Days 53 & 54 - A Tale of Two Challenges

After the Half Marathon jolity on Christmas Eve the plan was to do the C2CTC 5k downhill (2k,1.5k,1k,500m each with 1R), the C2UK Challenge Series 5K and a couple of gym sessions this week, but due to general levels of illness (Anita has been fighting off a fever for the past 4 days) on the 2 Challenges have been done - Total 10k each this week.

Firstly the C2CTC (Concept2 Cross Team Challenge) where Anita and I compete for C2TweetCrew.

Anita went first and set some very good times (Though she didn't see it that way):

2K - 8:23.8 PB (Previous PB 8:35) - 2:06.0 Av
1.5K - 6:18.9 - 2:06.3 Av
1K - 4:17.5 SB - 2:08.8 Av
500m - 2:01.9
Total - 21:02.1

She hadn't been feeling particularly well, and suffered a bit from a runaway heart rate during what is a particularly nasty challenge.

Me:

2K - 6:51.0 PB (Previous PB 6:56.5) - 1:42.7 Av
1.5K - 5:15.4 - 1:45.1 Av
1K - 3:32.0 SB - 1:46.0 Av
500m - 1:38.2
Total - 17:16.6

I lost it in the arms (I haven't done enough metres this month) from 500m into the 1.5k and struggled to keep the time respectable.

Currently we are both in the 2nd C2TC boat for December.

Onto earlier today - the 5K for the C2UK Challenge Series.

I went first and set a 17:53.9 PB (1:47.4), previous best 18:29.7. I feel a bit disappointed as my November Challenge Series of 6344m was at 1:47.6, so I wanted at 1:46 av - again not enough metres this month, which I plan to remedy in January for the Virtual Team Challenge (Rack up as many metres as possible in January for your team)

Anita then set an amazing 21:39.2 PB (2:09.9), Previous PB 22:46.4 (2:16.6)!!!!!!!! She is much happier when she can maintain her HR, and indeed she was at 2:11.5 at halfway and Neg-Splited her way to a sub 2:10 average, which is a massive milestone.

We may or may not retry the C2CTC tomorrow AM, but in the PM I'm going for a dip in the River Stour (Top of Essex) with a few mad friends, current water Temp 10C, but the ambient temp tomorrow should be 12C - It could be a lot worse on December 31st at 52N :)

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=Wrabness&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1366&bih=643&ion=1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x47d974abf5b46aad:0x167e8ebc38f87fc7,Wrabness,+Essex&gl=uk&ei=wET-Tr6-L5D48QO9hYCyAQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=2&ved=0CD4Q8gEwAQ

Cumulative Metres since 3rd October: 1706329m (1060.5 miles)

The Journey:

Start - Topnotch Gym Colchester CO4 9ES
Finish - Völs, Tyrol, Austria http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%B6ls,_Tyrol

Day 52 - HM

A Half Marathon 21097m for us both today, followed by a lovely afternoon and evening of films, food and Poker with some amazing people in Colchester.

First - Anita came in at a 2:17 average for her first ever HM - 1:36.22.6, good for 10th on the 40-49 Hvt Ladies World Rankings this season!!!! This was at an average 23 spm. She was steady at 2:16.9 until 5k left, slipped very slightly to 2:17.2 before she muscled it down to 2:17.0 at the end. She came out of this fairly unscathed, with only the normal aches and pains. Amazing Rowing!!!

Her PB graph (plot v 500m split times) looks like this:

Her HM pace is faster than everything after and including her 30 minute pace!!!! There's plenty of PB's to be set in April and updating of her Nonathlon Score (www.nonathlon.com)

I came in with a 1:54.1 average for my second HM ever - 1:20:14.6, previous PB 1:24:01.6 so a good 3:47 quicker than my first HM over 3 years ago. I averaged 1:52.9 until 5k left, when my bugbear the numb bum came into play and made things really uncomfortable. Constant re-positioning really effected everything, and I was a little bit annoyed as I'd already done all the hard work for a sub 1:19 time.

As it is I am really pleased with it, as I'm following the same progression as Anita with the times:

 Same for me, faster HM than everything from 30 minutes inclusive.

Now for the Full Marathon in 2 weeks, with a couple of different 5k pieces in between and some easy taper sessions in weeks 13 and 14 of the Eddie Fletcher Plan.

Anita: 21097m
Andy: 21097m
Cumulative: 1657969m (1030 miles)

The Journey:

Start - Topnotch Gym Colchester CO4 9ES
Finish - Gschnallenhöfe, Imst, Austria http://www.panoramio.com/photo/55816474

Day 51 - Leaving it all in the gym!

3 20' Intervals tonight, 2:24,2:17 and 2:20 for Anita, 2:00, 1:54 and 1:57 for me, 2R.

A difficult one tonight - Both of us sweated more than we ever have done before and the heart rates were definitely high on the 2nd and 3rd intervals.

I went down the route of going 1s/500m quicker for 18 minutes, and allowing myself a 'rest' in the last 2 minutes with a pace 9s below the average for the piece.

On the 2nd interval I kept it sub 1:52.5 for the first 15 minutes (>4000m, which is one of my favourite targets going back to when I started on the indoor rower) - It hurt a lot more than it should have!!!

For Anita tonight was described as 'Mind Over Matter' - She suffered from the Handle-Down demons after the end of the 2nd interval, but toughed it out yet again to complete all the intervals - I've said it before but I'm very proud of how she is managing with all the metres.

We're now coming to the end of the C2 holiday challenge - Just Friday's hour and a HM on Saturday to go - but both of us will finish over the 200km target - The C2TweetCrew (Our Affiliation on the C2 website) currently have 18 members over the 100km threshold!!!!!!

Lastly we passed 1000 miles together tonight since the start of our training on 3rd October :)

Anita: 12836m
Andy: 15395m
Cumulative: 1615775m (1004.2 miles)

The Journey

Start - Topnotch Gym, Colchester,
Finish - Sankt Christoph am Arlberg, Vorarlberg, Austria http://www.stantonamarlberg.com/en/home/index.html

Day 50 - Tough, but worth it!

4 lots of 15' 4R tonight, 6'/9' split, 2:14/2:24 Anita, 1:51/2:00 for me.

The 1st interval went smoothly, the power was there and the heart rate stayed nice and controlled. After that however it got very tough - the spm for my pieces were 23, 24, 25 and 26, but on the last I tried to maintain a decent spm purely as a test, and hit the last minute at 1:40 splits. It really feels I've fallen off my peak with only 4 sessions in the last 2 weeks (After 5 sessions per week for the 9 weeks beforehand) but I'm set on getting back to that peak ASAP, with a cheeky little HM on Christmas Eve.

Anita completed all the intervals but has said the same thing - It was really tough. A decent percentage of Erging is definitely in the head, and we both are prepared to tough it out to get to where we need to be - 100km in a single session :)

Anita - 13044m
Andy - 15673m
Cumulative - 1587544m (986.7 miles)

The Journey:
Start - Topnotch Gym Colchester - CO4 9ES
Finish - Braz, Vorarlberg, Austria http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq_a28r8loA

Day 49 - Back on it :)

A fresh start of sorts today, 2 lots of 30', 3R - 2:27 for Anita, 2:03 for me.

Anita found this all very easy, completing the distance at 18 spm and 15(!)spm respectively, the strong slow stroke rate a way to get her heart rate up a little bit :)

I also found this OK apart from the numb bum again (I'm using a big towel on the longer rows), and on the second interval did the first 12 minutes sub 1:52 @ 22spm; a small test after the fail last Wednesday.

We both felt remarkably excited about getting back into the rowing routine today, which can only bode well for the future, and Anita said she got quite animated discussing erging with a work colleague earlier, and was worried about becoming a rowing bore :) As if that's possible :)

Anita: 12249m
Andy: 14637m

Cumulative: 1558827m (968.8 miles)

The Journey:
Start - Topnotch Gym Colchester, CO4 9ES
Finish - Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, Austria http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feldkirch,_Vorarlberg

Day 48 - Wednesday Win for Anita, Woe for me.....

A planned 3 30' intervals on Wednesday night, 2:24, 2:16, 2:24 for Anita, 2:00, 1:54 and 2:00 for me - 3R

The first interval went Ok-ish for both of us - we've both been feeling rundown as we've just been so busy on the run-up to Christmas but it was still good to sit down and row for 30 minutes at a reasonable pace.

The second interval however was a very mixed bag. Anita rowed a 2:16.9 for a PB 30', but did say it was very tough (This for someone who rowed a 2:10.9 to 6344m not too long ago) whereas I hit the wall.

Not wanting to make excuses but 'The Perfect Storm' occurred for me:

1. Felt ill anyway
2. Forgot my gloves (Starts to hurt my hand due to me grip, plus I never seem to be able to get the power down at the same stroke rate)
3 My earphones gave up on me.

As such I maintained 1:53 for about 16 minutes, but it was then my arms fell off, plus my spm were too high and my heart rate became unmanageable ( Again I did a 1:476 for 6344m not too long ago) so I handled-down at 5k (19:40), and rowed a slow 2k (9:03) beside Anita as she was rowing towards her PB.

We decided to not do the 3rd interval as we both felt pretty spent :)

That's it for this week - We have Anita's sister over from Michigan for the weekend, and her youngest is overnighting tonight so we'll be having a lovely festive time of it.

However the plan stands for next week - Week 12 and the final normal week of the 14 leading to the first Marathon, with a HM piece (Anita's never done a HM attempt, me only once) on Christmas Eve, setting us in good stead for the 2 taper weeks of the plan.

I will also be doing a short weekly round-up on the Concept2 UK website (www.concept2.co.uk) of our progress, so expect to see this in the coming weeks

Day 47 - Ending a strange week with some endurance

After a very busy week for us both (2 Dentist Appointments, 1 Hospital Appointment, 2 Christmas Meals) we didn't get the chance to row on Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday, so i decided today was a good day to really test ourselves over a nice long row:

4 x 40', 4R, planned 3 x 2:27 for Anita, 3 x 2:03 for me and a low-as-you-can last interval, between 2hrs and 2hrs 40 of rowing to really test where we are.

After some really good advice from Stu Thorp and Trevor de Koekkoek of the C2Tweetcrew regarding nutrition and hydration for the row we had as much Porridge we could eat (Not that much in the end, Porridge always does that to me), with a Banana, Energy Gel and Glucose Tablet during the row.

I found the first 3 intervals (up to 2 hours) fairly uneventful, apart from a slight numb bum (had the C2 seat pad and a Towel on the seat today), then stepped it up for a 1:57 average, passing 10k at 39:05 in the last interval, giving me a grand total of 39529m for the session.

Now to Ms Wells - Again the first 3 intervals were unremarkable, with just slight aches and pains but nothing special. Onto the last 40 minutes, where Anita rowed a 2:17.0!!! Putting this into perspective, rowing between 2 hours and 2 hours 40 minutes her av/500m against a few of her current PB's:

5k PB 2:16.6 (+0.4s/500m v today's last interval)
6k PB 2:16.1 (+0.9s)
30' PB 2:17.4 (-0.4s!!!)
10k PB 2:19.5 (-2.5s, if she'd rowed for another c. 6 minutes!!!!!!!)

Absolutely amazing! She is a complete rowing monster with amazing mental toughness. 33261m for her for the session

Plus she also passed 1MM lifetime in her 3rd interval today!! And we together passed 1.5MM since we started this plan on 3rd Oct.

Next week - Back to normal with the hard week of the last Eddie Fletcher cycle, plus 4 x 45' on Saturday for our first 3hr row :)

Anita: 33261m
Andy: 39529m

Cumulative: 1504614m (935.12 miles)

The Journey:
Start: Topnotch Gym, Colchester CO4 9ES
Finish: Rietli, Muhlehorn, Switzerland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BChlehorn

Day 46 - Stepping it up again :)

2 lots of 40 minutes today, 2:27 for Anita, 2:03 for me, 4R

Some interesting physiological differences today for me - In the last 20 minutes I actually started to get cold!!! I sweated a bit less than usual tonight, but definitely took on as much liquid during both the day and the workout as I usually do.

Yesterday was a pretty protein-rich day, having been to the famous Company Shed in West Mersea (http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2007/sep/23/foodanddrink.restaurants) with our close friend-down-from-London Beth, her partner Michelle and their crazy Staffy Chana. The seafood there is simple and amazing, and after a 3 mile walk it really hit the spot :) I just wonder if the visit affected me today (Though performance-wise I felt fine)

Anita has achy arms this evening - She was rowing at 18-20 spm, but it was only afterwards that she started to feel it.

We've a very busy week this week, with both of us at Christmas Parties on Friday, so Saturday is now planned to be 40 min WU 2:27 Anita, 2:03 me, 4 x 15 intervals 7'/8' split 2:14/2:24 Anita, 1:51/2:00 me, 40 min CD 2:27 Anita, 2:03 me - Anita will be around 34km, 40.6km for me :)

Also nice to see this evening 11 c2tweeters are on the Holiday Challenge Honour Board :)

Anita: 16331m
Andy: 19519m

Cumulative: 1431824m (889.9 miles)

The Journey:
Start - Topnotch Gym, Colchester CO4 9ES
Finish - Petersort, Morschach, Switzerland - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morschach

Day 45 - Week 9 Done, and Stewart Lee :)

2 Lots of 30' yesterday, 2:24 for Anita, 2:03 for me, 3R

Nice easy, slow fat-burner yesterday morning, all at 22 spm for both of us, now not quite restful but near-too, all at an easy conversational pace if you're in a chatty mood :) We both got a good night sleep on Friday which helps :)

We both are very conscious about how much hydration will be important on the long rows, because even on these easy rows we are sweating buckets!!! For Anita this is a bit of a novelty, because as she has become fitter she has started to sweat more - a bona fide physiological change.

We then went down to London to see Stewart Lee in Carpet Remnant World (http://leicestersquaretheatre.ticketsolve.com/shows/126516643/events) which was absolutely hilarious, and also got a signed copy of the transcript of one of his earlier shows, "If You Prefer A Milder Comedian", thanks to Anita :)

Yesterday:
Anita: 12249m
Andy: 14639m

Cumulative - Since 3rd Oct
Anita: 636412m (395.5 miles)
Andy: 759562m (472 miles)
Both: 1395974m (867.6 miles)

The Journey:
Start: Topnotch Gym Colchester CO4 9ES
Finish: Pfaffensprung, Wassen, Switzerland http://www.maplandia.com/switzerland/zentralschweiz/uri/pfaffensprung/

Day 44 - End of a long week

4 lots of 15 today, 9'/6' split, 2:14/2:24 for Anita, 1:51/2:00 for me, 4R.

Both of us have had a long tiring week this week, with early starts (5am for me) and some late evenings, and as such tonight was quite difficult.

I felt the lack of energy tonight, with the 6' at 1:51 4 times feeling tough at times. I try to lose myself in something at that point, either music or whatever is going on around me at the gym at the time.

We both hit all our targets, but Anita felt it as well tonight.

Anita: 12969m
Andy: 15629m

Cumulative: 1369086m (850.9 miles)

The Journey:
Start: Topnotch Gym, Colchester, Essex, CO4 9ES
Finish: Oberalpenstafel, Oberwald, Switzerland http://www.summitpost.org/ski-route/162566