August CTC - Free Spirits to choose challenge

[Rodger]

2k+5? (Grobi)
30 min-3? (Paul)
Can I add 5k+1?

[Paul Victory]

2k+5? (Grobi)
30 min-3? (Paul)
Can I add 5k+1?

I had suggested 5k as a benchmark on FaceBook, but someone pointed out that it's probably better to use a timed piece rather than a fixed distance for a benchmark because of differences in pace. If you think about it, someone rowing at 2:15 pace will do 2k in 9 minutes while someone rowing at 1:48 pace will do 2500m. It would be a lot tougher for the second rower to achieve 2k+5 pace as each interval would be 25% longer.

Having said that, I think my suggestion of 30 minutes - 3 might be a bit optimistic. -2 might be more realistic. I have found that Paul's Law is a reasonably good indicator of likely comparative speeds over different distances, although for me the adjustment for each doubling of the distance is 4.5 seconds rather than 5 seconds. I wonder is there a rule of thumb for converting intervals to an equivalent single time/distance. It would need to take the length of each interval, the length of the rest periods and the number of intervals into account. Or maybe just the total work time/distance and the total rest time?

[Caratacus]

Tried this today, was a bit too enthusiastic in the 1st interval

9:00.0 2502 1:47.9 29
9:00.0 2409 1:52.0 27
9:00.0 2347 1:55.0 26

27:00.0 7259 1:51.5 27

It's a good workout so will probably have quite a few goes at this and will hopefully go further with better pacing

[Paul Victory]

Tried this today, was a bit too enthusiastic in the 1st interval

9:00.0 2502 1:47.9 29
9:00.0 2409 1:52.0 27
9:00.0 2347 1:55.0 26

27:00.0 7259 1:51.5 27

It's a good workout so will probably have quite a few goes at this and will hopefully go further with better pacing

Nice session Felton, particularly considering that very fast first interval. You did well to keep going when you realised you'd overcooked the first 2500m.

We now have our first boat floated and we are currently in the bronze medal position. I know it won't last, but I'm going to enjoy my 15 minutes of fame.

August CTC.PNG (34.14 KiB) Viewed 1609 times

[strider77]

I tried this last night and overestimated my current interval fitness, the first rep felt OK but I semi-handled down on rep 2 and saw the predicted time go up to 1:59 before finding my intestinal fortitude picked up the handle again and brought it back a bit.

Final rep I started conservatively and managed a bit of a flourish so probably around where I thought I would be at 1:55 pace

9:00.0 2368 1:54.0 29
9:00.0 2318 1:56.4 30
9:00.0 2346 1:55.0 31

27:00.0 7031 1:55.2 30

[Paul Victory]

Well done Alan. =D> =D> =D>

This month's challenge is actually a lot tougher than I thought it was going to be. Kind of like the PP waterfall, but with shorter rests and no reduction in distance from one interval to the next. I always think that timed pieces are harder psychologically than fixed distances because rowing faster means rowing further while on a fixed distance rowing faster means finishing earlier.

Anyway, we now have two boats floated and we're only 5 days into the month. I know that an important part of our ethos is that we don't push people to do anything they don't want to do, but an email to all members from Cap'n Stan at some stage during the month reminding members this we set this month's challenge and encouraging participation might not go amiss.

Paul V

[strider77]

Cheers Paul, I have PM'd Cap'n Stan

[Rob C]

Cheers Paul, I have PM'd Cap'n Stan

Oh goody, more "spam" incoming

But since it is our challenge it would be good to see a high turnout, especially as it seems numbers drooped a little last month.

Now it's time to go home and summon up the energy to give this a go.

[Stan]

Message received guys.
I will get to work on a suitable spam message

[strider77]

Thanks Stan

[Caratacus]

2nd attempt today with much better pacing

9:00.0 2434 1:50.9 28
9:00.0 2436 1:50.8 28
9:00.0 2442 1:50.5 28

27:00.0 7311 1:50.7 27

An improvement of 52 meters

[Paul Victory]

Well done Felton. I also had a second attempt today and managed 70m improvement. Last time I managed a negative split. this time, I started much faster, but slowed down as I went along. My HR reached 172 at the end of the second interval and 177 (which I think is probably my max HR) at the end of the third interval.

Splits were as follows:

Time Distance Pace Rating Heart Rate
09:00.0 2424 1:51.39 31 165
18:00.0 2413 1:51.89 30 172
27:00.0 2388 1:53.07 29 177

27:00.0 7226 1:52.10 30 171

[Stan]

Message received guys.
I will get to work on a suitable spam message

Spam sent as requested. Again apologies to anyone who gets the message but has already posted a time.

[danfennell]

Had my 1st go at this. Based on some similar workouts I was hoping for 1:47, 1:47 and a bit faster last but this was all I had today.

Will definitely have another go (or 2) later in the month.

9:00 - 1:47.4 - 2512 - 29spm
9:00 - 1:48.0 - 2499 - 29spm
9:00 - 1:48.7 - 2483 - 29spm

27:00 - 1:48.0 - 7494 - 29spm

[Paul Victory]

Very impressive Dan!

[JonT]

Anyway, we now have two boats floated and we're only 5 days into the month. I know that an important part of our ethos is that we don't push people to do anything they don't want to do, but an email to all members from Cap'n Stan at some stage during the month reminding members this we set this month's challenge and encouraging participation might not go amiss.

Paul V

I'm still on enforced shore leave with the erg in storage. Hopefully we will be in the new house and I will be back rowing before the end of the month. With no rowing for weeks now I know I'm not going to set the world alight with my distance though

[gregsmith01748]

Hi!

I over slept this morning and so I missed my window for a row on the water. I was scheduled for a hard threshold workout, so I decided to do the August CTC for "fun". I did it at work, in socks, on slides. I was hoping to hold a 1:49 pace, but it was not to be. I faded a little in the second rep and fully committed all my reserves in the process. I had nothing left in the tank for the last rep which was a painful process of watching my pace slow down and my pulse shoot up.

I ended up with 7323m (1:50.6). I think with a bit better pacing and off the slides I might be able to get in a bit below 1:50.

This is a really good CTC! Simple, hard, and different enough that you have to try it a couple times to get it right.

Good job Free Spirits!

I manage to equal my highest ever recorded heart rate at the end of the third piece! As the folks in medicine say, I was feeling some discomfort at the time.



I did a 9' warmup and a 9 minute cooldown to sandwich the main effort. And before you say anything, I was careful to let the flywheel stop completely before the first rep of the challenge. 8|

[Recess]

Wow! Top effort Greg! 185 is a dizzy height to push to! And a good result too.

I'm feeling pangs of jealousy at all the results. Not near the erg at the moment as I have a cold, a 'twanged' shoulder and bizarrely, sitting I. Traffic yesterday, perfectly still, my back suddenly radiated pain across mid/upper. Figuring muscle spasm, but really sore. The kinda pain that makes you think you'll be sick.

Treatment wise, I decided I needed to relax. So drank half a bottle of champagne and a few Jack and cokes. Needless to say, it didn't help, and I felt rough this morning! Not good for a Monday night!

Anyway, hope to strap in again this weekend and put in a solid effort by the end of the month. On a more worrying note, I'm having motivation issues. Anyone fancy abusing / goading / cajoling me into getting some fire back, please aim and shoot!!!

John

[Liefcat]

I'm feeling pangs of jealousy at all the results. Not near the erg at the moment as I have a cold, a 'twanged' shoulder and bizarrely, sitting I. Traffic yesterday, perfectly still, my back suddenly radiated pain across mid/upper. Figuring muscle spasm, but really sore. The kinda pain that makes you think you'll be sick.

Treatment wise, I decided I needed to relax. So drank half a bottle of champagne and a few Jack and cokes. Needless to say, it didn't help, and I felt rough this morning! Not good for a Monday night!

Anyway, hope to strap in again this weekend and put in a solid effort by the end of the month. On a more worrying note, I'm having motivation issues. Anyone fancy abusing / goading / cajoling me into getting some fire back, please aim and shoot!!!

John

Risking David coming after us, I would say your back misses erging, John... Yes, you know your body´s responses very well, so when you say muscle smasm, it´s muscle spasm - thus it shouldn´t be something that prohibits you from erging entirely... Not sure that your "medical solution" was the right one, though...

Your all-round fitness level is very high, John, so your erging shouldn´t be seriously damaged by your taking a couple of days away from "her" - so just get on with it

[Rob C]

Next time I'm encouraged to say I want a CTC that is also a decent workout, someone please give me a good slapping/

Gave this a third attempt tonight and don't think I've got anymore in the tank now.
1st 9min 2227m 24spm 159HR 02:01.2/500
2nd 9min 2225m 24spm 164HR 02:01.3/500 (working hard at the end of this)
3rd 9min 2210m 24spm 168HR 02:02.1/500 (not happy HR peaked over 173 and I backed off rapidly about 4min to go to get some recovery)

For the time being I'm consolidated in our last floating boat III. Surely there are a lot more FS out there who are going to leave me in their wake?

[millie]

Stan's spam dragged me out the woodwork (or rather got me off my rowperfect and onto the concept 2 for a change!)
All I can say is I'm glad the club is only celebrating its 9th birthday

Total: 6651m av 2:01.7 25 spm
Although for some reason pace rounded down to 2:01.8 when I posted to the CTC page

2:02.3 24spm 165bpm
2:01.7 25spm 170bpm
2:01.1 27spm 174bpm

Lactate reading at the end was 8.8mmol/L courtesy of attempt at a sprint finish; thought it would be an AT session

Amanda

[plummy]

Tremendous effort Amanda =D> =D>

[strider77]

Wow well done Amanda and good to see you back =D>

[Grobi]

Very strong effort Amanda, well done! =D> =D> It's a good piece of training, isn't it? I hope you had a successful otw season btw.

[danfennell]

Took another shot at this today.

Last time (7494/1:48.1) I was well rested, it was a planned workout and it turned into a rather painful positive split affair. Yesterday I rowed an HM so this was a spur of the moment decision...??? This, on the other hand, was a painful negative split affair.

9:00 - 1:47.4 - 2513 - 29spm
9:00 - 1:47.3 - 2516 - 30spm
9:00 - 1:46.0 - 2546 - 31spm

27:00 - 1:46.9 - 7575 - 30spm

Kudos to all who have done this. =D> It's deceptively nasty. That last 9 minutes is an eternity!!!