From Andy Pearce:

Week 16 - PB's and the Marathon

More metres towards the Virtual Team Challenge for the C2TweetCrew this week, 104413m for Anita, 116804m for me.

Cumulatively since October 3rd last year we've rowed 2358km (1466 miles) in training for the 100km piece on March 17th www.justgiving.com/Anita-Wells for Sport Relief in 16 weeks and 71 sessions.

Monday, Tuesday and Thursday (Usually a rest day, but swapped for Wednesday this week) were interval training, 3 x 40' on Monday, 4 x 15' on Tuesday and 4 x 20' on Thursday.

Each session felt good, and the times produced (I PB'd my 15 minute best (now 4143m at 1:48.6/500m) on Tuesday) were very strong, with Anita keeping most of her work under 2:20 pace. Considering her PB's at 5k and 6k were only in the 2:16 area prior to us starting the Eddie Fletcher Marathon plan (www.fletchersportscience.co.uk/uploads/img4731d3f5392f41.pdf) she spends most of her rowing time in training at these splits now.

Friday was a 30' 'controlled' PB attempt, as we were attempting our first timed Marathon on Saturday, and both of us did this quite easily, Anita at 6620m (2:16, but with over 5s/500m left to give) and me at 8074m (1:51.5, with about 4s/500m left to give) - It was definitely a good workout.

Then Saturday - The Full Marathon (42195m) :)

After a Porridge, Honey, Walnut and Almond breakfast we went to our gym (Topnotch Colchester) and started just after 11am. Anita rowed another flawless piece, keeping her pace around 2:21/500m, and with 2 refueling stops finished in a shade over 3hrs 20 minutes, at 2:22.3 pace, putting her 5th in her age/weight group for the season, 6th including lightweights, and 8th if you include the currently unverified times at the top of the group.

She is a definite endurance specialist, and her overall conditioning is now excellent. She really seems to be able to grind the power out indefinitely, and is strong-willed enough to power through the aches and pains. Her body chemistry (Type-2 diabetic) seems not to be an issue - we are eating healthily as well - indeed, it may be reversing the diabetes as her blood tests over the past 3 months have been normal, with no medication taken. It shows that healthy eating and regular exercise (OK, it doesn't have to be over 100km/week on the Concept2 :)) can cure/moderate a number of ills :)

I felt pretty good through 14k (1:55.2 average) but really started to suffer from numb-bum in my right glute. I ended up stopping about 6 times, finishing in 2:54:23.3, or 2:04 average. I'm slightly disappointed, but realistic; I need to factor in proper breaks for anything over Half-Marathon distance if I can't find a way to stop the ache (I've tried Ibuprofen and two different types of seat pad so far, to no avail. Couple that with both calves cramping as well and I'm ok with the result - Plenty of room improvement, but as I've said to Anita we're doing this for the rest of our lives now (Though maybe not at this intensity :))

That should be the last of our PB's (And PB attempts) before the 100k, the next 8 weeks up to the big day will mainly be spent racking up the metres and tuning our conditioning - Seeing as I've come home after the Marathon, done the hoovering, washing and dinner I don't think it's going too bad :)

Until next week, keep rowing :)

Anita & Andy

www.justgiving.com/Anita-Wells