Around The World Row

[old] Yukon John · Post by **[old] Yukon John** » February 26th, 2006, 5:34 pm

I started today's row thinking that I would just put in a fairly hard hour row with a low stroke rate. After about 30 minutes I thought that I wasn't far off of my pace for my pb in the hour row so I decided to pick it up a bit. Turns out I was able to get a pb and just got over the 15k mark (15,008.) I'll have to give it a go some other time with a warm up and faster pace throughout. Anyway, I've been feeling kind of slow lately and this was a pleasant surprise

. Yesterday I tried getting through a 2k. At 1500 completed I got a long distance call from my Mom. I was starting to think that a pb was going to be hard so I stopped the race (saved by the phone

) Kirk; I've enjoyed all of the olympic events that you and your family liked. It's interesting how the kids like the high adrenolin (sp?) sports! I've also enjoyed the speed skating and cross country skiing. Skiing used to be my sport at university and my wife and son are into short track. I also tried bobsled and luge when I was at Lake Placid once. I can't see how they can drive those bobsleds with the amount of g-force they experience

. If I remember right all of the people on the eh-team so far are from Canada, U.S. and Germany. The countries that got the most medals. Do you think there is some kind of conection?

[old] danwho · Post by **[old] danwho** » February 26th, 2006, 6:34 pm

John, congratulations on your PB for a 1 hr row. Guess you'll have to update your signature now. I spent a lot of yesterday watching the CRASHB webcast, which was pretty inspiring. Has anybody on The Eh! Team participated in one of these indoor rowing competitions? I started off yesterday's workout with another try at 300m for the CTC challenge. I got to improve my time from 59.4 to 57.5. Still seems I could do better - still seems I have more to learn about how best to apply myself over so short a distance - but I'm fine to look to the next challenge now.

[old] ulu · Post by **[old] ulu** » February 26th, 2006, 7:28 pm

Congrats on the new PB's John and Rick. It always feels nice to get a new one. We have rowed our way into <a href="http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/fac ... os/sg.html" target="_blank">Senegal</a> now, eh! We soon hit the corner at Dakar and start slogging our way back across the Sahara. Remember to fill up those water bottles. These are 2 of our longest legs, so don't give up. Every meter counts. <img src="http://seckasysteme2.afrikblog.com/imag ... l00061.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" /> Keep on rowin', Jim

[old] FrancoisA · Post by **[old] FrancoisA** » February 27th, 2006, 11:59 am

Congratulations John for your hour row PB! What was your stroke rate this time? I have lived in Senegal for two years when I was young (my dad was teaching there). It is a lovely country and the people are charming! The weather is nice (and can be very hot!) during the dry season. This is quite a contrast with the -24 C (-30 C with the wind factor) we had this morning!

I have not been rowing much lately. I still have that little pain in the back when I pull hard, moreover, I have been feeling tired for the past few weeks. All the best to everyone on the team! Francois PS. Those trees in the picture above are called baobab.

[old] Yukon John · Post by **[old] Yukon John** » February 27th, 2006, 4:21 pm

Congratulations John for your hour row PB! What was your stroke rate this time?
 
I have not been rowing much lately. I still have that little pain in the back when I pull hard, moreover, I have been feeling tired for the past few weeks. All the best to everyone on the team! Francois
 Hi Francois, I wasn't trying for a pb for the hour row at first, so my stroke rate up through 4000 metres was 20-22 at that point I raised it up to ~26, for the last 3k it went up to 30 s/m. I'm sorry that your back isn't going back to normal. You were getting so fast before that happened . I went through a period of being tired and not being able to do long workouts recently. I believe that I was probably overtraining a bit and it cought up to me. It seems it's a fine line between doing what you need to do to improve and doing too much! I probably should get more scientific about the training process and do some long term planning, but it's kind of fun just to go by the seat of your pants and plan day by day . Hope that back stops troubling you soon! Do you think there is any chance that swimming might be slowing the healing process?

[old] FrancoisA · Post by **[old] FrancoisA** » February 27th, 2006, 10:11 pm

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(Yukon John @ Feb 27 2006, 08:21 PM) </div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>Hi Francois, I wasn't trying for a pb for the hour row at first, so my stroke rate up through 4000 metres was 20-22 at that point I raised it up to ~26, for the last 3k it went up to 30 s/m. I'm sorry that your back isn't going back to normal. You were getting so fast before that happened

. I went through a period of being tired and not being able to do long workouts recently. I believe that I was probably overtraining a bit and it cought up to me. It seems it's a fine line between doing what you need to do to improve and doing too much! I probably should get more scientific about the training process and do some long term planning, but it's kind of fun just to go by the seat of your pants and plan day by day

. Hope that back stops troubling you soon! Do you think there is any chance that swimming might be slowing the healing process? </td></tr></table> Hi John, You are right in saying that there is a fine line between optimal training and overtraining. In my case, it isn't overtraining, since I did 5 PBs out of the six events I raced during a swim meet I attended a week ago.

I am particularly pleased with the 10:06 I did for the 800m free, and the 2:18 in the 200m free. I enjoy swimming so much that even if it slows the healing process, I wouldn't change my training regiment! The fact is I do not feel any pain when swimming. Tonight I did 2x4000m on the erg at 1:55.5 @ 22 spm and felt OK. It is only when I do 1:55 @ 20 spm for several km, that I feel some discomfort between the shoulder blades. The general tiredness that I feel is probably due to the lack of sunshine. In the past three months I had about 15 square cm of my skin exposed for at most 15 minutes to the sun! Even though I take vitamin D supplements daily, I believe that regular exposure to the sun brings other benefits. Eventually, It will be Spring here, and I will be able to spend some time outside! I guess it is not much easier in the Yukon

BTW, are you still running and biking ? Cheers! Francois

[old] Yukon John · Post by **[old] Yukon John** » February 27th, 2006, 11:00 pm

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE</div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>You are right in saying that there is a fine line between optimal training and overtraining.In my case, it isn't overtraining, since I did 5 PBs out of the six events I raced during a swim meet I attended a week ago.

I am particularly pleased with the 10:06 I did for the 800m free, and the 2:18 in the 200m free. I enjoy swimming so much that even if it slows the healing process, I wouldn't change my training regiment! The fact is I do not feel any pain when swimming. Tonight I did 2x4000m on the erg at 1:55.5 @ 22 spm and felt OK. It is only when I do 1:55 @ 20 spm for several km, that I feel some discomfort between the shoulder blades. The general tiredness that I feel is probably due to the lack of sunshine. In the past three months I had about 15 square cm of my skin exposed for at most 15 minutes to the sun! Even though I take vitamin D supplements daily, I believe that regular exposure to the sun brings other benefits. Eventually, It will be Spring here, and I will be able to spend some time outside! I guess it is not much easier in the Yukon

BTW, are you still running and biking ? Cheers! Francois </td></tr></table> I'm glad to hear that swimming works for you and great job on those swimming times. The only way that I could get that fast in the water is with fins (or maybe a jet pack

) Of course non-swim training is probably the reason that I'm not fast in the water. With rowing, what stroke rate do you go at when racing (5k or longer?) Your interval session (2X4k) is moving right along! Maybe if you up the s/r a bit do you think you might be able to avoid the back problem? Running has been about once a week and biking about 3-4 times / week. I'll probably work more on the biking for the first part of the summer and increase the running as the summer goes on. We have two big races here, The Kluane Chilcat Bike relay <a href="http://www.kcibr.org/" target="_blank">http://www.kcibr.org/</a> in mid summer and the Klondike Road relay running race in Sept. <a href="http://www.xcskiracer.com/gallery/Klondike" target="_blank">http://www.xcskiracer.com/gallery/Klondike</a>. It's interesting, You see tons of people riding their road bikes until the bike race, then only the hard core bike racers after that. One last question for you Francois, have you ever or do you ever plan on doing an Ironman? That's been a bit of a dream for me, but I wouldn't consider actually training for one until the kids are grown, as the training for one sort of takes over your life. On the sun light topic, quite a few people up here use a specially designed light box to deal with SADS (seasonal affective disorder.) It might be worth a shot?

[old] rr1kirk · Post by **[old] rr1kirk** » February 28th, 2006, 2:08 am

Belated congrats on the hour PB John!  One of my goals is to get my times for the distances under 2:00/500m one by one. I haven't been to the gym in a week. I figured there's no sense trying a 300m if your neck and shoulders hurt and you're dizzy before the attempt

. Still managing to get on the rollers or computrainer 2-3 times a week so I'm not being a total slacker! Cheers, Kirk

[old] FrancoisA · Post by **[old] FrancoisA** » February 28th, 2006, 4:31 pm

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(Yukon John @ Feb 28 2006, 03:00 AM) </div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>I'm glad to hear that swimming works for you and great job on those swimming times. The only way that I could get that fast in the water is with fins (or maybe a jet pack

) Of course non-swim training is probably the reason that I'm not fast in the water. </td></tr></table> Speed is relative! When I did my 800m free PB last week, I was swimming next to my coach. She lapped me once, and finished with a time of 9:21, a new WR in the 45-49 age group! <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(Yukon John @ Feb 28 2006, 03:00 AM) </div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>With rowing, what stroke rate do you go at when racing (5k or longer?) Your interval session (2X4k) is moving right along! Maybe if you up the s/r a bit do you think you might be able to avoid the back problem? </td></tr></table> I would probably race a 5 k at an average of 27 to 28 spm. My hour row PB was done at 24 spm (1:52.2). I could up the SR and not pull as hard, but it does not seem natural anymore, after having done so many L4 workouts (Wolverine training plan). <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(Yukon John @ Feb 28 2006, 03:00 AM) </div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>One last question for you Francois, have you ever or do you ever plan on doing an Ironman? That's been a bit of a dream for me, but I wouldn't consider actually training for one until the kids are grown, as the training for one sort of takes over your life. </td></tr></table> Ironman humm ... My personal view of Ironmans are not in accordance with what most people think. I do not dream about them; I have heard and read enough horror stories about people suffering permanent damage to consider them simply insane! If one thinks about it, doing an ironman is essentially an exercise in fat burning, refuelling and hydration that one does for around 10 hours! The big challenge is the hydration, and this is why it is so dangerous. I know quite a few people that have done Ironmans, and frankly I don't find them in better physical shape than the other triathletes doing the shorter events. Their training is heavily skewed towards volume, and consequently they have to sacrifice intensity. Spending 2 hours close to VO2 max while burning glycogen like crazy is certainly as demanding as spending 10 hours in fat burning mode with an average HR of 140! But don't let my personal views discourage you! If it is a dream, go for it! Indulge in your mid-life crisis

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(Yukon John @ Feb 28 2006, 03:00 AM) </div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>On the sun light topic, quite a few people up here use a specially designed light box to deal with SADS (seasonal affective disorder.) It might be worth a shot? </td></tr></table> Where can I find more info on those light boxes ? Thanks Francois

[old] Yukon John · Post by **[old] Yukon John** » February 28th, 2006, 5:41 pm

Francois, I did a bit of searching and found this article on SADS, <a href="http://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/publication ... tive.shtml" target="_blank">http://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/publication ... e.shtml</a> It is quite good and I learned a few things from it. I was really surpised that there is a mood disorder that some people get in the summer. It seems like the "winter blues" affects a lot of people and maybe using a light box might make a difference. With the full bown SADS, it's no wonder that the suicide rate is so high north of 60 (although I realize there are other factors involved.) In the web site listed, in the lower right corner, is a place where you can find info on purchasing a light box (I haven't looked at it myself.) I appreciate your comments on the ironman. I haven't talked to many people who have completed one, so it's great feedback that I'll consider. Actually, it's been in the back of my mind since my mid-twenties (pretty early to hit the mid-life crisis, Eh

.) I don't think I'll probably do one. There are so many things that I like to do, that taking the year or two that I'd have to train might limit me too much. I do like doing the long races, but the ironman is pretty extreme (plus having to get into a cold pool day after day would probably give me a case of SADS

) I think swimmers are some of the bravest people around, brrr! Goals for this year that I'd like to do include either 1/2 or the full distance for the Kluane to Chilcat bike race and possible the marathon distance in the Yukon Arctic ultra. I figure if I put my goals in writing here, then there is more of a chance that I'll train more. This past year has been fun for me. For 5 years prior, most of my free time went towards building our log house. I realize now how much I've missed being in good shape (still got a ways to go though!:blink: .

[old] ulu · Post by **[old] ulu** » February 28th, 2006, 6:04 pm

Great rowin', hosers. We have turned the corner at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakar" target="_blank">Dakar</a> and we are now on our way to Cairo. This will be a long slog across the Sahara. These dudes in the Paris-Dakar rally may get a little confused when they see our boat smoking past them in the Sahara! <img src="http://www.totalmotorsport.co.za/images ... 01_big.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" /> Keep on rowin', eh. Jim

[old] rr1kirk · Post by **[old] rr1kirk** » March 1st, 2006, 1:49 am

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(FrancoisA @ Feb 28 2006, 03:31 PM) </div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'> Where can I find more info on those light boxes ? Thanks Francois </td></tr></table> These were mentioned in a wellness newsletter from my employer. <a href="http://www.shoppersdrugmart.ca/english/ ... erapy.html" target="_blank">http://www.shoppersdrugmart.ca/english/ ... tml</a> Cheers, Kirk

[old] ulu · Post by **[old] ulu** » March 1st, 2006, 1:54 am

We use one at work. The staff loves it at this time of year. Fire up the light box and gather around for a few minutes. Must be like gathering around the fire in the old days. Jim

[old] ulu · Post by **[old] ulu** » March 2nd, 2006, 11:27 pm

Great rowin' hosers! We had a record day of 200,012 meters on March 1, 2006. The records are only accurate after Feb 13, when we started tracking them completely automatically. They are also dependent on when people enter their meters in their log books, but regardless, congrats on the record day, eh. Our average daily meters are 164,398. We are back into Mauritania and well on our way to Cairo. We have completed over 12% of the around the world row. The CTC "rugby challenge" looks good this month, anybody know why they call it that? Keep on rowin', Jim

[old] rr1kirk · Post by **[old] rr1kirk** » March 3rd, 2006, 1:10 am

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(ulu @ Mar 2 2006, 10:27 PM) </div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'> The CTC "rugby challenge" looks good this month, anybody know why they call it that? </td></tr></table> <a href="http://www.concept2.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... sc&start=0" target="_blank">http://www.concept2.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... t=0</a> see Jef's reply 2/3 down the page

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