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.

Weekend Row Update

Ended up only rowing the once this weekend, another technique row lasting 4000 meters. Again feeling a little clumsy - which is only normal when you tweak and try new things. After the technique row I decided to blast out a 500 meter sprint - for such a small distance it really can bring out the pain. Completed in 1:42.5 - averaging 34 strokes per minute (SPM). Will need to look back at previous attempts - I think this is an improvement.

After 5-a-side football today I'm certainly going to focus more on sprint (anaerobic) training. Still a weakness for me.

Squash and badminton planned for next week with a number of rowing sessions planned.

Something I intend on finding out next week - foot rest position / setting. Is there any guidance on how you should set this up? I heard that you should have your legs as straight as possible - is this true? I will post results of my research.

Metal Fatigue - Model D and Model E Indoor Rowers

Model D and Model E Indoor Rowers shipped between August 1, 2006 and April 19, 2007 are susceptible to metal fatigue which may cause a crack to form at a particular point on the frame under the foot stretchers.....visit this link to find out if your concept is affected.

Focus on Technique Continues.....

Monday I was looking forward to my row, having had a good session on the Sunday. The row ( a 4000 meter technique row) turned out being a little more disappointing than I would have wanted. How difficult can the rowing action be? Well I'm finding out that maintaining a consistent rowing action is pretty difficult.

I mentioned on my previous row that I had felt better for maintaining horizontal shins which resulted in what I felt was a shorter action. During the row on Monday, I realized that the shortness of my rowing action was due to my back movement during 'The finish'. Something difficult to visualize when on the rowing machine. But basically, I don't feel as if my back movement is as definite as shown in the diagram above. So this is my new focus. I think focusing on locking out the legs will help with this. This motion will, I hope, lengthen my stroke once more.

Good variety of exercise this week. Squash, badminton, football and rowing. Plan on completing two further technique rows this week (sat/sun). Total for week will be approx 15,000 meters.