Sub 7 Indoor Rowing Club (UK)

[Two Pudding Kid]

Cologne - weather much like here so time your munchies if outdoor at the Christmas markets which are everywhere. Had a ride on a virtual reality ride into Victorian Cologne, (sort of enjoyed it but made me feel a little queasy). Lindt chocolate museum was more my thing although a little disappointed the restaurant closed early.

Indoor rowing. Race wasnt until 2pm, so plenty of time for breakfast and walk to the venue. Got lost in the rain and was out longer than intended. Well in time for a coffee and warmup, (even nicer to be pointed out as a good example of technique by a mother coaching her son for the sprints). 3 in the category 50-54 ladies, and started in 2nd place. Not one for worrying if I am a bit behind the pace as all I need to do is wait for them to slow down, (works most of the time), and sure did againl Was hoping to go sub 2:10 but had to settle for 2:10.9 average, (4584m in 20 mins), but think I suffered a little in the warm gym and the sparking water wasnt as nice as still, (and guess who made a mess opening it) A win by 45 metres, and another gold this season. Celebrated by hoovering up cake made by the local students, (my German isnt brilliant but I sussed out an offer of 3 for 2 ).

[Two Pudding Kid]

Since I have been back -

16 Dec - had a headache and personal training first so no surprise the 4 mins at 2:04 died after about 2.5 minutes.
19 Dec - fuelled by too much cake and coffee I started the 5k TT with a little too much gusto and died at 4k, (SB attempt out of the window but entered for Fitness Matters challenge). 21:48 aka 2:10.8 isnt bad but should have been 21:40.
22 Dec - started out on 5k again but stopped at halfway. Wasnt 100% sure I was a LWT, (home scales say NO, gym scales YES), and realised that I hadnt set the drag factor either. 30spm at 99DF isnt sustainable for me - obviously cannot chat to a friend and setup at the same time. Redeemed it with sub 2:13 on 10 x 1k r2 after.

Mike - hope you are recovered well from the lurgy now and ready for Christmas

Rod Stewart - its a name you cannot help noticing and doing very well in his category

[Two Pudding Kid]

23 Dec - an unplanned 30 x 250m rest 45 secs at 2:11 pace. What a killer, (as no flying starts), and had to really push it on the last 4 reps. So tired I accidentally slept on the bus home

Merry Christmas everyone and 3 days of non-physical stuff.

[MPx]

Merry Christmas Susan....and everyone one else out there. Hope it provides a welcome break for you all and sets you up for an even better 2020...

Also big congrats on winning in Cologne Susan - experience and steady application coming to the fore as it often does. Amazing effort to get through 30 of those sprints. I do a regular session of just 16 and off 90s rest and always find those tough to get through mentally. 30 of them must be never ending!

My lurgy has been grimly hanging on so not yet training normally. I had to miss another couple of days after my first attempt so restart slowly. But then carried on on the same theme doing very slow (for me) 2ks on 2min rests and trying to hit specific numbers which have mostly proven elusive ! I did get the holiday challenge up to 150k though for a $4 total which last night saw me on page 82 of the leader board - may be lower by the deadline for entries. There's clearly lots of people out there spending an awful lot of time on the erg!!!

22/12 5x2k 2r. 1 spot on 8:44.8 @ 2:11.2 the others 0.1 or 2 either side.
23/12 6x2k 2r. None spot on, but all within 0.1.
24/12 9373m (distance needed to reach 150k for the holiday challenge). Decided to push slightly harder. Targetted 38:38.3 which is about 2:03.6 pace but stupidly got confused and stopped half a stroke short so ended on .7 when I really thought I was on target!

So that's me done until Friday.
Have a good one...

[Amazing Amazon]

Sorry, been away a long time but I gave up completely on the erg 2nd May -23rd September and after that not having done a CTC for Sub7 until Boxing day.

My summer was not entirely sedentary as I was still rowing on water – competing both in Coastal and fine boat sculls: I even won a 500m single sculls race at Exeter also raced in a women’s and mixed coxed quad) as well as competing at Wimbleball (single, double and quad) and Totnes (single and double). In coastal quads I raced, if without much success, both in May/June and September October at Exmouth (Womens and Masters), Teignmouth (Women and Masters) and Plymouth (Womens and Masters). I’ve also been out sailing, swimming, walking and cycling.

However none of this has kept me erg fit it seems and I’m sadly significantly slower than I was last year.

I missed the 5k and 1k races at my local Devon IRC in September, which I normally do, as I was walking in the French Alpes Maritime that week. Finally started on the IRL challenged on 24th September.

I rowed the erg fitfully through September (14k), October (40k) and a bit harder in November (82k).

Having organised to go to Cardiff for WIRC on the 24th November I rowed a 8:15.2 2k at home then got a cold on the Wednesday before that put me in bed. Fortunately it was head cold and didn’t get on my chest. After managing a 20 minute warm-up row without ill effect on the Friday I did go to Cardiff and managed a surprisingly comfortable 8:15.5. My 500m was also comfortable but only 1:52.8. In both races I was racing in the 60+ category so there were 3 of us. Jane George raced ahead of me at the start which had me worried as I know that she can be competitive with my current times but I stuck to my plan and she had obviously gone out too fast and I came back past her.

After Cardiff I started my Holiday Challenge build with but this was interrupted by a weekend in London for BRIC. My 2k was in the first set of races and we were let onto the ergs a little early so managed a 12 minute warm-up (compared to my normal 20 minutes). Still could only manage 8:17.2. Compared to Cardiff it was dry, the 2k was the first race so not too hot. I was unopposed but my time would have been good for bronze in the 60-64. In the 500m I only got 6 minutes warm-up, was lst of my warm-up erg and then walking onto the competition floor I had pulled out my 2k entry card by mistake and attempted to get on the wrong erg. Discovering my error I scooted over to the correct erg but didn’t have time to set my drag factor before they switched over to race start mode. That was why I put my hand up (that’s two years running I’ve had to do that!). Nevertheless I pulled a creditable 1:50.7 (a second slower than I did in 2018) which would have won the 60-64 ladies race, albeit the two fastest at 2k didn’t row at 500m.

Despite a week’s holiday way in Madeira (13th-20th December) I still managed 127,814m for the Holiday Challenged, culminating in a 1:35:24.6 HM on Christmas Eve. My hotel in Madeira did have a working C2 erg (202 max df!) but even with a/c it seemed a bit hot to race any distance (I still did three 20 min warm-up and 2k warn downs) and had some goes at the very sprinty stuff to set SB 19.7 seconds for the 100m and 285m for the 1 minute.

Measured against last year I’m a lot slower. Measured against my 1000 point Nonathlon targets not so bad. I’m targeting these and aiming to get over 1000 points on each. I have reached 9038 points but not quite at 1000+ for 2k (985), 5k (992), 30 minute (998) and 60 minute (984), though the last of these is just a pro-rated HM. Of course I also still have the FM to do.

I do expect to be at Manchester and Paris.

[Two Pudding Kid]

Mike well done on getting to the 150k mark for the holiday challenge, (nearly twice as much as me). It would seem there are people out there doing 10k a day minimum – yeah, there are other things in life apart from erging! A mental challenge to keep you interested for the specific number targets, and shows the difficulty of trying to nail them.

Marjorie nice to see you back on the forum. I knew you would have been busy somewhere, (or everywhere), competing OTW and getting out and about in other sports. Congratulations on winning a 500m single sculls race – a somewhat different experience from erging.

Great to meet you at Cardiff, (seems such a long time ago now), and was in the stands for the 500m at BRIC. As my race in London was about 12:30 I didn’t see the early action. Hope you had a good time in Maderia and well done on the SB for 100m and manic minute.

Looking good for a big nonathalon score, (and sitting out a marathon if you choose to do so).

Will hopefully see you in Manchester, (just entered it). Not doing Paris – health and weather permitting going to race the Germans in Mosbach (30 mins) and Hamburg (marathon). I am not a fan of 2k so taking opportunities to do other distances/times.

[Two Pudding Kid]

Not much excitement for Christmas, although I was only cooking for 3 it was quite edible

27 Dec - first day gym open after the break and surprisingly busy. Time for a 4 x 5k r3 sub 2:20 pace which I just scraped home at average 2:19.8. It should have been easier than it was but got the right result.

28 Dec - as it was mild i took the opportunity to try to go sub 1 hour for parkrun, (aka park walk in my case). Made it in 59:15 and treated myself to a cappucino and cake, (not that I really needed it ). That is a almost 20 minutes off 6 months ago so well pleased with that, and not that much stiffness in the hip since.

29 Dec - done my bit at Legs, Bums and Tums and then the calendar says 7500m easy, (just about stayed on 26spm and 2:16) for a 33:57.8 result. That wraps up week 4 of marathon training nicely and just about LWT.

The end of the year should be a bit of Tai Chi and strength training Monday and a 30 minute TT Tuesday.

Happy New Year.

[Amazing Amazon]

Best wishes to everyone here for the New Year.

Susan, good to see you gave just about stayed LWT through the festive season. I know it's not easy (hic, burp!). Wishing you well for your New Year's Eve 30 minute TT.

I've had a pleasant few days relaxing with most of my usual distractions (such as my country dancing and Pilates) in abeyance over the Christmas/New Year period. However the mild weather has allowed for rowing, with lots of flat water (out in a single on Saturday, coxing a four on Monday). Also did a 8 mile walk on Christmas day and another shorter stroll yesterday.

With the deadline for early bird prices for WIRC entries being today I felt I needed to improve my 2k time for seeding purposes before I entered. I had rowed 8:15.2 back on 11th November and not improved that at the Welsh (8:15.5) or British (8:17.2) IRCs. Based on my 1k and 10k times I though I ought to be doing more like 8:09, so did a 2k TT on Sunday to see if my surmise was correct. I've been dialling back the pace on my warm-ups. For the last 8 years or so I've been doing the 20 minute Eddie Fletcher warm up intended for someone aiming for 7:45 pace. I've now decided to be more realistic and not tire myself out warming up and maybe leavea a little more for the real piece. After BRIC I had dialled back to a 7:52 2k target warmup. On Sunday I cut this further to a 8:00 2k based warm-up (doing an 8 minutes 2k would would be pretty miraculous for me at the moment). Anyway the result was encouraging: 8:08.1, with 500m splits: 2:01.7 (28), 2:02.8 (28), 2:02.9 (28), 2:00.6 (30). Annoyingly the time when I finished was 8:08.0, rounded up to 8:08.1 when I accessed the splits and verification code. 8:08.0 would have given me 1000 Nonathlon points . Anyway I've now done my WIRC entries, and there is some 2k competition (two French ladies, of unknown potential) in my category already.

Today I did a second attempt this month at 5000m, for the December IRL. My earlier attempt (21:22.7 on 5th December) was at slower pace than my subsequent 6k so clearly improvable. I decided that I would try and do it in under 21 minutes (last season best was 20:44.8). Started doing mostly 2:06, with the occasional 2:07 and was able to hold that until the last 1000m when I started to accelerate, with something left for the usual high spm sprint for the line at the end. 1k Splits: 2:06.3 (26), 2:06.1 (27), 2:06.0 (28), 2:06.2 (28), 2:03.9 (29) for an overall 20:57.2 and 1012 Nonathlon points. A really encouraging end to the year.

[MPx]

Good to see you back and in such fine form Marjorie. Very impressive 2k and 5k at and over 1000 points which must mean world class! It should be good for you to have some competition in France, but unlikely to be too troublesome if they're not normally ranking their times.

Nice going on the 4x5k Susan to achieve target pace - that's a heck of a long way! Hopefully the 30min TT today was a breeze in comparison.

I've manage a few sessions while my lurgy abates but nothing worth comment sadly!
27/12 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm in 32:52.1. (lighter weights than usual and slower erg)
29/12 2kTT for the Sub7 ITC. Not very high hopes for this so was pleased to push through to a 7:10.9 - but the first time I think I've posted a 7min plus time since starting with Sub7 in 2010. Shame.
30/12 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm in 33:00.0. (normal weights but even slower erg)
31/12 Last attempt at 2kTT for Sub7 ITC. Only pushed on to about 800m then started to paddle - no fight. Eventually sped up again to try to hit 7:22.7 but missed it by .1.

Hopefully I can start yet another comeback from Thursday! Happy New Year to you all...

[Amazing Amazon]

Good to see you back and in such fine form Marjorie. Very impressive 2k and 5k at and over 1000 points which must mean world class!

Mike, my 5k result is about 1% slower than last year's SB, can't complain about that . However most of my other distances are about 2.5% worse . And of course the Nonathlon 1000 point target pace reduce every year as I get older.

Dull, overcast and drizzly today down here in Devon but I was out on the river at 9am, rowing as stroke in a quad scull. Our coach reckons I'm not keeping my arms locked and straight for long enough. Supposed to be rowing again tomorrow, then 'fun' intra-club fine boat racing on Saturday and coastal 'Frostbite Challenge' race on Sunday.

It should be good for you to have some competition in France, but unlikely to be too troublesome if they're not normally ranking their times.

Can't always rely on their not logging results meaning they aren't fast: many OTW rowers don't, and the faster American ladies (ex-Olympic rowers) who I know will beat me I only see results for races, that the race organisers submit. And a lot more (probably younger) competitors in the 500m, which is 60+. And of course the entry deadline is nearly three weeks away ... e.g. don't think Rod Chinn has entered yet.

Hopefully I can start yet another comeback from Thursday! Happy New Year to you all...

Yes, lets hope you get over your lurgi in short order. Meanwhile have a good New Year anyway.

[Two Pudding Kid]

Majorie - indeed perfect weather for OTW and walking. Great news on your 2k TT in 8:08.1 and presumably 999 nonathalon points. Best wishes for Paris and Manchester, as well as this weekends local challenges. Super finish to 2019 with a sub-21 min 5k and 1012 nonathalon points. The nonathalon points are still hard to get the magic 1000, (pre-hip op I might have stood a chance of the marathon but currently sitting on 951.)

Mike - hope you can shake off this lurgy now that life is more back to normal. Lets hope 2020 brings you peace and joy.

Me - hopefully on a roll at present.

31 Dec - 30 min TT 6876m at 2:10.8 pace which is a bit astonishing, (only managed 20 mins at this pace in Cologne). Surprised myself, (and made my 6k and 5k times look rubbish). Just need to keep my fingers crossed I can repeat for real in 3 weeks. First time I have had to queue to get on an erg in ages, (probably because everyone was trying to get their workouts done before 1pm close down).

2 Jan - maybe Tues made me rather stiff but I nearly chickened the 4 minute challenge. I was meant to do Body Balance first but the instructor didnt show, so we had the class via a Les Mills video instead. Struggled with the warmup, but desperate to amend for a foul-up at this 2 weeks back I went off too fast and died fast in the last minute. 967m at 2:04 pace which is as good as I could expect, although "null points" for proper pacing.

4 Jan - I wouldnt normally be at the Chiropractors on a Friday, (ie 3 Jan) but they are trying to catch up all those who missed out because of the holiday period. Definitely made a difference to my midback and neck, and presumably my SI joints too. Eager to get on with marathon training this was the 35000m, or the afternoon of sitting down going nowhere. Actually went a lot better than expected and not that stiff after. Averaging 2:27 pace and 25spm although with additional 3 and half minutes of munchies breaks it just scrapes in under 2:30 pace target - 2:54:44.6. Was half-kilo over LWT at start and 0.7Kg under at finish. I love to see the look on peoples faces when you say that you still have 2 hours to go, (I deserve those chocolate buttons and Lucozade that are on display of course). 36 nutters signed up for Hamburg in 7 weeks time - probably the biggest ever turnout for a marathon ergo, (4 places left). Not sure if we go to row or go to eat - postrace food is legendary

[MPx]

Susan, good to read that you're practicing your eating as well as erging in plenty of time for the Hamberg marathon and feast. And a great pace sustained for the 30 min TT. I always think the sprints (up to 4 min) are best done in (slight) fly and die style. Obviously not good to come to a halt, but no matter how carefully paced you go there's never enough left near the end to claw time back so a steady pace tends to be sub-optimal (for me anyway).

I'm pleased to report that the lurgy has left the building! Which should bode well, but it was third time lucky for my latest blood doning today so I guess I'll find I'm slower again for a bit. I've used the first week of the month to post times for each of the monthly challenges so there's no real pressure to rush anything.
2/1 I was going to do a 10k but was knackered after the 1k warm up so cut back to a slow for me 30 mins instead covering just 7227m (easier to hit meter targets spot on than time targets!)
3/1 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm in 32:41.9 (.4 too fast)
4/1 1 Min TT for the IRL and FMMC. Target anything over 350 - managed 352 so very pleased with that although I did do a 354 last Jan.
5/1 10kTT for the Sub7 ITC. Set off to get around 38:40 but only stayed with that target through 4k. Slowed for the next 5k then sped up a bit again for the last k and a 39:02.6 overall. Very disappointed with that. I changed my whole training programme this year to include more distance and SS pieces aimed at improving my aerobic base. Obviously hasn't worked and I'm over 30s slower than last year. May go again if feeling OK later in the month.
6/1 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm in 32:42.1 (.2 too fast)
8/1 CTC Intervals 2020m. This was one tough session. I saw elsewhere that Martin was suggesting 1k +5 pace for those of us that like sprints. So my target was 1:43 pace overall. Decided on 1:44 pace for the 1k and managed 1:43.9. Meant to go faster on the 520 but only managed 1:43.8 pace. That left much to do in the last 500 which wasn't really on but I did managed a 1:42.8 for a 1:43.6 pace overall (6:58.8). I was screaming rather loudly at the end - luckily we have no near neighbours! Happy enough to have ducked under 7 min but its sad that that was the best I could do given three mins of rest in the piece. Still some way off a sub7 2k !
9/1 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm in 33:33.0 (before the blood letting). I was obviously destroyed by the CTC yesterday as I set off at my usual 8k SS pace but only made it to 3k before really struggling, so slowed right down and eventually targetted a 33:33.3 which I missed !

[Amazing Amazon]

Susan, good to read your Marathon race preparation is going well.

Mike, also good to read that you are feeling better again and you are (mostly) posting good times again. Re your problems yesterday - Age Related Decline - I find at my age Its not a good idea to work out too hard the day after a big attempt (such as your full-on CTC effort). So these days I try to give it a day (at least!) between them.

After my sub 21 minute 5k heroics on the New Year's Eve I've taken a bit of a rest from erging as I was fully engaged in OTW rowing. On the following day, (Wedsesday, 1st) I was out coxing a four. On the Thursday (2nd) I was out in a double scull. On the Saturday (3rd) I was out in a single scull and on Sunday (4th) we had fun races over a 700m course in which I did two races in a double scull with different crew. This week all my other activities (Dancing (Mon, Tue, Thurs), Pilates (Weds) swimming (Thurs), cycling (Thurs), resumed.

On Tuesday I did get back on the erg. I was trying to improve my 1k time but maybe I set of too fast as I had an almost handle down (nhd) about 300m in and although I recovered strongly in the last 200m I was only able to improve my SB by 0.2 seconds and my Nonathlon points by 1 (from 1001 to 1002).
Time 3:57.6, pace 1:58.8 (30). 200m splits: 1:57.7 (29), 2:03.2# (27), 2:00.2 (30), 1:54 (36).

Had another go at the 1000m today. Better than Tuesday, and I didn't nhd this time but I think I should be capable of going faster ( I did it in 3:50.6 last year).
Time 3:56.5, pace 1:58.2 (30). 200m splits: 1:59.7 (28), 1:58.7 (28), 1:58.2 (29), 1:58.0 (30), 1:56.5 (35). 1007 Nonathlon points.

Tomorrow I'm off to Austria for a weeks skiing. My hotel doesn't have an ergo this time .

[Two Pudding Kid]

Mike – good news that you are feeling back to normal now. What a flyer for the 1 minute. Very close to target for the 2020m, (hopefully you are taking a rest day or 2 after that killer ). For me 1k + 5 pace should be a doddle as there isn’t much between 1k and 2k pace in my case, (2:04.3 and 2:06.2 respectively).

Marjorie – a very busy week for you OTW and elsewhere. A bit like my 4 minutes, the 1k can be hard to hang in there, but significant improvement on the second attempt. Happy holidays and hopefully you get snow, (I don’t want it in UK or Germany).

Me - a great week of looney fun.

6 Jan - lots of bodyweight squats and stepups, (dont erg on Mondays when I have gone close to 3 hours on Sat). Tai Chi at lunchtime
8 Jan - 10KTT. Suprisingly good and landed an unexpected sub 44:30, (kept going at 2:13.3 pace for 44:26.3 and 18 sec improvement
9 Jan - 1 min TT. Short and sweet session after Body Balance. Set a new 10 year best of 256m, (shows how crap I am at this, but with a low pull of 1:52 and 46spm its kind of alright)
11 Jan - going to the other extreme 6 x 5k r3. Lovely pacing at 2:23 although stroke rate crept up from 25-28. First time I havent made LWT but I think the scales must have stuck a bit, (no way did I loose over 2kg when I was stopping for a drink every 24 mins)

Milestones this week.

1 million metres this season in 80 hours and 40 mins - might even hit an new personal meter record with this.
13.5 million metres lifetime in 18.5 years - was only 36 when I started counting

[MPx]

Marjorie, you are of course right about age affecting recovery thing, but I was only trying to do a steady state piece at about 2:03 pace so really shouldn't have been an issue for me. Not a big deal tho - its always easy to slow down! Interesting that you don't seem to need time off between OTW rows? Seems like a very busy schedule there, particularly including all of the other activities undertaken. Another great result for the 1k at 1007 points...amazing! Hope the hols is going well.

Susan, Martin's 2k +5 suggestion was for those of us much better at sprints than distance where pace differentials tend to be huge as distance increases. We stare in awe at you lot that can just keep going all day at much the same rate. Very tidy 10k I see - well under the 44:44.4 your were putting in not so long ago. Congrats on the landmark milages. I should be getting to my next tick on the list by the end of the week...

It been good to be training again with no symptoms...although no excuses does have a downside!
10/1 5x2k 2r @ 20 spm. Target 2:00 pace. Hit 2 spot on, 2 a smidge over, 1 a smidge under for 40:00.1 overall.
12/1 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm. Not quite as slow as the last at 33:03.2.
13/1 8x500 r3:30. Decided to start at 1:44.5 and try not to let any rep be slower than the last. Just about made it (1 was .1 over the previous) and a very slightly faster last gave me a 1:43.9 avg. It was very tough and I was pleased to have done it - but still a bit disappointing as I did this session at about 1:41.x last October.
14/1 30min varipace in the grey zone for 7507. (Varied from 1:50 to 2:09 at different times) First time back on this piece from my old regime. Was managing 100+ more meters in this session a year or so back so hopefully I'll get back into erging in the AT zone and get to at least 7557m for this session in a few weeks time.