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

[Kona2]

Day 3 in the Bubble Universe...and the Concept2 Universe is attacking the meter boards!! What an enthusiastic start everyone is giving this Challenge!



Congratulations, Lunies - we've banked the FIRST million Challenge meters, and it's only Day 3. Way to row and ski-erg !! As of 4:30 PM MST, there are 2009 participants in this year's Challenge, and that number is expected to increase. Hooboy, we have some COMPETITION going on within our team, too. I see all that leapfrogging going on! And, as soon as I get this posting done, I am going to do a little leapfrogging of my own. Bwaa aaa aaa (evil laugh). To be a member of the Top Ten Percent grouping, you need to have greater than 38,000 m in your meter piggy bank. Lots of happy piggy noises going on with all that feeding that they are getting. (Yes, it is goofy, but it cracks me up.) Pretty certain that I have captured more than one day for some of our teammates - alas, there were things to do early in the day and I didn't get the numbers captured in the AM.

1 Age Without Limits Virtual Club 2,600,612 144 18,060
2 FRENCH INDOOR ROWERS TEAM Virtual Club 2,008,205 166 12,098
3 Free Spirits Virtual Club 1,729,061 96 18,011
4 ARIEL TOY Virtual Club 1,652,450 50 33,049
5 ANCIENTS Virtual Club 1,512,287 45 33,606
6 Cambridge Boat Club On-Water Club 1,324,762 93 14,245
7 RowPro Team Virtual Club 1,207,943 63 19,174
8 LUNA-TICS Virtual Club 1,037,762 70 14,825
9 TimbukTWO Virtual Club 927,101 56 16,555
10 PNRA/Mercer On-Water Club 885,557 47 18,842
11 Overcoming disAbilities Virtual Club 734,157 14 52,440

Season meters as of 247/365 = 63,302,598 m

Total meters on the day = 529,091 m

MILESTONES...Bragging Rights...Celebrations;

4.9 MM Ed
3.6 MM bg
2.3 MM Minnie
1.3 MM Danwho
1.05 MM Rivka
950 K Dan O'
850 K Howard
500 K Ted - a cool half million!
450 K David G
350 K Karyn
100 K Will S

One of the great things about Challenges like this one is that individuals are pulling like the true Lunies they are, and those milestones are flashing by really quick. Here's a look at some upcoming million meter milestones:

Million Meter Milestone Watch:

Ed with (97,020 m) to go!

Million Meter Milestone Watch:

David A with (141,248 m) to go!

Million Meter Milestone Watch:

Bernie with (3,231 m) to go!

Dan O' with (48,665 m) to go!

Patrick with (66,739 m) to go!

Mike C with (85,135 m) to go!

Rebecca with (100,000 m) to go!

Thanks, everyone, for rowing and ski-erging with us!

Jeff M 4,034 m
April 5,000 m
Robyn 5,000 m
Ryan 5,000 m
David A 5,132 m
Lily 5,200 m
Gene 6,000 m
Nicole C 6,100 m
Stuart 6,691 m
AJ 7,016 m
Larry A 8,190 m
Rivka 10,000 m
Barry 10,082 m
Paul R 10,141 m
Sarah 10,236 m
Kerry 10,580 m
Thor 10,751 m
Minnie m ... a starry palindrome!
David T 12,000 m
Peter G m ...a palindrome!
Jeff D 12,193 m
Dan O' 12,355 m
David G 14,703 m
Steve G 17,575 m
K2 20,000 m
Ted 20,000 m
Will S 21,016 m
Christa 21,097 m
Marie 21,097 m
Ken G 22,000 m
bg 22,134 m
Wild Bill 22,470 m
Ed m ... a palindrome!
Karyn 25,269 m
Howard 32,796 m
Danwho 35,452 m

[Thor MW]

Forgive my bluntness. Are you visually impaired? You mention not seeing the monitor and listening to your splits, etc. Sometimes I do what I call "blind rows" on the erg. I cover up the monitor completely and just row for a set amount of time. I'll do this and row as hard as feels comfortable, but not worry about rate, splits, watts, or any of that data.

Hi Karyn
Bluntness is good. Saves time.
Yes I am a member of the blind is beautiful club. Actually I am the president and only member. It’s hard being so beautiful. The being blind is the easy part. Haha I am totally blind with what they call light perception. Just means I can tell the difference between night and day. I call it useless vision. I have to wear shades as the light hurts my eyes. That’s ok, I do look cool. Think about this. I have been blind since age 10 or so. I am 49 now. If I got my sight back tomorrow I would look in the mirror now and not see my 33 year old dad but my (grampa). Hahaha That thought kills me. I just told my parents that last week and my dad thought that was pretty funny too.
This is why some of my descriptions of websites will be off. The screen reading software I use reformats the pages to make it easier to read. Someone will tell me something is at the bottom left of the screen and I have no idea where that is. I just read from top to bottom like it is one long column. Once I am used to a page then I can navigate it quite quickly. Anyway, “not a problem, just a factor.” I read that somewhere and I love it.
I was a terrible braille reader so I listened to talking books rather than read braille books growing up. This resulted in my being a very bad speller. When computers came along and spell check, I learned how to spell. So if I look like a moron with my spelling errors on the forum please forgive me. I may still be a moron but I am actually fairly well educated and quite well read. Grin.
The other thing that came along with my eye disease RP was a loss of hearing. I am now over half deaf. Hearing aids just aint fun. Got one broken and I have to send it for repairs. If they told me I could only have my hearing fix or eyes, I’d have a time deciding which one I’d choose. I remove the hearing aids when rowing due to the sweat. So I where headphones to listen to Erg Data on my phone. Sometimes I just reach up and knock the headphones off my ears enough so I can’t hear it and as you say row blind. This is another thing I love about C2. They made available a program on the computer and an app for the phone with the blind rowers in mind. I don’t know of other fitness companies that have done this for free. Heck, even for a price.
Karyn if you or anyone else have any questions about how I do things or anything at all, please ask away. I used to go to schools and talk to kids about being disabled and how I do things. It was a lot of fun. Soon I will be on stage doing something else. However that I will only talk about off line for now. I gave my email is a previous post. I don’t know if I can use the forum’s Private message thing yet.
Have fun all
LT

[Kona2]

Good post, Thor. There are no coincidences - happily you were led to this team. Concept2 has really put a lot of good thought into its adaptive program. I don't know what kind of recognition Concept2 gets from the fitness industry at large, but I do know that adaptive athletes genuinely appreciate that the tools are there. We, in turn, appreciate that there are shared stories - everyone learns good things.

[kgallagher]

Hi Karyn
Bluntness is good. Saves time.
Yes I am a member of the blind is beautiful club. Actually I am the president and only member. It’s hard being so beautiful. The being blind is the easy part. Haha I am totally blind with what they call light perception. Just means I can tell the difference between night and day. I call it useless vision. I have to wear shades as the light hurts my eyes. That’s ok, I do look cool. Think about this. I have been blind since age 10 or so. I am 49 now. If I got my sight back tomorrow I would look in the mirror now and not see my 33 year old dad but my (grampa). Hahaha That thought kills me. I just told my parents that last week and my dad thought that was pretty funny too.

Wow! Thank you for your honesty. I love your sense of humor. I have a question for you. Is the text on your computer converted to voice output so that you can hear the messages? Is that how you follow the forum?

Keep up the good erging.
Karyn

[Thor MW]

Good post, Thor. There are no coincidences - happily you were led to this team. Concept2 has really put a lot of good thought into its adaptive program. I don't know what kind of recognition Concept2 gets from the fitness industry at large, but I do know that adaptive athletes genuinely appreciate that the tools are there. We, in turn, appreciate that there are shared stories - everyone learns good things.

I totally agree with you about there being no coincidences K2. I was most definitely led here and for reasons I don’t yet know but it isn’t just for rowing. I know I will need help with my new business but I never know how that help with come along and it could be here or I will just simply make new friends with shared interests and goals. Who knows, that’s the fun in it. I don’t take a whole lot of things too seriously. In fact I try to have a good time when I can and feel good as often as I can. I am not afraid to hug a friend because that feels good. Love is something we can share more at this makes everyone feel good too. I’ll shut up now as I could go on and on. Grin. I have little heroes all over the place. Some are here on this forum. Look at Ed and so many others. The meters some folks rack up are more than impressive. This tells me that I can do this if that’s what I want. The way you keep everyone up to date with a joke and a smile we can all see, the way Karyn jumps in and helps anyone she can. As I say, this just goes on and on. Thank you everyone for being leaders and participants. The Luna-Tics aren’t just a bunch of people, I see sharing and caring here too. Keep it up.
LT

[Thor MW]

Wow! Thank you for your honesty. I love your sense of humor. I have a question for you. Is the text on your computer converted to voice output so that you can hear the messages? Is that how you follow the forum?

Keep up the good erging.
Karyn[/quote]

Hi Karyn
Yes that’s how I read the screens. Technology has made it a lot easier for blind people to do more. I worked for various positions for the government for some 17 years. This would not have been possible without screen reading software. The down side is that not all websites are created the same and some take a while to figure out and some simply will not work. If someone asks me something here and I don’t respond chances are good I missed the message. I also don’t use smilies and things as the software can only read text but not pictures. I once finally asked someone why they kept putting things like (; in emails. Haha
Have fun
LT

[April27]

When I first got my erg the card kept causing the monitor to freeze up. I just stopped using the card and always write down my stats and what the workout was and enter it manually after each time I row.

For April and anyone else who cares:
There are different things you should know about the erg. Having your damper set at 5 on one erg will not be the same feeling on a different erg set at 5. You should always set the drag factor to where you like it. (I usually keep mine between 115-120.) To set the drag factor you might have to play around a bit to find it. Different monitors have it in different places. On mine, you hit the menu/back button and more options. Then hit display drag factor. Take a few strokes and the monitor will display your drag factor. Move the setting up to get a higher number and down to get a lower number. You should do this every time you use a new erg, especially if you are using one in a gym where it is used by people who often don't know what they are doing. Then on race day, you should set the erg to your comfort level prior to the race starting.

If you are doing a specific piece for time (or distance) you should program the monitor. Hit the menu/back button, then select workout. You can pick a workout by time, distance, or intervals. Then when you start rowing the clock or distance will count back from that point. Once you finish a workout you can hit the menu/back button and go to memory. Your workout will be the most recent one entered. If you did three different pieces that day, they will all be listed under memory. If you hit change units, it will give you the watts or the calories used.

When looking at the monitor, there are different options. You can hit the change display button and get different graphs to look at. If you hit change units, you can look at splits or watts or calories. Play around with different things to see what you like. I usually watch splits. Sometimes I want do a piece and not worry about my splits and then I'll watch watts instead. (Like right after I hurt my back. I knew I'd be frustrated with the low splits for me, so I didn't want to watch splits. I just wanted to row, so I set it to watts and just plugged along.)

Thor was right about the rankings. There are set pieces that can be ranked according to the concept 2 site. When you log one of these pieces into the C2 logbook a blue "rank" link will show up. If you want to rank that work out, simply hit the link and the word rank will turn red. The site does not keep track of faster times. Every time you do a piece in one of these pre-determined distances/times it will give you a rank option. You can always go to the "Ranked Workouts" tab at the top of your logbook page. That will show you the times you have ranked for the current season. If your new time is faster, hit the blue rank link. If not, just don't hit it and your previous faster time will stay. These are the workouts that can be ranked: 500m, 1k, 2k, 5k, 6k, 10k, 21,097m (1/2 marathon), 42,195m (marathon), 100,000m, 4 minutes, 30 minutes, and 60 minutes.

Hope this helped.

Karyn
PS(If you don't know, I've rowed for 27 years and have owned my own erg since 2005 or so.)

How Karyn. Thanks for all the tips. I do set my drag factor in our group rows on the PM3 but haven't figured out how to at the gym on the PM 2. I will have to play around with it more.

I went ahead and ranked my 2k, 5k and 30mins and when looking at the rankings afterwards I saw someone who is located close to me. I wonder if she would think I'm weird if I contacted her. Haha.

I plan on hitting the erg at least 4 times this coming week. I run our group practices on Tuesdays but depending on how many kids show up I may have to use the spin bike or just coach on the side.

[kp1005]

I am very impressed by everyone's daily totals for the challenge. I feel very inferior

[macbruce1]

I am very impressed by everyone's daily totals for the challenge. I feel very inferior

Hi kp. Never feel inferior. It is a team effort and EVERYmeter counts!
Da Do Ron Ron

[Thor MW]

I am very impressed by everyone's daily totals for the challenge. I feel very inferior

Oh don't worry KP. Just do what you can handle and just a bit more. We are all here for the fun of it. Or, for the health of it. In the end that's all that really counts. I just got another personal best again today. I doubt I would be getting these if it wasn't for wanting to do some meters for this team. So just have fun and love the sweat. Grin.
Have fun, LT

[danwho]

April, here's a link on viewing drag factor on a PM2:
http://www.concept2.com/service/monitor ... rag-factor

[Kona2]

Day 4 ...and the virtual waters are teeming with Challenge participants....

In fact, there are so many Challenge participants thrashing about that if this were the start of the swimming portion of a tri, we might all be in danger with virtual oars and ski-erg handles flying about. Great to see the participation zooming out of the gate. And more will be drawn to participate as the days go on, but will the pace continue?! Hmmm....a chart might just be needed to see how this will shake out. The first two weeks of this Challenge are when everyone is building their teams. The REAL challenge starts when the teams are locked in on 15 January and we start pulling the chains for position spots. Some teams are hoping to create a virtual gap that cannot be bridged....just remember it is a LONG Challenge, and not for the faint of heart or spirit. Never give up, never give in...as ol' Winston would say.

EVERY meter does indeed count - there are plenty of opportunities to contribute, and when looking at some of our teammates who are approaching meter million status, many of them are frequent contributors of 5000 meters or less. The trick is the frequency....so erg OFTEN. We want teammates to enjoy the camaraderie, and the spirit of the competition. GO TEAMS !!!


Wowzer, mates! Look at all these meters! As of 11 AM MST, the total number of participants is 2,296 m....and top ten percent will take greater than 45,500 m. Middle of the pack...greater than 13,000 m (we have a LOT of qualifiers!).


Our first virtual canoe has slipped from where it was hidden in the shores, and into the waters! Congratulations, Ed, on getting your canoe into the virtual waters with hitting the milestone of 100,000 m.

100K...earn a canoe

.........................................Ed.................


1 Age Without Limits Virtual Club 3,166,125 147 21,538
2 FRENCH INDOOR ROWERS TEAM Virtual Club 2,578,895 176 14,653
3 Free Spirits Virtual Club 2,191,819 101 21,701
4 ANCIENTS Virtual Club 2,013,202 47 42,834
5 ARIEL TOY Virtual Club 1,933,579 50 38,672
6 Cambridge Boat Club On-Water Club 1,837,090 98 18,746
7 Arlington-Belmont Crew School/Univ Club 1,647,904 118 13,965
8 RowPro Team Virtual Club 1,443,897 69 20,926
9 LUNA-TICS Virtual Club 1,262,980 72 17,541
10 TimbukTWO Virtual Club 1,130,474 57 19,833
11 Overcoming disAbilities Virtual Club 925,948 14 66,139
12 PNRA/Mercer On-Water Club 909,869 52 17,497
13 CrossFit 212 Health Club 774,105 96 8,064
14 Community Rowing, Inc On-Water Club 767,725 119 6,451
15 New Haven Rowing Club On-Water Club 696,887 41 16,997

Season meters as of 248/365 = 63,514,005 m

Total meters on this day = 211,407 m

MILESTONES...Bragging Rights...Celebrations:

2.05 MM Ron
500 K K2



Million Meter Milestone Watch:

Ed with (87,020 m) to go!

Million Meter Milestone Watch:

David A with (141,248 m) to go!

Million Meter Milestone Watch:

Bernie with (3,231 m) to go!

Dan O' with (44,665 m) to go!

Patrick with (66,739 m) to go!

Mike C with (85,135 m) to go!

Rebecca with (94,000 m) to go!

Thanks, everyone, for rowing and ski-erging with us!

Wild Bill m .. and it is indeed a Fibonacci sequence...on the tighter end of the spiral this time. Wasn't there a nautilus shell or chambers that one had to remember certain sayings to move through in the book A Wrinkle in Time? Pretty sure....
Kenny 1,500 m
Jeff M 2,114 m
Gene 3,500 m
Lily 3,500 m
Dan O' 4,000 m
Robyn 5,000 m
Rebecca 6,000 m
David ZT 8,000 m
Virginia 8,111 m
Ed 10,000 m
Sarah A 10,652 m
Robert H 11,000 m
Minnie m ... a palindrome
Larry 11,994 m
Thor 12,795 m
Marie 14,000 m
Christa 15,500 m
Rivka 16,000 m
K2 16,120 m
Steve 17,578 m
Ron 21,097 m

[Kona2]

Another canoe into the virtual waters....native drums sounding louder now....


.........................................Richard T................................

[just27]

Another canoe into the virtual waters....native drums sounding louder now....

Whoa, Richard and Ed ... way to forge ahead, and motivate! Can't wait to get my canoe ... maybe, next weekend, unless I go crazy and up my comfortable daily meters!

[kgallagher]

1 Age Without Limits Virtual Club 3,166,125 147 21,538
2 FRENCH INDOOR ROWERS TEAM Virtual Club 2,578,895 176 14,653
3 Free Spirits Virtual Club 2,191,819 101 21,701
4 ANCIENTS Virtual Club 2,013,202 47 42,834
5 ARIEL TOY Virtual Club 1,933,579 50 38,672
6 Cambridge Boat Club On-Water Club 1,837,090 98 18,746
7 Arlington-Belmont Crew School/Univ Club 1,647,904 118 13,965
8 RowPro Team Virtual Club 1,443,897 69 20,926
9 LUNA-TICS Virtual Club 1,262,980 72 17,541
10 TimbukTWO Virtual Club 1,130,474 57 19,833
11 Overcoming disAbilities Virtual Club 925,948 14 66,139
12 PNRA/Mercer On-Water Club 909,869 52 17,497
13 CrossFit 212 Health Club 774,105 96 8,064
14 Community Rowing, Inc On-Water Club 767,725 119 6,451
15 New Haven Rowing Club On-Water Club 696,887 41 16,997

Check out # 15 there. That is my real life on the water club holding their own.

Happy erging everyone!
Karyn