Are you Taffs going to be waving a Welsh Flag so we know who you are at BIRC?. You will spot me as I look like a Pirate

Sir Pirate

Did a 30 minute test just now, and added a little bit to my distance. Previously 7910m, now 7954m. Not a big shouty PB. Had 8k in my sights for a while, but it wasn't to be. Not today, anyway... =)

You'll recognise me, because I'll look like this:



Well, with different shorts on because those ones have a chamois in the seat, and I think it'd chafe on a rower.

GREAT row Mr 'PB Master-Blaster' Daren You really cruised through the 7 min barrier in style and are set up beatifully for a BIG performance at BIRC on your own terms - no sub 7 pressure any more. Excellent 30 min row too so soon after that 2K monstering. Hurry up and join me on 8000+ then we can have a bit of 'friendly' rivalry to further help maintain your new found enthusiasm for erging - out times are pretty much on par at the moment (at least until you blow me away ).

Really pleased Niall to see your follow up 2K went so well, not only a PB but also (more importantly) a perfectly executed race strategy. One more in the same vein as you plan sounds spot on, with perhaps a 1K at sub 1:45 Ave pace (i.e. 3:29) to make those 1:47's on Sunday feel very comfortable in comparison.

Interesting to read how much Phil improved over 1 year, that takes a ton of determination - very inspiring.

Looks like there will be a big contingent of Taffs at BIRC - 7 ?

Martin

PS Did Byron end up joining Taff Attack ? Haven't seen him in our Team List yet but I'm sure I read somewhere about a new 500m PB by Byron recently on that nice shiny new erg so he must have done 500m ?!

Hi


Yes the other Bernard is erging at 12.15 on D9. My best is 7.09.6 on my last test six weeks ago and I will not do another 2k until Sunday. I've a meeting with IBM on Thursday so I'm not going to do be able to do much this week as I have to prepare for this, so I doubt whether I'll beat this time on Sunday let alone get close to breaking 7 minutes. Naturally, I will endeavour to leave everything on the rower come 12.22 on Sunday.

Good luck all if I don't write before then.


Bernard

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE FOR THE BIRC HOPE YOU ALL GET PB'S.

Hey Darren that logo you have made is great, I think for next season we should get hold of a nice vest each and have that logo printed on we will all stand out then if we travel to comps. Just a thought.....

Wish I was coming to the BIRC but I have A Squash competition a little further north in Manchester. I'm sure Chippy will phone me with news of success.

Take care everyone and get lots of rest before SUNDAY'S BIG DAY!!!!!


RICKSTER

Long overdue, but here it is - Woodies interview. Sorry its so long, but you all now how he 'goes on'.

Hi Chris, Thought I had escaped this !!
1. Where were you born, and where do you live now?
Aberystwyth (pop. 8000), Wales 1949, now living in Melbourne (pop. 3 milion), Australia.

2. You are exactly the type of person we set out to recruit - born in wales, living abroad. Do you miss Wales and would you consider returning? (If answer NO go to 3a, if answer YES go to 3b)
Yes, for a visit - maybe next year now I'm sort of retired. Caldicot and Chepstow high up on the list of places if I make it.

3a Are you sure, its a real nice place?

3b Are you nuts, we have loads of horizontal rain?
And sleet and fog and weak sunshine and no surf beaches and a funny language and .......

4. Who are your sporting hero's, Speedy and........?
Tough question Parks. I tend to be inspired by lots of people and their achievements. If I had to choose - then Speedy and ... Louise Savage (Aussie wheechair athlete) or Ian Thorpe (Aussie swimmer) - they are larger than life in their achievements yet there is a 'niceness' about them that is very inclusive.

5. How come you know so much about rowing?
Fooled youse all - who says I actually KNOW anything !!! I Had the good fortune to row under 2 excellent coaches in the early 70's - one coached the Rome Olympics Aussie 8 and the other rowed in the 1958 Commonwealth Games winning 8. Something had to sink in I guess.

6. When did you start erging and why?
Middle of last year after 1st hernia operation - Saw the ergs over in the corner of the gym and enjoyed reliving the old rowing days once a week.

7. BRIEFLY explain your training plan?
Easy - no real plan! Go to gym 3-4 times a week to either - do a PB if fired up, have a fun 'arm wrestle' row with Vanessa, Gail, Robert or any other unsuspecting gym person I can rope in, or simply get up some metres for TA practising long distance stuff. I'm a very unstructured trainer saved only by past rowing experiences to fall back on!

8. Whats the proper procedure for lighting a barbeque?
Throw some petrol on it, then get a mate to light it.

9. What motivates you to row each (second) day?
Thats easy - Taff Attack metres and being able to bang on about it in another long winded post from 'Aussietaff'. Also to see what I'm ultimately capable of.

10. Whats your greatest sporting achievement, proudest moment?
Probably winning the 1973 State Championship Division 2 eights by 3 feet!!! We were really putting in the big ones at the end with the other crew alongside being so close (and doing the same).

11. Favourite 'Taff Attack' memory/moment?
Has to be Chris's "Agh Wah" post - I'm still laughing! Captures my sense of humour to a tee.
Have to also mention
Speedy's 5:47 - spine tingling (and so laid back in the telling)
Niall's 7:13 after I encouraged him to go for the low DF - my coaching reputation hung in the balance!! Thanks Niall for not bombing out!
Teaming up with Carla to get to 500000m
Doing a sub 18 min 5K to top Chris's 18:14 and enjoying his congratulatory post!

12. Who would you like to see interviewed next?
Speedy

13. Have you ever stolen anything?
Yes - uh uh here comes Carole and Mike with that outstanding warrant. "It
was a tough neighbourhood officer and all us kids was nicking fings".

14. If I was to say 'odd shaped balls', whats the first thing that jumps into your head?
Duh?! Absolutely nothing except odd shaped balls !!!

15. What questions do you wish I had asked?
This was gruelling enough

Niall would like to know the following:
16. What is the best advice you’ve been given which has resulted in the most significant improvement in your erg times?
Improvement in TECHNIQUE - S10PS courtesy of PaulS posts, low DF (117 for me) courtesy of numerous authors. Improvements in TIMES have mainly come from within thus far, simply the desire to better the last PB. The somewhat tongue-in-cheek phrase "Go out Hard, Pick it up in the Middle and Sprint Home" I actually find quite motivating as a 'strategy'! Improvements in times come from a combination of - fitness, technique and will.

17. If you could choose two people from any time in history to spend an evening with (I’m thinking dinner and drinks here and not boudoir!), who would they be and why?
Sir Ernest Shackleton and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Shacks because his great escape (no lives lost) from that ill-fated Antarctic expedition in 1915/16 was indeed the stuff of legends and Catherine because she is a Welsh goddess. With Shacks at the table no-one else would (or needs to) get a word in - I could listen to him yarning away all night and look at Cathy at the same time ... ah heaven !!! Wonder if she is still erging (how else could she look the way she does) and wants to join TA .... see what you can do Chris.

18. For the record, what are your short term (this season) and long term rowing objectives?
This season - finish in the top 10% for 9 out of 10 Ranking categories for my age group (forget the 500m !) and in the top 20 for Nonathlon (not sure about this one - not familiar with 'opposition'). Long term - Do a sub 2:50 FM, a sub 1:20 HM, sub 37:00 10K, sub 6:40 2K.

19. When you’re not erging and running and being an all round super athlete, do you have time for any hobbies?
Yes - hobbies include being interviewed, guest appearances etc!!! Seriously though, being sort of retired frees up a lot of spare time which at the moment seems to be soaked up nicely without the need for other hobbies thus far.

20. What made you move to Australia (not enough sheep in Wales for you??)? {see question 13 above - chris}
Dad got a job in Brisbane, Australia when I was 16 so out we all came by boat via the Suez Canal in 1966. What an experience - 4 weeks of magic on that ship. Haven't been back since so looking forward to some long overdue reunions!

Well done Top Man!

Great interview. I love these!!

I know, I keep reading the answers to questions 8 and 13 - I just keep laughing

Martin
Luved the interview

Chippy.

Rickster
Good luck in Manchester with the Squash.

Chippy.

Sorry coach, let you down today .
Didn't get the mental focus right and went out at 1:45 for the first 300m (34spm) and this basically killed me. I ended up stopping for about 20 seconds after 900m and then realised I wouldn't learn anything from the splits unless I finished the piece. Limped home in 7:38 and completely disappointed in myself.

In addition to the mental difficiency I think my warmup was too string. I tried out some different ideas during the 100m sprints of my 2K warmup and don't think I let myself rest enough before the time trial. I'm also wondering whether my break in rowing (none since Monday lunchtime) did me no favours as I felt uncomfortable in the row and lacked the relaxed, controlled strokes of Monday. This are petty quibbles though. The bottom line is I wasn't strong enough mentally and I need to turn this round for Sunday.

Should I do a gentle row tomorrow (10K?) or leave it completely until Sunday?

If you're interested, my heart rate graph for today can be seen here (the graph shows the 2K warmup, the "time trial" 2K and then 2x3K to cool down).

Splits were:

01:45.7 (34spm)
01:44.0 (35)
01:45.2 (34)
01:47.5 (31)
01:48.5 (33)
01:48.1 (31)
01:50.1 (30)
01:51.1 (30)
02:48.4 (18) ; this is where I stopped for 20 secs or so!
01:56.2 (28)
01:57.0 (28)
01:57.0 (28)
01:54.5 (29)
01:54.5 (29)
01:58.8 (30)
01:57.2 (28)
01:51.3 (30)
01:53.9 (29)
01:50.6 (30)
01:51.5 (32)


As you can see my stroke rate is lower than Monday's PB which was around 31spm.

That's great Speedy, many thanks for the advice. I can see (excuse the pun) how this would help prepare me mentally. It's true what they say, it's as much mental as it is physical (maybe even moreso). We should spend time training our minds aswell as our bodies. Interesting concept...

Hi Niall, too bad about the last row but thats rowing - some rows great, some OK and some yuk ! Thats why we need to do a number of 2K'ers - not every one will be great. You have now probably found your first 300m pace 'limit' for now, thats all. Had you had time to do the sub 3:30 1K that would have told you whether 1:45's are feasible, yesterday's row was its replacement. My inclination is to do another 2K going out a bit slower and make that last one ancient history but thats only my 'gut' feeling and what I would do, over to you for what you feel is best Niall.

Martin

2K it is then!!!

I can sleep easy now...

Good man Niall . Speedy's advice re focus is spot on, bit harder at a gym but try to incorporate it if possible.

Just a thought - when I'm training for shorter distance PB's and I find the first 500m. say, isn't working out (i.e. I'm dying fast) because pace is a new 'PB' itself then I simply pull out of the piece, wander round the gym to recover, get back mental focus and do the piece again rather than flog through the rest of it. After all, its only a training session. Learned that from one of my coaches - every time we did a crappy 500m piece he would stop us immediately he could see it wasn't any good and get us to refocus rather than waste energy on a poor piece.

Martin

PS There is a school of thought that says 'Never pull out of a piece otherwise it becomes a habit' but I haven't found that to be the case in practise personally. "Flogging a dead horse' is much more draining mentally and physically in my opinion

Hi Chris, how's the BIRC training going for Chippy, Bernie Snr and you ?

I'm looking forward to Speedy's interview after BIRC.

Mike, congrats on passing the Niall/Bernie combo. I saw an episode of "The Apprentice" last night in which the teams had to come up with a recruitment campaign for the NYPD - did you feature at all ?

Martin

Taffs,
Since a good portion of you are getting ready for BIRC, and the meters won't be put in so much this weekend, I was thinking about doing a eight hour erg piece for the lot of you. Help us to keep in the hunt with MIT.

I will dedicate this to all of you who are BIRC'ing it this weekend. The best to all of you.

Speedy

Dwayne, you're crazy! Have fun!

I've finished my rowing until after the race, now. Actually, I didn't do any yesterday or Wednesday because I was busy programming. So today I just did what the UK forum know as a "Hywel session", named after the guy that introduced them to the forum (as far as I know).

Basically, it's 6 x 1:20 at desired race pace. Rest between reps starts at 1 minute, with the aim being to reduce the rest by 10 seconds each week, second week or whatever.

My 2K race pace is around 1:44 for my best time, so I struck out aiming at 1:40s. Hehe, a bit ambitious I think. I managed the first 3 intervals on pace, but I had to drop it on the final three.

Sorry (again) to report that my lead up to BIRC hasn't gone to plan. This time it was nothing to do with mental hardness or fitness (per se). My shoulders still felt fatigued from yesterday's row so I decided not to do any rowing and fully rest for Sunday.

It's not ideal I know so my plan for Sunday will be back to my PB strategy last week of maintaining 1:48 for 1500. Depending on how I feel, I'll look to up the pace from 500m out rather than 250m on Monday. That should give me a new PB of under 7:10.

The key for me is to make sure I don't go out too fast, stick to the plan and then appraise how I feel going into the fourth quarter.

We'll see how it goes...

Thanks to everyone for their support and help, it's been great. I just hope I can turn it into a PB.