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Damper settings and half-marathon? Noobie question... :)

Posted: May 7th, 2013, 8:05 am
by nocc1n
Hello everyone,

This is my first post as I just signed up today. I have been rowing since January now. Just found the Concept2 logbook about a month ago. And just recently started prepping for the half-marathon.

I generally row 1K-2K a day with damper setting at 10. This is mostly as part of my cross training routine.

Question - What should I set the damper to for the half-marathon challenge? I plan on doing it this Sunday as it will be the first day I have time to sit down for over an hour. I want to do 10, but not sure if I can make it the whole way through with that much resistance - And I don't want to lower resistance midway. Anyone pointers?


Thanks!!!
Scott

Re: Damper settings and half-marathon? Noobie question... :)

Posted: May 7th, 2013, 9:47 am
by hjs
Demper setting plus dust in the machine = airflow
So dempersetting in itself says not much.
For that you need dragfactor. Plenty of threads about drag
Setting on 10 is almost never needed, it means you use a very slow slugisch stroke, lower it a good bit 3/4 is ok on a clean machine. Makes the stroke a lot more smooth

Re: Damper settings and half-marathon? Noobie question... :)

Posted: May 7th, 2013, 5:02 pm
by Carl Watts
Look at the DRAG FACTOR on the monitor itself. The damper is used to set this up on the monitor.

Typical DF useed is in the 110-130 range. All new rowers have it set to high and as you develop some leg speed you lower the setting.

I started out at 164 and now row at 134. You should stay with the same DF except for short sprints like the 100M or 500M.

A damper setting of 10 on an Erg with a clean fan/cage is far to high and will lead to the increased chance of a back injury.

Re: Damper settings and half-marathon? Noobie question... :)

Posted: May 9th, 2013, 1:27 am
by jamesg
Scott, why do you use high drag? This, apart from being suicidal, will make you go far too slow, the fan acts as a brake. A ½M is hard enough without wanting to do twice as many strokes as necessary and take twice the time, as you'll soon find out.

The best drag is zero, increasing slightly only if the flywheel is too quick for you at the catch. You can still pull as hard as you like, the flywheel does not put any limitation on that.