Last July I joined the rowing club so I could learn how to scull. I rowed 2-3 times per week for 12 weeks or so, and then in November when they started with indoor rowing (erging), I started doing that 2-3 times per week. I even wrote a blog post for the Canoe Club promoting it as a winter training method, but no takers.
Rowers can’t go out on a nice day if there is no dock and no coachboat, so it is a loooooooong dryland season in Saskatchewan. To keep folks focused and training during the off-season, there is a province-wide weekly erg race. The workouts varied, and folks are ranked based on their overall average speed for the workout. This last week was 6 x 500m, last week was 3 x 1000m, and before I left for Vancouver we did longer ones like 6000m and 3000m/4000m/2000m. So far I have been ranked about 4-5th in the province, with a bunch of Canada Games-aged whippersnappers and one national team member ahead of me. Not bad for a rookie and a master! It has been a challenge to gain intelligence in my legs and connect my leg push to my arms, but I think it’s coming along.
This weekend is the SK Provincial Indoor Rowing Championships, so I will travel to Regina to do a 2000m race and a 500m race. I don’t expect to be as fast as I was back when I was training 3 times per day and erging with the UBC Team or for fun at Gorge Fitness… I think I did 7:25 back then which is a speed of 1:51 per 500m (this is the speed that is displayed on the machine).  Most of my short workouts  this year have been more like 1:53-1:54, and I’m thinking that for 2km straight I should be able to do 1:55.  Maybe a sprint at the end and I hope to pull a time less than 7:40.
Later this summer there are some races on the Prairies that I will travel to, including the National Masters Champs in Regina.
Good Luck!