INDOOR ROWING NEWSLETTER # 21 ======================= 15-September-2000 ====================== _________________________________________________ C O N T E N T S 1. Red Nose Row 2. Olympics 3. Andrew Sheridan – DYNO Man 4. Tel's Tales #1 5. Supersprint Rowing 6. Other Upcoming Events 7. Going Loco In AcaYeovil 8. Jersey IRC 9. Race Training 10. Tel's Tales #2 11. FHM Magazine and e-Row _________________________________________________________________ ========================================================= Red Nose Row ========================================================= O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, alone and palely loitering? Ah, the sedge has withered from the lake and you've got nothing to do for the next six months? Well palely loiter no more good knight, as this Saturday sees the start of Phase One of Operation Red Nose Row: the Million Metre Challenge (MMC). The Red Nose Row is indoor rowing's contribution to Comic Relief and 1999's event raised a charity-tastic 200,000 pounds, making it Comic Relief's biggest ever sporting fundraiser. In an effort to surpass that figure this time round, it's been launched six months earlier with the MMC. As easy as pie to take part in, all you've got to do is row a million metres between now and Red Nose Day itself, which falls on March 16th 2001. For further information you can either check out the frankly rather spiffy Red Nose Row web site at http://www.concept2.co.uk/rnr/index.html or you can get a free (free!) 16 page Action Pack by sending your name and postal address to rnr@vermonthouse.co.uk. If you're having a crack at the old MMC, the On-Line Ranking (http://www.e-row.com/ranking/home.asp) now has a sooper- dooper facility whereby it can record and store every single metre you do for the MMC and tell you how much you've got left to go. ========================================================= Olympics ========================================================= When 400 metre runner Cathy Freeman lit the flame at the end of the opening ceremony this morning, it meant that, after all the build up and all the hype, the 2000 Olympic Games could get fully underway. Apart from the rowers, one of whom, Matthew Pinsent, had the privilege to be selected to carry the British flag at the opening ceremony, there are several other British athletes associated with indoor rowing who'll be having a crack at gold. In the decathlon, 22 year old Dean Macey will be hoping to bring another medal back to Canvey Island after his fantastic silver at the Seville World Championships last year, while Ben Ainslie, one of our best bets for gold, and the pairing of Mark Covell and Ian Walker will be hoping for success in the sailing. Oh, and one last sneaky plug: don't forget you've got until Midnight on Saturday 16th September to enter our Fantasy Rowing competition: http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/fantasy_index.htm ========================================================= Andrew Sheridan – Dyno Man ========================================================= Empire Sports Club in Bristol held a special club day on the DYNO recently, and with members including the likes of British weightlifting legend Precious MacKenzie, they pumped some serious air that day (the one disadvantage of the DYNO's unique air-resistance approach to strength training is that it sounds so much worse than "pumped some serious iron"). Bristol second row and great white hope of English rugby Andrew Sheridan also managed to take the highly unofficial crown of King of the DYNO after leg pressing over 500 kgs on the machine. If you're a gym owner and you'd like to have some DYNOs in your gym, there's now a special Hire Purchase option which means you can buy one for as little as 39.55 pounds a month. It's probably also worth pointing out that ALL Concept 2 equipment, whether for the home or the gym is available on a variety of credit finance options. E-mail sales@concept2.co.uk or give 'em a bell on 0115 945 5522 for further details. ========================================================= Tel's Tales #1 ========================================================= Every fortnight, three times Olympic Rowing coach Terry O'Neill answers your questions on any aspect of indoor rowing, so if you've got something you want to know, whether it's on training, diet, or if it's acceptable to wear a Windsor knot with a double-breasted suit, just drop him a line at webmaster@vermonthouse.co.uk. Shaun Darley: I work long hours Monday to Friday, often away from home, which makes training on my Indoor Rower a little sporadic. When I am at home, and during weekends, I generally fit in around four sessions a week each of 10,000 metres at a steady 65% of my Maximum Heart Rate, essentially to burn fat. I am going to have a crack at the Million Metre Challenge and I'd like some advice on the best training programme to achieve this along with advice on diet to lose a little fat and build muscle. I don't consider myself overweight, (I'm 1.83m tall and 80 kg), and whilst I have no fat at all on my legs and arms I do carry more than I'd like around my waist. Terry O'Neill: It's women that carry fat on the tops of their legs and arms and us blokes that put it on around the middle. (Sorry to burst that little bubble). Men call them love handles (yeah, in their dreams), but if you ask a woman they will tell you a man's love handles are his earholes. First the good news, million metre programmes are available from the Training Programmes section of the Red Nose Row web site (http://www.concept2.co.uk/rnr/rnr_tp_index.htm). Now the bad news, you won't lose much weight on 4x10k a week. Losing weight through exercise alone is really inefficient and requires loads of training. Training at 65% of your MHR means that the majority of the fuel you are burning is fat but you are burning so little fuel that you need to spend hours at that intensity to do any good. The next thing is that it is not the stored fat around your middle that you are burning but dietary fat. So if you can only train 4 times a week you are better off training at a much higher intensity, say 85% of MHR. The diet: cut out fat and booze. Eat small meals 5 times a day so you don't get hungry and binge. Set yourself a realistic weight loss target and only weigh yourself once a week. If you meet your target, once a fortnight you can eat and drink what you like. Do that and you'll have the busiest love handles in town. ========================================================= Supersprint Rowing ========================================================= Although as a competition the Olympics looms over everything else like a particularly irked Godzilla over Tokyo, an intriguing coda to the event will be taking place at Eton School's spiffing new rowing lake on October 14th. Supersprint Rowing is entirely different from conventional rowing events and is designed to be fast, challenging and unpredictable. Teams of five, consisting of a men's sculler, a women's double and a men's pair, race off over 350 metres before all reappearing at the end in a relay race to determine the overall winner. Also thrown into the mix will be a special indoor rowing event open to all, where all you've got to do is row as far as you can in one minute. With a number of different age and weight categories, the fastest will be invited back to appear in a grand final at the end of the day's events. As an added bonus, the event will also feature a special presentation in which all the members of the British Olympic rowing team will be presented with special Concept 2 oars. As one of the brains behind the event, Steve Redgrave will definitely be there in some capacity or other, and the event will be one of his first public appearances after his attempt to win a record fifth Olympic gold medal. Check out their web site http://www.su-ro.com for further details. ========================================================= Other Upcoming Events ========================================================= From now until 24th September: The Atlantic Rowing Challenge have Stand E67 at the Southampton International Boat Show. Not only can you learn more about the challenge itself, but there's also a one minute competition on the Indoor Rower, where you could win a one week holiday for two people in Tenerife to watch the start of the Race in October. Other events coming up in the next couple of months include the Marie Curie Indoor Rowing Challenge on October 27th, the BluRed Indoor Rowing Championship on November 5th and the Irish and British Indoor Rowing Championships on the 18th and 26th November respectively. For further information on these events, and for entry forms for the last two, visit http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/racing.htm ========================================================= Going Loco Down in AcaYeovil ========================================================= According to Churchill himself, he had nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat, attributes which, while they probably didn't get him much action down Ritzy's, served him admirably during the war. They'd have also come in pretty useful if he'd tried to take a leaf out of either Martin Surrey or Neil Rhodes' book. People who actually manage to read this newsletter may remember Yeovil man Martin Surrey as the guy who was trying to row a million metres in ten days. The diary of his attempt is still up on the news section of our web site (http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/news.htm) and it makes for pretty scary reading as his body rebelled somewhat against the stress put on it. Eventually he was forced to abandon his attempt 750,000 metres in. Despite it all he sounded cheerfully upbeat about it. "I still think it's do-able. If you avoid injury and you sort out your diet and training beforehand I reckon it's definitely possible. The main problem for me was coping with the boredom and keeping my splits low enough. I found that when people rowed alongside me it made all the difference. I've not lost my taste for it; I may try an individual 100,000 metres for Red Nose Day, and next year, well who knows?" Fellow Yeovil dweller Neil Rhodes (what is it they put in the water down there) has now stepped up to have a crack at the distance and is aiming to compete it in nine days. Nine days. Holy smoke. Neil's doing the row in an attempt to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Relief and is aiming at being sponsored for a pound a metre. Anybody who can help with sponsorship can contact Neil on neil.rhodes@classicfm.net ========================================================= Jersey IRC ========================================================= Evening. Detective Jim Bergerac here. Before I nip off in my flash car to investigate the surprising amount of non-tax related crime that's taking place on an island 45 miles square, I just thought I'd tell you all about the results of the Jersey IRC. Taking place at Fort Regent Leisure Centre, the event ran on a heat and final format with the eight fastest times in each age category going through to the afternoon finals. The Men's Open final was won by Andy Brown who followed up a 6:30.2 in his heat with a 6:31.6 in the final. Second and third places in the final were not decided until the final metres of the race with David Parkin just hanging on to second from a strong-finishing Alistair Rothwell with 6:48.2 versus 6:49.1 respectively. In the Men's Lightweight final Paul Sawyer from Bournemouth won in 6:56.1 while in the Women's Open final Worcester's Anna Bailey dominated from the first stroke, finishing in 7:21.8, knocking seven seconds off her personal best. Right, I've got to go and bail Charlie Hungerford out of a spot of bother. Ta ta for now. ========================================================= Race Training ========================================================= It's now about nine weeks until the Irish IRC, ten weeks until the British IRC and, ooh, about 22 until the World IRC in Boston next February. If you're planning on entering any of these, you might want to check out the Race Training section on our web site http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/race_training_index.htm. Not only does this contain a full set of instructions on how to create your own training programme, depending on how long until the race and how much time you have available to train each week, but you'll also find tips on race strategy and race psychology. We'll be starting to add heavily to this section in the next couple of weeks, so keep on checking back, y'hear? ========================================================= Tel's (Tall) Tales ========================================================= Today I got a bell from my old mate Gosso. We used to row together many moons ago and are still great drinking buddies. These are great nights out because, as the volume of alcohol builds up, so our recollection of victories past becomes clearer and the scale of our achievement grows even greater. In fact the drink has completely the opposite effect than that you would expect. Our perception becomes sharper so we can clearly understand each other even though our language is as clear as a Peruvian llama seller with a stutter. Anyway, he rang to say that he reads the newsletter in the company of colleagues from work who, having never rowed themselves, think I use too much rowing jargon. So it could be that a number of other people who have taken up indoor rowing don't know what I'm talking about. The problem is getting the balance right between not talking down to people and yet making sure they understand. So if you want clarification on any of the points in Tel's Tales, let us know; we want to hear from you so keep those letters and e-mails rolling in. The specific point at issue here is common amongst training generally and it concerns the term "Interval Training": Once upon a time, some bright spark discovered that if you take a distance that you want to compete over and chop it up into smaller pieces, (intervals), you can complete those smaller pieces at a faster pace than if you were to do it in one go and, by training in this way, when you race at the proper distance you go faster. Then an even brighter bloke found out why this is and went on to discover that by varying the length of the intervals we can challenge individual energy supplies in the body. In the words of the late great Ian Dury "There ain't half been a lot of clever physiologists" and yet another one came along to discover that the sequence in which you carry out the interval training could also improve performance. The way to think of it is to say all forms of training are interval training. Whether there is one long interval of 20-30 minutes or multiples of a shorter duration. Sometimes long intervals are called "Steady State Training". This is because on commencement of exercise the heart rate rises, speeding up the metabolism to meet the demands of the task. When the metabolic rate is equal to the task then the heart rate stabilises and a steady state is reached. Long intervals have the greatest training effect on the efficiency of the muscle. Medium length intervals have the greatest effect on the heart and lung functions, sometimes referred to as the cardio-vascular system, whilst short intensive intervals (sometimes called speed work), challenge the anaerobic energy system and improve lactate metabolism and tolerance. ========================================================= FHM Magazine and e-Row ========================================================= Huzzah! Indoor rowing made it into the pages of FHM magazine last month in an article where one of their reporters tried to lose weight. It seems that unfortunately, however, the stress of persuading B-grade actresses to divest themselves of their clothes for the edification of travelling vacuum cleaner salesmen was too much for the magazine as it says "I am prepared to offer some free advice…Why not do a deal with Sony Playstation, and have a game on the screen where you race other boats?" Which is in fact (a ha! you've spotted the tenuous link coming a mile off) where the e-Row software comes in. This free download is what enables anybody with a PM2+ and a PC to race other people in the same, umm, boat over the Internet. Due to overwhelming public demand there's now a special forum dedicated to e-Row users at http://www.e- row.com/forum/erow_forum.asp where you can post all your questions, wishes or problems. For further information, or to download the latest version of e-Row, check out http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/software.htm ____________________________________________F E E D B A C K Like what you read? Dislike what you read? Stories, anecdotes or ideas for future Newsletters? Make sure to tell us at webmaster@vermonthouse.co.uk _________________________________________________________ _______________________________________SUBSCRIPTION INFO If you think you're on this mailing list accidentally, just return the e-mail with "unsubscribe" in the subject header. 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