English Indoor Rowing Champs

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plummy
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Re: English Indoor Rowing Champs

Post by plummy »

Short report from me (I'll let John tell his own story) - although I took my rightful place at 7th out of 7, my time was a season's best by 7 seconds (that's a lot of sevens it seems?)

Finished in 7:18.4. Steady start, steady second 500, pushed a tiny bit in the third and only gunned it in the last 250. It's the least tired I've been after a 2k. I'm not saying it was easy at all, it wasn't but I definitely could have gone maybe 3~4 seconds faster.
Shiny new, smooth black erg was lovely to row on...hmmmm
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Recess
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Re: English Indoor Rowing Champs

Post by Recess »

It'd almost be worth going to Boston just to buy one of the used shiny black ergs though, wouldn't it? I much prefer them to the Model E's...

I had a great day - even before I got anywhere near an Erg. The competition aside, I was really looking forward to meeting up with Dave again. It seems this 'team' idea works! As someone who has tended to always pursue solo pursuits (which essentially, I still am) it's great to be part of a team, know people who I wouldn't know if it weren't for the team, and have support and advice from people I'd otherwise never have benefited from. But spending the morning just shooting the breeze with Dave (and Jane) made it a pleasure to hang around pre weigh in (and post weigh in too). Yes, Julie and I wandered around from time to time, but always came back for a calming chat.

So yes - this year I brought a cheerleader from home! I didn't manage to convince Julie to compete in the end (I'll not give in though!) but she came for moral support, and to scream at me when I slipped pace. And, it helped splitting the 3.5 hour drive too.

Anyway... what happened...

I'll get it out of the way first. I won. Woo-hoo!! My final time was 6min 37.3 seconds. A PB. My previous being 6:38.9. Sure, it's only 1.6 seconds, but for me, this is a hellava jump to get it down that low.

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And I've got to say a lot of it was down to having Julie there with me. Not just for the support - someone shouting at me - but also someone shouting every time my split fell from 1:40. I'd hear her scream 'pick it up' and know I didn't even need to look at the monitor, I knew I was down at 1:41 (at least) and would pick it up. I don't tend to look at the monitor much, so it really helped to have her focus me. And when I did look (mostly as a result of her prompts) I'd see it rise from 1:41 to 1:39 - which was encouraging.

But then, encouraging can only take you so far. Here's a potted review of my race:

2000-1500 - "Huh, I'm only at 1500 - ok, I don't feel too bad, this could be ok"

1500-1000 - "Wow, I'm at 1000 now, and my body knows it - but I can make this"

1000-500 - "Hmmm, I'm breathing rather hard now. This is going to be an interesting finish"

500-0. "nnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggaarrrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhh!"

0 - Hello floor. (looks up at young time keeping blonde) "What was my time?" "6:37.3" "Wow...."

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And that took 6:37.3! Certainly didn't take that long to remember it. There are finer points to it. I remember being about 200m into it and all the moisture disappearing from my mouth. As good a venue as the Manchester Velodrome is, it's a really dry place to row in. It's now 9 hours later and I've still got a dry cough. Not as bad as Crash-B's - but still dry.

500-0 was the only real talking point of the race for me. I could tell at 500 that I had to just go, and not care about how I felt. So counted down from 50-20. And at 20 strokes, I dropped the rate and went for 20 power strokes to finish. I got 10 in - figured I'd be at 100m to go - and saw 160m on the monitor. DOH! (Rewind to earlier in the day talking to Plummy about how he takes 11 strokes to do 100m, so counts in 11's. Apparently I'm a 11 stroker too. But, oddly, I'd rather count from 20-0 - and then find I have 6 more strokes to do, that count down from 26 to 0.

Anyway, I pulled and huffed and puffed as hard as I could, and saw splits down at 1:36 as I go into the 60m point. And then new it was about to finish - so clung on at 1:36 - and collapsed off the side of the erg. It was only after that I realised Julie's screaming had a theme - the Luis was in 1st place and I need to push if I was going to have a chance of winning. Not that I heard her and sprinted - I just went for it out of habit - but the yelling certainly made me go for it towards the end.

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A fantastic race against myself and the limits of my body. It just so happened that other people were racing me at the same time. It's really got me fired up for the 1000m attempt at the end of the year. Time to hit the weights!!

Oh, and I bumped into Roger Burrell earlier in the day - once when he was warming up, then again when I was warming up. He told me Gillian broke the 100m record (not today) - which is an amazing achievement!
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Re: English Indoor Rowing Champs

Post by CamiCrew »

Fantastic is right, John. Congratulations on a killer race. Nice job coxing, Julie!

Lucky 7s, Dave! Nice SB. Also glad to hear the Burrells were there.

Great day out!
-barbara

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Re: English Indoor Rowing Champs

Post by Draggon »

Helluva row there, John - nice work!! Congratulations on the big win!
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Recess
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Re: English Indoor Rowing Champs

Post by Recess »

Thanks you sir. Or, after the celebratory wine and cider - shofffhueesbskrrrrrr hic...

:wink:
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Re: English Indoor Rowing Champs

Post by gregsmith01748 »

Congratulations John! Well fought victory!

Great picture of you on the floor.

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Re: English Indoor Rowing Champs

Post by Paul Victory »

Great description of a fantastic performance John. ^O^ ^O^ ^O^

PBing in a race is extra special and the photo at the end shows that you put eveything you had into it.

Well done on the SB plummy. =D> =D> =D> I knew you were in better shape than you thought you were.

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Grobi
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Re: English Indoor Rowing Champs

Post by Grobi »

Well, that sounds like a great day at the races!

Well done a your victory and the PB John! =D> =D> =D> And thanks for the lively write up, I could almost feel your pain while drinking my early morning coffee :D Now could you please persuade Julie to become a free Spirit?

Dave, well done on your SB too!
plummy wrote:Finished in 7:18.4. after a 2k. I'm not saying it was easy at all, it wasn't but I definitely could have gone maybe 3~4 seconds faster.
Remember I told you you could pull a 7:15? :lol:
Athletes row, others just play games

Peter

55y, 1,89m, 85kg

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Recess
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Re: English Indoor Rowing Champs

Post by Recess »

Some more photos from yesterday:

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Jane said she's taken some - and some video too. That'll be interesting!!!


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Re: English Indoor Rowing Champs

Post by strider77 »

Brilliant PB English Champion John =D> ^O^

Dave-great effort I suspect that you would beat me over 2k at the mo...very well done =D>
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plummy
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Re: English Indoor Rowing Champs

Post by plummy »

I have a little bit of video from Jane, I'll post it up here later.
60 yrs old, 76kg, 5' 10"
43Mm metres rowed. Re-setting the bar much lower now. Getting too old for this malarky
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plummy
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Re: English Indoor Rowing Champs

Post by plummy »



60 yrs old, 76kg, 5' 10"
43Mm metres rowed. Re-setting the bar much lower now. Getting too old for this malarky
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Jill
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Re: English Indoor Rowing Champs

Post by Jill »

Recess wrote: I won. Woo-hoo!! My final time was 6min 37.3 seconds. A PB.
Fantabulous John - a hard earned and well deserved result. :D =D> ^O^

Are you an actor in your spare time? Picture no 3 is definitely ' The body in the library ' pose. :lol: :wink:
plummy wrote:Finished in 7:18.4. Steady start, steady second 500, pushed a tiny bit in the third and only gunned it in the last 250. It's the least tired I've been after a 2k. I'm not saying it was easy at all, it wasn't but I definitely could have gone maybe 3~4 seconds faster.


Plummy, if there are any left, would you like one of my Pink Stars ... :D =D> :wink:

Greg, the music video was a bonus. :D
Grobi wrote:Jill, I'm sorry to hear that Richard isn't well. I hope he gets better soon!
Thank you Peter - Richard is feeling a lot perkier now and very happy to go erging again. :fsbgrin:
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Re: English Indoor Rowing Champs

Post by Wolfmiester »

Congratulations John, deserved result from all the work you put in.

Well done to Plummy for having the cahoonas to enter and complete!

And to the Burrell's for continuing to inspire us all.
Wolfie

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