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Sir Pirate

Last year I went to Wales 4 times. My second name is Welsh, I like sheep (not in that way) I have Welsh blood running through my vains.

But im MAD, but could I be a MAD Taff

Sir Pirate

Ooops double post, bloody American technology

Sir Pirate

Didn't finish the 31K at once. It was just too much of an increase at once. I was only about 30 seconds off my HM pb. Probably I started too fast, and I just couldn't go on after 28K. An HM is the furthest I've ever rowed and I guess adding another 10K on at once was too ambitious.

Carla

28K Carla, thats sensational - well done. Feel weary just thinking about it ! Pace may have been a factor in not reaching 31K but I suspect simply doing the 'extra' 30 mins on the erg is something your body isn't used to yet - the next time will seen 'easier' I can assure you. Be proud of that 28K - a FM distance is not that much further now.

As a reward you only need do 1646m on top of that last 3K later today - my Maths was out by 1000m !!

Great row, Taff Girl Power Rules

Martin

Hi Taffs,

Great post Mike, love hearing all the Big Apple news - though "no-one to arrest" ?? How times change. Should have put the cuffs on Sue and Graham for "holidaying with intent" or something and made them erg a 10K as punishment . Well done on the scales - "Kms goes up, kilos comes down" as they say.

Good luck in the HM James - having recently done one after a loooooong layoff (20 years !) I know how that distance can bite you. Going for any particular time ? I was aiming for a sub 2 hrs, did 2:01 (now THAT was gutting Chris !!!)

Cracked the BIG MILLION Godfried - way to go man Good idea to put the graph click-ons in your signature, saves us scrolling back to find your "graph" posts to click on. Just make sure you post regularly - doesn't matter what you say I just want you for your graph click-ons

Welcome Richard - looking forward to seeing what an Ironman athlete can do on the erg. Should be awesome.

Another PB Daren - now why ain't I surprised !!! Go get that sub 7 2K while you are running HOT.

Great 'head to head' metres tussle between Niall and Bernie, makes for great viewing. Going to let Carla enjoy being first to 500K - she deserves it after that gruelling 28K !

Don't worry about Steve V Chris - think he is still taking the Mickey !!! If he really wanted to join TA he would have just muscled in like the rest of us

I see Team RowSlo is pulling away from Team Oarfull - Carole must be having a nice long rest as a lead up to BIRC ?!

Cheers

Martin

Oi I am listening you know ...... slap ...

I got me a proper coach and a proper training plan.....so training now structured ... well apart from Sunday when a certain Taff and some Oarsome chappies will be attending Mcnally towers for a wee training session 20 x 500m I believe is the task of the day .... .... cooking today for it ...... Lasagne and for afters sticky toffee pudding yum yum .......

Hey there fellow Taff's,
I was sitting here working very late and thought that if we pick one day in the next few weeks for all of use to do a lot of meters One Million perhaps, between us all, it would be a great jump up on MIT. I know we all do differant long pieces but if we combine our efforts and do one, two or three pieces that day we could do a cool million.
Let me know what you think and maybe pick a date, or maybe I should not work so many hours straight Mike

20 x 500
ughghg!
yuck!
ouch...
sniffle...
whine

not happening in Bradford MA
Carla

Prob won't happen in Bury Lancashire either ..lol

well done on doing all the distance work Carla won't be doing any of that now til after Feb .... still averaging nearly 14k a day though .....

Godried
Well done hitting the million meters.After looking at the wonderful graphs you have drawn up for the team i think you should be known as STATMAN.

Martin
Half way to the million ,nice one. The row down between myself and the
Risca Meter Reaper will be coming up with the distance set at 700 meters.
Get your tickets early as it could be a sell out.
I here Graham and Sue are back in Wales,cant wait to here how they got on in the Big Apple .


Mrs T .Shaw.
Welcome to the team and thanks for a great evening .Linda and i really enjoyed.
Sorry Dykie and i talked about rowing and Tafff Attack all night,thats the way its going to be from now on

Speedy
What can i say.You are the Master Blaster...Respect.

Chippy.

Just got off the plane, managed 4k, Mike, thanks, Queens rules O.K.!!! Felt very much like a suburb of Merthyr, your guys were so friendly. The Big Apple is the place to go Taffs.
Hello to all new Taffians, Dykie, i'm watching you butt !!!
Nos da,Sue and Graham

Hey, Niall, I just realised we're racing against each other in the 35-39 HWT at BIRC. =) Are any of the other Taffs in that race?

Hey Everyone hope your all Fit Welcome to the new members congratulations on making the right choice. Mike thats great to see you were looking after two of our team mates in the big apple good man. I picked up Graham and Sue at the Airport (Heathrow) today they looked wasted, what did you do to them Mike???

Chippy and Chris not far to go for the big 000,000. You can do it FOR THE TEAM!!!

How is Sir Adams????

Our team is building nicely now lets row like mad fouls and get FIT. Speak to you all soon.

RICKSTER

P.S. Graham, Sue, Chippy, Chris, hopefully see you all for my big match in Cardiff on Thursday night.

hiccup...............will post my times tomorrow..............zzzzzzzzzzz

It certainly seems to have been a busy weekend for the Taff Attack team. Not many postings but certainly lots of action.

Firstly, a very big Welcome to the new members of the team!

Secondly, a very big Congratulations to Martin and Carla for breaking to 500K mark for the season and also to Godfried for breaking the Million! Way to go guys!!

Nice one Carla I was beginning to think that weay body of yours didn't have the 4646m in it ! Instead you found an extra 2m

Thanks for the encouragement Niall, it's partly due to you I've got this far so quickly - put in extra K's trying to slip past you when you were inconvenienced by that back problem ! Got your hands full now with Mike as well as Bernie I see.

Probably the last thing you want to think about with a cold coming on but I HAVE to ask - with BIRC 20 days away WHAT'S THE GAME PLAN ??? Aiming for a sub 7 ? If so need to do a sub 7:10 this week methinks. Aiming for a sub 7:10, then time for a 7:17 !!! So no rest for the ailing Taff.

Speedy recovery,

Martin

Well I am in a better state now to write !!!

The day was a great success and will be repeated . The boys all started arriving about 11ish and after introductions and a nice cup of tea we got down to business. First problem was 3 machines and 7 of us ... mmm then found out that Todd had brought his machine to.. but 4 ergs wouldn't fit into the conservatory .. so Auntie Carole volunteered to use the 4th erg outside on the deck and a very wise decision ..heehee was somewhat cooler .
Todd paired up with JD ... Graham paired with his fellow ninja Porn Craig and Daren I can still talk whilst rowingand Neilshared gg. The first ten were finished and i had to start cooking so I left them to it .

The lasagne was in the oven as was the sticky toffee pudding so I was back watching when Jd went a funny colour of red/purple and disappeared out into the garden .... Todd was then without a partner and rest times would be affected .. he made me get back on and do another two ... these hurt after stopping but I did my fastest of the day(i must have been slacking outside with noone to shout at me) .. hit a 1.49 for the first and then a 1.49.9....but what was that smell surely lunch was not burning and i disappearedback into the kitchen ... phew no all was well ..

Everyone put 100 percent into this session and it was brilliant to be there. Todd finished and then did his usual 5k cool down THAT MAN IS A MACHINE ..

Jd had a beer well he had to didnt he ...

After showers we adjourned to the dining room for lunch which again was brilliant. Neil was very good and abstained from the sticky toffee pudding no way I could be a lwt if I had to miss the goodies .

Think after this session there will be quite a few PB'S at Birc and thanks everyone for my wine ..

oh and my spilts ....3.30 rest

1/ 1.52.4 33spm 129 2/ 1.51.0 33spm 128
3/ 1.51.0 33spm ..128 4/ 1.51.1 33spm 128
5/ 150.8 34spm ..127 6/ 1.51.0 33spm 127
7/ 151.4 33spm ..127 8/ 1.51.2 33spm 127
9/ 151.3 33spm ..128 9/ 151.4 33spm 128
11/ 149.0 34spm .. 126 12/ 1.49.9 34spm 126.

apologies to bore you but there was a Taff there so thought you'd like to know how the day went .

Martin, I'm not feeling like a 7:50 2K right now let alone a 7:10! As for the training, the plan is to continue with the 10K sessions in the morning and then 2K training during the afternoons. Haven't completely decided on the specifics just yet but I think this afternoon will be gentle 2K warmup then 6 x 500m. I'll keep you posted!

Great report Carole, really enjoyed reading it. You politely missed out the bit where Daren wasn't pulling his weight and had to be jeered on. Thankfully, he gave us an insight yesterday into the hospitality and productivity of the day (talk about working for your supper!!). Any chance of bringing some sticky toffee pudding to BIRC? I'm sure I could pull a sub 7mins 2K with that sort of motivation!

Daren, I think it's just me and you representing Taff Attack in the 35-39 age group. It'll be like Rourke's Drift with us standing (well, sitting actually) shoulder to shoulder against the non-Taff Attack hourdes! I can almost hear the baritone voices singing Men of Harlech!! It's gonna be emotional!

Hi


A bit virusy this weekend so could only do a couple of 10k sessions. Also had to write some reports and of course there were the halloween celebrations I couldn't miss out on.

Congratulations Carla and Martin on hitting 500,000 and Godfried excellent effort to get to a million.

Deren, you did well to complete 20x500, I tried 21 and stopped at 15. In my defence I allowed myself only a minute active interval. I think I'll have a crack at that 20x500 this week if I can shake this buggy feeling, to see what it feels like. I would have thought sub 7 minutes is almost certain now.

Martin, great show mate, keep it up. Meetings all week all over the place so you may be able to put distance between us, though I should be able to find a machine somewhere on my travels.


Bernard

BERNARD!!!! You've pulled away from me again!!! Thankfully it's 216m but that's still 216m in front of me!!

Think I'll have to do a HM warmup prior to my 2K training this afternoon!
Just kidding. I'll be sticking to my flu-ridden 2K warmup followed by a bunged-up 6x500m.

Don't you just hate colds?!?!?!

I bet Martin doesn't miss the cold, wet autumns in Britain (aahh-choo)!

Hi


I think I've been working and erging too hard recently as well Mike. Great idea though, and like Dwayne, all you have to do is say when and I'll play.

Martin, I meant to say Niall has the opportunity to pull away from me and Deren it is you who should be certain to pass 7 minutes.

Viruses turn me into a gibbering idiot. I'm usually just an idiot.

Bernard

I don't know about a million metres in one day. That's a bit of an ask! Even split evenly between 20 people that's 50k a pop. The most I've ever done in a day it about 30k, and that was in bits. I'll give it a go, but I'd need it to be a weekend if I'm to find the sort of time I'll need. =)

I like the goal that Mike has set. 1M meters for the Taff's as a whole in one day.

Daren has a good point however. We currently have 25 members. That's 40k per person. Realistically, not everyone will do 40k.

It's still a good goal to have though. If we all shoot for the million, we'll get that much closer to MIT. Whether we make the goal or not.

Speedy

Count me out for long rows this week - the flu has caught me - or did I get it ?

I think the most I could do is probably 30K, but not with this cold. I'd probably not want to attempt this before BIRC (don't ask me for an explanation as to why not, it just seems to make sense that's all! )

Hi all,

Having just tried to do 31K at once and not making it (3K short) I know I can't do 50K in one day. Well, maybe if I go really slow and break it up into 10Ks?

Pick a day after 11/7 (concert) and I'll do my best.
Carla

Besides having a grandfather on maternal side with a Welsh surname (Edwards—that’s Welsh, not English according to my references), I just checked my genealogy program. Dafydd ap Owanin Gwynedd, Prince of Gwynedd, was my third cousin, 29 times removed. He married Emma Plantagenet who was his half 7th cousin once removed. I am half 22nd great-grandnephew of Emma Plantagenet.

In addition, Bryn Terfel is one of my favorite singers. When I do music while erging, I’ll listen to Bryn. Close enough?

I’m supposed to get my C2 tomorrow. I haven’t erged for many, many years. I’ve been doing lots of cycling and rowing on wheels in the meantime.

Byron

Sounds to me like you're Welsh royalty Byron.

It'll be good to get some (Welsh) blue blood in the team so count yourself in I say!

WOW Byron, with that pedigree you are almost overqualified Welcome aboard (I assume that eloquent dissertation was an application to join !). As Chippy would no doubt say if he wasn't fast asleep at the moment - get that shiny new C2 unpacked asap man and start erging !! Ah, the smell of a brand new erg, nothing like it ....

Lovely account of the goings-on at Auntie C's Carole, brought the occasion to life for me. I was wondering how many ergs were involved - must have been quite a sight with all 4 whirring away at once. No wonder it was hot inside with all that combined energy release. Sub 1:50's after tending to the meal bodes well for BIRC - that formal training program under Coach X starting to pay dividends already ? Daren did us Taffs proud even though the Oarsomes tried to sabotage his effort by telling him to go faster (hoping he would 'blow up' - a Taff's too smart for that old ploy)

Sorry to hear a number of Taffs have succumbed to the Flu. Lovely and warm/sunny today down here - ideal recuperating weather lads.

Good luck with that 50K day everyone - I've teed up "honorary Taff for the day" Ironwoman-in-training Venessa to do the lion's share of mine

Martin

Hi Godfried,

Another update for the Taff-o-Graffs. Just back from the gym with a HM PB :-

1:21:48.4 at Ave Pace 1:56.3 . DF 117, SPM jumped around a bit between 25 and 28. Boy, was that tough. Wanted to hold sub 1:20 pace (1:53.7) for as long as I could but not today Josephine - after 6K pace started sliding out and I ended up hanging in at 2:00 pace in the 3rd 5K. Ave Pace creeping up was a bit of a demotivator so switched the monitor to ETA with 4K to go but that seems to bounce around all over the place ! Used Actual time in the end to get me home.

Am I stuffed Carla - know how you must have felt at the end of that 28K'er.

Hey Chris/Chippy, Debra's pedalling as hard as she can to catch up. What's it going to be - gentlemanly pause or 'take no prisoners' approach

Cheers all

Martin

WOW MARTIN! How can you hold a sub 2:00 pace for an HM! How many more Nonathlon points did that get you? It must have moved you up the N. rankings considerably.

Your performance today is to blame for my 6K PB today. I didn't want to row at all when I got home from rehearsal at 10 PM. You hadn't rowed yet so I almost decided to bag it, especially when I found out I had no clean shorts. But then I checked later and you had done your great HM PB. So I put on some dirty shorts and cleaned up my 6K. I'm not sure if it's a PB or not but it's an SB anyway by almost a minute--24:33.6 and got me another 20 something N. points. Now my Taff-o-graph should look a little more respectable.

Hope you all feel better soon!

Carla

Hey Debra!

You've been doing tons of meters lately! Have you been doing HMs or what? You're almost caught up to Chris & Chippy. Go Deb!

Carla

What a great battle it is between Carla and Martin! Not only are they repeatedly putting in the metres to get out in front but they're also pulling in some great PBs/SBs!

Well done to both of you, it's great to see such focus.

Now if I can just overtake Bernard today....

well done Carla that 6k beats me ............ I am so tired .... just got in off nights .. did 10k yesterday afternoon and then my special training programme at 0200hrs in the morning ... I am really doo lally tap.... right time for bed ...................nite all .............xxx

Wow, Carole! That certainly sounds like dedication to me (cue Roy Castle's Record Breakers theme tune!). It certainly demonstrates great focus and determination to maintain a strict training programme round shift work; you've obviously got some Welsh ancestry lurking in your geneology! And, no, that's not a sly pitch for your membership into TA as I know how proud you are to be in the Team Oarsome crew!