Author: admin2
Once Piers got up early…
A great event that began with a club row, 18 seats busy on the water. (Any pictures out there send in on Whatsapp)
40+ members attended the first club barbecue (admirably organised by Laura and Gemma- lots of plaudits on Whatsapp) since lockdown. There was a display of photographs illustrating the history of the club and Tony was presented with a book of pictures and reminiscences marking the decades of his incredible service to the club and some flowers for his long-suffering wife- Veronica.
Also a welcome return to the club for an ex-Chair who bravely went out in Phoenix after a break of several years. He enjoyed it so much he might sign up for one of the Learn to Rows (can you spot him in the pictures?).
A special kind of rowing…
Why tub trips?: Outings in Teal (”the tub”) provide stress and pressure free rowing in a very stable boat, with the added bonus of coffee and biscuits at Cow Tower or wherever we stop. Could summarize the benefits as ”fun, fitness and friendship”.
Maybe change the stress free bit what with us getting a bit too close to the ferries! Incidentally we also picked some blackberries and helped in the rescue of a lady and two kids who had capsized their Pub and Paddle canoe by Colman’s.
Racing News- 27/8
Do enjoy your Bank Holiday before you get down to some serious race training!
QUICK RACING UPDATE
Pairs Head
Elliott and Lawrence are going to test their mettle on the Thames Tideway – they want to enter a Masters double scull for the Pairs Head. This is a big event for pairs and doubles of all age groups on Saturday 2nd October. The competition will be fierce. It’s a great event for aspiring racers to think about training up for – maybe more will join them in 2022! Good luck to them this year.
G.O.M.
Sadly this year’s Great Ouse Marathon was cancelled for Covid-related reasons. I’m hoping that the masters will organise a Coldham Hall Run as a substitute, which covers a similar distance and which we did last year. It was great fun. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear.
The Norwich Masters Sculling Ladder
This is not actually a race, but a timed training event! Look out for the email I’m sending out this weekend with the dates of this winter’s “Paddy’s Runs”. Do give it a try if you are of Masters age and can scull to Paddy’s and back without too much difficulty – you may win the Newcomers’ medal if you do most of the Runs!
Get in touch if you haven’t done it before and I’ll put you on the circulation list and offer advice if you’re uncertain about it.
St Neots Small Boats Head – Sunday 3rd October
Yare are sending a trailer to this one! Let me know if you have a crew (or part crew) and want to come along and compete. It’s only 2.4k! Event details aren’t out yet, but it will fill up so let me know and I’ll get the entries in as soon as they open.
Bedford Autumn Small Boats Head – Sunday 10th October
The weekend after St Neots, and Yare are planning to go there as well! (Some boats may stay on the trailer from St Neots!). It’s 2k through the centre of Bedford, with several divisions so you can race in more than one crew. Let me know if interested.
NORFOLK LONG DISTANCE SCULLS – Saturday 23rd October
Organised from NRC, the poster is just out, I’ll post it on WhatsApp YBC Notices for your interest. Entries are now actually open, so let me know if you have a crew to enter (or single).
It’s 5k (yes, it’s a real workout) from Bramerton to The Cut. The events are separated into a morning division and afternoon division so you can race in two different events if you want to We usually offer help with marshalling and launch driving, so let’s help this year, if not racing twice. ALSO there is a shorter division in the middle of the day for those “NEW TO RACING” – please do give it a go if that’s you.
Cancelled events
Boston Marathon, Yare Cup, GOM, Head of the Dart – none are being run this year and we usually have attendance at all of them, so please take the chance to get racing with any of the competitions that Yare are going to.
Happy training,
David Wynne
Vice-captain, racing
My Erg and me
There is no getting away from it. Whether you grind out 50k or more a week or just jump on it every now and again for a 20-minute blast, the indoor rower is a cruel mistress.
Many will understand the agony of still having hundreds of metres to row when your body is
screaming for you to stop. But many will also know the ecstasy of finishing a timed piece with a PB, which somehow makes all that pain worth it.
I am fortunate enough to have an erg at home and I try to spend at least some time on it most days.
As variation is one of the keys to motivation, I try to differ my workouts with a mixture of interval training, long low-intensity rows and timed pieces.
Personally, I love the Concept 2 Workout of the Day which arrives as an email early each morning with a choice of either a short, medium or long session, all of which are more than enough to get the blood pumping.
British Rowing also has a good selection of training plans on its site and YouTube is full of row-along workouts with which to join in.
We all know about the benefits of training on a rowing machine. It delivers a full-body workout, activating the legs, arms, back and core all within a single stroke. It is low impact exercise and as a tool for improving fitness, strength and endurance it is hard to beat. (Also, unlike water-based training you don’t get wet when you fall off!)
However, for me, the honesty of the erg is key. Although many hours of staring at numbers on a small, monochrome screen is probably a sure-fire route to madness, it is this very data that allow us to track the consistency of our workouts. On the water, variables such as wind, tide and river traffic all have an impact on how quick we are on any given day. Sometimes, our feelings about an outing may differ from the reality. The erg, however, will always tell us the truth.
As we blink away the tears during a workout, it displays in real time the 500m split pace, the number of metres left to cover, stroke count and the expected finish time. Over a timed piece, such as a 2k or 5k, just a small change in the average 500m split can have a huge impact, knocking seconds or even minutes off the final time.
There are a whole host of other measures displayed, including power output in watts, calories
burned or heart rate (with an ANT+ or Bluetooth chest strap). If the machine’s Performance Monitor is paired with the Ergdata smartphone app, other data points such as stroke length and drag factor are also available to see during the row.
All of this information is collated on the Concept 2 Online Logbook where you can see how your workout compares to your own previous efforts and to others of a similar age across the world. We can also link with friends as ‘training partners’ to compare workouts. Powerfully, it allows us to evaluate our progress over a long period of time.
To keep us motivated, Concept 2 has a calendar of challenges throughout each season (May-April) with downloadable certificates and pin-badge prizes for those who take part. I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to receive my free T-shirt for completing my first ‘one million metres’ on the machine.
I do not think the indoor rower can replace the joy of being in a real boat either in a single or with friends. Time on the water is good for learning technique and filling our souls. But land training on the erg over the past few years has had a very positive impact on my own fitness and real-life boat speed. I do not think I would have been able to make these gains through water-sessions alone.
At Yare Boat Club, we are lucky enough to have a number of ergs for members to use. So if you have a few minutes to spare, why not strap those feet in, grit your teeth and give it a go. You never know, you might fall under the erg’s spell too!
Mark
Wynne’s at Sudbury
David was in a Yare/Norwich composite double and they won in the Masters G category and then David struck again in the Masters G single.
I learned to scull at YBC…
I learned to scull at YBC when I was 7 surrounded by an experienced older generation who insisted that everything was done properly. Even paddling the ferry (great big thing just like now) the sculling over the stern had to be done properly and that technique has proved so useful many times since. I taught my son to scull at YBC also when he was 7 and like me, he has enjoyed winning elite races all over the country and such was that beneficial grounding we both went on to win events at Henley Royal Regatta and also represent GB. Thank you YBC for helping to start lifetime interests in rowing. Marcus now lives in Switzerland and we thoroughly enjoy double sculling together on Lake Geneva. We have also taught three of the grandchildren to scull at YBC and hope one day when the novelty of school sports wears off they might enjoy sculling once again. The technique is never forgotten and after 70 years I still thoroughly enjoy it.
Bargate Row 2021…
Rowing in Portugal…
Some lucky club members have enjoyed recreational rowing abroad. A four day rowing trip on the river Douro in Portugal was great fun; 80km in mixed international crews.
The trip was organised by a Portuguese sports club, with comfy hotels, pools and good food, to rest and recover from rowing in the sun much of the day. It wasn’t all just rowing – we managed a glorious evening at a port wine vineyard!
Sharing stories with rowers from other countries and events in other countries is inspirational and a great way to meet some lovely people