Daren,
If you're looking for a df for this months challenge, then I would highly recommend as low as possible (in fact I would recommend that to everyone). With the rate as low as it is, you'll want to keep the fly wheel spinning as fast as you can, for as long as you can.

If you're looking for a df in general, then I'd recommend you go with your experiment.

I'm going to investigate drags in general, I think, but I hadn't even considered the merits of a specific drag for this particular challenge. That's a good point, and I'll do my next attempt with a lower drag to see if it makes much difference.

For the last couple of weeks I've been using 120. It seems to suit the 3K and 805m distances. I'll, probably, drop it back to 110 (or less) for my next 30'R20.

MAD II is right on our tail for the 3rd spot. Anyone doing the challenge again soon?

I'm on 120 currently but considering dropping to 110 for a smoother stroke.



I'm doing it again tomorrow morning and this time coach says I can do it without any HR or pace restrictions (last week's was restricted to 2:02 pace). Hoping for sub-2:00 tomorrow. DF will be 120.

Next week I'll try it again at DF110.

It needs to be one of the heavies. I'm not doing another until next week.

Sure...leave it up to the heavies. Don't know if I can pull much more than what I did. I suppose I can have the wife with me again. Her threats seemed to work last time.

I can vouch for a low df on long distances. You just don't get the shock into the joints with a faster moving flywheel.......took the day off today and maybe Tuesday as I'm traveling . Caught up loads this w/e after doing two 30k's back to back which was best ever w/e. No ill effects either which proves in the lower df or I was just going slow The good thing is that between us the Taff meters are piling on fast!

Hi, Niall thought it would be a good idea if I sign up so I thought I'd introduce myself. Born and brought up in Caerphilly but moved over the bridge years ago and now live near High Wycombe. Get back regularly to visit the folks and watch the City. Aged 45 and got a model C for christmas with a view to losing some weight. Slow and crap at rowing at present but looking forward to chugging out some metres for the cause. Cheers, Paul

F.T.

Welcome aboard. Glad to have you for the cause.

Speedy

Taffs: had a second crack at the CTC and I am up to 8112m I just updated my score and we didnt move from third any suggestions on how to squeeze a few more meteres out?

Go faster?

Just a joke mate. How dead were you at the end of this one? I know the only way I'm going to get more out, is to have someone screaming at me the whole time. Maybe try that. Get yourself a cox.

Oh...and don't worry about not getting into second. Your distance helped push us away from MAD II a bit more. Good on ya!!

Speedy

Sadly, I'm never going to make the lead boat, so my efforts will make no difference. I've aborted two further attempts, so far. My 7326 was a PB for the piece, and on the two subsequent attempts I've set out to beat the pace (2:02.9), and suffered from fly & die. I think next time I'll set out more conservatively, and try to negative split it in the last 10 minutes. My 5 minute splits last time were:

1:59.4
2:02.7
2:04.1
2:04.5
2:04.8
2:02.2 (2:02.9 overall average)

I reckon that if I play it smart I can beat that.

Same here Daren, I lasted 5 minutes this morning as I went out too hard (1:58) and suffered for it. Splits went down to 2:00 and I just had no strength so put the handle down. Will have another go tomorrow morning but set out more conservatively (2:01).

Thanks Speedy: I was quite beat up at the end of this one. quite strange considering my first attempt seemed so easy. I find it much harder to push to a specific split knowing what I have pulled before than just getting on the machine and going for it in ignorance. this was actually my third attempt to beat my previous score. I aborted twice after it was clear early on my legs were not up to it. I might try monkeying with the DF I have done all attempts at 143 so far.

Great suggestion on the cox I will have to find one. As much as I love my wife she would be an AWFUL cox. I can just see it now, sitting reading her Vanity Fair....go! thats right keep it up...what do you think of this scent...oh my,look at nichole richie's knees she looks like a skeleton...did you know Paris is getting sued....oh yea keep going!

I find going at such a low pace very hard on my back, so don't do it anymore, but I think your distance is quite good. It does, however, sound funny to 'fly & die' at a rating of 20

David

Fat Taff
Welcome to the team


Chippy

This was exactly the problem I was having after my first attempt. The low rate hides the fact that you are really pulling quite a heavy weight for 30 mins. It got worse the second and third time I tried even though I didnt feel that tired. I found that a full day off was what I really needed.

CTC password isn't working. Would someone please enter 9037 meters for me? Thanks.

Speedy

Daren will have to fix that.

Getting up there Speedy!

I'm going again tonight. It's only my second try at it this month. I hope I don't have the trouble everyone else is reporting on subsequent attempts.

Last time was 2:02.3 7354 meters. Trying to hit 7500 this time so pace has to be 2:00. Oh dear. Don't think I can do that (30 min pb at unrestricted rate was 7336, last year) Oh maybe I can. 2:01 would be 7438. That would be 84 more meters and only improve our average about 16 meters. That still leaves us in 3rd place. In fact even doing it at 2:00 leaves us in 3rd.

I'll start at 2:01 and see if I can speed up at the end.

This may not be very much fun.

The only thing fun about this is thinking what my 30 min PB will be at an unrestricted rate after doing it at 20 spm all month.

I did it! Well, almost. And we are still in 3rd. I am not even sure it made our team average go up--I can't remember what it was on before but the number looks the same to me.

7475 meters av. 2:00.4

This is a PB by 120 meters and got me 994 Nonathlon points!
Yeah, that and about $4.50 will get me a cup of coffee, right?

I used a metrenome set on 60 and drove on every 3rd beat, and used Rerow on the PM3. It didn't take me long to leave the pace boat behind-it was off thescreen for most of the row.

It made me think of when I was pregnant and I'd swim a mile every morning. Some days I was soo sleepy because I had to do it early and I'm not a morning person, so I would pretend I was asleep while I swam. So I tried it on this piece and sort of chanted "have a nap" on every stroke. It really helped to keep totally relaxed except on the drive. For variety I switched to Lull-A-bye when the minutes changed over. This really sounds stupid but by the end I was really looking forward to changing from Have a Nap to Lullaby, like it was some sort of reward for surviving the last minute...

The guys with the white coats are coming to give me a nice ride soon....

Awesome stuff, Carla! You'll probably be over 1000 Nonathalon points when you do it unrestricted. I can't wait to see your next 2k.

I had to laugh at your Lull..A..Bye, and Go..To..Sleep mental chants. I do a lot of stuff like that when erging too. Mostly I count numbers, but sometimes I spell out words, one letter for every stroke. P....A....I....N..., etc.

- Krysta

It's probably going to be a long wait!

Don't laugh, but I think spelling out PAIN is a mistake....use more positive ideas! How about I C A N W I N or something like that?

Actually I wonder if it will be faster unrestricted or not. Until the last 40 or so Lull A Byes it really felt ok.

Heh, yeah. But then, one might also wonder if "go to sleep" and "lullabye" are the sort of inspiring phrases that you'd want to hear your cox shouting at you? Well, anything that can help disconnect your mind from what your muscles are feeling and keep you in a groove is a good thing, I guess.



So does this mean we are going to see a part III to the 30R20 Seat5 performance? If it didn't hurt til the last 40, you must have more in the tank!



Why the wait? Doesn't fit into your training plan? I need to re-do mine sometime in the next month too, but I don't expect to make the kind of vast improvement that you are likely to see on yours. I'd really like to get under 7:30, though.

- Krysta

I've updated that for you, Speedy. I used the web page and your password, so it is working OK. Maybe you typed your password incorrectly. I'll PM you with what it's currently set to.

Really impressive, Carla! I'll have another go, soon. I really hope I can hold it together, next time.

Hi guys, my name is Owen Davis. Rowing at mumbles ARC, won welsh ergo j18hw's this year, want to do a bit more machine work. can i join?

wow Carla.... you got me beat by a long way this season ..... you would deffo dip under the 7.30 now me thinks for a 2k ...so go and get it done ....

If I can join, you can join ... send a Personal Message to Citroen and he'll get you set up ... and then get on that erg and start adding meters ... fast!

Outstanding stuff Carla. Just when you think you can't do it...well then you go and put in a pb.

Speaking of Nonathlon points. When ya gonna do your lower distances???? If my calculations are correct, just doing any old time for the 500, 1k and 2k would vault you into the top 100. Get to it girl!!! The shorter distances are the easy ones (yeah right!!!).

Dwayne

Owen

With a 6.36 at Cardiff for an U18 you are definately in my friend!!!!!

Do you know about the 30' @ 20spm competition that's running this month on the UK site?

Cheers

Paul

New members always welcome, particularly pukka boyos.

Owen, do you log metres in the online logbook? If so, update your profile to set Taff Attack as your team. If you don't, then sign up, then set Taff Attack as your team. =)

For the Cross-Team Challenge that Paul has mentioned, see here for the thread on the UK forum, and here for the web site.

Daren,
Absolutely love your avatar out on the UK site. Solid stuff mate!!!

Dwayne

Hi everyone, have only been doing this for a couple of weeks and my calves feel like a sockful of walnuts. Could anyone recommend a good post row stretch to me. Have played loads of sports in the past and never had this prob, suppose it could just be old age! Cheers, Paul

Good gracious ... this 30'@20SPM challenge is a bear ...

Tried improving my distance by shifting from a DF of 111 to a DF of 77. Managed more distance, but felt like 77 (minimum setting on drag) was way, way too light.

Will try the average next week (94) and see if I can't help the slow boat get into the top 20. At DF77, felt like I was running in sand. At DF111 (my normal traing drag - 4.5 on the Model D indicator), felt like it was uphill the entire way.

Target would be to beat my current unrestricted 30' PB ... 7285M.

Hehe, it rocks, and no mistake. I nicked it from a guy on another forum. =) I've got another animated avatar that I think it quite funny, too, but it's too large to use on the US forum.

Here it is:



I don't remember that scene in the film, mind.

I think it's quite interesting, Mark, that you got more distance. I tried using a lower drag (100 instead of 120), and found it was a lot harder for me to achieve the splits I had been getting at the higher drag, and I didn't get anywhere close to the same distance. I guess this is a technique problem - maybe I just don't use my legs enough, or correctly.

With the lower drag, you've got to be quicker come out of the catch. That should fix the issue.

Darren:

To be fair, my first attempt was a second workout of the day and only the second time I had everdone a restricted rate workout for an all out time/distance. I might have had more distance than today if I had been fresh.

It does appear (to me) that a lower drag factor is better for the restricted rate ... at least lower than my normal training ... but I feel that 77 was just too low. No question that this requires quick, strong legs to drive the pace down.

How Speedy gets over 9,000M is just absolutely inconceiveable to me ... he's a freak (in the kindest sense) of nature!

-- Mark

Owen! welcome aboard. get on the machine and start cranking!

Great pull Carla! way to go!

I'm with Speedy ... but watch form ... I noticed a few strokes where the lower back was giving me some warnings ... the whole hinge at the hips aspect has to be respected ...

F.T. I have had trouble with my claves off and on for years, mostly from running. The typical runners stretch were you look like you are trying to push a wall down work best for me. One leg in front of the other with the forward knee bent and rear leg extended. Hold for at least 30 seconds on each side. I find that after that stretch if you find a step or wall were you can place the heal a few inches away from the step/wall and the ball of your foot up on the step/wall with a straight leg seems to help also. The main thing is to hold the stretch for at least 30 seconds and no bouncing. Do that a couple of times a day and you should see some improvement. I tore a calf a few years ago and it took a very long time to heal so be careful!

Owen.

Welcome to Taff Attack.

Can you PM me with your e-mail address and your Online Ranking ID number so I can add you to the January Virtual Team Challenge?

Thanks Spectre, tried that a few times and feels better already! Cheers, Paul

Brilliant. Well done Carla.

H...U...R...T B...O...X...

Just improved my 30' @ 20spm score to 8332m (1.48.0) from 8266m (1.48.9)

I took on board some of the comments about reducing drag and dropped mine from 130 to 120 and I have to say it certainly made the stroke feel lighter. Took me 10' of my 20' warm up to get used to it though - it did seem harder to hit splits to begin with, but overall the ploy worked well throughout and I would add my recommendation to giving it a go.

Paced the piece much flatter than last time, went quicker earlier in the piece and reduced the sprint at the end - which really worked well for me. I'll post my splits in my diary on the UK site if anyone is interested.

This didn't feel like a max effort, so I'd hope to go sub 1.48 before the end of the month.

Just my opinion but I think this session is as much to do with mental strength as physical and if you can get your pacing right, I think you can amaze yourself with what you can do - for example at the outset of the challenge I thought I'd struggle to go sub 1.49 but now reckon I can go sub 1.48.

Spectre - Over to you now a sub 1.50 would be good

Owen - You've now had all the welcomes - let's see what the youth section of Taff Attack can do