Almost time to start rowing

Next week I get to start heading over to the Jordanelle Reservoir twice a week for Masters Rowing.  I have never rowed or sculled (one oar per person or two).  Today I decided to try and set a new PR for the 500m row on my borrowed (stolen?) indoor rowing machine.

My previous record was 1:41.7.  Today I crushed that with 1:37.3.   Dropping 4.4 seconds might not seem like that much, but I am now 19 seconds off the indoor rowing world record for my 50-59 age group. I can't imagine getting to it, but I feel like I could drop under 1:30 this year with some hard work.

It will be interesting to see if I can manage to exert the same kind of effort in a real boat.  God I hope they tend to go straight!