New To It All...

[old] MarkH · Post by **[old] MarkH** » February 6th, 2006, 7:54 pm

Hi there, I have recently returned to the gym after a 3 year absence and a 20+kg weight gain!!! I enjoyed indoor rowing at the gym in my early twenties, but never kept track of my times. I've really got into it over the last few months and today, while at the gym, decided to take on the club's "beat the trainer' challenge. I usually row about 2000m+ but the challenge distance was 500m. Suffice to say I beat the instructor quite easily and clocked up a time of 1m30.4secs on the highest setting. I'm 34, 6.4" tall and really pretty unfit but wondered, as a matter of interest, what time serious rowers would cover 500m in? Also, are there rowing clubs were keen rowers meet and if so how would one find out about them? It seems like a really good way to get fit and as I get fitter I’d like to pursue it further. Thanks for any help. Mark.

[old] Citroen · Post by **[old] Citroen** » February 6th, 2006, 8:10 pm

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(MarkH @ Feb 6 2006, 11:54 PM)</div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>Hi there, I have recently returned to the gym after a 3 year absence and a 20+kg weight gain!!! I enjoyed indoor rowing at the gym in my early twenties, but never kept track of my times. I've really got into it over the last few months and today, while at the gym, decided to take on the club's "beat the trainer' challenge. I usually row about 2000m+ but the challenge distance was 500m. Suffice to say I beat the instructor quite easily and clocked up a time of 1m30.4secs on the highest setting. I'm 34, 6.4" tall and really pretty unfit but wondered, as a matter of interest, what time serious rowers would cover 500m in? Also, are there rowing clubs were keen rowers meet and if so how would one find out about them? It seems like a really good way to get fit and as I get fitter I’d like to pursue it further. Thanks for any help. Mark. </td></tr></table> Have a look at <a href='http://www.c2ctc.com' target='_blank'>http://www.c2ctc.com</a> for some times from a sample of serious rowers for 300m. (Most of those times will be done on a higher than normal drag.) Also, most serious rowers row with a drag factor of 135 or less (that's about level 5 on the damper lever on a clean well maintained machine) for normal distances like 2K or 5K. The damper lever simply controls how much air goes through the flywheel and what the drag is because of that. So damper 10 is like having a bike in the big ring and small rear sprocket vs damper five being the middle ring and a larger sprocket. Imagine your 2K is a hill climb up Alpe D'Huez. Do you want to attack that in the big 56 tooth ring/small sprocket (damper 10) like Jan Ullrich or in the big 53 tooth ring / larger sprocket (damper 5) like Lance Armstrong. Damper ten is like an old wooden rowing boat. Damper three is more like a high speed racing shell. Regardless of where the damper is, it takes the same amount of energy into the system to row 2K at a 1:45 pace [watts = 2.8 / (pace^3) note: there's no drag in that equation]. Damper setting and drag factor is the most FAQ on here. To find an on water rowing club, start by locating your nearest river. You'll find that the indoor rowing clubs tend to be virtual online internet entities only.

[old] Godfried · Post by **[old] Godfried** » February 7th, 2006, 3:14 pm

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(MarkH @ Feb 7 2006, 01:54 AM)</div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>... I'm 34, 6.4" tall and really pretty unfit but wondered, as a matter of interest, what time serious rowers would cover 500m in? ...[right] </td></tr></table> See <a href='http://www.concept2.com/sranking03/rankings.asp' target='_blank'>rankings</a>

[old] MarkH · Post by **[old] MarkH** » February 7th, 2006, 9:37 pm

Thanks for the info. That's given me some encouragement......I'll see if i can get my time any lower over the next few months. All the best, Mark.

[old] Mark Bodnar · Post by **[old] Mark Bodnar** » February 8th, 2006, 9:45 pm

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(Citroen @ Feb 6 2006, 08:10 PM)</div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(MarkH @ Feb 6 2006, 11:54 PM)</div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>Hi there, I have recently returned to the gym after a 3 year absence and a 20+kg weight gain!!! I enjoyed indoor rowing at the gym in my early twenties, but never kept track of my times. I've really got into it over the last few months and today, while at the gym, decided to take on the club's "beat the trainer' challenge. I usually row about 2000m+ but the challenge distance was 500m. Suffice to say I beat the instructor quite easily and clocked up a time of 1m30.4secs on the highest setting. I'm 34, 6.4" tall and really pretty unfit but wondered, as a matter of interest, what time serious rowers would cover 500m in? Also, are there rowing clubs were keen rowers meet and if so how would one find out about them? It seems like a really good way to get fit and as I get fitter I’d like to pursue it further. Thanks for any help. Mark. </td></tr></table> Have a look at <a href='http://www.c2ctc.com' target='_blank'>http://www.c2ctc.com</a> for some times from a sample of serious rowers for 300m. (Most of those times will be done on a higher than normal drag.) Also, most serious rowers row with a drag factor of 135 or less (that's about level 5 on the damper lever on a clean well maintained machine) for normal distances like 2K or 5K. The damper lever simply controls how much air goes through the flywheel and what the drag is because of that. So damper 10 is like having a bike in the big ring and small rear sprocket vs damper five being the middle ring and a larger sprocket. Imagine your 2K is a hill climb up Alpe D'Huez. Do you want to attack that in the big 56 tooth ring/small sprocket (damper 10) like Jan Ullrich or in the big 53 tooth ring / larger sprocket (damper 5) like Lance Armstrong. Damper ten is like an old wooden rowing boat. Damper three is more like a high speed racing shell. Regardless of where the damper is, it takes the same amount of energy into the system to row 2K at a 1:45 pace [watts = 2.8 / (pace^3) note: there's no drag in that equation]. Damper setting and drag factor is the most FAQ on here. To find an on water rowing club, start by locating your nearest river. You'll find that the indoor rowing clubs tend to be virtual online internet entities only. </td></tr></table>

[old] MarkH · Post by **[old] MarkH** » February 24th, 2006, 8:14 pm

Hi Again, I've really been enjoying rowing recently. I do find the longer distances much harder than the shorter ones, but as my fitness slowly improves the larger distances seem more and more possible. I managed to squeeze under 7mins for the 2k yesterday and given that I’m probably still about 2+ stone overweight I'm lucking forward to getting to grips with 5k upwards as my fitness develops. I'm managing to go to the gym about 4-5 times a week at the moment, which always includes a few Ks running and cross training on top of the rowing. Obviously people don't just get on the rower, try and better their 500m and go home, so what does a normal day's/week's rowing consist of for you guys? It strikes me that any short distance time can't help but be improved by longer distances done on a regular bases. All the best, Mark (London)

[old] Ikabob · Post by **[old] Ikabob** » February 25th, 2006, 10:21 pm

Wow...MarkH....under 7 minutes for a 2K is great! Congratulations! Good work!