Training Diary

12km Technical Outing 4+

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Crew from bow: me, Hannah, Claire H, Ali. Helen coxing.
Was so tired from yesterday's 8 outing that my heart dropped through the tarmac when Tom put me in a 4+. Fortunately, it was quite a good crew, and was much much lighter than yesterday's 8. Which is very very wrong...! Unless I was just rowing better, being back on bowside. Hannah confirmed that she is definitely a bowsider- funny how you notice it so much going onto the wrong side but not when you go back on the right side.
Anyhow, this paddle was a bit sleepy, although the last 2k was much chunkier. I think everyone was tired from yesterday, but the boat was moving very nicely, and especially impressed with the set and together-ness of the crew. Some good moments, but my HR didn't get much above 130 which is a bit pathetic...! Didn't want to fight it though.

12km Steady State in 8+

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 07:00:00 +0000

8+ from bow: Courtenay, Millsy, Claire H, Tara, Sophie (junior), Ali, Hannah, Me, Helen coxing.

Reasonable outing, was a bit rocky at first but some pause exercises to the top soon sorted that out. Finishes were a bit all over the place, and it really felt very heavy from the stroke seat (could this mean I'm finally connecting on stroke side? Or just that I'm rowing rubbish?). Quite a slog for 12km, and my HR was very high (above 160) for a lot of it. Oh well, at least I got a good workout..!

Coaching from Tom (sit still at the finish and let the hands flow away) and Ed (strong held in finishes) confirmed the rubbish-ness of the finishes, but all around the outing was very good for a scratch crew. (Still heavy though). Demolished the 4x, which is always a bonus.

4km Time Trial in 1x

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:00:00 +0000

18:05 (ish), the stroke coach was playing stupid, for 4k, R24. Hmm. Not so good, but then, there was a headwind for the last 1km, and the stream was very low (also crashed in the Bermuda Triangle). Felt very uncomfortable for the first trip up, struggling with bladework and connection, but this improved a little when I started doing the work. Did a no-rip wind, reaching 1:53 at R38, which isn't too shabby at all at this stage, so hopeful the cruising speed will come back.
Considering its the first outing for at least a month, its not such a train smash. Managed to keep the split below 2:20 for about 1/2 of the piece, and was concentrating on using technique rather than brute strength to bring the split down. Hopefully I made some progress!
One word, though, to sum-up the session: BLISTERS!!!!

Season Round-up and Moving Forward

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:20:00 +0000

Season Round-Up

Well, I achieved two of my goals for the season, which is pretty good going really!

1. 2k Erg: 7:25
Well, I got it down to 7:40.... But I really think that sub 7:30 will be out of my reach, even if I were to do ergo-specific training, after this year. Maybe one day I will manage it, but only as a specific project. I am going to let this one go now.

2. Race weight 55kg
I can't remember if this was up or down...! My race weight was just under 54kg, which is comfortable and reasonably sensible.

3. Win at nat champs
BIG TICK!!!

4. 1x Racing - Focus and Commitment
Didn't do much 1x racing this year at all as was focussing on crew work, so this goal is a little redundant

Awesome performance relative to goals, so really pleased with progress.

Moving Forward

For some time now I have been considering a move towards a different sporting endeavour. My favoured event at the moment is Modern Pentathlon and, due to the lack of available clubs, this will be an endeavour co-ordinated largely by myself. I plan to join an athletics club, get swimming coaching or join a swimming club, learn to shoot, and improve my fencing. However, this needn't stop me from rowing and I hope to continue with regular outings around my other training. That Henley medal that was torn from my grasping fingers is calling out to me to come and get it and I find that I REALLY want it now! So I may be back next year either in a quad or four to try again. This means I need to keep in at the club and racing, but should be do-able. Now to discuss it with Tom.............

Next Years' Goals:

WIN at HWR

Develop running and swimming skills and fitness

Learn to Shoot

Improve Fencing Ability

Whoop. Lets Go..........

National Champions Lightweight Coxless 4s!

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:12:00 +0000

Well, it's been one hell of a roller-coaster over the past few weeks, hence the total lack of reports on training sessions..! I've had a dodgy hip (caused by a problem ITB on my left leg now), several hard and uncomfortable training sessions (including 2x 10x 30on 20off 120%, several race pieces, 500's Fartlek (17on 5off) etc).

HWR was a severe disappointment because we had steering problems off the start, resulting in disqualification. Our opposition from Canada then hit the booms in the final, so MAA got the win by default. Felt a bit sorry for them, as it must have been a bit of an anti-climax, as oppo no. 4 (Nottingham) couldn't race due to illness. Massively massively disappointing, as we had been recording times in training that were above the record pace, upstream into a headwind, so we were quite keen to go for the records as well as the win.

However, we came back fighting, and WON at Nat Champs, by over 10s, proving that we are the best lwt 4- in the country (at the moment) and that we should have won at Henley. The race report written for the MBC website is as follows:

Due to the headwind which was only slightly cross, conditions at the start were tricky with a reasonable swell. Nevertheless the start was clean and although some problems clearing waves early on led to a slightly erratic steering through the first 250, a steady rhythm carried the crew to 500m with the bowball in front of a three-way battle for the lead. A powerful 5 consolidated the rhythm and Molesey started to pull away. In spite of a strong push from Mortlake coming into the 1000m mark, the crew stayed confident and clean, with a consistent rhythm at 33, to hold an advantage of about a length of clear water over MAABC at 1500m. As conditions improved over the last 500m, Molesey steadily rowed away from the crews behind, to finish 5 lengths clear of last years winning gold medallists and 5 seconds quicker than this years Gold winning Lightweight Womens Quad Sculls.

Hurrah for Molesey!!!!

30min Hard Run

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 07:00:00 +0000

In lieu of 30min erg R24- I didn't want to slip back into old habits by thrashing around on the erg so soon after fixing my rockover, so I ran instead. Possibly an error. Very close to "the wall" throughout, legs felt very heavy and struggling to push on, but did ok I think covering a reasonable distance (6km, i.e. 12kph) in the 30mins in spite of having to jump up and down to avoid scaring a horse and going the wrong way in Claygate.

4- Outing 3x 8mins stepped rates

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Runner coaching.

He made us do a backstops warmup feet out, with 500m on each stage. This seemed to work wonders for the crew, and we were moving really well together by the end of the exercise. This seemed to carry forwards reasonably well into the work, except towards the ends when it got tired. The work was 4' R28 2'R30 1'R32 1'R34, same rates for each piece. We were under-rate for most of it, but pretty close (1/2 pip off) except the R34, so I didn't want to mess up the cohesion by forcing it. There were times towards the end of the second and third pieces where I felt completely on my own at the catch, it suddenly feeling very heavy and jarring, and at these moments the rate jumped down. No support from behind when trying to bring it back up again. Hopefully this won't happen when actually racing...... that could be very painful.

Rock over much better today, and Elly commented on it. Good work me.. ;)

12km UT2 with Bursts

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Outing in (now confirmed) 4-, with Jackie and Julia coaching/video-ing. Some absolutely dreadful paddling going on, especially in the first part of the outing. Struggling to get any kind of rhythm or ration out of it even at the low rate 17 which we seem to always end up at. Tried to bring it up a fraction to even out the wobbles, but found no support and generally lost the battle. Technical points to myself (from Jackie):

1. Taking *all* the lean from the back. I am apparently only getting to vertical before I start sliding. Working on this seemed to help with the cohesion of the crew, and is definitely something I can fix quite easily- I feel I was consistently better with this throughout the remainder of the outing.

2. Tapping down with the outside forearm. *Not wrist*. Apparently I'm still not managing this. boooo. Trying very hard to get it right, but it seems I am a sculler at heart. Working harder on the other point at the moment but trying to keep this one in mind as it does seem to help a little with the balance.

Crew points:

We need more oooomph!!!!!! It's so light and sloppy in the paddling, although as the work comes on it gets better. More dynamic paddling please!

12km Paddle UT2 in 2-

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:30:00 +0000

2- with Sam. UT2 paddle. Felt very good from both of us, well timed and together and nicely set. A lovely relaxing row, although felt a bit like a rag doll.

Met Regatta 2

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Sun, 31 May 2009 14:45:00 +0000

Met 2009, the great 3-seat showdown, day Sam
After yesterdays exploits, it was at least a relief to discover that the wind had swung around to a dead cross. Still quite strong, so that should help to alleviate the apparent steering issues..! Weigh-ins duly completed, all lighter than yesterday except yours truly, no doubt thanks to the rather substantial lunch consumed shortly beforehand. This time boating with a little more time, we did a fairly extended and relaxed warmup. Paddling onto the stakeboats, we were moved across to the far side of the lake to avoid giving anyone advantage from the sheltered lanes on the inside. With no undue delay we were off. A good start again, although the first stroke was a bit limp. Settling out to a much more sustainable 36, we moved through 250 to 500 already up on Mortlake (this time 3 lanes away from us). City of Oxford put in a storming start to move 1/2 length up at 500m. We pushed away from 500, a much better paced race, reaching 1000m with a length advantage over Mortlake, and looking for clear water. Around 750m to go, Mortlake started to move, slowly at first, but then they struck a killer move, combined with a return of our steering problems when we tried to respond. Our 3rd 500 is definitely in need of work, and we came through 1500m with our lead falling, and no real response in spite of a variety of big push calls. The last 500 felt dead, and it was impossible to raise the rate or pressure, and the Mortlake charge ended with them pipping us on the line (see photographic evidence of last 100m) by 0.3s.

A much more positive race, but the real lesson here is that we need to work on our race plan, and practice our moves. Moving together will help, but there was no real commitment in the pushes, and they were all essentially the same (failed) tactic.

Overall time: 7:56.81 (3rd)

Split times: 1:57.0, 1:59.6, 2:01.8, 1:58.6

Met Regatta Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Sat, 30 May 2009 13:55:00 +0000

High winds from a questionable direction greeted our arrival at Dorney Lake for the first day of the Met 2009, the great 3-seat showdown, day Hannah. Cross-head, to be exact. The lake was a little choppy, but the wind, although strong, was not particularly disruptive. We all weighed in before the race, with all weights clocked under (ish), and only one athlete apparently suffering from starvation..! We boated a little late, and when registering discovered that our event had been compressed into a 7-boat straight final. This was only a problem in that we needed a bit of a rocket-up-the-bum moment, as we were expecting a fairly comfortable heat (only needing to beat 1 crew). The warm up was rushed and scrappy, which unsettled the crew a little, as well as being constantly blown into the bank in the marshalling area. However, before too long we were on the stakeboats ready to go. A minor delay while we waited for Mortlake to turn up (!), and we were underway.Our start was slightly scrappy, but effective, and we found ourselves dashing towards 250 at a high rate of about 38. A push did nothing to bring the rate down, and we powered through to 500 with the rate between 38 and 40- not bad in a head wind, but TOO HIGH!! I tried to instill some rhythm, but was unable to make an impact.! We passed through 500 level with Mortlake and slightly down on the leaders. The rate started to naturally drop down to a more sustainable 34 over the next 250, but by 1km we were starting to pay the penalty for our earlier rate-related enthusiasm, and it really started to hurt. We passed through 1k a few feet down on Mortlake, with Vesta having moved through as well. I don't really remember much about the third 500m, except that it hurt like hell. We had developed steering issues fairly early on, bizarrely, steering into the crosswind i.e. away from bowside. These got worse through the third 500 and there were a number of calls to slacken on bowside. We dropped back to about 1/2 a length on Mortlake through this section, despite a number of harden calls, which didn't feel like they had much effect, partly due to the subsequent steering issues. A move out of the last 500 made us some ground back, but we were all rowing like muppets by then (video evidence available), and although we didn't lose any further ground, we didn't make any up either. Subsequent pushes and rate changes were pretty ineffectual and didn't really happen. Crossed the line utterly spent, 1/2 length down on Mortlake.

Not particularly impressed as we beat Mortlake comfortably at Wallingford and we should have stepped on more than this, especially considering there is only 1 person different in the boat, who should bring the speed up not down. However, we have lots to work on and hopefully can get the distance back (we're still well within touching distance) in the next three weeks.

Overall time: 8:14.75 (4th)

Split times: 1:56 (ish, incorrectly recorded), 2:09.4, 2:06.2, 2:03.1

(from a look at these splits it looks like the Met may have recorded the times for this race wrong.......... hmm)

4- Outing UT2 with bursts

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Thu, 28 May 2009 05:00:00 +0000

A bit better again but paddling still too limp and lifeless. Bursts better, but some work needed to get quicker by HWR

Fencing

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:30:00 +0000

Lots of footwork-work. Static quads strength exercises and exagerrated low footwork. Quads are screaming now. Getting much better, more precise, and footwork definitely improved.

4x 1000m Erg

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Wed, 27 May 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Ow ow ow. Raced the previous piece in each of these four. Smashed the first one with the second, third was slower, fourth was faster than third but slower than second. Absolutely horrendous splits, too bad to be repeated here, hopefully due to morning erg and also not having eaten yet this morning. Please? ! Very light-headed afterwards, but feeling better after some food.

12km UT2 with 3x 750m pieces

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Wed, 27 May 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Ooh. Magically, I can row again. It seems I only have the rigger forcing thing when the boat is down on bowside. Which it wasn't today with the different crew, although it slipped back down a little towards the end of the last piece. Pieces were good, again, especially the second. Rates consistent at around 34, up to 38 by the end of the final piece. Balance was off in the final piece which meant that the wind wasn't very effective and felt rushed. Need to find out what is going on!

8km Paddle UT2

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Tom has sorted the set-up of the boat, and moved us all back in the boat a bit. Our old problems with the boat being hard down to bowside are now worse (definitely our rowing that's at issue then), and I thought I might bawl my eyes out during this outing, in fact there were some definite wobbly-lip moments... Being further back in the boat seems to have made me feel like I'm being forced away from my rigger, and my back is very very very sore now. Nothing I can do to bring the balance back up, and nothing I can do to stop myself falling out of the boat to stroke side. Even leaning in to my rigger doesn't work- it's like there's a physical being pushing me away from my rigger. Rowing like a complete turd actually a turd could probably row better than me. Not good. :o(

16km UT2 with 3x 500m Race Pace

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Tue, 26 May 2009 05:00:00 +0000

8km paddle followed by 3 x 500m pieces at race pace, all from standing starts. The paddling was lame as usual, and hard down to bowside for some reason. Drawing up very high had no effect, and all the tricks in the book failed to fix it. Harumph. Pieces were pretty good, the second was the best, with the third a little rushed and the first not really together. Speed seemed pretty good though, and felt light, which is new, and nice.

12km Steady State UT1/2 1x

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Mon, 25 May 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Ah.... Breather. Good solid outing in the single, pushing chris all the way, although he is very slow at the moment. Felt very tired and not much in the legs, but still managed to get some decent work done, and some technical improvements are evident, much better holding of the finish and sequencing through the drive.

16km Steady State UT2

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Sun, 24 May 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Steady state my arse. Absolutely dreadful. No power in the boat at all, with the rest of the crew preferring to paddle pussy-pressure at R16 because "now we're really letting the boat come to us". AAAaaargh. The trouble with R16 is that, oh, oh, it's REALLY SLOW. Good for a technical exercise but for paddling? My HR didn't go above 130!! Unfortunately if I try to put work down, everyone else is being so lame in the water that it upsets the boat and makes it uncomfortable. Grr.

Did some starts on the last 4k. These were quite good, and some easy rate raises. At least R16 has made us move together.

8km UT2 Tech

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Sat, 23 May 2009 09:00:00 +0000

Changed crew order with Hannah to 3 and Elly to bow. Was much better, felt more backed up and able to get a better rhythm at R20 than we had managed before at R18. Length better as well.

20km Outing with 3x 1km pieces

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Sat, 23 May 2009 06:00:00 +0000

20km outing in 4- with 3 1km pieces at race pace. These were ok, not bad but not good either. Reasonably encouraging speed vs the men's 8 and 4 that we were doing them with. A couple of paddies within the crew, not really sure why, although rhythm and length were a bit dodgy. Some pausing at 1/4 slide helped a little with crew timing.

45min Run UT1

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Fri, 22 May 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Claygate Route. Running steady easy pace for first 1/2 hour then hard for last 15mins. Chris foolishly said "if we get to the bottom of the woods in the next five minutes we can go under 45!". As it happened, we didn't quite make it, but we got home in 44mins anyway. Overall average 12.4kph, 15min average 13.2kph

Tom's Surprise

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Thu, 21 May 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Tom's surprise was.... He wasn't there. However, he had managed to tell Ed what the session was. Boooo. Because that session was 2 sets of 20 17on 5off. SEVENTEEN?! FORTY TIMES? Ha, we're really into the hard-core quality work now it seems. Actually, this was not the worst session in the world, although utterly exhausting. The crew worked well together today, I definitely like having Hannah at 3, as she supports very well. Personally a little off, still not quite right, work not coming on properly. Thing is, it feels so much better when I rear-load my power curve, very light at the front. Which is odd, because last time I rowed with Debbie (in particular) it was the other way around! Ho-hum. Well, with any luck we will get a little bit of coaching and it will all come right. Otherwise, I guess we're all experienced enough for it to come together over time. Assuming we ever row in a settled crew, that is!

Fencing!

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Wed, 20 May 2009 18:30:00 +0000

More fencing, finally I'm able to do it again! Getting reasonably good, although my reactions are still far too slow, I still have to think too hard, and can't rely on instinct yet. Would have beaten Chris in our bout if my foil had been working properly (the electric wasn't triggering properly for some reason). Coaching on lunging and finding a gap through. Need to work this week on getting my feet aligned properly at all times and lunging forward instead of sideways.

30min Erg, Lactate Tolerance

noreply@blogger.com (Fiona Parry) — Wed, 20 May 2009 07:30:00 +0000

90s R18, 60s R24, 30s Sprint, repeated (ad nauseum) 10 times, 30minutes altogether.

All as hard as possible, back onto R18 split within 5 strokes.

Ow. Ow. Oh, and did I mention? Ow. This has got to be one of the most horrendous ergs I have ever done. In my life. Its the R18 that gets you, and there's no real recovery from the 30s. Pleased with my splits (for consistency, I won't go massively into actual speed), and consequent confidence boost in terms of mental attitude. R18 was between 2:15 and 2:17, R24 around 2:05, sprinting below 2:00 at all times, down to 1:55 on occasion, but usually around 1:57. Good, steady power build at R24, feeling fairly comfortable there. Rowing like a complete moron at times in this erg, but corrected it with mental reminders fairly quickly.