BIRC Entries

Guys/Gals,

Can everyone who's entered BIRC please let me know so I can compile a list. It would be useful if you included race number, event and time too.

Cheers,
Niall

It now looks remarkably like the Sub7 web page.
Much better.

http://www.agrinyer.co.uk/subsevenirc.html

ENTRY DETAILS:
Event No: B5
Event Title: Men 40-44 Lwt
Age: 42
RACE DETAILS:
Race No: 17
Race Time: 13:45
Earliest Weigh-In: 11:45

I managed 100 m at 1:37 in the spring, inspired by a Xeno DVD...and the next day I couldn't walk....and wore a back support belt for about a month....It's really no fun having your a** in a sling.
I think I'll do the first one at 1:55 and see if I can keep them at 1:55 or speed them up just a tad on each one.
1:35 is for the week after that.

Thanks for all the work on the website, Niall!

No surprises (for me) there Citroen as the Bio page is indeed based on the sub-7 web page. I think for now Sub-7 have the best website of the indoor rowing teams. I really liked the format of their front page and couldn't think of any improvements (maybe ideas will come later on),

I see you're in the same BIRC race as I am (@13:45)!!

Speedy, you're an inspiration man!!

I did a 6x500m (90secs rest) session first thing this morning (at 07:00 ). Target pace was 1:46 so I planned to do my race start for each set (i.e. 6 strong, short strokes) and then settle into 1:46 for the first 5 sets and then empty the tank on the final set. Results were:

1) 500m / 1:45.7 / 32spm
Splits: 1:44.6 (34) / 1:47.0 (31)

2) 500m / 1:45.6 / 32spm
Splits: 1:44.6 (33) / 1:46.6 (31)

3) 500m / 1:45.4 / 32spm
Splits: 1:44.2 (33) / 1:46.6 (31)

4) 500m / 1:45.4 / 32spm
Splits: 1:44.6 (33) / 1:46.4 (32)

5) 500m / 1:45.3 / 33spm
Splits: 1:44.4 (33) / 1:46.4 (31)

6) 500m / 1:43.5 / 35spm
Splits: 1:43.6 (35) / 1:43.4 (36)

Decided in the last set to just keep the rate up and see how long I could hold on to a 1:43/1:44 pace. Consciously engaged my arms a lot more in this set and it made a huge difference. I've been concentrating so much on my legs in my training that I'd completely neglected my arms .

Have to say for the whole of the final set, I just kept thinking about Speedy's words last week taht he was convinced I could and should be going faster and could do a sub-7:00 2K now. I wanted to prove him right so just dug in and it felt amazing. Despite being short of breath and tired, I'd actually say it was relatively controlled.

This really is a huge confidence boost for me with BIRC just 11 days away (great timing!!).

Many thanks Dwayne, you're a star!!

Way to go, Niall, what a great set!
Keep it up! It is great to hear your progress! I can't wait to hear your race results 11 days from now. Sub 6, right?

I did a Level 4 last night and ended up only 14 strokes to high for the 40 min. but 252 meters high as well--the paces were anywhere from 3 to 7 seconds faster/500 m than I was "supposed" to be doing--I think I'm at the wrong reference pace...
this may be the season that I manage to improve my 2K, finally, as long as I proceed with caution!

Cheers very much, going to look at doing the challenges.
Just to let you know how I'm getting on, I started about a month ago and was already pretty fit (or so I thought). We (the novice 8) have been working hard as we're racing against senior crews (!) at Bristol university head race on Nov 26th. The Taff's flooded at the mo so we're not getting much time on the river, consequently we're not going to get much better at the basics (having trouble balancing the boat- hand heights), so the race will be...interesting.
In terms of times I did 2k- 6.56, three weeks agoand got it down to 6.42 last week, within the team we've a nice healthy competetion, so I'm keen to beat the guys better than me, the best of which did 6.36. Hoping for sub 6.30 by Xmas.

Niall, excellent performance there. So that's, at least, second place for me at BIRC.

Rowed 20' warm-up 4743m
Rowed 6780m
Rowed 2K cool down

Total 13,523m

Details in diary

Niall,
Way to go mate. Knew you had it in you. Just remember to hydrate for BIRC. Don't want another episode like the one a few weeks ago.

Lenny,
6:30 by Xmas. Do it to it mate!!

Speedy

Did my first attempt at the 750m challenge last night. Was doing 1k's anyway, so set up the monitor to catch my 750 split. Nothing really fast...

2:15.9 - 1:30.6
2:16.0 - 1:30.7
2:16.0 - 1:30.7
2:13.9 - 1:29.3

I'll try this again before the month is over. See if we can't go just a touch quicker.

Speedy

So, let's get this right, you were doing 1Ks and set the monitor to capture the 750m splits for the challenge! Speedy? You amaze me man! You're a phenomena, you really are. You're a real team player, superb athlete and a down right nice guy too!

It really is a pleasure being in the same team as you!

Just realized something. I took 3 min. rests between my pieces yesterday. Oops!! Guess this one won't count.

Lazing around heh Speedy??

You'll have to have another go now! 2mins rest only please

Yeah, what a slacker.... I do 2:15.9 for like a marathon... oh, wait, that was his TIME for 1K, not pace WOW that's 1:07 pace

While we're on the subject of the rest time, is it supposed to be passive so you start with the flywheel stopped, or active rest? I did mine passive. Just want to make sure my next attempts are the right way, whatever it is.

That was my time for the 750, not the 1k. I wish I could hold a 1:07 for a 1000m!!!

Yep, passive Carla so you're fine!

(I'll update the Challenges page on the website to reflect this (thanks for bringing it up).

Yesterday's workout was 2 x 6K at 2:06 with about 5 min rest between. It seems like that should have been slow enough not to feel like crap this morning....

So big question is Carla, how do you feel this morning?

Taff Attack BIRC Entries


Race 2 (09:00)
Bernard Redmond (Grumpy)...F20

Race 17 (13:45)
Niall Williams (Niall)...A3 I made front row!!!
Dougie Lawson (Citroen)...B2

Race 18 (14:05)
Robert Redmund (Chippy)...D14
Phil Tilley (philt)...B11

Race 30 (17:25)
Chris Adams (Bore Da!)...F7

It's going to be a fantastic event. Three of the Olympic team's Coxless Four are competing in the Open as are a lot of other GB Olympic hopefuls. One of my friends is rowing next to Dean Macey (GB Decathlete and Olympic medal winner)!

Front row. Outstanding. Remember to race your race. The front row can freak people out sometimes. Hydrate...hydrate...hydrate!!!!

Give 'em 'ell Taffs!!!!

Cheers Speedy. Yeh, already thought about the impact of being on the front row. Need to be mentally strong to stick to my own race plan and then use the crowd to bring me home.

Getting nervous now

Relax...you know you're going to do good, so just go and do it. Oh, and have I mentioned...HYDRATE!!!

Suggestion - Need your thoughts

Despite being a global team, I have for some time felt that the team needs to move its Forum Thread to the C2 UK site. I feel having the thread on the US site, restricts the awareness of the team in the UK.

In the UK there are a lot of races in the calendar but precious few members are able to attend compared with other teams (largely due to the geographic spread of the team). For example at BIRC we have six members competing, this compares with other teams:

MAD - 20 entrants
Old Wrecks - >12 at least
Sub7 - 19 entrants
Taff Attack - 6 entrants
Team Oarsome - 20 entrants

I would like Taff Attack to make a bigger impression on the UK circuit and feel we can only do this by raising awareness of the team, it's personalities, it's achievements, it's cameraderie. I think Taff Attack is second to none when it comes to friendliness, motivation ,support and a strong team feeling. I want others to know and feel this and having a US-based forum thread makes it difficult to recruit (IMHO).

I'm happy to be shouted down on this but want it to be discussed by all members (or as many as have a strong enough opinion on the subject). So I would welcome any views and comments on this.

Cheers Guys.

Any reason we can't have both? To much to keep up with? Confusing?

If it's workable then this would clearly be the preference.

What would be posted on the respective threads?
Would we need to post on both threads?

Sorry if I sound all negative and devil's advocate. I want this to work but want to make sure we consider all possibilities.

Make that 7!

Niall invited me to join, and I greatfully accepted. Training on your own is hard work. Don't have time to post a full intro, but I'll just say a quick hello to all my fellow team members. HELLO!

Gotta go as I'm still in work and I finish half an hour ago . I'll introduce myself fully tomorrow, but you can get an idea from the UK forum (I'm Dr. evilmonkey at the moment).

I agree with Niall about moving to the UK forum. I had no idea TA had more than two members untill Niall got in touch.

Anyway, off to do a 50' UT2.

Dan

Welcome. Niall is doing well on his recruitment campaign this week.

I'm doing my best Dougie.
Roll on BIRC, I'll be in full recruitment mode then!!
Hoping the team strip will help (should at least draw attention to the team anyway!).

Welcome aboard Dr. E. The more the merrier (sp?)!!

Speedy

Ok, so we have two new members (lenny and Dr. Evilmonkey (Dr. E for short)). I haven't seen any of their meters yet. What's up with that eh? Post 'em lads.

Speedy

***********************************
Niall
Will not mingle with the enemy Staying here in Taff land.

Chippy

Speedy,

That is predicated on two things:

1. They're logging metres online
2. They know how to add Taff Attack to their online profile

Niall,

Been away all week and now catching up with the forum.
Details below.

Starting to get very nervous. I have been away all week staying in a brand new hotel in Frankfurt. Of course no C2 in the gym just a treadmill, cross trainer and bike. All instructions in Germany, tried doing interval training on the cross trainer but everytime I did a sprint I went too fast for the machine and it came up with a warning and applied maximum resistance.

I am away this weekend (upto the Welsh National Watersports centre). Surely they must have a C2? Then travelling again all next week.

This is not the preparation I had hoped for...

Ah well if it doesn't work out well at BIRC there is always Cardiff and then Abergavenny.


ENTRY DETAILS:
Event No: A5
Event Title: Men 40-44 Hwt
Age: 41
RACE DETAILS:
Race No: 18
Race Time: 14:05
Earliest Weigh-In: n/a


Look forward to meeting Niall and other Taffs.

PhilT

I've never been to the UK site! what's the URL & is it like this one to navigate?

I don't think we should try to keep up both threads, it should be one or the other. Too confusing to have it in 2 places and not good for team spirit to split it up, what do you all think?

Website update

1. Added Bio page for Sir Pirate (including interview questions)
2. Updated Bio page for me with interview questions

I'm off to the Wales v Fiji game tonight with my son. First time at the Millennium Stadium for him so I'm very excited.

I have just passed the 1 million meters mark for the season (May 2005)

Updated my meters last night added 170K+

Sir Pirate

The forum is here , the main site here.

They have a load of info on training.

Navigation is OK , inserting a url in a posting is more difficult , going to last post not possible ( last page can be done ).

I rowed the challenge today. 20' w/u, 2K c/d.

4*750 2:00r 10:38.5 1:46.4 33SPM 173HR

• 2:36.1 1:44.0 35SPM 170HR
• 2:37.8 1:45.2 34SPM 172HR
• 2:43.0 1:48.6 32SPM 176HR
• 2:41.7 1:47.8 33SPM 175HR

That third interval was a killer. But I got the average in just where I wanted it.

Blod and me off to Stadium as well Niall,i'll be the Taff wearing the Welsh jersy

Not correct Godfried, sorry. You can indeed go to the last post by clicking on the small rectangle next to the name of the last poster. This will take you straight to the last post.

While I agree that inserting a URL is less intuitive than on the US sight, it's still straight forward.

I think I'll probably take Speedy's suggestion and create a thread on the UK site for Taff Attack but obviously the US one will be the main one.

Wouldn't it be better just to have one? Ifyou guys wantit onthe UK site, it's ok with me. It just seems there should be only one or we'll always be missing stuff and won't it be confusing?

What is 20' w/u, 2K c/d?

Great times, Citreon!

Carla,

20 minutes warmup, 2000m cool down.

Not sure what you mean by our meters, do you mean put my best time for stuff as a signature?

1) Am logging some times, but only if they beat my pbs,
2) I don't know how, can anyone enlighten me please?

Lenny/Dan,

You need to create a profile so you can log all your rowing metres online. While creating the profile, there is a field for University/Affiliation and you need to enter "Taff Attack" in this field.

I think this link should get you to the logbook area just in case you haven't got one:

http://www.concept2.com/sranking03/log.asp

Hope that helps, if not then just holler!

Good luck,
Niall

cheers, have altered my affiliation, will log more regularly now.

I see we've now gone from 45 to 47 team members so presume both Lenny and Dan have successfully registered their affiliation.

Welcome aboard guys, good to have you with us!

There's nothing stopping you from updating your log with anything from this season (assuming you have a paper log of it). There's even a way to add historical metres to earlier seasons.

Don't forget to log w/u, resting metres (PM3 gives you those for an interval session) and c/d metres.

We're currently standing sixth in the overall table with 32.7Mm. We drop to 55th if you sort by metres per member (~700,000).

http://www.concept2.com/sranking03/challenge/univStandings2006.asp