Give the hard middle of your 2k a job

I'd give each section of a 2k a job before getting on the ergo. Something to do when it gets hard, beyond watching the distance count down. Staring harder at the monitor doesn't give you much to work with.

The middle is where I'd make that job smaller. You're breathing hard, your legs are burning and there's still an annoying amount left. That doesn't automatically mean the plan was wrong. But it can get difficult to think about holding that effort all the way to the finish.

So try counting a short block of strokes with your attention on the leg drive. Keep the effort where you intended it to be. You're giving yourself something manageable to concentrate on, rather than putting in a load of desperate pulls to make the monitor look better.

Same effort. Smaller job.

Decide on that cue beforehand, while you've got enough spare attention to choose it. I'd keep it to one thing, such as feeling the legs do useful work through the drive. If a stroke goes poorly, stay with the cue rather than trying to repay it with a massive pull on the next one.

Then check the monitor again. This won't rescue a target that was too ambitious for the training you've done. But if the effort is still there and your attention has wandered off into how much this hurts, you've got something specific to come back to.