Dwayne , now at 6,974,831 meters : 7,000,000 today ?

BTW you did over 1/3 of team total of 20,499,548 ( just 566k after the 21,066,098 of "Massachusetts Institute of Technology" , after that it is a long way to "TEAM OARSOME IRC" at 27,080,531 ).

Daren, they have a nice logo too : : I like the frame around it.

Taffs, or onlookers

As I now have rowpro up and running in the garage of grief, and I know at least one other member is rowing online - I have scheduled a trainning session for sunday morning 11AM GMT. Its a 5k row but I intend to interval as 6*250r500. - Anyone who makes it at this short notice I will see you there. All Welcome

Cheers
Chris

a tiny winy PB today...

5K 20:33.2 (previous was 20:38.3) The goal was to hold 2:02.anything and I was doing very well until 649m to go and of all things I stopped and almost quit but after 10ish seconds, a drink and a nose blow I finished. If only I had not stopped it would have been probably around 20:22 and would have moved up about 4 spots in the rankings. tisk tisk.

splits:
2:01.7 26
2:02.3 25
2:02.0 25
2:02.5 24
2:02.9 24
2:02.8 24
2:01.7 25
2:02.0 25
2:18.4 21 ugh!
1:56.9 26

it was worth 4 Nonathlon points, anyway!

Next time, I will post my intentions and then I won't DARE stop!
Carla

Well done Godfried and Carla on the new PBs.

I tried to go for a new PB at 5k today as I'm sure I can beat my previous time as it's slower than my 30min pace but started way too fast and had to stop after 2k and I hate doing that! Will try again soon though.
I'll blame having too many beers Friday night!

Any PB is a good PB Carla, no matter how they come. Most of mine have a 'blow up' period somewhere (cos I go out pretty hard) - a few easy strokes gets the equilibrium back usually (unless the body is just too stuffed). And now you know that there's potentially another 15 secs or so for the taking. Great row - wonder what caused the stop so close to the end ?

Just back from the gym feeling pretty pleased - did my first of the two 30K'ers recommended by Rick Bayko as a good foundation for tackling a FM. And I was able to shower and walk to the car like a normal gym person too (unlike my first HM when it took me 10 mins just to get to the car and another 10 to get in ) Glad I stopped at the 30K mark though as for a fleeting moment I was tempted to 'go for it' - as it was everything was starting to tighten up and I recognised the signs fortunately.

Interesting piece - I've decided to 'row' the FM (i.e. set a testing target time, in my case a sub 3 hrs (2:08's) with a secondary target of sub 2:55 (2:04's) if feasible with 10K to go) as opposed to 'do' a FM (i.e. just finish one - strategy not so crucial in this case I think).

So the strategy is to set off at HM pace (2:00) for the first half to get well ahead on Ave Pace (which I did), hold for as long as realistic into the second half, then ease right off and have a nice 'loaf along' until the end of the FM is within my grasp. Then pick it up ???

Today's 30K'er saw 2:00 Ave Pace with 6K to go, body said 'enough' so had the luxury of 2:08 - 2:12's for long periods. At the end of the 30K Ave Pace was 2:02.5 so target time still there. Big confidence booster.

Taking a LONG drink every 6K worked a treat - I put the handle down and enjoyed a distinct break. Surprisingly not a negative to put handle down - quite the opposite as it made the piece seem like a series of 6K'ers. For those who are interested time 'lost' was :-

After 6K drink Ave Pace went from 1:59.4 to 1:59.9
After 12K 1:59.8 to 2:00.0
After 18K 1:59.9 to 2:00.0
After 24K 2:00.0 to 2:00.0

One can have a bit of 'fun' during each of the early 6K'ers trying to get Ave Pace down a bit. And the proper drink break is really something to look forward to when the first half of the FM becomes a bit wearying.

I realise that with BIRC coming up the last thing our warrior Taffs are thinking of is a FM but thought I would share these thoughts whilst they are still fresh to :-

- Provide some insight for those contemplating a FM soon.

- Provide some light relief for those on a current diet of gutbusting 2K'ers

Cheers

Martin

PS Tough luck with the 5K'er James - if at first you don't succeed .... Maybe visit the Risca 'House of Pain' for that extra motivation

After a few low-meter days I decided the team needed some of my meters. So I did a 5mins warmup ( 1159m ) and another 5mins ( 1215m ) and decided to row a full hour after that.

I decided to go long - to go fast - to suffer - to take no prisoners - and none were taken.

So I improved my 60mins PB from 14,674m ( 2:02.7 / 500 ) to a distance with a sub 2:00 pace of 15,033 ( 1:59.7 / 500 ).

pace / HR / 3mins intervals
1:59.4 146 1:59.4 153 1:59.3 154 1:59.8 155 1:59.2 159 1:59.4 161 1:59.5 164 1:59.4 164 1:59.3 165 1:59.6 165
average total was 1:59.4 / 500 - decided to let it slip slowly to 1:59.9 / 500
1:59.9 166 1:59.9 168 2:00.0 168 2:00.2 171 2:00.1 171 2:01.0 172 2:00.3 173 2:00.8 174 2:00.4 175 1:57.6 176
decided to do a little sprinting at the end
ended at 15,033 ( 1:59.7 / 500 )

And to top it of a cooldown : 10 mins ( 2025m )

Total for the day 19,432 meters

Nonathlon : +31 Not the 100 distance I need from Dare, but getting there.

Again : back to you, Daren.

Good Effort God!

I haven't been putting this off, honest. But here is the race report for the first of the Caldicot Clashes.

Turned up, unloaded. As I had missed a row during the week I had to complete a 8800m warm up - no whinging this was my own fault! Neither of us were looking forward to this, and as such Chippy had a copy of Pinsent's book on hand for insperation (Which never came).

Even before we started this I knew I was up against it. Chippys got natural strength, and has the pre-match preperation down to artform (I knew a flanker once who played for Ysradgynlais - 5 mins before kickoff his eyes went black, 5 mins after kickoff he was in the sinbin).

The prediction said we could both row 700m at a pace of 1:36. We started together side by side. I daren't look at Chippys display because I knew he would go off so fast. I just tried to stick with the game plan of averaging mid 1:35 and finishing with anything I had left.

At halfway I was pulling 1:35.7, I looked over to Chip - S**t - he's on 1:34.7 ave (this is bad news, but not entirely unexpected). BUT he is slowing up! 100m later and Chippys at his blow point - Hes now pulling 37/38's, and in 200m I got to pull back one measly second!! I kick for home and steadily drop the pace into the 33's. But Chippy's in front and isnt going to give it up. He ups his pace enough to keep me at bay and we finish thus:

Chip 1:35.1
Chris 1:35.5

Nobody spoke, but I managed a smack on the shoulder.
Several minutes later the first words were "Race you to 2 million???"

Bottom line - 6 months of rowing to lose by 0.4 sec - Well done Chip, enjoy it, because I WILL beat you to two mil!!!

Really great on the 60K PB, Godfried! What an improvement in average pace. I guess your work on shorter distances hasn't hurt you any!

Carla

Hey Martin, congrats on your 30K piece. Next time I try any such thing I will break mine up into 5 or 6K stretches, too, and try not to fret too much about the drop in avg pace for each stop. It sounds like you really are about ready to tackle that FM pretty soon, if you were not uncomfortable afterwards!

Carla

The blow up on that 5K was purely mental wimpiness, but I'm done beating myself up now...

Carla, Martin , e.a. : I made an click for excel-sheet to see the consequences of a break on the average.

The way it is now means you do each interval at 2:12.0/500 active , and take your first break ( 2:00 mins ) after 10,000m and before 12,500m. Second break ( 2:00 mins ) after 20,000m and before 22,500m. Third break ( 2:00 mins ) after 30,000m and before 32,500m. After that suffer to the end. It will be reached in an average of 2:16.3/500.

Just enter some values in the high-lighted reds to see what happens - after that make a personal plan of it by altering the other reds.

I used 2500m intervals for the marathon to be able to get all data out of the PM2 after the row.
I used the same intervals for the HM and added a HM with 1250m intervals.

See if you like it.

Hey there Taffs. Convinced the wife to join the club. I assuming since she's married to a Taff, that she's a good canidate.

Speedy

Just got back from a weekend away visitng family. Nightmare journey with trains from hell. Most unpleasant, especially with kids in tow. Not recommended in the slightest!

Three days without my erg! I've lost quite a lot of ground to Jasmine (why don't you ever post any more Jasmine?) so I need to get my skates back on to catch her! Get Andy to update his metres too!

Well done on the PBs and everything I missed over the weekend, great stuff from everyone!

Welcome to the team, Kristine! It's OK, we don't expect you to put in as many metres as Speedy. Half as many will be fine. =)

Godfried, good to see all this work... but it'll be for nothing, you watch! You're paddling against the flow, my friend!

A warm welcome to Mrs Speedy! I dare say we'll see a drop in Dwayne's metres now that he'll be fighting you for time on it. Talking of Dwayne, awesome achievement going through the 7 million mark this last weekend; I'm speechless (just aswell my fingers can still type!).

Godfried, fantastic 60-minute PB mate! That's an absolutely awesome improvement. Your old PB is around my existing PB and with your improvement and time in the 2K being comparable with mine, I think I need to revisit the 60-minute PB (after BIRC though!).

Well done to Carla too on her PB. I concur with Martin, a PB's a PB no matter if it's 0.1 second!

Many thanks for the race report Chris. As usual, the strong competitive feeling was felt through the read and I look forward to Son of 1 Million Race: The 2 Million Challenge!

Some clever person has collated all the BIRC entries and produced some online tables. The most most pertinent to Taff Attack is the individual team schedules which shows:



If you want to see all the information available click here

Suffice to say, there will be much cheering on of team colleagues at BIRC (Chris, I might be a little dry-mouthed for your race as it follows mine and Daren's but I'll be as vocal as possible!).

Looks like I'm using Chippy's erg as soon as he's finished. Leave the flywheel spining, will ya?

Hi Chris - great post. According to our master statistician/politician looks like you could have 'won' but I'm afraid my maths says you lost by about 3 metres according to the Ave Pace/500 figures Great row (and story) and shows how fair the 700m distance was. Imagine if either or both of you could hang in for another 300m - what a 1K PB that would be !

2 Million before end April ?

Martin

Hi Taffs,

Godfried - another MONSTER PB from the 'maestro'. Must have been a great feeling in the last 40 secs or so to know you had a 15000+ row coming up ! Great confidence booster to hold sub 2:00 Pace for the hour - whats in store for the HM ? Can't rest now maestro, your Taff Pace graph looks out of whack and needs a HM of 2:02's (only another 25 mins after all), then you will need to do the FM again....

Thanks too for the spreadsheets - I tried the FM one by changing the bold red Pace figure from 2.12.0 to 2.00.0 but then got #VALUE throughout 3 columns of the spreadsheet. Same thing happened to a lesser degree when I tried changing the 'break' figure (to 00.10.0). ????????

Hi Carla, I asked the 'what happened' question because I thought it may have resulted from trying to hold 2:02 pace at 24 SPM - thats more than 10 MPS and may have been too much of an energy drain ? (was thinking of 25/26's for 2:00 - 2:02 range). Looks like that wasn't the case though. I REALLY liked the 6K breaks - often enough to take in plenty of fluid but not too frequent as to cost too much time. I only 'stopped' for about 6-7 seconds (I think) each time but found that far more satisfying than trying to drink and row at the same time.

A warm Taff welcome Kristine, I think you will find the sessions on the erg take on extra meaning knowing each metre goes towards the Taff Total (and catching MIT).

Not far from the 1 million mark Debra - over the virus yet ?

Good luck with the last few days of BIRC training Warrior Taffs.

Off to the gym now for a 'grease and oil' change to get the body parts moving again

Martin

Hi "Mrs. Speedy"!

I've been trying to get "Mr. Seat5" to row for a while now...but nothing doing. I hope you enjoy it! with the 7 Million Meter man coaching you, you are in good hands.

Looking forward to hearing about your progress!
Carla

Hi Martin,

Well, maybe that's why my legs hurt, but stopping was from lack of mental toughness....At the time I didn't think I was doing more than 10MPS, because it seemed to me that I was doing more like 9--the digit I was pulling on kept changing by 1. But maybe I was thinking backwards, and was actually doing more than 11. I'm pretty mathematically lacking in logic while I'm rowing, unfortunately. Anyhow, next time, no excuses!!

I'm amazed you are rowing after your 30K day yesterday. Whew.

Carla

BIRC "race plan" attempt 3.

2km warm up, 4 minutes rest. As before, the plan was 3x500m at 1:46, then kick for home. Unlike the previous two times, I stuck to it a little better this time. I also had 3 days total erg rest.

Last time, 7:02.1. This time...

6:56.3

Avg pace 1:44.1

In preparation for the BIRC, I decided not to do any rowing Saturday and Sunday this last weekend and the do a warmup and 2K "race" at 12:45 today. The idea being that this would simulate the Friday and Saturday rest days this week prior to Sunday's BIRC. (Hope I haven't lost you ).

So I arranged my day so that I could visit a gym at lunchtime and do a 2K warmup with 100m sprints during every 500m segment. I then rested for a few minutes, got my breath back and my HR down and then went for it for the 2K "race".

The game plan (which I should have posted beforehand!) was to try and stick to 1:48 rate for 1750m and then go for it in the last 250m. The test was also to make sure I stuck to my gameplan and didn't get too excited!

Decided to do some quick, short strokes to begin with to get the wheel flying and then settle into the 1:48 rate. As before, I had the odd 1:47 and 1:49 but didn't let this worry me. Again the row felt fairly relaxed and I certainly felt in control. Made sure I used my legs more in the third quarter to maintain the speed and then went for it in the final 250m. Final time (and a new PB) was 7:10.9. Splits were as follows:

1:48.0 (31spm)
1:48.0 (31)
1:48.2 (31)
1:46.7 (32)

So very pleased with the progress (at least it's going in the right direction!).
Will probably only do one more 2K (Wednesday) as I want to see if I can maintain 1:47 for the first 1750. If I don't get chance to do this (I've got some business commitments away this week) then I'll stick to 1:48s for BIRC.

Niall! =) You and me both, well done mate. I had Friday, Sat and Sun off but not through choice. Looks like the rest was what we both needed. I think I'll just take the whole of this week off! =)

As for which row I'm in - when I applied, I was hoping for 7:15, so that's what I put on my application. =) No idea what the time splits are for each row, but I don't think it makes any odds where you are unless you're in one of the display-connected rows. =)

To be totally honest, my initial hope was just not to come last. I reckon that neither you nor I need worry about that. =) I just couldn't bear the thought of being the last person pulling on the handle with 100 other people having finished, and everyone watching me!

I realise that it wouldn't matter anyway. In fact, I think I have more respect for those that finish last because they have to suffer for that much longer.

Row A (35-39 Hwts) tends to be for guys with times faster than 6:30. I was on the front row last year with a predicted time of 6:29.9. This had me on Erg A1 (slowest of the front row).

The year before that my predicted time was 7:50 (pb was 8:15) and I was right at the back.
When I was at the back it did seem strange to me that I was going as fast and hard as I could, but when I looked up with about 500m left to go I could see the people in the front row walking about and talking to each other.

It's great at the back too though, as you are still racing with people of the same ability as you have, I had a good battle, as the guy next to also was aiming for a sub 7:30.

Sir Pirate

Thanks for your posting Sir Pirate, it's very interesting to see the progress others make over a couple of years so maybe by the time I get to the 40-49 age range, I can make it to the front row.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not getting hung up on the front row thing. I think the fun's probably more in the other rows anyway . I just want to get my time down to 6:30 but clearly have to get through the sub-7:00 barrier first!

You have to plan ahead and set yourself these targets, you must have something too aim for.
In 2002 at BIRC I did 7:32, I said to my self that I want to be 1 minute quicker at BIRC 2003 and be on the front row of the Grid with the big boys.

In 2003 BIRC I got on the front Row (all be it slowest) and PB’d with a 6:27. So if you want to do it Daren, can’t see why not!!

You are certainly heading in the right direction.

Sir Pirate

Sir Pirate,

What would you say was the best advice or the element that contributed the biggest improvement in your 2K PB over that year? This is a question I like to ask people as I'm not convinced such improvements can be gained through just fitness and strength alone.

For me it's been:

a) keep the chain level (no swaying up/down or left/right)
lower DF (120)
c) "Hands away" to ensure a quicker stroke rate.

But I've still got a lot to learn and am more than willing to try out different techniques or ideas based on individuals' experiences.

I think it is a combination of a number of things coming together that brings your times down.
Building fitness is the main one I would say, I was lucky as I come from a cycle racing background so I feel my level of fitness was pretty good when I started erging. My times where slow due to my muscles not being acclimatised to rowing.
Technique is another big part, I was lucky enough to meet up with Pete Marston who as a very smooth technique. We did a session and he pointed out some flaws in my technique that needed working on. The combination of a correct technique and adaptation to rowing moved me forward a lot.
The other issues, and the 2 most important I feel are- Enjoyment and wanting to do well.
It all depends on how fast you want go, finding the maximum you body will let you push it.
I will never get to sub 6 as a number of factors are not in my favour. I have yet to find my bodies limits on the erg, I will push myself to I reach these limits but I won’t be able to do any of this if I don’t enjoy doing it.

Daren, Niall & others………………how much do you want it?

Sir Pirate

Hey Daren, Niall



I'm glad to hear two other shorties are going for it big time next year at BIRC. I put my projected time for this year at 7'30" and I have already achieved this, but I would like to get down to at least 6'45" at next year's BIRC. I think this is achievable for me. I suppose I shouldn't prejudice my own potential but I think I should be close to my potential in around two or three BIRCs from now.

Keep erging strong.

Bernard

How much do I want it? I'm not sure, truth be told. =)

3 months ago, I bought the model D simply because I wanted to use it to lose weight. However, in those three months I've become somewhat hooked. I'm still using the machine every day, even after reaching my million metre target, and I haven't yet shown any signs of getting bored with it.

I'm the sort of person that is rather "faddy" in terms of what I do. I'll pick something up for a few weeks, then move on to something else once my interest wanes. Since I'm still rowing, I'm hoping that's a sign that I've found something that will keep my interest in the long term. If that's the case, then I'll try to be as good at it as I can, because I'm a competitive person.

I think that losing weight has actually become a secondary goal to getting faster at the moment.