2011 Indoor Rowing Championships
by Lisa Hudson
Steve Smith (center)
The Indoor Rowing Championships were recently held at the International School on Saturday, January 29th. Steve Smith (rowing fiend), Lisa Hudson (rowing wannabe), and Ian (“what did I let them talk me into”) Worden all competed in different categories, each rowing 2000 meters as fast as they each could go.
The Indianapolis Rowing Club does a great job hosting the regatta event each year. The IRC is a great organization, and their club participants are amazing in their technique and times that they produce.
I think what makes this event special is the variety of age groups and rowing abilities participating. Novices, like myself from the age of 30 – 93 participated, as well as junior rowers (teens), high school crew teams, and collegiate crew teams. For an idea of all the categories go to Regatta Central and search for the Indianapolis Indoor Rowing Event Information in recent events. You can log into the race results page.
My first year to compete was last year, and my strategy was basically to row as hard and fast as I could and just hang on. While that strategy netted me a fairly good time of 8:23, I was pretty uncomfortable for the entire race. This year I was within 4 seconds of my previous year’s time, but my strategy was very different. I went into the race trying to stay below a 2:10 500 meter average. I ended up at a 2:06 average with a final time of 8:27. The race seemed to fly by, and it was a lot of fun.
This race is perfect for the people who attend the Strength and Conditioning classes. Although I did quite a bit of rowing in November and December while participating in the Rowing Challenge, the only rowing I did in January was through the “boot camp” class. I felt that this style of training prepared me well enough to have a good race. I didn’t have the time nor did I schedule out any more time to do any “race specific” training.
On the other hand, Ian came to the rowing competition via Steve Smith’s Rowing Class. Ian also does strength training with Andria Shoemaker and he participated in the Fitness by Design Rowing Challenge this past Nov/Dec. This was his first year competing. Ian improved his best 500 split time average by 15 seconds, which is amazing.
Please join us next year. The race is held on the last Saturday in January. The age groups for us “novices” are 30 – 50 years old male and female, and 50+ or masters division male and female. Watch Lisa’s Race or Steve’s Race to get an idea of the fun we had. I hope to be rowing beside you next year!
Tags: fitness events, indianapolis rowing club, indoor rowing, lisa hudson, regatta central, rowing, steve smith
