For the last workout of January, I wanted to give everyone one final version/modification for the Conservation Hero WOD I posted at the beginning of the month, Running the Zoo.
You can do Running the Zoo on a treadmill, elliptical, or running outside. But you can also do it sitting down. On a rowing machine.
I personally love rowing machines. It makes sense, with troubling knees, I’m not particularly fond of treadmills. But if a treadmill is what you got, I say make the absolute best of it. Since my knees regularly bother me when running (or my interpretation of running, I’m not sure you could even accurately call it a jog, either- it’s closer to a sloth crawling), we decided to invest in a cardio machine which wouldn’t trigger knee pain. And a friend was moving away and selling her rowing machine. So, that’s how we got our only cardio equipment piece in our home.
I came up with all kinds of workouts for our rower. I modified several CrossFit Hero WODs to make them include a rower. And then I created some of my own.
Finally, I created the rowing version to Running the Zoo. Called “Rowing the Aquarium”, it consists of the same concept. Three paces on the rower- slow/recover pace, the pace you could probably do all day without hardly breaking a sweat, which I call Manatee pace. You have your push pace, which I call Stingray, and is a little harder than your recover pace; something you could keep up for a while, but you will eventually get tired. And finally, your All-Out pace. This is your high speed sprint. I call this the dolphin pace, and it is fast. 
Rowers have a feature which allows you to see your pace for 500 meters. So, if you are practicing on the rower, you may find your average pace is about 2:20/500 m. I would set your Manatee pace at maybe 2:30/500 m, Stingray at 2:15, and Dolphin at 2:00-2:05. This is just an example, and you may find you can go faster or need to go slower. Make sure you set yourself up for success and set a pace which works well for you.
This 4500 meter row will go by fairly quickly, and will leave you drenching. Or at least feeling like you got a KILLER cardio session.
Rowing the Aquarium
Time yourself for this 4500 meter rowing workout using these paces at intervals: Manatee- slow, Stingray- Push, Dolphin- Sprint
- 200 m – Manatee
- 500 m– Stingray (total distance rowed: 700 m)
- 100 m- Manatee (total distance rowed: 800 m)
- 100 m- Dolphin (total distance rowed: 900 m)
- 100 m- Manatee (total distance rowed: 1000 m)
- 400 m- Stingray (total distance rowed: 1400 m)
- 100 m- Manatee (total distance rowed: 1500 m)
- 200 m- Dolphin (total distance rowed: 1700 m)
- 100 m- Manatee (total distance rowed: 1800 m)
- 300 m- Stingray (total distance rowed: 2100 m)
- 100 m- Manatee (total distance rowed: 2200 m)
- 300 m- Dolphin (total distance rowed: 2500 m)
- 200 m- Manatee (total distance rowed: 2700 m)
- 200 m- Stingray (total distance rowed: 2900 m)
- 100 m- Manatee (total distance rowed: 3000 m)
- 400 m- Dolphin (total distance rowed: 3400 m)
- 200 m-Manatee (total distance rowed: 3600 m)
- 100 m- Stingray (total distance rowed: 3700 m)
- 100 m- Manatee (total distance rowed: 3800 m)
- 500 m- Dolphin (total distance rowed: 4300 m)
- 200 m- Manatee (total distance rowed: 4500 m)
