Sub 7 Indoor Rowing Club (UK)

[MPx]

Great set of improvements for the Nonathlon Susan - you must be very nearly there now with the 900 average. Nice going!

Very impressive sessions as ever Rod. Lots of distance and all in the low 1:50s. All going in the right direction. Thanks for your good wishes....but Fran is fine, the accident was about 15 years ago and it rarely bothers her these days...although we stopped skiing back then as the risk of further damage permanently affecting mobility was just too great.

Glad you've recovered so quickly Marjorie. A very useful 500m and no pain so as you say no serious damage done. Phew!

I've continued with a bit of a mixed bag of results.
3/4 5x2kr2 @ 20spm and <140 HR Cap. Target pace was 2:02 so 40:39.9 was very nearly spot on!
4/4 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20spm and <140 HR Cap in 32:52.0
6/4 1500TT for the CTC. The sages suggested 2k -2s pace so I optimistically targeted 1:43. Hit it pretty much spot on for a 5:08.9 @ 1:42.9. Pleased.
7/4 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20spm and <140 HR Cap in 32:52.2
8/4 500TT for the IRL and FMMC. Always happy with anything sub 1:30 so was chuffed to manage a 1:28.9 - a SB.
9/4 AWL Pyramid. Tried a varipace session but only managed to get half way on target and slowed considerably for the second half with a 1:50.9 avg pace overall - well outside my <1:50 target.
11/4 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20spm and <140 HR Cap in 32:52.1
13/4 3x2k r2 Should be sub 1:52 pace for this. Managed 1:51.9;1:51.9 but then blew after 500 in the last and paddled in for 1:56.8 giving 1:53.5 overall. Disappointing.
15/4 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20spm and <140 HR Cap in 32:42.1

[Two Pudding Kid]

I had better be quick as need to be in work early so just a quick fly through what I have been up to;

Ergo 6740m in 30 mins at 2:13.5 pace - yeah, got 40m past my target and very happy with that and that the splits were 3370 for both first and second 15 mins.

Ergo 5k in 21:54.5 at 2:11.5 pace DF 112 27spm - absolutely caned it for the first sub 22 mins in a long time

Ergo 500m in 2:00.3 37spm DF 119 - faster than I dared hope

April 14 Manchester comp - this was a mixed bag of 3 different workouts in 45 minutes. 4min, 3min 2min, 1min with 2 min rests which I did at 2:08.9 pace ave, 12 min piece I did at 2:11.3 average and manic minute just because I had to at a personal worst of 228m. Overall 5296m and 2:10.4 average. Happy with 5th out of 8 where the age category is "over 40". Made LWT by 700g so could have had a small breakfast if I had been sure.

Next ergo madness is "hour of power" tomorrow as the last big training piece before Helsinki half on 27 April. Got to aim high and see if I can bust 13000m.

8108 nonathalon points without a marathon bonus - only 40 worse than I have ever done and picking up a few more points in hour, 6k, half marathon is still possible. Never thought I would be able to ergo post op as well as I can, (walking is still a bit of limp but did 4k on the treadmill in 45 mins 20 secs last night as a new postop PB at that)

Will catchup on what you have all been up to later.

[Rod]

4 x 15 minutes. 3 minute rests.

Metres...........16034
Pace.............1:52.2
DF................110
SPM..............33

This was a tough one !

Well worth the agony though as it was 0.2 on pace faster than 3 weeks ago at the same spm and 1 bpm lower...so happy with progress.....and getting closer to trying for that 16k hour.....

Mike..........Nice CTC and a great 500....I won't get anywhere near them....and have no intention of making myself suffer by trying! I hate short stuff!

Susan..........busy as ever! Well done!

[Rod]

10k Time Trial

Time................37:14.6
Pace................1:51.7
SPM.................33
DF...................110

The journey continues.

Happy with this as it was 4 seconds faster than last week (0.2 on average pace) at the same spm and av. HR so getting better.

The only over 60 Lightweight time that's faster on the world rankings is the SB of 36:50.8 I did back in January.....so still more to do if I'm going to improve that....but trying hard!

https://log.concept2.com/rankings/2019/ ... r&page=1#1

[Two Pudding Kid]

Rod – well done on the 8 x 2k r3 and 4 x 15 min r3 at your favoured 33spm and 110DF. Hopefully the 10k SB stays at the top of the 60-69 LWT rankings for the season. Your focus on 16k in a hour is to be admired and looking good at 10k in the last week too.

Marjorie – glad to see you are well on your way back to normal on the ergo and otherwise and a surprisingly fast 500m

Mike – well done on the 5 x 2kr2 at 20spm and <140HR cap. Looks like your 8k at 20spm and <140 HR which had been consistent suddenly went faster. Nice work on your 1500m TT – impressive increase in pace over what you would be capable for 2k. Wonderful 500m TT.

Me - gone off the rails unfortunately. Weds 1 hour of power last week didnt happen as muscles near my SI joints decided to go into spasms whenever I moved, (cannot explain why I had a sore throat at the same time it was at its worst). Managed to get through Thursday working from home and looking in real distress before it started to improve on Friday. Just laying off exercise on the hope that I might compete in some sort of way in Saturdays Half Marathon ergo. 8108 nonathlon points and results as LWT for all distances except marathon gained this season. Confident that I would make LWT even though I have scoffed a treat or two.

[MPx]

What a strange mixture Susan! Absolutely stonking 30 mins; 5k; and 500 netting all the points you needed in the nonathlon...and a good showing in Manchester before it all went Pete Tong. Hope the recovery is swift enough to compete in the HM - should be, since you seem to specialise in swift recoveries!

More solid progress Rod. That 4x15 proves you can do it...and the 10k was at an even faster pace. Keep it going matey the goal is in sight.

The usual mixed bag from me!
17/4 2kTT Just came up as it does as the next session on my "sprint" schedule. Very poor result, just totally gave up at 1100 but at least made myself fight for the last minute or so. Splits 1:43.9; 1:44.2; 1:57.3; 1:44.2.
18/4 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm and <140 HR cap in 32:52.5
19/4 5x2k r2 @ 20 spm and <140 HR cap. Tried for 2:02 pace as usual but struggled with HR creep, probably due to the heat so a slower last and 40:44.2 total.
20/4 6kTT for the Sub7 ITC. Targetted 1:53 pace for a SB. Managed the first 4k alright but then blew a bit and did a slower 5th split before getting back on pace for the last k. 22:46.3 @1:53.8 result which is only 0.2 slower pace than my SB so happy enough with that.
21/4 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm and <140 HR cap in 33:03.2 - again slightly slower than usual as HR kept going too high in the heat.

Had the family around for Easter Monday which was lovely in the fantastic weather that we all had...but like a complete numpty I attempted to play Badminton in our field with my niece while wearing flip flops which ended in the inevitable sprained ankle as I slid off the side of them going for a shot. Doh! Sat on the rower last night, but couldn't even flex my left ankle enough to reach the handle let alone push off the footrest. Hopefully the swelling will recede soon and I'll be back on it by the end of the week.

[Rod]

3 x 20 minutes. 3 minute recoveries

1)..........1:53.1 33 spm
2)..........1:53.1 33 spm
3)..........1:53.2 33 spm
DF..........110
Av..........1:53.1 33 spm
Metres.....15907

This was tough...very, very tough so glad to have got it done.

Not so glad to see the average pace was only 0.2 faster than the PB for one hour I set back in September and not so glad that it was 0.6 slower than the pace I need to get over 16k (ten miles) for one hour..but it's a ''platform'' to move forward from so just gotta keep ''chipping away''.

Mike.........Madman! Hope you mend quick!
Susan........................Madwoman! Too much for me to keep up with.....great work!

[Two Pudding Kid]

Hi - I am back.

Rather too many dramas leading up to the row and since.

Finnish Half Marathon 1:44.44.4 (no I didnt try to hit the 4's - more like not dying in the heat). Indoor rowing outside, which in normal Helsinki April weather would be more likely to be cold, but 21c and sunny just sapped it after about 40 mins). For me the ave pace was 2:28.9 and DF 112. Red nose and neck - I did slap on the Factor 30 on my arms. First row for 9 days, but hopefully can do a 6k to end the season Tues 30 April with a bit more zip. Started off confidently at 2:20 pace but had to stop for drinks a few times and lost my way in the second half. No back/hip issue, just heat fatigue and playing it careful.

Sort of deserved a gold medal (category of 1) - 50+ LWT by 0.05kg (yep - that close, as immediately after breakfast was 0.65kg too heavy). If that was bad it was even worse for the men doing marathon and starting at 2:30pm!

Have made it home - original flights cancelled due to pilots strike so lucky to bag alternatives.

Will be doing the Solihull half marathon ergo in the shopping centre 19 May, and will hopefully pop by to say hello to fellow ergo mates on the Saturday.

[Amazing Amazon]

Susan, Mike. Sorry to hear about your injuries: know how you feel as I'm still getting some gyp intermittently from my skiing leg injury. Strangely it's worse when I dance than when I row.

Susan. good result there in Helsinki despite the travel issues and the heat. No shame in getting a gold medal in an entry of 1. Done that myself.

Mike, impressed by your 500m. Great contribution for the Diamonds 8on8.

Rod. Remain very impressed by your work rate. For me this is a difficult time of year to maintain application with no competitions for some months and the attraction of the great outdoors beckoning so Chapeau.

Me. I've not posted since the 7th, mostly due to my low level of ergo activity. Been slowly getting better after my accident. Most of my efforts have been rowing on water, including a 5k head race in a coxed four at Totnes on the 13th. This should have been 13km down to Dartmouth but because of high winds we just rowed 5km downstream, waited around for 90 minutes of so while the rest fo the (approx 100) boats assembled and then raced back. Unfortunately we were a scratch crew, weren't very fast and came in last (out of 4). Still getting some tendon pains in the leg when rowing hard.

Went out 3 times in the beautiful weather over Easter (twice in a single, once in a 4). Also a few coastal outings, the last being yesterday with the crew I've put together for our Teignmouth Coastal Regatta on 11 May.

On the ergo:

Did the 1500m CTC at 2:03.9 pace. This is about 5% slower than my SB. Tried to not go out too hard in case I got problems with my bad leg.
2500m splits pace (spm): 2:04.6 (30), 2:05.0 (31), 2:05.6 (30), 2:04.6 (30, 2:03.2 (31), 2:00.8 (32).

Also the 6000m Sub7 ITC. This was at 2:13.0 pace. Again about 6% slower than my SB. I've also now started to use a slower version of the 20 minute Eddie Fletcher warm-up. For a long time I've been using the 7:45 2k one and I've now switched to a 8:00 2k warm-up.
Susan, Mike. Sorry to hear about your injuries: know how you feel as I'm still getting some gyp intermittently from my skiing leg injury. Strangely it's worse when I dance than when I row.

On the ergo:

On the 15th. Did the 1500m CTC at 2:03.9 pace. This is about 5% slower than my SB.e Tried to not go out too hard in case I got problems with my bad leg.

2500m splits pace (spm): 2:04.6 (30), 2:05.0 (31), 2:05.6 (30), 2:04.6 (30, 2:03.2 (31), 2:00.8 (32).

On the 26th. did the 6000m Sub7 ITC. This was at 2:13.0 pace. Again about 6% slower than my SB. I've also now slowed my Eddie Fletcher warm-up from the 7:45 2k one to a 8:00 2k warm-up.

1k splits pace (spm): 2:12.5 (26), 2:12.7 (27), 2:20.4 (23)!!!, 2:15.2 (26), 2:12.3 (27), 2:05.1 (30).

And then today did a FM to complete my Nonathlon results. I've been putting this off waiting for the leg to improve.

Last year was my first ever attempt at this distance and I did it at 2:24 pace for a time of 3:24:34.3. This time lowered the drag to 115 (normally 123) and wore my cycling shorts to give a bit of extra padding. I was worried how my leg might act up so I started out less ambitiously at around 2:35 pace. No bad reactions from the leg so slowly increased my pace and even managed a bit of a sprint at the end, however once three refreshment breaks were included I could only average 2:32.7 pace for a 3:34:48.9 time, so 5% slower than last year. However that's still good enough for 1036 Nonathlon points and a 9350 total, which is 50 points more than last year .

Splits pace (spm)
2000m 2:35.0 (20)
4000m 2:35.1 (19)
6000m 2:35.5 (19)
8000m 2:34.4 (20)
10000m 2:31.6 (20)
12000m 2:29.5 (21)
14000m 2:54.0 (18) incl. ~1:36 break: wee and sip of water
16000m 2:30.6 ((22)
18000m 2:31.5 (23)
20000m 2:31.6 (23)
22000m 2:29.6 (23)
24000m 2:55.1 (21) incl. ~1:42 break: banana and glug of water
26000m 2:30.8 (22)
28000m 2:31.5 (22)
30000m 2:53.7 (22) incl. ~1:36 break: banana and 2 glugs of water
32000m 2:27.8 (23)
34000m 2:26.4 (23)
36000m 2:24.6 (24)
38000m 2:23.1 (25)
40000m 2:13.6 (28)
42195m 2:02.0 (35).

[Rod]

Full Marathon

Time.................2:58:05.4
SPM..................31
DF....................105
Pace.................2:06.6

Full Marathon this morning for the Lwt facebook group and C2 challenges.

Delighted to have set a new (all time) PB as a 61 year old Lwt (73.0k/161 lbs yesterday) beating my old one (from 2011 when I was just a youngster of 53 and Hwt).

Felt good all the way so maybe a faster one before the end of the season....but other things to concentrate on first!

DF was 105...compared to my usual 110.

[DavidA]

Full Marathon

Time.................2:58:05.4
SPM..................31
DF....................105
Pace.................2:06.6

Full Marathon this morning for the Lwt facebook group and C2 challenges.

Delighted to have set a new (all time) PB as a 61 year old Lwt (73.0k/161 lbs yesterday) beating my old one (from 2011 when I was just a youngster of 53 and Hwt).

Felt good all the way so maybe a faster one before the end of the season....but other things to concentrate on first!

DF was 105...compared to my usual 110.

Woo Hoo!
Congratulations!
A PB, and under 3 h, while a 60+ LW.

David

[MPx]

Fantastic result on the FM Rod great to see a PB and a sub 3 hour FM.

Loving those numbers for the Finnish HM Susan although it would have been better still 0.3s faster! Hope the suntan hasn't peeled off!

It must have been great to get out OTW so much through the lovely Easter weather Marjorie. Also those 3 erg sessions look pretty solid and mega impressive to have racked up so many Nonathlon points. I see that, as you expected, Jus won through fairly comfortably in the end but many congrats on your 3rd place. Somewhat overshadows my 39th!

Training has been a bit disrupted for me but I'm still plodding away when I can. Ankle was fixed enough to start again on 26/4 but then we went to Spain for a long w/e to see the MotoGP and I will be giving blood tomorrow which will no doubt set me back a bit for the next few weeks....not that it really matters! Meantime:
26/4 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm and <140 HR cap in 33:33.2 (so near!)
28/4 4x1k r3:30. Should be sub 1:45 on these but not at the moment and last time it was 1:48.1 avg. This time 1:47.7/7/8 and a 1:45.7 last for a 1:47.2 avg. So happy to have nearly a second improvement.
29/4 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm and <140 HR cap in 32:52.2.
30/4 6x500 r2 . Again should be sub 1:40 but last time the avg was 1:42.1. This time managed 1:42.0; 1:41.6/7/6/9; and a 1:40.6 last for a 1:41.5 avg which is also heading back in the right direction.
1/5 5x2k r2 @ 20 spm and <140 HR cap targetted at 2:02 pace and near enough with a total time of 40:39.6
2/5 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm and <140 HR cap in 32:52.1.
7/5 5x2k r2 @ 20 spm and <140 HR cap targetted at 2:02 pace and near enough with a total time of 40:39.7
8/5 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm and <140 HR cap in 33:13.2

[Two Pudding Kid]

Just a quick message as got to get to work .

Since returning to the UK:

6k - 26:40.2 (doing a workout I missed pre-race so just whacking it in for last season at the last minute April Sub 7). Not bad but felt ill after.
3 x 1k r5 - my first outing at this was 12:47.5 (rather disappointing in this as outside 2k pace and dying). Ranked 1st 1k of 4:14.8.
1 hour of power - 13016m Hurrah, although it was touch and go to get through the magic 13000m at times - 2:18.2 pace
3 x 1k r5 - more like it. 12:43.8 average 2:07.3 which is 2k-0.4.

What beckons now - 2k (I promised myself a sub 8:30 one in May) and half marathon in 9 days time.

PS Might as well have the glamour of being top of the new season rankings in 1k and 1 hour (only 1 other in 50+ LWT at present).

[Rod]

60 minutes Time Trial

Pace...................1:54.1
Metres................15762
DF......................105
SPM...................33

This was 1.2 faster pace than a month ago so happy it's a good step forward but 0.8 slower than the best I did last season so still gotta slog away at it!

Happy to be top of the (admittedly ''early season'') world rankings for 60-69 Lwt's too!

Thank you for the kind words after my Marathon last week DavidA, Mike and Susan, I don't think I'm over it yet!

[Two Pudding Kid]

Mike Great work in your 4 x 1k r3:30 and 6 x 500mr2. Congratulations on your 39th place in the Nonathalon last season, (eclipses my 56th place).Hope you had a great weekend in Spain, and your ankle is recovered fully now.

Rod - no surprise you are getting into the long stuff with this Saturdays 100k with Carol looming. Best of luck and success with that and I may be passing by about 1:30pm, (my half marathon is on the Sunday). Great results rewarding your hard work on 60 minute training and stonking marathon PB. What a way to start the season!

Marjorie – 6k – ooh you just beat me there, (but totally walloped me on 1500m). Marathon while crocked – 3:32.7 pace 3:34.48.9 - not many of us do these even when fit, wahey what a result.

Me - I had taken the day off to do some promotional work for our local rail line but it doesnt seem I am required until late afternoon if at all, (which someone had told me that before yesterday). Going to use the time usefully and see if I can do a flying 2k when my breakfast has been digested.