Just a very quick note to say my ergo (rowing machine) test went well at the end of last month. We don't do many 5k ergo tests and the two I have done previously didn't go as well as hoped, so I was just concerned about making the cut off time for this February Trials ergo test. I had a bit of a radical race plan, rating 24 for the first 2km - very low for a free rate ergo test - but was almost 15 seconds inside the cut off time so it paid off :)
February Trials are at Dorney Lake, Windsor, this weekend. We will have a 1900m time trial on Saturday morning, semi finals on saturday afternoon and finals on Sunday afternoon. This is where is gets a bit serious, with the Senior GB squad in attendance too.
Bring it on!
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
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
- 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
Sunday, 2 January 2011
Happy New Year!
It seems that somehow, once again another year is past and 2011 is upon us. With 2010 being such a successful year for me I can only hope for more of the same this coming year. I am back in Caversham now, but had a lovely few days at home in Guernsey. I made the most of the generosity of Colin Fallaize at the Fitness Factory gym by training hard, whilst still enjoying being at home, having my washing done and dinner cooked for me!
I recently found out that I have been nominated for the Sir John Loveridge trophy at the Guernsey Sports Commission awards later this month, which was a lovely suprise and honour. Unfortunately I will still be on training camp on Caversham so my parents will have to represent me. I am excited about my upcoming training camp though, it is at Caversham lake, the GB squad training centre and it is a select group of four girls; the top four women outside of the GB senior team. AND Miles Forbes-Thomas, coach of the GB women's eight will be coaching us for the camp 4th - 22nd January.
Last but not least, we are very excited in our house at the moment because we are going to get a kitten!!
Photos to follow :)
Happy New Year everyone, and all the best for 2011
xx
I recently found out that I have been nominated for the Sir John Loveridge trophy at the Guernsey Sports Commission awards later this month, which was a lovely suprise and honour. Unfortunately I will still be on training camp on Caversham so my parents will have to represent me. I am excited about my upcoming training camp though, it is at Caversham lake, the GB squad training centre and it is a select group of four girls; the top four women outside of the GB senior team. AND Miles Forbes-Thomas, coach of the GB women's eight will be coaching us for the camp 4th - 22nd January.
Last but not least, we are very excited in our house at the moment because we are going to get a kitten!!
Photos to follow :)
Happy New Year everyone, and all the best for 2011
xx
Sunday, 19 December 2010
Ergo pain
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 :)
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 :)
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 :)
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