Rate 11 2ks and sub 1:15 500s: How Chris Scott is preparing for the English Indoors
Fergus Mainland caught up with the former discus thrower to hear all about his preparation for the English Indoors and BRIC
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For Chris Scott, August is a pivotal month of his season. With around three weeks to go until the English Indoor Rowing Championships, he’s fine-tuning his V12 engine ahead of his preferred distance, the 500m.
In 2025, the English Indoor Rowing will return to the competition calendar. After a four-year break, one of the UK’s premier indoor rowing events is making its long-awaited comeback, and it will run alongside the legendary Rainhill Trials for the first time in the event’s history.
For Scott and many others in the indoor rowing community, this is a hugely welcomed return. With in-person events across 500m, 2000m, and 3000m team relays, it’s the perfect opportunity to lay down a marker ahead of the British Rowing Indoor Championships at the beginning of December.
“I think it’s great that the English Championships are back because I did it in 2019, I think it was a really good event,” explained the 2020 European Champion.
“I think it was where I did my first 500m. I had never gone past a minute until I raced at those English Championships. It’s another chance to be in person, to compete against people, and I think that’s why most of us do it, to speak to like-minded people about the pain that we all endure together!”.
Scott isn’t one to keep his training diary locked away from prying eyes. A quick scroll through some of his social media posts suggests that he is in great form as he gears up for the business end of the competition season. With only two in-person events lined up, it’s important to approach both the English Indoors and BRIC in the best possible shape.
“Training has been going well recently. I feel like I’m in good shape. I feel like I was probably in the best shape for a long time, a few weeks after the World Indoors at the beginning of the year, and then inevitably, you ride the peaks and troughs of where you are physically. Little niggles pop up here and there, but I feel like I’m on my way back up to that level again.
“This year, I feel I can get back towards my best and what I’m capable of in the 500m, so hopefully we’ll see some faster times than last year. My best times were back in 2022, so there’s been a bit of a lull as I’ve had other focuses and stuff, but I’m feeling like I’m pretty good shape at the moment.”
Over the 500m distance, Scott has posted some great times over the past 12 months, something he hopes to improve on over the coming weeks. A 1:15.5 won him the silver medal at BRIC last year, while his 1:15.3 earlier this year at the World Rowing Indoor Championships saw him finish seventh. A few weeks later at the West Wales Indoor Rowing Championships, Scott was back under the 1:15 barrier, something he hadn’t done for a couple of years.
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While pleased with his World Championship performance, Scott and many others are relishing the opportunity to return to in-person racing that the English Championships and BRIC both offer.
“There’s something about an in-person competition that just allows you to push that little bit deeper than when you’re at home, in the garage, and by yourself, which is no different from a training session. At Worlds earlier this year, the format was that there were two races in one day. In between those two races, I put the handle down, went upstairs, and laid on the sofa.
“I actually had a bath between the two to try and get some movement back in the legs and recover a bit. That’s not the same as being in person and all that comes with that, and I think you do dig to that deeper level in the last 100m of a 500m in person, and I’m sure you do in the 2000m as well, it’s important.
“Given that there is probably going to be only two indoor competitions in the entire season, i.e English and BRIC, it’s really the trial run for BRIC. It’s great that at both of those events, there is other stuff going on. The fact that indoor rowing features so much in their sports, and they look at and compare themselves to the people racing BRIC. They can see what we are doing, and we know what their numbers are on the erg. I like that the people watching understand the erg. They know about it, they enjoy it…well, maybe not enjoy it, but everyone is on the same page.”
While Scott is mastering the 500m distance, some of his preferred training takes place over 2000m. With everything documented on social media, one can only look in awe at some of the times he produces in his garage.
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“I really like the single effort, rate-capped pieces because they are so concise in their demand. One of my favourite ones and one of the ones I’m most proud of, which isn’t really that specific to a 500m, was the 2k sub 7 at rate 11, so 80 strokes to a 2k in less than seven minutes. I really like those efforts.
“It’s more what motivates me to sit on the machine, and it’s normally a single countdown or a certain number of strokes that I’ve got to do. It’s comparable directly to the next time I do that session, while some of the other higher rate stuff is more erratic, whereas let’s say I do a one minute at rate 30, I know it’s just 30 strokes, back to back. 30 reps. I can measure it against next time, and I can see what the improvements are. So, it’s those sessions that really motivate me to sit down and make a progression on the last one.”
With Scott entering the final stage of preparation, the challenge is whether or not he can get close to or perhaps even break the 1:14 barrier over 500. With a clean block of training and mixing in some additional lactic training, we can expect fireworks on the race floor by the time BRIC rolls around in December.
