Calling all knitters!

[c2dena]

I have created a virtual team called Knotty Knitters for the VTC. If you are a knitter, you can be on the team! Let's prove that we knitters aren't couch potatoes!

Dena

[ELbreeze]

Hey Deena--I'm a knitter, I'd love to join the VTC.
Louise

[c2dena]

Fantastic Louise! Now that we have two people on the team, we'll show up in the standings.
You can select the Knotty Knitters team from the drop down menu on your Teams page. Let me know if you have any questions.
Row on!

Dena

[mdolembo]

hey knitters! i just joined and am glad to have the motivation of a team for rowing, and also for knitting! it will be fun if we can also be training partners. my cross training activities in the winter are xc skiing and firewood management. year-round i enjoy yoga. thanks to dena for starting the team!

[c2dena]

Hello Knotty Knitters!
Welcome to Week#2 of the Virtual Team Challenge! Our team total has reached 69,250 meters!
What a challenge to keep our knitting projects moving forward while we pile on the meters every day.
Way to go!

Here's a great workout to try from the Workout of the Day:

6000 METERS WITH A 100 METER BURST EVERY 500 METERS
Row 6000 meters total at a sustainable intensity. Every 500 meters, row 100 meters at high intensity.

Happy rowing ladies!
Dena

[mdolembo]

hey dena,

thanks for the workout! will definitely give it a try today. this morning i went to a zumba class for the first time . . . very interesting!

[c2dena]

Happy Thursday!
Knotty Knitters have rowed a total of 95,028 meters. We are almost at the 100K mark!

Here's a great workout to make you sweat and row fast.

1500M,1000M,750M,500M,250M INTERVALS WITH 3 MIN REST IN BETWEEN EACH PIECE.
Warm up by rowing 1,000-2,000 meters at an easy pace. Then row 5 intervals of increasingly smaller distances with 3 minutes of rest in between. Depending on how hard you row your pieces, you can row very easy during your rest or stop rowing completely for more of a rest. Row the intervals at a fast to very fast pace and a stroke rate of around 26. Note that the stroke rate can come up to 28 on the last two pieces. Cool down with an easy 1,000-2,000 meters.

You can set this workout up as a variable distance interval workout on the PM3 or PM4 and then the interval meters will count down for you. At the end, any meters you row during your rests will be shown in memory so be sure to add them in your workout total. It's not possible to set this workout up on the PM1 or PM2, but you can still row it just by watching the meters and the time. Let me know how it goes if you give this a try!

With all this rowing I have had less time for knitting!

[ELbreeze]

Hi Dena--
Fun way to break up the workout! (We may have to upgrade our monitor!)
I finished the sweater for Barbie and am on to a sweater for my daughter. Glad to move from # 2 needles to #8s.
Thanks for posting that--
Louise

[mdolembo]

hey louise!

i was glad to see your post, and look forward to getting to know you better during the virtual team challenge.

[mdolembo]

hey dena and louise!

could my husband tom be on the team? he's a failed knitter but he hand-sews leather, and has quite a bit of experience with rowing.

[c2dena]

Hi all!
The deadline for adding any new members was on the 15th so we are too late to be able to increase the size of our team. He is more than welcome for the next challenge though. Before the next challenge, I'm also hoping to visit a few knitting forums to invite some of the rowers over here.

You both are doing great! Two workouts in one day Marie? Terrific! Have a good trip tomorrow if I don't hear from you before then. Louise, keep up the good work. Our numbers are climbing ever higher...

I haven't added many meters to the total because I am nursing a nasty cold that knocked me on my behind all weekend. I will get on it soon though. One thing about nursing a cold is that my hands are free to knit and I have finished my sweater! Hooray! It's been drying after some final blocking and when I get home it'll be all ready to wear. My kids have now sidetracked me to knit a hat for each of them. Hand-knitted requests from teenagers? Unheard of! I need to start the hats quickly before they change their minds.

Here's a fun workout for you to try:

Row 1000 meters then get off and do 1-5 push-ups (on your knees if you have to). Repeat this 6-10 times for lots of meters and lots of total push-ups.

Dena

[mdolembo]

hello knotty knitters!

i hope you recover from your cold soon, dena. and have fun knitting those hats. your daughter and son are lucky to have such a talented mom! am on my journey now down to lawrence, kansas so am not able to row at the moment and i miss it. will be back in the saddle again though january 27 to continue adding to our meter total. am hoping to add you louise as a training partner! bye for now.

[c2dena]

Ah, I'm feeling back on top now. Sometimes rowing is just enough to clear the head and kick the cold.

Our team has rowed over 150,000 meters! That may not sound like much, but I am very happy with that total. At this rate we should almost make a quarter of a million meters by the end of the challenge.

Here's a workout to try if you're looking for something different:

ROW 5 X 4 MIN INTENSE LOW STROKE RATE, 1 MIN EASY PADDLE
Pre-set work time of 4:00 and rest time of 1:00. Monitor will count down each work and rest time and will keep track of the number of intervals you have done. After warming up for about 5 minutes, do 5 intervals of 4 minutes of work with one minute of rest, rowing at 16-20 spm (that’s a low, slow stroke rate) on the high side of the intensity level. Allow some easy rowing after the last interval for warm down. Variations: # of intervals may be reduced to 3 or increased to 7 depending on your level of experience and the time available.

Here's to weekend meters!

Dena

[c2dena]

We passed 250,000 meters! Woohoo! Well done Knotty Knitters. I knew we could do it.

I still have a few meters to finish up tonight to make it to 100K, but that'll be easy at home.

Tomorrow we can all do something else (snowshoeing anyone?) for a workout and then start looking forward to the World Rowing Challenge in March. I hope to recruit more knitters for this rowing team of ours. You can help by asking your knitting/rowing friends to join.

Again, congratulations to all of us!

[mdolembo]

hey dena,

thanks for all your leadership and motivation! i'm proud of our team and plan to do one more piece today. will be ready for the next challenge!