ROWING TRAINING AND DIET.
The rules of training and diet should be the rules of common sense, applied to cases in which the body has to prepare itself, by severe work and perfectly simple, healthy living, for an exceptional effort or series of efforts. Rules there must be, if only on account of the advantage that comes of being able to make exceptions to them. But the chief points must be regularity and simplicity —a regularity, that is, which shall not entail an unvarying and wearisome monotony, and simpli city which shall not exclude occasional little luxuries that act as a stimulus to a man's jaded energies.
I shall give here two tables showing the hours and the dietary of an Oxford crew training during a little more than five weeks for the race against Cambridge, and of a Leander crew training for nearly three weeks for the Grand Challenge race at Henley Regatta.
I. Oxford Crew.
7 A.M. Out of bed, and without bathing or washing dress immediately in flannels. A cup of milk and a biscuit.
7.15 „ Out of the house. A brisk walk with one sharp run of i5o yards.
7.5o „ Back to the house. Bath, etc.
8.3o „ Breakfast.—Fish, plainly cooked, without sauce. Soles, whiting, and smelts are best. Salmon is not allowed. Cutlets or beefsteaks, or grilled chicken. Eggs, boiled, or poached, or fried, sometimes scrambled. Mustard and cress, or water-cress. Toast. Limited amount of butter. Marmalade is allowed only during the last fortnight of training. Not more than a cup and a half of tea.
i i „ At Putney, when the state of the tide permits it, exercise in the boat. It should be noted that the tide sometimes makes it necessary for the crew to do its rowing in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon. Occasionally work can be done both in the morning and afternoon.
1 r. e. Lunch.—Cold meat. Tomatoes plainly made into a salad with oil and vinegar. Toast. Small quantity of butter. Oatmeal biscuits. One glass of draught beer, or claret and water.
3 or 4 „ (according to tide). Work in the boat.
6.3o „ Dinner.—Fish, as at breakfast. An eerie of pigeons, or sweetbread, or spinach and poached eggs. Roast joint (not pork or veal), or else chicken, with potatoes, mashed or boiled, and boiled vegetables. Stewed fruit with rice pud dings. Sometimes jelly. Two glasses of draught beer, or claret and water. For dessert, figs, prunes, oranges, dry biscuits, and one glass of port wine.
9.5o P.m. A glass of lemon and water, or a cup of water gruel.
10 „ Bed.
(Note.—Once or twice during training there is a "cham pagne night," when champagne is substituted for beer or claret and water ; but this only occurs when the crew have been doing very hard work, or when they show evident signs of being over-fatigued, and require a fillip.) II. Leander Training at Henley.
7 to 8.3o A.M. Same as in previous table.
8.30 A.m. Breakfast.—Same as in previous table, save for the frequent absence of meat. Marmalade allowed. Strawberries or peaches without sugar ; no cream.
10.30 or ii, or iz P.M. Out on the water.
1.3o P.M. Lunch.—Same as in previous table.
4 45 ,, Cup of tea with a slice of bread and butter, or a biscuit.
5.30 or 6 P.M. Out on the water.
7.30 or 8 „ Dinner.—Same as in previous table. 9.5o P.M. Same as in previous table.
10.15 „ Bed.
(Note.—With most Leander crews, which are composed of experienced oarsmen, it has been found possible to abolish restrictions on the amount of liquor, and to allow the men to take what they want to satisfy their thirst, which at Henley time is naturally more severe than it is in the early spring at Putney. With a college crew of younger and less experienced oars such liberty of action is not to be recommended ; but a trainer ought, during hot weather, to tell his men that if they really want an extra half-glass or so, they are not to hesitate to ask for it. Men in training will, however, generally find that if they exercise a little self-control during the first few days of training, when the restriction on their drink seems specially painful, their desire for drink will gradually diminish, until at last they are quite content with their limited allow ance. If, on the contrary, they perpetually indulge them selves, they will always be wanting more. On this point I may cite the authority of the following remarks extracted from a recent article in the British Medical Journal :— " Among the various discomforts entailed upon us by the hot weather is thirst, which leads to many accidents. First and most especially is the danger arising from the ingestion of ices and cold drinks, which so many people fly to directly they feel hot. Difficult as it may be to explain in precise physiological terms the evil consequences which so often follow the sudden application of cold to the mucous mem brane of the stomach when the body is over-heated, there is no doubt about the fact, and people would do well to remember the risk they run when they follow their instinct, and endeavour to assuage their thirst by huge draughts of cold fluids. There can be but little doubt that the profuse perspiration which is the cause of so many dangers is greatly aggravated by drinking, and especially by drinking alcoholic fluids. No one can watch a tennis match without noticing how the men perspire, while the girls hardly turn a hair. Some, perhaps, will say that the girls play the feebler game ; but, game or no game, they exert themselves. The same also may be seen at any dance. The secret is that the men follow their instinct and slake their thirst, while the girls simply bear it. It should be remembered that thirst is the result of want of fluid in the blood, not want of fluid in the stomach, and that a pint or more may be drunk before a single ounce is absorbed. Any attempt, then, to assuage thirst by rapid drinking must of necessity lead to far more being taken than is wanted, the moral of which is that if we must drink, at least let us drink slowly." Besides asking his men to drink slowly, a coach will do well to see that they take no drink at all before they have eaten a certain amount of food. Between meals, except as set out in the tables given above, no drink of any kind should be allowed.