Europeans, rest, a new season and new boat!

Europeans

Racing in Bulgaria was tough.  International competition is always stiff, but as a GB development crew against some other countries' top senior boats we knew the gold standard was high!

The European Championships happened this year in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 16-18th of September.  We had six crews in our event, so we had a race for lanes on the Friday and the Final on the Sunday.  Our season as a crew had been very mixed, with the actual crew only coming together for the first time 10 days before we raced.  The race for lanes was therefore a great opportunity for us to race the full race distance together as a crew for the first time.  Crews all use the race for lanes for a different purpose.  Some go out to race as hard as they can, to try out their race plan.  Some race to a certain point and then settle onto a more relaxed pace.  Some hardly race it at all and want to save themselves for the final.  Some go out to win the race to ensure the best lane in the final.  The lake and conditions in Plovdiv were pretty fair so no advantage was found by having the 'better' lanes.  We used the race to cement the crew and run through our race plan.  It was a case of laying ourselves on the line and seeing what we could do, and then being able to make changes for the final.

The final was dictated by the Romanians who showed their dominance from the outset.  We fought hard to overturn the Russians who had beaten us in the race for lanes, but could do nothing to impact on the Ukranians and Belarussians.

It was a heartbreaking result, because we were aiming for the podium.  It had been a very long season with some dark times for the whole crew.  Large groups of women are never easy to manage, especially when they are physically and emotionally exhausted!  However, for me personally, it has been invaluable to get the opportunity to spend a whole season in a decent sweep boat, and this result gives us more drive and ambition to achieve greater things next year.


After this last race of the season we had a two week break.  As the only break in the year that we get from training, I tried to make the most of it!  I spent a few days after racing travelling in Bulgaria with my parents, then 5 days in Morocco with some rowing friends from the european team, a couple days at home in Guernsey and then a day or so back in Caversham before training started!

In Morocco we felt a million miles away from the pressure of training, it was an amazing holiday.  So relaxing and with such good company!

So at the beginning of October we started training for the new 2011-2012 season.  I have moved to Leander Club which is a really exciting new direction for me this season.  I am also completely over the moon about my new boat!!  I am extremely lucky to have been bought a brand new top of the range boat by J W Rihoy.  My old boat was 8 years old and really starting to show its age.  This new boat will take me through the next Olympiad and will give me the best possible chance in pursuing my Olympic dreams.

My start to the season has been disrupted by a cold, brought on by the sudden change in temperature I think.  It was the height of summer on the first day of training and mid winter by the third day!  I am still on a recovery programme and am trying to kick it so that I can put in a performance at GB October Trials next weekend.  Wish me luck!

European selection

I hope you managed to see some of the World Rowing Championships and World Athletics Championships on the BBC recently.  The quality of racing was, as always, incredibly high and both championships were completely and utterly enthralling.  I love the emotion that makes sport what it is.  When the stakes are high, when people have devoted their lives to the perfection of technique and attainment of ultimate physical fitness, you can see plainly the utter exhilaration or devastation on the faces of the athletes.  The emotion that is invested through years of training and personal sacrifices makes the winning and losing mean that much more.  I found myself caught in a whirlwind of emotions as I felt for every single athlete out there.  I was at times laughing, whooping and cheering, then in an instant I was gripping the arm of the chair I was sat in and, next, on the edge of tears, either in elation or feeling their crushing disappointment.

Watching a major championships helps to remind me why I’m doing this.  I feel it’s often easy to lose sight of the bigger picture; we get bogged down in individual sessions, training like an elite athlete, to become an elite athlete but forgetting why exactly we’re doing it. For me specifically, it’s not to get a personal best on my 2k, it’s not to be admired by slower people, it’s not for the piece of metal they give you on the podium.  This game is all about winning and the feeling of winning, and seeing the culmination of countless hours, days, months and years of training in one performance which overshadows all others.  Simply we do this for the emotion.

I’ve spent the summer pouring all my emotion into a new venture…making myself a sweep rower for the European women’s eight.  It has eventually paid off and I am feeling confident and powerful in the boat.  Yesterday we were entered into the European Rowing Championships and I was selected for the three seat in the boat.  The championships will be held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria on the 16-18^th September.  We leave on Wednesday, race for lanes on the Friday and the final is on Sunday.  There are six boats entered in our event and it is a very strong field, including the unchanged Romanian senior women’s eight who competed at the World Championships in Bled, Slovenia, last weekend and in coming fourth narrowly missed out on the bronze medal as our GB senior women’s eight surged to an incredible finish.  (senior GB women's eight pictured in Bled below)

The European Championships can be followed on the world rowing website, and is usually covered by a local television station although I am not sure where/whether you will be able to see this.  I am very excited to have been selected for the European Rowing Championships and cannot wait to get out and race.

It has been a long season for us, as most athletes finished their season between two and six weeks ago and are now well into their winter season.  I have now been training for 53 consecutive weeks, and am looking forward to the break after racing.  A bit of travelling and a few much needed days at home should revive me for starting on a fresh season.  It really will be a fresh start too because I am changing clubs this year and will be starting at Leander club.  This is an exciting prospect and one which will bring new challenges, opportunities and complications I am sure!

Training continues

Hi all!! It has been a very long time since my last post.  I've gotten a really solid bit of training done since then, and have also had a semi week off, at home in Guernsey.  The usual rowing season finishes in August, but I am hoping to do the European Championships, in mid September, so as our season is longer than most we get a week out of the boat, and it gives us the opportunity to go and train at home.  Out of the eight days I had at home I had three days off, and the other days training I spent all around the place; at the Fitness Factory, running the south coast cliffs, running along the east coast, kayaking and swimming in the sea.

It was so nice to be at home, spend time with friends and family and soak up the beauty of Guernsey. I must say, Reading does not in any way compare!

We spent a lovely day in Herm, with my parents and boyfriend; swimming, picnicing, kayaking and getting some embarrassingly patchy sunburn.  Later in the week one of my housemates came stay and I had great fun showing her the island.

We were around on the weekend of Rocquaine regatta, so we went down there to soak up the atmosphere a bit and judge the sandcastles for ourselves.  I should have known that we would be encouraged to participate in some way or another, and sure enough we soon find ourselves in with the Guernsey rower girls (fitting!) for a very sandy tug of war!!  A brilliant day, creating the sorts of memories that never get forgotten.





Before and after my week at home I have still been training in the European eight group.  We have been training at Caversham lake, the heart of GB rowing.  The seniors are all now away on training camps in preparation for the World Championships in Bled later this month.  Many friends are racing, so I'll be eagerly watching the championships.  Good luck to everyone!

I'll try not to leave it so long to my next post.  I hope to have some very exciting news to report in the next two or three weeks, so watch this space!

Amsterdam - HollandBeker Regatta

Quick race update!...Last weekend was the HollandBeker Regatta in Amsterdam.  I raced with yet another combination of the European eight on both Saturday and Sunday.  On Saturday we had a straight final, and on Sunday we had a heat and a final. 

Despite our last minute crew changes, due to illness and injury, we worked together quickly and in the few outings we had before racing we really managed to create a positive boat.  Our final on saturday was good, we came third behind the Dutch and the Canadian senior squad eights and for the most part we were really pleased with our row.  On Sunday we had a mediocre race in the heat, and although we qualified straight to the final we posted a much slower time than the GB U23 boat, in the opposing heat, so the pressure was on for the final.  Later that day in the final we had a showdown with the U23's and our overall strength managed to shine through, as we beat them by 6 seconds.  Again, the Dutch and the Canadian boats beat us and we finished in third place.

The racing was of international quality and great experience, and we got to see some of the star performers on the world stage. Notably in the single sculls, both the men and the women were hotly contested and great races to watch, with Synek and Karsten emerging triumphant.

Sadly I am not racing at Henley Regatta tomorrow, a few of the senior squad girls have dropped down into our European boat and without any solid testing results yet, I am one of the girls who has been moved out of the boat for this race.  I have been training in a four this week, preparing for our seat racing in fours which will be done the week after next.

x

Henley Women's Regatta

Last weekend was Henley Women's Regatta, and I competed in Elite Eights, rowing for Reading University Boat Club in a composite 'European Eight' boat.  This eight I've been rowing in has been put together by GB Rowing, it includes a group of about twelve women and is aiming for selection for the European Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 16-18th September.  Different combinations of women have rowed in the eight at the Met regatta, Henley Women's and are planned for the Holland-Bekker regatta in Amsterdam and Henley Royal Regatta.

We first raced on the Sunday morning of Henley Women's Regatta, drawn against the Princeton University Varsity crew.  They had been unbeaten this season and had posted times in racing that matched ours.  The University paid for the Princeton crews to come over to the UK and race, so they had a lot riding on their performances.  We were pretty psyched for our first race and thought that it could be anyone's call as to who won.  We got off to a poor start, and the Princeton Crew had maybe half a length on us by the end of Temple Island; about 200m into the race.  Shortly after this one of the girls in our crew caught a massive crab (Crab, or Catch a Crab

A rowing error where the rower is unable to timely remove or release the oar blade from the water and the oar blade acts as a brake on the boat until it is removed from the water. This results in slowing the boat down. A severe crab can even eject a rower out of the shell or make the boat capsize (unlikely except in small boats). Occasionally, in a severe crab, the oar handle will knock the rower flat and end up behind him/her, in which case it is referred to as an 'over-the-head crab.') 

and we almost saw the race run away from us.  I must admit, I thought that was it!  Yet we recovered as quickly as we could, the offending blade was finally extracted and we fought our way back into the race.  We found a great rhythm and somehow clawed back the distance between us and the Princeton crew.  Every stroke we got ourselves closer to them, but they also got themselves closer to the finish line!  At only 1500m long the Henley Women's course is shorter than the normal summer regatta length of 2km, and we were only too aware of how little time we had to make up the distance.  Our cox Zoe De Toledo was telling us we were moving on them, but I didn't believe it until I saw the stern of their boat in my peripheral vision.  Then it seemed as if we suddenly broke them, we had one seat, and then another, we were level and then we were trying to put as much distance between us before the finish line! The verdict at the finish was a win by 3/4 of a length.

In our final we raced the U23 GB eight, who we have raced a few times this season and have always beaten them.  Due to illness and injury though we had a couple of subs in our boat, and the U23 boat had strengthened their boat with a couple of girls who had been away at american universities.  We got a good race, both crews rowed strongly and we won by one and a third lengths.  This was my first win at Women's Henley and it was very exciting!

Next on the agenda is Amsterdam, the Holland Bekker Regatta.  I leave first thing tomorrow and will update this when I have a moment when I get back!

Battlecat arrives

Huge apologies for the long delay between my last post and this one. 

It has been a busy month with training, injuries and new additions to the house.  I started the month training in Wallingford with the group of women they are trialling for the European championships.  We were doing long 20+km outings, paddling with the senior women's eight.  Hence some very competitive paddling!  We did a good 2km speed order test at Dorney two weeks ago, which both the athletes and coaches were pleased with.  I then came unstuck, and had some problems with my neck which kept me out of the boat for ten days.  I managed to see Mike Chisholm, a genius physio, who sorted me out very quickly.  Funnily enough the problem is never where it appears...my neck was merely highlighting some imbalances in my pelvis and spine which when sorted out, allowed my neck to support my head happily again!

I also have some very exciting news, in that we have got a kitten in the house!  Everybody, meet Simba...

He is almost eight weeks old, and the most affectionate, inquisitive and playful cat I have ever known!   He is called Simba, but has also been nicknamed Battlecat which I think he has taken to heart a bit too much.  He is under the assumption that he rules the house and loves to run up our jeans to say hello, a habit which we are trying to break him of!

Rowing wise, I've got the Metropolitan Regatta at Dorney Lake next weekend.  This is always a top class event, and I am looking forward to racing an eight on the Saturday and the Sunday, and a four on the Saturday.  Having been ill for final trials last month it feels like it is so long since I raced properly, so I am raring to go!

Rhiannon Jones, one of my housemates deserves a mention as she is racing in Munich at the World Cup this weekend, coxing the B crew of the adaptive four.  They have the final tomorrow night, subject to any changes, so huge GOOD LUCK wishes to them!

Changes to the plan

So testing didn't happen this week for the four I was in, none of us have done much rowing so it was decided that we should just start training in some sweep rowing boats and not worry about doing any testing at the moment.  So, I spent a couple days in a four at Caversham lake, and then a day in a pair at Reading Uni Boat Club.  The plan going forward now is a bit vague, we are doing as much sweep as possible and there is talk of running a women's senior development eight for some speed order testing in mid May.  Who will be in that eight though is completely unconfirmed! 

In other news, the Royal Wedding! Sadly we don't get any special time off for bank holidays etc so I will be training through the wedding this morning and watching the highlights later.  I'm only really bothered about seeing Kate's dress though!

As always, I will update when I have any news. Otherwise, life is one big training, eating, sleeping cycle :)

x

RUBC smash it!

Huge congratulations to all the RUBC crews; A, B and C who raced at yesterday's Women's Head of the River Race on the tideway.  We raced from Chiswick to Putney (the reverse boat race course) which is about 7.5km. I was in the Reading University A crew:

L - R: Lottie Burgess, Rachel Willis, Nikki Bartlett, Georgie Hazell, Erica Bodman, Lucinda Gooderham, Helen Wood, Monica Relph, Rhiannon Jones

We started off as the second boat, of 300 crews.  The boat that went off first was Leander, a full current GB senior squad, so we knew they would pull away from us from the start.  The boats starting third and fourth we thought we would pull away from, and duly did so, leaving us in a bit of a vacuum.  With some incredible coxing from Rhiannon, we executed our race plan as intended, pushed hard throughout the race and had some great motivation within the boat the whole way down the course.

My personal favourite was a call for Nikki, to 'be the ironman'.  Nikki is an outstanding athlete and lightweight rower and she won't mind me saying that she is completely mad!  Alongside our intensive rowing training Nikki also finds the time to do ironman competitions, marathons and half marathons!  Yesterday we did the eights head, and today on our day off Nikki ran the Reading half marathon.  And not just jogged round the thirteen miles, she raced it to a finish time of 1hr24! This was Nikki's first official half marathon, and she finished 19th woman, 298th overall out of 18,000+,  YES eighteen thousand, entrants! Oh yes, and she runs about once a week! This girl is incredible and certainly one to watch out for.

So, back to the rowing race!  A little background information; the starting order is determined by last year's results.  We came third last year, with Anna Watkins, Helen Glover and Heather stanning in the boat.  These three girls would go on to win gold and two silver medals respectively at the World Rowing Championships in New Zealand in November 2010.  Composite boats typically start near the back of the list, in the 200's because they are classified as a new entry unless they have exactly the same clubs in the boat as the year before.  Therefore, the GB composite boat started 214th.  Then, boats enter a category depending on the number of 'points' they have in the boat.  If you win a regatta race, or represent your country internationally, you get a point/s on your rowing racing licence.  We entered the Intermediate 1 category (IM1), which is preceded by Elite and Senior, and followed by IM2, IM3 and Novice.  There are a few other categories for masters and juniors.

Head races must be the most frustrating things in the world.  We raced at 15.30, time trial style so we had no idea of how well, or badly, we had gotten on.  Finally at about 20.30 the provisional results are posted online.  We came third, out of 300 odd boats, and won our category, IM1, in a new course record time! We were beaten by the Leander crew, who won by a large margin, and in second place was the GB composite crew with current and ex GB senior squad members.  Both boats had brilliant coxes and athletes, including Olympians.  We were only 13 seconds behind the composite crew, a huge achievement for a club crew with three lightweight rowers and not a huge amount of sweep experience in the boat!  There were only three boats on the river that posted times under 19minutes, and we came through in 18m53.  To get a new record too was the icing on the cake.  A brilliant day's racing :)  Results HERE

I must also make mention of our coach, Eira Parry, as she gave our crew the most inspiring and electrifying pre race chat imagineable!  We are so glad to have done her proud!

The other Reading University crews were very successful too.  RUBC B were 24th, after finishing 48th last year and RUBC C were 66th as a new entry!

In other news: next Saturday is my 2k ergo test for April trials, and on the Sunday I am racing my single at Caversham lake over 2 x 1500m's.

That's all for now folks :)

Training Camps and Birthday Cake

Post Camp update...

I am alive! And most importantly, live and kicking and well! :) I was the only athlete to complete every session of our 18 day training camp at Caversham lake and I am here to tell the tale.  It was a tough camp where we did lots of mileage and were given a lot of information. 

Highlights:

• learning how to do my 18k ergo's feet out of the straps and not feel or look like I'm going to fall off the back of the erg at the finish of each stroke
• the 100min bike where my wattage was high and my blood lactates levels low
• the Australian Institute of Sport cook book that Miles gave, and signed for, us! Good nutritional information and recipes
• The pair with Vicki Mayer-Laker. In particular, those 20 strokes within a 12k outing where we connected at the same time, really felt how the boat could move and I didn't want to call 'down' on the burst
• completing every session; 47 sessions in 18 days

Lowlights:

• the four.  Inexplicably bad.  I think everyone cried at some point in the few outings we had!
• feeling glycogen depleted in the last 40 mins of a two hour bike, which was at the end of a 5+hr day also including 100mins on the water and an 18k ergo

I was unbelievably tired throughout the camp, but mostly it was a good tiredness.  Pleasantly exhausted, I told myself.  Knowing it is from working hard and pushing yourself to your limits rather than from being ill or under recovered makes it manageable.  I still have a little moan when I reach the top of the stairs though, it really hits your legs about two steps after the top of the stairs!  The camp finished two days before my 23rd birthday and one week before our 5k ergo test, so I decided to have a quiet, food related, calorific party.





Lemon, plum polenta cupcakes and jam meringue cupcakes

 

How overboard do you think you can go when providing cake and pizza for 25 people? Even if you invite a whole house full of rowers it seems that you can always over do it!  I had a pizza and cake party for my birthday and subsequently my freezer is full of pizza, which I never eat, four litres of ice cream which I shouldn't eat and seven boxes of cake which had to be taken down to the (Reading Uni rowing) club to stop me eating all at once.  The photo below shows about a quarter of the food that we had!

I had the nicest evening with lots of my close friends, rowers and non rowers, with friends travelling in to Reading to spend the evening with me.  I opened some gifts from my housemates and friends and completely surprised myself by being totally overwhelmed.  I am usually a pretty level and even person, in temperament and nature.  I don't have massive highs and lows and don't react too emotionally to things.  However, I got a gorgeous photo calendar filled with photos of me, my friends and family.  Then a lovely hand-made card (I am a sucker for homemade things...) and the most thoughtful, gorgeous, 'me' present ever; it was a big wooden picture frame inlaid with cream card, and stuck on it was scrabble pieces that fit together like a scrabble game in words that all have a special meaning to me.  It was such a surprise and everything just got the better of me and I burst into tears in front of everyone!  That was definitely a first!

I had a lovely lovely birthday and was touched by all the thoughtful presents I received, all the people that took the effort and time to see me, and all the birthday messages I got.



I'm now stuck back into normal training at Reading Uni Boat Club and getting my diet back in order.  I think I have had enough cake for a long while. It's a blessing that my birthday is only once a year!  Rowing wise, I am doing a 5k ergo test for February Trials this Saturday 29th and the water side of February Trials is the second weekend of February, regatta style 2km racing on the lake at Dorney, Windsor.

Till next time!

Erica x