what training have free spirits been doing today?

[J-Dog]

First row for over a year. 4k in 20 mins at a hotel gym.

Daughter moving out, so will get a spare room back at home for the Model D at last!

PM3 on Model D at home has busted LCD and USB port, now, so PM5 needs buying, I think.

Howdy, everyone. I'm back!

JD

[Paul Victory]

Welcome back J-Dog. It's been quite a while.

[J-Dog]

Thanks, Paul.

Hopefully, I'll stick at it.

Getting fat and weak, so need to do something about it

[Claudius]

Hello,

on Friday 19.08. i made my first otw training since years in Celle, back to the roots, 15km in 1:25h with a single scull, i am happpy with that, one day later in Hannover 10km in a 2x, some little erging on sunday, today my 2nd attempt on the 400m sprint for ctc and 25min on erg in gym.

[J-Dog]

Thanks for the post. What a beautiful view.

J-Dog

[Caratacus]

Training has been very intermittent for me at the moment as I've been struggling with a sore lower back. This has more or less cleared up but having got out of the habit of going to the gym and into the habit of drinking lots of delicious beers in the evening my 'mojo' seems to have been lost a little so thought I'd better have a crack at redoing Sam's plan from earlier this year. Probably a bit faster than I should have gone but wanted to test myself a little to see how much fitness I'd lost but luckily felt pretty good! Hopefully this will get me back up to speed asap

[J-Dog]

Trying to get back into the swing after a few years away, building up cardio-respiratory capacity gently, so I don't blow a fuse.

My 'plan' is: every other day (roughly) do 30' or 5k or 6k, so I get about 30 mins of raised HR. That should build it back up without needing a de-fib kit.

Trying to keep the HR about 145 or 150, although it has crept up to 159 at the end of one session (!).

I used to run at 155 - 165 for a long time, but that was a few years ago, after lots of practice. Max HR was about 178, then.

Using the PM5 ergs down the gym is getting to be a bit of a 'mare. One has a foot strap that doesn't hold, one had the date set as 2014 which I didn't check before storing my session on a USB stick, one gets errors when you try and put a USB stick into it to record the session.

Yesterday I lost my complete 3k workout. No idea exactly what my time was, although I know it was slightly better than the 2:30 pace boat I'd set. Shouldn't matter at this stage, but still pretty annoyed by that. I just logged it as 2:30 exactly. Don't suppose it matters in the long run

Discovered the Nonathlon. Great idea. Meta-nonathlon even more so! Compare your age-adjusted times against previous years. Genius. Now I'm trying to fill in all the different distances to get a baseline down, and points up.

I was going to row 3k, then 2k, then 1k, then 500m yesterday, but after the PM5 threw away my 3k results I sulked and finished up on the treadmill.

What a baby. Nevermind.

J-Dog

[CamiCrew]

Good that you are getting back into it J-Dog. There's a PM5 thread buried here somewhere that would look familiar to you based on what you're experiencing.

Claudius what a beautiful waterway! 15km in 1h25 is a solid workout.

I did maybe 6k today (forgot speedcoach ) in a 2x, some steady state but also technical drills. I was with a wonderful coach who works "a half stroke back, " meaning, if there's an issue such as collapsing my form just before the catch, I was to adjust technique starting a half stroke before. So we worked on holding down the legs at the release, getting hands away, and setting the body position properly. All these nuances to adjust and learn even 8 years in...

Our mornings are getting darker. I would post the pic but attachments are giving me trouble.

Felton take care of that back.

[Jill]

Good girl Barbara - it was very heartening and instructive to read about the benefits that you gained from the training session with your wonderful coach.

Virtual high five.

Five ... Four ... Three ... Two ... One ... Smack

[Caratacus]

5x2k rate ladder was today's punishment, very tough in the last interval so hopefully will have done me some good!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[J-Dog]

Away on biz all week, so trying out hotel gyms instead of using my home or local gym C2.

Didn't work well today. Only rowing machine was a weird magnetic resistance thingy that was horribly lumpy to pull.

I done 750k on the C2 and once played away with a Water Rower for a while a few years ago. Both are smooth and what I imagine OTW rowing is like.

This was total pants.

I lasted about 30 secs and ran on the treadmill instead. Tried to keep my heartrate up for 30 mins.

So, no metres or time improvements, but hopefully a bit of cardio improvement that will help when I finally get to spend some time at home this weekend.

JD

[plummy]

I'm still struggling with my elbow (it's no better but no worse) so after pushing hard on Tuesday I decided (for once) to do something just nice and steady so opted for a steady 25 SPM @ 2.08 for 14000m. One of my worst OCD rows ever but my heartrate never went over 143BPM which was very refreshing.

[Paul Victory]

I did a grand total of 474 meters today. I had decided it was time to have a determined attempt at the CTC, now that I'm back in cooler climes.

So my plan was to do 5 minutes warm up at just under 2:00 pace and then go for it. Unfortunately, I was less then 2 minutes into my warm up when I heard a loud bang and the next time I pulled the handle, it came away from the chain, which has now disappeared into the housing.

I'm going to call C2 in the morning to order replacement parts and to see if it's something that I would be able to fit myself (I'm pretty useless at this sort of stuff ) or is there someone local I could employ to fit it for me.

Paul V

[Rob C]

Sounds like you don't know your own strength Paul

[Paul Victory]

Sounds like you don't know your own strength Paul

It's not the first time I've broken the erg, Rob! Maybe C2 should hire me as a tester?

[plummy]

Blimey - ruddy hooligan! Hope you get it fixed quickly (and can find a way in to retrieve the rest of the chain)

[CamiCrew]

That's brute strength Paul. Good thing you didn't fly back, and off!

I'd say get a professional if you can. Jack and I recently took apart 2 club Model Cs that had slipping chains. We (mostly Jack) replaced the sprocket, shaft & main bearings on both, among other cleanup. Plus installation of PM5 by me. The chains actually felt good, and the bungees were getting a bit flat but are not terribly old so we left those. Oiled them back up and they felt good on limited test runs. However I asked my coach to have the kids test them and the slippage is still happening. So, we haven't solved the problem. Next we'll need to ring up C2. We have new chains but they look like they will take some doing.

Today for me was a 10k on RowPro with a buddy from the GLRC. I don't generally push 10ks at time trial pace, and didn't today, so I was pleasantly surprised to clock in with a PB at a 2:07.3.

[plummy]

On a Facebook post by Paul Buchanan re this subject, it showed a video of changing the sprocket AND chain and very much recommended changing both at the same time as they tend to wear out as a "matched" pair meaning replacing just one part won't alleviate the issue as e.g. a new sprocket won't align its teeth exactly with the old chain.

The video was very useful!

[Paul Victory]

Thanks folks. I've had a number of emails back and forth with C2 and I'm going to take the erg apart to examine the sprocket before I order a new chain. There's not much difference in cost, so maybe I should just go the whole hog anyway, as plummy suggests. I think I'll look at the video first though, as I'm not the most mechanically gifted person you'll ever meet. It took me about half an hour to replace the cage after I cleaned the flywheel recently!

In my emails, I asked C2 if they had anyone based in Ireland (or knew of anyone) who services their machines. They said they didn't know of anyone and suggested I try googling it. I've tried that, but no luck so far - lots of places selling rowing machines, but nobody offering to service them. I think I'll ask the gym who they use and see if they will come out (assuming I'm unable to do it myself).

The good news is that Jennifer has got me a free seven day pass for her gym (of which I was formerly a member). I went up last night and had to listen to a sales spiel for about half an hour in order to get signed in for the week. My plan is to go up there as much as possible and try out some of the classes they offer (as well as using one of their ergs) in order to see whether it might be worth signing up for the year. Hopefully, I'll have my own erg back in action by the time the pass expires.

Paul V

[Paul Victory]

I've had a look at the video and I've decided to take the guys advice and I've ordered a new sprocket as well as the chain. There's a significant likelihood that I'm going to make a mess of fitting the new sprocket and chain, but the video at least gives me a fighting chance to getting it right.

I'll also ask in the gym for the name of the company/person that looks after their erg maintenance, so that I have a back up plan. If he/she/they are reasonably priced, I might just bite the bullet and get them to fit the chain and carry out a full service. It would be a lot cheaper than taking out a gym membership (I presume? [-o< ).

Off to the gym now to do some meters for the Fall Challenge.

Paul V

[plummy]

Heck Paul, maybe you could pay me to come over and we could tackle the job together? - it might be cheaper than your gym membership and I could do the whole trip in a day

[Grobi]

Had a busy week on the water: 12k on Tuesday, 13k yesterday and another 13k (in 1:05h) today, all in the quadruples. Had to take advantage of the gorgous weather

[Tako]

Just had my first go at the Autumn CTC with RowPro. Was nice to see that Free Spirits were in front after the session (up from 3). Feels good, so more to come Hope we can all keep FS on top of the table

[Paul Victory]

Heck Paul, maybe you could pay me to come over and we could tackle the job together? - it might be cheaper than your gym membership and I could do the whole trip in a day

If that's a serious offer, I might take you up on it. When are you available?

[plummy]

I can make myself available to suit to be honest. How much are flights at short notice?