Free Spirits Rowing

Great row Paul, you may have felt tired, but your work per stroke didn't deteriorate much at all. Next month you should hardly need to restrict yourself at all.

Iain wrote: ↑Mon Mar 29, 2021 7:58 pm Great row Paul, you may have felt tired, but your work per stroke didn't deteriorate much at all. Next month you should hardly need to restrict yourself at all.

Thanks Iain - I may have another go, at DF 250 or even 225, and see if there is much difference.
I can see myself having a good few efforts on next months CTC to try and find the optimum DF for a R20 row.
On the 30R20(600 strokes) I have so far tried DF 250, 300 and 350 with the distance recorded 7161m, 7122m and 7112m respectively - not a massive difference but my RPE was higher the heavier the drag.

Paul G

paulgould wrote: ↑Tue Mar 30, 2021 8:18 am I have so far tried DF 250, 300 and 350...

I don't think there is much that will help the rest of us here. I agonise over whether to use 130 or 120! I have known some people who use a lower drag for 30R20 so the flywheel doesn't slow too much, while others use higher to increase the time of the drive and allow more power at the end (as the flywheel will be slower). Intuitively I think the latter is probably optimum for most so long as they have the muscular endurance to last the piece, particularly as this is significantly shorter than a 30R20. Personally it will depend on how my back feels as I will not risk higher drag when experiencing back pain afterwards, but 135 would be my max!

The issue may be persuading our good ladies to do this one as anchor hauling is more of a male pursuit!

Iain wrote: ↑Tue Mar 30, 2021 3:12 pm

paulgould wrote: ↑Tue Mar 30, 2021 8:18 am I have so far tried DF 250, 300 and 350...

I don't think there is much that will help the rest of us here. I agonise over whether to use 130 or 120! I have known some people who use a lower drag for 30R20 so the flywheel doesn't slow too much, while others use higher to increase the time of the drive and allow more power at the end (as the flywheel will be slower). Intuitively I think the latter is probably optimum for most so long as they have the muscular endurance to last the piece, particularly as this is significantly shorter than a 30R20. Personally it will depend on how my back feels as I will not risk higher drag when experiencing back pain afterwards, but 135 would be my max!

The issue may be persuading our good ladies to do this one as anchor hauling is more of a male pursuit!

I think that regardless of the DF used, a restricted rate row unfortunately requires a degree of anchor-hauling, more so for those of us shorter in stature
Maybe using my 30R20 experimenting as an example wasn't that relevant to the forthcoming CTC, as 10 mins and 30 mins are completely different beasts.
My point was that a 30R20 was more difficult the higher the DF, but I agree with you that a higher drag on the 10 mins might be more beneficial, for the reasons you have stated.

Paul G

Well done all on some great results

I put in a couple of place markers early this month and was "looking forward" to a proper hard go as the month went on. Unfortunately, I must have started 3-4 early morning rowing sessions by putting in 6k and then baling out after anything from 1k to just after halfway.

Then I saw Cladius' great result and his reminder that its essentially a 5k with a bit more. That reminded me that right from the start, 5k is not supposed to be comfortable and so this morning I changed my mindset;

I set the splits at 1200m rather than 1000m - my technique has always been to take each row as a series of individual splits and I count strokes to the end of each and then start again. By using a 1200m split, I only had 5 intervals and not 6, which also helps because you don't end a split at the halfway point which is always a tempting time to HD!

So, having set the splits, I started a suitable playlist (I usually listen to podcasts but this was one for music), and off I went:

The Boss belting out "Born to Run" had me start a little faster than planned, but I settled back in the second split as The Script urged me to take my place in The Hall of Fame. As I began the third, Survivor reminded me to see the world as a tiger would before Eminem shouted at me to lose myself. With the end in sight, Rocky IV's War theme urged me to dig deep to get to a sub 22' finish

Final result - 6k - 21:59.4, 1:49.9, 25

So, thanks Claudius for reminding me that a 6k is just a 5k with a bit more

Mat - it always amazes me how easy it is for the mind to trick....the mind

Great row, Mat

yes indeed Mat, great row ! I am sure in Aprils challenge youĺl be ahead...with a stroke restriction @20/m i will be very slow.