What OTW Training have you done today

[Snail Space]

Sorry Byron to hear about your water freezing up. I guess it's the erg for you now.
The bloke that kept on changing the rules is still in our crew. We've been told that his seat is assured. He is totally unsuitable for the crew(we call these types "boat stoppers"). That's club politics for you.
The eight rows very well together when we have him in 3 seat, that's where he does the least amount of damage.

Hmm, there's scope for a mutually agreeable arrangement here: Byron swaps hemispheres for the winter months to row in 3 seat. Byron extends his rowing; RR cures the boat-stopper conundrum.

Cheers,
Dave.

[Rocket Roy]

Hey Roland,
That sounds like a great day, 2 rows and ad hoc races too.
A woman tried to overtake me on the Thames this morning I let her get alongside then just held her there for 500m before pulling into the bank to fix something Great fun. But I don't think she was going full gas.....I was!

It's like Aussie here at the moment , too hot on the river today, blinding sun and 2 aussie coach's giving us grief

[Nosmo]

Corkscrew Regatta. S/F at Stanford Boat house. Last race of the year yesterday. 9 miles in a 2x. 55:08. Lots of turns.

[Bob S.]

Corkscrew Regatta. S/F at Stanford Boat house. Last race of the year yesterday. 9 miles in a 2x. 55:08. Lots of turns.

For your sake, I hope that you were in the stroke seat. It looks like a bowman's nightmare.

Bob S.

[Nosmo]

For your sake, I hope that you were in the stroke seat. It looks like a bowman's nightmare.

Steering was a major reason why I didn't want to do it in a single! My bow had rowed the course the week before but one needs to be very familiar with the course. We started about a minute and a half behind our main competition and caught them a bit after we entered Corkscrew Slough. Apparently they briefly got stuck in the mud entering the Cockscrew. Then we passed them but they steered the rest of the race really well and we made some mistakes, even having to stop to do a stake turn at one point. We exited the corkscrew several lengths back and didn't take back very much of that before the finish. It was really tough. My bow felt bad about the steering, but she did much much better then I would have! It was good enough to beat the other rowed boats (four 8+'s three 4+'s, five 4x's, three other 2x's, and thirteen 1x's) but only one of the three K4's! This was definitely a course where 8+'s have a disadvantage.

[Bob S.]

It was good enough to beat the other rowed boats (four 8+'s three 4+'s, five 4x's, three other 2x's, and thirteen 1x's) but only one of the three K4's! This was definitely a course where 8+'s have a disadvantage.

Generally kayakers are no match for rowers of equivalent ability, but a course like that certainly changes that. You might say the it "evens up the odds."

Bob S.

[Byron Drachman]

Woo hoo! Back on the water the last two days. I chipped away enough ice from the dock that I could get to flowing water yesterday. Today there was almost no ice left and the temperature was well above freezing, but there was a steady rain. I was wearing a dry top and dry pants. To put it another way, I dressed like a kayaker instead of a sculler. After about an hour the dry pants and dry top had soaked through, but they kept me warm anyway so it was a nice row.

Bob, speaking of kayaks, in the Olympics the kayakers (K1) go 1K instead of 2K. Have you ever look at their split times?

[Bob S.]

Bob, speaking of kayaks, in the Olympics the kayakers (K1) go 1K instead of 2K. Have you ever look at their split times?

I really don't know that much about it. I was under the impression that the 500m was one of the Olympic kayak events. As I was just telling in a PM to Greg, I used see a couple Olympic kayak medalists working out with a 1x rower who was very a good, but not Olympic level, oarsman. It looked to be a good match.

Bob S.

[Nosmo]

see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canoeing_a ... r_Olympics

short version:
Olympic Canoe and Kayak have been 500m and 1000m with 10K from 1936 to 1956. They were demonstration sports in 1924 and became offical in 1936. In 2012 the 500m will be replace by 200m for most classes

[Rocket Roy]

What is it with the IOC and cutting events???????

As an example In cycling the Kilo was cut......Why? They velodrome is open all day, the officials are all there, the crowd want more action, why not run all the events? Both men and women.

It's the same with rowing, why is it only the 2x lwt women, no quad or 4???? No singles???? Why??? the water is there, the crowd is there, the officials are there, yet they cut it short, Please explain it all to me because it's doing my head in!

[Nosmo]

What is it with the IOC and cutting events???????

As an example In cycling the Kilo was cut......Why? They velodrome is open all day, the officials are all there, the crowd want more action, why not run all the events? Both men and women.

It's the same with rowing, why is it only the 2x lwt women, no quad or 4???? No singles???? Why??? the water is there, the crowd is there, the officials are there, yet they cut it short, Please explain it all to me because it's doing my head in!

Rocket, I think the argument is that the IOC has rules about how many events there can be. Lots of sports are trying to to be added, and they eliminate some events to make room for others. The Olympics are expensive and more events does add to the cost. Still eliminating the Kilo really was a shame as is the lack or more lwt rowing.

Off the top of my head, it seems like 500m for the Canoe and Kayak is very similar to 1000m, so it seem like replacing the 500m with 200m is pretty reasonable. Of course I know little about this so I may be way off base.

Just noticed from you signature you have KIRS boat. Pretty cool! I could say you don't deserve it yet, but I know you will be kicking butt in no time!

Back to the thread topic. Did ~14K low rate steady state in a 2x with a new partner this morning. Hadn't rowed with her before. I've been totally spoiled by my regular partner but still it felt good. Nice controlled slide, good set and smooth run. Power was there for the most part. Need to work on technique during the turns. We should turn out some fast mixed and women's quads this year.
When we went down this morning there was a cop car with bright lights shining on the docks and many more by the time we got off the water. A group form The Occupy movement built a raft and have been floating it on the lake for days. It was a bit nerve racking having a new object to dodge at night. The Raft was tied up to the city dock behind a gate and the people had left. They cops where making sure they didn't come back. A half dozen cop cars to prevent a few people for getting on a raft seems like a big waste of resources. The next wind storm would have taken care of the raft for free!

[Rocket Roy]

Just noticed from you signature you have KIRS boat. Pretty cool! I could say you don't deserve it yet, but I know you will be kicking butt in no time!

You are right of course, I don't deserve it yet, but having such a fantastic boat drives me to be good enough not to look like a dick in it.
It was the same with my bikes, all too good for me, but it drove me to be good enough to ride them.

I expect the boat will last me 10 years, (1 month in the boat so far) then I may sell it and get a new Empacher

[Rockin Roland]

Coxed Fours yesterday. Some of our squad are currently away on summer holidays so we have split up into smaller boats. We have a new guy in our squad from Germany(recently rowed with Cambridge Uni.). He's young, fit and strong and came to Australia with his English girlfriend looking for work and sunshine. They have found both. However his rowing style has quite a dramatic or over emphasised finish. He was in 2 seat and I was in 3 seat. Once he made the adjustment to our rowing style the four really started to sit up and run well. Hence the coach made us do some work. We chased down and overtook the lighrweight quad from our club.

I'm starting to feel that the coxed four is my favourite boat class. It's easier to see the results from your own personal hard work than what you can in an eight. Quads are just too busy with those 8 skinny oars and the doubles and pairs are too small to give you enough team work feeling. There's a lot to like about 4 strong blokes putting their weight behind a sweep oar with a cox taking care of the steering and instructions for you. Yet good boat balance is critical as any mistake by any of the four has adverse effects on the rest of the crew and boat run.

This morning I was on the water in my single at 6am trying to beat the summer heat. After a warm up I joined 3 other single scullers from our club who were also out on the river. We decided to do a 2 km piece downstream on the river. Visibility was good, the water was dead flat and conditions were excellent. We lined up four abreast. I was in the middle and after a slow start managed to get some more length and purchase of the water without increasing the rating. My boat rewarded me with improved boat run and before long I was challenging the leading sculler in our group. My focus then became to sit up tall and keep the arms relaxed and try not to muscle the catches. I looked at my stroke coach monitor and was surprised at how fast I was going given that I was rating 24 spm. At the 800 m mark I was just edging into the lead before disaster struck. The guy on my right who was desperately trying to get back the lead(he's usually a better sculler than me) collided with another sculler travelling upstream in the opposite direction. There was a huge wack across the bow from one of the oars. The button on the oar of the guy travelling upstream popped off forcing him into the drink but all the scullers in our group stayed upright. Fortunately the water was nice and warm for the sculler that fell in so he managed to swim with boat back to the bank and get out OK.

We obviously abandoned the race. Travelling four abreast at close to race pace in single sculls on a narrow river is just asking for trouble, and we got it. For the rest of the training session we put some space between us but still had a bit of a go. I was stuffed by the time we got back to the sheds but nevertheless it was a satisfying outing.

[Rocket Roy]

Wow!! That must have been frightening, hitting someone head on That is my biggest worry when I'm out on the Thames.

Sounds as if you had that race stitched up though Interesting to hear how the speed of the boat picked up after you increased the length but not the spm. Do You find that muscling it slow's the boat down? Isn't that what the top guy's do in the Olympic's? They seem to be putting almighty effort into it.

[Snail Space]

My focus then became to sit up tall and keep the arms relaxed and try not to muscle the catches.

Do You find that muscling it slow's the boat down? Isn't that what the top guy's do in the Olympic's? They seem to be putting almighty effort into it.

Before my comment, bear in mind that I coach rowing but don't row (or do so little of it that I'm effectively a non-rower). Therefore my comments are intended to solicit feedback from those that do row (or scull) so that I can gain a sort of vicarious "feel".

I mis-read both these comments - twice. I saw "muscle the finishes" instead of "muscle the catches". Nothing wrong with the former, unless the extra muscle is associated with excessive lean-back to gain length. Is this what you were refering to when you talk about "sitting up tall"?

Avoiding muscle in placing the blade, in the final stage of the recovery, is important. If, at rest, the squared blade is held just above the surface of the water and the grip on the handle is released, the blade enters the water pretty damn quickly - and sits at about the correct depth without any assistance. Therefore, the emphasis should be on not slowing this naturally fast entry of the blade into the water. This needs relaxed shoulders, loose grip on the handles, and speedy movement upwards of the arms. Is this whhat yuu mean bby "not muscling thhe catches"?

Cheers,
Dave.