The benefit of regular exercise on physical well-being is well established. Regular exercise improves muscular strength, cardiovascular fitness, and improves bone health. It also reduces the risk of several diseases including high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, and Type 2 diabetes. However, exercise also plays an important role in mental well-being by reducing feelings of stress and anxiety, and by helping to lift mood state.

Serotonin is often referred to as the body’s natural “feel good” chemical

Firstly, exercise triggers the release of chemical messengers in the brain called neurotransmitters. Endorphins are one of many neurotransmitters released when you exercise and they play an important role in regulating mood state. Endorphins interact with opiate (pain) receptors in the body, acting as natural pain killers and boosting pleasure, which results in feelings of positive well-being. You will also feel a lift in mood state following exercise thanks to a boost in a neurotransmitter called serotonin. Serotonin is often referred to as the body’s natural “feel good” chemical and plays an important role in regulating mood and anxiety amongst a several other functions.

Exercise also helps to improve concentration, memory, and learning which may help to minimise distractions in your new working environment. The exercise-induced increase in blood flow to the brain, increases the activity of neurons. Neurons are essential structural units of the brain that process and transmit information around the body. Advances in neuroimaging have also shown that regular exercise can lead to structural changes in the brain. For example, regular aerobic exercise has been shown to play an important role in neurogenesis, the growth of new neurons. One recent Harvard study (1) found that regular exercise promotes cell growth of the hippocampus, the part of the brain associated with memory and learning, by doing just 30 minutes of moderate exercise per day.

Regular exercise can lead to structural changes in the brain

There are a host of other ways that exercise promotes positive mental well-being, including relieving muscular tension which you may have built up throughout the day, improving sleep quality, and boosting energy levels.

Exercise doesn’t have to mean running marathons every day, there are lots of ways to be active and finding a physical activity regime to suit your new lifestyle is key. Exercise shouldn’t be something we ‘have to do’, but something that we enjoy doing because it makes us feel good and we recognise the value that it has on our physical and mental well-being.

The fitter children also performed better in memory recognition tasks.

Five top tips for mental and physical well-being

1. If you are feeling periods of heightened stress and anxiety go for a short (as little as 30 minutes) walk, jog, or a bike ride, outside if you can. If you don’t want to leave the house, try a home workout like gardening or yoga.
2. Try to think of physical activity as a lifestyle choice, rather than a chore. Choose activities that you enjoy and that make you feel good as this will help you to sustain a consistent exercise routine.
3. Make exercise fun and social by including the people in your household – that includes children too. American researchers (2) found that children aged 9-10 with high levels of fitness had a greater hippocampal volume, compared to children with a lower level of fitness. Interestingly, the fitter children also performed better in memory recognition tasks.
4. Fitness trackers and apps can help you stay connected and motivated during this time. Tracking your progress will give you a sense of accomplishment and an emotional boost to keep going.
5. Many gyms and apps are offering virtual sessions and classes which may help to give you a social connection.

Take it further – the references

(1) Thomas et al (2016). . NeuroImage, 131, 162–170.

(2) Chaddock et al. (2010). , 1358, 172–183.

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Matt Rossiter learnt to row at Abingdon School before attending Durham University. In 2011, he suffered a major back injury that kept him out of rowing for two years. He joined the GB senior squad in 2017 and rowed in the men’s four that won gold at the recent European Rowing Championships in Varese.

Saskia Budgett learnt to row at Tideway Scullers and went on to UCLA and graduated in 2019. She was in the women’s double that won bronze after a brilliant sprint finish at the recent European Rowing Championships.

Their next destination is Lucerne where Saskia is racing in the women’s double at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta – and hoping to qualify the boat for Tokyo – while Matt is competing with the men’s four at World Cup II.

We talked to them about their rowing journeys, being a junior, university, lockdown and Olympic ambitions. Read on to find out more.

What do you love most about rowing?

Matt Rossiter: I think for me, I really like the people side of it. I learned to row at Abingdon and when I rowed in the single, I hated it. I used to stop the whole time. Right now, I row sweep obviously and I think if I didn’t have someone else with me, I’d probably stop again. So, I think for me, it’s definitely the people. Rowing with your mates, having a nice time and trying to make boats go fast is really what gets me out of bed in the morning really. I don’t know if that’s good! Do you feel the same?

Saskia Budgett: Yeah definitely. The teamwork side of things is definitely right up there in terms of why I love the sport. And just working with other amazing, strong, powerful women is just such a cool thing to be a part of.

Also being surrounded by like-minded people, right beside you, who are going to push as hard as they can. It’s just such a powerful feeling that you don’t really feel at any other parts of your life, so it’s just a huge privilege to be part of that. And also, I do just really enjoy pushing my body and seeing how far I can go in weights, on the ergo and on the water.

How did you get involved in rowing? What made you start?

SB: So, my dad rowed and then my older brother and sister also rowed, so it was one of those things where my dad was like, don’t row, don’t row, keep going with your other sports, but I just wanted to be like my older brother and sister. So, I just ended up rowing and I rowed at Tideway Scullers. It was such a family community kind of club and I just wanted to be involved in that, so I started rowing at quite a young age.

MR: Saskia’s being modest – her dad’s an Olympic champion. [Richard Budgett won Olympic gold in the men’s four at the 1984 Games] Yeah, I’m probably the same in that my dad rowed for Goldie (the Cambridge reserve crew). When I was younger, I was into other sports – I played loads of rugby and cricket and then because dad rowed, I thought I should give it a go.

I didn’t necessarily enjoy it to start with. I was a bit chubby when I was 14 and I was called big barrel Matt in the octo. I wasn’t really – I was just teased – and then gradually I fell in love with the sport. It helped me find my feet at school and I made some really good friends from it. Gradually, I fell into it more and more. So yeah, through dad really.

Saskia, how did you decide that you wanted to go to university in the US? And how did you pick UCLA in particular?

SB: So, I actually didn’t really know about the whole US situation until really, really late. I applied for veterinary science in the UK – I had wanted to be a vet since I was really young. I, actually, didn’t get in anywhere. So, I didn’t know what I was going to do and then some of my friends in the GB system were talking about going to the US and I was like ‘Wow, this sounds like an amazing opportunity’.

I chose UCLA because it’s a really great school academically and it’s sunny in California. Also, the rowing team and atmosphere seemed like the kind of a place that you’d want to be part of.

It was all very last-minute, so I decided in March or April and then I went in September. It was a bit of a whirlwind, but it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made. The US system is just amazing and we had a team of 60 girls and it was just such a cool experience to travel and experience other cultures.

Matt, what was it like making the transition from junior/U23 to senior, especially after such a long break with your back injury?

“Just being surrounded by such powerful strong women is the main thing that inspires me”

MR: I found it quite difficult because at school, we just rowed once a day and we trained really hard. Now the bulk of our training is UT2 and to do lots of that you need to be quite strong and your back needs to be good and mine was not in a very good position.

When I got to Durham University, my back flared up really badly. I could put together bits of training at U23s, but I found it quite difficult as a boy going into an adult world. But I think you just gradually get used to it and just take things day-by-day as it comes.

Every step along the way, I could have doubted that I’d be good enough, so I never thought I’d get to U23s – I never thought I could make it on the Leander programme which is kind of what spring boarded me into the national team. And then when I got onto the national team, I thought I wasn’t going to cope with it.

I think you just speak to people around you and ask for advice and your body just gradually gets used to it. And as you mature as an athlete and a person, you figure it out.

What is the best thing about being part of the GB Rowing Team?

SB: Just being surrounded by such powerful strong women is the main thing that inspires me and it’s great just being around people who love the same thing and with so many like-minded people. And there’s so much intention – every day everyone just goes out there with the intention to get the most out of it. I just love the atmosphere.

“There’s a lot of expectation and I’m in the coxless four at the moment and in the past, that boat has always won”

MR: I think we’re really lucky that there’s probably 70 athletes, but there’s also physios and sports scientists and every single boat has a coach, so even the support staff have the intention to make us better.

We’re in a really privileged position where all we have to do is just turn up and do our best, so everyone’s trying to drip-feed into how to get better. There’s a lot of history because GB has an unbelievable heritage in the sport and the fact that we can be part of that feels very special.

What’s the biggest challenge about being part of the GB Rowing Team?

MR: I think it links to what I said before: because the team has done so well, there’s a lot of expectation and I’m in the coxless four at the moment and in the past, that boat has always won.

And this whole Olympiad, we’ve not done particularly well. We’ve won bronze medals which I was quite happy with – but the expectation is to win. That’s quite difficult to deal with, but then, ultimately, all you can do every day is your best. And if that’s all you do then that’s life really, which is quite a good lesson.

But the training’s tough. We do two long rows a day and then a weights session and that takes a bit of getting used to and in those periods, you just feel totally knackered the whole time.

“My favourite quote is: ‘It is what it is and it ain’t what it ain’t’”

SB: So, I’m quite new to the team – this is my second year. I think I found it a bit of a shock going from university. I was towards the top of my university programme and then I came in and was pretty much bottom of the team here.

It’s quite a big shock to have such fierce competition and to have to rise up to that all the time. And sometimes that can be quite hard to deal with, but it does make you better although sometimes it is hard.

What advice would you give to your teenage selves?

SB: I think for me, I’d always just say focus on enjoying it and always keeping rowing in perspective because there are bigger things in life and although rowing seems like everything at the moment, it’s important just to remember why you do it and why you enjoy it.

“Surround yourself with radiators and not drains because that can make a huge difference”

MR: My advice would be really similar – I think enjoying it is really important. Also, I wish I didn’t worry so much, which I think is really easy to say… It could be about an email from the GB coach
 ‘The coaches have put me in this boat, what does that mean? Or just generally I haven’t been invited to that party, that means I’ve got no friends.’

I think it’s just enjoying what you do and just knowing that you are in a good way and that things will come good. Oh, and my favourite quote is: ‘It is what it is and it ain’t what it ain’t’.

SB: I love that. Also, another one I think I’d say is to appreciate the people around you and surround yourself with radiators and not drains because that can make a huge difference.

From an outsider looking in, GB’s performance at the European Championships was a bit of a surprise. Do you feel that way, especially after not having as much water time as the other nations?

MR: Yeah, I was really pleasantly surprised. We have just been training against the clock since September and we had been doing percentages and not doing very well. We ended up doing fine (winning), but yeah you have no idea what the other countries are doing. We’ve just taken that result and are back to the drawing board and then just hoping to get faster and faster.

SB: The European Championships was my first senior race, so I was just loving the whole experience and lapping it up. Holly (Nixon) and I hadn’t been together for that long, so we were still finding our feet.

Our percentages weren’t great either, so we were not really sure what to expect going into it. I think just to be on the podium – we were so happy. And I think it’s just exciting for the whole team to start the year in that way and for more to come hopefully.

The post In conversation with Saskia Budgett and Matt Rossiter appeared first on 91ÌÒÉ«.

After a dreadful 12 months, barring disaster there will be racing again this summer. Hooray! If we haven’t been out in boats all winter, we expect our rowing to be rusty and our hands to have gone soft; but are you also prepared for your mental skills to have gone off the boil? The mind is a muscle and needs training like any other part of your body.

Here’s a few tips about how to spend the next few months gradually rebuilding your confidence to race.

1.      Don’t build confidence by trying to build your confidence

You don’t pass an exam by telling yourself to be cleverer, and you don’t develop confidence by telling yourself you need to be more confident. Confidence is the outcome of lots of different mental attributes, so concentrate on building all the different parts of the package rather than jumping straight to the destination.

2.      Start with the positives!

We’re good at identifying what we find difficult, and self-deprecation is part of the British character. But to build those foundations of confidence, start with what you are good at and what you find enjoyable and intuitive. Once you know what that is, challenge the parts of your rowing that you don’t find straightforward.

3.      Not everyone needs to feel like Arnold Schwarzenegger

Everyone’s confidence identity will be different. Some rowers will need to feel like the Terminator on the eve of a race in order to get the most out of themselves; others need to feel on edge, like they have something to prove. Find out what kind of confidence identity suits you. And the brilliant thing about team sports like rowing is that everyone in your crew will be slightly different.

“There’s no magic confidence wand that can make all the difference”

4.      Rome wasn’t built in a day

Steve Redgrave didn’t win five Olympic gold medals overnight and Usain Bolt didn’t run 100m in 9.58 seconds at the first attempt. It takes time, work and application to develop robust self-confidence.

Paul Thompson, former Chief Coach of the GB women and lightweights, told me that there is no shortcut. “You can’t tap someone on the head with the confidence stick. There’s no magic confidence wand that can make all the difference. People have to be challenged, and then they come through it, and then they’ve got confidence to get through that situation – and that’s how it builds.”

5.      Look in the rear-view mirror

Goal-setting isn’t just about looking ahead and focusing on the next step. It’s also vital to check behind, to see how far you’ve come. It might take a while to get to your confidence destination, but keep checking in with all the steps you have taken, and assess how far you’ve come from your starting point.

6.      Self-awareness is a fundamental

Constantly hold up a mirror to yourself and ask yourself tough questions. If my confidence isn’t growing, why not? What do I need to change in my approach, so it’s consistent and repeatable? If I am feeling more in control of my performances, how do I keep moving forward?

7.      If you win you didn’t do everything right; if you lose you didn’t do everything wrong

It’s easy to dismiss your entire performance after a loss; and tempting to pat yourself on the back after a victory. Building confidence comes from looking beyond the result and figuring out what actually happened. Even in a thumping defeat you can find some positives, and after a victory make sure you are still learning.

“The inches we need are everywhere around us”

8.      Learn from others

Every insight is valuable. Talk to other rowers, coaches and athletes about how they build their confidence; read sports books and listen to podcasts. Everybody will have a different approach to confidence. Reading , by yours truly (and preferably buying it in hardback), is an excellent place to start.

9.      ‘The inches we need are everywhere around us
’


says Al Pacino’s character in the film as he urges his football team to fight for every inch. The same applies to confidence. You can build your confidence in different ways, by trying to find gains everywhere. Self-belief doesn’t just come from good performances and the inches really are all around you: you can learn as much from a Tuesday evening group ergo session in February as from a victory at a big regatta in the summer.

10.   Create your own reality

Maybe it is real, or maybe it’s all in our minds. If it’s real to you, then that’s all that matters.

You’ll hear football fans insisting their team can still come back and win when they are 5-0 down with two minutes to play. Confidence exists in your head, rather than as a quantifiable reality like an ergo score. It doesn’t matter what you base it on, or how you express it. Create your own version of reality that enables you to believe you can achieve.

Go for it!

Read Annie’s thoughts on what makes a fantastic team on 91ÌÒÉ« Plus. 

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In 2017, while studying for a second degree at Cambridge in Affiliated Law, Melissa Wilson went to a panel talk about climate change. The four-time Boat Race rower was so troubled by the stark picture that the panel described that, afterwards, she went up to one of the speakers to ask if she should immediately stop studying to help avert the climate crisis.

It was a pivotal moment as she was told that studying law would equip her with skills that could be useful for environmental work, so instead, she decided to finish her degree. Four years on, 27-year-old Melissa has been a part-time legal researcher at The Good Law Project, focusing on environmental law, as well as Plan B Earth, which supports strategic legal action against climate change.

Despite also following a punishing training schedule, last September she was also instrumental in organising a letter to the Prime Minister, calling for a green recovery to be prioritised after COVID-19. Thanks to her efforts in reaching out to current and former athletes, was signed by over 300 GB Olympians and Paralympians, including more than 40 Olympic and Paralympic champions.

Charismatic and engaging, Melissa is fiercely driven to do whatever she can to protect the environment for future generations, which of course includes the beautiful landscape and water where she trains every day. She told us more over Zoom while eating a quick sandwich between training sessions.

We’d love to hear more about the letter – how did it come about?

Melissa: I was writing a paper for The Good Law Project that was partly looking at what a green recovery might provide after Covid to really address the UK’s environmental strategies, and I thought it would be really powerful for athletes to write a letter calling on the Government to prioritise an ambitious green recovery.

Champions for Earth was co-founded by Olympic champion, Etienne Stott, and ex-rower Dave Hampton, and brings athletes together over climate change issues. They’d published two letters before, the first one had three signatories and the second had 19 signatories.

I joined their team last year. Over the summer, once I’d written the letter, I reached out to athletes who I rowed with. Former GB rower and Olympic champion Constantine Louloudis was so helpful – he posted something on the GB Olympic Association’s Facebook group and then they sent it out to their alumni list which had 2,500 Olympians, so that really got the ball rolling.

“Radical action needs to be taken, but it can only happen if it’s understood that… it’s a sensible and rational response to the science”

How much support have you had from the GB Rowing Team?

The rowers had a strong, strong presence on the letter signatories. There was great support from athletes, and I reached out to Brendan [Purcell] because of his links with triathlon and canoeing and he approached the Brownlee brothers who signed it, as well as signing it himself.

We had an email from one of the GB Rowing Team coaches on the men’s side and he wrote a list of brilliant suggestions, most of which I wouldn’t have come up with, and so that also felt positive.

His ideas ranged from tree planting, to how to shift our energy use, and then more extreme options like looking at our training camps and our travel, and also things like diet as this is a key way that we can be shifting our carbon emissions.

Did your letter get a response from the Government?

We haven’t had a direct response – but over 100 Olympians got in touch with me, with messages like ‘thank you so much for what you’re doing’, ‘this matters more to me than anything’, ‘this really is the key issue and we should be doing more about it
.’

So, what next?

The is happening in Glasgow in November this year, so, in the same way that we’re building up to Tokyo 2021, I feel like we have a real opportunity.

We see the reports from the scientists, and we think there’s an exciting opportunity for the UK to provide real global leadership on this issue which is more important than any other.

“Tokyo can provide a bit of a blueprint if we don’t have full stadiums of spectators in the future”

What do you see as the key issue?

To communicate to our elected leaders that ambitious climate policies are widely supported. Radical action needs to be taken, but it can only happen if it’s understood that doing that isn’t radical in itself – but is a sensible and rational response to the science.

What else can sport do?

If different governing bodies pledged to do something rather than just talk about it – for example, they could plant a tree for every athlete going to Tokyo – that would be really exciting leadership that sport could give, alongside athletes deciding to speak out about these issues.

Sporting competitions produce such huge carbon emissions very often, so all of that is also something that Champions for Earth is looking to focus on.

A recent paper by David Goldblatt called ‘Playing against the Clock: Sport and the Climate Crisis’ looks at the case for rapid change and suggests radical proposals.

“Getting involved with Rowers against Rubbish is a really good way of doing something tangible”

Tokyo is set out to be the first carbon-neutral Olympic Games and certainly its sustainability focus has been a core part of it.

I think Tokyo will be very interesting – I’m not sure what the spectator role will be like. There’s a statistic in ‘Playing Against the Clock’ that says that 70% of emissions from sports competitions are from spectator travel and consumption, which is vast. In some ways, maybe Tokyo can provide a bit of a blueprint if we don’t have full stadiums of spectators in the future.

Finally, how can the rowing community help?

At club level, if clubs have space, then planting trees in appropriate places, could be one option – though it’s best to do so with advice from ecologists. It’s really important that they’re maintained, so they keep being a productive carbon offsetting measure.

Any opportunity that clubs can take to shift perceptions about the need to consume animal protein would also be good. It’s obviously important that all levels of athletes are getting the right nutritional balance, but it’s not too complicated to follow a plant diet if the right information is provided.

Getting involved with is a really good way of doing something tangible. In Covid times, it might be a nice way to be outside if you’re not able to get on the water.

Adapting our behaviour to help climate change isn’t always about giving something up – it’s about doing it in a different way.

With rowing we do have this opportunity to be outside – if you’re in a beautiful environment then, yes, it should be the Government who’s leading on conserving this, but, equally, why wouldn’t you use a reusable water bottle, or eat some more lentils and chickpeas and do what you can.

The post ‘Adapting our behaviour to help climate change isn’t always about giving something up’ appeared first on 91ÌÒÉ«.

Follow our 12 days of Christmas workout with Clare, our Go Row Indoor instructor. It’s a great way to pre-burn your calories before your festive lunch!

The post Festive special: 12 days of Christmas workout appeared first on 91ÌÒÉ«.

Written by former GB rower Frances Houghton, shares fascinating insights into the journey of the women’s eight which went on to win an amazing Olympic silver at the 2016 Rio Games.

Four years on, Frances talks to crew-mates Jess Eddie and Zoe De Toledo about the crew’s campaign and reflects on how they approached creating such a successful crew from their different personalities.

Reviewing the book, Zoe says: “It’s a great Christmas present – obviously it’s beautiful and the whole way it’s set out is gorgeous and the graphics are lovely. But also it’s made by small local producers so it’s supporting small businesses.

“There’s something that anyone can learn from in it. I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t be able to pick this up and find something that’s useful to their life or their sport or their family.”

Jess adds: “The book’s simplicity is its massive selling point because you can just pick it up. It’s a good reference point for anyone in any sport to look back and say ‘how did this person, Frances, feel at this point in time?’ – and there’s not many books that tell you that.”

Read more about how Frances came to write her book .

Learnings from Five Olympic Games 1#

Frances, Jess and Zoe discuss the following:

• Crew contributions and communication
• Perspective of the cox in the eight
• Coxing role
• Crew identity
• Personality testing

Learnings from Five Olympic Games 2#

Frances, Jess and Zoe cover the topics below and more…

• Controlling the controllables
• Race planning
• Actionable crew feedback
• Coxing feedback
• Olympic experiences

The post Discussions on Learnings from Five Olympic Games appeared first on 91ÌÒÉ«.

Oonagh Cousins and Ella Barnard are friends who met while rowing at the University of Cambridge. They both contracted Covid-19 in March and have suffered from post-viral fatigue, a syndrome that can occur after various viral infections. In cases involving the coronavirus, this is also being described as ‘Long Covid’.

So Oonagh, why don’t you introduce yourself and explain a bit about why we are writing this blog?

Oonagh: I’ve been a rower on the GB Rowing Team since February 2019 and was provisionally selected in the women’s eight for the 2020 season before the Olympics was postponed. Post-viral fatigue has meant I have been unable to train for seven months. We want to write this blog because post-viral fatigue is not widely understood or discussed and we think it is important to start a conversation about it.

Your turn, Ella!

Ella: I’m an Army officer and club rower, having rowed as a junior, at Cambridge and then at club level. My experiences with post-viral fatigue started in 2018 when I developed glandular fever and this syndrome as a result. After improving a lot, I was able to live a normal life until I contracted the flu in November 2019 and then Covid-19 in March 2020. These illnesses brought back a lot of my post-viral symptoms and since then I have been off full-time work, in order to recover.

As I have experienced, post-viral fatigue can be triggered by different viruses, but there are many people suffering at the moment as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Oonagh: I think we should begin with when we first got Covid-19.

When I got infected I did not get bad coronavirus symptoms; I have had worse colds, and for a while I continued training through it. It was at the time when information about the virus was only just coming out and nobody recognised that I had it. However, I did have a persistent cough for six weeks, I lost my sense of taste and smell and I became very tired. As we were in the middle of Olympic training I was more run down than normal even before the infection, and it is possible that this has contributed to Long Covid.

“On the worst days you struggle to walk or complete daily tasks such as cooking a meal or composing an email”

Ella: My experience was similar in that my infection was very mild, but in my case I was run down from previous illness. Aside from the initial infection, how would you describe the post-viral fatigue itself?

Oonagh: Symptoms like a complete lack of energy, low moods, nausea and headaches are all common, but it is very unlike other illnesses I have come across. The biggest difference is the lack of a linear recovery.

There is a general trend of progress over time, but you also go through really significant ups and downs.

On the worst days you struggle to walk or complete daily tasks such as cooking a meal or composing an email. As time goes on you are more able to complete small activities such as seeing friends and short jogs.

Fatigue is also a misleading term, because it is so different from “tiredness”, and it is not something you can sleep off. Instead it is better to view it as having very low reserves.

“Spiralling negative thoughts, lacking motivation for anything, a complete absence of hope and a desire to isolate yourself are common”

When you are having a good day, low-level activities can help recovery. However, if you do something that requires more energy than you have, this can cause you to “crash”. You become very fragile physically and mentally. Depending on where you are in your recovery this can take days or weeks to bounce back from – time which you generally spend in bed or on the sofa.

The kind of thing that results in “crashing” can be very minor in comparison to the lives we normally lead. It doesn’t even have to be a physical toll, it can just be expending mental or emotional energy. It could be spending too long out of the house, having to walk further than you planned, a high-energy social situation, or a work meeting that goes on too long.

Bad days can also happen for no apparent reason.

“Recovery requires a holistic approach to living a healthy life, and lots of time!”

Ella: Yes, I remember a day when I needed to get up and go into work to check my emails. I woke up and had a huge rush of adrenaline as if I was about to do a 2k ergo test! It was as if, to gear myself up for this tiny task, my body had to draw on all of its reserves because my energy levels were so depleted.

It is also important to recognise the impact post-viral fatigue has on your mind. Both of us agree that this has given us a lot of insight into the connection between physical and mental health. When we have bad periods both of us experience depression and anxiety.

Even though rationally we know it is the fatigue speaking, spiralling negative thoughts, lacking motivation for anything, a complete absence of hope and a desire to isolate yourself are common. This is the part of the illness we struggle with the most. You can physically rest yourself by staying on the sofa but breaking out of a negative thought cycle can be so much harder. We are motivated and upbeat people when we are well, so it feels like you lose yourself in the illness and that’s a tough headspace to be in.

Fortunately we are starting to show signs of improvement. Oonagh, how would you describe the best way to manage recovery?

“If any rowers are suffering with a viral infection or unusual fatigue, the worst thing they could do is to keep pushing themselves before they are 100% well”

Oonagh: One frustrating aspect is that there is little clinical intervention available. Rather recovery requires a holistic approach to living a healthy life, and lots of time! We manage our daily activity, try to have a good diet, a good sleep routine and to avoid stress. Doing some exercise can be helpful depending on your stage of recovery. Above all, you just have to be patient and let your body heal.

It is also so important to have a good support system and people around you that understand the situation. We feel very lucky to have had each other. As this illness is poorly understood it would be all too easy not to recognise what is happening to you, and to keep trying to push through or (wrongly!) think you’re being a bit weak. It is very reassuring to speak to someone who is going through the same thing and know that what you are experiencing is an illness and not you.

Do you think being a rower has helped you during this process?

Ella: I absolutely think rowing has set me up well to deal with post-viral fatigue. Rowing teaches a lot of mental resilience which is essential when dealing with the long process of recovery. Rowing also teaches you to be in tune with your body. This means you are better at recognising what is aiding or preventing your recovery, and are already used to managing yourself. With post-viral fatigue the margins for error are really small as it’s so easy to overdo it. Being in tune with your body is the only way to recognise what you are capable of on a given day.

The only caution I would give is that rowers can be almost too good at pushing on when their body is telling them to stop! This definitely meant I dug myself into a bigger hole than I needed to when I was first ill, because I just kept going. It is so easy to think you can push through and be fine, but all you will end up doing is delaying recovery. If any rowers out there are suffering with a viral infection or unusual fatigue, the worst thing they could possibly do is to keep pushing themselves before they are 100% well.

Oonagh: I would also emphasise that the initial symptoms can be very mild, but if you have any suspicions that you may have caught the virus it’s really important to stop training right away.

The skills and networks we have from rowing are very helpful in managing post-viral fatigue, but we hope that sharing our experiences might help both those suffering and also those in a position to support them.

With many people affected at the moment, we hope this article will contribute to a wider understanding of this illness.

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As rowing slowly begins to return to normal, Hugo Gulliver and Richard Chambers spotlight sweep rowing technique. Back in June, they presented a 91ÌÒÉ« webinar on sweep rowing so we asked them for their technical insights.

Hugo’s tips

1 – Sweep rowing has to be a team sport. The team size may be two people or 50+ people but, regardless of size, all athletes and coaches must make sure they are creating and enhancing an environment which is encouraging everyone to be the best versions of themselves.

2 – If training in eights, then don’t underestimate the usefulness of rowing in sixes for the majority of the outing quite often. With regular pair swaps, heart-rates can be maintained, so there is still physiological benefit to the session, but the secure platform allows the athletes to focus on a technical point without the distraction of balance and the need to set the boat. Sixes will often also allow you to run two or more eights side-by-side with greater ease.

Connecting the blade effectively in a fast-moving eight is a tough skill, and often overlooked

3 – Achieving a strong position at quarter slide on the recovery is really important. Pausing drills to where the athletes feel their ‘weight is over’ I find more useful than pausing at an arbitrary position like ‘bodies over’ or ‘quarter slide’. Both the rowing machine and strength and conditioning also present plenty of opportunities to strengthen this position.

4 – Inside-arm only (outside-arm off) is a drill you’ll see a lot of American crews use but is less commonly used in the UK. Do the drill with a square blade, legs only, starting off the front. It highlights to the athlete how to accelerate the blade in the water using the hips and glutes.

5 – When an eight is at top speed it’s moving fast. Connecting the blade effectively in a fast-moving eight is a tough skill, and often overlooked. Don’t be afraid to throw very high-rate bursts into sessions at points in the season some wouldn’t normally expect you to, like early and mid-winter.

Richard’s tips

Do the basics right and don’t over complicate the rowing stroke.

1 – Start with how you hold the handle. You can have a relaxed grip whilst keeping a good hold of the handle. Keep your knuckles over the handle and your thumb tucked under. This will mean you can get a more effective transfer of power to the end of the spoon earlier in the drive phase.

Roll ups throughout an outing can help improve a crew’s togetherness on the recovery and catch placement

2 – At the beginning of the season keep the movements steady and controlled. Around the finish, as the blade releases from the water, have a steady and controlled movement of the hands away. I prefer to see a slight pause at the finish to emphasise this. This allows scratch crews to find a reference point that they can move together from, allowing crews to come together quicker.

3 – If rowing in eights, then spend at least half of the session rolling around in sixes. Pausing drills and continuous rowing will allow the rowers to figure out rhythm and technical points with a fast-moving shell that is also stable.

4 – Roll ups throughout an outing can help improve a crew’s togetherness on the recovery and catch placement. With the Cambridge reserve crews (Goldie), we used to do a lot of them, so that on race day the first stroke they took from the embankment was all eight full slide – practised and done right this can give so much confidence to any crew and can be quite intimidating to others!!!

5 – Give your athletes the opportunity to learn to steer in pairs in an unpressured environment. No stopwatch, just guidance and help.  Small movements with the steering foot will be more effective than full lock with the rudder. Steer with your foot at the finish of the stroke and look round every five strokes, if on a river. The more time you spend steering the more natural it will become.

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Last September, 28 athletes from and achieved extraordinary success at the in Hungary – winning a haul of gold medals from five events and finishing second overall to Ushakov Rowing from Moscow. Pictured above are the medal winners from Star and Bedford clubs.

So, with the turbulent times that have followed, what next for these dedicated masters?

David Sogan, Men’s Masters Coordinator & Performance Director at Star Rowing Club, shares some insights into how the squad have been training over the last six months.

“Following our successful 2019, the Bedford Star masters squad decided to have a few weeks off from intensive training in October and November with the aim of having a nine-month season peaking for the [now postponed] in Linz.

“A couple of squad members were not prepared to make the sacrifice again but across the two clubs we still have about 32 men and eight women in the elite Bedford Star masters squad.

“Our return to serious training in December was followed by the most disrupted winter training and head season anyone can remember due mainly to high winds and flooding.

I am a great believer that moving a sculling boat efficiently benefits sculling and sweep in all boat types

“By the time we got to March, the squad had only competed in two heads all winter. The lockdown could not have come at a worst time for the squad. We were about to send an F eight to complete in the Heineken Roeiviercamp in Amsterdam on the 14 March, which was cancelled the day before we were due to fly out. Plus, of course, the Vesta Vets Head was cancelled the following week, where we had entered three crews and were defending two titles.

“It became obvious that competitive rowing was likely to be over for the season and no one could say when we could get back in boats.

“Most of the squad were keen to keep training to keep their sanity and to be ready for the lifting of the lockdown. Our squad does not have a coach, but training guidance is provided by a couple of the rowing group members, with Kevan Armstrong leading on technique and myself on general fitness.

“We decided to treat the lockdown as an extended winter season. I suggested some broad guidelines for the squad, with a focus on building their aerobic base with minimal stress on the body to also keep their immune systems healthy.

“This meant polarising the training, with 85% of the training at low intensity (heart rate capped at 70%) and just 15% at high intensity, usually variations of short and high-intensity interval training.

“Long ergo, cycles or runs of between 30 minute and 90 minutes have been encouraged. The low intensity allows for quicker recovery, so more sessions and more volume can be achieved, leading to a more pronounced training effect.

Shirl Musselle (our oldest member) did a 10-mile run on his 76th birthday

“It’s amazing how much mental discipline is required to keep to the prescribed heart rate and not “overcook” the sessions. I think masters rowers are particularly prone to doing most of their training at just below flat out, which is not a smart way to train.

“Most of the squad are training five to six days a week. Initially, with no access to rowing, it was interesting to see people trying forms of exercise which they had not done for many a year. Many squad members are now cycling and running every week and cross trainers, bike ergs and weights are also proving very popular.

“Some of the standout performances posted by the squad over lockdown were Shirl Musselle (our oldest member) doing a 10-mile run on his 76th birthday; Pete Isaacson doing a 60-mile bike ride in a little over three hours and Colin Hunt relentlessly pumping out morning workouts on the erg.

“Many of us see the lockdown as an opportunity to do things you wouldn’t normally be able to do. For me, personally, I mixed a high volume of low-intensity fasted workouts with a low carb diet and intermittent fasting to shed 8kg of weight I’ve been carrying around for the past 30 years. That’s not something I could have done under normal training circumstances.

“Other members focused on weight training to build up their muscle bulk or tried something completely different like Lisa and Andrew Thompson who completed the 60-day Insanity fitness programme.

Perhaps next year we can go one better and win the victor ludorum at the World Masters!

“As lockdown has eased about two thirds of the squad are back in sculling boats and again this is a unique opportunity for those members to fine-tune their single sculling skills which, ordinarily, the squad would not get time for as we spend so much time training in eights.

“I am a great believer that moving a sculling boat efficiently benefits sculling and sweep in all boat types. The same training regime applies, with an emphasis on long outings at rate 18 to 20 with heart rate capped at 70% of max to build the aerobic base.

“Masters rowing at national and international level gets more competitive every year and to keep winning you need to work on every aspect.

“The squad has been positive in using the lockdown as an opportunity to experience new ways of training and interacting. I believe we will emerge from lockdown mentally and physically stronger, which will lead to improved performances when we get the chance to race again.

“Perhaps next year we can go one better and win the victor ludorum at the World Masters! You’ve got to have ambition.”

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This weekend – from 6am on Saturday 25 through to 6pm on Sunday 26 July – Annabel Eyres and friend Tiffany Jolowicz are organising the to raise funds for scientists working flat out on programme.

It’s easy to take part by either running, walking, swimming, cycling or rowing – or simply donating – and showing support for the 150-plus scientists who are researching coronavirus treatments.

Anneliese Dodds, Shadow Chancellor and Labour and Cooperative MP for Oxford East is supporting the challenge. She said: “This is a great initiative to raise money for the University of Oxford’s coronavirus research, while bringing people together from across the world in a virtual sports event. You can still register your sports commitment at their website.”

Annabel, who competed at the 1992 Olympics, tells us more about the Coronathon challenge.

1 – What prompted you to do something?

Annabel: Tiffany is a friend of 38 years – we used to run together at school where she had her heart set on competing as a pentathlete at the Seoul Olympics. The Olympics were nowhere on my horizon at that time, so it is a strange twist that I ended up trialling for Seoul and then rowing at Barcelona and she was sadly injured out of competition following an injury with a wetsuit, of all things.

This disappointment has given her an iron will, hence her success as an endurance athlete. She was aiming to complete her final Ironman competition, aged 54, this July. When it was cancelled, along with the Henley Masters Regatta I was entered in with Annamarie Phelps and a cohort of US Olympians, we decided to join forces and organise the Coronathon to give more people a sporting goal with a difference. Our tag line is ‘Sport to Support Coronavirus Research’.

We are both great believers in the uniting effects of sport, so it seemed obvious to make that our focus.

The youngest participant is nine and the eldest is 83!

2 – What sort of response have you had from people?

Like all these things, it takes a bit of time to get the ball rolling. We spent three weeks learning how to put together a website from scratch and annoying our offspring with questions about social media, but once the idea was launched, it took on a momentum of its own.

We have had some generous donations and participants from all over the world – the US, Europe, and of course many in the UK.

The youngest participant is nine and the eldest, a teacher and rowing coach from the school where we met, is 83!

This week, another teacher and his wife from the same school (Bryanston in Dorset) are walking a marathon distance from their home to the school where we all met. We have a brother and sister team too. It is so touching to see how this has captured the imagination of such a variety of ages.

3 – How did you choose who to fundraise for?

We were keen to support the Oxford University research fund for obvious reasons – what other cause unites us all at this moment in time?

But, also as we both have strong links with Oxford; I learnt to row whilst at the university and then rowed for , as did my sister. Tiffany has a son at Oriel, who took up rowing as soon as he arrived there.

We knew that the fund had been heavily supported by  and the government, but we were surprised to hear that these donations were pigeon-holed for certain projects such as the vaccine and the testing programmes. Other, more obscure areas of research rely just on regular university funding and philanthropy.

Rowers are running, swimming and cycling, showing what a flexible bunch of athletes we are

3 – It’s great that people can take part or simply donate

We knew that as this was a ‘non-event’, spectating in the traditional sense was not an option. We are hoping that all those who participate will have a sense of belonging to the ‘team’ even though it’s a virtual team. We are encouraging participants to post their progress on the Facebook page and we will have a completers page on the website after next weekend.

Many participants are organising their own mini ‘coronathons’ whether that’s with a partner or family.

My husband has a group swimming with him during his 10k swim and there are support kayaks going along too with friends and family, all socially distanced, of course, but following along the coastal path.

Rowing clubs are also getting involved with OUWBC doing a ten-athlete challenge over the weekend.

4 – The aim is to raise ÂŁ30k – with over ÂŁ16,000 raised already. Will the final amount go towards a specific part of the research?

We have asked the same question, but the team’s projects are changing so rapidly that they have not been able to give us the option to select one project. We are completely confident that they will use the money as they see fit. The full list of their current projects is .

5 – Is there anything else that you’d like to mention that might encourage people to get involved?

Rowers have certainly risen to the challenge, but interestingly, very few have opted to do miles on the ergo! Instead, rowers are running, swimming and cycling, showing what a flexible bunch of athletes we are.

Find out how you can donate .

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