Free Spirits Rowing

I had a bone to pick with my 30 minutes. SB was 7762m / 1:55.9 which had set in the october ctc. But a certain Mr. Wolfmiester had beaten me in this ctc with a very good 7788m. Yesterday I decided to try again and set myself three goals:

bronze: beat my old SB (7762m)
silver: beat Steve (7788m)
gold: go +7800m

Plan was to start around a second slower than SB pace for the first five minutes and then gradually get faster. This is how it went:

First five minutes went to plan and I could go quicker until I reached the half way mark. Minutes 15 to 25 were really tough and I had to slow down to 2:05 pace with five minutes to go. At this point I was down to an overall pace of 1:55.7, I needed another tenth of a second in pace to beat Steve's score. Thinking in one minute intervals now I could occasionally pull 1:54/1:53 and with three minutes to go I was down to 1:55.5, so the silver goal was in the bag. Three minutes left to work on the golden goal. With one minute to go the predicted finish showed "7800" for the first time which was a huge (and very welcome) motivational boost. One minute is about 30 strokes, so I simply counted down from 30, trying to keep the pace at 1:50 or below and finishing the last strokes on 1:38s. Really knackered afterwards but of course also very happy with an improvement by 51m and going +7800 again Thanks Steve for the target

You're doing some very impressive rowing at the moment Peter

Very strong again Peter!!

Decided to have a go at my very soft 10k SB(44:51) and incorporate an IRL row.
Strength is coming along nicely, my aerobic fitness is still abysmal!!

Tale of the tape :

10k
Time : 41:20.8
SPM : 24.0
DF : 222

Paul G

That’s a big reduction Paul

Paul, I know you have always rowed on high DF, but a 10k TT at 222? I just can't contemplate it! Still, a great improvement back faster than me as you should be!

That was a great row Paul, congratulations on a huge and well deserved SB!

JonT wrote: ↑Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:46 pm That’s a big reduction Paul

Thanks Jon, Iain, Peter - starting to feel a lot stronger - getting used to the medication and my ribcage has fully healed

Iain - WRT the "high" DF - I don't think that DF 220 is any harder or easier than, say, DF 120 - it just feels more comfortable for me - I need something to push against, and I appear to be incapable of accelerating an already fast-moving flywheel .
All my PB's from 5km to 50 km were set at DF 215-230 - I tend to use a lower DF on the shorter, sprintier stuff.

Paul G

Despite being very wary about sprinting I decided to try and garner a few Nonathlon points on probably my weakest score - the 1000m with a 3:46.6.

Set the DF lower, which in retrospect was a bad idea as I don't have the fitness to keep the rate high.
A fairly hard effort, but certainly not full out.

Tale of the tape -

Distance : 1000m
Time : 3:33.4
SPM : 31.2
DF : 185

Paul G

Great improvement Paul

paulgould wrote: ↑Sat Nov 28, 2020 4:28 pm Despite being very wary about sprinting I decided to try and garner a few Nonathlon points on probably my weakest score - the 1000m with a 3:46.6.

Set the DF lower, which in retrospect was a bad idea as I don't have the fitness to keep the rate high.
A fairly hard effort, but certainly not full out.

Tale of the tape -

Distance : 1000m
Time : 3:33.4
SPM : 31.2
DF : 185

Paul G

This season is looking very strong across the board Paul :-

Thanks Kevin and Jon

Paul G

Great row there Paul, you‘re having a great season, keep it up!

Did you row straplessly?

Thanks Peter
No, I strap in for the sprints - I prefer strapless but can only really do it efficiently up to about 27-28 spm.
I do like to lower the do for the sprints though, as I can’t turn over the heavier resistance at a high rate at the moment - I am getting stronger though

Paul G

Had a go at improving my SB for the HM - my weakest event this year - managed a 6:51 improvement which I am happy with :

Tale of the tape:

Distance : 21097m
Time : 1:31.31.4
SPM : 22.6
DF : 218
(Strapless)

Paul G

paulgould wrote: ↑Sat Dec 05, 2020 12:35 pm Had a go at improving my SB for the HM - my weakest event this year - managed a 6:51 improvement which I am happy with :

Tale of the tape:

Distance : 21097m
Time : 1:31.31.4
SPM : 22.6
DF : 218
(Strapless)

Paul G

Well done Paul 6:51 seems to be the number today

Very nice half marathon Paul, well done!

Kevinhorne44 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 05, 2020 1:55 pm

paulgould wrote: ↑Sat Dec 05, 2020 12:35 pm Had a go at improving my SB for the HM - my weakest event this year - managed a 6:51 improvement which I am happy with :

Tale of the tape:

Distance : 21097m
Time : 1:31.31.4
SPM : 22.6
DF : 218
(Strapless)

Paul G

Well done Paul 6:51 seems to be the number today

Thanks Kevin - yes I noticed that too!!

Thank you Peter

Paul G

I have a little weekend haul of

2K 6:51.2 and 500m 1:30.1

Nonathlon points galore too

Kevinhorne44 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 06, 2020 12:17 pm I have a little weekend haul of

2K 6:51.2 and 500m 1:30.1

Nonathlon points galore too

There’s nothing like a competition for a haul of “bests” and points

Kevinhorne44 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 06, 2020 12:17 pm I have a little weekend haul of

2K 6:51.2 and 500m 1:30.1

Nonathlon points galore too

Very nice Kevin - a good weekend's work

Emboldened by yesterday's HM where I surpassed my 1hr SB too(didn't record it as I only record 1 Nonathlon score per row), I had a proper go at my weak 1hr SB(13485m) during a 15km.

Tale of the tape :

Time : 1:00.00.0
Distance : 14008m
SPM : 22.2
DF : 215
(strapless)

Tired now - most rowing I have done in quite a while

Paul G

That‘s a very strong 2k SB Kevin, well below 7 minutes! What‘s your PB then?

Seems you had quite a busy weekend Paul All good meters for the holiday challenge and two well deserved SBs! And it also earned you the top spot in the Metanonathlon Might be difficult to defend that position next season though...

Grobi wrote: ↑Sun Dec 06, 2020 7:41 pm Seems you had quite a busy weekend Paul All good meters for the holiday challenge and two well deserved SBs! And it also earned you the top spot in the Metanonathlon Might be difficult to defend that position next season though...

Thanks Peter - I think the plan for next year's Metanonathlon will be to top 900 points and show improvement.

Paul G

Grobi wrote: ↑Sun Dec 06, 2020 7:41 pm That‘s a very strong 2k SB Kevin, well below 7 minutes! What‘s your PB then?

Hopefully Peter I can improve on both the 2K & 500m times a little more before May
I have no idea what my PB truly is. It's a long story but I started using a Concept back in 1988 a model B but I never bothered to keep any records of my time on the erg. Only record I have in an old training diary (remember them) Tues & Thurs 10k @ R20 sub 40 min. This was my low level cardio session.
I also remember after 3 pints of beer somebody saying I bet Kevin can better that time (1:27) for 500m I did a 1:25 never again !!

Just managed to take 1.4s off of my season/decade best.(More than 10yrs since I did erging, until Covid hit)

Down to 7:17.0 from 7:18.4 (which was actually an extrapolation from my 'Henley' ctc time) set in July.

Happy to be managing to take time off rather than just getting slower.

Crushy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 20, 2021 12:42 pm Just managed to take 1.4s off of my season/decade best.(More than 10yrs since I did erging, until Covid hit)

Down to 7:17.0 from 7:18.4 (which was actually an extrapolation from my 'Henley' ctc time) set in July.

Like you say - nice to get an improvement, especially at DB! Well done.