Holiday Challenge tips
Treat it as a daily habit, not a pile of metres: about 3,500 m a day gets 100k in four weeks, and almost all of it should be easy steady rowing. Start on day one, and don’t try to bank big days early.
What a day costs
Minutes for 3,500 m (about 100k over four weeks) and 7,000 m (about 200k):
| Steady split | 3,500 m | 7,000 m |
|---|---|---|
| 2:00 | 14 min | 28 min |
| 2:10 | 15 min | 30 min |
| 2:20 | 16 min | 33 min |
| 2:30 | 18 min | 35 min |
Exact metres a day for this year’s dates, from wherever you are now: the Holiday Challenge calculator.
Tips that hold up
- Start on day one. Every day you skip adds to every day after it.
- Keep it easy. The base is built at UT2, a pace where you can talk. Pull one harder piece a week at most.
- Split long days. Two 20-minute pieces are easier to start than one 45.
- Don’t bank big early days. A 15,000 m Saturday in week one is how people end up missing the next three days.
- Plan the holidays. Know the two or three days you won’t row and put the metres either side of them.
- Look after your hands and back. Loosen your grip, tape early, and stop if something hurts rather than just tires.
- Log it. Only metres in your Concept2 Logbook count for the official challenge.
- Row with someone. A friend’s name on a group chat does more than any plan. See rowing with friends.
Make the metres more fun
BLADES counts the metres you row in it towards 100k or 200k and gives them a river. Free in the beta.
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BLADES isn’t affiliated with Concept2. Paces and zones are rules of thumb; train to how you recover, and check with a doctor before hard training if you’re unsure.