Endurance erging - A place to discuss 42, 50, 100k upwards.

[Dangerscouse]

I've really been trying to think back to January, and all I can distinctly remember was tailbone rawness and bad hand blisters, so that may have been it. I had pre-taped my hands anticipating issues, and that was not a good choice. The leukotape started slowly migrating and then it wasn't doing anything productive and there was sticky stuff everywhere.

This time, I meant to buy wrist sweatbands but forgot (life got busy), so I tied bandanas around my wrists to help absorb sweat. It worked surprisingly well. I had a single blister after the marathon, which expanded to three after the 50k. And then the tailbone, armpit and thigh chafing I already mentioned. I wonder if the aggregate effect of 42k + 50k made the chafing worse than either alone would have. I only noticed the armpit and thigh issues after it was all done.

There is definitely an accumulative effect as I only get it on my inner biceps if I row a few longer distances on consecutive days, and I'm sweating quite a lot.

Do you grip the handle, or just hook your fingers over? I used to use kinesiology tape, and whilst it did move done my finger, it generally served the purpose. It might be helped as I have got large hands.

[GlennUk]

This time, I meant to buy wrist sweatbands but forgot (life got busy), so I tied bandanas around my wrists to help absorb sweat. It worked surprisingly well. I had a single blister after the marathon, which expanded to three after the 50k. And then the tailbone, armpit and thigh chafing I already mentioned. I wonder if the aggregate effect of 42k + 50k made the chafing worse than either alone would have. I only noticed the armpit and thigh issues after it was all done.

I would guess the consecutive days may be a factor, although IMHO, he trniang you do should compensate for that on the assumption that your training prepares you for that.

I haven't tried endurance events back to back like that so cant say, my two longest rows were five hours/ 60K in training, and 11.5 hours for 116k event.

For info, one of The Diamonds, members Michael Schatt (Concept team/FB group for those of us in our 60th year or older) has just completed 1000kms over a c.6.5days setting a world record for rowing the distance as a MHWT 60-69 which is why i say that training may be the dominant determining factor.

Clearly if you have chaffing, training cannot stop that, but my view is that as we become more tired throughout an endurance event, things move, we are not quite so strong in our core as we erg, with the result that we get blisters, aches and pains due to a less than ideal stroke/posture whereas in lesser distances/durations we dont.

I could be wrong but that how i feel about the problems i had with PITA on my longer row. Fortunately blisters were not overly troubling on my logner row, not to say they wont be on other events.

[Elizabeth]

So.... I rowed a century today. I'm really proud to finish with a solid effort. I'm going to take a few days off and then will go back to focusing on shorter distances for a while.

My general strategy was to settle in at a heart rate of around 135-140, which came out to a pace around 2:09. (Max I've seen in training is 182, and most of my recent marathon was in the 145-150 range.) I took my first break 30k in, and a second break at 50k in. At this point I had some heart rate drift into the 140s. I was able to sustain that for marathon and so I continued holding the pace. Things started getting really challenging, and my perceived effort was all over the place - I would have some strokes at 2:25 that felt really hard, and then later strokes at 2:05 that felt fine and I'd tell myself I needed to slow down. Netflix lost connection around my break at 65k, so I switched to music, which kept also losing connection. I called my husband to come and deal with rebooting the router because I really did not think I could handle 35k of rowing with nothing but my thoughts and the swishing of the fan. I also noticed that my form was slipping and my rate kept increasing, so I started doing a focused 10 strokes at 22spm every 1k. Hitting familiar territory with 2x,xxx on the PM was a welcome sight and gave me a boost. Another break at 80k, after which my pace really started slipping. I wasn't surprised but it was hard mentally. Final break at 90k. Seeing the remaining meters tick down to 4 digits felt like it should feel great but I was struggling. I was hoping to pick it up some at the end and had a few exuberant strokes with 2k left at 2:02 but there was no way I was holding that, and I finished out at a 2:09 pace. 7:42:33.

I thought you all were crazy with the butt slapping but it was amazing the difference that it made doing that on the breaks. I also stretched my hip flexors and glutes each time. The breaks made a big impact on average pace but I don't think I could have managed without them.

I went through 2L water, 3L Gatorade, and managed to lose 4.5 lb. I ate a couple of bananas, Clif bars, and my favorite of the day - peanut butter filled pretzels. The saltiness was great, and they settled much better than the sweet stuff. My 7 year old hung out with me for 5-10k at one point and was also a fan of the pretzels. I resupplied on the breaks, and did a fair amount of one-handed rowing. The Concept2 log graph is the noisiest looking one of mine I've ever seen.

The chafing and blisters are bad. I tried a different sports bra and it was worse.

Final verdict - this is the hardest row that I've done. I am glad I did it. Not sure about a second one.

[Elizabeth]

Do you grip the handle, or just hook your fingers over? I used to use kinesiology tape, and whilst it did move done my finger, it generally served the purpose. It might be helped as I have got large hands.

I grip it, but try to keep the grip loose. My blisters right now are all around the first joint of the fingers.

[missing1leg]

So.... I rowed a century today. I'm really proud to finish with a solid effort. I'm going to take a few days off and then will go back to focusing on shorter distances for a while.

Congratulations! You shattered my time

I took a full day off then did a real slow 5k just to move some and then 2 more of the same for the week. Pretty much by the following Monday (7days for me) I was back at 100%. I spelt and ate a ton that whole week though.

Here's too speedy recovery and I'm right there with you in the doing it again thoughts!

[Sakly]

So.... I rowed a century today. I'm really proud to finish with a solid effort.
[...]
Final verdict - this is the hardest row that I've done. I am glad I did it. Not sure about a second one.

Huge respect!

I don't know if I ever will row any further than a HM...

[Dangerscouse]

So.... I rowed a century today. I'm really proud to finish with a solid effort. I'm going to take a few days off and then will go back to focusing on shorter distances for a while.

My general strategy was to settle in at a heart rate of around 135-140, which came out to a pace around 2:09. (Max I've seen in training is 182, and most of my recent marathon was in the 145-150 range.) I took my first break 30k in, and a second break at 50k in. At this point I had some heart rate drift into the 140s. I was able to sustain that for marathon and so I continued holding the pace. Things started getting really challenging, and my perceived effort was all over the place - I would have some strokes at 2:25 that felt really hard, and then later strokes at 2:05 that felt fine and I'd tell myself I needed to slow down. Netflix lost connection around my break at 65k, so I switched to music, which kept also losing connection. I called my husband to come and deal with rebooting the router because I really did not think I could handle 35k of rowing with nothing but my thoughts and the swishing of the fan. I also noticed that my form was slipping and my rate kept increasing, so I started doing a focused 10 strokes at 22spm every 1k. Hitting familiar territory with 2x,xxx on the PM was a welcome sight and gave me a boost. Another break at 80k, after which my pace really started slipping. I wasn't surprised but it was hard mentally. Final break at 90k. Seeing the remaining meters tick down to 4 digits felt like it should feel great but I was struggling. I was hoping to pick it up some at the end and had a few exuberant strokes with 2k left at 2:02 but there was no way I was holding that, and I finished out at a 2:09 pace. 7:42:33.

I thought you all were crazy with the butt slapping but it was amazing the difference that it made doing that on the breaks. I also stretched my hip flexors and glutes each time. The breaks made a big impact on average pace but I don't think I could have managed without them.

I went through 2L water, 3L Gatorade, and managed to lose 4.5 lb. I ate a couple of bananas, Clif bars, and my favorite of the day - peanut butter filled pretzels. The saltiness was great, and they settled much better than the sweet stuff. My 7 year old hung out with me for 5-10k at one point and was also a fan of the pretzels. I resupplied on the breaks, and did a fair amount of one-handed rowing. The Concept2 log graph is the noisiest looking one of mine I've ever seen.

The chafing and blisters are bad. I tried a different sports bra and it was worse.

Final verdict - this is the hardest row that I've done. I am glad I did it. Not sure about a second one.

Very very well done. The second 50k is something that is very difficult to explain, or predict how you'll feel. With that result, if I was you, I wouldn't be bothering doing it again.

[Elizabeth]

David, I have to imagine the extra leg gave me an advantage! I'm going to do some yoga today to try to open up my lower back and hips, and then I'll see what I feel like tomorrow. I'm going on a little getaway without the erg, so the most I'll try some slow running for a day or two more. It's encouraging to hear that you felt good getting back on the erg two days after.

Sakly, thank you! You may be the sanest person here.

Very very well done. The second 50k is something that is very difficult to explain, or predict how you'll feel. With that result, if I was you, I wouldn't be bothering doing it again.

Thank you! That second 50k is hard to put into words. My ability to think in numbers gets fuzzy when I'm going hard, but some of the combinations of stroke rate, pace, and heart rate that I was seeing got really confusing.

One of the most motivating things was the estimated finish time on the display - I figured that the rest of the row would just be painful, and I didn't want to keep the pain going longer than I needed to by slowing down more than I needed to.

[GlennUk]

So.... I rowed a century today. I'm really proud to finish with a solid effort. I'm going to take a few days off and then will go back to focusing on shorter distances for a while.

My general strategy was to settle in at a heart rate of around 135-140, which came out to a pace around 2:09. (Max I've seen in training is 182, and most of my recent marathon was in the 145-150 range.) I took my first break 30k in, and a second break at 50k in. At this point I had some heart rate drift into the 140s. I was able to sustain that for marathon and so I continued holding the pace. Things started getting really challenging, and my perceived effort was all over the place - I would have some strokes at 2:25 that felt really hard, and then later strokes at 2:05 that felt fine and I'd tell myself I needed to slow down. Netflix lost connection around my break at 65k, so I switched to music, which kept also losing connection. I called my husband to come and deal with rebooting the router because I really did not think I could handle 35k of rowing with nothing but my thoughts and the swishing of the fan. I also noticed that my form was slipping and my rate kept increasing, so I started doing a focused 10 strokes at 22spm every 1k. Hitting familiar territory with 2x,xxx on the PM was a welcome sight and gave me a boost. Another break at 80k, after which my pace really started slipping. I wasn't surprised but it was hard mentally. Final break at 90k. Seeing the remaining meters tick down to 4 digits felt like it should feel great but I was struggling. I was hoping to pick it up some at the end and had a few exuberant strokes with 2k left at 2:02 but there was no way I was holding that, and I finished out at a 2:09 pace. 7:42:33.

I thought you all were crazy with the butt slapping but it was amazing the difference that it made doing that on the breaks. I also stretched my hip flexors and glutes each time. The breaks made a big impact on average pace but I don't think I could have managed without them.

I went through 2L water, 3L Gatorade, and managed to lose 4.5 lb. I ate a couple of bananas, Clif bars, and my favorite of the day - peanut butter filled pretzels. The saltiness was great, and they settled much better than the sweet stuff. My 7 year old hung out with me for 5-10k at one point and was also a fan of the pretzels. I resupplied on the breaks, and did a fair amount of one-handed rowing. The Concept2 log graph is the noisiest looking one of mine I've ever seen.

The chafing and blisters are bad. I tried a different sports bra and it was worse.

Final verdict - this is the hardest row that I've done. I am glad I did it. Not sure about a second one.

Hi ELizabeth,

Have to say that's an astonishing time, looking back through the rankings on C2 you need to go back a few years for that to be bettered and it included numerous breaks too. Well done and congrats, if i were you id review my recovery before doing anything serious given the effort you expended on this.

Congrats and the blisters will heal, the memory of the hard effort will too , until the next one

[GlennUk]

I took a full day off then did a real slow 5k just to move some and then 2 more of the same for the week. Pretty much by the following Monday (7days for me) I was back at 100%. I spelt and ate a ton that whole week though.

Were all different, after my long row i took about 6 weeks to recover fully, im somewhat older than you/Elizabeth so no doubt that would be reflected in our recovery periods.

[Elizabeth]

Hi ELizabeth,

Have to say that's an astonishing time, looking back through the rankings on C2 you need to go back a few years for that to be bettered and it included numerous breaks too. Well done and congrats, if i were you id review my recovery before doing anything serious given the effort you expended on this.

Congrats and the blisters will heal, the memory of the hard effort will too , until the next one

Thank you, Glenn! And absolutely on the recovery. I've battered my body pretty well these last two weeks and plan to spend some time taking things easy.

[Dangerscouse]

Thank you! That second 50k is hard to put into words. My ability to think in numbers gets fuzzy when I'm going hard, but some of the combinations of stroke rate, pace, and heart rate that I was seeing got really confusing.

One of the most motivating things was the estimated finish time on the display - I figured that the rest of the row would just be painful, and I didn't want to keep the pain going longer than I needed to by slowing down more than I needed to.

To totally misquote Mike Tyson "everybody has got a plan until you reach 70k"!!

Your thoughts, hopes and dreams are totally scrambled, and emotions are totally dominating. It's such a fine line between the glory and the gory, and this line is razor thin for a 100k.

I found on some ultra distances that my HR was quite low, circa 80%, but it was like I was rowing in syrup, and other times it was over 90% but it felt quite manageable. The body and mind, do some really unpredictable things when you're pushing the envelope to this extent.

Very well done again, and I've just realised that you did that very good 3k, 2k, 1k session recently too.

Nevermind the physical recovery, be prepared for a mental slump too. When you achieve something so momentous, you can very easily lose focus and motivation. I have experienced it, and I've seen it many times from others too, but it's just another thing to be prepared for and to accept it whilst it lasts.

[Sakly]

Sakly, thank you! You may be the sanest person here.

Haha, I don't think so
In terms of rowing - yes possibly you are right.
But when I think of some of my bodyweight sessions I am not sure...really

[fragandclear]

So.... I rowed a century today. I'm really proud to finish with a solid effort. I'm going to take a few days off and then will go back to focusing on shorter distances for a while.

Incredible stuff Elizabeth, great achievement.

[MPx]

So.... I rowed a century today. .... and I finished out at a 2:09 pace. 7:42:33.

Absolutely stunning Elizabeth - very well done and all at a very impressive pace. I did my annual HM today. I was nearly a minute slower than I was last year, which itself was slower than the year before, and now everything hurts. You did effectively 5 of them back to back. I just can't fathom how that's even possible....