============================================================ INDOOR ROWING NEWSLETTER # 27 ======================= 15-December-2000 ===================== _________________________________________________ C O N T E N T S 1. Red Nose Row: Leander V Royce's Gym 2. Red Nose Row: Million Metre Challenge 3. Premier Passions 4. Tel's Tales #1 5. Regional Races 6. Championship Photographs 7. Tel's Tales #2 8. Ranking Spotlight: Philip Stubley 9. Top Tips 10. Gas Team Metre Home 11. Tel's Tales #3 _________________________________________________________________ ========================================================= Red Nose Row: Leander V Royce's Gym ========================================================= Ali versus Frazier in '75, Botham versus the Australians in '81 and the Titanic versus an iceberg in '12. To that great role call can now be added Leander versus Royce's Gym on February 14th 2001 as that day will see Leander Club face off against Royce's Gym from Wigan and try to reclaim the 100,000 metre team crown that the Wigan crew so thrillingly snatched from them earlier this year. The event is taking place at Great Marlow school in Buckinghamshire and the Leander team will be led by their most famous old boy, the newly-crowned BBC Sports Personality of the year Steve Redgrave. The race is one of the biggest set pieces of this year's Red Nose Row and interest in this looks set to be huuuuge, so remember, you heard it here first. Despite this, Royce is definitely NOT overawed. "We're certainly not going to make up the numbers. We're determined to take the fight to them and we reckon we've got the team to walk away with a win and a new world record. We've been practicing our changeovers and the lads have put in a lot of training." Leander formerly held the 100,000 metre men's record with 4:44:32, a time they set for the Red Nose Row two years ago. For many this was one of the toughest world records around and it looked likely to stand for a fair old while. That is, of course, until the boys from Royce's Gym got their teeth into it. They lowered the mark to 4:40:48 last February and the stage seems set for a grand old ding-dong. ========================================================= Red Nose Row: Million Metre Challenge ========================================================= Denise Aitcheson from Bedfordshire, Mike Crossley from Warrington, Simone Kilburn from Penzance, Karl St John Paterson from Bridgend, Keith Pryce from Preston, Jackie Tompkins from Pontefract and Ronald Wilson from Newcastle upon Tyne. What do all these names have in common? Well at the moment they're the only people on the 750,000 metre honour board off the on-line world ranking (http://166.82.35.96/sranking/home.asp - snappy or what?). Nobody's yet got to what freelance scientists are already calling the "Magic Million", so if you want to be the first to carve your name onto the Million Metre Honour Board web page, you'd best start a-rowing. For more info on the Million Metre Challenge and the Red Nose Row, check out http://www.concept2.co.uk/rnr/index.html ========================================================= Premier Passions ========================================================= When Cherie Blair met Steve Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent, James Cracknell and Tim Foster at an official reception, she let slip the fact that their performance at the Olympics had persuaded the Prime Minister to get back on his Indoor Rower, which up until then had been lying somewhat neglected by the side of his bed for the past couple of years. Now, however, he's apparently on it every morning like a ferret up a drainpipe. "It was seeing you guys win gold that got him going again, so I'm very grateful, " drooled Cherie, "You all look wonderful standing there - and my husband is more determined than ever to build up his upper body muscles." The Prime Minister's not the only member of the government to relax from the pressures of office by indoor rowing. Peter Mandelson, the Secretary for Northern Ireland, is an enthusiastic user and can be spotted regularly working out on one at Lambton Place health club in Notting Hill. If you know of any other heads of state that use the Concept 2 to keep fit, make sure you drop us a line at webmaster@vermonthouse.co.uk, marking your e-mail Premier Passions and hopefully we can make it a regular feature. Maybe. ========================================================= Tel's Tales #1 ========================================================= If you've got a question you'd like three times Olympic rowing coach Terry O'Neill to answer, then sent it to webmaster@vermonthouse.co.uk Paul Davis: I've been thinking about a programme for next year and decided to make better use of the 2,000 metre race programme in the Training Guide. But I would like your opinion on how that stacks up against Noel Frost's 2,000 metre training programme (http://www.iamfit.net). One of the differences I have noticed is that Noel's guide looks as if he does a lot of training at race pace. The C2 guide has a lot of initial training in the UT1/UT2 zones before moving into the anaerobic zones. Noel also trained twice a day with his weights programme incorporating high repetitions. Would this be more valuable than super sets for example? Terry O'Neill: The most effective range to train in is around 85% and above. The problem is that this type of training will bring you to a peak based on your current basic aerobic capacity and strength. So after about six weeks of this type of training you will plateau out. To move beyond this point you have to increase your basic aerobic capacity and also your strength. It's rather like building a tower block: the higher you want to go, the deeper your foundations need to be. The Training Guide is based on a one year programme and you will spend a lot of that time building a sound aerobic base. The Guide does not include weight training but I have written a weights programme especially designed for rowers that can be found on our web site at http://www.concept2.co.uk/rnr/rnr_tp_horr.htm The advantage of training twice a day is that the gap between the sessions allows a degree of recovery that you do not get in one long session. This means that the quality of the work done in two sessions can be higher than in one even if the total work is the same. Also, more sessions means that you can be more specific and focus in on certain areas. Noel Frost's programme certainly worked for him as his world record shows. But one of the basic principles of a training programme is that it should be written to suit the individual. For this reason the Concept 2 Training Guide explains the training theory and principles. Each person can then draw up their own specific programme using the examples to aid in its construction rather than following it verbatim. ========================================================= Regional Races ========================================================= Sadly but truly, December is a time better suited for trenchermen than indoor rowers, what with office Xmas parties and turkeys with all the trimmings hiding behind every corner. But January, however, now January is perfect: the sloughing off of the excesses of the past year and the forging of resolutions make it the best time for the sport. If you want to kick off 2001 with a bang, then why not check out one, or indeed both, of the two regional races that are taking place nest month. First off on the 14th is the East Midlands IRC. Now in it's second year, there's a range of junior events, sorted by school years: Year 7 Junior: 2 minutes Year 8 Junior: 3 minutes Year 9 Junior: 4 minutes Year 10 and above: 2,000 metres For adult men and women, there are heavyweight and lightweight categories for 19-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69 and 70-79. There is also a team challenge event, where teams of up to eight have to complete 5,000 metres. Entry fees are 2 pound per row and are payable on the day. There is no official entry form, so instead simply send in your name, date of birth, club (if applicable), estimated completion time and your postal address, telephone number and e-mail address. This can either be e-mailed to Mike Watson (mike@terminus.ericsson.se) before Christmas or sent by post before the 7th of January to: Gordon Burton, ARA, NWSC, Adbolton Lane, Nottingham, NG12 2LU, The East Midlands IRC takes place at Leicester Rowing Club, and a map can be found on their web site at http://www.lri.u-net.com. Then on the 28th is the North of England Indoor Rowing Championship, the second biggest race in the British calendar, with over 400 people expected to compete. Taking place once again at Wardle High School, Littleborough, Rochdale, you can find an entry form in the Race Calendar section of our web site at http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/calendar.htm. The deadline for entries this year is January 15th. ========================================================= Championship Photographs ========================================================= The photographs from last month's PPP healthcare British Indoor Rowing Championship are now available to purchase on-line. If you drop on http://www.concept2.co.uk/birc/race_photos.htm you can choose from a range of both race and medal ceremony piccies before picking the one that makes you look least like somebody about to die. ========================================================= Tel's Tales #2 ========================================================= Kevin Rowles: In the last newsletter you talked about the need for confidence in breaking through a plateau and gave 500 and 1,000 metre times to look for if you want to break 7 minutes for 2,000 metres. My personal best is 6:43, so what 500 and 1,000 metre times would indicate 6.30 capability (I have 1:27.6 and 3:11 respectively)? Can you correlate the easier mental demands of the shorter distances at flat out pace or are there more complicated mechanisms at work. Terry O'Neill: There is a direct correlation between sprint times and 2,000 metre times. Over a series of 4-6 x 500m, the average time would represent 110% of your 2,000 metre time. To improve on a personal best other factors come into play. A personal best requires you to be at the edge of your physical capacity and to do this you have to be right mentally. Many top coaches will tell you it is what goes on upstairs that is the real difference and that on the actual physical level it is difficult to separate athletes. Thirdly, technique has to be spot on to improve your best. During your preparation if you fail to pay equal attention to any one of these areas then you will not move forward. The fact that you achieve the target time on the shorter distance does have the effect of building confidence but a one off 500 metres could have too high an anaerobic contribution to be sustained over 2,000 metres. A series where the average would still be 110% would indicate a good aerobic capacity and efficient lactate metabolism so, when you drop down to target pace, you are working at 90% and it is sustainable. To achieve a PB of 6:30 your 500 metre split time would need to be 1:37.5 and your time of 1:27.6 is inside 10% of this but I suspect that it is a one off and not a series. Your 1,000 metre time would need to be 3:05 and is 3:11, which confirms to me that you are not ready to get down to 6:30 at the moment. ========================================================= Ranking Spotlight: Philip Stubley ========================================================= Yorkshire man Philip Stubley was born in Leeds in 1939. A civil engineer by trade, he gave that up in order to manage the family industrial painting and cleaning business. Married with 5 grown-up children, he's also the current British record holder for the 60-69 Lwt events and is a two-time winner at the British Indoor Rowing Championship. We caught up with him last week to find out what was the secret of his success and whether he had any tips to pass along... "I've always enjoyed sport, but have been a "Jack of all sports," usually competent but never excelling at anything. Running has been my favourite sport since I was a schoolboy - I once got as far as a Yorkshire trial for the 440 yards! Apart from that my proudest achievement was running a sub 3 hours marathon at 50 years old. "Indoor rowing only became a serious activity when I saw how fit my running pal, Geoff Knight, kept himself by using it for regular training. Memorably, he beat me in a 10 kilometre road race, not having been running for a year because of a knee injury, whilst I'd been bashing out 30/40 miles a week all year! I also 'twigged' how much less stress rowing causes your body compared to running. "For a short time I rowed on the Ouse at York, but for the past 2 years I've been training on the rowing machine, three or four times a week consistently. My favourite training routines are ones where I sweat a lot but don't kill myself! Aerobic threshold efforts like 4 x 2,500 m. at a good pace, with 5 minute rests, for example. I don't enjoy the 'eye-balls out' sprint repetitions you have to do for 2000 metre training! After I sorted the problems of blistered hands and cramp in the backside, I got to quite enjoy the Marathon training sessions set out in the Training Guide. "I rarely get bored on the rowing machine, probably because I set myself demanding performance objectives, but also because of the variety of feedback you can get from the monitor. My advice is to take time to familiarise yourself with the monitor's versatility and how it can be used to structure your training sessions. "Another tip is to use the 'Watts' display, rather than the 'pace per 500 metre' display, if you are trying to split seconds to make small improvements in performance. The watts display has more increments on its scale, so the measure is more accurate. I find a detectable improvement, however small, is a welcome crumb of encouragement. "Talking of such 'crumbs', I found the Banyoles camp an enjoyable and encouraging experience. It's a big boost to spend time with others who share your interests and appetite for suffering! "It certainly helped me to keep on training at a time of year when I tend to lose motivation. I managed to get below 7 minutes for 2000 metres soon after the 'holiday'! I bought a machine at Reading this year, so I'm set up to attack Jack Heiden's 6:50.9 60-69 Lwt record!" ========================================================= Top Tips ========================================================= Three Top Tips this week, all of them sent in by readers. The first, from Phil Lajoie of Farnborough, is gnomic in both its wisdom and succinctness, and consists only of the mantra of "Don't eat a Big Mac before a row as you'll throw up." The other two deal with the problem of boredom on the rower. Darren Rhodes: Well, being an on the water rower I try to imagine where I might be on the river I row on. That helps. Also, focusing on technique also helps to relieve the boredom, or counting the number of Mars bars you can eat after a session with the monitor set to display calories... Dave Cumber from Dorchester has a different tactic: "As I train at home, often early in the morning before work, I have found wireless headphones to be a real boon. I can now listen to loud music in glorious stereo without waking up my children. It also encourages good technique - if you throw your head around, the headphones fall off! (I find they also help relieve the boredom of washing up.) "It's amazing how a change of music can change performance. It's almost impossible to have a blast on the erg whilst listening to a slow ballad. A good dance beat such as Robert Miles' 'Dreamland' results in my performance improving considerably. "How about a Top 10 of 'music to train to'?" Well, as anybody who heard Terry O'Neill's attempts on the wheels of steel at Reading can tell you, Tony Blackburn we ain't, so we figure this is one best left to you lot. Suggestions to the usual address: webmaster@vermonthouse.co.uk and we'll run the Top 10 in a future edition. ========================================================= Gas Team Metres Home ========================================================= And if we feel safe to go with a headline as poor as that, you know we must have a doozy of a story. On Saturday, December 2nd at the David Lloyd Health Club in Reading, a mixed team of ten people (6 men and 4 women) from the energy supply company BG Group broke, nay smashed, the world 100,000m mixed team record, previously held by Wolfson College in 5:32:35 by a staggering 31 minutes and 53 seconds, completing the distance in 5:01:42, an average pace of 1:30.5 / 500m for the entire row. The team included Gillian Lindsay Sydney 2000 Olympic silver medallist; Roger Brown the 1992 and 1996 British Olympic oarsman; and a guest appearance from Sharon Davies the former Olympic swimmer who joined in for the last 10,0000 metres. Not only that, but all in all they raised a mighty fine 5,000 pounds for the Imperial Cancer Research Fund. BG Group now have their sights set on forming a team to snatch the men's team record of 4:40:48 before Leander Club and Royce's Gym do battle on February 14th in aid of Comic Relief. What with a new mixed team record and the distinct possibility of the men's record being broken in the near future, it's about time someone had a crack at the existing women's record of 6:12:16 set by Valley Health and Fitness Club in Hungerford way back in 1998. For rules, regulations, pace guides and the odd picture, visit http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/team_chall.htm ========================================================= Tel's Tales #3 ========================================================= Rob Ewers: Although never having attempted to row on water, I am a keen ergo fan. I have an Indoor Rower at home and train regularly, and have recently approached a few keen rower friends for training programs. They suggest that the majority of rowers out of season training should be quite low intensity (55-70% of your maximum heart rate) for long durations (40-60 minutes). This may mean, for example sitting at 2:10 pace to develop a very strong general fitness level. They suggest you would only really tailor your fitness to the individual event you will be rowing a few months before the competition. I find it hard to believe that this will reap any benefit, as keeping my heart rate low like this simply does not seem difficult and if anything, induces boredom (and yes I have tried watching telly/listening to music and everything else other people have suggested.) I tend to think if your not crawling off the machine in agony it has not done any good. Simply because, as with bodybuilding, if you want your muscles to grow, you need to push them harder than what they are accustomed to. - I would assume that this is the same for any serious competitor trying to reach their natural limits. Terry O'Neill: There is an element of correctness in both positions. Rowing training theory is based on the following principles. The aerobic and anaerobic contribution to a 2,000 metre race is 70-80% aerobic and 20-30% anaerobic. From this they devise a programme that contains these ratios and that is why they spend so much time doing the low intensity training. The benefits from high intensity training are more immediate and so the high intensity work is left until the last couple of months before competition. A low intensity training programme requires far more hours of training than a high intensity programme therefore if you train once a day or less, the effects of a low intensity programme will be very small. At this point I think we need to differentiate between training for a specific event and regular exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle. Regular exercise of a low intensity will maintain a healthy body but this should not be confused with training. If you train every day flat out, after about six weeks you will reach a plateau. Unfortunately the body works in waves and doesn't like plateaus so you will start to lose form. A lot of people refer to this as being stale. What has actually happened is that you have gone as far as you can on you existing aerobic and strength base and the only way to move on is to raise these basic levels. Unless you are a full time professional athlete, the most effective way to train is in a series of six week blocks and the order is very important. The first six weeks you focus on strength. The next six weeks you focus on endurance and because you are stronger the endurance sessions are at a higher intensity. The third six weeks you focus on power. The problem with spending too much time training in one area is that you lose fitness in another. Weeks and weeks of low intensity work will cause the loss of explosive strength and too much time spent on speed work will cause a loss of aerobic capacity. No training is 100% specific and so by rotating your training on a six week cycle you will not lose ground in the other areas. Also this is a far more interesting method of training which will involve you crawling of the machine occasionally, but not every time. ____________________________________________F E E D B A C K Like what you read? Dislike what you read? 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. If you're getting more than one copy, then reply with "multiple" as the header.