LUNA-TICS TEAM ROOM: Year-round "Looney" fun.

[Dave_H]

In the meantime, I should invest in some gloves/grips as my fingers are getting sore and calloused. On the other hand, I won't have the time to row over 90 minutes in a day all that often so I guess I can just deal with it for now.

Just a suggestion... I use a pair of wrist sweat-bands (ala the tennis type) to give my hands a bit of comfort and absorb any sweat while rowing. I bought a pair of the neoprene rowing/ weight lifting "gloves" (forgotten their name...) however I much prefer the toweling wrist bands. You can move them around the grip while rowing, and it feels almost "refreshing" to have a cooler surface under your palms. Doesn't eliminate callouses, however definitely helps minimise them.

I was interested to read about Brett's drag settings. I never think about this, as I always have my erg on the highest setting. I think that being a "big bloke", I find anything less strangely uncomfortable. Every meter (except maybe 10,000...) of the 8.5 mill I have racked up has been on this setting. Do any others do this, or am I just strange/ stupid?

[Rumping]

(Dr) BBB here...

Just a thought on the tendonitis in the elbow; one potential cause is having tension in your forearm and then putting your whole arm under a load, like you would when rowing.

And be careful with it as it is one of those injuries that usually needs some form of rest from the ‘cause’ and/or some form of medical intervention. Loathe to suggest cortisone, but there is a product called traumeel which can be injected into the joint and it is a homeopathic anti-inflammatory. My sports doctor has used this over the years as a first pass to assist these types of injuries before wheeling out cortisone.

Hiya Bazzy,

And yes, I have already changed my grip prior to seeing the PT. I simply have the top two-thirds of my fingers hooked around the bar with my fingers on top. It made quite a difference. It reduced my splits by quite a bit actually, but they're improving again and I'm about back to normal (for me) now that I'm used to it.

And as mentioned before, it's in an early stage so as long as I'm careful everything should be fine and no shots will be needed. However, the deep tissue massage hurt quite a bit and hopefully I won't need another one of those either.

I guess I do need to find myself a pair of sweat bands (or at least put some socks around the handle). The only problem I see is that it'll be a bit harder to keep my fingers hooked around the bar that way since I don't actually grip the bar at all. Socks may actually work the best. But it's one of those things I don't think of trying until I'm done working out. Never one of those things I think about before I get on the erg

As far as drag settings go... I seem to prefer around 4.5, which is 120 for me. Works fine between 19-21 spm. If I go too high, it's quite a shock to the arms with each stroke (unless I speed up the strokes), and too low just means that my splits go up. Anything a bit lower or higher won't make much difference though. It did take me a little while to get used to the 120 drag, because I just went too fast in my recovery and had a hard time rowing below 26 spm. But once I 'discovered' that the trick is to slow your recovery (instead of doing the recovery at the same speed as the drive), it became a lot easier to control my pace.

But for short stints/high speed racing (up to 2k), I'd use a higher drag personally. But I haven't tried setting any special times on the short distances yet.

[Kona2]

Whoop, whoop ! Fall Luna-Tics Challenge Team is still in 2nd place - now with 133 teammates (welcome to young Elias)! Here's a quick link to see the individual contributors:

http://www.concept2.com/sranking03/team ... index=2537

RE: The Gloves

Some use a kind of funky rowing glove made by New Grip. Some row without gloves. Some use weight-lifting gloves. There are many options and you have to find the one that works for you.

RE: Damper Settings

I encourage folks to check out the Concept2 training materials. Injuries can and do occur....

http://www.concept2.com/us/training/bas ... ensity.asp

[Rumping]

For a little motivation, here's a quote from the Free Spirits forums:

Despite giving the Luna-Tics a good run for the first week, we're now about a million behind with more team members than they have. We really need some Free Spirits to join in this challenge - about 100 of them

They're feeling the pressure

[Kristine Strasburger]

For a little motivation, here's a quote from the Free Spirits forums:

Despite giving the Luna-Tics a good run for the first week, we're now about a million behind with more team members than they have. We really need some Free Spirits to join in this challenge - about 100 of them

They're feeling the pressure

Woo Hoo!

[DavidA]

very sad day for our family today. My sister in law who was only 28 years old died today from a pulmonary embolism. She had multiple blood clots move from her legs to her lungs this past thursday. She leaves behind a husband and a 1 year old son. I can't make sense out of any of it and today feels like a bad dream

I am so sorry
May you and the rest of her family have comfort on your loss, and have good things in the future.

Sincerely,
David

[DavidA]

Today we are celebrating my father-in-law’s 97th birthday! He truly is 97 years young...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to your father-in-law!

David

[DavidA]

I'm always computing percents and fractions in my head as I row. I also like to compute the, If I increase/decrease my pace by this much, my split at this point in time will be that. And, based on the time remaining, if I maintain this pace I should finish at this time. The more numbers I try to calculate, the less I think about all the little pains.

If we weren't a little nuts, we wouldn't be Luna-Tics!

I do exactly the same thing , and I always trick myself - if I just keep such and such pace, which is about the pace I'm doing at the time, then I'll end with so many meters, but I really know there is nooo way I will let myself keep that pace - it has to be faster

David

[BAZzy]

There is some good commentary on ‘drag factors’ in the C2 training manual. I follow these and whilst my on water training is in a kayak, and not a row boat , my boats, both the K1 and Epic Ocean racing kayak, are very sleek and fast. Consequently I try to replicate that smooth feel on the C2. I have the drag factor on around 135, which equates to around 3-4 on the setting.

http://www.concept2.com.au/app_cmslib/m ... r%2013.pdf

The best way to think about damper settings is rowing a wooden heavy row boat (on ten) or a sleek racing boat (3-4). The monitor also has a drag factor that you can set to ensure that if you row on a different machine that it will be the same.

Planned some pace work for last night, and came out of the blocks faster than I anticipated, ate well in the lead-up to the row, and had a ‘gel’ just prior to going to the ‘shed’. Managed the 7,500m in just over 29 (29:11), had dinner, and was asleep on the lounge within 30 minutes of finishing . I haven’t been doing much in the way of higher pace work since earlier this year, but felt good (sort of!), and I need to get some of this going again in preparation for the Speight’s...So will be less distance, and faster initially, building back to 10,000m with a goal to average around the low 38 minute region again and beat my PB (37:58). I'm placing a big focus on keeping a SPM rate of around 32/33... I've been doing a fair amount of cycling recently and this has actually helped improve my SPM on the C2...

The other thing I have been doing is using the Power Breathe again, to help build strength in the breathing muscles...I've found this device works very well...

And on sweat bands....I always wear one on the wrist like Dave H.

Cheers, BBB...and go the Lunies!

[BigBrett58]

Baz, I imagine we look quite different in how we row. I keep my SPM at around 18-20. My PB in the 10k is 41:20. I work more on exploding on the drive with my legs, leaning back, and then snapping my arms. Everything else is real slow. I don't think I've ever gotten my SPM into the 30's, let alone sustained it there. As they say, different strokes for different folks.

[BAZzy]

Baz, I imagine we look quite different in how we row. I keep my SPM at around 18-20. My PB in the 10k is 41:20. I work more on exploding on the drive with my legs, leaning back, and then snapping my arms. Everything else is real slow. I don't think I've ever gotten my SPM into the 30's, let alone sustained it there. As they say, different strokes for different folks.

Oh don't worry, I struggle to keep it there sometimes and have increased it (SPM) slowly over time. You must have some explosive power though... You've been doing some great distances, the back-bone for endurance!

Cheers, BBB

[Kona2]

Woohoo and hooyah! Congratulations, Brett, on achieving a TWO million meter rowing season. We wish you many, MANY more....and the way you've started off this year....you'll be raking in them in!

[Kona2]

Lots of chatter on the forum (good pickup on the Free Spirits commentary!) - good work by all ! Here's today's stats:

Season meters as of 149/365 = 57,359,964 m

Total meters on the day = 456,762 m

Oars in space (participation) = 24 percent

MILESTONES...Bragging Rights...Celebrations:

2.75 MM Will S....woot! time to start the countdown for THREE million meters...
2.55 MM Jay
2.15 MM Ron
1.95 MM Brett
1.85 MM Minnie
1.55 MM Jim K
1.30 MM Christa
1.10 MM Ross with a nice 1113331 m grand total...numeric symmetry!
400 K Kevin
5 K Allie


Million Meter Watch:

Michelle with (65,799 m) to go !

Rosi with (88,131 m) to go!

Minnie with (129,483 m) to go!

Million Meter Watch:

AJ with (12,476 m) to go!

David T with (106,000 m) to go!

Tammy with (128,785 m) to go!

Charles B with (143,538 m) to go!

Thanks to all who rowed today...and are still rowing, rowing, rowing ...

Allie 285 m
Ethan 645 m
Elias 756 m
Ashlee 788 m
Kaylee 808 m
Tris 1,008 m
Bobbie 1,200 m
Michelle 2,100 m
Mitch J 4,515 m
Kenneth G 5,000 m
Jim 5,553 m
Peter G 6,500 m
Wim 7,061 m
Jane 8,004 m
Dave H 10,000 m
Jeff P 10,000 m
Karyn M 10,000 m
Kevin 10,000 m
bg Barbara 11,187 m
Jay 12,000 m
Anita 15,300 m
Ross 16,031 m
Bazzy 20,000 m
Chip 20,000 m
Ron 21,097 m
Minnie 21,527 ... signature 27!
David A 31,873 m
Carolyn 35,282 m .. nice update!
Brett 70,235 m ...betting there will be a 100K day.....then we'll have TWO on the team who've done this...
Will S 83,000 m ... nice update!

[Dave_H]

Brett 70,235 m ...betting there will be a 100K day.....then we'll have TWO on the team who've done this...

Speaking of Kiba... where is she when we need her?? I haven't had a cup-cake in months!

[Dave_H]

And on sweat bands....I always wear one on the wrist like Dave H.

Slight variation on the theme Bazz - mine are around the grip of the handle.
I find it just the right width to allow my thumb and forefinger to be just off the edge of the band, gripping the actual handle diameter, whilst the rest of my fingers are relaxed around the "padding":