Day: November 13, 2012

How to Survive Winter Training: Rowers

How To Training & Nutrition

How to Survive Winter Training: Rowers

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Winter training is rarely something rowers look forward to. To them it means four to five months of running, erging, pain, burnout, stress, boredom, monotony, and frequent questioning of why you participate in a sport that makes you so damn miserable. Unless you live in a warm and sunny locale, you’ve most likely started the process of closing up your boathouse for the winter and begun the transition indoors. The question that now arises is “how am I going to survive until March?”

Have a positive attitude

I will be the first to admit that when someone tells me to be or stay positive, I want to hit them with the nearest blunt object within arms reach. It sounds SO cliche, right? “Be positive!” What is there to be positive about? Well … that’s up to you. Going into winter training you can either have a negative attitude and drudge through everything because “it’s what you’re supposed to do” or you can look at things positively. Find out what makes you look on the bright side and make that your focus. Attitude is everything. Your attitude at the beginning of the winter training season is going to decide how successful you are over the next several months. Besides, what did being negative ever get anyone?

Set goals

You’ve got at least four months of running, lifting, and erging ahead of you – having goals for each aspect of your winter training is going to give you something to work towards besides the umbrella goal of getting stronger for the spring season. When setting your goals, think about the short term and the long term. Think of things you want to accomplish by the end of the week, by the end of two weeks, by the end of the month, in two months, in three months, and by the end of winter training. Write them down and keep them somewhere visible – either on the mirror in your bathroom, as the background on your phone or laptop, on your refrigerator, etc.

Take some time off

Everybody needs a break. It doesn’t mean you’re weak or not as “into it” as everyone else. Be your own advocate and know when you’re putting too much stress on your body. If you can, don’t jump straight into winter training from the fall season. Take a week off to relax, recover, get caught up on school work, make that doctor’s appointment you haven’t had time to make, etc.

The key to taking time off though is knowing when that time is up. If you say you’re going to take a three day break, make sure it’s three days and not four. Plan ahead! If your team’s winter training starts on November 26th, circle it on your calendar and be ready for it.

Do something fun with your team

What better way to start off your winter training season than with a team activity? Something like a team triathlon, perhaps? Remember what #1 said … attitude is everything. If you go into winter training pumped and excited with the rest of your teammates, that enthusiasm is going to carry over throughout the season. Come up with something fun that your team can do together – not just the men, not just the women, not just the varsity, and not just the novices – the WHOLE team. Think of it as one big team bonding smorgasbord of fun. Some ideas include a team triathlon, an ergathon (Princeton does “CRASH-Ps”), a team dinner or potluck, a rowing related scavenger hunt, etc. Let your minds run wild.

Strategize

Most coaches will give their teams some kind of workout plan/schedule to follow throughout the winter. Sometimes they tell you to just make sure you do something over the winter that doesn’t involve Xbox or Food Network marathons. Regardless of whether or not you’re given a strict schedule, you need a plan. What is your schedule like during the winter? When do you have midterms, finals, study days, doctors appointments, family get togethers, holiday parties, etc.? Figure out your personal life first then work your training schedule around that. Remember, it’s not about finding the time, it’s about making the time. Come up with your schedule and stick to it.

Strategizing, part 2 – erg tests. You’ll do plenty over the course of the winter and assuming you want to improve each time, you’ll need a plan on how to approach them. Just sitting down at the erg, popping in your earbuds, and hauling ass for however many meters isn’t going to cut it. Think about the race plans your coxswains have for races – you should approach your erg tests the same way. With a plan.

Next week: Coxswains and winter training

Image via // @oh.genevieve

Ergs Novice Q&A Training & Nutrition

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Hi there! I just wanna start off by saying I really enjoy your blog! I started rowing in June, and was in an eight this fall. The season is now over and I really wanna continue in the spring, but the coach I was with said I should erg and train in the winter for the spring. I have been on the erg once, and my split wasn’t very good. Around 2:19.0/500m. I was wondering what I should do to improve and how often I should erg? Thanks!

Your coach is right – to be prepared for the spring season, winter training is a necessity. Strength training and core exercises are two things that you definitely want to make a part of your routine. If you have the time and access to the appropriate equipment/facilities, adding in some kind of cross training will help your endurance and get you in (better) shape. Running, biking, or swimming are all great options. You can get your cardio in as part of your warmup on the days you’re not cross training. Those are the days when you can do some erging.

Strength training and doing core exercises consistently will help build muscle, which in turn will help you generate more power when you erg, leading to lower splits. When you erg, you shouldn’t be going for any kind of PRs…you just want to focus on getting the technique right and building up your endurance. As you get stronger, the splits will fall. Don’t force anything.

If you have trouble deciding what to do when you erg, check out Concept 2’s website. They have three different workouts posted daily depending on how long you want your erg session to be. You can also sign up for their daily emails to get the workouts sent to you in the mornings. When you’re just warming up on the erg, keep it short – no longer than 15 minutes or so. A good warmup to do that also works on your technique is the pick drill (arms, arms + bodies, 1/2 slide, full slide). Do each for 20 strokes, then switch. Take your time with this and don’t rush through it. Focus on really nailing each part of the stroke and then connecting all of it when you get to full slide. Once you’ve done that, row at a steady pressure for the last 10 minutes or so at around 18-20 strokes per minute. Work on slide control and keeping the recovery controlled while at the same time getting a good strong press with the feet on the drive. Aim for a split and try and maintain that. Every week or so, shoot for a lower split (by 2-3 seconds) than the one you went for the previous week. Every week or two, test yourself. Do a 2k and record your times and splits. See what the difference are between the times. You’ll start to notice consistent changes as you progress through your training.

Here’s an example of what a winter schedule might look like:

Monday: Erg warmup + strength training (3 sets of high weight, low rep exercises)
Tuesday: Cross training + core (3-5 sets of 10-12 exercises with at least 15 reps each)
Wednesday: Medium – long erg session (45-70 minutes)
Thursday: Erg warmup + strength training
Friday: Cross training + core
Saturday: Long run/bike/swim (80 minutes)

Some things to remember:

Give yourself time to rest. When you exercise, you produce small micro-tears in the muscle. In order for you to get stronger, the muscles need time to adapt to the stress and repair. If they don’t have that time, you’re risking serious injury.

STRETCH. After your erg warmups or a quick lap around the track spend at least five to seven minutes stretching. Your muscles are more flexible when they’re warm vs. when they’re cold, so stretching is key. Not stretching can also lead to injuries such as pulled or torn muscles/tendons/ligaments. ALWAYS STRETCH BEFORE AND AFTER YOUR WORKOUT. If you have a foam roller, use that at the end of your workouts.

Maintain a proper diet. Your body needs proper and adequate fuel in order to give you the necessary energy you’ll need to train effectively. Make sure you’re eating well balanced meals and not skipping any of them. Have a small snack before you workout and another one after.

Get some sleep. When you sleep is when your body repairs itself…if you’re pulling all nighters or just not sleeping for as many hours as you should be, your training will suffer because you’ll be lacking in energy.

Find a time that works for you to go to the gym and make that a daily part of your routine. Don’t blow it off. Manage your time properly around school, work, family, friends, etc. so that you can spend at least an hour every day training. Remember your goals and why you’re doing this. Making training a non-negotiable part of your routine will not only show your coaches how dedicated you are but it’ll also subtly reinforce in your own mind how and why this is important to you.

College Q&A Rowing Training & Nutrition

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I’m 5foot 7inches and I am a heavyweight right now. I weigh 155. Should I consider losing weight to be a lightweight since I’m sort of short to be a heavyweight (compared to the other girls on my college team)?

My initial thought when reading this was no, mainly because 25lbs seems like a lot of weight to lose before the spring season (assuming you mean you want to be a lightweight THIS spring). The reason I say that is because you’d have to lose around 6-8lbs/month between now and March to be at or close to 130 by the time the racing season starts. With the holidays coming up and the major overhaul you’d have to do to your diet/exercise routine, I just don’t think it’s practical. Not that it couldn’t be done, because I’m sure it could be … but like I said, it doesn’t seem practical.

If you’re actually set on doing this and have a goal to be a lightweight NEXT year, that sounds more reasonable because not only are you giving yourself a decent chunk of time to lose the weight, but you’re also giving yourself time to get used to a healthier diet (because you just cannot maintain that weight and vigorous workout regime without a healthy diet). You’ll also have a substantial amount of time to build up your muscle mass, which is critical as lightweight.

You obviously know your teammates better than I do and know what your coach looks for in the rowers so I would talk to them and see what advice they have. My guess is they’ll probably tell you to just stick it out as an openweight, which can be tough at first if it means you’ll “peak” in the 2V or 3V but your health is the biggest factor here and it all comes back to whether or not transitioning to a lightweight is a viable option.

Coxing How To Novice Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

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Hi! I will be doing a 2000m race with my crew tomorrow. I’m my team’s coxswain. It will be my second race, but my first 2000m race. I understand steering and such, and I know what calls to make for technique, and I know our starts, but my coach hasn’t really gone over the race itself, I guess. What I’m trying to say is that I need some guidance on how the race should go. Also, stake boats terrify me. Any help you can give me would be amazing!

Stake boats aren’t as scary as they seem. Have you practiced them at all during your practices? The best way to figure out how to do it is to practice it with your coach. Have them (or a teammate) lie stomach down on the launch (which should be sitting stationary, obvs) and act as the stake boat-holder, while you row up and try and back it in. It’s not going to be EXACTLY the same because you’ll have the current of the river moving the launch as well as the boat, but it gives you a GREAT sense of how to do it. Plus, your coach can see exactly what you’re doing and give you pointers on how to correct it.

Here’s a pretty good video that explains a lot about how to get into the stake boats.

As for everything else … it’s pretty straightforward. You row up to the start, get locked on, and go. It’s a straight 2k (I’m assuming) so you won’t have to worry about steering around curves or anything. You want to steer as little as possible so pick a point in the distance and keep it right off your stroke’s ear or shoulder and shoot for that down the course.

Pay attention to what they tell you about the starting call in the coxswain meeting. They’ll either do a quick start (“Attention, GO!”), a countdown start (“5, 4, 3, 2, 1, attention, GO!”), or a polling start (“Harvard, Penn, Cornell, Dartmouth, Cal, we have alignment, attention, GO!”). If it’s very windy or the weather isn’t great, they’ll most likely do a quick start, otherwise they’ll probably stick with a countdown start. That’s been my experience anyways.

Last minute tips:

As soon as you get locked onto the platform and start getting your point, raise YOUR hand and have your bow raise THEIR hand. Unless the marshal’s say they aren’t recognizing hands, they cannot start the race until everyone’s hand is down. If they’re standing on a platform above where you are, it’s easier for them to look down and see the bowman’s hand than it is to see yours, so make sure they’re both in the air.

Find out what the rule is about breakage. Typically if it’s in the first 100m, they’ll call all the boats back to the platform. Breakage has to be legitimate, like a wheel came off the seat or the oar broke. Oarlocks that aren’t closed, crabs, or popping a slide don’t count as breakage.

Also find out what the rule is about flags. Typically they use a white flag to signal the start. In my experience, we were told to go on the flag drop, NOT the call “GO”. If the flag drops before you hear “go”, you can start. Find out the rule for your specific regatta though.

Take a deep breath at the starting line and shake out your shoulders. RELAX!! 2ks are the best kinds of races in my opinion. I’d choose a sprint race over a head race 10 out of 10 times. There’s probably a million other things I could suggest but I don’t want to overwhelm you too much! Have a great time and good luck!!

How To Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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Have you ever done a standing shove from the dock or seen it done in an 8+? I’m trying to find information about it online but can’t seem to find anything! Do you have any tips?

I’ve seen the shove done many times but have only done it myself maybe two or three times, all while I was in high school. To be able to execute it perfectly, everyone has to not be scared of falling or flipping. If any one person has doubts about whether or not you can pull it off, that person is going to be the Nervous Nellie that screws it up for everyone else and/or falls out.

When you start, everyone should be leaning over with one hand on the gunnel and the other on the oar. Make sure the oar handles are all the way down to the gunnels. This is probably the second most important thing besides having the confidence to do it in the first place. The push off is the same as call as normal. Start with one foot in the boat and one on the dock. Call “shove in two … one, two” and push off. Everyone needs to get a good shove but not so strong that they shove themselves right out of the boat or knock the boat over to the opposite side. Steady the bodies (tight cores help), steady the blades, and wait a second or two while you drift away from the dock. When you’re ready to sit down, call something simple like “and down” or “and sit”…everyone needs to sit down at the same time too. Make sure no one moves as slowly as humanly possible when sitting, otherwise they’re going to be the ones most susceptible to feeling the boat being unset as everyone starts to put their feet in their shoes. Sit at the same speed you would normally.

It’s definitely something you need to practice if you want to not look like tools when you do it on race day. Once you’ve got it down though it can look pretty cool.

Coxing Q&A

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I’m a novice coxswain and our cox boxes really sucks!! I’m thinking getting one for Christmas … do you know any good places to buy them? 

Cox boxes are pretty expensive so I would only buy your own if you are absolutely, 10000% positive that you are going to stick with it the whole way through high school (and/or college). If you’re only going to use it for a year or two I don’t think it’s worth it to buy your own.

There’s actually only one place that makes cox boxes – Nielsen-Kellerman. Each one is $500+ but if you wanted to get one cheaper, you could get a used one. Your best bet for finding one is to check row2k’s classifieds section under either “oars and equipment” or “accessories” – people post them in both spots sometimes. You could also check with local clubs/teams in your area and ask if they have any old cox boxes that they’re looking to get rid of. I’m sure they’d be willing to work something out with you.

Coxing Novice Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

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Strictly, I’m a rower, but I’m struggling with injury & looking at other options. I’ve been offered the opportunity to get involved in coxing our club’s ‘Masters’ 8, with a view to coxing them at Vets Head on the Tideway in March 2013 (do you know much about the Tideway? It’s a hellish course for coxes for a no. of reasons). I have limited coxing experience & haven’t coxed an 8 before. Is it possible to learn to cox an 8 effectively in so little time? I love a challenge but worry it’s too much…

I think you can definitely learn the basics of coxing in that period of time. You can learn all the calls you’ll need and can practice them (with the exception of directional ones) with the rowers while they’re erging. Once you get on the water, you’ll already have the basic calls down, so you can instead shift your focus towards steering, getting a feel for the boat, and watching the rower’s oars for technique issues.

Here’s my suggestions for over the winter:

Get with your coach and see if he/she has any video of that particular crew or any other crews that you can watch. As a rower, hopefully you already know the ins and outs of rowing, but having your coach go over it with you from HIS perspective will give you an idea of what you should be looking for as a coxswain. It’ll also give you an idea of things to say to the rowers, both when they’re on the ergs and on the water.

Watch and listen to audio/video from the coxswain’s seat. This will not only give you an idea of things to say but also things to pay attention to. The only thing to keep in mind with this though is to not get too set on doing things exactly how you hear or see them being done by other coxswains. Putting yourself in a box like that makes it really difficult to experiment with your own coxing style and adapt to what your own crew wants/needs. Use the recordings as a framework to build off of rather than a strict “how to” guide.

Related: Coxswain recordings

Get to know your boat. Work out with them. Go to breakfast. Have a boat meeting. Find out what makes them tick. What is an important characteristic to them for their coxswain to have? What do they like hearing in the boat? What are some things they know they specifically need to work on? What are their goals?

Coxing is just like rowing in the sense that you can pick it up quickly but then spend years and years refining your technique. Study up over the winter on the basics of coxing and ask lots of questions. I’m here if you need anything and I’m sure your coaches will be more than willing to help you out too. You’ve got five(ish) months, which is more than a lot of coxswains get when they’re first starting out. You can definitely do it if you put the effort in.

Q&A Rowing Training & Nutrition

Question of the Day

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I know it’s silly but staying a lightweight is consuming me. Literally every moment of the day I’m thinking of ways to be smaller and I hate myself for even worrying about this so much, like 123 is a FINE weight but at the same time … I hate being like this. It’s really worrying and I’m not eating as much anymore and I just need advice.

There’s two qualities that indicate an athlete’s potential to be a lightweight rower: they have to meet the weight standards, obviously, but they also need to be mentally tough. It’s tougher than being a heavyweight rower in nearly every aspect for exactly the reasons you stated … it consumes you if you aren’t careful. Monitoring your weight, watching what you eat, preparing for weigh-ins – all of that is constantly on your mind.

It’s not silly. If it’s literally all you’re thinking about, that’s serious. I’m obviously not a nutritionist or anything like that, but I’ve studied it and sports psychology enough to know the signs of eating disorders. If you’re frequently preoccupied with thoughts about your weight or how to be smaller and you’ve started to lower your intake of food, that sounds like you are dangerously teetering on the edge of an eating disorder.

123 is a good weight, especially for a lightweight rower. Even if you had a reason to worry about your weight, you’ve got seven pounds to play with. What made you start worrying about your weight to begin with? Did a coach or teammate say something to you or was it just the “lightweight” title that pressured you? What was your diet like before you started worrying about your weight? What was your exercise routine like? Before you do anything, I think you need to ask yourself WHY this is bothering and consuming you much. What triggered it? If you can isolate that, then you can take the necessary steps to feeling better.

Think about your diet and what you can change to make it healthier so you feel less guilty when you eat. Most importantly though, you must eat. This is not an option or a suggestion. Athletes put an incredible amount of stress on their bodies through exercise and performance and you simply cannot perform without the proper fuel. You’re just inviting on injuries, colds, etc. if you don’t have an adequate diet that is providing the necessary nutrients that you need to survive, let alone thrive as a rower. Try and add some small snacks to your diet throughout the day – apple slices and peanut butter, smoothies, chicken salad, tuna and crackers, yogurt, etc. Have a solid breakfast when you wake up so that when lunchtime rolls around, you aren’t starving (leading you to overeat). Make SMALL changes to your diet by adding in more nutrient dense foods. Try and get your intake back up to an acceptable caloric range (it should never be less than 1200 calories).

You have to remember that you’re an athlete. The likelihood that you are 123 pounds of flub is slim to none. You are more than likely 123 pounds of mostly muscle, owed to the fact that you’re constantly working out and strength training. Muscle is denser and weighs more than fat. Keep that in mind. You DON’T need to lose any weight. Do you maybe have some fat that you could lose? Sure, who doesn’t? Don’t let that put you in a negative mindset though. For a lightweight rower, you are at a solid weight.

If you’re really having a hard time with being a lightweight, talk to your coach, your parents, your school counselor, your coxswain, or just a friend on the team and explain what you’re feeling. Explain that it’s taking a toll on you and it’s making you uncomfortable. If you’re limiting your food intake, you’re going to have a serious drop in energy, which means you’re not going to be able to go as hard as everyone else on the water. You’ve got to maintain your strength. If that’s not something you can do without the constant mental toll, maybe being a lightweight isn’t for you. If it’s not, that’s OK too. Talk to your coach about what your options are. To hang with the heavies at your weight you’ve got to have some really solid erg scores, which can be difficult for a lightweight simply because of the difference in power you’re able to generate, but it is still an option. Talk to your coach though and see what he/she says. Do not let them write you off. If they value you as a member of the team, they should already be picking up on the fact that something isn’t right and they should listen to your concerns.

Don’t ruin this opportunity by worrying about something as insignificant as your weight. In the grand scheme of things, when you look back on your time as a lightweight, do you want to remember worrying about a number on a scale? You can’t attain any kind of success if you’re letting something as meaningless as this distract you, especially when you’re already well below the weight standard.