New Personal Best! Brag About That New Pb!

[luckylindy]

8000m with arms only (knee still popping) - 35:50. Seems silly to "brag" about, as I wasn't winded (HR < 120), but that was all my arms could give. A cool side effect to rowing, and particularly to rowing without my legs, is that my arms are getting stronger fast. I did 6 pullups in the gym the other day, and could barely do 1 just a few weeks ago before starting to row.

[gregsmith01748]

Hey Luckylindy,

A couple of weeks ago, when my knee was really giving me fits, I experimented with something you might want to try. Instead of doing arms only, I constrained the range of the seat so that I could not fully compress or extend my knees. It made for a much better workout and seemed to be a lot easier on my sore knee.

By the way, when does your knee pop? Is it at full compression or somewhere in the middle your drive?

[luckylindy]

Hey Luckylindy,

A couple of weeks ago, when my knee was really giving me fits, I experimented with something you might want to try. Instead of doing arms only, I constrained the range of the seat so that I could not fully compress or extend my knees. It made for a much better workout and seemed to be a lot easier on my sore knee.

By the way, when does your knee pop? Is it at full compression or somewhere in the middle your drive?

Knee pops kind of in the middle, but I can feel it "building up" with any movement (I'll do some very limited range stuff here and there to test it out). What's really odd is that it almost never has any issues under very heavy load, just light or moderate. I can do a 1:40 pace and it feels pretty good, but obviously I can't keep that up terribly long. I'm trying to keep away from intervals until I've been rowing for 4 weeks, just so I don't overdo it (I've been rowing for 2), plus I'm also a bit concerned that under heavy load there's no pop because it's saving up for a 'snap'.

My left knee is always a little creaky (if I keep my leg relaxed and wiggle my knee bone, it feels like a creaky door). The only time it hasn't been like this is when I was lifting heavy in college. Like many runners, I have rather weak quads compared to hamstrings, so I've been going to the gym and doing heavy squats the past week (which, like hard rowing, doesn't hurt). My squat is 1/3 of what it was in college, so hopefully doubling it will help a lot.

Thanks for the thoughts!

[Carl Watts]

Well tried a Model D at pace for the first time at the World Rowing Champs and it gives you a CLEAR advantage over my Model C.

Pulled 1:20 pace no problem at 34 spm for 250 metres and now I have got home I tried the same on my model C and there is no way I can LP better than 1:23 !

Just set a new PB for my 500M of 1:26.2 but it's a bit of a joke as it would be 3 to 4 seconds faster on a Model D.

Must be a combination of better efficiency of airflow with a more even flow into the fan due to the symetrical intake and possibly the 12 pole pickup is more accurate or just plain different to the 3 pole of the Model C. Whatever the reason your always going to get significantly better times on a D than a C to an extent you cannot even compare the two.

Before you ask my Model C is spotless and in great shape and the model D's were not new and getting thrashed by Joe public and kids who cannot row !

[BradL]

I noticed that with a model D myself recently. I always row at home on my own Model C, and I keep it clean so that is not the problem, but I worked out on a new Model D at a club and my low pull was a couple seconds less than I have ever done on my own rower. I managed to pull a 1:13 for a couple pulls and I have never even seen a 1:14 on my own rower. I would assume this advantage might exist across rowers not only of different models, but even the same models. I would actually be surprised if it did not. How much this would impact longer rows I do not know.

[luckylindy]

Well tried a Model D at pace for the first time at the World Rowing Champs and it gives you a CLEAR advantage over my Model C.

Pulled 1:20 pace no problem at 34 spm for 250 metres and now I have got home I tried the same on my model C and there is no way I can LP better than 1:23 !

You sure it wasn't just a difference in DF? At home I tried 250m with the damper at 10 last week, and could hit ~1:25/500, but with the damper at 5 I couldn't get below ~1:33.

[Carl Watts]

No it's not the DF, I tried LP's on 3 different settings before the 500M PB although I'm a bit anoyed with myself for not checking the DF on the Model D at the time.

It's the Erg. I cannot even get close to the LP on the Model C.

This is not the first time I have heard this but personally I did not believe there was a difference until I experienced it for myself.

I should think the difference decreases with a decrease in pace but even at say 1:50 pace it still must be worth a second per 500M which is still huge if your going for say a 30min or a 5 or 6 k PB.Even worse for the 2K PB I'm going for at 1:40 as it must be worth almost a couple of seconds per 500M.

Not only was I going faster on the D it felt easier as well as it was so smooth when rowing at higher ratings like 34 spm+.

[hjs]

Well tried a Model D at pace for the first time at the World Rowing Champs and it gives you a CLEAR advantage over my Model C.

Pulled 1:20 pace no problem at 34 spm for 250 metres and now I have got home I tried the same on my model C and there is no way I can LP better than 1:23 !

Just set a new PB for my 500M of 1:26.2 but it's a bit of a joke as it would be 3 to 4 seconds faster on a Model D.

Must be a combination of better efficiency of airflow with a more even flow into the fan due to the symetrical intake and possibly the 12 pole pickup is more accurate or just plain different to the 3 pole of the Model C. Whatever the reason your always going to get significantly better times on a D than a C to an extent you cannot even compare the two.

Before you ask my Model C is spotless and in great shape and the model D's were not new and getting thrashed by Joe public and kids who cannot row !

Strange, I pull the same on D s and C s. The pm's work the same.
The handle is a point though. The D handle is easier to grip on.

ps after the introduction of the D the WR did not fall..... So what you experience is not a common thing

[aharmer]

My haphazard training continues...sat down on the erg today and didn't know what I wanted to do. Browsed through the menu and saw the 42095m. Too much for me, but 21097m seemed doable.

One extremely sore butt later...1:22:25/r20. I finally remembered to set the PM for a countdown so now I get to figure out how to use the IND_V for the first time too!

[Bob S.]

I finally remembered to set the PM for a countdown so now I get to figure out how to use the IND_V for the first time too!

It isn't necessary to use the IND_V. If you download the data from your log card to your C2 online record (Logbook?) and click on rank it will show an equivalent verification without having to enter the verification code. I used to use the long hexadecimal verification codes, but now I just let the log card download handle it. Much easier.

Bob S.

[Citroen]

Browsed through the menu and saw the 42095m. Too much for me, but 21097m seemed doable.

Good job you didn't do 42095m, you'd have finished 100m short of a FM (42195m) and it wouldn't be rankable.

[luckylindy]

Today was the first day in over a week that my knee behaved and I could do some full range of motion rowing (woohoo!), so I did my first timed 100m (17.3), which also netted an LP PB (1:21 vs. 1:28 last week). Probably would have been smarter to do this before my 10k instead of after. Oh well, maybe this will leave room for an easy sprint PB in the near future .

Also did a relatively hard 2k in the middle of my 10k, although I didn't stop the monitor to time it. Kept pace between 1:44 and 1:46 though, so the time was probably somewhere between 7:00 and 7:10. Looking forward to trying my first timed 2k.

Pacing is still REALLY hard for me though ... a 1:40 pace doesn't feel too bad for the first 500m or so (except in my forearms), but then it's like a gorilla jumped on my back after that. SOOO much different from running or other aerobic sports.

[gnu]

rowed a marathon today. pr'd on in it with a 2:05.8 split 42,195 meters 2 hours and 57minutes.

very pleased since im 5'9 155lbs!

[gregsmith01748]

@Gnu: Great job on the marathon. Sub-3 hours is a tough row. I've done one marathon, and I'm not looking forward to another. I felt like death after I finished. How did you feel?

[DavidA]

gnu,
Congratulations on finishing the FM, and with such a good time.

David