On 11 August I rowed more that 12,000 meters in 60 minutes. This was the first time since the L4-L5 fusion that I have rowed more than 12,000 meters in an hour. The remarkable thing about that morning is that I rowed this distance pain-free and felt no heaviness or effort. But even so, there was one faintly disturbing thing about the workout. My stroke rate climbed up as high as 35 spm, which is very fast. For months, until that morning, I had tried to follow the advice in a Concept 2 training video and row at “ratings typical of training and racing on water:”

“The Dynamic Indoor Rower is easy enough for anyone to row, but it supports more technical rowing than the model D or E. Quite simply the Dynamic holds you to a higher standard of rowing technique … While it may be tempting to row at higher stroke ratings we recommend practicing length, rhythm, and ratio at stroke ratings typical of training and racing on water. This focus will result in more effective speed.

So while I have been proud of rowing 12,000 meters a workout, I also have been worried about not holding myself to what Concept2 calls “a higher standard of rowing technique.” And then this morning after 30 minutes of rowing I realized that my workout had become painful. For 30 long minutes I had been rating between 33-36 spm without realizing that I was violating my first goal, which is row pain-free.

Immediately I lowered the stroke rate.

The result was surprising. My split times stayed about the same as when I was rowing at higher ratings. Why was this?

Concept2 contends that the Dynamic Indoor Rower requires more precise focus while rowing, more precise timing at the catch, more powerful rowing, and reduced stroke rate.

All I can think of is that lowering the stroke rate changed my recovery and catch. It made the recovery more leisurely and I breathed less hard. As for the catch, my timing became better. But what puzzles me is that in lowering the stroke rate I found myself pulling slightly harder. Yet I remained pain-free. Could this be the result of a more leisurely recovery and better timing at the catch?