============================================================ INDOOR ROWING NEWSLETTER #50 ====================== 14-December-2001 ====================== _________________________________________________ C O N T E N T S 1. The Case of the Missing Newsletter 2. Indoor Rowing Grand Prix 3. New World Record 4. Tel's Tales #1 5. Christmas Shopping 6. PPP Healthcare British Indoor Rowing Championship 7. Christmas Competition 8. National Marathon Day 9. ErgMonster 10. 100,000 Metre Teams 11. Tel's Tales #2 12. Sport Relief **************************** Feedback Back Issues Subscription Information ________________________________________________________________ ========================================================= The Case of The Missing Newsletter ========================================================= So the chances are that most of you are either thinking "What happened to Issue 49" or "I thought they'd stopped bothering me with all that tat". Basically, to cut a long story short and to cue the violins, we had all our computers nicked just before the championships. Although it's far more difficult to raise a posse than westerns would have you believe, we managed to get everything back on track and send out #49 on the 28th of November. Unfortunately, cue yet more violins, everything went wrong and most people didn't get it. In order to prevent the fuelling of a black market if you go to http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/newsletter_send.php?i=49&n=y you can get it re-emailed to you. ========================================================= Indoor Rowing Grand Prix ========================================================= The Irish IRC, the first race in the first ever Indoor Rowing Grand Prix, took place on Sunday 9th December at the Sportslink Leisure Centre in Dublin. A top day's racing saw some great races, with the Men's Open Hwt especially being a bit of a nailbiter, with Chris Rushton from Royce's Gym beating Sean Jacob to the line by just eight tenths of a second, to win in a time of 6:00.0. Basil Elliott added to the gold he won at the British championship by winning the 50-59 Hwt Men's event, as did Anna Bailey in winning the Women's equivalent. For the second year running, the fastest women's time was by Eimear Moran of Offaly Rowing Club, who did 7:07.6 in winning the Women's Junior 18 Hwt event. The two best performances of the day came from Eamon Joyce of University College Cork Rowing Club and Anne Lockwood of Belfast Boat Club. Eamon bossed the Men's U23 Hwt to win in a time of 5:59.3, which was not only the fastest time of the day, but also the first time anybody has gone under six minutes at the Irish championship. Rosemary, meanwhile, set the only British record of the day in the Women's 50-59 Lwt event, beating Janet Parker's old mark with 8:04.0. A special mention must go to Annie Prior. Annie ruptured her Achilles' heel in early September, but despite that, she won bronze in the Women's 40-44 Lwt at BIRC and gold in the 40-49 Hwt category in Dublin. Full results can be found at http://www.concept2.co.uk/gp/results.php. The next Grand Prix event is the East Midlands IRC on Sunday 13th January at Nottingham University. Deadline for entry is Friday 21st of December, so make sure you go to http://www.concept2.co.uk/gp/entry.php now. Remember, you can enter the Nottingham event as either a one-off or to gain points as part of the overall Grand Prix series. ========================================================= New World Record ========================================================= Holland's Hurnet Dekkers, who defeated world record holder Georgina Evers-Swindell at the British IRC, has rubbed further salt into the wound by now taking Georgina's record from her as well. Rowing at the Dutch Indoor Rowing Championship, Hurnet sailed hell for leather to come home in 6:30.6, exactly a second quicker than the previous best. Full details and pictures from the Dutch championship can be found at http://www.nereus.nl ========================================================= Tel's Tales ========================================================= Santa? You can keep the fat oaf. He does one day's work a year and yet gets more mince pies and brandy than you could shake a reindeer at. Terry O'Neill, meanwhile, answers all the queries sent in to tels-tales@concept2.co.uk, 365 days a year, and what does he get? Bread and the occasional bit of gruel. Hardly fair. Dominic Salles: Before buying a Rower, I just used to row for thirty minutes, three times a week, matching my previous distance, or bettering each time. I prefer the longer distance row, and started rowing 10,000m rows, not cycling my training and attained a best of 10,000m in 36:36. Last year I bought my own Rower, heart rate monitor and Indoor Rowing Training Guide, and followed the routine for 2,000 metre training, posting 2,000 metre time after my first 12 week cycle of 6:33. Although I improved, I really didn't enjoy interval training at all. So I have some questions. 1. Given my times on the longer distance row, would I be better training for the 10,000m row? 2. Could I train for 2,000 metres following the Training Guide, but without the interval? For example, could I row for thirty minutes, gradually increasing my heart rate to the target rate? Terry O'Neill: If you like the 10,000 metres, then carry on with that as your main focus but your 2,000 metres time is pretty good. The thing is, when you say you didn't enjoy the intensive intervals, well only a complete masochist would. Intensive intervals are very unpleasant but they are the most effective way to develop lactate tolerance and the lactate shunt system. When you do your 10,000 metres, if you are looking for a Personal Best then you will still need an anaerobic contribution. The only difference is that whereas in a 2,000 metre piece the anaerobic effort is around 20%, in the 10,000 metres it will be around 5%. It will feel just as hard because the total contribution is the same, just spread over a longer period, and therefore there is still a requirement to develop in this area. ========================================================= Christmas Shopping ========================================================= There are several things wrong with Christmas, and that's not just from the viewpoint of a turkey. There are the boring relatives to see, that blooming song from Slade, and the fact that big beards are socially acceptable for once. But the thing we hate most, the thing we hate more than people having novelty seasonal ring tones on their mobile, is Christmas shopping. The great sprawling mass of humanity sets us off in hives. Fortunately, there's still time to sort out your pressies this year from the comfort of your own home, simply by visiting the Concept 2 On-Line Shop at http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/merchandise.php3. Anything ordered before 10.00 a.m. on Monday, December 17th should arrive nicely in time to be wrapped up and put under the tree. ========================================================= PPP healthcare British Indoor Rowing Championship ========================================================= So basically, the last newsletter, the one that you probably didn't get, was packed to the gills with stuff about last month's championship. Anyway, just to give you a flavour: the PPP healthcare Indoor Rowing Championship happened last month, lots of people turned up, it was very exciting, we got on Grandstand and Matthew Pinsent got on the board of the International Olympics Committee because of it (possibly). Huzzah. Anyway, if you missed all that, http://www.concept2.co.uk/birc has reports, results, video clips, summaries, pictures, partridges, pear trees and more besides. ========================================================= Christmas Competition ========================================================= If you were at the British champs, you may have seen Putney Town Rowing Club trying to flog their calendar. It's like any boring old calendar with the excellent twist that everybody featured in it is in the nuddy. Anyway, we've got 15 of these to give away, all signed by Sir Steven Redgrave himself. We were going to come up with a fiendishly difficult and intricate quiz but, hey, it's Christmas. Instead, all you have to do to be in with a chance of winning one is to send us a Christmas card. All cards will go on top of our mantle piece and in the New Year the first fifteen drawn out of a hat, or possibly off the top of our desk, will get a load of rowers in the scrod. Send your cards to: Indoor Rowing News Concept 2 Vermont House Nott'm Sth and Wilford Ind. Est. Nottingham NG11 7HQ And if we get, like, three, we'll sulk and there'll be no newsletters ever again. ========================================================= National Marathon Day ========================================================= The first National Marathon Day takes place on April 14th, 2002, the same day as the London Marathon. Unlike the London version, however, there's no need to even leave the house, never mind trudge alongside Jimmy Saville. The aim of the day is to get as many people as possible to complete the 42,195 metre marathon distance on or around, but preferably on, the 14th. Alternatively, if you can't face the full distance, you can attempt a 21,098 metre half marathon. If you'd rather dragoon some mates into it, and don't fancy the full whack yourself, you can also do it as a four person team event. The deadline for entry for next year's Concept Ranking is April 30th, and marathons sent in and completed between April 11th and April 30th will be marked up specially in the Ranking. To help you do all this, we've got together a couple of training programmes, one by Terry O'Neill, and one by runner turned indoor rower Frank Birch. You can find these, along with rules, regulations and nit-pickery, at http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/marathon.htm ======================================================= ErgMonster ========================================================= ErgMonster is a new programme from TrexLabs for Palm-compatible handheld computers that helps you track your workout routines. It allows you to enter your exercise distances and times like you would using a regular workout log. It also allows you to make notes of your distance and time goals, always keeping those goals in front of you as a constant reminder. It also gives you the flexibility to categorize your time and distance entries as either regular workout log entries or pieces you did for time. As we're a defiantly lo-tech bunch here, barely able to pass a television set without screaming "sorcery", we've not actually tried it out ourselves, so we have no idea whether it's any good or not, but it looks like it does the biz OK. For more information and a download, nip to http://patriot.net/~jcaple/ergm/index.html ========================================================= 100,000 Metre Teams ========================================================= The last month or so has seen a flurry of activity on the 100,000 metres front. First off, at the end of October, a team of seven men and two women from Manchester Club Moat rowed the distance in 6:47:4. Then on Thursday 15th November, ten of Halifax plc's finest oarsmen, the Copley Coxless 10, had a crack at the Team Challenge at Copley Fitness Centre, Copley Data Centre, Halifax. The event was in aid of Children in Need and raised about 2,000 pounds. They did it in a time of 5:10:46, giving an impressive average 500m split of 1:33.2. According to organiser Andy Barron, "It was bloody hard, but the sense of euphoria at the finish gave me the best buzz I've had for ages! Huge thanks to all the 10 - BJ, Rob, Fred, Jonesy, Dan, Ollie, Anthony, Ian, Neil and the subs Chris and Felix. Special thanks to Stats Man Paul Miller." Then, on 9th December, a team from Leeds University mullered it home under the five hour mark, doing 4:50:55. According to Ben Cox: "I thought we'd take a good half an hour longer but the boys put in the big ones and I think we can go faster. We did it in the bar that sponsors our boat club and at one point had to contend with a young lady, a bit worse for wear, straddling the ergo and peeling down her top in an effort to distract us. It worked briefly. I'm sure Pinsent and Co. didn't have to put up with that!" For more information on the 100,000 metres team event, go to http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/team_chall.htm ========================================================= Tel's Tales #2 ========================================================= Julian Groom: I am 35 and otherwise fit, going to a gym 3 times a week for an hour's workout that includes 20 minutes on a cross-trainer and 10 minutes of rowing. I have had intervertebral disc degeneration of the last but one disc in the lumbar spine that required surgery. My questions are: 1. Should I avoid the rowing machine? 2. If not, would a support, such as a weightlifter's belt help to maintain the correct rowing action and reduce stress on the lumbar spine? Terry O'Neill: From what you say I don't think a support such as a weightlifting belt is necessary. Normally supports are only used post operation to protect the injury during the healing process. Then you develop the muscles to support the area naturally. Continued use of supports tends to have the reverse effect and inhibit muscle development. Weightlifters use the belt for a totally different reason. If the operation has been successful then you are OK. I have also had surgery on my lower back and following the advice of the physio got back into exercise and have had no problems on the rowing machine. The thing is to be sensible and start slowly not spending too long on the machine in one go, better to do it in a series of visits. What a lot of people don't realise is that the seated position is the most stressful for the back and not the rowing action. Anyone with back problems should avoid being seated for prolonged periods (more than twenty minutes) without getting up and stretching the back. ========================================================= Sport Relief ========================================================= So we did the Red Nose Row for Comic Relief last year, and it went pretty well (see http://www.concept2.co.uk/rnr if you don't believe us). Anyway, there's no Comic Relief this year as it's a biannual event, which means no Red Nose Row. Fear not, however, as Comic Relief are launching a new thang next summer called Sport Relief in which people raise kitbags full of cash by doing sport. While things are still at the planning stage, if there's a charity row-sized hole in your soul at the moment, this is definitely the way to fill it. Check out http://www.sportrelief.co.uk for more details and a picture of Steve Redgrave dressed up like a jockey. ______________________________________________________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 Want to be like Marty McFly, but don't have a DeLorean or a friendly nutty professor? Well, now you can visit the past just by going to http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/newsletter_index.php3 and checking out the past issues of the Indoor Rowing News. 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