Yesterday the snow and frozen river granted me the pleasure of staying in Caversham for the weekend instead of driving to Lincolnshire and back. I did however have to do a 5k rate capped ergo test in lieu of this. Now, ergo's are nobody's friend but the 5k is surely not mine! This was marginally better than the last 5k I did in January, but I'll have another couple of 5k's to do in January 2011 so am hoping to make further improvements.
On a separate note, the snow has finally hit us in Reading just in time for my day off today so my housemate and I were housebound all day. We stayed in our PJ's, held a 4 hour marathon Monopoly session, watched a three hour film and sports personality of the year.
Unfortunately the Monopoly game was not as enjoyable as I remembered it; nostalgia clouds the mind. When you play with someone who is just as competitive as you it all gets a bit uncomfortable! After half an hour my housemate was winning by a mile and to keep me playing she bought me out of my properties and gave me money that I would shortly give right back to her.
However, somehow after maintaining my hold on one set of properties and starting to build, the tables started to turn. Four hours after starting the game she finally surrendered and I started to count my £60+m. Perseverance wins the day!
The playing of board games seems inextricably linked with Christmas and I can't wait to get home. Having watched the travel disruptions of the past couple days I have my fingers firmly crossed that I get home safely and before the 25th!
Merry Christmas all :)
Sunday, 19 December 2010
Thursday, 16 December 2010
Snow forecasts
Just a quick post...
Due to bad weather forcasts in Boston, Lincs later this week the 2nd 2010-2011 GB Trials have been cancelled, with a 5km ergo rate capped at 26 to be submitted instead. This saves us the travelling and accomodation costs but I was looking forward to tearing it up on the water up in Boston!
I'm hoping for a better ergo test on saturday than my 5k last year where I 'blew up', as we say, with 2.5km still to go! Then, a day off on Sunday, home on Wednesday for Christmas :) with land training for a week before I am back in Caversham.
Due to bad weather forcasts in Boston, Lincs later this week the 2nd 2010-2011 GB Trials have been cancelled, with a 5km ergo rate capped at 26 to be submitted instead. This saves us the travelling and accomodation costs but I was looking forward to tearing it up on the water up in Boston!
I'm hoping for a better ergo test on saturday than my 5k last year where I 'blew up', as we say, with 2.5km still to go! Then, a day off on Sunday, home on Wednesday for Christmas :) with land training for a week before I am back in Caversham.
Thursday, 9 December 2010
Continuing forwards
So after saying just yesterday that the river was ok in this weather, this morning it had started to freeze! We were out in a quad for first session though so if one person's blades didn't get in the water because of a patch of ice usually the rest of us would be ok :D and it creeps out from the banks so we sat squarely in the middle of the river. Glad its a busy stretch of river, moves the water around a bit more!
Second session this morning I had a 30min ergo test (30mins at 20 strokes per minute) and took a massive 1.5seconds per 500m off my PB, so it's becoming quite respectable now it's in the 1m54's :)
Nine days till trials...
Second session this morning I had a 30min ergo test (30mins at 20 strokes per minute) and took a massive 1.5seconds per 500m off my PB, so it's becoming quite respectable now it's in the 1m54's :)
Nine days till trials...
Wednesday, 8 December 2010
cold toes
I'm feeling pretty lucky at the moment; it seems like the snow has hit the whole of the United Kingdom apart from the Berkshire area. So, we had about a centimeter and a half that stuck around for maybe two days but apart from that, zilch! That is not to say it's not been incredibly cold with temperatures of -4 celcius at 8am. But at least we don't have to trudge through feet of snow and worry about crashing our cars on the way to and from the boat club.
We've been doing a few more ergos than usual, but the river is still flowing, whereas the lake at Caversham is frozen over so we have been lucky to be able to get on the water and I've had some freezing cold outings! ...The kind where you wear two pairs of socks, plus ski socks and waterproof socks, two pairs of leggings, an all-in-one rowing unisuit, sports bra, short sleeved technical top, two long sleeved technical tops, a splash jacket, ear warmers, cap, pogies and a neck warmer. And you're still cold! The river is beautiful in winter though, almost makes up for it ;)
Training is going well at the moment, really enjoying it and looking forward to trials in ten days time, up in Boston, Lincs. Funny how they hold the Great Britain team trials up in Boston, obesity capital of the UK!
We had our Reading University Boat Club Christmas dinner at the Crowne Plaza on Monday night. Great fun but the food was a bit ridiculous; very small portions beautifully presented but did nobody tell them that this was a rowing dinner?! I was hungry when I went to bed and starving when I woke up in the morning! Eating is just about one of the best parts of being a rower. For me anyway, I have always loved to eat! Three sessions a day though makes sure that it doesnt all go to my hips. Today we had 16km on the river in our singles, a UT2 session (aerobic) followed by 4 x's 500m on the ergo at your 2km pb split +4, +2, on pace and quicker than pace, and then weights and core circuit. Oh and then work this afternoon! Keeps me busy :)
We've been doing a few more ergos than usual, but the river is still flowing, whereas the lake at Caversham is frozen over so we have been lucky to be able to get on the water and I've had some freezing cold outings! ...The kind where you wear two pairs of socks, plus ski socks and waterproof socks, two pairs of leggings, an all-in-one rowing unisuit, sports bra, short sleeved technical top, two long sleeved technical tops, a splash jacket, ear warmers, cap, pogies and a neck warmer. And you're still cold! The river is beautiful in winter though, almost makes up for it ;)
Training is going well at the moment, really enjoying it and looking forward to trials in ten days time, up in Boston, Lincs. Funny how they hold the Great Britain team trials up in Boston, obesity capital of the UK!
We had our Reading University Boat Club Christmas dinner at the Crowne Plaza on Monday night. Great fun but the food was a bit ridiculous; very small portions beautifully presented but did nobody tell them that this was a rowing dinner?! I was hungry when I went to bed and starving when I woke up in the morning! Eating is just about one of the best parts of being a rower. For me anyway, I have always loved to eat! Three sessions a day though makes sure that it doesnt all go to my hips. Today we had 16km on the river in our singles, a UT2 session (aerobic) followed by 4 x's 500m on the ergo at your 2km pb split +4, +2, on pace and quicker than pace, and then weights and core circuit. Oh and then work this afternoon! Keeps me busy :)
Saturday, 27 November 2010
2k Ergo test
So, today was the day of reckoning...2km ergo tests all round. Lucky us! We must submit a 2km ergo test to GB Rowing for the December trials so Reading University Boat Club hosted a BUCS ergo event at the University Sports Park.
Cut to the chase, my time came around and I got on the ergo and completed the 2km. I didn't really feel settled, probably because I was a bit high on the rate (strokes per minute) but I suitably destroyed my legs and lungs to pull a personal best by 0.2 seconds, a time of 6m59.4s. All going in the right direction!
Aside from ergo tests, it has been getting colder and colder recently. It has been -3 degrees C some mornings, which makes it pretty chilly on the river. Lots of layers, hats, neck warmers, pogies make it slightly more bearable but I'm certainly not a fan of the cold. Does make for some pretty stunning scenes first thing in the morning though. Looking forward to a solid three weeks of training now before the December trials in Boston, Lincs the week before Christmas.
Cut to the chase, my time came around and I got on the ergo and completed the 2km. I didn't really feel settled, probably because I was a bit high on the rate (strokes per minute) but I suitably destroyed my legs and lungs to pull a personal best by 0.2 seconds, a time of 6m59.4s. All going in the right direction!
Aside from ergo tests, it has been getting colder and colder recently. It has been -3 degrees C some mornings, which makes it pretty chilly on the river. Lots of layers, hats, neck warmers, pogies make it slightly more bearable but I'm certainly not a fan of the cold. Does make for some pretty stunning scenes first thing in the morning though. Looking forward to a solid three weeks of training now before the December trials in Boston, Lincs the week before Christmas.
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
Racing updates
So, Sunday 14th November was the annual Fuller's Head of the River Fours race, held between Chiswick bridge and Putney in London. This was my first experience racing at Fours Head and I raced over the 7.5km course with a Reading University crew in a quad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quad_scull). We had a good race but the results didn't reflect as good a result as we were hoping. We were the fourth fastest women's crew, out of 500+ total crews, including mens boats, and different classes of boats, including coxless and coxed fours. It is notoriously difficult to steer the Thames and stay in the fastest section of the stream and during the race we did get warned by a marshall for being out of the stream, so this will have had some effect on our time.
On a more positive note, I raced at Caversham lake today at the GB Rowing Trials Sculling Assessment. It is held like a regatta, with a 1900m time trial, semi finals and then finals over the course of one day. This is all done in singles, and is invitation only depending on results from October Trials.
I came third in the time trial, (four seconds off Emily Taylor in first place, 0.35 seconds off Vicky Meyer-Laker in second and 7 seconds ahead of Lindsay Marshall in fourth) but I didn't race it particularly well, so tried to learn lessons from that to take into the semi-final. Always helpful!
There were only 18 women racing and six lanes, so they would usually hold two A/B semi-finals, two C/D semi finals etc and that would have meant that there would be two A/B semis and a straight C final. However, GB Rowing wanted to give everyone three races so they ran three semi finals where the top two went into the A final, middle two into the B final and bottom two into the C final.
The top three women were split over the three semi-finals and I won my semi easily. The final was looking to turn out to be a three horse race, but after the time trial and semi final Emily Taylor, winner of October Trials and the time trial this morning, withdrew from racing. I was pretty frustrated as I was really looking forward to some side by side 2km lake racing against her. Still, I had narrowly been beaten by Vicky Meyer-Laker in the time trial and it was time to fight back. I flew out of the blocks and found a really strong rhythm which I had lacked in the time trial. By 500m gone I had a solid lead on Vicky and by 750m gone I had clear water. My lead was maintained throughout the final 1250m of the race, increasing to about two boat lengths at one stage and dipping back to about a length and a half at the finish.
Thrilled to win, and was very pleased with the way I raced it but wish we could have had the full competitive line-up of athletes. Half a day off tomorrow, only 90mins to do so I will go for a run for 45 mins and then on the bike for 45mins. Looking ahead, my next event is our 2k ergo's on sat the 27th of Nov. The FEAR has already set in!
On a more positive note, I raced at Caversham lake today at the GB Rowing Trials Sculling Assessment. It is held like a regatta, with a 1900m time trial, semi finals and then finals over the course of one day. This is all done in singles, and is invitation only depending on results from October Trials.
I came third in the time trial, (four seconds off Emily Taylor in first place, 0.35 seconds off Vicky Meyer-Laker in second and 7 seconds ahead of Lindsay Marshall in fourth) but I didn't race it particularly well, so tried to learn lessons from that to take into the semi-final. Always helpful!
There were only 18 women racing and six lanes, so they would usually hold two A/B semi-finals, two C/D semi finals etc and that would have meant that there would be two A/B semis and a straight C final. However, GB Rowing wanted to give everyone three races so they ran three semi finals where the top two went into the A final, middle two into the B final and bottom two into the C final.
The top three women were split over the three semi-finals and I won my semi easily. The final was looking to turn out to be a three horse race, but after the time trial and semi final Emily Taylor, winner of October Trials and the time trial this morning, withdrew from racing. I was pretty frustrated as I was really looking forward to some side by side 2km lake racing against her. Still, I had narrowly been beaten by Vicky Meyer-Laker in the time trial and it was time to fight back. I flew out of the blocks and found a really strong rhythm which I had lacked in the time trial. By 500m gone I had a solid lead on Vicky and by 750m gone I had clear water. My lead was maintained throughout the final 1250m of the race, increasing to about two boat lengths at one stage and dipping back to about a length and a half at the finish.
Thrilled to win, and was very pleased with the way I raced it but wish we could have had the full competitive line-up of athletes. Half a day off tomorrow, only 90mins to do so I will go for a run for 45 mins and then on the bike for 45mins. Looking ahead, my next event is our 2k ergo's on sat the 27th of Nov. The FEAR has already set in!
Friday, 12 November 2010
The beginning...
So I've been asked to start a blog, but where to begin?! I will start with the background information;
I grew up in Guernsey, went to Cambridge University 2006-2009 and started rowing in 2008. Pre rowing I was a high performance high jumper and heptathlete but retired in 2008 due to impact related injury. Luckily for me I turned out to be more talented in the rowing department :) I left university in June 2009 and made the decision to give my life over to rowing and see where it might take me. In the early days of my rowing I was very fortunate that several individuals recognised my talent and what I was trying to do, and provided me with the means to buy my own boat, a Filippi single scull, in April 2009.
In October 2009 I found corporate support from top FTSE 100 company Man Group plc in the form of a kit sponsorship deal, which they have continued into my 2011 season. My first year out of university, training full time, was tough to find work that would fit around training but I saw immediate benefits in my rowing. At the end of the first year of full time training I was selected to represent Great Britain in my single at the World University Rowing Championships in Szeged, Hungary.
I am now based in Reading and am absolutely thrilled to have just been named a Rising Star, as part of the Guernsey Sports Commission's new initiative to help Guernsey's sporting elite. The funding and support that I benefit from as a result of the Rising Stars initiative will be instrumental in my future successes. Rowing is an exhausting and intense sport which demands a full time training schedule. Becoming a Rising Star will enable me to put my training first, cut down on my working hours and put my financial worries aside. This is such an exciting, humbling and inspiring prospect!
So, I think that is about it for now.
Erica
I grew up in Guernsey, went to Cambridge University 2006-2009 and started rowing in 2008. Pre rowing I was a high performance high jumper and heptathlete but retired in 2008 due to impact related injury. Luckily for me I turned out to be more talented in the rowing department :) I left university in June 2009 and made the decision to give my life over to rowing and see where it might take me. In the early days of my rowing I was very fortunate that several individuals recognised my talent and what I was trying to do, and provided me with the means to buy my own boat, a Filippi single scull, in April 2009.
In October 2009 I found corporate support from top FTSE 100 company Man Group plc in the form of a kit sponsorship deal, which they have continued into my 2011 season. My first year out of university, training full time, was tough to find work that would fit around training but I saw immediate benefits in my rowing. At the end of the first year of full time training I was selected to represent Great Britain in my single at the World University Rowing Championships in Szeged, Hungary.
I am now based in Reading and am absolutely thrilled to have just been named a Rising Star, as part of the Guernsey Sports Commission's new initiative to help Guernsey's sporting elite. The funding and support that I benefit from as a result of the Rising Stars initiative will be instrumental in my future successes. Rowing is an exhausting and intense sport which demands a full time training schedule. Becoming a Rising Star will enable me to put my training first, cut down on my working hours and put my financial worries aside. This is such an exciting, humbling and inspiring prospect!
So, I think that is about it for now.
Erica
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