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[[old] seat5]

Probably my last 30 min at 20 spm this month--<br /><br />7526 av.1:59.5 <br /><br />I don't really want to do this again!!!

[[old] sirrobin]

<!--QuoteBegin-seat5+Jan 17 2006, 08:25 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(seat5 @ Jan 17 2006, 08:25 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Probably my last 30 min at 20 spm this month--<br /><br />7526 av.1:59.5  <br /><br />I don't really want to do this again!!! <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />My goodness you're a stud, Carla! <br /><br />You mention something I've been wondering about. Do I understand that the fewer spm indicates a more efficient stroke? I used to do 27-29 spm but have been working on reaching further and have brought it down to about a 26 average most of the time. Rarely do I get under 25 without practically stopping. Is this partially a function of height? I'm 5'5" (almost) and I think I remember you saying you're 5'9". Or am I just missing something?<br /><br />Robin

[[old] sirrobin]

Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention that I did a 1/2 marathon yesterday. I thought I was going to die in the last 1/2 hour. I was hoping my husband was going to come out and say it was his turn on the rower, but "curses" he didn't rescue me! I was coughing and filled up a small trash can nearby with tissues, got an enormous headache, and got cold out in the garage. But I did it. It took over 2 hours and 8 minutes. But I did it. <br /><br />I'm thinking I will try another one at the next 3-day weekend. Yes, after all that complaining I still think I'll try another one next month. Maybe it's a bit like child birth. You forget about all the pain when you see the results & are ready to have another. At least, that's what happened to me... although my husband was not as optimistic after standing by me during "the ordeal." After almost 16 years I'm pretty sure we'll be sticking with the one baby. I'm not as optimistic now as I was back then!

[[old] Krysta Coleman]

<!--QuoteBegin-seat5+Jan 17 2006, 09:25 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(seat5 @ Jan 17 2006, 09:25 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Probably my last 30 min at 20 spm this month--<br /><br />7526 av.1:59.5  <br /><br />I don't really want to do this again!!! <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />Outstanding, Carla! You are putting a lot of the men to shame on the CTC. I think if I am ever to compete with you, I'll to have to wait about 40 years and then use my age advantage!<br /><br />- Krysta<br />

[[old] Citroen]

<!--QuoteBegin-sirrobin+Jan 18 2006, 08:32 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(sirrobin @ Jan 18 2006, 08:32 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->You mention something I've been wondering about. Do I understand that the fewer spm indicates a more efficient stroke? I used to do 27-29 spm but have been working on reaching further and have brought it down to about a 26 average most of the time. Rarely do I get under 25 without practically stopping. Is this partially a function of height? I'm 5'5" (almost) and I think I remember you saying you're 5'9". Or am I just missing something?<br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />If you do a 30' row; at 20SPM that's dead on 600 strokes, at 28SPM it's 840 strokes. <br /><br />To get, say, 7,500m in 30mins (2:00/500split) you've got to row 12.5m per stroke (@20SPM) versus 8.93m per stroke (@28SPM).<br /><br />I did the 30'R20 this morning and got 7678m. My heart rate peaked at 178. It's a hard workout. Much harder than an unrestricted 30 mins.<br /><br />The 30'R20 is also supposed to be a good predictor of 70% of 2K time.<br /><br /><a href='http://www.machars.net/spi.php#twokfromwatts' target='_blank'>http://www.machars.net/spi.php#twokfromwatts</a> lets you calculate that (I'm not sure if that calculator works for you ladies).<br /><br />Carla's excellent 7526m predicts a 7:04.4 2K. My result predicts a 6:56.3.<br /><br />I'm 5'7" (in old money), it's taken me months to learn how to row at 20SPM.<br /><br />

[[old] seat5]

<!--QuoteBegin-sirrobin+Jan 18 2006, 08:47 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(sirrobin @ Jan 18 2006, 08:47 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention that I did a 1/2 marathon yesterday. I thought I was going to die in the last 1/2 hour. I was hoping my husband was going to come out and say it was his turn on the rower, but "curses" he didn't rescue me! I was coughing and filled up a small trash can nearby with tissues, got an enormous headache, and got cold out in the garage. But I did it. It took over 2 hours and 8 minutes. But I did it. <br /><br />I'm thinking I will try another one at the next 3-day weekend. Yes, after all that complaining I still think I'll try another one next month. Maybe it's a bit like child birth. You forget about all the pain when you see the results & are ready to have another. At least, that's what happened to me... although my husband was not as optimistic after standing by me during "the ordeal."    After almost 16 years I'm pretty sure we'll be sticking with the one baby. I'm not as optimistic now as I was back then! <br /> </td></tr></table><br />That's really great!!<br />You will find each one less traumatic until you start really pushing the pace. Pretty soon a whole marathon won't be so daunting to you--it's like a natural evolution. Good work!<br /><br />20 spm is a sort of strengh/endurance workout. It's not that it's more efficient, really, because you have to push hard to get any pace out of it. It makes sure you are not just zipping up and down the slide like mad which eventually you can' t do much faster. As per PaulS, I do most of my rowing at 10MPS. This 20 spm stuff ends up being around 12.5.<br /><br />I think it's easier for taller people to get more out of the stroke and easier for shorter people to rate high.

[[old] seat5]

<!--QuoteBegin-Krysta Coleman+Jan 18 2006, 06:43 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(Krysta Coleman @ Jan 18 2006, 06:43 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin-seat5+Jan 17 2006, 09:25 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(seat5 @ Jan 17 2006, 09:25 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Probably my last 30 min at 20 spm this month--<br /><br />7526 av.1:59.5  <br /><br />I don't really want to do this again!!! <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />Outstanding, Carla! You are putting a lot of the men to shame on the CTC. I think if I am ever to compete with you, I'll to have to wait about 40 years and then use my age advantage!<br /><br />- Krysta <br /> </td></tr></table><br />Well, I'll do my darndest to still be faster! so there

[[old] billandmargaret]

I've been rowing 9-12km most days in the last 2 months (many 9-12k rows) but I'm not seeing any improvements in speed since September. Mostly I do long steady rows, gradually raising my speed as I warm up, with occasional sprints. Recommendations? <br /><br />Thanks.<br /><br />Margaret

[[old] sirrobin]

Linda, <br />I've been wondering if taking a walk or doing something different might help shake up my routine. I'm usually a steady rower like Margaret but do like to try my monthly 2000 on the 20th (today!) and 500 on the 5th. If I'm awake and remember the date is coming soon, I will try to incorporate a period of higher speed and/or harder pull while "just rowing" a few times before the date arrives. I also do a 30-minute Thursday every week in order to break up the monotany a bit. Some weeks it is just a drag, but sometimes I really surprise myself. And my overall stats have improved over the year and a half since I've been using the C2.<br /><br />My goal is weight loss, not competition. But in order to lose weight, I know that I have to not only go the distance, but also build muscle and push myself aerobically - which I don't like to do. One way to make myself work harder is to take challenges such as the January weight loss challenge and my monthly ranked workouts and compare my scores with others. And reading forum messages like this helps keep me in the game.<br /><br />Thanks,<br />Robin<br />

[[old] seat5]

<!--QuoteBegin-billandmargaret+Jan 19 2006, 08:54 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(billandmargaret @ Jan 19 2006, 08:54 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I've been rowing 9-12km most days in the last 2 months (many 9-12k rows) but I'm not seeing any improvements in speed since September.  Mostly I do long steady rows, gradually raising my speed as I warm up, with occasional sprints.  Recommendations? <br /><br />Thanks.<br /><br />Margaret <br /> </td></tr></table><br />There's such a wealth of info in the Training forum, lots of it posted by bona fide coaches, that I feel silly answering this post. But to me, a lot of rowing fast doesn't actually come from physical training, so much, as mental. Here are some things I do just about every time I do a PB row.<br /><br />First of all, I decide exactly what I'm going to accomplish, by looking at my best time so far and using the pace calculator to get the average pace, checking out the rankings to see how much faster I need to be to move up and the calculator to see what pace those are at. I usually figure out 3 or 4 times: my previous best & its pace, 1/2 second faster pace and its resultant time, 1 second faster, and 1.5 or 2 seconds faster (depending on how soft I think my PB is.) <br /><br />These times and paces I write in large letters on a white board that I put by the erg. I put an arrow by the one I'm really trying to hit. Then I warm up. For a hard 6K I do about 6K, starting out slow, speeding up, slowing down, some 100 meter "sprints" at the pace I'm planning to hold, to see how they feel, slow again, stop & stretch, usually drink a full Nalgene bottle of water during warm up. Some of the warm up row I do arms only, then arms and back, then arms, back, 1/2 slide, really paying attention to technique. My erg is by some windows so I check out form, is my back straight, is my head staying level, are my shins verticle but not past verticle at the catch. The last few minutes I do at about 3 seconds slower than the planned pace. Then I stretch about 5 minutes. <br /><br />When I get back on the erg, on any succesful PB attempt, I'm totally focused on the monitor, which is set on Av Pace. I know exactly what I have to do to succeed. It usually takes me about 7 or 8 pulls to get the pace to what I want to hold, and then I just keep making the current pace say that number. The average pace takes a while to drop to what the goal is, but I try to be careful not to try to make it drop to the correct average too fast, because that would mean a fly and die in the making. Usually I have music on, something instrumental is good and not as distracting to me as music with lyrics (used to watch movies a lot, but find I miss half the story, so its only really good if I've seen the film before) and I focus on the meters dropping: pulling on the same number over and over so it's 10MPS. After a while, on 5K, 6K, 10K, I tend to end up pulling on a smaller number each time, which means I['ve settled into about 11MPS. <br /><br />I spend a good amount of thought on just staying steady. I don't allow myself (on successful attempts) to think about how many meters are left, at least until there's only about 10% left. If my thoughts wander into that area I make myself focus on the average or say things over and over in my head like "lull-a-bye" or "take a nap" which make it easier to relax the muscles that you aren't using right then and sort of trick myself into thinking I'm not really doing all this work at all, just sort of rocking along. The longer I can trick myself into feeling this way, the better the piece goes.<br /><br />The last 10% I let myself think about how many meters are left, but focus on each 100 meters as a separate entitiy. Each is 10 strokes (by this time, I'm back to 10MPS) and I count down. If the 100 meters ends before I'm done with the count down I just count to 11 so when I start the new 100 meters it's on one. And I try to pretend that each 100 m. is just a brand new one and I've just started the piece.<br /><br />Then with say 2--3%, or maybe 5% left of the piece, I start pushing the pace--to make it drop to where it belongs, if I've gotten behind, or, if I'm on target, to see if I can really blast way past my top goal. Having the different times on the white board help here because by this time I can't think too clearly and seeing the numbers on the board helps. The last 100 all caution is thrown to the winds in a frantic panic during which I try to convince myself that anyone can do 3 more of anything and all I have to do is keep doing 3 more until I'm done.<br /><br />This is the way every successful PB attempt goes. Of course at least half my attempts are aborted and turn into "mixed junk" workouts. At least half of those would have succeeded if I had had the mental strength to focus on the pace and to discipline my thoughts.<br /><br />Hope that is useful to you--you'll find plenty of physical training tips on the forum, but not much is said about how to think, and I find it makes a tremendous difference.

[[old] mpukita]

<!--QuoteBegin-sirrobin+Jan 20 2006, 12:09 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(sirrobin @ Jan 20 2006, 12:09 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Linda, <br />I've been wondering if taking a walk or doing something different might help shake up my routine. I'm usually a steady rower like Margaret but do like to try my monthly 2000 on the 20th (today!) and 500 on the 5th. If I'm awake and remember the date is coming soon, I will try to incorporate a period of higher speed and/or harder pull while "just rowing" a few times before the date arrives. I also do a 30-minute Thursday every week in order to break up the monotany a bit. Some weeks it is just a drag, but sometimes I really surprise myself. And my overall stats have improved over the year and a half since I've been using the C2.<br /><br />My goal is weight loss, not competition. But in order to lose weight, I know that I have to not only go the distance, but also build muscle and push myself aerobically - which I don't like to do. One way to make myself work harder is to take challenges such as the January weight loss challenge and my monthly ranked workouts and compare my scores with others. And reading forum messages like this helps keep me in the game.<br /><br />Thanks,<br />Robin <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />Robin, et. al.:<br /><br />Let me make a suggestion ...<br /><br />I have found that variety in my workouts, with some structure as well as some freedom, keeps me interested and motivated. Here's what I've done, and I'm just as excited about getting on the erg now, as I was when I started in May ...<br /><br />1) I started out doing just longer and longer pieces, building my aerobic endurance, but at a low level. Started with 2K at a time, and just kept adding meters.<br /><br />2) Once I could do a 60' piece, I started to use RowPro, and did some handicap races. I was slow, but it was fun and a challenge.<br /><br />3) I then started throwing in some interval workouts, just for fun, to break up the routine of just getting on and rowing. On some of my long rows, I do what you do, and pull 500M fast, 1,000M slower (rest), etc.<br /><br />4) That got me wanting to improve my times, so I started on a structured plan, for me, the Wolverine Plan, but started at the bare minimum for my level of fitness. I went slow (most of the time), with steady, but "baby steps" improvement.<br /><br />5) I started, this month, doing the UK Cross Team Challenge (CTC). Every month it's a new challenge, so it's more variety. This is very similar to your "day of the month" or "day of the week" challenges, which I feel are an awesome idea.<br /><br />6) I also started this just for fitness, and weight loss, but got hooked, so I've entered a venue race in Cincinnati for next weekend, and will probably do 1 to 3 more before the season ends. This is a great motivation tool, and I'm looking forward to meeting a few people I've "met" here face-to-face there.<br /><br />7) I always go by how I feel. If I really have a desire to have another go at the CTC, rather than an interval workout, I do the CTC and move the next workout in my structured "plan" to the next day. I try to distinguish between being truely tired, from boredom or laziness, and try not to use lame excuses (to myself). I rarely take a day off, but I regularly take days of very light rowing ... to still burn a few calories for weight maintenance.<br /><br />I've lost 20 pounds, give or take a pound on any given day, since May '05, and want to lose 3 or 4 more so I have a safety margin for staying lightweight for competitions ... as well, by the charts, my target weight is suggested to be 158 to 160, with which I would agree. That would leave my absolutely no "love handles" on the side, and no "fat tire" around the waist. That hasn't been true since university! I am still shocked!<br /><br />Just though something I've written would give you a useful idea or an example of something to add to your rotation.<br /><br />Warm regards -- Mark

[[old] seat5]

New 5K PB after an aborted attempt at 30 min @20 at 1:59 (quit 1/3 of the way in--just didn't have it.)<br />I tried something new and let myself row easy (high rate, for me, av 29) and ended up with 19:27.7, av 1:56.7. It was probably mostly at something like 8 or 9MPS, which is whimpy, but fast.<br />It felt really easy--really like cheating--until the last 1k or so and then I stopped a lot and did some 10MPS and some thrashing and it felt dreadful.<br />Next time I try to break this I'll be more used to the high rate and should be able to do 1:56, especially if I can get my daughter or husband to sit there and holler at me if I try to stop.<br /><br />But my training will still be at 10MPS or more.

[[old] mpukita]

<!--QuoteBegin-seat5+Jan 21 2006, 08:27 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(seat5 @ Jan 21 2006, 08:27 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->New 5K PB after an aborted attempt at 30 min @20 at 1:59 (quit 1/3 of the way in--just didn't have it.)<br />I tried something new and let myself row easy (high rate, for me, av 29)  and ended up with 19:27.7, av 1:56.7.  It was probably mostly at something like 8 or 9MPS, which is whimpy, but fast.<br />It felt really easy--really like cheating--until the last 1k or so and then I stopped a lot and did some 10MPS and some thrashing and it felt dreadful.<br />Next time I try to break this I'll be more used to the high rate and should be able to do 1:56, especially if I can get my daughter or husband to sit there and holler at me if I try to stop.<br /><br />But my training will still be at 10MPS or more. <br /> </td></tr></table><br />Carla:<br /><br />You're an animal! Nice 5K numbers there girl.<br /><br />-- Mark

[[old] Ben Rea]

oops

[[old] mpukita]

<!--QuoteBegin-Ben Rea+Jan 21 2006, 08:45 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(Ben Rea @ Jan 21 2006, 08:45 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->my first half marathon!!!!!!  1:39:54.7  i am 15 years old....is that any good for someone my age...i have been rowing for 1 1/2 years...<br /><br /><br />I am proud of it <br /><br /><br />you can check me out under Syracuse Chargers.....ranked 48!!! woot! <br /> </td></tr></table><br />Ben:<br /><br />I'd say that's a very good time ... you <b>should </b>be proud of it. Nice work! Keep up the training!<br /><br />Congratulations ... Mark<br />