Concept2 Forum

Hi all!

I've just registered for this event taking place on 7th December 2019.

What a great family day out. And I'm competing in two events.

This should hopefully provide some short term motivation and tie in nicely with my fitness goals.

Anyone else going?

Sam

https://www.britishrowing.org/events/ev ... pionships/

best of luck Sam - it is great to have a goal to motivate you to train in a focussed way. Have a look at the training thread for some ideas . There is an interesting recent one where Jim was training to compete next weekend here in Oz. Good discussion about preparation, tapering and the like.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=185481
Just a tip - make sure if you are taking family that they book to get in too - even though the Velo is not full they will turn people away at the door. My wife and daughter were not allowed in at 10 in the morning to see my race last year!

Many thanks Lindsay.

A great thread. Something for the future for sure - once I start taking rowing more seriously in 2020. As my lower back gets better and I lose weight.

This may sound silly, but I won't be "training" for this event because I am going to the event for a day out more than anything. Basically, i'll do the events for the experience and then a meal and see the Christmas lights in Oxford Street. My wife and son have tickets. Thanks for the tip!

The plan is to do my 5,000m 5 days a week and focus of form / technique and getting into the mindet that rowing is now my main source of cardio. This is my main goal for for the rest of 2019. I'll probably set up an instagram account and get feedback on my form once I think i'm halfway decent.

I've so far only been on the rowing machine 6 times. This is why i'm cycling through the damper settings to see what works for me at 5,000m. I think times and proper PB goals will be 2020 resolutions. Although, if I could get under 20mins for 5,000m this side of Christmas, i'd be delighted. It seems far beyond me currently.

The "training" I'll do for this event is the aforementioned 5,000m five times a weeks. I'm aiming to just show up and do the pace of my 5,000m and stop once I get to 2,000m. I may go mad for the last 250m or so. I'll probably adrenaline dump the 500m. Naturally, i'll be pathetic in both - get laughed at - but it'll be fun and an experience to talk over a few glasses of wine with the wife!

Sam

mightymayesy wrote: ↑

October 23rd, 2019, 10:33 am

Naturally, i'll be pathetic in both - get laughed at - but it'll be fun and an experience to talk over a few glasses of wine with the wife!

No-one will be laughing at you. It takes a lot of guts to enter, train for and participate in an organised competition. Something a lot of people will never do in their lives.

I'm not sure what your sporting background is, but your physique should help you progress relatively quickly performance wise.

Best of luck

Sam - main thing with the British Rowing Champs is to be where you need to be well ahead of schedule so although it might seem a long time ahead of race time make sure you know the timetable for your event. Warmup time is directly before your race - ensure you have a plan of no more than 10 minutes in mind. I find the razamattazz as you go out on the race floor a pain in the ass, but if you like music and flashing lights (or dont) at least be warned.

First race nerves - if you are happy just to just go at it you'll be fine. Quite normal to feel those butterflies on the morning of the event, but hopefully you wont be concerned of what 2000m public row feels like before then, (although I would recommend that you do have a go at 2000m as practise nearer December first).

JMac wrote: ↑

October 23rd, 2019, 10:55 am

No-one will be laughing at you. It takes a lot of guts to enter, train for and participate in an organised competition. Something a lot of people will never do in their lives.

I'm not sure what your sporting background is, but your physique should help you progress relatively quickly performance wise.

Best of luck

100% agree. You will surprise yourself on the day as adrenaline takes a grip and there is a nice feeling about just competing and knowing you're not going to win.

I would suggest doing a few 2ks beforehand as they should be at -5/6 secs on your 5k pace, but that is up to you. When you are sat next to other people in the Velodrome your mind will be telling you different things than you expect it to so some prior prep is advisable.

No one will laugh as everyone is in the same boat, so to speak.
My first British Champs was at Reading in 2000!
I was absolutely bricking it, raced “cold” no warm up to conserve energy and did a PB by some 8 seconds.
Took me 20 minutes to get up off the floor, finished 5th in Men’s LWT 40-44 with 6:42.8
Haven’t raced since 2011 but renewing the appetite again through erging and Bike erging
In reasonable shape for a 63 yoga LWT
Bon courage and enjoy the day out

Thanks people!

Stirling advice. As always.

Sam

Thanks JMac.

We're all but the same age, weight and height. Your times are something for me to aspire to.

No sporting background unless a a math-lete counts? Lol.

I used to bodybuild though. Nothing serious - just amateur. Still lift every week depending on lower back.

Sam

mightymayesy wrote: ↑

October 24th, 2019, 9:36 am

I used to bodybuild though. Nothing serious - just amateur. Still lift every week depending on lower back.

Our bodyweights seem to be going in opposite directions....I'm more like 125kg now

You should give the sprint distances (1K and below) a go.

RR wrote: ↑

October 24th, 2019, 5:09 am

Took me 20 minutes to get up off the floor, finished 5th in Men’s LWT 40-44 with 6:42.8

It's OK, the Velodrome is only a short air ambulance helicopter ride away from the Royal London Hospital at Whitechapel.

The British Indoors was always good for seeing the adrenaline and testosterone fuelled lads in their twenties going off way too hard, finishing their ergo then puking and collapsing on the floor (while the St John Ambulance folks looked on).

There was one old fella at Birminham NIA who rowed his race then fell off the ergo with a heart attack. They reckoned he, quite likely, wouldn't have survived if that had happened anywhere else. The St John folks literally saved his life.

mightymayesy wrote: ↑

October 24th, 2019, 9:36 am

No sporting background unless a a math-lete counts? Lol.

Sam

I recommend you do some maths in your head while you row if you ever venture into halfmarathon or more, (makes a long stint more bearable ). What I figured out after the last post was that your 5k pace is considerably faster than your 2k on your PBs. I assume that you did the 2k one first and then trained up to the 5k.

PS Please dont be put off by the dramas mentioned in the last couple of posts - serious incidents are rare, most ergers soon recover from their exertions and come back for more, (says an oldie who has been there and done that for 18 years).

Citroen wrote: ↑

October 24th, 2019, 3:24 pm

RR wrote: ↑

October 24th, 2019, 5:09 am

Took me 20 minutes to get up off the floor, finished 5th in Men’s LWT 40-44 with 6:42.8

It's OK, the Velodrome is only a short air ambulance helicopter ride away from the Royal London Hospital at Whitechapel.

The British Indoors was always good for seeing the adrenaline and testosterone fuelled lads in their twenties going off way too hard, finishing their ergo then puking and collapsing on the floor (while the St John Ambulance folks looked on).

There was one old fella at Birminham NIA who rowed his race then fell off the ergo with a heart attack. They reckoned he, quite likely, wouldn't have survived if that had happened anywhere else. The St John folks literally saved his life.

In 2001 I moved up an age group to 45-49LWT and knew that unless I screwed up completely or somebody came out of the woodwork, that “All” I needed to do was Row a controlled race around 1:40 pace.
The guy on the next machine to me went haring off at 1:33.0 pace so I made a calculated decision that if he could go the whole race like that, then he deserved to win.
He blew up at 350 from the start, steam coming out of every orifice.
I just kept my head and rowed a steady even pace to clock 6:41.0

I like the idea of a Birminham NIA event. 30 minutes down the road from me. Will check that out.

@ two pudding kid, I think my 2,000m time was the second time I ever rowed last week to get a benchmark. Not done a 2,000m since. I've made a conscious decision to row 5 times a week for about 20 minutes for the rest of 2019. This ties in nicely with 5,000m right now.

Sam

mightymayesy wrote: ↑

October 28th, 2019, 8:36 am

I like the idea of a Birminham NIA event. 30 minutes down the road from me. Will check that out.

It doesn't happen any more. The British moved to the Stratford E15 velodrome from the NIA (when they couldn't make the date due to some Disney event).