I am my own worst enemy. What started as a gentle 30 minute row became frantic as I realised I could make a decent distance. The last 2,000 metres was spent at a good pace.

Must learn not to be so competitive.

I hate Tabata et al.

That is all.

Intervals today. 2000m, 1500m, 1000m, 500m. Three minute rest between each. Realistically I have to do well under 2.00 minutes per 500m or I get upset.

I decided to listen to Liquidizer by Jesus Jones as I figured it’s combination of volume and 120bpm tunes to keep me at a steady 30 strokes per minute should do the trick.

It did.

And I enjoyed listening to it so much I pretty much had them on the iPod all day.

Belting.

This setting a new PB each time is getting boring.

FIrst time with my own personal Concept 2 logcard today. This means that I race against myself not the other people on the rower. Which meant that I couldn’t race against my past times. Not to worry. A few seconds with a calculator and I had the 500m time for my pace boat all worked out.

Beating 2:02.4 for almost 30 minites was never going to be easy. But I managed. I also started my final sprint much farther out, with 250 metres to go, just under a minute of balls-out effort. It was perfectly timed and I died on my last stroke.

Pace boat next time is at 2:00.1 which means once I beat it realistically I will be under 20 minutes for the 5,000m. Which will place me in the top half of the rankings for blokes my age who can be arsed to log this kind of thing.

I like racing against myself. It’s always close. After busting a gut on Tuesday to set a PB for the 6,779 meters I was sure I wouldn’t do as well. Fortunately I was able to match my first 1,000m then settle into a nice steady rhythm, a couple of seconds quicker each 500m. I knew I had to get a decent lead because I always up the pace for the last 250 metres and I wasn’t sure if I’d have the wind to match Tuesdays effort.

I staved off my final sprint until the last 200m then nearly threw up.

It was worth it, another PB.

I’m just outside the top 50% for people my age who take this stuff seriously enough to log it. Which is alright.

Intervals before breakfast. Whatever next?

“My” machine was in use. Not that it’s my personal machine you understand; rather it is the one with my previous workouts logged on it to pace myself against. In order to get around this I’ve ordered a Concept2 logcard. Is that taking it too seriously?

My results were not too shoddy, not according to the Concept2 rankings and the amount of training I’ve done so far anyway. The 2,000m distance also allowed me to calculate my VO2 max for the first time in years. What I felt intuitively turns out to be right. My peak flow has stayed the same over the last 8 years, but my VO2 max and the efficiency with which I extract oxygen has gone up. I’m now in the “excellent” category rather than merely “average”. Which is nice.

Of course, being thinner and having less of me to haul about* helps. Not that a Concept2 travels anywhere.

Didn’t feel like I wanted to do this. Selected Fridays workout as a pace boat and then just tried to stay ahead of myself all the way. New PB by three seconds. Not too shoddy.

Intervals tomorrow.