Annabel Hancock (on the right) and I, Laura Penhaul, are the Co-Founders of the Coxless Rowers which will be the first all-female team to row across the Pacific Ocean in 2014. We will be covering over 7000 miles and taking approximately 6 months to row from Long Beach California to Cairns Australia, via Hawaii and Samoa. In aid of Breast Cancer Care. A common assumption is that we are women with a long standing history of rowing - I wish we were! We come from various backgrounds; I being a Physiotherapist and competing personally in endurance sports such as triathlons, marathons etc. and Annabel the adventurer who has paddle boarded 1000 miles down the Missouri and climbed a mountain or two such as Kilimanjaro.

So what does it take, to go from having never rowed before, to preparing to row over 7000 miles across the Pacific? Rowing we have found, is definitely by no means an easy sport to pick up and technically, as most people know, is very difficult to get efficient and good at, often requiring years of experience and practice if you're aiming to get good at fine boat rowing. However there are a number of things with rowing an ocean that appear to be significantly different to fine boat rowing; the blades are different, the boat is clearly much heavier and larger (29ft length, 7ft wide) and you get thrown around a lot in the big waves meaning that body position, placement and timing tend to go out of the window when you just need to get some sort of purchase or contact of the blade to water. Secondly, our pace at sea will be at a stroke rate of approximately 18-20 and a steady split that can be held for at least 2 hours, which on the Concept2 is currently around the 2:20-2:30. However, repeating 2 hours on: 2 hours off over 24 hours, it will be difficult to even hold 2:20 and that will definitely declines during the latter hours. It's difficult with fine boat rowing or even ocean rowing to race for a time/ record, for us personally, it's not about the split once you get out in the ocean, it's just making sure you're in your seat at the time it comes to your watch and then ensuring you're moving the boat and gaining mileage in the right direction!

After doing a bit of research, we spent the first 6 months getting a strong support team in place and getting to grips with the basics of learning to row. Having 1:1 coaching at Imperial Rowing College really helped with this, alongside having Alex Wolf who is the Lead Strength and Conditioning Coach of GB Rowing. We developed the awareness and importance of hip and thoracic spine mobility, the feeling of leg drive and not arms, and most importantly, trunk endurance to protect the back and transfer the forces appropriately. Once the basics were in place, the strength training was showing some good affect (I apparently now have 'rowing' shoulders!) and we'd spent some time out on the water, it was then time to start building up the volume on the Concept 2's! These have become our best friends over the last year.

Thanks to Concept 2 who have kindly supported us throughout our build up to the row, it has meant that we could have our ego's at home in the lounge or by our bedside - literally! Even though I live just a mile away from Imperial, it's surprising what a difference having an ergo at home makes. It has meant I could wake up at 5am and literally roll onto the ergo (clearly after stretching / warming up ;)!). It's enabled us to repeat through the night 8/ 12 hour rows and 12 hour/ 24 hour continuous rows as a team, at different locations to help us fundraise for our target budget and for Breast Cancer Care. And that has meant that even on Christmas Day, I could take it home with me and fit in a 2 hour session before piling on the much needed calories...

Since deciding to do this row, it has developed into an amazing journey just to get us to the start line. We have learnt new skills, met some amazing people and more importantly it will mean we will hopefully raise significant funds for Breast Cancer Care. If you would like to help us to get to the start line next year, then please follow our journey at www.coxlessrowers.com or on Twitter or Facebook and feel free to email us - [email protected].