Work / Life / Rowing Balance

I have no life. I work, I row, I sleep. Training is increasing in intensity, and I'm needing more sleep as a result.

This is what my life looks like at the moment. When I get home from work in the afternoon, I have something to eat right away (so my food can digest before heading out to the rowing club) and then I'll usually rest for an hour. That is the only rest I get all day, so I savour it.

A Stretch in Time Saves Your Ass!

After that, I'll head to the boat club and train for an hour or two, which includes warming up and stretching afterwards. The stretching is the most important thing! For every hour of exercise, I stretch for at least 15 minutes. Usually some yoga poses along with the traditional P.E. stretches we all had to do at school.

When I get home I jump in the bath or shower, followed by dinner and bed.

Sweet Dreams

Now that my training is consistent again, I sleep so well and deeply. I love it. I'm exhausted when I go to bed, but I feel refreshed and energised when I wake up in the morning. I get between 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night.

Life

Friday's are my only day off training, so that's when I can catch up on my life. Last night I went out for a meal at the Cattle Grid in Windsor, which was really good. The best milkshake ever! The cobbled streets of Windsor look great on a postcard, but they're not so great when you're wearing stilettos!

Back on the river after a month!

Today was my first outing in a boat in exactly 4 weeks! It was so exciting to have my first outing with the new club this morning! I went out in a quad with some of the ladies. A 6am start has never felt so good! I didn't care what the weather was going to be like, I just wanted to get out there into the elements!

There is a 2k stretch of river upstream from the club to the lock, and we did 8 lengths in total, which was 16k. It felt so good. We did a few 1k and 2k race-pace pieces at around 28 s/m. Such a treat after coming from a club with just a 700m downstream stretch; although, rowing on the Avon did have its advantages. It is fairly narrow, which means you get very good at steering. On the Thames, it seems that people don't get to hone that particular skill. We crashed into two other boats and narrowly missed a swan. There was another collision near the boat club when a double and a single collided and their riggers became locked into place so they couldn't separate. They then crashed into another boat, and it was the impact of that crash which separated them. So, I'd best look out when the responsibility of steering falls to me.

My core muscles are still feeling bruised from Thursday's session, but I'm not aching, thank goodness. I could really feel my stomach muscles engaging as I did the rock-over at the start of each stroke today. They're definitely getting stronger!

16k? Try 8446 miles!

Emma Mitchell, one of the women who recently completed an epic 8446 mile row across the Pacific Ocean, was at the boat club today. What an incredible achievement! Unfortunately I live in a cave with no TV, so I didn't see the news or know anything about it until today. She was very friendly and unassuming, and smiled shyly as the coaches told me all about her exploits. So impressive! And there I was, feeling good about my 16k!

By the time I got back home it was lunchtime, and I hadn't eaten any breakfast, so I was hungry! A nice bowl of chicken and spaghetti went down well. No more outings until next Saturday, but plenty of land-training to keep me busy until then.

Catching the Rowing Bug!

When I got into that first boat, I was hooked!

The End.

Learn to Row Course - Warwick Boat Club

I did the Learn to Row course at Warwick Boat Club when I moved there just over 3 years ago. I was new to the area, and I'd just driven over the bridge overlooking the castle when I saw the sign: 'Learn to Row'. I searched online for the boat club and signed up right away!

Warwick Boat Club is relatively small as boat clubs go, and each learn to row course had a maximum capacity of 8 people. I signed up in February 2013 and was on a waiting list, until a space became available in September 2013.

Winter is Coming...

Learning to row in the early Autumn, early in the morning, when it was cold and frosty, was arguably the best time to learn! It's easy to be seduced by warm days on the river, with the beautiful Warwick Castle as a backdrop, and to think that rowing is all about sunbathing and picnics. In the winter, however, the frostbite and runny noses separate the men from the boys.

At the end of our first session, the coaches asked if anyone wanted to go out in a training single. It was a wide yellow boat. More akin to a kayak than a fine single scull, but it was relatively stable, although it had no additional floats. I was the only one crazy enough to jump at the chance. Luckily I managed to stay dry and afloat, but it was at that moment that I knew I'd found my sport!

You've Gotta Go Back to Go Forward

Although I knew that you row backwards - I'd seen it on TV and in Cambridge were I grew up - but doing it is very different. It took me a while to fight the urge to row forwards so I could see where I was going. I managed to row up to the weir and back, and to park the boat back alongside the pontoon. I was absolutely buzzing when I'd finished!

We were lucky in our learn to row course that we did mostly sculling, which is unusual as learn to row courses go, as they tend to favour sweep oar rowing. We did, however, go along to the rowing tank at the University of Oxford to do some practice there. It was very good because the coaches could walk alongside us and really see what we were doing so they could give us some tips. I have only recently started sweep rowing more regularly, and I'll be competing in a IV at the Northampton head race on Saturday (weather permitting).

A Good Fit

Rowing is the best sport or exercise activity for overall strength and fitness that I have ever done! It works out your whole body! The fact that I love it is reason enough for me to row, but the fitness benefits are a real added bonus. Professional rowers also have the largest lung capacity of any sport, so the benefits are truly holistic!

You can row recreationally or as a hobby, but if you want to row more competitively, you can! Whatever you want to achieve, the only barriers to progression are your time and commitments. There are competitions throughout the year, the main ones being the regattas in the Summer, and then the head races and mini-heads throughout the Autumn and Winter.

Warwick Boat Club was a brilliant place to learn. The learn to row course was very well organised and the coaches were friendly and professional. The club had a really good social calendar, so newbies could integrate easily.

If that has piqued your interest, check out the British Rowing website for a club near you.

Get down to your local boat club today and Learn to Row!