Sub 7 Indoor Rowing Club (UK)

[MPx]

Great stuff on the 2kTT Marjorie - bodes very well for WRIC, and now a clean sweep of 1000+ points events - very impressive.

Congrats due yet again Rod. Obviously a big difference in your training regime having backed off the running and the erg results are stunning. Hopefully more to come ...although that comment just goes to show how blaze I've become about your PBs - seems to be virtually every outing. You also look ideally placed to do well at the WRIC so my very best wishes to you, Carol, Marjorie and anyone else I know out there.

...And best of luck to you too Susan for the 30mins in Starnberg .

My sessions have been:
6/2 Dumbbells and 30 mins but for a change rowed as 10min@15; 10min@20; and 10Min@25. I've never rowed at 15 before - horribly slow but actually made the @20 feel fast when I got there. Was going to try to flat pace it, but found it easier to speed up as the spm increased so the sections were roughly at 2:03.6; 2:02.3; and 2:01.9 for 7337m overall.
9/2 5kTT. 1k on target of 1:52 then caved and paddled in for a 19:19.2 @ 1:55.9.
10/2 Dumbbells and 30 mins varipace for 7557m
11/2 10kTT. 2k on target of 1:56 then caved and paddled in for a 39:19.1 @ 1:58.0.
12/2 10x1min r1. Target of 305m per rep. 5 on target then caved (you seeing a pattern here?!) Miscalculated twice on revised targets, but somehow still managed to amass 3006m which is better than it looked/felt - I always think of 3k as a baseline for this session, with a SB of 3052.

[le grand fromage]

Thought I'd pop in to wish all who are at the World Champs the best of luck. Hope you all get what you've trained for.

Haven't been posting for a few weeks, that's that New year resolution blown . Still erging but lacking 'real' motivation to push on, although racking up plenty of metres using the fletcher marathon plan. Actually some very good sessions in there for anyone looking, must be to keep me going atm

(...and only one Hwt ahead of me in the British Rankings.....Nick Rockliff... )

Rod, this far in to the indoor season that's actually very impressive mate and definitely something to crow about. Well done fella, nice to see the hard work paying out for you now.

[bojam]

Just a few Sub7 results from the Worlds...

Congrats to Rod 06:58.1 Silver,
Carol 07:47.0 Gold,
Marjorie 07:58.6 Gold
Clare Rainbow Gold 08:03.0 Lwt 50-54
A former member Alastair Peake also got Gold 06:34.6 in Lwt 50-54
Silver for Anna Muehle. Women HW 30-39. All the top 3 medalists went sub7.
Jens Kristian Dam 06:39.6 Gold in 40-49 Lwt and Nigel 07:25.1 8th

Elena Buryak Gold 06:26.1 in the open sets a New WR for 30-39 as well Pavel giving all the other rowers a test in the open for 05:57.7 smashing time Only Graham Benton would have beat him in 40-49 his age class!

Non Sub7s ... Andy Benko laid down a superb time would have been 1st in the 30-39 and 2nd only to Graham Benton 05:54.0
in 40-49 but had to settle for Gold in 50-55 in 06:01.7 and Andy Ripley's WR improved twice but still Andy still has the BR.

Congrats to all.

PS I'm doing the Eddie Fletcher Marathon Plan too LGF again... This time trying to stick to the spms, hrs, and paces prescribed. Still doubt the need for the extra easy week and the need for two weeks taper but ... I have to break it to do a 2K and next months ITC, the CTC, IRL etc. Struggling to get the HR down after the harder intervals.

[Two Pudding Kid]

Starnberg 30 mins:

Leading up to the race in training I had hit 6953m which is 2:09.4 pace and only 1m less than in 2014 race. Looked like preperation was going well, (although really geared towards Hamburg ergomarathon 3 March). Didnt have any problems with the journey, (contrary to opinion that I should stay in Munich and take the train on the day I always consider this risky as if for whatever reason the SBahn isnt running, it would be a very long and expensive cab ride as an alternative). Was a bit concerned on Friday that my legs seemed so tight that going upstairs was slow and painful but managed to stretch this off early Saturday.

Race day - not a lot for breakfast as no way of knowing if I was a LWT for sure, (living on the edge of the limit is always tricky and no stripping to underwear for this race as I got myself into trouble trying to loose 200g in my first visit 2012). Managed to get a trial weigh-in 3 hours before the race and was 700g under , so liquid refreshment such as a coffee and a few slurps of lucozade were in order before the real weighin. Warm up went brilliantly and I topped up on more refreshments.

With only 1 other competitor in the 50-54 LWTs I knew I had a chance of gold, which proved to be the case . Set off with a flying start and then stepped back to 2:09-2:12s. It did struggle a bit at times with pace but never under threat and pulled off 6946m (2:09.6) and a 543m lead over 2nd. Gladly collected my medal, T-shirt and certificate. Saturday night was a celebratory food fest Ok - I make LWT in the morning only, so must try a little harder

Post race I seem to be suffering a little with a hoarse voice and cough - had to duck Tuesdays 2k TT and might not be up for a 100% performance tonight.

[Two Pudding Kid]

Rod - I will take a hint and email you with this result for the newsletter.

Congratulations to all you medal winners who bust a gut in the USA last weekend. Well done indeed.

Hopefully I will be able to spend more time online doing my own stuff again now. So should be making more frequent appearances on this forum again.

[Two Pudding Kid]

Settled for 8:23.7 for a 2k last night for the Indoor Rowers league. Just a case of getting it done as still coughing occasionally.

[MPx]

Congrats on the 6946m for the Starnberg 30min Susan - huge distance win over second. Not surprised you weren't quite at your best for the follow up 2k!! Hope the cough relents soon.

Thanks for posting the most important WRIC results Toby. Congrats to Carol, Marjorie, Rod on your medals.

I much enjoyed watching a couple of the races online. But it did seem a bit low rent for a purported World Championships. Not even any big screen action showing all the boats. The commentator just highlighting one or two people and ignoring the other category races all kicking off at the same time. So while I much enjoyed watching Nav come through for a win in his race, it would have been nice for Rod to get a shout and his race a bit of air time. I saw Marjorie made the highlights for a second or so, but I didn't see Carol anywhere. BRIC was an altogether better event from a spectators perspective - I hope they can learn from that for next time. Will be interesting to see if the Crash Bs are better presented.

Interesting to hear that you're sticking to your Marathon Plan Richard. I assume its all leading up to some longer distance record attempts after a key date in March?

[MPx]

My own training has been almost entirely uninspiring with continued fails at many sessions targeting time improvements - all down to lack of mental strength I think. Current excuses include some days of hard physical labour working with 80Kg sleepers in the garden and a bit of a lack of sleep - but they don't convince me either! Anyway FWIW the sessions have been:

14/2 The Carole Mac CTC. Decided to do 5x1402m on 5min rests. 1st a Warm Up; 2nd "the" CTC row 4:51.9 @ 1:44.1; 3/4/5 @ 20 in 1:56.9 avg. No precedent or expectation for this really so was happy enough with the result!
15/2 3x1500 r5 The session I was supposed to do on the 14th and too soon to repeat it really. Anyway wanted 1:48.9 then neg split. Actually got 1:48.9; 1:48.9; 1:49.4.
16/2 Dumbbells and 10k @20 in 41:11.3 (so near!) @ 2:03.6
19/2 Dumbbells and 30 mins varipace for 7507m @1:59.9
20/2 5k @ 20 in 19:49.0 (.1 under again!) @1:58.9
21/2 8x500 r3:30 Result was 6x1:40.3 on target but then 1:44.4 and 1:42.7 for a 1:41.1 avg so about half a second over...
22/2 Dumbbells and 5k @24 (for a change) in 19:29.1 so bang on numbers and a reasonably strong target - sign of hope perhaps!
24/2 2k TT for the IRL. As usual set off to try a sub 7. Pulled consistent 1:45s through about 1200 or so. Lost 3 seconds over the next 5 or 600 before a faster finish pulled a second or so back. Result was a 7:01.8 @ 1:45.4. Clearly a disappointment that I'm still not there, but the good news is its still a season's best - if only by 0.4 secs!

[Rod]

Hi all, I've just got back from the World Championships having had a weeks holiday in New York afterwards so this is my first chance to post.

Last Sunday.....2k at the World Championships

Time..............6:58.1
SPM...............38
DF.................115

Finished in Silver medal position so very happy with that. My time was a Lwt PB so my fastest for 6 years...I guess I must have done something right in training at last!

Today

I needed to do a Marathon to get bonus points in the Nonathlon so decided to get it out of the way this morning.

I did it as 4 reps of 10k with 7 minute rests then a 2195 as the overall time wasn't important....and protecting my poor old bum from too much pain was! Overall time (including rests) 3 hours 51 minutes.

Glad that's over and done with....now to get on with some proper training for the Half Marathon as I want to break the British 60-64 Lwt Record of 1:21.21.9 (1:55.7 pace) before the end of the season (28th April).

Mike...............Well done on the 2k SB.....ou're nearly there me ol' mate so stick at it, you'll be well under soon enough....you'll ''break through'' no problem!

Susan.............Congrats on your win in Starnbeg it was well deserved as I know you've worked hard for this one.

Bojam and le Grand Fromage.....thank you for the kind words....and good luck with your Marathon Richard....rather you than me!

Marjorie..........Big congrats on the Gold at the worlds, great to see the training paying off....and good to meet up again....see you in Toronto next year.

[Amazing Amazon]

Welcone home Rod and Carol.

Two very good results at WRIC, and I see you are wasting no time getting back into training. .

[Amazing Amazon]

Hi folks,

About time I updated (I've not posted since Sunday before BRIC)

Having managed 7:58.7 in that Sunday’s 2k time trial the rest of the week was something of a taper:

Tuesday, after my regular 20 minutes warm-up, did four 500m race starts (off the games menu), to give me some idea of pace and how quickly the average pace came down (much more slowly of course). Was aiming for pull 1:55s fir 200m then 1:58 until I got to near 2:00 pace after 300m. Then did 10 minutes ‘target practice’ aiming at 2:12 pace and 20 spm. Did 2:10.9 and 21 spm. Felt comfortable with that as prep for the 30R20.

Weds, warm up then the ”Carole Mcnally”, done at 1:58 pace.

Thursday morning, 6x500R1. Shorter rest than normal to bring the pace nearer to 2k pace. Done at 1:58, except the last rep where I sprinted at the end. Followed by 1800m swim (62 minutes). In the afternoon train to London.Stayed overnight with a friend.

Friday, up early to catch the 10:45 Virgin Atlantic flight from Heathrow. Comfortable flught. Arrived about 14:40 EST. Slow service at Dulles, then bus and 2 Metro trains, so didn’t reach my hotel (the Hilton Garden Inn in central Alexandria) until 17:30 - too late to get over to the Crowne Plaza for the Team GB get-together.

Saturday. No ergs at my hotel’s gym, so most of the day spent in central Washington visiting the free Museums there. In the evening off to the Crowne Plaza for the competitors’ reception. Drinks but no food promised but there were (mostly healthy) snacks, so filled up on these - more than enough for me - I didn't want to overeat the night before a race. Got to meet lots of old friends both from UK and elsewhere. Got to talk with Susan Hooten who had soundly beaten me 5 years before in the 60-64 category. Since which we have both lost weight, but she’s now a lightweight, so we weren’t competing this year.

Sunday morning. 11:00 race so time for a continental breakfast before catching the bus to the race venue: which is not as impressive as Boston or BRIC - just a large school gym but at least the food was not stadium fare (or prices). Main problems as a spectator were the tiny race screens (impossible to read unless you stood immediately in the front of the competitors) and poor PA.

Had a nice chat with Eileen Ryan, who had done 8:06 in December and was to be my competition (the third entrant was a no show). Seems we both knew Anna Bailey from way back when.

Got to the warm-up area about 45 minutes before my race. Did my full 20 minute Eddie Fletcher warm-up, then another 5 minutes slow rating until we were called and marshalled. Very ‘official’ briefing then taken to our ergs. Hardly time to settle and adjust the drag before we were off.

Despite my race start practice this didn't go exactly to plan. Eileen started by matching my pace but then settled to 2:03 pace and I gradually pulled away. Ended up settling to 2:01 pace rather than my planned 1:59-2:00 after 300m so jgst held that to 500m. Noticed I was also only pulling 25 spm instead of my planned 28, picked up my stroke rate to 28 and the second 500m was at 2:00.1 and the third 1:59.8. Not tiring so over the final 500m started to accelerate. Finished on 1:50 pace for an a 1:57.6 over the last 500m and 7:58.6 overall - a SB by 0.1 seconds. As with the previous TT a comfortable pull. With a non-race start I should be able to improve that.

Spent the rest of the day chatting, collecting my medal and following the open races. In the evening the Royal Navy hosted a team GB meal at a local Italian.

Monday, more Washington sightseeing then back kn the 19:15 flight to Heathrow arriving early morning Tuesday, tjbe ™ Paddington then back on the train to Teignmouth.

Wednesday. Bit more tapering . Just my Pilates class.

Thursday. Out rowing in a coxless quad. Aboy 6 km. Very cold. Followed by a 1800m swim (in a pool!) to warm up.

Friday. Rest day.

Saturday. OTW riw cancelled as cold and windy. Did the Sub7 Challenge 30R20. Probably set off a bit too slow but this is an uncomfortably slow spm for me to pull hard. Did start to acclimatise and negative split: 5 min split pace (spm): 2:13.8 (20), 2:12.1 (20), 2:11.5 (19), 2:10.2 (20), 2:08.2 (20), 2:05.9 (20). Total distance: 6908m (2:10.2 pace).

Today. 3rd and final round of our club Frostbite Challenge: row 5 km upriver in one of our coastal scull coxed 4, then swap boats and race back. About 5degC and a 20 mph easterly gale so quite challenging. We won both legs decisively , however the rudder on the other boat was not working on the 2nd leg so it wasn’t a proper race.

[Amazing Amazon]

Susan, well done on the Gold at Starnberg .Having just done the 30R20 I know a flat out 3k minute is never easy.

[le grand fromage]

Managed to get all this months online 'race's ' done. Nearly missed the lot of them so needed to be a bit 'creative' to fit them in with 'normal' Marathon training

Sub 7 ITC 30R20, did this as the 1st interval of a 2x30' R3 with capped HR at 123. Then next day did the CTC as a warm up for a 2k for the Indoor Rowers League.

In retrospect actually quite pleased with my 2k time. Freezing cold garage, nominal warm up with the CTC, I've done no sprint work since BRIC, less than a month from my 60th birthday and I knocked out 6:43.6 which would put me joint 4th in the 60 rankings with Nav Haz (although I think Nav did do his at BRIC at 24spm ). So not too shabby.

2x30' R3 HR capped 123

1:56.2 - 20 - 7740 - 223 (Sub 7 30R20 ITC)
1:56.8 - 20 - 7705 - 220

CTC (Done as a warm up)

500R2 - 1:41 - 31 - 340
1250R2 - 1:40.2 - 31 - 347
500 - 1:37.1 - 32 - 382

Feb IRL 2k

1:40.9 - 31 - 341 - 6:43.6

[Rod]

New British Record in the 60-69 Lightweight category for the (Feared!) 4 minute fitness test.

Metres............1171
Pace..............1:42.4

Still slightly tired from Sundays Marathon row so kept it 'safe'' until a full on sprint finish and will look to improve it soon.

Glad that's out of the way now and I can concentrate on training for having a go at the British record for the HM. It's 1:21:21.9 (1:55.7 pace) so about 6 weeks or so of training will be needed before I can try.

Carol did 4 minutes next to me and guess what..yes, she broke the British record for 50-59 Lwt women (and she's 59!)....bahhh...still only the second best rower in the house....arghhh....

[Two Pudding Kid]

I should have been in Hamburg yesterday but the snow cocked up that plan. Fingers crossed for another attempt to get off the ground today. With race being at 7:30am Sat this isnt good news even if I end up taking the train from Dusseldorf. Plan B will be to ergo the marathon at the local gym on Sunday but wont be quite the same. Can only snooze, eat and hope.