Niall,
I didn't see one for the men's hvwt. Any idea what time I need to beat?

As it's early days, there are only three entries so far:



Great to see most of them are Taff Attack!!!

Speedy, I wouldn't try and just beat the top time (21:30.3), I'd do the best you can (i.e. obliterate it). There's going to be a lot of entries in the next three weeks but as it's the European Championships this weekend, a lot of the good times will be delayed.

Go for it man, let's show the UK site what Taffs can do!!

Ok then...Saturday will be a SB try for the 6k (Need to beat 19:26 though... ).

Ooh, that's gonna hurt
Challenges have to be challenging though so go for it big guy!!

Latest scores for the December Cross Team Challenge:

CTC DEC'05 - 6K UNRESTRICTED

H - 20:57.3 - MAD - Pete Marston
H - 21:10.7 - MAD - GrahamP
L - 21:30.3 - Team Oarsome - Gary Blackman
L - 21:56.5 - Paddy Power - Samdkrc
F - 24:30.3 - Taff Attack - Carla Stein (seat5)
H - 24:53.6 - Taff Attack - DarenC

Great PB Carla, and there was me thinking you were only doing pokey ole K's of late! Not long before you are up there in Nonathlon if you can keep this great form for the other distances.

GOOD LUCK FOR CARDIFF TO ALL THOSE COMPETING -

Niall, you are due for a good one with that lousy build up (reverse of BIRC ?)

Chippy, last chance for sub 6:50 ? I'm getting toey and can't wait much longer

Chris, remember Cardiff was the scene for your great time last year.

Everyone else - have a great time/row and don't forget to post all the juicy details.

Cheers,

Martin

I'm planning on rowing for 2hours in about 35mins time.
I'll start by going for a 2K warm-up, then the 6K, then a HM.

19:23.3 today. How do I post this on the UK side??

Sign up for the UK forums (if you're not already registered) and post it on the
http://www.concept2.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9087 thread. If you get stuck send me a PM and I'll post it for you.

I did it today. 6K 22:40.8 new PB.

Thanks Dougie. Great job on the PB too!!

You must be pretty darn fast to be able to row 2 hours in 35 minutes!!! Do you go into a phone booth to change into your rowing kit first?

How many Nonathlon points did you gain with your 6K pb?

Speedy you rock!!!

I'll have to have another go and see if I can catch you. Let's see, that's only about a 5 minute lead you have....I'm sure another week doing Wolverine will do it...

I AM the new Speedy!



That got me another five points.

Cardiff - Welsh Indoor Rowing Championship 2005

Fantastic to see so many Taffs at this event and all (apart from me) performed well.

First off was me, Chippy and Phil. From my point of view, I wasn't able to push it due to my chest infection. I was fine up to about 800m gone (bang on race plan 1:47/1:48) but then my chest started feeling tight (like someone was standing on it) and my breathing became laboured. Paul Bullivant (Paul did a fantastic job at motivating me and keeping me going (thanks Paul, you made all the difference). I'm just sorry I wasn't able to do Paul's encouragement justice .

I came in with a time of 7:20.0 (expected 7:04) . Due to lack of numbers in my race category I came away with a silver medal

Chippy managed a 7:03 which was below his expectations but I'll leave it to him to talk it through from his perspective.

PhilT yet again had s storming performance with a 6:26 for GOLD. Fantastic result Phil and great to meet you.

Race 5 had Paul B and wilko51 competing. Great to meet Mike for the first time. I didn't get chance to speak to him after the race so don't know what his expectations were. He came in in a similar time to me and I think it was 7:20.

Paul B had an absolutely storming race and exorcised his BIRC demons. He had a really consistent race at 1:36/1:37 pace and came in a well deserved 3rd in a time of 6:24. It felt great to see him perform so well after his disappointment of BIRC (definitely more to come!).

It was quite a break then until the next Taffs raced but we were rewarded with Ramboyo, Eddie English and Grumpy racing all at the same time. Have to admit I can't remember the exact finishing times but what I do remember was the gutsy performances put in by each of them on home turf. Eddie had a nightmare start and it looked like he fell off the seat or something. He didn't let it put him off and he dug in really deep to catch the field up.

Ramboyo was the epitome of the "Heart of a Dragon". It was diffficult to tell how much he was hurting from the back but I could sense some suffering as he shortened his stroke to maintain the pace and then kicked home when he needed to.

Last but not least, Grumpy! What a great example he is to us youngsters. If you could have seen the finish he put in at the end! He was pulling sub 1:50 and driving and pulling for all he was worth. He just didn't give up.

All in all, I fantastic Taff day and a medal haul of:

1xgold
1xsilver
1xbronze

I think it's fair to say that it's the best result we've had for the team in one competition.

Taff's Rule!!!

Great to meet everyone. Thanks Niall, Chippy, Grumpy, Wilko51 et al for the welcome and support.

Well done to all fellow competitors a great Taff showing.

Thanks Niall for the report.



I was feeling very nervous before the race and felt like my stomach was tied in knots, mentally I didn't feel well prepared. 500Metres in and things settled down a bit, once in the lead I eased back a little and then with 500 to go I heard Wilko shouting, warning Andrew Crook alongside was catching. Pleasingingly I managed to pull away from him again and finished in a satisfactory time of 6.27.5.
1 Second off BIRC but given how I felt beforehand I was just pleased to finish under 6.30 again. Winning the gold for Taff Attack was a real bonus.
I am looking forward to seeing the Stroke Data, any idea when it will be available and on which site?


A great event and the extra warmup machines made a big difference this year.


So now it is time for a role call for Abergavenny.
I'm in.

Phil

Good to meet everyone at last.

Well done Phil....didn't realise the guy next to you was in second. Maybe I shouldn't have been so vocal about his limitations

Must admit I had misgivings about racing as I had a cold all weekend. I was so concerned Sunday Morning I rowed a 1.46 for 1000M to see how I felt. Answer, not great but not dead either so I thought I'd row a contained race down in Cardiff. So pretty pleased on one hand to finish without feeling too knackered but disappointed that I didn't hit the throttle hard.

Apparently some guy came flying off his machine in my race but I was concentrating so hard I didn't see anything.

Put me down for next weekend. Do you have to register or is it a matter of turning up on the day?

Mike

Well done Taffs. I bet those AIO's are becoming quite well known by now eh?

[quote=philt,Dec 4 2005, 05:02 PM]
[quote=Niall,Dec 4 2005, 09:39 PM]Cardiff - Welsh Indoor Rowing Championship 2005

Fantastic to see so many Taffs at this event and all (apart from me) performed well.
PhilT yet again had s storming performance with a 6:26 for GOLD. Fantastic result Phil and great to meet you.

1xgold
1xsilver
1xbronze

I think it's fair to say that it's the best result we've had for the team in one competition.

Taff's Rule!!!

[/quote]


Great to meet everyone. Thanks Niall, Chippy, Grumpy, Wilko51 et al for the welcome and support.

Well done to all fellow competitors a great Taff showing.

Thanks Niall for the report.



I was feeling very nervous before the race and felt like my stomach was tied in knots, mentally I didn't feel well prepared. 500Metres in and things settled down a bit, once in the lead I eased back a little and then with 500 to go I heard Wilko shouting, warning Andrew Crook alongside was catching. Pleasingingly I managed to pull away from him again and finished in a satisfactory time of 6.27.5.
1 Second off BIRC but given how I felt beforehand I was just pleased to finish under 6.30 again. Winning the gold for Taff Attack was a real bonus.
I am looking forward to seeing the Stroke Data, any idea when it will be available and on which site?


A great event and the extra warmup machines made a big difference this year.


So now it is time for a role call for Abergavenny.
I'm in.

Phil

[/quote
*******************
Great day at Cardiff for the team. Gold for Phil in the 40+HWT, fantastic
Niall with a silver and Paul B nealy killing himself to get bronze.
Must mention Grumpy and Eddy in the 60+hwt because you just had to be there
to see the effort they put in.

Martin
The Emporer has got his thumb pointing down,Its time to finish me of.

Hope to be at Abergavenny on Saturday,a guy called Chris Adams said he might
have a row to,think he might have rowed for us before.

Chippy

"Chris Adams"? Name rings a bell but can't quite place him (memory isn't what it used to be). Trying to picture him on an erg but just can't see it. Hopefully Saturday will be the reminder I need!

Have to agree with Chippy about what he says about Grumpy and Eddie's effort. From my poor vantage point behind the ergs, you could tell every sinu and muscle was stretched to the max on every stroke. True Taffs!!!

Hi Niall, Chippy, Phil and Mike Wilko,

Thanks for the great posts guys, made me feel like I was there and not 15,000,000 metres away.

Top row Phil to go sub 6:30 again so convincingly and get a gold as well.

Nice going on the silver medal Niall and top effort to stick the 2K out at race pace for so long when battling a virusy thing. Is Abergavenny the last roll of the dice for you this season ? If not then perhaps a long break over Christmas to recover may be in order - you may be a bit run down through overtraining ? How did your other event go by the way.

Chippy, where's those sub 7's gone ? The 'Emperor' may well have the thumb slowly rotating downwards but needs to make sure he is fully clothed first ...

Not sure what your time was Mike, hope you enjoyed the experience of your first race as I did recently and recover in time for Aber.

Well done to all the other Taffs - any PB's for Eddie, Grumpy etc ?

Should put your write up in TaffWeb Niall for posterity - any photos for Taff Gallery ?

Cheers and good luck for Abergavenny Taffios,

Martin

Hi Martin,

I'm planning on doing as many events as I can this season so, no, Abergavenny wont be my last (planning on doing Surrey and Manchester in February and Croydon in March).

I've got no photos of the event but will update TaffWeb as soon as the official photos are available.

I foolishly put my name down for the 500m race at Cardiff too. This went surprisingly well considering. IMy PB is 1:38.1 so I planned to go out hard and then try and hang on. If I saw anything in the 1:40s then I knew the chest infection was dragging me down. As it was I did see some 1:41/1:42s but managed to rally towards the end and finish in 1:39.6. Thought this wasn't too bad under the circumstances.

Instructions from coach for Abergavenny is to start off at 1:50 pace (i.e. based on my 7:20 finishing time at Cardiff) and then hopefully speed up at the end. We'll see....

Good to meet up with some of the team on Sunday - Chris (get back racing you tart ), Chippy, Niall, Ramboyo, Chippy's dad (is that Grumpy?). It's a pleasure to be associated with such a friendly group

Set out to go for sub 6.25 and came in with 6.24.9. Not seen the splits yet, but I think they'll be something like:

1.35.5
1.36.5
1.36.5
1.35.5

Felt really good up to 1500m - I'd cruised the middle 1000m in 1.36/1.37 comfortably, so was a bit disappointed that the last 500 wasn't a little quicker. Thanks for the support from the sidelines - it was a pleasure to bring a medal home for the team.

I dread to think what my medal ceremony picture looks like -I felt like absolute death - it will not be one for the gallery!!!

Still the time and the 10 minutes puking up afterwards has exorcised my 6.38 at BIRC where I quit at 1000m because it was hurting too much and I'm now looking forward to 6 weeks good training before Manchester and hopefully a serious attempt at 6.20.

I have to say the Cardiff event along with Evesham is my favourite event of the season - the venue is really top notch.

On a seperate note - the site of Ramboyo filling his AIO so elegantly has inspired me to want one Does anyone else want to order one, so we can get a discount?

I do, but I won't know what size to get until I'm lightweight, probably. Unless the sizings cover a reasonable range, anyway.

Edit: Looking at the sizing charts, I'd best wait until I'm where I want to be before ordering. The sizes change with each 2 inches on the waist, and I'm aiming to lose at least another 2 - 4.

I'm up for one. Medium chest(38) waist(32).

Paul b
The results are now on the UK site.Think the same as you,only Ramboyo can model the AIO,s properly

Chippy

Big Mike....Happy birthday mate. The big 50!!!!

Speedy

Even more nonathlon points!

Happy birthday Mike.

Many happy returns.

Great job at Cardiff Taffies!! What a team. Hats off to all who have the courage to put it on line and put out the best effort whatever the circumstances!

Tonight was supposed to be an HM at my last years's PB pace but I quit at 60 minutes as the tendons right above my knees began to hurt and I thought I'd better cool it as I haven't rowed this far in a while. It was about 250 m short of last year's 60 min PB so it was a good workout anyway.

WARNING: THE ARE DUCKS ON OUR TAIL.

Come on Taffs we need to log more metres.
It's a good job I've added 300K in the last two weeks.

The Ducks in a Row are now only 300K behind.

Log those missing metres, update your logs.

[Yes, I know the DIARs have a membership ratio of 110 to our 48.]

I'm back!!

Been sick as a pig all week but back on the C2 this w/e and cranking those meters again...

How did everyone fare at Abergavenny this weekend?

not sure if Niall got his computer sorted, but he did 7:17.2 today at Abergavenny

3 sec faster than BIRC

Computer all okay now. I ordered new memory and fitted it last night and all is now okay.

Many thansk for providing an update on my result Steve, much appreciated mate (it was actually 7:17.7, my mistake earlier !). Plan for me was to do 1:50 throughout and finish well (if poss). Splits were:

1:48.7 r28
1:50.1 r27
1:49.8 r30
1:49.1 r31

So pleased with the result. Long way off what I should be doing but need to get over this chest infection first. Really felt like hard work around 1600m gone so took a breather on 1:52 and then picked up the pace in the last 150m (1:40).

Big news of th eday though was a PB by Phil Tilley (the guy's going from strength to strength). I think the time was 6:24.

Also, surprise, surprise, Chris "Bore Da" Adams competed and pulled a 6:54 (I think). Unfortunately Chippy didn't compete as he's got the BIRC chest infection too now.

**********************************************
Just back from Aber

That man Phil T is on fire,pb 6.25:2 he drove himself into the ground to get that time.Tafftastic.

Well done Niall on the improvement

Finally got Chris back in the saddle and he pulled out a 6.55:4 Not bad considering he has not done many meters of late.

Got a cold and bad chest so cried of Going to get my lovely wife to rub some Vic on my chest now


Chippy

RACING IS LIVING!

Thx for support all,

"The TART!"

Well done Phil!

Must have been all that Belgian beer

Given Xmas is coming how about a Taff rowing session over the festive period?

Work off all that turkey in blitzing 2/5/10k or whatever takes your fancy?

Anyone up for it?

Mike

Just about recovering,

I have always enjoyed Aber as you can get half a dozen coxs behind you cheering you on. 6.25.2 was i.4 secs better than BIRC and very much a PB. I decided that I would go for it right from the start and after 750m was doubting I would finish but with the great support from everyone, i really felt I would be letting Taff Attack down if I stopped. It turned into a real dig deep session. Jumpin Jono in particular was making me push my stroke rate up as he realised I was struglling, his advice was excellent, as he saw the pace slow he wanted me to increase stroke rate. I think I did first 1K at around 30SPM but gradually pushed it up and finished at around 35/36SPM and 1.37ish.

Again thanks to Chippy, Bore Da, Niall, Jono, my wife and everyone else who were less than a metre away from me, al pushing me and making the thought of failure unbearable.

It was good to see Bore Da and Niall racing together. Niall did a very smooth race and steady at 1.50 for most of the race, picked it up nicely for the last 400m. Considering he had a chest infection it didn't show. Well done.

Bore Da was doing a steady 1.45 for the first 1.5K and then opened it up towards the end hitting 1.40 at the finish, excellent given he hasn't been on the machine for a while.



Time to now get the AIO and enter a Taff Attack team...

Looks can be deceiving mate . Throat was very dry (and still is today) and tightness in chest kicked in around 1400m. My previous MaxHR was 194bpm but yesterday it hit 201bpm



Bloody right there Phil, get it sorted mate!

The Tart

Well done my friend

You just couldn't resist it after watching evryone else suffering at Cardiff could you

Yep, Its a funny old thing pain isn't it? You gotta love it tho!

Dudes,

I know I havent been here for a while, but the Cross Team Challenge has me interested. As long as I've know this forum, rivalry has been displayed via banter (Mainly Speedy v The Pirate - some top battles!), but this is a chance for a genuine team competition.

Shout me down in flames but I think the Taff Attack first team will pick itself:

Speedy (capt), Paul B, Phil T, Carla, Niall. (Chippy, can you believe the TA has rowers of this quality?)

I would like to see the big Austrailian front up the seconds, because of his wealth of experience (no, he's not THAT old!), and and I'm hopful I'll make the grade. But I think ALL places are up for grabs! We have to have a second team, or our first team will row like my mam did in our rubber dingy on holiday in Porthcawl.

It doesn't stop there though does it? Oarsome are talking about fielding 5 teams.

Your Thoughts Please? And don't shout at me!

Each team needs 3 HWT men, 1 LWT man and one lady.
So it depends whether Niall can beat me over 6K for the December challenge.

I'm aiming to beat Jef Hutchby's 22:36.4 when I try the 6K again. I might risk setting the pace boat at 1:52.9.

I submitted a time earlier just to try and get Taff Attack back on the scene. I did the 6K at lunchtime and managed the first 3K at an average pace of around 1.44.5 but then fell apart, I had a couple of rests and finally managed it in 22.19. I would be dissapointed if I can't knock nearly a minute off this time.

I reckon there could be a three way battle for the Lwt spot between Niall, Citroen and Wilko. Bring it on

I think we should be able to get a second team together and show our real Taff spirit.

Phil

Sue, Lyndsey, Jasmine, Tracy.....Any other Taffettes going to give a whack at the 6K challenge for our Team? If no other women join in, does that mean we'll only be able to enter one team, or can you enter the same woman on mulitiple teams, or different times from the same entrant on different teams.

I'll give it another shot anyway myself--I'm sure I can do better. Besides I saw the other day that Daren beat me. Grrr. Not to mention almost everyone else who has done it so far.

I think Dougie's good for the Lwt spot in the First team and I'll support the Second team.

We need more women though. With only Carla scoring so far, we've no chnace of a seocnd team without another female score

Niall - Let's see some fighting talk and give Dougie a push for the 1st team skinny spot. Besides you've now got that magic HR monitor that will obviously just reduce your time by simply wearing it

Phil T - You can get under 21.00 for the 6k my friend - with a 6.25 2k you should have a good chance of doing that.

If we're struggling for female rowers, do you think we could get away with putting in Ramboyo or Grumpy down as women? Russia and East Germany used to get away with it in athletics during the 80's

As Chris "The Tart" Adams said let's try and get a couple of teams in amongst the more established teams and show them what we can do - if "The Tart" has suddenly found his motivation again - we can't let him down or he'll have another excuse for packing in again

Yeh, I think my old HRM was holding me back

Should be getting my new training schedule soon and as it's going to have more long distance sessions, I may just have a crack at making Dougie fight for that 1st team skinny spot. If I manage to beat him then it'll be a PB for 5K aswell as 6K!!

Gotta be worth it though.
Stay tuned!

By the way, I 've got a new RHR (Resting Heart Rate); 44bpm! I'm surprised I was conscious at that rate!

That was the target I was going for yesterday but it proved harder than I thought. I was on track upto half way and then I just gave up. This is one for the christmas period workout Wilko and Niall keep mentioning, no way I could give up then.

Phil,

You had an awesome 2K on Saturday and your body's still in recovery so it's no surprise that you weren't able to sustain a sub-21:00 pace for the 6K. If I were you I'd wait until next week before having a crack at it. Then you'll be able to attack it.

O.K.I'm up for the challenge,wig ready(pink, as modelled by Bore Da,Sue and I have the photo's!!!! ) fishnet tights worn on top of my AIO,should fox the judges eh,Tamara Press eat your heart out!