So after my success at the Scottish Rowing Indoor Championships I thought I would give the British ones a go. So rather than just rowing the 500m, like I did at at the SRIC, I decided to be a glutton for punishment and I signed up for both the 500m and the 2000m (crossing my fingers that the events would be on separate days).

Luck was on my side with the 2000m scheduled for Saturday 5th December, and the 500m for Sunday 6th. But that is about all the luck I was to have.

LM40 2000M

It has been almost 20 years since I competed in a 2000m race so I was a little nervous. My plan was to try and beat my current personal best, which was 7:34.6. To do that all I had to do was row at a steady 1:52.5 and I would hit 7:30 and if my luck (or legs) would hold out I might even edge below that and get a 7:29 something. However, things didn’t go according to plan. I started too hard and did the first 500m in 1:45. This sapped my energy and I tried to pull it back but I couldn’t settle into a rhythm that I was comfortable with. I watched in horror as my average split started to climb. I needed to keep it below the 1:52 if I wanted to meet my target but it wasn’t to be. I was spent and this meant that I did the remaining 1500m at an average 1:56.

Although I had pushed it too hard in the beginning, I did manage to shave 1.5 seconds off my best time. So I am still pleased.

LM40 500M

After the great but slightly disappointing result from the 2000m (small improvements are still improvements and should be lauded), I set my mind on the 500m. I was hoping to remove a small amount of time from my PR at the Scottish Indoor Rowing Championships from two weeks ago.

I think I was a little tired from the 2000m from the day before, coupled with two false starts (grrr other competitors can be so annoying), I don’t think I rowed as well as I could have. I felt my start was good but I just didn’t have the stamina to keep it going. Perhaps I peaked too early and I didn’t keep enough in the tank for the final 200m. Or maybe it was because I didn’t actually train (I did no sprint/interval work leading up to this event). I finished with a 1:40.7 which is over a full second slower than I had done two weeks ago. It’s not the greatest time, and I would have been happier if I had matched or better my PR.

The future

I think I would like to take part in more events. Currently all the training/exercise I do is for myself and this is the first year that I have competed in sporting events in a long time. It has set a nice bench mark for the events and definitely I now have a target of what I would like to achieve. I think that a sub 7:30 is definitely possible for the 2000m and maybe I sub 1:30 is possible for the 500m (but that is a long way off). I think taking part in a proper training program for the events would be the right next step, as at the moment I just row with no real goal in mind.

Let’s see what happens in 2021.