Concept2 Forum

Two unrelated questions: if you do a set piece and the distance left says 0, is the piece definitely over, or might there be some trailing fractional meters left to complete?

Second question: what formula does the PM4 use to determine the "projected finish" in the monitor view with the most rows of information? And what is the "split /500m"? Is that the time it took to complete the most recent 500 meters?

When it gets to zero your done. You can get anything up to 20 metres on the over run from the last stroke.

The way it gets predicted time is current avg pace over distance remaining.

Current pace is the avg for the last split. Default split is one fifth of the workout target (distance or time).

My concern is that the monitor says 0 but there is still maybe 0.3 meters left, so the clock might still be ticking even though you've stopped making any efforts and you need to rely on the "over-run" to finish the piece.

For projected finish: do you mean it's the current split over distance remaining? (not AVERAGE split) So the thing assumes you will continue at the split level you're currently pulling? So suppose I've covered 1000 meters at an average split of 2:00, and then I start pulling 1:50, will the projected finish say 4 minutes plus 3:40 = 7:40? (for 2k).

For "split/500m" I'm talking about the line right above the "projected finish" line. What is that referring to? If I'm doing a 15 minute piece, will that give me my average split in the last 3 minutes?

sharp_rower wrote: For projected finish: do you mean it's the current split over distance remaining? (not AVERAGE split)

It is definitely current pace over remaining distance. You can see this quite clearly if your pace changes by a significant amount. Current pace is the top reading, depending on how you have the display configured.

The "split" pace is the pace /500m of the current split. For a distance/time row the split is one fifth of the total, so for your 15min row it is the pace of your current 3 minute segment.

A "split" is a time to do a certain distance. On C2, default distance is 500m, because 2k race courses have posts and timing every 500m.

On the erg the time to go this fictitious 500 m is 500/V, where "speed" V in m/s is the cube root of the Power in Watts/an arbitrary constant. (W=2.8 x V³).
For example 350W/2.8 = 125 and the cube root of 125 is 5 (m/s) and the split would be 500/5 = 100s or split 1:40.

You can avoid all that confusion by using Watts, which is an accurate and linear measurement of what you're actually doing and can also tell you something about your strokes. The monitor updates the Watt readout after every single stroke.

When rowing, we deliver Power and we must live with our Heart Rate; these two numbers with Rating can tell us almost everything we need to know.

What about the 0 meters? Is the thing programmed so that there's no rounding and that when it says 0 the clock has definitely stopped?

When it reaches zero it's done, no ifs, no buts.

How do you know?

sharp_rower wrote:How do you know?

Because I'm a software/hardware specialist, a race organiser and I worked closely with Scott Hamilton on a PM4 alpha test.

sharp_rower wrote:What about the 0 meters? Is the thing programmed so that there's no rounding and that when it says 0 the clock has definitely stopped?

If you're worried about it, you should just pull straight through 0.0 seconds displayed and you even can throw in an extra stroke if you want.

OarConsequences wrote:
If you're worried about it, you should just pull straight through 0.0 seconds displayed and you even can throw in an extra stroke if you want.

My budget does not allow for an extra stroke!