============================================================ INDOOR ROWING NEWSLETTER #43 ======================== 24-August-2001 ======================= _________________________________________________ C O N T E N T S 1. British Record Holder: Ross Abley 2. PPP healthcare British Indoor Rowing Championship 3. Tel's Tales #1 4. Concept 2 Message Board 5. Men's One Hour Team Record 6. World Championship 7. Tel's Tales #2 8. Forthcoming Events 9. Snowdon ________________________________________________________________ ========================================================= British Record Holder: Ross Abley ========================================================= Eighty-year-old Ross Abley has just set a new British Record for the Men's 80-89 Lwt category after rowing 2,000 metres in 8:46.9 at his local gym, the Oasis Sports and Leisure Club in Norwich, on Monday 13th August. Ross suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, a condition where the bottom of his spine is fused together causing pain and restricting the movement in his lower back. Despite this, he rows every day for an average of 10,000 metres. Training five days a week for two hours at the Oasis Sports and Leisure Club, Ross's training programme also incorporates an hour of weights - a tough regime for anyone, let alone an octogenarian. He started indoor rowing less than two years ago after problems with his knees and decided to have a go at a 1,000,000 metre challenge in February last year. He'd completed that by the end of August and has already clocked up 3,500,000 metres on his way to the 5,000,000 metre milestone target he's set himself to raise money for the National Ankylosing Spondylitis Society. Wife Betty reckons he's got the bug now, explaining: "Indoor rowing was a sport he could do without experiencing painful joints. He really enjoys it and is extremely determined to reach five million metres. "Ross is delighted with his new British Record for 2,000 metres and plans to compete at the British Indoor Rowing Championship in November. He is aiming for a faster time at the championship and while I do all the worrying he remains enthusiastic and determined about competing!" Ross has the support and admiration of all his friends and family. Marion Fletcher, Gym Manager at the Oasis Sports and Leisure Club, explained: "Ross has the full backing of everyone here at the club and even received an acknowledgment of his five million metre challenge attempt by Sir Steve Redgrave which has spurred him on no end! "Members and staff at the club celebrated his 80th birthday in February this year by holding a party in the gym, although you would never know he is 80 - he looks about 60 and is in extremely good shape." Ross plans to accomplish his five million metres by next year, commenting: "After that, I might go on to do a marathon!" ========================================================= PPP healthcare British Indoor Rowing Championship ========================================================= As the summer leaves fade slowly to brown, or rather as the rainy weather becomes even rainier, it can only mean one thing: it's getting closer and closer to Christmas. Which also means that it's getting nearer to the PPP healthcare British Indoor Rowing Championship. For the first time, the championship will be taking place at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, a significantly bigger venue than in previous year. As such, there's going to be a large number of first time competitors. Here then is a brief guide to some of the most commonly asked questions. We'll be posting this list on the News section of the BIRC web site (http://www.concept2.co.uk/birc) so if you've got a question which isn't answered here then make sure you let us know at webmaster@concept2.co.uk and we'll update the list. How do I enter? --------------------- You can either enter on-line at http://www.concept2.co.uk/birc/entryform.php where you can pay either by credit card or by cheque, or you can ask for an entry form by contacting Concept 2 on either birc@concept2.co.uk or 0115 945 5522. What categories are there? --------------------- There are 58 individual categories this year. For the first time, the 30-39 year category has been sub-divided into 30-34 and 35-39 groupings for both men and women. The Men's 70-79 event has also been split into 70-74 and 75-79. Check out http://www.concept2.co.uk/birc/events.htm for a list of all events. Can I see how many people have entered my race? --------------------- From the beginning of September the BIRC web site will contain a regularly updated list of all the people who have entered, along with any background information they've entered. If I enter on-line, will I receive confirmation? --------------------- You'll receive full confirmation approximately one week after the close of entry, which this year is October 26th. Note: if you enter by cheque on-line, you'll only receive confirmation after you've sent your cheque in. What time will I be racing? --------------------- We're unable to provide a race timetable until after all the entries have been received, so your race time and machine number will be sent to you along with your confirmation. When will I receive my result? --------------------- Results generally come out about 15-30 minutes after the race has finished and are posted simultaneously both at the venue and on our web site. How does the team event work? --------------------- Right. There are eight categories: Junior, Collegiate, Club and Championship for both men and women. You'll be glad to hear that there's no need to compete twice: simply compete in your individual event as normal and the team with the fastest cumulative time in each of the eight categories is the winner. When you enter, either individually or as a club (see http://www.concept2.co.uk/birc/entryform.php to download a Multiple Entry Form) make sure that all your team members are down as representing the same organisation. There is NO extra fee for competing in the team event. For more details, as well as a definition of each team category, check out http://www.concept2.co.uk/birc/news.php Finally, there appears to be a number of people new to the sport who are planning on just coming to watch in possible preparation for next year. Boo, we say, boo. The event's open to all, regardless of ability or experience. Come along, race and then watch. You'll enjoy it far more, honest. ========================================================= Tel's Tales #1 ========================================================= Every fortnight, three times Olympic rowing coach Terry O'Neill answers any questions you might have on fitness and training. If something's been bugging you, tels-tales@concept2.co.uk is where you can find some DDT. Andrew King: In what way is a 3x8 minute piece meant to be harder than a 2x12 minute one? Terry O'Neill: To answer this question you have to consider the basis of training theory. If you intend to perform over 2,000 metres and your aim is eight minutes absolutely flat out, then if you divide the 2,000 metres into four parts you should be able to complete each quarter in less time than when going through the quarter distance of the 2,000 metre piece because you are compressing your total effort into less time. In fact, as a rough guide you should be able to complete a series of 500 metres 5-10% faster than race pace. If you extend the race distance then logically it will take longer to complete because you are spreading your total effort over a longer time. Three 8 minutes is harder than two 12 minutes because you have to produce your maximum effort in a shorter time and more often. The two examples you have chosen are pretty close together; consider the training range of one long low intensity piece of an hour to one of 10x45 seconds intervals. During the 7.5 minutes of work completed in the short interval sessions you would feel far more exhausted than at the end of one hour's aerobic work. This is because the rate at which you are burning energy in the high intensity session is unsustainable. At the end of a high intensity session your body is out of balance in that there will be depleted glycogen in the working muscles and an accumulation of lactate acid. It will take several hours for the body to return to normal, whereas there are no such after effects of aerobic work. ========================================================= Concept 2 Message Board ========================================================= When the Indoor Rowing News has something it wants the whole world to know, it likes to do it in style. Last Valentine's Day, for example, we took out a full page ad in the local paper saying Mr Snuggle Bunny loves his little scrunchy-wunchy Tiggy Winkle. Similarly, when little scrunchy-wunchy Tiggy Winkle ran off with Gordon from the squash club, we hired a sky-writer to tell the world that she still liked Kajagoogoo. Taking all that into account, we've decided to change the way in which we present news on our web site. From now on, we'll be posting all news stories or comment pieces in the News section of the Message Board (http://www.concept2.co.uk/messageboard.htm) rather than just the News section of the main site. Not only does it mean that you'll have the chance to comment on any stories that we run there, but we also want you to post your own news there as well. So if you've got an event going on at your club, or one of your members is having a crack at 100,000 metres for charity, this is the place to strut your stuff. ========================================================= New British One Hour Records ========================================================= There are some records that aren't worth having. The record for the number of bottles of mascara that you can stuff in your mouth has always seemed pretty worthless to us, as, in a different sense, would be a three sided concept album by Boney M devoted to the economic theories of Milton Friedman. One record which is definitely worth its weight in salt, however, is the British Men's One Hour Team Record, and since the last newsletter no fewer than three teams have come forward aiming for the prize. First off, Team Horizon from Horizon's Health Club in Havant, broke the old record with 17,911 metres which, as Ben Adcock points out, is extremely good "considering that all four members of the team are non-rowers, one guy is 45 and I'm only a lightweight!" Then we heard from (the rather unattractively named) Team BARF from Copley Fitness Centre who managed to get to 18,102 metres before time ran out. However, even they had to concede to BG Max from Reading who, not content with just the Mixed One Hour Record, pulled out all the stops to row a staggering 20,760 metres, an overall split of just 1:26.7. A big shout out goes to all those teams mentioned above. A full list of all records can be found at http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/brit_world_records.htm ========================================================= World Championships ========================================================= The World Championships, taking place at Lucerne at the moment, have proved so far to be an overall success for British rowers, with eleven crews through to their final, a total bettered only by the United States. Two of those crews are accounted for by the pairing of James Cracknell and Matthew Pinsent who, as well as reaching the final in the coxless pairs, have teamed up with cox Neil Chugani for the coxed pairs as well. Both finals are this Saturday, with the coxless event taking place just two hours after the coxed one. One of Cracknell and Pinsent's biggest challengers in the coxed pairs are the Italians, one of whom is Lorenzo Carboncini, a competitor at last year's BIRC. As James points out, he just hopes Carboncini remembers that James beat him by 15 seconds when they get to the halfway stage. Other crews who have made their final and look good for a medal include the new coxless four, both the men and women's eights and the women's coxless pair. For more news, as well as a live results service, visit http://www.fisa.org ========================================================= Tel's Tales #2 ========================================================= Bert Leah: "I recently came across a 1997 Concept 2 magazine with a page called 'How To Train For A 2,000m Indoor Rowing Race' that gave details for the usual full range of UT2, UT1, AT, TR & AN pieces [Utilisation 1, Utilisation 2, Anaerobic Threshold, Oxygen Transportation and Anaerobic respectively]. As a point of interest I compared these with the same training information contained in the more recent Indoor Rowing Training Guide. "I was surprised that there are quite significant differences between the above two programmes, with these being centred around the length (time) spent on each piece and also on the total time of pieces in the same workout. Despite these differences, stroke rates and pulse rate ranges are the same. "The exceptions to this are the UT1 and UT2 sessions that are virtually identical. In the AT (now sometimes referred to as LT I believe) there was a noteworthy difference. In the 1997 magazine (1997) the individual pieces were of either 20 minute or 12 minute durations as against 6 minutes in the Indoor Rowing Training Guide (IRTG). Overall times for the two workouts in the 1997 magazine are 60 minutes and 36 minutes as against 24 minutes and 18 minutes in the IRTG but both groups are working at identical stroke rates. Such a big difference seems to indicate a possible change in philosophy for AT training. "The situation is similar for Transportation with individual piece timings at 10, 5 and 3 minutes (1997) as against 4 and 2 minutes (IRTG) and overall total training times are 40, 25 and 18 minutes (1997) against 12 minutes (IRTG) - again at identical stroke rates. "Similarly the AN pieces are longer (1997) but with a more equal overall workout time for both the 1997 and IRTG sessions. "I wonder whether these differences are based on individual opinions or are they a reflection of changing knowledge by research and experience over the years. "In a similar vein, the ways suggested for selecting the right steps for the Step Test differ substantially and produce differing times for each step, even using the same race time for each assessment. In the IRTG the last step is flat out as opposed to the earlier publication." Terry O'Neill: The 1997 programme I suspect was lifted from the US rowing training programme. The programme in the Training Guide was written by me and was developed from a training guide I had written for rowing clubs. It varies from an on water programme, and therefore the 1997 one, because the loading on the machine is different from a boat. The cost of effort is greater on the machine and I have tried to factor this into the sample programmes; as far as I know, the Training Guide is the only document written specifically for the rowing machine. As you know, heart rate increases with work intensity almost linearly and the increases in training times in my programmes follow an inverse curve. In other words, at the highest intensity the time of maximum effort is 1.5 - 2 times the duration of the target time while at the lowest intensity the duration goes up by 10 - 15 times. If you work in distances, then the target is 2,000 metres but, as I work in time, I have a nominal 6 minutes as the base time for my programmes. For a lot of people, 6 minutes is much too quick for 2,000 metres but, even if your 2,000 metre time is 8 minutes, the training requirement changes are insignificant. As far as the step test is concerned, the original step test was designed to estimate VO2 max from a sub maximal test. The British Olympic Medical Centre refined this to the four minute steps while directly monitoring O2 consumption. The four minute flat out at the end of the step test is a good predictor of your 2,000 metre time and the 20 second and five strokes test are all in line with BOMC protocol. The Training Guide sets out to explain training principles so individuals can prepare a programme specifically for themselves. The training sessions are only examples but I know that a lot of people just follow them. Although this is not a problem, one of the basic principles of training is that the training programme should be designed to fit the individual needs of the athlete and so they may not be getting the best from the time invested in training. Of course, this only becomes significant at a very high level and anyone following the programmes in the guide will still show a significant improvement in their fitness. ========================================================= Forthcoming Events ========================================================= Name: Birmingham IRC Date: 16th September Venue: Cocks Moors Woods Leisure Centre, Kings Heath, Birmingham Distance: 2,000 metres Other: Entry Fee: 5.50 pounds Contact: Paul Robertshaw Tel: 0121 464 0285 E-mail: Paul_Robertshaw@birmingham.gov.uk Name: Nuneaton and Bedworth IRC Date: 23rd September Venue: Dimensions Gyms, Bedworth Distance: 2,000 metres Other: Closing date for entries 11th September Contact: Stuart Gealy Tel: 0247 631 7702 or e-mail Monique Raaijmakers at monique.raaijmakers@nuneaton-bedworthbc.gov.uk Name: Imperial Cancer 100,000 metre Challenge Date: 7th October Venue: Havant Leisure Centre, Hampshire Distance: 100,000 metre team event Other: Contact: Robert Piggott, Tel: 02392 476026 Name: Rower's Revenge Triathlon Date: 7th October Venue: Higginson Park, Marlow Distance: 4,000 metre row, 25,000 metre cycle, 7,500 metre run Other: Annual event Contact: Mike Spencer-Jones, E-mail: mikes-j@tinyonline.co.uk Web: http://www.rowersrevenge.co.uk Name: Nottinghamshire IRC Date: 27th October Venue: Newark RC Distance, 500 metres, 2000 metres, one minute event for Under 12s Other: Closing date for entry: 21st October. Entry fee: 5 pounds Contact: Graham Price, Tel: 07970 136054, E-mail: gprice@keymax.co.uk ========================================================= Snowdon ========================================================= Last newsletter we "launched" a "competition" (i.e. asked people) to find photos of people on an Indoor Rower under the most outré and/or extreme conditions possible. We wondered then how long it would take before we heard from Simon Bradley. Simon, you see, is one of the more enthusiastic exponents of outdoor indoor rowing. Possessors of the last ever Concept Culture may remember him as part of the team of four who did the Three Peaks challenge, taking an Indoor Rower to the top of each and rowing 2,000 metres each there. His latest adventure saw him and 41 other people, ranging in age from 14 to 52, gather at the foot of Mount Snowdon on Sunday 12th August. Of those, 34 people had never climbed Snowdon before and a whopping 40 had, unsurprisingly, never carried a Rower up a mountain before. Once at the top, they all knocked off 2,000 metres, with one hardy soul doing his row naked. This managed to earn him both a free mug from the gift shop and, we suspect, the odd funny look. Another team member climbed the hill in a kilt and played the bagpipes in the cafe at the top in front of over 100 bemused walkers, tourists and staff. So far they've raised over 2000 pounds for Imperial Cancer Research as part of the national "Commit to get Fit" campaign. Simon's promised to send us some photographs, and when we get them, we'll post them on the News section of the Message Board. So what's next for Simon and his motley crew? As soon as foot and mouth permits five of them are attempting the Bob Graham Round - 42 Lakeland fells in Cumbria (80km in total) in 24 hours with a 2,000 metre row at the most northerly, easterly, southerly and westerly points of the trek. Only 1,000 people have ever completed the challenge, never even mind the rowing part. After that a team of ten are aiming to row 100,000 metres amidst the snow at the summit of Ben Nevis. They're looking for a period between November and February in order to "maximise the foul weather". Then, next July, they're looking at a six day hike across the Pyrenees, carrying an Indoor Rower from the west coast all the way to the Mediterranean in the east. Think you can match or even top that? Make sure you drop us a line at webmaster@concept2.co.uk if you reckon you can. ______________________________________________________FEEDBACK Like what you read? Dislike what you read? Ideas for future newsletters? Spotted a really silly error that would have been picked up by an eight year old pruf-reader? Make sure to tell us at webmaster@concept2.co.uk. Or, of course, you could always say something at our message board: http://www.concept2.co.uk/messageboard.htm. Oh go on. _____________________________________________________BACK ISSUES Back issues of the Indoor Rowing News are now available on-line at http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/newsletter_index.php3. New issues will be posted on the release date of the following newsletter. _______________________________________________SUBSCRIPTION INFO If you think you're on this mailing list accidentally, or if the prospect of reading one more of these causes your spirit to sink, 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.