Tag: winter training

Ergs Q&A Rowing Training & Nutrition

Question of the Day

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This question was sparked from the answers involving fast twitch/ slow twitch fibers. My team is off for a few weeks for the holidays (yay my coaches have hearts!) but we were told 2 things before we went off to enjoy our break: 1) to keep up with our workouts (obviously) and 2) to expect a 2k when we get back. What would the best workouts for me to do to prep for a 2k?

I think I mentioned this in the previous question, but plyometrics and intervals are great because the amount of time spent doing “work” is short, which works your anaerobic system. Depending on how much time you have available during the week to workout, I’d try to do something like this:

Monday: Steady state + lift
Tuesday: Intervals (8×500, 40 seconds on/20 seconds off, etc.)
Wednesday: Circuit
Thursday: Steady state
Friday: Steady state + core

That’s a very rough outline, but hopefully you get the idea. On Saturday or Sunday, I’d try to do a long run just to switch up your training and get you off the erg for a bit. You don’t want the fast twitch to overtake the slow twitch by too much – there needs to be an equal balance of the two, so make sure you’re not dropping the marathoner in favor of the sprinter.

Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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Winter training has caused all of the rowers at my club to become insanely competitive. Our junior team is now completely broken into cliques and honestly everyone (including me) is completely on edge. Only some of us train twice a day based on if we have morning spares for school and the people that go to that suddenly think they’re more elite than anyone else. Do you think there’s anything we could do?  Also it doesn’t help that half the team is in a relationship with someone else on the team, so there’s tension there.

Yikes. Not the best situation to be in during the cabin fever months of winter training. My first thought was “team meeting”. The captains (or coxswains, if you don’t have captains) need to recognize and assess the situation, then hold a team meeting to tell everybody to basically get their shit together. I can kind of understand the cliques thing because during the season each boat kind of becomes it’s own little clique, but if it’s getting to the point of people being in cliques à la Mean Girls, that has to stop. Captains and/or coxswains need to take responsibility and get that under control. A divided team during winter training does not bode well for a happy, collective team during racing season.

Training twice a day does not make you better than people who train once a day. You can go to the gym thirty times a day and it doesn’t make you any more dedicated than someone who goes once. The beauty of winter training is that things can be done on one’s own schedule, so if some people have the time to go twice a day, then great, but not everyone does. Winter training is also the one time during the year where if people need a break, they can take one. Unless you specifically know that people aren’t working out because they don’t care, don’t want to, or some other illegitimate reason, those rowers have no right to think they’re more “elite” than anyone else. The way you said that also made it seem (to me, at least) that the only reason they go twice a day is to say they’re going twice a day and to hold it over other people’s heads, which in turn makes me question how hard they’re actually working out.

Relationships within the team is a messy situation all around. People know the risks of dating someone else on the team and if they don’t … they’re potentially in for a rude awakening. The tension that comes with that unfortunately can’t be avoided in most cases unless those involved take action to ensure such tension does not exist. You can’t really make a rule saying “members of the crew team can’t date each other” (well…technically, I guess you could), so you’ve just got to deal with the effects of it as they come along.

It sounds like your team needs to do some serious bonding. One of the main reasons why collegiate teams go on training trips far, far away from campus is because it helps the rowers get to know one another and thus, everyone is closer as spring season draws near. Read #4 on this post and this post. They say practically the same thing but there might be one or two ideas that are different. The biggest thing that needs to happen though is a team meeting of some kind where those in charge put an end to the petty crap. If it’s serious enough to get the coach involved, do it. You could even talk to him/her and explain the situation and what advice can they give you on how to handle it? Then the captains/coxswains can take it from there. If that doesn’t work, you’ve got to step back and let your coach handle it. Hopefully though everyone on the team can see the effect that this is having and they’ll all be willing to make some changes so that it doesn’t continue.

Coxing Ergs Q&A Teammates & Coaches Training & Nutrition

Question of the Day

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My coach makes coxswains do winter workouts and 2k’s with rowers. Do you think that’s fair? We don’t get a break with the workout, at all. We have to do the same exact thing as rowers.

I think it’s fair that they ask you to work out with your teammates … I don’t think it’s fair if they’re expecting the same exact level of athletic prowess from the coxswains that they do from the rowers. The teams I’ve been a part of, even collegiate teams, gave the coxswains separate workouts to do so that they were still doing SOMETHING while the rowers did their thing. I don’t want to say that coxswains are not athletes, because we are, but in an eight, we aren’t the athletes. The rowers are.

In my experience, some of my friends that have coxed, including myself, have had various health related problems that makes it difficult to be as athletic as we used to be. I dislocated my knee pretty severely when I was in high school and can’t run (unless my life depends on it) because the pain from the cartilage degeneration is so painful. Others have asthma or injuries from other sports that prohibit them from running, lifting, etc. If any of those things apply to you, you need to sit down and talk with your coach. Your health concerns should be just as important to them as the rower’s.

You guys should all know my feelings by now regarding how coxswains are treated by the coaches. Often times we’re ignored and left to fend for ourselves. If you are working out with your team and you are injured or develop an injury, do NOT let your doctor, athletic trainer, coach, physical therapist, etc. brush it off JUST because you are a coxswain. Get checked out immediately and make your coach aware of the situation. Get your parents involved and have them speak to them if you’re unable to.

Most importantly, know your limits. I promise you that your rowers see you working out with them and they do appreciate it, but they want you just as healthy as they want their other teammates. They don’t want you to get injured or overdo it either. They will understand and they hopefully already DO understand that our tiny bodies cannot squat as much as their freakishly tall frames can.

If you feel like the workouts are pushing you to a point that is uncomfortable for you (and this is where knowing the difference between discomfort and pain is crucial), talk to you coach. Compromise and say that you will continue to workout with the team, but you need to do something else – treadmill, stair master, core, elliptical, bike, etc. If they still insist on you doing the workouts at the same level as the rowers, have a conversation with your parents, your trainer, etc.. Coaches need to understand the limits and abilities of their athletes and it is their responsibility to know when they are pushing someone too far.

How to Survive Winter Training: The light at the end of the tunnel

How To Rowing Teammates & Coaches Training & Nutrition

How to Survive Winter Training: The light at the end of the tunnel

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Previously: Rowers || Coxswains || Music + TV

Lately I’ve gotten a couple emails and questions about how to make it through the winter season mentally in tact so I figured that was enough to warrant its own post. I wrote this with those in mind whose teams aren’t doing anything organized over the winter but the more I wrote, the more I realized that this is really for everyone. There’s going to be a point during the winter when everyone is going to have that “blah” feeling, so even if you are lucky enough to have your coaches and teammates around you on a daily basis, this is for you too. I reference a lot of college-y stuff too – that’s just out of habit. This is most definitely for high schoolers, in addition to collegiate rowers. And coxswains, don’t think that this doesn’t apply to you either. Just because we aren’t necessarily following a training program like the rowers doesn’t mean we can’t still experience that drop in motivation over the winter.

What do you do when you’re on your own? When your team has closed up shop for the winter and your training is up to you? When your motivation is at an all time low because all you can see in front of you are four long months of erging, lifting, and the proverbial lack of light at the end of the tunnel…

You sit down and you think about three things. One, why did you join this sport? Two, what do you want to get out of it? Three, where do you want to be in five months when spring season is in full swing? Think about your answers. REALLY think about them. None of this “I joined because of my friends, I want to have fun and compete, I want to be on the podium” bullshit. That answer is OK for runners and swimmers and basketball players. No. YOU are a rower. You can’t be in this sport if you can’t come up with more complex, more REAL answers than that. THINK. What are you here for?  Once you’ve answered those questions, look at yourself again. Think about the common thread between all three of your answers. It’s the same, no matter what your answer is or who you are or what team you row for or whether you’ve been rowing for three months or three years. Know what it is?

Hard. Fucking. Work.

You wouldn’t have joined this sport if you weren’t ready for the hours of commitment each day or the amount of physical exertion it required. You wouldn’t have joined this sport if you didn’t have goals and expectations for yourself. You wouldn’t be HERE right now, getting ready for spring season, if you didn’t want MORE. Hard work prepared you for it and hard work is going to get you through it. The work never stops. If you’ve lost your motivation, there comes a time when you realize you need to find it again if that hard work is going to continue. That time is now. I’ve gone through many periods of lost motivation over the last few years and each time I look back on those periods I realize that it comes down to three simple things:

Related: Words.

I don’t think I can do it, so why bother trying … I don’t know what I want, so do I even want anything … I have no direction, so what am I even doing all of this for…

For most people, I think these are the three main reasons why we lose our drive. With rowing, if you spent the fall season frustrated by your erg scores, splits, spot in the boat, etc. it can weigh on you and make you lose confidence in yourself. If your focus is all over the place to the point where everything is a blur, it’ll make you wonder if you really want anything at all. If you don’t know what you’re training for, it’s hard to get started because there isn’t anything tangible to latch your motivation onto (yet). Remember how I said there comes a time when you have to find your motivation again and that time is now? I mean it. That time is RIGHT fucking now. Look in the mirror and tell the person looking back at you to get their shit together. It’s time to get serious. It’s time to figure out what you want and how you’re going to get it.

Why did you join this sport?

You joined this sport because you wanted a challenge. Sure, the allure of a new sport was there but you were really in it for the adrenaline rush. That feeling of pushing your body to the brink, of knowing what the brink felt like. You stuck with it because you felt that adrenaline running through you when the official dropped the flag and you realized in that moment that you don’t ever want to NOT feel like this. You stuck with it because you know your body still has more to give, that you haven’t pushed yourself hard enough yet, that you can go harder.

What do you want to get out of it?

People start rowing with a lot of “wants”. They want to get in shape, they want to win … that’s fine. No sarcasm. It shows you have goals and like with life, it’s hard to move forward if you don’t know what you’re moving towards. As your rowing progresses, your goals are going to evolve. Like you, they’ll mature. They’ll go from “wanting to win” to “placing in the top 3 of the Grand Final at Dad Vails”, from “wanting to lose weight” to “increasing your squat PR by 45lbs by the end of the season”. You might not know what those goals are yet (which is why most people start to lose motivation when December rolls around) so you have to set new ones. It’s like New Year’s resolutions, except better, because you’ll actually stick to these.

Take some time and really think about what you want for yourself this year. Put your team and your boat aside for a moment and think about YOU. Grab a calendar for each month from now until the end of your season. Sit down and think about what your goals are and when you want to achieve them by. Goals can be ANYTHING – hence why they’re personal goals. Remember to make them tangible, relevant, and something that is genuinely attainable with the proper amount of work and commitment.

Now that you have that written down, think about how you’re going to attain each goal. What’s it going to take? What are you going to have to do over the next few months (potentially on your own with no outside motivation) to make sure those goals are met? Make a list and hang it and the calendar up somewhere where you are going to see it each day. I mean it – every day. A day should not go by over the next few months that you don’t see those two pieces of paper. As the days go by and you begin meeting your goals, cross them off.

As the season progresses, your goals might change or need to be modified. That’s OK. It’s not a sign of failure, AS LONG AS you aren’t changing them simply because you weren’t putting the effort in to meet the original ones. The goal of this goal-setting is to give yourself something to work WITH and something to work TOWARDS.

Where do you want to be once spring season is in full swing

 This is a question that most people think there’s only one answer to – “I want to be on the dock in Worcester getting a Sprints medal.” Awesome, but no. Mentally, where do you want to be? You want to be in that place, that place that only athletes know. That place that is the most evil and beautiful combination of tranquility and intensity where you can feel yourself getting stronger, mentally and physically, as you start knocking down walls, brick by fucking brick.

Psychologically, you want to be 100% sure of the fact that you spent the entire winter busting your ass to get to where you are right now. You don’t want to get back on the water in March wishing you’d erged more over the winter or be about to seat race in April wishing you’d gone to those optional lifts – you want to KNOW that you did exactly what you needed to do and THEN some. Remember what I said about attitude? Prime example, right here. Your mentality is everything and the one you have when you wake up each morning can make or break you.

Now that you’ve got the “whys, whats, and wheres” figured out, it’s time to figure out the “whos”, “hows”, and “whens”. The “who” is that person that is going to be there to push you, to motivate you, to kick your ass when you can’t kick it yourself, to tell you that you deserve it, you want it, you’ve worked for it, and it’s yours to take. I am a firm believer in always being there for yourself before you’re there for anyone else, so the first person on your list of “who” should be you. Sometimes you’ve got to split yourself in two so that the part of you that wants to give up can be pushed by the part of you that has their eyes on the prize or so that the part of you that always knew you could do it can congratulate the part of you that just did it. Whoever comes next on your list is up to you. Parents, friends, teammates, siblings, coaches, mentors, teachers, significant others, etc. – it doesn’t matter who they are.

Next, the “hows”. How are you going to make it through the next five months? Through the next 5k? Through the next lifting session? Through the next run? Simple. One day, one stroke, one lift, and one step at a time. Don’t look at it as being the same day, stroke, lift, or step all the time … it’s one at a time. If you made it through the last one, you will make it through this one. Confidence and assurance in yourself will get you through winter training. Know how each part of your winter training is going to affect you when you’re in the boat. Those squats, deadlifts, leg presses, and jumpies? They’re all building up your leg muscles so you can explode off the stretchers at the top quarter of the slide.

Every time you do one of those exercises, think about that. When you do the second set that is 10lbs heavier than the first and you feel like you can’t get through one rep, let alone ten, think about the start of your race at NCAAs in May. Think about the final sprint against Harvard, Brown, and Washington at IRAs. Think about that move in the middle of a race, the one your coxswain saves for just the right moment. You want to build up as much strength as you can for THOSE moments. Don’t think about how sore you are from the bench pulls and pull ups you did yesterday – think about how happy you’re going to feel when you’re sore in May but you’ve got a medal around your neck to show for it. Remember, you’re stronger than you were yesterday, but not as strong as you will be tomorrow.

There are two outcomes to winter training, both relating to how you feel. You can either feel proud, encouraged, motivated, and strong or you can feel disappointed and “meh”. How much effort you put into training is going to effect how you feel when the winter season ends. We both know which one you should be aiming for, so … how are you going to go about getting there?

Finally, the “whens”. Finals, holidays, and life all get in the way of training if we let it. Don’t take that as saying rowing should be a higher priority than all of those – theoretically it shouldn’t but in reality, to some, it probably is. Priorities are good. It’s up to you to look at your schedule, look at your activities, etc. and figure out your order of priorities. Where does training fit in? Even if your coach doesn’t give you a set schedule for the winter, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have one. One of the best ways to make sure you stick to your training is to schedule a specific time every single day when you’re going to erg, run, bike, lift, etc. Treat that block of time like you would class – you wouldn’t skip or schedule something during a lecture, so why would you do that during your scheduled practice period?

Now some of you are probably thinking, “um, hi, we’re in college – of course we’re going to skip class.” I know you are. I did. But think about this scenario for a second – the first few weeks of class are always boring and you don’t really learn much but then there are those few occasions where the midterm or the final rolls around and you’re thinking to yourself “DAMMIT. I should have gone to those first few lectures…”. Sure, you might end up doing OK on the exam but think about how much better you would have done if you’d gone to all 15 lectures instead of just 10. Your races are your exams, conference championships are your midterms, and NCAAs are your finals. Sure, you might do alright if you go to 30 winter training sessions, but imagine how much more you could have achieved if you’d gone to all 50. Make a schedule and stick to it. The benefit of winter training, especially on your own, is that the times are usually way less strict than they are during the fall and spring. Your coach might give you the workouts and say “do this on Monday, this on Tuesday, etc.” but on your own time. If you don’t want to wake up at 5:30am to go to the gym during the winter, then don’t. Doing so doesn’t mean you’re more committed just like not doing so doesn’t mean you’re less committed. Find a time that works for you and stick to it. That’s all that really matters.

You’re a rower, which means we can assume a lot of things about you. One is that you’re a team player. You’re someone’s teammate. Rowing is not an individual’s sport – you simply cannot be an individual and be a part of a crew. Even if you’re a sculler in a single, it can’t be done. Why? Because your team has goals. Your team wants to win the overall points trophy. Your team wants to be the first three time defending champion at Junior Nationals. That can’t be accomplished if even one person thinks about “me” instead of “us”.

If motivation for yourself is ever lacking , take a second and think about your team. Think about how your performance is going to directly effect the eight other people in your boat and the 54 other people on your team. Don’t be that teammate that slacks off and thinks they can get away with it by “pulling hard”. There’s one on every team and it doesn’t take long to figure out who it is.

Before you go on Christmas break, sit down with your boat or your team and figure out what the preliminary goals are for the spring. Look at past results from regattas and determine where you’re capable of placing this year. Set team goals for weight lifting (a 1RM squat average of 200lbs for the boat), 2ks (everyone under 7:35), etc. Add these goals to your calendar so you see them along with your own goals. Work towards them with the same intensity as you are your own and know that everyone else in your boat is working towards those same goals. They’re just as tired and sore as you are right now, but in five months, would you want to share the podium with someone who isn’t tired and sore? No. You are not nine individuals, you are ONE eight. Remember that.

Winter training is a psychological battleground to see who’s willing to put the effort in on the days when they don’t want to. It’s a test of discipline and doing what you know needs to be done when you don’t want to do it. You will make it through and you will be a stronger person when you make it to the other side. Keep your chin up – you got this.

Image via // @cuse_mrowing
How to Survive Winter Training: Passing the time with music + TV

Ergs Training & Nutrition

How to Survive Winter Training: Passing the time with music + TV

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Previously: Rowers || Coxswains

Does anybody actually like erging, especially in the winter? Everyone’s always wondering what they could do to make them easier or at the very least, more bearable. To make them easier, that’s simple – get stronger, build your endurance, and turn that voice in your head that says you can’t do it off. To make them bearable, you’ve gotta get creative.

There’s no shortage of good playlists on Spotify (you can follow me here) but you can also find good ones on the rowing sub on Reddit if you just search “playlists”. Podcasts or audiobooks are another good thing to listen to if you’re into that. Another thing if you’re on your own and doing a long steady state piece is to put Netflix on and erg while you catch up on shows, movies, documentaries, etc. If you’re into sports, watch a basketball game. You can take a 20 at a few splits below your current pace whenever there’s a time out, a player gets fouled, etc. It’s up to you how you do it.

Now, as a disclaimer: not all coaches are OK with their rowers listening to music (either on the stereo or their iPods) while they’re erging at practice so most of these suggestions might be best saved for on-your-own workouts. Some think that if they’re focusing on their music then they’re not focusing on the piece or they just can’t stand your taste in music so they avoid having to listen to it by banning music altogether. All of my coaches in the past have been cool with us playing music but make sure you ask first and be cognizant of other people who might be in the boathouse – don’t have the music up all the way to the point where a trying to have a meeting with their team has to shout over the noise.

Image via // @brianrenesorenson
How To Survive Winter Training: Coxswains

Coxing How To Novice

How To Survive Winter Training: Coxswains

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Previously: Rowers

We all know that winter training is the bane of every coxswain’s existence. It’s boring, there’s nothing for us to do, and … there are a ton of other things we could be doing besides watching people erg. When I was a freshman in high school, I did a lot of standing around and observing. My team didn’t really have a fall season because the majority of the team participated in other sports (soccer, cross country, etc.) or were in marching band (*raises hand*). I spent the winter season, which started the first day we got back from Christmas break, learning everything I could about rowing and my responsibilities as a coxswain. If you’re a novice, educate yourself. If you’re on varsity, continue educating yourself by helping to educate others.

In addition to what I’ve mentioned here, something that all coxswains should consider doing is working out with the team. So what if you can’t hold the same split as them? You can hop on the ergs once or twice a week, right? There’s no rules against running core sets and doing them at the same time. While they’re lifting, you can run or hop on the bike for 45-60 minutes. Coxswains should not look at exercise as a bad thing. “I’m not athletic/strong/coordinated” is not a legitimate excuse for not working out with your team. Some teams don’t care, some require it. Regardless of whether or not it’s mandated by the coaches, the rowers will notice if you do the workouts with them and it will help them formulate an idea in there head as to whether they want you as a coxswain or not.

Have a positive attitude

Don’t go into winter training thinking “ugh what am I even doing here, I’m so bored, I’m just going to sit and watch this paint dry while you guys do 2 x 6k.” No. No, no, no. When has going into something with a less than positive attitude EVER worked out for anyone? Never, that’s when. As the coxswain(s), the rowers and coaches look to you to keep the atmosphere light and upbeat during winter training. The rowers look to you for motivation and encouragement while the coaches observe your leadership skills and ability to take charge of a crowd. Like I said in the rower’s post,  your attitude at the beginning of a task determines how successful you’ll be at completing it. You can either go into winter training with an objective or you can go in without one. Which leads me to…

Set some goals

What are your goals this season? What did you do last season that you hope to improve on this season? Which regattas are you REALLY planning on going hard for? Which of your skills needs work? What about college – have you started emailing coaches and looking at potential majors? All of these things are goal-worthy, meaning you should be making a list of all the things you want to do or get out of this season and set some “deadlines” for them. Just because you’re not on the water doesn’t mean you can’t get better.

If you’re a varsity coxswain and already know roughly what your lineup will be, sit down with some of them and discuss what your goals as a crew are for the season. Look at how quickly you covered courses last year and figure out what you should be able to do them in this year. Talk with your coaches about what they’d like to see you do this season, both as a leader of the team and with your boat. Take it upon yourself to take the novices under your wing and help them set some goals of their own.

Take some time off

If you need a break, now is your shot. Everyone needs a break every now and then but coxswains have the luxury of actually being able to take it in the winter without getting too much shit for it. Talk with your coaches and explain why you want to take a week off from practice so you can come back refreshed and ready to go. Have a legitimate reason though – you know there won’t be anything for you to do is NOT an acceptable excuse. Staying at practice and just going through the motions doesn’t help anyone and it’ll become obvious quickly that you don’t want to be there. Listen to your brain and your body when it tells you it needs a break.

Do something fun with your team

Get to know your new teammates. If your team doesn’t do the fall season or there are people that have joined since then, organize a game night, social, dinner, etc. to introduce yourselves and the team to the new rowers and coxswains. Have a team Christmas party and do Secret Santa. Get with some of the varsity rowers and organize something fun to kick off winter training. Team triathlons sound like a ton of fun to me and would be a great way to start the indoor season on a fun, happy note. You could also organize a boathouse cleanup – the team breaks up into groups of nine and are each given a list of tasks that need to be completed around the boathouse. The team that finishes first wins a spectacular prize!

Strategize

Have a plan for how you’re going to approach the indoor season. What are you going to do to make sure you make the most of the time you’re on land? How are you going to help the rowers? What are you going to do to help the coaches out? What are you going to do to help the novice coxswains get prepared for the spring season? What are you going to do to prepare yourself for the upcoming races?

One thing I always tried to do at some point during the winter season was sit down and look at my race notes from previous seasons. Pull up the course map on your laptop at practice one day and go over it with everyone, including the other varsity coxswains. Discuss where good spots to make a move are, what the various landmarks along the course are, etc. Start to formulate very basic and general race plans for the regattas your team plans on attending. Clue the novices in on the course, what it’s like, etc. Discuss race strategy with them, why it’s important, and how to form race plans.

How to Survive Winter Training: Rowers

How To Training & Nutrition

How to Survive Winter Training: Rowers

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Winter training is rarely something rowers look forward to. To them it means four to five months of running, erging, pain, burnout, stress, boredom, monotony, and frequent questioning of why you participate in a sport that makes you so damn miserable. Unless you live in a warm and sunny locale, you’ve most likely started the process of closing up your boathouse for the winter and begun the transition indoors. The question that now arises is “how am I going to survive until March?”

Have a positive attitude

I will be the first to admit that when someone tells me to be or stay positive, I want to hit them with the nearest blunt object within arms reach. It sounds SO cliche, right? “Be positive!” What is there to be positive about? Well … that’s up to you. Going into winter training you can either have a negative attitude and drudge through everything because “it’s what you’re supposed to do” or you can look at things positively. Find out what makes you look on the bright side and make that your focus. Attitude is everything. Your attitude at the beginning of the winter training season is going to decide how successful you are over the next several months. Besides, what did being negative ever get anyone?

Set goals

You’ve got at least four months of running, lifting, and erging ahead of you – having goals for each aspect of your winter training is going to give you something to work towards besides the umbrella goal of getting stronger for the spring season. When setting your goals, think about the short term and the long term. Think of things you want to accomplish by the end of the week, by the end of two weeks, by the end of the month, in two months, in three months, and by the end of winter training. Write them down and keep them somewhere visible – either on the mirror in your bathroom, as the background on your phone or laptop, on your refrigerator, etc.

Take some time off

Everybody needs a break. It doesn’t mean you’re weak or not as “into it” as everyone else. Be your own advocate and know when you’re putting too much stress on your body. If you can, don’t jump straight into winter training from the fall season. Take a week off to relax, recover, get caught up on school work, make that doctor’s appointment you haven’t had time to make, etc.

The key to taking time off though is knowing when that time is up. If you say you’re going to take a three day break, make sure it’s three days and not four. Plan ahead! If your team’s winter training starts on November 26th, circle it on your calendar and be ready for it.

Do something fun with your team

What better way to start off your winter training season than with a team activity? Something like a team triathlon, perhaps? Remember what #1 said … attitude is everything. If you go into winter training pumped and excited with the rest of your teammates, that enthusiasm is going to carry over throughout the season. Come up with something fun that your team can do together – not just the men, not just the women, not just the varsity, and not just the novices – the WHOLE team. Think of it as one big team bonding smorgasbord of fun. Some ideas include a team triathlon, an ergathon (Princeton does “CRASH-Ps”), a team dinner or potluck, a rowing related scavenger hunt, etc. Let your minds run wild.

Strategize

Most coaches will give their teams some kind of workout plan/schedule to follow throughout the winter. Sometimes they tell you to just make sure you do something over the winter that doesn’t involve Xbox or Food Network marathons. Regardless of whether or not you’re given a strict schedule, you need a plan. What is your schedule like during the winter? When do you have midterms, finals, study days, doctors appointments, family get togethers, holiday parties, etc.? Figure out your personal life first then work your training schedule around that. Remember, it’s not about finding the time, it’s about making the time. Come up with your schedule and stick to it.

Strategizing, part 2 – erg tests. You’ll do plenty over the course of the winter and assuming you want to improve each time, you’ll need a plan on how to approach them. Just sitting down at the erg, popping in your earbuds, and hauling ass for however many meters isn’t going to cut it. Think about the race plans your coxswains have for races – you should approach your erg tests the same way. With a plan.

Next week: Coxswains and winter training

Image via // @oh.genevieve

Ergs Novice Q&A Training & Nutrition

Question of the Day

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Hi there! I just wanna start off by saying I really enjoy your blog! I started rowing in June, and was in an eight this fall. The season is now over and I really wanna continue in the spring, but the coach I was with said I should erg and train in the winter for the spring. I have been on the erg once, and my split wasn’t very good. Around 2:19.0/500m. I was wondering what I should do to improve and how often I should erg? Thanks!

Your coach is right – to be prepared for the spring season, winter training is a necessity. Strength training and core exercises are two things that you definitely want to make a part of your routine. If you have the time and access to the appropriate equipment/facilities, adding in some kind of cross training will help your endurance and get you in (better) shape. Running, biking, or swimming are all great options. You can get your cardio in as part of your warmup on the days you’re not cross training. Those are the days when you can do some erging.

Strength training and doing core exercises consistently will help build muscle, which in turn will help you generate more power when you erg, leading to lower splits. When you erg, you shouldn’t be going for any kind of PRs…you just want to focus on getting the technique right and building up your endurance. As you get stronger, the splits will fall. Don’t force anything.

If you have trouble deciding what to do when you erg, check out Concept 2’s website. They have three different workouts posted daily depending on how long you want your erg session to be. You can also sign up for their daily emails to get the workouts sent to you in the mornings. When you’re just warming up on the erg, keep it short – no longer than 15 minutes or so. A good warmup to do that also works on your technique is the pick drill (arms, arms + bodies, 1/2 slide, full slide). Do each for 20 strokes, then switch. Take your time with this and don’t rush through it. Focus on really nailing each part of the stroke and then connecting all of it when you get to full slide. Once you’ve done that, row at a steady pressure for the last 10 minutes or so at around 18-20 strokes per minute. Work on slide control and keeping the recovery controlled while at the same time getting a good strong press with the feet on the drive. Aim for a split and try and maintain that. Every week or so, shoot for a lower split (by 2-3 seconds) than the one you went for the previous week. Every week or two, test yourself. Do a 2k and record your times and splits. See what the difference are between the times. You’ll start to notice consistent changes as you progress through your training.

Here’s an example of what a winter schedule might look like:

Monday: Erg warmup + strength training (3 sets of high weight, low rep exercises)
Tuesday: Cross training + core (3-5 sets of 10-12 exercises with at least 15 reps each)
Wednesday: Medium – long erg session (45-70 minutes)
Thursday: Erg warmup + strength training
Friday: Cross training + core
Saturday: Long run/bike/swim (80 minutes)

Some things to remember:

Give yourself time to rest. When you exercise, you produce small micro-tears in the muscle. In order for you to get stronger, the muscles need time to adapt to the stress and repair. If they don’t have that time, you’re risking serious injury.

STRETCH. After your erg warmups or a quick lap around the track spend at least five to seven minutes stretching. Your muscles are more flexible when they’re warm vs. when they’re cold, so stretching is key. Not stretching can also lead to injuries such as pulled or torn muscles/tendons/ligaments. ALWAYS STRETCH BEFORE AND AFTER YOUR WORKOUT. If you have a foam roller, use that at the end of your workouts.

Maintain a proper diet. Your body needs proper and adequate fuel in order to give you the necessary energy you’ll need to train effectively. Make sure you’re eating well balanced meals and not skipping any of them. Have a small snack before you workout and another one after.

Get some sleep. When you sleep is when your body repairs itself…if you’re pulling all nighters or just not sleeping for as many hours as you should be, your training will suffer because you’ll be lacking in energy.

Find a time that works for you to go to the gym and make that a daily part of your routine. Don’t blow it off. Manage your time properly around school, work, family, friends, etc. so that you can spend at least an hour every day training. Remember your goals and why you’re doing this. Making training a non-negotiable part of your routine will not only show your coaches how dedicated you are but it’ll also subtly reinforce in your own mind how and why this is important to you.