I N D O O R R O W I N G N E W S L E T T E R # 1 1 =========================== 28-April-2000 ==================== _________________________________________________ C O N T E N T S 1. Indoor Rowing Training Camp 2. Indoor Rowing Championships 3. Concept 2 Dyno 4. Tel's Tales #1 5. Dragon's Event 6. Cambridge Sponsored Row 7. Ultra Distance Rowing 8. Tel's Tales #2 9. Adventure Update 10. Debbie King Indoor Rowing Challenge 11. Goss Atlantic Row _________________________________________________________________ ========================================================= 1. Indoor Rowing Training Camp (A Tel's Tales special) ========================================================= Terry O'Neill: The response to the Banyoles training camp idea was excellent and we've now provisionally filled all 20 places and can confirm that the first one will definitely take place from September 30th to October 8th. If you're interested but have not yet applied, don't worry we will put on a second and third or however many it takes to keep you all happy. Anybody who missed last weeks newsletter or hasn't got in touch yet and wants to know more about the training camp and what's involved, should send an e-mail to webmaster@vermonthouse.co.uk and we'll send the information off to you. ========================================================= 2. Indoor Rowing Championships ========================================================= There is now a provisional date for the inaugural Irish Indoor Rowing Championship of the weekend of the 18th November. The event will be held in Dublin and organised by Neptune Rowing Club. We'll print more details as and when we get them, but the event should not only be great fun in it's own right but also good preparation for the British Championship the following weekend. Speaking of which…look out for more information in the near future on the British Championship, including news of a change in sponsor and an additional days racing. We'll also be running a special six month championship training programme in future newsletters for those of you keen to break your personal best this year and maybe bring home the odd medallion. Oh, and a bit belated this, but the results for the Army Indoor Rowing Championship which took place last November are now available on- line at www.gunnerrowing.cwc.net ========================================================= 3. Concept 2 DYNO ========================================================= Anybody who wasn't able to get to either of our free training sessions in Nottingham or Watford recently to try out our new invention the DYNO, will be relieved to hear that we'll soon be doing more all over the country. Dates and locations will be announced in our newsletter and on our web-site as soon as they're known, along with an on-line booking form to ensure you don't miss your chance. We've also recently added a DYNO training guide to our web-site. Similar in format to the training guide for the Indoor Rower, the DYNO guide is not yet available in a paper format, but it is available to download for free. And finally while we're on the subject, it's also worth noting that there's still time to enter the DYNO quiz on our web-site, with the lavishly printed Indoor Rowing Training Guide the prize for the lucky winners. Entries close on April 30th so check it out now at http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/dyno_main.htm ========================================================= 4. Tel's Tales #1 ========================================================= New subscribers to the newsletter, or anybody with a burning desire to see a picture of Tel, should pop over to our web-site, and specifically http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/tels_tales.htm where we've started to put up old Tel's Tales, along with a picture of the man himself in mid wink. As usual, questions and offers of modelling contracts for Tel should be sent to webmaster@vermonthouse.co.uk Anyway, Stuart Davies asked for tips on increasing his explosive power. Terry O'Neill: "There are two ways to approach this, on or off the rowing machine. The strategy is to build up your basic strength especially in the legs. Off the machine, something like the DYNO is the best and safest way to achieve this, or alternatively use separate leg press, bench pull and bench press machines. Start by finding out what is the maximum weight you can handle. Three times a week over 4-6 weeks just concentrate on trying to improve this maximum by working in the range of 95-100% of your maximum, doing 4 sets of 3 repetitions. Over the subsequent 4-6 weeks reduce the weight to 85-95% of your new maximum and increase the speed at which you lift the weights and the number of sets to 6 and the reps to 8. The final phase is to drop the weight to around 75% of maximum and increase the repetitions to 20 and leave the sets at 6 but working as fast as you can. In addition you will need to work on core stability with sit ups, crunches and dorsal raises. On the rowing machine it is covered pretty well in the training guide, which you can download for free at http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/training_prog.htm or, if you can't get access to this, we can send you a hard copy for a tenner. Tel ========================================================= 5. Dragons Event ========================================================= On 6th May, Dragons Health Club have teamed up with the Royal Priors Shopping Centre in Leamington Spa to celebrate their 10th anniversary. As part of the fun there will be a rowing challenge, for everyone to participate in. The day starts at eleven o'clock and the emphasis is on enjoying yourself, and with free giveaways of T-Shirts, fleeces, massages and personal training sessions, the day promises to be fun for everyone. There will also be the opportunity to enter a free prize draw for a year's free membership to the Dragons Health club. For more information contact leamingtonspa-sales@dragons.co.uk ========================================================= 6. Cambridge Sponsored Row ========================================================= One of the biggest ever indoor rowing events is set to take place in the East Anglian fens next month. The Great Cambridge Rowing Challenge is a day-long event, set to be held at Cambridge Regional College on May 7th in order to raise money to make good the towpath along the River Cam. There are two options open to competitors, either a sixty minute or a ninety minute row, and three mixed teams will be attempting to break the current 100,000 metre record, currently held by Wolfson College, Oxford in 5:32:35. For more information, check out their web-site http://www.rowingcoach.co.uk. ========================================================= 7. Ultra Distance Rowing ========================================================= Possibly a reaction against the sedentary nature of modern society, possibly an attempt to redefine the limitations of the mortal frame, possibly something they're putting in the water, but whatever the reason there seems to be a remarkably large number of people attempting long distance rows at the moment. First off, after reading the Andy Robinson piece on doing a 100,000 metre solo row, Bob Smith has written up his experiences of the distance, which you can find on our web-site at http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/news.htm. Bob's experiences were quite different to Andy's, and are definitely worth checking out if you're planning on doing an ultra-distance row. Meanwhile, one of our Scandinavian readers, Paal Svensson has written again about the exploits of Christiania Rowing Club in Oslo, Norway. The third annual Christiania marathon competition took place on 8th April and over thirty people lined up to compete over either the marathon or the half marathon distance. The event was won by Tore Foss from Boeler who beat his own world record which he established at last year's competition. Tore completed the 42,194 metre distance in a time of 2:29:50.9, at a split of 1:46.5, which is not too sloppy, especially for a man only a couple of years shy of his 50th birthday. The week after that Christiania also arranged a 100,000 metre individual competition. Three competitors set off and, although Paal himself had to drop out after 20,000 metres, Oivin Broymer and Stein Mork both finished in times of under 7:25:00. Next year's Christiania marathon event is arranged for the 31st March and anybody interested in competing should e-mail Paal on paal@tgsnopec.no. Then, fresh from organising The Big One - the recent 100,000 metre team championship -Yeovil fitness instructor Neil Rhodes has indulged his yen for endurance rows by completing a million metres in a remarkable 14 days 11 hours 49 minutes and 59.5 seconds and with a total rowing time of 74:23:02, giving an average 500 metre split of 2:13.3. While we're on the subject, we should probably clarify Concept 2's stance on million metre rows, which is this: the million metre row, although part of the Distance Award Scheme is not an official individual record event and we do not recognise any speed records in these fields. While we're happy to report on the people who do make such attempts, we do advise in the strongest terms that people should think twice before attempting to complete such a distance in such a small time frame. ========================================================= 8. Tel's Tales #2 ========================================================= We're still getting a load of queries about the old ticker and whether you are training in the right band or not. In the Indoor Rower Training Guide, under the heading "Target Heart Rate", it explains how to calculate your training heart rate just by using your heart rate maximum. This method is very simple and any error will be on the safe side because it does not consider your resting heart rate. But for those of you who feel that your training is too easy when using this method, here is another way to calculate what your heart rate should be. First a little explanation as to the difference. When you tuck up in bed at night for a well earned kip does your heart stop beating? No, course not. You still have to get blood up to the brain which keeps all the vital bodily functions running, and this consumes energy. Depending on who you are, you could be consuming between 1500- 2500 calories just by lying in bed. This is known as your basal metabolic rate. As you get up, move around, do exercise etc., your metabolism speeds up and this is the metabolic equivalent to the work load. This is measured in "METS", where one MET is the consumption of 3.5 millilitres of oxygen per kilogramme of body weight in a minute. This is very difficult to measure in your front room but there is a corresponding increase in the heart rate associated with the increase in demand for oxygen which is easy to measure. Because the bodies vital systems are running all the time, we allow for it when we calculate our training bands. With this system you have to establish your heart rate range (HRR) and for this you need to know two things: 1. Your Heart Rate Maximum on the machine (HRM). 2. Your Resting Heart Rate (RHR). From these you determine your HRR by subtracting the resting heart rate from the heart rate maximum. For our example, we'll use the simple formula 220 - age as giving the maximum heart rate, although check out the Tel's Tale called "Heart Rate Training" on our web-site for a more accurate way of calculating your HRM. For a 40 year old person, therefore, this would give us a HRM of 180 bpm (beats per minute). We will assume that the resting heart rate is 60 bpm (to calculate your RHR, take it first thing in the morning before you've even got up). We now know the range of our heart from rest to flat out on the machine, i.e. the difference between the HRM and the RHR is 180- 60 = 120 bpm. Somewhere within these 120 beats all the training bands will fall. So if you want to train at 75% then, using the example above, 120 x 75% = 90bpm; add this to our resting heart rate which is 60 and we get 150bmp. If you work out your training band from the percentage of your maximum heart rate alone it will always come out lower. If in the case above we take 75% of 180bpm, it would only be 135bpm, and that is why when you are training in the band it may feel too easy. When you move up to 85%, instead of working the heart rate up to 162, you keep it down to 153. Now this may seem totally mystifying to anyone mathematically challenged but just think about it for a moment. Our heart rate doesn't go from 0 to maximum, it goes from a basal level to maximum; because we cannot consciously effect the basal level we take it out of the equation. If you want to prove you can't consciously alter your basal level, try committing suicide by holding your breath....See, can't be done. ========================================================= 9. Adventure Update ========================================================= As a postscript to the Andrew Halsey saga, Andrew finally got back to land on April 18th as the Korean fishing boat, which rescued him 267 days into his attempt to row the Pacific, dropped him off at Honolulu. After a couple of days being assessed by doctors, he made it back to England this week. Battered first by Hurricane Dora and then Hurricane Eugene, Andrew's original plan to cross from San Diego to Sydney, Australia in time for the millennium celebrations went badly awry and his boat, the Brittany Rose capsized more times than he could count. Left rowing in circles, he ran out of food, his navigation equipment failed and, for the last fourteen weeks, he was living off seagulls, seaweed and whatever fish he could catch. "I underestimated the weather and the effort it took to row back over territory I had covered until the storms blew me off. Out there, the 130-mile-an-hour winds sounded like jet engines were descending on my head. It was heartbreaking, just heartbreaking to row the distance all over again." Despite all this, it's almost certainly not the end for Halsey's ocean rowing exploits and he says that he may attempt a Pacific crossing again next year. "But first," he said, "I'll check the weather." As one adventure draws to a close, another one is just about to begin. Explorer David Hempleman-Adams is now only a couple of days from take- off, waiting only on the weather. David, the first man ever to complete the explorer's grand slam of reaching all four poles (both Magnetic and True) and climbing the highest peak in all seven continents, is attempting to fly over the Arctic Ocean from Spitzbergen and land at the North Pole using an open-basket wicker hot air balloon. Like Andrew an indoor rowing fanatic, we'll hopefully be able to bring you David's account of his adventure in a future newsletter. ========================================================= 10. Debbie King Indoor Rowing Challenge Trophy ========================================================= On Wednesday 12th April 2000, 12 teams of six rowers from prisons around the country went to battle, all with the mission of completing 100,000 metres in the fastest times possible and raising money for the Debbie King Appeal in conjunction with Lupus UK. Of the 12 teams taking part, 2 were from HMP Doncaster, a combination of PE staff and inmates making up the 12 team members 'The Dirty Dozen'. The following report comes from the HMP team coach Paul Seaman: "Prior to the big day, all team members were coached through an 8 week rigorous training programme, which incorporated speed and distance trials for selection into the final 12 members, with the aim of giving Doncaster the best chance of winning. "The row started as planned, with both teams maintaining their pre- planned pace for the first two hours, then the pace was stepped up, both teams feeling comfortable but taking a cautionary outlook as there was still a long way to go. "At 4 hours 30 minutes, and feeling the effects of fatigue set in, phase two of the plan was introduced. The time spent on the rower for each team member was reduced in order for each person to row harder for a shorter period but still have enough time to recover. This proved to be extremely effective for two major reasons: it reduced the overall time and had a massive morale boost to the whole team. "Both teams completed the 100,000 metre row, which is an achievement in itself. The first team finished in a time of 5:18:52 and the second team in 5:30:27, giving HMP Doncaster first and second place in the competition, with HMP Parkhurst in third place with a time of 6:02:00. Not only that, but over £500 was raised for Lupus UK." ========================================================= 11. Goss Atlantic Row Team ========================================================= Last week saw sailor extraordinaire Pete Goss launch both the Goss Centre of Challenge and Adventure in Totnes and a new ocean rowing campaign to shatter two transatlantic records in a radical rowing boat, Atlantic Spirit. Atlantic Spirit will be at the cutting edge of design and technology. Designed by Adrian Thompson, she will be constructed at Team Philips' build site in Totnes, Devon using composite materials normally associated with the aerospace and motor sport industries. At 10 metres long and 1.8 metres wide, she will be radically faster than the traditional ocean rowing boat and capable of speeds of 3 knots. The hull weighs just 220 kilograms, approximately half the weight of the four crew. The safety features include a self-righting boat that is compartmentalised for added strength and buoyancy, watertight accommodation for the crew during periods of adverse weather and a small global communications' area. The crew aim to break two records - The Atlantic rowing record, held by 11 Frenchmen at 35 days and the record across the Atlantic from the West to East currently at 55 days. Atlantic Spirit will set off from Newfoundland in June 2001 and intends to finish in the Isles of Scilly 32 days later. Mark Stubbs, the 36 year old from Poole will be joined in his attempt by fellow former Royal Marine, Bernie Shrosbree (from Blandford) of the Benetton Human Performance Centre, Mark Phillips, a serving Royal Marines Captain (from Poole), BT Manager Duncan Nichol (from Chester) and teacher Keith Mason-Moore (from Nottingham). "We are determined to break both records," said Stubbs. "We know we can do it because we have the training and skills to succeed as well as a great team to support us. It's fantastic to be the first ever four man crew and a huge incentive to be rowing towards home. We plan to keep rowing once we've beaten the record to mainland Britain." __________________________________________________F E E D B A C K We're eager to hear what you think of this newsletter and we're even more eager for your stories, tales and anecdotes. 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