Fullers Fours Head of the River

Today we got to row amongst some world class athletes paving the way and steeling all the pennants I may add.  To be the best you must beat the best and what better way to do so than race some of GB’s finest athletes. 

We were set of as the first women’s crew and start with the Leander A crew right on our stern.  They had made a substitution since my last post with Emily Taylor being subbed for Rachel Gamble-Flint a promising U23 who represented GB at the U23 World Championships last year.  They put the pressure on from the start and went for the overtake before Barnes Bridge we held them well although it was always inevitable that they would lose us you hold onto their speed for as long as you can.  Coming through the bridge our bow was still in close proximity to their stern, what was to meet us on the other side could only be described as carnage. 

The Women’s Elite 4x’s are set off behind the Men’s IM1 4x’s and with no minimum point limit some of them were pretty novice.  For those who don’t understand the points system each time we win a summer regatta we are awarded a point on our racing licence which then dictates the level at which you can race.  It goes on the crew average and you are able to race above you status just not below.  Leander A had to make their way through these crews ahead of us which you would have hoped would have provided us with a nice path through the wreckage.  Nope we though wrong rather than stay out of the way they then moved back onto the racing line only to have move again causing a lot of wash.

After overtaking several crews we then picked up a crew from HSBC rowing club who refused to abide by the rules and let the faster moving crew take the racing line.  We had a collision just before Hammersmith Bridge which caused us to stop as they erratically cut in front of our bows.   They steered in close on many occasions and we had to tussle with them all the way down the Hammersmith straight.  The final straw came when we reached the Black Buoy and deciding they didn’t like being so close steered their boat over our stern pair’s blades.  This once again caused us to stop while we tried to retrieve blades.  Once we managed to get free of them we had a 500m straight in which to salvage what we could.

It’s hard to know how to handle this kind of emotion.  If you perform poorly because you did not row your best you can accept it you can look at what you did well and what you need to work on.  If you mess up and catch a crab or hit something you accept it and you move on.  It’s hard to accept that another crew cost you your race by not obeying the racing rules.  We were never going to win or at least we shouldn’t have racing a boat with 3 world champions in but you always want to come second and even better a close second.  The HSBC crew may incur a time penalty or a disqualification but it will not alter our time or our disappointment.

What Does it Take to Become the Best

Winning is easy all you have to do is beat the opposition put in front of you at that particular race.  To become the best however is somewhat different.  To become the best you must beat the best and we have been provided with a great opportunity this weekend.  On Saturday our squad will race at Fuller’s Fours Head of the River, and I will be racing in the Women’s Elite 4x.  We will be set off first with the Leander A crew hunting us down. 

This is a crew who are amongst the best of British rowers.  Both Debbie Flood and Frances Houghton form part of the British Women’s 4x who won silver in Beijing 2008 and were gold medallists at the 2010 World Championships.  Anna Watkins despite serious setbacks with injury this year retained her World Championship title in the Women’s 2x winning Gold in 2010 and 2011.  Emily Taylor makes up the forth seat in this boat and is a strong part of the Women’s sweep team.  She won Silver with the W8+ and the World cup in Munich and narrowly missed out on a seat at the world cup flying out as reserve for the team.

This is not the only boat with World class athletes with Annie Vernon and Ro Bradbury making an appearance in the Leander B crew.  Imperial Collage will also see boat with GB internationals Mel Wilson and Laura Greenhalgh.

This race may be stacked out with international rowers but by no means is it one to shy away from.  Come Saturday our crew will be sat on the start race faces at the ready.  We are ready to go all out to beat the best as that is the only way to become the best.

Do I Actually Miss Boston?

Following Nottingham Autumn Head my slight cold has now turned into sinusitis.  This is not the news I wanted the week leading up to trials.  I have been on antibiotics since Monday and although I am starting to feel better it’s a little too late.  I did everything possible to try and get better ready for the weekend but after doing a 500m piece on Friday it was decide that I would hand in my medical exception.  Congestion does not aid breathing… 

I was so up for the trials as everything has been aimed at getting a good result here.  I am gutted that I didn’t get to go and race but very happy for those in the squad that have achieved personal bests on the 2000m ergo test today.  I wish them all the best for the 5000m water trial tomorrow.

For now I just have to get well and back to full training but bring on December trials!!!  Next on the agenda is Fullers Fours Head on 5^th November so time for some crew bonding.

Nottingham Autumn Head

Today saw the first race of the season with all our squad racing in 1x for the first division.  Not only was it a good race run through for GB trials it is also used to select our NRC crews for the Fullers Fours Head of the River.

 I’d had a good week on the water leading up to the head and I wanted to go out and put it into racing.  I felt I achieved a lot in today’s race and it has given me a lot more confidence going into next weekend.  Unfortunately due to my opposition scratching from the race I was racing for time where the event was concerned so there was no shiny stuff to be won today.  There was alot of satisfaction to be taken from my result coming 3rd within our squad.  Hopefully this will be enough to see me earn a place in the top 4x for Fullers Fours Head but as yet the crew is still to be decided. 

Lactate Testing

Well yesterday was a slow start…  We arrived at the Training Centre early and took a slow paddle down to the lake where we were to have our lactates tested.  The purpose of this testing is to work out our UT2 training pace from our lactates.  GB Rowing state that to train in your UT2 band you need to keep to 2mm of lactate which is around 55-70% of your maximum heart rate.

Lactate is produced when our energy system lacks oxygen.  This is not only happening at high intensity sport but also in day to day living.  High levels of lactate would be detrimental to performance and one of the key reasons for UT2 training is to enable the body to perform at a greater pace with a minimal amount of lactate. This will develop the aerobic capacity by means of capillarisation (formation of more small blood vessels, thus enhancing oxygen transport to the muscles) and by creating greater efficiency in the heart and lungs. If the aerobic capacity is greater, it means there will be more oxygen available to the working muscles and this should delay the onset of lactic acid at a given work intensity.

When we arrived there was some discussion amongst the coaches involved as there were too many athletes to run the testing in one group.  This then meant we would have to wait for the first group to finish before we could start our testing.  We went up to stretch in the lobby at Holme Pierrepont but not until we had had our porridge fix.  We then got to stretch whilst watching the first half of the England vs Scotland World Cup match. 

Once the first group had finished we then went down to start the testing.  We started by having our resting lactates measured for a starting point as everyone’s lactate will vary from person to person.  We then boated and started at 2 minute intervals to allow time for Caroline to take the lactates.  After each 4km loop of the lake we came into the landing stage and had our lactates taken before setting of for our next loop.  We were to do 4 loops 16km in total for the test however I did mine over 3 loops 12k as I have been suffering with a bit of back trouble. 

Once the testing had been completed Dez and Caroline got together to talk over the results and work out our UT2 training paces.  For all athletes involved UT2 pace was achieved in the second loop and this now means we know what pace we need to paddle at to get the benefits of UT2 training.

In Search of Brilliance

I had my second coaching session with performance coach Terry Williamson of In Search of Brilliance this week.  We have been working on my target for the 2km ergo test at October trials.  On the 22^nd and 23^rd of October our squad will be racing in Boston for the 2012 season Great Britain trials.  It is made up of a 2km ergo test on the Saturday followed by a 5km race on the water.

I am a strong believer in the mental ability of athletes.  Pushing your body to the limit in races is painful and its how you subconsciously process that pain mentally that can really make the difference between winning and losing.  With Terry we worked on how my subconscious processes my 2km ergo race and did a lot of visualisation.  In the first session we looked at how I could alter my thought processes to achieve my target and I did a lot of work on this between sessions.  In this week’s session we looked at how certain I was in achieving my target and the conclusion is that I am very confident in achieving my target.

In the next session we will look at how I process my race on the water. 



Official Start to the 2012 Season

Yes I have been training for the last few weeks but we officially started the new season today.  We have moved to our new boat bay now based on the River just down from the main club.  Whilst the rest of the squad were on there break a few of us along with some other club members have been involved in getting the facility up and running for our return.  It is a great facility but there is still a lot to sort and organise.  

This season we will spend the winter training from our new bay on the river and will return to the lake for the summer.  For most of us the prospect of training on the river and our new facility's is an exciting one we are all sad to be leaving the lake after all these years, but till the summer its bye bye lake.

Its back to the grindstone for the next season and training started quite pleasant with a nice technical session.  Boom second session 30 minute ergo thanks Dez.  Well I suppose we may as well start as we mean to go on.  Train hard, Race hard!!!

Hitting it Hard

After easing nicely back into training I managed to injure my hip flexor last week.  After doing a lot of backstop drills on the Saturday and spinning on Monday night it got increasingly worse throughout Tuesday.  I went and had a sports massage on it on Thursday with Dan which seemed to do the trick.  He gave me some stretches to help loosen it off and now it’s no longer painful I can start to stretch it out.  It did mean a week out of training and although I found it highly annoying it was the best time for it to happen as we are currently on our summer break and I’m just glad it didn’t happen during the competition period. 

This week there has only been 3 of us training and we hit it pretty hard ready for the start of season.  We have had some really good training out on the water doing a little bit of competitive paddling with a few burst for good measure.  We also hit the weights hard this week and trust me I could tell I’ve not done weights for a while.  When we did them on Tuesday they seemed to take forever just to get round the circuit and I was defiantly struggling.  By the time we did them on Thursday I think my body had realised it was back in training mode and I found it much more pleasant.  I think it’s time we start upping the weight now ready for when the other return from there break. 

Don't rock the boat

After a 3 week break from training I went out in my 1x for the first time today.  Lets just say it was an interesting start.  For those of you that don't don't know the 1x is quite an unstable boat and mine certainly was this morning.  I decided to keep my blade on the water for a bit more stability until I got a feel for it again.  I had a rather nice paddle in the end and quite enjoyed it out there in the sunshine.

During my 3 week break from training I had the pleasure of working back my extra holiday after such a busy summer.  Not the best way to spend my break but the hours are done and I can now focus on training and getting ready for October trials.

We officially start back on Mon 5th September and that's when the real work will begin but for now we remain on a relatively light training programme just to keep us ticking over. 

Bring on the 2012 season!!!

Henley Women's Regatta

This weekend saw rowers from around the world flock to Henley-on-Thames for the prestigious Henley Women’s Regatta.  I raced alongside Reading University RC member Lucinda Gooderham in the Elite 2- for the Redgrave Trophy. 

Newcastle University RC was the first challenge on the Saturday to get through to the semi-final on the Sunday.  We managed to stamp our authority on the 2- from early on in the race and by the end of Temple Island we pulled away to clear water and comfortably lead the race managing to cruse down the course at 22 stokes per minute.  Also through to face us in the semi-final was Vesta B while on the other side of the draw Vetsa A would battle it out with Barnes Bridge Ladies for a spot in the final showdown of the Elite 2-. 

The first race down the track on Sunday morning was the semi-final between Vesta A and Barnes Bridge ladies.  This saw a tight battle between the 2 crews with Vesta A edging infront to a 1 length win.  We then followed down the course and again made light work of the opposition with again a comfortable lead from early on in the race.  We got to watch plenty of racing before our final at 15.05 although the weather wasn’t the kindest an was quite wet with intermittent blue skys.

The challenge was on could we go out for our 3^rd verdict of easily.  Sat on the start line Vesta A alongside we waited for the flag.  It had got a lot choppier than our earlier race and Vesta used to the tideway managed to hold on longer that we would have liked but we stayed with our plan and pulled away from them for yes you’ve guessed it our 3^rd easily verdict.

I just hope this bodes well for European selection later on in July.

Catch up time

Well it’s been a long time since I’ve but anything up it’s been rather busy of late.  I’ve been training as part of the development squad for team GB with the aim of going to the European Championships in September. 

The squad of 12 have been training for 8 seats at the European Championships and have had some good races so far.  The first races we did was some speed orders firstly against the women’s squad 8+ at Dorney Lake the Olympic rowing venue where we were placed just 9 seconds down on the squad boat.  We then went to Caversham the home of GB Rowing and did a speed order against the under 23 crew.  Despite being down at the start we showed our dominance and powered through the U23’s and finished with a comfortable lead.  This was after just a week of training in the 8+ with much more training and boat speed to come. 

Since then we have been training in the 8+ and also in two 4- which we raced at Metropolitan Amateur Regatta last weekend.  First up for the weekend was the 8+ and we aimed to dominate the race from early on.  As planned we got out of the blocks first closely followed by the U23 crew.  We knew we could totally overpower the other crews and by the 500m mark had a 3 second lead on the next crew to finish 12 seconds ahead of the U23 crew which came in second.

Then came time for the inter-crew battle between the 4-‘s with 6 of the 7 boats racing coming from international selection processes.  Leading the way down the course was our 2 4-‘s and in the first 500m we could see we were up although there was only 1 second in it.  We knew the other 4- wouldn’t take this race lying down and we would have to work to keep that lead.  We powered down to the halfway mark and managed to gain a further second on them.  We set to go again over the last 1000m and pulled away further to finish 5 seconds up on our other boat.  In 3^rd and 4^th with only 2 second dividing them was the U23 boats with the junior boat some way behind in 6^th and 7^th.

The Sunday 8+ race planned out much the same as the Saturday although we didn’t have such a good race we still dominated the field with a comfortable 8 second lead.  The NRC high performance squad also had wins for the IM1 2x and the Elite 4x.

For Henley Women’s Regatta I will be racing in both a 2- and the 8+.  In preparation for this we decided to enter the 2- at Reading Amateur Regatta since we have not raced in this boat.  The event for the Elite 2- was larger than we expected and we were set to meet most of our opposition for HWR.  We won all 3 of our races with a comfortable lead which looks good for HWR but a lot can happen in a week.

Fingers crossed

Trip down the Tideway

Well we had one of our best races at WEHORR yesterday and although we did have a bit of a battle with the Tideway Scullers crew we did manage to overtake them.  The race start's in finishing order of the previous year with all new entries at the back, after the clubs ranking of 10^th last year this meant we started 8^th which is always good when you don’t have to sit at the start for what seems like a lifetime in the cold.

The weather was far from the normal conditions we experience on the tideway in March.  There was very little wind so the water wasn’t as rough as what we come to expect from the tideway and to top it off we enjoyed some nice spring sunshine.

Our row to the start went well and we got some really good paddling in which put us in a good mind frame for the race.  We had a good build to the start and solid as a pack from there on.  We started two boat lengths down on the Tideway Scullers crew and from the off we worked on closing them down inch by inch.  Having finished 9^th the year before this was no shabby crew and they certainly made us work for every inch we took from them.  It was a long grind to get the overtake and even once we got clear they maintained on tail and continued to push back at us. 

We maintained our Nottingham rhythm throughout and left the Tideway Scullers crew in search of the Thames crew who started 6^th.  We didn’t get close enough to overtake them as you remain focused in your crew I really have no idea how far ahead they were.  That’s the advantage of a coxed boat as it’s their role not only to steer the boat and on the tideway a good line is crucial but also to keep the crew motivated and to keep them moving on as a pack.  Tamsin never let us settle as soon as we’d passed the Tideway Scullers crew that was it we were after Thames.

Having reached the black buoy we knew we were in the last leg of the race the final push to line we pressed onto it every stroke and by this point we were all in hell everything screams stop at you but you can’t you press on regardless knowing its nearly over.  We pushed the rate up a pip at a time and for the last 15 strokes or so we took the rate high and held on for the line.

We were pleased with the result as our aim is top 10 and we came in 9^th winning the senior pennant continuing on Nottingham Rowing Club's success of pennant wins since it was merged in 2006.  To view photos of the race visit the Iain Weir website.

Eights Head Selection

Well we have finally been told who will be racing at WEHORR.  The crew is from bow to stroke Grace Neal, Nikki Spencer, Laura Wheeler, Lindsay Marshall, Fiona Bassett, Pippa Whittiker, Lauren Fisher, Jacqui Round coxed by Tamsin Cottle. 

We had two outings in the crew last Sunday and it seemed to go well.  This weekend we are doing our outings alongside the men's 4x's that are taking part in the World Class Start camp so we can do some piece's against some opposition.

I've also had an email from Dez this week to say that I am invited down to a GB training weekend in Caversham where I will also be required to do the 2km ergo test for selection.

A good start to the blog

So what better way to start my blog than sat at home with a chest infection.  Ive now started a second course of antibiotics which is most frustrating after have 2 good days of training where I was starting to feel much better.  Then yesterday I just wasn't able to train the same I felt drained so I made an appointment to see the GP and here I am for another week on more antibiotics.  Hopefully this will clear it up though and I can get back on with my training.

We have Eights Head coming up and the last thing I want is to be ill and miss out on crew selection.  We have 3 outings on Sunday and hopefully we will know who has been selected for  the boat.