Yesterday I was out of the coaching launch and back in my single. Less than two weeks until the World Masters Regatta in Banyoles, Spain. From tomorrow, three guests arrive, and training (and tinkering with my boat) will be much harder. The Session Plan Warm up Three short bursts Six two-minute pieces at race pace, with…
24th May Saturday 2025 I have not posted for a very long time. Life has been complicated. I said my next blog post was going to be on preparation, and I still have a lot to say about this. I shall get this posted, but had not felt like updating the blog, nor was I able…
When coaching for Masters events, I regularly remind people that winning doesn’t matter. It’s not the main point of what they are doing. What does matter is staying in the game – being a contender.
Getting fit enough to qualify for an event; avoiding and dealing with injury; maintaining and refining your technical skills; learning how to compensate for a gradual reduction in strength and stamina as you move up the age-group ladder…
You will learn about what a heightened awareness of the core can do for your leg-drive; and why it can be helpful to visualise of the power of your legs as balanced pistons. Posture, breathing, cadence, balancing intensity, recovery – these aspects will be covered also. On top of the essential base-building of endurance and power, their focussed approach will enhance your rhythm, flow and efficiency on the water.
Early in 2021 my plans for a season of Sculling-with-Yoga courses at Bergerac had to be abandoned due to the French travel restrictions. So I decided to turn, instead, to a training programme of my own. Less preaching and more practising. I would enter some of my favourite Masters events, try to get myself fit, and see what happened.
This Monsters slogan sounds challenging, but who is being challenged here? And by whom? Is this a message from the older generation to the young? A glimpse of a revolution brewing? Ot is it just an oblique health warning from some anxious Medical Officer?
This was definitely not how 2020 was supposed to be. Back in 2019, we had reckoned that Brexit would be OK for UK visitors to France, despite some new red tape at borders and perhaps some airline disruption. But then came Covid19 and a succession of French and UK restrictions with overlapping requirements. Result – chaos. Nobody knew whether or when they would be able to come to France, or what would happen when they returned.
No sports-oriented blog should be without its Coronovirus Lock Down story, so here is mine. Back in 2019 I had booked in for the month-long Advanced Yoga Teacher Training Course at the famous Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Ashram, Neyyar Dam, in Kerala, starting on 9th Feb 2020.
As the date approached, the epidemic was well under way, with Wuhan in lockdown, the Diamond Princess going round in circles at Yokohama, and three reported cases in Kerala State.
Since my wins at the 2019 World Masters, I’ve often been asked about my Nelo boats. What do they feel like to use? What do I think of them? Why did I buy so many for coaching with? Are they any good for racing? The questions sound simple, but the answers can be quite complicated.…
In October 19th I raced the Men’s Grand Master Singles (50+ division) in the 2019 Head of the Charles regatta in Boston. This is said to be the largest rowing event in the world, with more than 350,000 spectators and about 11,000 rowers taking part in 71 events over the weekend.
It was the first time I had raced a single on this famously difficult course, so expectations couldn’t be set too high. I had two objectives which I thought were realistic…
I’ve only just recovered from my trip to Budapest for the World Masters. It was much harder work than Sarasota 2018, which I did the easy way (flew to Florida, had a top-spec boat delivered by my helpful suppliers, and took part in one event). Budapest was a different story. For a start, there was…
Last September a well-known coach in the Thames Tideway rowing world, came to Bergerac for a week’s training. This included an introduction to rowing-oriented yoga plus individual sessions on the river and the RP3.
In the Yoga studio, we zoned in on the subject of Sit Bones. These are often discussed in relation to Yoga, and in cycling also, but are often overlooked in a rowing context…
Yoga postures are not “how far back can I get my leg?” but rather “where’s the end of the range I can effectively USE my leg, and how can I extend that?”
Yoga breath work and mindfulness practices are there to help you regain your ability to regulate yourself when performance conditions (race day or simply morning practice when you were up all night writing a paper) hijack your nervous system….
On 15th March, Shiplake College did something incredible. They won the Schools Head of The River race, over the Championship course from Chiswick to Putney (roughly 7km with the stream) in a new record time. Not only did they set a new record: they were one of a group of three who finished within a…
I’ve just raced in two big events, the World Masters in Florida and the Pairs Head in London. Here’s a brief account of how I got on in these two very different Masters environments, plus some thoughts about Masters racing generally. What is it that makes it so interesting, and so different to mainstream competitive…
