Tag: qotd

Ergs Q&A Training & Nutrition

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Do you have any advice on tackling a verrrrry long steady state erg piece without music?

Focus and concentration. Take each stroke one at a time and focus on making each one a little better than the last one. Try not to pay too much attention to the overall meters – when you’re tired and sore, the number of meters you have left just looks like a black hole. If you can, just put the screen up so you don’t have to look at it for awhile. Otherwise, break the piece down in chunks and give yourself a “technical focus” for each 500m or 1000m. For example, the first set’s focus is connection with the feet, second set’s is sitting up tall on the recovery and keeping your core tight, 3rd set’s is a quick turnaround with the hands, 4th set’s is visualizing the stokes your taking on the erg as stokes in the boat, 5th set’s is controlling your breathing, etc. This will give you something to direct your mind towards OTHER than the number of meters you have left.

If you know what you need to work on, spend some time doing that now. Have your coach or coxswain come watch you so that when you’re finished, not only will you have gotten a workout but you’ve also gotten some feedback out of it too. I talked a bit about negative splitting the other day, which is something you can also utilize in situations like this. Instead of bringing your split down every 500m, bring it down every 1500m or something similar. If your steady state is doubling as a test, negative splits are a good strategy to utilize. It gives you something else to focus on, especially as you get closer to the end of the piece. As you get more fatigued, the amount of power your body can produce will start to fall off, which you don’t want, so focusing on staying within a +/- 2-3 second range is another way to keep your mind occupied as you near the finish line.

Related: On a lot of rowing blogs I hear people mention “negative splits”, especially when discussing 2k’s. What exactly are they and can it be beneficial to know how to properly use them?

The one thing you don’t want to do though, like I said, is just focus on the meters. The only thing longer than microwave minute is an erg minute, and when you’re doing steady state pieces, erg minutes last ten times longer than microwave minutes. If you spend your time watching the meters tick down, you’re going to eventually get frustrated because, even though you see them decreasing, it doesn’t feel like you’re going anywhere. Frustration leads to waning focus which leads to mental blocks which can lead to you getting off the erg before you’re ready. Take a couple closed-eyed deep breath before you start and remember: one stroke at a time.

Q&A Rowing

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So my coach was telling me how this spring there’s a good chance that I’ll be racing a single due to the fact that we have a very small squad this year (only 3 girls) and the other two girls have raced a 2x prior to this season. The only time I’ve really been in a single is paddling around every so often over the summer. What are some tips about racing a single? Being all by myself just seems kind of daunting.

Assuming you already know the basics of sculling, I’ll skip over that and tell you what I’d practice if I was rowing a single. For you scullers out there, send me a message or leave a comment with your tips and tricks!

Practice racing starts

Out of everything, I think this would be the toughest to execute. The smaller the boat, the more disastrous  a bad first stroke can be, so it’s important to spend time working on those first four or five strokes. Think of your start like a basketball player thinks of foul shots.Making them might not win you the game but missing them can definitely lose it for you. Starts are the same way. Races aren’t won at the start but they can be lost there. Talk with your coach and figure out which one works best for you. 1/2, 1/2, 3/4, full is the most common starting sequence in sweeping and sculling, so that might be a good one to practice with before you ultimately decide what you want to do. From what I’ve seen of scullers practicing starts, the most important part is making sure your strokes are short, sharp, fast, and clean, that way you can build on them as you establish your rhythm. Some basketball players won’t leave the gym until they’ve made 100 free throws – those are the guys that shoot 85-90% on a season. Commit to doing at least 5 GOOD starts each practice. If that means it takes you 13 tries to get four good ones, so be it. Focus on one stroke at a time before moving on to the next one. Try and perfect it, then move on to the next and try and perfect it. Then combine the two and perfect them as a pair. Do the same thing with the last two strokes, then combine both pairs to get your full start. Practice makes perfect. Once you’ve established the starting sequence, start adding in your high burst and settle.

Focus on steering

Since you no longer have the luxury of having a coxswain you now have to figure out steering for yourself. If you’re lucky you’ll race on buoyed courses so you’ll always know when you’re in your own lane, but you should still practice on getting your point and maintaining a straight course. My advice if you’re on non-buoyed courses is to get out ahead early and stay there. Actually having everyone in your eye line when you’re ahead of them can help you avoid rowing into their lanes. At the start, know how the wind or water conditions will effect you coming off the line so that you can make the appropriate adjustments.

Study, study, study

Get course maps for every race you’re going to. Even though they’re all straight, each one is different in that they all have different landmarks. For more info on that, read the post linked below that I wrote before the Head of the Charles. Even though I wrote it during head-racing season, it’s still applicable to sprint races.

Related: HOCR: Race plans

Make sure you understand the traffic patterns, how to get to the starting line, the procedure for getting lined up, etc. Make sure you go to the coxswain meeting too. Yes, it’s at an ungodly hour in the morning almost every single time but trust me – the time spent listening to the race official give you all the specifics of the regatta is well worth it when you have to utilize something they said later on. (Tip for everyone – they’re not JUST for coxswains; scullers should always attend the meetings so that they know what’s going on and what the procedures are.)

Have a plan

Just like coxswains have strategies for calling a race, so too must you. Know what your starting sequence will be, how many strokes your high burst and settle will be and at what stroke rates, have a stroke rate in mind for the body of the race, determine at what meter marks you want to make a power move, where you want to start your sprint, what the build to the sprint will be, and what stroke rate you’ll sprint at. If you can get your hands on a speed coach to take in the boat with you, that will really help you stick to the plan as far as sticking to a stroke rate goes. Get a good feel for the plan before you get in the boat and then once you’re out on the water, put it into action when you do race pieces. The best way to eliminate any nervous jitters before a race is to ensure that you are as prepared as possible ahead of time. Before you head to a regatta, make sure you get at least two GOOD practice race pieces in.

Be self-motivating

You really have NO choice in this area – you don’t have a coxswain telling you to get your ass in gear, you’re being walked on. YOU have to recognize that and tell yourself what you need to hear in order to get yourself down the course. I feel like sculling is very personal in this respect because you are completely in control of everything that happens to you during the course of that race. You have the power to tell yourself when to make a change or to push a little harder or now’s the time to lay it all on the line. A video was posted recently about Alan Campbell and his winter training boot camp that he undertook this past month. It’s fantastic and the undertones of it are very motivating.

Ergs Q&A

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On a lot of rowing blogs I hear people mention “negative splits”, especially when discussing 2k’s. What exactly are they and can it be beneficial to know how to properly use them?

Negative splitting when you row the second half of a race faster than the first. Each progressive 500m should be rowed at a lower split than the previous one – for example, if you start out rowing a 2:02 split, your second 500m would speed up to 2:01, 3rd 500 to a 2:00, and the final 500 to a 1:59. It’s “marketed”, for lack of a better term, as the opposite of flying and dying.

The theory is if you’re going to fade at the end of a piece, why not just start off slower and build into the end? Meaning that instead of fading on strokes 8, 9, and 10, you go “easier” on strokes 1, 2, 3 so you can go harder on 8, 9, and 10. If you pulled the splits I listed a few sentences ago, you would pull an 8:00 2k, which is the same as pulling a 2:00/500m. Trying to pull a consistent 2:00 split gets more difficult as your body becomes more fatigued and you typically end up seeing your splits go up as you get near the end of the piece, whereas with negative splitting the splits start out high (2:02) and finish low (1:59).

There’s also a mental aspect to negative splitting too – if you see yourself going faster and the splits coming down, you can avoid the mental block you experience when you’re trying to hold one split and instead see the numbers go up.

I do think that it would be beneficial to know how to use them although from what I’ve read, their effectiveness varies amongst everyone. Some people just find it easier to stick with one target split throughout the piece whereas other people perform better when they focus on the negative splits. I would recommend trying it and comparing your time to your average 2k time to see what the difference was and how well it worked for you. Negative splitting doesn’t just apply to 2ks either. You can use it for any distance, 2ks are just where they are most commonly used.

Coxing How To

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I know that, in general, having 8 seat back or having bow row (or having 7 seat back or having 2 seat row) do roughly the same thing, but I’ve found that there’s a subtle difference between stern backing and bow rowing, and it’s hard to determine which to use in some situations since they can have very different outcomes. Can you explain the differences and give some examples of when to use which?

Unless I have someone who is 100% inexperienced in bow, I rarely have the stern back or row when I’m trying to get a point. The bow of the boat is lighter and narrower than the stern and the bowman doesn’t have to worry about moving an extra 100lbs like the stroke does (the 100lbs being the coxswain), which makes it a little more effective and takes less time/effort. Plus, if you’re getting a point you’re not gonna rotate your back end of the boat, you’re gonna rotate the front … that should be the most obvious reason why you’d use bow pair.

The only time I really use stern pair to help me get my point is if we’re in between drills or pieces and our coach is talking to bow pair. I’d rather have 7-seat or stroke back it (and then I can finish adjusting when we start rowing) than risk distracting bow or 2-seat when they’re trying to listen to what our coach is saying.

Regarding stake boats, when backing, you always start with stern pair and work your way up the boat depending on how much power you need (stern pair, stern four, stern six, etc.). When you get close to the stake boat and can see what adjustments need to be made, then you can have your stern pair take really light arms only strokes to help you out. Once you’re locked on, resume using bow pair to get your point since using stern pair will make it too difficult for the person holding the boat to keep a good grip on it.

99.98% of the time, you should be using bow pair. It’s just one of those unwritten rules of coxing that you get weird looks for if you don’t follow it.

College Novice Q&A

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How hard is it to just start rowing in college, especially at a D1 or Ivy League school?

It’s hard but the degree to which it’s hard is largely determined by you. The biggest adjustments don’t come from learning a new sport, because regardless of what sport you try to pick up, it’s always going to be tough at first. The hard part is adjusting to waking up early several days a week, having practice six days a week (sometimes twice a day), and just learning how to manage your time better. Even if you’re a rock star at time management and self-discipline, joining the team will seriously test those skills.

If you have a demanding course load, it can be tough finding a good balance, especially if you fall behind earlier and have to spend a few weeks/months playing catch up. Once you find the balance though, it gets easier. You learn where your time needs to go and personally, I think, makes you a better overall student. If you have a hard time managing your time and/or you’re not very disciplined when it comes to getting things done, rowing probably isn’t the sport for you.

A lot of rowers pick the sport up in college – just look at the number of people on the national team that were walk-ons as college freshmen. It can be done but like I said, how tough it is is going to be determined by you and how disciplined you are at managing everything else in addition to crew.

College Coxing Novice Q&A Training & Nutrition

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I’m 5’2 and weigh 153lbs. I can pull 1:58/500 m for a 30 minute test. I’ve been trying to lose weight but the nutritionist has essentially told me that my only option is to lose muscle (because of weight) or actually get bone removed through surgery (which I think is against NCAA rules). I was a walk-on to the crew team and want to row or cox but I have no idea what to do. My coach has told me I would make an excellent cox but I don’t know how to lose weight/approach this situation. Thank you!

One of your two “only” options is to have bone removed? That’s your nutritionist’s weight loss suggestion? Um…

The only way you would lose muscle is if you started starving yourself, which obviously no sane person recommends. You’re a good height to be a coxswain but maybe too short to row depending on how competitive your team is. The minimum for coxswains is 110lbs if you’re coxing women and 120lbs if your coxing men. You typically want to be as close to the minimum as possible (while still being healthy) to avoid adding unnecessary weight and drag to the boat. Coaches will typically give you some leeway though as to how far you can be over before they start nagging you about your weight (and nag they will). The best way to lose weight is pretty simple – diet and exercise. Substituting unhealthy foods for healthier options, eating several small meals a day, and adding in at least 30-45 minutes of exercise 3-4 times a week is a good way to get started.

Related: I’m a novice rower in my third season. I’m one of the strongest novice rowers, but also the heaviest (female) novice. This hasn’t seemed to be a problem before, I’m very healthy and strong, but when we did weight-adjusted pieces I began to realize it was a bit of a problem. I’m 5 7 and about 178 pounds, and about 20 pounds heavier than the other girls. I’m not self conscious about my weight, although according to my BMI I am slightly over weight, and now I’m realizing I could perform better if I was slightly lighter. I’ve tried dieting before, but I’ve always felt weak and worried about my strength while working out three hours every day. Do you have any tips about losing weight healthily as rower?

Just something to keep in mind too … 153lbs is a pretty high starting point if you want to cox. If you’re at a competitive program that expects their coxswains to be right at or very close to racing weight, you’re looking at having to lose 25lbs at least. Not that that’s not possible but just be realistic with what you decide to do.

I would search the “weight loss” or “weight” tags on here because I know I’ve answered similar questions from both rowers and coxswains that will probably help you out.

Coxing How To Novice Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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So I’m going to begin coxing this coming spring season, and I am constantly reading about experienced coxes getting annoyed with the newbies. Any recommendations for things I should do to avoid pissing everyone off?

It’s impossible to avoid pissing people off though because no matter what you do, someone will be annoyed by what you’re doing. So instead, I’ll give you some general advice.

Pay attention

Soak in the information. Listen intently to the coaches and listen to the varsity coxswains when they’re telling you how to do something or what to do.

Focus

Separate yourself from your friendships and realize that you’re now in a leadership position and favoritism is not something many people appreciate. When you’re on the water, focus on accomplishing the task at hand and not the fact that your friends are in the boat with you. Practice time is not synonymous with sleepovers…you can talk about school, boyfriends, girlfriends, etc. AFTER practice.

Do something

When you’re not on the water and you can see the varsity coxswains and coaches working on something, ask if you can help. If you see things out of place, put them back where they belong. Wipe down the ergs after people get off them, take down times, splits, etc. when they’re doing pieces, etc. Never just be standing around. Crew is not the place to be a wallflower.

Make an effort

Educate yourself. Do research. Coxswains are in the unfortunate position of being expected to do a million things but we’re very rarely ever instructed on HOW to do those things. If there’s something you don’t know or understand, talk with your coach about it and ask them to explain it further, then go home and Google whatever it is and see what else you can find. Ask questions – the only stupid question is the one you don’t ask.

Be enthusiastic

Don’t mope around and make it obvious that you’re bored or unhappy with your role on the team. If you’re actually unhappy about something, talk with your coach or a varsity coxswain before or after practice. During practice, keep the rowers engaged and on point. If the rowers aren’t looking forward to something, get them excited. Be THAT coxswain that always has a smile on their face and can make their teammates smile too.

Rest assured, varsity coxswains piss off novices coxswains just as much as novices piss them off. There’s a learning curve when you first start coxing that varsity coxswains forget about, which is why most of them tend to get annoyed. What I said up above is the bare minimum of what you should be doing but it’s a good place to start.

College High School How To Q&A Recruiting Rowing

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What’s a good way to get the attention of college coaches? Everyone keeps telling me that with my times and progress “the offers will roll in”. I really just want to be proactive in my college search to be sure that I’m choosing the right school. Is it as simple as shooting coaches an email saying that I’m interested or is there some secret step that I’ve been missing?

Rowing isn’t like football and basketball … the offers don’t just “roll in”.

First thing I’d suggest is checking out and making a beRecruited profile. This will allow coaches to get a general idea of who you are as a rower and what you’ve accomplished so far. Second, attend camps at universities you’re considering and get to know the coaches. This can be a good initial way to figure out if this is a coach you might be interested in rowing for.

Related: Hey I’m currently a sophomore & I’m interested in rowing in college. An older teammate suggested I make a beRecruited account. What are your thoughts on the website? Is it helpful? If so, what are your suggestions about keeping it updated? I feel weird writing about myself! Should I list any regatta my boat has placed in or just major races?

Third, fill out the recruiting forms on the athletic websites of the schools you’re looking at. Coaches are gonna ask you to do this anyways so you might as well ski the step of them asking you to do it and just get it done on your own. Fourth, go to CRASH-Bs (and do well) or ID camps if you can. They look great on your rowing resume and let coaches know that you have the potential to be an asset to their program. Fifth, visit the schools and see if you can meet up with the coach to tour the boathouse and learn a little bit about the team.

Check out the recruiting tag as well as the “contacting coaches” tag too. There’s lots of questions and information in there that might help you out.

Q&A Training & Nutrition

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For winter training we have to do about 5 erg work outs, both as cardio (3 or 4x 10′) and distances (multiples of 500m/1k/2k). We can also substitute these by runs/biking/swimming, and specific times/distance for those are written down. I was just wondering what kind of balance would be good? So far I’ve pretty much only done the erg option (except for today) but I don’t know if that’s really beneficial. What would you advise? Or could you do half erg half run for example?

If I understand this correctly, I would do something like this:

Monday: Cardio erg + short run (one in the AM, one in the PM)

Tuesday: Long run

Wednesday: Distance erg + short run

Thursday: Bike or swim

Friday: Cardio OR distance + short run

Saturday & Sunday: OFF

It’s more beneficial to cross train by adding in some biking, swimming, and running vs. only training on the erg. The variety and increased workload force your body to do more, which means it has no choice but to adapt and get stronger. It also helps with injury prevention. If you’re constantly working your muscles and joints in the same way (i.e. by only erging), they’re being put under a large amount of stress via the same continuous, repetitive movements, which can eventually lead to overuse. Adding in some different training modes gives your overworked muscles a chance to rest and the underworked ones a chance to get stronger and get on the same level as the overworked ones. Plus, a psychological benefit is that the variety helps prevent you from becoming bored and burned out.

Ergs Q&A Technique Training & Nutrition

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I have an erg at home. I’ve been using to train over the holidays like our coaches told us to, but I feel it’s making my technique get worse. I really want to train and do well on our erg test when we return from holidays, what should I do?

Over the winter when you’re training, there’s typically no one to correct your technique as you progress through a steady state piece so bad habits become ingrained pretty quickly. If you can, have a teammate come over and watch you erg. Have them point out any technique issues they notice and make note of it. The next day when you get on the erg, tape your list to the monitor and make a conscious effort to pay attention to each part of the stroke. Pause drills, technique rows, etc. would be good things to add into your workouts.

If having someone watch you isn’t an option, set your laptop webcam up to record you while you erg. You can either do it for 1-2 minutes or for the entire duration of your row if you don’t wanna get up and mess with the camera, that way you can see where your technique starts to deteriorate in relation to the amount of time you’ve spent on the erg. Another thing you can do is cut out a short (short) clip and email it to your coach to get some feedback.

Don’t spend ALL your time on the erg though. Having one readily available like that is awesome, but make sure the convenience isn’t guilt-tripping you into using it. Cross train and try to work in other workouts 2-3x a week that don’t involve erging, that way you don’t get burned out.