Row a Marathon! Are you crazy?

The word Marathon had only ever been used in my vocabulary with the word ‘Movie’ in front of it, involving the delight of plonking on the lounge for hours on end.

But, a year ago I used the word Marathon with a Half in front of it, and accomplished 21,097m on the Concept 2 Indoor rower, whilst on an adrenalin fuelled whim I said “hey maybe next I’ll try a Marathon” (crazy).

I never thought it would come to fruition as I was always postponing the date due to surgery and, to be honest, lack of time and commitment. I needed to set a date and stick to it. I also had added pressure by saying I would row for charity*, a little local girl Sophia who needed surgery in USA to correct her rare limb deficiency, donations still welcome and read more of her story here. Being a woman of my word I had to get it happening.

I procrastinated a bit more, trained for short distance events like the 1 Minute Challenge and Australian Indoor Rowing Championships and it was while I was at this event in Brisbane that I saw an opportunity. The host gym Urban Rowing was holding a Christmas Marathon Day on 13th December 2015, so I decided I would hold my own event in NSW on the same day.

It was only a month away so it was time to get in some longer distance training on the rower in preparation. So depending what time I could fit into my busy life I would do anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours, 3 times a week. When I did the 2 hours I rowed 24,000m it was hard but doable and this was to be my longest training row.

Now when I say I only had a month to train, I had been doing A LOT of training before this so I just increased it to more of the longer distance rows. (The experts recommend a minimum 4 month training program, so don’t go from zero to hero in a month.)

Finding a venue was easy, the amazing owners of my gym EnVie Fitness were happy to let me host the event at their studio, as I didn’t know anyone else who would row the full Marathon with me, I attempted to fill 2 other rowers as a continuous marathon relay. So taking advantage of the gym Christmas party and a few slightly intoxicated members I recruited enough people to commit to rowing 2k or 5k or even 10k and more.

As I confirmed the relay rowers more and more started pulling out and made the lead up to the event which made me very anxious, whilst some had good reasons for cancelling it still didn’t help. But calling upon friends is the best thing a girl can do and they came, stayed, filled in gaps, rowed twice or even 3 times and made my row a lot less stressful.

Now MY Marathon row, let me tell you all about it. It started more worried about music and technology rather than the distance, my vintage Ipod failed to charge and my carefully selected Row Ho Ho playlist was never to be heard.

The starting line-up, Amanda, myself and Jules

The starting line-up, Amanda, myself and Jules

I started as schedule at the stroke of 7am, trying to chat to my fellow rowers rather than focusing on the time and numbers, it was great to chat to friends and meet new people who I hadn’t got to know from the gym previously.

Alita the owner of EnVie on the left and Coby on the right doing their bit.

Alita one of the owners of EnVie Woonona on the left and Coby on the right doing their bit for the relays.

The first 18,000m was, dare I say, relatively cruisey, and from then on hitting each milestone was an achievement in metres and in time, 21,097 half way, over 2 hours then became my longest ever row, when you see the numbers tick down from 20,000 to 19,999 and especially when it went to 9,999 that was epic. But the realisation that 10k meant nearly an hour to go at my current pace was hard to grasp.

Pleased to see some festive spirit from Kate on the right and our token male Scotty "Unreal" who says he really needs to work more on his cardio.

Pleased to see some festive spirit from Kate on the right and our token male Scotty “Unreal” who says he really needs to work more on his cardio.

With about 8k to go, shit started to get real, my body hated me, my mind wanted it finished, I couldn’t pull harder if I tried and the more I looked at the estimated finish time the more it was creeping up to 3 hours 40 minutes. There was my amazing pit crew at the end Kim and Kate who were adjusting my foot hold up and down to change positions slightly, I was lifting alternate buttocks off the seat on every other stroke for some rear end relief, I was taking many sips of drinks and all too often I would just stop for a second here and there but never putting the handle down, it was getting really really tough mentally and physically.

I rowed for a while hunched over so I wouldn’t look at the screen just to get a few more metres done. To my surprise this seemed to work. Then the counting down of every kilometre, when it ticked over 3 hours I was feeling some relief that the home stretch was in sight. I just kept rowing. My mantra was “still less painful than 3 days on a horse”, I’m still yet to blog about that experience and in saying that this was a different kind of pain, more intense but I kept repeating it to myself and occasionally out loud (weirdo).

It was around this time that my darling husband brought the kids in to the gym, this put a little pep in my stroke, but it was short lived.

The pain is real, but the end is nigh. My cheer squad kept me going.

I had now stopped talking to my rowing buddies, a new lady got on to finish 1 of the relays and I hadn’t met her before, I said “I’m really sorry but I’m not feeling very chatty right now” (how rude).

There was a small crowd of dedicated supporters to whom I’m very thankful, some not exactly yelling what I wanted to hear like “go harder” but knowing they were there to support me was more important.

Such a welcomed distraction when Ella climbed on next to me.

Such a welcomed distraction when Ella climbed on next to me.

With less than 1000m to go my daughter Ella climbed on the rower next to me to finish off 1 of the relay rows, completing about the last 300m, this inspired me to give it all I had, but when I went to push harder with my legs I felt on the verge of a cramp in my quads so I calmed down a bit but still faster than I was going, at this stage I was aiming for sub 3 hours 42 minute but I was just happy to be so close to the finish.

The pain and relief of THE END

The pain and relief of THE END

And then, THE END.

I had made it, my amazing pit crew removed my feet from the straps and I waddled like a little old lady to a mat on the floor and lay down collapsed. EVERYTHING hurt.

Get me off this thing. Thanks Allison and Kim for helping me escape.

Get me off this thing. Thanks Allison and Kim for helping me escape.

I just lay there for a few minutes feeling sore and sick to the point of almost vomiting.

Once I peeled myself off the floor the enormity of what I had done still hadn’t really sunk in, it was all pure relief of being off that damn rower.

I'm dying here, but still have my festive spirit. Row Ho Ho.

I’m dying here, but still have my festive spirit. Row Ho Ho.

Here’s my acceptance speech for my virtual award:

I would like to say a massive thanks to Alex and Alita from EnVie Fitness Woonona for allowing me to take over their studio (again). To all the amazing people who came along and rowed you will never understand how much your support means to me. To Kate and Kim for hanging around and helping me as well as filling in rowing gaps in the relays where it was needed and especially for your support at the painful end. To my deer husband (yes it’s spelt right for us) for you never ending

And the winner is ….. everyone who finishes a Marathon. I’ll take this certificate and display it with pride.

support of my crazy ambitions and coming to cheer me on “row fatty row” (it is an approved cheer) and for my adorable children yelling “row mummy row” before wandering off to play with your friends, I can only imagine how boring it was to watch for 10 seconds but my little angel Ella who rowed with me at the end almost made me cry and she still brags about how she beat me.

 

So for those who care for the numbers, here are my stats:

Distance 42,195m
Time 3 hours 41 minutes and 56.6 seconds
Calories burned 2149
Average HR 154
Max HR 171

In conclusion, would I do it again, well on the day, and the week that followed I would have said no way, no chance, no how …… but some time has passed since that fateful day and I am contemplating that it could be an annual event, never say never.

Thanks for reading
Row Ho Ho

* From this event alone we raised over $1000 for Save Sophia’s Leg Charity Appeal but still so much more is needed.

1 last picture to share, the next generation of rowers.

1 last picture to share, the next generation of rowers.

My dirty little secret

Aaahhhh school holidays, a time that some mums love and some dread. I sit on the fence when it comes to school holidays. I enjoy doing the fun stuff with the kids, movies, play dates, lunching and just hanging at home and love the lack of schedule, no yelling and screaming to put shoes on grab bags, jumpers, hats (I’m sure you get the picture). But even with all the fun some days you just need an hour to yourself to have a shower, do a workout, plan or prepare dinner, I’m sure there are some mums nodding along with me (please tell me you are). And I am blessed that I can take the kids to work with me when I need to (the perks of working for family).

This holidays I have taken things to a whole new level of “falling off the wagon”.

The last day of school was a Friday which also coincided with my husband going on an overseas trip and a 7am drop off at the airport, this was all fine, followed by kids dropped at school/daycare on time and me heading off to work. On the way to work I realised I needed fuel in my car so I stopped to fill ‘er up. Well the sales and marketing people at Coles saw me coming, 2 family blocks of chocolate for $7 what a bargain and $2 large bags of chips, “I’ll have 2 bags of those thanks” after all it was Friday and people might pop in over the weekend (this is what I do to justify it to myself). And there began the downhill spiral that was the next 10 days.

On the way home from work I did a quick run to the bottle shop for some supplies for the week and promptly bragged jokingly about it on Instagram.

With a post that went something like this "Should be almost enough to get me through the 1st week of the #schoolholidays

With a post that went something like this “Should be almost enough to get me through the 1st week of the #schoolholidays

Whilst I won’t bore you with the details of every morsel that I ate and drank, I’ll give you a list of what I can remember about my total debacle of a week* (*10 days).

3 family blocks of Cadbury chocolate
Somewhere in the vicinity of 4 large bags of chips
Half a litre of Ice Cream
2x Schnitzel Cotoletta (this is a chicken schnitzel topped with Bolognese meat and melted cheese, I didn’t even know it existed, epic find)
1 loaf of Sourdough in about 3 days often doused in butter and peanut butter (up to 3-4 pieces at a time)
Copious amounts of other bread products
KFC twister and Crusher
Movie popcorn (I shared it, because that makes it all better)
Double choc-top (because a single just wasn’t enough and it was barely past breakfast)
Several Frozen cokes
A bottle of champagne every night and 2 a night over this last weekend (I’m not an alcoholic, they go to meetings)
Late night cheese and crackers

And there was much more; many Chai lattes, a few Iced Chocolates, cakes, biscuits (that didn’t even taste that good), burgers with the whole bun on (gasp).

I was mindfully eating poorly at almost every meal. Sort of defeated the purpose of the last few weeks in cutting out sugar from my cups of Tea.

I’m not blaming any 1 thing for this out of control week* I was still a functioning adult, the kids were still well looked after mainly because of my dirty little secret.

The really bad shit comes out after dark.

I try not to eat the bad food in front of the kids, you know to set a good example and all that. When they ask for desert I like to respond with fruit and proceed to list everything that we have, they can also have yoghurt if we have any and on a very rare occasion a tube ice-block. So my house is not a barrage of junk because as you can see I often have no self control. The chocolate wouldn’t even get mentioned until they were fast asleep and really there was no-one to mention it to.

My addiction love of reality TV still continues and the latest season of The Biggest Loser Australia has just started. Whilst I was not in any way as BAD as the show made the contestants out to be, they were inhaling entire pizza’s while sitting alone in a car or consuming litres upon litres of ice-cream for breakfast, having a whole tray of lasagne for lunch that should feed a family, I was my own kind of BAD.

I would have to say this is my longest stint of BAD that I have had in over 5 years. Normally I can manage a good day or 2 in a BAD week, but for some reason I couldn’t get off this downhill spiral. I got to Thursday morning and thought it was almost the weekend, so why start now? Normally I can talk myself out of that mindset but not that day.

I even tampered with my own Typo light box motivational message.

I even tampered with my own Typo light box motivational message.

But amongst all of these BAD food choices I was still exercising and setting goals, in fact setting some big ass goals. 1 of which was commencing training for a Marathon on the Concept 2 Indoor Rowing machine and the other signing up to compete in the primo 2k Rowing event a the upcoming Australian Indoor Rowing Championships (I’ve been retired from that event for the last 6 years). So in line with my new training regime I sat on the rower for an hour, my body was screaming at me, “what are you doing to yourself” but even that didn’t stop me eating crap shortly after.

So what have I gained from eating like a piggy? Well about 3 kilos, a continual bloated feeling and generally feeling quite down in the dumps.

What have I lost? The ability to fit in some of my clothes, my motivation and self esteem.

What am I going to do about it? Dust off the chip crumbs and get myself together. With another week of the school holidays to go and a long weekend thrown in there and a holiday coming up this can’t go on. Stop blaming little speed humps in my life, FOCUS on the positive, because there is a lot to be happy and positive about and maybe re-word my Typo light board. Any suggestion?

School Holiday fun

School Holiday fun with my cherubs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Half Row Ho Ho – completed

To inspire me to get back onto the Indoor rower I needed a goal, something to train for, because as much as I enjoy exercise (most of the time), having a personal challenge motivates me to get out the door and get moving. My second motivation came from raising funds for The Salvation Army Australia for their Christmas Appeal, donate here but don’t delay my appeal page finishes on 17 Jan 2015.

My personal goal to complete attempt a Half Marathon happened on Saturday 20 December 2014. I was pleased to have 3 great people alongside me with my long time rowing Coach Ian Gibson of Pioneer Fitness, Kathy who I met a few years ago through Ian and Kim a long-time friend who nagged me to join HER gym EnVie a few years ago, something I have never regretted.

OUR awesome gym EnVie at Woonona was the host for the event, even allowing a MALE into their all-female environment (Ian tells me he even put the seat down).

 

All happy rowers before and in the very early stages of the Half Row Ho Ho

All happy rowers before and in the very early stages of the Half Row Ho Ho

WARNING – this next part will contain numbers and figures which may only be understood by fellow Indoor Rowers or Concept 2 users.

We kicked off almost at the stroke of 7am (get it stroke, rowing/clock, double meaning and all that).

Ok time to get serious, my goal was to finish in 1 hour 45 minutes which would have been an average pace of 2:29.3 per 500m and strokes per minute around 20-21.

The nervous excitement and adrenalin of the challenge saw me start too hard and I had to talk myself back to a more maintainable pace and slow my stroke pace down, eventually settling at about 2:26 I felt comfortable but was afraid that I was going too hard.

Once I got through the first third of the row I picked up the pace and was maintaining about a 2:24 pace. All was going well until about the 17000m mark and with 4k to go my arms turned to heavy logs and I feared they wouldn’t get me home. By this stage of the event we had a small cheer squad of Gym trainers and fellow rowers who offered some much needed advice, some of which was “use more legs” so focusing back on my technique and getting the very tired legs to do more of the work, I struggled through the next 3k.

With 1000m to go the adrenalin kicked in and excitement that I was soon to get off the damn rower, so I picked up the pace and averaged a 2:19 pace, even pulling under 2:00 for a strong finish.

Here are my splits for all you Rowers out there.

Here are my splits for all you Rowers out there.

End of uber technical details, resume normal programming.

My stats for half marathon on the rower, which for those who don’t know the distance is 21097m, time was 1:41:46.4 with an average pace of 2:24.7 per 500m average stroke rate was 21 spm.

The home stretch during the last 1000m when the going got tough but the adrenaline kept me going.

The home stretch during the last 1000m when the going got tough but the adrenaline kept me going.

It felt mighty good to finish and this could be the post row adrenalin talking but I committed to have a crack at a full MARATHON on the rower 42k at 42 years old. Watch this space, coming to you from a gym sometime in April 2015.

Ahhh pure relief, I finished the event and still have my Santa Hat on a very happy Half Row Ho Ho.

Ahhh pure relief, I finished the event and still have my Santa Hat on a very happy Half Row Ho Ho.

MY – Half Row Ho Ho

Some of my readers will know I have been a fan of the Indoor Rower for the past 7 years.

I recently set myself a personal goal to complete a Half Marathon on the Concept 2 Rower.

I recruited 1 friend just by mentioning it and a few others along the way including my coach Ian Gibson from Pioneer Fitness who is an approved Indoor Rowing Instructor. My goal was to complete it before the new year but I amended that to now be before Christmas (I didn’t want Christmas food belly).

So the dates are set my friend Lisa is completing her HM this Saturday 13 December and I will be completing mine on Saturday 20th December along with my 3 other buddies. The events will be held at my awesome gym EnVie Woonona starting around 7am on each of the days.

Inspired by Australian comedian Hamish Blake’s goal of completing a Marathon on the Rower and raising funds for The Salvation Army, I wanted to make my metres count so I have started a fundraising page on Shout for Good. FYI Hamish completed his Marathon last Sunday 7th December at a cracking pace and for those who know their Rowing numbers it was 42,195m in 2 hours 58 min 26.1 seconds a cracking average pace of 2.06.8 per 500m and an average strokes per minute of 27.

My training over the last few months has been wide and varied including a few distances I have never tackled before a 12k and a 15k straight row and surprisingly did a better average pace on the longer distance. Leave a comment if you want to hear more about my training rows I’m happy to share.

So support me in making Christmas a little brighter for those less fortunate and donate here to support the Salvos and the wonderful work they do. Every little bit counts and adds up, so don’t think you can’t make a difference.

Follow along on Facebook and Instagram with our hashtag #halfrowhoho

rower

The pain starts here.

 

The week that was – Zero to Hero

The 2 weeks prior to the start of this week were a blur of painting and decorating, morning/all day sickness, work and everyday life and then to top it all off a head cold. So after being down and out for a few weeks once the head cold began to subside (as did my all day sickness) it was time to get back into some exercise, towards the end of those 2 horrid weeks I managed 1 weights session.

So starting fresh this week here’s the low down:

Monday – I went to my PT session with focus on the Indoor Rower because there was a little Charity Rowing event coming up this weekend.

Tuesday – Got to my outdoor class with EnVie and even tho the ground was really soggy we did a good workout, running and toning exercise and I could feel the glute’s the next day.

Wed – no workout.

Thurs – I invited some friends whom I met at Mothers Group over for some training on the Indoor Rower. My trainer Ian from Pioneer Fitness came over to give the girls some tips and we practiced technique and transition for an Indoor Rowing relay. Some ladies had never been on a rower, others very rarely and some not for many years so it was a fun day of learning for all.

The younger generation learning the ways of Indoor Rowing.

The younger generation learning the ways of Indoor Rowing.

Friday – no workout

Saturday – I was helping to set-up the small rowing event and spent a few hours lifting and shifting rowing machines.

Being a sponsor the work ute gets put to good use with a load of rowing machines.

Being a sponsor the work ute gets put to good use with a load of rowing machines.

Sunday – The day of the Indoor Rowing event. The event was being held at a local Public School in conjunction with a fitness expo as a fundraiser for the school. They had workout demo’s with a Bosu class, kids gymnastics, martial arts and Yoga for kids and people exhibiting healthy ideas, a great expo for the school.

The Indoor Rowing Event had 80 competitors testing their stamina in the 500m Fly and Die, 4 minute and 2000m events as well as the highly contested men’s and women’s relays. The competitors ranged from teenagers to 80 year olds and even included Olympic Rower Hannah Every-Hall. The local WIN TV camera crew was there and filmed a stack of angles including my wardrobe malfunction. For some reason when I row hard and fast my shirt rides up at the front and by the end of the race my belly is poking out, this happened just as the camera man panned on to me, awesome.

with Olympic Rower Hannah Every-Hall

with Olympic Rower Hannah Every-Hall

I managed to round up 8 ladies for 2 teams in the Women’s Relays “Mummalicious” and “Bulli Shores” (thinking of team names is tricky so I took my inspiration from the TV shows of Jersey origins).

Some ideas for hairstyles and overdone tanning or bronzing for the next rowing meet with Mummalicious and Bulli Shores.

Some ideas for hairstyles and overdone tanning or bronzing for the next rowing meet with Mummalicious and Bulli Shores.

The relay is contested over 2000m with each team member rowing 500m then transitioning whilst the clock is ticking. The race can be won or lost in the transition. I even convinced them to have a go at the Individual 500m event and use it as a warm-up. They all did very well, I came 3rd in my heat (official results to come) and I held back a little bit due to my pregnancy.

So after a good break and recovering from the Individual 500m it was time for the relay. Ian from Pioneer was very excited about the relays, making all the teams line up on the side and march us all out onto the rowing deck like something from an Olympic swimming telecast, talk about building up the hype. There were 8 teams in the Ladies event, a long 8 minutes later my team “Bulli Shores” were victorious, a really exciting race with seconds between 1st and 2nd placings, the “Mummalicious” girls also did fantastic with several of them juggling breast feeding and getting babies to sleep in between races, to my pregnant self these girls are an inspiration.

The ladies relay Champions "Bulli Shores" featuring L to R; Kim Walker, myself, Kim Arnold and Amanda McDowall

The ladies relay Champions “Bulli Shores” featuring L to R; Kim Walker, myself, Kim Arnold and Amanda McDowall

I have a feeling there will be a few of them in training for the National Indoor Rowing Championships in Sept in both individual and Relay events.

I need to give a special mention to Ian Gibson from Pioneer Fitness for once again giving up his time and effort for my friends and others with his ability to entice more people to his passion of Indoor Rowing, he does so much for the sport, local charities and fundraising and I know with him at the helm the National event will be a success.

Indoor Rowing Guru, Ian Gibson from Pioneer Fitness, does so much for the sport of Indoor Rowing.

Indoor Rowing Guru, Ian Gibson from Pioneer Fitness, does so much for the sport of Indoor Rowing.

The Week that Was – Row Row Row

Well it has been 2 week since I did a weekly wrap up, last Sunday night I was still in Singapore on a Family holiday and had a less than productive week of exercise. I did manage to get a run in whilst I was away, a quick trip to the gym at 4am (with a toddler on Australian time) and did stacks of walking, theme parks, shopping etc.

So arriving back on Tuesday morning I considered going to the gym that day but with mountains of washing, unpacking and cleaning to do, it just never happened. I did have to go to Indoor Rowing relay training that night and was feeling very flat, luckily our training was very short easy rows with the focus on the transition from rower to rower. With a relay event the team rows 2000m with each of the 4 rowers completing 500m and the clock continues to flow whilst the changeover takes place, so transition is important.

Wed still extremely jet-lagged I did nothing beyond going to work late; work, eat sleep. Still very very tired.

Thursday I had an extra Indoor Rowing training with a relatively short training but at a rapid speed. 1 minute flat out and then a 2-3 minute rest and repeating 3 times.

Friday I was ordered to rest, apparently no housework or strenuous activity of any kind.

Saturday was the NSW Indoor Rowing Championships at Blacktown, Australia. We had a great team of 12 from the Pioneer Fitness crew. I was competing in the 4 minute race, and the 500m as an individual and then in the Relay team.  I was in the A-team for the Relay but once we got there it was found out that they do not require a mixed team (as at some other events) so my trainer stacked 1 team with guys, the big guns, to give our group a great chance at a medal.

All smiles before my first row.

My first event was the 4 minute race which entails rowing as far as you can in 4 minutes, my previous best (last year) was 1021 metres and my goal was to beat that distance, unfortunately or fortunately (whichever way you look at it) I equalled my PB exactly (currently puts me at 4th in the World Rankings which finish in April 2013). My next event the 500m my previous best time was 1:46.4 and I only managed 1:50.2 (currently puts me no. 21 in the world rankings which finish in April 2013), I was disappointed but I know my training focus was taken off Indoor Rowing for a bit and put towards Traithlon, really hard to keep the balance right to make you feel like you are doing enough. I did scoop the pool in both these events winning gold, but unfortunately there were no other competitors in my age group. I find this a little disheartening and believe this may have contributed to not racking up PB’s. The final event was the team Relay, we had 3 teams for the Pioneer Fitness contingent. As a team we managed to win the event with our Gun guys team “Pioneer Storm” and my team “Pioneer Lightening” finished 4th, we were the best placed Mixed team in the event out of 8 teams.

As per usual the Indoor Rowing event was great and I look forward to competing again next year in this state competition and the National Indoor Rowing Championships.

Sunday was a well-deserved day of rest.

This week’s goal is to get back on the food track after holidays and I now have my progam from my Exercise Physiologist to get started on bright and early in the morning. Have a great week everyone.

Here are some pictures from the Indoor Rowing event, including funny rowing faces.

The truth about Indoor Rowing

When I talk to some people about Indoor Rowing, they often look at me quizzically and ask where I go to do something like that and how far do I row, when I say we row 2 kilometres they are astounded that there are “Indoor” venues that can accommodate that kind of thing. They thought that I rowed on water indoors and that there are massive lakes or pools undercover for us rowers. Pretty funny, when you think about it. So to dispel any myths you may have, Indoor Rowing is contested on a stationary Rowing Machine.

At my first Australian Indoor Rowing Championships in 2007 with my bronze medal. I was “Fat and Fit”.

I have learned that being fit in 1 exercise does not make you fit in another. Since starting with my Trainer in 2006 our focus has been on Indoor Rowing on the Concept 2 Rowing Machine. Getting fit in Rowing does not give you the fitness to run, swim or do anything else you desire, it helps. You must train in the sport/s your desire. Likewise if you can run, swim, cycle it doesn’t mean you would be “row fit”.

Indoor Rowing has been great for me; it gives you a great Cardio workout, using more muscles in your body than all other stationary equipment and is low impact.I have competed in numerous events in Australia over the years, winning 2 Bronze Medals at the Australian Championships in 2007 and competing again in 2008 and recording 2x PB’s, I was “Fat and Fit”. In 2009 I went to the NSW Indoor Rowing Championships at almost 9 months pregnant, I went along to support the team and found out there were only 2 others in my age category, so I decided to have a row, I was huge (nearly 150kgs) and wasn’t there to break any records and of course secure last place ie a Bronze Medal.

Indoor Rowing @ 9 months pregnant, 6 days before Ella was born. Blossoming at 146kg’s.

I have racked up well over 1 MILLION metres on the Rowing machine which is quite an achievement, for which you get a T-shirt and a Certificate from Concept 2, unbelievable, all those hours on the rower and that is your reward.

Post baby and lap band surgery I got back on the rower and trained to compete at the NSW State Championships in 2011 and scored 2x Gold Medals and both PB’s in the 4 minute event (placed 4th in World Rankings for 2011-2012 season for my age category 30-39 years*) and the 500m (placed 22 in World Rankings for 2011-2012 season for my age category 30-39 years*), I was also part of our team relay who secured a Bronze medal in a highly contested Open Relay event.

So my next challenge is the upcoming NSW Indoor Rowing State Championships on 17 November 2012 (only 3 sleeps to go) where Pioneer Fitness has a 10 strong team. My goal is to do PB’s in my 2 events the 500m and 4minute and for our Relay team to place in the medals.

I am also on the Event Committee for the National Indoor Rowing Championships being held 14 Sept 2013 in Wollongong Australia. Don’t think you have to have years of experience to contest this event, it is open to all levels, all ages from school kids to 80 year olds. The events for the NIRC are 500m, 4minute (how far you can row in 4 minutes), 2000m and the relay event where 4 competitors each row 500m and change over. There are many online training programs out there, especially on Concept 2 websites including technique videos. If you are interested in learning more feel free to contact me and I can point you in the right direction or follow NIRC on Facebook. Next time you go to the gym, get on and have a row.

*Researching these Rankings have just blown me away, never looked at them before, 4th in the World – wow.

The Week that Was – Rowing full speed ahead

This week my focus has been on Indoor Rowing, with the NSW State Championships now less than 2 weeks away. In saying that, I probably have not done as much as I should.

Monday I went to my normal PT session and focused on Rowing, 2k warm-up then 4x 500m sprints and 2 minutes rest in between. It was hard because my nose was still a bit blocked, each rest consisted of blowing my nose. My trainer has put me in the No.1 Relay team for the State Champs so I hope my head cold is all cleared up by then I don’t want to let the team down. (I’m pleased to report that I am feeling much better).

Tuesday – had IT problems and had to go into work to get it rectified, missed my Bosu and weights session.

Wed – got up early and squeezed in a weights session and 10mins on the X-trainer.

Thursday – I did an extra session with my trainer for indoor rowing, after a 2k warm up I trained at race pace, short bursts, 2 mins at race pace and then 2 mins rest. I always wonder how I will keep up the pace for my 4 minute race when I can barely do it for 2mins, well it won’t be long to see if I can do it and get a PB.

Friday – I had a girly night out with a friend seeing a band and that is where the weekly wrap up will end, I had a hangover of epic proportions on Saturday and could not drag myself off the bed/lounge and Sunday was not much better, feeling very lethargic. Disappointed in myself to say the least.

The Week that Was #6 – Vague

I’ve had such a mixed up week, I don’t know what I have done. Let me think.

Monday night I did my normal PT session, a hard interval row 6x 1 minute rows going as hard as you can with 45 second rest in between, it doesn’t sound too hard but I dare you to try it.

Tuesday I went to the gym to do my new weights program that has been set for me, 12-15 reps x 3 sets only a 3-5 second rest in between. It was hard at the time but I felt strong afterwards.

A recent family pic with Nanna Nanna on her 89th Birthday.

Wednesday I had no intention of exercising as we had the funeral of Nanna Nanna, it was a lovely service and great to hear more about her life. Such a talented woman she will be missed.

Thursday I had arranged with another Mothers Group friend to do some babysitting swapsie’s so we could both do some Tri training. So she brought her 2 girls over and took off for a cycle and then she came back and I took off and did the same, such a great idea given that I was still living the single mum life with Hubby being away. I was then inspired to improve my cycling and headed off to the bike shop to check-out getting clip-in shoes and pedals and I also needed to get a new colour coordinating helmet (gotta look the part), so I found all of these things and then just happened to ask if they had a Tri-suit, you know a flattering Onesie made entirely of Lycra, well they were having a clearance of these and managed to pick 1 up cheaper than I had seen anywhere at cost price (apparently). So, an expensive little jaunt, but not as bad as I was expecting.

Friday Miss “Almost 3” woke up with a terrible cough, which I had noticed she had during the night, so took her for a trip to the medical centre for a check-up, not much they could do for her, just 1 dose of Steroid meds to try and clear it up quicker. No time for a workout before or after work.

Saturday (yesterday) can’t remember what I did but pretty sure there was no exercise involved. Oh hang on, I put my new cycling pedals and shoes onto my Spin bike and had a bit of a spin (not a workout tho) and practiced the clipping and unclipping, I was really bad at it, so there will be a lot more practice and adjusting before I put these on my bike and hit the road.

Sunday (today) I was soooo looking forward to hubby arriving home and was at the airport by 6.30am uggghh, hate the early morning flights, he arrived back safely but was sick and tired so went off to have a nap as soon as we walked through the door. I was going to venture to the Gym with Miss “Almost 3” but she was sooooo feral today I just thought it would be a waste of time. By the time she collapsed on the lounge at 7.30pm I was too tired to even consider doing anything, but I have big things planned for tomorrow’s public holiday.

Goal for this week is to keep up the better food choices and do regular light workouts leading up to the big event on Satuday, my first Triathlon, eeeek, freaking out now, countdown is going too quick.

The Week That Was # 2

So this week feels like I have gone backwards with my exercise. For some reason Monday morning I could not drag myself anywhere to do any form of exercise and Monday night was no better, I was however focused on food and preferred to stay in and cook a delicious (but healthy) dinner.

Tuesday I went to my first mums and bubs/kids outdoor class, it was down on the beach and Miss 2.75 did not want to stay with the carer but instead chose to hang off mummy for the first half hour. So whilst everyone else was running up and down the beach I was doing short sprints so I could stay near where she was and she was running behind me. Then I was doing squats holding her, it was not fun as she would not let me go 2 steps away from her without having a tantrum. I was determined to do as much as I could. So for the last 15 minutes of the class she eventually went off to build sandcastles with the carer and other kids and I managed to get away for the final run down the beach. Dare I say running on sand was HARD but satisfying and doing sit-ups, planks etc on sand I ended up looking like a schnitzel. The reward afterwards was a delicious Chai latte for me and baby milkshake for Miss 2.75.

Wednesday morning I woke up not feeling 100% but managed to get in a 14k bike ride before work.

Wednesday night I was still not feeling great but dragged myself to my PT for a bit of a row and some weights. He did take it easy on me compared to my training buddies. And this is where my exercise finished.

Thursday I woke up terribly stuffed up in the head, really sore throat like swallowing razor blades, blowing my nose constantly feeling pretty ordinary all round. I self-medicated and started taking an anti-biotic that the doc had prescribed a while back. The sore throat has gotten better but the runny nose is still annoying. Today I am feeling a little bit better and I am hoping that I will miraculously wake up in the morning, jumping out of my skin and feeling the desire to go for a run.

I have had a major improvement in my eating, sticking to an average of 1500-1600 calories per day for the entire week except today, I do allow myself a day off or preferably a meal as I can go overboard in a whole day. We went to Yum Cha today for Fathers Day lunch.

Next week’s goal, keep up the food tracking and increase the exercise.