Training camp v2.0

There's a rowing machine in there?!

Last Tuesday, the day I was leaving to head back up to Durham, I was awoken early by my phone repeatedly buzzing across my desk. They were messages of congratulations and good news - we had reached that important £2000 milestone. Absolutely incredible! I will say thank you again to everyone so far that has sponsored for your generosity. With this news, and the car stuffed to the brim, I set off back to my student house. 

Home sweet home.

After unloading the car I managed to successfully fit my rowing machine in my bedroom (I wonder what percentage of Durham university students have said that?). There is still plenty of room for all the other essentials as well, like the bed, desk and bookshelves. Training camp v2.0 is set up! 

After getting settled in for a couple of days I altered my training to take advantage of the fact that I was the only person in the house. This week I attempted my first ever all night row. I knew that this was a true make-or-break point in my training as, if I didn't succeed, I was going to find the 24 hours near impossible. However, I am delighted and relieved to say that it was a great success! Starting from 9:00 pm on Wednesday evening I planned to row ten lots of 10,000 metres. I finished the total 100 km in 8hrs and 18mins of actual rowing time at 10:00 am on Thursday morning. No sleep!

Mmm sweaty!

How on earth did I stay awake for all that time? The answer is music, films and nutrition. For the first couple of hours I had the tunes rocking which kept me going. For the remaining time I needed something more to keep my attention so I watched films including Rio 2, Kung Fu Panda 1 & 2, Cars and Monsters vs. Aliens. Animation films were easy watching and besides Kung Fu Panda is such a great film. I used Science in Sport's isotonic energy gels (with caffeine) and GO energy powder to keep hydrated and fuelled up. Note: got to make sure I have some 'proper' food on the actual day, all those pure chemicals really don't do the stomach that much good! 

So with just 2 weeks to go its still important to promote the event. I am in the process of applying to our college trust for a grant so time to dig out the old Oxford Guide to Effective Writing and Speaking! Secondly, I am chasing our club's sponsorship secretary about the possibility of approaching local businesses in Durham for sponsorship in return for publicity at our event. I think it is a very good opportunity for them to promote, especially with new freshers who might not know the city very well. We shall we how this goes.  

I am meeting up with the Master of Grey College this next week to discuss where the actual event shall take place so I shall inform everyone of these important details soon.

Thanks for reading and until next time!

Training w/c 21/09/2015

The last weekend at home.

I'm chuffed to bits! (That's a Yorkshire saying...) Last week, I was in anticipation of reaching the £1000 milestone but sat here currently we have gone above and beyond that mark and now are so close to that magical £2000 figure! The reason why this amount is so special is that this is the minimum amount needed to be donated on Hubbub in order to receive those pledges. With just 2 more weeks left for donations to be made; it looks like it's going to become a reality. 

The final alumni letter. Very fancy.

It's been a bit of an up-and-down week in terms of training this week. After coming back from Bestival, the week got off to a flying start having rowed 100 km in 7 hours and 44 mins over the course of two days. I took a rest day on Wednesday to allow my arms and legs to recover slightly and went back to a karate lesson in the evening. The plan was to crack out another 100 km over the remainder of the week. However, mother nature had a different plan and I have been fighting a cold which has restricted my training. I managed to reach a grand total of 150 km for the week but a little disappointed this wasn't 200+ km. I still cannot believe my training has taken me over half a million metres! I hope this isn't an early bout of Freshers' flu! (My dad advised just not to go around kissing freshers' in the first week...cheers Dad :/). 

The promotion side of the campaign seems to be gaining more and more momentum with each passing day. The main point from this week is that the finalised email got sent to the Grey Alumni which has resulted in a number of positive responses of which I am very grateful. It is especially nice to read the supportive comments left on the campaign page as well - it is very motivational and encouraging.

This week I have also written to Science in Sport (SiS) with the request for sponsorship. I have been using their REGO Recovery powder and isotonic energy gels during my training which are fantastic, a good reason I felt to write to them. I am still waiting for a response so fingers crossed it is good news! I have also entered the 'Mars Milk Play Fund' which is an opportunity to be awarded £1000 for the club if we receive the most votes, so head over to https://www.marsmilk.com/play-fund-2015/clubs/grey-college-boat-club-gcbc- and cast your vote to help us win!

This weekend is my last weekend at home, on Tuesday I shall be attempting to pack the remainder of my university belongings to take back up to Durham for round two. I am going back up earlier than usual to get into the final intensive routine: eat, sleep, row, (do a little chemistry vacation work) and repeat. Any bets on how long it will take to fit everything and an erg into an estate car? 

Thanks for reading and until the next update from Durham!

Training w/c 14/09/2015 

How time flies...

Today was my last day of my summer placement at Bluestar Silicones Ltd (thanks to the team for the leaving pub lunch!) and this makes today a very significant day. This marks the end of a full 9-5 day of chemical testing and the start of the highly intensive 9-5, and probably longer, rowing training days. 

Since the start of the month I have been constantly writing - emails to alumni, sponsorship letters to companies and magazine articles all in hopes of promoting the event. I have even ventured into the mysterious world of hash tags on Twitter to get more interest. I shall talk a bit about all of these. Firstly, after a number of back-and-forth emails to Mr Steve Gregory, Secretary and VP for the Grey College Association, we have successfully agreed on an email that contains all the information about the 24 hour row and how to donate. It looks like this could be sent off in the next few days so let's keep our fingers crossed for some positive response and potential donations! 

Needed this today!

Secondly, during my training I have been using some of Science in Sport's products - their energy gels are particularly effective when carrying out those marathon rows. So, I thought it would be ideal to send the company a request for sponsorship especially appropriate considering they are partners with the GB Rowing Team. It might not be successful but you never know until you try!

Thirdly, as some of you might have seen, back in Epiphany Term the CU held an event week called 'Is this it?'. I attended one of their evenings with a friend to my surprise the guest speaker was none other than the GB rower and Olympic medallist; Debbie Flood. She gave a very inspiring talk that connected God and rowing (I am a Christian) which I used as a basis for a magazine article for my local parish magazine. 

Lastly, I'd just say Twitter is weird and wonderful. I'm still learning how to use it properly but I am proud Rachel Morris (GB  rowing squad) favourite a tweet I was in!
It truly has surprised me the number of different contexts which can be used to promote such a campaign. I never quite realised before how hard people that promote charity events work to get sponsorship!

I am looking forward to a <sensible> weekend on the Isle of Wight at Bestival to enjoy the likes of Duran Duran and The Chemical Brothers. Talking of music, as much as I am enjoying the classic tunes of Klute, 24 hours is a long time to fill and I will create a playlist of songs from next week. So if you have any favourite songs you think I'd like to row to post them down below!

Thanks for reading and until next time. 

Training w/c 31/08/2015