Greg Trahar 2010

Preparation

It turned out to be very important to read the race rules early on. I had been drinking with my left hand for years, but the rules show the greater personal space is on the right side of the C2, so I had to change my drinking hand. It’s worth spending some time practising drinking at your marathon pace. Some people try bigger drinks 2 or 3 times during a race, others find more regular drinking of smaller amounts suits them better. I also took the time to read about peoples experiences in this “What it Takes” section.

Putting in the mileage before the race is crucial if you want to achieve your best time. Any training you do will help, but a good marathon training guide is available from http://www.fletchersportscience.co.uk/show_article.php?id=news4731d3f53835c It’s worth taking the time to read the guide in full. The Concept 2 website also gives some good guidance on marathon training http://concept2.co.uk/training/guide. The forums on that website are also a good source of information and the place to go to ask experienced ergers for advise.

I started training in October following a 2 month lay off through injury, building up my mileage slowly to reduce injury risk. After a cough and some injury niggles in January I lost almost a weeks training. So coming into the race I felt I needed another 3 weeks to hit peak fitness.

It’s important to allow time to taper before the championships. The general advice is to taper from 2 to 3 weeks out. During the last week I practised 6 times wearing the clothes and shoes I was going to wear for the race, along with the stretching, my planned warm up and then rowed at my expected race pace for 10 minutes. This ensured that everything was right for the event and helped calm the nerves as I had practised it so many times. Altogether I only rowed around an hour and a half at race pace in my last week. Hard training too close to the event will leave you risking an off day when you race. It’s also worth eating your planned pre race breakfast and doing a session at the race time to ensure you’re comfortable with that food inside you.

Get a good sports drink, I always make sure it has Maltodextrin and sodium, and remember to drink it. You can lose 10% of your performance through dehydration, so what time you lose through drinking will be more than compensated for. If you still feel strong with 5k to go that’s the time to build your pace.

Carbo loading was an important part of my preparation as well. On Saturday and Sunday I aimed to eat 70% carbs. If you don’t have sufficient glycogen levels, the race will be a lot tougher. So on Saturday I had an early afternoon meal of chicken with potato salad and rice pudding. For the evening meal I had pork chow Mein and rice. For supper I had Bread Pudding. Pasta is just as good. For Sunday breakfast it was cereal, coffee for some caffeine boost, some fruit and wholemeal bread with butter and jam. An energy bar an hour before the row.

You don’t have to train for 4 months like me to complete a marathon. You can do it with less training, but I was aiming for a personal best. We all aim to complete a marathon for different reasons. You don’t have to break a world record or be first on the day to be a winner. To complete an erging marathon in any time is a great achievement in itself, whatever the pace. It takes fitness and determination and you should be proud when you finish.

Race Day

Being hydrated before and during the race is very important, but don’t overdo it and need to stop to go to the toilet during the race. I made sure my bladder was empty just before the start.

I made sure my sports drinks were by my side with the tops off and at a height convenient for me. I also used a heart rate monitor to ensure I did not put too much into the race too early.

Finally, plan what pace you are going to row at and stick to it. Remember you may feel really, really good, but that is likely to be the adrenalin from the race. I had felt really, really good and couldn’t believe the early planned pace was so easy. However, I held back my racing instincts, it was my marathon I was rowing, n ot a race against the rower who had gone off too fast in the distance and later failed to finish. It’s said a second saved at the start of the race is 4 seconds lost at the end.

Greg Trahar, February 12, 2010.