Building our characters

The weather this week has been, shall we say, challenging for training, the sort of weather our parents and those who happily don't have to go out in it would describe as "character building". Easy for them to say while they're still tucked up warm in bed while we're out freezing in Ely.

It's hard to believe that just over a week ago we were rowing in unisuits in the South of France, this week has been a week of double leggings, as many tech tops as you can fit on your body while still being able to move and buffs pulled up to eye level. Even that at times hasn't seemed like enough.

The week started off not too badly, a bit of chilly rigging and boat washing but temperatures still above freezing, it was almost like Ely was welcoming us back gently. It didn't last however. Ely appears to have it's own microclimate, guaranteed to be at least 3 or 4 degrees below the temperature in Cambridge and that's on a good day. This week Ely also decided to provide us with freezing fog.

Freezing fog for those of you who haven't had the pleasure of experiencing it provides many challenges:
a) Poor visibility - visibility at 6am at this time of year is bad  enough as it is, add freezing fog into the equation and visibility extends pretty much from one end of the 8+ to the other. Thankfully when headed for straight at a tree our holding it up skills proved very effective.
b) Everything freezes - hair (see photo below), splash jackets, pogies and even the wheels on the seats. Attempting to row when your wheels don't turn is somewhat challenging especially as ice starts to build up in the slides, makes rowing twice as hard as your pulling yourself up your slide, only then to be told by the coach to "glide, feel the boat with your feet"...feet? what feet? we lost sensation of those before we boated, let alone by half way through the outing. on the bright side on the second day of freezing fog we were provided with a can of WD40 in the boat, it didn't stop the wheels freezing, but at least mildly aided the pulling yourself up the slide process.

After the initial excitement of "OMGIT'SSNOWINGGGG!!", the rush outside to make the mandatory snow angel, followed by the time spent contentedly watching more snow fall from the comfort and warmth inside, the realisation starts to dawn that snow actually makes getting anywhere very difficult. Especially when your only method of transport is a bike. And you live a helpful 3 miles from anywhere you need to be. In a bid to avoid injury, our coach has instated a "bike ban". This involves regularly hopping on and off the bike at any sign of ice or snow, receiving some odd looks from passers by, any daredevil ice riding moves suppressed by the fear of calling the coach and explaining "Sorry, I can't row, I hurt my body part of choice because I didn't get off my bike on that tiny patch of ice". Frankly, the only solution we can think off to this issue is for the sponsers to buy us a four wheel drive, or perhaps a snowmobile.

Even when we manage to make it anywhere on time, there is always the danger of not being able to make it back. This we found out after getting the 5.55am out to Ely, but turning up to the station on the way back found the train cancelled. Initial panic ensued, we're stuck in Ely??! We can't survive off the geese!!! etc.etc. Eventually we got back on the replacement bus service, an hour late after getting stuck in the rush hour traffic into Cambridge and going through the villages to reach the little station inbetween Cambridge and Ely with all faint hope of a productive morning crushed. On the plus side, we got our brush with fame after briefly appearing on Look East even though the interview they took didn't make the final cut (probably because of the lack of  the "I'm SO ANGRY this has ruined my life completely!!!" kind of quote they were looking for).

So, like we said this week has been challenging, would we give up rowing to avoid such challenges? Not a chance, but if one more person tells us it's "character building" we may scream. As far as we're concerned we had enough character already. Those who refer to it as "character building" can always go and give it a go. Until then we'll fall back on a quote we were given a couple of weeks back; "sport does not build character, it reveals it." Well Ely our characters have been revealed this week and we'd like to think  we've come out of the experience as better rowers, but we feel our characters have been revealed enough, time for some better weather, roll on summer rowing once more.

On a lighter note, not everything since we last posted has been as miserable and typically British as the weather. While still on camp we did have a run in with a fairly amazing dog. As you may have noticed, we seem to mostly post about rowing and not all that much about vetting. This is partly because we are both in third year and thus don't get to see many animals and spend much more time attempting to read papers/write dissertations. This results in great excitement at the sight of any animal, as can be observed by the dressing up of said dog, who put up with us pretty well.

Fit, we think you'll agree. A tad windburnt.

How we felt at the end of the week

The rules of surviving training camp

So for our first attempt in the world of blogging while on training camp in Soustons in the (currently not so) sunny South of France we've decided to tackle the rules of training camp;

1. Pack as much kit as humanly possible.

So this key part of training camp occurs while still in Cambridge, and essentially involves scooping the entirety of the kit carpet into a suitcase. Suddenly glad of the extra pounds you've piled on over the Christmas "break" then sit on the suitcase to squash it closed, if the squashing process isn't required you probably haven't packed enough kit. Having eventually closed the bag then comes the weighing, this can prove difficult if you've already packed your scales in your bag, so advisable to leave them out of your bag and a bit of space for them following weighing. Alternatively as we will come into on rule 2, choose to share a room with a lightweight, they are generally smaller and therefore need less kit space as their kit is smaller and will always have packed their scales, leaving you more room for more kit/food.

2. Choose room mates wisely

By the end of the week of training camp even the strongest of friendships may have been stretched by the room sharing relationship, it really can make or break a friendship, therefore choose wisely. You must
a) choose room mates willing to wade through your stinky kit, while not having kit that smells too bad themselves.
b) They must be able to put up with your insane chat and reversion to 5 year old humour as the week progresses.
c) People with even slightly irritating habits should be avoided, if they irritate you in a two hour outing, this will only be magnified by training and living with them 24/7

3. Make some room rules

Primarily always make sure you wash out your protein shaker, this was learnt by Holly at the rest of our room's expense last year. Apparently if you leave rego in a protein shaker for more then a day it starts to smell, after 2 it is surprisingly stringy and the stench is strong enough to fill the room. Another room rule we like to instigate is anyone who likes to eat too many dates or is in recovery from what is affectionately known as the "codeine clog" has to find alternative toilet facilities. This will avoid the rest of the room incessantly singing this song to you:

4. Food: expect the unexpected

Food on our training camp is usually an interesting affair, previous highlights have included; pate de tete and tongue, as well as the well known pre-seat racing carb- crisps. More clued up this year we came prepared, armed with carrots and cereal bars and having google mapped the location of the local Lidl. Shopping in France for some reason proves to be far more entertaining than in England resulting in excessive purchasing of French confectionery and yet more cereal bars. With Holly being in her Dad's words a "calorie eating machine" food is crucial to training camp happiness.

5. However long you may have rowed for, you will still get blisters

As vets this is a highlight of our camp, Caroline is an expert at blister surgery, her adeptness with a pair of nail scissors and a bit of germaline and surgical spirit will hopefully stand her in good stead for the operating table when we hit clinical school. But the over-riding rule here is bring lots of tape.

6. Evening entertainment is vital

Having things to do in the evening is key to making sure you end up doing as little work as possible (who wants to write a dissertation anyway). This camps highlight has been our introduction into the shimmying world of zumba. Not the most relaxing activity after a tiring day of training, but certainly an amusing one, as the video below is testament to, featuring a guest appearance from Martina Lagatierra-Wellington.

7. Interclub integration is optional

The awkward moment when your own coach refers to the other boat club from your university as the "other group". We may sit on different tables to them at all meals and pass silently and awkwardly in the corridors, however we still maintain at least one inter-club relations officer at any one time, applications for the job include those with previous experience at handling the other club, or those we feel have potential. After all when it comes to the Boat Race Ball inter-club relations may pay dividends.

8. Training camp is the perfect time to exploit the coaches wealth of knowledge in areas outside of rowing

Training camp seems to give coaches a chance to open up and discuss topics not normally covered in the usual coach - athlete relationship. This year our coxes have been treated to dating advice from the coaches while on the launch, apparently the best dating destinations are cultured and free (those of you in Cambridge the Fitzwilliam museum has been tipped as good). We've also been lucky enough to have coaches reading out sex scenes from novels over dinner and giving their views on what the unidentifiable vegetables we've been served look like....apparently trousersnake.

9. Plan a  good end of camp celebration

In reality all you may want to do at the end of a week on camp is curl up in bed and go into hibernation, however the thought of a covert party on the last night is more likely to be a thought to keep you going through the long pieces.

10. Leave your sanity at the airport check in

Insanity on training camp is vital, probably better to leave sanity behind than lose it unexpectedly part way through.