December ctc - 15 christmas crackers

[Grobi]

Hi everyone,

team Sub 7 have decided on the December ctc:

15 Christmas Crackers

1 minute
75 secs rest
2 minutes
75 secs rest
3 minutes
75 secs rest
4 minutes
75 secs rest
5 minutes

All reps from a standing start. Record the distance rowed!

Looks like a nice mix of sprint and endurance ability required to master this one. Have fun everyone!

[Iain]

Nasty! Don't like increasing intervals and 75S rest will pass in a flash. Not sure I am brave enough to capitalise on the potentially faster first 2 intervals given what is to come, so not expecting that I will be much faster than 5k pace (given Pete reckons 6 x 1k r1' is about 5k pace). That 5' will feel more like 5 hours!

[Grobi]

At least they didn't go for 24 christmas crackers

[Iain]

At least they didn't go for 24 christmas crackers

If that had been distributed 4'; 8'; 12' with 2'+ rest between, I would actually have preferred it as a clear "long interval" session close to 5k pace! Even more so if done the other way around which I would quite have welcomed!

[Iain]

Please note that the C2 Forum says all reps are from a standing start, even if there is cynicism that it will be obeyed.

Had a failed attempt at this, as suspected it is not nice and tough to know how to pace the early reps. Bailed after 3' having lost confidence halfway through this interval with legs sore, although looking at HR I should probably have carried on.

Time Distnc Rate Pace Hrmax % HRmin %
01:00.0 270 33 01:51.1 156 84.8% 113 61.4%
02:00.0 522 31 01:54.9 164 89.1% 115 62.5%
03:00.0 774 30 01:56.3 169 91.8% 119 64.7%
6:00 1,567 30.8 1:54.9 169 91.8%

[Grobi]

Good find Iain, I'll change the description in the opening post. Although I doubt that the flywheel will come to a complete stop within 75 seconds...

[Iain]

Annoyed at second failure on this, started with very similar stats despite trying to ease off a bit, not sure what my HR was doing in 1', I did over 4k warm up hitting the 1' pace, although not quite up to threshold HR rates. Got through the 4' that I had mentally prepared for, hoping to fight through 5' on the basis that it was too late to quit, not sure why I did , need to grow a pair! Now I have to do it again After a bit of rest (that I think is the real issue, incomplete recovery from ever longer intervals really takes its toll) did 5' at sub 5' and continued on to 30' SB (see PP thread), so legs fine and didn't feel that bad. Next time just need to get through 2' of the 5' and I think I should be able to get to the end.

Time Distnc Rate Pace Hrmax % HRmin %
01:00.0 0,270 34 01:51.1 146 79.3% 104 56.5%
02:00.0 0,522 31 01:54.9 165 89.7% 109 59.2%
03:00.0 0,773 31 01:56.4 171 92.9% 120 65.2%
04:00.0 1,021 30 01:57.5 174 94.6% 123 66.8%
01:28.6 0,375 30 01:58.1 171 92.9% 133 72.3%
11:28.6 2962 30.8 1:56.2 174 94.6%

[plummy]

I was happy to see short intervals for this as my cardio is shot to pieces these days but reluctant to push much at all so this was a pretty "exploratory" effort:

248 ( 2:00.9 ) - knew the 4 & 5 minute reps would be awful so held back in this one
480 ( 2:05.0 ) - used Paul's law as a guide (twice the distance/time, add 5s per split)
712 ( 2:06.4 ) - Paul's law, in my brain, suggested 2:07.5 pace - so this was above target. Huffing and puffing but still some held back in the tank
949 ( 2:06.4 ) - a bit surprised by this pace. Wasn't as awful as I expected. Kept my powder dry for the first 2 minutes
1173 ( 2:07.3 ) - just get the first 2 mins bagged, slow if you have to, don't you dare quit after getting this far

3561m - actually pretty happy. Back feels ok. Legs, feel like they've had a bit of a session. All good - might even have another go at this.

Shame I'm still so fat and no longer a LWT - simply can't manage to lose the 5kg by BP pills appear to have parked around my midriff

Plummy

[Iain]

Well paced effort Plummy, I just need some of your resolve on my next go!

[Grobi]

As of now we have six ladies entering a result this month which puts us in the very rare position to potentially fill six boats. Usually we call for more ladies, but this month let's call for some heavyweights

[Iain]

I think we now have 7 ladies, 8 heavy men and 4 lightweight men, so ideally we could do with 16 more men including at least 3 lightweights. Congratulations to the ladies, I hope to have my 3rd attempt tomorrow!

[Iain]

Well did it, but Ian beat me to it so only a very temporary heavy seat in Boat 1. Nasty challenge, but after the 2 failed attempts above I was mentally prepared to give it a go. I believe that in these limited rest interval sessions you need to make use of the rests, so went for it on the 1' and a little faster on the 2' than comfortable, knowing that the final 3 intervals would be challenging. Went much better, surprised that I marginally beat my distances on the failed attempts while still finishing. HR wierd on the 5' as it dipped in the middle a little as the pace reduced (so perhaps I was over cautious), but only went back to the same level despite pushing final 2' hard and finishing in a sprint. Also surprised at the rate for the last as I finished in the high 30's and don't remember it dropping below 28 throughout. Glad to get it out of the way and over to others to push me back to where I belong!

Time Distnc Rate Pace Hrmax % HRmin %
01:00.0 0,271 33 01:50.7 156 84.8% 099 53.8%
02:00.0 0,523 31 01:54.7 163 88.6% 109 59.2% - felt easier, expected to settle at 1:56
03:00.0 0,778 30 01:55.7 169 91.8% 122 66.3% - continued to be inside aiming for 1:57, will I hang on?
04:00.0 1,027 30 01:56.8 172 93.5% 129 70.1% - started quickly, got hard, but only briefly struggled with a few 1:59s
05:00.0 1,282 29 01:57.0 175 95.1% 132 71.7% - started strongly, settled at 1:58s, slipped to 2:00 for a stroke, but recovered and pushed final 2'
15:00.0 3880 30.0 1:56.0 175 95.1%

More than happy with that, although I expect that Cap'n Peter won't be behind me for long and I will be back fighting for seats in boats 3&4 by the end. We have now floated boat 4, so still plenty of room for all comers.

[Grobi]

Excellent row there Iain, with a lot of thought (and testing) put in beforehand and it all really paid off! That final rep looks nasty (95.1% max. heart rate), but so it should be! Well done for seeing that one through!

More than happy with that, although I expect that Cap'n Peter won't be behind me for long and I will be back fighting for seats in boats 3&4 by the end. We have now floated boat 4, so still plenty of room for all comers.

I noticed that and I hope you understand that I might have another go in the near future

[Wolfmiester]

One more heavyweight logged.
As always these days, no idea of form, so went on “feel” again.
3993 / 1:52.6
Another one for Peter to chase.

[JonT]

Total Number of boats afloat in CTC this month is 60.
Total number of Free Spirit boats afloat this month is 4.
Position of highest boat is 16.
Total number of Free Spirit rowers this month is 22.
There are 0 heavyweight, 0 lightweight and 2 female rowers still ashore which bodes very well for plenty of boats this month!

I in advisably put in an effort today. I had COVID 2 months ago now and have just not been able to shake it off. My early forays into returning to the ergo ended in me feeling very ill for a few days afterwards. All very tedious. Anyway, I'm hoping today's session, allowing me to at least post a score, won't set me back again tomorrow.

Well done all on the efforts so far,

[ArenT]

Sorry to hear that JonT. Do you have any device that measures/monitors HRV? You might find it interesting/possibly useful (maybe) to read some of my posts on this, posted some screenshots regarding covid interruption/recovery in my training. My covid in November put my HRV and general resting HR surprisingly out-of-sync/off/low for basically three weeks, even though the actual "acute" illness felt like almost nothing and just mild flu for a couple of days. Deceptive virus. So overall nowhere near as bad as your two months by sounds of it, but still. My recommendation is to try to aim to go for/focus on doing fairly long-ish low Z1/Z2 workouts, maybe building from 20mins through to 2 hours. I "feel" these are very regenerative.

---

This is another deliciously nasty "inverted" CTC, since it is an ascending rather than descending ladder, which is particularly evil. Two attempts is probably necessary to get best results, at least, with a more conservative "banker" attempt to see sustainable pace/fatigue resistance, than an all-guns blazing second attempt on the basis of that information. But that does mean twice the suffering... Anyway, think I'll have a go at my first attempt early next week.

[Iain]

Don't over do it Jon (by which I mean don't beat my distance as I really don't want to do a 4th attempt!) Seriously, you need to row more slowly than you think required and stop when it gets too much, while waiting until you have a couple of rows in the bag before committing to CTC would make sense.

[Ian Bee]

This one was a bit spicy..... Take it steady Jon - I'll not repeat what's been said but hope you're feeling better daily.

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First run through, it was close to 5k average which, while not pleasant, suggested there was either more there or my 5k pace wasn't accurate (or more likely 5k was a soft target). Thinking the latter.

Hence I tried hitting the first few intervals a little harder this time then just clung on.

As is ever the case, sprinting doesn't make up for slower paced longer intervals so I reckon a stable pace throughout would likely have been less painful. That might well be it for the month unless Aren/Iain/Claudius slips past by a few tenths

[Iain]

Very impressive power Ian. Only 6M short of the best FS time and ahead of Morten.

Very flattering that you even consider that I would get close to an average better than any 1ks I have done for 4 years! This would have been a challenge for me at my best 16 years ago.

I see that Peter responded to my challenge, but we still have 3 ladies waiting to get into a boat!

[Mat]

Ouch, ouch, ouch

Thanks and well done to all those who have gone before. I blame myself for not heeding the warnings hidden amongst the accounts of those who have already completed this task!

I thought I’d get a freebie out of the way on minute one, and then gradually allow the pace to slip as the intervals increased in length.

Unfortunately the wheels came off around a minute into the four minute interval. Just too hard to get through and I could t slow and so ended up stopping. Briefly picked up again for a couple of strokes before putting the handle down again.
I then recalled the comments about needing men to float boats, and pulled myself together to finish the piece. The pace for interval was averaging around 2:25 by then so I did a couple of mins at 1:50 to bring in down a bit before girding my loins during the final rest period and finishing with a respectable last interval.

I guess I’ll have to do it again properly

IMG_2288.jpeg (45.36 KiB) Viewed 1929 times

[Iain]

Impressive recovery Mat, it was always going to be tough as the last session of similar pace that you posted was 1 November! Well done for getting through it and improving the FS1 position.

[JonT]

Total Number of boats afloat in CTC this month is 79.
Total number of Free Spirit boats afloat this month is 5 already
Position of highest boat is 18
Total number of Free Spirit rowers this month is 25.
There are 0 heavyweight, 0 lightweight and 0 female rowers still ashore.

[fkoene]

Yet another heavyweight aboard. Being busy with the holiday challenge I didn't do any short stuff lately. After ahving been to the gym today I thought I could have a go on this one.
After the first two reps I thought finishing was most important, just to set a score and maybe try to get it better later this month.
1 281 1:46.7
2 537 1:51.7
3 774 1:56.2
4 1022 1:57.4
5 1277 1:57.4

[plummy]

248 ( 2:00.9 ) - knew the 4 & 5 minute reps would be awful so held back in this one
480 ( 2:05.0 ) - used Paul's law as a guide (twice the distance/time, add 5s per split)
712 ( 2:06.4 ) - Paul's law, in my brain, suggested 2:07.5 pace - so this was above target. Huffing and puffing but still some held back in the tank
949 ( 2:06.4 ) - a bit surprised by this pace. Wasn't as awful as I expected. Kept my powder dry for the first 2 minutes
1173 ( 2:07.3 ) - just get the first 2 mins bagged, slow if you have to, don't you dare quit after getting this far

3561m - actually pretty happy. Back feels ok. Legs, feel like they've had a bit of a session. All good - might even have another go at this.
Plummy

Had a second go, just using the above as a target:

259 ( 1:55.8 ) - Maybe I should look at my 500m SB now...
493 ( 2:01.7 ) - used Paul's law as a guide again(twice the distance/time, add 5s per split). Still ok.
727 ( 2:03.7 ) - OK, maybe should have held back but still ok-ish
964 ( 2:04.4 ) - beginning to feel the fatigue on this one but bagged so extra metres in case I have to slow on the next
1183 ( 2:06.7 ) - Ugh, this was tough from the start (which I nearly missed). Every mental distraction technique employed to get through it but added a few more.

3626m total - an improvement of 64m but for how horrible it felt, it should have been 164m more or higher. No more attempts at this one

Plummy

[Iain]

Well done Plummy, a big improvements on all intervals and gets you back into boat 4

2 more needed for a 6th boat! Well done all