Rowing and Relay

Xeno,

Just looked thru the C2 USA site for Marathons and it looks like the 42,195m distance is only for individuals and the longer rows like the 100k, 24hr row and so on have teams of 2, or small teams of 3-10 people or large teams of 10 or more.

http://www.concept2.com/05/training/motivation/marathonrowing.asp

Having said that, in the UK we have not only the individual marathons but also the team ones which are for 4 people per team with each person having to row at least 2000m per go. Below is the list of times we set in breaking all 3 records the other week.

http://www.concept2.co.uk/racing/records_marathon_team.php

The mens team is a 1:39.3 ave. Nik Fleming is currently pulling a 5:59 2k while the other 3 guys on the team are around 6:12-6:15 for a 2k. Each of them rowed 5 sets of 2000m at around 6:35-40 per 2k while Nik was just under 6:30 for each of his 2k's. I reckon you should try to put a team together to beat this time as so far it's only really British teams have have been trying these marathon relays. Would be nice to see a USA/Iron Oarsman team up there too!!!

Cheers,
Jon

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.

May 7th Marathon and Half Marathon Row at the Iron Oarsman

Where: Iron Oarsman, 440 East 17th Street, Costa Mesa, CA 92627.
Call to make a reservation 949-400-7630

We are going to make a world ranking assault. The goal is to stay at the top for the next year!

Xeno
www.gorow.com

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.

Marathon and Half Marathon completed this weekend.

David Schniepp and Robert Orsi pulled a marathon on Saturday April 23. They are two members who log their mileage on the concpet2 world ranking. 42149 meters, they actually went 42500 meters.

Today, Sunday, April 24th, six members of the Long Beach Rowing Association pulled their half marathons, 21097 meters. We broke up the distance in little spurts and some technical drills while listening to my wife's music compilation.
In the respective order of finish:
Wendy: Total Time: 89 minutes 12 seconds
Joan: 89:14
Grace: 91:07
Helen: 96:43
Joy: 98:25
Sarah May: 99:21

Congratulations.

On May 7th we are going to hold a half marathon and full marathon event to jumps start the Concept 2 World Ranking.

Xeno
www.gorow.com

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.

24 hour team row for American Cancer Society

I put a link below of a 24 hour event for the american cancer society.
I looking for sponsors to support our 24 hour team effort on the C2. The idea is to find sponsors who are willing to pay 1% of total meters rowed.
I will keep you posted.


http://www.acsevents.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=91151


XENO
www.gorow.com
Indoor Rowing Workout DVDs
Olympic Gold and Olympic Silver, men's single scull

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.

New records for the 50Km relay in Great Britain

Hi Xeno,

Hope you & Erin are well.  I'm feeling rough at the moment having really put myself thru it yesterday.  The good news is that we did what we wanted. It was amazing to see 4 records being attempted at the same time.  What was also nice is that it was all members of the MAD Team.  We managed to pull it off without having to draft any other people in from outside teams to do it.

The records were:
Womens:  Old Record: 3hr 11min 3sec. New Record: 2hr 57min 7.3sec
 
Mixed: Old record: 2hr 40min 11sec. New Record: 2hr 31min 43.3sec

Mens: Old Record: 2hr 24min 29sec. New Record: 2hr 19min 44.4sec

50,000m relay: 2hr 15min 38.7sec.

We had 2 lightweights in the 50k and was not a full strength team by any means.  The idea was to set a target for other teams to have a go at.  We can always take the record back at a later date with a full strength team.  Having said that we still averaged 1:21.3/500m and we didn't do any practice for it.  I was quite pleased as I hit splits of 1:09 and 1:10 on a lot of my turns and ended up as one of the quickest for the whole 50k.

I've attached a couple pics for you to look at!

Cheers

Jon

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.

Blind World

Blind rower honored by Hall of Fame.

April 23, 2004.

By Vicki Larson,
Special to The San Francisco Chronicle.

Aerial Gilbert had always been a pretty good rower, but she didn't become competitive -- and a winner -- until she lost her sight.

"A lot of rowing is really tactile; you really need to feel what the boat is doing, what the oars are doing," says the 49-year-old Gilbert. "I'm not distracted visually. I'm completely focused on what's happening in the boat, so I'm a better rower." When she rows in a two-person or four-person boat, she rows with a sighted partner. But she's also competed in a one-person boat with a guide rowing alongside her in another one-person boat who either communicates with her by a handset walkie-talkie or the old-fashioned way: yelling.


"Last year at the Gold Rush Race, I had someone in another boat yelling at me. It was pretty funny," she says.


Gilbert was just inducted into the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in Commack, N.Y., where a plaque bearing her name will be on display along with such sports stars as former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax, former Cleveland Indians third baseman Al Rosen and 2002 Olympic figure skating champion Sarah Hughes. She's the first rower to be inducted.


Gilbert, who lives in Petaluma with her husband of seven years, Larry Lobel, an African gray parrot and Hedda, her 2-year-old seeing-eye dog, is delighted by the honor. But given the way she has faced her challenges, it isn't so surprising.


Her life changed forever 16 years ago when Gilbert, weary from a long shift as a pediatric nurse at Marin General Hospital, used some over-the- counter eye drops.


The drops had been tainted with lye, and Gilbert was blinded, becoming the one-in-10-million random victim of tampering.


"For the first six months, I didn't handle it well," says Gilbert, a life- long athlete and avid rower since college. "I was angry. I was scared. I thought my life was basically over."


But one day she woke up and realized that if she continued to be angry, she would allow her unknown assailant to control her. "I looked at what the rest of my life would look like, and I realized I need to be independent."


So she entered a program at the Orientation Center for the Blind in Albany, where she learned to read and write in Braille and do simple things others take for granted -- walking, cooking, organizing a closet.


"I regained my self-esteem and self-confidence. I realized no matter what I wanted to accomplish, I could do it," says Gilbert, who is the director of volunteers at Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael.


It wasn't until a friend convinced Gilbert to get back into a rowboat that she realized just how much of her life she could regain. Being back in a boat reminded Gilbert of what attracted her to the sport in the first place; the sheer power and beauty of it, and the teamwork.


"Rowing was something I already had in my mind and muscle. It's the only time I'm awake that I can forget I'm blind," she says. Rowing and getting a seeing-eye dog (her first dog, Deanne, had to retire two years ago) were the two things that brought her life around, she says.


In 1998, she was introduced to veteran rower Perry Heffelfinger, who asked Gilbert to compete with her in the annual Catalina Crossing, a grueling six-hour, 32-mile race in the open ocean, in a double rowboat. Gilbert had rowed as a student at Humboldt State University and Mills College, but only recreationally. She had doubts that she had the strength.


But the two practiced together and entered a shorter regatta to test the waters.


When they came in second behind the U.S. Women's National Rowing champions, Gilbert realized that not only could she do it, she could win.


Inspired, Gilbert entered the 2002 World Rowing Championships in Seville, Spain, as part of the first adaptive rowing team. Adaptive rowing is rowing, sculling or crew for people with physical limitations or disabilities as well as for those with special needs.


Their reception by the rest of team was surprising, she says. Not only did the adaptive team, which included another blind rower and two above-the- knee amputees, have to stay in a different hotel far away from the rest of the team, the other athletes dismissed them.


"Most of the team wouldn't talk to us. It was really awkward. In the beginning, they didn't take us seriously," Gilbert recalls, "until they saw us in the water.


"We struggled. It was really tough, but we stuck together as a team."


And it paid off. They took home the bronze medal.


It was very different when her team competed at the same race in Milan the following year.


The other adaptive boat on her team came home with a gold and a silver; Gilbert's crew missed third place by a half of a second.


Now she's looking forward to the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing, where adaptive rowing is close to being sanctioned as an official sport.


"This summer will be the deciding factor," Gilbert says. To be sanctioned, 24 countries must make a commitment to participate. "It's a very closed sport ... My purpose in participating is to get rowing as a more recognized sport.


"By getting rowing into the Paralympics, it becomes a more accepted sport, and it will open up boathouses," which are often reluctant to allow blind rowers to participate.


And, she's active in recruiting more blind rowers, especially kids. "Rowing is the only sport I can think of that puts blind people on the same plane (as those with sight)," she says. "You can put a blind kid in a boat with a bunch of other kids and that kid is going to do as well, and be accepted as an athlete."


Gilbert trains 15 hours a week, and is on the water a minimum of four days a week. She does strength training twice a week, and cross training three times a week. She knows that no matter how many years you've been rowing, you can always get better. And there are so many races ahead.


"I like having goals. I like to challenge myself," she says. And, she adds, she also wants to show the world that being blind doesn't mean everything has to end. "There really isn't very much you can't do when you're blind. You just have to come up with creative solutions."


E-mail comments to nbayfriday@sfchronicle.com.

©2004 San Francisco Chronicle.


End of article.

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.

First Blind-only indoor rowing competition, South Korea

First Blind-only indoor rowing competition
15/4/05 12:42 PM


Copyright: Aerial Gilbert

Aerial Gilbert at the Korean Indoor Rowing Competition


Most people race indoor rowing competitions with their eyes firmly fixed to the small screen in front of them. Most people block out the sounds around them and focus solely on the countdown of the metres on that screen. At the first ever indoor rowing competition for the blind held in South Korea, participants focused instead on the sounds around them and the screen was replaced by volunteer coxswains, calling out the distance left to row.

Organised by Concept2's South Korean distributor, S. H. Han, blind people from across the country came together at Daegu University in the southeast of South Korea to race over a 500 and 1,000 metre distance.

The 90 participants ranged in age from 16 to 78 years old and none of them had any experience with rowing - on or off the water. Daegu University's crew team became the eyes of the participants assisting the competitors in learning the basics of the stroke and providing direction during the event to let competitors know how far they had rowed.

Every participant finished their race with winners being presented with plaques and flowers.

American blind rower Aerial Gilbert was flown in for the event as an example to the blind of South Korea and as a role model and Gilbert says the event was an extraordinary experience.

"They saw this as a unique opportunity for blind people to get to do a physical activity that they could do instantly," says Gilbert. "It gave them the opportunity to get to do it together as a group, and compete with each other."

Gilbert, who suddenly became blind 17 years ago at the age of 34, had rowed as a sighted person. She came back to the sport when she found that it was one of the few things in her life that she could do and feel competent at. Gilbert has since competed at the World Rowing Championships for the United States three times and raced in several other rowing events including a local race in a single.

"It was so successful, they want to hold it annually," says Gilbert who sees indoor rowing as a sporting experience that can be enjoyed by everyone."

The World Rowing team values feedback.

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.

Wellness Program for workers in Orange County, Indoor Rowing Clubs will come next

Workers get a workout
Study showing 53% of adult Californians are overweight intensifies the push to get employers involved.

By NANCY LUNA
The Orange County Register

Looking to shed more than 20 pounds, Carlos Zuniga turned to an unlikely place to trim his waistline: a Mercedes-Benz dealership.

Zuniga, an auto-body technician at Fletcher Jones Motorcars in Newport Beach, is part of a small number of California workers using employer-sponsored fitness and weight-loss programs. Using the dealership's personal trainer and gym, Zuniga lost 20 pounds.

Citing a $21.7 billion cost to businesses, state health officials asked more employers to offer similar incentives to curb obesity-related health conditions. In a new report released Tuesday, the state's Department of Health Services said California businesses are paying nearly triple the amount previously reported by federal health officials.

More than half of California adults are overweight, costing companies $1,500 for every worker. And, if obesity rates continue to climb, the study forecast the financial burden to jump to $28 billion in 2005.

"These new numbers should convince stakeholders to pitch in and help fix the problem," said Dr. Richard J. Jackson, state public health officer.

Among the chief reasons for the soaring number is that the state report documents for the first time the financial pinchemployers and health- care providers incur for "inactive" workers, in addition to adults who are overweight or obese.

Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said obese and overweight adults cost California $7.7 billion. But the federal study did not include the tab for a sedentary workers, or folks that never exercise. The state report, however, calculates that cost at $13.3 billion, or more than half of the $21.7 billion.

"It is a major cost driver," said David Chenoweth, a spokesman for the North Carolina firm that conducted the study.

The state commissioned the report to obtain a true grasp of the economic impact that overweight and inactive adults have in the workplace, said Sue Foerster, nutrition director for the state agency. The hope, she said, is to use the data as evidence to push for employer-sponsored wellness programs to drive down these costs, including $388 million in workers' compensation claims related to overweight and inactive adults.

Chenoweth's firm analyzed more than 3 million medical claims in the state to come up with the data. Unlike federal studies, the state's economic report looked at lost productivity or work hours lost to sick days, short-term disability and "presenteeisn." The latter is a phenomenon referring to an employee who works, but not at full capacity.

All those factors cost businesses $11.2 billion, the study stated. Overall, health-care spending statewide hovers at $125 billion, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

In the case of Zuniga, the auto-body technician sought help from his employer's Wellness Center to lose weight. For seven years, the dealership has operated an on-site fitness center for its 500 employees. The center also provides free help from three personal trainers.

Center Director Ken Roycroft helped Zuniga cut out his daily visits to a lunch-time "roach coach" and add more vegetables and lean proteins to his diet.That, combined with a workout program, helped Zuniga meet his 20-pound weight-loss goal.

Local companies including Fluor Corp., PacifiCare Health Systems, El Pollo Loco and Newport Corp. also offer employees free or discounted wellness programs. Perhaps the most comprehensive one is PacifiCare's Health Credits program.

Launched more than a year ago, the Cypress medical provider offers 4,000 employees cash and prizes such as spa certificates, mountain bikes and iPods for exercising and eating healthy.

Rick Graham joined the program last summer after the 5-foot-8-inch analyst saw his weight balloon to 235 pounds. He said the incentives, earned by logging his eating and exercise activity on a company Web site, motivated him to lose 40 pounds. He earns $15 every pay period, or $390 a year, for staying healthy.

"I definitely feel that if the program wasn't there, I would not have been successful," said Graham, 46, of Mission Viejo.

Despite the prizes and cash, Dr. Sam Ho, PacifiCare's chief medical officer, said it's not up to the company to do all the work.

Employees must be motivated to stay fit. He noted that only 25 percent of PacifiCare's employees take advantage of the Health Credits program - a relatively small, and disappointing number.

"If $400 in cash a year doesn't motivate them, then I don't know what will," Ho said.

Fluor's program also seems underused. About 100 of the Aliso Viejo firm's 1,400 employees take advantage of company's two gyms, offered at a cost of $9 per paycheck, Fluor officials said.

Human-resources consultant Philip A. Barquer agrees that obesity-related health conditions are partly to blame for driving up the cost of health care. However, he said he was skeptical about burdening companies, especially small ones, to fix the problem.

"Is an employer with 25 employees going to pay $25 per person for a gym membership? Probably not," said Barquer, president of HR Alternatives Inc. in Newport Beach.

Still, Foerster said employers don't have to make grand gestures to make a difference.

"It can be done in baby steps, such as having whole- grain items and water in a vending machine, or getting rid of the workplace candy bowl and replacing it with fruit," she said.

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.

From the Half Moon Bay Review

By MARK FOYER


Half Moon Bay Review


Elise Wilson has loved basketball for years. It took a little longer for her to find love in her heart for indoor rowing, a grueling training tool that uses every muscle in her body.


She started training on the Concept II rowing machines only last year after a teacher at St. Ignatius College Prep told her that she had the body to be a good rower.


Over the course of a couple of weeks in February and March, Wilson, a Montara resident and sophomore at the San Francisco private school, rose to the top level in each of her sports.


First, she finished second in the CRASH-B (which stands for Charles River All Star Has-Beens) Sprints World Indoor Rowing Championships, held in Boston. Then a couple of weeks later, she played a key role as St. Ignatius won the Central Coast Section Division III basketball title.


Playing basketball was a given. But rowing was something that she never thought she would do.


St. Ignatius does have a crew program. During her freshman year, a few teachers took one look at Wilson's body (6-foot-4 with strong legs) and thought that she should at least try out for crew.


The first step for her was to see what she would do on the rowing machine. She would go for the standard distance of 2,000 meters.


The aim was to row the distance in 8 minutes, 40 seconds, or faster. Wilson got the job done in 7:59. While the machines don't actually "go" anywhere, a computer measures the approximate distance that each stroke would allow.


"The coaches told me that I did a good job," Wilson said. "A lot of girls said that I was awesome. I was pretty surprised."


Prior to that day, Wilson had never seen a rowing machine. Now, she's on the "erg" (short for ergometer) almost every day.


"I think playing basketball has helped in my doing well on the erg machine," Wilson said.


She also lifts weights. She says that the combination of lifting with being on the rowing machine as well as running and doing other conditioning for basketball, have all played a factor in her success.


While she's thrilled with both sports, it can create some nervous tension.


Like getting to the world championships.


The Wildcats finished up their game with Mitty on Feb. 11 then Wilson grabbed her bag and was out the door, on her way to the airport for a red-eye flight to Boston.


"My flight was scheduled to leave Oakland at 10:15," Wilson said. "Fortunately, I had only carry-on luggage."


As it turned out, the rushing was for naught as the flight was delayed.


She arrived in Boston early that morning, slept some, then attended a luncheon and a few meetings. The competition was set for the next day.


When she arrived at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center for the competition, she didn't have a few butterflies in her stomach. She had a swarm of them.


"They had the ergs all lined up in a row," Wilson said. "There was a crowd in front. That was very intimidating."


She was also close to Jitka Antosova of the Czech Republic, the favorite.


"She stands only 5-8," Wilson said. "But she is broad in the shoulders."


When the time came for her, she took her spot on the Concept II rower and waited for the command to start. All the waiting and anticipation came out at the start.


"I pulled the hardest that I ever have," Wilson said. "My coxswain told me to ease up just a bit. I had a lot of adrenaline."


As the race continued, the sights and sounds of the Lewis Center were disappearing.


"I forgot about everyone else who was there," Wilson said. "I couldn't hear the announcer or the crowd. I was just focusing on what I needed to do."


With her mind set only on rowing, she maintained an even pace.


When she had rowed 2,000 meters, she stopped to look at her time. She finished up in 6:58. She was second as Antosova won in 6:56.


Since Wilson was second-ranked, the final place was not that much of a surprise. But it was a relief.


"That was the hardest I have ever pulled," Wilson said.


The combination of the adrenaline rush with what she had done wore her out. It was a feeling that she had never experienced before.


"At the end, it was amazing how I felt," Wilson said. "I felt like I wanted to puke. But I wanted to celebrate as well."


Not only was the second-place finish something to celebrate, so was her time.


"At St. Ignatius, everyone makes a big deal out of breaking eight minutes," Wilson said. "I was able to break seven minutes."


A few weeks later, she had more to celebrate as the Wildcats claimed the Central Coast Section Division III title. It's the second girls' basketball title in school history.


"We accomplished something that only one other team had accomplished," Wilson said. "It's cool to know that we are the next team to do this."


Wilson shows no signs of slowing down on either sport. She's still in love with basketball and she's enjoying her time in crew as well.

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.

A letter from a new Indoor Rower

Thank you Steve.


Xeno,


I recently got my first lactate profile at the local university along

with an updated VO2max. My 2mmol is about 125 watts. 4mmol was about

160 watts. Actual reading was 2.9mmol at 150 watts. 200 watts was

10.1mmol. I think the machine (old and not well maintained model C) I

was on wasn't reading the watts high enough. It seemed like I was

exerting more than it was reading. Anyway, it was tested with a

Lactate

Pro tester. My VO2 was 4.0L/min or 54.8ml/kg/min. Not bad for someone

who has only been active for the last 7 months. I still have work to

do. I would like to shift my lactate curve and hopefully increase my

VO2 to around 60+ ml/kg/min and about 4.5-4.7L/min uptake. This is

also

in preparation of attending the camp this summer in Tahoe. Have you

had

more interest? Any ideas on which weekend?


I decided to write a brief story of how I got into indoor rowing. Feel

free to use my first name only when referring to me (without my email

address):

My journey started January 2003. I was up to 210 lbs and I thought I

was healthy. My doctor physicals didn't show any abnormalities but my

doctor wanted me to lose weight. I decided that I wanted to as well.

So I started watching the calories that I ate, nothing major just

estimating it in my head. By Sept 2003, I was down to 185lb. Pretty

good work and I was happy with it. In March 2004, I had swelling in my

neck just under my jaw and I went to my doctor. He indicated that it

was an infection in my salivary gland and prescribed antibiotics. I

also went to an ENT specialist who said the same thing. The

antibiotics

helped and the doctors told me to increase my water intake to ensure

proper hydration. The swelling went down but there were still hard

nodules in my neck. That's when my ENT did a fine needle aspiration of

the nodule to have the tissue analysed. Results came back as

non-typical lymphoid tissue but no real conclusive diagnosis. Then we

started with the wait and see approach.


In August 2004, the infection came back. I also had enlarged tonsils

in

addition to more hardened nodules in my neck. Two weeks later, I went

in for my first surgery, a tonsilectomy and lymph node excision from

under my chin. The pathology results came back about a week later.

Inconclusive. It appeared to the pathologist that I had pre-cancerous

cells in my tonsils and non-caseating granulomas in my other lymph

node.

I also had to be rushed to the ER about nine days after my surgery

because I had started hemmoraging blood inside my throat. This was my

second surgery and it was to repair the bleeding. This was the reason

I

decided to get more healthy. There was nothing I could do to rewind

the

clock but I could do everything that was in my control going forward.

When it came to exercise, I knew my limitations. We have hot summers

here so I knew that I didn't want to be required to be outside to work

out. Also, I needed to be able to it at home rather than having to

drive somewhere since I have an erratic schedule. It had to be full

body and low impact because I already had issues with my knees. I also

wanted one machine since I didn't have room in my house for a full

complement of workout apparatus. A rowing machine seemed ideal. After

a bit of searching I decided on finding a used Concept2 Model C. I

purchased it and had it shipped to my house. Sept 4, 2004 was my first

session and I instantly loved it. I also started my constant doctor

appointments. Oncology, ENT, I was going to see a doctor or have a CT

scan nearly every week. No one really knew what was going on and all

of

my tests were not making sense. My blood work said I was also having

some king of problems as my direct bilirubin count was very high but

they couldn't detect any hemolysis or another reason for the high

count.

There was only one last thing to do, pull out the salivary gland along

with associated lymph nodes in my neck for further histology. Sugery

number three came in November 2004. I had only been erging for two

months but it was dissappointing when the doctor said I couldn't

workout

for three weeks since I had hemmoraged before. I cheated near the end

and did some very short, slow workouts. The results of these tests

came

back the same, non-caseating granulomas. There was no obvious lymphoma

but no one could tell me what caused the granulomas. Good news, they

tell me it is most likely not cancer. Bad news, they can't tell me

what

is destroying my lymph nodes. I realize now that all I can do is make

the best choices for the rest of my life, what's done is done.


I got right back on the erg, finished the holiday challenge 200k. Then

started focusing on getting to lightweight. I am now right around

165lb

+/- 1lb and 10% body fat. I monitor my food intake every day to ensure

I am getting the right combination of fat, carbs, and protein in my

diet. My diet is completely changed and I feel so much better. I

expect to finish my first 1 Mil meters some time in May, only 9 months

after starting. Indoor rowing has changed my life. I am looking at

the

possibility for getting on the water sometime and try sculling. I have

never enjoyed a sport as much as I have enjoyed indoor rowing and this

has become a permanent change for me. I plan on using indoor rowing to

keep me in great health for my son and everyone else in my life. Also,

at 4 yrs old, my son is also rowing and he has lots of fun. Hopefully,

he will continue to enjoy it as much as I have.


Take care,

Steve

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.