Holiday Challenge 2006!

[margaret]

Way to go everyone. It's nice to see lots of entries on the forum again.

Stargazer, congrats. You inspired me to attempt a million in 10 weeks. I'm making up for lost time, I guess. Don't know if I'll be able to keep up with you all the way, but this is definitely helping get my extra pounds off!

Haven't figured out what to do about the days I'm traveling. I'd either need to put in two days of double workouts (14 km twice), or four days of half marathon (21 km). Ouch! I'll just do what I can; may have to allow myself extra days to complete the full million. Can't believe I made it this far!

[River]

Wow--I'm amazed at the meters so many of you have rowed so far--kudos! Imagining your fitness levels will be my inspiration.

Forced myself to get on the rower today, for my second row of the Holiday Challenge. 4830m, 30 minute row. Yesterday, I could actually feel my stomache muscles; they exist, yeah! And perhaps it was the impetus from my first row, but I finally managed to clean the clutter from my computer area. : ) !

They say it takes 6 weeks to build a habit. I'm hoping that with the Forum's support, I can build this habit of rowing.

Thanks!

River (I initially registered as Rachel, not realizing how the name thing here worked; sorry abt any confusion.)

[Kiwi_Rower]

Hi RiverRachel It is pretty motivating to check out the forums and see what everyone else is up to. I'm 1/3 thru the 100,000 as of today and I'm set to row for the next 5 days!

[Birdi]

I'm so proud of all of us, right now Ducks has moved into 5th position in the standings...YEAH DUCKS!
I'm happy with myself, I just rowed 11,036 for today in one sitting and that gets me to 101,260 in the HC! Half way to the 200k.
Feeling great! My seven grandkids and one greatg'kid can be proud of me!
Thanks to all of you for the inspiration! GO GIRLS! GO DUCKS! WOOHOO!

[fish]

Yippee! 5th place. It looks like we have a few more Ducks.

My HC meters are at 192,840. I should go over the 200K mark tomorrow.

Go Birdi!

Hey Grams, sorry to hear about your SI problems. I have had lots of SI issues. I found that Pilates helps.

[snappyrower]

Woohoo! We've really livened up! Way to go gals! I did a slow warmup of 1016 in 6:47.2, then a 30 minute row of 5425, and then a slow cooldown of 1012 in 7:06.3 Woohoo! I felt strong! Hope I can keep it up. Purell is my friend right now, i can't get sick again! Gonna go log my meters and see hwere we are for the ducks!

[Birdi]

Grams, Fish and Snappy, you gals are great! Way to go Fish, you are blowing my oars off but I'm paddling after you! Yep, Snappy no more getting sick, ya hear? And Grams, I think I saw where you have a few years on me so I am just super impressed and encouraged about rowing for many years to come. You have some great times. I'm struggling with some injuries but it never seems as bad as rowing is good, eh? I think the whole Ducks team thing has really made it even more fun. I've rowed the HC for several years now but way back when, the forum wasn't like it is now and so I hadn't been here in a llllooooonnnnggg time. When I looked in and saw Ducks and Women's pages, it just got me going all the more. Howdy to all the WA and OR gals out there!

[Widgeon]

Sounds like everyone is doing great! Nice to see the chatter on the forum again. It was really fun like this last winter.

I am currently at about 164k, and anticipating the home stretch. I think I will finish this week, my first week off work since July 1st!

Right now I am waiting for my kids to erg. They are still on track, but will have to be diligent, Theresa, 8y at 30k, and Alex, 6y, at 24k. I have had to start getting up at 5am to get time in on the erg during the week since the kids are using it in the evenings!

Keep up the good work ducks!

Pam

[grams]

There is a real hotbed of ergers here in Washington state. I love it!

5485 meters today, nice and slow. I'm in no rush, as the next task is writing our Christmas letter.

Birdi- I have a bunch of fused stuff in one foot too. Its weird to suddenly have my foot a different shape. For the first year I kept stubbing my toes because they were longer than before.

Congrats to all of you who are nearing your 200,000 HC goals! You are ready for holiday party goodies without guilt. Its great to hear about your children erging away for their tshirts too. With the new Zazzle system they can each add their individual meters or comments to a shirt for even more bragging rights.

Take care, grams

[dinodi]

I'm inordinately impressed with the high mileage ( or is that meterage?) that so many of you seem to be pulling for the HC. I'm also discouraged at my own performance. I pulled 47k this last week and I ( or my back) can't imagine rowing many more meters per week. .

So- kudo's to all of you "iron women"...perhaps what I need this evening is a glass of wine to accompany the "whine" I've posted here.

Happy holiday's to all.

Dino Duck

[dnl17]

10,000 m today -- slow, but felt good. almost 1/2 way to the holiday challenge -- i think i'll get there!

good work everyone! - and thanks for the support.

[stargazertechie]

You guys are doing SO great. Keep it up!

What keeps my body happy is about a 30 minute lie-down after I erg. Just climb in bed (or any firm surface) and just lay there for 30 minutes. Take a nap, read a book, but just lay on your back.

Another great thing is a nice soak in the tub with bath salts. I don't have that luxury in my dorm, but when I go home, it's great.

I've been getting quite sore the last few days (muscle spasms in my arm that is stronger from rowing starboard all season) so I'm taking it easy. It's finals week, so I'm just trying to get in 8-10 hours of easy erging this week.


Keep strong ladies, you make me proud.


-Becky

[Birdi]

WOOHOO! DUCKS still holding #5 place!! I missed yesterday, due to chasing down some mail theft at our box out here in the country...carrier left a package from my pal in UK right there on the road at the box! HELLO! If it doesn't fit in the box you bring it to the door or leave a pickup slip! DUH! The package was pilfered thru but most of the real personal heartfelt stuff was still there, thank God. Ruined my day, hubby put a lock box out there...anyways...
I am rowing further and longer as the days go by and my times are improving, that's such a great feeling! Today 11562m. I'm feeling so good and have stopped kicking myself for not starting the HC on time and fooling around for 2+ months after a good summer of walking mileage. I wish one could drop weight as quickly as one can improve fitness but when you're 54 and past menopause it just don't seem to work that way! But I'll take fitter fat than not fit at all so eventually I hope to lose what I wanna lose. You girls are all doing so well, it's cool to see us holding our standings!
Nahongvita!! (Hopi for: stay strong physically) Any Native Americans out there?

[Kiwi_Rower]

Halfway through the challenge! 51414 to be exact 13 days left with an average of a little over 3700 per day so I know I can finish it. Did my first 6k today, aiming for a 10k piece to finish the challenge with, even if I need a couple of drinks breaks on it.

Congratz to those who are done, and keep up the good work you gals still working on it...

[Widgeon]

Just finished the 200k this morning! Now looking forward to improving speed with some faster paced workouts. I've been rowing hour peices for the challenge (mostly), so I think its time to start mixing up the long steady states with some faster stuff. I keep telling myself that being unable to breath is good

Both kids are over half way, both at about 30k. I think that their enthusiasm is waning. I have been telling them that this is something they are doing for themselves, so that they can be stronger and be proud of accomplishing something difficult. I don't know if they will finish it this year, but they have both surpassed their performance in last years HC. Theresa 14k in 2005, and Alex 7k. So I am proud of them. I am a bit surprised that they have done this well! Still some days left, so we'll see what happens!

Keep up the good work ducks, I see that we are in 5th with a chance at 4th! The team in 6th is breathing down our necks. I'll keep adding meters, we'll keep it a hot race to the end!

Pam