Hi Niall



The gap is getting quite large! And dare I say it may get larger in the not so distant future!

Oh by the way, Hi to Jamie and Ray.

Happy erging folks


Bernard

Hi Bernard,

Unfortunately (for me anyway), I've not been able to do any rowing yesterday or today due to family commitments during the school half term holiday. Rest assured normal service will resume tomorrow when I'm back in work. So it's early morning and after work rowing sessions for me tomorrow. And boy am I in need of some extra metres, 20K behind you right now

Don't be scared Martin! I am planning to do the 31K all at once just to see how awful it is. Took yesterday off just because I felt really dragged out and practiced an extra 2 hours instead.

Monday's workout was an interesting experiment. I've been feeling tempted to push myself on the speed a little, but there's a lurking fear of back injury. So just for fun, I set the monitor for 12K and just did what I felt like--slow, fast, stopped for water, stretching, etc. "mixed junk". But I set the monitor for calories, which mean nothing to me as far as "am I going to hurt myself"? A few times I did some 1Ks that felt really strong and powerful--careful to stay at 10 mps--calories somewhere around 1000/hour and then switched the monitor (just for a second) to pace and found I was enjoying 1:57. I don't know what the official time would be because it's all lumped together in the 12K. Haven't really seen that pace for long before this season--at least not with a feeling of fun. I'm going to keep at this and see how it goes because obviously it's a mind thing. The calories number doesn't intimidate me I guess.

You're 21K ahead of me....sigh

Carla

Hi Carla, just seen on the news (every channel here - MUST have been BIG !!!) your 'Red Sox' won the series, you must be pretty chuffed.

Fired up by the Sox for that 31K'er ?? 31 - 21 = plus 10K to you so I'll need to get down to the gym soon to keep you in sight. Not far off the halfway point to our 1 million for the season goal. Nice tactics to get the confidence levels up to do sub 2:00's, your form doesn't surprise me though as you have been putting down some pretty impressive distance PB's recently - time for a sub 8 2K methinks.

Ready to celebrate the 1 Million mark for the season Godfried - well done in anticipation.

And well done to you too Ray on another 1K - how does a wheelchair guy do 1000m on the erg ?

Yea Sox (may as well climb on board )

Martin

My fellow Taff Attackers, as promised I finally got round to setting a new best for the 1 hour piece. The previous was 14,221 (2:06.6). Just did a new best of 15,109 (1:59.1). \o/ Significantly better, but then the last time was set a month ago.

Nonathlon updated (got me another 51 points for that piece), moving me to 62nd on 7704.

Splits and stuff follow 'cause I know Godfried loves the stats. =)

Cheers, guys. I started off thinking I'd go for a low stroke rate and (more) powerful strokes, but as you can see that didn't last long. I really should try to develop more power though, I guess.

I'm meeting up with a few north western ergers on Sunday for a training session at Carole Mac's house, so hopefully I'll pick up some technique tips.

Operator error, sorry.

Hello Taffites,
I'm finally back home. What an adventure the past month has been. Thailand is a beautiful country, but I'm sure glad to get back.

Oh yeah.....

How 'bout dem BoSox?!?!?!

First time since 1918!! Way to go.

Anyway, back to the important stuff. Namely how Taff Attacks kicks a**!!!!

I know I mentioned it the other day, but I wanted to say again congrats to all of you for the wonderful job you've all been doing. All the new pb's, the extra meters, the new members, the feeling of a real team. We Rock!!!!

Off to go do some bantoring with Sir Pirate.

Speedy

WOW DAREN!
Awesome improvement on your hour row! Almost 1K more! Really impressive.

Martin, did another 12K "junk" yesterday, day off today, 31K attempt tomorrow...it is sounding like a longer distance every time I think of it. ughggh

Hey Speedy, good to see you on the forum. 5:47 on slides, indeed. Next those Brits will be saying that Roger Bannister was on roller blades. And of course they would've used a pencil. Got to be able to erase all them mistakes they make, right?

I see you've put another 1000m in the "Taffybank" Ray, good to have you on board!

When we get the shirts done, we all ought to send someone who is good at Photo Shop a photo of ourselves in the shirts and see if we can put them together in a team picture.

Carla

I was going to move forward on the T-shirt front myself, but I gather the team leaders are on the case so I'll hang fire and see what transpires. BIRC is only 3 weeks away!

(Oh, my... getting nervous now)

Godfried, I've added your charts to my favorites. Here is a really dumb question. When you update them, will they be updated if I go to them from my favorites? (stop sniggering!!!!)

Carla

A personal observation. Since the beginning of this TA thread, we have had close to 1000 responses!!!! How wonderful is that?!!!!! Whether the response has been from a TA member or not, our founder (Bore da a.k.a. Chris) has really stumbled onto a good thing here.

A standing ovation from me to you Chris.

Speedy

I agree. I was approached to join a different team but I declined because this one feels good to me. A good mix of abilities, and a lot of support shown between members in this thread.

I'm happy to be in Taff Attack, even if I'm a fraudulent member, only allowed in once admission standards had fallen. =) Apparently, admission was a lot stricter when the team started out. I guess some standards have to be allowed to fall in the quest for metrage.

Say it loud, I'm (not actually) Welsh and I'm proud!

Great 60-mins result Daren. Your confidence must be sky high right now as those PBs just keep on tumbling. Sub 7-minute 2K at BIRC?

Just to let you know, I've just signed up for BIRC myself (better late than never!). I'm very much looking forward to seeing members of the team there aswell as Carole Mac and Sir Pirate!

Getting to know you, getting to know all about you... Here's another video of mine:

http://www.red-rose.com/downloads/nailbend2.avi (1.6Mb, Divx 4.12 I think)

I've lost a little bit of weight since then. \o/ I can tell you're impressed!

Hi all,

Another PB 'Monstered' Daren, you really are re-writing your PB record books with a vengeance ! Did you have the monitor on Kms towards the end to see yourself sail past that 15000m mark ? A great feeling isn't it, knowing that every pull at the end is extra metres on top of the 15K. Your consistency after a stong start bodes well for a HM at around 2:00 pace - go for it (although I suppose you have to start doing some shorter stuff soon as BIRC is not far away). I'm thinking of a HM next week to 'tidy up' my 'Pace' trend line on Godfried's Taff-o-Graff and strike whilst I'm enjoying a bit of a 'purple patch'. Just checked the Concept2 Pace Calculator and worked out that if I do an Ave Pace of 1:53.7590652699436013509999... I will do a time of 1:19:59.949999..... - which will be a sub 1:20 at optimum Pace Holding that Pace exactly will give me something to think about during the HM as well no doubt.

Welcome aboard Peter, the 'Chepstovians' are now starting to catch up with the 'Caldicoters' in numbers I see. All this reminiscing about TA membership reminded me of my sign up process - I saw the invite from Bore Da on this thread and simply plonked Taff Attack in my profile. Few days later I received seperate emails from Chris, Chippy and Ricky welcoming me to TA with open arms, then asking "by the way, who are you" Couldn't have been more friendly - thanks again guys.

Welcome back Speedy from what must have been a very memorable world trip. My wife is Malaysian and we often visit her home village, a sobering and humbling experience to contrast life there with the affluence we take for granted here.

I'm going to do 10800m at the gym on Sunday Carla to put me on 500K exactly - you ???

Cheers,

Martin

Just took almost 6 seconds off my 1k time. Thought I should have a go because the pace of my best was a little out of step with the others when plotted on Godfried's chart. =)

2k warm up, then went for it. 3:22.2 from 3:28.0. I'm pretty well pleased because I struggled to get 1 second off last time I tried the 1k piece. Stroke rate was up on the last attempt, between 35 and 36 instead of 29 to 36, but this time it was more consitent, whereas last time it was up and down.

My actual splits were every 50 metres, so selected 50m splits follow.

I finished off with a better sprint in the final 50m last time though. =)

Hi Martin,

Want to hear something funny? I had no idea we were both so close to 500,000 for the season. I've just been trying to keep up with you with no particular total meters goal, and when I figured out how far ahead you were I never really looked at the 6th digit over. It reminds me of a bike ride I've done a few times--up Cadillac Mountain at Acadia National Park (as part of the 20 mile Park Loop Road). I can't remember how many miles the actual mountain is, but I think it's 3 miles of just grinding, miserable, 7 mph uphill. Looking upwards towards the final goal does not encourage you at all. We had a fun family challenge of biking it without walking. You could stop and not move, but you could not walk up even one step (or you'd forfeit the big prize--a candy bar!) Well, I found the best way to do it was to focus on the white line on the side of the road, and just stay with that line. So you've been a "white line" and it's sort of surprising to see where it's headed.

31K today, and that will leave something less than 10K to reach 500,000. So that's a good plan.

Carla

Hi Daren,

6 seconds off a 1K is a great improvement--what % is that?

This Oct 29 row is so much more consistent--and the improvement in overall pace is much better than a mad sprint at the end. Great job!

Carla

Hi all



Am I seeing the team standings correctly?

According to my dodgy mathematics we are less than 1.5million metres behind MIT.

I could swear two or three weeks ago we were more than 2 million metres behind them.

I must have got mixed up somewhere.

Bernard

Hey there Guys,
How is everyone rowing this week. We seem to be catching up on MIT.

Godfred I like to thank you for the charts on Nonathalon, I am well back and will have to catch up to save some space on the chart at least. After looking at all others points My mouse( Kit Kat Mouse thanks Sue) gets tired of scrolling down and down and down to my scores.
Carla, happy days for Boston and the Sox, I am glad they won after beating my yankees in a remarkable comeback from the dead. Get that 500,000 and more.

Martin you can catch me if you want to. But those above me watch out we are coming after you.
Great news today, I am expecting a new erg. Much less trouble then a new child I ordered the new D to replace my old C. Which I sold for almost the price of a new D. Best part is I deliver the C the day after the new D arrives.

On Tuesday I got to meet Graham and Sue, while they were here in NYC. What a strange thing to meet teammmates from around the world. Had a wonderful time with them at my work. Although I and my workmates were disappointed not to find anyone to arrest during their time here. Hope they enjoyed themselves. Graham and Sue I love all the shirts and the Flag. Makes me proud to be ( not exactly ) Welsh.
Anyone else coming to the Big Apple let me know, love to show you my city. Mike

Bernard, you're right. I think we were nearer 3 million behind them, actually. They must be too busy doing maths, or something.

Hey, looks like Jasmine's woken up, too. I'm sure she was on 1,2--,--- for ages, but she's up into the 1,3--,---'s now. =)

Or maybe I'm thinking of Andy Cox, who doesn't seem to have moved for donkeys.

Cool, Mike, I'll have to remember that. I haven't been to NYC since this time in 1995, almost to the day. Here's a pic of me on top of the WTC;



Flipping heck, I look so thin there. By the grace of Erg I'll be back at that weight (well, maybe not that thin) again one day!

If I added my milage to Taff Attack that would take you to 4th place above MIT

Sir Pirate

I notice Niall has added substantial numbers to his total!

Probably why we're getting so close to MIT!

You sneak Niall, but tonight's long speed session should restore the natural order.

I swear Niall's trying his hardest to get me fit. It's working buddy.

I think we are gaining on MIT because now we have MORE members than Oarsome--but still something like 4 million meters less..... now that's not cool!
Carla

Hi all



First session since I got back from Belfast and boy did I enjoy it and then I remembered.... BIRC is three weeks away! Anyway, I did a 10k which included a 15 pull sprint every 500 metres. Tomorrow I will probably do a 14k row in the morning and then 4x1000 and 8x500 in the evening.

I'm going to a couple of halloween parties tomorrow night, so lucky for me I won't have to wear fancy dress to scare people.

I'm running a half-marathon Sunday (actually walking, probably), but I fully intend to start doing some regular long rows once thats out of the way.

If I don't damage myself too much this weekend, I hope to be up to 150,000m by December. Some of the meters you guys have done are amazing, but every 1 counts!
-Jim

That 1 is very important as it's what we all have to start with. =)