Grey College Boat Club - 24 Hour Rowing Challenge

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