Matters of (Light) Weight

[Ray79]

But why should that eliminate them, in particular from OTW international competition where the fastest Lwt crews are not that much slower (and in the past have been faster) than Hwt crews.
Some examples are here
http://www.btinternet.com/~rowing.biddulph/olytime.htm

At the Athens olympics the Australian Lwt mens 4- rowed a faster time in their heat than the GB mens Hwt mens 4- in their Semi final.

Now I know that conditions change OTW too, but these are still records that have to be considered.

Just my 2 cents.

[TPMcT]

To be honest, I used the article about the new Dad Vail weigh-in procedure to bump this thread. I'm surprised that it hasn't generated more discussion. I thought there were more people, both male and female, who inhabited the border regions on either side of the weight limit.

I simply want to do the right thing if and when I post a time as a LWT on the ranking board. This morning I weighed 165.8 lbs/75.2 kg. Close, but no cigar. Yesterday morning I weighed 165.0/74.9. Was that sufficient to make to make me a LWT? For my logbook, yes; for a ranking piece, maybe and maybe not.

Is it worth setting up a poll on the subject? In the absence of a clear-cut consensus, I think the FISA procedures should apply, onerous though they might be.

As an aside, I think the Vail is going in the wrong direction. The weigh-in procedures are now even more generous than they were in my college days. Wrestling, particularly in high school, has imposed a quite stringent code for weight classes, setting minimum body fat percentages and maxmimum amounts of weight that can be lost in a given week. That may be overdoing it, but the reason for requiring weigh-ins on the morning of a race was to prevent the sort of tragedy that befell the BC rower last year.

[TPMcT]

...
I have an upper mid-range Tanita digital scale — it measures body fat in tenths of a percent. I presume its level of accuracy is equal to anything used at a venue race. I also have an old spring scale, lovingly preserved, on which I weigh about two pounds less. What is a reasonable expectation of accuracy in the scale one uses for weighing in?

Tim: I don't know which is more accurate, but I would always weigh on the spring scale, makes you feel much better.
I once made it down to 74 kg. It was terrible, and wasn't enough for getting into a otw-lightweight crew, so I changed direction to a "stable" hwt
Well, let's see your rankings. When will you do that 2k?

Regards,

nacho

Nacho,

There's a reason why I haven't thrown out that scale.

I once got up to about 87 kg, and it was terrible, too.

Some time this Summer, and sooner rather than later, I have to do a 2k. Maybe we can set something up online, and you can pull me along.

Good to hear from you.

[michaelb]

I don't think we need to be all that uptight for purposes of the rankings. These are training rows and based on the honor system after all. When the question has come up in the past, the answer has generally been to weigh in within 2 hours before the race, so that is what I have done. So I think there is more or less consensus on that as the current online rowing standard.

The "FISA" standard as you refer to it includes the limit that it has to be at least 1 hour before the row as well. I would guess that has to do with administrative convenience at public races and events (there has to be a cut off before the row, and they couldn't handle people weighing in minutes before the race). It doesn't make sense to me to apply that to myself in my own house, so if I happen to weigh in 30 minutes before a race, that will be good enough for me.

[TPMcT]

Michaelb,

You've hit the nail on the head. The hard part is not so much weighing in no more than two hours before. It's the required one-hour gap. Without the gap, it's possible to do an extended warmup, weigh in, and then row the piece. If there has to be at least one hour between the weigh-in and the piece, one would, if need be, have to row to make weight, then wait around before warming up all over again. Not at all convenient for a weekday after work.

In other circumstances, I would agree that I'm being "uptight." But beyond wanting to play fair, as I've said, I don't want to leave myself open to accusation, given the climate of hysteria that Chad has ushered into our midst. I don't want to cheat. Still less do I want to be accused of cheating.

[johnlvs2run]

Lightweight means lightweight.

For women and men rowing on an erg, lightweight means, respectively, 135 and 165 pounds or less.

To gain any medals or records, any lightweight rower should be required to weigh in within 2 hours prior to and then to weigh again immediately after rowing, to verify that s/he is qualified to be in the lightweight division.

This should be the standard for lightweights, for all competitions including ranking events.

[johnnybike]

Very interesting post(s) Tim.
I am naturally around 166-167 pound. As I quite often run at lunch-time I know that I am below that by the time of my 18:00 ish row (after work). There are scales in the gym but I know they under-estimate your weight so I look to be around 73Kg on those.
At home I have Tanita scales which I believe to be accurate and are certainly reliable and consistent.

If I wake up and weigh myself and I am ltw or close to it I will do sufficient exercise to ensure that is the case and then do the row. I do not wait 1 hour or 2 hours or any other period. In fact I have never considered it. If those are the rules of the event then so be it. However I am posting a row and stating I am lwt at the time of the row, which meets my personal standards.

If as yesterday I did not get weighed (at work and had not run at lunch-time) then I consider myself as hwt.

I am not sure that weighing post-race is of benefit as I am almost always lwt after a work-out of anything more than 5-6K which would cover a 2K race and the 4K w/u I do.

I see it as very much up to the individual and I do not see a workable alternative.

John

[michaelb]

Congratulations Tim on making LWT. Yes, weighing 165 is good enough (there was a thread or two on the old forum about the difference between lbs and Kgs as the standard, and from memory, being under either was good enough for C2).

I generally save any attempt for a PB for an online row. Rowing online means the day and time is scheduled in advance and is often not at the time of your choosing. So this adds seriousness and pressure to the process of making weight, since you couldn't just wait another few hours and make weight then.

I find the 2 hour window more difficult than the 1 hour limit (although again, I would never worry about the 1 hour limit) because 2 hours before the race is about the latest you really want to eat before the race. So if you are tight to making weight you have to wait to eat until after you weigh in. In the fall races, we did the same distance twice in row. I made weight for the first time the day of the 2nd 1k race. I ate and drank a bit too much after weighing (I think the coffee did me in) and never felt right, and was 3 secs slower than I was the week before as a HWT. So it can make a big difference and I decided it was much better to wake up at 163 and eat and drink anything I want when I want.

If I weighed in 2 hours before, and was more than 166 or so, I would just give up on making weight that day. I could easily lose a pound or two rowing for an hour, but wouldn't want to row longer than that or lose more than that right before a race. So the 1 hour cut off wouldn't really affect me that much.

[TPMcT]

Actually, I'm on my way back down below 165. I spent most of last year at 162-3 lbs. It took a period of intensive detraining in November and December to put me up to 167-8.

It's not the eating that worries me as much as the drinking. I hydrate like crazy during the day, to the tune of about 100 oz., before I get to my workout. Timing the liquid consumption, even if it is going out as fast as I'm consuming it, seems to me to be the greater problem.

I can lose as much as 7 lbs. in the course of a long workout. Of course, at that point I wouldn't be looking to turn around and row a 2K.

[michaelb]

Right, I meant eat and drink. You eat a little and drink a lot. But it is much better in terms of performance to start that process 3 hours before the race than to have to wait to drink anything in the morning until after you weigh in. I also think weighing in after a race would be excessively burdensome: the athlete should be able to drink right after the race without worrying.

[TPMcT]

Update: Dehydration was apparently not a contributing factor in the death of Scott Laio, the BC rower. See: http://www.row2k.com/news/news.cfm?ID=23394.

[ancho]

...Some time this Summer, and sooner rather than later, I have to do a 2k. Maybe we can set something up online, and you can pull me along.

Good to hear from you.

With pleasure (as far as this is possible in a 2k).
I hope it won't be you pulling me along!

Before, both of us have to pul along someone else next wednesday...

Saludos,

nacho

[TPMcT]

I'm so conflicted about that match, my two favorite clubs in what I hope will be the purest football ever played. At least now I don't have to worry about that Arsenal won't be in the ECL next year if they lose.

[ranger]

Believe who you know or believe to be honest and disregard the rest. (ie, don't know, don't care about Hastings, Caviston, Brody), but mostly enjoy the process of FRIENDLY competiton.

ranger

[DavidA]

I thought this fit in with the thread topic.

http://www.comics.com/comics/frazz/arch ... 60512.html

David