Erg buddies

Whenever I don't feel like training, I always end up having the best session ever!

Last night was one of those nights. A couple of people from the squad have come down with the dreaded lurgy, so they emailed to say that they couldn't make it for training. A few other people were conspicuous by their lack of comment, which I took to mean that they either had other commitments or just needed a day off. I felt like falling into that latter group of silent abstainers, but no matter how hard I try, I can always find a reason to train, because I know how crappy I feel if I don't train. So I decided to be a silent participant. I was just going to show up at the rowing club and train with anyone else who showed up, or just do my own thing.

But then there was a ray of light! One of the squad, the lovely Naomi, sent me an email and asked if I was going along. She is awesome, and I quickly responded that I would absolutely be there. An erg session conveys a sense of self-righteousness like no other, but the only thing better than an erg session is having a great training partner.

Naomi gave me a couple of really great pointers that just clicked and made sense. I'm quite flexible and I have built up some decent core strength because of yoga, so I tend to over-extend at both ends of the slide when it comes to erging. I reach too far forward, because I can, and I lean too far back, because ditto. Naomi got me to come to front-stops on the erg, so that my shins were perfectly at a 90 degree angle with the slide, and she put a lumpy bit of sellotape there, so if I came too far forward, I would feel it with a bump. It worked a charm!

We did 3 x 10 mins pyramid at UT1, and the first 10 mins was tough. Naomi looked over now and again to make sure I was rocking over properly and not leaning too far back. I tend to daydream a bit when it comes to technique on the ergs, because there are no immediate consequences. You won't fall off an erg (but of course I'm sure some people do manage it!), but if you don't pay attention in a single scull on the water, there will be soggy consequences! But training with Naomi kept me really focussed. Ruth is another great person to train with, but she was at home nursing a cup of lemsip.

It was a really positive session, which was just what I needed to kick me out of the negative mindset that was forming. I'll need buckets of positivity to get me through Circuit Training tonight... :)