Fat and in need of a row !

Just back from holiday - and how badly do I need to have a row....well lets just say that two weeks all inclusive does not do wonders for the body. I'm back on it next week - I'm not sure I will be getting off it either.

Back to my rowing ways

Tonight was my first row back for just over a week. Been busy with squash, other stuff in my life and a bout of man flu that I have been hit with.

Tonight I decided on a gentle row, just under 6,000 meters in total. Found it a little more challenging than usual. It would seem that the man flu and lack of rowing in the past week has had a small impact.

Having a heart rate monitor allowed me to compare my fitness with previous rows. What I noticed is that my heart rate climbed a lot quicker. This resulted in me needing to work harder in the later part of the row. Within 10 minutes of my row today my heart rate was over 160. Past rows has seen it sitting at the 150 mark.

Past weeks has seen me playing more squash with good results. I hope to keep this up whilst maintaining the rowing.

Pins and Needles - A fix needed

Completed two rows this evening. Did intend on completing one single row but because of the pins and needles in my left foot I opted to split out the 30 minute session (1 x 20 and 1x10). In total tonight I completed 8,108 meters, which is a little over 5 miles. Not bad considering my lack of rowing activity over the past week. I did however play squash and badminton last week.

This week I have two squash league games and badminton planned. In addition I hope to fit in a couple more rows.

Have not forgotten that I need to look into the pins and needles issue - if I decide to build up to a half marathon (21,097 meters) I know this will cause problems. I think for my next row I will pad the seat some more. See if that helps.

Alternatively I wonder if padded cycle/rowing shorts will help? Maybe worth an investment?

Good first row of the week

So have had a few days off from rowing....first row in four days and it would seem that the little break has done me some good.

20 minute row this evening with an average 500 meter pace of 2:00.6 which I'm pleased with. For the 20 minute session I covered 4,977 meters. Very steady pace averaging 27 SPM.

My last five 20 minute figures below:

Meters Avg 500
4,874 2:03.1
4,774 2:05.7
4,754 2:06.2
4,717 2:07.2
4,977 2:00.6

Rowing stroke felt good this evening, stroke power seemed better than previous rows (199.8 Avg Watts)

Badminton tomorrow and squash planned for Thursday plus another two more rows planned.

A quick update on progress

Last week I found myself being a little lazy, only two rows and a squash game.

Both rows lasted on average around 25 minutes and covered in total approx 12,000 meters. Again still having some difficulty with pins and needles. Have searched high and low on the internet and not found any useful information on what could be causing this.

This week I plan on a couple of longer rows. Would like to try a 40 minute session - if the pins and needles does not prevent. Squash and badminton also planned for this week.

Summary of the week

So this week I only managed two rows, I did however play squash and badminton so all in all a fairly active week.

This evenings row I was putting into place the new Flex-foot system setup. Decided on a short row (20 minutes) to test out the new foot placement. Certainly felt different muscles working. Felt the row more in the legs - bad news is that pins and needles after 20 minutes. Need to look further into this.

Had a quick look at my rows over 20 minutes - definite improvement on pace and meters rowed. Will post in blog next week.

Another busy week planned, squash tomorrow and badminton scheduled.

Rowing machine total now at approx 230k (140+ miles)

Flex-foot System Setup - The answer....and immediate improvement

So I have been looking for guidance on how to setup the what I now know to be called Flex-Foot System. I wanted to make sure that I am gaining the maximum benefits from the rowing I do. So this morning, I decided to take a quick look on YouTube on the subject of Concept 2 and setup. Result below:



No surprise, I quickly found my answer, in summary :

1) The Ball of your foot should rest on the ridged platform
2) Air on the high side so that during the push or drive your more horizontal than vertical.

So having made this discovery I ventured downstairs to look at how I have it setup. I should probably add at this point, that I'm feeling somewhat stupid at my findings. To my surprise the balls of my feet where not resting firmly on the ridged platform, in order to do this I needed to raise the platform by two (2) notches. Now the difference that this very small setup change has made is significant. Over the past two weeks, I have been struggling with technique, in particular focusing on not over reaching during the recovery, now that I have made this setup change, this ability to overreach has been significantly reduced. In fact I would go as far as saying, that I can no longer move my shins past vertical.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating so I plan on doing exactly that later this afternoon. I will report on my findings.