DUBC held their first pre-season training camp from Wednesday 29th August to Saturday 1st September. 27 members took part with 5 of them being the student coaches that were out in the launch helping improve athletes technique that had been forgotten over the long summer break!
The first day was gorgeous weather and with it being the first time back at the boathouse for most members meant there was a lot of rigging and tidying up to be done. We managed to get everyone on the water and a long row up to the Friarton bridge just outside Perth. After a busy morning we headed back into Dundee and had a 45 minute classroom session with experienced rower Olaf, teaching us all about UT2, anaerobic and aerobic training. The squad then went into the studio where our women’s captain Holly ran a circuit class followed by deep stretching.
The second day of camp was not quite as relaxed as the first, there were three water sessions planned and more of the team in attendance. It was another glorious day on the Tay making training a little more bearable! Two tough water sessions before lunch meant that most rowers spent the hour long break soaking up the rays or catching up on sleep before the final session took place.
Day three of camp and as we left Dundee at 8am we could see the blanket of cloud covering the silvery Tay. When we arrived at Inchyra where our boathouse is situated the air was like pea soup sadly making it unsafe to go out onto the water so the morning was spent working on boat maintenance. The cloud lifted after an hour or so meaning we could get one water session in before heading back to Dundee for another classroom session lead by Olaf. This time he spoke about race starts and short 350m pieces as we were in preparation for Saints 350m sprint regatta. Another core and deep stretching session lead by Holly definitely put the boys squad through their paces bending them in ways they never thought were possible!
The final day of camp was focused on a lot of short, sharp, high rate pieces in order to prepare for the upcoming regatta. We had a great three sessions on the water with lots of mixed crews to accommodate for all that signed up to camp and all Saints crews managed to get out too. Our athletes all finished very tired but still manged to push through and after a quick power nap we all enjoyed the first night of fresher’s week!