Free Spirits Rowing

Hi everybody,

team Tokyrow has decided on the ctc for July. In honour of the cancelled Henley Royal Regatta it is 2112m (the length of the course), standing start.

That should be even a bit more fun than a simple 2k

Looks like a nice short one for me to get back into rowing. I will give this a few goes

Stan wrote: ↑Mon Jun 29, 2020 7:50 pm Looks like a nice short one for me to get back into rowing. I will give this a few goes

...and you can interpolate for three Nonathlon scores Stan

Welcome back Stan. Good to see you and Paul back rowing again.
I just got back to the row erg myself last week after 6 or 7 weeks off with an injury that wouldn't allow me to compress to the catch position.

Was targeting 1:50 on this with some thought a 1:49 pace was possible.

500m 1:48.2 / 30
1000m 1:49.8 / 30
1500m 1:50.4 / 29
2000m 1:48.4 / 29
2112m 1:42.2 / 31
finish 7:39.7 1:48.8

Feel like I paced it well. I was really struggling to breathe at the end but legs still felt fresh.

Well done Joe and a nice sprint finish. I'm also coming back from a few weeks off and my plan is to try this once a week starting at 1:50 and taking 1 second off the pace each week with the ultimate aim of going 7:30 @1:46.5.

But now I'm going to have to try really hard not to listen to the demon on my shoulder saying 1:48.8

It takes so much effort to build fitness and then it disappears so quickly! Surprised by the HR which is 91% of maximum. 7:43.6 @1:49.7

Great score Joe and a strong finish sprint, there's more to come in your next attempt

Max, you say you lost fitness, but your even pacing makes it look easy. Are you sticking to your plan of going one second faster in pace every week?

I had my first go at this last night. I haven't been erging much lately (but a lot of otw rowing instead), so I had no idea where I was fitness wise. My plan was to start off around 2k SB pace (1:51.9) and then see if I can get quicker during the row. This is how it went:

I think I got the pacing right, pretty even for the first 1500m and not too much left for a finish sprint. And the prorated 2k time gave me another shiny 13 nonathlon points

I put a marker down last night (undoubtedly for JonT to chase down). As my 2k SB was at 1:54.2 pace I figured I should be somewhere around the 1:55 pace and managed 1:54.8. If I could pull the overall time down to sub 8 mins it'd probably be a new SB - and therefore by default actually a 2 year SB - so I might actually have another go at this...Jon...

plummy wrote: ↑Fri Jul 03, 2020 4:08 pm I put a marker down last night (undoubtedly for JonT to chase down). As my 2k SB was at 1:54.2 pace I figured I should be somewhere around the 1:55 pace and managed 1:54.8. If I could pull the overall time down to sub 8 mins it'd probably be a new SB - and therefore by default actually a 2 year SB - so I might actually have another go at this...Jon...

Challenge accepted and appreciated Mr P.

I was going to have a crack at this today, but I've been really enjoying my slow-rating, UT2 rows lately and what started out as a warm up ended up as 45 mins in UT2. I haven't done much in the way of 2k rows for quite a while so I don't really know what to expect. Watch this space.

Will try to give this a go tomorrow.
A bit sad as I should have been at HRR.[Signalling not rowing ]

MaxMacLaren1 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 02, 2020 7:32 pm It takes so much effort to build fitness and then it disappears so quickly!

I once had a running coach who would freak out if I took more than 1 rest day. De-training starts quickly. They say for every week off it takes 2 week to get it back. At our age it takes longer.

While I was off the rower I was biking and running everyday. That maintained my core fitness but my core is very weak. That is probably why I had a hard time with breathing.

plummy wrote: ↑Fri Jul 03, 2020 4:08 pm I put a marker down last night (undoubtedly for JonT to chase down). As my 2k SB was at 1:54.2 pace I figured I should be somewhere around the 1:55 pace and managed 1:54.8. If I could pull the overall time down to sub 8 mins it'd probably be a new SB - and therefore by default actually a 2 year SB - so I might actually have another go at this...Jon...

I did this today. Last year's Nonathlon for 2k was at 1:53 so that was the target on the basis it would give Iain and Plummy something to chase down over the month.

I ended up at a pace of 1:51.6 which is very, very close to my 2k PB pace of 1:51.0!. I did the second 500 at 1:54 for some reason (mainly fear ), so perhaps a crack at the 2k PB is on the cards at some point.

Your target is 7:51.8 fellas.

Jon

OK, didn't manage yesterday, weather not good.
Today a bit better but still a blustery erg.
Tried to sit at 1:50 , .1s/500 outside my SB for 2k.
Ist 500 OK.
2nd 500 mentally tough, it hurt, dropped a bit behind schedule.
3rd 500 hanging in, managed to pull back to target.
4th 500 getting there, still hurting.
Started pushing approx. 300 from home.
OW, OW, OW, That wasn't nice.
Managed to take .3s/500 off of my 2k SB split. 7:43.2.
Gives me an interpolated 2k SB of 7:18.4 and a couple more Nonathalon points.

Crushy wrote: ↑Sun Jul 05, 2020 4:53 pm Gives me an interpolated 2k SB of 7:18.4 and a couple more Nonathalon points.

Well done Crushy (at some point you should tell us your name!). Nice effort to keep going and push at the end. I fell a 2k SB coming along very soon

Peter, I'm certainly planning on doing 4 attempts.

Joe, I think I also lost more core strength than legs / arms. Not helped by adding a couple of kilos in weight.

For today's attempt I listened to the parrot on my shoulder squawking 1:48.8, 1:48.8. So a quick start and then settled at 1:49 for 7:38.4 @1:48.5. HR stayed surprisingly stable.

Well done Max I'm sure you will continue to improve this month.

I participated in the BikeErg World sprints today. Starting to get in some regular training on the rower too. Next week I will take another crack at ctc ..need to keep working on breathing I think that will help some.

My first and probably only attempt this month. Going on holiday next Sunday, the gym opened up again, we've started on water again as well, so there's a lot less erging going on at the moment.
Had no idea what the others had rowed before I started, had seen the posts but hadn't remembered the scores. Turns out I'm less then a second faster then Max but no doubt that's only temporarily.
My goal was my 2K pace from the heptathlon. The first split felt way too easy, went a little slower in the middle section. Usually in the end I am able to sprint a bit. This time absolutely not. The last couple of hundred meters were very tough. I noticed my 2K time was faster then last month, and was happy to be able to maintain that speed in the last 112 meters.
Finished in 7:37.6, interpolated to 7:13.2 for the 2K, five more nonathlon points.

Had my one and only attempt at this, haven't done a serious standalone 2k or thereabouts since 2011, so full of trepidation. Saw Plummy's 8:05 and estimated that this was (just) beyond me. Idea was to start fast, hold 1:57 to 1400m then count 60 hard strokes before a frantic sprint. Result:

Time Distnc Rate Split
00:45.3 200 30 01:53.2 - wow, need to reign this in
00:46.5 200 28 01:56.3 - keep banking as expect to weaken & slow
00:46.5 200 28 01:56.3 - still strong
00:46.3 200 30 01:55.7 - OK so need to up rate, but good rhythm
00:46.1 200 30 01:55.3 - nearly half way, maybe I can hold this
00:46.2 200 30 01:55.5 - still good
00:46.1 200 30 01:55.3 - really pleased
00:45.6 200 30 01:54.0 - surprised extra power
00:45.5 200 32 01:53.8 - uping rating
00:44.9 200 32 01:52.3 - slowing before sprint
00:24.1 112 40 01:47.6 - legs went but maintained on arms and legs
08:03.1 2112 30.6 1:54.4 - 3S better than targetted, sorry Plummy, equal top Nonathlon score for 2k breaking 7700.

Sorry about number of splits, wanted to see what happened in finish. Plummy, your new target, that is my one & only go!

Joe, Congratulations, 10th in the BikeErg World Sprints

Fred and Iain, Great rowing!

3rd attempt today and the 1:47 plan went right out of the window (in a good way). My erg has been jumping badly when I try a fast start so I moved the mat to see if that would help (there are big dents where the feet rest). It did, the erg hardly moved so I got off to a flyer. Eventually I slowed down for the middle 1,000m but then thought I'm feeling fine so increased the power a little. Pleased with the fourth 500m at 1:45.0 and overall 7:27.6 @1:45.9. The only downside is that I'm now wondering if I could squeeze another couple of attempts in with the aim of hitting 1:45.0

Haha, I'm sure you can, Max. Great result already.

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WOW, nice work Max.

Need some ladies to take up the challenge, two more boats to float.

MaxMacLaren1 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 15, 2020 5:39 pm Joe, Congratulations, 10th in the BikeErg World Sprints

Happy someone was watching Reminds me of my slide down the ctc

Awesome improvement there Max!! I am finally getting in some good training on c2 rower but that's a tough bar you set.

That‘s a serious improvement Max, and your heart rate makes it look easy! No way you won‘t beat a 1:45 pace in your next attempt.

Nice flat pacing there Fred, that must have hurt towards the end! Have fun with rowing otw!

I have been doing mostly otw rowing recently but nevertheless had two attempts already at this ctc (basically my only erging this month). Today it was time for my third go and this is how it went:

Plan was to stay around 1:48 pace for as long as possible. With 600m to go I could feel my legs slowly saying goodbye. Another 300m later they repeated their request but the brain decided to ignore them Last 300m were quite ugly but I‘m more than happy with the end result, despite the jelly legs and the erg coughing afterwards. As a little bonus my prorated 2k time earned me another nine nonathlon points.

Done, just scraped through the 2k under 8min (7.59.7). Happy with that go even though HR said there was more, the legs said no. Not my best 2k by quite a few seconds but since there has been no rest days leading in, it's good.

Overall 8.26.2