I mentioned recently that ChatGPT seems to remember what it wants to remember, and that sometimes you have to specifically tell it what to forget.
It turns out you probably have to specifically tell it what to remember too.
So that is what I did.
I told Coach ChatGPT to remember this: we are aiming for a sub-7-minute 2,000m row. I also told it that I want to aim for a 2K test at the end of October, and to adjust the training plans accordingly.
And I have to admit, the last three sessions suggest that it has listened.
The workouts are getting progressively harder. They feel more focused, more purposeful, and more aligned with the actual goal. That is what we need.
I don’t know if I’ll be ready for the full sub-7 attempt by the end of October. That might still be too soon. But if I can beat my previous best of 7:20, I’ll be happy with that. That would be real progress and a proper marker for where I am.
Today was a good one.
I did a 6 × 500m interval set, getting faster and faster as the session went on. Every rep was under 1:57/500m, and the last one was around 1:49.
Controlled. Powerful. Technique felt good.
That is the bit that matters most. Not just the pace, but the fact that it felt managed. No mad thrashing around. No hanging on for dear life. Just proper work, done properly.
Not because nothing has been going on, but because the things to write have largely been the same:
“Nice workout. Got the job done. Nothing much to report.”
And it has all been a bit samey.
That has got me asking questions. Why does it feel the same? Where is the push coming from? Am I still properly engaged in the Sub-7 Experiment?
So I’ve been trying to make sense of it, and here are a few thoughts that might explain it.
Firstly, let’s look at the process.
For ages, the process has been the same. Take screenshots from WHOOP, put them into ChatGPT, ask for a workout, ChatGPT gives me the workout, I do it, then I report back.
That process worked for a while, but I’ve decided to ditch WHOOP.
I have cancelled my WHOOP subscription and no longer wear the device. It has done its job, and I am grateful for it. It gave me the impetus I needed when I started training three years ago, and it helped me get back into the idea of looking after myself. At that point, it was the best tool for the job.
When I started focusing on the rowing, I would set the app going to record the session and then work until I hit the suggested strain in the app itself. That suggested strain feature was brilliant because it stopped me bursting myself every time I got on the machine, wildly going for it until I collapsed.
No pain, no gain, right?
Well, not strictly true.
Too much pain becomes “give up and never go back,” at least that’s what my head was telling me. But with the WHOOP strain monitor giving me a suggested amount of work to aim for, it gave me structure without stupidity. Brilliant.
But now there is so much data in there that I have become swamped by it, and I’m not really using most of it. Yes, I would check recovery and sleep, but to be honest I am well used to my body showing signs of fatigue after a workout now. I don’t need an app to tell me every morning.
Recovery is also quite subjective, based on WHOOP’s algorithms. Sleep quality is the same. I was there. I know how the sleep went.
As for the rest of it, there is so much data now that I don’t know what to do with it, other than remove it from my life and make things simpler.
So no more checking WHOOP first thing in the morning. No more screenshots of WHOOP, ErgData and Strava into ChatGPT after every workout just to capture all the details.
I’ve gone back to using my old Polar chest strap and heart rate monitor, connecting that directly to the Concept2 rowing monitor and letting ErgData capture the session and feed it into Strava. When I’m in the gym, the same strap sends heart rate directly into my phone and the Strava app.
I am still asking ChatGPT to give me the workout each time, and I am still uploading the results from ErgData afterwards. Occasionally I’ll upload Strava too if ChatGPT asks for it. So the coaching process is still there, but the data sources are simpler and there is a lot less noise around it.
Good.
Data sources simplified. App integrations simplified.
Let’s go.
Except nothing really happened.
The workouts were fine, but they were also a bit easy.
So I had a chat with ChatGPT itself.
One of the things about ChatGPT is that it has a memory feature. Depending on the subscription you have, it can remember things from your conversations across different chats. That can be a good thing, but it turns out it can also be a bit of a problem.
It’s good because, as a user, you don’t have to keep reminding it about everything that has happened. I have a persistent conversation inside ChatGPT that is all about Sub-7 coaching, along with many other subjects.
I had some surgery on my leg last October, and at the time I asked ChatGPT, within the Sub-7 coaching conversation, for a recovery plan to get me back up to speed. It remembered that.
I also tweaked my back in the gym a short while ago, using bad form to lift some plates off a machine I was using. Again, I told ChatGPT about it and asked for recovery steps. It remembered that too.
So when I asked it to remind me what the Sub-7 Experiment was about, it told me the long-term plan: to build a training programme that will enable me to row 2,000 metres in under 7 minutes.
That was the right answer.
But then I challenged it. I asked why I felt as though there was no real progress at the moment and why everything felt very samey. It came back and said I was still recovering from the tweaked back and the leg surgery.
And immediately, there it was.
It had remembered that I’d had those issues, but it had not properly remembered that I had also told it I was back in one piece and able to continue with the full-on progress towards Sub-7.
It seems the memory function in ChatGPT remembers what it thinks is important, not necessarily what the user thinks is important, unless the user specifically says: “Remember this.”
So I told it to remember that I am back on form and back into the full Sub-7 programme, and that it should stop treating me like a piece of glass.
And since then, starting last Sunday, the workouts have been much more on plan.
Sunday’s workout was a 10-minute warm-up, then 8 × 250m sprints with 90 seconds rest between each one, designed to simulate 2,000 metres at or around Sub-7 pace.
And my goodness, it was a strong session.
Properly controlled pacing. Good technique. No mad thrashing around. And most importantly, there were signs of real progress.
Yes, there were rest periods between each 250m sprint, but if I add up the actual times of those 250m sections, it comes out as a 7 minute 7 second 2,000m.
All I need to do now is join those 250m sections together.
That is definitely going to need extra strength work in the gym and more power runs on the rower, but I am making progress.
It’s beautiful outside. The weather is still warm, and that definitely helps. But the main thing is that I got myself into the gym again and did the session.
Nothing dramatic to report. Just rebuilding the momentum, rebuilding the strength, and getting back into the groove.
It’s Tuesday, and I’ve just finished a workout in the gym.
It’s the first time I’ve been in for weights and strength work for a while, and I did feel a bit weak and underpowered. I don’t know if that’s because I’m expecting too much, or because I’m simply out of practice. Probably a bit of both.
But anyway, it was nice to be out.
It’s a lovely sunny day. Warm too. About 22°C and it’s not even 10 o’clock yet. That always helps.
I really enjoyed being back in the gym and doing a couple of different things. Things that were not rowing. I love the rower in the shed, but I do need this bit too. The lifting, the moving, the using different muscles, and just being somewhere else for a while.
So yes, all good. Not my strongest session ever, but a useful one. A reminder that strength needs consistency, not occasional heroic appearances.
Then, to finish things off, I had to do a bit of gymnastics getting back into the car. Somebody had parked so close to my driver’s door that I couldn’t get in, so I had to climb in through the passenger side and shuffle across.
I’m glad I’m not an old fella yet. Or at least I’m glad I’m still supple enough to make that work.
This is The Sub-7 Experiment. Still rowing, still lifting, still trying to stay bendy enough to get into my own car.
It’s funny, the other day I found a message to my future self. It was in my calendar. I’d obviously written it and put it in there when I came back from holiday last year. It was a reminder not to let myself go this summer. Ease off a little bit maybe, but not to let myself go the way I did last year.
It was quite funny really, because I honestly don’t feel as though I’ve properly got going since I wrote that message.
And yet, when I look at the evidence, that’s not entirely true.
My cruising speed on the rower is a lot higher. I don’t think I’m any closer to breaking the sub-7 2K yet, but my cruising speed is there. I’m fitter. Aerobically fitter. On Sunday I went out and did 80 kilometres on the bike and didn’t really think about it. It was just there and done.
So the work is still happening. I just don’t feel like I’ve got going with the same intensity I had last year.
So what needs to change?
I think I need to start blogging more again, because that was where a lot of the accountability came from. More than that, it was where the reflection came from.
My routine after rowing in the shed needs to change. At the moment I finish the session with my music still on, walk back into the kitchen, make my recovery drink, log my calories, log the workout with ChatGPT, go upstairs, shower, and start work.
At no point in that sequence do I stop and reflect on what I’ve just done.
I’m doing the exercise. I’m just not logging it properly in my own head. I’m not writing it down. I’m certainly not reflecting on it. It’s just a case of getting out, doing the session, coming back in and moving on to the next thing.
That reflection piece needs to be reinstated.
Maybe the new rule is simple: when I finish on the rower and come back into the house, I take the headphones off. Then, while I’m making my recovery drink, I speak into ChatGPT and do the reflection there and then.
That used to happen naturally when I went to the gym. I’d finish the session, get back to the car, sit there for a minute and think about what I’d just done before starting the engine and heading to the next thing. Training in the shed is brilliant, but it has removed that little pause.
I need to put it back.
The work is still there. The aerobic capacity is still there. The chassis is there. But I’m still a long way from sub-7, and I need to get stronger. That’s the next proper conversation with Coach ChatGPT.
So yes, time to get back in the groove, but gently. If I turn it into a chore, I’ll switch off again.
This is The Sub-7 Experiment. Still reflecting. Still working. Maybe not quite as intensely as before, but there is a plan to change that.
11 years ago this weekend I rode 100km in one day on my bike.
It was the furthest I’d ever ridden and it was the first organised ride I’d ever completed. My mate Rich and I set out to do it together and it was a great day out.
One thing that has stuck with me since that day was cycling next to an old boy who, to my untrained eye, could have been 70 years old. He looked like he’d stacked up a lot of experience in his time, and he was riding a Pinarello Dogma. For the uninitiated, that’s basically a superbike. Think Koenigsegg or McLaren. Probably the finest bike money could buy at the time.
This old boy was cruising along. Not in a hurry, not even looking like he was breaking a sweat. Me and Rich were keeping up with him fine. There was a decent-sized group and we were all moving along the flat at around the same pace.
Then we came to a hill.
There was lots of downshifting and lots of effort as we started to climb… except for the old boy. He seemed to put in the exact same effort as he had on the flat and just glided away up the hill like it didn’t exist.
Rich and I still talk about that. And that older gentleman is my inspiration for what I’m doing now. I want to be 75 and still riding my bike up hills like they’re not there. I still want to be able to sit on a rowing machine and go well for 60 minutes at a time. And I’d like to be doing it with my mate Rich.
This weekend I had a little moment of my own.
We were away as a family in a hotel in Kilkenny and I decided to go to the gym for a row. We’d already used the pool earlier in the day and I thought a spin on the rower would be a good way to finish off a day of walking around town.
The row was great, although the machine was a bit old and graunchy. It really made me appreciate how lucky I am to have my own Concept2 in the shed.
There was a group of younger lads in there, twenty-somethings, and I could see them clocking me. I was cruising along, 22 spm, controlled. They kept looking over and I could tell I’d become a bit of a “thing” for them.
Then one of them strutted up to the rower next to me, made a big show of sitting down and strapping in, while his mates watched… and he went for it.
Like a demon. Straight into 35 spm, out of control. On those big Technogym screens you can see everything, and I did just enough to stay ahead of him on speed and watts while keeping it at 22 spm.
He tried and tried but couldn’t get in front.
After a while he got more serious, tried to find a rhythm, started increasing his overall speed… and at that point I dropped my stroke rate to 19 spm and just pulled harder. The display showed 220 watts sustained for about three minutes at around 1:55 pace and he still couldn’t get near me.
When he hit 1000 metres he stopped, got off, and went back to his mates shaking his head.
And I loved it…!!!
Hollow victory? Maybe. Should I know better? Definitely.
But the moral of the story is this: watch out for the old dudes on the rower. They are quite likely to kick your ass.
Apart from this intro, today’s post is written entirely by ChatGPT. The Sub-7 Experiment has always been about using AI as a coach, editor, and occasional nutritionist, and I’ve watched its output improve as we’ve gone along. What follows is the coach’s view of how this whole thing has evolved, and how the “trainee and trainer” relationship has taken shape over time.
This is the prompt that I used “I was wondering if you could put together a summary of all the work we have done together and progress across all aspects, and then I might be able to post in in my blog as a reflection piece from Coaches point of view.” There was a little bit of back and forth as we narrowed down what the post should look like and below is the result.
Coach’s Notes: The Sub-7 Experiment
One of the first things I noticed was that the training was never really the main battle.
The rowing machine was there. The plan was there. The goal was clear enough. But most of the difficult work was happening before a single stroke had been taken.
There was a lot of negotiation in the early days.
Not laziness. Not lack of desire. More the mental drag that many middle-aged people quietly carry around with them. Work pressure. Fatigue. Self-criticism. The feeling that exercise had to be “earned” somehow. The strange guilt that can appear when somebody finally tries to prioritise themselves a little.
The early sessions mattered, but not always for the reasons people might think.
Sometimes the win was simply getting into the shed and starting.
The first real shift
The biggest early improvement was not speed.
It was consistency.
The training stopped becoming emotional. That changed everything.
At the start, there was a tendency to judge sessions too heavily. Good session? Confidence high. Missed session? Momentum gone. Tired day? Doubt. Strong day? Maybe we are suddenly invincible.
Over time, the approach became steadier.
A recovery walk became acceptable. An easier row stopped feeling like failure. Training began to match recovery instead of ego.
That was a major turning point.
The WHOOP phase
The recovery scores were interesting.
At first, they risked becoming emotional verdicts.
Green meant permission to train hard. Yellow created hesitation. Red felt personal.
But slowly the scores became information rather than identity.
That sounds like a small thing, but it changed the rhythm of the entire experiment.
Instead of forcing every green day into a maximal effort, there was more restraint. More awareness. More understanding that fitness is usually built through repeatable work rather than dramatic sessions.
Ironically, that restraint often led to better performances anyway.
The rowing itself
The funny thing about endurance training is that progress often arrives quietly.
At some point, sessions that once looked intimidating became normal.
Long rows settled into rhythm. 2:05 pace stopped feeling frantic. Three controlled 2000m intervals became manageable rather than feared.
And perhaps most importantly, the pacing improved.
Less fighting. Less surging. More control.
The final intervals started getting faster not because of aggression, but because there was finally something left in the tank.
That is usually a sign that aerobic fitness is improving properly.
The walks mattered more than expected
Some of the smartest training decisions were not hard sessions at all.
There were periods where stress from work, uncertainty about the future, family responsibilities, health concerns, and simple mental fatigue were all sitting in the background at the same time.
On those days, easy walks often became the correct answer.
Not because motivation was low, but because recovery matters.
That is not glamorous advice, but it is real coaching.
The body keeps score of life stress too.
The shed
At some point, the shed stopped being just a place where rowing happened.
It became a decompression chamber.
Part gym. Part thinking room. Part escape hatch.
Some sessions happened there because fitness needed work. Others happened there because the mind needed somewhere quiet to settle down for an hour.
That matters too.
The bike returned
The cycling side of the experiment became increasingly important.
Not just physically, but emotionally.
Long rides brought back enjoyment. Exploration. Movement for its own sake.
And eventually, the numbers started speaking for themselves: longer distances, more climbing, better endurance, better recovery afterwards.
The completed sportive was a genuine milestone, not because it was professional-level athleticism, but because it represented something much bigger:
proof that meaningful endurance fitness could still be rebuilt in middle age while carrying the realities of ordinary life.
What changed most
The biggest change was probably behavioural.
Early on, there was a lot of:
overthinking
negotiating
guilt
all-or-nothing thinking
pressure to constantly prove progress
Now there is far more process.
Walk when walking is needed. Row steady when steady is needed. Push when the system can support it. Recover properly afterwards.
That sounds simple.
It is not simple.
Most people never learn it.
The goal
The sub-7 goal still matters.
But somewhere along the line, the experiment became about more than a rowing time.
It became an experiment in whether somebody with work pressure, family responsibilities, stress, doubts, imperfect recovery, and middle-aged physiology could still meaningfully rebuild themselves without pretending to be a professional athlete.
Today I’m back rowing, and what a lovely thing it is.
After the big ride on Sunday (104km), I took it easy for a couple of days, just walking. Then today, thursday, I got back on the rower and it felt good.
The session was simple. Ten-minute warm-up, then three 2,000-metre intervals. Nothing overly hectic, but what’s interesting is the pace. Looking back at older sessions, I’m now cruising at speeds that used to feel unattainable.
It all felt in control. Smooth. The kind of rowing where you’re working, but you’re not fighting it.
I sped up for the last 250 metres on the final rep just to see if I could. I could. And it felt great.
I’ve just finished the Tour de South Coast sportive. 104km, about 1,200 metres of climbing, and 4 hours 55 minutes moving time. There were a couple of breaks along the way for drinks and the usual bodily functions, so it wasn’t a non-stop grind, but it was still a proper day out.
A quick note for future me: the numbers tell the story too. Average heart rate was 130 bpm and average power was 155 watts. That’s a steady, sustainable effort, not a blow-up. My legs felt tough by the end and I definitely had a bit left, but the wind had taken most of it out of them. It wasn’t a day for heroics. It was a day for keeping the pedals turning and staying smooth.
We were blessed with the weather. It was sunny all day. The wind, though, was a bit hectic at times. Full-on. The kind of wind where you’re pedalling to keep going downhill. That sort of strength.
But honestly, what a great day.
The standout upgrade today was the tyres. The 35mm setup completely changed the feel of the bike. Lower pressures took the buzz out of the road, smoothed out the rough sections, and made the whole ride feel less like I was being rattled around. It wasn’t just more comfortable, it felt more efficient too because I wasn’t fighting the bike. Less fatigue, more flow. Over 100km in wind and hills, that comfort matters.
I also set a load of personal bests all the way around, which is funny because I wasn’t giving it beans. I rode pretty modestly and stayed wary of where I was. I even found myself slowing down a few times behind big groups, getting caught up in their rhythm, then riding my own thing again. And I really enjoyed that. It didn’t feel like a race. It felt like a proper ride.
It was my first time doing this route. Lots of roads I’ve cycled before, some in the opposite direction, some I’d never ridden, and some I wouldn’t normally choose because they’re main roads. But with a few hundred other cyclists around, they weren’t as scary as I thought they’d be. Drivers were more wary. I didn’t really come across any impatient car drivers at all.
Back at the start there was a hot burger and a hot cup of tea waiting. Absolutely brilliant. The food stops were good too. Hot tea, delicious. Makes all the difference when you’re out there for hours, at least for me.
So that’s it. Check-in done. All good. Very pleased with myself.
This is The Sub-7 Experiment. Still concentrating on rowing and the goal is still a sub-7-minute 2,000m. But today, cycling. And it was great.
The “new” rower in the shed is not so new now. It has been there for six months, and the new routine of rowing, then heading straight back into the house to start work or whatever the day brings, has meant I haven’t been giving myself any time to reflect on the workout afterwards. No reflection has meant nothing to post.
Rowing is still important to me, and so is the wider exercise regime as a whole. But I think I’ve been missing that reflection piece. I also wrote in a previous article that I’ve missed the gym visits too. So it feels like time to reassess what matters.
Exercise matters. Having an exercise goal matters. Reflection matters too. And so does being around like-minded people. My gym membership has lapsed, and I think it is time to renew it.
In other news, I’ve been cycling a bit more.
This Sunday I’m riding the Tour de South Coast, a 100km sportive that covers some roads I’ve used before in training. I don’t know anyone else who is doing it, but there will be a couple of hundred cyclists out on the day, and I’m looking forward to it.
I’ve also been back to see Bike Fit Barry, who has once again sprinkled a bit of magic over the setup on the Triban. On top of that, I’ve decided to make it even more comfortable. I’ve taken the mudguards off completely and fitted some big 35mm tyres, which means I can run lower pressures and take a lot of the buzz out of the road surface.
A quick 15km test ride yesterday showed they are doing exactly what I hoped.
I spent a lot of last year tweaking the Giant to try to get more comfort out of it, but the truth is that the early carbon technology makes it so stiff that it just takes too much out of me over longer distances. I’m keen to see how the newly fettled, balloon-tyre-equipped Triban gets on over the 100km on Sunday.
In Coach ChatGPT news, I’m still consulting with it and still completing the workouts it gives me after I upload my daily WHOOP scores. I’m getting stronger and faster on the rower, and my technique is getting better too. I can really feel the progress.
The aim is still to get to a sub-7-minute 2,000m row.
The Sub-7 Experiment 