Well prepared?!

Since deciding to take on this rowing challenge I have followed Ali's advice. Ali is from Seal Personal Training http://www.sealpersonaltraining.com/ and puts me through my paces every week. Sometimes I end up terribly sore other times only a little but I always have fun training with him and feel that I am making good progress with my fitness in general and my rowing in particular. His predictions on what I can achieve have so far been pretty accurate and therefore I trust his guidance and even though I sometimes feel the need to challenge him I basically do as I am told. I'm happy with the results; I feel fitter and healthier. But am I ready for the British Indoor Rowing Championships in 9 days time?

Aside from enjoying the training and its results I am motivated by my desire to raise as much money as I can for Jan. If you would like to donate please follow the link   https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=TTSDYLAW264E2


But another key driver that spurns me on (I'm just a little embarrassed to admit but we are among friends here aren't we?) is being terrified of coming last. The vision of long rows of concept 2 rowing machines all having fallen silent whilst I have still not made it to the finish line is currently my worst nightmare. So I tasked Ali to do whatever it takes to help me avoid coming last.


Yesterday was my last big training effort before the race. The task was to compete in a mini team race rowing 9k in 30 intervals of 300m together with a partner. My target was to row all of my 15 intervals below 2 minutes/500m. Your perhaps guess it already, I did not make it. In fact, I missed the target by a long way, a very long way. And yes, you guess that right also, I did come last. And yes, it did feel exactly how I thought it would only that it only lasted for about 15 seconds.

And guess what? I survived. In fact, my legs were and are so sore that I do not care about anything other than finding a comfortable seating position. So perhaps I am not well prepared to avoid coming last but with a few days rest my legs will have hopefully forgiven me for last night's maltreatment and I will be the best I can be for next Sunday. 


Now that I have proven that coming last is perfectly survivable, I am ready for anything.