A crazy week!

It was this time last year that I was waiting in anticipation to see one of my favourite artists, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis at Reading Festival. One year on, I'm spending the majority of my Bank Holiday weekend sat on my rowing machine; training for a mammoth rowing challenge. If someone had told me last year that I would be undertaking this challenge I don't think I would have believed them - it's funny what a difference a year makes! 

The training in this last week of August has ended with a bang and I'm thrilled that I have rowed just over 130km this week! The main talking point from this week is having completed my first ever non-stop marathon row in a time of 3:14:06.7. Carrying out the marathon reminded me of one of my favourite films, Forrest Gump:

On Wednesday evening I spontaneously decided to row the full on 42.2km. I had planned to take a break at 21.1km but when I got to that point, and I felt fine, I thought I might as well keep going. When the erg meter clocked over 19,999m I figured that since I had rowed this far I might as well keep on rowing. When the meter hit just four figures of 9999m I thought there is no point in stopping now. Finally when the clock ticked over to 3 hours it gave me the final motivation to power on and finish what I started! My only regret - no padding on the seat. My backside was so sore (no innuendos please!)

I rowed another marathon (official 42,195m) this Saturday with a slightly slower time of 3:15:22.8 but this meant I could submit my time on the Concept 2 rankings page - surprisingly I am ranked 12/20 for my category in the world for the 2016 season! Woah.

In the last blog I mentioned a number of challenges that I had been facing - mainly blisters and water intake. Both have now been resolved. Hooray! My hands and feet have now toughened up and I am now no longer in agony when rowing. The second challenge I had last time was taking on board water. After a fantastic suggestion from Lizzie I attempted the 'Camelback' idea which worked a treat. So now I have a 1L carton strapped to the floor with duct tape (ironic much?) with a large length of silicone tubing. The next problem is finding the right fuel to eat during my erg...

Major update on the promotion side. I am launching something called the '5-to-Wind' promotion. For those non-rowers out there, a 'five-to-wind' is a technique we use in a rowing race to build momentum in the boat. Let us build momentum in this campaign my encouraging 5 friends/family to donate just £1 - barely the price of a Mars Bar these days! If all the people going to the event persuaded
5 friends to give just £1 we could really make a large impression in the sponsorship! Every little helps! 

I have been in contact with the head of the Grey Alumni network and we are in the process of sending out the information to the alumni which hopefully should draw some real attention this campaign as well.

I thought that to accompany the '5-to-Wind' promotion I would release a little Q&A video with some common questions I have been asked. Check it out below :):

Credit: Ollie Fox (3LifeGaming)

Training w/c 24/08/2015

Upping the Distance

(and discovering the challenges it brings)

After coming back from holiday; the last week has been spent cranking up the training on the erg which has ultimately cumulated to completing two half-marathons this weekend. These, so far, are the longest single distances I have rowed at an hour and a half a piece. I was really pleased to be able to finish the 21.1 km with a split much better than I anticipated for my first attempt. This gives me a lot more confidence in my endurance ability to complete a full marathon piece in the coming week. On the actual day I am aiming to do an initial marathon piece to get a large chunk of the 200 km target done and this will allow me to reduce my split later in the evening.

White t-shirt social truth. Gutted.

Whilst I was pleased with the pieces I have done, I discovered a number of challenges that I face. Firstly, blisters. My hands, unfortunately, lack this ability to toughen up and once again I have found myself with the usual blisters on my palm. If this wasn't bad enough, I have ended up with blisters on both the end of my index finger and thumb from gripping the erg handle. Ah! The second problem is being able to easily take on board water without having to stop rowing - something that I have found is just not possible with a conventional water bottle.

There has been some exciting progress on the promotion side of the challenge too. A GCBC alumnus, Michael Cannon, is providing excellent advice and is aiding myself in reaching out to the GCBC and Grey College alumni community. (I must also thank him for donating generously to the campaign). Not only do I hope this will increase the awareness of the challenge but also establish a more long term partnership between current and former members of the club. Exciting stuff in progress!

I am very happy that £220 has been pledged so far and hopefully this will continue to rise. Every penny counts.

Now that things are once again back to normal I shall make sure to update a bit more regularly. Until the next update!

Training w/c 03/08/2015

Mon: 1:00:00 / 13935m / 2:09.1 / 17m/s

Tues: 2000m / 7:08.7 / 1.47.1 / 25m/s

Thurs: 50:00 / 11330m / 2:12.3 / 15m/s

Sat: 20000m / 1:29:11.3 / 2:13.7 / 16m/s

Sun: 21100m / 1:31:57.1 / 2:10.7 / 18m/s