Month: December 2012

Ergs Novice Q&A

Question of the Day

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Related to what the other girl asked about mental issues with the erg – I have the same problem and can’t do anything without covering my split & predicted time. I recently pr’ed on my 1k (4:14, I’m a novice lightweight) but have only finished one 2k which was over 9 minutes. I need to be able to do an 8:40 2k, but I just don’t know how to do it. I can easily do 4x10minutes so I know I’m physically capable, but I don’t know how to do it. I just panic and stop. Help.

This is a really hard question to answer because it’s so personal. Only you know why you stop. I think in order to get past it you have to first figure out why you panic and what you’re afraid of. Only after you’ve done that can you actually acknowledge what’s making you stop so that when the point comes during a test, you can ignore it and keep going.

Related: Hi there! Your advice is absolutely wonderful and I love your blog. I am a second-year varsity rower at a D3 school. My question is about ERG tests. Recently I’ve hit a mental block on my 2ks. My PR is 1:58.3. Last year, my 2ks were my best test, but on my past 2 I have literally stood up at about the 700 mark and the 1000 mark, respectively, somehow afraid of the pain/speed. I’ve never done this before. Do you have any advice on how to push through that moment in tests where you want to stop?

It starts with baby steps … first think back on your previous tests. Why do you stop and what scares you about continuing? Once you have that figured out, think about a solution. If you’re scared because you know it’ll hurt, that’s just something you have to accept. You can’t be a rower and not be a low-level masochist. Then try erging with just your splits uncovered. When you can comfortably do that, uncover your split and projected time. You can row with your eyes closed too, there’s not really a “rule” against that. For me though as a coxswain and a coach, I’m a firm believer that you have to look at the screen and be aware of where you’re at, otherwise how are you going to know how to approach the rest of the test or where to start sprinting, etc? Having a plan going into the piece tends to help alleviate a lot of nerves because you’re not just blindly erging – you’re actually completing mini-goals each time you pass a certain meter mark.

I hate to say you have to just “suck it up” because I know it’s harder than that, but at some point that’s what you have to do. You have to sit down and tell yourself that you are NOT going to let something stupid like an erg test defeat you. Between you and the erg, you have to be the bigger person.

High School Q&A Training & Nutrition

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So this might sound funny but why am I always hungry?I I’m a high school girl and I began rowing about a year ago so while I have my general bearings, I’m still learning something new about the sport everyday and I was just curious. Ever since I’ve started rowing I’ve noticed that I have a much bigger appetite than when I participated in other sports. Is it just cause I’m a growing teenager or is this every rower?

It’s partially because you’re a growing teenager, but it really is every rower. Rowing is a full body sport in that it requires a LOT of muscles from nearly every major muscle group. In order for your body to have enough energy to fuel those muscles during practice or a race, you have to eat … a LOT. The number of calories you burn is a lot more than with any other sport, so the calories you take in has to be significantly higher than what you’re probably used to. Elite rowers (and I’m sure many collegiate rowers as well) tend to eat something small when they wake up before practice, something small after practice, breakfast, lunch, a mid-afternoon snack, followed by dinner, and maybe another small snack after that. During the Olympics I remember reading many articles that talked about the diets of some elite rowers and they were taking in something like 6,000 calories a day at the peak of their training, which is (hopefully) 2-3x what the normal person would eat.

If you have a bigger appetite than normal, don’t ignore it. Make healthy decisions on what to eat and recognize the fact that it’s just your body telling you that it’s working hard. As long as you’re not shoving Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory down your throat every time you sit down for a meal, the likelihood that you’ll gain any weight is slim since you’re burning it off through practice/racing and daily living.

Q&A Racing

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Can you explain Canadian Henley to me? People keep telling me it’s a national team thing.

Canadian Henley is held at the beginning of August in St. Catharines, Ontario – it’s one of the three big summer regattas (the other two being IDR and Club Nats). It’s fairly large too with something like 3,000 rowers competing – it’s similar to the Henley Royal Regatta except on the other side of the pond. It isn’t strictly for national teams, although I think some do compete. I doubt any raced this year since the Olympics were happening at the same time but in non-Olympic years I’m sure some go. A lot of junior and college rowers will race with their club programs or U23/senior teams at Vesper, Penn AC, Riverside, etc. When I worked at CRI over the summer a lot of the junior rowers that were training in the latter half of the summer were preparing to race there.

College Q&A Recruiting Rowing

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Do recruiters look at certain clubs more such as Marin or CRI?

I don’t know for sure, but I’d think they would look more closely at someone who came out of the more prominent programs vs. someone from a lesser known program, simply because of the exposure and reputation they have. It’s kind of like players going to the NFL – guys from Division 1 programs have a better shot compared to someone from a D3 team.

You also have to assume that someone who rows for a program like that carries the same values of dedication, hard work, excellence, etc. that helped raise it to prominence in the first place. Stuff like this really catches the eyes of coaches, especially when they know those programs are frequent contenders at regattas like Head of the Charles, Canadian Henley, Club Nationals, etc. It’s definitely something that I think could give you a bit of an edge but it’s not like, the defining quality when they look at recruits.

College Ergs How To Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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Hi there! Your advice is absolutely wonderful and I love your blog. I am a second-year varsity rower at a D3 school. My question is about ERG tests. Recently I’ve hit a mental block on my 2ks. My PR is 1:58.3. Last year, my 2ks were my best test, but on my past 2 I have literally stood up at about the 700 mark and the 1000 mark, respectively, somehow afraid of the pain/speed. I’ve never done this before. Do you have any advice on how to push through that moment in tests where you want to stop?

Acknowledging the imminent pain before you start your test will prepare you for when you finally feel it. That way, when you hit that point you can say “I knew this was coming, I’m not surprised I feel like my body is being run over by a tank, I have to keep going”.

Related: I know I physically can perform the workouts on the erg, but I mentally psych myself out I guess you could say. Do you have any tips on mental toughness/blocking out that annoying voice that wants you to quit on the erg? Thanks!

In the grand scheme of things, 2ks take up like, 0.0005% of your day. If you quit in the middle, how much time after your test do you spend thinking about it? For most people, it tends to ruin their day. If you do well on it, you don’t think about it that much afterwards.

Related: 2k test strategy

Don’t let 7-8 minutes out of 1,440 stress you out. You have to push and remind yourself of the bigger picture, which is whatever goals you’ve set for yourself.

Q&A Training & Nutrition

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I am not sure if this is a stupid question to ask but … will my performance improve if I actually start eating well?? I eat not so great foods, small amounts of fruits and basically no vegetables. If I really eat better will it help me improve? I already have an erg time in the top girls, so I am not really bothered by it unless 1, I start getting worse and other girls getting better, or 2, it’s really going to help me with my performance. I came to you as you are great at giving advice!!

Not stupid at all. This is actually a really good question that at some point I think all high school rowers ask themselves.

Related: What do you eat before you row? Why do you prefer coxing?

Short answer: The improvement you see to your rowing performance is indirect. Where you’ll really see improvements will be in your overall health and fitness, which will then lead to additional gains that can improve your rowing stamina, strength, etc.

Long answer: Your body needs healthy foods to run efficiently. If you eat unhealthy stuff, you’re most likely not getting the nutrients you need, you’re probably tired and sluggish, your energy levels are low, and you have an unnecessary layer of fat on you that you otherwise wouldn’t have. The last one is the biggest thing that people tend to be aware of when they’re exercising and wondering why they still don’t see any muscle. The phrase “abs are made in the gym but revealed in the kitchen” is so true. You can exercise and workout all you want, but unless you’re eating a healthy diet, no one is ever going to see all the work you’ve been putting in. Maintaining a healthy diet helps you last longer during practice or races and recover faster from them, as well as helping to increase your muscle mass. If you’re eating foods low in nutrients, you’re not getting any of those benefits. Fruits, vegetables, lean meats, etc. are essential parts of a rower’s (or any athlete’s) diet, so adding them into yours can only help you.

Related: So this might sound funny but why am I always hungry?I I’m a high school girl and I began rowing about a year ago so while I have my general bearings, I’m still learning something new about the sport everyday and I was just curious. Ever since I’ve started rowing I’ve noticed that I have a much bigger appetite than when I participated in other sports. Is it just cause I’m a growing teenager or is this every rower?

Losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight is about 70% what you eat and 30% how much you exercise. If you replaced the not-so-good food you eat with healthier options, think about how the gains you would make. Last longer, recover faster, build more muscle…if you’re one of the top rowers now, who’s to say that with a little diet tweaking you wouldn’t be THE top rower? Your diet is definitely not something to get complacent over, so don’t assume that swapping out a candy bar for an apple won’t make a difference. You should be aware of what you’re eating and how it impacts your performance, both positively and negatively. If the other girls start getting better and you get worse, that has little to do with your diet. That’s more about strength gains and technique adjustments. Having something not-so-great is OK every once in awhile but not all the time. Cliche as the phrase has become, moderation is key.

Coxing

Question of the Day

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So today at practice, my coach said something along the lines of ‘wane-off.’ I have always said way(weigh?) enough (sometimes slurred together to make waynuff) so I asked him about it. He told me that that’s not how you pronounce it. He told me it wasn’t ‘enough,’ it was ‘off,’ but I’m pretty sure I’m right … what do you say?

You are correct in that it is “way enough”. According to Wikipedia, it is sometimes pronounced “wane off” in the United States but I’ve never heard it before and am pretty sure that no coxswain or former-coxswain-turned-coach would advocate for it’s use over the more widely known and accepted “way enough”.

I read this great article a few years ago that explained the history, origin, etc. of “weigh enough”, which is the more archaic version of the modern “way enough”.  I spent about twenty minutes looking for it but couldn’t find it. I did however come across this article from an old Doctor Rowing column in rowing news that talks a bit about the history of the term and the weigh vs. way debate. It’s on page 46 if it doesn’t go directly to it.

Bottom line – way/weigh enough is the term to use.

Ergs High School Novice Q&A Rowing Training & Nutrition

Question of the Day

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I am a novice girl rower (14) for a competitive East Coast team, and my erg scores are kind of random. My 5k and 2k erg scores are in the top five normally but when we do a 10k (my first was 2:11) I come in first every single time by a lot. This wouldn’t be a problem but my coach always tells me that I need to use the power from the 10k in the other pieces. I really have no idea what changes in the 10k and as much as I’ve tried I can’t figure out how to do it and my coach is stressing me out.

Talk to your coach. Coaches can be really terrible at explaining what they mean when they say something like this and don’t tend to realize how much it stresses their athletes out. Explain to him that you don’t understand what he means and it’s frustrating you so you’re hoping he can clarify it for you.

Related: Hi, I feel like my endurance is decent, 10K is fine, etc. but my sprinting for a 2K race is worrying me (I started in August). I don’t know how to make it brilliant and I also struggle to get the full power out of my legs (or what it seems like to me).

I kind of understand what he’s saying about using the power from one piece for another, but 10ks and 2ks are like apples and oranges. It’s hard to compare the two because how the body approaches to them is so different.

Coxing Q&A

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I’ve only been coxing for three years but I feel like it has changed my voice .. .do you feel like that? Like, I feel like I can’t hit as many high notes when I sing in the car (haha) or is there something I’m doing wrong?? I lose my voice easily in races now, especially during the spring when we have like 3 races in a day. What can I do about this? Should I change the way I cox?

YES. I felt the same way when I was in high school. I’ve only completely lost my voice twice and neither came directly from crew, although I don’t think coxing helped. I did notice, and still do occasionally, that I can’t hit the same notes when I sing in the car. I don’t think it’s anything we do wrong, per se, I think it’s more so that over the years we’ve inflicted little bits of damage on our voices from all the yelling and tonal changes, which has led to minute changes in how we talk, sing, etc.

When I was in high school we were a big enough team that we were able to everyone in multiple races which was awesome, but for the coxswains – between heats, semis, and finals – by the end of the day we were lucky to still be able to talk. I have a naturally loud voice that, for the most part, seems fairly indestructible but whenever the weather was bad (cold, windy, rainy) my throat would always hurt a lot more than when the weather was nice.

One of the things that I started doing midway through high school was instead of “yelling”, I started projecting, meaning instead of using JUST my voice, I started using my diaphragm and core to make myself louder. That’s another reason why I really recommend coxswains do core exercises with the rowers during the winter … it helps our voices, odd as it may seem. When you’re on the water though, if your abs are on fire at the end of a piece or a race, you’ll know you’ve done it right. You know when you’re yelling you can kind of “feel it” in your throat? That’s why coxswains lose their voices. If you instead project from your core, you aren’t straight yelling as much, which gives your voice a break.

Make sure you drink lots of water so that your throat doesn’t get dry. I’ve never tried the hot water and honey trick that people tell you to do when you have a sore throat, but I’ve heard it works so that’s an option as well. When you’re not coxing, especially at races, try not to yell or unnecessarily raise your voice. Save the loud stuff for when you’re on the water.

Q&A Rowing Training & Nutrition

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Hi, I feel like my endurance is decent, 10K is fine, etc. but my sprinting for a 2K race is worrying me (I started in August). I don’t know how to make it brilliant and I also struggle to get the full power out of my legs (or what it seems like to me).

Sounds like a marathoner who decided they want to switch to the 100m dash. The best way to prepare for a sprint is to practice. If all you do is long steady state pieces, you’re conditioning your body to excel at those kinds of races. Throw in some 100m, 500m, 2ks, etc. and practice bringing the stroke rate up during those pieces. Don’t try and go straight from a 22 to a 34 though…if you’re not used to rowing at a high stroke rate like that, start slow and gradually bring it up. Start at one stroke rate for a few pieces and when you can hold that stroke rate without losing your form or getting tired while still maintaining a good split, bump it up two beats for the next few pieces. When you can hold that, take it up again. The number of beats you’ll be able to take it up will decrease the more conditioned you become and eventually you’ll hit a point where you physically can’t push it up anymore (similar to a plateau).

As far as getting full power out of your legs, it goes back to the marathoner vs. sprinter thing. The muscles in your body are made up of two types of fibers – slow twitch and fast twitch. Slow twitch fibers are responsible for slow muscle contractions and are considered to be “fatigue resistant”, meaning they can go for long periods of time before they start to get tired. Fast twitch fibers are the opposite. They contract quickly and become fatigued rapidly. Marathoners, who tend to run for long distances, have an abundance of slow twitch fibers in their systems. Sprinters, who run very fast for very short distances, have an abundance of fast twitch fibers. Rowers are the hybrid child of marathoners and sprinters, so our training programs have to adequately build up our slow twitch fibers and our fast twitch fibers.

For you, if your endurance is good but your sprinting isn’t, it sounds like you have a decent amount of slow twitch fibers but not enough fast twitch ones. To increase those, you’ll want to add things like plyometrics, specialized strength training, and short bursts on the erg (or the track) to your training program. The strength training you do, in terms of frequency, volume, exercises, etc., has to reflect the season you’re in – pre-season, in-season, post-season, and off-season (winter training for us). For rowers during winter training, we’re preparing for the spring sprint season, so your strength training should be strength-endurance based, i.e. circuit training. Then it will shift to strength (building up the main muscles used in rowing), followed by a shift towards power (Olympic lifts and plyometrics), and then finally to power-endurance (to prepare for head race season – low weights, high reps).