The Sub-7 Experiment

Tag: Accountability

  • The Chassis Is There

    I haven’t done one of these posts for a while.

    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.

  • Why a Blog? Isn’t That So 2001?

    A blog? In 2025? That’s very retro. Feels like 2001 is calling, wanting its technology back—flip phones, MySpace, the works.

    But here I am, writing one anyway.

    I like the process of writing—taking thoughts and getting them onto paper. Or, in this case, a screen.

    I’ve tried journals, handwritten logs, notebooks… all started with great intentions. But after a couple of weeks, one of two things always happens:

    1. I lose interest.
    2. I try to read back what I wrote—only to realize I can’t actually read my own handwriting.

    Why Not TikTok or Instagram?

    I hear you asking—why not just do TikTok or Instagram updates?

    Because I’m not that kind of person.

    Yes, I do presentations at work, sometimes in front of big audiences, but it doesn’t come naturally. I have to work at it. A lot.

    For those quick, casual updates that TikTokers and Insta people do? I’d have to rehearse. Too much effort. It works for some people, but not for me.

    So I’m writing stuff down. Here.

    What’s the Point?

    Honestly? I don’t fully know.

    I have an idea of the direction I want to go, but if I get into a stream of consciousness and just write, well… who knows?

    But I do know this:

    • It’s not about going viral.
    • It’s about logging my training.
    • It’s about accountability.
    • It’s about reflecting on progress.

    And if I’m already writing it down for myself, why not share it? Maybe someone else reads it and decides to have a go themselves.

    So yeah, blogs aren’t cool. Neither am I.

    I just want to row 2,000 meters in under 7 minutes.