Ranger's training thread

[ranger]

hahahaha

Given that you row 30 seconds _slower_ than the best in your age and weight division and, this year, I will row 30 seconds _faster_ than the best in mine, your laughter here is ridiculous.

_We_ all realize this, Henry.

But do you?

ranger

[ranger]

Is it because you can't remember if you actually rowed at 1:54 @ 24 spm in 2003

Yes.

I didn't pay any attention to rating back in 2003.

Like most people, I just attended to pace.

Of course, this was a _huge_ mistake.

Novice stuff.

As all experienced rowers know, if you want to do your best in this sport, your ratings (at various paces) are the sine qua non of training.

In rowing, speed is a reflex of how far you can drive the boat (or spin the wheel) on each stroke.

Speed in rowing is all about stroking power.

Given some distance, for mechanical reasons, everyone who is fully trained, of comparable ability, and the same weight and age, rates right about the same.

The one with the higher stroking power wins.

ranger

[macroth]

_We_ all realize this, Henry.

[Translator's note: "We" refers to the voices in ranger's head.]

[ranger]

_We_ all realize this, Henry.

[Translator's note: "We" refers to the voices in ranger's head.]

You pull 2K a full _minute_ slower than the best in your age and weight division.

Given this, who would care a whit what you recommend about rowing?

You might want to attend to your own business first before you hand out advice to others.

It appears that your own house is burning down.

Why?

Time to find the fire extinguisher before it is just ashes.



ranger

[macroth]

Is it because you can't remember if you actually rowed at 1:54 @ 24 spm in 2003

Yes.

I didn't pay any attention to rating back in 2003.

Like most people, I just attended to pace.

Of course, this was a _huge_ mistake.

Novice stuff.

As all experienced rowers know, if you want to do your best in this sport, your ratings (at various paces) are the sine qua non of training.

In rowing, speed is a reflex of how far you can drive the boat (or spin the wheel) on each stroke.

Speed in rowing is all about stroking power.

Given some distance, for mechanical reasons, everyone who is fully trained, of comparable ability, and the same weight and age, rates right about the same.

The one with the higher stroking power wins.

ranger

Wow. That's all sorts of wrong.

And hey, another idiotic (or is it willful?) misattribution!

[ranger]

Wow. That's all sorts of wrong.

Claims about right and wrong are judgments.

But if you row a minute off of the best in your age and weight division, you don't have a clue what you are doing.

So you are in no position to judge.

You are just a clown.

ranger

[ranger]

I don't know whether I will be fully sharpened for BIRC.

How can you not know? Everyone sharpens in about the same way, for about the same effect, and that takes about a month. BIRC is almost two months away, you've already made it crystal clear that you've started sharpening, hence you will be sharpened by BIRC.

Sure, if things go well.

Thanks for praising my good planning.

ranger

[macroth]

_We_ all realize this, Henry.

[Translator's note: "We" refers to the voices in ranger's head.]

You pull 2K a full _minute_ slower than the best in your age and weight division.

Given this, who would care a whit what you recommend about rowing?

You might want to attend to your own business first before you hand out advice to others.

It appears that your own house is burning down.

Why?

Time to find the fire extinguisher before it is just ashes.



ranger

My business is doing just fine. I'll point out that it doesn't include trying to beat a WR 7 weeks from now.

You know, I'm just recommending you stick to some sort of thought-out plan that will ensure you are well-prepared for your last chance to beat the WR in your current age/weight category, instead of fiddling around with your drag factor, rate, SPI and whatnot every single day like you have been since you've started (thinking about the possibility of maybe if when) sharpening. Sounds crazy, doesn't it?


PS: I always marvel at your attempts at humor.

[hjs]

hahahaha

Given that you row 30 seconds _slower_ than the best in your age and weight division and, this year, I will row 30 seconds _faster_ than the best in mine, your laughter here is ridiculous.

_We_ all realize this, Henry.

But do you?

ranger

The first is already not true anymore, and if we take into account that I am not 40 but will be 44 it is even more not so. An for me "only" being 6.1 your comment are again indeed ridiculous. Not many people my age/height beat me.

What you will row is 6.4x.x at best. If you are lucky enough to get your weight on track. Some seasons you did not and then even 6.4.x will be out of your reach.


we indeed realize that

[lancs]

Right now, I am rowing _all_ of my meters at least two seconds per 500m faster than hammer 2K pace in my age and weight division for WIRC.

Other than those metres in which you take a break since that pace is way too fast for you to hold for any length of time...

[PaulH]

I don't know whether I will be fully sharpened for BIRC.

How can you not know? Everyone sharpens in about the same way, for about the same effect, and that takes about a month. BIRC is almost two months away, you've already made it crystal clear that you've started sharpening, hence you will be sharpened by BIRC.

Sure, if things go well.

Thanks for praising my good planning.

ranger

No, not if things go well. Everyone sharpens in about the same way, for about the same effect. Going well or badly doesn't come into it - so long as you finish sharpening with the same number of limbs and lungs as you went in you'll get your 12 seconds. That's how training (by your reckoning) works.

And I'm not praising your planning, just want to make sure you're in agreement so you can't claim you haven't sharpened yet when you do 6:4x or slower at BIRC.

[mikvan52]

Commentary:

I don't know whether I will be fully sharpened for BIRC. But I'll be fully sharpened for WIRC. No matter. At 13 SPI, Rocket Roy's 55s lwt WR is just a tad faster than 27 spm. I'll certainly be able to do that by BIRC. In fact, I suspect that, by BIRC, I'll be able to do at least 31 spm for 2K, perhaps 32 spm, even if I am not fully sharpened.
(snip)

Whatever happens, at BIRC 2010, I'll be much sharper for racing than I have been in seven years.
(snip)

This hilarious:
What has stopped Cureton from sharpening adequately? There is plenty of time left before BIRC. Someone just wants "an out" again.

Rich will be standing there on the medal stand in bonnie old England with the gold around his neck but expecting a second award for SPI supremacy.... Then he'll want the "much sharper" award in addition.... The only thing he won't be offered is the WR because 6:4x doesn't quite cut it.
Too bad he had to bad mouth Roy for all those years all the while taunting him that he, ranger, would crush Roy's record.

I had a feeling it would end like this... WIth ranger saying Well, for the last five years, I was never fully sharpened so I wasn't in position to get the record. I was learning to row.... for 5 years!

I do hope the race data will be available afterwards (from the meet organizers) It will not show an average spi of 13.
According to ranger this will force back to the erg-classroom ... to learn how to spi himself into the ground.

Going forward: Isn't it interesting that there are fewer references to "6:28" and "6:16" these days?
How many more seasons til these,too, fall by the wayside completely??
Rich doesn't refer to his "long term goal" of beating the Caviston or Siebach or Ripley marks much either.

ranger business remains perpetually "unfinished".
Let his epitaph read"

"Unprecedented yet Unfinished"
with an artful rendition of an erg handle flying downwards cut into the stone.

[mikvan52]

Cutting thru the BS of what I just posted:

The only way TO GET a top effort is to row open rate. IOW: don't restrict yourself to a fixed ratio of watts to stroke rate (SPI).

It works for everyone.
AS you get tired in a 2k (peak) effort. You do not drop your stroke rate to match watt production..
This is a "no-brainer".

Analyse all the intermediate splits of any fast 2k OTW or OTErg.... A pattern emerges

"Trading rate for pace" yields lower spi figures and gets you to the finish line ahead of the guy who doesn't follow suit. Always has and always will.

[mikvan52]

Let's acknowledge another recent development in the saga of ranger's waning prowess:

Has anyone noticed that, contrary to what TSO said in the past, ranger race-rate goals are plummeting?
For many years ranger said he would only compete at 36-40 spm.
Now he's down to predictions of 31-32... and he's 59 years old... with "youthful" physical attributes...

I guess it's more important to go for the "spi crown"!

[ranger]

Let's acknowledge another recent development in the saga of ranger's waning prowess:

Has anyone noticed that, contrary to what TSO said in the past, ranger race-rate goals are plummeting?
For many years ranger said he would only compete at 36-40 spm.
Now he's down to predictions of 31-32... and he's 59 years old... with "youthful" physical attributes...

I guess it's more important to go for the "spi crown"!

No, nothing like that at all.

At low drag, your rate naturally falls and your SPI rises.

The drive gets shorter and the recovery longer.

You learn how to generate power with quickness, leverage, and timing rather than strength.

BTW, if you were paying attention, I said that I would probably row at least 31-32 spm at BIRC, even if I wasn't entirely sharpened up for it.

I said that I would rate 34 spm at WIRC, because I will certainly be fully sharpened up by then.

ranger