All Over Now (until next time...)

Hi all,

This is my last update on this blog, so thanks to all of you that have read it. It's been a bit of a therapeutic exercise and has forced me to think about how things are going (reflection doesn't come very naturally).

Just starting out

Anyway, I managed to do it. 100km in about 10 and a half hours. And it was awful (the gym didn't even let me move in front of a TV!). Actually, that's not completely fair - there were various patches where I didn't struggle. So here's a basic report on how I was feeling during the row:

• First 30km - I did this stint without any cushions and it felt pretty good. This took about 3 hours, despite taking about 15 minutes to do a full set of stretches after my first 5km - which I treated as my warm-up. I had a few people around to chat to, which helped to pass the time. It couldn't really have gone any better, though I did start to get a bit of pain in my bum.

• 30-50km - I decided to start sitting on a cushion now, which made a big difference in a couple of ways. Firstly it did significantly reduce the pain in my bum, especially when compared to my practice row.  Secondly it completely changed the balance of rowing, so took a few km to get used to. Overall it was the right decision and probably one I should have pulled the trigger on earlier. Again this period was surprisingly good - no real muscle difficulties. I'm not really sure what happened during this period; it went by in a bit of a blur.

• 50-70km - Starting to get a bit more difficult. Some fatigue starting to set in, but actually not too bad.  The pain in my bum increased pretty dramatically though. My 500m split increased by about 5 seconds during this period, but a few people hung around and that really helped keep my mind off the ridiculously menial task I was performing.

• 70-90km - Hit the wall in a big way. My mood deteriorated significantly, I stopped talking and the pain began to increase. I managed to keep my split at about 2:50 though, so my muscles weren't really failing me. From 70km on it was a pure mental battle; me against the pain and tiredness. All my focus was just on keeping going. I was having real problems with sitting down now, to the extent that I started dropping my left leg to the left so that I could change position. This did mean that I was only really pushing with my right leg though.

• 90-99.5km - Getting near the end, but the pain didn't really decrease. I'd expected things to get a bit easier this near the finish, but they didn't. That was a bit of a mental blow, but I knew I couldn't possibly give up now. Had another visitor arrived, who helped break it up a bit. I still wasn't talking to any real extent so it didn't help that much. Just had to keep going...

• 99.5-100km - Changed into my Link Leisure t-shirt for the finish (making the most of the photo op) and I just wanted it to be over. I'd had enough so I really went for it - I did the last 500m in roughly 2 minutes. 

• 100km - This was meant to be a really good feeling, but it wasn't. I don't really know why, but I just felt really emotional - sort of like I was going to cry. I still can't make any sense of it, but there you go. This was always going to be how I really felt, not how I was meant to feel. My only guess is that I'd given everything mentally and my mind was just giving up.

The Final Push (surrounded by Gatorade...)

So how do I feel 48 hours later? Really I feel like it didn't actually happen. I'm proud that I managed to do it and it feels great to have raised so much money for charity, but it hasn't really sunk in. I'm sure that's partly because I didn't go anywhere - I don't have any distinctive memories because my visual cues were always the same (in case you're interested I could see a picture of a woman doing an upside down stretch on a white wall). So every feeling is just attached to roughly the same cues; therefore my memories are all merged into one.

I want to say thanks to those people who visited me during the row; it really did make a difference. So thanks to Malc, Andy and Elaine, Martine, Lloyd, Jane, Michael and Jackie who all made the effort to drop in (Extra thanks to Jane, Michael and Lloyd for the Jelly Babies and thanks to Jackie for the grapes). And thanks to the hardcore, who all did long stints; Tom, Andrea and Jake, your presences were much appreciated. Most of all thanks to Jen, who stayed with me for the full row. At the risk of making this sound like an Oscar acceptance speech, final thanks to everyone who donated. The money will make a huge difference to a charity that does a huge amount of good.

And if you'd like to take this chance to help Link Leisure then please do so at http://www.justgiving.com/100km-row.

Managed to get the logo

I hope you've enjoyed reading and I really hope this has inspired you to help a charity that means something to you. The bigger the challenge, the better. I have never been an endurance athlete, but I decided to push myself well beyond my normal limits. It's made me realise that I can always achieve more and hopefully my experience will help you see that too. As the world famous Anon. said "every accomplishment begins with the decision to try".

Best wishes and thanks for reading,

James x

P.s. If anybody has any ideas for what I should do next then please get in touch. I'm getting fidgety already...

Where's Your Head At

Gonna be pumped - like this kid

Here's the follow up to my post from yesterday - how am I feeling mentally now we're coming up to the big day.

It's fair to say that the mental challenge is going to be the biggest one. I'm pretty confident of my physical ability; I've trained hard for a long time and am feeling in good shape. I've got no idea how I'm going to cope with it mentally - I've never done one thing over and over again for about 10 hours. 

Doing 4/5 hour sessions is definitely heading in the right direction and I've been learning various coping techniques. My favourite of these involves getting into a really consistent rhythm on the rowing machine, focusing on whatever I can hear (normally "Fighting Talk", which, by the way, is a must listen if you like sport at all) and then slowly drifting out of real consciousness. I can often get a good 20-30mins done without really realising it. Another good way to let time drift away is just to really focus on my technique. That doesn't necessarily mean making it any good; I often focus on catching (i.e. starting my stroke) as far forward as possible. I quite enjoy just watching people wandering around the gym as well, especially when they're doing something ridiculous (this is probably the only place where there's ever been a shout out for the man who always comes to the gym in a backwards baseball cap - especially when he tries to do sit-ups and his cap keeps falling off). So overall I think the normal training has got me most of the way to being mentally ready. The rest will come on the day - I'm famously obnoxious about these sorts of things (see rowing with broken ribs or playing hockey when I couldn't walk).

But, how am I actually feeling now the row's approaching? I'm apprehensive about how it's going to go because it's really a dive into the unknown. I'm excited about having raised so much money (hopefully with more still to come in). And I'm relieved that the row is finally about to happen. There's been such a build up and at points I've not been able to see the end point. That might sound a bit down, but that's not what I mean - I'll be pumped up on the actual day. It's just that my overwhelming feeling is being thankful that I won't have to wake up at 5:45 in the morning to row and I'll be able to do some different forms of exercise. I'm also looking forward to not having to feel guilty if I need to miss a session!

I'll put up another update before I actually do the row, just to give a final impression. If you'd like to donate please do so at http://www.justgiving.com/100km-row. And (as always) many, many thanks to all of you who have donated so generously so far.

James xx

(Considerably) Over 1,000,000m done and less than a week to go

If I were moving I'd have passed here... (tediously, I'm not!)

It feels slightly strange to be only 6 days away from the row; I've been training for so long that at points it's felt like my row is never actually going to happen. Mainly I'm happy about almost being there - it's definitely time to just get it over with. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy to have done the training so far and I've learnt a lot from doing it, but rowing quite slowly, by yourself, staring at a wall gets a bit dull. You have to bear in mind that (by my reckoning) I've done over 1,000,000m during training - for context that's further than from London to Milan.

Last week was a pretty good one training-wise. I needed it to be because from now on I'll just be tapering before the big day. I managed a good 100k over the week, did a bit of cycling and had a few small weight sessions. I'm also happy with where I'm at technically (even though everybody is very confused by me tapping down). I haven't managed to resolve my basic issue of lack of discipline - it's far too easy just to row a bit faster when I know I'm "only" rowing 10/20km.

This week I'm just going to keep myself ticking over really. I'll do some little rows, but I'll focus on stretching. How flexible I am is going to have a major say in how easy the row is - when I'm going to be doing 10,000 odd strokes getting an extra 10cm per stroke will make a significant difference. Otherwise I'm going to make sure I do all the basics; I'll keep my fluid levels as high as possible, I'll eat well, sleep well and keep taking my vitamins and minerals.

I know I've focused on the physical aspects throughout my posts, so tomorrow I'll write about how I'm feeling mentally. The mental aspect of rowing for 10 or so hours is probably going to be the biggest challenge.

As always many thanks to those who've donated. And to those that haven't please pop over to http://www.justgiving.com/100km-row. It's much appreciated. And for those who want a bit of an insight into my mind the check back here tomorrow.

Cheers,
James x

The First Bad Week... (But it's all picking up now!)

Hi all,

Sorry for the slight break in writing - last week was a bit of a downer so I didn't fancy writing. I was a bit ill, so was faced with the dilemma of forcing myself to row and potentially delaying my recovery or resting up. I ended up choosing to rest up, but it does mean that I lost almost a week of training (which is hardly ideal with only a couple of weeks to do). I decided to rest up because I figured that over-training probably played a role in me being a bit under the weather.

Anyway I'm back to being positive again now - I'm back rowing in the mornings and I don't feel like I've been set back too far. This is going to be my last week of full training; next week I'll stick to about 10k a day and stretching. That's a little bit worrying, but mainly I just want to do the row now - I've been training for months and I'm finally reaching the climax. I'm still confident about it - the only worry is that the issues are the same as always. I've not really managed to find a solution on the bum pain (I'm just going to use pillows as much as possible) or going too quickly (I'm hoping that having some people - I'm looking at you lil' Jen - will control me a bit better).

A "recumbent" exercise bike

I think if I ever trained for something like this again I'd mix it up a bit more when I started. In retrospect I would have cycled a bit more to keep things more interesting - I think a "recumbent" exercise bike would probably have helped with my glutes as well. I've become a bit over specialised at rowing - at a physical assessment I was one of the only people who came out with stronger arm pulling than pushing strength (I know that shows my technique's a bit dodgy, but I'll do whatever's comfortable when I'm rowing this much).

Anyway I hope you're all well and if you'd like to donate please do at http://www.justgiving.com/100km-row. And thanks again if you've already donated,

Cheers,
James

A Marathon Row...

Hi all,

I did my first longer row yesterday, so I thought I'd update you on how it went.

I did 40km, which was a pretty good distance. I was intending to do 50, but my desire to watch England vs Australia in the rugby league outweighed the lessons I thought I'd learn from another 10k (turned out to probably be the wrong choice - England were very, very frustrating).

Haile and I both covered roughly the same distance

So I rowed basically the distance of a marathon and it went pretty well. I purposefully kept myself rowing pretty slowly, but still averaged about 2:35/500m over the row which was faster than expected. I forced myself to take reasonable breaks (a couple of minutes) between 10km sessions, so ended up taking about 3 hours 45 minutes.

I didn't actually feel too bad at any point during the row, though there were up and down periods. My main problem was my bum (as expected). I mixed up just using the seat and using an erg cushion to try to reduce this problem and it did make a bit of a difference. When I row the full distance I think I'll mix in a normal cushion as well. I really wasn't too knackered - physically - by the row, which is a major positive (even though it was expected). I've also not got any muscular or joint problems today (the day after the row), which is great.

So overall I was very happy with it and it made me see that this is definitely achievable - even though it will be right at the end of my physical limit.

I'm taking a fair few of these bad boys

One other thing I thought that might be of interest is my diet at the moment. I'll just give you the weekday run-down, as weekends are a bit less predicable (e.g. my row yesterday used up 2,200 kcals for starters). At breakfast I'm going for a large bowl of cereal (skimmed milk) with a smoothie, lunch tends to be a couple of rolls with a few slices of something with lots of protein and salad, and dinner is a large pasta-based meal (remember I'm rowing in the mornings). So almost all my complex carbs are coming from my evening meal - it's not ideal, but work really restricts who my meals are laid out. If I feel the need for a snack I'm going for dried fruit of some sort (generally cranberries, raisins and sultanas for me). Supplement-wise I'm taking a multivitamin tablet, glucosamine sulphate and fish oil tablets (for my joints - I'm hypermobile, so have joint stability issues), and methylsulphonylmethane (again for joints, but for cartilage). I'm not necessarily convinced by them, but it seems better to cover every base at the moment.

Anyway, thanks again for reading. If you'd like to donate please do so at http://www.justgiving.com/100km-row. And it is much appreciated if you've already done so. If you'd like to see why I'm doing this please read my first post.

Hope you're doing well and thanks for reading,
James

The Date is Set!

Hi all,

This time I have managed to hold back the blog until my row date was confirmed - Saturday 3rd December is row day. One month to go...

A model performer under pressure

So while it's great to finally have a date set, it does also mean that this has all suddenly become a lot more real and therefore scary. Luckily training is still going well and the early mornings have really helped my rowing (though I'm not sure getting up at 6ish is ideal longer term). I managed to get through a pretty good distance during the week and felt fairly solid throughout.

I do need to get some real stints in, so this weekend I'm going to be very anti-social and stay in Portsmouth. I'm intending to do a 40 or 50k row on Saturday just to see how it goes. I'll put up another post afterwards because it'll be the closest I'm probably going to come to the real distance before actually rowing. My main concerns are still: 1) Rowing at a consistent rate and 2) sitting down for that long in the same position is going to start to hurt my bum. And the fact that these are my biggest concerns has got to be a good sign.

Now I've got a date I'm going to start pushing the sponsorship much harder - somehow it didn't quite feel right asking people to sponsor something with no fixed date. It's going pretty well so far, so thanks to all of you who've donated. And here's the link for those that haven't http://www.justgiving.com/100km-row.

Thanks,
James

Training is Going Smoothly. Sadly Admin isn't...

Sorry for the long break between posts. I wanted to wait until I had a date set to write a post, but that's a whole tale in itself. Anyway here's my first update on how things are going.

First the positives; training is actually going smoothly, though I've adjusted my plan due to a delay in when I'll be rowing. There are some disadvantages to living in Portsmouth by myself; mainly not knowing anyone. However, a major plus point is that I have lots of time to train. For the last couple of weeks I've been going to the gym after work, which has been ok - though I can't do really long stints on the erg because it's pretty busy. So from Monday I'm going to go to the gym before work. This will let me do a couple of hours on the erg (hopefully about 25km each day this week), which will be an improvement from the 15 or so I've been managing so far.

Anyway despite this minor issue I feel like I'm making progress. The biggest thing I need to do is keep my discipline a bit better; if I'm not being careful I start steadily increasing stroke rate and dropping my split. This is fine when I'm only doing these short rows, but will cause real trouble when I start rowing a bit further. Otherwise I'm finding the sessions pretty easy and can row without getting too bored. I can also feel physical improvements, so I'm happy with training.

My gym has enough users; it's just empty of managers

Now the admin. The gym are being real trouble with organising a date. They've agreed that I can row there, which is great, but they are just refusing to set a time. The main problem seems to be that their gym managers only work 9-5, when I'm at work. You're probably thinking this isn't an issue; after all phones and email exist to help with these sort of communication issues. Yet they seem determined not to give out a phone number and refuse to answer emails.

I think the answer's going to be me taking a bit of time off to go to the gym during the day. Then (I'm hoping) I'll be able to nail them down.

Finally, thanks to all of you who have donated to Link Leisure on my just giving page (http://www.justgiving.com/100km-row). It really helps the charity a lot. If you want to find out a bit more about Link Leisure, and why it's particularly salient to me, then check out my first post.

Thanks all,
James