The Sub-7 Experiment

Blog

  • Green Means Go

    Monday morning, another good session.

    WHOOP was green when I woke up, and green means go. So I went.

    I did a short warm-up, then 35 minutes on the rower at an average pace of about 2:04/500m, which worked out to roughly 8,500 metres. With the warm-up and cool-down, it comes in around 11k for the day.

    Nothing dramatic, no heroics. Just a solid, steady session and another brick in the wall.

    When I finish my sessions, I take screenshots of the WHOOP data and the ErgData app and feed them back into Coach ChatGPT. Today I noticed something new. It didn’t just say “good job.” It started to ask for specific changes in the data.

    My pace was where it had asked for it, if not a little quicker. What it picked up on was my stroke rate. It pointed out that I was moving a bit fast and that it would like to see the same pace but with a lower stroke rate.

    That probably doesn’t make much sense unless you are used to the action of rowing.

    Inside the rower is a flywheel that gives you the resistance on each stroke. On the recovery part of the stroke, that flywheel slows down, and how much it slows depends on the damper setting. The higher the damper, the more the flywheel slows, and the harder you have to work on each stroke to get it spinning again. To keep a 2:04 pace at a higher stroke rate, say 26–28 strokes per minute, you can “get away with” less power per stroke. To hold the same 2:04 at 22–24 strokes per minute, each stroke has to do more work.

    In simple terms, CoachGPT is asking me to slow the stroke rate down and put more power into each stroke. Get stronger, not just spin faster.

    I hadn’t really seen it nudge me like that before. That is good. It means the coach is starting to care about how I make the split, not just the number on the screen.

    This is The Sub-7 Experiment.

  • Back to Work

    That was a good workout.

    It felt like the first real, proper work towards the Sub-7 project for a long time. I did six 500 metre intervals, sitting pretty consistently around 1:52/500m. It felt like work – in a good way. Hard enough that I had to concentrate, not so hard that I was falling apart.

    After that I dropped the intensity and spent 15 minutes just cruising around the virtual loop, spinning the legs and letting the heart rate come down.

    Nothing dramatic to report. No breakthroughs. Just solid work.

    We’re on the right route. I think we always have been – it’s just that some phases feel easier than others.

    This is The Sub-7 Experiment.

  • The Day I Ignored CoachGPT

    I’m afraid I didn’t listen to CoachGPT at all today.

    I knew I wanted to row, and I knew I wanted it to be tough. When I asked ChatGPT for a plan earlier, it came back with something sensible enough, but my head wanted a long, hard row for the sake of headspace, not optimisation.

    So that’s what I did.

    It’s chucking down with rain outside. This is exactly why I wanted a rowing machine in the shed. With the way my head was this morning, there was no way I was going to get in the car, drive to the gym and do a session there. Walking across the garden to the shed felt possible. Driving across town did not.

    On the Concept2 PM5 you can connect your phone over Bluetooth and use the Concept2 app ErgData. There’s a feature in there called Real Time – basically a virtual 1,000 metre lap that anyone can join in real time if they’re logged in.

    I’ve used it on the last few longer rows, and I really like it. Today there were 36 people from around 20 countries on the same virtual loop. You don’t see their exact pace numbers, but you see if they’re coming past you or if you’re moving through them. There are also virtual pace boats going round, so if you want something to latch on to, you pick a boat and hang on. Alongside that you still get your own pace, stroke rate, distance and time. Plenty to chew on.

    Today’s session was:

    • 5 minute warm-up
    • 30 minutes on the virtual loop at an average pace of 2:04/500m
    • 250m all-out sprint
    • 5 minute warm-down

    I was moving, and it felt good.

    It wasn’t by the book. It wasn’t what the coach recommended. But I finished feeling great, and I needed that sense of control today – the feeling that I had chosen the hard thing and seen it through.

    This is The Sub-7 Experiment, and sometimes I’m the one steering.

  • The Rest Day That Paid Off

    I thought that having a rowing machine in the shed would mean I’d use it every day. That was the plan in my head: step out the back door, sit on the erg, job done.

    What’s actually happened with this new training regime is almost the opposite.

    Since I started feeding my WHOOP scores into Coach ChatGPT, there have been more recovery days than I expected. Yesterday was a perfect example. I woke up fully intending to do a decent session in the shed, or maybe even go to the gym. But my recovery score, according to Whoop, was 37%, and the advice from Coach ChatGPT was simple: take a recovery day.

    It felt wrong.

    In my head, I wanted to train. But this is the deal I’ve made with myself: if I’m going to use data and a coach, I have to actually listen. So I did. I gave myself the day off. My total strain for the day was only 4.4. Not much happened physically.

    Then came this morning.

    Recovery was 97%, the highest it’s been in a long time. Suddenly yesterday’s “non-session” made a lot more sense.

    With that green light, today’s plan was a decent workout on the rower in the shed: three 8-minute intervals with 2 minutes rest between them, each one slightly faster than the last. Warm-up first, cooldown after. It felt like a well-judged session, enough to make me work, not enough to bury me.

    I’ll admit, I’ve been wondering if I’ve made this whole thing too complicated. Copying WHOOP numbers into ChatGPT. Using the new app on the rower to program intervals, target pace, target stroke rate. It’s a few more moving parts than just “sit down and hammer it.”

    But I think this is just what happens with any new process. At first it feels clunky and over-engineered. Then you learn it, repeat it, and it becomes habit. Muscle memory. Copy, paste, adjust, row.

    Today was a good workout and a good lesson: sometimes the smart move is not to train, so that when you do train, you can actually go to work.

    This is The Sub-7 Experiment, and I’m still figuring it out.

  • Missing the Gym, Just a Little

    I have just walked back in from the shed after a good session on the rower.

    I am really starting to like this new version of ChatGPT. It feels like it remembers more of the coaching conversation as we go, which makes the whole thing feel more joined up. Today it had me doing 5 minute intervals, and it was a proper session. Enough to feel it, not so much that it wiped me out.

    What has surprised me is what I am starting to miss.

    I thought that once I had the rower in the shed, that would be it. Training at home, no commute, no waiting for machines, no distractions. And a lot of that is true. But I have realised I miss the people at the gym more than I expected.

    I am not a big talker there. It is usually just a quick hello to the staff on the desk, a nod to the regulars, and then everyone gets on with their own programme. Headphones in, sets to do, not much conversation. But there is still a sense of other humans being around you, all doing their thing. I did not think I would miss that, and yet I do.

    It is a small thing, but the nods and the “alright?” moments matter more than I gave them credit for.

    Rowing will always be the main thread. The shed is perfect for that. But I think I will still go to the gym now and then for strength work and, if I am honest, for that tiny bit of human connection. A different kind of fuel.

    Today’s row kept the body ticking over, but it also taught me something: I need both the quiet of the shed and the presence of other people now and then.

    This is The Sub-7 Experiment, and we are still learning.

  • No Excuses in the Shed

    WHOOP scores this morning showed recovery way down, sleep way down, and if there was a dial for enthusiasm, that would have been way down too. Previously I would have talked myself out of any exercise on a morning like this.

    But here’s the big change: I have a rower in the shed now. No excuses.

    So I put my gear on, stuck on some banging tunes and went out to the shed for a ChatGPT-approved workout: ten minutes at a reasonable pace, then 3 × 5 minute sets at around 2:05/500m.

    And it was great.

    It got rid of the funk and set me up to finally finish a work task that had been hanging over me all weekend.

    Brilliant.

    This is The Sub-7 Experiment.

  • The First Home 10K

    I have just finished my first 10,000 metres on the home rowing machine and I feel great. Absolutely brilliant.

    There is something special about rowing on a brand new machine. This one feels smooth and buttery and just glorious compared to some of the tired commercial ergs I have used over the years.

    For the record, I did not listen to Coach GPT at all today.

    The sensible plan was a 30 minute fairly easy row. Instead, I set the monitor to 10,000 metres and got on with it. I kept things mostly steady but had a couple of big digs in there to get the blood properly flowing. It felt powerful and fun, not reckless.

    This whole setup still feels like a huge privilege to have a Concept2 in the shed, ready whenever I am.

    The best bit? When I am done, I do not have to drive home. I just step off the rower, open the door and walk across the garden.

    How cool is that?

    Another good session logged. This is The Sub-7 Experiment, and it continues.

  • The Shed Sessions Begin

    Today is a big day in The Sub-7 Experiment.

    Today was the first 30 minute row on my new Concept2 RowErg. In my shed.

    I am so excited to have this, and I recognise the privileged position I am in to be able to own my own machine. It is something I have dreamed about for a long time.

    No excuses not to row. No excuses not to move every day.

    Gym for strength work. Shed for rowing technique and pacing.

    I am delighted.

    This is The Sub-7 Experiment, and we have just changed gear.

  • The Sunday I Nearly Skipped

    And we are back. Sunday morning.

    There was ice on the car. The heating was on in the house. Everyone else was warm and cosy. It would have been very easy to stay in bed, put something on the TV and write the whole morning off as “rest.”

    Instead, I scraped the ice off the car, put my gym gear on and went.

    Same routine as the last few days: I took my WHOOP scores and fed them into ChatGPT. Recovery, strain, sleep, stress, all of it. This time the response was different. Instead of another rowing session, it came back with a strength and conditioning workout.

    The plan was very specific. Exact machines. Exact reps. Exact weights.

    There was only one problem. The weights it suggested were based on the numbers from a couple of months ago, pre-surgery, when I was training regularly and feeling stronger. I am not quite there yet.

    So I asked the obvious question: are you sure about those weights, given that we have not done this in a while?

    To its credit, Coach GPT backed off. It lowered the recommended loads to something more realistic, and in the end they felt pretty much perfect. Hard work, but not stupid.

    There was another small win before I even started. On Thursday I had left my heel wedges at the gym. I assumed they were gone. When I walked in this morning, the receptionist handed them back. Someone had found them and turned them in. A tiny thing, but it felt like a good sign.

    Session done, I finished on the rower with two 250 metre sprints. The first one was fast but messy. I got a bit carried away, my wedges slipped and my feet came out of the shoes with about 18 metres left. Almost there, not quite. The second sprint was much more controlled.

    I am counting all of this as prototyping for the wedges. When the rower finally arrives at home, I want that setup dialled in so I can just strap in and go.

    Right now the car thermometer says minus 0.5°C. It is still cold, but I feel great. I have a solid session in the bag, I am not wrecked, and the next job is to go home, rouse the rest of the house and get everyone out for a walk around the lake.

    Training done. Family next. A good Sunday.

    Another good session logged. This is The Sub-7 Experiment. And it continues.

  • When the Numbers Say “Go”

    Today’s session felt very different from yesterday.

    Yesterday was a “didn’t want to go” day. Recovery in the yellow, head not really in it, and a steady, controlled endurance session to keep things moving.

    Today was the opposite. All the dials were pointing in the right direction. Sleep was good. Recovery was good. Strain and stress from yesterday were reasonable. Heart rate variability looked solid. It was one of those mornings where WHOOP was basically saying, “You can do something here.”

    So I fed the stats into Coach GPT again.

    This time the plan that came back was not long and cruisy. It was a power session. A decent warm-up to get everything moving, then five 500 metre sprints on the rower. Each one at a set pace, hard enough to demand focus but not so fast that form would fall apart. Tunes on, eyes on the monitor, simple structure.

    It felt great.

    Every interval was controlled. No wild spikes, no heroic last-gasp strokes, just repeatable effort. By the fifth rep I knew I had worked, but I was nowhere near the point of dreading the next one or wanting to lie down on the floor.

    That is the thread running through these last two days. Yesterday, the plan was to turn up and not overdo it. Today, the plan was to lean in a little and build some power. In both cases, the decision came from the mix of WHOOP data and what Coach GPT built on top of it.

    I walked out of the gym feeling strong, not wrecked. I feel like I have done something meaningful, and I am ready to get on with the rest of the day at work.

    This is The Sub-7 Experiment. And it continues.