Peter Whitehouse: I'm looking around for information on developing atraining programme. However, all the information that I've seen refersto 'weeks to race'. If I don't intend racing but am using the rowerjust to improve and maintain fitness is there a resource that willassist me in developing a programme?Terry O'Neill: Training has to have an outcome objective and thisapplies equally to physical training, education or vocational training.For this reason training has to be structured to meet the outcome task.Regular exercise is different in that it will slow down thedeterioration in physical performance due to the ageing process but,strictly speaking, does not make you fitter because fitness has to bemeasured against a task. If this were not the case, people who work in aphysically demanding job would be fitter than those who are mainlyoffice bound. This is not necessarily the case as the manual worker isonly fit for his job.The reason for this is that the body adapts to the demands placed uponit. If the demands are not incrementally increased then the adaptationstops. If you want to improve your general fitness but do not want tocompete then you can still follow the programme, but replace the raceday with some other target like your holidays, birthday or Christmasthat can become the target to peak at. The alternative is take thetraining routine in the preparation period and when completed go back tothe beginning.----------------------------------------------------Paul Karanevich: What does it mean for ribs to be (partially or fully)'sprung'?Terry O'Neill: The rib joint at the front is called the costosternum andat the back it is the costovertibral. These are cartilaginous jointsthat allow the rib cage to move to accommodate the lungs when youinhale. A partially sprung rib is when the rib is slightly rotated atthis joint, while fully sprung is when it is completely out of place. Ifthe rib is sprung at the front you will feel a lump where the rib joinsthe sternum and it can be very painful; sometimes this pain can be feltall around the chest. The ribs can be put back in place byphysiotherapy.