TimbukTOO Team Room

[damselfly]

I'm booked in for the GenFit rows online for Tuesday and Wednesday -- anyone want to join in or set up something different?

Came in DEAD LAST. By a LONG shot. Nowhere to go but up, I guess.

Doing Thursday instead of Wednesday...

[Hummingbird]

About halfway through a short row I completely checked out.

I know how that feels. I started well on Feb 2nd, then on the 3rd, I felt like I was rowing in a high sea against the wind--something like that kayak trip Mark described a few weeks back. I had set the monitor for 5,000 so I finished but I was completely wacked afterwards. And for the next few days, too--I've had a thundering headache since then so I suspect I've been harbouring a low-grade something or other. I posted Friday's meters yesterday and got back on today, with a little help from Ibuprofen.

Will anyone be surprised to hear that our David is #1 of the US Marines team in the Military Challenge? But--have to urge him on here--he is evidently suffering too: only 90K+ in 7 days? David? Our David? I suspect this state of affairs will change soon, and nothing to do with my needling: #2 is only 12K behind him, and we all know what happened here when one of us got that close. All of which is to say: YAY David!

[Hummingbird]

I'm booked in for the GenFit rows online for Tuesday and Wednesday ...

Came in DEAD LAST. By a LONG shot.

If it's any consolation, I probably would have tied you for last. And at least you did it! Yay Lisa!

Thank God our times don't actually show up on these boards. With all these men posting ridiculously short times, I nearly pass out just reading them. Once upon a time I used to row hell for leather, too; right up until the day I nearly did pass out, with long, irratic pauses in an otherwise machine gun pulse rate; all alone and no one coming home... 'Twas a bit scary, and of course, I was in lousy shape at the time, but now I set the pace for the distance I plan to row with the intention of keeping the same time frame for each split, which shall forever remain undisclosed.

I like to visualize all the Speedy Gonzales on the beach, out of breath and thumping their chests while I row sedately on for another 10 k or so (never mind that I have the time to do this and they probably don't; one must take credit where one can, even if one has to scrape the bottom of the barrel to do it). [Big cheesy grin smiley]

[CONLEJM]

I try to remind myself every time I row that - first and foremost - I am doing this for general health and fitness. Next month I go for a six-month cholesterol check, and I am hoping all this hard work pays off. I don't want to have to take drugs, and I love to hear how others on the team have improved their health by using their rowing machine.

I admit I can get caught up in the competition and obsessed with speed, but I'm not a real rower; I'm not training for any regatta or the olympics. I'll never go to the Crash-B. I'm never going to be the fastest, or row the longest. I am amazed at David's distances and Izz's times! But I can compare myself to myself over time, and I love to see improvement. Since I started rowing in earnest a little over two months ago, I have lost eight pounds, I can actually feel my abdominals (can't quite see'em yet though) and I think I am even adding a little muscle. My pants are looser and I am using a different belt-hole. Good enough for me!

[BoB/335]

I try to remind myself every time I row that - first and foremost - I am doing this for general health and fitness. Next month I go for a six-month cholesterol check, and I am hoping all this hard work pays off. I don't want to have to take drugs, and I love to hear how others on the team have improved their health by using their rowing machine.

I admit I can get caught up in the competition and obsessed with speed, but I'm not a real rower; I'm not training for any regatta or the olympics. I'll never go to the Crash-B. I'm never going to be the fastest, or row the longest. I am amazed at David's distances and Izz's times! But I can compare myself to myself over time, and I love to see improvement. Since I started rowing in earnest a little over two months ago, I have lost eight pounds, I can actually feel my abdominals (can't quite see'em yet though) and I think I am even adding a little muscle. My pants are looser and I am using a different belt-hole. Good enough for me!

Well, that's really what it's all about! All the rest is fluff (for me anyway) and is why I didn't let myself get all caught up. I'm doing way too good to risk an injury trying to "prove" something. I have been doing 10k every other day and am feeling great doing it most likely because I didn't try to kill myself during the challenge (although I may try to up my goal a litle bit nex time) Doing good with my jump rope too and broke out my OLD Bullworker here and there just to keep things interesting.

[damselfly]

What's a Bullworker? Anything like a Bullwinkle?

Interestingly, it's not more strokes per minute that get me faster, it's adding power, and even slowing down (SPM) and paying more attention to form. And it's getting my HR back into the aerobic zone, which is not how I've been rowing for some time. I can maintain between 2:15 - 2:20ish for a half hour, but that doesn't come close to those I've seen online yet. Course, most o' them are dudes. Probably big, buff, dudes.

[Hummingbird]

In case anyone thought I was criticizing other people's goals in reducing time/500m, I should have said 'impressively ridiculous'--as in ridiculous for me to even attempt. Everyone has different goals for different reasons. I just want the benefits of endurance, in hope of the day when I might return to sea kayaking and another trip up Indian Arm. The last trip I made was a beautiful solo two hour paddle up the Arm, and a terrifying (solo) three hour battle back down when the wind turned the glass-like surface into waves the size of Himalayan peaks (as it felt to me at the time). I need to know I can keep up the effort for a sustained period--and reap all the other benefits in the meantime, like keeping my weight in check, improve cardio etc etc... And to keep beating Mark E.. Shame on me; that was totally uncalled for...

[Izzzmeister]

This Monday, a reasonable 13 of 57 members (23%) logged 124,454 total meters!
Milestones: Sharon H passed 50K!
Approaching milestones: Heather humming towards 2.7M (-20,000m), Mark E pursues 2.6M (-15,755m), Andy is approaching the Big One Million (-9,800m), Kyle is nearing 900K (-24,072m), Bob (-2,213m) & Mike E near 700K (-23,640m), and our youngest rower Katerina is conquering 35K (-5,806m)!

Posted Meters:
Kyle J - 17,000 Long first row!
Yisroel H - 16,000 Three 2Ks & a 10K!
Glenn Y - 14,091 Staying in January shape…
Adam M - 13,000 Building back up again…
Jim C - 11,314 Glad you took a day off!

Andy I - 10,010 Two days off is good too…
Sharon H - 10,000 Impressively long row!
Bob G - 10,000 10K every other day will leave you in very good shape!
Elisa H - 6,011 Good!
Jamie B - 5,000 Almost daily habit!

Heather R - 5,000 Take whatever time you need to re-build!
Tom W - 5,000 Nice!
Katerina E - 2,028 Hey, you’re a pretty tough kid!

[Izzzmeister]

This Tuesday, a better 14 of 57 members (25%) logged 141,609 total meters! All hands that haven’t been called up to the Navy or Marines are on deck!

Milestones: Heather R passed 2.7M, ANDY I made it to ONE MILLION METERS, Bob G plucked past 700K, while Sheryl M hit 75K!
Approaching milestones: Mark E pursues 2.6M (-15,755m), Matthew approaches 1.8M (-28,337m), Kyle fast approaching 900K (-11,072m), Jim steadily nears 800K (-26,346m), Mike E near 700K (-23,640m), Allen H quite close to 100K (-7,909m) while young Katerina is conquering 35K (-5,806m)!

Posted Meters:
Heather R - 20,000 Big!
Lisa H - 13,415 Perhaps last - but not least!
Kyle J - 13,000 Nice! (Remember, rest is an important part of improvement!)
Jim C - 11,949 Two biggies in a row!
Jeff S - 11,000 Back on the beam!

Matthew R - 10,798 Glad you took a few days!
Adam M - 10,500 Sweet!
Andy I - 10,008 They add up quickly…
Allen H - 10,000 Good discipline!
Bob G - 10,000 Nice!

Glenn Y - 7,422 You should break a million this season!
Sheryl M - 6,000 Can we get 2 or 3 rows a week? Please?
Tom W - 5,000 Back-to-back!
Kevin K - 2,517 Glad you got back on!

(The boys at the front sent us a telegram! David W has 90,490m for the Marines, Joseph W has 90,178m for the Navy, & Leif H has 21,193m for the Army!)

[Cyclingman1]

but we'll have to wait for the card reader to arrive (today?!?) from Amazon.

What brand/model? How did it work out? I had a post about a good IOGEAR smart card reader, but did not read Logcard. Somewhat puzzling.

[CONLEJM]

What brand/model? How did it work out? I had a post about a good IOGEAR smart card reader, but did not read Logcard. Somewhat puzzling.

I use the Omnikey logcard reader on a Windows OS laptop and it works perfectly with the C2 utility. It does not seem to work on Mac OSX Lion. My understanding is that the Athena logcard reader also works well. I believe you can purchase these right from the C2 online store.

[Quatroux]

I purchased the Omnikey CM 3121 because it was the cheaper of the two card readers officially supported by C2. It was $25.50 and it works fine. I use a C2 at the YMCA on weekends and I have had a hard time remembering my times as I stagger back to the locker room and search for my smartphone. The log card tracks all that for me and probably has some other benefits I haven’t discovered yet.

I hit 1 million meters yesterday and I have this team to thank for keeping me motivated. The daily updates and team challenges are critical. I have not exercised regularly in several years and I have allowed myself to use a unique genetic problem as an excuse. That changed when I broke my foot this time last year. Not exercising was no longer my choice. I decided an indoor rower was the thing for me. I used to kayak many years ago and quit only because it took so darn long to get on and off the water. I assumed (correctly) that a rower would give me that hypotonic rhythm and self-paced workout without the challenge of getting a boat in and out of the water. What an awesome piece of exercise equipment!

I’d love to one day explain my unique genetic condition, but I’ll stop at the revelation that I cap my heart rate at 100-110 beats per minute. Long, slow rows are my style and I’m happy to have no trouble doing a 10k five or six times a week with splits consistently under 3:00. I have a personal goal to do a half marathon with sub 3:00 splits and then finally a full marathon. I can’t wait for the next team challenge. Until then, I’ll keep reading…

[damselfly]

Congratulations on your Cool Mill, Andy!!! Keep on doing what you're doing, it seems to be working!

[dpw4812]

Just dropped in to see how everyone is doing, glad to see everyone is still rowing strong. keep up the great work....I have been gone just over a week and wow....IT is so good to stop in and say Hello and see how everyone is doing... well got to get back to work.... 29 days will be up before I know .. see you all again soon.... David

[glenmbaker]

After kind of hitting it a bit hard during January I spent a few days, umm, not erging. Tonight I looked at the beast and said "OK, it's you and me again". Interesting. I saw an online 9 minute row and thought "well that will be a nice warmup". I then proceeded to row at what felt comfortable, and lo and behold...passed the 2k mark at only 1 second slower than my previous PB, and I wasn't even trying! How odd.

So then I keyed up a 5k, started rowing, had to stop for a bit to clean the track, finished off the 5k and what? New 5k PB without trying? Yep.

Did a 2k cooldown, then decided to do 1k more and yep...another PB.

So all those LSD drags in January seem to have made a difference. Cool!