Not that it is unusual to row before coffee or breakfast. That’s what I’ve been doing for a while now, and it seems to have a very positive effect on how the heart behaves. No irregular rhythm, if I put off breaking fast for more than 12 hours each day and also do some rowing before eating.
Don’t do what when running? Don’t keep your eyes closed, or you might crash into a tree or a cactus, etc.
But its okay to keep your eyes closed when using a rowing machine.
Which is what I did again today. At the beginning, I set a timer for 40 minutes and opened my eyes when it beeped. Then, I set the timer for another 7 minutes which took me almost to the finish with eyes closed.
Today’s indoor rowing was done at a low rating which worked out to be an average of about 17 strokes per minute for the entire distance. Rowing at a low rating is highly rated in the sense that it is supposed to be a good activity for improving strength.
I was probably actually awake during this morning’s 10K session, but it was a trance-like state.
When the alarm went off this morning at 7:40, I had been sleeping very deeply. I went to the rowing machine as soon as possible, to row another 10K for the Concept 2 March challenge.
It felt like I was asleep with my eyes open, when I started rowing. I let the rowing effort be what felt best and the result was a breezy, trance-like rowing experience. It was “breezy”, each time a stroke was finished and the seat reversed its direction of movement on the rail. Each reversal of direction to switch from drive to recovery provided a gentle, caressing breeze. That and the relatively slow movements all added up to a dreamy, caressed-with-sleep experience with each stroke.
In one sense of the word, it could be described as a “romantic” experience. In the same sense, that is, in which some distance and ultra-distance runners have described their individual running experience as “romantic”.
To say it another way, the rowing chart of a well-behaved heart is not messy, like the charts for yesterday’s session, with all the gaps and vertical lines for every time the heart rate was too irregular to be measured by the heart strap.
And yes, today’s rowing session was unblemished by irregularity or tachycardia of any sort.
Today started a bit late and so when I was able to get to the rowing machine, I was in a “just do it” frame of mind. The 10K was done at an easy pace, slightly increasing for most of the session and then it tapered during the last part, especially the last 2K which served as a warm down.
Today’s indoor rowing session was early morning to get it out of the way before a busy day. There was a problem: The heart, that necessary nuisance, wasn’t cooperating again. It was so irregular that many times the heart strap couldn’t track it and the HR display would go blank. When it was regular, it was beating way too fast for the effort level.
I didn’t find anything to stimulate the evacuation of that problem so the session was simply finished at a very slow pace. Extremely slow. But the 10K was done and another day can be checked off towards fulfillment of one of the current Concept 2 challenges, which requires at least 25 days of minimum (either 5K or 10K per day) rowing. I opted for doing 10K per day for 25 days this month.