February Follies 2019

[occowboy]

2k today was EHHHHH Only 4 of us tried it this time, myself and 3 fine gentlemen, one being the 7 minute guy. We were all sitting, unplanned, in a diamond shape. I joked/half serious that I needed to move over a spot so I could get a better draft on the 3 guys. Anyway it was ok and I finished 12 seconds slower than last month (8:42.0). Mentally I wasn't as inspired (having a larger group row helps) and my upper quad was aching from the day before. Excuses aside:

1. 1st 500 was slower than last time or than I planned and stroke was higher than I planned. 2:12.1/31

2. 2nd and 3rd 500 was better was but I was planning to be under a 2:10 split at that point and a slightly slower stroke. 2:11.4 and 2:11.3/29

3. 4th 500 was slower than my PR and the last 200M I had nothing and my legs were H E A V Y. My form I'm sure was a hot mess at that point. 2:07.2/30

And the 7 minute guy finished at 6:55. Told him he could share his 5 seconds with me.

Lessons learned.

[mjlawton]

Still a great row, even if not what you were hoping for!

[MSI_11]

Hi everyone,
Hope you are all ok It's been a while since I've been here last time Happy to see you all doing really good Recently I have managed to finish Valentine's challenge and Carole CTC and now thinking about joining Mud Season Madness but didn't decide between 5000m/10000m yet. I will leave it for a last minute as always

[mjlawton]

Welcome back to the forum, Marta. I was curious if you could tell me how you manage such great times on the CTC's as I believe you said you were a beginner rower. I did notice you are tall, so perhaps that helps, but any other tricks you could pass on? What drag do you normally have rower set at, for example this month's 2801? I have been improving my pace/500m...started at about 2:40/500m and was able to do 2:19/500m today with great effort. I can't seem to do better than 2:22 or so without extreme effort and only for shorter distances. Granted, I am almost 20 years older than you, but several other ladies this month have recorded times around 2:15 so I am trying to determine if I just need patience to get faster or use more drag, etc. I was probably around 115 or 120 drag today. Thanks, Janet

[MSI_11]

Hi Janet,
Hope you ok. Patience and plan in my opinion. I discovered rowing in Nov'18 - needed to cut down my running dramatically after the leg surgery. Since then I had a few attempts in Beginners Pete Plan but only this time I managed to stick to it, now on week 4 and can see a massive improvement. Other then BPP I am trying to implement strength training twice a week or some cycling or swimming. Very often I need to juggle my training cos of the work and other commitments but that's life I am rowing at DF 115 - 120. What is very important for me now it's a rest - don't underestimate it. That's what I learnt from my running experience. And I am getting older so priorities are changing . I am definitely not an expert just learning from my mistakes, but so far really enjoyed my rowing adventure

[occowboy]

Just finished my second half marathon and all I could think the last 5k was, “why?!” And when will this end. There was a lot of hurting. Afterward my legs felt like baby giraffe legs.

1:45:56.4 - 3 minutes faster then last August. I don’t remember August hurting so much.
2:30.6/500m
26 s/m

I was super proud of one of the ladies rowing who’d never rowed more than 7k in one sitting. She went out there today and finished in 2 hrs. Very proud of her and so was the entire group. It was great to see her finish.

[mjlawton]

Wow...great job on the half marathon, Occowboy! I can't imagine rowing that distance at this point...maybe some day.

Marta, thanks for the response. I had started BPP, but we have been traveling and will be again next week, so I am having trouble sticking to a routine for any of my workouts and now I have ear issues in both ears, so I haven't done anything for 2 days. Not allowed to swim and I was worried about my balance for running/biking. Hoping ear drops start yielding some improvement. Once we get back from skiing mid-march I will try to do BPP again if you are finding it helpful. Will work on getting back up to 5000 meters/day first . Not rowing for 3 weeks for travel/jet lag really threw me off my rowing game and I have had both my brothers visiting for a couple of weeks, so the exercise schedule has gone out the window for now. Oh well, I know I will get back to it soon and hopefully see the improvements I am hoping for!

[MSI_11]

Occowboy - congratulations ! Great job!

Janet - speedy recovery, hope you will feel better soon

[occowboy]

Thanks ladies re 1/2 marathon. I know some folks do the full or 100K and that sounds horrible. I felt like I was seated wrong from the get go or found that one bony spot. Thankfully after awhile it just went numb I felt like I kept good form for the most part but I definitely hit a wall around 18k according to the splits.

We had a 100% visually impaired rower complete the 1/2 marathon. That was pretty cool too.

[mjlawton]

Need one more rower to float our boat for the monthly CTC challenge. Sharky are you or anyone else who is still in a feb 28 time zone up for the challenge? 2801 meters.

[dykebert]

DOH! Sorry just saw your post about the CTC!

I had intended to do it in Feb, but work/life got busy and I had a minor procedure that resulted in stitches in my leg so no rowing for the past week+.

Been catching up on all the great posts!

Sharky