Sub 7 Indoor Rowing Club (UK)

[MPx]

Some more sessions from me:

30/1 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm in 33:03.2.
31/1 10k TT last go to try to get under 39 min. Resolve only lasted less than half way. Kept the pace to 5k then slow for the back half to try to hit 39:59.3 which I missed by .1.
1/2 30 min @ 20 for the Sub 7 ITC. Base target 7667, stretch 7707 which I got last year. Found it tough but managed 7676 so happy enough.
2/2 Dumbbells and a weird one. How often do I do this 8k session...Loads...but for some reason tonight set off without setting it up on the PM. So I'm several 100m in when I realise the numbers are all wrong, meters counting up not down, time in the wrong place, what's happening??? Well you're doing a just row you plonker! Too late to start again so just kept going until 8k ish. 8009m came up in 32:39.
3/2 First go at the 2k TT for the FMMC and IRL. Not expecting much as quite tired. Set off fastish but settled to 1:46s pretty quickly. Had to slow through the middle 1k but managed to speed up over the last 500 for a 7:08. Its very disappointing to be churning these out that slow, but it does seem to be where I'm at now. Certainly nowhere near sub 7. 1:45.7, 1:48.4, 1:48.8, 1:45.1.
4/2 30min varipace in the grey zone for 7667m @1:57.3 ....almost a TT in practice.

[Amazing Amazon]

Mike, Clearly still seeking those elusive palindromes. Seems, like me, you're also still struggling for form in the 2ks.

Susan. Good to meet up at Manchester. Best wishes for your upcoming Ergo marathon.

Today was my last day of training before Paris (unless I do something when I'm there).
Tomorrow just an early morning swim then off to Paris in the afternoon.
Will be doing the 500m (60+) on Friday at 6pm and the 2000m at 9 am on Saturday. I know there are significantly faster women in both races (Ann Wopat in the 2k and Mervi Kovanen in the 500m) , so aim is to go for Silver. Wish me luck.

Decided not to do anything that smacked of a TT as didn't want to dent my confidence.
So did the CTC (12 x 1R1) instead. Sorry for being a bit disloyal to Sub7 but did this for the Diamonds, since it's the Diamonds CTC choice this month.

I was uncertain as to what pace to aim for so I chose to use the 1:53.0 pace (3185m) that Peta Robinson did. Amazingly I did exactly that, even though I don't have the head to do the sums as I worked through the Reps . Should have gone a bit faster as (a) faiIed to get my initial spm up on some of the starts and (b) lost a metre on one rep where, as in Manchester, I stopped rowing a second or two before finishing.
Reps were:
1:53.6 (31),
1:54.0 (30),
1:52.7 (30),
1:52.7 (30),
1:52.7 (31),
1:52.7 (31),
1:53.2 (31),
1:53.2 (31),
1:53.6 (31),
1:53.2 (32),
1:52.3 (33),
1:51.9 (33).

[MPx]

Wish me luck.

Indeed I do Marjorie. Very best to you, Rod (x2!) and the other competitors from on here. If I get the chance I'll try to catch some of it online. Enjoy...

[lindsayh]

3/2 First go at the 2k TT for the FMMC and IRL. Not expecting much as quite tired. Set off fastish but settled to 1:46s pretty quickly. Had to slow through the middle 1k but managed to speed up over the last 500 for a 7:08. Its very disappointing to be churning these out that slow, but it does seem to be where I'm at now. Certainly nowhere near sub 7. 1:45.7, 1:48.4, 1:48.8, 1:45.1.

Sorry Mike mine today was 7:07.9 as part of a race day in NZ.

[MPx]

Congrats Lindsay - looks like you enjoyed your FIVE(!!!) events and posted some really respectable times. But just to push back a bit - I just posted a 3601 for the CTC, so it looks like your 2k-4 pacing suggestion was a bit conservative, best go again at 2k -7.

[lindsayh]

Congrats Lindsay - looks like you enjoyed your FIVE(!!!) events and posted some really respectable times. But just to push back a bit - I just posted a 3601 for the CTC, so it looks like your 2k-4 pacing suggestion was a bit conservative, best go again at 2k -7.

Thanks Mike - would like to think that the 2k was a bit cruisy rather than the CTC being that slow! I doubt I can match the 1:40 pace but will give it a go I hope. I would like to do a proper 2k as well later in the month. Over to you.

[MPx]

Time for me to go quietly me thinks!

Had a good day following the WRIC in Paris.
Congrats to Marjorie on the silver. Race seemed to go to plan and just a couple of seconds off best which was less than many out there today. Was the "air" bad? Many seemed to be some way off their stated target pace according to the commentary - but maybe the pre race "expectations" are just part of the psyching out and not real. Helena B complained of no oxygen after her open women race 10 secs off her target. Some of the men were 20s or more off.
Congrats to Rod C on posting a sub 7 even if it did just miss out on a medal with a 4th. Again the middle section was the undoing with strokes clearly slower than planned.
Congrats to Rod S for another Gold Medal winning performance following a now familiar fly and die race plan - 1:27s for quite a few strokes at the start! Couldn't come back at the end this time a sub 7 otherwise similar to the Irish I suspect.
Was good to see Warren M back in action, not seen him racing for a while but I guess just moving up to the 50 category provided the extra incentive. Looked like building a pretty strong race through the first half consistently rising up the leader board but sadly reversed that over the second half.

Well done everyone! Great entertainment.

[Two Pudding Kid]

Mike - if 30 x 1 min r1 seems too much you could try 30 x 250m r1, (or in my case I do it off 45 secs rests and no flying starts). Would be good if you can redo the 10k under 39 minutes this season. Brilliant result on the 30mins at r20 and 1k further than I have ever done on it. 2k in 7:08 and plenty of Feb left to improve on this. Thanks for your update on the WRIC on Saturday. Ooh the rivalry on the C2CTC and 2k with Lindsay.

Marjorie – well done on your 291m for the January manic minute and close to a PB. Great work on achieving 5th place on the nonathlon at present, (I am in 34th). Congratulations on your silver at Manchester, and I understand you achieved the same in Paris too. Excellent 500m time trial and the change in drag factor looks like it worked. You could always do a 12 x 1 min r1 for Sub7 too during the month if you want to return to that workout.

Lindsay – many congratulations on getting through five races including hammering out a 7:07.9 2k.

PS I am weird on the pace differentials – 500k to 2k 6 secs and 2k to 30 mins is 5.5 secs for me!

[Two Pudding Kid]

29 Jan - 12 x 1k r2 at 2:13.7 pace and happy with that. Pootled 4k after so that I had burnt 10000 calories on an ergo for 180k total in January.
2nd Feb - Manchester IRC. Rattled off 8:21.5 at a higher stroke rate than normal, (not getting to Rods spm level on this ), for a silver and 3.5 secs better than BRIC. I am planning to attempt a sub 8:20 2k in the gym and improved 5k and 6k before the end of the season, after the ergomarathon in 2 weeks.
3 Feb - 12 x manic minutes r1. 2942m and 2:02.3 pace which is all I can expect on this.
5 Feb - 16k at 2:18.3 average pace. Hoped that meant I could do half-marathon at sub 2:20 pace if I really tried.
8 Feb - HM in 1:37.54.6 and 2:19.3 average which was better than I dared hope for. Nothing below 2:23 pace and very steady 26/27spm. Marathon training is lifting my fitness for sure.

Tonight should be 30mins at 20spm - not one of my favourites but a good test of concentration!

[Amazing Amazon]

I'm safely back from Paris. Despite Storm Ciara my flight from Paris CDG to Exeter was only 20 minutes late and although there was turbulence en-route the landing was not worse than usual for a Bombardier turboprop.

The World Championships in Paris were pretty well run. The French President of World Rowing sees to have had the inside track to Paris municipal funding and the stadium floor was entirely devoted to the rowers, with a very big screen to show the action at the end. Unlike BRIC spectating was free. There were a similar number of rowers to warm up (96) in a side room as on the race floor and most people (including me with my 20 minute warm-ups) seemed to get the warm-up they planned.

Raced the 500m at 6pm on the Friday, having arrived Thursday evening and got in some sightseeing through a pleasant and sunny Friday morning and afternoon.

The 500m was for 60+. There were I was up against a Finnish lady (Mervi Kovannen, 63) who had done 1.45.7 at the European Championships a month ago in Prague. The rest were mostly French and of unknown to me ability.

I set my drag factor to 135 (in line with what I used last Monday when I did 1:49.5 at home). Set off, maxing at 1:41 at 40 spm at 8 seconds but then dropped back to 1:48 at 35 spm by 25 seconds. My pace and stroke rate both trended down (to 1:50 (32) by 52 seconds when I rest my stroke rate to 36. After that I held a ~ 1:50 pace through to the end by raising my stoke rate to finish at 42 spm. Finished in 1:50.2, which is my fastest 500m time this season with a race start.

Meanwhile Mervi was doing her own race (1:35 at first 35 seconds! and finishing in 1:44.9) and two French competitors (Cecile Barias and Monique Laude) were 1-3 metre ahead of me - until the last 50 metres when having flied they died, They finished in 1:51.6 and 1:51.8 respectively.

https://regatta.time-team.nl/wrich/2020 ... a0ba95.php

In the 2000m (65-69 age group this time), held at 9 am on Saturday morning my main concern was getting my hotel breakfast in early enough for my digestion to settle before my race. Requested and go it at 6:45.

Ann Wopat (who I'd seen do 1:37 two years ago in Washington, when she lost by just a couple of seconds to Sarah Springman) was clearly going to beat me so it was purely a question of racing for silver and the unknown was how fast the other 6 competitors would prove to be.

Starting I quickly peaked 1:52 pace at 32 spm, but as quickly dropped this to a sustainable 2:02 pace by 25 seconds in. At this point I could already see that my nearest rowers (we were seeded around Ann, so fast seeds were nearest) were not going to be challenging me. Settled in to try a finish in a respectable time. My pace dropped a bit through the middle of the race and then gradually ramped up my stroke rate through the last 300m/minute to finish with 1:52 at 41 spm.

Splits: 02:02.8, 02:03.1, 02:03.6, 02:01.0 for an overall 8:10.6, 0.8 seconds slower than Manchester.

https://regatta.time-team.nl/wrich/2020 ... e04f5a.php

I would have loved to get under 2:10, given what I did in Manchester and given I have done 8:08.1 at home, but that was not to be. For some reason my 2k times this year are stuck at last year's SB pace +3 seconds, while most of my other distances are +1 second.

I gather that others had problems with the dryness of the stadium, but I didn't notice it as particularly problematic.

As well as Rod there were some other good performances by Sub7ers: Clare Rainbow got a Gold in the LW50 500m and 6th in the LW55 2k. Shelagh Allen got Silver in the W80 2k. And of course Olena Buryak got Golds in the Women's Open 500m and 2k. There were also about 240 British entrants. Not sure what the medal count was for GB but we did get a reasonable haul.

Ann Woppat (who I'd seen do 1:37 two years ago in Washington, when she lost to Sarah Springman) was clearly going to beat me so it was purely a question of racing for silver and the unknown was how fast the other 6 competitors would prove to be.

I started off at maximum 1:52 pace at 32 spm, but quickly dropped this to a sustainable 2:02 pace by 25 seconds in. At this point I could already see that my nearest rowers (were seeded around Ann) were not going to be challenging me. Settled in to try a finish in a respectable time. My pace dropped a bit through the middle of the race and then gradually ramped up my stroke rate through the last 300m/minute to finish with 1:52 at 41 spm.
Splits: 02:02.8, 02:03.1, 02:03.6, 02:01.0 for a a 8:10.2. I would have loved to get under 2:10 but that was not to be. However it was, like my 500m, my fastest race start this season.

[Amazing Amazon]

whoops bad editing there - the last two paragraphs are superfluous (and having been corrected above are wrong to boot).

[Amazing Amazon]

They didn't provide 100m splits in Paris for the 500m, however there is a pace graph. Reading off this and doing a bit of arithmetic my splits were: 1:53.7, 1:48.7 1:49.1, 1:49.3, 1:50.0. So I was a bit slow off the start then otherwise faster than when I did my SB 1:49.5 at home..

Back on the ergo today. I've started experimenting with my drag factor. I used 135 df in my 500m race in Paris (i.e. same as I used on the previous Monday at home to record 1:49.5). As I seem be be happy using a fairly low spm (28) for the 2k and reluctant to increase it to 30+ as I used to do, I decided to keep those low spm and increase the df to 130 (from my usual 123) instead.

Result was a new season's best of 8:04.6, a 3.5 second improvement on my previous SB . It's also worth 1007 Nonathlon points, so another distance over my 1000 target target. And a useful entry for this month's IRL Challenge.

Splits were: 2:01.1 (27), 2:02.1 (28), 2:02.1 (29), 1:59.2 (31).

[MPx]

That's a great write of the your Paris experience Marjorie, thanks for sharing. By the sounds of it your 2nd on Friday was actually even better than the second on Saturday by getting through two others in the last few seconds. In the 2k you seemed very much in control of your race. (I watched most 2k races via the little boat screen rather than the snippets of video so that I could follow what people were actually doing, but I was out on Friday so missed the 500s). Congrats on improving your 2k SB immediately on your return and the 1000+ points... again!

And belated congrats on your silver at Manchester Susan. I had a look at the time for something online but couldn't find anything other than how to enter and sort of forgot about it. Shame as I like to see stuff like the national champs! Your CTC entry must have felt very weird amongst all of those distance focused sessions, but still a good result. Fantastic to have reached the point of being able to erg all day at sub 2:20 - quite a milestone I'd have thought.

I've just had a couple of days off and out enjoying ourselves so recent sessions for me only go up 'til Tuesday:
6/2 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm in 32:32.2
7/2 12x1min r1 for the CTC. I know I can to 10 of these sub 1:40 but I also knew an extra 2 would be too much so set off with some trepidation. Despite aiming for flat 300s, I actually hit 301 or 302 for most reps of the first 8 reps. The problem was I knew at that stage that I didn't have another 4 in me. So 9 was 291; 10 was 294; and 11 was 294. I thought I'd blown it but set off to do the best I could in the last which was 307. By some miracle the total was 3601 so I was pretty ecstatic!
8/2 5x2k 2r @ 20 spm with a 2:00 pace target ended a gnats tadger under with 39:59.5
9/2 Dumbbells and 8k @ 20 spm in 32:32.2
10/2 6x500 r2. Last time out hit a 1:43.7 avg. Started at 1:44.4 with a gentle neg split and got a 1:42.9 avg which pleased me as I thought I might have to cave in the middle reps!
11/2 30min varipace @ avg of 27spm in the grey zone for 7575m

[Two Pudding Kid]

Marjorie – glad to hear that you had a great weekend in Paris. Cracking pace at start of your 500m and great result of 1:50.2 and silver. Another 2k race in a week and congratulations on a second World silver medal. Well done on a new SB for 2k in 8:04.6 and 1007 nonathalon points since.

Mike – I have a few faster sessions in the marathon training as I need to keep on top of the challenges and also not loose the speed when I am doing shorter races. Brilliant 12 x 1min r1 to average over 300m each rep. 5 x 2k r2 at slightly sub2:00 min pace – cool. Nicely predicted 6 x 500m r2 session.

[Two Pudding Kid]

10th Feb - 30 x 20spm at 2:19.5. Hadnt got the fresh legs to do this properly but glad to get a result on the board for Sub7 challenge.
12th Feb - 30 x 250m r45 secs. As no way I could have done this at 28spm like normal I rated around 31spm and went for a faster result - 2:07.3 ave!
16th Feb - 6k TT in 26:15.8 which is a 14 second improvement and SB. Should be able to get down to close to 26 mins 5 secs if I work on this the rest of the season. Current average pace is 2:11.3 but hoping that I can go 2:10.x.
17th Feb - 12k at 2:28spm. Deliberately at 24/25spm aka marathon style. More tired than expected.

That wraps up 380k ergoed in 12 weeks and the countdown for the big day on Saturday. 24 scheduled to take part. If I get 12th I will be happy and over the moon if in the top 10. This is a handicapped race so it is % of world record for category is the target - otherwise with 20 men in the event I wouldnt get anywhere near. Unfortunately Germans like to get cracking early so weighin needs to be done by 7:30am Forecast is wet and wild in Hamburg so very glad we are on indoor machines indoors (not likely to be outside as in Helsinki).