Day 92 - The 100k!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And here we are - Training is Over, 100k day is here.

My best Man James McCullagh came over at 7:15am to pick us up and take us via Tesco's to the venue.

Setup was nice and quick, and I was on Rowpro by 8:10, but a very up and down Oarbits server was a bit of an issue.

Anita set off 8:30 on the dot, I set off in the end at 8:36 and the Oarbits connection, where I was rowing with my buddies from C2TweetCrew Wim Oosterveld (NLD), Abdul Southam (CAN), Johan Hoeke (NLD) and Borut Hafner (SVN), with Stu Thorp a non-starter due to a poor connection. I knew Wim was going the full 100k, but was unaware Abdul was too until afterwards, making it 4 C2TC members doing 100k's today, with Borut putting in 50k and Johan about 17k. All in all an amazing turnout, with Abdul starting at 0430 in Ontario!!!!

We also had a number of friends visit us during the row today, which was really good of them, and provided some much needed distraction from the aches and pains :)

James acted as general ddogsbody today - We both had a range of gels and drinks (Protein, Isotonic, 2:1 Fructose, Electrolyte and Water) which we both took on every 30 minutes, and without his help this would have been nigh-on impossible.

Anita rowed very steadily through the first 50k, passing the FM in 3:24, only 4 minutes outside her PB, but started to suffer at 60k, where she went into a maintenance mode, and toughed it out. PITA was the main issue. She finished just before 1640 at 8:19:20.2, an amazing time that puts her Top in the world this year for the 40-49 HWT ladies for 100k

I also went through 50k strongly, FM in 2:57, 3 Minutes outside my PB and 50K in 3:31, so 7:02 pace, but 50 to 60k was an absolute nightmare, with really bad PITA in my right glute. This subsided with Ibuprofen though, and I got back to a nice pace for the majority of the rest of the row - Finished at 7:17:07.7, which puts me 3rd in the 30-39 HWT men :)

It only remains for me Anita and I to thank everyone who has donated, helped, given advice and been positive during the last 6 months - It feels weird now we're done but the sense of achievement is slowly seeping in - I'm proud of you Anita :)

Cumulative distance : 3320095m (2063.4 miles)

Start : Topnotch Health Club, Colchester CO4 9ES
Finish: Hoshcha, Rivnens'ka, Ukraine (http://www.worldcities.us/Hoshcha/)

Days 90 & 91 - The taper....

The last week of prep before the big day.

Tuesday - both did 10k's, Anita at 2:22.4, Me at 2:00 (Or 1:60 as it shows on the Facebook Concept 2 App :)), both at relatively low spm (Anita @ 19, Me @ 20, 1st 5k @ 18) but both felt really good. Except for afterwards, where the back of my head started to ache, and I felt a bit light headed. When I lookmed this up Hypoglycemia kept popping up (I had a couple of handfuls of Raisins afterwards), but when Anita tested my blood sugar it came up at just over 6, so no real problem.

The ache got worse, and has only really subsided today, so I imagine I strained my neck on the really low spm portion of the 10k, where I was really leaning back in the stroke. Something to think of in the future.

Tonight - Anita did an OCD 12345m online with Stu Thorp and Mo O'Kane, who are both in training for a World Record Tandem longest duration row attempt @ approx 50 hours at the start of May (http://www.justgiving.com/mauriceokane-stuartthorp) - She agreed to do a 2:20, ended up doing a 2:17.4, taking 56 and a bit minutes, and got a bit of a wrist-slap afterwards as we are supposed to be winding down for saturday :) Anita says she sleeps better after exercising/going to the gym so hopefully this helps tonight :)

I messed about with the PM3 monitor and played a game of Fish (http://concept2.co.uk/monitor/games), which is 4 minutes of trying to catch fish and avoid be eaten by bigger fish by changing your stroke rate - I got 860, which wasn't too bad, but translated to only 2:24 pace for the 4 minutes, so it was little more than a quick game.

One more post before the 100k tomorrow, then the 100k itself :)

Cumulative Metres: 3110095m (1932.9 miles)

Start: Topnotch Health Club Colchester CO4 9ES
Finish: Velyki Pidlisky, L'vivs'ka, Ukraine (http://www.panoramio.com/photo/35532066)

Days 88 & 89 - RowPro & Photoshoots

Day 88 - Saturday 10th March - Consisted of HM's for both of us, followed by a 4 mile walk and a quiz night.

Day 89 - Sunday - was a photoshoot for the local papers at the gym, followed by 2k's all round (Anita, both her sons (Tyler(20) and Ben (19) and I)

Anita did her HM on Saturday at 8:30am with a number of online buddies, rowing a beautifully steady piece for what was her 3rd ever HM to come in in 1hr 38min (2:20.2 av), feeling great at the end of it.

One of our friends Wim, from the Netherlands, is doing the 100k online with me on the day, and after a 20 minute break from doing the first HM with Anita at 2:15 pace did his 2nd HM of the day with me, looking for 2:00 pace. After some rough periods for him he had enough in the tank to sprint for the last 1k (<1:41) to come in at 2:00 exactly, with me in 1:59.9 (1:24:20). I was amazingly enjoyable to be able to row with someone online, and to try and help them through the bad times in their row. What also made it a lot more bearable was my newly made bubble-wrap seat pad :).

Take one ordinary C2 seat pad, take 5 layers of bubble-wrap and wrap/attach to the seat. Absolute genius :) even though I had the usual ache in my left glute it was nowhere near enough to stop me rowing. This single thing will make the 100k much more doable for me now :)

We then had a lovely walk around the local countryside, through Wrabness and Copperas Woods and along the River Stour and ended the day participating in a quiz night for the HACT charity ( Helping the homeless back into the community) - Our team came a very respectable 3rd.

Earlier today Anita and I had a photo-shoot at Topnotch Health Club with the Colchester Gazette - Shall be seeing something cringe-worthy in the week no doubt - Then both of Anita's sons came over, and we all ended up doing 2k's.

Firstly I helped to set a pace for our friend Borut from Slovenia to a big new PB for him, whilst Bill from North London also set a new PB. Tyler next had a go at his first 2k ever (He's been doing a bit of rowing at the gym he works at) and set a very impressive 7:17.6 (1:49.4) - Sub 7 for him sometime soon. His brother Ben then had a go. He's never had a go, so had no baseline to go from but did brilliantly to complete his first 2k without handling down. Lastly Anita broke re-positioned her PB to 8:07 from 8:23!!! All in all it has been a very busy but constructive weekend!!!

Cumulative Distance: 3077750m (1912.8 miles)

Start - Topnotch Healthclub, Colchester CO4 9ES
Finish - L'Viv, Ukraine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lviv)

PS. http://www.justgiving.com/Anita-Wells if you would like to sponsor us for Saturday's 100k of pain :) :) - Pretty please :)

Day 87 - A little Cross-Training

We did 20' Rowing, 25' on the Treadmill and 15' on the Cross-Trainer last night.

The rowing was 20' with 10 Power Strokes as fast as possible every 2' (@ 18', 16' etc.). The base pace was 2:25 for Anita and 2:00 for me.

Anita's lowest pull was a 1:39, mine a 1:16; Anita finished with 4383m (2:16.9), me 5243 (1:54.4), and it was a nod to what we will be doing after the 100k, more interval training to try an help our sprint times.

The Treadmill was interesting - 6km/hr at a max incline of 9% got my HR to 140, but I could still have a chat with one of the instructors (Phil Munro @ Inspiring Fitness, see on Facebook Groups) for the last 5 or so minutes before the cooldown. Anita was in a very similar range.

Lastly the X-Trainer really shows where we have come from. Anita had a target Cardio of 143HR, which she had to maintain at around 60rpm - She would have been up in the 160's before October, so that's a difference of 20 beats for the same power output in 5 months!!. I struggled to keep my HR at 150, and it involved me going up to 90-100spm every minute or so for 20s to do so. I would have been between 160 and 170 at 75spm 54 months ago, so about 20 beats difference for me too (At the top end nearer 40, as I wiould have been approaching 190BPM at 100spm on the X-Trainer) - It really shows our base fitness improvement to date.

We are both doing HM's online today at a modest pace, so will report on these and cumulative distances later

Day 86 - Another milestone

A single 1hr piece tonight, Anita at 2:25, me at 2:00.

Anita completed the time at 2:25, 18spm!!!! Really nice arm workout after last nights r20 interval nastiness for C2CTC.

I decided to do a r stack (<r20 10', r22 5', r24 5', r26 5', r28 2.5', r30 2.5', and repeat) and finished with a 1:59.3 pace overall.

Firstly my machine at the gym was knackered (Seat Judder) and squealing so it was a harder workout than the pace suggests. The <r20 between 30 and 40 minutes completed was really nasty to keep at a decent pace, and from 10 left I decided to do 45s at r22, 15s @ 1:40 pace every minute just to change it up.

A good session overall, and the aforementioned landmark is together Anita and I passed 3 million metres since the start of this madness, 3rd October 2011 :)

Anita - 12418m
Andy - 15083m
Cumulative - 3012930m (1878.1 miles)

The Journey:
Start - Topnotch Health Club Colchester CO4 9ES
Finish - Nakonechne Pershe, L'vivs'ka, Ukraine (http://www.svajdlenka.com/travel_maps.php?country=up&region=15)

Days 84 & 85 - A new era......

Firstly Monday - A different workout as I received my new PM3 retrofitted monitor before work, ready to fit to my Model C rower.

Once I'd fitted it (With the help of a hacksaw, as one of the bolts holding the PM2+ arm to the rower had slipped a thread) I also purchased a RowPro account for Anita and me (http://www.digitalrowing.com/Oarbits/index.htm).

Then after a bit of configuration Anita christened the new Monitor with a 20' piece, placed online as a test.
She rowed 4593 @ 2:10.6 25spm

RowPro allows a really analytic approach to exercise which I'm sure I will find motivating, and hopefully it will help Anita too going forward. The picture above shows a really strong piece, 2:13 1st half, 2:08 2nd half with a 2:01 last minute!! 25spm is quite high for Anita to, so it was very strong, and a brilliant piece to do after a week of having a very nasty cold.

I did a 500m test piece, messed it up by going out too hard (1:17-1:20) and ended up with a 1:28.2 (0.1s off a PB) - 1:23 paced is a possibility, but will hurt a lot:

Tonight we both did the C2 Team Challenge for the month - 5,4,3,2,1,2,3,4,5 minute pyramid, 30" rest per interval - 29 minutes total rowing at a restricted 20spm.

I went first - started hard at 1:48.5 for the first 5 minutes, settled into a pace, but suffered in the last 9 minutes (4 & 5 min intervals), finishing with 7830m @ 1:51.1. Quite pleased overall on what was my first variable interval training session, and also my first restricted stroke rate session (Same for Anita). Quite a tough one.

Anita then went and smashed it up - 6752m @ 2:08.9. Putting this into perspective my best 30' piece is at 1:50, so tonights piece was 1.1s below my 30' PB. This was 6.1s BELOW Anita's 30' PB (2:15.1). This may be a bit false (I reckon it should be about 2:12) but tonight's piece would still be 3s below this even.

She followed the pyramid with her pace, doing a 2:02 for the minute in the middle before finishing the last 2 intervals in the 2:11's - Very Strong rowing indeed.

Anita : 11544m (4593 & 6951)

Andy: 8700m (500 & 8200)

Cumulative: 2994429m (1861 miles) - 3MM tomorrow evening :)

The Journey:

Start: Topnotch Health Club Colchester CO4 9ES,

Finish: Zaleska Wola, Poland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaleska_Wola,_Podkarpackie_Voivodeship)

Day 83 - End of a sickly week

Just me rowing today - 15446m in 58:47.7 (1:54.1) to get to 2 Million Metres lifetime, taking 105 days to the the last 1 million.

Both Anita an I have been unwell over the last week - I started coming down with a headcold very soon after the 4hours we did last Saturday, was pretty bunged up until Wednesday but started getting better pretty quickly after that. Anita unfortunately caught it, and has been bunged up since Wednesday - Hopefully it will start clearing pretty soon so we can put a decent weeks prep in next week - Just two weeks to go now :)

Also we are less than 1 hour (Both of us rowing) away from 3 million metres together since the start of training in  October 2011 :)

We have a charity day at work on Monday, so hopefully this will swell the coffers for the fundraising somewhat (About £250 pledged and collected so far), and from there its time to get ready for the 100k :)

Day 81 & 82, 2.5k to 4hrs!!

Friday was the 2500m for the Concept2UK Challenge Series for February (What a beast that is) - 10:30.1 @ 2:06 for Anita, 8:35 @1:43 for Me.

I was a little bit disappointed as I felt I had a 1:40 in me, but made the foolish choice of Drag 10 (Approx 195 DF) - In future I will only use the for 500m or less, I've just become too used to lower DF distance work.

Anita felt the same, and as such we are planning to give this another go on Wednesday next week.

Onto earlier today - a 4hr Time Trial.

Firstly me, because Anita definitely takes centre stage after an amazing row.

I did 52628m (2:16.9) - Again I was fine up until 2hrs (2:03 pace) then the switch turned to off position an everything started to become an issue; the blisters on my left hand meaning I couldn't grip the handle properly, blistered left heel (New trainers being ordered later), pain in my right knee and a pulled right forearm/bicep after favouring my right side during the second half of the row.

It was very useful as I now have a new goal for the 100k - Finish!! I'd like to come in under 8 hours if at all possible, and to do so I'll be going at much slower (2:10) than I was planning before today.

Now to Anita.

50028m (2:23.9) with just 2 breaks (At 2hrs and 3hrs) totaling no more than 4 minutes. She is noww crashed on the sofa beside me, but during the row she was the personification of focus, and was amazing controlled at approx 2:22 rowing pace throughout. She now has a new target - Finish! - She said she was completely spent at that pace, so will try to maintain 2:25 rowing pace to come in under 2:30.

Anita seems to be built for endurance, lots of slow-twitch muscle fibres, Diabeticly sped-up energy transport system. I'm the opposite, and I seem to struggle getting energy from food during a row. I will Finish however!! And so will Anita!!!!

Day 80 - Distance rather than Time

A change of tack tonight.

Anita did a 1.5k warmup, 10k main piece and a 1.5km cool down.

Her WU and CD were at 2:19.8 and 2:28.9, but her main 10k was the second fastest she has ever done, 44:49.9 @ 2:14.4 average. It was a very powerful piece of rowing, even though she at 7k started to suffer at the 2:15ish pace. She brought it home magnificently, and shows that even after 2 weeks off she is still very much on it :)

I did a 5k WU, 6k main piece and a 5k CD

The WU and CD were at 1:55.7 and 2:02 respectively - In fact I think the 'WU' was a bit too fast, problem is I felt so good when I was doing it :)

The 6k piece was a 21:36.8, 1:48.1 pace, and a PB by 44 seconds. The 6k PB was one of the last (Just the 1k and 500m left) dating before the start of training in October, so it was nice to go out and blow a few cobwebs away with it tonight. The pacing wasn't particularly good (Went through 1.5k at 1:44.7, 3k at 1:47.1) but I know I can get this (And the 30 minute piece) down to near 1:46 pace in short order.

Anita & I have also discussed Saturday today - We have decided to do a 4hr test, in the way we would do the first 4hrs of the 100k. Anita is thinking about minimal breaks at 15k, me at 10k. Our targets are sub 8:20 for Anita now (Sub 2:30) and approx 6:50 for me (2:03) so we will row to those protocols.

Anita - 13k
Andy - 16k
Cumulative - 2846083m (1768.8 miles)

The Journey:
Start - Topnotch Gym, Colchester CO4 9ES
Finish - Gmina Dukla, Poland  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukla

Day 79 - Back on it.....

3 x 20' with a 20' Cross Trainer Cool-Down tonight, our first workout in 2 weeks, 1 week planned rest (Went to watch Billy Connolly at the Ipswich Regent, he was amazing!!, and a 4-day SQL Server 2008 R2 course in London) and 1 not so planned (Just felt run-down and vaguely ill).

Anita put down a 2:17, 2:18 and 2:18.9 for her 3 intervals. Anita felt like her heart rate was too high, and her recovery time for the pieces was too long, but this is too be expected after a couple of weeks off. She however didn't feel like she overdid it, so I reckon we should be back at peak within a week or so.

I  did a 1:51.1, 1:59.5 and 1:57.4. The 1:51 was at 150 drag, with the other 2 at 130. It felt really good to be back in the gym!!

Anita also started the fundraising at work today, collecting about £130 in sponsorship!!! The last big push has started :)

Anita - 13048m
Andy - 15534m
Cumulative - 2817083m (1750.8 miles)

The Journey:
Start - Topnotch Gym, Colchester
Finish - Ladomirová, Slovakia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladomirov%C3%A1

Day 78 - All Hail Anitatron :)

A Big Boys/Girls Pyramid today, 30', 45', 1hr, 45', 30' with approx 4' Rest (Can't program variable intervals on a PM2 :() - 3hr 30min total.

Me first as it is less impressive than Anita - The first 3 intervals (Up to 2:15 rowed) were sub 2:00 pace, even with a seat pad removal on the hour (1:58, 1:58.5, 1:59.5) but I then hit the wall on the 2nd 45' interval, and could only pull myself to a 2:03.5. I then decided to do a 30' warm-down on the X-Trainer (122bpm 'Fat Burn') instead of the final 30' interval on the C2 as I just had nothing left.

I'm starting to think our current calorie regime is OK up to about 2hrs rowing sub 2:00 pace for me , but past that I need to eat more in the day-or-so before to get the endurance for sub 2:00 for longer.

Now to Ms Wells - Absolutely awesome consistency, every interval at 2:21 or 2:20.9, each interval at 23spm. I'm really envious of how she can lose herself in music or the TV at the gym, at her strength of will and strength of mind. Unfortunately these long sessions do take it out of her (I tend to be OK when I get back and get some chores done) and she is now laying on the sofa feeling a bid nauseous whilst watching Biggest Loser USA - I think this is mainly down to her body chemistry, but she's so stubborn in her pursuit of her goal (Get to 11st and break PB's on the C2) that she will push herself too far some times. I'm very very proud of her though - We've been at this now for 18 weeks!!! To stick at the intensity that we've been at for most of this time is very very special!!

Anita - 44696m - 102640 for the week
Andy - 45025m - 107040 for the week
Cumulative - 2788501m (1733 miles)

The Journey:
Start - Topnotch Gym, Colchester CO4 9ES
Finish - Chmeľov, Slovakia http://en.db-city.com/Slovakia/Pre%C5%A1ov/Pre%C5%A1ov/Chme%C4%BEov

Day 77 - Putting the 'F' in Friday :)

3 x 30' tonight 4R for the 3rd time this week.

Anita  - 'Went through the same torment - Didn't want to do it, Glad I did it' Says it all, doing all the metres we have will often lead to nights where you just want to go home, but if you get on with it and do it you feel so much better afterwards.

She did some very controlled intervals tonight, 2:20 and 2:22 x 2 at 22spm (Last 23) so lots of 2's tonight  :)

I did a low spm first interval (1:54.5) which was quite taxing, a 1:56.4 2nd interval, and a 1:56 last interval (Was cruising at 1:58 with 7 minutes left and felt good enough to go sub 1:50 for the rest, taking it down to 1:56.0 with 30s left) - Again a days rest allows for a better quality workout, and I feel my breathing/heart rate have really improved over the last 2 weeks, allowing me to do so much more.

I know the same goes for Anita - She said tonight she 'doesn't go beetroot' anymore unless she really pushes it, such as in the C2CTC or the Challenge Series - Her fitness has improved immeasurably over the last 4 months.

Lastly one of the PT's at the gym stopped us as we were finishing up, told us he's been watching us and was very impressed :) Must admit we feel really really good for all the work we've put in so far!

Anita - 19108m
Andy - 23347m
Cumulative - 2698780m (1677.3 miles)

The Journey:
Start - Topnotch Gym Colchester CO4 9ES
Finish - Dlhé Stráže, Slovakia http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/sk-le-ds.html

Day 76 - A tale of two PB's...

A planned 3 x 30' 4R tonight.

Anita and I both did a nice warm up for the first interval (Yes, a 30' warm up :)), with Anita at 2:18.6/500m, me at 1:57, both feeling fresh after an impromptu day off yesterday.

Then the middle interval (For Anita) and my last interval of the evening.

Anita started nice and strong - I looked over after about 6 minutes and saw her at 2:16av, which I knew to be her PB. I was at 1:57, planning to do a 1:58 (And a 1:59 final interval) but felt really good, and as some good music came on (System of a Down, Fear Factory, Pitchshifter and a few others) I started to push on a bit.

I got to half way at 1:53.3 - I at this point decided to get the party started, with averages down in the 1:47 region, knowing I had to pull a high 1:49 to get near my PB (1:51.5, 8074m). I felt completely in control at 27/28spm at a pace I could barely hold for 2K a few months back, this after a decently paced first 30' interval, and with 5' left passed the 1:51.5 PB pace, and really turned the pace on, down into the low 1:40's, with 1:30's for the last 90".

Anita finished with a beautifully paced 2:15.1 6663m (PB by 43m), with a last minute mainly below 2:00/500m, I finished bang on 1:50 8183m, PB by 107m.

Extrapolating out the 1:53.3 at 15' left to the finish I did the last 15' at 1:46.7, which is almost 5K PB pace, put between 45' and 60' of a session. I definitely feel 8400m is possible for me now, and 8500m in a month or two (Pete Plan in April to hit the sprint PB's hard (http://thepeteplan.wordpress.com/the-pete-plan/)) which is Top 20 in the world 30-39 HWT material :)

I decided to do a 30' Cross-Trainer Fat Burn @ 122bpm, which is almost restful for me now. Anita finished off with a nice 2:21 pace cool-down(!) - Again, rest allows for a better quality workout.

Anita - 19541m
Andy - 15876m
Cumulative - 2656325m (1650.9 miles)

The Journey
Start - Topnotch Gym Colchester CO4 9ES
Finish - Važec, Slovakia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Va%C5%BEec

Day 75 - Base Conditioning...

3 x 30' 4R tonight.

Anita - 2:21.5, 2:16.3 and 2:22.1 splits for the machine tonight, the 2:16.3 was very impressive as it was her 2nd longest distance covered in 30' ever. Her conditioning is pretty amazing now. Discussing it in the car on the way home a year ago she would have had to have had the car windows open on the way home and would have been flushed from what would have been an unthinkable 90' on the rowing machine. Tonight her recovery (As it has been for a while now) was exceptionally quick.

Me - 1:57.5, 1:58.5 and 1:59.5 splits. Very controlled, I did the odd < 1:40 minute or two to spice things up a bit, and I was recovering from these in under 20 seconds so I think a lot of my sprint PB's will undergo major amendments in April after the 100k!!!

We have now done 2 weeks with smaller portions for meals to try an shift some weight. Anita has lost 7lb, me 9, and we are both more fit (Cardiovascularly) than we ever have been before. The future is pretty damn bright :)

Anita - 19295m
Andy - 22792m
Cumulative - 2620908m (1628.9 miles)

The Journey
Start - Topnotch Gym, Colchester CO4 9ES
Finish - Galovany, Slovakia http://www.picturesofcities.info/map-city/Galovany/1835964/

Day 74 - Put your hands up for Dirk Kuyt....

4 Planned Intervals today to end the week - 30', 1hr, 1hr, 30' with approx 5R.

We got to the gym at about 1ish, and as such Liverpool - Man Utd was on in the gym. I lost myself in the game, so much so the first two intervals were gone before I knew it, both at 1:59/500m. This was except for the Agger and Kuyt goals, where I went into the 1:40's without knowing it. I think everybody in the gym (And there weren't many today) knew I was a Liverpool fan after the match :)!!!

I then decided to go for a PB for the hour. It was one of my PB's that had a bit of fat in it now (15330m @ 1:57.4) and I was feeling good so set out at 1:57 pace, with the intention of dragging it down a bit. This one hurt!! Feeling fresh after 90 minutes rowing doesn't mean anything when it hurts with 40' left :) I tried to lose myself in my music, which happened upon Metal track after Metal, and I was at 1:56.8 average with 30' left. I continued to drag it down until 20' left, where I started to hang on a bit. With 5' left I was still around 1:56.6ish, then with my last vestiges of strength pulled sub 1:50's, with sub 1:40' for the last minute to finish at 15506m (1:56.1), a PB by 176m :) I then tried about a minute of the last 30' interval but had nothing left, so did a 25' piece on the X-Trainer to warm-down properly, and apart from a dicky tummy (Think the Gels we take during the session don't really agree with me) I feel pretty good now, 5 hours on.

Anita yet again was a beast, 2:20, 2 x 2:23 and 2:21.3/500m to finish. She is however starting to suffer from PITA after the row now, which although its better than during is still a bit worrying. I wonder if she is going through a physiological change I went through about 2 months ago - the redistribution of muscle (and loss of fat) around the sitting bones. This is something to watch.

104k for Anita this week, 115k for me :)

Anita - 37941m - 1195430m cumulative since 3rd October
Andy - 38201m - 1383391m cumulative since 3rd October

Cumulative total - 2578821m (1602.75 miles)

The Journey:

Start - Topnotch Gym Colchester CO4 9ES
Finish - Kraľovany, Slovakia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kra%C4%BEovany

P.S we may have to be rowing at home next week if the current weather forecasts come to fruition!!!! http://www.netweather.tv/index.cgi?action=news;storyid=971;sess=

Day 73 - Funny the difference a day off makes :)

3 x 25' 4R tonight.

We both enjoyed tonight a lot more than the Monday-Wednesday, where exhaustion was getting the better of us.

Anita did her intervals is 2:21, 2:15.9 and 2:23, me 1:56.5, 1:53.5 and a nice 1:59.5 cool down :)

Both of us are upping our stroke rates at the moment, and I'm feeling quite comfortable at 25 spm and above for long periods now. Possibly my technique is changing/evolving  as I work my way towards 2MM, and I've had a lot less issues with numb-bum this week; hopefully the two are related.

3 hours tomorrow :)

Anita: 16084m
Andy: 19324m
Cumulative: 2502679m (1555.4 miles)

The Journey:
Start - Topnotch Gym Colchester CO4 9ES
Finish - Považská Bystrica, Slovakia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pova%C5%BEsk%C3%A1_Bystrica

Day 72 - Toughing it out

3 x 30' 4R tonight.

We are both really feeling the low calorie regime, and we were under no impression that tonight was going to be difficult.

Anita did all 3 intervals in 2:24/500m. It was a case of get on it, get through it and get home tonight for her, but I'm very proud of her for doing yet another 90 minutes worth of rowing.

I did a 1:59.5, 1:59 and 2:02. I'm finding a real lack of base power at the moment in my arms, so the spm goes up to compensate. The final interval started off very slow, down near 2:06 for the first 10 minutes, so from 20 to 15 left I did the 5 hard strokes, 10 light strokes repeated, with the hard strokes down at 1:35 which got the pace down to 2:03.5, then for the last 10 minutes I did 30" hard (1:45) 1' slow repeated, and ended up at 2:02. I'm having to change things up to get through the pieces with my pride intact at the moment :)

Anita: 18756m
Andy: 22476m
Cumulative: 2467271m (1533.4 miles)

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

Day 71 - A very weird session...

A planned 4 x 15' 4R tonight, which quickly went by the wayside due to Rowing Machine occupancy at the gym :(

Anita got on the free machine and started the first interval, I did about 20' relatively hard exertion on the Elliptical (Noticing how much fitter I am now than the last time I did it in September, also noticing my starting heart rate was a LOT lower, 80 beats rather than 100, and exertion levels that would have gotten me up to 150 bpm was only getting me to 120 :))

When a rowing machine became free I planned on doing a flat 1hr piece, finishing at nearly the same time as Anita with her rest breaks, and went well for the first 15 minutes (1:51 pace) then all of the sudden hit the wall, dropping below 2:00 pace.

I noticed Anita had decided to do a 45 minute piece, so decided to call it a day at 9000m (Just over 35 minutes, 1:57 pace), have about 1' rest, then do a 15 minute interval to finish at the same time as Anita.

Anita's 15 minute interval was at a very strong 2:14 pace, and her 45 minute was a struggle from 25 left, finishing in a 2:22 pace, my  15 minute interval was just under 1:55, and a big struggle, where I really thrashed it out for the last 8 minutes to get the av. pace up.

Both of us struggled after about 30 minutes activity tonight. We are in the second week of a lower calorie regime (Both of us lost 4lb last week), which is seemingly effecting our endurance energy a bit. We are aware this will mean previous targets may be quite a lot more difficult, but the 'wall' we both hit tonight feels like the switch from carb-burning to fat-burning, which is good for the weight-loss.

We plan to up the calories for the week before the 100k so this is less of an issue, but we will be really pushing the weight loss for the next 6 weeks.

Anita - 12868m
Andy - 12914m
Cumulative - 2426039m (1507.8 miles)

The Journey:
Start - Topnotch Gym, Colchester, CO4 9ES
Finish - Horná Streda, Slovakia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horn%C3%A1_Streda

Day 70 - Back to the Grind

2 x 45' tonight - we are now at the point where we decide what we want to push rather than following a rigid plan. Anita is a long way past where she should be on the Eddie Fletcher, with her Marathon on Saturday 5 seconds/500m ahead of plan.

My marathon was 1s below plan, but that was all due to numb-bum, which feels like it will be my nemesis :( All I can do is experiment with seating and push through it on the long rows, because I'm sure as sh*t not going to let it beat me :)

Anita - 2:23 and 2:23.8 tonight. She felt it in her arms after the marathon tonight (Considering the rows were at 19 and 20spm it couldn't have been that bad :)) - One of our friends at work accidentally touched her arm today and was astounded by how toned and muscular her biceps are now :)

Me - 1:59.5 and 1:59.1. The first one was a real struggle, the second started off really difficult, but I decided at about half way to start changing things up, hitting it hard (sub 1:50) during choruses and going back to 2:06ish during slower verses. A really hard fast chorus (Spineshank - Synthetic) 'persuaded' me to hit sub 1:30 for 30 seconds a couple of times in 2 minutes as well, and I ended dragging the pace from 2:03 to 1:59.1. In a way it is the best way to distract me for the PITA, and it worked quite well tonight.

Anita: 18833m
Andy: 22634m
Cumulative: 2400257m (1491.8 miles)

The Journey:
Start: Topnotch Gym, Colchester CO4 9ES
Finish: Leopoldov, Slovakia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopoldov

Day 69 - The Full Marathon

The FM for both of us today, the culmination of the first part of our training, where we have followed the Eddie Fletcher Marathon plan (slightly amended) since 3rd October, ultimately providing the start of our conditioning training for our 100km challenge for Sport Relief on March 17th.

We've both done over a FM in one session, but these sessions were broken down into intervals no longer than 1hr; having to do 42195m in as short a time as possible was a daunting prospect.

Anita first - She was absolutely amazing today, settling into 2:21/500m pace for pretty much the whole time, with only 2 short breaks (at 1hr in and then 15k left), finishing in a 2:22.3 av (3:20:06.6), currently 5 in her age/weight category in the world, discounting the 2 unverified times on there. I am immensely proud of what Anita has achieved so far; she is fulfilling her potential with regards to fitness, conditioning, willpower and competitiveness and our future is very very bright :)

Now, to the PM2 Monitor. I didn't realise it would have issues with times over 100 minutes :)

42195m in 6.6s :) Trust me, that's 200:06.6 at 2:22.3

I started off OK, going through the first 10k at 1:55.2, but the problems started at 14k with the old numb-bum problem. I had to stop too often, cramping twice in my calves and having to take a contact lens out when I got something in my eye, but finished in 2:54:23.3. I need to take the numb-bum situation into account on anything over an hour; I will need to stop, as everything I've tried (Ibuprofen to reduce the inflammation and two different seat pads) haven't worked during the really long rows. Overall I am pleased with the time, and I know I can do better when we do it again (When that will be I don't know, but it will be at least once a season)

174:23.3 for me :)

I also had to get a staff member at the gym to get a mop and bucket - There was literally a puddle of sweat and rail grease under my machine :)


Cumulative distance: 2358790m (1466 miles)

The Journey:
Start - Topnotch Gym Colchester CO4 9ES
Finish - Boldog, Slovakia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boldog,_Slovakia