that with 5:39.9/5:39.7/5:39.3/5:34.7 for 1:52.8 avg pace which is probably 1 or 2 secs more than it should be!
9/1 13x250m 90"r. Should have been 16x with my usual target of 3x each at 1:39/8/7/6/5 and a faster last. On target for the 13 but no will to fight for the last 3 so stopped. Shame.
Gave Blood on the 11th so expected a knock back....
16/1 RS sprint pyramid 250>1k>250 90"r/250. Set a 2s slower than usual pace target but didn't even finish the 1k before slowing. Hopeless!
20/1 10k TT for the Sub7 ITC. Set a soft target of sub 40min and set off at 1:59 but only got half way before having to slow. Managed a proper sprint over the last 500 to rescue a 4:04.3. The fact of that sprint has made me believe many more of my fails are mental than physical. I do quite a bit of SS work at r20 and 2:06 ish pace. That's kept a strong enough stroke, but I seem to struggle to keep going when I try to rate up closer to r30 for more than a few mins. So I've decided to change my training for a bit by swapping out some of that SS stuff for some grey zone stuff at higher rate. I'll keep my Tues/Sat hard sessions and Thur/Sun Dumbbells and 8k - but add more variety into the other 3. Will be interesting to see how it goes - better results, or insufficient recovery.
23/1 JM Sprints 30" 1r. Nicked this one from a training buddy - supposed to be 8x or 10x or even 12x. Hard to know how to pace so tried for 164m 1:31.4. Managed 5x but then slowed on the 6th to 160m so stopped with a 1:31.6 avg. Decided to reset and have another go with 160m targets (1:33.7). Failed to settle after a first at 165m (doh!) but managed the 6x at or over target for a 1:32.6 avg. I'll maybe try 161m as a target net time and see if I can get up to 10 or 12. Always good to add a new session to the repertoire and see a bit of progress!
27/1 10k TT for the Sub7 ITC. 39:29.2 (1:58.5). FINALLY! Set off as before at 1:59s but for once managed to just keep it going flat all through - avg pace didn't budge off 1:58.7 until the final push over the last minute. Hardly impressive (!) but just soooo much more satisfying to complete the piece as intended. My first season ever with no sub 39 10k. Oh dear!

[MPx]

Well looks like I'm the only Sub7 left in the village - no worries, I still hang around if any other teammates want any support. My training continues much unchanged and erging most days - just trying to slow the age decline as much as poss. Keeping focussed on the ranking %ile seems favourite as absolute scores, my own expectations of performance, and willingness to dig really deep seem to be pretty depressing places! But I did clock up my 27mm today which puts the average at 1mm/year since I started in 1997, for the first time ever. The annual record somewhat scuppered by about 6 years off at different points - longest break early 2013 to late 2016! Erg on....

[Sakly]

Well looks like I'm the only Sub7 left in the village - no worries, I still hang around if any other teammates want any support. My training continues much unchanged and erging most days - just trying to slow the age decline as much as poss. Keeping focussed on the ranking %ile seems favourite as absolute scores, my own expectations of performance, and willingness to dig really deep seem to be pretty depressing places! But I did clock up my 27mm today which puts the average at 1mm/year since I started in 1997, for the first time ever. The annual record somewhat scuppered by about 6 years off at different points - longest break early 2013 to late 2016! Erg on....

I hope to get on the rower as regularly as you do, when I'm your age! Not to speak of your performance
Not planning to have long breaks ever, but who knows...
Impressive number of meters, need to keep at it for few more years to cover that!
Keep rowing

[Dangerscouse]

Well looks like I'm the only Sub7 left in the village - no worries, I still hang around if any other teammates want any support. My training continues much unchanged and erging most days - just trying to slow the age decline as much as poss. Keeping focussed on the ranking %ile seems favourite as absolute scores, my own expectations of performance, and willingness to dig really deep seem to be pretty depressing places! But I did clock up my 27mm today which puts the average at 1mm/year since I started in 1997, for the first time ever. The annual record somewhat scuppered by about 6 years off at different points - longest break early 2013 to late 2016! Erg on....

I also have had too much time off the erg over the years, and I think that it's also more or less six cumulative years.

You're definitely winning the battle with the decline in age.

[MPx]

I hope to get on the rower as regularly as you do, when I'm your age! Not to speak of your performance

You're definitely winning the battle with the decline in age.

Sascha/Stu - some very kind words, much appreciated. I seem to be going through a bit of a lull at the mo - exaccerbated by giving blood again 12 days ago - but I've experienced these periods throughout my erging career so its not an age issue, or even something that worries me on its own. I do expect to build back to better form, although I am finding the periods of better are getting shorter and the lulls longer! I had been a bit dismissive of the age decline thing as I did OK in my early 60s , but I must admit everything seems to have got a lot harder once past 65. I'm 67 next month and my mental weakness means I'm very good at finding excuses and props - whereas I actually just need to knuckle down and spend a bit more time in the pain cave, but that gets ever harder to do.

Will continue to look to your scores to keep the wonder going...the things you guys post up I've never been near to at any age - its great to see.

[Dangerscouse]

Sascha/Stu - some very kind words, much appreciated. I seem to be going through a bit of a lull at the mo - exaccerbated by giving blood again 12 days ago - but I've experienced these periods throughout my erging career so its not an age issue, or even something that worries me on its own. I do expect to build back to better form, although I am finding the periods of better are getting shorter and the lulls longer! I had been a bit dismissive of the age decline thing as I did OK in my early 60s , but I must admit everything seems to have got a lot harder once past 65. I'm 67 next month and my mental weakness means I'm very good at finding excuses and props - whereas I actually just need to knuckle down and spend a bit more time in the pain cave, but that gets ever harder to do.

Will continue to look to your scores to keep the wonder going...the things you guys post up I've never been near to at any age - its great to see.

You're far too self critical, says the man who is also far too self critical

To be in your mid 60s and regularly exercising, and with very impressive results in your chosen sport is something only a vanishingly small percentage of people can claim. I'd hazard a guess that we've got half of the world's participants on the forum

I heard a very interesting fact today. There's only 0.5% of the world who are 6'4" or taller, whereas I think I'm fairly averagely tall. Perceptions can be so far off the mark but dominate your intrinsic beliefs that you don't even question them. If I could be doing what you're doing at 67, I'll be very happy.

The peaks and troughs are as natural as circadian rhythms, but never lose sight that your peaks are far peakier than probably 99.5% of other men your age.

[Sakly]

Sascha/Stu - some very kind words, much appreciated.

Nothing to add, what Stu said!
Your level at the age of nearly 67 - I wish I will be there, when reaching this age (and I will do my best to make it happen)!
When I look around me, even at people my age, it's really making me sad how bad their physical status is typically. At your age I see my dad as example. He's nowhere near to what you are capable of.