George, welcome to Week 12. Oscar's assessment: a very well-controlled return to steady endurance work. You've opened “Quiet Strength and Rebuild” with precisely the qualities we wanted to see after the flu: consistent pacing, a relaxed stroke rate, low perceived effort and no lingering fatigue.
The most encouraging feature is not the pace itself. It's that you maintained the same pace for 50 minutes without needing to force it.
Monday's session — Steady Endurance Row
50-minute endurance row
Week 12 · Quiet Strength and Rebuild

🟢 Metabolic

Average pace
3:06.4

Heart rate
103 bpm
109 bpm maximum

Stroke rate
17–18 SPM

Power / effort
54 W
RPE 2–3 · Strava RE 12

1. The five 10-minute blocks
Block Pace HR SPM
0–10 min 3:06.4 103 17
10–20 min 3:06.4 105 17
20–30 min 3:06.5 104 18
30–40 min 3:06.3 107 18
40–50 min 3:06.4 108 18
Pace consistency: excellent. Your slowest and fastest blocks differ by only 0.2 seconds per 500 metres. That's effectively a flat pacing profile.
Your stroke rate rose naturally from 17 to 18 SPM, without disrupting the pace. That suggests you maintained your rhythm rather than trying to manufacture speed.
2. Heart-rate response
Heart rate by 10-minute block
A gentle rise across the session
Heart rate rose gradually while pace remained almost identical.

95 bpm100 bpm105 bpm110 bpm115 bpm0–1010–2020–3030–4040–50

Block values from your session log.

The gradual rise from 103 to 108 bpm is modest and unsurprising during a 50-minute session. There is no obvious abrupt increase in the figures you've supplied.
I would describe this as a reassuring response to today's workload, rather than proof that recovery from the flu is complete. Your subjective recovery, cough and response over the next 24 hours remain important.
3. What has improved since the re-entry row?
Measure Tue 6 Oct Mon 12 Oct
Duration 40 min 50 min
Pace 3:07.4 3:06.4
Average HR 105 103
Maximum HR 112 109
RPE 2–3 2–3
Lingering fatigue None None
You completed 10 additional minutes, at a pace one second faster per 500 metres, with a slightly lower recorded average and maximum heart rate.
That is encouraging. However, the sessions took place on different days and under potentially different conditions, so we shouldn't interpret the figures as definitive proof of a fitness gain. What matters most is that the longer session remained comfortable.
4. Oscar's decision for Tuesday
Keep the planned controlled strength session — but do not progress the load.
- Duration: 30–35 minutes.
- Two rounds of the familiar circuit.
- Use comfortable loads and controlled repetitions.
- No straining, no extra repetitions and no need to chase a higher heart rate.
- Finish feeling that you could comfortably have done more.
Your cue: “Quiet strength, clean movement.”
If the cough has persisted or worsened, or if unusual fatigue or chest or breathing symptoms return, postpone training rather than pushing through. If the cough remains persistent after the flu, seek medical advice.

The Week 12 principle
George, Monday has delivered exactly what this phase needs: consistency without strain.
We are not trying to prove that the interruption made no difference. We are rebuilding dependable training responses, one session at a time.
Small gain → consolidation → recovery → repeat.
Let's keep that principle firmly in place for Tuesday.