Indoor Rowing Newsletter

Newsletter Special Offer

Concept 2 Jacket
£20

Concept 2 All In One
£20

Waist Pack
£5

Sometimes you struggle to give away even the freest of indoor rowing newsletters, so we've started trying to bribe people instead. Each newsletter will contain special offers and discounts unavailable anywhere outside of Terry O'Neill's car boot.

This newsletter, it's the turn off discounted clothing. First off, the Concept 2 All-In-One, which at 25 quid we reckon is the cheapest one around, is now even cheaper to newsletter subscribers and can be purchased for 20 pounds. Made from Supplex lycra and available in both Men's and Women's cuts, this is the easiest way to look a bit nobby down the gym.

Also now costing just a score, is the Concept 2 Jacket. A zip-up reversible jacket with a fleece outer and a polyester/cotton inner, it comes with adjustable shockcord hem and elasticated cuffs. Which makes it sound a bit scary.

We've also still got some of the amazing transforming Ruck Sack/Waist Packs from the last newsletter. They're only a fiver, which like everything here includes postage and packing, and there's not many left, so you might want to get your order in early.

For the full range of Concept 2 gubbins, go to http://www.concept2.co.uk/shop/

National Indoor Rowing Marathon Day

Just a reminder that the third National Indoor Rowing Marathon Day takes place on Sunday April 18th, 2004, the same day as the London Marathon.

We're hoping to get as many people as possible to complete either the 42,195 metre marathon or the 21,097 half marathon on, or around, the 18th. There are also four person team events to have a crack for people who didn't fancy doing it all on their own

Incidentally; if you're thinking of doing a marathon and fancy raising money for charity, the Sir Steve Redgrave Charitable Trust is always double keen for any help it can get. Sir Steve set himself the task of raising five million pounds in five years, and he needs every last little bit to achieve that task.

http://www.concept2.co.uk/rowing/redgrave.php has more information on the charity.

Also incidentally; if you fancy a change of scenery, Norway's Tore Foss has issued an invitation to anyone who wants to a row a full or half-marathon in Oslo on the 17th of April. The event takes place outside Christiana Rowing Club and Tore's said that people can stay for free in Oslo at Skullerud Sports Centre. For more information, contact Tore at tore.foss@tiscali.no

Also also incidentally; marathon record-breaking seems to have been a bit of a popular sport recently. First off, Finland's Antti Varis rowed 2:26:40.1 in the Finnish Championship, an astonishing 1:44.3 overall split and we reckon that make's it the fastest time ever for the marathon. In the half-marathon, Portsmouth's Graham Benton set a new 30-39 Hwt record of 1:11:28 to add to his 19-29 record, only to see that 19-29 record broken by Loughborough University's Richard Blagrove with a new mark of 1:13:07. Finally, from the team side of things, Brompton Manor IRC set a new mixed team half marathon record of 1:19:24.

For more on National Indoor Rowing Marathon Day: http://www.concept2.co.uk/marathon/
Marathon and Half-Marathon Records: http://www.concept2.co.uk/marathon/records.php

The Boat Race/The Other Boat Race

The Boat Race

The 150th Boat Race is on March 28th at the later than normal time of 6 p.m. Last year's race was actually rather exciting, with Oxford winning by the scantest of margins from the more favoured Cambridge. At the 2003 British IRC, it was Cambridge who produced the goods on the day, taking four of the top five spots in the BUSA Hwt race. It was Oxford's Peter Reed, however, who won the race with a time of 5:58.5, so there's plenty of power in their boat too. This is the last year the BBC have the broadcasting rights, as well, so the chances of Barry Davies getting all emotional are probably pretty high.

For more information on the Boat Race, the official website can be found at http://www.theboatrace.org

The Other Boat Race

As part of the build-up to the Boat Race, the BBC have organised The Other Boat Race, in which twelve "celebrity" Oxford and Cambridge graduates, including former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq, ex-Tory jailbird Jonathan Aitken and the woman off the Heat Magazine TV adverts, learnt to row before racing over the Boat Race course.

With coaching from the likes of Martin Cross and Tim Foster, and an Indoor Rower each, the Oxford and Cambridge alumni were put through their paces in an intensive week-long training camp to get in shape for the race. Which, we're guessing means there could be a fair few shots of minor celebrities falling off the machine in pain. Actually, all word about the programme suggests it should be quite a gripping study of a group of people thrown in at the deep end and having to learn to row, so it should definitely be worth a squiz.

The race, which was umpired by Sir Steve Redgrave, will be broadcast on BBC1 on Saturday, March 27, the day before the real Boat Race, while BBC Three will be showing their progress in a series of programmes during the week.

BBC3
Programme 1: 22nd March at 2100
Programme 2: 23 March at 2030
Programme 3: 24 March at 2030
Programme 4: 25 March at 2230
Programme 5: 26 March at 2100
Programme 6: 27 March at 1900 (tbc)

BBC 1
Programme 1: 27 March at 1805 (tbc)

Roger Brown: The World's Tallest Cartoonist

It's taken us 99 issues, but we've finally going to have some class in the newsletter. You may have seen most excellent cartoonist Roger Brown's work on the back of old Concept Rankings and Cultures or on our Christmas cards. After equal amounts of begging and Chinese burns, he'll now be adding his topical daubs on a regular basis. Result.

Tel's Tales

Three times Olympic rowing coach Terry O'Neill knows a lot about rowing; he knows a lot less about horse racing, judging by his howls when Rooster Booster lost the other day. Anyway; if you've got a question you'd like to ask him, although we'd advise you to steer clear of asking about his "system" for beating the bookies, send it to tels-tales@concept2.co.uk.

Duncan MacKinnon: "Greetings from Down Under!

Terry O'Neill: There are two ways to look at power and perhaps the easiest way to explain it is to consider a Ferrari racing car and a truck. Both are powerful vehicles but while the Ferrari moves a small load quickly, the truck moves a heavy load slowly.

If you are pulling a 500m split of two minutes on damper 3 and you move the damper up to level 10 and still pull 2 minutes then you are developing the same power because you have increased the load but the wheel is spinning slower and the monitor detects this.

Raising the damper lever from 3 to 10 does nothing in itself but if you increase your power output and keep the flywheel spinning at the same revs then the split time will come down as the monitor detects the increase in drag.

The importance to which way you choose to go, the Ferrari or the truck, depends on what you are training for. If you are using the rowing machine for general exercise then it is not important but if you are using it for rowing training then it is very important. The damper setting around level 3-4 drag factor 130-140, closely resembles the loading of a racing shell. If you row a four in the summer and you race it you won't be racing at a stroke rate of 18-20.

When you train in the winter you don't just want your muscles to get stronger but you want them to get stronger over the range and at the speed you need them to operate at in your final sport.

What you need to do is gradually reduce the damper lever from 10. Hold your stroke rate and your 500m split time. The only way you will be able to do this is to increase your leg speed. This means that you will not only be training but improving your skill level and you will reap the benefits when you get back into your boat.

Rowing News: Top Top Tips

Contrary to what you might think, we do know a good idea when we see one. Which is why, when we read the latest issue of the American magazine "Rowing News" [http://www.rowingnews.com/] and saw that it featured several articles on indoor rowing, we thought we'd nick a load of it.

Anyway; from that issue here's some of the favourite workouts of some of the world's most successful athletes and coaches. You might not fancy having a crack at them, and there's no way you'd catch us doing Eskild Ebbesen's Hour of Power, but it's certainly an insight into how the elite train.

The Coach: Mike Teti, U.S. national team head coach; three-time Olympian, and 12-time member of the U.S. team as an athlete.

The Workout: Three times 10 minutes, then a seven-minute piece. The 10 minute pieces are 4-3-2-1 minutes each at 24, 26, 28, 30 strokes per minute with plenty of rest. The last piece is done wide open.

The Commentary: "All the years that I was a coach, whether freshman or varsity or national team guys, I would have one workout that would be the test piece. That way you can see if people are improving, and if they're improving you know the training is correct…I like to see consistent results. I don't want to see 3,180, 3,120 and 3,000 metres for the 10-minute pieces. I want to see 3,150, 3,150, 3,150."

The Athlete: Matthew Pinsent, three-time Olympic gold medallist, 10-time world chanmpion. Best 2k erg: 5:42.6

The Workout: Thirty minutes all out, with rating capped at 20.

The Commentary: "It's the hardest workout we do regularly, and maybe my favourite. After you've done it two or three times, you're constantly trying to better the previous piece. Anything over 9,000 metres is good going. A few of us can do that. Nine thousand metres at altitude is still something nobody can achieve."

The Athlete: Eskild Ebbesen, Olympic gold medallist, six-time world champion and the erg world-record holder in the Men's 30-39 lightweight (6:06.9). Best 2k erg: 6:03.2.

The Workout: One hour flat-out, a.k.a. "Hour of Power"

The Commentary: "It's the ultimate test. It's one we only do every six weeks or so, because it's so difficult. I try to go a little faster in the beginning than I think I can maintain. Then in the middle I just hang on, and try to sprint at the end. Even-splitters take note. The secret strategy behind Ebbesen's hour record of 18,007 metres, which translates to an average 500m split of 1:40, is fly-and-die. Try it if you dare.

Indoor Rowing Grand Prix Series

Hwyel Davies, winner of the Open Lwt race in 8:08

The National Water Sports Centre at Holme Pierrepont in Nottingham saw the conclusion of this season's Indoor Rowing Grand Prix series. For the first time in ages, the day saw an event run over the old skool distance of 2,500m, which meant that a number of British records were broken, as well as throwing up some surprises.

The fastest time of the day was set by Portsmouth's Graham Benton. His time of 7:35.2 was a new British 30-39 Hwt record for 2,500m. There were an impressive seven other British records set that day. These were (deep breath) Malcolm Fawcett (60-69 Lwt) 8:57.0; Malcolm Capewell (70-79 Hwt) 10:53.5; Richard Huddy (70-79 Lwt) 10:47.2; Sheila Rosenthal (40-49 Hwt) 9:44.9; Kelly Sapsford (40-49 Lwt) 9:59.7; Anna Bailey (50-59 Hwt) 9:16.0 and Sue Little (50-59 Lwt) 9:53.4. Special congratulations go to Anna, whose time is also a new world record.

Full results and Race Analysis
Results Summary
Race Replays

The overall Grand Prix winner's for each category were:

The final standings are at http://www.concept2.co.uk/gp/standings.php while a list of the overall medallists in each event can be found at http://www.concept2.co.uk/gp/medallists_2004.php

Million Metre Team Row

Ricardo Engineering Consultants in Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex rowed a million metres non- stop recently, the equivalent distance between Shoreham, and the Ricardo Prague Offices in the Czech Republic.

Fifteen guys rowed a total of 1,040,061 metres in 73 hours and 31 minutes, non-stop on a single Indoor Rower. Starting at 9 a.m. on the 3rd of March, rowers in teams of two rowed for 36 minutes, rested for 36 minutes then rowed for another 36 minutes.

Details were recorded using two log cards, one per alternate team, and downloaded to a laptop after each team's session.

Only one team member had any formal rowing experience, and some had not even sat on a rowing machine before. For most of the team, this was the hardest physical thing they had ever done. Blisters, aching muscles and sleep deprivation stopped none of the rowers, and everyone managed to avoid any serious injury.

The £2,200 pounds raised in sponsorship pledges will go to support the Chestnut Tree Hospice http://www.tc-chestnuttree.org.uk

Tel's Tales: Fritz Hagerman

I have always had reservations about the training benefits of long low intensity training. I accept that it does have a role in a training programme to combat over-training, developing technique and recovery from injury. I have been heard to say that for the training benefit it yielded, UT2 was not worth getting out of bed for. This of course did not endear me to the advocates of the mind- blowingly boring training programmes that are popular at the moment.

So it was with great interest that I came across an article in US Rowing by the well-respected Professor Fritz Hagerman that confirms my long held views. I have pulled out the salient points but for the full article go to http://www.usrowing.org/itemdisplay.asp?id=1134

Top Tips

This newsletter's Top Tip is, once again, from Martyn Evans. Big thanks to Martyn for helping keep this feature alive. If anybody else wants to send in their top tip, whether it be advice, your favourite workout, mental strategies etc., send them to editor@concept2.co.uk.

Martyn Evans: "In the Training Guide [http://www.concept2.co.uk/training/guide.php], it says the purpose of the exercise is to cover distance in the shortest possible time.

"Since I set myself the goal of rowing the equivalent of the Atlantic in the gym, the question of speed doesn't rule my sessions, so I go a long way at spm 22, enjoying the stroke and focus on technique. As time goes by, I get bored, up the tempo to 27 spm and watch as my heart monitor climbs to 140 where I will settle down to maintain its rate. My natural inclination is always to accelerate. I find the mental focus required to keep myself on track wonderful, there is little room at that moment to get my mind caught up with my primary role of being a carer to Joy my wife, recovering from a series of strokes. Rowing is a wonderful activity."