1 week on

It has now been just over a week since our trip to Hayling Island to meet Mike for our induction session and our first outing in the boat.

We arrived to meet Mike shortly before 2pm, got settled and then sat down for a chat. Everyone was asked to introduce themselves and give a quick explanation of why they wanted to do this. Each reason was different but the running theme was that everyone wanted to push themselves and was up for a challenge.

Mike explained about the boat, it's set up slightly differently from a normal Cornish Gig and they've learnt and adapted them over the years as they've done more crossings. There have been some mishaps in the past, including one boat being flooded/sinking and the crossing abandoned. The boat and all its gear was saved and in all of the crossings no one has ever been injured.

The biggest point Mike made was that the most important thing about the crossing is how the crew work together. Timing, technique and coordination are paramount to a successful journey, otherwise we'll be working against each other.

We then went for our first outing.

 

We had 6 people rowing at any one time, one person as Cox and one person sat in the bow waiting to take a turn. This is how it will be for the crossing, with the exception that Mike won't be stood behind the Cox.

Mike kept things simple to start with, asking for single strokes, then 2, then 3 and so on. The thing that struck me was how easy it was to get simple things wrong and how these quickly messed up your technique and timing with the rest of the crew. Some of the oars are different lengths, some of the seating positions felt different, sitting slightly further out towards the side of the boat makes a difference, trying out alternate feet positions changes things, and so on...

Having the oar too deep makes stroking difficult as it comes up too high, having it too shallow delivers little power and the blade skims the water. Not having the blade square in the water means you lose power and can give a 'kick' to the stroke. Once moving the power of the sea, boat and oars combined can have a dramatic effect on your technique and timing. The worst case scenario is that you get carried by the oar and get flung off the back of the seat down the boat.

So, all in all a lot to learn and that's not including the job of the Cox which we all have to learn as well. We all periodically rotated within the boat so everyone tried out every position including being the Cox. When the boat is stationary we can't steer it and it naturally lines up with the waves, so will become very rocky. For this reason we'll be split into 2 groups within the boat and we'll have to change seating positions as other members of the crew continue to row so that at no time we'll be stationary.

We took a quick break and then set out for a 2nd practise row. This trip out was definitely better but it was obvious that we still have a lot to learn but we all improved significantly in the 2 sessions we did that lasted about an hour or so each. 

We wrapped up the session with a nice cuppa and Mike giving us some more details on what to expect, how best to train for this and what we should be thinking about with regards to nutrition and rehydrating.

These sessions were all about technique, it wasn't meant to be a physically challenging session. That will come in a few weeks time for our 2nd trip down to Hayling Island where we'll be doing a 3hr endurance row, oh good!

First trip down south approaches

The crew will get it's first big test tomorrow.  We'll be going out in a Cornish gig for the first time.  This is the type of boat we'll be using to row across the Channel.  I'm sure some crew members will be a little anxious about tomorrow's outcome, whilst others, including me, will be looking forward to getting out in the boat for the first time.

We'll have something like a 3.5 hour drive to get from Cambridge to Hayling Island, if all goes to plan.  We're allowing plenty of time and aim to leave Cambridge by 9am in two cars.  Richard will be flying in from Guernsey, where he's been away on business, and meeting the rest of us at Northney Marina, where we'll be doing our wet training.

We're due at the Marina at 2pm, and we should have a 4 hour training session to look forward to.  The aims for tomorrow, as far as I can deduce from the information we have had so far, is as follows:

• Team introduction and getting to know the trainers and a review of team goals (row to France!).
• Safety and risk assessment.  The weather, tides in the Channel and crew fitness levels.
• Introduction to rowing.
• The role of coxswain, rowers and bow.
• Timing and rhythm (Jason's quite musical, so that should help).
• Technique improvement: rating, pace and power.

We should have two separate outings in the boat tomorrow.  One to get a feel for things, followed by a chat of how we think we did.  The second outing will be a chance for us to improve on our technique.

I'm especially interested to hear from the trainers what advice they will give us to help improve fitness.  I intend to mention our kettlebell workouts, as I believe this will form a key part of our training.

I also look forward to seeing how everyone gets on in the boat.  There should be a lot to report next time.  Hopefully, with the addition of some photos.

Alan's Day

It's time to start turning up the heat on our training sessions.  I'm aiming to increase my kettlebell training sessions from 2 to 3 times each week to 4 to 5 times each week.  I also aim to continue running 4 to 5 times each week.  I'm not sure if I'm being overly optimistic aiming for up to 10 training sessions a week in total.  Will I fit it all in?

Yesterday I started my day by doing 40 press-ups, then going for an 8.5 mile run ending at the fitness trail in my local park and doing 40 pull-ups.  After seeing several clients during the day, which included doing several kettlebell demonstrations and running another 5k with a client, I then did a 40 minute kettlebell workout with a combination of a 16kg and 20kg kettlebell.  I'm certainly feeling the effects today.

I plan to run another 10 miles today, which will include any running I do with the running club I coach.  I won't do any more kettlebells until tomorrow, to allow myself some time to recover.

Steve's Story

The following is from Steve Read, the oldest crew member and classic sports car enthusiast.  Steve wrote the following piece for the Historic Sports Car Club magazine:

Last year it became apparent to me that sausages and beer weren’t the best way to fitness and my racing wasn’t going well. I fell out of the car after a race a red faced shambles of a human being. Mind you looking around the paddock I had some serious competition. I decided I needed to get fit, well fitter, and I knew that buying a gym membership wasn’t going to do the trick ,due to my world class talent for excuse making. I hired a personal trainer, a frighteningly fit chap called Alan. He runs marathons with the same effort that we walk to the bar.

His chosen method of torturing me was kettlebells, basically a 16 kg cannonball with handle on it.  I reasoned that if it was good enough for Russian Special Forces to train with, it was good enough for a middle-aged historic racer. The idea is you throw these things about in all directions, and bingo you become fit. Picking them up was a challenge!  The first session went well, in as much that I didn’t actually expire there and then, beyond that it was hell. I couldn’t do an hour of fairly light training. However three months on things are progressing. I won’t say I’m fit, but I’m a lot fitter than I was and my racing feels a lot less like a punishment then before. So far so good. I don’t know why but I’m sure I’m quicker than last year, maybe it’s just imagination.

Frighteningly Fit Alan saw “John Bishops Road to Hell’ on BBC where the scouse comedian  bicycled, rowed and ran from London to Paris for Sport Relief and got the idea that doing a Channel row might be “fun”! He decided to put a team of eight together and asked his clients who was up for it. Stupidly I said I was, so suddenly I find myself committed to this madness, the oldest (by nearly two decades) in a boat full of pretty fit younger blokes, seven of them dreaming of glory, and one dreaming of sausage and mash and a good pint.

I suggested that if we were really going to do this we should at least do it for a good cause, and if no-one else had a better idea The Macmillan Nurses had my vote. They all agreed.

In 2011 HRSR/HTC elected to make The Macmillan Nurses our official charity after we lost our fellow competitor and good mate Peter Ergis to cancer. They did a superb job helping Peter and throughly deserve our support. You’ll notice that most of our cars sport Macmillan stickers. I’m doing the Channel row in memory of Peter and all the close, sometimes a bit too close, racing we all enjoyed with him. He was a great bloke and we all miss his infectious sense of fun... and filthy jokes.

Peter Ergis - Cortina Lotus 52

So the adventure starts soon. We are using the same company that trained John Bishop. They are based on Hayling Island and supply everything including training, support boats, and getting the necessary permission from the authorities in both the UK and France. It’s not as I imagined just jumping in a boat and rowing like hell until you smell croissants and coffee. For one thing we’re crossing the busiest shipping lane in the world.

We start serious training this week and have to complete four sea rows as team before we get the OK to do the Channel. The last hurdle to prove we can do it is to row around the Isle of Wight. That sound worse than the Channel to me! Our “Go” date is October the 5th, unless there is bad weather. I’m sure between now and then there’s going to be highs and lows, but this is worth doing. It should take somewhere between six and eight hours to do the crossing. It’ll take longer on the way back due to the duty free booze we’ll be carrying!

So I’d like to invite the HSCC to get behind this valiant attempt to re-invade France and support us, and more importantly The Macmillan Nurses. So come on Ladies and Gentleman dig deep, and for our F1 and 5000 drivers...deeper!

If you want to find me in the paddock I’ll be the one lying exhausted on any horizontal surface dreaming of sausages, pork pies, bacon butties.....

First training session

We had our first group training session today. Very hard work, but this is really just the start. I shall be aching tomorrow I guess. Was good to meet everybody.