The Last Marathon - a story to tell

[Claudius]

This is just a post about the last Marathon. Fell free to tell your Marathon storys here.
It was on St. Nicholas Day when I tackled the last marathon. It was in a abandoned place. There, where you can come to rest, write stories, I also set up a RowErg with a few stereo speakers. There was electricity. The heating wasn't working. 2°Celsius of heat in the room and let me tell you, that can be cold. The first hour breezed by and I was very happy. Then I got the intuition to row without a shirt. Despite the effort, my legs were a mixture of working warmth and freezing pain in the freezing cold. The breath of each breath floated through the noisy room, weaving gray haze with a single-minded focus on rowing TheThing home. Have I reached home. Let this be the end of our journey. I believe so. Quite unlike the marathon just over 2 years ago, the PB, the last 11 kilometers were marked by the agony of a shipwrecked Odyssey who may not recognize his own country when he arrives, rowing home in the freezing cold. Mission accomplished. Will he be welcomed home? This is OneThing the Odyssey is about. Homecoming and Hospitality in the outer world. Spiritual awakening in the inner world. Who would welcome a shipwrecked beggar, at the end of his journey, good for nothing? Who ? No man? Now that the mission is over. Lvl60/Lvl30 before the restructuring update - being complete, being One for a tiny moment? Did I lost everything for being free to do anyting? A free spirit! Who will welcome me home. Am I a king or a shipwrecked beggar? None of these, perhaps- because it is just a story. I love stories in which the protagonists are the anti-heroes who stand outside the norm and break existing rules. For me the Odyssey by Homer is the first Transgressive Fiction Story in western culture. Will I ever row a Marathon again? Will I ever play the game again? Was I ever addicted to playing our sport, being an endurance junkie gamer? Am I on withdrawal? It is just a story. So many Questions. I know that I know nothing. Welcome me Home!

[obirobsan]

That's a crazy freakin' pace for just shy of 3 hours. My hat's off to you. Amazing.

[zootMutant]

1:57 ==> 1:58 ==> 2:26 ==> 2:14 ==> 2:24 ... that looks really painful. Well done!

[Grobi]

Claudius, despite the hickup towards the end that's still a spectacularly fast marathon And rowed at an incredibly low heart rate

[Draggon]

Damn! Helluva row, sir!

[Claudius]

Thank you very much for your comments!
I have resumed the usual game. I never really had any "withdrawal symptoms", it's just that a big motivating factor was missing, I consciously thought about numerous political decisions - and in particular about drug use, addiction and its demarcation from attachment. The states merge into one another. Whereby an attachment to a motivating factor can be given a much more positive evaluation in contrast to addiction.

[Claudius]

It's been a while since I've written anything. I had a "traumatic" marathon experience on St. Nicholas Day. Joking aside. That was also a fascinating experience. Yesterday was leap year day. On St. Nicholas Eve I said to myself: Never again marathon, like never again alcohol. We're all experts when it comes to C2 abuse, aren't we? So yesterday was also marathon day. Nice idea, I think, to row a marathon on February 29.
Specs:
RealWorld: C2Rower D on Slides PM5 DF122, 1 fan, wide open window 5° Celsius, 2.5 liters to drink, 2 EnergyGels
VirtualWorld: CanyonTTBike with LightwightMeilenstein wheels, MegaBrezen route, intensity according to the gradient of the route, pr time for the route- same route as my pb Marathon. Different approach - bike and strategy

I am very satisfied. Even if it's only my 2nd best result, I spent a lot more time on the machine 2-3 years ago.

[Iain]

Wow. Must be gutted to fall seconds short of your PB. Insane ratings and bursts (presumably the "hills"). Huge improvement in a year. I am contemplating an ultra of some sort in a year's time, nice to see what is possible although I have far more room for improvement as currently the pace I would need to go on an HM might not generate enough power to keep the machine ticking over!

Great to hear from you again.

- Iain

[Iain]

Wow. Must be gutted to fall seconds short of your PB. Insane ratings and bursts (presumably the "hills"). Huge improvement in a year. I am contemplating an ultra of some sort in a year's time, nice to see what is possible although I have far more room for improvement as currently the pace I would need to go on an HM might not generate enough power to keep the machine ticking over!

Great to hear from you again.

- Iain

[Wolfmiester]

Brilliant Claudius.
Can't imagine why you'd want to add "hills" to any sort of distance row though

[Claudius]

Thank you for your answers. Yes, the climbs on a route can be perfectly combined with intensity. March 27 was my last shift. My last duty in a hospital. And I wanted to row a marathon and “DNFed” for the first time in a marathon. Yesterday the powers that be were more generous - and everything worked out wonderfully. Intermediate sprints in the bends of AdZ. An excellent workout. It was fun.

2:46:44.1 1:58.5
TIME PACE

[Iain]

Amazing FM, can't imagine putting in sprints around halfway?!

[Claudius]

Amazing FM, can't imagine putting in sprints around halfway?!

Oh Yesss!!! This makes it really fun. Performance on the other hand will be slightly less than a good straight paced FM - but that's too boring - if there's an opportunity to treat this machine like a road bike - grasp it, it's yours

And another FM in the house. The season kick-off and C2's well-intentioned marathon challenge tipped the scales in favor of this being the shortest gap between two "quite good", exhausting marathons - although neither were an all out timetrial effort. Just due to the aforementioned splashes of sprints/climbing performances- incredible timetrials. The two highest hr and power peaks are right where the dinosaurs have found their new home: namely, where the Titans, Prometheus too, groove.

[Iain]

Amazing performance Claudius, can't imagine doing another myself until next season. How you keep rating above 30 for so long is astounding.

[Claudius]

This last marathon was almost as paced as my first. Pace around 2:07/500m. Obviously a failed OCD. I can live with that kind of failure very well. Heart rate is still a little higher than usual - I blame that on the unintentional off-season. Heartrate decoupling happened to be there - which should be a bit calmer - but overall a good marathon with a reasonable result. So...this is it.

[Claudius]

Another marathon today. After a long time. Giving up was a taboo today. Today was a fight. Today...it was a good day to die. Qapla!!! And luckily no HD demon. But a good persevering demon Always nice to have rowed a marathon to the end - even if it's only virtually on our queen, the Erg ) YEah...We have a story. It is still in our pocket. Maybe we won't drop it. Just like that. Storys can be powerful precious things.

[Iain]

Massive improvement in 5 months Claudius and great to hear from you. I cannot imagine holding ratings close to that for 5k and my strokes are shorter!

[Mike Channin]

Amazing achievements, Claudius - thank you for sharing them - truly inspirational.

Looks like a 'moment' in the middle of that last FM - well done for digging in and getting to the end, and then some! I'm also blown away by the 'final sprint' where you're clocking 1:53.3 Av for over 2k at the end.

Two questions:
(1) What is your max HR - I'd guess it is ~166-170? (HR values are hard to assess without knowing that value)
(2) How on earth do you row a FM at that sort of stroke rate????? I think my all time PB HM was maybe as high as 28, but you're at 30 for the last one, and 33 (!!) for the fast one earlier in the year... I'm struggling to even rate that high these days; my fastest recent HM was at 24. (Mind you, I row at high(ish) drag (~165-170), whereas your technique is probably way better and you're using low drag (~120).

[Claudius]

Thank you Iain. Thank you Mike.
Regarding the questions. 1. my Hf Max is around 177/min - I reach this value extremely rarely - most likely in a final sprint in a 5k TimeTrial on our RowErg or when running with similar pacing.
2. this was on a static erg. Hence the slightly lower stroke rate of 30-31 for me compared to the leap year performance this year on the RowErg on slides.

Let me lose a few strange facts about this marathon. The story behind it. Partly in the virtual world, interwoven with the supposedly realistic world out here. It wasn't an all out despite moderate pacing in Zone3. Still, it was a 'race' of sorts, even if it wasn't a race - a TimeTrial for me - and this is where the 'battle feelings' play a big part. And at first I didn't stick to certain self-imposed rules - namely to do a TimeTrial designated for me as 'offline' as possible. So I started the Tour of Watopia - a tour, mind you - online - and it came as it had to come - my pronounced 'battle feelings' provoked 'Helen of Troy, Atlanta - or Lola Montez out -> --!GameOver!-- and I was allowed to start the whole marathon again after just under 5km. This time offline - but again the Tour of Watopia. The man in our equation is keen on 40 XperiencePoints per kilometer. Helen, Atlanta and Lola too. Only this time in private. Because of course with such an extraordinarily long distance, more than just 5 or 10km, i.e. now the distance of the marathon - such a small ToW route is quickly over - and somehow I felt like tempus fugit - so I had to change the route after a good 35min of the second attempt. This was associated with predictable complications - which meant that I had a good 2x stopps for just under 30s. And this is the screenshot. You can see these pauses very well. That's the short and unexciting story behind this marathon.

[Claudius]

AND! Actually. The stone we dropped didn’t reach the bottom of the well. It is still falling…

„She flew over it like a bird; but at the same instant Vronsky, to his horror, felt that he had failed to keep up with the mare’s pace, that he had, he did not know how, made a fearful, unpardonable mistake, in recovering his seat in the saddle. All at once his position had shifted and he knew that something awful had happened. He could not yet make out what had happened, when the white legs of a chestnut horse flashed by close to him, and Mahotin passed at a swift gallop. Vronsky was touching the ground with one foot, and his mare was sinking on that foot. He just had time to free his leg when she fell on one side, gasping painfully, and, making vain efforts to rise with her delicate, soaking neck, she fluttered on the ground at his feet like a shot bird. The clumsy movement made by Vronsky had broken her back. But that he only knew much later. At that moment he knew only that Mahotin had flown swiftly by, while he stood staggering alone on the muddy, motionless ground, and Frou-Frou lay gasping before him, bending her head back and gazing at him with her exquisite eyes. Still unable to realize what had happened, Vronsky tugged at his mare’s reins. Again she struggled all over like a fish, and her shoulders setting the saddle heaving, she rose on her front legs but unable to lift her back, she quivered all over and again fell on her side. With a face hideous with passion, his lower jaw trembling, and his cheeks white, Vronsky kicked her with his heel in the stomach and again fell to tugging at the rein. She did not stir, but thrusting her nose into the ground, she simply gazed at her master with her speaking eyes.
“A—a—a!” groaned Vronsky, clutching at his head. “Ah! what have I done!” he cried. “The race lost! And my fault! shameful, unpardonable! And the poor darling, ruined mare! Ah! what have I done!”
[Leo Tolstoy – Anna Karenina]
Choose Life? Choose your best self. AND!?! Haven't you ever dreamed of a better version of yourself? Choose an avatar. Your better version. Superior in all the things you only dream of. Choose this life. Say yes. Choose Life! AND! If it is only a dream. Choose Life! In a marathon story. And you know what? Nobody will care. No-one cares. Whether you're somehow moving some construct of bits and bytes somewhere in a virtual world. It's not a living horse that you've wrecked. Because. Choose Life. You are the horse. And the rider? Is that really you? It is the better Version of yourself. Have your own rider. Ever welcomed the pale Rider? Choose Life! Have you ever said: Yes my rider, you, who makes the decisions. Yes, you can! Spur me on // Or destroy me. Like Vronski did. In a race. Not in a group ride. Have you ever realized. You are a team. AND? Yes we are ONE! Whoever will care. No-One. It does not matter at all. Choose Life. Choose Russian literature. So says my rider. So valuable. No hatred. My rider says. Even for this country, actually russia. Which may be the epitome of hate for the West for almost 3 years. And so we celebrate. Me and my rider. Because I give the power. I am neither the horse nor the bike. Because you all know. What I am sitting on. Our nice metal mistress. I say. We are one. And we hold Russian literature, despite all the inconveniences. Not the current political picture. But the literature. In the highest memory. Remember Frou-Frou and Vronski. And Mark Renton . Choose Life!

AND! Actually. The stone is still falling...(poor Pippin )



https://youtu.be/f2zsg8RHJww?si=DtbHwFrjocW5c-sb
https://youtu.be/PgsfVJMWL0E?si=USTgiGe59Dt60sPz

[Claudius]

It's so fascinating - how on the one hand AI brilliantly and in genious brings some things together - but on the other hand completely misunderstands other things...

Marathon Nov 2024_11y_o boy.jpg (375.58 KiB) Viewed 233 times

Well. Long text. This is to illustrate the imaginative component of a marathon, just on the machine. What do you do when you've been lumbering on that machine around for almost 3 hours? If you're watching a movie, you're using someone else's imagination. And yet it remains a copy of a copy, of a copy. Because it wasn't an all-out marathon, not an actual race, but in the good Zone3 area, a good TimeTrial - so the HD Demons didn't annoy me. That would be a start. Give these demons a picture. How about an animal swimming on the water called Duck sitting now on the erg squawking and asking you to stop - or the real Donald. With Elon and the new health minister - all three of them holding a big burger in their hands, grinning at you and saying - if you stop now, you'll get a burger too. I think the world has become a bit unimaginative. We only relate to someone others storys. We just consume them. And yet. Without this consumery I wouldnt be able to draw a line between this recently marathon to Anna Karenina and Trainspotting. In this new-telling and drawing lines lies a synthesis. No artist tolerates reality. And every artist should be convinced of their own art. Anyway, who is the 11 year old boy?