30min Hard Run

In lieu of 30min erg R24- I didn't want to slip back into old habits by thrashing around on the erg so soon after fixing my rockover, so I ran instead. Possibly an error. Very close to "the wall" throughout, legs felt very heavy and struggling to push on, but did ok I think covering a reasonable distance (6km, i.e. 12kph) in the 30mins in spite of having to jump up and down to avoid scaring a horse and going the wrong way in Claygate.

4- Outing 3x 8mins stepped rates

Runner coaching.

He made us do a backstops warmup feet out, with 500m on each stage. This seemed to work wonders for the crew, and we were moving really well together by the end of the exercise. This seemed to carry forwards reasonably well into the work, except towards the ends when it got tired. The work was 4' R28 2'R30 1'R32 1'R34, same rates for each piece. We were under-rate for most of it, but pretty close (1/2 pip off) except the R34, so I didn't want to mess up the cohesion by forcing it. There were times towards the end of the second and third pieces where I felt completely on my own at the catch, it suddenly feeling very heavy and jarring, and at these moments the rate jumped down. No support from behind when trying to bring it back up again. Hopefully this won't happen when actually racing...... that could be very painful.

Rock over much better today, and Elly commented on it. Good work me.. ;)

12km UT2 with Bursts

Outing in (now confirmed) 4-, with Jackie and Julia coaching/video-ing. Some absolutely dreadful paddling going on, especially in the first part of the outing. Struggling to get any kind of rhythm or ration out of it even at the low rate 17 which we seem to always end up at. Tried to bring it up a fraction to even out the wobbles, but found no support and generally lost the battle. Technical points to myself (from Jackie):

1. Taking *all* the lean from the back. I am apparently only getting to vertical before I start sliding. Working on this seemed to help with the cohesion of the crew, and is definitely something I can fix quite easily- I feel I was consistently better with this throughout the remainder of the outing.

2. Tapping down with the outside forearm. *Not wrist*. Apparently I'm still not managing this. boooo. Trying very hard to get it right, but it seems I am a sculler at heart. Working harder on the other point at the moment but trying to keep this one in mind as it does seem to help a little with the balance.

Crew points:

We need more oooomph!!!!!! It's so light and sloppy in the paddling, although as the work comes on it gets better. More dynamic paddling please!

12km Paddle UT2 in 2-

2- with Sam. UT2 paddle. Felt very good from both of us, well timed and together and nicely set. A lovely relaxing row, although felt a bit like a rag doll.

Met Regatta 2

Met 2009, the great 3-seat showdown, day Sam
After yesterdays exploits, it was at least a relief to discover that the wind had swung around to a dead cross. Still quite strong, so that should help to alleviate the apparent steering issues..! Weigh-ins duly completed, all lighter than yesterday except yours truly, no doubt thanks to the rather substantial lunch consumed shortly beforehand. This time boating with a little more time, we did a fairly extended and relaxed warmup. Paddling onto the stakeboats, we were moved across to the far side of the lake to avoid giving anyone advantage from the sheltered lanes on the inside. With no undue delay we were off. A good start again, although the first stroke was a bit limp. Settling out to a much more sustainable 36, we moved through 250 to 500 already up on Mortlake (this time 3 lanes away from us). City of Oxford put in a storming start to move 1/2 length up at 500m. We pushed away from 500, a much better paced race, reaching 1000m with a length advantage over Mortlake, and looking for clear water. Around 750m to go, Mortlake started to move, slowly at first, but then they struck a killer move, combined with a return of our steering problems when we tried to respond. Our 3rd 500 is definitely in need of work, and we came through 1500m with our lead falling, and no real response in spite of a variety of big push calls. The last 500 felt dead, and it was impossible to raise the rate or pressure, and the Mortlake charge ended with them pipping us on the line (see photographic evidence of last 100m) by 0.3s.

A much more positive race, but the real lesson here is that we need to work on our race plan, and practice our moves. Moving together will help, but there was no real commitment in the pushes, and they were all essentially the same (failed) tactic.

Overall time: 7:56.81 (3rd)

Split times: 1:57.0, 1:59.6, 2:01.8, 1:58.6 

Met Regatta Day 1

High winds from a questionable direction greeted our arrival at Dorney Lake for the first day of the Met 2009, the great 3-seat showdown, day Hannah. Cross-head, to be exact. The lake was a little choppy, but the wind, although strong, was not particularly disruptive. We all weighed in before the race, with all weights clocked under (ish), and only one athlete apparently suffering from starvation..! We boated a little late, and when registering discovered that our event had been compressed into a 7-boat straight final. This was only a problem in that we needed a bit of a rocket-up-the-bum moment, as we were expecting a fairly comfortable heat (only needing to beat 1 crew). The warm up was rushed and scrappy, which unsettled the crew a little, as well as being constantly blown into the bank in the marshalling area. However, before too long we were on the stakeboats ready to go. A minor delay while we waited for Mortlake to turn up (!), and we were underway.Our start was slightly scrappy, but effective, and we found ourselves dashing towards 250 at a high rate of about 38. A push did nothing to bring the rate down, and we powered through to 500 with the rate between 38 and 40- not bad in a head wind, but TOO HIGH!! I tried to instill some rhythm, but was unable to make an impact.! We passed through 500 level with Mortlake and slightly down on the leaders. The rate started to naturally drop down to a more sustainable 34 over the next 250, but by 1km we were starting to pay the penalty for our earlier rate-related enthusiasm, and it really started to hurt. We passed through 1k a few feet down on Mortlake, with Vesta having moved through as well. I don't really remember much about the third 500m, except that it hurt like hell. We had developed steering issues fairly early on, bizarrely, steering into the crosswind i.e. away from bowside. These got worse through the third 500 and there were a number of calls to slacken on bowside. We dropped back to about 1/2 a length on Mortlake through this section, despite a number of harden calls, which didn't feel like they had much effect, partly due to the subsequent steering issues. A move out of the last 500 made us some ground back, but we were all rowing like muppets by then (video evidence available), and although we didn't lose any further ground, we didn't make any up either. Subsequent pushes and rate changes were pretty ineffectual and didn't really happen. Crossed the line utterly spent, 1/2 length down on Mortlake.

Not particularly impressed as we beat Mortlake comfortably at Wallingford and we should have stepped on more than this, especially considering there is only 1 person different in the boat, who should bring the speed up not down. However, we have lots to work on and hopefully can get the distance back (we're still well within touching distance) in the next three weeks.

Overall time: 8:14.75 (4th)

Split times: 1:56 (ish, incorrectly recorded), 2:09.4, 2:06.2, 2:03.1 

(from a look at these splits it looks like the Met may have recorded the times for this race wrong.......... hmm)

4- Outing UT2 with bursts

A bit better again but paddling still too limp and lifeless. Bursts better, but some work needed to get quicker by HWR

Fencing

Lots of footwork-work. Static quads strength exercises and exagerrated low footwork. Quads are screaming now. Getting much better, more precise, and footwork definitely improved.

4x 1000m Erg

Ow ow ow. Raced the previous piece in each of these four. Smashed the first one with the second, third was slower, fourth was faster than third but slower than second. Absolutely horrendous splits, too bad to be repeated here, hopefully due to morning erg and also not having eaten yet this morning. Please? !  Very light-headed afterwards, but feeling better after some food.

12km UT2 with 3x 750m pieces

Ooh. Magically, I can row again. It seems I only have the rigger forcing thing when the boat is down on bowside. Which it wasn't today with the different crew, although it slipped back down a little towards the end of the last piece. Pieces were good, again, especially the second. Rates consistent at around 34, up to 38 by the end of the final piece. Balance was off in the final piece which meant that the wind wasn't very effective and felt rushed. Need to find out what is going on!

8km Paddle UT2

Tom has sorted the set-up of the boat, and moved us all back in the boat a bit. Our old problems with the boat being hard down to bowside are now worse (definitely our rowing that's at issue then), and I thought I might bawl my eyes out during this outing, in fact there were some definite wobbly-lip moments... Being further back in the boat seems to have made me feel like I'm being forced away from my rigger, and my back is very very very sore now. Nothing I can do to bring the balance back up, and nothing I can do to stop myself falling out of the boat to stroke side. Even leaning in to my rigger doesn't work- it's like there's a physical being pushing me away from my rigger. Rowing like a complete turd actually a turd could probably row better than me. Not good. :o(

16km UT2 with 3x 500m Race Pace

8km paddle followed by 3 x 500m pieces at race pace, all from standing starts. The paddling was lame as usual, and hard down to bowside for some reason. Drawing up very high had no effect, and all the tricks in the book failed to fix it. Harumph. Pieces were pretty good, the second was the best, with the third a little rushed and the first not really together. Speed seemed pretty good though, and felt light, which is new, and nice.