Indoor Rowing Progress – July 2023

July’s indoor rowing was probably what I would describe as “more of the same” compared to June.  That said, injury and fatigue were more the order of the month. Not to say it wasn’t without some achievements. But it’s not a pretty month compared to the achievements I made in June.

Overall Summary

_{NOTE: Season runs from 1^st May to 30^th April}

Monthly Indoor Rowing Highlights

Less overall metres rowed this month at 99,000m (rounding). The worst attempt was more of a personal experiment – I’d been studying on the random bouts of fatigue I’ve been suffering with for a few years now, and one of the possible solutions was to actually push and do something physical during it.

Needless to say, it didn’t go well:

I’m not proud of this one. But it did illustrate that my fatigue wasn’t something biological in the sense of low blood sugar or nutrient deficiencies. I could not physically do the rowing. My muscles and my mind weren’t up to the task.

It wasn’t all like this however – other days I absolutely nailed my performance. Doing a 5k row with the goal of a sub-2:30 pace become more ‘normal’ for me on the good days.

However, my crowning achievement was on one of the WOD (Workout of the Day) sessions. It was a 1000m interval with a 60-second rest period between each set. So a short distance, and something I could really push on. Doing a faster 1k was achievable based on my experience, so I did it. My goal was simple – row at 2:15 pace and see how dead I was afterwards. What I achieved was beyond my goal and expectations:

So there you have it. Not the most exciting of months, but hey – if it was exciting all the time, it would get boring. I need the lulls, the steady progress, the smaller achievements as I struggle onward to my ultimate longer term goals.

Other News

I’ve just ordered some rowing gloves. Sorry, but my fat sausage skinned fingers just can’t get a good, consistent grip round the handle! I’m basically folding skin into my joint crevices and after 3-4k the handle feels like it’s made of razor blades. My shitty weightlifting gloves alleviate some of the issue but at the cost of sensation.

So I’ve dropped some credit card action on a pair of sculler gloves from The Crew Stop, with their longer finger coverings on the middle three fingers, leaving some of the thumb and the pinky fingers (which don’t seem to suffer anywhere near as much). The reviews are good, they have an open back design and will probably feel weird but my thinking is that the theory behind their design is sound.

Hopefully they will be here by the weekend, and I’ll be able to use these to great effect in my future endeavours, especially longer term with my marathon aims…

Next Month’s Indoor Rowing Goals

The disappointment of not achieving what I wanted to this last month has diminished my love for indoor rowing. A good solid and reasonably regular set of sessions kept me going through the month. I can only hope that new tests can shed light on the random fatigue issues I have. I’ve made some subtle dietary changes, hoping to shed some body fat through that. I’ve aimed to alter the food to a more anti-inflammatory diet, as my wife had observed the positive change in my mood during the time I’ve been on it before. It’s just damn hard. But each time I make more progress towards refining and honing each part of my lifestyle changes.

August is the Dog Days Challenge from Concept2. A full month of challenge, having to achieve a set distance which increases every week of August. Starting at 10k in the first week, it adds 10k each week until the final week which will cover a distance of 40k. Fortunately it’s not all done in one session, noooooo thank goodness! It’s more a total distance in that particular week.

10k in a week is super easy. Heck I’ve done 5k tonight and that was just getting back into some steady state rowing. 20k is fine, 30k could be interesting. It’s the final week at 40k that’s going to be tough. Here’s hoping I’m making good strides by then.

Simply finishing the Dog Days Challenge will be a great achievement for my indoor rowing goals.