First few strokes on 100m to 500m rows

[BradL]

I have watched some videos lately of some very good rowers doing some very impressive times on shorter rows, and it seems their first couple pulls are very short and quick. Although my focus is on becoming more fit and thus my training is aiming more towards the longer rows, I am presently much better at the shorter rows. For example, I can pull 250m in less than 39 seconds, which comes out to an average time of 1:17.5/500m. I am losing most of my time at the start. My first pull gets me to about 1:54, my second around 1:33 and my third is around 1:22. A couple of pulls after that I get to 1:15 to 1:16, which is what I can row through the 250 m on. Does anyone have any advice on the best way to improve your start for short rows. I also tend to die right around 250m thus long before the 500m point. So that my best 500m time is 1:29. I have been thinking I would just start sprinting 300m instead of 250m and than 350m once I got used to that. Is that a reasonable way to build up anaerobic capacity, or is it better to train sub maximal 500m and overdistance work. Thanks for any advice.

[jamesg]

Could be you're thinking of this?
http://www.tabataprotocol.com/

Fast starts require practice to learn how, like anything else; not that after 2k it'll make much difference, apart from feeling a lot worse if you overdo it. Negative splits will get you there sooner, as the tortoise said to the hare, which needs technique and endurance. Even 500m is no flat out sprint, as you've seen.

quote:
The original Tabata Protocol requires the following:
5 minutes of warm-up
8 intervals of 20 seconds all-out intensity exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest
2 minutes cool-down

The only risk is sudden death.

[Carl Watts]

Interesting numbers.

What I have been told no matter the distance from 500m an up you start out at the same pace you can sustain for the duration if you want the best time. Sure if you have anything left in the tank you can go harder at the end, but only at the end as if you die at any point in the row (like my current 2K PB) your overall time will suffer and will not result in your best you are capable of.

I cannot pull as hard as you, however I started out at 1:26 for the 500m and kept it up until a little fade at the finish (Tip Don't do a 500m straight after a 10K row no matter how good your feeling) and hence my overall time is better than yours for the 500m. You will get a better time starting out slower, however having said that with more training to give you the endurance, you could potentially pull around 1:20 for the whole 500m.

You need to do distance work to build up your fitness as it's letting you down too early.

[Byron Drachman]

My 2 cents: (Take this with a grain of salt--I'm making stuff up as I go along)

I think it is a tradition mainly from on the water rowing. If you are standing still in a boat and start with a hard, full stroke you end up moving a lot of water instead of the boat because of the inertia of the boat and rower, although that is less of an issue with the modern, bigger blades. For the same reason, people talk about soft catches and smooth acceleration during the drive on the water. Once the clutch is engaged on the C2 you don't have slip the way you can have in the water, so I suspect there is no good reason to start off with shorter, faster strokes on the erg, but there is probably no harm if that feels better.

[heptasyllabic]

It is a tradition from on the water, but the way that I have always understood it is that the quick, shorter strokes at the beginning of the race piece get the flywheel moving much the same way they would a boat. I have always found that doing 3/4, 1/2, 3/4, full at the start of a race piece brings my split down faster than full strokes would. And, of course, helps bring the rate up quickly as well.

[chgoss]

Personally I think dead lifts are the best way to improve starts. experiment with different starting points of the handle and different stroke lengths..
What is your average SPM on a 250m?

[BradL]

Thanks for the replies. I think I will try the tabata thing. I did something similar last night with 4 straight 250 metre pulls all out with about 3 minutes rest between them. It is interesting about the short pull on water. I have never rowed and thus this never would have occured to me. I tried a shorter first couple pulls, and it really did not seem to help my time. So you may be on to something. Carl, you are right, I die big time in the second half if I keep trying to pull sub 1:20, and pacing will be the key. I am really looking at my long distance as my focus and these short rows as more of an amusing sideline, but I am restarting heavy weights (once a week) and I think with growing cardio, I should be able to improve my short distance times (up to 500m) quite a bit in the next month or so. My longer distance times are improving (for the moment) every week. Once again, thank you for the replies. I am finding people on this board to be incredibly helpful, and to a total novice such as myself, much of what the experienced rowers on this board take for granted is totally new to me.

[BradL]

I agree deadlifts are the key. I am going to work on them in the next bit. I think I will focus on exploding with them rather than lifting really heavy weights. You are on to something with my spm because anything much more than about 36 spm my form falls to pieces and I find myself falling off the seat, or actively pulling myself back down the bar with the footstraps. I also tend to return the chain faster than the flywheel can take it. These problems are definitely decreasing as my form improves. The worst seem to be moving around on the seat. I really do think my short distance times would improve quite a bit if I had a seatbelt.

Edit: Thanks Emily, I will try 3/4 stroke. When you are looking for tenths of seconds, this might well make a big difference.

[Carl Watts]

I find 34 spm is the limit for my 500m. After this any correct form using the whole slide goes out the window.

Have a look at this, I found it very useful for anyone new to the Erg and it lines up with where you want to get to in terms of spm etc within 6 months of training.Typically with someone new to the Erg, the rating or spm is too high, as is your Drag Factor.

http://www.freespiritsrowing.com/conten ... e=hr_bands

[luckylindy]

quote:
The original Tabata Protocol requires the following:
5 minutes of warm-up
8 intervals of 20 seconds all-out intensity exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest
2 minutes cool-down

The only risk is sudden death.

Haha, sudden death is right. I used to do these when I was running a lot and they HURT. Every time I did them I deceived myself into thinking that it wouldn't be that hard ("it's only 4 minutes ... how hard can it be") ... but 160 seconds of all-out sprinting with only 70 seconds of short rests is incredibly taxing.

I imagine that a top athlete like Usain Bolt could seriously injure themselves by trying Tabatas. If he could complete the workout, he'd be covering well over a mile in 2.5 minutes of sprints (and probably hit the mile mark at about 3:30 through the workout). In reality, his hamstrings would probably blow on the second or third sprint.

But for mere mortals, I've found them extremely rewarding. I'll be interested to try them on the rower some day.