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When life takes over – the Girl is off the River again

Apr 16th, 2013 by

The more observant amongst you will have noticed that things have been a bit quiet lately over at Girl on the River. It’s not that I’ve abandoned my lovely readers; it’s just that I’ve been a bit busy with other stuff.

Now, obviously rowing is important. Very important. And rarely more so than at the time of year when the evenings get longer and warmer and regatta season beckons. What I’ve had to come to terms with in the last month, though, is that sometimes other things prove more important. I know, who knew?

So just at the moment, for family reasons, I’m having to take a little break from rowing, probably for a few months. I can’t deny it’s a challenge, and there are times when I gaze longingly at the river of an evening, wishing I were there. But I’m reliably informed that the river will still be there when I return, even if the temperatures aren’t as glorious or the evenings so perfect.

How the club will manage without the frankly Amazonian strength that I provide to my crew is another matter. Let’s just hope they keep eating those flapjacks.

 

 

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Snow, tears and tantrums – but the show must go on

Mar 25th, 2013 by

This is how most of us felt when we heard the news that the weekend Heads of the River races had been cancelled. It wasn’t entirely unexpected – the rumours had been flying round Twitter for hours, and the weather forecasts for once agreed that it was to be perishingly cold, snowy and windy to boot. But still, nothing could quell the crushing sense of disappointment.

For some – namely the businesses who relied on the events to earn a crust – it was more than disappointing. What about all those HORR and Vets’ Head T-shirts that Rock the Boat had ordered in? And what about the photographers, suddenly finding themselves with nothing to photograph (and no photographs to sell)? There’s no denying that they were the real losers.

So, did they really have to cancel it? Well, stepping out into a biting wind yesterday, safely wrapped up in coat, boots and hat, I stopped to wonder for a moment what it would be like to be sitting for hours in these conditions on a river, clad only in lycra, waiting for the race to start, and I silently gave thanks that I wasn’t getting frostbite. Better to suffer from disappointment than from hypothermia.

But did they really have to cancel it so far in advance? Well, again, I was glad of this when we managed to get our deposit back on the minibus. Getting to London can be a costly business, and getting there only to find you’ve got to go home again without racing would be ten times worse.

And what about all that training that’s gone to waste? Well, here’s the thing. It hasn’t. Those of us who trained for the heads are fitter and stronger as we head into regatta season. That training is all in the bank and I don’t regret a freezing minute of it.

So, the show must go on. You never know, one day the temperatures might even rise and we might row in – just imagine – warm weather. Let that thought cheer you and keep you going.

 

 

 

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Advice on rowing the Tideway – Girl on the River needs your help

Mar 20th, 2013 by

Girl on the River rocks the Rock the Boat Vets’ Head t-shirt

So this weekend it’s finally happening:  I shall be rowing the Tideway for the first time, at the Vesta Vets’ Head – four long miles of the Thames, following the Boat Race course downstream. Like everyone else, we’ve invested a fair bit of time and sweat into this event, and have a shiny new race plan all ready to go. Heck, I’ve even gone crazy and bought the T-shirt.

But for all the training and the preparation, it’s still my first time, and it’s pretty damned daunting. So for once, instead of me doing the talking, I’m going to throw this one open to the floor. So, tell me:

 

What do I need to know?

What should I expect?

How will it be different from doing a long piece on the River Wye (other than the view, obviously)?

Which is the hardest part? The longest stretch?

And, above all, what are your top tips (food, fashion, best places for a pre-race emergency loo stop, mental strength, whatever)?

Oh, and if you see me on Sunday (we’re crew #190), give me a shout. I might not wave back, but I promise I’ll smile. Even if it looks like a grimace.

 

 

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So you row… but what else can you do?

Mar 19th, 2013 by

Rowing is, without a doubt, one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. It challenges me on every level – mental, physical, emotional – and I am endlessly in awe of those who row at elite level. But if that kind of hero worship weren’t enough, now I discover that elite athletes aren’t just good at their sport. A study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology seems to show that that they also excel at cognitive tasks.  In a series of experiments the athletes were quicker at memory tasks than other mere mortals, and women athletes in particular had a facility for speedy mental agility.

So, tell me. You can row… but what else can you do? I want to hear all about your other skills, however random. Can you recite the Kings and Queens of England in under a minute? Do you hold the Guinness World Record for hula hooping? Can you throw a boomerang and actually get it back? Pick a lock? Recite Pi to 4,000? Or has rowing taken over your life that you literally don’t do anything else?

 

 

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He’s a record breaker: the amazing Charlie Pitcher

Mar 15th, 2013 by

Charlie greeting his wife and children at the end of the challenge

There was a time when completing an endurance event for charity was Big News and would have people immediately reaching for their wallets. The fact is, though, that rarely a day goes by when news of yet another person or crew embarking on a tough challenge to raise money for a worthy cause. Heck, when even Davina McCall has done it you know it’s going to be hard to make your adventure stand out enough to get people donating.

So why is it, then, that I’m so impressed by Charlie Pitcher, enough to be writing about him for the second time (I blogged about him here, back in September)? Well, it’s partly the charities he’s raising money for. One of them is Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children. One of my children was once admitted to GOSH as an outpatient and it was a truly humbling experience to see the kids there. The other charity is C Group, which helps to re-educate injured Royal Marines and seeks to get them back into work.

The main reason, though, that I have felt compelled to write about Charlie is that as soon as I heard about him I had a feeling that he was just the kind of extremist nutter I could relate to. And boy, was I right. Charlie has not only completed the challenge of rowing solo across the Atlantic – at the age of 50 he just smashed the record by a massive five days, nine hours and 11 minutes. Blimey.

Along the way he turned turtle twice, had something of a physical meltdown and at times averaged over 90 miles a day. 90 miles a day. Rowing solo. Think about it.

So let’s have a massive round of applause for Charlie. Better still, go to his website and donate. Go on, you know you want to.

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Nobody likes a quitter

Mar 13th, 2013 by

“Never give in, never give in – never, never, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in.”

This uncompromising quotation, from a wartime speech by Sir Winston Churchill, is pinned to the wall of our rowing club gym, and has kept me going through many a tough erg session when my body and mind were screaming at me to stop.

It’s there on the wall because giving in is just not an option in rowing. You keep going, through pain, discomfort, discouragement and – at times – humiliation – because giving in tells your crewmates that you might give in during a race. Giving in breaks the trust, and crew racing is all about trust. If you’re a quitter no one will want to row with you.

Except that last night I did quit. Seven minutes into an erg session I stopped. Just like that. I got off the erg, walked out of the gym and went home. It’s never happened before. I hope it’ll never happen again. But the point is it did happen.

So what caused someone who isn’t a quitter to quit? Well, it was partly that I felt terrible. I was as weak as water and felt wobbly, even hours after I’d got home. I clearly wasn’t quite right and needed a rest, which I’m having today.

But it wasn’t just that. I’ve kept going through plenty of sessions when I’ve been off my form and my better judgment has told me to stop. No. What was different last night was that I just didn’t have the fight in me. A tough few months and a run of sleepless nights had messed with my head. Even before the session started I was in the wrong frame of mind, feeling negative and slouching over the machine rather than sitting up. About a minute into the session I had tears smarting in my eyes. I was defeated even before the fight had begun. All of which goes to show that rowing is as much about mental strength as physical strength.

But here’s the thing. There are plenty of times when it would have been easier to give up rowing than to continue it: when I’ve lost yet another race; when my technique seems to be getting worse rather than better; when I can’t remember what warm fingers feel like – but I’m still here, stroke after stroke after stroke. So I guess I’m not, at heart, a quitter. All I can do is to pick myself up, dust myself off and climb back on that ruddy machine. As I say, giving in isn’t an option.

 

 

 

 

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Powered by cake: the Monmouth ladies step it up

Mar 11th, 2013 by

Over the last few chilly weeks, when our outings have involved biting winds and chapped hands, our women’s squad has been motivated by one thing (other than the naked desire to win): the prospect of reviving ourselves with coffee and cake when we debrief in the clubhouse afterwards. Taking it in turns to do the baking, our post-rowing confections have included gloriously sticky lemon drizzle, chocolate muffins studded with chocolate drops, immaculately professional Victoria sponge and richly indulgent chocolate brownies.

Last week it was the turn of the founder of the House of Campion, whose designer bags can often be seen on the arms of the Monmouth glitterati. We’d been promised flapjacks and were startled to find, on the ceremonial Opening of the Cake Tin, a neat collection of brownies, definitely spiked with something delicious and moistened by juicy prunes.

“Ah”, explained the Mary Berry of the Three Seat, “The flapjacks were too crumbly… so I fed them to the chickens.”

“Lucky chickens”, said we.

Lucky, indeed. For behold what the flapjacks did for their laying potential. On the right, a pre-flapjack egg. But on the left… an egg laid by the self-same chicken after consuming a batch of the crumbly flapjacks.

This, needless to say, has got us thinking. Just imagine if we started including these flapjacks as a regular part of our training diet. Our muscles would bulge. We would grow by at least a foot. We would, inevitably, destroy the opposition.

So watch out for us, people. If you’re at a regatta this summer and find that the sun has gone in, it’s probably just the Monmouth Giants blocking out the light.

You have been warned…

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Boat Race competition – and the winner is…

Mar 8th, 2013 by

I am delighted to announce that the winner of my BNY Mellon Boat Race Which Blue Are You? competition to win a dark blue or light blue scarf is … (*drum roll*) …

Cambridge supporter, Lydia (aka @scullinggirl), who wins a light blue, Cambridge scarf!

Although I chose the winner at random (assigning each entrant a number and then using an online random number generator to pick a number), I have to say I loved Lydia’s reason for choosing Cambridge: “because Oxford had rubbish coffee shops when I went shopping with my mother in the 80s”.

She is, of course, right about this. The only place you could get a half decent cup of coffee then was, perversely, in the tea shop Rosie Lee’s on the High St., where you would be distracted from your beverage-drinking by tourists spooning clotted cream into their cups of tea (under the mistaken impression that that was what constituted a cream tea – yeurgh! – all those fat globules floating on the surface *shudder*)

Anyway, I digress. You may be interested to know that Oxford won 65% of the votes to Cambridge’s 35% (could that be an omen?)

Reasons ranged from romantic (a schoolgirl crush on one of the Oxford crew members) to aesthetic (the light blue / aqua shades of the Cambridge crew attracting a lot of love). Some were rowing-related (a drunken win at Oxford City Regatta), but my favourite by far was, needless to say, cake related, from my new friend Lisa who chose Cambridge partly because of the colour, but partly because “there is a lovely blog currently being penned by some the lady’s boat race crew (Killing two birds with one blade). Their latest post is about the creation of a post-training session chocolate cake … with gratuitous cake photos …” A blog combining rowing with cake is always a winner, in my books.

So there you have it. Congratulations, Lydia. Thank you, BNY Mellon for providing the scarf. And good luck, Oxford and Cambridge. May the best crew win. Especially if it’s Oxford.

 

 

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Competition! Declare your allegiance and win a Boat Race scarf

Mar 5th, 2013 by

No prizes for guessing which side I’m on…

I’m getting pretty excited about this year’s Boat Race, which is taking place on 31st March. For a start, exactly a week earlier I shall be racing the full four mile course (in reverse) for the first time myself, at the Vets’ Head (on the same day, incidentally, that the women’s Boat Race is taking place), so by the time the Boat Race rolls around I’ll know all about the pain and determination involved.

The other reason for my enthusiasm is that I’m unashamedly an Oxford supporter, dark blue to my core. I really, really want Oxford to lift the trophy this year, especially after last year’s shenanigans, and will be willing them on, stroke by stroke, for every agonising minute of the race.

For those of you who don’t know much about the Boat Race, here are a few key facts:

  • It is an annual contest between crews from Oxford and Cambridge universities
  • The course is a painful 6.8 km (4 miles) between Putney and Mortlake on the Tideway in London
  • The first Boat Race took place in Henley in 1829
  • There has only been one dead heat, in 1877
  • Cambridge have won 81 times and Oxford 76 times
  • Cambridge wear light blue and Oxford wear dark blue. That’s just how it is.

There’s nothing duller than watching a race or match when you don’t mind who wins, so even if you don’t have a particular allegiance to either university I’m going to encourage you to take sides, in the nicest possible way, and pick a crew to support.

To help to motivate you, the sponsors of the event, BNY Mellon†, have kindly donated a Which Blue Are You? scarf (which I can vouch for it being fabulously cosy) to one of my readers. All you have to do is post below, or follow and tweet me at @girlontheriver, saying (a) which crew you are supporting and (b) why. Later in the week I will pick a winner at random and they will win a scarf of their choice – dark blue for Oxford and light blue for Cambridge.

If you’re not sure which to pick, there’s a handy quiz on the Which Blue Are You? website which will tell you whether you’re more Oxford or Cambridge in your soul (it got it right for me, so it must be accurate).

So, go on, get voting. Let the games begin.

† Official info from BNY Mellon:

BNY Mellon combines skills in Investment Management and Investment Services to deliver powerful investment solutions for our many clients around the world. We employ more than 49,000 staff worldwide and have over US$1.4 trillion in assets under management and US$26.2 trillion in assets under custody & administration, making us one of the largest financial services companies globally (data as at 31/12/12).

What’s more, we’re the oldest financial corporation in the United States, tracing our origins to the establishment of the Bank of New York in 1784 by Alexander Hamilton.

 Learn more about BNY Mellon at www.bnymellon.com

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Tevasphere – more than just another running shoe

Mar 4th, 2013 by

As most of you will have guessed by now, I’m a little prone to overdoing it. True to form, when I was invited to a running event to roadtest a brand new trainer, I accepted without a second thought. No matter that I’d been released from physio a mere two days before the event. No matter that the running in question was a muddy, hilly course around Hampstead Heath when I hadn’t run a step in the three months since my ankle injury. No matter that all of the journos at the event were superfit runners, including personal trainers and multiple marathon runners. If someone sets me a challenge, I’ll take it.

The reason I was so keen to try this shoe and risk my newly-healed ankle was the shoe being showcased  – the Tevasphere Speed – was, unlike many running shoes on the market, the result of serious, scientific research rather than just advertising puff. It was four years in the making, involving the most R&D of any piece of equipment that Teva had ever made. It went through 22 prototypes and was tested on men and women, not just in a lab or on a treadmill, but running on real ground, including hills.

Teva claim that it’s the most stable shoe they’ve ever tested. Designed to be a hybrid between a stable shoe and a minimal shoe, it has a lowered, spherical heel, together with pods on either side.

What most interested me was the claim that it decreases braking force when running downhill and when tired. For someone like me, whose running involves a lot of hills and a huge loss of speed and efficiency on the downhills, this was right up my street.

The Teva claims were, I have to say, greeted with a fair amount of scepticism from the assembled journos, most of whom considered themselves (with some justification) experts on running technique, but all of the information was backed up with facts, figures, graphs and spreadsheets and to a relatively novice runner it was convincing enough for me to head out on to the Heath.

And the verdict? I have to say it felt pretty good. It was a bit of a shock to the system to be sliding around in the London mud but it felt comfortable and secure, and it wasn’t long before I felt really confident on the rough ground – enough to stop giving my ankle any thought. I can’t say for sure whether that’s because it was – as Teva claimed – stable enough to keep a pony in, but it was a good start.

I’d quite like to give the trail version (which is more of a high top) a go on the rough trails around here, but even the Speed version proved more than a match for one of the more rural London parks.

What else do you need to know? Oh yes, that it launches today, so you can be really cutting edge if you get yourself a pair. It’s available from Cotswold Outdoor – here’s the range – and prices range from £90 to £120.

 

 

 

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