Tag: rowing

Novice Racing Rowing Teammates & Coaches

My top 15 racing tips

By readyallrow March 24, 2013

Back in early October, one of the first posts I wrote was in response to a question I got asking for race tips. I recently got a similar question asking me what my top tips are for spring regattas and since everything I said the first time still applies, I’ve posted those below in addition to a few more tips that’ll hopefully help you have a great season.

Get some sleep

It is CRUCIAL that you get an adequate amount of sleep the night before your race. You can’t expect to be prepared to row your hardest if you only get 3-4 hours of sleep. Aim for at least eight.

Eat a good breakfast

If your race is in the morning, this can be tricky because you want to give your body enough fuel but you also don’t want to eat too much too soon before your race. If you eat a big meal too close to race time, all the blood that should be going to your muscles will instead be going to your stomach to help digest all that food. 2-3 hours before race time eat a small meal, such as a bowl of oatmeal, a slice of toast, a handful of strawberries, and some OJ. If you can’t eat that far ahead, try to eat something like a bagel and cream cheese an hour or two beforehand. Make sure you’re drinking plenty of water too.

Check your seat

Are your shoes tied in? Are the nuts and bolts on your rigger tightened? What about the seat tracks? Are they clean? (If not, the seat won’t slide smoothly and you can jump the tracks). Your coach or coxswain will go through and do a once over before the boat launches, but if you’ve already looked at your seat and know something needs adjusted, it will get done that much faster.

Relax

Save your energy. Don’t be walking around a lot before your race. An hour or so before you’re supposed to meet at your boat, find a quiet spot near your trailer/tent and just chill. Throw in some headphones and relax.

Know the race plan

Yes, it is more important that your coxswain know the race plan so that they can execute it properly but it’s also important that rowers be clued in as well so that they know what to expect and where to expect it. Having an idea of the plan allows you to pace yourself. Don’t fly and die.

Be a good sport

Good sportsmanship is a huge part of rowing so take the opportunity to tell the other crews “good race” after you’re done.

Breathe

Don’t get so caught up in pulling hard that you forget to breathe. Relax and stay composed.

Remember your technique

The more tired you get, the better your technique needs to be. The more tired you get, the more focused you need to become. That’s when injuries happen, when rowers start rowing with poor technique. When you feel like slouching, sit up a little taller. When you feel like hunching over, push your shoulders back. One of my favorite things to tell my 8+ is to not let your brain defeat your body. Your body is capable of SO much more than we think it is and you are hardly ever as tired as you think you are.

Let your coxswain do his/her thing

Head races are for coxswains. It’s basically like Mario Kart come to life. It’s going to be hectic, crowded, frantic, confusing, and at times a total clusterfuck. If she knows the cardinal rule of coxing (don’t let ‘em see you sweat), you won’t know when she’s freaking because the eight in front of her isn’t yielding or because she’s totally confused by the warm-up area and the horde of boats clogging the traffic lane. Don’t try and tell her what to do or how to do her job. When you’re done racing, make sure you tell her she did a good job too and you appreciate her getting you from point A to point B.

Wear sunscreen

It doesn’t matter if it’s warm, cool, sunny, or cloudy, you should always have sunscreen on any exposed parts of your body. Coxswains, make sure everyone, including yourself, puts some on at least 30ish minutes before you launch.

Pack accordingly and then TRIPLE check that you have everything you need before you leave

My team in high school traveled no less than 300-400 miles every weekend to race in the spring (not kidding) so that always meant at least two nights in a hotel. Regardless of whether you’re traveling 20 miles to race or 200, do not wait until the last minute to pack your stuff. Inevitably that leads to you forgetting something that you later in the day wish you had or realize you need.

Find ways to occupy yourself

Ideally you’ll spent the majority of the time that you’re not racing on the water’s edge supporting your teammates who are out there but during your down time (which at some regattas you may have a significant amount of) you have four options: 1) sleep, 2) hang out at your team’s tent and eat, 3) wander around the merchandise area(s) and buy overly-priced heinous looking spandex, or 4) go to other team’s tents and trade gear. Shirt betting is a thing obviously, but it’s still a ton of fun to go meet other rowers and swap team shirts with them, even if they weren’t in any of your races. One of my favorite shirts I traded for I got from an all-guys school in Michigan called Orchard Lake St. Mary’s. It’s a great way to meet new people and it’s always a ton of fun at the same regattas the following year when you see each other again.

Bring your parents

Hear me out! Having your parents there doesn’t totally suck because even though they’re your parents and they’re all “that’s my baby!” to every other parent watching from shore, it’s nice knowing that there are one or two people there specifically rooting for you. Even if your team is like mine and you have to travel a few hundred miles to get to the regatta, tell them to make the trip at least once, just so they can get an idea of all the hard work you’ve been putting it.

That was another thing I loved about my team was that despite the distance, so many parents came to each regatta. Invite them to come and then, as patiently as possible, give them a tour of the race site (especially if it’s a nice one you’ve already been to), explain the ins-and-outs of crew (if they don’t already know), tell them the race(s) you’re in, etc.

Be proud of yourself

It doesn’t matter if you came in first place of DFL, be proud of your accomplishments. Does coming in last suck? Of course it does. I’m not going to lie and say you should try and get some deeper meaning out of coming in last because personally I think that’s a bullshit thing people tell other people when they don’t know what else to say. But think about all the people who never even started, the people who quit in the middle of winter training because it was too hard…those people never got to experience what you just did. You raced. You killed your body for seven minutes and even if the result isn’t what you wanted, you’re a stronger person for it, mentally, emotionally, and physically. You still accomplished something, even if you lack the hardware to prove it.

If you won, be proud of the time and effort you put in but don’t forget about the contributions of everyone else in your boat. You didn’t do this all on your own. Be proud of yourself but be proud of your teammates as well – and tell them you’re proud of them. Like I’ve said before, you don’t have to like the people in your boat but you must respect them.

Have fun

Don’t get so caught up in racing that you forget to actually enjoy the experience.

Image via // @rowingpost_teguran

Coxing Masters Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow March 24, 2013

I want to try coxing men. Mainly because I know I won’t “feel bad” pushing them to max … and it might be a little selfish, but I want to see what it’s like to go even faster! I’m typical women’s cox size, 5’2 and 112 lbs … will I work? Oh and what’s master’s programs? Like is it for summer/graduates/ex-rowers, etc?

That’s why I like coaching guys – I don’t feel bad at all for how hard I push them. The guys I’ve coached previously all joked with me that I was like a slave driver because I never let them quit but none of them ever complained because they knew they were going to be better for it. It’s not selfish at all to want to be in a boat that goes fast. That’s why I like coxing guys. It’s impossible to explain the feeling you get when you’re coxing a great men’s boat that really knows how to work the water. I don’t think there is a typical men’s size or typical women’s size of coxswain – it’s not like we’re pre-packaged in small, medium, and large sizes (although now that I think about it, maybe we are…) – so yea, I’d say you’d be fine. Minimums for coxswains who are in men’s boats is 125lbs so you’ll have to carry weight with you but that’s like, the most minor issue ever.

Masters rowing is for anyone 24 and older. I think it’s 24. Basically if you’re out of college and not doing high performance or elite rowing, you can be a part of a masters crew. That’s what I cox right now and I like it. The women in my boat have all been rowing for a range of 5-20+ years. Coxswains of masters crews can be any age too, so you don’t necessarily have to cox rowers the same age as you. Your age doesn’t count either when they calculate the average age of the crew (I’m 24 but my boat’s average age is 50). The only downside is that it looks like there aren’t as many regattas to go to because not many have events that are specifically for masters crews. Oh, and races for masters crews are also shorter (1000m instead of 2000m).

Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

By readyallrow March 21, 2013

I get incredible lows from rowing. I’ll have a bad day at practice and suddenly freak out about losing my spot in the boat and I over analyze everything so much. It mentally kills me and it bugs my teammates as well. I get some of the best erg scores on the team and still always stress and they feel like I’m being selfish, etc. What should I do? I feel like rowing is my sport but that I mentally can’t compete, despite having good times.

Every sport is considered the ultimate team sport by the athletes who participate in them but rowing … rowing is the ultimate team sport. If you think about football, everyone has to work together to score a touchdown but each person has an individual responsibility. The responsibilities of a quarterback, running back, and lineman are all completely different but it’s still possible to get the touchdown if someone misses a block or runs a poor route. With rowing, everyone has the same job and if someone or multiple people don’t execute it right, the boat isn’t going to move. No one is out there for just themselves. You’re out there for eight other people or four other people or your pair/doubles partner. If you’re out there constantly thinking about yourself, you’re doing two things: hurting yourself and hurting the boat. I mean thinking about yourself in a negative “My rowing sucks, they hate me, I’m being replaced” way too, not in a “I’m concentrating really hard on making sure I’m not washing out at the finish” way. You have to get in the boat everyday 100% confident in your abilities You have to execute everything like you know what you’re doing is right until someone tells you otherwise.

Before you go to your next practice, take a few deep breaths and clear your head of every single negative thought you’ve had about yourself and your rowing up to that point. Wipe the slate clean and tell yourself you’re going to have good practice … then go have one. Repeat each day until you don’t need to repeat it anymore.

Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

By readyallrow March 20, 2013

So basically my erg scores are pretty dang good. But my technique on the water … is interesting to say the least. I really want to improve it and have been trying hard to do so, but with little success. Do you have any advice about on the water sweep technique? Thanks so much!

The best suggestion I can offer is to have your coach take some video and go over it with you before/after practice so you can see what improvements are needed. This will help give you specific things to focus on (i.e. getting your shoulders set by half slide) rather than just hearing “stop lunging at the catch”. You can also use whatever you learn from watching that video to do some research on YouTube, Reddit, etc. to see what others have done to work on the same or similar issues.

Also ask lots of questions – what are you doing wrong, what can you do better, how do you fix it, what needs to change, etc. Communication is key and the better you understand what you’re doing and what you need to fix, the easier it will be to actually make the necessary changes. Talk to your coxswains too and let them know what you’re working on so they can make the right calls to help you stay focused on making and incorporating those changes.

The last thing is to be diligent about your practice. Don’t just do something right for three strokes and then revert back to old habits. You just put all that effort into making the change so why waste it but going back to how you were rowing before? For awhile, the amount of time and effort that it’s going to take to make the change stick will be way more that what it took to learn it that specific skill in the first place, so that’s something you have to accept. Make an effort every day to do it the right way.

College Rowing

Summer rowing for collegiate athletes

By readyallrow March 15, 2013

If you’re a college rower or coxswain looking for ways to keep rowing (or at least stay connected to the sport) over the summer, here are a couple of options to look into.

U23, High Performance, or Pre-Elite camps

Look into well known, successful clubs (Riverside, Vesper, Penn AC, NYAC, Thompson Boat Center, Craftbury, etc.) to see what they offer over the summer. These athletes typically train several times a week, compete at Club Nationals, Canadian Henley, etc. Some of them require applications so make sure you see what the pre-req’s are first.

Discounted summer memberships

Some clubs offer discounted membership rates in the summer for undergrads. This typically allows you full membership benefits, so you can check out small boats, join the recreational programs, etc. during the months of June, July, and August.

Coach or be a camp counselor

Coaching is fun and it actually really helps your rowing. When you’re really breaking things down to explain the concepts to novices or even varsity high school athletes, it really makes you think about your own rowing or coxing. If your local boat club offers Learn to Row classes for adults or youths, go see if they need coaches. If you’re hanging around campus for the summer and are taking classes, ask your coach if you can ride along with him/her and help coach the high school camps that your team is hosting or be a counselor that helps chaperone the athletes. Most people I know that have done that also use the down time when the kids are on the water to take out small boats.

Work at a boathouse/boat club

Go to your local club and ask if they need any help running the front desk, answering phones, etc. and in exchange, could you rent a single to row in the mornings, etc. Employees typically get those perks anyways but it’s worth asking to make sure. If they don’t need any regular office help, ask any of the directors (programming, outreach, development, etc.) if you can put together an internship over the summer (paid or unpaid, up to you, but definitely see if you can get credit for it from your university) to work with them and learn about whatever it is they do. If you’re in the business school this would be a GREAT thing to do for educational, networking, and future career purposes. You’ll have something to put on your resume, a few letters of recommendation (do not forget to ask for those), AND you’ll still get to row.

Be an apprentice

One thing that every rower, coxswain, and coach should have a basic understanding of is boat repair. If you’re around campus and you’re lucky enough to have a dedicated boatman, go ask if you can come down and hang out a couple times a week to learn how to repair boats, oars, etc. and help out with painting, cleaning, organizing, etc. I was shocked at how busy the boatman at CRI was last summer (and the rest of the year too). The Google spreadsheet that lists everything the club needs repaired, repainted, etc. is ginormous. The workshop itself is at least the size of my entire apartment, which is a pretty decent size, and there is always something needing to be done, so I have to imagine the help would be appreciated. When I was talking to Kevin Sauer a few weeks ago he told me about someone who came to observe his coaching during one of UVA’s summer camps and during the down and in-between time they helped the boatman with whatever needed to be done. It’s good experience, you learn something, and it’s another thing you can put on your resume, especially if you want to pursue coaching more seriously after graduating.

Go out in small boats

Take out a single or a pair with a friend and just row. The summer is a great time to learn the other side or become more proficient in it because there’s no pressure like there is during the year. Plus, rowing in small boats is one of the best things you can do to work on your technique because smaller issues that might not be as apparent in an eight will be easier to pick up on.

Cross train

Instead of rowing, do something different like hike, ride bikes, swim, etc. All that training will benefit you when you get back in the fall and start prepping for head race season and you’ll have the added benefit of not being completely burned out on rowing. I’ve had friends that train for and run marathons, go on month-long hiking trips, etc. so there’s plenty of options if you think outside the box.

If you want to row over the summer go for it but don’t feel like you have to. If you are regularly training during the summer, take a week off so your body can recover and you can chill for a bit before getting back into it.

Image via // @vickythornleygb

College Video of the Week

Video of the Week: Holy Smokes

By readyallrow March 11, 2013

Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

By readyallrow March 10, 2013

Hi! I’m the tallest girl on the team and have a lot of trouble carrying boats because I feel as if I’m being crushed. I’m 6 feet tall. I’d say my shoulders are about 2-4 inches higher than everyone else’s. Do you have any suggestions on how to make it not as heavy or more evenly spread or something? (Oh and by the way…. I love your blog!)

An easy solution is to line up by height so that you’ve got someone of similar or equal height on the other side of you but you might be stuck in an uncomfortable situation if you’re the tallest out of everyone.

It might end up being that you just have to carry the boat off your shoulder and hold it beside you so it’s at the same level as everyone else. Get the next tallest rower in your boat though and pair up with them when you get the boat off the racks or out of the water. Even if they aren’t as tall as you, it might lessen the burden on your shoulder a little bit.

Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

By readyallrow March 10, 2013

For the first half of our last practice, the boat was wayyyy down to starboard; the coxswain kept telling ports to drop and starboards to raise oars, so as a starboard I was forcing my oar against the water all the way through the recovery. (Made for a nasty palm blister!) When that didn’t fix the set, I leaned to the port for the second half of practice. This worked but there must have been a better way to do it. My coach said her lineup was bad but was there anything I could’ve done?

In that instance, I’d say probably not since your coach admitted her lineup wasn’t very good. The set is a byproduct of a lot of different things happening at any given time but sometimes the biggest factor is the group of people in the boat. Leaning to one side, even though it fixes the problem in the short term, is never a good idea because it makes the other seven rowers think “Oh, whatever I’m doing right now fixed the set, so I’m going to keep doing that forever” and then they end up ingraining new bad habits because it’s likely that they didn’t change anything and only felt the change you made, which wasn’t really a change at all.

Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

By readyallrow March 10, 2013

Um, so I have a really big problem – when I race, my hands sweat (IDK why) and eventually they get so slippery that I can’t feather at all because there’s too little traction between my hand and the oar. Also, my hands get splashed from the lake/river that we’re on which makes it worse. I end up getting crabs because of this. Do you have any suggestions?

Have you asked your doctor about it? It could be possible that you have a form of hyperhidrosis, which is just an increased amount of sweating above what is normal to regulate your body temperature. One of my (guy) friends has this problem and sweaty palms is a fairly common side effect for him. He doesn’t row but he’s a cyclist so he has similar grip issues as a result.

In the short term, have you tried putting deodorant or chalk powder on your hands? You know, the stuff gymnasts and weight lifters put on their hands and equipment to reduce friction and give them a better grip? That might be an option. I’m sure regular baby powder or Gold Bond would work as well. Runners sometimes put some form of antiperspirant on their feet before putting their socks on and going for a run because it helps stop them from sweating, obviously, and reduces the likelihood that they’ll develop blisters. That might be helpful to you because if you have a hard time getting a good grip, you might eventually start to over grip, which leads to a whole list of other issues, not including epic blisters.

As far as getting splashed, it’s gonna happen. If it’s really bad then ask your coxswain if they can make some calls about carrying the hands lower on the recovery to avoid having the blades dragging on the water so much. Everybody’s gotta make the changes and adjustments for it to be effective though.

Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

By readyallrow March 10, 2013

Are you only supposed to get blisters on your inside hand? I have one on my outside hand on my fingers which has never happened before. I also have a tendency to over grip and feather with my outside hand. Would that have anything to do with it?

I think it’s common to get them equally on both hands although because of feathering they could potentially be worse on your inside one. If you’re over gripping with that outside hand that’s probably going to play a bigger part in it than feathering would. With feathering you’d have blisters on your palms or where your fingers meet your palm whereas what you’ve got sounds more indicative of just holding on to the handle too tight. When you’re out, try to remind yourself to keep your grip loose – you should be able to wiggle your fingers on the recovery and on the drive, you want to feel the weight in your fingers but you don’t want to be holding on to the handle for dear life.

Over gripping your hands usually means you’ve got a lot of tension in your shoulders/upper body too. If you remember, ask your coxswain at your next practice if she can periodically say something to remind you to loosen your grip, relax the arms and shoulders, etc. Also make sure you take proper care of your blisters. Soap, water, and band-aids. It hurts like hell but it’s better for it to sting for a bit than develop an infection later.