TimbukTOO Team Room

[The Blacksmith]

Put me down for 250.

[Quatroux]

Hi Team,

Hope you don't mind me tagging along for the virtual team challenge. My logbook says I've been slacking the last few weeks (it's COLD here) and I'm hoping this is going to give me a little extra motivation.

My logbook also says that I'm very very slow. But kind of stubborn If I can find something good on Netflix, I'll be aiming for 250k in January.

Welcome to the team! The team challenges are a blast. You will fit in just fine with us.

[PJM]

Hi Team,

Hope you don't mind me tagging along for the virtual team challenge. My logbook says I've been slacking the last few weeks (it's COLD here) and I'm hoping this is going to give me a little extra motivation.

My logbook also says that I'm very very slow. But kind of stubborn If I can find something good on Netflix, I'll be aiming for 250k in January.

Welcome to the team! The team challenges are a blast. You will fit in just fine with us.

I will add my welcome!!..you picked the best team with the best captain and the motivation is awesome.Row strong!!

Pat

[_Acorn_]

Hello TimbukTOO!
Thanks for the warm welcome to the virtual team - I sure appreciate it! I'm excited to finish out my holiday challenge over the next few days and gear up for the January Team challenge. I'm very much a beginning rower, but am already hooked. I hope that being a part of the TimbukTOO team will help me keep my motivation going on those days that I don't quite feel like getting on the erg. It seems like if I can just get my butt on the seat, I usually enjoy the workout.

Also, I'm holding a Tufted Puffin in my avatar picture. I'm a marine ecologist, and I had the privilege of working on Aiktak Island in the eastern Aleutian Islands of Alaska this past May-Sept, and rowed to get in shape for the field season. It was great training, and really prepared me for all the hiking through tall tall grass all summer long. Now that I'm back at computer during the off season, I'm hoping that racking up the meters will keep me feeling strong and fit.

Looking forward to erging with y'all!
Cheers,
Amanda

[Izzzmeister]

Hi Team,

Hope you don't mind me tagging along for the virtual team challenge. My logbook says I've been slacking the last few weeks (it's COLD here) and I'm hoping this is going to give me a little extra motivation.

My logbook also says that I'm very very slow. But kind of stubborn If I can find something good on Netflix, I'll be aiming for 250k in January.

Welcome, Jonathan! I'm sure we can motivate you, as our members are very supportive and helpful. Of course, for especially difficult situations, we do maintain a high-voltage taser. On the very, very rare occasions that we feel forced to use it, we find that in a few days when people are able to focus their eyes again, they immediately crawl back onto the erg.
(Sorry! As my father-in-law constantly reminds me, there's no accounting for what some people think is funny!)

Should we put you down for 200K then, since you've exhausted all the good stuff on Netflix already?

[Quatroux]

I'm very much a beginning rower, but am already hooked.

C2 does a great job with their motivational initiatives. Welcome to the team!

[Quatroux]

for especially difficult situations, we do maintain a high-voltage taser. On the very, very rare occasions that we feel forced to use it, we find that in a few days when people are able to focus their eyes again, they immediately crawl back onto the erg.

Izz, where were you today? I got hit by one of those perfume bombs that Lisa mentioned a few posts ago and really could have used a mild jolt.
It should have been an easy row, but I had a hard time with it. The harder I row, the larger "the wall" gets and the faster I encounter it in a long row. Thankfully, the positives for climbing over it also get larger.
I need carbs.

[Izzzmeister]

...we do maintain a high-voltage taser...

Izz, where were you today? I got hit by one of those perfume bombs that Lisa mentioned a few posts ago and really could have used a mild jolt.
It should have been an easy row, but I had a hard time with it. The harder I row, the larger "the wall" gets and the faster I encounter it in a long row. Thankfully, the positives for climbing over it also get larger.
I need carbs.

'm always glad that women are almost as offended as we are by noxious fumes. When you need to buy a new bottle of perfume every week, shouldn't that tell you you're using too much? And if you have such smells to mask, why not consider a shower instead?

It sounds like you're dealing with a combination of hitting your "lactate threshold" and running out of glycogen. The first one has to do with things like VO2Max (maximum amount of oxygen your body can process) and the waste products (lactic acid etc.) that build up when you're working at an oxygen deficit ("anaerobically"). The glycogen (fancy name for the glucose sugar your body runs on) supply includes the stuff stored in your muscles, the extra glucose in your bloodstream, and the glucose your body is able to quickly manufacture using your fat supply. If you're rowing slow, your body can keep up with the manufacture of glycogen from fat. The faster you row, the faster your stores get used up. If you ever would truly use up all the stored glycogen, you would "hit the wall" like marathoners used to do at about the 20-mile mark before they learned how to "carbo load". At that point, you have to slow down to the pace that your body can break down fat but you feel like you're running through molasses. For very long rows, you might want to figure out a way to ingest about 120 carb calories per 15 minutes to prevent that.
Both problems are improved through training. VO2Max improves with fitness level, especially with interval training. The hot trend with increasing how much glycogen the body stores between rows is rowing while fasting.

[damselfly]

'm always glad that women are almost as offended as we are by noxious fumes. When you need to buy a new bottle of perfume every week, shouldn't that tell you you're using too much? And if you have such smells to mask, why not consider a shower instead?

I have chemical sensitivities, and almost all fragrances (including those in skin and hair products, laundry products, soaps, and household cleaners) make me various degrees of ill, and it's only getting worse as I get older. Nothing worse than being stuck next to perfume-lady on a plane for 5 hours. Why everything has to "smell nice" in the modern world, when we've managed to keep everything sanitary and refrigerated and clean, is beyond me.

The hot trend with increasing how much glycogen the body stores between rows is rowing while fasting.

Yeah, not so much.....

[JonathanRyan]

Wow - thanks for the welcome!

Should we put you down for 200K then, since you've exhausted all the good stuff on Netflix already?

Nah, there are another 5 seasons of 24 to go - plus that mini one they did during the writers' strike. I should be good for 250

[Hummingbird]

...'m always glad that women are almost as offended as we are by noxious fumes. When you need to buy a new bottle of perfume every week, shouldn't that tell you you're using too much? And if you have such smells to mask, why not consider a shower instead.

I missed the perfume post, but from the trail, I agree wholeheartedly. Now let's get the word out to men who reek of aftershave. Next, smokers.... Now there is the definitive example of selective deafness, which in turn explains the stereotypical vigilante behaviour of the ex-smoker, reeking of shame once their sense of smell returns. ( )

[damselfly]

Posted by "Rowing" on Facebook this AM:

The road to hell is 2000m long and has six lanes all in the same direction.

[Hummingbird]

Heather R - 15,000 Too fast build-up?

I hope I don't have to eat my words, but thanks to all the magic I and others have graciously been doing on my behalf, I am symptom-free, and since lesions don't 'get better' without radical medical intervention in the scientific mind, my case has been put in the X-files. Suits me.

So, thinking to break myself in gently, I set my goal at 10k/session, and no surprise, I struggled to reach 10 K. Oh, the whining! Oh, the extended breaks between sets! Oh, the temptation to quit ... etc.

Then one day, distracted by my poker win, I whizzed through to 12k without even noticing (sort of).

Just as work expands in proportion to the amount of time one allocates to complete it in, it occurred to me that I could trick my mind with the idea of diminishing effort by doing a 5K row, then 4k, then 3k, then 2k and finally, no sweat, 1K. Who can't row an extra 1 k, even at turtle's pace? Voila! 15 K. I did it again yesterday (5, 3, 3, 2, 2)--a breeze! (To the extent that rowing can ever be 'a breeze'.) All going well I'll be back to my 20k/session in no time.

But put me down for 300K in the January challenge, just in case that 'in no time' is a few months later than I hope.

[brick1101]

Re: Perfume. We had a novice rower leave the crew in a huff because it was suggested she not overdose on perfume before a row. She was already mad because it was pointed out how hard it is to row with jewelry dripping off her fingers.
This past summer while carrying the boat back to the boathouse after a row, one of my teammates piped up, "Who's been eating garlic??!!" Opps... I was the guilty party overdosing on fettuccine Alfredo the night before infused with LOTS of garlic!!
I'm going to try for 300,000 meters for the challenge. ROW TEAM!!!

[Quatroux]

The hot trend with increasing how much glycogen the body stores between rows is rowing while fasting.

I read that on a running forum several months back and have been doing my morning row on an empty stomach ever since. I have no idea if it is doing any good, but I tolerate it well and see no need to stop. It is likely that I'm not rowing long or hard enough. I currently do an abbreviated L4 workout (fixed rate), but only for 10 minutes. With an 8 minute warm up and 8 minute cool down I'm on the rower 26 minutes before work and that's about all my schedule allows. I'll repeat that 26-minute series two more times each weekday unless I have time to do an L3 session.

I've been doing 10k's in the last two days as my L3 rows. I get about 7-8 minutes in and crash. The pace is my 2k PR split * 1.15. I drag along wanting to quit until about 2k to go. It really takes all I have to keep going, but then I am able to hold the pace easily and even sprint the last 250 meters somewhere near 2k PR split * 0.90. That leads me to believe it is all in my head.

Anyway, I always look forward to your posts. Thanks for the info.