Sub 7 Indoor Rowing Club (UK)

[MPx]

Enjoyed catching the races on Youtube today. Carol and Rod got some good air time, but nothing on Marjorie. Looking at the results, its congrats all round.

"Easy" wins for Carol and Marjorie and a great second for Rod with probably the best paced race of the three. Very impressive.

Also glad to see KeithT do well with a 6:30 in his race (regular poster in the training section) and some very impressive times in the open races. Overall it looked to me like BRIC was a bigger event - certainly as far as the crowd went - was it?

Anyway well done to all who took part.

[Amazing Amazon]

Hi Mike, glad you enjoyed the live coverage.

I didn't do a very good time, which may be why I never featured in the commentary, only managing 8:01.3. Would have been sub 8, but lost it in the last 500m when no real drive in the legs and only did 2:01.3 when it should have been 1:57. Don't know whether to blame it on the jet lag or on too much taper. However at least kept the winning time for my category respectable: if I hadn't raced it would have been 9:30ish.

My splits were: 2:00.1 (29), 1:59.5 (30), 2:00.3 (31), 2:01.3 (33).

And yes, it was quieter than BRIC, and quieter than Boston or Alexandria. There were less than 800 competitors and that may have included some who only entered the non-world events. There were some good races, especially with some star competitors in the open events. Next year it will be in Paris, so we'll have to see how that goes, at least it should be cheaper to compete.

[lindsayh]

Also glad to see KeithT do well with a 6:30 in his race (regular poster in the training section) and some very impressive times in the open races. Overall it looked to me like BRIC was a bigger event - certainly as far as the crowd went - was it? Anyway well done to all who took part.

Yes I agree Mike nowhere near BRIC in size - if you have a look at the race schedule there were a lot of races with very small fields even in the elite younger groups. Some said the west coast is a long way from rowing central and much less OTW there. Paris '20 will be interesting - may do better as a lot of potential competitors within a few hours but WRIC is still feeling its way in all this.

[Two Pudding Kid]

Marjorie - congratulations on your Gold at WIRC and hope you enjoyed the experience of taking part. Great result for your first OTW medal too. Looking good for getting to the top of the 1k 60-69 rankings and a cracking seasons best at Bideford.

Rod - nicely under Sub7 at WIRC for a very deserved Silver and reward for the many weeks of training leading up to it. If you are planning to give 2k a miss for a while, what a way to go. Carol's a star too - havent seen her result at WIRC but gold again, yeah.

Mike - hope you are feeling recovered from the lurgy and even your "off" days of 8k are still a good effort. Looking forward to hearing that you are progressing again.

Richard - cheers for the support.

Me - my February stuff:

Feb 3 - 2k in Manchester 8:38.0 off a racing start which was a pleasing comeback
Feb 9 - 5k TT in 22:15 which was 30 secs improvement from New years eve
Feb 10 - 2801m at 19spm ave 2:26.5 tough slog
Feb 14 - 1402m at 2:08 pace to sneak under 6 mins and set the benchmark for St Austell
Feb 17 - 30 mins at 20spm ave 2:22.3 which wasnt as good as hoped for 6324m
Feb 20 - 1k in 4:19.7 and 33spm which was so bad I didnt repeat the 1k as intended 15 mins later
Feb 23 - 2k in St Austell 8:30.7 and only 1.2 secs off a medal

Happy with my result at St Austell, (no LWT category although I might not made it particularly for an afternoon race ). Made use of the lovely weather and spent the morning by the sea in Charlestown. Warmup went well and could see the potential. Only 4 in my race but the race details was confused by not being seperated from the 60-69 group and when I got passed I felt that I was too far away to pull back 15m on 3rd place considering I was already going faster than intended. No pain after so looks like a sub 8:30 would happen without a racing start - just going to wait until mid March when I will be ready to give it some on a day when I have weighed in.

Now thinking of can i bash out a half marathon in Helsinki April 27 or not. First up is the hour of power this Thurs/Fri when I attempt to break 13000m, (normally that would be a walk in the park but considering my best 30 mins is 6500m during my comeback it wont be).

[MPx]

Great going Susan. That St Austell time sounds like an SB - isn't it? Always impressive. Can't believe you're hankering after another HM already - the rehabilitation has done its job then!

Yes Marjorie...I noticed your time wasn't on the trajectory you'd set from the previous outings which had been getting faster and faster...but not so far off and put into some perspective by still being 90sec faster than the competition, and on a relatively short race. Hope the journey home goes/went smoothly.

I've been trying to get back into training again but still not where I like to be. Its a shame for me that its a 2k competition month and I'm just not up to it at the moment. No lingering illness, but I'm just not fit enough to post my best times. Such is life - and the bright side is it means it will probably be a bit easier for a while to chip off a few tenths here and there. Latest:

19/2 5x2k r2 @20 spm. Forgot to wait for my chest belt to pair so no HR data. Meant I could 2:02 without fear of breaking my 140 limit (!) so easy to achieve - total 40:39.5
20/2 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm and <140 HR in 33:23.1
21/2 2kTT for IRL and FMMC - target as ever sub 7. Nowhere near! Managed 1200 on target but blew badly for a 7:06.4
23/2 30@20 for the Sub7 ITC. After last weeks failure (7447m) I was determined to get closer to last year's total of 7667. Was pleased to hold on for 7716. Indeed predicted was 7718 for most of the last 30 secs but I wanted 7717 and stopped half a stroke too soon. Pillock!
24/2 Dumbbells and 8k @20 spm and <140 HR in 33:03.0
26/2 2kTT for IRL and FMMC couldn't be as bad as last time could it? Nearly was! Blew in the same place but less badly for a 7:02.1. I think that will have to be it - its where I am right now, that's how it goes. But it pains me to not be a posting a sub 7 time. Arrrgggghhh!

[Two Pudding Kid]

Mike - very good 30 mins r20spm beating last years result. Still good going on 2k.

Me - yep St Austell was a SB but it wont be registered for the challenges etc as probably not LWT. Very happy with it and hoping to do an official lightweight 8:28 in March.

25 Feb - had a go at 1k row, 7k Wattbike, 1k row, (there is a competition for this in Germany so wanting to see if I can get in the right ballpark before I consider it). 1k row 4:15.9 an SB but 300g over weight limit, 7k wattbike in 13:17 which is 31.6kph, 1k row in 4:18.9. Will have to do it without breaks in the real thing and also I need to get the bike down to 12:30 or better - means I want to be able to do the same 105-109rpm but a lot more resistance.

27 Feb - step bench on 4 risers for the first time (12 inches) postop without weights. Too tired to do the slightly easier 10 inch step with weights properly after physio and personal training.

28 Feb - happy for now with the hour of power of 12738m and 2:21.3 pace, 27spm and 113 DF. Picking up pace in 2nd half. Hips dont mind but back gets tight and I look like I have been riding a horse when I first get off. Another "fatty" result so although it is a SB by 500m it wont be ranked. Got to be careful when I discuss this in the office in future - me saying that 9st 10lb is heavyweight got me into trouble.

Thats 19 sessions of physicals in Jan and 16 in Feb. Resting until Sunday - havent yet decided what madness that will be but maybe 25 mins on the stairclimber comes to mind.

[Rod]

2k race at the world championships in Long Beach.

Time.............6:57.2
Position.........Silver in the 60-64 Lightweights.

Hi folks, I've only just got back today from a weeks holiday in Los Angeles after the world championships so not been able to post.

I was delighted to get the Silver for the 2nd year running, I was a long way behind the winner (6:53.1) and quite a way in front of 3rd (7:02.5) so not really pushed and I think that slowed my time a bit.

Found a video of a few seconds of it.....could be useful for lessons in how Not to do it!

https://youtu.be/P4WgpzwGCAs?t=12325

I'm relived that's the 2k racing over and done with now and can get stuck into some longer stuff.....which is the kind of thing I much prefer!

Thank you for the kind words folks......now I'm back I'll try and catch up so speak soon!

[Two Pudding Kid]

Rod - great to see you back and hearty congratulations on your silver at the Worlds.

Me - decided to finish off Feb with the hour of power. 12738m at 2:21.3 pace, felt ok but gave me backache for 2 days so got to decide if I go for that again this coming weekend, (would dearly love to go to Finnish half marathon but not sure about fitness yet). Wasnt going to row this Sunday then changed my mind and did the C2CTC as I had made lightweight - 2:06.8 pace throughout on 6 of the segments and 1 min 30 secs between each, 2:07 on the first and 2:06.7 on the last. Definitely fast as I can go and felt ick for a while after that, (fills up the second boat for sub7 on the digital river ).

[Amazing Amazon]

Susan, well done on your 2k SB at St Austell. My Teign Scullers crew mate Brain Cort (82) was also there and got a Silver in the 70+ category with a 8:20.7.

Mike, good to see you were also able to do some 2k, even if you would have liked to go faster, 7:02.1 is not a time to be ashamed off coming back after illness.

Rod, good to hear that you had a good holiday after WRIC. Hope that all the ice cream and presumably lack of rowing hasn't put the pounds on too much.

Not sure I did my tapering before WRIC properly:

Wed 20/2: in the morning had another go at the Anne Yates 2801m CTC, this time did it at 20 spm (big mistakr should have been 19 spm). However managed 2:08.7 pace, which was a considerable improvement on my 30R20 pace.Afternoon, by train to London.

Thurs, 21/2: flying to LAX from Heathrow, arrived at my hotel in Long Beach about 8:30 pm.

Fri, 22/2: Walked over to competitors hotel and signed up for a couple of erg sessions. Walked over again later and did the CTC again, this time at 19 spm. Plus 20 minute warm-up and 2k warm-down. Did the CTC at 2:09.9. In the afternon did a 21 mile bike ride down the coast and then inland to a local nature reserve. Cycled past the venue on the way back.

Sat, 23/2: Just did my regular 20 minute warm-up before the Team GB get-together and the Competitors reception.

Su, 24/2: Race day. My race was at 10am. So early breakfast and then caught the bus to the venue arriving about 8:30. There were a good number of warm-up ergs and I had no difficulties getting my full warm-up done. Race was on time. There were 3 competitors in my race, though I wasn't expecting the others to be near my time. My sure I was in quite the rigth head space as my pace was more errratic as usual. However the first 1500 was done at 2 minute pace but then instead of steadily accelerating I just started to drop some bad pulls (2:08 pace at the worst). clawed that back to 2 minute pace, but only hit 1:57 once and slowed again right at the end. I should have done the last 500m in 1:57-1:58 and it ended up with 2:01.3 for an overall 8:01.3. Gold medal but not a good time. At least I had already done 7:58.9 at Manchester and 7:56.7 at Bideford.

Mon 25/2- Tue 26/2: flew back to Heathrow and then by train to Teignmouth, arriving back about 18:30 pm.

Thurs 27/2: did a 1800m swim, but noticed a slight pull in a muscle in my right leg, so put off resuming erging.

Sat 1/3. Out on the river. Winds of 20 mph+ meant we used the coastal 4 from Teignmouth rather than any of our fine boats from Coombe Cellars. Rowed up the estuary into the wind and waves, on the way back rowing was much lighter and the waves virtually stationary. Did about 6 km total.

Sun 2/3. Back on the erg. Did a 5k. Didn't set out to hard as this was my first ergo session for a week, however was able to accelerate through the sessions to end up with 20:50.5 (1k splits pace (spm) of: 2:06.3 (28), 2:06.2 (28), 2:5.5 (28), 2:04.9 (29), 2:02.2 (30)). Still came in with my second faster (of 7) time this season. No problem with the legs, though I can now see a bruise where I had felt the muscle pain on Thursday.

Next target will be the World Rowing Virtual Indoor Sprints on 6-10/3, so unlike Rod, for the moment short sprinty stuff.

[DavidA]

2k race at the world championships in Long Beach.

Time.............6:57.2
Position.........Silver in the 60-64 Lightweights.

Hi folks, I've only just got back today from a weeks holiday in Los Angeles after the world championships so not been able to post.

I was delighted to get the Silver for the 2nd year running, I was a long way behind the winner (6:53.1) and quite a way in front of 3rd (7:02.5) so not really pushed and I think that slowed my time a bit.

Found a video of a few seconds of it.....could be useful for lessons in how Not to do it!

https://youtu.be/P4WgpzwGCAs?t=12325

I'm relived that's the 2k racing over and done with now and can get stuck into some longer stuff.....which is the kind of thing I much prefer!

Thank you for the kind words folks......now I'm back I'll try and catch up so speak soon!

Congratulations on sub-7 and the silver!

David

[DavidA]

Gold medal but not a good time.

A gold medal is still great.
Congratulations

David

[Rod]

Congratulations on sub-7 and the silver! David

Thanks David that's kind of you to say and much appreciated, going Sub 7 is nothing special for me but I was happy enough to have got so far under as it was faster than last year and training had not been going well in the 3 weeks before the race....in the end I only went as fast as I needed to as I was a long way ahead of 3rd and was never going to catch the winner...and delighted to get another Silver to go with last years...my big fear is finishing 4th...and out of the medals so relieved too!

[MPx]

Hope you and Carol enjoyed your hols Rod - no doubt a welcome relax after months of hard work prep for the racing season. Interesting to read that you felt training hadn't gone well in the last 3 weeks prior...I hadn't picked up on that, indeed I thought all of the stars had aligned. A shame for you, but still an excellent result and I'm glad you're pleased with all you've achieved - certainly well deserved.

And yes I think you need to be re-introduced to the concept of a taper before a race Marjorie. Doing a full competitively paced erg session the day before as well as over 20 miles on a bike isn't my idea of a taper! No wonder the 4th 500 came hard. Still a win though!!

Looks like you've been averaging about 4 sessions a week Susan - not bad for a post op recovery period! Well done on sawing away for an hour - that's always going to make you ache regardless of fitness, more just repetitive strain.

My latest:
28/2 Dumbbells and 8k @20 spm and HR Cap <140 in 33:33.1
1/3 4x1k r3:30. Should be doing these at about 1:45 but know I can't at the mo so set a low target to ensure not blowing up. Managed 1:49.0; 1:48.4; 1:47.9; 1:46.7 for a 1:48.0 avg. That gives me a good target for next time - all sub 1:48.
3/3 Dumbbells and 8k @20 spm and HR Cap <140 in 33:13.4
4/3 6x500 r2. As above...should be targetting sub 1:40 but can't, so decided on sub 1:42.5. Managed 1:42.3/4/2/1/4 and a 1:41.3 last for 1:42.1 avg.
5/3 5x2k r2 @ 20 spm and HR Cap <140. Target 2:02.0 each one. 4 spot on but last 0.1s under... Tch!

[Amazing Amazon]

And yes I think you need to be re-introduced to the concept of a taper before a race Marjorie. Doing a full competitively paced erg session the day before as well as over 20 miles on a bike isn't my idea of a taper! No wonder the 4th 500 came hard. Still a win though!!

Hi Mike - my bike ride was 2 days before my race, not one. I only paddled a warm-up the day before the race. But yes, maybe a bike ride too far.

On Monday had a go at the CTC. Thinking that this would be some good sprinty intervals before attempting the WRVIS 1000m later on the week. Completely mucked up the pacing on my first interval, going out too fast and then just paddling it home, but since it took me so long to program it into the erg I decided to finsihs the session so I could repeat it after. The rest of the intervals went much better, so should b able to knock 15 seconds off my overall time when I do it again.

Total time 6:03.3, pace 2:00.5. Intervals pace (spm), 2:11.9 (26), 1:58.9 (30), 2:00.4 (30), 1:57.8 (31), 1:59.8 (30), 1:56.8 (31), 1:58.5 (30), 1:51.1 (34).

Today (Wednesday) morning had a first go at the WRVIS. Normally do my training before dinner, but I'm otherwise busy this afternoon/pm. Was feeling up for this one. Pulled a very contained 1:56 pace through the first 750m and then increased my spm and pace over the last 200m for a 3:50.9. Unfortunately I slackened off the last 1-2 strokes thinking I was already there otherwise I might have shaved a little off that time. Still a SB (by 2:1 seconds) and top of the Women's Hwt 60-69 2018-19 C2 rankings for now - but only two of us entered for the virtual sprints so far, and there are two other ladies who have done 3:52.6 in the rankings.

200m splits pace (spm): 1:55.5 (31), 1:56.0 (30), 1:56.0 (31), 1:56.0 (31), 1:53.7 (34).

I plan to have a couple more attempts in the entry window through Sunday. It would be nice to get back under 3:50 as I was 2 years ago.

[Amazing Amazon]

Whoops, cut and paste error: Total time for CTC 16:03.3, not 6:03.3.