There are a lot of ways you can "attack" it. You're striving for efficiency. I would break it up into intervals. You could do 5 x 500m rows at a much faster pace, such as 1:30-1:40 and figure out the rest as you progress. Start with a 2:1 rest ratio, so if you do a 1:30 row, rest 3 mins. Break it down ever more on other days, doing 10 x 250s. This pace should be explosive. As you progress, do not increase the pace, rather, reduce the rest. Even better, do active rest, where you continue to row, but as easy as you want. Tabata intervals would also be helpful.

I finished in 4:59 today. 11 seconds "slower" than my baseline in September, but this time around I did pullups with the purple band (and a little boost from Kitch) instead of jumping from a box, and my squats and pushups were MUCH more legit. I feel good about these improvements, especially with the pushups! No more little elbow bends!

First time through got 4:35, rested for five minutes and went again for 5:13. Fun.