One of the videos I watched while warming up has nothing to do with today’s rowing except that it was humorous and I enjoyed it. It relates mostly to OTW (on the water) rowing, though it did show the guy who was being introduced to rowing when he tried using a Concept 2 rowing machine and fell off the seat. I suspect that he might have done that on purpose, because there is no special skill needed to sit on a rowing machine.
The answer to the question, how hard can rowing be? is: as hard as you want. There is no limit except the limit your own mind imposes upon you.
Today’s rowing was 10,000 meters. The first part was a warm up, then I watched the youtube video HOCR Rowing Power Workout and did nine intervals for the remainder.
After the ninth interval, I didn’t slow down completely and my heart decided to protest. The word “decided” in the previous sentence is a bit more than a figure of speech, it seems, because according to some articles I’ve read about the human heart, it has its own “brain”?!?! By “protest”, I mean my heart didn’t slow down like it normally does after the 10,000 meters was finished and -in addition to that- it even went higher during the last hundred meters or so. It was acting very contrary, to say the least.
After the 10K was over, it remained up in the 140+ BPM area, so I tried doing a 10 minute “warm down” even though I wasn’t hot. It still refused to slow down to normal. So I thought something to the effect of, “the heck with it!” and changed clothes.
It seems to be close to normal now, at around 70 BPM while I’m sitting here typing. So maybe the heart repented of its protest. Though 70+ does seem a bit high, for only moving one finger at a time on the keyboard.
Happy rowing to you.