Tag: burnout

Training: Overtraining vs. Burnout

Rowing Training & Nutrition

Training: Overtraining vs. Burnout

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Now that we’re approaching the midway point of the winter training season, I wanted to follow up on the previous training post on pain vs. soreness and talk about overtraining and burnout. Today’s post is a super brief overview of what both are so that as we continue through the winter months you (rowers and coxswains) can be aware of the signs + symptoms and hopefully catch yourself (or a teammate) if you suspect you’re experiencing one or the other.

Overtraining

The simplest definition is this: overtraining is the result of working your body too hard and putting it under more stress than it can handle. It occurs when you go through a period of high intensity training and fail to give yourself enough time to properly recover and repair the damage done to the muscles. Since overtraining happens over time rather than with a sudden onset it can be tough to nail down whether or not that’s what you’re actually experiencing – an easy way to tell if that’s what’s going on (or if you’re trending in that direction) is if you experience “unexplained underperformance for approximately two weeks even after having adequate resting time”.

When you push your body despite it telling you that you need to back off, your performance is gonna suffer (or the very least plateau) because muscles that are this fatigued aren’t able to work as efficiently or respond as quickly as muscles that are receiving an adequate amount of rest post-workout. (This is another reason why it’s important to know the difference between pain and soreness.)

Related: Training: Pushing hard and pain vs. soreness

It can be easy to explain away the more obvious physical symptoms of overtraining (having trouble finishing workouts, having low energy, insomnia, etc.) but one of the stand out symptoms is an elevated resting heart rate over the course of a few days post-workout. Tracking your resting heart rate is good practice in general but it can be really useful in instances to help you identify what’s going on with your body.

If in the two to three days following a hard workout you notice that when you wake up in the morning (i.e. after a sufficient period of rest) your RHR has increased from its usual average of (for example) 52 BPM to 60 BPM, that can be an indication that your body hasn’t fully recovered from that workout. Keep in mind too that RHR is pretty variable – a fluctuation of a couple beats is normal but what you’re looking for in this case is an increase of 5-7 BPM above what your normal average is.

Now, obviously one data point isn’t enough to declare yourself “overtrained” but if you continue tracking your RHR in the mornings and see that over the course of two or three weeks it continues to rise, it’s likely that you are overtraining and need to take a step back to give your body more time to recover between practices.

Burnout

Burnout and overtraining tend to get used synonymously but where overtraining is a type of physical stress, burnout is a type psychological stress that’s characterized by physical and emotional exhaustion. You tend to lose interest and motivation in your sport (before developing aggressively strong aversions or resentment towards it if you continue trying to train), your energy levels are pretty low, and there’s this nagging feeling like you’re fighting a losing battle because regardless of how much (genuine) effort you put in, you’re not satisfied with the results you got and/or you’re not achieving the ones you want.

One of the things that leads to burnout is not having any semblance of balance between rowing and your actual life. There’s a big difference between “loving” it and being so obsessed with it that you become what’s known as a “24 hour athlete”, where you essentially live and breathe crew to the point where you have no time for anything else (social or otherwise). The resulting loss of your internal motivations leaves you with only external “obligations” to continue on with the sport – the big one that we’ve all probably experienced at some point is not wanting to let down our coaches, teammates, or parents.

Another factor that can lead to burnout is one I struggle with and know other coxswains will relate to as well: self-imposed unrealistic expectations. This leads to the same loss of energy, motivation, and interest in participation that I mentioned before because you’re consistently failing to meet standards that go beyond what would be considered reasonably achievable in any normal situation. When you hit that tipping point (which is different for everyone but you know it when you experience it), you find that you’re just exhausted trying to process everything to the point where all you want to do is … nothing … and even that can seem like it’s too much effort.

The process of recovery here is a little more complex thanks to the scales being tipped more towards the mental wellbeing side than the physical side. That’s not to say there isn’t a physical component, it’s just not as prevalent as with overtraining. When it comes to burnout, an extended period of time off is usually the first step, mainly because it helps you clear your head which in most cases is what’s needed the most. Another step is reevaluating your goals … or if you didn’t have any concrete goals to begin with, developing some so that you’ve at least got something to work towards rather than just aimlessly going to practice each day without any actual reason to (beyond those external obligations).

Recovery from burnout isn’t a quick process. With overtraining you can take a week or two off to let your body sort itself out but with burnout … burnout gnaws away at you over a really long period of time which means the time it takes you to get back to 100% isn’t a matter of weeks but rather a matter of months. I took five years off from rowing (and sports completely) before I felt like I was mentally and emotionally stable enough to jump back into it. When you consider that burnout is usually coupled with anxiety and/or depression too, it makes sense why taking an extended time off is the healthy and necessary thing to do … it’s just a matter of convincing yourself that it’s actually OK to do that, which in my experience is the hardest part.

There’s a lot more that goes into overtraining and burnout than what I’ve listed here so I’d definitely recommend doing some research on your own so you can educate yourself further on the signs + symptoms (and dangers) of both. Between the horde of exercise physiology and sports psych classes I took in college, I read a ton of papers on this so you’re interested in reading some actual peer-reviewed research, let me know and I’ll dig out the links to the ones we spent the bulk of our time discussing. If you wanna read something a little less dense, Wikipedia gives a solid overviews, as does this article from The New York Times called “Crash and Burnout“.

Training: Pushing hard and pain vs. soreness

Rowing Training & Nutrition

Training: Pushing hard and pain vs. soreness

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Now that most of us (in the Northeast at least) are in the early stages of winter training, I wanted to deviate from talking about coxing for a minute to go over some training stuff that’ll hopefully help you guys make it through the next few months injury-free.

Related: Do you have any advice on dealing with a coach pressuring you to continue practicing through injury?

Runner’s World posted a great article last summer on the difference between pushing hard and overtraining where they described the goal of pushing hard as “stressing the body just beyond your fitness level to gradually increase the stress loads on your body and ensure recovery”. Their example was that if you’re doing six sets of intervals with three minutes rest, “pushing harder” might mean transitioning to eight intervals or reducing the rest to two minutes. You’re basically putting your body just far enough outside its comfort zone that it gradually begins adapting to the added stress and you, as a result, get stronger/fitter.

The hurdle that a lot of people hit though, particularly younger athletes or walk-ons who might be completely new to sports in general, is not knowing the difference between soreness and pain.

Soreness

Soreness is there but it’s not in your face. It’s mainly concentrated on the muscles so when you’re working out you might feel some tightness in that area but while just going about your regular activities it shouldn’t be more than a dull ache that only really makes itself known if you’ve been inactive for awhile. Standing up after sitting through a long lecture or when you first get out of bed in the morning are when you might feel it the most.

When you’ll feel it the most is around 24-48 hours later, which is why it’s called delayed onset muscle soreness. As long as you stretch or roll out you should be OK to keep practicing, although it might be worth taking a day off from the erg and hopping on the bike or going for a run instead. If you get back on the erg the following day you might feel some lingering soreness but it shouldn’t be anything that actually detracts from the quality of the workout. If it is, spending a longer amount of time rolling out will usually help.

Pain

This is that sharp feeling that hits you all of a sudden in the middle of a piece or when you move a certain way, like bending over to pick something up. Rather than just being focused on the muscles, pain can/will extend to your joints too, which is when you start hearing about a “shooting pain” in the knees, shoulders, hips, and low back.

Unlike soreness which might hang around for a day or two at most, pain can be felt for several days at a time, sometimes consistently and other times off and on, even after taking time off to rest. It’s at this point where you should be making an appointment with the trainers or your doctor, particularly if it’s been a week or more without any improvement.

As your workouts get longer or ramp up in intensity, experiencing some soreness is inevitable but still manageable as long as you’re diligent about going through some sort of recovery sequence after practice. If you don’t have 10-15 minutes to spare because you’ve gotta get to class, make sure you’re holding yourself accountable and finding time to do it later in the day.

Sharp pains or anything that instantly makes you think “this isn’t a normal feeling” isn’t something you should push through because that’s what leads to an injury. Communicating that to your coach is important so that they’re aware of what’s going on and can adapt the workouts as necessary while you recover. Get over yourselves, put your egos aside, and keep your coaches informed if/when you’re not at 100%. 

I won’t lie and say they’re not gonna be annoyed or roll their eyes when you leave the office (sometimes we will be and sometimes we do – it’s our coping mechanism) but I can promise you that no coach who is serious about their job and cares about their athletes will make you work through an injury. In the post I linked to at the beginning I said that if it seems like they’re pushing you to keep practicing it’s usually because they’re skeptical about whether you’re actually in pain or if you’re just mistaking soreness for pain. Knowing the difference between the two and being able to clearly articulate how you feel, what you’re feeling, where you’re feeling it, etc. can go a long way in helping you recover faster because the sooner you communicate with them, the sooner they can give you time off, and the sooner you can start doing whatever’s necessary to get back to 100% (even if that literally means doing absolutely nothing at all).

For the coxswains, there’s obviously not a ton you can do here so my suggestion is to put your observation and awareness skills to the test and just keep an eye on  your teammates. If I see the guys grimacing on the ergs (beyond the usual amount) or get off mid-piece I always ask them if they’re OK and then follow up with them a little bit later or after practice to see how it’s going. From there I’ll pass on whatever they said to the other coaches since they’re not always aware that something’s up. One of our coxswains is really good about this and being that in tune with how the guys are feeling has done a lot as far as helping her connect and develop that trust with them.

Advocating for the rowers in situations like this can also fall on your shoulders. If the coaches are skeptical about what’s going on and/or the rower hasn’t communicated with them then you might need to be the one who says “hey, just so you know Sam’s been having some back pain over the last few days and I think the 30 minute piece this morning made it worse, which is why he didn’t finish it” or “I know we’re supposed to be seat racing today but Dan was pretty sick all weekend and still isn’t feeling well – any chance we can push it back to tomorrow?”.

Again, not gonna promise that they won’t roll their eyes or be annoyed but it’s not your responsibility to care about that. You’re the messenger and sometimes that means getting poked with an arrow when you’re passing along info that the other person doesn’t want to hear. It’s not that big of a deal. What is a big deal though and can help you earn their respect of the rowers is being aware of this stuff as it’s going on and advocating for them when they need it.

Image via // @cubcsquad

High School Q&A Recruiting

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Hi! I’m a junior in high school and I just moved up to the girls varsity team in September. I was on the novice team for fall and spring of my sophomore year and I was in the top boat but now since I moved up to varsity the playing field is a lot more competitive and I am worried about being recruited later this year. I’m also around 5’5 and 140lbs and I wasn’t sure if I should drop to 135 to be considered for “lightweight” considering my height. I was invited for winter training on our team (just finished our first full week) and I feel like I’m already burning out. My family and I are making over a 40 minute commute to get to practice each day, 6 days a week and I just feel like I cannot get, well, my shit together fully. The days are getting shorter and we have practice at 5:45 to 7:45 three days a week and its just a little tough. Mostly I just needed some re-assurance that all this hard work and commuting will be alright and I will get recruited. I was also wondering if its even possible for a 5’5 girl to get into a D1 program in college? I’m also looking at D2 and D3 possibly, but it seems if I want a scholarship D1 is the choice to go. Also I’m taking my SAT’s and ACT’s in about 2-3 weeks and I’m worried that this too late for colleges to see my scores? I heard some girls my age sending them in October for colleges but I think if I send them in December it’s still pretty early…? And should I shoot some coaches an email now about being interested in their team for the fall of 2017 before I even have my SAT scores? Thank you thank you thank you.

There’s no way I can reassure you that this will all work out and you’ll get recruited. There’s a lot that goes into being recruited (if you haven’t been following along check out all of these posts), not to mention getting a scholarship, so it’d be impossible to say whether or not this is all worth it. I know that’s definitely not the answer you wanted/needed but I can’t imagine anyone else out there would say differently.

If you’re 5’5″ I think you might have better luck (in terms of the boats you’d be able to compete for) at a D3 school but I definitely know of some women at D1 schools that are your height or shorter and they do fine. They usually settle into the 2V or 3V, which can be tough if you’re super competitive and being in the 1V is your goal, but of the ones I’ve talked to through here it’s just something they’ve accepted (in a positive way, not that they feel like they’re settling or something) and they’ve refocused their personal goals to suit the lineup they’re currently in. Regardless of where you are I think that’s a good mindset to put yourself in but when you’re in high school and looking at colleges it’s definitely something you need to consider. You might talk to your current coach and get their opinion since they obviously know a bit more about you as an athlete and can probably give you more specific advice based off of that.

Related: College recruiting 101

The recruiting process for most people tends to start in their junior year so  you’re not super late to the party since that’s where you’re at now. If you already know the schools you’re interested in then I’d fill out the questionnaires on the athletic departments’ websites and then shoot an email to the coaches introducing yourself and letting them know when they can expect your test scores. Once you receive them, forward them on to the coaches and keep them updated on your progress from there. (I talk about contacting coaches a lot in the recruiting posts I linked before so I’d really recommend spending some time reading through those, as well as any of the posts in the “recruiting” tag since there have been lots of similar questions asked in there.) The only time it’s really too early to be contacting a coach is if you’re a freshman or sophomore (or a junior with little to no notable results) so you should be fine assuming you have a solid rowing resume and appear recruitable on paper. That’s something else you should discuss with your coach too – based on what they see in you as an athlete, your 2k time, your grades, etc. what do they think your chances are at being recruited by the schools you’re interested in.

As far as getting burned out, I get where you’re coming from. Obviously it’s a little different but when we were practicing in the afternoon this fall it would take me anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to drive eight freaking miles across town to get to the boathouse. By the time October rolled around I was beyond over it because it just ate up so much time … 45+ minutes to get there, 2 hours at practice, and then 45 minutes to get home. Like I said, obviously it’s not the same but trust me when I say that I get how mentally exhausting a long commute can be. Eventually you’ll get into a groove where it doesn’t feel so overwhelming but you do have to spend some time planning out what you’ve gotta do, how you need to allocate your time, etc. Since you’re not too far into winter training yet I’d try to do that sometime this week when you’ve got some free time. Take advantage of your commute to/from the boathouse too – if you’re not driving, bring some earplugs to block out the noise and get some reading done in the car. When I was at Syracuse I would review flashcards for my anatomy + physiology class on our 25ish minute drive back to campus. It didn’t require a ton of mental effort to do and it was something I wouldn’t have to find time for later in the day when I was a lot busier (and a lot more tired).

I wouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket as far as all this being worth it though. If your only measurement of success is whether or not you get recruited then I think you’re most likely setting yourself up for disappointment. If you make that a big picture goal though and set smaller goals for each month of winter training (i.e. drop your 2k by 2 seconds by New Year’s, increasing the length of your planks by 10 seconds per week over the next six weeks … stuff like that) then I think you’ll be less likely to feel burned out and more likely to feel like the sacrifice was worth it if you see yourself achieving in other areas that are more relevant to where you’re currently at in your career.

Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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How can I get back my passion for rowing? It used to be my life and there was nothing else I wanted to do. At 15/16 I wanted nothing more than to be in the position I’m in now. Recently though I’ve been finding myself falling out of love with it, I even thought the other day I can’t wait for the season to be over. I don’t know if it’s the negativity on my team becoming contagious or what but I hate myself for it.

This has been a recurring theme in a lot of  the emails I’ve been getting lately. I want to believe these types of feelings are all temporary simply because of the time of year with school winding down and championship season heating up but there are some people I’ve talked to who just sound seeeriously burnt out on rowing. This is why I tend to caution people from being all “crew crew crew” 100% of the time because eventually you are going to get sick of it. Like everything else in life, there has to be a balance. I wouldn’t hate yourself for feeling like this though – even on teams without rampant negativity issues, this is a pretty common thing to experience at some point or another.

Taking time off is always a good way to get perspective on situations like this. Sometimes that means taking a day or two off from practice, taking a week off before starting your summer workouts, or taking the entire summer off and not thinking about or doing anything rowing-related. You’ve gotta decide which one is best for you and then talk it over with your coaches so they can be kept in the loop with what’s going on. If you aren’t sure you want to talk to your coaches just yet (you should eventually though…), try talking with one of your team captains. You’re your best advocate though so if there’s something going on with a teammate or just on the team in general that’s contributing to you feeling like this, it’s up to you to speak up to the appropriate people and make them aware of what’s going on so the issue can be addressed. Same goes if you need to take time off. You have to get over the idea that somebody might be mad that you want to sit out a practice or are contemplating not returning next year – you have to do what’s right for you in the long run.

When I’ve felt this way about crew I usually find that it’s not actually the sport or my teammates that’s pissing me off, it’s something else that’s causing me to experience a lot of stress which is in turn being exacerbated by everything going on at practice. Things that wouldn’t normally be a big deal (like missing the stroke you’re supposed to come in on or having a brain fart during a piece and flubbing a call) end up making you feel like shit because you’re hyper-aware of all the stressors around you. Even though crew itself might not be the problem it’s an easy target to pin everything on just because the environment in general, expectations we have for ourselves, etc. always have us a little tense and on our toes. On its own most of us have figured out how to manage that but when you combine all that with other external factors things can get pretty overwhelming and you end up feeling how you’re feeling right now. Zeroing in on the root cause of the problem is a good way to figure out if crew really is the issue though or if it’s something else that you can work on fixing or learning to manage better. This combined with taking some time off is usually the best way to get back in the swing of things, at least in my experience (with what I’ve seen from friends/people I’ve coached and how I felt when I quit crew for awhile).

Q&A Rowing Training & Nutrition

Question of the Day

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How do you deal with being burned out when you can’t take a break? We only have one race left but it’s not for another couple of weeks and I can’t bail on my boat because 1. WTF bailing on your coaches/teammates isn’t an option and 2. we don’t have any suitable alternates. I love rowing I’ve just been going nonstop for so many months that I physically and mentally need a hiatus. Is it just a “suck it up” type deal or a mental block that I can bypass?

I think it’s both – if you know you can’t take time off and there’s no one suitable to replace you then your only option is pretty much to just grit your teeth and HTFU. I think it’s also something you can … maybe not bypass completely but something you can at least work towards coping with, if that makes sense.

From my experience, the best thing you can do is tell your teammates. There’s four or eight other people in the boat with you and they all, theoretically, have your back. If you’re getting to the point of being over it to the max, tell them that you need some encouragement or a rousing pep talk or something to help you get your head back in the game. A couple of us did that my junior year and it resulted in all of us going on an impromptu trip to get slushies after practice and have a major bitch fest about pretty much everything we all had going on. (If I remember correctly, we were there when they closed which meant we sat there for probably close to five hours.) I think unbeknownst to each other, to varying extents we were all burned out on crew, school, college stuff, the SATs/ACTs, etc. and the thing we all really needed (in addition to getting away from the boathouse for a bit) was to know that we weren’t the only ones feeling like that. For the next two weeks or so, even though we were all scattered amongst the 1V, 2V, and lightweight 8+, we were able to give each other quick words of encouragement on the dock, in between pieces, etc. Not only did it help us stay focused but it also helped push us through that mental block, even if it was only for 2-3 hours a day for the last couple weeks of the season.

This was one of the moments where I really appreciated my teammates because I remember a couple of them saying things that I absolutely needed to hear … I just didn’t know it until they said it. We all admitted to not wanting to say anything to anyone because we didn’t want to be that person that seems like they’re not fully invested in the boat but it ended up being really good that we did. Like I said, your teammates should have your back and they should be supportive of you through good times and bad so hopefully if you bring this up with them they can give you some words of advice that’ll help you get through the next couple of weeks before your race.

If all of that isn’t an option, do your absolute BEST to only think about crew when you’re at crew. When you’re at home, at school, eating lunch, on the drive to the boathouse, walking through Target, etc. keep your thoughts on anything but rowing. Let your friends and family know that too and ask them to respect the fact that you’re feeling kinda burned out and only want to talk about/deal with crew between the hours of 3-5pm when you’re at practice. When you’re there, then like I said early, grit your teeth and suck it up for those couple of hours and then as soon as leave turn the crew part of your brain OFF.

College Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

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Hi! Your blog has been so helpful to me and my team – thank you so so much! I am approaching my 6th year of coxing. I did 4 years in high school for my men’s team plus I began coxing my college’s men’s team. Next year, we have a new cox stepping up to varsity. He rowed for 4 year in high school and he is coxing now and I feel he is LIGHTYEARS better than me, only because he has had the rower perspective that I haven’t had. I also feel that I’ve been in a funk – using the same calls for years and they get me results – I just feel on autopilot. I’ve gone to coxing camps and everything, I just wanted to know if you have any suggestions to help me get my groove back? Thanks!

I think people put way too much importance on rowing before coxing, to be honest. Sure it can help but it’s not the be all, end all to what makes a coxswain good. Regardless of his experience as a rower, you’ve still got at least five years on him with coxing – he’s got a lot to learn and all the skills he’s gotta pick up are not trumped by the fact that he’s rowed. Just because he knows what that feels like and has listened to coxswains for the last four years doesn’t mean that he has any idea what it’s like to actually cox. (It’s the same way for coxswains who are switching to rowing – just because you tell the rowers how to row and what to do and everything else doesn’t mean you have the faintest idea how to do it when the oar is in your hands).

As far as being in a funk, been there, felt that. I’ve kinda felt like that since August actually since I haven’t been coxing as actively as I was in Boston. I take some of the boats out here once in awhile but there are definitely times when I get in there and just say what works instead of actually coxing them. Other times I’ll cox them during a piece or something and my brain will totally blank on what to say so I end up just saying really “vanilla” stuff. It’s very frustrating. Usually I come home and listen to a couple recordings (either mine or other people’s…), jot down some of the things I like, and then incorporate those calls into my usual ones the next time I go out.

Another thing I liked to do when I was in school was go out on the launch every once in awhile to get some new perspective on the boat and the rowers. You see things completely different from out there, plus you can talk to your coach too and get some ideas from him/her on ways to up your coxing game. Don’t forget to take your notebook out with you too. Taking a few days or weeks off from coxing/crew in general can also really help. It’s possible that the “autopilot” feeling is just the faint signs of burnout peeking through, so taking some time off could be a good thing for you. With summer almost here, this is pretty much the perfect time too.

Coxing Q&A

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I’m nearing the peak of racing season and I’m already burned out! I’m tired of coxing at the moment and I’m sick of my teammates because I’ve spent way too much time with them. I’m scared to miss practice though because I’m worried about losing my seat, what should I do?

I say this with empathy, solidarity, and love: suck. it. up.

There have been numerous times in the past when I was coxing (and even (very) recently with coaching) where I had no interest in being at the boathouse because I was sick of seeing or dealing with people, stressed, burned out, etc. but I showed up anyways, not because I had to in order to keep my seat but because I’d made a commitment to show up and if I didn’t, eight (or more) other people would be adversely affected by my decision.

Outside of when I was in college I think the only time I got burned out on crew was midway through my last season in high school, which was also simultaneously my best and worst season. Best because my crew was great and we kicked ass every week and worst because our head coach was an asshole who I’m positive sat up at night coming up with ways to make us all dislike him more and more each day. Around the beginning of May (peak season for us) I was definitely starting to just go through the motions – I was there physically but not mentally. Our assistant coach noticed pretty much right away and essentially made me spill my guts about why I was suddenly so much less on point than usual. Senioritis, poor team leadership, feeling like I wasn’t improving at the same rate as my crew, and a general sense of the “meh’s” were all key points. In his usual way of “saying something without actually saying it” he pretty much told me to suck it up, set an example, and be bigger than whatever issues were threatening to bring me down.

Burnout is like depression (figuratively and almost literally) – it isn’t really something you can just decide to get over and how you handle it is unique to every person. For me, I did just suck it up because that’s what was necessary. Regardless of how crappy I was feeling I didn’t want to bring my boat down to my level so I re-evaluated my performances on the water, priorities, and attitudes towards various situations so that I could get to the root of the problem and start doing something different. At this point I had one month left of high school which meant I had one month left to get my coxing up to the level I wanted to be at before I left for college. My coach and I came up with some goals so that I’d have something to work on myself while he focused on the rowers and we went from there. Each day for the next week I’d show up and he’d say “what kind of afternoon are we gonna have?” and my answer each time was “a great one”, regardless of how I felt or my day actually went. As silly and cheesy as it was, that little glimmer of positivity always started off practice on a good note.

My suggestion is this, based on my own experiences:

Take time every day to unwind and clear your head. Before practice, turn your car off and sit there in silence for a couple extra minutes. (If you don’t drive to practice, find a quiet spot to go to where you won’t be bothered.) Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Tell yourself that you’re going to have a good day on the water – actually say it out loud to yourself. After practice, do the same thing. Sit in your car for a few minutes, take a couple deep breaths, and leave everything that happened at practice at the boathouse. Don’t bring it home with you. Go home and relax for a bit. Actually relax too – if that means taking a quick nap or a hot shower, do it. If that means giving yourself a badass pedicure while watching people be violently murdered on Game of Thrones, do it. Just do something for 30-60 minutes that lets you decompress before diving into your homework.

When you get to the boathouse, don’t purposely avoid everyone but try to keep your distance (without being super obvious about it) until it’s time to get the boats out. If somebody asks what’s up just say that you’re just taking a few minutes to yourself and trying to avoid any unnecessary distractions before you get out on the water.

Find/create a support system. If you’re sick of your teammates, talk to a friend who’s not on the team. They probably won’t have any idea what the hell you’re talking about but you can at least vent your frustrations to them and who knows, they might even be able to give you some useful nuggets of advice. Same goes for your parents and/or your coaches. In theory they should automatically be supportive of you but now’s your time to actually call it in and go directly to them for support.

If you’ve got a free weekend (or a free day on the weekend) take advantage of it. I flew to Boston this past weekend and didn’t think about crew or anything else once for four days. It was incredible and came at the perfect time. It’s not the rowing that’s been the issue, rather all the administrative stuff we’ve had to deal with that’s been creating a seriously unnecessary amount of stress for everyone. Getting away from that and the other forty-seven things that are currently seriously testing my patience made coming back to practice oh-so–sweet. I would’ve loved to have been at the marathon today (my trepidation of large crowds thanks to last year aside…) but going to practice and seeing the team after being away for a few days, in addition to getting to cox our V8 and V4, let me experience one of those moments that I really cherish: that moment where we’re doing a piece, I’m in the moment, the boat is moving well, and I’m reminded in a split second why I love this sport so damn much. I swear, that fleeting nanosecond of clarity is all it takes to get me out of a rut. If you’ve got the opportunity to take a day off on the weekend, do it. Go somewhere and do something fun or stay at home and do nothing – whatever you do though, let crew be the furthest thing from your mind so that when you come back you can be reminded too of just why it is that you’re there.

Q&A Rowing

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I’m starting to fall out of love with rowing and it scares me because I don’t know whether it’s because the sport is so stressful or it’s just because I’m not progressing, which is stupid, but I don’t know what to do because its been a huge investment for my family.

Are you not making any noticeable improvements because you’ve hit a plateau or because you’ve stopped trying? Be honest. If you’ve been doing the same types of training for awhile it might just be an issue of switching things up so that your muscles become un-bored. That’s what happens when you plateau – your muscles adapt to the training you’re doing to the point where they’re so used to your routine that they get bored and stop responding. If it’s because you’ve given up for whatever reason then you’ve got to make the decision for yourself whether or not you want to readjust your outlook and keep trying or if it’s no longer worth it to you and it’s time to move on. You should also consider whether or not you’re burned out. If you’ve been doing crew non-stop for a year or more then you’re probably just tired, mentally and physically, and that’s contributing to why you’re not progressing the way you want to be and why you feel like you’re just kinda over it. The solution to this is taking some time off, even that means just a couple days to start with. If you can, try to take the whole summer off from rowing and then once August rolls around, reevaluate how you’re feeling and go from there.

The investment that your family has made should be something you keep in mind because obviously that’s an important factor to consider but don’t base your decision off of that. You shouldn’t continue to do something just because you feel guilty over the amount of money, time, etc. that other people have put into it. If you’re genuinely not enjoying yourself anymore then that’s reason enough to take some time off. It’s OK to stop enjoying something you once loved doing but you’ve gotta be honest with yourself about it and recognize when you’ve reached that point. Talk to you coach and/or parents, tell them how you’re feeling, and get some feedback from them. See if you can negotiate a break with your coach so you can clear your head and reassess the situation. Sometimes looking at it from the other side when you’re not overwhelmed by a million different things can help you come to a decision.

Coxing Q&A

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I feel like I’ve been regressing. The coaches put me in good boats at the beginning of the season but I feel like they’re losing their faith in me and I’m slipping down to “worse” boats. Coxes who were on lower boats last year are now being boated higher. Every outing seems to be worse than the previous and I just feel no motivation at practice. I want to take a break but I’ll basically destroy my chances at getting a good boat even more if I take leave. Any advice?

Have you talked to your coaches about why you’re being boated in the lower boats? That would be my first piece of advice. They could be boating you down for a few reasons. A common reason is that they want an experienced coxswain to work with the lower boats so that there will be at least one person in the boat who knows what’s going on and the coaches don’t have to worry about dealing with inexperienced rowers and inexperienced coxswains, which can be frustrating for everyone. For coxswains that don’t know this this their intent, it can be pretty irritating because it comes off as them being moved down for no reason.

Another reason, on the opposite end of the spectrum, is that they’re hoping it’ll be a wake-up call to you, for whatever reason. Personally I’m not a fan of doing that (because I think it can send the wrong message to the rowers in that boat) but I see why coaches do it and see how it’s the right decision sometimes. It’s possible that they keep moving you down because they see you’re unmotivated and they’re hoping that continually being put in lower boats (that are below your skill level) will motivate you to do better so you can be back in the boats you belong in, although if that’s the case it sounds like it’s backfiring (which is why I’m not a fan of this method).

I’ve definitely had days, as a coxswain and a coach, where I show up to practice completely unmotivated to do anything. It’s so frustrating when you can feel how unmotivated you are but don’t know what to do differently to make things better. I would say that regardless of what boat you have and how good they are or aren’t, cox them in a way that allows you to come off the water saying to yourself that you helped them get better at XYZ today. Nothing is too small. Some days your practices are just going to be total shit and you’ve gotta accept that that’s going to happen but still be able to look at that practice and say “this didn’t go very well, this is what I’m going to do differently tomorrow” and then go out and actually do something different the next day. The more positive days you can rack up the more motivated you’ll find yourself becoming. Talk to your coaches though about why they’ve been putting you with those boats and what they’d like to see you do so you can get back with the boats you want to be with.

Coxing Q&A

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How did you know when you were ready to go back to rowing? I am in a similar situation; I was burned out and took a few months off. During my time off I realized I wasn’t coxing for the right reasons and I think I’ve discovered what the right reasons are. Now I miss it like crazy but I’m worried about going back too soon.

After living in Boston for a year I was looking for jobs and decided to check row2k on a whim (for the first time in awhile). I saw that one of the local high schools was hiring and I figured why not try coaching. I don’t think I ever came to the conclusion that I was “ready” to get back into it (after a five year break), I just kind of … did.

I think the biggest thing that has helped me not get burned out on rowing again was that it wasn’t (and isn’t) my life 24/7. I go to practice and when I’m there, that’s what I’m focused on but when I’m not I try not to think about it (unless I’m doing blog stuff). That was part of the problem when I was at Syracuse – it consumed every aspect of my life and far too many hours in my day than it should have.

Related: How did you balance crew, classwork and a social life while you were in college?

The other thing is that I’ve really liked nearly everyone I’ve worked with. I’ve learned something from all of them and in one way or another, they helped me figure out what I want and don’t want in a team/coaching environment. Both of those things are things you should consider when you decide you want to get back into coxing. One, how much time is it going to take up and is that too much and two, who are the people you’ll be working with, are they people you want to be working with, and are they going to help you get better. If you figure out your responses to those and end up settling for something less, you might end up feeling burned out again.

In addition to that, like you said, knowing the reasons you’re doing it are also a pretty big part of it all. Once you’ve figured out what the right reasons are and are actually honest with yourself about why they’re right and the previous ones were wrong, you’re setting yourself up for a solid, productive return to the sport. Looking back, I don’t actually know if I was coxing at Syracuse for the right reasons. I knew I wanted to do it and that I wanted to go far with coxing but I was also partially doing it because it was what was expected of me. I think pretty early on in high school, maybe around the start of sophomore year, it started being assumed by my friends, family, coaches, and teammates that I was going to cox in college. My junior year it was pretty much expected of me since I’d had a successful career up to that point . By the time spring season had rolled around my senior year I’d already been accepted to Syracuse, so that combined with the insanely successful season I ended up having meant there was no backing out of it even if I wanted to. Part of the reason quitting was so hard for me was because I felt like I was letting down all these people that expected me to go do great and wonderful things, but those expectations, while good most of the time, contributed to why I stuck with it longer than I should have and why I was so miserable. When I started coaching and coxing again, I didn’t have to worry about anyone else because I was doing all of it for me.