Beginners

[Phil Lamb]

I am a beginner; have had my Model D 1 week. Have never rowed or been on a erg before. Did of few of the "First Workouts" on the C2 website. Today I began with the 24 week, Beginner Pete Plan. Thus my first 5000m.

60F 5'5" 34:07.5

Having a plan is the key to reaping the many benefits that frequent use generates, you will get the demons on your shoulder giving you spurious reasons to shorten or not do the planned pieces! Stay with the plan and read the forum for very useful tips on what to do and what not to do. But don't forget you are supposed to enjoy it!

Good luck
Phil

[nervtoeter]

Great row Cowboygrrl, as Phil wrote follow a plan, and sometimes if it's difficult take a easy row but take one and if it's only 20min with a low heart rate, the start is always challenging, on the other hand you will see great improvements.
I improved my 30min from 6145 to 7192m in 3 months. Keep motivation up, and find the right distance, some of us loving short distances other long distances. The crazy one the love every distance

[cowboygrrl]

When people talk about pace, are they talking about strokes per minute or a split? Like the time for a 500m? A sticky of abbreviations would be great in the Beginner's thread.

[Paul Victory]

If people are talking about pace, it's generally always about pace per 500m rather than SPM.

[cowboygrrl]

Trying to figure out the abbreviations of the PB image. What does LP, SB, and SBvsPB power mean?

[Rodger]

Trying to figure out the abbreviations of the PB image. What does LP, SB, and SBvsPB power mean?

LP= Low Pull. Basically the lowest split (fastest) you can get the monitor to show. Although I believe there are different views on what is acceptable to get that low split.

SB=Season's Best. A season runs from 1 May to 30 April. As opposed to PB=personal (all-time) best.

SBvsPB power= the average Watts of the SB piece/distance compared (as a percentage) to that of your PB. The erg calculates Watts (power) and 'translates' this into pace per 500m, which is more commonly used in training notes and such. Especially useful for people that are pulling the handle for some considerable time now.

[cowboygrrl]

Does your avatar display on your posts only after so many posts on the forum?

[Paul Victory]

Does your avatar display on your posts only after so many posts on the forum?

I don't think so. I think it's a question of editing your profile, but it's so long ago that I did it that I can't remember. I'm sure there are other members who will be able to give you chapter and verse.

[plummy]

Does your avatar display on your posts only after so many posts on the forum?

It should be immediate but you may need to refresh the page. The avatar picture has a fairly strict maximum size (which is pretty tiny - about 100 x 80 pixels If I recall)

[cowboygrrl]

I loaded an avatar, and if you click on my name (Kellie Stapleton) on the the Meterboard it shows up there, but not on the forum posts.

[Paul Victory]

I loaded an avatar, and if you click on my name (Kellie Stapleton) on the the Meterboard it shows up there, but not on the forum posts.

Hi Kellie

That's very strange. I had a look at the meter board and the same thing is happening with Markus, who joined earlier this year. Maybe one of our resident IT experts can throw some light on it.

Nice photo by the way.

[Peter_S]

I do not think it is due to the dog.

Seriously, I believe the meter board picture comes from your C2 logbook. Try adding the avatar picture you want to your Free Spirits profile. Hopefully that will work. [-o<

Peter

[cowboygrrl]

I do not think it is due to the dog.

Seriously, I believe the meter board picture comes from your C2 logbook. Try adding the avatar picture you want to your Free Spirits profile. Hopefully that will work. [-o<

Peter

Yes I did add to the FS profile.

[plummy]

Peter is right in that the metreboard photo ("This is me") is generated from your C2 US profile photo. It looks like that is all sorted for you as I can see your picture.
The forum post Avatar is from the Forum User Control Panel, Edit Profile, Edit Avatar. Looking at mine I think it can't be larger than 100 wide by 150 high and it won't re-size a picture that is too large to start with so you'll have to use something like http://www.resizepic.com - upload your picture, put in the size limits and download it back where you can then add it to your Free Spirits profile.

Plummy

[cowboygrrl]

Peter is right in that the metreboard photo ("This is me") is generated from your C2 US profile photo. It looks like that is all sorted for you as I can see your picture.
The forum post Avatar is from the Forum User Control Panel, Edit Profile, Edit Avatar. Looking at mine I think it can't be larger than 100 wide by 150 high and it won't re-size a picture that is too large to start with so you'll have to use something like http://www.resizepic.com - upload your picture, put in the size limits and download it back where you can then add it to your Free Spirits profile.

Plummy

Resized with website you suggested and went into my profile, add avatar; still won't take it.

[Peter_S]

Are you getting any error messages when you try to load the avatar file?

After trying to put pictures into forum responses, I recently saw a error message in red at the top of the page, after the third try.

Maybe I am just rationalizing, but I thought it was in an obscure location. I now try to scroll around the page before I get too frustrated. If this is totally irrelevant to your problem, please excuse me. I will probably make a future error that may be helpful!

Peter

[cowboygrrl]

Negative split?

[plummy]

Negative split?

I think it would be a good idea to have a "Sticky" thread with all the terminology and abbreviations explained for beginners and new starters. It's very easy to forget that we all knew very little when we started out and have, over the years become accustomed to the jargon. I'll have a look at doing this later...

Negative Split.....
Most rows of a given distance or a given time are split up by default by the Performance Monitor (PM) or can be changed to personal preference by the rower. Let's say we are doing 5km and want to split this into 5 x 1km pieces so we can see what time we covered each 1km section.
At the end of the row, you can look back on the PM and see how quickly you covered each one. If every one is faster than the last, this is known as negative splitting (going faster on each subsequent 1km than the one before).
For example
Split 1) 4:00 for the first 1km ( = 2:00 per 500m pace)
Split 2) 3:56 for the second km ( = 1:58 per 500m pace)
Split 3) 3:54 for the third km ( = 1:57 per 500m pace)
.....and so one

PosItive Split...
Usually an indication that you've gone out too fast (not always as it could have been the plan from the start) and with each subsequent portion (split) of the row, you are going slower than the one before. These can lead to the never wanted "HD Demons" appearing - or Handle Down Demons (persuasive little mind thoughts that tell you to stop rowing to make the pain go away)

[Grobi]

Hi Kellie,

there are three limits for the avatar:

width: 100 pixels
height: 150 pixels
size: 10kb

Your C2 foto fulfills the first two, but not the size limit as it's 46.8kb big. Resize it down to 10kb and it should show up in your signature immediately.

[cowboygrrl]

"I think it would be a good idea to have a "Sticky" thread with all the terminology and abbreviations explained for beginners and new starters. It's very easy to forget that we all knew very little when we started out and have, over the years become accustomed to the jargon. I'll have a look at doing this later…" -Plummy

Yes, I suggested this awhile back in the Beginner Thread. Thanks for your explanation.

[cowboygrrl]

Hi Kellie,

there are three limits for the avatar:

width: 100 pixels
height: 150 pixels
size: 10kb

Your C2 foto fulfills the first two, but not the size limit as it's 46.8kb big. Resize it down to 10kb and it should show up in your signature immediately.

Don't know how to change the pixel size……...

[Grobi]

I resized it a bit and saved it as gif. It's now 9kb big. Please try this one:

rn992277.gif

[Rob C]

Although I've had my Concept 2 for a number of years, it's mostly gathered dust. Judging by many of the stats posted to the board, compared to my own results, I have to consider myself a beginner. My results are improving, as this is the longest sustained period I've rowed, and my fitness must be improving. As at present I'm concentrating on rowing for weight loss, most of my pieces at more lengthy, typically looking at workouts of an hour and often more. Clearly I'm quite slow, so not generating anywhere near enough power, from my 24-26SPM, as anything below a 2:20 /500m is going to finish me off rather fast as the heart rate swiftly climbs above the 140 mark. But is slow and steady a good thing, or does that indicate a wasteful technique that means I'm not burning off the fat as efficiently as I could?

[Paul Victory]

Without seeing you row, I can't comment on your technique, but there are a number of instruction videos showing proper rowing technique and you should have a look at one of these.

Your rating of 24 to 26 SPM sounds about right, so the things to watch out for include breaking the arms too soon on the way back and not getting the handle back quickly enough on the return so that you have to go up over your knees and then back down again. But the video will cover all the common mistakes and eliminating one or more of these can lead to significant improvements in your times.

[plummy]

I'm not best qualified to comment as I don't delve into the science too much but I think the 140BPM measurement means little unless you know what your MAX heartrate is. If your max is say, 180, then 140 isn't working too hard and in fact would be a good rate for fat burning on longer rows but you would have to sustain it.
I would agree that long slower rows are better for fat burning as you need to be rowing for 30 mins+ before you get to the fat burning stage (I think it's mostly glycogen before that).
Mixing up sessions as also useful, not only because it breaks up the monotony of long,slow steady rows but can also force your body to react to different stimulus you put on it so an interval set every now and again won't go amiss
Technique - if you are feeling brave, you are welcome to video yourself (side on) and post here via YouTube etc for a critique. Yes, it's scary as hell but no one bites here and will only offer sound advice and tips for improvement