Ranger's training thread

[ranger]

Here is another of those bad videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szk_XslR-ws

ranger

You should have someone help you get your boat rigged up more appropriately for your physiology/geometry. That alone is causing some of the problems you're experiencing.

Sure.

The Fluid has been much better in this way than the Peinert. Gord rigged it for me. The Peinert was rigged too low. I had a heck of a time with it.

Other things about rigging might also be causing some problems.

At the moment, I have a bit too much inboard, I think.

I am tangled up a little at the finish.

I might get more power with a little more outboard, too.

I am not very concerned with these things about rigging, though.

I have a lot of other things to work on, too.

ranger

[ranger]

even to a layman like me

A "layman"?

Does that mean a "non-rower"?

I hope not, given your comments on this thread.

Post some video of your OTW rowing.

Let's see what you can do.

Make a couple of passes by the dock, doing 1:52 @ 30 spm, as I just have.

Let's see your boat run.

ranger

[aharmer]

One stroke is followed by another from the same spot on the water

Hardly.

I now get 10 MPS all the way up to 25 spm (2:00 pace).

ranger

My post wasn't a joke about how slow you go on the water. It was stating that the video was obviously altered and you refuse to admit it. Why is your default position always a lie?

[Byron Drachman]

I am not very concerned with these things about rigging, though. I have a lot of other things to work on, too.

I agree with becz. Rigging makes a big difference. Yes, a builder will make a first approximation to rigging when he delivers a boat but a builder does not have time to go out in a launch, observe, and then make more adjustments. After our journey on the Grand River I made a list of suggestions I was going to send you but didn't after you said you didn't want to hear them. My very first suggestion was about your rigging.

I agree with your statement that you have a lot of other things to work on. Your belief that you can coach yourself has held you back. To put it another way, you would go faster than you are going now if you got some coaching and were able to be coached. I will bite my tongue and refrain from making any specific suggestions.

[mikvan52]

Rich:
As I do always say that you are a very strong erger, may I suggest that either you follow Byron's Suggestion and select a coach or coaches for OTW progress, or, just scull for pleasure and concentrate on the erg for competition...

There's v.little promise in the video you show... except for your great power.

I am now certain that you will not be posting a full 1k worth of data from your NK device... this year or next.
The video speaks for itself....

BEST OF ROWING TO YOU, RICH!
I THINK I'LL GO BACK TO LURKING HERE... THERE'S NOTHING LEFT TO BE SAID UNTIL YOU COME UP WITH SOME REAL RESULT...

[leadville]

Here is another of those bad videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szk_XslR-ws

ranger

Rangerboy you are even worse than I thought. Let me recount the ways.

Short at the catch. Not near enough compression.

Checking the boat at the catch due to diving and dropping the hands and at the finish due to yanking the handles down into the lap beforE getting the blades out of the water.

Poor body control on the slide.

No hang on the handles anywhere during the drive.

A violent ugly catch.

Plus a lot of other issues too numerous to be mentioned here.

Christ you suck. For someone who's been sculling for what, seven years, you are really awful.

[ranger]

I am now certain that you will not be posting a full 1k worth of data from your NK device

On the contrary, Mike.

I think I'll post that 1:52 @ 30 spm 1K before you, perhaps over the next week.

And then I'll start posting 5Ks.

I think I'll also post that sub-2:00 5K before you, too, although that might not be until this fall.

Good luck with your fitness.

If you can't rate 30 spm and hold you technique together, you'll never win the Head of the Charles.

And if you can only rate 30 spm in a 1K, anyone who can rate 38 spm will be beat you easily.

Sure, I still have a lot to work on technically.

But I am getting better and better.

I am better by 10 seconds per 500m than I was at the same rate last year.

That's an _enormous_ improvement.

I keep solving my problems, one by one.

Your technique can't be improved.

In fact, given the way you train, especially OTErg, your fitness is just getting worse and worse.

You don't have a hope in hell of getting five seconds per 500m better at the same rate OTW over the next decade.

I suspect you'll be about a minute slower this year than you were two years ago at the Head of the Charles, and then I suspect that this will be your norm.

2:08?

ranger

[ranger]

Here is another of those bad videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szk_XslR-ws

ranger

Rangerboy you are even worse than I thought. Let me recount the ways.

Short at the catch. Not near enough compression.

Checking the boat at the catch due to diving and dropping the hands and at the finish due to yanking the handles down into the lap beforE getting the blades out of the water.

Poor body control on the slide.

No hang on the handles anywhere during the drive.

A violent ugly catch.

Plus a lot of other issues too numerous to be mentioned here.

Christ you suck. For someone who's been sculling for what, seven years, you are really awful.

Thanks for that, coach.

I'll keep working on it.

See you at Nationals next year.

I am now fast enough to win.

I think that my fitness will let me rate 38 spm for 1K.

I'll test that out over the next year or so.

At 8 SPI, that's 1:45 pace.

ranger

[ranger]

Short at the catch. Not near enough compression.

Sure, I keep working on this. I am _much_ longer than I used to be, though. On the erg, the front of my seat now comes six inches from front-stops, and I use the same stroke OTW.

Checking the boat at the catch due to diving and dropping the hands and at the finish due to yanking the handles down into the lap beforE getting the blades out of the water.

Sure, I can work on both. In terms of power, my catches are _enormously_ better. But that has to do with footwork, a more relaxed upper body, and fast legs. The things you mention here, yes, are still bad.

Poor body control on the slide.

Hmm. Don't think this is a problem at all.

No hang on the handles anywhere during the drive.

Hmm. Don't think this is a problem at all.

A violent ugly catch

Yes, I still have a lot to learn about getting my oars into the water right at the speed of the boat, and of course, without the splashing on my right oar. I keep working on it.

Plus a lot of other issues too numerous to be mentioned here.

Of course.

I think I'll have no problem doing 20K a day OTW next year. That should help a lot. I am also on sabbatical in the fall next year, so I can continue this work OTW a little more aggressively than I have this year.

Christ you suck. For someone who's been sculling for what, seven years, you are really awful.

Not as badly as your fitness sucks.

How fast you are is a product of both your fitness and your technique.

You can't do it on just one or the other.

What is your best finish at the Head of the Charles?

What do you do for 5K OTW?

Can you do sub-1:50 pace for 1K OTW?

I'll get some flat out times for 1K and 5K this year, so I will an idea of how fast I am right now, rowing this badly.

If what you say is true, I should be able to get another five seconds per 500m better at the same rate from improvements in technique.

That would be amazing, if I can already do, say, sub-1:50 for 1K and sub-2:00 for 5K, which is faster than Mike VB.

ranger

[ranger]

My post wasn't a joke about how slow you go on the water. It was stating that the video was obviously altered and you refuse to admit it.

No, I didn't alter the videos.

They are full clips.

Why is your assumption that other people (than yourself) are always lying?

ranger

[ranger]

your great power.

And fitness.

Yep.

I can really haul an oar, and once I start hauling it, I can keep hauling it with the best of them.

Great full-body power, endurance, and aerobic capacity.

1:34/6:16 OTErg, coming up!

In general, once technique is ironed out, OTW times are 15 seconds per 500m above erg times at the same rate.

So, if I can indeed get to 1:34/6:16 OTErg, that suggests a sub-1:50 2K OTW might be in my future, and if that, a sub-1:45 1K and sub-1:55 5K.

I keep working on it.

Those would be great times for a 60s sculler, quite a bit better than any 60s sculler rowing at the moment.

ranger

[ranger]

I suggest that either you follow Byron's Suggestion and select a coach or coaches for OTW progress

My progress OTW has been spectacular this year.

Sure, I'll search out some coaching when my times plateau and I am no longer getting any better.

But I am _certainly_ not at that point yet.

I am getting better every day, day after day.

See you at Nationals next year--and the Head of the Charles (I hope).

ranger

[ranger]

Your belief that you can coach yourself has held you back. To put it another way, you would go faster than you are going now if you got some coaching and were able to be coached.

Sure, but I prefer going slowly and figuring out things for myself.

I am in no hurry.

My major project this year is just to get some racing experience OTW and then hit all of my targets and pull a lwt 1:34/6:16 OTEeg this fall and winter.

If I do that, I'll hold all of the 60s erging WRs, both heavyweight and lightweight, except perhaps for Castellan's hwt sprint records (1K and 500m), which are perhaps beyond me.

Going into next year's OTW rowing season, my fitness will be sky high, especially my anaerobic capacities and therefore race readiness.

That should help enormously in my sprint training OTW.

ranger

[ranger]

In the Veterans race at the Head of the Charles last year, only 10 out of 50 boats did better than 2:10 pace.

None did better than 2:00 pace.

And the best boats in the Veteran race (Anderson, Meyer) were quite a bit better than Mike VB has been or will be.

So the standards OTW that I am shooting for are clear.

I keep working on it.

I can now do 2:10 pace at 21 spm/8 SPI.

Eventually, I think I'll rate 30 spm at the Head of the Charles.

ranger

[ranger]

I agree with your statement that you have a lot of other things to work on. Your belief that you can coach yourself has held you back. To put it another way, you would go faster than you are going now if you got some coaching and were able to be coached. I will bite my tongue and refrain from making any specific suggestions.

If you know better, Byron, and coaching solves the difficulty, then you must be _very_ good.

Post some video OTW of several passes by the dock, pulling 1:52 @ 30 spm.

Let's see what you can do OTW.

Does the so-called knowledge you have of technique help you?

If so, let's see how.

ranger