TimbukTOO Team Room

[ronmardix]

Ron M – 5,999 On sale?

Strange. That was logged and shows as 6k on the C2 site.

[johnb]

Well good night all, hope you are enjoying the Winter Olympics. At just a sliver under 55, I sometimes wonder if I am crazy for working out so hard, but I listen to my body and am generally feeling stronger and more energized than I have in decades.

It's great to hear of your progress, John! And your enthusiasm is contagious. I am going to be getting a SkiErg within the month, and I am going to blow the dust off the weight set and start using that a bit as well. In addition to the rower, of course!

I'm finding that as I get older, and as I row so much, that I start to get aches more frequently. My left hip hurts. My side hurts. I figure if I mix it up and cross-train more then I won't ache as much in these areas. (I'll ache in new places! )

Keep up with the great progress!

Thanks for the positive feedback! One word I don't use enough when describing my training is 'STRETCH'! I do stretch, and particularly to fight off the aches and pains. It helps work out the kinks and prepares the muscles for work. If you are familiar with Foam Rollers, they are also great for helping to loosen things up and provide some 'myofascial' release, basically a poor man's deep tissue massage!

[damselfly]

At just a sliver under 55, I sometimes wonder if I am crazy for working out so hard, but I listen to my body and am generally feeling stronger and more energized than I have in decades.

I'd say you're doing it right. Congratulations on your spectacular progress and keep up the great work!

[damselfly]

Teammate Roger Gwinn has sadly set sail for more interesting waters, and we wish him well. So long, and thanks for all the meters! Meanwhile, 11 of 84 members (13%) logged 112,532 total meters Thursday!

Milestones achieved:
Jakob F climbed past 100K!!

Approaching milestones:
Jim C is chasing 3.1M (-12,000m), John S is pursuing 1.9M (-2,862m), Yisroel H is aiming for 1.9M (-26,615m), John B is intent on 1.2M (-40,875m), Gary G is converging on 1 MILLION (-22,264m), Jack F is fighting to reach 800K (-43,667m), Marco S is moving towards 450K (-20,798m), and Keith J is speeding towards 250K (-12,820m)

Posted Meters:
Marco S - 24,181 Whoa!
John S - 21,272 Serious!
Jim C - 16,000 Too bad we can't think how to adapt the erg for snow-removal...
Yisroel H - 12,020 Still training hard!
Keith J - 8,267 Back in action!
Jack F - 7,267 Back after a break!
Ron M - 7,000 Three-fer, looks like the spasm is de-spasmed...
John B - 6,950 Yow!
Jakob F - 4,374 Adding up fast!
Scott W - 3,046 Nice!
Gary G - 2,155 Quickie!

[Bobbie_Zee]

Today (with a sweaty 7500 meter row at lunchtime) I joined the Two Million Meter club. Tomorrow I climb into the big silver bird and head to tropical islands, daiquiris, turquoise islands, and nary a rower in site. Row steady, TimbukTOOers. See you in March! --Bobbie

[damselfly]

Today (with a sweaty 7500 meter row at lunchtime) I joined the Two Million Meter club. Tomorrow I climb into the big silver bird and head to tropical islands, daiquiris, turquoise islands, and nary a rower in site. Row steady, TimbukTOOers. See you in March! --Bobbie

[johnb]

Today (with a sweaty 7500 meter row at lunchtime) I joined the Two Million Meter club. Tomorrow I climb into the big silver bird and head to tropical islands, daiquiris, turquoise islands, and nary a rower in site. Row steady, TimbukTOOers. See you in March! --Bobbie

Way to go! Enjoy the break!

[damselfly]

And we have to bid another farewell to teammate Thomas Jones. Fair winds and smooth seas, Thomas! And back in our little boat, 9 of 83 members (11%) logged 102,112 total meters Friday!

Milestones achieved:
Jim C accrued 3.1M, Jennifer H bagged 15K!!

Approaching milestones:
Yisroel H is paddling towards 1.9M (-14,100m), Bobbie Z is seeking 1.7M (-38,910m), John B is shooting for 1.2M (-34,028m), Ron M is gunning for 900K (-45,365m), Glen B is heading for 800K (-1,904m), Cindy R is on track for 450K (-24,585m), and Jennifer H is reaching for 25K (-7,387m)

Posted Meters:
Glen B - 16,500 Stuck on land for a while!
Jim C - 16,000 Erging as a warm-up for shoveling!
Bobbie Z - 15,000 No snow where she's going!
Yisroel H - 12,515 Two-fer 12s!
Jennifer H - 10,069 Nice 10k!
Ron M - 9,000 Recovered nicely!
Jim G - 8,131 Big!
Cindy R - 8,050 Doing the maple tapping dance!
John B - 6,847 Kettle bells instead of kettle corn!

[damselfly]

All hands on deck! A skeletal crew of 6 of 83 members (7%) logged 52,117 total meters Saturday!

Milestones achieved:
Mark St licked 1.1M!!

Approaching milestones:
Adam M is sneaking up on 1.8M (-403m), John B is about to tackle 1.2M (-27,700m), Gary G is on the road to a COOL MILLION (-11,340m), Rob M is close to 75K (-2,014m)

Posted Meters:
Rob M - 12,119 Back after a break!
Gary G - 10,924 Dyn-o-mite!
Adam M - 10,500 Still visiting the erg!
Mark St - 8,500 Solid!
John B - 6,328 Three-fer!
Jim G - 3,746 Seven rows in eight days!

[glenmbaker]

Glen B - 16,500 Stuck on land for a while!

Fixed that over the weekend. 2 days, 6 rows. Snow on Saturday made it almost surreal. What's not to like (other than my novice sculling skills which make the single..umm...mentally engaging)?

[johnb]

I didn't get enough sleep last night, but had agreed to meet up with a friend to work out after work so I felt compelled to suck it up. I was lifting weights and wanted to do a little rowing as well, maybe 2K. Then I remembered that I am going do the Mud Season Madness challenge, where I will need to row at least 5000 meters a day for 25 out of 31 days. I love rowing at this point, it is a key part of my fitness journey; so I am going to focus on improving my performance on the C2 Rower during this challenge. I think my best time in a 5K row is 21:15, I would like to approach or break 20 minutes, so I will be trying to row earlier in my workout regimen, so that I am fresher. I think if I approach it right, I can make some real improvements that will help me in short and longer distances as well.

[Cyclingman1]

I am going to focus on improving my performance on the C2 Rower during this challenge. I think my best time in a 5K row is 21:15, I would like to approach or break 20 minutes

If you row 5K 25 times in 31 days, you will improve, especially if you keep it to 5K each day. I do think that chasing numbers can be counterproductive depending on one's goals. Just rowing most every day regardless of time is a good thing. Not reaching numbers can be discouraging.

Regarding times:
Looking at the C2 rankings for all men 50-69 for 5K, there are currently 2288 entries. A time of 21:15 is position 1282 or 44 percentile. A time of 20:00 is position 746 or 67 percentile. A reduction of 1:15 would cause a big jump in the rankings. Just that little improvement shows why 20 mins is considered to be more or less a dividing line between good and so-so rowers, of course, depending on age, wt, ht, sex, etc. It does take some work to get there. I know that when I dabbled in rowing a few times in fitness clubs several yrs ago, I never got to 20 mins.

Regarding some current TimbukTOOians and 5K.
I see that Yisroel Homnick, 54, currently rests in 30th position at 17:45.3 or 98.7 percentile in the 50-69 range.
Yours truly, 67, is currently in 18th position at 17:34.7 or 99.2 percentile also in the 50-69 range.
The range selected is completely arbitrary. Different ranges would of course yield different percentiles.
I probably have missed some names.

Good luck in the Mud Madness Challenge.

[johnb]

I am going to focus on improving my performance on the C2 Rower during this challenge. I think my best time in a 5K row is 21:15, I would like to approach or break 20 minutes

If you row 5K 25 times in 31 days, you will improve, especially if you keep it to 5K each day. I do think that chasing numbers can be counterproductive depending on one's goals. Just rowing most every day regardless of time is a good thing. Not reaching numbers can be discouraging.

Regarding times:
Looking at the C2 rankings for all men 50-69 for 5K, there are currently 2288 entries. A time of 21:15 is position 1282 or 44 percentile. A time of 20:00 is position 746 or 67 percentile. A reduction of 1:15 would cause a big jump in the rankings. Just that little improvement shows why 20 mins is considered to be more or less a dividing line between good and so-so rowers, of course, depending on age, wt, ht, sex, etc. It does take some work to get there. I know that when I dabbled in rowing a few times in fitness clubs several yrs ago, I never got to 20 mins.

Regarding some current TimbukTOOians and 5K.
I see that Yisroel Homnick, 54, currently rests in 30th position at 17:45.3 or 98.7 percentile in the 50-69 range.
Yours truly, 67, is currently in 18th position at 17:34.7 or 99.2 percentile also in the 50-69 range.
The range selected is completely arbitrary. Different ranges would of course yield different percentiles.
I probably have missed some names.

Good luck in the Mud Madness Challenge.

Thanks for the input Jim, I am planning on doing the strictly 5k rows during March. I wish I was 6'3", but I am just gonna have to do the best my 5'8" frame can manage. I plan on trying to focus hard on my technique, review some of the C2 tutorial content, and one or two rows a week I will really get after it. If I achieve my performance goals early, it will mean I didn't set them high enough and I will have to refactor. At 54, pushing 55 I looked at the recent crash-b's before setting a goal. Having just started rowing in August, I don't expect to be setting the world on notice!

[Cyclingman1]

At 54, pushing 55 I looked at the recent crash-b's before setting a goal.

Of course, CRASH-B is a 2K race. Did you mean that you draw inspiration from the event or did you somehow calculate a goal pace/time. Generally one adds around 5-8 seconds to one's 2K pace to come up with a 5K pace, and vice versa. There were some very strong performances in 50-54, HWt category this yr. In fact, it was the closest race.

Having just started rowing in August, I don't expect to be setting the world on notice!

People can make fairly rapid gains in rowing, depending on where one starts from. However, one can fall victim to the idea that "if can row this fast now, then there is no doubt that I will be faster in the future." In my case in under 100 days after I started rowing at all seriously in Jan, 2012, I set my personal bests in both 2K and 5K. Despite my best efforts, I have yet to top them. Of course, age and some health issues were/are a factor. One never really knows what the future holds.

[glenmbaker]

Thanks for the input Jim, I am planning on doing the strictly 5k rows during March. I wish I was 6'3", but I am just gonna have to do the best my 5'8" frame can manage. I plan on trying to focus hard on my technique, review some of the C2 tutorial content, and one or two rows a week I will really get after it. If I achieve my performance goals early, it will mean I didn't set them high enough and I will have to refactor. At 54, pushing 55 I looked at the recent crash-b's before setting a goal. Having just started rowing in August, I don't expect to be setting the world on notice!

Any chance you live near a rowing club? Technique matters a lot, and while simply erging harder and longer may improve your times, it also puts you at risk of injury and builds really bad habits should you ever decide to venture onto the water. If there's a rowing club nearby you might be able to get some tips/coaching from the folks there, even if you don't go get wet.

A common phrase that I hear among OTW rowers is something like "I won't go near the erg at <insert fitness club> because everybody there does is so incredibly wrong that I can't stand to watch!" It also seems that many (most?) fitness clubs do not have staff that know how to properly erg, so they actually promote bad habits. Getting even just a little coaching from somebody who actually rows can be very helpful (there are aspects of a good stroke that simply can't be learned well on an erg, so an instructor who doesn't row is at a disadvantage).

I can sit down next to other rowers at my club, erg at the same rate with no significant difference in drag factor, yet they can pull significantly faster splits. One of these days I'm going to look at the power curves to figure out why.