Marathon Attempt

[[old] marialbertini]

Hi Ducks!<br />I'll try the Half Marathon this weekend too, and If everything goes well I'll try the Marathon on May 7th. <br />

[[old] Bufflehead]

Yeah Ducks!!! <br /><br />Any amount of time or distance will be great! It will be very motivating to know that other ducks are makin' a splash that weekend. <br /><br />Just remember to have fun. <br />Ye Old Buffle

[[old] seat5]

If your forearms are hurting the most, perhaps you are starting to pull with your arms too soon in the stroke. Try concentrating on leaving your arms straight and not bending the arms to pull until your legs are about straight, and you have opened your back about all the way. Pulling with the arms should only happen right at the finish. <br /><br />You all sound good to go for the big M! <br /><br /><br /><br />

[[old] mallard]

After a week's break from the machine I'm up for a HM this weekend to tie in with the C2 challenge. I was up in Scotland last week with my boys, and really missed the rowing, so I'm ready to go and feeling good. If it goes well then I may join Buffle and the rest of you on the 7th.<br /><br />I certainly need to clock up some distances, as the Princess is fast catching me up. Good rowing girl !

[[old] mallard]

My first HM in 1:48:00.8. I feel great at the moment, but not so sure how I'll feel in the morning. I even managed a sprint finish. What do other people do for rests in the HM and the full marathon? I set up e-row to to the first 1,097 as my warm up, then took 20 seconds rest, then split the 20k into 5k pieces with 30 seconds break between each piece. <br /><br />I'm going to do a few steady 10ks this week, then I'll just have to see what happens. Feeling reasonably positive about the 7th, but 4 hours of uninterrupted time seems unlikely at the moment, so it might just be another HM.<br /><br />

[[old] Canada Goose]

Whew! I managed to get that half-marathon done and managed to improve my time by nineteen and a half minutes. I'm no longer in last place in my ranking thank goodness!<br /><br />Shannon

[[old] Bufflehead]

Well, Ducks - the time has nearly come! <br /><br />Saturday is the big day! Are you all ready? I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be. I must admit, I will be glad when it's all over.<br /><br />Right now, I am planning to sit my rear end down at about 2:00 pm EST. My support crew will be bringing over a movie or two to watch while they cheer me on. I sure hope all goes well. I would still like to finish in under four hours, but I will be happy just to finish!<br /><br />I have been doing the long rows without gloves for the most part. Sometimes I need to pull them on at the last 5000 or so meters just to give my hands a break. I will have my water, Gatorade, and Gu all lined up and ready. Carla's suggestion of no undies has solved my chafing problem. Thanks! I use the C2 rowing shorts for my long rows - they work well for me. I guess that about covers it for now.<br /><br />Good luck, fellow Ducks!

[[old] seagulldc]

Kathi,<br /><br />Looks like you did a full marathon (according to the challenges honor board). congrats!! That's awesome. How did it go?<br /><br />Rachel

[[old] KathiS]

Hi Rachel!<br /><br />You caught me! On Friday I decided to set the PM3 for a marathon, and try to just do as many meters as I could. I started out extremely slow because I wanted to "reserve my energy", and really didn't plan on rowing the whole thing anyway. At about halfway through I got up to change the movie, and it felt so good to stretch! When I sat back down I realized that my shorts and towel (that I sit on) were both soaked and it felt like I was sitting on a sponge. So I got off again and changed towels and shorts. I really wanted to quit at that point, but I just kept telling myself that I could go a little further. I took the time to get up several more times (which I think was a mistake because it just dragged out my time and the agony)! I ended up taking way too many "breaks". <br /><br />When I got down to 15000 meters left, I just figured I had gone too far to not finish. My inner arms got chafed around this time (from rubbing up against my legs in my tired sloppy form). I started doing some strokes between my knees and that relieved a lot of the discomfort. In the end it took me 4 hours and 20 minutes to complete it. I was really glad to be done. <br /><br />I still plan on doing the marathon on Saturday with the Buffle, and will start around noon Mountain time, so we will be starting at about the same time. <br /><br />I learned a few things from my "practice" marathon. Things I plan on doing differently this weekend:<br /><br />1. Don't get off the rower unless I absolutely have to. Once I got off that one time, it was just too easy to convince myself that I needed to get up again, and again and again. <br /><br />2. Have a towel and a second pair of shorts ready to switch over so that if, or when, I need to change them, they are right there. <br /><br />3. Start off at the same pace I start my half marathons. The slow start didn't help in the long run. At about halfway through I felt like I had already rowed a lot more than a half marathon and my time was substantially higher than my average half marathon time. <br /><br />4. Put some ointment on my inner arms and have a bandage handy in case they get chafed again.<br /><br /><br />Immediately after my finish I felt very weak and sore, but within a few hours I was back to feeling normal. I didn't have any aches or pains the next day and rowed again on Sunday without any problems (and actually had my PB 30 minute row)!<br /><br />Believe or not, I am really looking forward to doing this again on Saturday. I am really hoping to improve my time as I KNOW I can do better than 4 hours 20 minutes!!<br /><br />

[[old] Bufflehead]

Wow, Ritz! I don't know how you do it! <br />You sure have logged some serious meters lately! Here I am winding down, and it seems like you are just chugging along. It's great to hear that we will be trying this at about the same time. As soon as I'm physically able, I will post my time - assuming I will finish!<br />I just hope it isn't cold and rainy like last Saturday. Rowing on the water in those conditions really pooped me out. Maybe I'll have enough adrenalin going to recover from that quickly. I should have about four hours between water rowing and the BIG row. That should be enough - even for this old Duck! <br /><br />I'm wondering just how many others are going for the half or full marathon on Saturday. Let us know so we can cheer you on!<br /><br />Ye Old Buffle

[[old] mallard]

<!--QuoteBegin-LindaM+May 3 2005, 12:20 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(LindaM @ May 3 2005, 12:20 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin-mallard+Apr 17 2005, 05:38 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(mallard @ Apr 17 2005, 05:38 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->   What do other people do for rests in the HM and the full marathon?  I set up e-row to to the first 1,097 as my warm up, then took 20 seconds rest, then split the 20k into 5k pieces with 30 seconds break between each piece.  <br /> <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />Mallard - The standard for half and full marathons is that you set the monitor for a single distance workout (either 21,097 or 42,195 meters) and then you take whatever breaks you need. The monitor will pause while you do (up to a few minutes), and the total time must be reported (including all your breaks). Make sense? - Harly <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />Hi Harly<br /><br />That makes loads of sense thanks! I had forgotten that the monitor pauses until I had to get up mid-way through a session the other afternoon to separate my battling boys! I'd better do another HM this weekend!<br /><br />Congrats on your 2 million for last season - what is the goal this season?<br />

[[old] mallard]

So - after all the talk, whos up for a marathon this weekend?<br /><br />I'm going for it tomorrow - Friday - as I have a day off work and only the garden full of weeds calling me! I'll let you know how I get on, and good luck to anyone else who is going for it this weekend.<br /><br />Great start to the season Ducks, keep it up!

[[old] Bufflehead]

Good for you, Mallard!<br />We will be cheering you on! I'll be going for it on Saturday as planned. I took the day off from work today because I need to get some decent rest before then. It has been a tad more difficult than I thought trying to balance my schedule between on the water and everything else. I'm kinda feelin' my age this week! Oh horrors!<br />This evening is another water session if the weather stays as nice as it is now - no wind to speak of. I haven't been counting any water meters because there's just no real way to estimate it. Sure - I could say I was out two hours on Tuesday, but with stops, drills, and stuff like "bow pair out", who can say??? I think I will continue to log only my C2 meters. As soon as the marathon is over, I'll start logging some workouts. Of course, my class lasts until June 4, so I won't really start cranking out the meters until after that. Harly has unknowingly given me something to shoot for during the 2006 season!<br />Okay - shut up Bufflehead!

[[old] KathiS]

I too will be rowing the Marathon on Saturday!<br /><br />Buffle, I think you and I are on the exact same page as far as Harly giving us something to shoot for 2006. I had already calculate how many meters per day I needed to average in order to get to 2 million meters for the year! Getting a marathon in on the first week will definitely help out!<br /><br />My main goal after June 5, though, will be to train for the Denver Mile High Sprints and get my 2000 meter time down to a less embarrassing time. <br />

[[old] mallard]

I DID IT !!!!! <br /><br />Can't tell you much about it as I am late picking up the boys from school. Time of 3:50.42.0, munched my way through a packet of dextrose tablets, 2 fruit bars and a banana and took on loads of water.<br /><br />Good luck to everyone else who is going for it at the weekend.<br /><br />Catch you soon.<br /><br />Jenny <br /><br />Ps also did a 500m PB yesterday evening, but did not dare own up to it in case I did not complete the marathon. 500m 1:48.9<br /><br />Looking forward to a restful weekend!