It’s been a while since I’ve written one of these. The last big thing was the 150km cycle — a brilliant day out. But not long after, I came down with a cold. Headachy, wiped out, all the usual. And just as that started to ease, I went straight into leg surgery two Mondays ago.
Today was my first time back in the gym in weeks. Literally weeks. I’m nowhere near full power. I did some rowing (even though I’m not really supposed to) and a few light weights — nothing heavy, just enough to move, to feel like I’m doing something again.
And I do feel weak. Underpowered. Off. But I know this isn’t a new baseline. This is a blip. A temporary stop on a longer road. I’m grateful more than anything — grateful that I’m on the mend, that I have a gym to go to, and that I can move at all.
I’ve got another surgery in two weeks, so I know I’m not fully back yet. The sub-7 experiment is still very much alive, but realistically, it’s not going to happen this yar. And that’s okay.
What I need to hold onto now is patience — something I’ve never been great at, especially with myself. But recovery takes time. Push too hard, too soon, and I’ll just end up further back. So this is where I am: moving, mending, grateful, and trying to let time do its job.
This is The Sub-7 Experiment. Slow for now, but still moving.
Last Sunday was the big cycling day, the 150km sportive, and what a day. It was tough, one of the hardest rides I’ve done, and yet one of the best.
I’ve gone further before. A couple of years back I managed 205km in one day. But Sunday had its own sharp edge. The route was testing, the climbs were long, and the pace was relentless. What made the difference was the two friends I rode with. My cycling buddies. They’re both strong riders and very kind, and they led the way all day. The slipstream effect on a bike is huge, and they pulled me along when I needed it most.
The number seven keeps showing up, in rowing goals, in timings, now in cycling. I didn’t plan it that way, but perhaps it’s a reminder that some patterns are worth paying attention to. We set out aiming for seven and a half hours moving time. That would have been decent. Instead, we crossed the line at seven hours and three minutes, nearly breaking the seven-hour barrier. On my own I’d have finished, but nowhere near that time. With them, I came close to something I didn’t think was possible. For that, I’m grateful.
The route itself was stunning. Rolling countryside, long open stretches, climbs that tested every muscle. I often watch the Tour de France, the Giro, or La Vuelta and think how incredible it would be to ride roads like that. That day felt like a taste of that. And we had the weather too, the last weekend of September in Ireland and not a drop of rain. Sun from start to finish, fresh in the morning, warm by afternoon. You couldn’t ask for better.
This was more than just a ride. It was a reminder of the privilege of moving through the world under your own power, alongside good people, with good scenery around you. A reminder that shared effort magnifies achievement.
This is The Sub-7 Experiment — and last Sunday, it was on two wheels
The countdown is on. Less than two weeks until the big cycling event. I haven’t been posting much, but I’ve certainly been putting in the work.
Friday was 14k on the rowing machine, with the intention of riding on Sunday. The weather shut that plan down, so instead I logged 21k on the rower — 35k total across the weekend. Monday was a rest day.
Tuesday I finally got back out on the bike. Swapped my wheels over between bikes to see if it would help with road buzz, and it definitely does. They talk about marginal gains and with all the small upgrades I have made recently the bike have changed it into something that’s really nice to ride as well as being exciting and quite fast when needed. I am happy with the setup now heading into the event.
The ride itself yesterday was about 45 minutes in zone 2–3, steady and controlled without pushing too hard but on the way back I had a little dig and it felt great.
Today (Wednesday) was another 10k on the rower. The engine’s there, the strength is there. I’m not going to win the event — but that was never the point. The point is to ride it, enjoy it, and share the day with friends.
The gym serves as a bit of a mental reset this morning too, I walked into the gym cranky and walked out lighter, calmer, and ready to face the day. That’s a win too.
Wednesday and it’s a strength session in the gym today — the first one for a good while.
And it felt… flat. Underpowered. Enlightening?
The rowing warm-up was clunky at best, off form, and left my head all over the place. Then the weights — fine, but I was down a few kilos from before. That’s no surprise really, given how long it’s been since I last did strength work.
On to the sleds: 100 kg pushes with arms straight and bent, followed by 80 kg sled rope pulls. All of that was fine, but I only did three sets instead of five, and I let myself walk away from the last two.
They say mindset is everything, and the power of the mind immense — and today I let mine get in the way. I’m still wondering why.
I always feel sad at the end of summer, knowing we’re heading into short, dark days with dropping temperatures. I don’t mind the cold; I just don’t like being cold. But it’s the lack of sunshine that gets me. Maybe I’m feeling it more right now because I’m trying a new Vitamin D supplement and it isn’t agreeing with me. Maybe it’s the crash from all the honey in my cycling food at the weekend. Or maybe it’s simply still recovery from the 121 km on the bike.
Whatever it is, I need to remember to be kind to myself and just let it be what it is. They say what you resist persists, so go easy on yourself.
I think I’ll put a note in my calendar for June next year — a letter to my future self, reminding me how I feel right now after taking a summer off from measuring things: calories, distance, effort, kilos lifted or carried. That letter will say something like:
Loosen up, but don’t let go completely. Keep some rhythm in the gym. Enjoy your summer, but don’t drift so far that September feels like a restart. Future you will thank you
Right now, the Sub-7 goal feels far away. Not as far as when I first set it last year, but certainly further than it felt in June. So this little reminder to my future self will be worth it.
I was looking forward to trying out my new headphones at the gym—but they wouldn’t connect properly. I got flustered. Frustrated. Caught up in the tech not working.
And hovering over everything was a work situation: a conversation with my boss that I’ve been dreading. I’m pretty sure a mistake’s been made—not a massive one, but one of those frustrating, vague gaps where I should have documented something and didn’t. Now it’s fuzzy. And it’s on me.
Old me would’ve taken all that as a reason to skip the gym.
But today?
I rowed anyway.
500-meter intervals at a 1:50 pace. Low stroke rate—24 to 26. Tough, focused work.
And even with everything swirling around in my head, I stayed in it.
The gym didn’t fix the problem. It didn’t make the conversation disappear.
But it grounded me. It gave me something solid to push against. And it cleared enough space for me to walk out thinking:
“Okay. I’ve already done one hard thing today. I can handle the next one.”
And that’s what this experiment has really become.
Not just about pace. Not just about rowing.
It’s about how I show up when things get messy. It’s about handling it, instead of hiding from it. It’s about pushing through the noise.
I went for a ride on the bike yesterday—60km all in—and it felt great. What really struck me was the shift in mindset. I kept recognising where I was and thinking, “Oh, I’m here already” instead of “Oh, I’m only here.” Just a small difference in words and thoughts, but a massive one in terms of progress.
I really gelled with the bike. Getting a proper bike fit and a new saddle was such a good call. Not just because I’m now physically connected to the bike, but because it actually saved me a load of cash.
I’d been eyeing up new bikes—maybe a gravel bike, an “adventure” bike, or a racier road model. Something exciting. But the bike fit brought me back to the 11-year-old Giant I already own. And now? It feels like new. It’s as exciting to ride as I hoped it would be when I first bought it all those years ago.
I probably could’ve gone further than 60km yesterday, but I surprised myself by deciding it was a good place to stop. I didn’t push past “great ride” into “slog”—and that feels like progress, too.
I’ve got a 150km ride scheduled for September. In past long rides, I made rice cakes from a cycling nutrition book. To be honest, I couldn’t face them again. So before the ride, I asked ChatGPT for fuelling strategies and a few recipe ideas.
I tried one of its banana oat bar suggestions, and aside from a few flavour tweaks and a more refined fuelling schedule, they worked really well.
This is good. I’m pleased with how the bike is performing. I’m pleased with how I’m performing. And the rowing is complementing the cycling beautifully.
It’s going to be a good summer—training to break the 7-minute rowing barrier and getting ready for that 150km.
Why Did I Start This Experiment? To see if I could use ChatGPT as a coach and training advisor to help me row 2000 meters in under 7 minutes on the indoor rowing machine—the erg.
That’s the core of this experiment, and I thought I’d share a full, unedited conversation I had with ChatGPT today to show exactly how that plays out in real time.
Me: “Ok I’m in the gym. Kinda feeling tired and run down but I think it’s mental health. Whoop has me in the green at 75% recovery. I think I want to do distance today. No exercise yesterday. What do you recommend?”
ChatGPT: “If you’re feeling a bit tired and it’s more mental than physical, a steady endurance row is a great call—it’s meditative, rhythmic, and tends to shift mood in a positive way without needing to be all-out.
Here’s what I suggest for today’s distance row (45–50 mins total): Session: 10,000m steady state
Warm-up: 5 mins easy (2:15–2:20/500m) at ~20 SPM
Main Row:
9,000m at ~2:05/500m, 22–24 SPM
Smooth, controlled, find your rhythm
Last 1,000m: Pick it up if you feel good—finish strong at ~1:55–2:00/500m
Cooldown: Optional 3–5 mins easy spin or slow row
Let’s get that good-tired feeling—burn off the mental fog and come out the other side. Want a finishing push suggestion too?”
Me: “Thank you. Let’s row first and then see about the pushing.”
ChatGPT: “Perfect—lock into the rhythm, breathe it out, and let the row do its thing. You’ll know by the end if that sled wants a turn or not. Let me know how it goes when you’re done.”
Post-Session: Me: “Found a good rhythm at 23 SPM. First 9000m @2:05. Final 1000m at 1:48–1:53 @30–31 SPM.”
ChatGPT: “That’s a strong session—controlled, consistent, and a powerful finish. Holding 2:05 at 23 SPM for 9K is impressive. And a sub-1:50 push to close it out? That’s real progress. You’re building aerobic endurance and power now. Legs feeling worked or still ticking over?”
Me: “Legs are feeling worked. I think we might need to do some lower back/core work—I was losing form near the end.”
ChatGPT: “Great observation. Lower back and core work will make a real difference, especially when fatigue sets in. We’ll integrate targeted strength work on your next gym day. Let’s build that base.”
Me: “I just snuck in some sled work—5 x push and 5 x pull at 75kg.”
ChatGPT: “Love that. That’s a strong finisher—especially after a 10K row. Power + consistency = serious gains. Let me know how the legs and back feel tomorrow—we’ll adjust accordingly.”
So why share this today? Because this is the experiment in action: using AI as a training partner that adapts in real-time—offering structure, encouragement, and flexibility, almost like a human coach.
Of course, a real trainer could correct form mid-session. ChatGPT can’t. It can offer YouTube links and detailed stroke guidance, but it can’t nudge my hips or spot poor posture. That’s fine by me. I enjoy experimenting and finding what works for my body.
And the suggested session was meditative. That rhythm, that structure—it lifted the fog. I walked in scattered, and walked out level-headed.
A Note on the Tech: There are a lot of doomsday headlines about AI—how it’ll take jobs or make people redundant. And in some industries, yes, roles will change.
But here’s my advice: Don’t fear it. Explore it. Create a free ChatGPT account and just ask:
“What can you do for me?”
“How could we work together?” Let it ask you questions back. You’ll be surprised what it can help with.
This is more than an experiment in rowing. It’s an experiment in mindset, in learning, in adaptation. And for me? It’s working.
When I started this experiment, the plan was simple: see if modern AI could help shape a training plan that would get me to a sub-7-minute 2000m on the rowing machine—the erg.
And that’s still the plan. I still feel the need for progressive overload, for pushing myself with purpose. I still need a reason to get to the gym.
But the experiment has shifted. More on that in a moment.
First, a quick word on the AI itself.
I’ve been using a large language model—ChatGPT—a type of generative AI. “Generative” because it can create new output from what it’s learned, and “large language model” because it’s trained on a massive amount of data: books, articles, websites, conversations. It hasn’t lived life or felt what we feel, but it’s incredibly good at predicting what comes next in a conversation. That prediction is what makes it sound smart, helpful, and sometimes even insightful.
That’s what’s happening here. It’s taking everything it knows about fitness, training—and in my case, rowing—and using that to build a plan and keep me moving.
I haven’t posted every single conversation in this blog. There are lots of sessions behind the scenes. Things I’d probably never ask a personal trainer in real life. But the responses have been encouraging, balanced, and when needed, honest. I’ve even asked it to cut the fluff and just tell me straight. And it has. No judgement. Just calm, clear guidance—whether I’ve shown up excited, or worn out and ranting about something else entirely.
More than anything, this process has made me look at myself differently.
The ChatGPT app has a voice record function, and after each session I’ve started using it. What comes out is often a stream of consciousness. Frustrations. Wins. Questions. And then it plays things back to me in a way that makes me actually listen.
And what have I learned?
For one, I understand the technology better now. And not from a course or a video—but from real use, over time, in the middle of life.
But more importantly, I understand myself better.
I’ve learned that I’m consistent. Not just when it’s easy—when I’m tired, on the road, or in a funk, I still show up.
I’ve learned that I’ve changed my default settings.
I used to say things like, “I’m lazy,” or “I always self-sabotage.”
But that’s not true anymore. I’m training differently. Responding to setbacks differently.
Movement has become my anchor. A reset. A reminder of who I am and what I can handle. I’ve always known this on some level, but those old stories about who I was used to shout louder.
Not anymore.
The biggest shift? I now believe I can be the person I want to be.
Impostor syndrome has run the show for a long time. The voice that asked, “Am I really this person?”
Now I know: Yes. I am.
And I deserve to be.
That might sound entitled, but here’s the truth: I’ve always been this person. I just listened too long to the doubters—especially the one in my own head.
I’m not saying every day is easy. I’m human.
But I’m learning to spot the hard days sooner. I’ve got tools now. And more importantly, I’m using them.
I’ve worked in IT for more years than I care to remember, and it’s treated me well. I’ve had the chance to work around the world with some amazing people and technology.
Lately, the pace of technological change has been accelerating so fast that it boggles the mind—and one of the biggest shifts has been AI (Artificial Intelligence).
I’m not an AI expert, but I’d call myself an AI hobbyist. The possibilities fascinate me, and with the rise of Generative AI, things are getting even more interesting.
What is Generative AI?
You’ve probably heard of ChatGPT. Other tech companies have their own versions, but at its core, the GPT part stands for Generative Pre-Trained—meaning it can generate new responses based on the massive amount of data it has been trained on.
And the Chat part? That’s where the real magic happens. Unlike traditional AI systems, anyone can talk to it in normal language. No coding, no technical knowledge—just type a question, and it responds.
But how does it actually work?
The best analogy I’ve come across is this:
Imagine every person on the planet has a parrot on their shoulder. That parrot listens to everything they say and remembers the patterns. Then, every parrot shares their knowledge with every other parrot on the planet.
Now, if you ask your parrot “How are you today?”, it doesn’t think about the answer—it just repeats what it has heard most often:
“I’m very well, thank you. How are you?”
It’s not true intelligence, just pattern recognition on a massive scale.
So… Who is My Coach?
My coach is ChatGPT.
It helps structure my training and keeps me accountable.
It refines my blog posts, making them clearer while keeping them mine.
It helps me reflect on progress without getting lost in my own head.
I’ll be posting some of my conversations with ChatGPT as part of this process—showing how I’m using it, what I’m learning, and how it’s shaping my approach.
Is It Cheating?
No.
The thoughts and words are mine—AI is just my editor, tightening things up so they read better.
And AI isn’t the one sitting on the rowing machine. I am. I will get that sub-7-minute 2,000 meters. This is The Sub-7 Experiment.
The Sub-7 Experiment 