Send your letters and comments to [email protected]. It was good to see my old school friend Cliff North describing his recovery from injury. Indoor rowing was partly implicated in our making contact again after nearly fifty years, when he spotted my name in the online rankings.I have a medical story of my own that I share with readers partly in the hope that someone may be able to give me some advice. I'm 68 now. Four or five years ago I was in the indoor rowing championships - once at Reading, then in the following year at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. I didn't do spectacularly, but I didn't disgrace myself in the 60-64 age group. At that time I was rowing about 7:48 for 2,000 metres.Then three years ago, at the height of my training during the summer I had a routine blood pressure check (I'd been on medication for many years) and my blood pressure was suddenly through the roof (220/140) The doctor sent me straight from the surgery to the hospital and to cut a long story short I ended up on a battery of medication that's eventually got it under control. It's actually pretty good now. The problem is, though, that I'm reluctant to train hard again. One of my pills (atenolol) slows my heart rate down, and the consultant says - sensibly - that it's probably not a good idea to push too hard against it, and I certainly shouldn't do heart-rate based training.At the moment, then, I'm doing even paced rows, about four times a week, usually half an hour, but sometimes going on up to 45 minutes, at a little under 2:15 pace for 500 metres. I could settle for that, I suppose, given my age - it'll keep me fit and keep my weight under control, and compared with many I'm lucky to be able to do it. But I do wish sometimes I could push harder for a while and try to get my 2,000m under eight minutes again, perhaps with the British IRC in mind. What does anyone think (especially anyone who has the right experience and knowledge)? I have a feeling that most doctors and consultants, although they're brilliant, and save lives, are a bit at sea with any kind of advice of this kind and will always go for caution. Maybe it's just that the experience and the medical research doesn't exist.