New Personal Best! Brag About That New Pb!

[jlawson58]

Compared to all these other PBs I am almost ashamed to post mine, especially since it was the first time ever at the distance so, obviously, it had to be a PB for time <smile>, but here it is anyway-

10k is a PB for distance by almost 400%

Time was 41:58.3 which is a 2:05.9 and was only 5.2 sec/500 slower than yesterday's 2k record attempt. Going by the rule of 5 sec/500 for every doubling of distance I should have been about a 2:12 pace, so I'm calling it a PB for time as well

[gregsmith01748]

I give you full credit for a great PB.

If I remember right, the first time you posted (like a week ago), you were trying to figure how people routinely rowed more than 1K. Today you rowed a 10K in a time that puts you around the 50th percentile for your age bracket. Keeping in mind that someone has to be at least semi-serious about erging to bother posting their times, I think it puts you in very good company.

The way you are progressing, You'll be posting PBs all time, at least for the first 6 months or so. It's pretty incredible how much faster you get at first as you get used to it and train.

[clubberlang]

5000 meters, 18:12.9.

[jlawson58]

Crushed my PB for 2k today. I didn't pace it too well though. I remember seeing a 1:45 pace quite often when I looked at the monitor during the first 500 m. The 2nd and 3rd splits were more like lower 1:50s, and the the final 500 was just praying I could hold 2:00. I ended up with a 7:29.8

I forgot to check my rating at the end but I noticed a lot of 24's or so when I looked down. How does that compare to what most people rate during a 2k?

Now I might find the courage to do the upcoming erg in a few weeks after all. I didn't think I would be ready to compete without embarrassing myself but I think I might just try it.

Also, I was afraid to take in tools and clean the machines but I did use my hand to rub the mesh screen and actually removed a bit of dust. In fact, I got both machines to show about 15 units more of drag than they used to (I got one up to 140 at a setting of 10) yippee..

[ThatMoos3Guy]

Good work on the 2k! That's a very respectable time for just getting started on the erg. You'll no doubt continue to shave off time.

As for the stroke rating, 24 is definitely on the low side. Most people try to rate 30 or above. Don't worry about that for now though. Keep getting comfortable on the machine and the rating will naturally come up.

[gregsmith01748]

@jlawson: Nice work on that 2k. If you can do that at 24 spm, you are rowing with a ton of force. You'll want to be doing 2k's at about 29 to 34 spm. One thing that I find helpful to get me ready to row at higher ratings is to do either a "fletcher" warmup or "power-10s"

To learn more about the Fletcher warmup, google that term and download the PDF description of it. It's about 20:00 of varied pace rowing and gets you ready to pull fast and hard. Power-10s are simpler, you set up to row a warmup distance, I usually do 4k. Your pace should be pretty easy, like :2:15 or so, and then on each 500m interval pull 10 strokes as fast and hard as you can. Aim for something like 36 spm and below 1:35.

The cool thing about these warmups is that since they have chunks that are faster than 2k pace, the 2k feels really controlled after you do them.

I would not be surprised to see you carve off another 15 seconds or more if you can pull as hard as you're pulling but at a higher rate.

[jlawson58]

Did a pb of 1:29.5 today for 500k. In other sports I've always been better at 5 min or longer efforts but this puts me in a higher percentile in the rankings vs my 2k or 10k. Also, does a 1 min warmup and 1:30 of rowing count as a workout

[mattmor]

Hi,

This is my first post, not sure if this can be considered a PB. I just got a c2 model d last week and started out with a few 500's and and 2k. My first 2k was 9:23 after only a few days of rowing (I know - not fast). This morning I did a 7:55 2k with an avg 28 stroke rate as I recall.

I'm a fairly fit mountain bike racer - 36 year old, 6' 175lb. I can't even wrap my head around some of the 2k times you guys post. I'm sure with better technique I can drop that time.

-matt

[Izzzmeister]

My standard One PB A Week... Okay, I did it because I hadn't worked out for 60 hours (from a hard piece Thursday evening to Sunday morning), even though I still felt achy. Was going to try a PB in the 500m, my worst time (75th percentile, whereas in other events I'm generally from 90-98th percentile), but I didn't see any RowPro 500s at auspicious times. I did, however, see a 10K up with 8 participants, some of them studs. So I joined, and did some slow warm-ups. At the last minute, Hywel Davies joined, and asked if anybody was going to go all out. The other guys said that maybe I would, but they were going for 1:58-9 splits. I answered that I would be trying to beat my 36:44.4 personal best if I felt good. Hywel said that since he'd biked hard the day before, he wouldn't push too hard.
Since my old mark averaged 1:50.1, I decided to row at 1:49, and try to hold it. As usual, I actually was rowing at 1:48.5, and wasn't sure how long I could hold that for. Two thirds the way through, Hywel passed me. I thought of trying to race him, but I was suffering enough, and wanted to be 100% sure I would finish, not abort. I held on to 1:49-1:50 pace to the very end, and sprinted the final 200m. Hywel: 36:11.1. Me: 36:15.6 (1:48.7), an improvement of :28.8! This time, I watched my heart rate creep up throughout (average:147), and I finished at 163, above my AT but well below my max - so I know I was very near my limit for my present fitness level.
This raised me from #24 to #12 in the 50-59HWM category for 10Ks (not including the physically impossible time someone posted).
Always good to have confirmation that I'm not overtraining!

[bobkwan2007]

Pretty elite company you're keeping. Congrats on the PR.

[jlawson58]

Beat my best 10k time today by almost a minute and a half. It just about killed me but I did a 40:30.8 on the machine that will only go up to a drag of 90. I feel much better about my form that before but I still feel like I'm not quite there because my mid back was very tight to start and my lower back hurts after almost every workout.

[Citroen]

I did a 40:30.8 on the machine that will only go up to a drag of 90.

Have they not cleaned that mucky machine yet. Take a philips screwdriver into the gym you can show the gym how (and why) to do it, it takes five minutes.

[jlawson58]

Have they not cleaned that mucky machine yet. Take a philips screwdriver into the gym you can show the gym how (and why) to do it, it takes five minutes.

No they haven't which is of course the bad news. The good news however is that I think they don't want to be bothered because 2 new model Es are coming in any day now !!

[Citroen]

No they haven't which is of course the bad news. The good news however is that I think they don't want to be bothered because 2 new model Es are coming in any day now !!

Hey, there's an opportunity, offer to buy their old, "useless" ones for a small price.. You can clean one and keep it, clean the other and sell it on eBay or Craigslist. Once you've sold the second one, you'll have won and will have what's essentially a free erg at home.

[jlawson58]

Hey, there's an opportunity, offer to buy their old, "useless" ones for a small price..

I tried that. Part of the deal though was the gym had to trade them in for the new ones. Then I called the new equipment supplier but they don't sell old equipment so they sold them to a third party used equipment supplier. I am trying to reach them but with the machines changing hands that many times I am sure the final group will mark it up at close to market value (or more). I am waiting to confirm that though