BIR Masters

10 October, 2010

October’s Theme

Filed under: Masters Notes,Rowing Notes — Coach Tom @ 9:45 pm

Once again I’ve fallen off the workout blog wagon. I just got busy.

But now that my chorus show is over I have a lot more time (9 rehearsals the week of the show, besides the two performances).

So, at this point it is October 10th, there was no need for my services on Saturday the 9th due to the Men’s 4 making other arrangements with Grant, and only three others showing up. Yes, Susan, if you and Sean don’t oversleep we have a four to row. Thanks for not making it, thought, because I wouldn’t have had time to finish my preparations if I’d had to coach that morning. We also had one evening this the previous week where we didn’t have enough to go out.

Now I can concentrate on the Head of the Bull Trout preparations.

Toward that end the morning ladies have been rowing longer runs – Bill Point to Bill Point via the inner-inner harbor (outer bay of the waterway conservancy). This run takes about all of the morning time except the warm-up to the point and the shot back to the beach. Some mornings we can get a bit more into it.

I’ve designated October the month of Set! That is, we will be working on the things that contribute to boat set this month. If I were to list these they would include:

  • Off Center Weight
    • Head On Center-Line
    • Knees Even
    • Body Twist
  • Entry Timing
    • Early
    • Late
  • Exit Timing
    • Early
    • Late
  • Blade Depth (in water)
    • Too Deep
    • Too Shallow
    • Changing
  • Blade Height (on recovery)
    • Too High
    • Too Low
    • Dragging
  • Release Cleanness
  • Entry Verticality
  • Catch Speed

Look at the sub-list for off-center weight. Besides leaning your body (head off center-line), you will note that I’ve mentioned knees. As we get older it is easier to become less nimble or to add weight that prevents us from getting as much body lean aft as we would like. The simple solution, one often taken by masters, is to drop the outside knee outside of the outside arm so the right shoulder can reach further. I don’t advise this for two reasons. First, if you move one knee to the side and not move the other as far the other way you have shifted your weight off center. Second, lifting a large amount we are always advised to keep our knees together to prevent hernias. In lifting you are fighting gravity. In rowing you are doing the same action, but the water (via the oar handle) is providing the opposition. It is still the same action, however, and can result in a hernia if you do it with your knees spread. So for both the boat balance and your own health please don’t move that knee out to get more reach. Consider, instead, lowering your feet closer to the bottom of the boat by adjusting the foot stretchers downward. If they are already as low as they can go, you may be at your limit for reach (we all have one). The other place people tend to go for more reach is body twist. Some of this is acceptable, if it doesn’t pull your weight off center. But too much twist puts a real strain on your back and gets you pulling at an angle that doesn’t have much force behind it. On top of that, you are not pulling down the boat axis, so your pull actually tends to rock the boat. If you can’t figure out how come see me and we’ll go through the physics of why so you can see, but I’m not sure I can describe it properly without visual aids.

Early or late timing for entry and exit leave some oars in the air (pulling down on that side) and some in the water (lifting on that side) and thereby affect the balance of the boat.

Blade depth during the pull affects the lift provided by that oar, as well as the ease of release. The deeper the oar blade the more flotation (lift) it provides on that side of the boat. The shallower the oar blade the less flotation. There is an additional effect of too shallow, though. When your blade is too shallow it tends to create a bigger lip (the wave your oar leaves in the water). This larger lib may impact following oars so that in hitting it they provide lift on that side, as well as drag on the boat. So we need to balance these issues on both sides by having all oars the same depth. Changing blade depth by either a hump (camel) stroke or an angled stroke makes for changing lift from that oar, which in turn makes balance a moving target throughout the stroke. This changing blade depth not only changes flotation provided by the oar, it also put an up or down force on the oarlock, depending on whether you are raising it or lowering it. Changing blade height during the recovery also changes balance, by providing that push up or down on the oarlock.

Blade height during the recovery affects boat balance, too. The obvious effect is when the oar is dragging, and that is serious. It tends to lift that side of the boat. If your oar is dragging and your side of the boat is high, you are making the problem worse. But consider the case of an oar that is too high. Think back on the last time you saw someone walking a tightrope with a balance bar in their hands. What did they do with that bar to keep their balance? They did two things: move the bar side to side to move their body the other direction, and tilt the bar to change their balance slightly. When you raise your oar too high above the water you are affecting the balance just as the tightrope walker is when he tilts his pole. Ditto with too low (but not touching the water). So you should be aiming to keep your oar the same distance off the water as everyone else. This starts with the stroke, since he/she can’t see anyone else’ oar. You must try to find the same height. Don’t worry if you can’t see the blade without turning (you are sitting near the stern), you can tell a lot by looking at the oar handle between the rigger and the stroke’s body.

Release cleanliness is important to balance because of the severe effect it can have. If your oar is too deep it is almost impossible to get your exit timing the same as everyone else, but it is also difficult to get the blade out without lifting water, which has a downward thrust on that side of the boat.

Entry verticality is important because any angle on the blade when it is put into the water will cause either lift or drop pressure, depending on whether you are pulling on the oar or not. This is one of the reasons I’m always harping on getting the blade rolled up before you start the catch. If you aren’t going straight down you are tipping the boat.

Catch speed is important to balance because a blade that is deeper than others (going in faster) is giving lift (via flotation) to that side of the boat, and one too shallow (going in slower) is not giving enough lift to that side of the boat.

We are all human (until we integrate a few aliens into our crew), so we all make mistakes. One mistake that is perfectly natural is to attempt to counter balance issues. So, when you introduce a balance problem there are X (number of rowers plus number of coxswains) people automatically shifting their weight to balance it. The chances that they will each do only 1/X of the effect needed is ridiculously small, so the correction we all make will over-correct the problem, thus introducing a significant balance issue that everyone in the boat will naturally try to fix. This begins a severe oscillation problem in the balance. So, by making a tiny mistake you introduce a significant balance issue that can take a while to work its way back to neutral. We all make mistakes, but we can attempt to limit their effect on the boat by reducing the balance issues we individually introduce, and consciously trying not to counter them when others introduce them.

I hope this has given you a few ideas on what to do (and not do) to help balance a boat.

Coach Tom

10 September, 2010

Soggy Saturday – 4 September, 2010, 7:30am

Filed under: On Water Workouts,Rowing Notes — Coach Tom @ 5:32 pm

It took me a while to enter this because I wanted to have the video working, and I had to figure out what changed on the camera that both current videos and old videos played and uploaded were coming out with five gray bars across the screen. Now that that is fixed I’m posting this with the links to the videos as I add them to the website.

It was a drizzly Saturday morning, but that didn’t dissuade us from our appointed rounds, er, rows. We took out two eights on a Labor Day weekend, which is really pretty good. One eight had 6 guys and 2 gals. The other had 8 gals. Both moved along nicely. We got in some distance work, not side-by-side, usually, but with me able to concentrate on one boat at a time. Kurt came along in the launch and ran the camera. So if it wobbles you can blame him. If you want to try pointing a camera steady when both boats are moving, the slightest change of position rocks the boat and the guy with the throttle is always adjusting it yourself, then you can blame him.

September – Month of the Catch
When you all look at the video watch timing into and out of the water. September is the month of the catch. Now if I could just come up with a catchy phrase for this month’s theme… We want it quick (fast entry into the water), immediate loading (pulling as soon as it is in), and on time (not early or late). To do that you should be rolled up and ready as you approach the end of your slide on the recovery. If the oar isn’t ready to go in (already vertical blade) then you are not ready for the catch. If the oar is moving horizontally when you put it into the water then you pulled too early. I’ll make notes on other things as well, but keep an eye on the catch specifically.

Video 1 – Bill’s Boat
The video begins by panning down the boat from bow to stern, then spends some time looking at each rower. Notice how this boat appears to be moving effortlessly. That is a good thing, especially when you see how fast it is moving. So here are the notes as we pan forward again from the stern:

    [li]Bill – I’ve always liked your stoke, Bill, and now that you are not rushing your slide it is really looking good. One item that may seem minor, but is actually burning energy better put to other uses, is that head bob right before the release. Note how your head darts to the back of the boat, as though that helped you pull the oar that little bit further. I don’t think it does, and it tenses up your neck and upper back muscles.[/li]
    [li]Jeff – You are becoming the quintessential seven man. You follow whomever is stroking very well. It is always a pleasure to watch you row. Good length and good timing with a nice slow slide. Good work. The only flaw in this clip is looking out of the boat.[/li]
    [li]Alec – Notice how you are burying the oar up to the tape stripe on most strokes. We want the oar blade buried, but not the tape stripe. I think you will find that if you get the oar blade under water the tape will be just above or touching the water. When you bury the entire stripe (as you do) it goes too deep, causing flotation to that side of the boat and forcing the other side down. Note, also, the scooping of water at the release. That comes from being too deep and feathering before the oar is clear of the water. This cause lifting water on the blade, which pulls down on that side of the boat. Note also that the oar blade is too high initially on the recovery – you are pulling more into your lap with your hands on the release than you need to. This, in turn, is why you have a small delay coming out of bow. But please note, Alec, that this is darn fine rowing for someone who has only been doing it a couple of months. Your hand work is pretty good and you are making the rowing look effortless. Nice job![/li]
    [li]Brandon – Very nice work. I’d like to see you get just a bit more reach coming out of bow, but overall excellent work. Good hands, good timing, good body work.[/li]
    [li]Amy – Notice that you are not consistently rolled up and ready when you start the oar into the water at the catch. You do it right a lot of the time, but not consistently enough that it is muscle memory, yet. Also look at how slow you are out of bow compared to Brandon. There is a tiny pause before your body comes out, and your hands are not as fast as his. Also note that your body only comes to an upright position. I’d like to see at least ten more degrees of body lean to the stern as soon as you release. Along with the slightly slower body out of bow is a slight delay in starting down the slide. To be expected because you are not starting until your hands clear your knees and that is delays by slow hands and slow body out of bow. These are small matters, but worth working on. Amy, you too are going too deep on some stokes, with the attendant tipping of the boat both ways (see Alec above). Note a couple of times you scooped out water on the release because of this. This adds to the delay out of bow.[/li]
    [li]Jamie – I don’t know if you will be able to pick up on it in this section, but you will see it elsewhere on the videos of this row – you are going too deep and scooping up water because of it (see Alec above), too. For the most part good body form. You should make sure you have all the body reach out of bow at the start of the slide, not adding it at the end – that way lies sideways motion. That doesn’t show up in every stroke, but if you watch carefully you will see it happen. Also look at your blade height on recovery – above the rest of the starboard oars. You are holding your hands a bit low on the recovery. Pretty much the level line we want, but just a tad bit low. Overall good work, though.[/li]
    [li]John – The roll up and catch, John. Roll up earlier so you are ready for the catch. Rolling up as you go in shortens your stroke by the width of the blade, and you can’t afford to give away length. Other than that, pretty nice looking rowing. Good hand height going both ways, so the oar is buried perfectly and pulled nice and level. Good work.[/li]
    [li]Mike – I like your back posture – nice and straight. But I would like to see a little more lean for reach both fore and aft (but not side to side). Mike, you too need to roll up sooner so you don’t lose that water. You have almost completely eliminated the shoulder throw that was causing balance problems, but I can still detect a minor shadow of its former self if I look hard. I think you can relax this just a bit more. Good work, though, to reduce it this far.[/li]

The next clip shows more people in some of it, and Alec, look at the difference in hands out of bow between you and Jeff. He is noticeably quicker. As the launch passes behind the shell look at the timing of all eight oars (I know, someone’s fat head gets in the way), and look to see if the heads are all lined up. Freeze frame it and see if you can tell where your head is with respect to centerline. Again, when we pass back behind the shell in the next section look again at timing and blade height going both ways (how deep is it buried and how high does it sky).

You can find this video on YouTube as BIRM_Sat_20100904_1

I’ll add the other videos as I get them edited and commented.

Coach Tom

2 September, 2010

Not On The Water – Thursday, 2 September 2010, 6:30pm

Filed under: On Water Workouts — Coach Tom @ 8:58 pm

We had some people doodle in, but I couldn’t get doodle to respond, so I didn’t have the list. But I was down at the boathouse and ready. John, Mike & Bill M. did show (two others didn’t show – it responded when I got home), but with only three we had a great conversation, but called it off about 7 when we didn’t have enough to send a boat out. This is a disappointing turnout, although with three folks on the sick roster, and knowing that the four wouldn’t be there tonight, it isn’t surprising.

Coach Tom

Smooth Morning – Thursday, 2 September 2010, 4:45am

Filed under: On Water Workouts — Coach Tom @ 8:50 pm

We had an eight and a seven out this morning, and had a really good row. We warmed up out to the point. Then did a single run from the point to the point – via the head of the bay. Now, both coxswains stopped their boats and turned around by back-and-row, so I had to make them do a number of stokes at higher rates than I had planned to make up for it. The run was around 8K meters, longer than almost all of the head races we will row this fall.

The two boats were almost even when I gave them a stroke rate to row. But when I called for a power series they changed a bit, with an initial advantage to the eight, but a longer distance advantage to the seven because they rowed at a lower stroke rate. The way they did that is to go through the water faster, then slowing the slide – thus allowing them more recovery and preparation time. Jane’s experience showed here. Once again, the boat with Sigrid in it went faster.

Both boats moved very well this morning, with no major flubs, outside of a single crab by someone rowing on the other side than they usually did. As a team we are rowing better this year than last. Significantly so. There are a few bumps in the road when we integrate a bunch of the new rowers (this year’s Learn To Row graduates) into the boats, but that will always be true, and that is how we grow as a team, so I don’t mind it. Today’s boats included two members of last year’s LTR grads, so they do integrate quickly. The fact that both boats could row the 8K with several high stroke rate sessions in it without shortening up, and still have internal toughness and fortitude to run a darn fine race over the last 1000 meters of that 8K is a tribute to the skills and conditioning that everyone on the team has achieved.

Coach Tom

1 September, 2010

A Very Good Day – Tuesday, 31 August 2010

Filed under: On Water Workouts — Coach Tom @ 3:35 pm

Tuesday Morning – 4:45am
We had two sevens out this morning. That isn’t usually good, but both boats were moving very well, especially for sevens. They were almost even, and if it wasn’t for wind and dark we would have done some seat-racing. So we worked around both of those problems and still got a lot of good work in. We had to dodge an extra trimaran in the inner bay, and the new anchor bouy that is underwater (or partway) at most higher tides. This added some confusion in the dark, so we didn’t spend as much time going back and forth in the inner bay as I had planned. We worked inside for a couple of passes down the inner bay, then did a long run out to the point that ended in a bit of a race from the Eagle Harbor Moorage to Wycoff Point (aka Bill Point or “the point” in my writings). Both boats worked hard and rowed well. We got rained on, but it didn’t seem to affect them and I was well bundled in my sailing rain gear.

Deni and Sean were our coxswains this morning. It is always nice to have coxes I know can handle the dark.

I switched sevens over the usual stroke pairings – Janet with Carrie and Beth with Jane today. Janet has mentioned in the past that she loves rowing with Jane, but likes to have a change of pace now and again just for comparison. Beth remarked afterwords how easy it was to follow Jane.

Tuesday Evening – 6:30pm
We had five people doodled in. Not looking very good. Then Rachelle and her boat showed up, along with Bill M. Kurt had a bit of conflict, though, so he bowed out and the four picked up Bill M. to stroke for them. Three of the people who had doodled in didn’t show, so Jill and Mike N. were left standing and both chose to go home rather than take out a double (neither ready for that) or ride in the launch. The weather may have had something to do with their desire not to ride in the launch – it was spritzing down now and then, with a cool wind just to make sure we didn’t overheat. Cool, as in 50′s – cold when you are wet and the wind is blowing and you are out on the water. Once again, I had my rain jacket on, so I wasn’t worried.

Fortunately, I had some time early to work with Jill on the ergometer adjusting her form just a bit and noting the things she needs to work on making consistent. She pretty much knows what to do, and she just needs to build it into muscle memory. I also gave her some erg goals, since she has one at home to work on.

We had a great practice on the water. The four was moving very well. The guys were rowing in time and making it look easy. They were doing so well I finally had time to look at some very minor things I don’t think I’d have seen at all last year, and am usually too busy fixing easier things to notice this year. Dean was going a little deep on his drive, and that was a minor balance problem. We worked on that a bit. I noticed also that he was holding the oar handle slightly crooked (wrist cocked on the drive, as opposed to flat), but when we talked about it he told me that wrist had a couple of bones removed and doesn’t have full range of motion so he couldn’t perform the feather in the usual way – hence the adjusted grip and angle. I also noted that he because he was too deep and he was feathering right at the release he was lifting a blade (or portion thereof) of water at the release, which also caused balance problems. Once he was aware of that he pretty much cleaned up the only real issue in the boat all day – minor balance issues. Bill was doing a great job of keeping his slide slower. He has made great progress on that this year. Jeff was doing his usual wonderful 3/7 oar job of matching the stroke. Brandon was balancing things out in the bow with his usual aplomb, too. Once I mentioned it the heads were even on center line consistently. You know how you watch a video of a world class crew shell and they seem to be just moving along as easy as you please and then you find that they are moving along at world record pace and you think, “How the heck do they make it look that easy?” That was what watching the four was like today. Sweet!

Then came the sour. Of course, in the last 150 meters of the run from the Strawberry plant out to where the Olympic used to be (our last run before heading in) the engine coughed and sputtered. So I slowed to idle and checked the fuel – dead on empty. I turned for home at a low rpm to save on fuel and got partway there and then it died. So I hauled out the paddle and started paddling home. I’d gone only about 1/4 of the way there when the four, having completed their run and found me gone (only about 350 meters away) came back and offered me a tow. Well, since my back has been killing me this week I took them up on it. They towed me in to near the dock and it was easy to paddle the rest of the way. So, when we got in and were cleaned up I got out the spare can of gas from the storage and poured all we had into the boat and took the two empty cans home to fill. They are back in the boathouse already waiting for their next need. Perhaps I’ll change things around and fill the tank on Chesapeake all the way this time… Nah. That would be too easy.

Still, even with weather and fuel problems this was a great day of rowing in Eagle Harbor.

Coach Tom

25 August, 2010

Tuesday Morning, 24 August 2010, 4:45am

Filed under: On Water Workouts — Coach Tom @ 12:28 pm

We had a couple of people sleep through, so we only had two sevens on the water, not the two eights that were doodled in. We still had a good row with almost perfectly equal boats. We made one seat change (boat to boat) to even things out partway through.

The video is now available on the YouTube site ( http://www.youtube.com/user/CrewCoachTom ), or it will be when it finishes uploading. When you watch this video listen to the comments, but use your eyes, too. Look for yourself at your rowing and see what you can pick up that you need to work on. If you need a model in your boat you should probably look at the stroke oars – Jane & Marilyn. They are doing it pretty much right. Look for timing issues, height of oar off water, slide speed, body angles (both directions) and body motion with respect to the rest of the boat and your specific pairing partner. I’ve preached about backsplash, and check yours to see if you are getting any. Don’t confuse scraped water when you roll up with backsplash when you enter the water at the catch, though. Check to see if you get to the end of your slide and wait for the stroke or if you arrive just as the oar goes into the water. There is a lot of good work on this video.

The coxes got a little out of control at one point while we were racing and interlaced the oars, which brought that run to a stop. We need to get them more aware of keeping a course parallel to the other boat and to notice when they are on a converging (or separating) course. They need to talk to each other about the space they need between marks. Not surprisingly, the problem occurred at the narrowest place we row – the end of the north channel. Not the south channel, which is wider all the way than this one place.

Still, we had a great row, and I got some good video of what I’ve been telling a number of you. We got to see the moon set shortly after we got out, and the sun rose just after we got back on shore. What a beautiful day!

Coach Tom

23 August, 2010

Rowing Notes – August Video

Filed under: On Water Workouts,Rowing Notes — Coach Tom @ 11:35 pm

These are notes from the August 2010 video. The video has been uploaded to my YouTube site:
Rowing Videos – BIR Masters

Barb D.:
Nice form for the most part. Note that you don’t keep your eyes in the boat. If we had simultaneous stern video I bet we’d see you lean to the side when you look that way. Pay attention to your blade depth (also hand height) during the pull – your hands do not travel a level line. Concentrate on that. The differing depth of the blade gives different rolling motion to the boat. Additionally, if you get shallow at the end of the stroke you wash out and miss out on power.

Kirsten:
Good form. Nice hand/blade work. Eyes in the boat, though. We’ve talked about this, Kirsten. You really need to concentrate on the boat, not the view. You are a little bit ahead of Barb going into the water.

Nancy:
Great posture. You always do that so well. You, too, are a bit ahead of the stroke. You have a small tendency to pull down just a bit on the handle. Watch your hands and the blade depth. We don’t want it washing out.

Kathy S:
Good posture, also. Watch your hands, though. They don’t go straight up at the catch – you are pulling before the blade is set in the water. Then, they pull down to your lap instead of level. The catch is to the proper depth, but the blade doesn’t stay there, it washes out.

Kelli:
Your blade is on the water during the recovery. Even when your side of the boat is up and the other side is down. That means you are contributing to the “down-to-starboard” boat attitude. Find the level that would keep your blade off the water when the boat sits level and always keep it there. I’d like you to work on getting more forward lean (forward to you, not to the boat), and to slow your slide on the recovery. We want you to decelerate as you come down the slide.

Jamie:
Pretty good form. Look at the level of your hands on the stroke – they drop as you pull the oar. I would like to see a little more lean in both forward and back directions out of you. Also, your knees are coming up a wee bit early – just before your hands cross them. I’d like to see your catch be just a bit more vertical – don’t pull on the oar before it is buried. Yes, we want backsplash.

Sigrid:
Posture is great. Your motion is nice and easy, like we worked on in July. Good work. Take a good look at your hands at the catch. You are pulling the oar well before it is in the water, let alone buried all the way. You need to roll up a little earlier so you can be ready to go in the water at the catch. We can’t afford to throw away any water on your stroke – at either end.

Lois:
Nice posture. You are working well with Sigrid. Watch the level of your hands during the stroke. They drop to your lap. Now watch where they are when you come out of the water – 3-4″ short of your mark. You are pulling down and short. We need that extra length. Otherwise a very nice looking stroke. I suspect that you just need to get in better condition to keep up, since this was your first workout back with us.

Marilyn:
Very good form. I like your slide speed. Your oar height is a bit iffy, but looking closely that is due to the rocking of the boat.

Jackie:
Good reach, but you need to get it all first thing out of bow – before you let your knees come up. Watch your body motion with respect to Marilyn. Much better on shooting your slide.

Kathy M.:
Look at your body lean and when you get it. We need all that great reach you get there before the knees come up. Putting it at the end of the slide means you are checking and darting weight off to one side. Check your face – you are not keeping your eyes in the boat. Watch your hands at the catch – you drop them slightly, then begin pulling before you raise them to put the oar in the water. Aim for no drop and a quick, firm catch before pulling on the oar.

Deb:
Nice hand levels going both ways. Good and flat. But the catch is a diagonal line instead of a vertical one on the end of the oar stroke. A nice smooth, natural looking slide.

Stern view of the eight:
Notice the 4 oar dragging on the water. Watch the heads on centerline.

Stern view of the four:
Watch the heads and bodies go to the sides. Marilyn & Jackie especially. Timing on the catch is intermittent. On the release is also off by quite a bit. Kathy, you are way behind Marilyn coming out of the water. That gives us a set problem.

Racing Starts – Four:
Watch the length of time for the first stroke (3/4) and the time for the next two (1/2). For some reason 3/4 is more than twice 1/2. Make each of those count.

Racing Starts – Eight:
Look at body angles before the start. Huge discrepancy. I need to work with you on this, but the first five strokes should be pretty much upright, but with a tiny bit of lean each way. Barb, I really like the authority with which you set the catch in the water. But you are going too deep, and that makes it hard to get out on time. It also upsets the balance. I’d like the rest of you to go in as fast as she is doing here, though. Nancy (and everyone should be thinking about this) get rolled up sooner so you are ready to go in with the stroke.

Racing Start – Four:
Much better ladies. Practice makes us remember. We need to make that habit.

Racing – Four:
Watch the bodies moving from side to side. Find what you are doing and stop it. Identify who is rowing a button-hook pass route with their body.

Racing – Eight:
Watch timing into and out of the water. Also watch heads on the center line. Where are you moving side to side?

Not bad rowing all around, but I think you will find a number of places to improve your stroke.

Coach Tom

21 August, 2010

3rd Week – 17, 19 & 21 August

Filed under: On Water Workouts — Coach Tom @ 10:28 pm

We got the word this week that Bill Richards is in the hospital with a burst appendix. He should be home by the time I write this. Bill’s appendix burst during Thursday evening’s rowing last week, but he wouldn’t admit anything was wrong, even though we could hear him gasping in the launch over the engine. He didn’t go to the hospital until Saturday morning. So, let’s take a lesson from this. If you find yourself in serious pain out there in the boat while we are on the water, tell us about it. I’d much rather run you to shore in the launch while the aid car is coming to the waterfront to meet us than have you die or spend a long time in rehab because you are too proud to admit you are in serious pain. Honestly, folks, let’s use our brains about health. We are none of us spring chickens any more, and we need to care for our no-longer-young bodies.

Tuesday – 17 August – 5:00am
We took two eights out this morning and had a pretty good competition. We exchanged one rower part way through to even things up a bit, but moving Deb from one boat to another just swung which boat went faster with her. We went down to Blakely Harbor, but didn’t have time to go in, so we went most of the way to the south shore, then turned around and headed home. But we got some good distance work in, and also did some skills work. Had a bit of a race coming in, then cooled down.

Tuesday – 17 August – 6:30pm
Lots of new rowers who have just returned to rowing after years, or who just graduated the Learn To Row program. It is good to have these new people in the program. Deborah is remembering well from her one year of rowing in high school. I won’t mention how long ago that was, because frankly, I didn’t ask. Not that I would tell if I had. Bruce and Dale are both learning quickly. They have a lot to learn, but mostly they need to make the motions muscle memory so they don’t need to think about every thing each stroke. Deborah L. stroked today, as she did once last week, too. I pressed her into that for a number of reasons. One is that she did learn to row when she was younger, and it is easier to pick up muscle memory then and I wanted to see how well it would come back with a couple of tries. I was also looking at other pair combinations in the boat. This is a prime example of several non-obvious reasons for seat assignments that the rowers may not see.

The obvious reasons for seatings are things like size – don’t put someone 5’6″ in a pairing with someone 6’2″. Not if you can help it. Don’t put someone weighing in at 300 lb in the bow or two seat. You want precision timing in 7 & 8, and power in 3-6 with balance in 1 & 2. The less-than-obvious 8-1 combination is sometimes critical and you need to find a balance there to help the boat lift out of the water evenly on the catch. But there are other reasons, too. Checking how rower A & B work as a pair one day, and how rowers A & C work together another day is a slightly less obvious reason. Putting someone with a slow slide in front of someone rushing a slide is another non-obvious reason. I’m always looking for pairs that balance side-to-side, too. Other considerations – it is good if you can get experienced rowers on both sides of inexperienced rowers. They have someone good to watch, and someone who knows what they should be doing watching them to tell them what they are doing wrong. There are lots of reasons for other strange seatings, too. For instance, throwing an inexperienced rower into an experienced boat serves three purposes – it shows the rower how far they have to go, it shows them whether they are or are not ready to be in that boat and thereby gives them a goal to shoot for, as well as showing the coach just how close to ready they are for that advance. I put Susan in one of the faster, experienced boats a couple of weeks back and surprised both she and I at how close to ready she was. I’ll put up an article on this sometime in the future.

Thursday – 19 August – 4:45am
We had an eight and a four out this am. The four was almost the top ladies four from Greenlake. We need to decide when we go into race-boats mode who wants to race and who doesn’t, and whether they want to be in an eight, a four, or both. This will be an upcoming discussion topic, and possibly a doodle poll. We had a good morning’s row, though. I continue to be impressed with the willingness of all of our rowers to improve. We had a bit of problems with steering this morning and consequently did a bunch of work in single file, as opposed to side-by-side (which makes it easier to coach both boats).

Thursday – 19 August – 6:30pm
We had two eights out this evening, and one spare oar – Jeff. Jeff didn’t doodle and was the last one there. So he nicely volunteered to stay in the yard and rig the Cherry Luna so it would be ready to use. Kurt came along even later and helped him. Everyone be sure to thank them both for doing this. We did some distance work, but it was interrupted by the need to do some corrections on our newer rowers. We also did some drills. We had fewer of our very experienced rowers, so we worked more on skills than our usual evening workout. Good weather and another pleasant evening’s row.

Saturday – 21 August – 7:30am
We took out two sevens this morning. We only had two people show up who had not doodled in, but unusually, we had three who doodled in and didn’t show. We were also supposed to have three coxswains, but only one showed up. So Kathy M. volunteered to cox and that brought us down to two sevens. Thanks to Isabel, who did show up to cox. We warmed up out to the point, then turned south. The water looked good, no breeze and not too many wakes. Partway down, though, the rolling waves became a bit too much for good rowing, so we turned around and came back. Safety was never an issue, but ease of rowing was. We still got a good aerobic workout from the distance rowed.

A lot of good rowing this week.

15 August, 2010

Second Week – Aug 10 & 12th

Filed under: On Water Workouts — Coach Tom @ 8:25 pm

Well, those two days are not the entire week, but they are all the time I was there. I had a convention in Bellevue on 13th-15th. Also had 3 hours of singing with my quartet on Friday before going to the convention. But I was there Tuesday and Thursday.

This was an interesting week. Recovery from Greenlake, an anniversary for the coach, a celebration of our success at greenlake and the Masters Regionals, and more activities.

Morning Rowers
We had a good practice Tuesday morning with the ladies. 15 rowers out on the water. Then Thursday we had 16 rowers out, but only three coxswains, so we had an 8 and two fours. We did some seat racing, but the time limits and a late start kept it from being as much as it could be. Some folks are good in fours, some are better in an eight. I’m keeping notes for future reference. Then we had a celebration time at the pub on Thursday evening after the evening row. Six of the ladies, Tom Coble and I met at to toast our success this year, and so I could pay off the round I bet them on their time at Masters Regionals. Tom couldn’t stay and wait for the time it took to get a table, so he took off and I was left alone and looking like, well, let’s say someone with a lot of ladies hanging around him. We had a great time, though, and we’ll have to do more social get togethers for more team-building.

Evening Rowers
We have had sporadic attendance by the men, lately, but there are a number of new rowers who came through the Learn To Row program and are working their way into being good rowers. Dale and Bruce are both learning well and quickly. Dale’s wife, Debra, has proven to be a good rower, if a bit out of shape. [Editor's Note: When I say "shape" in this context it means conditioning.] Debra rowed in high school, which was not yesterday, but not since. She still remembers how, though. We had mixed boats (men & women) both nights this week, along with last year’s novice boat (with one replacement), also both nights.

We are working on our August theme, “Light”. Light hands on the oar, light feeling to the boat. The timing is critical for a light feeling in the boat. Why? Because if you are just a bit ahead going into the water you wind up carrying the load of the boat for a fraction of a second before the rest of the crew comes in. If you are late getting out you are carrying the load then. So whenever we have timing problems the boat “feels” heavier to everyone. When the timing is right it just doesn’t feel like you are working, the boat feels light, and it is easy to move fast. That is our goal: easy, light and fast. When we get to September we’ll work on the fast. In the mean time, we are doing lots of different drills for light hands and perfect timing.

A note on drills
Some people want lots of drills, others wand none at all. Drills have their uses, and they also have their problems.

  1. Drills Teach certain portions of the stroke
  2. Drills break up the stroke – which teaches something wrong
  3. Everyone needs more repetitions to make the stroke muscle memory
  4. Muscles taught the wrong stroke need to be re-taught the right one
  5. Practice makes permanent
  6. Perfect practice makes perfect

I like to allow the rowers to row as much as possible, and correct what needs fixing individually if possible. This teaches muscle memory for the rowing motion. When the motion is natural and automatic a rower can afford to concentrate on one portion of it without the rest going down the toilet. I revert to drills if more than a few people are having a problem. Or when I’m stressing a special point. So while we’ve been executing more drills lately, this is not a constant. It will change in the future when we are beyond those current needs. Of course, it will always crop up again when we need the drills.

I asked Linda to show up for coaching on Saturday, since I would be out of town. You’ll have to ask her what happened then.

Coach Tom

8 August, 2010

Early August – Greenlake

Filed under: On Water Workouts — Coach Tom @ 9:02 pm

Well, I’ve kind of fallen off the wagon in blogging the workouts. We’ll see if I get back on.

August Theme
The July theme was Easy. Rowing should be easy, each individual stroke. There should be a lot of muscle put into the stroke, but it should be easily performed. So that was the goal in July. According to the article that Marilyn gave me you row better when things are easy, light and fast. There was a good deal of improvement in the Masters team overall in July as we emphasized making each stroke easy, slowing the slide to remove the rushed feeling, and being able to keep that smooth, easy stroke as we increased in rate. I like how the crew got smoother at all stroke rates. So we are moving on to light in August. This month we want the grip on the oar handle to be lighter, but strong when pulling. Note that strong is not tight. Nor is light wimpy. Too much tension in the hands holding the oar can prevent them from doing their job correctly, as well as burn up energy that could be better used elsewhere. We also want a feeling of lightness in the boat. One thing that makes boats feel heavy is when the attacks and releases of the oars are not in time, so the load is not evenly proportioned at various points in the stroke. This leads to balance problems (early in & late out, especially), as well as an uneven load distribution. When you are the first oar in the water you are carrying the entire load for a short time, which feeling doesn’t dissipate as quickly as the load does. When you are the last one out you are carrying the entire load, too, right at a time when you have already used your legs and are working on nothing but arms and backs. This can cause all sorts of problems. Feeling like you really need to work the end of the stroke can lead to attempting to pull the oar in with your shoulders instead of your lats, which leads to shoulder heaving which is a bad motion for your body, as well as for the boat. So we need to work the timing to perfection to get the light-boat feel. That light feeling in grip and boat is our theme for August.

Monday, 2 August, 2010, 9:30am
I went out with the Experienced 4 this morning and we worked on their togetherness. They have the attitude, but needed much more time rowing together. So we did a lot of rowing with very little correcting. Getting their timing in sync, to match the August theme, was appropriate, as well as worthwhile.

Tuesday, 3 August, 2010, 5:00am
We had an eight and two fours out this morning. One of the fours was the Experienced 4 working towards Greelake, the eight was the Greenlake 8 (with two substitutions) and the other four were the remaining rowers. Oddly, the first two were very even, and the latter four was if not totally competitive with the other two boats, then at least close enough to run with them. I liked the way everyone was rowing today. The E4 was a good bit more in sync than they had been on Monday, so what we did then helped. The G8 was rowing well, too, for a boat that had two substitutes (one the stroke) in it. Finally, the last four was make up of the remaining rowers and I was very pleased that they could be anywhere near the other boats so we didn’t have to leave them behind or separate the boats and I could only work with one or two of them at a time. I’m so pleased with the progress we have made as a team so that we can put whatever four extra people show up into a boat and have it row well! That says a lot for how much each of you has improved. We ran some short distance races in the middle of a long piece, then squared off for some buoy-to-buoy racing in the back bay. It was a close contest between the E4 & G8 boats each time. We had a little bit of trouble getting all the boats going the same way as quickly as I would have like, but the rowing was great.

Tuesday, 3 August, 2010, 6:30pm
We had two 8′s and a 4 out this evening and got to work in the sunshine. The four was our Intermediate 4 that will be racing at Greenlake. They are rowing together better every time they take the water. I’m pleased with the progress they’ve made and continue to make. Kathy M. has been coaching this four and she took a launch out with them. There was quite a mix of beginners and experienced rowers in the 8 so we did more drills and individual work and explaining than usual. Sometimes it is fun to get back to the basics like that. Susan is trying for the IronWoman award – rowing with the 8 in the morning and the her 4 in the evening. Good rowing tonight, too. I spent some time on the ergs after the on-water workout with a couple of the newcomers so I could explain and demonstrate more about how I would like their stroke to go, and letting them practice it with hands on feedback. Bruce seems eager to learn, and I suspect he will be a good addition to the team.

Thursday, 5 August, 2010, 5:00am
The Greenlake 8 (in its entirety) this morning, along with another 8. We went down to Blakely Harbor and back (Bill Point to Bill Point via the head of BH) as one long run, with some power pieces along the way and a sprint to the finish. Both boats rowed well and they were fairly even, too. Then we did a couple of starts on the way back in, followed by a short race to the Ferry Repair docks. Good work all the way around.

Thursday, 5 August, 2010, 6:30pm
There was a “Learn To Row” 8 going out, and we had another 8 and a four. Again, we had the newly graduated guys from the previous LTR, as well as some intermediates from last year’s LTR classes. So more hands on work with them. The four were experienced guys that Rachele took out for a good workout. Again I spent some time with the novices on the ergs afterward.

Saturday, 7 August, 2010 – Greenlake Regatta
The juniors were racing all day long, and had more events than I could count. I’m glad I had only three boats to keep track of. The fours race (both our I4 and E4 in the race) was at 10:55am, and seemed to go off on time. We watched in anticipation as they got closer and it looked like our E4 was leading. They were rowing at a good stroke rate, and seemed to have a good long stroke, which didn’t shorten up as they sprinted to the finish. The I4 seemed to be trailing, and were, but they were rowing the pace we had worked on, and they were not shortening up, either. E4 crossed the finish line first, with more than a length of open water between them and the next boat. I was ecstatic and rushed down to greet them and celebrate, then had to dash over to the next dock to talk to the I4, as well. They were pleased with the work they did, as was I. I set their goals at rowing the race at their rate, as we had practiced, not shortening their stroke as they got tired and not catching any crabs the entire race. They accomplished all of those. When the results came out E4 finished 3rd, .4 seconds out of 2nd and 3 seconds out of first by corrected time. They had to give 35 seconds to Martha’s Moms (a perennial winner) and only beat them by 32 seconds. They still did what we set out to do – row their race and be competitive. Deni did a great job coxing them and told them what was going on the entire way, how many more strokes were left and what they would be doing next. I4 had some problems with hearing, since Sean couldn’t find a cox box before taking the boat down to the water. There should have been enough, but one was not put back with the rest – we found it elsewhere later. Anyway, they had neither stroke-rate nor PA system. Nonetheless they rowed on through their troubles and crossed the finish line looking good. Now, the sad news. The G8 was “excused” for traffic pattern violations. They were not allowed to run the race with the rest of the 8s. So they timed themselves over the course and with the corrections for age they would have finished 3rd. Of course, when you figure in the emotional shock of being “excused”, the difference in course once the launches have run across it and the lack of a direct opponent to race, they may well have done better than that. I’m proud of how they rowed after that shock, and don’t care if we never row at Greenlake again, although it was the referee who did the deed, not the greenlake folks. I’ve talked with Deni, and while they were in violation of the rules, it was for two different things. The first violation they were one of five boats doing the same thing, but they were singled out for warning. For the second there were no other boats to be affected by their violation. So it was a ref on a power trip, not a problem for anyone else. I’m proud of not only how our rowers rowed, but how they comported themselves at the regatta. You do my proud, ladies.

Sunday, 8 August, 2010, 8:30am
The scullers and some of the ladies masters met to rig a few more boats so we’d have them to row this week. The juniors won’t be rowing until the fall, so the were in no hurry to re-rig the shells brought back from Greenlake. Thank you all who participated.

Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress