LUNA-TICS Astro-rower-naut Team Room - Hangin' Out Together

[NMB4010]

To fight marathon boredom, I recommend watching the Lonesome Dove miniseries, if you haven't already seen it. It's absolutely excellent and you'll forget to be bored while rowing.

How the heck does someone row 1.2million meters in 15 days? That's what the JVC leader has posted and it doesn't seem physically possible to maintain that level for two straight week (not to mention the time commitment).

[sungaonlaw]

Had a nagging phlegm of death cold that I am getting over, should be back to regular daily row (will need to build it back up). Am really inspired by everyones' posts.

[kalmjorg]

Thanks for the great info about preparing for a marathon. As a newbie, I find that about an hour or so at a time (about 10,000 meters) is pretty good without killing myself. Most of the time I've been rowing around 13,000 meters twice a day (I have time since I'm retired). I have to play catch up (to get my goal of 500,000) due to a chest cold (makes breathing difficult), but believe I will accomplish it. I've rowed 20,000 meters, but never a marathon, so this will give me something to shoot for.

I'm sure my rear-end will hurt and my low back (I have low back problems) but have found the Concept II rower the ideal piece of equipment for me. I think Kristine's 3 1/2 hour row is probably the pace I will be setting for myself too.

With one member already hitting an amazing 500,000 meters, it kind of leaves it open as to who will be second or third in total meters rowed. However, it's been a friendly time and I enjoy each day to see who's pushing along.

Something that has not come up: where we all are from. Yep - one team, but wondering where others on here reside?

FYI: I live in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

I live in Arbon Idaho

[Calamity]

Brian, the man that has over a million meters, has a blog that talks about what he is doing and why. The view this goto http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea ... =305324608

ps. click comments at the bottom of the page to see all his posts

[Kristine Strasburger]

Thanks for posting his link to his blog. I just read his entries. Very cool and very inspirational. He is blogging a day by day diary of his rowing. Coincidentally, I emailed him an invitation to join the LUNA-TICS before we got started, but he had this very specific goal in mind to row for breast cancer awareness, so needed to stay a single-man team.

Great suggestion on LONESOME DOVE. I was thinking of doing that one next! (6 hours of movie there).

[Bob S.]

I'm sure my rear-end will hurt and my low back (I have low back problems) but have found the Concept II rower the ideal piece of equipment for me. I think Kristine's 3 1/2 hour row :idea: is probably the pace I will be setting for myself too.

Hi young fellow,

I think you underestimate yourself. l am an 83 yo open heart surgery survivor with a shot fifth lumbar disc, noticeable kyphosis, and an arthritic knee (among other things that come with the territory of being an octogenarian). My PB marathon last summer was under 3 hours and 16 minutes, so a kid of your age should be shooting for something better than 3:30. I trained for it by doing longer and longer sessions every 3-5 days until I was up to 2 1/2 hours and then I went for it. In a marathon, it is not the intensity that gets to you, it is that long time on the seat. The faster you go, the less butt pain you have to put up with.

Bob S.

[NMB4010]

Kristine, I just looked around the site and the forums for the Marathon training program and couldn't find anything. Can you point me in the right direction?

Many thanks! Noelle
Austin, TX

[Kristine Strasburger]

Noelle,

Don't feel bad. I happened to find it by accident one day.

Go to the C2 home page.
From there you will see a top menu bar.
Click on Training and Competition.
Select Goals and Advice,
then click on Training for a Marathon.

Or just use this link: http://www.concept2.com/us/training/goa ... rathon.asp

There is a lot of additional advice to be found using the C2 home page top menu bar links, so go exploring.

[Kristine Strasburger]

Here is another useful link. http://www.concept2.co.uk/training/interactive.php

It is an interactive training calculator that will give you workout programs based on data you enter such as your athletic level (scroll down on that page to see the classification definitions);
the number of rowing sessions per week you want to row;
number of weeks to your "race" or goal;
your current best 2000 meter time;
your age;
your resting heart rate;
your maximum heart rate (it can estimate it for you).

You can select a program for increasing your 2000 meter times or for weight loss.

You plug in all the data asked for, and the calculator generates your workout program for the days and weeks you requested, along with instructions for how to row the different workouts.

The info I learned from this link really revolutionized my rowing, and made my time on the rower much more efficient and fun. I highly recommend it, even for beginners.

[thomaspinckney]

Great reply from Bob. As you know, we are only as old as we feel. Never thought about the "hurting butt" (and back) from being on longer. Good point there. Obviously, less time on the erg means faster times to get the same meters. Rather than continue to row at a continuous pace, I believe I will add some faster times in there which will get me more meters, while at the same time up my metabolism while I'm not training, which should aid me in my attempt to lose weight.

Today, I got on the scale and had lost another pound. That's 20# since the day before Thanksgiving. I went to a dietician about a month ago, and I was told to keep my loss to about 2# a week. I'm close (at about 3# a week) and have to back off a bit to slow things down.

I'll put in about 20,000 meters today (about 10,000 at a time) and will take Bob's advice about picking up my pace.

[Big]

And I thought 2007 went fast--I can't believe January is half over already! My goal of keeping up with the team's individual average isn't working out, in part thanks to Eric who has rowed 515 km already--good job Eric! If only I could count my distance cross-country skiing which is more than my rowing.

At this point in the challenge the team has logged 6,338 km or the distance between New York and Zurich. If we count the rowers on all the teams we are about 48% of the way to the moon.

[Kona2]

Hi everybody,

Now that we're at the halfway point, the competition between teams vying for the 4 - 5 - 6 spots looks pretty tight. As some of you may have noticed, Rowpro online and Timbuk2 are watching us pretty closely. Thanks for the info from everyone on how to get to the long row times and distances. While I am not ready for a marathon, or a half-marathon, I do think that I can row an extra 2000 meters to help advance the team average. Calamity Jane suggested recently that an extra 1725 m gives the team average a boost of 25 meters.

We're in competition with ourselves - and we've got a great team room community.... would be great to finish in the top 5 teams.

Kona2 in Denver/Boulder area --- snow today makes for good indoor rowing weather!

[NMB4010]

Count me in for extra effort! I'm amazed at how much more I've been inspired to row with this challenge! My goal for January was 200k and I should hit it by the weekend, so I'm going for 300k+!

Thank you for the marathan info, Kristine! Also, thanks to the person who posted the link to Brian's blog. His journey is really fascinating to read about. My body would definitely not be able to hold up.

Happy rowing, everyone!

[Kristine Strasburger]

Here is another idea to try during this JVC...row ranking pieces during some of your workouts. You might even be able to row several in one workout. Remember to warm up before doing any timed piece like these.

Qualifying Ranking Categories
500 Meters
1000 Meters
2000 Meters
5000 Meters
6000 Meters
10000 Meters
21097 Meters (half marathon)
42,195 Meters (marathon)
4 minutes
30 minutes
60 minutes

If you are planning on rowing a piece to be ranked, it is best to preset your distance on the monitor. This is the only way that you will be given your precise result time with tenths of a second showing.

When you enter any of these exact meters or minutes into your log book you get a rank link appearing on that entry. Just click on that link, and your piece will be automatically entered.

You can then see your ranked workouts by clicking on the top menu button. It will show you where your time comes in against everyone else in your age group who has entered a ranking piece. This is just one more fun added feature of the online rowing experience.

[kalmjorg]

Count me in for extra effort. Today I finally broke 14k. I have been trying for months. It seems like the longer I go the better it gets. I have a wool liner I use for the seat. It is very nice and washable. I had one made for my mountain bike seat and it worked so well I thought I would try it here. I cannot tell you what a difference that makes.