February 15, 2007

Canada's ONLY Chase Marathon

    Clinics

1. Minna at Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships 2007
2. Want a Really Good Cup of Coffee??
3. Upcoming Events - SUDBURYROCK!!! Race, Run or Walk for Diabetes
4. Running Room Update -
5. Track North News -
6. Mike Coughlin's Tri Section: 2007 Discomfort Zone Spring Break Training Camps

Minna at Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships 2007

by Minna Mettinen

Minna Training

On Sunday February 4th I came in 2nd place at the Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships with a time of 4:52.8 in the 1000m.Unfortunately due to several cascading unforeseen circumstances, I did not beat my PB from a month ago."The worst snow storm" my coach-Callen McGibbon has ever driven through, took a 30 min. section of the highway 1hr 25 min. therefore I arrived @ 10:10AM (race @ 11am). (original estimated arrival time was to be 9:30am).

Having never been allowed to use 'clamps' to create a stationary seat during training, for the first time I was going to be using clamps to create a stationary seat. Once I registered, I had 20 min. prior to the race to warm up. Placing the clamps for the first time was a challenge, to which my coaches strength was beyond the abilities of the clamps to hold up... one broke), and the seat was slightly too far ahead (knees bent too high), so we quickly had to duck tape the seat into place ( thank goodness for the cooperation of the race directors to permit it), [we called it the Northern Ontario erg. repair aka the "Red Green Show" method ]. By then it was 10 min. to race time.

I warmed up for 7 of it, then proceeded to my 'lane' and had 3 min. to warm up there. Nerves were so bad, I thought I was going to puke or... worse. Luckily my body didn't follow suit. This feeling was predominantly due to all the prior circumstances, AND the HUGE amount of spectators (in road races, the spectators are scattered, not 1000 people in one large room with 62 lanes of rowing machines, super loud squeaky voiced announcer-annoying to the extreme ).

My start was as I planned, to go with a 2:21-2:20/500m split bringing me in @ 4:40 finish
(10.7 secs faster then my first test, which is what had accomplished in training ), @ at 35-37 stroke rate. I was "ok" at the start, then I somehow lost concentration, either due the screaming lady, nerves, adrenalin rush or? who knows, but I bumped up to a 41-44 stroke rate, fell down to a 2:25.3 -2:30 split, until 80 metres at which time ave. split was still up at 2:25.9, with that higher stroke rate, I had used up too much energy and didn't have it in me to pull my final time down as much as wanted to.

So I ended up a 4:52.8 (1.1 secs slower then my last test and 12 sec.'s slower then my PB in training) Yet I qualified for first place in my disability category. (for race results http://15625.vws.magma.ca/2007files/CIRC_2007.pdf
See page 38-adaptive rowers)

Once checking out the complete Rowing Canada monitoring program participants, I realized that I had dropped from 1st place to 2nd (.8 sec.'s splitting me and 2nd, but a whopping 3.5 sec.'s slower then a new comer who placed 1st in Canada on Feb. 4th [in Quebec] )

Prior to the race a former Olympic Team Canada rower and the current women's conditioning coach, came by to take a few photos and informed me there was "quite a lot of anticipation" among Rowing Canada to watch me race. This left me feeling both honoured AND hugely 'pressured' realizing that someone out there is actually 'watching' me, with intention. ugh! it was not a great feeling prior to the race.

That race was a BIG learning experience, I obviously NEED to learn to tune out the crowds, while still listening for the voice of my coach. then after Alison the Adaptive team Canada co-ordinator took a lot of time to talk to me. Among her positive feedback specifically directed to my form she said considering it was my first public 'race' I did 'exceptional'. She introduced me to all the Team Canada members, coaches and medical officer.

Basically the end result is that some fine tuning is needed on my technique prior to the selection camp ('seat racing')
at the London National Training facility late May after my ROCKS 1/2 marathon.

To my great sup rise a Sudbury Rowing club executive member came to watch me race. He said he wants to become an adaptive rowing coach, and will work with me to get an Adaptive program hopefully by next summer. In the meantime I will be shuffling between rowing for the Barrie Rowing Club and racing here in Sudbury.

Strangely my body felt like a 'wreck' in comparison to the 1/2 marathon I did last fall. These 1km 'sprint' type races are quite difficult to adjust to after having been training for a half marathon.

Finally, some random spectator gave me a gift, a shirt that says "you row like a girl. Good for you!"

Now the ROCKS 1/2 training will begin, while I complete 2 more 1 km tests for Rowing Canada (which I will treat as interval training for road racing).
minna

Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships 2007
Results (Based on Raw Scores)
Event: 37 Adaptive Women (TA) (Final)
Place Name Club Time (min) Split MEDAL
1 Minna Mettinen- Unaffiliated 04:52.8 Gold

Final Results

Female
4 - Lariviere Chelsea Ontario 05:36.1
2 - Mettinen Minna Ontario 04:52.8
1 - Renneson Caitlin Ontario 04:52.0
3 - Wallace Katie Ontario 05:15.9

Minna Racing

Upcoming Events

1k, 5k, 10k, 1/2 Marathon and Marathon

Visit our Events Section for all the Details