Around the World Row!

danwho · Post by **danwho** » May 12th, 2006, 8:06 am

Wow, Brian. Congratulations doesn't quite do it.
How about Congratulations
Or better yet, Mubarikbad which I think is Congratulations in Pakistani - given our place in the Around the World row.
I didn't spend enough time to double check my quick google search - I sure hope I didn't curse you out. If I did, please just interpret it as "Damn, brotha" (Pakistani for awe).

ulu · Post by **ulu** » May 12th, 2006, 10:55 am

Brian Turner M The Eh! Team I 16:49.4 1:40.9 340.3
http://www.c2ctc.com/

Awesome row Brian, well done!

Keep on rowin', eh.

Jim

Francois · Post by **Francois** » May 12th, 2006, 1:33 pm

WOW Brian! 16:49.4
This is wicked FAST!

Congratulations for this new PB!

Francois

BrianAbroad · Post by **BrianAbroad** » May 12th, 2006, 2:46 pm

danwho wrote:Wow, Brian. Congratulations doesn't quite do it.
How about Congratulations
Or better yet, Mubarikbad which I think is Congratulations in Pakistani - given our place in the Around the World row.
I didn't spend enough time to double check my quick google search - I sure hope I didn't curse you out. If I did, please just interpret it as "Damn, brotha" (Pakistani for awe).

Thanks for the good wishes everyone. I didn't even realize it was a new PB until I double checked my numbers.

Mubarikbad sounds like it could be right, as Mabrouk is congratulations in Arabic, which is where we are headed come August 1st, as I become the technology coordinator at the American International School in Muscat, Oman. We went to a job fair back in February in Boston (missed the CRASH-B's by one week), and have been busy either trying to get caught up again or starting to plan the move.

Cheers,

Brian

BriK · Post by **BriK** » May 12th, 2006, 5:56 pm

Awesome time, Brian!!!

Congratulations, Mubarikbad, Mabrouk, Félicitations, Herzlichen Glückwunsch!!!
You seem to come around quite a bit on your job.

Dan, thank you for the tip about the New Grips!

Are you completely pain-free now? I had seen an ad for them a while ago, and I was wondering if they were worthwhile trying. So I guess I'll give them a try (the sizes are a bit confusing though). It would be a pity if the pain in the hand would get chronic, since I have come to enjoy erging that much by now. And apart from that pain, I have no troubles ... no problems with the joints, back or butt. I'm glad I finally found something that I can do pain-free and where I'm not last behind anybody else. New experience for me

Last year around this time I got even exhausted walking downstairs

...

Brigitte

Yukon John · Post by **Yukon John** » May 12th, 2006, 11:09 pm

A big congrats on your huge PB Brian and also on your new job! Sounds like you'll be pretty busy for a while.

I was so impressed that I thought I'd move my time table up one day and give the 5k another try. Your advice was excellent Francois. Starting out at a 1:51 pace for the first 1000 helped. I settled into 1:50 after that. Unfortunately, I started increasing my pace with about 1200 metres to go. Big mistake there. When I got to 700 metres left I was on pace to break 18:20, but I imploded and stopped.

I feel a bit bummed right now, I don't like quitting. But I'll try to learn from this and hopefully give it another go in a week or so.

RR1 Kirk · Post by **RR1 Kirk** » May 13th, 2006, 12:34 am

Yukon John wrote: I feel a bit bummed right now, I don't like quitting. But I'll try to learn from this and hopefully give it another go in a week or so.

Yep, I know where you're coming from John. The good thing is that with a bit of recuperation you know that you'll be stronger for your next attempt.

Yukon John · Post by **Yukon John** » May 13th, 2006, 1:31 am

Thanks Kirk! When I put the handle down (I wish I could say, put the hammer down

) I thought of how you picked it back up and still got a good time. I tried it too, but I'd already stopped too long and couldn't pick up the pace enough. Oh well, next time!

A big congrats to Mark Read!!!!! Who's been with us for a while on the Eh Team, but just started on the CTC, great time Mark.

danwho · Post by **danwho** » May 13th, 2006, 10:10 am

Brave attempt, John. I guess you pushed yourself harder than you could go that day. But, like you said, you're armed with information for next time, and you have plenty of time to try again before this month is over. I have never pushed myself to the point where I had to put the handle down. I felt like I wanted to, sometimes really wanted to, but I always stayed shy of the point where I did. But maybe it's a good thing to sometimes push yourself to that point. Sort of like if you're not willing to occasionally confront the fear of getting to that point, you will always be controlled by the fear of reaching that point. I don't know. Too esoteric for me.

Congratulations, Mark. Great time.

Brigitte, I would say I'm about 90-95% pain free. The last vestiges of discomfort may have nothing at all to do with rowing, and it hasn't been enough for me to want to do something about. The last little bit seems to be in my right hand only and I think it might be just a touch of carpal tunnel - which I didn't have before - but maybe I just irritated things enough to be a little susceptible to that too. The New Grips caught my eye because they have no backing and I thought the free flow of air would be good. I found that I liked the cushioning effect of the neoprene padding. And I credit that for my recovery when the discomfort started to be too much. But I really didn't care much for the wrist strap, except that it had a velcro tab to help keep the hand pad in place. When it was all over, I think I would have preferred just having a neoprene sleeve of about the same thickness that I could put over the handle when I wanted to.
I don't remember if I had problems deciding on the size to get. I just checked their FAQ site and saw a reference to a Size Chart but it was an unresolved link.
I also remember seeing a chart showing slightly different ways to wear them (http://www.newgrip.com/21ways_to_wear.html). Their suggested rowing grip has the pinky outside the strap. I exchanged some emails with them (because I wasn't quite happy about the wrist strap) and I asked about that suggested grip for rowing. They suggest that grip for rowing to make sure that more padding coverage is allowed for the thumb area. But, for me, that suggested grip is what allowed me to see that I could eliminate discomfort I would sometimes feel in the outside edge of my hand if I didn't always pull with my pinky finger engaged.
Good luck with whatever you do.

Francois · Post by **Francois** » May 13th, 2006, 11:00 am

Yukon John wrote: Starting out at a 1:51 pace for the first 1000 helped. I settled into 1:50 after that. Unfortunately, I started increasing my pace with about 1200 metres to go. Big mistake there. When I got to 700 metres left I was on pace to break 18:20, but I imploded and stopped. I feel a bit bummed right now, I don't like quitting. But I'll try to learn from this and hopefully give it another go in a week or so.

I Know how you feel John! I remember attempting to break 37min on the 10K. After 5k, which I did in 18:30, I stopped. There was no way I would have been able to keep that pace for another 5K.
I am curious about what pace were you able to achieve at the 3800m mark. Did you also change your stroke rate?
The increase in pace and stroke rate should be gentle and gradual, otherwise, there is a sharp increase in lactic acid, and since one is already at threshold, it overloads your system. Also, one should not get too excited when there is only 1000m to go. One needs to keep the emotions under control. What you definitely don't want at that stage is an adrenaline rush, since within a minute, your arms and legs are going to feel very heavy and you won't be able to maintain the pace.
What I would suggest is to focus on your training for the next two weeks and do a 5k attempt near the end of the month, after two or three easy days.

Have a nice weekend!

Francois

Yukon John · Post by **Yukon John** » May 13th, 2006, 12:05 pm

I Know how you feel John! I remember attempting to break 37min on the 10K. After 5k, which I did in 18:30, I stopped. There was no way I would have been able to keep that pace for another 5K.
I am curious about what pace were you able to achieve at the 3800m mark. Did you also change your stroke rate?
The increase in pace and stroke rate should be gentle and gradual, otherwise, there is a sharp increase in lactic acid, and since one is already at threshold, it overloads your system. Also, one should not get too excited when there is only 1000m to go. One needs to keep the emotions under control. What you definitely don't want at that stage is an adrenaline rush, since within a minute, your arms and legs are going to feel very heavy and you won't be able to maintain the pace.
What I would suggest is to focus on your training for the next two weeks and do a 5k attempt near the end of the month, after two or three easy days.

Have a nice weekend!

Francois

Good advice again Francois, thanks!
My pace at 1200 left was at 1:49.9, but my stroke rate did climb at that point to 31 s/m. I'll have to see when to try it again. It might be good to wait till near the end of the month for the next (Last!) attempt. I'm going to do a 33k cycling time trial on Wednesday and my focus for speed will be on cycling until the end of June. But I'm still planning on trying to keep up on the metres. I'm planning on throwing in some short speed work to work on some strength and to attempt not to lose much conditioning for rowing.

ulu · Post by **ulu** » May 13th, 2006, 3:49 pm

A hearty Eh!Team welcome to Helmut Parakenings of La Salle, Ontario.

We have now turned the corner at Karachi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karachi Karachi has over 12 million people and is one of the largest cities in the world.

John, I feel for you with your aborted attempt at the 5k. I have too many aborted attempts to list. It is only through these efforts that we learn and get better.

It's nice to see the 3rd Eh!Team boat filling up on the C2C. My racing rower recruitment is going slowly as they are off at a regatta today and I am sure they will not be all that keen on putting in 5k on an erg anytime soon. I will keep working on them for the C2C challenge. (High school kids, we need the youth!)

Keep on rowin', eh.

Jim

Yukon John · Post by **Yukon John** » May 14th, 2006, 9:25 pm

The nonathlon is up and running now. If you're not familiar with it, it's a great motivational tool. Here is the address for it; www.nonathlon.com
You need to register once you're there.

RR1 Kirk · Post by **RR1 Kirk** » May 14th, 2006, 10:13 pm

I've just been to the CTC site and whooa.

Francois Audet 17:47.8

Congrats Francois. You've given me even more belief that a lwt can get a GREAT time.

Well done!

Francois · Post by **Francois** » May 15th, 2006, 9:59 am

RR1 Kirk wrote:Congrats Francois. You've given me even more belief that a lwt can get a GREAT time.

Well done!

Thanks Kirk!

I was aiming for 17:58, and started at 1:48.5, than 1:47.6 and 1:47.4 for the 2nd and 3rd K. At that point, sub 17:55 looked feasible so I started to put the pedal to the metal: the 4th K was done at 1:46.2, and the last at 1:44.0

Not the ideal pacing but very close to the best I can do at this stage.

Yes, there is still life in an old LWT!

Cheers!

Francois