Category: Rowing

Navigating the Schuylkill River (Philadelphia, PA)

Coxing Rowing

Navigating the Schuylkill River (Philadelphia, PA)

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I got a request last week to do a post on navigating the Schuylkill so that’s what today’s post will be on. I don’t know if I was just overlooking it or what but I couldn’t find a single map anywhere online that showed the 2k course, head race course, bridges, and traffic patterns.

Here’s a panoramic from Boathouse Row’s Wikipedia that shows all the clubs on Kelly Drive. I edited it to add the names so you know which is which. To view a larger version just right-click and select “view image”, then magnify it when it opens.

To the left you can see the entire rowable part of the river, indicated by the blue brackets at the top and bottom of the picture. Even though the Schuylkill is fairly long, there are only about 3 miles of it that crews can safely row on. (This doesn’t count the part of the river up in Conshohocken where Villanova rows.) To give you an idea of how many meters that is, it’s just under 5k one way, so a little over 9.5k total. Time wise, I think going from top to bottom at a reasonable steady state pressure took us about 15-20 minutes this summer depending on the current. Once you get past the railroad bridge at the top of the river it gets pretty rocky and difficult to navigate so crews tend to not venture up there. The lower part of the river is blocked by the dam and a large net-like barrier that prevents crews from getting too close to it. To access the last four boathouses on the Row you have to go under the cables, making sure to stick close to the docks (while still giving crews room to launch). There’s a small island down by the row that, as you’re coming in to dock, you want to make sure you stay to the left of.

When I was at that Level 1 certification class back in March one of the things they spent a lot of time talking about was safety, for obvious reasons. They specifically spent a good deal of time talking about the things coaches are required to carry in their launch, including a paddle and at least 11 PFDs (personal flotation devices), amongst other things. The reason for this is because in 1984 a coach named Kippy Liddle was out with her crew and her engine stalled after getting caught in the vertical cables down by the dam. She didn’t have a paddle or anything that would allow her to row herself out of harm’s way so she instructed the other person in the launch (a coxswain) to put on the one PFD that was in there and swim to shore. She was able to do so successfully but when Liddle jumped out of the boat to try to swim to shore (after drifting closer and closer to the dam), she was swept over it and killed. She was told by the people coming to rescue her to stay in her launch but she didn’t listen, which contributed to her death. The people in the rescue launch also had their engine stall and ended up going over the dam too, but because they stayed in the launch they weren’t hurt. This is part of Schuylkill River history at this point but the point of this story is to make sure your coach’s launch has life jackets and a paddle and to always stay with your boat (regardless of what body of water you’re on).

This is the lower end of the river down towards Boathouse Row. The black dotted line is meant to represent the cables that prevent you from getting close to the dam. It’s not 100% accurate in terms of placement but it’s relatively close, so you get the point.

The biggest difference between the Schuylkill and most other bodies of water is that it follows a left hand traffic pattern, whereas most places follow a right hand pattern.

When you launch, your bow should be pointing upstream so that when you shove, you can immediately begin rowing to the left side of the river. If you’re coming from the lower boathouses, you should turn to port as soon as you get past the cables. If you’re launching from Undine, Penn AC, College Boat Club, or Vesper you should shove off, take a couple strokes to get away from the dock and then have your starboard rowers in bow 4 row to get you pointed towards the west side of the river. If you look at the map and see where the “30” sign is on the expressway, you should be aiming somewhere below that general area as you’re crossing. Any higher than that and you’ll be cutting off people that are rowing downstream. A good rule of thumb is to just row parallel to the cables and then straighten out once you’re on the other side. As you go upstream, keep an eye out for small boats or slower crews ahead of you. Typically you pass on the left but with left hand traffic patterns you pass on the right, which means you might need to venture towards the middle-ish part of the river, depending on how much room the crews in front of you are taking up. If you’re doing warmups and stuff or are only rowing by pairs or fours, stick close to shore so that crews can easily pass you without getting in the way of crews rowing downstream.

As you come up on the Girard Ave. bridge (indicated on the map above by a green star with a number “1” in it), you’ll want to be aiming for the first arch on the left hand side, as indicated by the blue arrow going upstream. Coming through Girard you should be aiming for the second arch on the Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge (which until June I thought only existed in Monopoly), indicated by the #2 green star. Avoid going through the first arch here because it’s a tight squeeze and is fairly shallow. The second arch is wide enough for a couple crews to go under at the same time as long as you’re paying attention.

When you’re returning to Boathouse Row, coming through the railroad bridge you should be going through the second arch from shore, as you can see in the picture where the yellow arrow is. Through Girard you’ll want to come through the middle arch. This will point you directly down that straight stretch of the river. Be sure to not venture too far into the middle so that crews who might be passing on the way upstream can do so safely.

As you continue upstream, the next bridge you’ll encounter is Columbia (green star #3). It’s important – very important – that as you come around the turn, you don’t cut it too soon and/or sharply and end up on the right hand (aka wrong) side of the river. On a normal day this is critical but it becomes even more so during regattas when crews who have just finished racing are coming through the bridge. Once you’re through the bridge, stay on the left side of Peter’s Island. You really can’t mess this up unless you go through the 4th arch from the left and not one of the first three. Again, if you’re planning on stopping or are moving slower than other crews, pull over to right beside the island or right along shore so that the crews who are still moving at a good pace can row through the middle of the river without interruption.  A good “pro tip” if you’re out during really hot days (like we were this summer – hello 100+ degree heat wave) is to stay as close as you can to either shoreline so that you’re in the shade, both while you’re rowing and when you stop.

The center abutment on Columbia is the “marker” for what arches are upstream and downstream, which gives you three arches on either side to travel through. Traveling upstream, the center arch of the left three is the “preferred” arch, although the other two are available if the center one is congested. If there’s been a lot of rain, be careful traveling through the arch closest to shore because you’ll find a lot of logs, tree limbs, etc. sitting along the shoreline that can wreck your boat if you get too close. The amount of rain that we got in a one-week period in June was record breaking for Philly, so we saw a lot of limbs and sometimes whole trees floating down the river. Always be aware of stuff like that when you’re choosing which arches to travel through.

This bridge is a little weird because you’re not necessarily aiming for the center of the arch like you would be on a normal bridge. As you approach it, you should sort of be pointed at the upstream corner of the left hand abutment of the center arch. Read that again slowly and think about it. Upstream corner of the left hand abutment of the center arch. As you get closer to the bridge you can adjust as necessary and make your turn to port to get yourself pointed straight upstream.

The downstream arches are marked by the lane numbers, which you can see in this photo. This shows the bridge as you’re going upstream, so you can see that as soon as you come through the bridge at the end of the race course you have to immediately turn to port. If you continue to row straight you can easily get in the way of crews rowing upstream. The closer you are to the shoreline, the sharper your turn is going to need to be, so you might need to get some help from your rowers to bring you around depending on what the steering is like in your boat.

This photo below shows a downstream shot with all the lanes visible, as well as the grandstands and the tower, which is where the finish line is located.

The course isn’t buoyed so it’s important that you get your point on your lane and maintain it to avoid impeding someone else’s race or practice. I think it’s at 300m to go where there is a cable that goes from the shoreline to Peter’s Island that has each lane number hanging down from it. If you line up directly on those coming out of Strawberry Mansion and pass right under them as you come through the last 500m, you’ll be all set.

Moving along, the next bridge you’ll come to as you’re heading upstream is the Strawberry Mansion bridge (green star #5). You can see in the photo the blue arrow indicates the upstream lane and the yellow arrows indicate the downstream lanes, which are on the race course and are indicated by the lane numbers that are along the top of the bridge. As you come out of Peter’s Island it’s important to stay pointed on the western arch in order to avoid venturing into lane 6.

Any time there is not a race happening, lane 6 must be left open as a “neutral zone” between the crews traveling upstream and downstream. This goes for launches as well. There is also a lane 0 that goes through the arch closest to shore as you’re traveling downstream (not shown in the picture) that is used as a travel lane for crews traveling to and from the canoe club and the St. Joe’s boathouse. This is not intended to be a travel lane during regular practices so as you come through the bridge if you’re in lane one, especially if you’re in a blind boat, make sure you’re paying attention and not venturing too close to the docks.

As far as landmarks go, Strawberry Mansion is about 750m into the 2k course and 250m in to the 1500m course. Additionally, in the second map you’ll see four pink arrows with the numbers 2, 3, 4, and 5 in them. These indicate the following points along the race course:

Arrow #2: 500m in to the 2k course/starting line of the 1500m course

Arrow #3: 1000m in to the 2k course/500m in to the 1500m course

Arrow #4: 1500m in to the 2k course/1000m in to the 1500m course

Arrow #5: The finish line (note that it doesn’t run completely parallel to the bridge)

The last set of bridges you’ll encounter are the Twin Bridges, which are up in the East Falls area of Philadelphia. Rowing through here is at your own risk but if you do, the same left hand traffic pattern applies. Racing and high stroke rates aren’t allowed because of the rocks and everything that are just past the bridges. The water gets pretty shallow so to be safe, just don’t go up here. It’s not worth the risk of damaging your shell.

Before you get to the bridges is where you’ll spin. As you come down, make sure you’re hugging the shore a bit so that once you start rowing you’re not tripped up by the slight bend in the river right before the starting line of the 2k course, which is indicated by the #1 pink arrow. Once you get to this point you should line up on one of the lane numbers on Strawberry Mansion and aim to stay in that relative area for the duration of your row down the course. Coming through Strawberry Mansion there’s another slight turn to starboard (seen in the second map) that you’ll need to hit in order to stay in line on the course. I’d recommend consciously practicing this when you’re out so that on race day it’s a natural reaction and not something you’re spending too much time thinking about.

The last thing I want to go over is what I briefly talked about at the beginning with regards to the island down by Fairmount. I took a screenshot from Google Maps (zoomed in all the way) of the cables that go across the river, which you can see more clearly if you enlarge the picture. You can see the vertical cables across the majority of the river with the exception of the small channel closest to the docks, which is outlined by the blue line. There are no buoys or anything where that blue line is drawn so even though in theory you could row through the cables coming downstream and venture into that open area, it’s ill advised because of the dam (hence the red circle). Aim to stay where the green checkmarks are between the docks and the imaginary blue line when traveling to and from the lower boathouses.

The Schuylkill is a decent body of water to row on but it gets congested quickly due to the number of crews that row in that area. You’ve really got to be on top of your game in order to have an efficient practice and avoid getting in another crew’s way. I was surprised over the summer how many boats were out so I can only imagine how magnified that is during the school year.

Check out this video that a double took of their row upstream. It shows them launching from Fairmount, rowing under the cables (0:39), and then rowing over to the far shore on the west side. It jumps through to each of the bridges so you can see what they look like and what the travel lanes are. They steer a pretty good course so I’d recommend trying to replicate it as closely as possible when you’re out.

This video (by the same rower) shows the route to take as you’re coming in to dock. He was going to Bachelors, which is the club just on the other side of the cables. By the time you get around the turn, you shouldn’t be rowing by all eight or all four anymore. I’d drop down to fours or pairs if you’re in a four. There’s a lot of traffic in this area and not a lot of room to maneuver. Safety first. Also be aware of the Penn AC dock as you come around the corner. It sticks out farther than the other docks on the Row (as seen in this aerial shot), which means you’ve got to swing a little wide coming around if you’re docking anywhere below Penn AC. If you come around the corner tight it sets you up really well to dock at the Girls’ Club or Undine but will basically mean that you’re going to run yourself up over Penn AC’s.

This video is the same thing except the camera is on the stern instead of the bow, so you can get a bigger picture of what the docking process looks like.

And finally, this video shows both an upstream and downstream row, complete with shots of all of the bridges and the grandstands at the finish

Image via // @TheBoatsMan

Novice Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

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Hi! I’m a novice and I have a problem with my oar. My coach said that it doesn’t square early enough. I square just before the drive but he said I need to square earlier. I don’t understand how I can do this ? I feel like I will catch a crab if I square too early (which I did twice today). Do you have any solutions or a way to know how to square at the right time? Is my oar too close to the water on the recovery? Thank you, your blog is the best btw!!

When you say “just before the drive” I assume you mean just before the catch. You do need to square earlier than that, so your coach is correct. Ideally, you’d be squaring or starting to square over your knees, meaning that when you reach the bodies over position of the recovery your blade would be squared or starting to square. I usually like to have the people I’m coaching start squaring over their knees and be completely squared by 3/4 slide, that way all they have to do when they reach the catch is unweight the handle and drop the blade in. If you wait longer than that and start to square around 3/4 slide (this is know as a “quick catch”) you run the risk of going in the water late. (This is more so the case with younger rowers, not so much experienced ones.)

Related: I have practice tomorrow and I really have trouble squaring up on time. I always tell myself to gradually start squaring up at half slide but I’m always behind everybody else. I also try to follow the person in front of me but I’m always a millisecond behind everybody else. I’m a girl and this is my first season of rowing! I’m so embarrassed so please help me!!

If you’re catching crabs trying to square your blade then yes, your blade is probably too close to the water. That’s probably partially because of the boat being unset and down to your side and your hands being too high. Both of those things seem counter-intuitive but it only takes one person to offset the boat, so it is possible.

Next time you go out I would focus really hard on keeping your hands level coming out of the finish (imagine gliding them across a table top) and starting to square as soon as your hands are over your knees. It’s going to feel awkward and uncomfortable but that’s how most changes in rowing feel. I promise it’ll help a lot though. Just think to yourself “hands away, square, place, push”.

College Novice Q&A Rowing Technique

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Hi! I started rowing last spring for my college and I was sculling basically all the time. (I swept like twice I think, the first 2 learn-to-row things). However, this year, my coach wants me in a four. We had our first practice yesterday evening and it was awful. I couldn’t do anything right and I was a pain in the ass for the others. Do you have any general advice for a rower that goes from sculling to sweeping ? (I was rushing my slide and couldn’t get the blade in correctly either). Thanks!

If it was your first day in the four and only third time sweeping, there’s only so much fault they can put on you for practice sucking. I mean, if you’re used to sculling it might take a couple days to get used to sweeping. That’s fairly natural, I think. I would talk to your coach about the issues you’re having and ask her to maybe work with you a bit if you’ve got a dock rower or to maybe lengthen out the warmup a bit and watch/correct your form as you go along before you get into the day’s workout.

With regards to rushing, just … relax. Get used to following another person and taking your time on the recovery. Keep your eyes forward and watch their body move. Anticipate their movements and move with them. Focus on the sequence (arms – back – legs coming out of the finish) and matching your sequence to the person in front of you.

With getting the blade in right, there’s a million things that could be. It all starts at the finish though. If your recovery is poor you’re not going to have a good catch. Work out those issues and getting the blade in will start to become a little easier and feel a bit more natural. Get to the catch, place the blade, then push. Repeat that to yourself – place, push. Place, push.

Understanding what the buoys mean

Coxing Racing Rowing

Understanding what the buoys mean

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Fall season is just getting started and before you know it it’ll be time to start racing which means buoys … buoys everywhere. Buoys in all sorts of different colors scattered all over the place. If you’re unfamiliar with what they stand for then it can be easy to become confused and/or disoriented when trying to figure out where to go on your way to the starting line or worse, when you’re on the course.

RED buoys should always be on your port side (meaning the boat should be to the right of the buoy).

GREEN buoys should always be on your starboard side (meaning the boat should be to the left of the buoy).

YELLOW (or sometimes orange) buoys are used to indicate some kind of potential hazard, such as a log submerged under the surface of the water, a sand bar, etc. and can be on the left or the right. As they pop up you just have to adjust as necessary. In my experience they’ve also been used to mark stakeboat turns on the race course during head races.

WHITE buoys are used to outline the course, although they’re more commonly used during sprint season to mark the lanes than during head race season. Head of the Charles uses them though to separate the travel lanes and the race course.

Typically at the coaches and coxswains meeting the regatta officials will go over any buoys on the course with you and tell you what they mean but for the most part they should follow the nautical definitions fairly closely.

During sprint season, buoyed courses are set up using the Albano buoy system, which is the marking of the race course with parallel lines of buoys. The first time this was done was at the 1960 Summer Olympics on Lake Albano in Italy, where the rowing events were held. The course is, as we know, 2000m long with six 13.5m wide lanes that are separated by seven lines of buoys that are set 10-15m apart. For the first 100m and last 250m of most courses the buoys are red whereas the other 1650m are white.

Image via // @tristanshipsides

College Coxing Q&A Recruiting Rowing Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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So I’ve noticed that most recruiting questionnaires ask for your coach’s phone/email. What do college coaches who are talking to your high school coach ask about? I’m not nervous about it cause my coach and I have always had a good relationship, I was just curious.

If you’re a rower: erg scores, boatings, attitude, personality, personal qualities, work ethic, grades, coachability, etc.

If you’re a coxswain: everything I said about rowers (minus erg scores) plus leadership ability, practice management, communication skills, possibly audio, etc.

Basically they’re trying to figure out if you’re a good fit based on your overall attitude, level of commitment, and desire to push yourself. The biggest thing for them is finding people who are ready and willing to go to that next level and really throw themselves into a team environment and doing what is necessary for the good of the team. Having a good work ethic and the ability to be coached is crucial, as is being someone who will put the team and university in the best possible light. All of that stuff they assume your coach knows, so they’ll typically ask them for input and use that as part of their decision as to whether or not to move forward with you.

Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

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Hi! I am starting my 3rd year rowing and for the past 2 days I have been stroke of an 8 (first time stroking ever, as well as rowing port!). I have no clue if there is a future for me as stroke but it has really made me think. Specifically when bringing up the SR I know that much of the up in pace should come from moving quicker on the drive versus sacrificing control on the recovery but I was wondering just how much? Sorry if that makes no sense but any tips?

I think I understand what you’re asking. The increase in stroke rate should come from two things: faster hands away (matching them with the speed of the boat) and a stronger drive through the water. Both of those have to happen equally instead of one more than the other, which I think might be what you’re saying. The ratio also has to be there if you want the strokes to be effective which means the recovery has to stay controlled, like you said.

What to wear: First day of practice

Coxing Novice Rowing

What to wear: First day of practice

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Previously: What to wear: Women || What to wear: Men || Rowers || High-vis gear || Coxing in the rain

The school year is starting and over the next few weeks teams are going to start holding informational meetings for all the new novices and walk-ons. One question that I guarantee they’ll have but most likely won’t ask is “what do I wear”.

The thing is though, “what to wear” is a forgotten part of most of these meetings, mostly because we all think it’s obvious what is and isn’t the proper attire. (Remember, they don’t have drawers full of unis, tanks, and trou like we do.) I’ve seen guys show up in cargo shorts or NBA-style basketball shorts and women in tennis skirts (not kidding) or those noisy tearaway pants that we used to think were so cool to wear. Then they get annoyed because their clothes get caught in the slides and either get ripped or covered in grease.

It’s important to let everyone know ahead of time whether they need to wear athletic attire on the first day or not because it sets a precedent. It might seem like one of those things that doesn’t really matter but when you’re dealing with people who have never rowed before, are just starting high school or college, and/or don’t know anyone else on the team you don’t want to make them feel awkward or uncomfortable right off the bat by making them feel like they were left out of the loop.

Athletic leggings or shorts, a supportive sports bra, a tshirt (tech fabrics are best but you can get away with a normal tshirt, it’s just gonna get gross), and comfortable training shoes should be your go-to’s for most practices. Once you get further into the season and are issued your uni (or you buy your own) you can wear that to workout in.

Moving on to what not to wear. Hoodies aren’t great because the handle from the erg or oar can get caught in the pocket and because they can also cause you to overheat. Stick to pullovers that sit close to your body if you need an extra layer.. Same with sweatpants – they’re too heavy and can also cause you to overheat. They’ll also get caught in the seat because they’re so baggy. Also, girls, make sure you wear a good sports bra. If you’ve ever had to run while wearing a regular bra you’ll understand why.

Image via // @mitmensrowing

Coxing Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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As the summer comes to an end and fall season comes up, I’ve been a little rusty on my coxing. While there have been some rowers that go to the local aquatic center and have been rowing, I’ve realized that I’ve been spending my summer primarily on school work and I haven’t been able to get out there and practice. But now that the summer is ending and in the last few weeks there are rowers planning on going over to the AC to take out some eights, I was thinking about joining them. My only fear is that this is my first year on varsity and I’m a tad nervous. I want to practice my steering but I’m afraid that if I’m getting rowers that have been rowing all summer long in my boat, that they’ll want me to throw in technical calls and whatnot. Any advice?

I was talking about this same topic through email with a coxswain the other day – a collegiate coxswain, actually. They just finished their first season and will also be coxing with their team’s varsity program in the fall. Here’s what I said to them:

” … Your expectations of yourself should be realistic as well – don’t overwhelm yourself trying to impress everyone or prove you should be there. Just go out there, do what you did in the spring, and let your actions speak for themselves. Coxing is like riding a bike, once you get in the groove of it you never forget how it’s done. There’s no real way to “fall behind” or anything, especially because so much of what makes coxing what it is is based on inherent stuff, like your personality, drive, intelligence, etc. Other than continuing to educate yourself and learn about the sport, there’s not much to do in the summer. Not everyone has access to a boathouse or anything when school’s not in session so it’s OK if you take a couple months off. I think it’s important to do that anyways just so you don’t get burned out.”

If you’re going out with rowers that have been rowing over the summer, chances are they probably have a list of things that they’ve been working on with their own technique, which means they should ideally be able to give you a list of things that they’d like you to focus your calls on. Have your notebook on hand and ask them individually if they’d mind giving you a couple things things that they’d like you to watch for with them, such as washing out, their timing, etc. Whatever they’ve been working on this summer should be the stuff you try and focus on because that’s where they’ve been focusing their efforts, thus getting feedback on it is pretty important. Take that information home and start thinking of what calls you can associate with each thing. I’d say have at least three different calls for each thing that way you can vary what you’re saying and keep the rowers engaged instead of just saying the same thing over and over and having it lose it’s effect.

Tell them also that you want to practice your steering so that’s going to be your technical focus while you’re out. They’ve got theirs, you’ve got yours. The best time to practice your steering is during longer pieces, not drills, for obvious reasons, so tell them ahead of time that for the first few minutes you want them to internalize their strokes, think about their seat, feeling the boat move, etc. and then after that you’ll start bringing it all together, making some technical adjustments, bringing up the power, and taking some harder strokes. So for example, if you do a 10 minute piece you can break it down like this:

0-3:00 || No talking, just rowing. To keep things interesting you could have them row eyes closed, feet out, or eyes closed and feet out. During this time you should be focusing on your steering, since that’s your “thing”, while at the same time paying attention to the bladework. Remember – you want to make minimal adjustments with the rudder. Small changes when necessary but that’s all. Pick a point and every 3-5 strokes check where you are. Eventually you want to get to the point where steering is an auto-pilot response so pay attention to where you are and where you’re going but don’t focus 99.9% of your brainpower on it.

3:01 – 6:00 || Technique – what did you notice during the first three minutes? Talk to each rower equally and individually, point out something they’re doing well and something they can work on. Give each rower at least 5 strokes so before moving on to the next person.

6:01 – 8:00 || Once you’re through each individual look at the whole package. What do you see? How does the boat feel? Are you getting a good amount of run or is there some check happening? How’s the rhythm? Talk to your stroke about this – communication with them is crucial, for on-the-water and off-the-water purposes.

8:01-9:00 || You’ve spent a good amount of time working on finesse stuff, now it’s time to start putting some power behind the blade. If you were rowing at 75% pressure, take it up to 90%. Low stroke rate (20spm or so), powerful drives. Less calls about technique, more about power now. Leg drive, connection, posture, etc.

9:01-10:00 || You’ve got technique and power, now add in speed. Every 20 seconds take the stroke rate up 2 beats while maintaining the same good rowing you’ve held for the last nine minutes. There should be a shift in intensity here, both with their strokes and your calls. Remind them to move the boat, not the water.

This entire time you should have been focusing on steering and holding your point. Doing pieces like this where there’s a “focus” throughout it forces you to multi-task and learn how to juggle doing two, three, four, five very important things all at the same time. Don’t let it overwhelm you, just go with it. To improve with something as finicky as steering you’ve got to push yourself out of your comfort zone a little. In the end it’s always worth it though.

Don’t be nervous. Easier said than done, I know, but you truthfully have no reason to be nervous. The summer is the best time to make mistakes because there’s zero pressure from anyone. Go out there confidently, communicate with the rowers, have goals for yourself, execute everything to the best of your abilities, and reflect on every practice once you’re off the water. What went well, what did you improve on, how did that improvement happen, what do you need to do to maintain that change and make it a habit going forward, and what do you want to keep working on in the future? Keep a notebook handy so you can write all of this down.

Don’t think that just because you’ll be with the varsity in the fall that you’ve got to start commanding them now like you will be in two months. Stay relaxed and have a good time. You’ll have plenty of time to be super disciplined in the fall. For now, just enjoy the water and getting to know the guys you’re rowing with.

Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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I had the shittiest practice ever today … I was so offset and I’m the slowest rower on the team and my coach won’t even follow me with his launch, that’s how far behind I get. I thought I had good technique but there’s a few basic things I don’t do properly and when I get corrections it’s so fucking hard for me to make those corrections and I can feel my coach giving up. I hate feeling so stupid after working so hard and idk like why the hell am I doing this, I’m not even strong. UGH I need a hug.

I’ve had shitty practices like that too – they’re the worst because you know you’re trying or you can see the people in your boat trying and for whatever reason things just aren’t clicking. It’s more mentally exhausting than anything else.

When we’ve fallen behind our coach or the other boats sometimes I would end up running my own practice. More often than not our coaches would make me push them to stay with the other boats, which is a good thing, you need to push yourself and be pushed like that, but other times I think they recognized that the neurons just weren’t firing that day so trying to push them to keep up would have only made things worse.

We’d usually stop rowing for at least two or three minutes, just to give everyone a mental break. We’d talk about whatever wasn’t feeling right and begrudgingly we would start over from the very beginning except much slower. If we were doing a drill or something, we’d break it down even further or if we couldn’t do that, we’d start off by pairs instead of fours or fours instead of sixes. We’d go through everything much slower until we had it down at that stroke rate, then we’d bump it up a beat or two and do it again, from the beginning, until we had it down at that stroke rate.

From there we’d cycle through all the pairs/6s before taking another break for a minute to figure out what went better that time and what we need to take away from it so we can keep doing it that way in the future. I don’t think there was ever time where doing it this way made things worse. Granted it took up a lot of time and sometimes we didn’t accomplish whatever the actual goal of practice was that day but the stuff we did accomplish from taking things slower and focusing more on our issues tended to, in some small way or another, be more helpful to us than whatever else we had planned on doing.

Related: What do you like to do to cheer yourself up after a lost race or tough practice?

Talk to your coach when you’re on land, preferably when you’ve cooled down, and explain the problems you’re having. Tell him how you’re frustrated because you’re having problems grasping the technical changes that you need to make and that you feel like he’s giving up on you because you either don’t understand what you’re being asked to do or are having trouble making the changes. Ask him, either then or before your next practice, if he can get on an erg with you and explain exactly what the changes are that he wants to see you make, what they should look like, and how what it should look/feel like compares to what you’re doing right now. If you don’t know or understand why something you’re doing is wrong, ask.

Also talk to him about what happens if you fall too far off the pace and end up further behind everyone else. Tell him that it’s frustrating for you but you don’t want the rest of practice to be wasted so does he have any suggestions of things you can do on your own (drills, steady state pieces, etc.). Also ask him if he’d be able to double back every so often to check in. It’s not safe for you to be completely without a coach, especially if you haven’t been rowing that long and/or are out there by yourself (I’m assuming you were in a single), so asking him to check on you for safety purposes alone is the least he can do.

You shouldn’t feel stupid after having a bad work out. Weaker people than you have gone through the same things and quit because it’s too hard so just by being persistent you’re already doing better than most. Bad practices happen. Are they infuriating as hell? Of course they are. The thing is though, you can almost always take something away from them that will ultimately make you a better, stronger rower in the long run. For me I’ve found that the best way to avoid letting crew mess with my head is to leave everything that happened on the water on the water until I’m calmed down enough to look at the situation from a more logical and objective perspective. When you’re pissed off you never see things how they actually are.

After a few hours, think back to practice for a few minutes and try to figure out what went wrong. What were you having trouble with, why was the technique stuff so hard today, etc. Jot down two or three things (and only two or three things so as to not overwhelm yourself) that were particularly difficult and come up with a plan to combat those things over the course of your next two practices or so. Whether it’s giving yourself a two minute break to take a deep breath and clear your head when you find yourself getting flustered or focusing all your energy on moving the legs and arms together on the drive so that it’s more powerful and consistent, give yourself a plan. If you’ve got something to work towards you’ll be able to focus more when you’re out instead of going out and trying to just blindly accomplish things to the point where you get so frustrated because nothing is working that you start doubting yourself.

Don’t use not being strong as an excuse. You can always get stronger, either by going to the gym or by pushing yourself to do better right at the point where you want to give up the most. If you do a 1000m piece and your brain starts telling you to quit at 800m but you push through it, sprint hard, and finish the piece, you got stronger. If you do 8x500m and you decide to quit after seven because you’re tired, you got weaker. If you make lifting a priority, you will get stronger. If you start thinking about the stuff you’re doing well and committing yourself to working harder to improve the things you’re not doing so well, you will get stronger. Any time you unnecessarily beat yourself up over something you’re backtracking on any progress you’d made up to that point. Sometimes you do have to kick your own ass and that’s fine, but know when it’s appropriate and when it’s not.

You’re not the first person to have a bad practice or feel like this and you’re definitely not going to be the last. Something to remember: you’re not defined as an athlete by how well or poorly you perform at one practice – what defines you is whether you show up the next day clear headed, focused, and ready to do work, regardless of how the previous day went.