I have a 5k erg time due by Saturday evening. I really do not take any pleasure in doing a 5k test. In some of the various rowing books I read, people have said that a 5k is the hardest thing they have ever done, including someone who went to fight in Afghanistan. Now, having never done the latter, I cannot comment there, but I know it is one of the hardest physical tests I have ever put myself through. …
Tag: Training
One aspect of my personality I can never avoid is the fact I become quite ‘addicted’ to things. I don’t mean that in a very bad alcohol / drug sense, rather that when I get in to something, I tend to get a bit hooked on it. Most recently, it’s work: I start getting in to things and despite the stress I sometimes feel, there is a part of me which still wants to keep going when I get home …
As the title may suggest, I have just completed the last scheduled 5k erg test of 2011. “HOO-RAH” I hear you all cry and indeed it does deserve a cheer. Of course, with over 6 weeks until we reach 2012, I had best err on the side of caution and I am making this bold claim with my fingers crossed, whilst resting them firmly on a wooden table and holding a rabbit’s foot (well a vegetarian-friendly replica!). It is hardly …
For much of my professional career, I have also been pursuing my rowing ‘career’. It has become complete habit that several nights a week I head home to either go out to the club, jump on the erg or jump up and down with weights. However, whilst training is tough, dare I say it, work is usually tougher. So, it requires quite a lot of will-power to kick-start a training session some nights. Then, there are days (or weeks) where …
I am racing at Fours Head this weekend. In preparation, we enteredUpper Thames Small Boats Head the weekend just gone. Sadly, only about 15 minutes from Henley, my crew mate and I had a message to say the other two were stuck on the hard shoulder of the M25 near J18 – engine malfunction. In one swift twist of fate, were relegated to spectators. All four of us were most disappointed. So, hitting the water last night, we felt we …
The erg, ergo, ergometer or rowing machine, as it is most commonly known, is a complex beast. For rowers it is a necessary evil, in a Concept2 form. It is perhaps one of the best land-based workouts a person can have if done properly. Although we have all, of course, been witness to the horror of ‘the gym rower’; with the arched back, hands being bashed in to the knees and the continual collision of the seat with front of …
I am racing on Sunday and, as I always do, started mentally ‘preparing’ my kit on about Monday. In doing so, my mind counjoured up an image of my almost brand new JL All-In-One (AIO) which I bought in the spring when we changed our club strip. I won’t lie, I was rather excited at the prospect of wearing it again. I worry at this point that I may have said too much and you may already be judging me, …
Rowing and training for rowing form a large part of my week and, as such, feature highly in my blog posts. Since we (the royal ‘rowing’ we) have just moved back in to head season training, I am putting a lot of focus on to my training plan. Every year I try to revive my training; to keep me going through the long dark nights and the painful steady-state ergs (or worse the dreaded 5k test), I try to add …
Yes, I was very deliberately referencing the brilliant Michael Gray track there (‘Weekend’ from 2005). Following from my training session on Wednesday (which proceeded my last bloggage), I felt really quite awful. I thought I had overdone it, especially since I had not allowed 3 days recovery between sessions! However, I think I might actually be fighting some kind of silly virus because yesterday I felt quite shocking (combined with training aches). An early night last night (tucked-up by 10pm …
I am back in the regime of winter training again. With that comes tired and sore limbs and the continual feel of fatigue, all for racing success (or at least surviving the courses!). I was having lunch with a friend on Tuesday and, after the usual work rants, she asked how training was going. On Monday night we were working on ‘power drives’ on the erg and in the boat, so on Tuesday, I won’t lie, the top of my …
