Day 40 - 8 weeks done and a birthday

2 lots of 30 minutes to end week 8 and the 2nd of the 4 week rotations in the Eddie Fletcher Marathon Plan - 2:28 for Anita, 2:04 for me, 3R

I woke up 1 year older this morning (now 32) and to celebrate Anita and I went to lunch with my prospective father-in-law, Paul, at a lovely Thai restaurant in Witham.

Before this we did the 2 30 minute pieces, Anita describing it as a warm up, then warm down, whilst watching Saturday Kitchen on the monitor in the Gym.

We are now both rowing fit, after 1.2MM together in 8 weeks, so these saturday pieces feel very easy, which is good considering we'll row about 14 (me) and 18(Anita) back to back in  March,

I'm a Management Information Analyst by day, so below is a graph of what the Eddie Fletcher Plan looks like, plotted by Metres  Rowed/Day:

Smooth this out and it would almost resemble a heart beat trace :)

Challenge Series 6344m tomorrow - Looking forward to it :)

Anita: 12167m - 565781m cumulative (351.6 miles)
Andy: 14519m - 676477m cumulative (420.4 miles)

Total - 1242258m (772 miles)

The Journey:
Start: Topnotch Gym, Colchester CO4 9ES
Via: La Tzoumaz (Our Honeymoon Destination :))
Finish: Riddes, Martigny, Valais, Switzerland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riddes

Day 38 - Keeping us honest :)

3 lots of 20 mins today, 2:25, 2:18, 2:21 for Anita, 2:01, 1:55, 1:58 for me, 2R.

Nice and easy again today to start with, with an nice slow(ish) 20 mins, followed by the fast piece, then a warm-down.

Anita - "I felt like I'd done a work-out, even though it was only an hour".

Wednesdays to me are the most difficult pieces we do on this plan, with the middle 20/30 minute piece  a real good blow-out. It's nice to now be able to comfortably sustain 1:52 for 15 minutes, before letting the pace drop off towards 1:55 over the last 5 minutes. I now consider 1:55 a HM pace for me (1:20), and will be trying to go below that on Christmas Eve :) For Anita I think 2:22 is achievable now for a sub 1:40, which would be amazing :)

Anita: 12745m
Andy: 15266m

Cumulative: 1186809m (737.6 miles)

The Journey:

Start: Topnotch Gym Colchester CO4 9ES
Finish: Aigle, Vaud, Switzerland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aigle

Day 30 - Walkies then a slow-row

2 lots of 40 minutes today, 2:28' for Anita, 2:04 for me, 4R

We went to our good friend Tracey's early this morning to go for a nice long walk with her and her two beautiful woofers, Stan and Ruby through the beautiful countryside around Wivenhoe Woods and the Colne, which started the day of brilliantly.

Then we got to the gym to do the 2 40 minute pieces, and frankly they were very easy.

Anita did both 2:28' pieces at 18 strokes/min, whilst I had a bit of a mess around.

On the first piece I got to 10 minutes left at an average of 2:02, so went down to 2:10's for the last 10 minutes to get to 2:04 at the end.

On the second piece I did the first 10 minutes at 1:52.9, was at an average of 1:58 at 20 minutes (Meaning a 2:10 for the 2nd half would get me in at 2:04 average), was at 2:00 with 10 minutes left (Meaning a 2:16 for the last 10 would get me in at 2:04), decided at 5 minutes to do a minute at sub 1:40, then really had to mess about at 2:50 and lower to get it down to 2:04 with 11 seconds remaining.

I believe I could now Marathon at sub 2:00m pace, and HM at 1:55 (Best 1:59.5) - Anita could Marathon at 2:25, and HM at 2:22 in my opinion, and we will try the HM a week before the full marathon in early January.

Week 6 done :)

Anita: 16222m (417644m Cumulative, 259.6 miles)
Andy: 19360m (499692m Cumulative (So Close :)), 310.6 miles)

Total Cumulative: 917366m (570.1 miles)

The Journey:

Start: Topnotch Gym, Colchester CO4 9ES
Via: Calais, Reims, Troyes, Dijon
Finish: Saint-Albain, Saone-et-Loire, France http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Albain

Day 21 - Halloween Horror?????

To put it bluntly, no!!

2 lots of 30 minutes today, starting the 2nd 4-week rotation of the Eddie Fletcher Marathon Plan, Anita at 2:28 and 2:04 for me.

The Monday and Saturday rows now seem like a bit of a cheat, which is all to the good as we will be planning to be rowing close to this pace for 8.5 (for Anita) and 7 (for me) times as long in March for the 100km

Anita - 12166m
Andy - 14521m

Cumulative - 640536m (398.1 miles) - Inc. both 1609m runs from yesterday.

Journey:

Start: Topnotch Gym, Colchester CO4 9ES
Finish: Saint-Parres-lès-Vaudes, Aube, France http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Parres-l%C3%A8s-Vaudes

Rest Day - The Mile!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We both completed the Mile today for Round 2 of the Concept2 Challenge Series, with some interesting results.

Anita completed hers in 6:41.3 (2:04.7 average). She clocked 3:10 (1:58.8) at half-way, which at that point had me worried as her best 2k time (Set a couple of years ago) was at 2:08.8 average. She hit the wall at 900m (Breath and heart-rate) and struggled home, but in a very respectable time.

Unfortunately she was distraught, and I had to drum it into her that she would have broken her best 2k ever if she'd kept going, and to look at where she had come from; a complete lack of cardio exercise until she was 38. I am very very proud of her, and I hope next time she listens to me when I suggest the right pace to go at (2:01/2:02) - Next time we do this she'll go sub 6:30 :)

I started off quite quick (1:36/7) for the first minute, then settled down at 28 strokes/min, touched 1:45 once in the 4th minute and finished at 5:21.9 (1:40.0 Average) - Not bad for someone who's best 2k is at 1:44.5 Average and still sits at 128.1kg!!!! I feel fitter than I have in a long while, and with 335km rowed this month I'd hope so :)

2 Lots of 30 minutes tomorrow, 2:28 for Anita, 2:04 for me :) :)

Day 15 - 3 Weeks done, but a bit of a struggle

2 lots of 45 mins today to finish week 3, 2:29 for Anita, 2:05 for me.

It was a bit of a struggle all told, the av. pace bounced up and down like a yo-yo, even though I thought I was pulling a consistent pace. As such some fast paced minutes were called for to keep the av. pace right over the 45 minutes.

Anita  found it to be a bit of a slog - we didn't start until 3pm and had only had breakfast before so a bit of calorie deficit came in. Also there was a bit of sleep deprivation due to work and the gym time spent after work this week, so we're both glad the hard week of the 4-week cycle is done. The next week 3 (Week 7 for us now) starts November 14th.

Next week is a repeat of week 1, so we will see how we've progressed.

Anita - 18126m
Andy - 21607m

Cumulative - 483104m (300.25 miles)

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

Day 13 - Most Metres in a Day again!!!!!!

3 Lots of 30 mins tonight, 2:26, 2:19 and 2:26 for Anita, 2:02, 1:56 and 2:02 for Me, with 3 minutes rest between them.

This day (The Wednesday in Week 3 of 4) is the hardest day of the Quasi 4 week pattern, and both Anita and I aced it :)

Anita's middle 30 minutes (6473m) was only 75m less than her best ever in 30 minutes, in the middle of 2 other 30 minute intervals!!!!!

For me the 7763m tonight is only 113m behind my best ever. Fully Head-Colded up as well!!!

Both were the best 30 minutes we have done this season!!! Progress and a chance to update Nonathlon (www.nonathlon.com)  :)

Anita - 18805m
Andy - 22521m (Both the most we've ever rowed in 1 day)

Cumulative - 408536m (253.9 miles)

The Journey:
Start: Topnotch Gym Colchester CO4 9ES
Finish:  Gauchy, Aisne, France http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauchy