So the training is underway.  It has been quite hard as a group with everyone in different parts of the world, but we have all been re-acquainting ourselves to the erg (or rowing machine).

Thanks to some guidance from Jamie Fitzergerald and Kevin Biggar - winners of the Atlantic Rowing Race - plus team leader Rob, we have been able to put down a good training strategy. 

I am particularly looking forward to our first makeshift simulation on 9 May.  We are looking to do a 6 hour shift rowing for 4 hours.  This most likely will be on the erg with an emphasis on recovery in-between.

The research suggests this training needs to be different to the usual flat water training, or preparation for a 2k race. We are going to be doing longer times on the erg but at a lesser heart rate and a steady stroke rate of around 20 per minute. 

The goal is to train the body to do what we will be doing on the water during the challenge itself, not just get fit as with normal rowing.  Our muscles and joints and tendons need to be trained into a longer endurance type mode.

Keeping the weight on could be the hardest part.  A high consumption rate of food will be a necessity, and the more we have at the beginning, the more we have to give without exhausting the muscles too early.

By Andrew McCowan from the Trans-Tasman Rowing Team