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The Motivation: If not now, then when? Life is too short to stay inactive.
The Challenge: If you are not willing to suffer, then you shouldn't be racing
The Dream: Staying fit and feeling younger day by day!




19 December 2011

2nd place 2011 Greek Indoor Rowing Championship (www.aasport.gr) - The 30 hours drama: from dropping out to silver medal and a new PB



The 2011 race season is over, both for triathlon and indoor rowing. Time for a good long rest and time for collecting the pros and reassessing the cons, from this year's races and optimising training performance for 2012. At last, another medal came into my belt this year with a 2nd place in the Greek IRC! What a reward, considering the pre-race drama I faced about a day before the event. I will explain this briefly below...

For any sport's event you normally train and prepare according to a plan, which includes various stages depending on your available time and your race priorities. This plan is concluded with the building - the competition and the peaking phase. You then cross your fingers that the plan will go fine, stay injury free and ...ill free.

Yep, you guessed it right,
I was lucky enough to catch a nasty cold, which peaked within my body about 30 hours before the race. Initially, I thought that this was going to be a light cold, but within hours I realised it wasn't going to go away quickly. Suddenly my initial race plan drifted off the track, with an uncontrolled parameter coming into play and affecting the last minute pre-race moments.

With the race start at 4 p.m on Saturday, the thermometer showed 36.8 Friday morning, with 36.4 being my healthy body temperature. By 11 p.m I reached 37.7,and being absolutely drained from an early afternoon headache, feeling cold, with the legs and hand muscles receiving a tired momentum as if I finished a heavy training and laying on my bed with 4 blankets on top of me! "What the hell?" I was thinking, this was not fair. I was supposed to race against an indoor rower - but now I had one more enemy, which was coming from within me. Only 18 hours left to race! "Should I race? Can I race? Is it safe to race?". Worst was that my 10 weeks structured training plan was spoiled, mentally I was on my lowest ever and within hours my confidence sunk into a black hole. I started taking flu tablets, as a last resort, trying to limit fever expansion as much as I could and hoping that it would go away, at least for a short while to allow me race those 1000 meters that last for 3 minutes. "3 damn minutes", that's all I wanted.

I had to take a risk. A huge risk. The common sense was telling me not to race, since I wasn't feeling well. My initial target was to break my previous years PB (which is a National Record, too) - the last 2 weeks of the training preparation proved that this was possible, at least until 2 days before the race. But, suddenly the plan collapsed. I could race just for the sake to appear at the start line, but I could end up damaging my body. My resting heart rate was abnormally high around 75 bpm, with 56 being my normal. It was obvious that the body was fighting against that damn virus and I could feel it. I couldn't see myself rowing as hard as I had initially planned - but even worse, could I even row at all? Indoor rowing requires maximum effort, you work pretty close to your max HR and your body gives absolutely everything. But, suddenly, it had to cope with another enemy too, invisible and painful. My mind and my body was broken into pieces.

Saturday morning, I decided to race. My only motive was that the thermometer dropped down to 37.0 and during sleep I was sweating - an indication that the body was recovering. But the restoration process was only minor, because I was still feeling that significant portion of my energy tank was at most half full, the rest was wasted to have my body 'killing' the virus - that was a game over before the start. That was unfair, really unfair. I was training for weeks  only to hit the start line with maximum strength, but that plan slipped off my hands. Life is not always fair. My dream collapsed within hours.

Suddenly, without realising how fast the time was passing, the watch reminded me that I had 30 minutes left before the start of the race. The race started and then ...I saw myself collapsing, but I had the 2nd place in my hands with 1.6 secs off the first place and a new PB. My muscles were screaming for rest and my heart rate probably reached a new PB, too. I was absolutely dead, laying down on the floor for about 20 minutes begging for this moment to go away ASAP. I was suffering like never before, but my mind was telling me 'You did it, you damn did it'. Α new PB record.

I am not complaining. I was REALLY lucky to do what I did under those circumstances, although I am pretty sure that I could do even better than this. I received a medal and I had an unfair fight against full time rowers and a damn virus. Very tough day. A real nightmare.

The same day, I then participated in the relay team race as I promised to my mates who I couldn't let them down. Our team took the first place (in between 23 teams), thanks to the kind support of AASport, with the second and third teams being nationally distinguished rowing clubs.

The 2011 Season is over. I am glad I can relax now.




Final Results - Individual Men 30-39 1000m 2011 IRC (www.aasport.gr)

1 ΚΟΚΚΑΛΙΔΗΣ ΠΑΝΑΓΙΩΤΗΣ ΟΜΙΛΟΣ ΕΡΕΤΩΝ 2,59,1 ΝΠΡ
2 ΠΛΙΑΚΟΣΤΑΘΗΣ ΚΩΣΤΑΣ ΑΝΕΞΑΡΤΗΤΟΣ 3,00,7 (and 4th overall between 50 adult males from all divisions)
3 ΜΑΣΤΡΟΓΙΑΝΝΗΣ ΘΕΟΔΩΡΟΣ ΛΙΜΕΝΙΚΟ 3,03,9
4 ΚΑΠΟΚΑΚΗΣ ΜΙΧΑΗΛ ΝΑΟΣΟΥΔΑΣ 3,04,3
5 ΛΑΖΑΡΙΔΗΣ ΓΙΑΝΝΗΣ TOKOUPI 3,17,5
6 ΚΟΥΤΟΥΚΗΣ ΝΙΚΟΛΑΟΣ ΝΑΣ 3,25,0
7 ΜΠΟΥΤΑΣ ΑΝΤΩΝΗΣ ΑΝΕΞΑΡΤΗΤΟΣ 3,25,3
8 ΧΑΤΖΗΧΡΙΣΤΟΦΑΣ ΣΤΡΑΤΟΣ ΟΜΙΛΟΣ ΕΡΕΤΩΝ Α 3,27,3
9 ΟΙΚΟΝΟΜΙΔΗΣ ΦΩΚΙΩΝ ΟΜΙΛΟΣ ΕΡΕΤΩΝ Α 3,28,3
10 ΚΟΥΡΤΙΚΑΚΗΣ ΓΙΩΡΓΟΣ ΝΟΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΟΥ 3,28,7
11 ΚΑΡΒΕΛΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ ΟΜΙΛΟΣ ΕΡΕΤΩΝ Α 3,30,5
12 ΣΠΑΝΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ ΧΡΗΣΤΟΣ ΠΡΟΤΥΠΟ 3,37,9
13 ΠΑΛΛΗΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ ΟΜΙΛΟΣ ΕΡΕΤΩΝ Α 3,38,1
14 ΣΚΛΙΑΣ ΓΙΩΡΓΟΣ ΟΜΙΛΟΣ ΕΡΕΤΩΝ Α 3,39,1
15 ΠΑΜΟΣ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΣ ΠΡΟΤΥΠΟ 3,46,9
16 ΕΥΣΤΑΘΙΟΥ ΓΙΑΝΝΗΣ ΟΜΙΛΟΣ ΕΡΕΤΩΝ Α 3,50,2
17 ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ ΓΙΑΝΝΗΣ ΟΜΙΛΟΣ ΕΡΕΤΩΝ Α 4,20,3
ΑΤΛΑΜΑΖΟΓΛΟΥ ΝΙΚΟΣ ΑΝΕΞΑΡΤΗΤΟΣ
ΔΑΓKΛΗΣ ΜΙΧΑΛΗΣ ΠΡΟΤΥΠΟ
ΛΕΚΑΤΣΑΣ ΠΑΝΑΓΙΩΤΗΣ ΟΜΙΛΟΣ ΕΡΕΤΩΝ Α
ΤΣΟΥΛΟΥΚΙΑΝ ΝΙΚΟΣ ΝΟΝΦΠ
ΧΑΤΖΗΣ ΑΝΔΡΕΑΣ ΟΜΙΛΟΣ ΕΡΕΤΩΝ Α



Final Results - Relay Men All 4000m 2011 IRC (www.aasport.gr)

(4 athletes per team racing 4000m in cyclic order)
1 AASPORT ΓΑΖΗΣ ΜΑΚΗΣ ΜΑΝΑΤΟΣ ΝΙΚΟΣ ΠΛΙΑΚΟΣΤΑΘΗΣ ΚΩΣΤΑΣ ΓΚΙΟΚΑΣ ΠΛΑΤΩΝ 11,49,7
2 Ν.Α.Σ. ΜΕΛΛΟΣ ΓΙΩΡΓΟΣ ΟΙΚΟΝΟΜΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ ΠΑΝΟΥ ΓΙΑΝΝΗΣ ΠΑΡΑΚΟΙΛΑΣ ΠΑΝΑΓΙΩΤΗΣ 11,53,7
3 Ο.Ε.Α.Ν.Α.Β. 2 ΒΛΑΧΟΣ ΠΑΥΛΟΣ ΜΕΛΑΧΡΙΝΑΚΗΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΣ ΣΑΡΜΠΙΝΟΣ ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ 12,15,2
4 Ν.Ο.Η. ΚΟΥΡΤΙΚΑΚΗΣ ΓΙΩΡΓΟΣ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΟΥΛΑΚΗΣ ΕΜΜΑΝΟΥΗΛ ΤΖΟΜΠΑΝΑΚΗΣ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΗΣ ΤΖΟΜΠΑΝΑΚΗΣ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΣ 12,19,9
5 PROTYPO GYM 1 ΧΑΝΟΥΜΗΣ ΓΙΩΡΓΟΣ ΣΠΑΝΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ ΧΡΗΣΤΟΣ ΜΠΕΚΙΑΡΙΔΗΣ ΖΑΦΕΙΡΗΣ LIE EVENSEN TROND 12,24,2
6 ΠΟΛΕΜΙΚΗ ΑΕΡΟΠΟΡΙΑ ΘΕΟΦΑΝΙΔΗΣ ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΟΣ ΚΑΠΠΟΣ ΣΤΑΥΡΟΣ ΜΙΚΕΛΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΣ ΠΑΠΟΥΤΣΗΣ ΤΡΙΑΝΤΑΦΥΛΛΟΣ 12,28,1
7 Ο.Ε.Α.Ν.Α.Β. 3 ΑΧΜΕΝΤΟΦ ΣΑΛΙ ΜΗΤΡΟΜΑΡΑΣ ΧΡΗΣΤΟΣ ΜΠΑΡΕΚΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ ΠΑΠΑΣΑΚΕΛΑΡΙΟΥ ΓΙΩΡΓΟΣ 12,37,0
8 Ε.Ν.Ο.Α. 2 ΜΑΓΔΑΛΗΝΟΣ ΜΙΧΑΛΗΣ ΧΡΟΝΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΣ ΜΗΤΣΟΣ ΦΟΙΒΟΣ ΜΑΜΑΛΗΣ ΑΛΕΞΗΣ 12,51,4
9 Ν.Α.Ο.ΚΕΡΚΥΡΑΣ 1 ΑΡΜΕΝΙΑΚΟΣ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΣ ΔΗΜΟΥΛΗΣ ΑΛΚΙΝΟΟΣ ΚΟΝΤΗΣ ΑΝΤΩΝΗΣ ΤΣΙΡΙΓΚΑΚΗΣ ΓΕΡΑΣΙΜΟΣ 13,01,6
10 Ο.Σ.Φ.Π. 2 ΑΥΛΩΝΙΤΗΣ ΣΠΥΡΟΣ ΜΑΙΝΕΜΕΝΙΟΣ ΠΑΡΑΣΚΕΥΑΣ ΠΑΝΑΓΙΩΤΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΗΣ ΣΑΜΠΑΝΟΦ ΒΛΑΝΤΙΣΛΑΒ 13,06,5
11 PROTYPO GYM 2 ΠΛΟΥΜΑΚΗΣ ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ ΚΑΛΤΣΟΓΙΑΝΝΗΣ ΝΙΚΟΛΑΟΣ ΣΑΡΑΚΗΣ ΘΟΔΩΡΗΣ ΤΣΟΥΚΑΡΑΚΗΣ ΑΝΤΩΝΗΣ 13,13,9
12 Σ.Μ.Υ.Ν. 1 ΔΡΑΚΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ ΘΕΟΔΩΡΟΣ ΘΕΟΔΟΡΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ ΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΙΟΣ ΚΑΣΤΡΟΥΝΗΣ ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΟΣ ΚΑΤΣΟΥΛΗΣ ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΣ 13,15,6
13 Ε.Ν.Ο.Α. 1 ΒΛΑΧΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ ΝΙΚΟΣ ΜΑΓΔΑΛΗΝΟΣ ΧΡΗΣΤΟΣ ΜΑΥΡΟΥΔΗΣ ΦΑΙΔΩΝ ΧΑΤΖΗΑΝΔΡΕΟΥ ΑΝΔΡΕΑΣ 13,16,4
14 Σ.Μ.Υ.Ν. 2 ΑΡΜΑΟΣ ΠΑΝΑΓΙΩΤΗΣ ΘΕΟΔΩΡΟΥ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΗΣ ΠΑΠΑΗΡΑΚΛΗΣ ΜΑΡΙΟΣ ΣΑΠΟΥΝΑΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΣ 13,26,2
15 Ο.Σ.Φ.Π. 1 ΚΥΡΙΑΖΗΣ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΣ ΜΑΙΝΕΜΕΝΙΟΣ ΝΙΚΟΣ ΠΑΠΑΔΑΚΗΣ ΣΤΕΛΙΟΣ ΣΠΥΡΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΣ - ΣΠΥΡΟΣ 13,46,2
16 Σ.Μ.Υ.Ν. 3 ΜΕΛΛΕΣ ΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΙΟΣ ΣΥΜΕΩΝΙΔΗΣ ΠΑΝΑΓΙΩΤΗΣ ΤΖΑΝΑΚΗΣ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΣ ΧΑΤΖΗΛΙΑΣΟΓΛΟΥ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΣ 13,50,3
17 Ο.Ε.Α.Ν.Α.Β. 1 ΖΟΥΖΟΥΛΑ ΜΑΡΙΝΑ ΓΚΙΝΙΔΗΣ ΑΝΔΡΕΑΣ ΚΑΤΑΡΑΧΙΑΣ ΠΑΝΑΓΙΩΤΗΣ ΜΟΛΟΧΑΣ ΔΗΜΟΣΘΕΝΗΣ 14,15,3
ΑΠΟΤΕΛΕΣΜΑΤΑ ΣΚΥΤΑΛΟΔΡΟΜΙΑΣ ΑΝΔΡΩΝ C2 INDOOR ROWING 2011 - ΔΙΟΝΥΣΗΣ ΝΙΚΟΛΟΥΖΟΣ
18 PROTYPO GYM 3 ΓΚΟΤΣΟΣ ΘΩΜΑΣ ΛΙΑΝΟΣ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΣ ΠΑΜΟΣ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΣ ΠΛΑΟΥΣ ΚΟΜΝΗΝΟΣ 14,18,2
19 Σ.Μ.Υ.Ν. 4 ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΗΣ ΔΡΑΚΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ ΚΑΡΑΝΤΩΝΗΣ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΣ ΝΑΙΔΑΣ ΜΙΧΑΛΗΣ 14,29,9
20 Ο.Ε.Α.Ν.Α.Β. 5 ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΙΝΟΣ ΠΑΝΑΓΙΩΤΗΣ ΚΑΛΑΜΑΝΔΡΙΔΗΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΣ ΚΥΡΙΑΖΗΣ ΜΙΧΑΛΗΣ ΣΑΜΑΡΑΣ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΣ 14,48,8
21 Ο.Ε.Α.Ν.Α.Β. 8 ΑΡΑΒ ΕΛΒΙΑ ΔΙΟΜΗΣ ΝΙΚΟΛΑΟΣ ΔΙΟΜΗΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΗΣ ΠΑΠΑΖΟΓΛΟΥ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΣ 16,25,6
22 Ο.Ε.Α.Ν.Α.Β. 6 ΚΟΠΑΝΟΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΗΣ ΚΡΙΑΡΑΣ ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΣ ΚΥΡΑΤΣΑΚΗΣ ΣΤΑΥΡΟΣ ΝΤΕΚΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ 16,34,1
23 Ο.Ε.Α.Ν.Α.Β. 7 ΘΕΟΧΑΡΙΔΗΣ ΘΕΟΔΩΡΟΣ ΚΑΡΑΝΑΣΙΟΣ ΑΝΤΩΝΗΣ ΜΠΑΡΔΑΣ ΧΡΗΣΤΟΣ ΣΤΕΡΓΙΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ ΒΑΓΓΕΛΗΣ 19,39,4
ARROWPOINT ΜΑΡΚΟΥ ΧΡΗΣΤΟΣ ΜΑΡΚΟΥ ΕΥΣΤΡΑΤΙΟΣ ΝΑΝΟΣ ΑΠΟΣΤΟΛΟΣ ΑΤΛΑΜΑΖΟΓΛΟΥ ΝΙΚΟΣ
Ν.Α.Ο.Σ. 1 ΘΕΟΧΑΡΗΣ ΜΑΡΙΟΣ ΠΟΛΥΧΡΟΝΟΣ ΑΝΤΩΝΗΣ ΡΑΠΤΗΣ ΣΤΑΥΡΟΣ ΤΖΙΕΡΗΣ ΓΙΩΡΓΟΣ
Ο.Ε.Α.Ν.Α.Β. 4 ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΑΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΗΣ ΑΝΘΗΣ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΗΣ ΛΥΓΝΟΣ ΣΤΕΦΑΝΟΣ ΡΟΥΠΑΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΗΣ
Ν.Α.Ο.Σ. 2 ΚΑΡΝΕΣΗΣ ΠΑΝΑΓΙΩΤΗΣ ΛΙΑΡΟΣ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΗΣ ΧΡΥΣΙΚΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ ΣΤΕΦΑΝΟΣ ΚΟΝΤΡΑΦΟΥΡΗ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΑ



More Photos - 2011 Greek IRC (www.aasport.gr)

Videos - 2011 Greek IRC (www.aasport.gr) (I appear at Video #7, rowing at the far end second from the right, wearing a white tank)





1 comment:

Raz_Editor said...

Absolutely superb Kostas! Congratulations - so you may want to catch a cold before the indoor rowing comp. in Nottingham. It seems to help.
Excellent.

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