Rowing 5000 metres in 20 mins...
created: Wed 29 July 2009 12:44:35
last updated: Wed 29 July 2009 15:04:33
I have had a long standing ambition to row 5000m on a rowing machine in under 20 mins. The closest I have ever been is around 20:30. After getting to this stage in the past I have allowed myself to become distracted by other things and move away from rowing for a period and then I have to start from the top again.
I have a renewed interest and I am going to document my attempt from the start and see if I can beat my personal best and break the 20 minute barrier. Also recently my weight has been creeping up, not disasterously, but 6 months ago it was 72kg, then one month ago it was 75kg and now its 78kg. I want to keep this under control and having exercise goals is a great way to do this.
Naturally you can't just launch yourself at a rowing machine and expect to bang out a good performance straight away. Even if you are already fit you still need your body to be accustomed to the rowing machine. It requires a sepecific fitness, in other words if you don't keep at it then your performance will decrease, even if you keep your fitness up in other areas.
Row 1: Tuesday 29th July 2009
I decided therefore to ease myself in gently. After a warm up on a standing bike I started with just a 2000m row at a very gentle pace for my first session. I aimed to complete this in a not too taxing 9 minutes. After about 500 metres I found I could comfortably cope with a faster pace; for the first time you won't know what pace you can manage so try something and go up or down as required.
I could feel it at the top of my forearms, at the inside of the elbow joint, and my lower back, so these are the muscles that are unaccustomed to rowing. You don't want to strain these on your first go.
The pace at this stage was just under 2:10 per 500m, so this was much slower than I would be doing the 20 minute row in. Toward the end of the row I felt I had loads of energy left, so I stepped up the pace to just under 2:00 per 500m just the last 500 metres and a final push of under 1:50/500m for the last 100 metres or so, finishing in 8:27. We shall see how this improved in future rows...