500 Meter Rowing Time, The Rematch

A little over a month ago I tried a 500m sprint on the C2 rower. Since then the Crossfit thread that prompted me to try this in the first place has grown to mammoth proportions. Folks seem to agree that setting the damper to 10 is the way to go for benchmark purposes, so I finally gave it a go. Again, I love that you can set the monitor to show you your 500m pace for each stroke (i.e. how long it would take if all your strokes were like the current stroke). I wanted to break 1:30, and was rowing a 1:24 pace for the first 50 seconds before hitting a wall. It was all I could do to finish. Still, I just barely missed it, 1:30.5. Half a second! Damn!

I stood up afterward and could immediately tell I didn't have a drop of glycogen left in any muscles, anywhere. Almost fell over. My throat was even sore from the breathing (gasping) and grunting (groaning) involved. The best 90-second workout (give or take half-a-second) you're likely to find. Try it sometime.