INDOOR ROWING NEWSLETTER #113 ====================== 11-November-2004 ======================= _________________________________________________ C O N T E N T S 1. AXA PPP healthcare British Indoor Rowing Championship 2. Cartoon By Rog 3. Tel's Tales #1 4. Winter Team Relay League 5. Rowing News Erg Workouts 6. Reader's Letters: The Youngest Indoor Rower? 7. Tel's Tales #2 8. Concept 2 European Open 9. EAS 'Best of the Best International' 10. Reader's Letters: Haberdashers Aske's School 11. Upcoming Races And Events **************************** Feedback Back Issues Subscription Information ________________________________________________________________ With Bells On ***************** For a glitzier, HTML version of our newsletter with pictures, cartoons and all the funny jokes (possibly), go to: http://www.concept2.co.uk/email/newsletter.htm. To receive the newsletter in HTML format, send an email to subscription@concept2.co.uk with HTML as the subject title. How To Write To Us ***************** Please don't reply directly to this email, 'cos we won't ever see it. Instead send your bouquets or brickbats to editor@concept2.co.uk. ========================================================= AXA PPP healthcare British Indoor Rowing Championship ========================================================= The Indoor Rowing News has now been covering the AXA PPP healthcare British Indoor Rowing Championship since 1999. Every year, we've described the current championship as the biggest and best yet. Now, call us unimaginative shills (although don't, as we'll get upset), but we reckon this year's may be the most gargantuan and greatest…yet! There are 2585 individuals entered into the championship, alongside 53 teams of four people each. For the six of you into stats, that breaks down as 779 women and 1806 men and a thoroughly healthy 1044 juniors. The biggest single event is the Men's Open Hwt category with over 200 competitors. The race for the gold should be a real humdinger, with Olympic rowers such as Kieran West, Phil Simmons, Tom Stallard and Matt Wells all competing. Lining up alongside them is Graham Benton, aiming to become the first non-rower to finish the day as the British Open Hwt champion. You've also got the likes of Sir Steve Redgrave, James Cracknell, Ed Coode and Formula One's Marc Webber all on hand throughout the course of the day to hand out prizes, as well as exhibitors, demonstrators, masseurs and more stuff than you could shake a small stick at. With entrance free, it's definitely worth popping along. Race Timetable ************************************** The Race Timetable is now on-line at http://www.concept2.co.uk/birc/events_schedule.php. If you want to see who else is in your event, the full list of competitors can be found at http://www.concept2.co.uk/birc/events.php SMS Alert ************************************** For the first time this year, we'll be attempting to run an SMS Results Service, in which your time and position will be texted to your mobile phone as soon as possible after the results are compiled at the end of each race. It's free to sign up for it, but anybody who remembers the great server crashing adventure of BIRC 2003 will be aware that the best laid plans of mice and men tend to vamoose up the Swanee when us, Birmingham and technology combine. Anyway: to sign up for the service, go to http://www.concept2.co.uk/birc/results_service.php Photo Digital ************************************** Normally you have to be a minor soap star for cameras to be thrust into your face when you're looking a bit skew-whiff. Fortunately for indoor rowers everywhere, you too can experience the delights of being papped at this year's championship as Photo Digital will be on hand to take snaps of sweating competitors gurning their eyes out. This year, they reckon they'll have enough people on hand to photograph about 99% of people racing. These pictures will be available to view on-line at their website http://www.photodigital.co.uk/, where you'll also be able to purchase a copy if it tickles your fancy. Masseurs ************************************** The massage service at the championship will again be provided by Diamond Personal Training. If you've never had a sports massage before, they can be used as either part of your warm-up or after your race to help with recovery. Beforehand, pre-race mobilisation and warm-up can be an important part of your race preparation, ensuring that all your major joints and muscle groups are ready and raring for action. Post-race, a sports massage aids recovery and helps reduces any stiffness and soreness from your limbs by removing lactic acid from your muscles. A twenty minute massage costs £10 and the masseurs can be found in the middle of the warm-up room. Race Machines ************************************** All the race machines used at the championship are on sale to anybody who can collect them on the day. All machines are brand new at the start of the day and cost 680 quid + VAT (£799 inc VAT). This means that, even if you're not competing, if you can get over to Birmingham you can pick up a barely used Indoor Rower for £140 off the normal price. They're available on a first come, first served basis only, so to buy one, or for more information, contact Concept 2 on 0115 945 5522 or info@concept2.co.uk. ========================================================= Cartoon by Rog ========================================================= ========================================================= Tel's Tales #1 ========================================================= Winter is a-coming, which means it'll soon be time for three-times Olympic rowing coach Terry O'Neill to bed down in a big room full of straw and nuts and not come out until after the last of the turkey's been eaten. To take advantage of his before then, send an email to terry@concept2.co.uk. Doru Procopiu: I have entered the 45-49 British IRC. I am 49 years old and am reasonably fit. I have been indoor rowing for some time, but have taken it more seriously only in the last eight months. >From today there are (only!) 19 days left to the championship. I have >been training together with three other people, all at very different levels of fitness. My best time for 2,000m is 6:50 (achieved four weeks ago). I hoped I could get faster than that and gave my projected time as 6:48. But for some reason I am rowing slower times; this morning I only managed 6:55. What am I doing wrong, and what should I be doing in these last two weeks before the event? I am determined to go there and do my very best i.e. achieve my target of 6:48. I usually manage to do a decent (for me) 1st 500m - 1:38, but then I fade quite badly during the middle 1,000m, hitting 1:46s and 1:47s. What can I do to improve this, or is this the best I can do? Terry O'Neill: The first thing is not to get too worried about times. If you do, you will talk yourself out of performing well. You have to think positively and have confidence in the fact that you have trained hard for the past eight months. In terms of training there is little you can do that will make you go faster but a lot you can do to make you go slower; there is no need to row any more flat out 2,000m pieces until race day. Between now and the competition you should concentrate on quality sessions. For the next two weeks, focus on short intensive intervals with plenty of rest between so that you are able to row well above race pace. In the week leading into the competition, cut right back in the quantity of training but still keep the quality high. You do not want to build up any residual fatigue in the lead up to the race. By cutting back on the quantity of training your energy levels will soar; you will feel that you have to do more training but you have to resist this feeling and save all this energy for the race itself. What you will find is that on race day the atmosphere and the fact you are racing along with all the other competitors will carry you along through the sticky moments and you will find those two seconds no problem. ========================================================= Winter Team Relay League ========================================================= The first round in the Winter Team Relay League closed on November 1st. With 285 teams from 13 different countries, including the China and the United Arab Emirates, we think it went superfine for a first time of asking. In the Fours event, the fastest overall team came from Rome, where "Fibra" rowed 11:54.6 for the 2 x (4 x 500m) distance, closely pursued by Leeds' "The 4 Cox" with 12:03.4. The fastest women's team also came from Italy, with "Gli Angeli Del Fit" topping the Women's 35+ category with 14:28.0. Again, the second fastest team was from the UK, with the "Banyoles Babes" racking up 14:43.6. The competition has been running in Denmark for a number of years now, where it only came in the Eights flavour, so it's not surprising to see Denmark dominate most of the Eights categories. In the Men's Open event, "ASR - Det Onde Hold" rowed the fastest time with a 23:18.7, nearly half a minute ahead of Sweden's "Real Stockholm RF" with 23:44.1. The fastest British time came from the Old Peelers, who chalked up 24:55.2 in coming second in the Men's 35+ category. A special mention must go to both "Lancaster RGS BC", fastest overall in the Junior 18 Boys category with 26:27.3 and "BMS J15s" who, despite being a couple of years younger than most, finished third in that category with 27:56.2. Full results can be found at http://www.concept2.co.uk/8gp/results.php Current standings are at http://www.concept2.co.uk/8gp/standings.php The closing date for the next round of the League is 12:00 GMT on December 6th. For Fours, the distance is 12,500m and for Eights 25,000m. Team members can change whenever they want to, but each team member must have rowed a total of at least 500m/1,000m before the end of the row. Remember: teams can join any time and it's all totally free. All you need to do is register at http://www.concept2.uk/8gp/ and you're all set to go. ========================================================= Rowing News Erg Workouts ========================================================= As regular readers may know, our favourite type of article is the sort that we've copied from some one else, allows us more time to make typos elsewere. Anyway; one of our favourite publications to rip off is aces American rowing magazine 'Rowing News' whose latest edition features a series of training plans "to help you train smarter, train harder, and train less this winter". Here're some favourite sessions from some of the leading rowers and coaches around. We'll give you fair warning from the start, however, some of these are going to hurt… Tom Bohrer's Long Intervals 3 or 4 x 10 minutes, broken into 4-3-2-1 minute rate changes as follows: 1. 18/20/22/24 2. 20/22/24/26 3. 22/24/26/28 Rest: Five minutes between pieces. Intensity: Pull hard at every rate. Heart rate can be 10 beats less than max. Tom Bohrer's Steady State 10-12,000 metres 1,000 metres at rate 20, 1,000 metres at rate 22 and keep switching. Tom Bohrer's Steady State (Four minutes on, one minute off, x 4) x 2 or 3 series. Rates: 24-26 Rest: Five minutes between sessions "People say, 'How do you work out if you have kids?' I say, well if you try to work out when the kids take a nap, that's Rule No.1. When they got a bit older, I put them in the baby jogger. I put them next to the erg in the playpen or the saucer – interval training becomes pretty good because you might have to stop (and give them a pacifier or cracker). And my third tactic was to pull out a video." Mike Teti's Hard Day 3x10 minutes, first one at rate 24, second at 26, third at 28, then 1x7 minutes at 28-30. Rest: Six to eight minutes between each piece. Add up all your metres to get your ranking in a group. Tom Terhaar's Very, Very Tough Workout 5x5 minutes, (90 seconds rest). Rest 7-8 minutes, then repeat another set of 5. Rates: 24/26/28/26/24. Pace is just slower than 6,000m test pace (the rate 28 is at 6,000m pace). "It's very, very tough and when you finish it you feel like you've done a really hard workout. And it's self-regulating – with only 90 seconds rest you realise you've got to keep a lid on it." Xeno Mueller's Pyramids 1. 29 minutes divided into 5-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-5-minute rate changes of 20/22/24/26/28/26/24/22/20 "If you're not training for competition, I would do one 29-minute piece where you have five minutes cool down if you need it. You can have a great workout just doing a 29 minute pyramid watching a show on TV." 2. 2 x19 minutes divided into 4-3-2-1-2-3-4 minutes rate changes of 20/22/24/26/24/22/20 "It's a very good way to keep thing interesting" ========================================================= Reader's Letters: Youngest Indoor Rower? ========================================================= Greg: "Just thought I would send you a couple of photos of my daughter who decided to use the rower after watching me train. I went to look for her one day and found her on the machine. She loves to use it now for a short row. She is only 19 months old." ========================================================= Tel's Tales #2 ========================================================= Ron Havenhand: I have been using an Indoor Rower for about 10 years now, two or three times a week, rowing from 3,000 to 20,000 metres in a session, depending on how I feel. I am 61 and do not push things too hard, being content to maintain a reasonable level of fitness and help keep my weight under control at around 82kg. I find I can row at a moderate level of intensity with occasional periodic injections of rowing at a higher level of intensity (up to a minute at a time) without breathing problems. However, if I am out walking, say, and going up a moderate incline or a staircase, I start to feel quite breathless after a few minutes. Any ideas why this might be? I have never had heart problems or anything like that. My blood pressure is slightly raised and controlled through daily medication (which causes no problems at all whilst rowing - my GP is happy with my workout regime). I thought rowing was a good way of maintaining general all-round fitness. I do not do much work on treadmills because my knees will not stand the pounding. Terry O'Neill: High blood pressure is resistance to blood flow and can be caused by various medical conditions. When you exercise there is an increased demand for oxygen in the working muscles and this is carried in the blood. To meet this demand the heart rate increases to pump more blood into the arterial system and if you have high blood pressure then this will aggravate the condition. When you row, the machine is carrying your body weight and so when rowing at a moderate intensity the load is much less than climbing stairs or walking up an incline. Feeling breathless can be either insufficient oxygen getting to the working muscle or a build up of carbon dioxide in the blood or a combination of the two. Next time you are out walking, make a conscious effort to take deep breaths, not just inhaling but also exhaling. Deep inhalation will increase the pressure in the lungs and increase the flow of oxygen into the blood stream. By exhaling, you will clear any residual CO2 out of the lungs but it is important to keep your doctor informed about any developments. ========================================================= Concept 2 European Open ========================================================= This year's Concept 2 European Open is in Amsterdam on December 18th and promises to be a right good affair. The current list of entrants can be found at http://www.nereus.nl/index.cfm?category=eoirc&page=entries&language=eng and you can see that there's a big British contingent in place already. We'll be knocking up a special British Team T-Shirt for all entrants, so if that doesn't make it worth entering, well you're a hard crowd. There'll also be a strong team from the US will be in attendance, and you can find out more about them at http://www.concept2.com/rowing/racing/usirteamintro.asp For more information on the championship, or to enter, contact Concept 2 on (0115) 945 5522 or email editor@concept2.co.uk. ========================================================= EAS 'Best of the Best International' ========================================================= Saturday, October 30th saw the premier event in the 2004 Cross-Training calendar at David Lloyd in Reading. The top male and female cross-trainers from the UK, as well as athletes from Denmark, Ireland and Jamaica, battled it out on the gruelling 'Best of the Best' Course. Wales finished International Male Champions and Ireland won the female event. Hywel Davies won the title of International Fittest Man, with Jacqui Mcquisten winning the female event and Rob Volpe winning the male masters category. The event will be screened on Channel 4's Transworld Sport on Saturday 13th November at 8 a.m. and will also feature in the January issue of Men's Fitness. Full results can be found at www.dbmax.co.uk under "Events Gone By". ========================================================= Reader's Letters: Haberdashers Aske's School ========================================================= Michael Yeabsley: "I just thought I would let you know about a challenge I have set up for 18 boys from Haberdashers Aske's School, Elstree, Herts. "I am a school master and a regular user of the Indoor Rower. At school we have a weight training room and have six rowing machines available to the boys. I decided to raise some money for a charity called Tommy's (concerned with premature babies and miscarriages). "My challenge is to row one million metres in an 8 week period, which amounts to 125,000 metres per week. There are 18 boys and two members of staff involved. The boys are aged between 14- 15 and have very little, if any, experience on an Indoor Rower. As you can imagine, the boys are exceptionally busy with their academic work plus extra curricular activity so they must find time to devote to rowing during their lunchbreak or after school. "The challenge has been running for two weeks and two days so far and all the boys bar one (through injury) have contributed to the total distance rowed. At present we have rowed 297,540 metres between us. The most a single boy has completed is 41,890m, which is a pretty impressive figure. I have spoken to Tommy's who are going to come to the school and produce an assembly to over 500 boys to heighten the awareness of the charity." If you've got a story you'd like to feature in the newsletter, send an email to editor@concept2.co.uk. ========================================================= Upcoming Races and Events ========================================================= If you've got an event you'd like adding to the Event Calendar, the full version of which can be seen at http://www.concept2.co.uk/racing/calendar.php, then e-mail editor@concept2.co.uk. Name: Abergavenny IRC Date: 14/11/04 Venue: Abergavenny Leisure Centre Distance: 2,000m Organiser: Ian Parfitt T: 01873 735365 E: ianparfitt@monmouthshire.gov.uk Name: AXA PPP healthcare British IRC Date: 21/11/04 Venue: National Indoor Arena, Birmingham Distance: 2,000m Organiser: Concept 2 T: 0115 945 5522 F: 0115 945 5533 E: birc@concept2.co.uk W: www.concept2.co.uk/birc/ Name: Cardiff Grand Prix Date: 05/12/04 Venue: Channel View Centre, Cardiff Distance: 2,000m Organiser: Mike Hnatiw T: (H) 029 2021 0233 (W) 029 2078 8146 E: mhnatiw@cardiff.gov.uk W: www.concept2.co.uk/gp/ Name: Date: 12/12/04 Venue: University College Dublin Distance: 2,000m Organiser: John Holland T: +353 (0)87 259 2755 E: irishindoors@eircom.net W: www.concept2.co.uk/gp/ Closing date for entries is Wednesday 1st December 2004 Name: Concept 2 European Open Date: 18/12/04 Venue: Amsterdam Distance: 2,000m Organiser: Concept 2 T: 0115 945 5522 F: 0115 945 5533 E: info@concept2.co.uk W: www.concept2.co.uk/euro/ Name: Glasgow Grand Prix Date: 23/01/05 Venue: TBC Distance: 2,000m Organiser: Ronnie Goldie T: 0141 886 3878 F: 0141 886 3878 E: Smallprintrenfrew@ntlworld.com W: www.concept2.co.uk/gp/ Name: 8th Amstel Ergo head Date: 23/01/05 Venue: University Indoor Sport Centre - Amsterdam Distance: 6,000m for seniors/masters and 20 minutes for juniors Organiser: Rv De AMSTEL - Amsterdam E: allaround@planet.nl W: www.amstelroei.nl/ergohead Name: Surrey IRC Date: 30/01/05 Venue: Whitgift School, Croyden Distance: 2,000m Organiser: Jesse Elzinga T: 0208 688 9222 ext. 2148 E: elzinga@gmail.com ____________________________________________________FEEDBACK You like? 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