Around the World Row!

danwho · Post by **danwho** » April 29th, 2006, 4:39 pm

Congratulations on your FM, Brigitte. I was just noticing this big jump when I went to Google Earth and then I saw your post. I guess you really wanted to get out of Bagdad. Fantastic accomplishment.
I see Shiraz is coming up. I think I'll stop for a Shiraz in Shiraz.

ChrisH · Post by **ChrisH** » April 29th, 2006, 5:59 pm

Most of my training has been 1hour or 10k's at 16spm and with a HRM to control effort. Thought I would try a 10k with a goal of 2:18/500. Wanted to make sure I would complete the distance so started slow.

2k splits
2:25.4@19spm
2:22.3@19spm
2:18.5@20spm
2:15.5@21spm
2:08.3@21spm
46:00.8@20spm
Thanks to all Eh! Team members for your encouragement.
Chris

Francois · Post by **Francois** » April 29th, 2006, 6:26 pm

ulu wrote: I managed to knock 10 seconds off my 10k time, but it did not improve our standings any. It sure gave me a sense of satisfaction though.

Congratulations Jim!
You are definitely not a faint-hearted to repeatedly race a 10k! I don't plan to do another one anytime soon, I found it "brutal"!

BriK wrote:I did it!!!
Just finished my first full marathon with 3:38:48. My goal was to finish, and I did - even though I had some cramps in my quads after about 25k, but fortunately they went away after a break and some stretching. I'm dead now, but I'm happy!!! I would never have thought that I would do a FM in April when I started out in February ...

Congratulations Brigitte, and thanks for your contribution to our total milage!
You are a courageous lady! I have never done a FM, I find them so intimidating!

Rowing is quite unique in allowing us to do such long distances after a few months of training. That would be difficult in running and swimming for instance.

Cheers!

Francois

Shannon · Post by **Shannon** » April 29th, 2006, 6:26 pm

Chris, great job on that 10K. Those negative splits show that you can go much faster, but save your excess energy for May's CTC challenge which is a 5K unrestricted! Go for it!

Brigitte, well done on the marathon. I did my first marathon at around 3:39, so you were slightly faster, just like this month's CTC 10K!!! I do a 5K most Mondays online (using RowPro), so I'll enjoy having the 5K be this month's CTC challenge.

Great to see two Eh team boats and more women joining in too. I'm looking forward to seeing how long I can last in the first boat this month!

Shannon

ulu · Post by **ulu** » April 29th, 2006, 8:02 pm

Nicely done on your 10k Chris. Your negative splits are fantastic. It is an accomplishment just to race the distance.

And Brigette, WOW, a full marathon after only a few months. I have yet to tackle that distance. Very well done.

ulu wrote:

I managed to knock 10 seconds off my 10k time, but it did not improve our standings any. It sure gave me a sense of satisfaction though.

Congratulations Jim!
You are definitely not a faint-hearted to repeatedly race a 10k! I don't plan to do another one anytime soon, I found it "brutal"!

Thanx for the kudo's Francois. It may be my stubborness that kept me trying that distance repeatedly over the last month. I usually felt like throwing in the oars at 7k. I am looking forward to May's 5k challenge.

The terrain we are rowing through in Iran now is quite spectacular. Here are some links. http://www.chnphotoagency.ir/show.php?g ... to_uid=168

Looks like they even have some downhill skiing!

Keep on rowin', eh.

Jim

Yukon John · Post by **Yukon John** » April 29th, 2006, 8:11 pm

Brigette, doing your first marathon is a huge achievement, and a really good time too, congratulations! Jim, I agree with Francois, you are a brave man, and a 10 second gain is impressive! My next 10k isn't going to be on my map for a while. Chris, have you thought about increasing your stroke rate somewhat for the race attempts? That low stroke rate stuff can make you really strong, but increasing it a bit could probably make you faster. I used to have the opposite problem going at a stroke rate of 30-35 during a race. Just playing around with it, I now keep it around 24-28 (except for the sprint at the end of a race!) Good luck on the 5k's for the CTC in May everyone!

ChrisH · Post by **ChrisH** » April 29th, 2006, 8:35 pm

John-
One of my many areas for improvement is maintaining a higher stroke rate at race pace. Today's attempt was an indicator of my improvement but also reveals my need to raise the rate when called for. At the CIRC in Toronto I watched Matt Swick rate 37spm. Not enough o's in smooth to describe that guy.
Chris

RR1 Kirk · Post by **RR1 Kirk** » April 30th, 2006, 11:19 pm

Jim, another 10 sec shaved from the 10K. It's getting tougher to get in boat 1 all the time. On the bright side there's always boat 2... or 3

Brigitte, a FM. I can't even imagine that kind of commitment at the moment. A fantastic effort!

ChrisH, looking forward to seeing you in the CTC 5K. Give it go. Try it every week and watch your times improve.

I hope eveyone hits their goals for the new season.

Cheers,

BriK · Post by **BriK** » May 1st, 2006, 2:23 pm

Thank you all for your kind words!!! I'm really happy to be part of this team! I don't have words how much it means to me to hear from every single one of you!!!

I'm glad we have another day off here today (it's Labour day) - I confess I slept away the most part of yesterday. It's funny though, my arms, legs and butt don't hurt much, but I have a severe case of finger soreness

...I expected anything but sore fingers. I guess one day I'll have athletic fingers ...

I see Shiraz is coming up. I think I'll stop for a Shiraz in Shiraz.

May I join you there, Dan? It's amazing though that we can still keep the boat upright with all the wine, beer and whiskey here lately

Francois, thank you for your compliments. You are right though, I would never be able to run even a half marathon, and then it would probably take me hours and hours. The nice thing about the erg is that gravity isn't working against me, and it doesn't hurt my joints. And what amazes me most: although I started out to row just to lose some more weight I now enjoy rowing and get a little better every time ... I guess I discovered my competitive side, which is entirely new to me, and I love it!

Shannon, I'm looking forward for this month's challenge, too! I confess I jumped into our first boat while it was still empty

... I'm afraid I won't be there for long though, even though I could improve my 5k time by 43 seconds. I still have a few trial runs on RowPro, but I haven't rowed online yet (most races there are just too fast for me).

A Great New Rowing Season to you all!
Brigitte

Shannon · Post by **Shannon** » May 1st, 2006, 3:19 pm

Brigitte, great job on the 5K!! I did my first attempt today, and it was nowhere near as fast as yours!!!! Yikes, I have my work cut out for me to stay in the first boat.

Don't be shy about online rows!! I'll admit I felt the same way at first, but there is a steady group of women who row on there at our speed. I have no idea what the time difference is between Canada and Germany, but I have a row scheduled today at 23:45 GMT and tomorrow at the same time. Then I am on again on Friday at around 17:00-17:30GMT. (We haven't decided on the time yet). Sometimes we try to go fast and sometimes we just paddle along companionably. It is great fun. I really encourage you to try it!

Shannon

BriK · Post by **BriK** » May 1st, 2006, 4:54 pm

Thank you, Shannon!

But I think you will soon get me

. Seems like our times are quite close and each of us better at some distances. It might be fun to try out online rows, but we are 2 hours later than GMT, so the evening rows are too late even for me. But Friday evening sounds good to me, so I might give it a try then.

Brigitte

Shannon · Post by **Shannon** » May 1st, 2006, 7:12 pm

Brigitte, that would be great if you could join in on Friday. The row is set for 17:30GMT and it is a 6,000 metre row. It is called 6K_easy_row, we usually go from a 2:16-2:25/500 pace on these rows, depending on how perky we are feeling!

Let me know if you need any help getting started. If you want to try out a test row beforehand that would be fine too. I can row at 17:30GMT every day of the week, that is morning for me and I work afternoons and evenings. So just let me know.

Shannon

ulu · Post by **ulu** » May 1st, 2006, 10:37 pm

Great rowin', ladies. Nice to see the Eh!Team boat being filled up with women at the CTC challenge.

We are in a holding pattern over Iran on our around the world row trip. As most of you have noticed, the C2 personal online log gives you a message suggesting you wait until the 2007 season to post your kilometers. When C2 has their 2007 honour board functiioning, I expect us to sprint out of Iran. It may take me a day or two to make sure things function as normal on the round the world row site.

In the meantime, sit back relax and enjoy your Shiraz http://www.bamjam.net/Iran/Shiraz.html

Keep on rowin', eh.

Jim

Yukon John · Post by **Yukon John** » May 2nd, 2006, 12:05 am

Brigitte, my hands were sore after the marathon too! I've still got dead skin from blisters peeling off. For me, the handle gets slippery so I use a small towel draped over the the handle for most of the row. I change the towel about every 10k. I was unprepared and didn't have enough towels so the last 16k I rowed with a wet towel and that wetness tore up my hands.

I gave the CTC a go today. I thought I'd get it done early and maybe another try or two before months end. It went better than I expected and I took 6.8 seconds off of my pb (18:25.4) My main goal is biking right now, but the rowing is just as much fun and I want to do that a lot too (a good recipe for over-training

.)

Francois · Post by **Francois** » May 2nd, 2006, 8:45 am

Good job Shannon and Brigitte!

Yukon John wrote:Brigitte, my hands were sore after the marathon too! I've still got dead skin from blisters peeling off. For me, the handle gets slippery so I use a small towel draped over the the handle for most of the row. I change the towel about every 10k. I was unprepared and didn't have enough towels so the last 16k I rowed with a wet towel and that wetness tore up my hands.

For longer workouts, I wear leather gloves that are usually used by weight lifters. They work great.

I gave the CTC a go today. I thought I'd get it done early and maybe another try or two before months end. It went better than I expected and I took 6.8 seconds off of my pb (18:25.4) My main goal is biking right now, but the rowing is just as much fun and I want to do that a lot too (a good recipe for over-training .)

Congratulations John! Nice improvement!
What was your pacing and stroke rate? Just curious!

Regarding over-training, I have found that it is more the intensity than the training volume that one has to be careful about. Personally, the first sign that I am getting close to over-training is that I become grumpy and loose my sense of humour. We'll let you know if that happens to you!

Cheers!

Francois