Frustrated by my 'wimpy' effort yesterday, and in answer to AussieTaffs question of a few weeks ago I decided on setting a 10k PB today. Old 39:34.2 now smashed into
10k PB of 38:41.5

Still not close enough to pressure you Martin, and based on your nonathlon scores for 5 & 6k I dont think I would break even until about 3k. I have the heart of a lion, but the stamina of a sloth! Saying that at halfway I was still under 160bpm, so I think I could have gone out faster (try 1:56, instead of 1:57), but for now

PS - Loved the pain in the closing stages!

Had a great night at the Rapid Risca Regatta,Pain,Pbs, and LAUGHTER what else does a rower want.Only down side was that Chris and i both used my D model to
row the 500 m and ole smokey was cast away in the shadows.Sh-t Happens

Darren and Chris well done on the new pbs,this team is pbs mad.

Chippy

Hello fellow Taffians,Sue and I off to NYC on Friday for 8 nights! Any suggestions from our American Taffs about little known places that we would find exciting/memorable?!!! We're staying in Hotel Pennsylvania on 7th Ave,they have a gym so we shall be able to erg U.S.style!!! We,re off training with Rickster and Holly tomorrow afternoon,weights,erging then sauna,steam room,heaven.
Nos Da, Sue and Graham.

Firstly, I must say it's great to see so many PBs being published. This truly reflects the abilities and drive of the individual team members aswell as the collective motivation and support of the TA team. I would certainly like to see Chris's splits for his new 10K PB as his old time is around my current season's best and I would love to dip under 39:00.

Secondly, I'm sad to have to report that my session yesterday was no where near as successful as everyone else's. Spurred on by the recent PBs aswell as Martin's reminder that a sub-7:00 2K was still outstanding, I decided to do a 2K time trial yesterday. Convinced that my technique was preventing me from reaching the heady heights of 32-36spm, I prepared by watching the Mens' Coxless Fours Final at Athens. I noticed their bum movement was a lot shorter than mine and they pushed off with their legs at about 90-degress. Fuelled with this new insight, I did a 2K warmup (8:09 time) broke for a minute and then dived into my time trial (not before upping the drag factor from my normal 124 to 139 as I thought it would help with the time).

All started well and my stroke rate was around 33spm. After 500m I was unable to maintain the 1:45 pace I'd started with tried settling into a 1:50 pace. I really started to struggle in the 4th quarter and absent of the sort of lion-hearted focus of Chris, I blew up with 340m to go . Splits for the first three 500s were:

1:46.6 (32spm)
1:51.1 (30)
1:51.8 (30)

So, no large, red text for me to report unfortunately!!

Lessons learnt:

1) Don't change the DF unless you've already trained for it
2) Do some specific training for 2K (I'm going to do 4x500K with 1-minute break on Wednesday)
3) Don't introduce radical changes (DF) without training under those conditions
4) Increase lactate acid threshold through targetted training
5) Work on technique for maintaining (comfortably) stroke rates in lower 30s

It's back to gentle 10K today (back to what I know best and am used to!). I need to put yesterday's disastrous 2K(ish) row behind me.

Thanks for listening guys...

Gutsy attempt Niall - remember it wasn't a 'failure', just an exploratory time trial. I do that all the time to get the body/mind ready for a 2K or shorter distance assault to 'test the water' so to speak. Especially after a diet of long easyish rows.

VERY hard I suspect (not having tried it since the early days of erging) to hold 30+ SPM with a DF of 139 without lactic acid induced 'blow up' occuring before halfway. Next time trial try usual DF (125) and 32 SPM or 135 DF and 28 SPM to see what suits your (powerful - I know it must be such as there are few skinny/lanky hookers in Welsh packs ) build, reach and strength. And aim to hold 1:47's, given your current PB is 1:49's a jump to 1:45's may be unrealistic ? 1:47's will give you the ideal springboard of 7:08 to launch a final assault on the goal - it did for me anyway.

Great post, I'm now inspired to get stuck into my 2K pb next gym visit.

Forget the easy 10K's, BIRC is just around the corner - get that 2K !!!!!!

Cheers matey,

Martin

PS 4 x 500K - you must be REALLY cheesed off !!!!! At least have a 2 min break in between

Martin/Bernard,

Many thanks for your enlightening and insightful words of reflection regarding my "exploratory time trial", it's just what I wanted to hear. Both your personal experiences mirror my recent ones so it's great to know that I may well be a couple of months away from 2K success. I just need to be patient and put in the right meters in terms of distance and power.

And as for you Bernard, I put in 24K today as I thought that would be enough to overtake you in the team standings. I added in my rowing sessions to my Personal logbook only to find you'd put in over 12K so I'm playing catchup (as usual!!). I can see I'm going to have to keep an eye on you . Putting in the 24K (10K this morning then a 10K and 4K lunchtime) was hard work so I'm going to leave my morning row tomorrow and see if I can close the gap a bit more in the afternoon.

Once again, and I've said this many times, Taff Attack is without doubt the numero uno team for friendliness, motivation, support and laughs!

Thanks guys!

Niall




Another 15k tonight and 10k tomorrow morning. I'm away in Brighton on business on Tuesday night and Wednesday, so I guess you will have overtaken me when I sit down again on Thursday. There's no erg where I'm staying and anyway I have to attend an intense set of meetings.

Boy, you're a pain!!! Actually, the words I used were a little more anglo-saxon, but this is *$!)ing public forum.


Bernard

Niall,

Don't feel deflated by your recent 2k attempt. I think the 2k is such a killer - its at the mentally toughest heart rate of all, and it ain't over quick either. Ever time I do it, I'm thinking 'how will I last?' I agree with martins comments that 7:08 is a good springboard (where I actually was in April this year - so you will do it!).

In my limited experience I would also add the following. In the races Chippy and myself have competed at, the big lesson has been 'the 10 hard pulls at the beginning'. This uses your maximum strength, and you can pull them without building up latic acid - you heart rate will climb, but its gunna anyway, right? If you try and go off @ 1.35ish (10 pulls only) then gradually ramp down to settle into race pace, you'll have done 400m ahead of schedule and you wont even notice it.

Now you can row below your pace for 1200 meters (3 minutes ish - piece of p*ss) then you only got 400 left to do - empty the tank man!

After the row just lie horizontal with the dog licking your face, until your eyes open, and your feet stop screaming 'your a stupid b*****d' at you. On reaching vertical again, check out the monitor.

oh yeah - you gotta love the pain!

Row On mate, Chris

I echo what everyone else has said about 2k. It's the toughest piece to do, I reckon, by some way. You have to be in the right frame of mind to tackle it, and in decent form.

My recent 2k PB followed an "exploratory attempt" that was 6 seconds slower than my current PB at the time. It did, however, enable me to pace the later successful 2k attempt, and at the same time giving me an idea of where I was at.

Keep it up and you'll nail it.

For my part, I've had a pretty quiet time since I passed the million metres. After weeks totalling 140,000m, 160,000m and then 180,000m, last week was only 75,000m. I did do a half marathon on Saturday, but then I did nothing at all on Sunday. I also did nothing today until this evening's session.

To be honest, I was thinking that since I'd been rowing less, I may have gone backwards even, let alone stood still. In the end, I need not have worried. I sat down to do a 30 minute piece, planning on a comfortable pace. My best was 7,617m (1:58.2) so I was aiming at something like 7400 (2:01.6). As I started, I thought it felt easier than expected, so I went faster. It looked like a good distance was on the cards, and although I slowed in the latter half, I held on for an average pace of 1:53.8 or 7910m. A new PB by nearly 300m, and rather a surprise. Perhaps the rest did me good. =)

Daren,

You really are making fantastic progress. Adding 300m to your 30-minute PB is just astounding . As Martin says, it's time to update your signature so we can see how your recent PBs fit in with the rest of your times and maybe attempt to update some of your other PBs as it certainly sounds like you've reached a new level of performance right now. Well done!

Geez, I take a nap for 3 days and everyone breaks records left and right! What a bunch of great inspiring posts. Congratulations on your new 30 min, Daren! And Chris on your 10K!

Just did some meters for the "TaffyBank" today--nothing special, just 2 pokey 6Ks but nothing's hurting so that's good news! You know I gotta catch up to that Aussie Taff and stay ahead of MikeZ!

I hope Sue and Graham are having fun in NYC.

Carla

Just did some meters for the "TaffyBank" today--nothing special, just 2 pokey 6Ks but nothing's hurting so that's good news! You know I gotta catch up to that Aussie Taff and stay ahead of MikeZ!

Carla, glad to see you back on the erg. I was trying a sneak pass on you tonight and then after putting in those extra meters I saw you back there erging onward. Makes me proud after your injury. Keep it up.
Boy Martin and Bernard, 15k and then 10 k's you are going to be a great inspiration for me to increase my numbers. Glad to be Taff. Mike

Hi all,

Felt inspired by Chippy/Niall's "Glory or Death" rows, all the talk of 2K race tactics and Chris out there on a sub 6:50. Time to "erg the Talk" methinks as I do a 10 minute warmup at the gym. Warmup includes bursts at 1:45 to get nice and puffing, just like rowing down to the start of a 2000 metre race 30 years ago (old habits certainly die hard) !

Here's how the 2K unfolded - not 100% sure of the decimal point figure in the ave pace 500m splits as they are from memory but they would be pretty close.

500m - 1:41.8 ....... Visions of going close to Chris/Rickster

1000m - 1:44.1 ..... Vision starting to fade

1500m - 1:45.1 ..... Vision totally out of focus

2000m - 1:44.8 ..... Everything out of focus !

End result, a new PB of 6:55.2 at 1:43.8 Ave Pace, 32 SPM, DF 117. Old PB 6:57.5. Nonathlon points increased by 5 I think !!! (B... heck, all that for 5 points)


Reflections for aspiring sub 7ners :-

... Essential to be able to hold 1:45's when the going gets tough in the middle stages. Train for it.

... Bernie is spot on when he said in a recent post "to race/PB a 2K one must train for a 2K" or words to that effect. The only thing all the long rows did for me was make 2K seem pretty short !! All those long periods of 1:55's no substitute when trying to sit on 1:45's !!!

Well Chris/Ricky, youse safe for a while til I can convert 1:45's into 1:43's. At least I have a 5 second buffer when the Taff hordes swarm all over that 7 min wall !!!

Great to see you back Carla. Some fascinating 'duels' on the Metres Board -

Carla vs Mike with me not far in front

Chippy vs "Back from the Dead" Chris with Debbie not far behind

Bernard vs Niall

Sue vs Graham

Good stuff

Martin

Thanks Daren,

Well, hop on that erg and get to it

Martin,

FANTASTIC 2K mate! And many thanks for your reflections, it's very inspiring. I'm certainly hoping for a sub-7 this year and your comments are greatly supportive and motivating.

Carla,

All I've got to say is you're one gutsy woman! If Chris has the heart of a lion (which he has!), then you've no doubt got the heart of a lioness!

Well I just had a shock!

Knowing that Bernard was going to be extending his lead on me as a result of his rows last night and this morning, I updated my logbook this morning with my 12K session (10K + 2K) and then checked the team standings. I looked at my total (525,545) and then looked at the figure above it to see where Bernard was. The figure said 612,000! OH MY GOD! Bernard's really been putting in the metres since last night!

To my relief, it then dawned on me that I'd actually managed to sneak ahead of Bernard by less than a 1,000m. I'm assuming he hasn't had chance to update his logbook so I'll still be putting in the metres this afternoon.

Well that jump in the team standings didn't last long (as expected!).

Just updated the list as I noticed Bernard was online and it came as no surprise that I'm back down below Bernard again (it was nice while it lasted though!).

I'm now 26K behind Bernard so he's really upped the ante! Nice one Bernard! Have a good business trip and I'll see what I can do with that 26K gap while you're otherwise occupied!

I'm so depressed, I don't know what to do!

I have to go to Belfast next week!!!

Niall's going to leave me behind. Boo Hoo.

But I'll be back I will not rest til my rightful place is restored, secured and mine.

Niall, enjoy my absence.

I need my owm concept2.

Bernard

WOW MARTIN!!

Carla

Doing another 12K today to try to catch up....


Hey, what do you guys think the punishment should be for spouses who drink your glass of water while you're rowing, so it's empty when you finish????!!!! He did refill it though, and then put the erg away for me afterwards, so he got off with just a warning!

Carla,

I think prevention is better than punishment so once I get to the stage where I have false teeth, I'll leave them in my glass of water . It would be a brave person who would want to deprive me of my water then!

Just finished my afternoon rowing session and only managed 10K. I really struggled during the last 4K and I think I need to rest my back as the muscles feel sore. Tomorrow's rest day so I'll probably do a 2K training session (4x500m with 2mins active rest).

WOW CHRIS!! WOW DAREN!!
You guys are great! PBs are sprouting like dandelions in Taffyland!
don't you hate the law of diminishing returns on Nonathlon.

Martin is a real burr in the saddle, ain't he?

Speaking of which....I'll have to do an HM to catch up....ughghghghghghgh
Carla

Taffians
Today in work one i was asked by a work mate if i was reading any action /thriller type books,I thought about it and replied,www.concept2.com,forum,general then Taff Attack,Best reading in the world.

Congrats on all the Pbs over the last few days Chris,Martin,Darren.

Mike
Better get a few more guns on duty this weekend with Graham and Sue coming to liven up your city ,at least Chepstow will be quite for a few days

Chippy.

Just snuck ahead of Sue again to-night,did 25.20 for 6K,we're both learning,style, pace etc.I'm an avid reader of all the input from all you Taffians,we are a couple of Welsh virgins as far as erging is concerned!!!
Chippy comes to our flat at least once a week to check on our progress,and to take home some chocs for 'his wife', of course Chip!!! You don't eat chocs do you?
We're off to the Big Apple on Fri.,while we're away,cadwch fynd bois (keep going boys)
Sue and Graham.

Hey Sue & Graham: Hope you're having a great time in NYC. Don't suppose you're following the Red Sox/Yankies rivalry, are you? Good job on your 6K.
Sue, you're not going to let him stay ahead of you, right?

Martin: I was going to do an HM tonight but had to pick my son up at school at 10:30 so it made for an awfully late start. So just a mixed 12K--first 5K in 21:12, on the slow side, 10K at 42:26 or so, and then did the last 2K as a cool down. So you're (temporarily) ahead still!

Mike: Just made it past you, but I'm sure I'll be battling you for quite a while!


Carla

Great work on the graphs Godfried. Yet another vehicle for getting us motivated and focused!

Hiya Taffs, from my temp home of Thailand.

Godfried - Graphs rule!!! Great job.

There have been so many pb's since I last logged on, that I'll give one big 'way-to-go' to everyone. Outstanding!!!!

I must be somewhat of an anomaly here in Thailand. Not only am I a good half meter taller than most, but I get on this strange machine that the gym has put off in the far corner (with a whole lot of dust on it the first day I must say). And then I actually stay on it for an hour and a half. I've been getting allot of strange looks. Especially when I really crank the old thing up. Wwwwrrrrrr!!

Thai's don't keep the inside of their buildings as cool as one might expect either. So with the heat, and the unbelievable humidity, erging has been quite a challenge.

They are a spectacularly nice people. Very good natured. Allot of severe poverty though. Wasn't really prepared for that one.

Gotta go get some sleep. Erg on Taffs!!!

Dwayne

MarTIN!!!!! Don't you ever taking an ever-lovin' day OFF any more for goodness sakes!!!! "Burr in the saddle" is being kind.... I VILL CATCH UP VITH YOU DON'T VORRY!!!! Congrats on the great 5K time--what was your previous best?

Mike--Why don't you stay up really late tonight watching that last Sox/Yankee game--and don't row while you're watching, you'll miss some important plays!

Daren--I am not planning on a 2K for quite a while. I can't really do the fast paced stuff without tearing my lower back apart. So probably I will just continue to work on the longer distances and get the paces down on those. I don't think I could even do an 8 min 2K right now (PB was 7:48). If I do a 2K it will be very late in the season, and only if I'm pretty sure I can do it without destroying myself. I will do a marathon, though, and let the 2K score be the dropped one.

Dwayne, it must feel funny to be constantly surrounded by coxswains! What model machine do they have over there for you?

Carla

Hey Daren,

Just looked at the cool charts....

Guess which one I like better!

Carla