Journey of a recreational vet triathlete, GigRower & adventure sport enthusiast and amateur photographer
After over a week recovering from chest infection took place in the PNPGC Fun races going out into some big swells in Mount’s Bay for a quick race. Crews as follows and Jim’s crew in Rhos and Jame’s crew the one I was in was in the new gig
pretty rough conditions but good practice for Scillies in large swells. See photos and video below of conditions.
Up at 6, quick breakfast and a walk in the driving rain to meet up with James and Gig at Penzance harbour. Then picked up Jayne and off to Saltash. On the way we had a convoy of gigs
Arrived at around 9.00 after stopping off for breakfast as early. Met up with rest of PNPGC team ready to race. I had a bit of a chest infection with coughing but decided to row even though a long 10km race. The plan for the day is as follows:
The ladies were first and started at around 12.30 as they were in heat 8. Cox: Jim, 6: Jem, 5: Jo, 4: Tina, 3: Sandra, 2: Michelle, 1: Jayne.
Some photos at the start and during the race from me and G&B gig photography
The men’s PNPGC crew was a scratch crew with two fill ins from other clubs as two of our crew (Trev and Steve) were ill with viral chest infections as follows: Cox: Ken, 6: Adam (Mevagissey) , 5: Andy (Roseland clubs?) 4: Antony, 3: James, 2: me, 1: Tom. We did OK and as we were in the last heat overtook a few gigs and had a real race with another. Long hard row with my chest infection condition. Stats as follows:
The above includes about 24 minutes of getting to the start at leisurely pace with few race start. In the following you can see where we started racing.
Some photos from G&B gig photography
The results were as follows:
Great day for our PNPGC CIO pirate 🏴☠️ team and good training for the Scillies champs and look forward to Trev and Steve joining us soon as I now know what they went through as experiencing the same chest infection. Anthony produced an excellent video of our day as a team
Due to sickness and the coming 3 Rivers regatta a small team rowing this Saturday went out in a swell for technique training followed by a few drinks in the sailing club. Cox: James, 6: Jem, 5: Jo, 4: Anthony, 3: Kevin, 2: me, 1: Jayne.
Two recovery rows of 1000m and 2000m as follows:
After the blessing the first row in the newly painted gig. Cox: Sandra/James, 6: me, 5: Martin, 4: Steve, 3: Gillian, 2: Sandra’s boy, 1: Gina. Slow row in and out of the harbour with some new rowers.
What a day where we had the Penzance’s Mayor and RNLI Penlee arrive for the event. See post from BBC southwest news provided by Penzance Council
It was a lovely blessing by Reverend Rebecca Fugill that blessed our new gig with holy water from Ireland and of course Patch Harvey the coxswain from RNLI Penlee that also blessed it with a drop of Guinness as it was a gig bought from Ireland 🇮🇪 ☘️. Thanks to Ted from Penwith photography and Greg from Penzance Council that provided some beautiful photos of the event as shown below.
Article in our local newspaper – The Cornishman.
Session 1: 7k Fartlek
So a nice 200/600/200 x7
First 200 at around 22-24 spm at your UT1
600 at 26-28 spm at your AT rate
last 200 at 30-32 SPM at your TR rate
With difficulty of setting this up and doing it I carried this out in 7 sessions as follows:
This session was challenging as going from low stroke rate and increasing this over the distance although hopefully increasing power actually didn’t make much difference as technique went out the window. Hope to nail technique and breathing with increased row rate to increase power. These sessions are good to improve technique with stroke rate as well as aerobic fitness.
Nice long row from Penzance harbour to the Mount and back. Slightly choppy waters. Cox: Jim, 6: Steve, 5: Trevor, 4: Anthony, 3: James, 2: Me, 1: Banksy. On the way back was more choppy and heavy rowing with a rain 🌧️ storm and a rainbow
Good endurance 10 km row followed by strength training
A short row mainly in harbour but went out in choppy seas. Cox: Wendy, 6: me, 5:Emma, 4: 3: Felix, 2: Ant, 1: James. Lot of technique work for 4,3,2 as new rowers
CAMTRIER