Free Spirits Rowing

Well, it had to happen sometime... March's Weight & Age Adjusted Rowing Challenge will be the same as the Concept 2 Challenge Series - 2000m.

The rules are simple:

• Row 2000m on a C2 rowing machine during the month of March and submit your time, current weight and current age either a) in public on this thread or b) in private to myself by private message.
• Current weight is a weight reading that was taken prior to the attempt, and no more than one week prior.
• You can submit as many attempts as you like, as long as they are always accompanied by your current weight and age (which may be different from earlier attempts).
• The deadline for submissions is Monday 1st April at 12pm GMT.
• Times will be adjusted according to the details found here: http://concept2.co.uk/rns/adjustment
• Points will be awarded based on adjusted times, actual times, and number of entrants. Adjusted times will be worth twice as many points as actual times. As an example, if ten members submit a time, the fastest actual time will score ten points, and the slowest one point. The fastest adjusted time will score twenty points, and the slowest two points.
• Points will be combined to determine the overall winner.
• A leaderboard will be posted regularly during the month-long challenge to let you see how you are faring, with a final leaderboard posted shortly after the challenge ends.
• Each Weight & Age Adjusted Rowing Challenge will be a standalone challenge, i.e. there will be no running total of monthly points.

Good call. I need to work on my 2k (currently don't have one ) and this will be a good motivation. I found with the 1k that having a few attempts at it allowed me to improve my time over the course of a few weeks so hopefully it will be the same with this.

I think we're all looking forward to seeing how you get on with your first 2km, millie!

Starting from this challenge, I'll incorporate a 15% 'bonus' for being female. There will now be just one, combined gender, leaderboard.

Might as well go first Alan:

07:48.3 2000 25 01:57.0 Age 66 Wt 102kg

Bill

Bill, in order to determine whether you are eligible for a 15% bonus, could you confirm your gender, please?

You did that on purpose Alan. You know I don't like this distance. At least it is shorter than the Classic distance, as if that is any consolation.

AlanS wrote:Bill, in order to determine whether you are eligible for a 15% bonus, could you confirm your gender, please?

Halfway through last year when I was feeling the effects of hormone treatment, I was beginning to have my doubts but back to normal now and definitely a bloke!

Bill

7:54.4 1:58.6 Age 42 Weight 80kg

Placeholder to give Bill some company on the board.

(Given that Mr Gould used to call me drama queen, can I get an honorary 7.5% bonus? )

My pennyworth :-

07:26.0 2000 26 01:51.5 Age 61 Wt 92kg

strider77 wrote:My pennyworth :-

07:26.0 2000 26 01:51.5 Age 61 Wt 92kg

Target! Target! Target!

Thanks for the early entries, chaps. Other Alan starts out in the lead:

Might as well log the first 2K Done right after 920m full power.

7:25.1 2000m 27spm HR166 @1:51.2 Cal/hr1174 Watt254

weight: 88.2
Age: 48

Couldn't hit Strider's time but it's coming:

07:29.9 2000 28 01:52.4
01:49.6 500 30 01:49.6
01:49.7 1000 29 01:49.7
02:02.8 1500 25 02:02.8 Stopped rowing twice in this split
01:47.8 2000 30 01:47.8

Still 66 and 102kg

Bill

billwright wrote:- Couldn't hit Strider's time but it's coming:

07:29.9 2000 28 01:52.4
01:49.6 500 30 01:49.6
01:49.7 1000 29 01:49.7
02:02.8 1500 25 02:02.8 Stopped rowing twice in this split
01:47.8 2000 30 01:47.8

Still 66 and 102kg

Bill

Nice try Bill-I can see you were on for sub 7:20 when the Hds hit-you will crack it soon

First go at this today - was a 95% TT to get used to the distance and what it feels like - so hopefully that means there is more to come Aiming to do a 2k once a week through March, so I won't update my signature until the end of March as I'm hoping to get faster

Total: 7:39.2 @ 30spm, average pace 1:54.8
Weight 65.6kg

Brilliant job MIllie =D>

Do you get the 2k cough after an all out 2k ?

I had my second go last night gym was not too busy so conditions were good, the small shoots of recovery are appearing, still a good 11 secs off BIRC pace and 15.5 secs slower than early March last year

7:13.5-1:48.3-30 The PM generously rounded it DOWN by 0.1 sec

1:47.9-28
1:49.2-29
1:48.6-30
1:47.9-33

61 years old
91.5kg

Very nice result Strider =D> =D> =D>

Also a great job from Amanda who's time can be adjusted to 6:40 =D> =D> =D>

Great stuff Millie and well done Alan =D> =D> . Just steady on Alan. I thought that I was within striking distance, you pull away again

Bill

Good effort strider =D> =D> (although I reckon you were robbed by the PM )
And thanks Bill - and well done on your effort, very impressed with your time given the stoppage!

strider77 wrote:Do you get the 2k cough after an all out 2k ?

I haven't heard of the 2k cough... We get 'Penrith cough' over here as most of the regattas are out at the Sydney Olympic regatta centre (at Penrith) and we all seem to get a bit of a sore throat / cough after racing 3 or 4 events over the day (and it's often windy out there too).. Looking forward to the 2k cough - my effort this morning wasn't flat out, so maybe that's why I didn't get it... Planning to do another couple of 95%/97.5% attempts to get more used to the distance and then I'll go for a full out assault!

Shang-Chi wrote:Also a great job from Amanda who's time can be adjusted to 6:40

I just wish that the weight and age adjustment for this challenge could be done in real time via the PM, so that somehow, magically, I only actually need to row for 6:40 as opposed to 7:40 Not having to row for that last minute on a 2k would be great!

Millie - great effort, and you need to revise your sig!

Alan, well done, especially for having a second go (and with such a big improvement).

Bill - I'm sure a much better time is coming from you - good luck when you go for it.

And Alan S - hope your cold is gone soon, and you can light up the board too.

I remember the sound of the 2k cough echoing round the venue at BIRC from the times I went. I was doing a fairly spectacular 2.5k wheeze recently, and suspect I'll sound similarly near death if/when I try this 2k flat out.

You make a good point about the relative distance, BTW. Rowing as hard as you can for 8 minutes, is, by definition harder (and requires a slower pace) than rowing as hard as you can for 6 minutes. I realised this when racing Graham Benton on many occasions - and there is also the psychological damage it does to hear him finishing his race, when you still have ~300m on your display! At least it used to mean that Nigel 'the man with the Mic' had got his breath back by the time I got to the finish

A few updates since the last leaderboard, and a first for the 15% 'female' bonus. Puts millie straight in at #2. Will she aim for #1 later in the month? I don't think she could resist the challenge!

AlanS wrote:A few updates since the last leaderboard, and a first for the 15% 'female' bonus. Puts millie straight in at #2. Will she aim for #1 later in the month? I don't think she could resist the challenge!

Hmm - looks a bit fast with the 15% bonus? Maybe I should be getting a 'penalty' for using slides??
Not that I'm complaining , and maybe this will encourage some other female Free Spirits to have a go at the challenge??

You are right, I am one to embrace challenges, and I will certainly be having another couple of attempts at the 2k - although I think I would have to improve by a lot more than I think I am capable of to knock Alan off the top! I will try though

3rd . attempt after a failed bold one . It's too early after the 2.5K and having done no training in between worth talking about. It would be strange if I was able to pull a sub 6:45 row at this moment. But I got a better time since last time and weighed less too.

Weight: 87.7 kg.
Age: 48

_7:03.8 2000m 29spm HR169 @1:45.9 Cal/hr1312 Watt294 3rd. attempt
Splits were:
_1:25.5 _400m 31spm HR159 @1:46.8 Cal/hr1286 Watt287
_1:25.5 _800m 29spm HR167 @1:46.8 Cal/hr1286 Watt287
_1:25.9 1200m 29spm HR170 @1:47.3 Cal/hr1273 Watt283
_1:25.1 1600m 28spm HR174 @1:46.3 Cal/hr1300 Watt291
_1:21.8 2000m 31spm HR178 @1:42.2 Cal/hr1426 Watt327

2cnd attempt for me and a much better session. I did it in the middle of a 5 x 10' 2'r session as a substitute. Target was 1:50 splits so fairly accurate

07:14.0 2000 29 01:48.5
01:49.9 500 29 01:49.9
01:49.3 1000 29 01:49.3
01:48.9 1500 30 01:48.9
01:45.9 2000 31 01:45.9 -ve split all the way.

Not a Season's Best - but very pleased

66 YO and 102 Kg

Bill

Good going Bill. =D> =D> =D> Do you think you will go sub 7 this time