Last week I posted that I got a 1:29.1 for a 500m Concept2 Row at Crossfit Manchester.
Friday I beat it: 1:27.5 !! 😀
I don’t think I could move for about 10 minutes afterwards mind, my legs were killing me and I had an instant headache, but I am well chuffed with that. I put the difference down to that weird slider thing on the side of the Concept2’s: the damper setting. Always it’s set to 4, simple because it’s always set to 4! However, in theory (if I understand the theory correctly) a higher setting should suit me, as I have more strength than stamina, if you see what I mean.
So I experimented, and set it to 7. Well it seems to have worked, taking 1.6 seconds off my time is a significant step I think. And checking the Concept2 world wide rankings again, I’ve moved from the top 15% to the top 10%. Or looking at it the other way round as the Concept2 site does, I’m exactly on the 90th percentile for times in the 2008 season for my age group (*cough* 30-39 *cough*).
As before, I trailed off badly in the last quarter. Splits went something like this: 0-350m I bobbled around 1:23 – 1:24 pace. It all started to feel very hard about 370m, and I had dropped to 1:29 ish by 400m. By 450m I was struggling to do better than 1:32 and it was a desperate attempt at just hanging on in there till the end.
To be honest, my technique needs some work as I managed to nearly stand up over the starting 100m, and kept launching myself off the seat. (Note to Concept2: install seat belts!) The chain was flapping about rather too much, and I noticed I was ending the strokes on tip toes too. All brawn and no brain I guess, lol. Interestingly, whilst that 1:25 Athletics Skill Level 4 time is suddenly looking achievable, to get it would you would rank 13th out of 276 on the Concept2 fastest times this year, (or 29th out of 719 for last year) that’s pretty Elite!
Pssst, Davie, wadya think about that then? 😉
