Forum Flyers

[Yankeerunner]

Last Saturday I got my first Pfizer shot. Scheduled for the second on April 17th. No issues with the first one, but reading here about others' experience with #2 will prepare me for possible misery. Thanks for the heads up. At least I won't worry that something is wrong with me.

As for the April CTC, I've found that staying on 20spm is very easy. I just watch the time counting down and try to start a drive on every number divisible by 3---57, 54, 51, 48 etc. If I get ahead or behind a bit I just adjust until I'm back on track. It works for me anyway.

[wolfrich]

As for the April CTC, I've found that staying on 20spm is very easy. I just watch the time counting down and try to start a drive on every number divisible by 3---57, 54, 51, 48 etc. If I get ahead or behind a bit I just adjust until I'm back on track. It works for me anyway.

Nice tip! Makes perfect sense mathematically. Thanks.
I'm finding in my testing that 207, 208 and 209 strokes total are showing as a 21 rate in Ergdata. Maybe it does need to be less than 205 or are we referring to something else? I'll do some at 204, 205 and 206 and see what it says.

[wolfrich]

Also note that my log book shows 21 for all those as well.

[jsarche]

As for the April CTC, I've found that staying on 20spm is very easy. I just watch the time counting down and try to start a drive on every number divisible by 3---57, 54, 51, 48 etc. If I get ahead or behind a bit I just adjust until I'm back on track. It works for me anyway.

This is a good tip - thank you.
Still, it remains to be seen whether my in-workout oxygen-deprived brain can handle even that level of "math" ...

[skkipper]

I'm finding in my testing that 207, 208 and 209 strokes total are showing as a 21 rate in Ergdata. Maybe it does need to be less than 205 or are we referring to something else? I'll do some at 204, 205 and 206 and see what it says.

I just went back into old rows to check out the rounding. I did not include interval sessions because the stroke count includes strokes during the rests. Also did not look at the "just row" sessions because some of the stroke rates displayed seem quite a bit off from what I calculate.

But if I look at distance or timed pieces where the total time was in the 20-30 min range and calculate stroke given the stroke count displayed in my logbook:
20.73 spm rounded down to 20 spm
25.81 spm rounded down to 25 spm
19.84 spm rounded up to 20 spm
18.87 spm rounded down to 18 spm
23.90 spm rounded up to 24 spm
19.06 spm down to 18 spm (this one is weird, 6km piece with no intervals so I'm not sure how rounding on strokes or time could cause this kind of discrepancy)

From this, I would say that 207 and sometimes 208 strokes would work, but if others have seen 207 strokes round up to 21 spm, it is not immediately clear to me how they are calculating stroke rate. There may be more decimals measured and used in calculation than what is displayed for stroke count and/or time but I do not think that would make this big a difference between my rows and your 10 minute rows. And then there is that weird data point.

When you tried testing, did you slow down significantly at the end and pause to finish out the time without taking more strokes? Or was the decreased rate spread out more over a period of time? I wonder if they are calculating overall stroke rate by averaging their instantaneous measurement of stroke rate. That instantaneous measurement must be some kind of fit to the preceding few seconds of strokes. If you pause for the last 3 seconds, instead of considering the stroke rate to be 0 there, the software still considers the stroke rate to be a bit higher and may push the final stroke rate higher than it actually is. Not sure if that will make sense to anyone outside my own brain, but in this scenario, the blips when you start or stop rowing will mess up the stroke rate average despite not being real, which is especially true the shorter a row is. So I am suggesting that you would want to slow down more gradually towards the end of the row to get to 207 strokes and round down rather than stopping at 207 with a couple seconds left on the clock. This would be consistent with why the stroke rate seems very off with my "just row" sessions - some are short and even with longer sessions, I am often stopping and starting to take drink breaks or stretch etc.

TL;DR - I think simply stopping when you get to 207 or 208 or 209 strokes and waiting out the clock will result in 21 spm, whereas slowing down more gradually to reach the correct # of strokes towards the end will work to get to 20 spm. Unless you did not pause or slow down abruptly, Rich, in which case everyone just ignore me.

[Citroen]

As for the April CTC, I've found that staying on 20spm is very easy. I just watch the time counting down and try to start a drive on every number divisible by 3---57, 54, 51, 48 etc. If I get ahead or behind a bit I just adjust until I'm back on track. It works for me anyway.

Nice tip! Makes perfect sense mathematically. Thanks.
I'm finding in my testing that 207, 208 and 209 strokes total are showing as a 21 rate in Ergdata. Maybe it does need to be less than 205 or are we referring to something else? I'll do some at 204, 205 and 206 and see what it says.

Set one minute splits and you'll gain the extra four strokes.

[jackarabit]

I'm finding in my testing that 207, 208 and 209 strokes total are showing as a 21 rate in Ergdata. Maybe it does need to be less than 205 or are we referring to something else? I'll do some at 204, 205 and 206 and see what it says.

I just went back into old rows to check out the rounding. I did not include interval sessions because the stroke count includes strokes during the rests. Also did not look at the "just row" sessions because some of the stroke rates displayed seem quite a bit off from what I calculate.

But if I look at distance or timed pieces where the total time was in the 20-30 min range and calculate stroke given the stroke count displayed in my logbook:
20.73 spm rounded down to 20 spm
25.81 spm rounded down to 25 spm
19.84 spm rounded up to 20 spm
18.87 spm rounded down to 18 spm
23.90 spm rounded up to 24 spm
19.06 spm down to 18 spm (this one is weird, 6km piece with no intervals so I'm not sure how rounding on strokes or time could cause this kind of discrepancy)

From this, I would say that 207 and sometimes 208 strokes would work, but if others have seen 207 strokes round up to 21 spm, it is not immediately clear to me how they are calculating stroke rate. There may be more decimals measured and used in calculation than what is displayed for stroke count and/or time but I do not think that would make this big a difference between my rows and your 10 minute rows. And then there is that weird data point.

When you tried testing, did you slow down significantly at the end and pause to finish out the time without taking more strokes? Or was the decreased rate spread out more over a period of time? I wonder if they are calculating overall stroke rate by averaging their instantaneous measurement of stroke rate. That instantaneous measurement must be some kind of fit to the preceding few seconds of strokes. If you pause for the last 3 seconds, instead of considering the stroke rate to be 0 there, the software still considers the stroke rate to be a bit higher and may push the final stroke rate higher than it actually is. Not sure if that will make sense to anyone outside my own brain, but in this scenario, the blips when you start or stop rowing will mess up the stroke rate average despite not being real, which is especially true the shorter a row is. So I am suggesting that you would want to slow down more gradually towards the end of the row to get to 207 strokes and round down rather than stopping at 207 with a couple seconds left on the clock. This would be consistent with why the stroke rate seems very off with my "just row" sessions - some are short and even with longer sessions, I am often stopping and starting to take drink breaks or stretch etc.

TL;DR - I think simply stopping when you get to 207 or 208 or 209 strokes and waiting out the clock will result in 21 spm, whereas slowing down more gradually to reach the correct # of strokes towards the end will work to get to 20 spm. Unless you did not pause or slow down abruptly, Rich, in which case everyone just ignore me.

Trust but verify. Due diligence. By all means! Check this out:

viewtopic.php?f=6&p=525400#p525400

Scroll back to Joe Keating’s post on p. 89 and read on.

[jsarche]

As for the April CTC, I've found that staying on 20spm is very easy. I just watch the time counting down and try to start a drive on every number divisible by 3---57, 54, 51, 48 etc. If I get ahead or behind a bit I just adjust until I'm back on track. It works for me anyway.

This is a good tip - thank you.
Still, it remains to be seen whether my in-workout oxygen-deprived brain can handle even that level of "math" ...

I gave this a try today with a 3000m piece I did as part of my workout and managed to average r20. It was harder than I expected, and I learned I have work to do to keep up the power at such a low stroke rate. But I did it and I’m thankful for getting some good advice here. Next: On to the CTC!

[allanhallberg]

Yesterday did my session at 20spm so ready for attempt today. Did 2595 and 2598. Was on target for 2610 to 2615 for second one, saw a few 21's with 4 minutes to go so put in a few 18/19's to counteract totally lost my rhythm and breathing. Final big effort over last minute got me slightly ahead although it didn't really matter if it was 1 metre or 20. I like this one because of the 5 minute rest between sets.
Cheers
Allan

[wolfrich]

Did few more 10min stroke testing 204 strokes had avg= 20, 205 and 206 avg=21.
The 204 and 205 stroke sessions I sped up at the end to get the extra strokes to around 22-24 spm in final seconds. The 206 session I stopped with a two seconds remaining. So I'm not seeing a difference on how i finish the session.

I do the challenge and try to not have more than 204 strokes so i have no worries. Thanks for the advice everyone.

[jackarabit]

As for the April CTC, I've found that staying on 20spm is very easy. I just watch the time counting down and try to start a drive on every number divisible by 3---57, 54, 51, 48 etc. If I get ahead or behind a bit I just adjust until I'm back on track. It works for me anyway.

Nice tip! Makes perfect sense mathematically. Thanks.
I'm finding in my testing that 207, 208 and 209 strokes total are showing as a 21 rate in Ergdata. Maybe it does need to be less than 205 or are we referring to something else? I'll do some at 204, 205 and 206 and see what it says.

Set one minute splits and you'll gain the extra four strokes.

Splits can be chosen in continuous format but are not available in interval format on any PM with which I’m familiar. I believe I led you all astray by assuming that the strokes/‘ round downs and consequent free strokes would apply to the April challenge. I’m clearly guilty of underthinking the terms of the challenge IF it is indeed an interval challenge. I’ve looked at the challenge description three times now. 5’ rest implies interval format. Absence of the unambiguous 2x10’/R5’ notation creates an opening for both unintentional (and purposeful) misinterpretation. I apologize to all who empirically investigated the free strokes conundrum and sussed out my blunder!

[skkipper]

Just had a go at the CTC and did 204 strokes in each interval but in the first, it rounded down to 20 spm and in the second up to 21 spm. For both intervals I kept a 20 spm pace until speeding up a bit in the last minute.

[Slothful1]

Also severely short of FFFFs (Fiercely Feminine Forum Flyers) this month.

I figured the 2 "S"es would still be posting a time, and I'm glad I was right .

I, on the other hand, managed to miss the CTC this month after realising my slow time on the last night would make no difference (and the usual excuse of work, blah blah). Poor example to set the team, sorry!

Dave

[Slothful1]

Good to know about the PM rounding down on the stroke rate!! Thanks Jack

Any last minute takers for the March CTC - only need one more entry to float that 6th boat.

Anna Rae

Just posted my time. The covid jab really knocked me for six, so I was going to pass. Forced myself to do it, and suprised myself by getting a PB!

Well done Neil! Now I feel even more guilty for skipping the CTC - could have saved you having to put yourself out there. I must just get these done earlier in the month so there is no dithering on the last day .

Dave

[jackarabit]

Headsup The Boat Race (women) just ready to go off live on Utube.