Going Long

Well the good news is that I got through it: 25K in 1:38:56.7. That's my longest row ever and it caps off my longest rowing week in recent memory: 60K, almost 4 hours on the rower. With yesterday's 8K run and a planned 12K run tomorrow, I'll log a healthy 80K week.

The row was tough, though, in a way that long runs in the build up phase are--they just kind of gang up on you towards the end. The last half hour of this piece was a real challenge and my pace slowed significantly. The issues were not aerobic fitness, rather they were muscular. My power was sapped and the butt/low back pain was nasty (not unlike the leg pounding I've experienced in marathon training and racing).

I took 5K splits initially, and drank gatorade every 5K. I cut the last 5K in half and took a couple of pettau splits, I just needed to shorten my horizon at that point of the row.

1st 5K 19:35 116
2nd 5K 19:42 124
3rd 5K 19:35 126
4th 5K 19:47 126

then a 10:16 pettau (20:32 5K pace) at 123. I followed this with a 10:06 in 123. What a struggle!

Next week I'll add a pettau (27.5K total), and experiment with some bubble wrap on the seat to help with the butt pain. I need to find a bar with hard barstools, so I can train off the machine.

I'm looking forward to a day off from rowing and to my run in the morning. I hope that the weather is condusive to running outdoors.