Free Spirits Rowing

Great to see you rowing again Kirby

A warm welcome to.

Wojciech Waliszewski (Cali COL)

Louise Renwick (Melbourne, VIC AUS)

Welcome Louise - I get excited when another Australian woman joins the team.

Cheers, Lesley

A warm welcome to these new or returning members.

Gordon Mazza (Manchester GBR)
Dominique Geffroy (CZE)
Markus Schätzle (Zurich SUI)
Paul Grinham (Bookham, Surrey GBR)

Thank you for the welcome - I used to be a decent runner, but my training lost any kind of consistency ever since I move from the UK to the Czech Republic a few years ago. I live in the countryside and in summer, conditions are just glorious. But during winter, night falls at ~4:30pm, it is most of the time freezing, and we can snowed in for weeks or months. When the conditions become acceptable again, one has to slowly increase the mileage from scratch, and it is essentially impossible to have a consistent training pattern over a season, which is why I have turned to indoor rowing. I must say that for a runner, there are similarities and big differences. The similarities are found in the approach to training, based on some blend of steady effort and interval training, depending on the target distance. The typical times for distance for an "average" athlete are of the same order of magnitude, which makes it easy for me to have some idea of what targets I could set for myself (even though in running the commonly used reference splits are times per km). Also, maybe contrary to appearances, running is quite technical, as is more obviously the case of rowing. The big difference for me though is the kind of effort involved - running is a continuous activity, and that is quite a different experience than the drive/recovery phases that are found in rowing, in particular because the power one needs to develop in the drive is much more intense than anything I am used to in running. Hopefully, I will get used to that

Welcome Domini. Glad you have realised the difference, you would be surprised how often people complain about how difficult it is to get a good workout when they are applying the same power level as cycling or running during their power stroke. I found that my upper body and core couldn't initially deliver the power my legs had to the handle and so I suffered DOMS their even after fairly slow rows until my body got used to it. The other main difference is that the pace drops off less slowly with distance than in running, possibly because you don't need to support your own weight. Look forward to hearing how you get on.

Thank you Iain. Indeed, my wife has been noticing that she is not really succeeding in getting as good a workout as she would during running, which is absolutely not my experience. I must say that I am quite the technique geek, and I have spent a fair amount of time getting as much information as I could about correct technique for rowing, as I had done in the past for running. I hope that is helpful, and that I can acquire good habits even in the absence of in-person coaching.

davidc wrote: ↑Thu Jan 14, 2021 12:32 am A warm welcome to these new or returning members.
Kirby Tillotson (Edmonton, AB CAN)

I missed this, welcome back to a FS legend. Hope the body is holding up!

A warm welcome to these new or returning members.

Karen K Gee (White Haven, PA USA)
James Estes (Chester, VA USA)
Daniel Dryden (Aracena ESP)
Alistair Slade (Devoran GBR)

And another FS legend has rejoined the metreboard and perhaps these threads soon.

Welcome Mr Mike Channin.

Iain wrote: ↑Thu Jan 14, 2021 1:18 pm Great to see you rowing again Kirby

Absolutely! Welcome back Kirby!

A warm welcome to these new or returning members.

John Tomorrow (Boston USA)
Thomas Geffroy (CZE)
Mike Channin (Wickford GBR)
Kris B (POL)

Thanks! I’ve only been at it for about a year or so, but I’m trying for better times across the board. Thanks for having me!

You are very welcome. Don’t hold back on popping questions and comments on the forums. You will always find someone willing to join the discussion.

A warm welcome to these new or returning members.

Richard Branson (Tunbridge Wells GBR)
Manuel J. Álvarez (Lincroft, NJ USA)

A warm welcome to these new or returning members.

Jamie Robson (Worcester GBR)
Andy Spry (Wroughton GBR)

A warm welcome to these new or returning members.

Gary Brown (Burlington, ON CAN)
Danny Mason (Nottingham GBR)

A warm welcome to these new or returning members.

Andrew Fast (Lexington, KY USA)
Timo Today (Bremen GER)
Steffi... (GER)
Josh Forrester (Grimsby GBR)

A warm welcome to these new or returning members.

Ingrid Ermler (Ingolstadt GER)
Karla Poppleton (Bristol GBR)

davidc wrote: ↑Sat Mar 20, 2021 1:38 pm A warm welcome to these new or returning members.

Ingrid Ermler (Ingolstadt GER)

Ingrid is, like Gaby Buse, a member of my on the water rowing club. I talked her into joining Free Spirits, the meterboard, the ctc and the world erg challenge

Grobi wrote: ↑Sun Mar 21, 2021 7:13 pm

davidc wrote: ↑Sat Mar 20, 2021 1:38 pm A warm welcome to these new or returning members.

Ingrid Ermler (Ingolstadt GER)

Ingrid is, like Gaby Buse, a member of my on the water rowing club. I talked her into joining Free Spirits, the meterboard, the ctc and the world erg challenge

Well done on the recruitment Peter! And welcome to all the new members of the team

well done Peter
Welcome to all.

A warm welcome to.

Robert Wielinga (Amersfoort NED)

A warm welcome to.

Matthew Lawrance (Rugby GBR)

davidc wrote: ↑Wed Apr 07, 2021 10:48 pm A warm welcome to.

Matthew Lawrance (Rugby GBR)

A friend of mine, with great potential