The 2K session was scheduled online and 4 others joined in. Because it was online, there were no crowds to cheer us on.
Since there were no cheering crowds, I played music as a cheering crowd substitute while trying for a season best in the 2K. The choice of music was an extended version of Sandstorm by Tunnel Alliance. It was chosen both because it is somewhat energetic but mostly because it is about 8 minutes long, which is more than enough for time for a 2K. If you are curious about the music you can listen to it at this Sandstorm on youtube link: But be forewarned – it is one of the videos youtube puts ads on which you have to endure for at least a few seconds before you can click “SKIP AD” and watch the video.
The title of today’s blog post includes the words “… and VO2 max In Play,” because for any of you who are dying to know what your VO2 max level is, you will be VERY HAPPY to know that all you need is access to a Concept 2 rowing machine, to measure it for free!
You can get a very, VERY accurate reading of your VO2 max without either the expense or bother of expensive equipment or going to a lab, simply by rowing 2K as fast as you can on a Concept 2 rowing machine and then plugging your results into the VO2 max calculator which is located on the concept2.com website. Which is what I did after racing a 2K.
Therefore, whenever you do your best rowing a 2K on the C2 erg, the possibility of knowing your current VO2 max is “in play.”
A screenshot of my VO2 max result is displayed below this paragraph:
If you’d rather have your VO2 max measured while you exercise on a treadmill, you will need special equipment and people who know how to operate that equipment, because treadmills are not standardized and calibrated like the Concept 2 ergs.
I actually did TWO 2K races today, because….I forgot to save the strokes to RowPro for the first and fastest one. I wanted to put the 2K result in the Concept 2 World Rankings for this season, but when using RowPro and uploading the results of any session and then clicking to put it in the World Rankings, your result only shows as “verified” if you also save the strokes. If you don’t save the strokes before uploading the file, it will show as “unverified”.
So… after doing the first 2K at a pace of 1:52.7/500m and forgetting to save the strokes, I rested for about 15 minutes and then did a second one.
Before doing a second 2K, I made a Post-It note which read “SAVE the STROKES!” and taped it to the top of the monitor. The reminder worked. (Of course, I could simply set RowPro to ALWAYS save the strokes for every session, but that extra data amounts to a much larger file and I’m trying to keep the RowPro file size from growing unnecessarily large.)
The second 2K was done at a pace of 1:53.3. Bummer! A little slower, because I consciously eased back on the effort, so the second 2K wouldn’t feel any more strenuous than the first one. It was good enough to set a new 2K seasonal record for me. So I ranked the second, slower 2K instead of the first, faster one.
It looks like I was a bit too lazy and slacked off too much on the second 2K when trying to make it feel the same as the first one, because HR was lower at the end of the second 2K. It should have been the same or higher as at the end of the first one, if it was equally strenuous. At least, that’s my layperson opinion on something a doctor or physiologist would be more of an expert on.
So here are the finish screens and session reports:
Happy trails to you.