In response to one of our many requests for reader-written articles in Newsletters past, reader Ted Edwards sent in a couple based on different split times. Below is the first of these articles based on the Split Time 1:59.x. Remember, if you've got any article you'd like to see here, make sure you send it into editor@therowingcompany.com. Take it away Ted…One minute 59 point something seconds is a very significant 500m split time for most indoor rowers, and it's a very useful time if you want to do anything in under 2 minutes! If you maintain this split time for 500m you, not surprisingly, get a final time under 2 minutes, maintain it for 1000m and your time is under 4 minutes. It was certainly a target for me to maintain for 2,000m when I started indoor rowing since you can then get under 8 minutes. The next big hurdle for me was maintaining it for 5,000m, which took quite a while, but I eventually did it to record a time just under 20 minutes. I've not managed to maintain it for longer than this as yet, but plenty of others have. Most notable is Christina Nugent, who set a new British/Irish half marathon record in 2003 of 1 hour 24 minutes and 17 seconds (average split time of 1:59.85). In the British section of the Indoor Rowing Ranking tables at the time of writing, 21 men maintained a split of 1:59.x for 10000m, 4 men maintained it for 21,097m (half marathon), and 2 men kept it up for 42,195m (marathon). Lastly (thank goodness I hear you say) based on the latest on-line Concept 2 interactive training programme for 2000m, 1:59.x is the split you're supposed to maintain for the UT2 training band if your current 2,000m time is around 6 minutes 54 seconds; for the UT1 training band if your current 2,000m time is around 7:10; for the AT training band if your current 2,000m time is about 7:34; for the TR training band if your current 2,000m time is about 7:58; and for the AN training band if your current 2,000m time is about 8:10.That's all for this week, look out for another Split Time Story soon. Now which should I choose, 1:49.3, 2:14.7… so many split times, so little actual time!