A few weeks ago, I did my first 24-hour training indoor row.

To be clear, the session involves rowing (indoors) for two hours, and then resting for two hours for a 24-hour period. The resting part includes eating, going to the bathroom, fixing injuries, and finding stuff on Netflix to watch.

The training mimics what I’ll experience in my 6,000km row across the Atlantic, planned for March 2021. This row will take anything between 46 and 60 days (current record for that route is just a few hours over 47 days).

My session began at 6pm and ended the same time the next day (actually, the last two hours were rest’ hours, so I really finished at 4pm). The first session was fine as my wife and kids were around, so I could chat with them and had company.

My second on shift began at 10pm, by which time is was getting dark and my wife – who was feeling poorly – had already gone to bed.

I finished my second shift at midnight. After four hours of rowing, my hands were hurting, my bum was sore, and my left elbow was also giving me cause for concern. Nothing serious though.

Dawn broke, and my wife and kids soon made an appearance. That was nice. I virtually didn’t sleep at all during the night. It’s not easy to sleep on a tiny mattress on the floor. I guess I must have had a maximum of two hours actual light sleep the whole night.

After my fifth shift, around midday, I managed to sleep for around 90 minutes of my two hours off period. That was nice.

The rowing itself was quite OK and the aches and sores didn’t get much worse. The only really exception was my bum. That hurt. I was glad it’s

What I learnt from the row is that eating soup right before rowing is a very bad idea, sleeping will be an issue for 24-hours (then I’ll sleep like a rock), and I have to find a way of protecting my backside (we have padding on the real boat, so this should be fine).

My hands also hurt. It seemed like my bones were made or brittle material, and some fingers went numb. It was OK while rowing, but I wonder how they will fare after days of constant rowing in wet conditions.

The most important aspect for me was the message of support I received, even at 2am. They were so vital for me to keep going. On the water, I’ll be able to receive messages, but what will really help is if people donate. Hope that happens.

If you want to know more, or if you intend donating to my causes (aww, thanks), visit www.crossrower.ch (in English and German)