Personal training logs

[jackarabit]

Ed, isn't race only verification an unusually rigorous test of legitimacy--even in NZL?

[hjs]

Ed, isn't race only verification an unusually rigorous test of legitimacy--even in NZL?

Not perse needed ofcourse, but racing is the single best way to catch cheaters. Erging is pretty simple, what you do at home, you do elsewhere. There have been cheaters, one very big name once, who was stupid enough to race one. On the erg it was clear right away that he was 100% fony. Although he faked a injury...

He later, "raced" again, a small local race, here he did not race in public, he had no time he said, but instead "raced" at forhand at the venue, with zero people seeing that. "Claiming" a result which "proved" his times...

C2 also gave him a brandnew pm so he could verify rows, you get it, not a single row got verified.....

He later "retired" due to this injury, but kept his faking ways. He now again fakes, but only about his volume now. He does not dare to post times anymore.

[Carl Watts]

Ed, isn't race only verification an unusually rigorous test of legitimacy--even in NZL?

Yes but 99% of people using the Erg don't race let alone attend race events. Most don't even try and race at home. These days I'm less interested in race results and more interested in consistent training and banging out the meters each week to meet a goal for the season in terms of distance and average pace for that distance. Call it a "one year race" if you like, it can be harder than any one off event, injury or sickness can instantly stuff your whole year. There is still no verification for the annual meters even though its so easy for C2 to implement. There were a number of really good changes to the Concept 2 Logbook but they just stopped short on this, maybe its in the pipeline for the start of next season.

As above, it only takes a few "Fakers" to stuff it up for everyone else. "Training" is not done under any scrutiny so just imaging how prone that is to faking the results.

[jackarabit]

I know Ed has a racing history in south Jersey and Boston and verified race results. Who else in this thread has these unquestionable credentials? Henry. Shawn. Remi. Also Glenn, I think. Possibly T.M.? Alissa? Anyone else? Carl I don't have to ask! No race-sourced verification that I can find. Who all here has a public training log begging to be looked into by fans and objective observors. Remi for certain. Others? How about verified ranked rows? Lots of those I assume.

[G-dub]

My 2K PB was from a race. I haven't raced at any of the other distances. And if I was going to cheat my time, I wouldn't have a 7 in front of it But when I said " some level of accountability" earlier, I was meaning in terms of having the thread can motivate one to complete a training session, since we then post it in the thread. Seems like most people take pictures of their screens, so I don't know what Carl's point is really - except for the one he makes over and over again. Why is it so hard to keep this fun and light? What's the big deal?

[Pie Man]

I read what you said G-Dub as you meant it, Carl and others have been burnt by people inventing training and PB's that are super human.
I suppose we get down to that famous Albert Einstein (1879-1955) quote:
"Don't believe everything you read on the internet."

Even screen shots could be faked, either through editing, or 'borrowing' someones. There is one guy at my gym has a better pace than me, it would be simple for me to find them in the memory, verify and use them, but why would I? Would it improve my rowing no, my self esteem? I don't think so, but people do I don't understand it but they do. Perhaps training isn't having a fast enough result, so they start to massage the results, and before too long they can't catch up with what they say they have done and then they just have to try and remember all the lies. Until they get caught out or fade away. There must be a lot of PhD's/research papers around trying to unpick the reasons for these lies.

[bisqeet]

In terms of being a great training log, the "what have you done for me lately" thread is admittedly clunky. But it does allow us goofballs who participate to stay in touch. It does also provide a little bit of push and accountability too.

well - theres only a few that post there regulary. i liked the PP thread - that was good.
Everyone doing the same work out and posting their progress. gave me a ton of motivation.

makes finding a "virtual" challenger easier - I keep looking at Remi's times and thinking - will he beat me to a sub 2:00 marathon, and then try and match his last.
All good fun - I doubt anyone takes these "challenges" that serious. Everyone has more or less the same goal.
stay fit, battle the bulge, try and stay on that peak , before diapers are required for the second time in ones life...

[hjs]

My 2K PB was from a race. I haven't raced at any of the other distances. And if I was going to cheat my time, I wouldn't have a 7 in front of it But when I said " some level of accountability" earlier, I was meaning in terms of having the thread can motivate one to complete a training session, since we then post it in the thread. Seems like most people take pictures of their screens, so I don't know what Carl's point is really - except for the one he makes over and over again. Why is it so hard to keep this fun and light? What's the big deal?

If you one thread and say 30 people post, it soon would be a big mess. The (former) uk forum had the right solution. Next to the forum, personal blogs, where at times was a lot of traffic, and yes people roughly in the same leaque communicate most. Pretty logic.
I posted all my training there. Nice and compact all info together.

[mdpfirrman]

In terms of being a great training log, the "what have you done for me lately" thread is admittedly clunky. But it does allow us goofballs who participate to stay in touch. It does also provide a little bit of push and accountability too.

well - theres only a few that post there regulary. i liked the PP thread - that was good.
Everyone doing the same work out and posting their progress. gave me a ton of motivation.

makes finding a "virtual" challenger easier - I keep looking at Remi's times and thinking - will he beat me to a sub 2:00 marathon, and then try and match his last.
All good fun - I doubt anyone takes these "challenges" that serious. Everyone has more or less the same goal.
stay fit, battle the bulge, try and stay on that peak , before diapers are required for the second time in ones life...

Speaking of which, isn't it about time to do a Summer PP thread?? I've been working on lots of meters (for me "lots" means around 50K a week - 6 days a week just so someone doesn't accuse me of fudging reality...).

I've been doing mini intervals all Summer (just less of them and more intense when I do them). I'd be up for another two to three rounds of PP if anyone else is.

[bisqeet]

In terms of being a great training log, the "what have you done for me lately" thread is admittedly clunky. But it does allow us goofballs who participate to stay in touch. It does also provide a little bit of push and accountability too.

well - theres only a few that post there regulary. i liked the PP thread - that was good.
Everyone doing the same work out and posting their progress. gave me a ton of motivation.

makes finding a "virtual" challenger easier - I keep looking at Remi's times and thinking - will he beat me to a sub 2:00 marathon, and then try and match his last.
All good fun - I doubt anyone takes these "challenges" that serious. Everyone has more or less the same goal.
stay fit, battle the bulge, try and stay on that peak , before diapers are required for the second time in ones life...

Speaking of which, isn't it about time to do a Summer PP thread?? I've been working on lots of meters (for me "lots" means around 50K a week - 6 days a week just so someone doesn't accuse me of fudging reality...).

I've been doing mini intervals all Summer (just less of them and more intense when I do them). I'd be up for another two to three rounds of PP if anyone else is.

i was thinking october for me. at least do some more faster stuff - i would probably keep the UT2 HM's on alternative days - you kinda get addicted to them.
mostly doing 5 HM a week, plus a few 10s sprint interval sessions, 2-3 OTW sessions and mountainbiking and swimming.
the biking and swimming get reduced in the winter months, once the outdoor pool closes and snow is in the mountains.

I might be thinking about going to the crashb for 2017 (just for fun) - but wouldn't object to some sick insane 6:4x time for the 2k...

[G-dub]

Tim will soon nail us for hijacking! Mike, I could only do a modified approach. I realized last time that the PP is too tough for me!

[Tim K.]

LOL, not a chance! This was the kind of thread that will fade into the past with no value once something gets implemented anyway. I dont know what to do or how to do it so Im glad everyone is sharing ideas so I can figure out how to start and maintain a training log. Im with you on the motivation and accountability. Once I put it out there I stick to it, no matter how crappy I feel.

[Carl Watts]

Human psychology is always interesting, you have to remember it takes a certain type of individual to even belong to a Forum like this in the first place. Plenty of people are on here, many just read and never posts, others come to solve one problem then disappear. There is really only a handful of people who are what you would call "Active" on here in the first place.

I'm all for anything that promotes motivation, however I have a big problem with people that are cheating. It doesn't matter how insignificant some people think it is and the fact that there is no money in it is not the point. All I want to be able to do is look at all the results and have a high degree of confidence that they are valid. Not really that much to ask when the systems have been in place since 2003 on the monitors to enable this to happen. Its way overdue to happen across the board for those users who want to go to the extra effort to upload verified results.

[markinnb]

Carl,
agree with the statement concerning cheaters; it is an issue. for me, it is not a problem. it's fairly easy to see when something is complete bs. I don't have a keen eye on these things but if someone on here starts posting incredible numbers in terms of distance per time or watts or pace or whatever, generally my ""spider sense" start tingling and I go to work.

I do understand that some people have a concern that OTHER PEOPLE may not realize that the person is a charlatan and fall for the bs and then become an unabashed follower and promotor of the liar. Acolytes / Sychophants are like some hideous rash for many people. I do understand where that is irritating for many people. I am not specifically saying that this applies to you. It may apply to some people. There is always someone on any board of any sport who posts seemingly impossible numbers yet a few people flock to him as if he were the pied piper.

I say that the people who flock to the fake deserve what they get. I just let them go .

for me, I follow what ed, henry, shawn, glen ( yes you glen . ) bob s, jack, greg, jim, steve , remi, dean, galeere and a few others- have to say or the numbers that they post.
until the rest post up veriable numbers, they don't pass muster. or,, as my partner often says " f - em !'

[Alissa]

I know Ed has a racing history in south Jersey and Boston and verified race results. Who else in this thread has these unquestionable credentials? Henry. Shawn. Remi. Also Glenn, I think. Possibly T.M.? Alissa? Anyone else? Carl I don't have to ask! No race-sourced verification that I can find. Who all here has a public training log begging to be looked into by fans and objective observors. Remi for certain. Others? How about verified ranked rows? Lots of those I assume.

Let me clarify my "credentials" (for anyone who is interested, of course).

I use my Model D primarily for cardio--I am not trying to race. My only intent is to challenge myself. I will never compete in a race--nor do I post times on the forum, although I did log meters at one time--for a good portion of that, I made sure that I wasn't posting ranked times/distances (2012 meters, not 2,000, etc.). In case anyone was wondering, if I did, no one would be impressed.

I began using a C2 on Slides under the tutelage of Xeno Muller at the Iron Oarsman in Newport Beach, CA. Sitting next to (or a few ergs away from) an Olympic Gold Medalist several times a week (and getting comments on my form/technique, as well as drills for various purposes) for a couple of years allowed me to get a reasonably good handle on technique. Of course, I also got to watch others and hear the comments made on their form/technique. I honed my "eye" for technique over that period because it was interesting. It is on that basis that I make comments here. (Make of that what you will.)

BTW, I miss the slides I used then...if anyone has unused ones they'd like to sell on, I'd be interested. No longer in SoCal. Now in Nebraska.

I also am a moderator on a forum (not for rowing or erging) that has an annual contest which runs over a period of months. Each entrant can choose to have a "personal thread" to post their plans, as well as any "blog-like" discussion of their progress. No comments from other forum members is permitted in a personal thread. There is a "discussion thread" which allows the various participants to discuss with each other. The personal threads and the discussion thread are all gathered together on that forum in a section, like those labeled "Products," "Training," "General," etc. here. Since I have seen usage similar to that suggested by TimK work, and work well, I thought I'd say so.

Finally, what do racing results/credentials have to do with whether or not that sort of organization (multiple personal threads and a single discussion thread) can be useful?

Alissa

BTW, I note that it's easy to arrange for the forum to not show you posts from someone whose posts annoy you. I've used that feature from time to time, although I don't think there's a current regular poster that is on my list. If my posts are a constant irritant to anyone, I hope they will add me to their list. I'll never know, and you'll feel better. --A