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

[just27]

Whoop, whoop and hooyah! Nothing like earning the coveted TEN million meter prize of a Concept2 sweatshirt during the blizzard that's hitting the New England area! And a fine sweatshirt it is, too! Congratulations, Richard T, on achieving TEN million LIFETIME meters. We wish you many, MANY more!

You get a sweatshirt? Seriously? How does that work? Do these free gifts expire when you go past the mark? If that's the case, then I'll just have to wait until 15.

It's the loot incentives that keep a lot of us on task ... I doubt there's an expiration for claiming your million meter prize, especially if you haven't hit the next mark, yet. Congrats ... that sweatshirt should come in handy, this time of the year.

http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/m ... meter-club

[voodoogirl]

"Birds row the air when they fly," David Attenborough says. I did more (indoor) rowing in January than in any month before--400,066 meters (248.6 miles). My own personal migration, from one interior landscape to another. Pushing further afield in February...wish I could row the air!

Congratulations to everyone making these fantastic milestones!

[Kona2]

"Birds row the air when they fly," David Attenborough says. I did more (indoor) rowing in January than in any month before--400,066 meters (248.6 miles). My own personal migration, from one interior landscape to another. Pushing further afield in February...wish I could row the air!

Congratulations to everyone making these fantastic milestones!

Just in time, then, because March brings some of the best opportunities for a meter push beyond what any of us has ever done. Well, March AND April. Since this team is obviously interested in free stuff, we have MORE opportunities to win the meter lottery in March than just about any other time. It's March Madness of a different kind starting on March 1st. And, it's a multiple challenges at once kind of month...we'll have the World Erg Championships starting on March 15 - and they go until April 15th. So it's really six weeks of getting a new kind of air time. Should make ALL of us quite good at the Global Marathon Challenge that starts May 1st....whoop, whoop...and HOOYAH!

March Madness Challenge I will have to look back, but I think we give out shamrocks for the 5K a day, and pot of gold for the 10K or more as our virtual recognitions.

"5000 meters a day keeps March Madness at bay" It doesn't, really, but it's a good thought.
March 1–31
The Details

Choose from two levels of participation:
The Basic Challenge: Row or ski 5000 meters each day for 25 days or more in March.
The Advanced Challenge: Row or ski 10,000 meters each day for 25 days or more in March.
This is an individual challenge. You do not need to belong to a team to participate.
Meters must be entered online in your online logbook.
Indoor rower and SkiErg meters only (no on water/on snow meters please). You can combine meters from each machine to reach the daily total of 5000 or 10,000 meters.
Kid's March Madness Challenge allows kids (aged 16 and under) to participate at 2500 meters.
Adaptive athletes can choose to participate at the 2500m, 5000m, or 10k levels.
Who Can Participate

Anyone with an online logbook at concept2.com can participate in this challenge.
Incentives and Rewards

Prize drawings are held every day from all the people who have rowed/skied at least 5000 meters (2500 meters for kids and adaptive athletes) that day and entered it in their online logbook. The more days you row or ski, the more you increase your chances of winning!
On randomly selected days during March, we will draw for an additional prize from those who row/ski at least 10,000 meters (2500 meters for kids and adaptive athletes).
Prizes vary from day to day, but will include Concept2 clothing, heart rate monitors and some surprises!
Drawings are held at (or soon after) noon each weekday for the previous day, so be sure to enter your meters promptly! We will post names of winners on the web site.
Hall of Fame—All those who are on-track for rowing/skiing at least 5000 meters at least 25 days during the month of March will be listed in the March Madness Progress Board and will be able to download a specially designed certificate.
For kids and adaptive athletes, the incentives and rewards go into effect at 2500 meters.

[just27]

"Birds row the air when they fly," David Attenborough says. I did more (indoor) rowing in January than in any month before--400,066 meters (248.6 miles). ... Pushing further afield in February...wish I could row the air!

Rumor has it that Laurie is planning to throw down a HM, tomorrow. I decided that's a fine idea, for a random Sunday in February ... who else wants to join us and "row the air," tomorrow? Voodoo Challenge! Feathers optional.

[kakattack]

Woohoo and hooyah! Thought there was the distant rumble of a motorcycle in the team forum! Congratulations, Peter G, on achieving a ONE million meter rowing season! We wish you many, MANY more !! Lots of hard work to be able to put this one in the books! Great rowing!!

Hi Kona,

Thanks for the shout-out! You and the rest of this team are a constant source of inspiration and it's much appreciated. Who would have thought I would be pulling a One Million meter season when just over a year ago I could barely pull 3K in a week and 1.2K in a session. Rowing has made a huge difference in my quality of life, allowing me to get out of bed in the morning virtually pain free. My doctor believes that along with strengthening my core that my rowing helps hydrate my spinal disks. Either way I think you are stuck with me fore life.

Cheers,
Peter

P.S. Kona thanks for all the hard work you the others put in to make this team such a fun and loony place to belong!

[Kona2]

Whoop, whoop and hooyah! Like a Bat Signal, a neon moon lit up the skies over Macolm IL yesterday - and while I am pretty sure that our new teammate Kerry is quite familiar with the half marathon distance, I'm thinking this might have been a FIRST EVER half marathon on the erg. Nothing like leaping onto the Valentine's Honor Board AND the half marathon rankings all in one day. Congratulations, Kerry, on a fine half marathon! We wish you many, MANY more....and, btw, there's this full marathon thing that happens at the start of the next rowing season in case you're interested....

[Kona2]

Hoo-boy! Some lovers on this team! 15 on the ERG-lovers honor board!!

Leave it to Minnie to come up with the Valentine's Voodoo Challenge! Just in time for Mardi Gras, too. Oh the planetary alignments on this one are just too good to ignore. It's all good stuff. Good luck to all ! And hooyah for best evers!

"Birds row the air when they fly," David Attenborough says. I did more (indoor) rowing in January than in any month before--400,066 meters (248.6 miles). ... Pushing further afield in February...wish I could row the air!

Rumor has it that Laurie is planning to throw down a HM, tomorrow. I decided that's a fine idea, for a random Sunday in February ... who else wants to join us and "row the air," tomorrow? Voodoo Challenge! Feathers optional.

Marty, Roger, Nataliya, Marie, Anita, Tammy, Kerry, Jay x 2

Lots of half moons in the skies over our Rowing Universe - including one full moon (or two half moons) by Jay. If you've completed a half moon during the Valentine's Day Challenge time frame, I think you've met the Valentine Voodoo Challenge...

Season meters as of 284/365 = 108,709,969 m

Total meters on the day = 947,152 m

Oars in space (participation) = 19 percent

MILESTONES...Bragging Rights...Celebrations:

5.75 MM Jay
3.25 MM Ronnie
2.2 MM Dana
1.4 MM Marty
1.25 MM Nataliya
700 K Laurie
550 K Stuart

Thanks, everyone, for rowing with us! Spectacular !

Tony m
Bobbie 5,000 m
Brian 5,000 m
Rebecca 5,000 m
David T 6,000 m
Rosi 7,000 m
Zander m a double double!
Dana 9,004 m
Jeff P 10,000 m
Laurie 10,085 m
Jim m
Ronnie m
Jane 12,505 m
Mike C 14,000 m
Minnie 14,000 m ...so are you having to reserve time on the rowing machine?!
Sarah 14,000 m
Stuart 15,000 m
Kerry 21,097 m
Marie 21,097 m
Marty 21,097 m
Nataliya 21,097 m
Roger 21,097 m
Tammy 21,097 m
Jay 42,196 m
Alex R 242,492 m
Zachary R 353,727 m


Would like some additional info on Alex R and Zachary R...who do these young gents belong to? It is unusual to go from 500 m (perhaps a placeholder?) to 250K and 350 K respectively. Love the meters, just want to make sure that I understand where they came from.

[kgallagher]

I decided not to erg yesterday (the start of the Valentine Challenge) due to the fact that I knew I had hours of shoveling ahead of me. New Haven, CT got his with 34 inches of snow from Blizzard Nemo.

My back was a little sore today, but I decided to tackle the challenge anyway. I dropped my drag factor down to 105 to lighten the load a little. (I usually erg with the drag factor around 120.) I didn't max out, but held a steady moderate pressure with negative splits the 2nd half and some power tens thrown in. I did an hour of pressure and then figured out the math to determine what I needed to do on a cool down to hit 14k exactly.

I have no idea if more meters will occur this challenge or not. As the plows come by they will create a need to shovel again.

Happy almost Valentine's Day to all my Loonie Friends!

Karyn

[just27]

... I dropped my drag factor down to 105 to lighten the load a little. (I usually erg with the drag factor around 120.) I didn't max out, but held a steady moderate pressure with negative splits the 2nd half and some power tens thrown in. I did an hour of pressure and then figured out the math to determine what I needed to do on a cool down to hit 14k exactly.

Karyn

Well, on-water rower girl, I read this paragraph three times, and only grok "negative splits." Drag factor and power tens sound intense. My sessions run more toward these factors: ... trying to convince the dog it's not an ideal time for a head scratch ... wondering why can't I get sub-titles to work on the movie ... seeing if I can refill my water glass AND make a pit stop before the monitor times out ...

That, of course, was prior to this month, when I actually got use the rower ... before Mr. Go-Army decided to enter the Military Challenge. Hooyah!

[Kristine Strasburger]

. . . . we have more teammates deploying to the service each day. Representing Army: Danno, Eric, AJ and representing Navy: Richard T. Go Army. Go Navy.

200K MIBs (Military Inflatable Boat)

Richard



AJ

Love the incentives, AJ. Now I'm really pumped!

[Kona2]

Lots of snow in the New England area - hope everyone has power or back up generators (although Ronnie and Zander have to have these, too!) !.

Whoop, whoop! 31 Lunies on the erg-lovers honor board (including four who are on temporary duty with their respective military affiliations: Richard T, Danno, AJ and Mike M).

Valentine Voodoo Challenge: David A, Rosi, Minnie, Matt F, Laurie and Jay all posted half moons or half marathons yesterday/today.

Navy leading Army in overall standings. Gap at the affiliation level still stands at about 600K in favor of Navy. Go Army. Go Navy.

Drag Factor....all I know is that my golden retrievers love to lay in front of the fan on the erg. Karyn's posting about some of the basics of the settings available for our ergs reminded me that I hadn't really checked out this aspect of the rowing machine for awhile. I then I had to go look up Minnie's word "grok" and find out what that meant (to understand intuitively...I think that means I get it).
So I went to Concept2's web pages and started looking in the Indoor Rower section, then the how to use your PMwhatever monitors. Maybe the section on training says how to moderate the drag factor to row faster or with more power. Many on this team study this part of rowing a lot more than I do, but I was reminded of a posting that occurred in another part of the forum during the January Virtual Team Challenge. One poster said that he was putting in a lot of meters, but he was pretty sure they were just junk meters or something like that. I have thought about that statement for awhile now, and agreed that a lot of times (especially when really tired) I was just pulling the meter chain and not really getting as much benefit out of the rowing machine as I could have been getting.

Viewing Drag Factor

Drag factor is a measure of fan load. The Performance Monitor self-calibrates by recalculating the drag factor on every stroke, so you get a true measure of your effort regardless of the damper setting or changing conditions. You can adjust the drag factor by moving the damper lever on the right side of the flywheel. (Learn more about damper setting and drag factor)

To view drag factor on the PM:

On the Main Menu, select More Options.
Select Display Drag Factor.
Begin rowing or skiing. The PM will display the drag factor after a few seconds.
A brand new indoor rower will have a drag factor of about 90–100 at a damper setting of 1 and about 210–220 at a damper setting of 10.

Season meters as of 285/365 = 109,143,257 m

Total meters on the day = 433,288 m

Oars in space (participation) = 25 percent

MILESTONES...Bragging Rights...Celebrations:

5.8 MM Jay
3.05 MM David A
2.35 MM Rosi
1.8 MM Matt
1.3 MM Ross
600 K Karyn
550 K Greg C
100 K Kerry

Thanks, everyone, for rowing with us! All meters are good meters!

Adian 100 m
Elias 534 m
Bobbie 2,500 m
Tony m
Roger 4,000 m
Tammy 4,500 m
Brian 5,000 m
Kerry 5,000 m
Marty 5,000 m
Jane 5,500 m
Zander m
Howard m reads the same right to left and left to right...
Ross 5,639 m
John D 6,721 m
Kevin 7,000 m
Bernie 8,043 m
Peter G 10,000 m
Rebecca 10,000 m
Sarah 10,103 m
Greg C 10,343 m
Ronnie m
Jim m
Dan W 11,744 m
Ken G 12,172 m
Dana 13,675 m
Karyn 14,000 m
Larry E 14,000 m
Stephen 18,069 m
BAZ 20,000 m ...re-entry into the Shed world...
Laurie 21,097 m
Minnie 21,097 m
Rosi 21,097 m
David A 24,947 m
Matt F 41,097 m
Jay 63,195 m

Bicycle Colorado Summit is today and tomorrow...posting may be limited.

[kgallagher]

... I dropped my drag factor down to 105 to lighten the load a little. (I usually erg with the drag factor around 120.) I didn't max out, but held a steady moderate pressure with negative splits the 2nd half and some power tens thrown in. I did an hour of pressure and then figured out the math to determine what I needed to do on a cool down to hit 14k exactly.

Karyn

Well, on-water rower girl, I read this paragraph three times, and only grok "negative splits." Drag factor and power tens sound intense. My sessions run more toward these factors: ... trying to convince the dog it's not an ideal time for a head scratch ... wondering why can't I get sub-titles to work on the movie ... seeing if I can refill my water glass AND make a pit stop before the monitor times out ...

That, of course, was prior to this month, when I actually got use the rower ... before Mr. Go-Army decided to enter the Military Challenge. Hooyah!

Sorry, the rower in me sometimes forgets that not everyone on an erg is a rower. Just in case others don't know, here is my explanation on the different terminology:

Drag factor: (I am pulling this off Concept 2. I figured they'd explain it better than I would.) The damper is the lever on the side of the flywheel housing, or fan cage, that controls how much air flows into the cage. Higher damper settings allow more air into the flywheel housing. The more air, the more work it takes to spin the flywheel against the air. More air also slows the flywheel down faster on the recovery, requiring more work to accelerate it on the next pull.
Lower damper settings allow less air into the flywheel housing, making it easier to spin the flywheel.

Different indoor rowers can have different drag factor ranges. A damper setting of 3 on your home machine may feel like 4 on the machine at the gym. Differences in air temperature, elevation—even how much lint is caught in the flywheel housing—can all affect the drag factor from machine to machine. When using different machines, you may need to adjust the damper setting to achieve the drag factor and feel you prefer.To view drag factor on the PM:
On the Main Menu, select More Options.
Select Display Drag Factor.
Begin rowing or skiing. The PM will display the drag factor after a few seconds.

Negative splits: This is when you are doing a piece and looking at the time it takes you to go 500 meters. (Look at the average of the splits, not the one you pull each stroke.) You take that split and try to row faster (therefore decreasing your time per 500m) the second half of a piece. (Now you focus on the split for each stroke, trying to keep that faster than the overall average.) It is supposed to help prevent the "fly and die" pattern of going all out in the beginning of a race/piece and then crashing at the end. With negative splits you go faster at the end than you do in the beginning.

Power tens: A power ten is exactly that. Ten strokes where you rower harder than the base pressure of your piece. They do not have to be all out max. If you are rowing a light steady state piece, you can do a power ten at medium pressure. If you are doing a hard piece, you'll do one at max. On longer pieces, I tend to do power tens in the second half every 5 minutes or so. For me, it helps me refocus on my technique and when I settle back to my base pace I have a better focus.

That's my tutorial for the day! Happy erging!

Karyn

[bg]

trying to catch up again,....hmmmm,,,maybe i can blame the blizzard....although i was lucky...knock on wood...and never lost my electricity......congrats to everyone who has achieved a milestone....and welcome to all our new luna-tics.....and goooo army and navy......

[kakattack]

Da Do Ron Ron
We didn't get hit as hard as southern New England-about 10-12 inches. However, I had TWO flat tires on my tractor , so it ended up being an exhausting day and I just couldn't make myself get on the rower.

Ron - I'm with you, there was no rowing for me either! Even with my snow-blower it still took us 9 hours between Saturday and Sunday to clear our driveway, walks and deck. We got about 27" but it was the 5-7' drifts that were the real pain in the arse... more like arms, legs and back!

[DUCKMARX]

AJ. Now I'm really pumped!

Excellent! I'll prepare a US Army MIB for your 200K contribution