This coming weekend I head to Sarasota, Florida to race in the 2016 Olympic Rowing Trials. I figured that this was my last chance to post a good 2k on the Erg. Going into this week I felt really good physically, with the Seattle camp and the Casitas Camp under my belt, I felt that the high volume training was really starting to provide some significant physiological benefits. With that in mind, I felt if ever I were to post a PR, this would be the week. My previous PR was a 6:26.2 (1:36.5 / 500 m average split), so I figured I could realistically shoot for ~6:24. I decided to follow the Caviston method for pacing:

800 meters: +1 // 600 meters: at goal split // 400 meters: -1 goal split //200 meters: -2 goal split

So, shooting for a 6:24, I had in mind I needed to hold a 1:37, 1:36, 1:35, and 1:34 respectively. Typically, I’ve rowed my 2k races with a drag of 120; but after some nudging from my teammates, I dropped it to ~110.

In reality, I ended up holding – 1:37.1 / 1:35.6 / 1:34.8 / 1:32.0 for 800, 600, 400, and 200 meters, respectively. Thus, I ended up with a 6:22.9 total time. 3.3 second PR at 32 years of age is something that I am definitely happy about. Of course, this isn’t very impressive compared to some of the guys I will be racing in 2 weeks (<6:12.0) but I’m on the lighter side (did this at ~153 pounds).

Regardless, this goes to show you can continue to improve after you are north of 30 years of age.