TimbukTOO Team Room

[Brenda J.]

I never thought I could row this many meters in 30 days!!!! NOT considering that SOMEONE has to work in the galley, arrange with the locals all the food to be brought on board and stowed away for the trip while continuing the other duties.... ie: snow shoveling, horse feeding, and above all WASHING THE BUNK LINENS. They were beginning to smell like the sea turtle was sneaking into our bunk after we left for work. I don't know how he gets in there-another one of life's mysteries. A big THANKS to Izz and Lisa for keeping us motivated. Dennis needed a boost for more progress and is regaining feeling in some areas, not always a good feeling but it is a step forward. I admire him for not giving up after his stroke. He IS my hero sometimes, and sometimes close to death my his loving wife! ROW ON!!!!!

[damselfly]

Hey Brenda, you're awesome! You're a survivor, and your rowing motivates me too!!! Congratulations on your accomplishments!!

13k today, so I'm down to less than 10k tomorrow for my 200. But....... I see Chris H is at 201k, so I might just have to do 201,001. I'm coming for you Chris!

Row team, row!!!!!

[Izzzmeister]

I never thought I could row this many meters in 30 days!!!! NOT considering that SOMEONE has to work in the galley, arrange with the locals all the food to be brought on board and stowed away for the trip while continuing the other duties.... ie: snow shoveling, horse feeding, and above all WASHING THE BUNK LINENS. They were beginning to smell like the sea turtle was sneaking into our bunk after we left for work. I don't know how he gets in there-another one of life's mysteries. A big THANKS to Izz and Lisa for keeping us motivated. Dennis needed a boost for more progress and is regaining feeling in some areas, not always a good feeling but it is a step forward. I admire him for not giving up after his stroke. He IS my hero sometimes, and sometimes close to death my his loving wife! ROW ON!!!!!

Hey, for doing all that for the galley slaves, you should get the job of banging the big drum to set the pace, and shouldn't have to do meters...
Just make Dennis take a day or two off (2 is better) when February starts, so he can recover, & his body can finish producing all the positive adaptations!
You guys are awesome!

[Izzzmeister]

Here's a piece of advice from one of the great coaches: Don't run TO the finish line, run THROUGH the finish line.
It looks like we are going to beat our original team goal – to average 125K per person – by over 50%! I'm amazed and proud of everything we've accomplished. I'm in awe!
I would be thrilled if we can get to 8.25MM by the end of the challenge, but we'll need 30 or more people to put up meters by midnight tomorrow night. Let's blast out of 15th Place, with our competition not quite ready for the sprint, and with no time to respond...
18 of 43 team members (42%) posted 213,244 meters Sunday. (For our strong finish, we need 60%!)

In alphabetical order, here are the posters:

Posted Meters:
Jamie B - 16,555
Fred B - 10,572
Douglas D - 5,019
Monica D - 12,013
Paul E – 5,599

Gary G - 16,676
Lisa H - 13,676
Yisroel H - 12,500
Brenda H - 9,115
Dennis H – 20,000

Chris H - 10,000
Kevin K - 6,000
Matthew R - 7,115
Daiva S – 14,588

John S - 21,586
Joel W - 9,408
Joseph W - 12,484
Glenn Y - 10,338

Dennis hit 6*0*0*K, Yisroel eked out 350K, Joel reached 250K, Chris & Gary hit 200K, and Fred reached 150K! All impressive numbers!

[Izzzmeister]

Not everybody used the weekend to rest. For example:
16 of our 54 dedicated members (30%) logged 194,212 total meters, causing mermaids to swish their tails!
Milestones achieved: Dennis bowled over ONE MILLION METERS, Daiva served up a HALF MILLION, and Lisa hit 400K!
Worth watching: John moving steadily towards 5MM (-49,715m), Yisroel sneaking up on 2M (-19,798m), Fred quickly approaching 900K (-17,395m), Jamie thinks 900K is as easy as pie (-33,929m), Raymond near 800K (-8,906m), Casey is approaching 700K (-16,872m), while Paul is approaching 300K (-24,471m)!

Posted Meters:
John S – 21,586 Back on the prowl...
Dennis H – 20,000 After a 50K day!
Gary G – 16,676 Ready to try for a 8 minute 2K?
Jamie B – 16,555 With sixteen, you get egg roll...

Daiva S – 14,588 Kept us in suspense, and then WHAM!
Lisa H – 13,676 Took her frustrations out on the poor flywheel...
Yisroel H – 12,500 Sunday PB was the 10K again (36:08.1)
Joseph W – 12,484 Great month of rows!

Fred B – 10,572 Very nice series of rows...
Glenn Y – 10,338 Sorry, you only get 2 days off when Feb comes...
Chris H – 10,000 Sweet!
Joel W – 9,408 Now that you see what great shape this put you in...

Brenda H – 9,115 From Survivor to Thriver!
Matthew R – 7,115 There are 7 letters in the name Matthew...
Paul E – 5,599 Shucks, one meter short!
Mike K – 4,000 Thanks, Coach, for not whipping on us too bad!

[chris hughes]

Thanks to Izz and Lisa for all the posts and motivation. I sold my rower just over year ago following an achilles tear. I have been Ski erging my meters since. Getting to "ski" these distances has been a challenge that I enjoyed with the help of this competition.

Go Timbuktoo.........

[Coach]

This VTC has pretty much ran me into the ground. It is my first challenge and I am happy about what I have accomplished. I have learned a ton that is for sure!!

With any luck I will I can row a little over 20k tonight to get to my million meter lifetime milestone, and take it easy the rest of the week.

Some casual recovery rows this week should push me over the million meters this season milestone.

Thanks for the support everybody!!

[garygOP]

My shoulders are aching, my left elbow has a twinge- this month has been a lot of work.
I completely changed my exercise routine at the end of December- I added weight lifting and into my routine, cut back to rowing 3 days a week, with 2 days a week of lighter, ARC Trainer, elliptical or speed walking cardio- and I am still adjusting to the change. But I am getting stronger, losing a little weight, and I have been working on improving my stroke.
We have a massive snow storm coming into the area sometime tonight.
I am going to try and sneak off to the gym before the storm hits- if my shoulders allow it, and before I have to shovel off the predicted 3"-15" that is predicted. I hope we get the short end of that stick.
Thank you one and all for the encouragement on what is ultimately a solo voyage across unchartered waters.
Gary

[damselfly]

Last day, team! How's everyone doing? Hanging in there? Anyone got their flywheels buzzing?

It would be interesting to know how many megawatts of power the combined effort of the VTC could have contributed to the national power grid! Any guesses?

[n1lul]

Thanks for the training help Izzy (funny, I have a bird named Izzy). I got a 7:08.4 in the 2k and 1:34.3 in the 500. The winning Master mens time was 6:18.4. There are some wicked fast old dudes around here. I had a good base and was getting great work outs in, just not good enough. Next year I will be ready, 20 lbs. lighter and bring a cox. I needed some one to keep me focused and work through the pain.

The team did great this VTC!! You all should be proud!

[Izzzmeister]

Ouch! Of course, having told everybody I was going to do a "long & steady" 28K today, I couldn't let well enough alone.
I stopped at Walgreen's on my way home, and bought a couple of quarts of Powerade and a sippee cup. I lined up a couple of cups (with straws) of half Powerade, half Crystal Light (as a diabetic, I need to limit my simple carbs, but as a person doing a marathon, I need to replace some of the glycogen and electrolytes I'm using up), and a cup of yogurt.
The 28K I do without a break, but I decided to do a marathon instead. The last time, I took five 40-second breaks (:30, 1:00, 1:30, 2:00 & 2:30) - this time, I took three 30-second breaks (at :50, 1:35 & 2:05) of one soup spoon of yogurt and 8 ounces of liquid. My RowPro pace boat never moved, and RowPro blew up after about 5 minutes. But I rowed on, through blisters, numb derriere, upper back twinges, and a leg cramp. I finished in 2:43:02.3, 3rd best in my age group (3 of 43), 14th of 212 among all male heavyweights. (Almost 6 1/2 minutes better than last time.)
Guess I hit 2 million with a splash, though I feel like last year's tennis shoes right now. Considering that I did 1.336M meters all of last year, I've already done 50% more than all of last season with 3 months left.
Still aiming for a Top-10 finish in the CRASH-Bs, definitely have the aerobic base part, but still need to sharpen my efficiency and speed...
I'm hurting, but I'll try to post as soon as I feel non-zombielike.

[damselfly]

Wow, Izz, that deserves some serious woots!!

Woot! Woot!!

Ray, what kind of bird do you have? I have two cockatiels.

[goyo]

Congratulations Team!!!

Izz, Awesome Row!!

[Dennis B.]

Ouch! Of course, having told everybody I was going to do a "long & steady" 28K today, I couldn't let well enough alone.
I stopped at Walgreen's on my way home, and bought a couple of quarts of Powerade and a sippee cup. I lined up a couple of cups (with straws) of half Powerade, half Crystal Light (as a diabetic, I need to limit my simple carbs, but as a person doing a marathon, I need to replace some of the glycogen and electrolytes I'm using up), and a cup of yogurt.
The 28K I do without a break, but I decided to do a marathon instead. The last time, I took five 40-second breaks (:30, 1:00, 1:30, 2:00 & 2:30) - this time, I took three 30-second breaks (at :50, 1:35 & 2:05) of one soup spoon of yogurt and 8 ounces of liquid. My RowPro pace boat never moved, and RowPro blew up after about 5 minutes. But I rowed on, through blisters, numb derriere, upper back twinges, and a leg cramp. I finished in 2:43:02.3, 3rd best in my age group (3 of 43), 14th of 212 among all male heavyweights. (Almost 6 1/2 minutes better than last time.)
Guess I hit 2 million with a splash, though I feel like last year's tennis shoes right now. Considering that I did 1.336M meters all of last year, I've already done 50% more than all of last season with 3 months left.
Still aiming for a Top-10 finish in the CRASH-Bs, definitely have the aerobic base part, but still need to sharpen my efficiency and speed...
I'm hurting, but I'll try to post as soon as I feel non-zombielike.

Great row...Fantastic Captain....congrats on your accomplishments.....and best to you and all that are going to the Crash B's....from both of us Brenda and Dennis.

[Izzzmeister]

Yesterday, we had another great VTC day. We didn't get our 50% participation, but we got over 18K from each person rowing – and 10 new milestones! That still left us in 15th Place, as our competition raised their game, as well...
(This is NOT the final tally!)
21 of 43 team members (49%) posted 384,004 meters Monday.

In alphabetical order, here are the posters:

Posted Meters:
Jamie B - 17,777
Douglas D - 21,000
Monica D - 12,015
Peter H - 10,000
Lisa H – 12,280

Dave H – 15,000
Yisroel H – 42,195
Brenda H - 2,118
Dennis H - 6,520
Kevin K – 3,000

Jeff R - 14,350
Don R - 14,428
Daiva S - 6,350
Bryan S - 130,000
Mark S – 9,202

Jeff S - 12,000
David W - 25,000
Yolanda W – 5,000

Joel W - 6,255
Joseph W - 7,354
Glenn Y - 12,160


Douglas D hit 350K, Glenn hit 300K, Jamie & Joseph reached 250K, Lisa & Bryan hit 200K, and Dave H, Don R, Daiva & Brenda reached 100K! That's besides all the personal bests, and other great rows!