LUNA-TICS Astro-rower-naut Team Room - Hangin' Out Together

[cazams]

Actually Team Lunatics has gone about 3.1% of the way to the moon. At this rate it would take the team just under 3 years to get to the moon. I say we go for it!!

Alix

[NMB4010]

I'm in! The more we row, the stronger we get. The stronger we get, the more we can row!

[Big]

... so, if it's 385,000,000 meters to the moon, Team Luna-Tics has gone approximately one third of the distance?

Sorry, your decimal point is one off. We are a little over 3% of the way to the moon. At this rate it would take us nearly 3 years to get there. However, the team has rowed nearly the Earth's diameter (12,742 km) or beyond the exosphere (10,000 km)--not bad!

[werelupus]

Are teams rated on total meters or average per rower or both?
I should hit 200,000 for the JVC, even though I'll lose tomorrow evening because I have to pick up my bride of 30 years at the airport and will probably lose Thursday evening because I have to pack for my trip to the Mardi Gras.

[NMB4010]

Question about the March Challenge... is it for groups in actual clubs or do the virtual clubs participate?

[Kona2]

I'm for counting the number of meters accumulated by all the rowers in the virtual challenge - and inviting them to the landing party! We can continue to build on our total meters as a team, but it's great to be able to celebrate with all the teams - especially since our goal has captured the imagination and spirit of many other teams! What do you think?

The Luna-Tics year round team has moved up to number 22 in the overall meters accumulated for the year - probably moved at least five places up during this competition. Several rowers are close to a million for the season - impressive. This competition has inspired me to at least try for the million on the season.

If anyone has a better graphic for lunar landing, please post it! We're on the home stretch -

Kona2

[NMB4010]

Just out of curiousity, what model rower is everyone using, do you own your own rower and how long have you been rowing? Also, where do you set the damper and how many strokes per minute do you average?

I own my own Model C that I've had for about 10 years. My damper is typically at 6.5 unless I need to increase my heartrate and I'll bump it up a bit. I've notice that I've been averaging about 26 strokes per minute.

I love my erg. It's located right in the middle of my living room (which is not exactly fung shui), but it's easy to move when I have guests over. I never thought I'd use a piece of exercise equipment in my home so much!

[kgallagher]

[quote="NMB4010"]Just out of curiousity, what model rower is everyone using, do you own your own rower and how long have you been rowing? Also, where do you set the damper and how many strokes per minute do you average?


I have a model D which my hubby bought me for Christmas a few years ago to keep me from getting up early in the winter to go train at the indoor rowing tanks. It worked.

What you should do is check your drag factor and not worry about the damper setting as much. The setting will vary from erg to erg, so if you know the drag factor you like, you can set any machine to it. My coach recommended we keep our drag factor around 120 to 125. On my erg, that's at a damper setting of 4. On the newer monitors, you can go under utilities to find the drag factor. On the older models you have to push two buttons at the same time, but I can't remember which ones. Someone at Concept 2 should be able to tell you.

As for strokes per minute, it all depends on what type of piece I am doing. If I am doing a long steady state piece, I'm usually around a 24. When I do test pieces I am usually between a 28-31 depending on how long the test piece is.

Keep reaching for that moon!
Karyn

[just27]

Sorry, your decimal point is one off. We are a little over 3% of the way to the moon. At this rate it would take us nearly 3 years to get there. However, the team has rowed nearly the Earth's diameter (12,742 km) or beyond the exosphere (10,000 km)--not bad!

Dang ... decimal point in the wrong place ... I hate it when that happens! (The metric thing doesn't help ... uh huh.) Three years to get to the moon. Wow. Where's a worm hole when you need one.

[acrewer]

i have a model D which I bought used a year ago. Even though I live in So. Calif, there are many times when it is more convinient to exercise indoors.

After I fell off the treadmill, I decided sitting down to exercise would be safest!

I was a college rower (SCU 1977-1980) and it's like a bike, you never forget how. I forgot how much I like rowing.

I keep the damper at 3 and the drag factor is 105. My stroke rate is 20-22, sometimes as high as 24-26 if I'm pushing it.

Thanks for this challenge, you have inspired me to row more and I reached 100,000 this month. I'm looking forward to the Valentine's Day challenge next. I'll be at 1 million by mother's day.

Gina

[thomaspinckney]

I have the model D. I bought it a couple of years ago, but have not used it for a couple of years. I just started rowing again after several years off. I started rowing again after a recent trip to my doctor woke me up. Thus - I started rowing the day before Thanksgiving. My damper is always set at 4 with a similar drag factor as the rest of you. My stroke rate? I try to keep it around 18 spm.

Recently, I hooked up with a nationally certified coach. Prior to that, I had been rowing at a 27-28 spm pace at the same damper setting. My form was poor and I was getting a LOT of my power from my upper body than I should. The coach slowed me down, made sure my posture was straight as possible and had me row at a 1 (pull) to 3 (recovery) rate. He also had me lower my feet in the foot holders (this causes you to row with your knees closer together giving you more power) and get my power from my heels rather than the upper part of my foot with a slight lean backwards. He also made sure that my damper setting was in the 4 to 5 range. He claims that most competitive rowers use that range for rowing & says the higher settings just wear you out too soon (kind of like riding a bike in high gear).

This has resulted in my pace to be in the 18 spm and my 500 times increasing 15 seconds. Initially, I found out I had some muscles that never existed before (soreness in new places). However, after a short time, my body has gotten used to it, my rear-end and back don't bother me as much as before & I believe I can go longer with less effort.

I am rowing twice a day (presently) for approximatley 15,000 meters. I keep my pace at 2:30 to 2:40 (starting slowly then increasing my speed). Not a competitive (2000) speed, but ok for the longer distances that I am rowing. My main goals are 620,000 meters (I will make it on Thursday) and weight loss.

My new goals: perhaps a marathon while adding some interval training to my training.

Thanks to this forum/members for me giving me goals that I never thought I could attain (previously).

Thank goodness for Law & Order, Monk & the Fox 5 news channel.

[elfm]

I too own the model D--which cost less to buy directly from the company than from a fitness store in town, by the way. I used to keep the damper on 3, but I haven't wanted to build my shoulder and back muscles up too much(there's a whole discussion of this on the Women's Forum), so someone told me to set the damper at 1. I never checked out the drag factor, but basically I prefer long, slow rows so take about 2:45-3 min/500 m. and row for 60 to 80 minutes on average.
ELF

[robert.hess]

I hit my 200K meter mark this morning. I lost a week of rowing with bronchitis - but I am back and running. Way to go everyone!

I had been rowing in the gym for years, but bought a Model D last year. It is great to have you own machine - especially of you are putting in long rows. Second best piece of exercise equipment in the world (I love my road bike more...)

[cazams]

I have a Model D at home that I have had for a couple of years. I also row on a Model C at the Gym and convinced them in November to upgrade the monitor to PM3 so I could use my card to keep track of my meters during the holiday challenge. This was much easier than the small pieces of paper with illegible numbers which inevitably got lost in my gym bag. I finished my first million during the HC and hope to hit two million during December 2008.

[Kristine Strasburger]

The snow just keeps coming and coming. This time, though, I did my rowing first. Now am eating a bit, and then out to shovel the snow. I think there must be about another foot accumulated which needs shoveling.

I row on a model C which we bought in 1998.
Damper setting usually at 3 or 4

For long rows I like to keep the stroke rate between 22 and 24 and the pace at 2:19 to 2:22. I warm up for 10 min. keeping my heart rate at 100, then row a series of 17 minutes at the above rate and pace, then 3 minutes slow rowing (during which time I sometimes stop to take a drink, use the loo, stretch, change movies, etc. as quickly as possible.) I rarely ever stay on the rower longer than a 1 hour at a stretch without getting off it briefly.

At the end I cool down at a slow row for 10 minutes. I then spend about 20 minutes doing a pilates stretching video - this stretching is a vital part of the workout, and I really notice it when I skip it.

I too have been encouraged to row more this month than ever before. The Team Room has been a great part of the challenge this year, and all of you have made it that way.

Off to shovel now!