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Ask The Experts

How can I beat my personal best for 2,000 metres?

Nick Taylor: "I have reached the stage where I have a personal best of 7:03 for the 2,000 metres (heavyweight man, age 44) but however hard I try to beat this I fail. When I get to about 1,000 metres my throat goes very dry and burns; this results in me finding it harder to breathe as all my breath is taken by mouth at this stage. This is a problem I'm sure others must suffer with. Is there anyway I can alleviate this as I feel I can do a lot better than I am."

Terry O'Neill: There is something you can do. The first thing to realise is that you have created a mental block by adding a degree of difficulty to the task. Every time you attempt to improve your time and fail, you confirm your doubts about being able to break through this barrier, so this negative cycle has to be broken (I'll come back to that). The breathing is part of the problem and a form of panic sets in and it all contributes to the doubts you have about being able to improve your time. We breathe for two reasons, take in oxygen and get rid of carbon dioxide. There is far more oxygen available than anyone can possibly use and it is not the unavailability of oxygen that is a problem, it is that the aerobic system of energy production is too slow to supply the energy at the rate we need it when doing a flat out 2,000 metres.

Because we are relying on the anaerobic system for a large part of our energy needs, we are building up carbon dioxide in the blood and it is the need to get this out through the lungs that raises the breathing pattern. You have to focus on the need to blow out hard every few strokes because CO2 is heavier than air and lays in the bottom of your lungs. Blowing out will not dry the throat because air picks up moisture on the way in. You can only blow out what you breathe in though, and if you are breathing in through your mouth then your throat will dry out. Unless you have a blocked nose you should be able to get enough air into the lungs through the nose. Here is a little trick; as you come forward you can leave your mouth open but put your tongue up at the back of the mouth so that you are actually breathing through the nose but feel the forward motion is forcing the air into your lungs. Then every few strokes you can take a deep gulp through the mouth just as a comfort thing. By reducing the amount of breathing through the mouth you will reduce the drying out of the throat.

Now to get the confidence cycle going you have to have something tangible to hang onto. If you want to row 2,000 metres in 7 minutes then you have to be able to row 1,000 metres between 3:20-3:25 and 500m in around 1:35. If you can do this then you are capable of 7 minutes, you just have to get your head around it.