Long Pieces = Mental Workout

2Ks have a certain reputation in the rowing scene. They're long, mean and sneaky. You start with fresh legs thinking, HA HA I AM CRUSHING THIS I AM THE BEST ROWER THAT'S EVER ROWED EVER! Horrible Realization #1 hits at the 250M mark. The "Uh Oh I Have Seriously Overestimated Myself" moment. That's followed swiftly by Horrible Realization #2, AKA "I Have 1750 More Meters Of This Shit Left?"

Tough part is that even when you're not racing, 2K is not fun. Every time you look at your meters rowed you're surprised by how much is left. You can do power 10s and strategize it into manageable mental chunks all you want, but it still comes down to just whittling it away, meter by meter.

My 2K race split is 2:20', which makes it about 9:20' of pure hell. At CIRC 2013 this February I didn't finish dead last in my division (yay!) but I left lots of room for improvement. Lately I've been stalled in the progress department and if anything have been backsliding a little.

So I wasn't particularly delighted upon seeing today's Rowing workout on the whiteboard. A 3K??? Followed by 2K??? And it didn't end there.

Nothing to do but strap in and get to it. The hardest part was keeping my brain occupied during the long pieces. Let's be honest, that shit is boring. I count strokes. I try to even out my breathing. I wonder what the CrossFit class going on behind me is up to. Time to refocus. Despite the mental distraction, something about the coaching clicked today. By the end I felt all the elements of the stroke coming together in a more fluid, efficient way.

Form-wise, it was a good day. Still don't love that 2K though.