INDOOR ROWING NEWSLETTER # 14 ======================= 12-June-2000 ======================= _________________________________________________ C O N T E N T S 1. Race Training 2. Speed Kings 3. Tel's Tales #1 - 24 Hour Rowing 4. Fantasy Rowing Competition 5. Tel's Tales #2 - My Struggle 6. Concept Ranking 7. Tel's Tales #3 - Mararthon Rowing 8. Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Fire Services 9. Top Tips 10. David Hempleman-Adams 11. Concept 2 DYNO _________________________________________________________________ ========================================================= 170 Shopping Days Until The British Indoor Rowing Championship ========================================================= Which also means that there are only 170 training days as well. The British Indoor Rowing Championship is the focal point of the year for many people, and the number who made the pilgrimage down to Reading last year reached a record level. For those of you thinking of competing in the British championship this year, or indeed in any of the growing number of regional events that take place the length and breadth of Britain, we've added a new section to our web-site this week, devoted to training for a 2,000 metre race. Based on our Training Guide, the Race Training section contains a number of different training programmes, as well as information on how to construct a personalised programme that takes into account all the different factors, such as the amount of time left until the race and what areas you need to focus on. When you bear in mind all the additional information you can find there, like the article on race strategy, and the fact that we'll be adding to the page as we draw nearer the race season, there's really no excuse for everybody not to be rowing under six minutes come November, is there? The Race Training page can be found at http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/race_training_index.htm ========================================================= Speed Kings ========================================================= Reader James Bailey has come up with a question which he says he's been wanting to ask for sometime: "What is the record for the lowest 500 metre split achieved for any given stroke and is there an unofficial record time for 100 metres?" There are no official records of absolute power readings for one stroke or for the 100 metres but it is an interesting question. The national rowing team use the machine for testing, and one of their tests is a 5 stroke power test during which one would assume there would be some pretty impressive scores. Terry O'Neill has promised to approach his nefarious network of secret contacts to try and get some figures, but he reckons that it could well be a non-rower that would get the best score for one stroke and the 100 metre dash. As such, everybody's homework for this week is to have a shot at 100 metres and, while they're at it, try and remember what their fastest split time is during the dash. If you then e-mail us your time and split to the usual address (webmaster@vermonthouse.co.uk) we'll publish the fastest here in the next newsletter and hopefully put all the scores up on our web-site. You're also able to enter on our web-site via a link in the What's New box on our Index page (http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/index.html) ========================================================= Tel's Tales - 24 Hour Rowing ========================================================= Tel's Tales is our regular column by three times Olympic rowing coach Terry O'Neill. If you've got a question you'd like Terry to answer then drop us an e-mail at webmaster@vermonthouse.co.uk Kevin Adams: "Can anyone help me? Two of us here at St Chad's College, Durham University, are going to attempt a twenty-four hour ergo. One on - one off, we are hoping to keep close to a two minute split time. The aim is to raise money principally for cancer research, and a little for the Durham Amateur Rowing Club. Does anyone have any information or tips that will help us?" Terry O'Neill: Two of you for 24 hours is a very tough schedule, so to start off with I would concentrate on that and forget the splits. With two of you the maximum rest you can get is obviously only going to be equal to the amount of work that you do, and this is against interval training principles. Ideally an ultra long row would have enough people in the team to give a work to rest ratio of at least 3 or 4 to 1. There are obviously only two mugs in Durham. The first thing to sort out is what time to start, and I would suggest between 8-10 in the evening. The body's metabolism is at its lowest in the early hours of the morning (hence the need for alcohol at an all night party), so you don't want to arrive at this low point already knackered. Something else I would suggest is that you work in blocks of 4 hours; that way you only have six sets to do. For the first 4 hours, do 20 minutes on and 20 minutes off. For the second 4 hours do 30 minutes on 30 minutes off; for the third 4 hours 15 minutes on 15 minutes off; the fourth 4 hours 20/20; the fifth 30/30 and finally the sixth 15/15. When you get into the row you may find it necessary to alter the schedule, but my thinking is that you don't want to be on the machine too long at any one time in order to prevent you from getting whacked, but also that the rest has to be long enough to give you some recovery. You will find you will have peaks and troughs throughout the night; the schedule allows for this but they may not coincide with how you are feeling, so then you can adjust the schedule. There a couple of don'ts I would suggest: 1. Don't go off too hard. 2. Don't be tempted to stay on too long in any one session. 3. Don't do it, go to an all night party and bung a ton in each for the charity. Your conscience will be clear and you'll have a much better time. ========================================================= Fantasy Rowing Competition ========================================================= For those of you who missed last week's newsletter, we're running a new competition at the moment in which people have to guess the position the seven pre-qualified British boats are going to finish in the Sydney Olympics, with a brand spanking new Indoor Rower as the grand prize. As an added bonus, people who get their entries submitted in time for the three preceding World Cup regattas will automatically be entered for a mini-competition based around that regatta. The first of these regattas took place in Munich over the weekend of June 1st/3rd and the winner of our mini-competition with four right was Tim Boyling of Glasgow who wins a pair of Concept 2 Slides for his troubles. Philip Lynn, who also got four right but lost out on the tie-breaker, came second to win a Polar Smart Edge Heart Rate Monitor while Andrea Hoskins, who was one of a group of people with three right, came third to win a Concept 2 Heart Rate Interface and Chestbelt. The next regatta takes place in Vienna and starts on June 23rd, so if you want to be included in the mini-comp based around that, make sure you get your entries in before midnight on June 22nd. To find out how the British boats did, along with full information on the competition and the entry form, just go to http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/fantasy_index.htm ========================================================= Tel's Tales - My Struggle ========================================================= Million Metre update. +++++++++++++++ Why is it that people who should know better do stupid things? Why do doctors smoke like chimneys, why do coaches that advocate self discipline and not over doing it try to row 200,000m in a weekend because they have fallen behind schedule and, more to the point, why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near? Yes, believe it or not I had one of my less great ideas recently when I tried to catch up on my crash bang wallop 1 million metre programme [see http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/tels_tales.htm for details]. A bit of background for those coming in new: my mate and I, who were asked by the stewardess on a recent flight to sit on opposite sides of the plane because it was flying round in circles, decided we were going to get fit. We decided to go for the million metre t-shirt and, being competitive liars, we were both trying to do it quicker than the other but without telling anyone. This was for no other reason than the great feeling you get when your mate tells you he's done 400,000m and you can say "not bad" knowing that he knows that you are in front; but when he says "what have you done then?" and you reply "well I think I've done about 450,000m" you know that you've done about 475,000 but you know he doesn't know that you know that. Probably. So I was doing all right until my mate tells me he is going on holiday and taking a machine - can you believe it, taking his rowing machine on holiday so he can get in front of me. So I get this plan that over the weekend I will row 200,000m: 100,000m on Saturday and 100,000m on Sunday. The revised schedule was that at 8am I would row 10,000m and do this on the hour every hour until 6pm, sorted. 8am off I go, first 10k no problem but a nagging feeling that this could be a tough schedule too far. So I decide to cut the rows down to 5k at a time. After 45k I sat in the chair, oh I forgot to mention I had the machine in the front room and it was cup final day, so I'm in the chair and they kick off. The next thing I know it's 7pm, I've crashed out, missed the cup final and blown my schedule. Day two, kick off straight away on 5k intervals but after 6 of these intervals I'm completely knackered and call it a day. But then I have a great stroke of luck, my mate is ill all over the holiday and can't train YO, REEEEESULT or what. Anyway. Training Camp +++++++++++ Did anyone see that there was a mention of our planned training camp in "The Times"? Lord knows where they got the info from unless one of you lot said something. Some of you that came to Boston for the World Indoor Rowing Championships may remember John Shepherd of UltraFIT Magazine. He is now coming on the camp to take part and to cover it for the magazine. John recently wrote an interesting article in the May 15th edition of The Times entitled "Why fat remains the burning issue" which is well worth reading. It explains in simple terms how to determine your daily calorific requirement and that if your calorific intake does not exceed your calorific consumption your weight will stabilise. There are also some interesting facts in there: A pound of fat contains 3,500 calories. Walking for an hour will burn around 400 of these and running for half an hour will account for another 350. This is why I tell people that weight loss through exercise alone is a non-starter and must be accompanied by a sensible diet. To work out your average daily calorific intake, simply add a 0 to your weight in pounds. Thus, if you weigh 180lbs you would need a daily calorific intake of 1800 calories to maintain your weight. If you work out three or more times a week then you should add an additional 200-300 calories a day. If you are stuck on a weight, try to under eat by 200-300 calories a day for a couple of days a week - any more than this and you run the risk of metabolism slow down. It is always good to know that your views are shared by the great and the good. In the last newsletter I addressed a question about numbness in the leg when training on the machine. We got an email from a consultant neurologist who gave a medical explanation for what was actually happening and the advice was the same as mine. If you get numbness in the leg, try changing your seating position and also various types of padding. If it persists, do not ignore it because it could be a trapped sciatic nerve, which could be permanently damaged if left. On that note, Godfrey Rowsports have got a double thickness seat pad that is well worth trying for all those rhinosorearses out there: http://www.godfrey.co.uk ========================================================= Concept Ranking ========================================================= To mark the imminent release of this year's Concept Ranking, we're highlighting some of the athletes that go to make it up. This fortnight it's the turn of John Hodgson, who at 89 is the oldest person in this year's edition. John describes himself as "a sort of refugee from running", having come to rowing only last October. Since then, however, he's entered both the British and the World Indoor Rowing Championships, picking up a silver at the former and a bronze at the latter. These medals only serve to cap a lifetime of sport and athletics. "I've always considered myself to be one of the lucky ones, because I've always been fit and well all my life. I remember as a teenager when I did cross-country and cycling I used to think that if this is how it feels when you're fit it's well worth it. That's been in my subconcious mind ever since, so I've trained more or less all my life." Although John describes himself as the opposite to what a rower should be ("They're 6 foot 3, I'm 3 foot 6; they're 19 stone, I'm 9 stone") he enjoys rowing immensely. "I think it's marvellous. I've found, like everybody else I suppose, that when you get injured at running or whatever, the rowing machine doesn't seem to have any ill effect as there's no pressure on any of the joints." John will have turned ninety by the time the next British Championships roll around, and with Charles Cush's 90-99 world record of 11:52.1 in his sights (in comparison, John's best time this year for the 2,000 metres was 9:15.1), he looks favourite to become Britain's eleventh world record holder. If you know (or if in fact you are) someone in this year's Ranking who you think deserves to be profiled in this spot just drop us a line at webmaster@vermonthouse.co.uk along with contact details, and we'll try and sort something out. This newsletter, we thought we'd also point out just how well the Brits are doing in the On-Line World Ranking, which started afresh on May 1st. In the men's 5,000 metres, for example, four of the top five places are taken up by Brits: CHRIS BRETT, NOTTINGHAM, 16:27.3 STUART MAZE, LONDON, 16:33.8 GRANT CARROLL, NEW ZEALAND, 16:59.2 NEIL MCCULLOCH, MARLOW, 16:59.9 KEVIN CORCORAN, LONDON, 17:01 While in the women's 5000 metres, although the top spot is held by a pesky Septic Tank, the next three are all flying the flag for Britain: MARY PERROT, USA, 19:41.3 MELISSA O'SULLIVAN, LONDON, 19:53.4 JANET LUCKE, BRISTOL, 20:10.7 KARON PHILLIPS, ASCOT, 20:26. Although the Millennium Dome appears to have been a bit of a flop in presenting itself as a symbol of a youthful and vibrant Britain, we reckon if we can bank all the top spots in the world ranking, we can truly hold our head high again as a nation. Pop over to http://www.e-row.com/ranking/home.asp and get cracking! ========================================================= Tel's Tales - Marathon Rowing ========================================================= Reader Bob Plant has decided to have a crack at the marathon distance, and after doing some 30,000 metre preparation pieces he reckons it's well within his grasp. However, "the only problem is I seem to hit acute hunger pains after about 25km, pains which take about 3 days to go away. The first time I did 30km was with no lunch or evening meal and with no drink throughout. The next time I tried using Isostar throughout the row. It was better but still the hunger pains. Next time I will have a decent lunch. Any ideas? I hope to have my first go at a full marathon in the next couple of weeks, then I fancy a true 24 hour row with only toilet breaks allowed. Have any other nutcases out there done this, if so tips welcome. "My other problem is that in the Training Guide it talks of setting the Concept 2 a couple of settings higher than normal, how do I do that? I normally row with the damper setting at 10, anything lower and my times go down as I have to lug this 46 year old flabby frame backwards and forwards more often and run out of strength too quickly." Terry O'Neill: When you are sitting on the machine for two and a half hours it is quite normal to get hungry. The way to combat this is to load up on the carbohydrates before the long sessions. The problem is that the body can only store a limited amount of carbohydrates so to load up you have to trick the body. This is done by a process called carbohydrate wash out. The week before you do your marathon, cut right back on your carbohydrate intake. Then, in the 48 hours prior to the marathon, really load up on things like pasta, rice and potatoes. How this works is that during the four or five days of carbohydrate depletion, the brain thinks something is wrong and that it is not going to get any more. When it does get some, it stores it away just in case there may be another carbohydrate famine. This in turn will give you a little bit more time before you get the hunger pangs. With the fluids, there is an arrangement that triathletes use by which they can take fluid constantly without stopping. The liquid is carried in a pouch on the back with a feeder tube to the mouth. If you make a weak carbohydrate solution drink (5%), this will also help. If the solution is higher than 5%, which you would get in energy drinks, then you could become dehydrated. You can buy the carbohydrate powder you need to make up the drink at any good sports shop. Don't worry about the damper setting, if you are comfortable on 10 that's OK. The Training Guide suggests varying the settings to make the programmes more interesting but the same thing can be achieved by pulling harder and thereby increasing the load. Tel ========================================================= Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Fire Brigades ========================================================= On 20th May, 16 recruits from Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Fire Brigades set out to row 100 miles in 7 hours using two Concept 2 Indoor Rowers in order to raise funds for the Fire Service National Benevolent Fund which supports firefighter's widows and orphans, as well as firefighter's recovering from injury. Ian Sharp takes over the story: "We sited the rowers in a suitable position in Milton Keynes Shopping Centre and off they went. Unfortunately, the sun decided to shine on us and the area became a greenhouse until the afternoon, when thankfully the clouds came out. At one point Welephant [the Fire Service mascot] gave us a hand, which was well appreciated by the children. Although it was on the same day as the F.A. Cup Final, the event was well supported, raising over £2,500 and in the end the recruits rowed 112 miles (180 k)." ========================================================= Top Tips ========================================================= This week's Top Tip comes from Leon Lerrity, a French rowing coach, who serendipitously sent us a racing tip in the same week as we launched our Race Training page (see above). Leon's tip is about how to improve your start in a race. "Vital seconds can be lost as you come out of the start and into your race pace. Race pace is not a comfort zone but the highest sustainable pace you can handle. You can improve your start by trying the following tip: on a given stroke, drive into your race rhythm and then, during the next three to four strokes, hold your split whilst reducing the effort. This is achieved by focusing on relaxation and in so doing you become more efficient. As you relax, large amounts of energy that are being consumed in tension, especially in the shoulders and neck region, become available to be channeled into the working muscles during the drive phase." If you've got any tips or workouts you think should be shared with the world, just send them to us at webmaster@vermonthouse.co.uk ========================================================= David Hempleman-Adams ========================================================= Adventurer extraordinaire David Hempleman-Adams has successfully navigated the Britannic Challenge balloon to the North Pole. The Britannic Challenge first reached the North Pole at 3am the morning of June 1st, meeting the objectives set out at the start of the adventure. Fair winds continued to blow the balloon towards the geographical centre of the North Pole completing a four day 94 hour adventure covering over 1,400 kilometres. The feat, regarded by many as being one of the most dangerous balloon flights possible, was relayed by David to the Britannic Control Centre in Birmingham. A jubilant David could hardly contain his delight in completing the Challenge "This is a personal victory as well as a record breaking achievement. With fair wind and a great team, man can truly achieve the impossible". Don Cameron, British Delegate for ballooning to the FAI and a member of the BBAC rules sub-committee said "I would consider getting beyond 89 degrees to be reaching the North Pole, so to get within a quarter of a degree of 90 degrees as David did is a fantastic achievement". David set or broke a remarkable number of records: First balloonist to fly solo across the Arctic Ocean First balloonist to fly solo to the North Pole Longest solo flight by a British balloonist at 132 hours Longest flight by a 90 Roziere (hybrid hot air and helium) balloon [current record 124 hours 34 mins] Altitude record for the Arctic at over 15000 feet Distance record for the Arctic at 1400 kms to the North Pole Ring and 2451 kms in total Duration record for the Arctic at 132 hours An enthusiastic indoor rower, once David's had a chance to catch up on all the episodes of EastEnders that he's missed (ooh, that Dan's a rat), we'll try and collar him for our Top Tips column. ========================================================= Concept 2 DYNO Frequently Asked Questions ========================================================= How does it compare to traditional weightlifting methods? How does the monitor measure force? How can it help me with rowing? Sweet baby Jesus what on earth is that? All questions exclaimed when first seeing the DYNO and all now answered in the FAQ on the DYNO which can be found at http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/dyno_main.htm __________________________________________________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. E-mail us at webmaster@vermonthouse.co.uk _________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________S U B S C R I P T I O N If you're on this mailing list by accident, reply to this e-mail with "unsubscribe" as the subject header. If you're receiving multiple copies of this e-mail, reply with "multiple" as the header _________________________________________________________________ Concept 2 Tel: (0115) 945 5522 E-mail: info@concept2.co.uk Web: www.concept2.co.uk Printed from: www.concept2.co.uk/news/newsletter_archive.php