The 30 minute Row
TLDR - The 30 minute row will make you strong and can teach you a lot about life and starting something new.
I've been rowing for about 3.5 years now and my relationship with the erg hasn't improved a single bit. During a particularly painful all out 30 minute row, I wrote this blog post in my head to escape the pain during the "Welcome to the Thunderdome" phase (see below) and realized how similar the row felt to learning something new and at the risk of sounding cliche: life. Given that I've been meaning to start writing, I thought this would make a great start to my new blog.
Before I get started - yes I know that an all out 2k row is harder and more taxing on your body. Rowers love comparing 2k times which is hilarious (btw my PR is 6:53) but that basketball analogy in Boys in the Boat was never actually confirmed by any physiologist...so here we are.
The 30 minute row can be broken down into 6 very distinct parts.
Phase 1: I'm him (or her) - 30 to 22 minutes
Everyone feels like a beast when they rip that first high 10 like their life depends on it. And that euphoria more or less stays as you settle into your target time. If you're new to rowing you sometimes fall prey to the "fly and die" where you sprint for too long and end up completely drained 5 minutes in. If you've never rowed before and you're reading this...don't be that guy (or girl).
This part can be almost directly equated to the first time you start writing "hello world!" in a new programming language. Things feel great! You've got a new IDE installed, Copilot is up and running, and you're on chapter 1 of the docs. Nothing could be better. All of us have felt this feeling when we start something new. This could be coding, reading a textbook, starting an online class, really anything new.
This phase is easy. If you fly and die, go ahead and take a breather, get some water, and hop back on.
Phase 2: The reality check - 22 to 16 minutes
Remember that feeling of smooth sailing as you were easily hitting your splits? This is where that starts converting into dread. You start breaking your first sweat and the once fresh legs are starting to feel funny. "Legs-back-arms arms-back-legs" stops becoming an involuntary movement. All of a sudden each minute starts moving much slower and you start wondering if being on the erg really does start warping time for everyone?
This piece is like hitting your first couple bugs when you start writing longer programs. All of a sudden, watching some Netflix or hanging out with friends feels a lot more appealing than fixing that segfault or writing out logic for a task.
Phase 3: Welcome to the Thunderdome - 16 to 10 minutes
And here comes the absolute worst part. Although this part is only 5ish minutes, it's the most challenging 5 minutes of the entire row. Physically you're in the blender. The legs are in pain and it's taking everything you've got to keep the chain straight and move up and down. Mentally you start trying to escape the row and starting thinking of the randomest stuff (like this blog post).
When you've hit this many bugs and the lecture just isn't making sense, you start wondering if it's even worth learning this anymore. This is where most people throw in the towel. The novelty has worn off, the challenge has set in, and suddenly you start feeling that magnetic pull toward Instagram reels. It's the point where learning a new skill, working on a startup, or pursuing a goal gets really tough, and the finish line seems like it doesn't even exist.
This is also where the real growth happens. If you can push through this phase, the muscles are starting to build and the understanding is slowly coming in. If you can get past this part, you start seeing single digit minutes and...
Phase 4: I've been deceived - 10 to 7 minutes
Welcome to single digit minutes - we're so glad you made it! The end is so close...nope. This is a false summit; a local maximum. You've still got more to go. There are two schools of thought here: I've done the hard part so I can be done now and I'm so far in and I can see the finish line. If you quit here - shame on you. You did all that hard work just to stop right at the end. Get back on the erg and get that split back down to at least the average.
This is when your code compiles for the first time. You can step off and call it a day. Or you can take time to add in careful comments for your future self and add in some test cases. Don't succumb to that momentary rush just from things working once. If you're this far in, you can definitely afford to put in just a bit more.
Phase 5: How am I in flow? - 7 to 2 minutes
Something magical happens here - you somehow fall into flow. Every single pull feels the same and your SPM and split settle into a time that you thought you would never see while you were grinding away in Phase 3. You're flying.
All of a sudden things start clicking. Code slop that you copy pasted from Claude 3.5 (you really should be using this) starts making sense and you understand what you need to change and how to make your code better. You've passed that local maxima and are onto something much higher. The finish line is almost there.
Phase 6: The Final Countdown 🎶 - 2 to 0 minutes
Every second feels like an eternity but it's also moving weirdly fast. There isn't much to be said here. You're all done. Make sure you stretch so you can do it again tomorrow.
If you feel the urge to try it - bump this playlist