Next winter when you inevitably are like “how do I work on my coxing in the winter”, “how do I get ready for spring racing while we’re inside”, etc. think back to this video because this is a great idea. It’d also be a great way to walk through your race plan in the spring if for whatever reason you can’t get on the water the day or two before (weather, someone can’t make it to practice, etc.).
Videos
College Rowing Video of the Week
Video of the Week: Technology + Rowing
Princeton posted this video early last month and if you’re into the idea of incorporating tech into your training, you’ll probably find this interesting. We’ve been using our Peach system for about a month now and it’s pretty cool. The guys are really into seeing their force curves after each practice and I’m convinced that the emails that get sent out with each guys’ watts from that practice are a subtle/clever tactic to get them to be even more competitive with each other. Lots of data to pour over but like Greg Hughes said in the video, it gives you a lot of opportunities to see where you can improve.
College Coxing How To Racing Video of the Week
Video of the Week: How not to enter stake boats
Urban Dictionary defines a shit show as “A description of an event or situation which is characterized by an ridiculously inordinate amount of frenetic activity. Disorganization and chaos to an absurd degree. Often associated with extreme ineptitude/incompetence and or sudden and unexpected failure.”. See also: the video above.
Related: Stake boat tips and tricks
Just gonna take this opportunity to share this post linked above on getting into stake boats, as well as this post on other how to scull your bow around (linked below) so that you don’t find yourself in the same situation as this coxswain.
Related: How to scull your bow around
This is … well, embarrassing, obviously … but bigger than that, it’s a pretty big indication that somewhere along the line there was a major failure on the part of the coaches to ensure the UCSD coxswain was properly prepared when it comes to getting into stake boats. Being late to the line (which they must have been given that everyone else looks like they’re already locked on) probably didn’t help either.
Related: Coxswain skills: Race Steering
Also, given the entanglement that happened pretty much immediately after the start, check out that race steering post too for a refresher on how to hold the cables, steering straight off the line, etc.
Training & Nutrition Video of the Week
Video of the Week: Sport Science + Rowing
This is a pretty neat video that looks inside a sport science lab and talks about some of the physiological testing that the scientists do with the rowers. If you’re into exercise science at all or thinking about majoring in it in school, this is a glimpse at some of the equipment you’ll be working with and some of the testing you’ll learn how to administer (blood lactate, VO2 max, etc.).
Video of the Week: Rowers in the mist
Some of the best rows I’ve had (and my most favorite) have been when it’s in the 60s/70s, completely overcast, and so foggy that you can only just make out whats in front of your bow. Everything is dead quiet so the sound of the oarlocks, catches, finishes, slides, puddles, etc. are all magnified. It’s the most peaceful feeling because there’s absolutely nothing distracting you from what you’re out there to do.
Video of the Week: Novice boat handling skills
This is a great instructional video for novice rowers (and coxswains, but mostly rowers) because it walks you through the entire process of getting the boat out of and back into the racks, how to carry the oars, adjusting the foot stretchers, getting in/out of the boat, etc.
Related: Coxing a boat in and out of the house
In the moment of trying to do all these things it can be kind of confusing and this video does a good job of showing what each part of the process looks like, as well as demonstrating what the applicable commands are.
Video of the Week: Winter training with Henrik Rummel
This is Episode 3 of row2k’s video-doc series “The Training Center”. It focuses on Henrik Rummel and his winter training regime, which involves training with the national team while holding down a full-time job as an associate with an investment bank in Princeton.
College Coxing High School Racing Rowing Training & Nutrition
Coxswains + Weight Management
Given that it’s National Eating Disorder Awareness Week I thought this was an appropriate video to share. It’s from a talk on weight management that was given during the Sparks coxswain camp this past December. It’s only about nine minutes long so I encourage you to set aside some time to watch it (in addition to sharing it with the other coxswains on your team). There’s some great info, advice, and anecdotes in here but beyond that, at the very least I hope this serves as a wake-up call for those of you who are or are considering employing unsafe methods of losing weight.
Rowing Training & Nutrition Video of the Week
Video of the Week: USA W8+ 2011 Training Row
This is some pretty cool overhead video of the women’s eight training in Bled before the 2011 World Championships. Wait for the shift – that’s my favorite part.
Video of the Week: The Drive Documentary
If you’re a fan of rowing documentaries, here’s another to add to your watch list. It was put together by a rower on the Ohio State club team and has a lot of cool footage in it, along with some really great interviews with rowers (including national teamers) and coaches from all over the world.