October CTC: 10k unrestricted

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gregsmith01748
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Re: October CTC: 10k unrestricted

Post by gregsmith01748 »

Hi Y'all!

I have returned to my landlocked state, having completed a completely lackluster OTW season. Most of my racing this year was in a double, which taught me a valuable lesson: I prefer to row a single. But enough about that.

To get back in the groove I decided to get a late entry into the October CTC. My training on the water has been focused on middle distance, since the fall season races are all about 6km long (which is like 7km on the erg), so I figured I would be able to push a little bit. I haven't spent much time on the erg though, so I wasn't really sure. My all time best was a 36:33 (1:49.6 pace), which was in 2014 after a couple of months of concentrated erg training. I set a target of 1:52.

I was able to hold a split between 1:50 and 1:51 for the first half of the row, then things got a bit more difficult. I was worried about blowing up, so I bled off a bit of speed and tried to keep the rate up. I watched the average pace creep up from 1:50.4 all the way to 1:51.6 over the span from 5000m to 9000m. At that point, I started to push a bit harder and I really dropped the hammer in the last 500m.

Final result: 37:08.1 (1:51.4) That puts me in boat 2 (yippee!) I'm pretty happy with the row.

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Greg - Age: 53 H: 182cm W: 88Kg (should be 83Kg)
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Re: October CTC: 10k unrestricted

Post by Kirstin »

Done! And super pleased with it. New PB. Previous best was 46:44.4 @ 2:20.2/500Image


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plummy
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Re: October CTC: 10k unrestricted

Post by plummy »

A couple of cracking last day efforts there. Well dones to Greg and especially Kirstin for monstering her previous PB into a gibbering wreck

=D> =D>
60 yrs old, 76kg, 5' 10"
43Mm metres rowed. Re-setting the bar much lower now. Getting too old for this malarky
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Jill
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Re: October CTC: 10k unrestricted

Post by Jill »

Well done Kirstin, that's an excellent PB. :D =D>

J-Dog, that's okay about being in the last boat - Jill and I have slipped over the side into Boat VII's dinghy, and we're coming across to keep you and Zoot company. :fssmile:

We're also the ones with the Fortnum and Mason's picnic hamper, ( delicious but low calorie comestibles of course ). 8)

MB :fsbgrin: :fswink:
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Re: October CTC: 10k unrestricted

Post by Stan »

Well I tried today. Absolutely awful time of 49:28.8, but at least it was completed
pb times
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Re: October CTC: 10k unrestricted

Post by plummy »

More than I did Stan - got to 5k @ 19:59.0 and knew there was no way I was going to hold that (let alone speed up to worry 39:44 which was my best effort) so stopped. Oddly I then reset for another steady 5k "cool down" and felt quite strong and controlled with a neg split down to 20:36.

You followed the rule that the time doesn't matter, just get those boats floated so well done for that.
60 yrs old, 76kg, 5' 10"
43Mm metres rowed. Re-setting the bar much lower now. Getting too old for this malarky
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Paul Victory
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Re: October CTC: 10k unrestricted

Post by Paul Victory »

Well done everyone and it's great to get 6 boats floated (although it's a bit annoying that we are short a LWT to float boat 7 and have 2 LWTs in boat 6). I decided to have one final attempt today, but knew it wasn't going to happen after just over 1k, so HDed and decided to have another go at the IRL instead. That lasted just under a minute! :oops: #-o

Had my lowest monthly total in a few years (just over 90k) and my lowest finish in the CTC since I started keeping a record of it just under 3 years ago. Hopefully, I'll manage to get back into some sort of shape over the next couple of months. I'm toying with the idea of doing the Crazy Bear challenge.
M 68 6'1" 124kg (May05), 92kg (Feb06), 122kg (Aug10), 95kg (Sep11), 117kg (Jun13), now 98kg
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Re: October CTC: 10k unrestricted

Post by Grobi »

Greg, very strong row, the otw seasons to have done no harm at all to your erging performance, well done! =D>

Very impressive PB there Kirstin, and in the perfect moment too =D>

Stan, I agree with Dave, thanks for helping float another boat, whatever the time! =D>

Attempt #8 for me tonight. I was quite happy with my set of SBs this month but after a weekend with absolutely NO sports but good eating and sleeping instead I thought: why not? The only problem was which goal I should set myself. I looked at the three SBs I was able to set and how the improvements (naturally) got smaller every time:

10/11: 39:55.9 -> SB by 24.9 seconds
10/18: 39:37.6 -> SB by 18.3 seconds -> improvement reduced by 6.6 seconds
10/27: 39:24.3 -> SB by 13.3 seconds -> improvement reduced by 5.0 seconds
10/31: ..................................... -> improvement reduced by 3.4 seconds?

So if that trend continued, could I expect an improvement of 13.3 - 3.4 = 9.9 seconds, resulting in a time of 39:14.4? Of course there was only one way to find out :twisted: and again I set myself three goals:

bronze: improve my current time of 39:24.3 / 1:58.2
silver: continue the "trend" with a 39:14.4
gold: anything better than that

I knew it was going to be hard so my plan was to stick around 1:58.2 pace for as long as possible (>8k) and then see how I feel. That's how it went:

_2k / 1:58.1 / 28 / 161
_4k / 1:57.9 / 27 / 167
_6k / 1:58.0 / 27 / 174
_8k / 1:57.9 / 27 / 180
10k / 1:56.5 / 28 / 184

Total: 39:14.4 / 1:57.7 / 27 (SB by 9.9 seconds)

So believe it or not but I hit the time calculated above by the tenth of a second :D The first 4k felt ok but I did not speed up and kept to my 1:58 pace stoically, knowing that it would get ugly sooner or later. Well, things got ugly with about 3k to go. That's too much energy invested already to call it a day, but too many meters to go to see the light at the end of the tunnel. So I just had to hang in there, hoping I'd be past 8k soon. When the leading "1" for the remaining meters appears it always gives me additional (and much needed today!) motivation, and it gets even better when that "1" turns into a "0" :lol: From now on it's looking at the next 250m, 750 to go, overall pace down to 1:58.0, next "stop" at 500 to go, from here on my "horizon" is reduced to the next 100m, counting strokes for every 100m, 200 to go now it's 23 big ones and I'm done! I couldn't believe I hit that calculated finishing time so precisely, so happy bunny time again! :D
Athletes row, others just play games

Peter

55y, 1,89m, 85kg

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plummy
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Re: October CTC: 10k unrestricted

Post by plummy »

Superb last effort Peter ^O^ ^O^ . I'm a happy bunny that you are a happy bunny (and most impressed you used the word "stoically" in your second language!)

From today it's a much shorter hurtbox experience. :shock:
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Jill
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Re: October CTC: 10k unrestricted

Post by Jill »

Thank you Davidc for coming to our rescue - as a Lightweight, pushing Boat VII back into the briny, must have taken some effort. Sterling work. :D =D>

I do apologise for making you shout several times across the water, for me to return to Boat VII :oops: - didn’t hear you at first above all the din, as the party was in full swing by then, aboard Boat VIII, with Zoot, Lee, Stan and J-Dog. Next time, I’ll ask Fortnum and Mason to include fewer bottles … :lol: :wink:

It’s a pity that we couldn’t have taken the boys with us … :(

:-k Mmmm ... However, they were talking about holding a Long John Silver lookalike competition and using the boat’s wooden planking to make the necessary props … #-o [-X :lol: :wink:

As a tribute to Jerome K. Jerome, Zoot is thinking about writing a book called:

Three Men In A Boat + 1 Extra + 4 Wooden Legs + 4 Crutches + 4 Stuffed Parrots. 8)

Stan had already produced the stuffed parrots … Let’s not go there! :shock: :lol: :wink:

“ Away, Me Hearties! “ :fsbgrin: :fswink:
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Re: October CTC: 10k unrestricted

Post by zootMutant »

Jill wrote:As a tribute to Jerome K. Jerome, Zoot is thinking about writing a book called:

Three Men In A Boat + 1 Extra + 4 Wooden Legs + 4 Crutches + 4 Stuffed Parrots. 8)

Stan had already produced the stuffed parrots … Let’s not go there! :shock: :lol: :wink:

“ Away, Me Hearties! “ :fsbgrin: :fswink:
You crack me up. :lol:

(coincidentally, I just read "Treasure Island" for the first time... 8) )
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Jill
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Re: October CTC: 10k unrestricted

Post by Jill »

Laugh away Zoot. :fsbgrin:

Glad that you enjoyed Treasure Island - I used to do one-to-one reading with adults and young people, and sadly, but not surprisingly, in most cases, they’d never heard of any of these classic stories or experienced the pleasures of being read them either. :(
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Re: October CTC: 10k unrestricted

Post by zootMutant »

Jill wrote:...or experienced the pleasures of being read them either. :(
That's disheartening. :cry:
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