Peter's Blog

Dell Inspiron 500m is tethered to a mains socket so now I have it running 24/7. One advantage of this is that I can use iTunes for podcast downloading. Using the Apple podcast directory I found The Week In Technology (TWIT) which the laptop downloads at it's leisure. Come rowing time, I fire up the desktop pc in the rowing room and use the iTunes sharing thing to play the podcast back. And it works! Before I could not be bothered to find any podcast other than the Daily Source Code and now I am spoilt for choice thanks to the iTunes podcast directory. Ok, I'm not a great fan of iTunes but Microsoft built an empire on seductive ease of use.

For todays rowing session I decided to try long strokes, taking the handle so that only 6 inches or so of cable was visible. This involves more leg action, compressing the legs more. It took me 30 minutes 40 seconds to do 1000 strokes. It was hard, it was hot and I was dripping in sweat at the end. My heart rate didn't go over 160 though so I am not sure if it felt hard because of the effort, the heat or because I did 1140 short strokes in 30 minutes yesterday.

The long strokes have worked my legs more, I can feel it. Maybe I should be mixing short strokes with long strokes.

In the real world, I am unsure whether 43 short strokes/minute would propel a boat faster than 32 long strokes/minute. Hard to say on poxy Tunturi rower that only counts quantity of strokes, not quality.

I've been contemplating how I can keep rowing for half an hour with my heart at 170 bpm, how this tallies with my anaerobic threshold. This threshold is the point where the muscles cannot get enough oxygen from your lungs and start making oxygen from stored chemicals. This process generates lactic acid as a waste product which causes pain and stops you working.

The problem is don't I get this lactic acid buildup on the rowing machine, although I am working hard. Is my anaerobic threshold really high?

I think it is because rowing is an all-over exercise, it doesn't focus on the legs or whatever and my heart and lungs can provide enough oxygen all-over. When I cycle to work I sprint up hills and I definetly pass the anaerobic threshold there, I do feel it in my legs.

So I don't think the anaerobic threshold can be related only to heart rate, it also depends on what exercise you are doing.

I did 1177 strokes in half/hour this morning which is a personal best. Could this be because normally I row in the evenings when I get home from work and before I eat (cannot row on full stomach) and I did it in the morning this time?

I have had my rowing machine for about a year now and I am still using it about 30 minutes, three times a week. My stamina is much better than it was when I started and my resting heart rate is about 51 bpm when watching tv. This evening I did 1137 strokes in 30 minutes, not my best ever but not bad considering I did it yesterday as well. Even rowing hard, my heart didn't go much over 160 bpm and I don't get breathless, I can handle it.

Did 1170 strokes in 30 minutes yesterday, probably my best yet, 39 strokes/min for 30 minutes. I passed 2km in 24 minutes 20 seconds: I can remember when I was pleased to do 2km in 30 minutes.

2km on my Tunturi is just a number, the gold standard is a Concept 2.

I was reading the very comprehensive indoor rowing info on the concept 2 site and discovered something I have been wondering for a long time: in the 2km races, what difficulty setting is the machine set to? When I used to use a concept 2 at the gym I always had it on 10 which is the equivalent of rowing a lardy rowboat while 1 is a sleek scull. Well, the rules say that you can set the difficulty to whatever you like but you cannot change it.

I don't think I can do 2km in less than 6 minutes but maybe I could do better than the 7:38 I once did on level 10.

For todays rowing session I decided to do short strokes quickly, rather than long slow strokes. I found I could quite easily maintain 38 strokes/minute for 30 minutes at 160 heart beats/min. I achieved record distance.

Unfortunately I realised that the Tunturi rowing machine has a simple sensor to detect strokes, i.e. something sees the seat go through a certain point. The distance calculation is just based on this, 6 strokes = 0.01 km. It does not matter how hard you pull the handle or how far you pull it on each stroke, in fact you don't have to pull it at all to make progress, just move the seat.

So I am a bit disillusioned with it now, there is no good way to measure development, I could get a record score by sitting beside the machine and moving the seat very quickly with my hand.

The bottom line is that I must still maintain a decent heart rate and ignore the other numbers. Then again, it is possible that I could stop working as hard, my fitness could fall but my heart rate would stay the same (as the heart gets weaker it must beat more frequently).

Could start saving up for a Concept 2. Second hand on ebay these cost more than my Tunturi

A cheaper option is to paint stripes on the cable, add an opto and measure actual movement distance of the cable.

Still rowing, I hope to row off my xmas flab by doing it >= 5 times a week during xmas.

Maintaining my 30 minute/2 kilometer/160 bpm routine. Tonight I managed 1058 strokes which involves rowing at about 35 strokes/min for 30 minutes. This equates to 2.24 km by the Tunturi's peculiar scale: 2m per stroke? 2.5 mph? How many knots is that?

Rowing is a good low impact exercise, it isn't hammering my joints.

Had my first taste of a podcast. This is a kind of audio blog. The one I listened to was this. It comes across as being like a techy radio show, talking about mobile phones and the like. It was kind of interesting to listen to while I was on the rowing machine. I just downloaded the mp3 file and played it on the latest app to grab the association with mp3 files, Real Player in this case.

I could set up an aggregator capable of downloading these files as they appear and listen to them all the time but my rowing time is about the only time I have for this kind of thing. Rowing is like ironing, I need something interesting to watch on tv or listen to that will take my mind off my suffering.

Don't worry, I won't be generating podcasts any time soon.

My rowing machine category is empty so here's a status report.

I do still use my rowing machine, I aim for three 30 minute sessions a week. I use the heart-rate monitor to keep my heart rate between 150 and 170, depending how energetic I feel. 170 is strenuous, 150 is more laid back, since I am 43 my theoretical maximum heart rate is 177 (220 - my age). 150 is enough to avoid getting fat, going at 170 is only necessary if I want to train for competition (pretty unlikely) but sometimes after a stressful day when something has wound be up a 170 thrash is just the thing to vent my frustrations.

I've been doing this for a few months now and I do feel a difference. The muscles across the back of my shoulders are now used to the exercise and I don't feel as overall weak when I have finished. My belly is ok, it doesn't stick out further than my chest which is my benchmark.

I quote the link above as it helped me a lot in my choice of rowing machine and where to buy it. I bought a Tunturi 710 Air Rowing machine from Exercise Zone (this link doesn't work for Mozilla or FireFox). I'm giving up going to a gym for various reasons so I wanted to buy a rowing machine to avoid turning into a blob.

THE benchmark rowing machine is the Concept 2 which is very well made and is calibrated so rowing 2km on two machines in different countries is directly comparable. If you look in the rowing machine newsgroups the advise is always to buy a Concept 2, nothing else is considered. I used to use a Concept 2 at the gym.

The problem with this advise is that in the UK a Concept 2 costs £939, about twice as much as in the US. The article I link above goes into this, the importers give themselves a nice markup and do not allow anyone to sell it for any less here. Looking on Ebay, even second hand ones cost £700-£800.

I wanted a good quality machine as I have worn out cheap crap exercise equipment before, a stepper that snapped with metal fatigue in 2 months. Again inspired by the article above I went to the site they mentioned and found a 'Catalogue Return' machine for £399, normal price about £520. The machine was brand new, all it's bolts and things were sealed in plastic bags. I have no idea why it was so cheap. Here is my bullet point review for anyone else considering NOT buying a Concept 2:

• It is fairly well made, solid, it does not feel flimsy. I think it will last. It isn't as solid as a Concept 2. 2 year manufacturers warranty.

• The computer is very basic. It gives strokes, strokes/min, distance, elapsed time and pulse rate. Concept 2 gives also calories/hour and metres/minute which are very useful.

• Free heart monitor strap

• No difficulty adjuster. In the manual it just says to work harder you just pull harder!

• The footrests pivot which may stop my feet coming out of the straps. However there is nothing to stop feet slipping sideways.

• It is huge. The rail folds up but it is still big.

• I rowed for 20 minutes and the indicated distance was about 500m. On a Concept 2 I can row 2500m in 10 minutes. Don't bother comparing your performance on one of these to a concept 2.

Conclusion: I'm happy with my choice.