What OTW Training have you done today

[Byron Drachman]

Hi Roland,

That's a great story. I spent some time yesterday breaking up ice near the dock, and this morning I managed to get a path to open water and did 19K with only a little ice dodging. I spent last week on the erg (with slides, and pimped to be a little more like my single) and I am nursing a slightly sore side (rib?) from probably too many intervals on the C2. This is absolutely my favorite time of the year for sculling. I have the river all to myself: no bass fishermen, no speedboats pulling waterskiers, etc.

[Rockin Roland]

Great story Roland. Was the guy much older than you?

He's about 60 years old and one of the best scullers in that age group around the place. He's out in his scull training pretty much every day of the year doing mega kms, excellent technician and very serious about his sculling.

It's good to see you getting back into it Roy. That KIRS boat of yours should be pretty quick. The KIRS eight that we rowed in this morning is a bitch to set but once we got it balanced it was flying. I love those sorts of boats with a finer less forgiving hull that gives plenty of feedback to mistakes but takes off when your rowing well. I'd imagine your single would behave in a similar fashion.

Tomorrow I'm racing in a coxed four and eight and it's forecast to be a hot day.

[Nosmo]

Today 19K steady state 20-22 spm in the 1x. The W8's were doing lots of drills so they were too slow to row next to.
Yesterday ~65 minutes steady state rating low rating--mostly 14-16 with several other singles so it was a good consistent effort.
Saturday 3x8 minutes in the 1x against two W8+. Started with one 15, 25, and 15 seconds a head of the other. Left the first one, the second gained over half the time at the 180 turn somewhere around 1100 meters. I took the turn so as to come out 30 to 40 strokes a head and we fought like mad the last 600. They caught me on two of the three. Great workout. Ratings about 30 spm.
Friday, steady state in the 1x again.
Thursday just a 25 minute run on the tread mill.
Last tuesday, there were 17 women at practice so they asked me if I sweep, so they would have two full 8s. I sweep the week before for the first time in a long time and my spine felt so twisted afterwards I didn't want to do it again. So I coxed for about the 4th time in my life and first time in a over 10 years. It was really fun. Think I did OK because the stroke was pretty happy with me. Workout was 8x500. DId 4x500 on the erg afterwards.
can't remember further back then that.

A week ago or so, I was in the single next to the W8+, chatting while we waited to dock, and one of the women accused me of only wanting to scull with the fastest women! I was a bit dumbfounded. Who else would I want to row with? Guess I could want to row with the blonds, which seemed to be how the women's coach back in college choose the V8+!

[Rockin Roland]

Yesterday we had a dinner function at our rowing club to celebrate our victories at last Sunday's State Championships.

I'm so ecstatic at the moment and are pleased to report that over the weekend I won a State Title in the Club 8+ event(open to all rowers that have not nominated themselves for national selection). It was a race over 1000m at our best local rowing venue in ideal rowing conditions. The rowing coarse was so good that it just begged for fast times and we didn't disappoint. Our stroke man set a blistering pace taking off at 40 spm giving us half a lenghts lead over the favourites, after just 10 strokes. My mind was totally focussed on punching out those fast catches to match him. I was in three seat and relished the opportunity to race in a boat with blokes half my age. However it was no joy ride though and the pace was wickedly fast. I couldn't believe how fast this eight was travelling, the quickest crew I've ever rowed with.

By the 500 m mark I was in oxygen debt already. At that point I heard the cox call that we were rating 38 spm. The thing was though that the stroke lengths through the water was very long. Anyone can row short strokes at 38 spm but to get the length we were getting made it damn hard to maintain that pace. At the 750 m mark I could feal the lactic acid hurting my legs and my breathing was just out of control. We were about a length up on the second placed crew but the cox wasn't happy. She called for a surge and somehow we responded. The rating then went up to 42 spm and by the finish line we crossed two lengths before the second placed crew. It felt so good to stop rowing and regain composure but even better to know that we had won a State Title.

Then came the annoucement. Our winning time over 1000m was 2:48. I couldn't believe it. I tried to relate that time to other times I'm aware of over that distance but couldn't think of a faster time. I'll probably never row that fast again in an eight, certainly not when the masters season starts again as 2:48 is quicker than any of the winning crews at the last World Masters games in Sydney, regardless of age group. I'm just grateful for the experience of being able to row with some young fit and slick guys.

[Byron Drachman]

Roland, that is awesome! How many days do we get like that?

Winter is trying to make a comeback in Michigan. There was a heavy, wet snow fall this morning leaving a layer of slush on top of the water. You can see the path of the hull. BTW, my boat is blue, not white. The white is snow.

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[leadville]

Got out on Saturday in a borrowed fluid mw 1x in Sarasota, sculled about 2k to get set for race on Sunday (thank you Billy Cox!). First day on the water since early September. Raced Sunday in brutal crosswind, second on the water in a D Masters 1x. rowed a quad w some buddies from Potomac in the pm (Nick Holland, Ed Ryan, Billy Cox), fast on the water but not fast enough as the old guys from Palm Beach got us by a second or two on the handicap.

racing at 26-27 after a long off season of low steady state is tough work!

recuperated with an hour on the erg easy Monday, then two hours yesterday. nice to get back to long slow stuff!

[Byron Drachman]

Hi Leadville, Good going!

The weather was very nice this morning (for Michigan): a few degrees above freezing and very little wind. I was concentrating on technique, daydreaming that I was rowing exactly like Xeno, when a deer came to the shore and said "take my picture." Well, he didn't say that out loud, but I'm sure that is what he was thinking. There were four other deer but they stayed back in the woods.

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[Byron Drachman]

Dang, winter is trying to make a comeback. It was 23 F this morning, and it has been below freezing all day. it is supposed to get very cold tonight so I suspect there will be ice on the river tomorrow. But I did get in 19K this morning.

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[Byron Drachman]

Two days ago I was wearing pogies and was bundled up. Suddenly it got warm. The pontoons for cold water safety come off tomorrow.

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[rjw]

Two days ago I was wearing pogies and was bundled up. Suddenly it got warm. The pontoons for cold water safety come off tomorrow.

Sounds great Byron but isn't the water still cold?

[Byron Drachman]

Two days ago I was wearing pogies and was bundled up. Suddenly it got warm. The pontoons for cold water safety come off tomorrow.

Sounds great Byron but isn't the water still cold?

Yes. I realized that I forgot my PFD and was heading back to get it when I took the video and captured that frame. I wear a PFD until the water is in the upper 60's. If the weather stays warm the river warms up quickly but when I measured this morning the water temperature was in the 50's.

[Yankeerunner]

Byron, you are single-handedly wearing down my resistance to OTW with all those great photos.

[Snail Space]

Byron, you are single-handedly wearing down my resistance to OTW with all those great photos.

Just give in to the urge. Resistance is futile - Byron will just keep bombarding you with glorious photography until you submit.

Byron (if you read thhis), those photos both show beautiful squared blades, poised perfectly for the catch. Your shins seem to be fairly vertical too, suggesting that you haven't pushed off before thhe blades are buried. Magnificent! I spend hours trying to persuade my junior charges to place the blades a bit earlier - they are mostly at 3/4 slide before their blades are even half-way in. I must show them your images.

Cheers,
Dave.

[Byron Drachman]

Byron, you are single-handedly wearing down my resistance to OTW with all those great photos.

Just give in to the urge. Resistance is futile - Byron will just keep bombarding you with glorious photography until you submit.

Byron (if you read thhis), those photos both show beautiful squared blades, poised perfectly for the catch. Your shins seem to be fairly vertical too, suggesting that you haven't pushed off before thhe blades are buried. Magnificent! I spend hours trying to persuade my junior charges to place the blades a bit earlier - they are mostly at 3/4 slide before their blades are even half-way in. I must show them your images.

Cheers,
Dave.

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the nice words. Here is a video of Zac Purchase. There is an obvious deliberate raising of the hands and getting the blades locked in before starting the drive. Since Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter dominate in the lightweight double, your kids might be convinced.



Hi Rick,

I'm kicking myself for not starting sculling sooner. I waited until I was 67 to take a learn to row course and became totally addicted after a few strokes my first time in a single. I have done some other sports, none as an elite but more as an enthusiastic amateur, such as bike racing (cycling) and cross country skiing but sculling on a scenic river early morning is something that words can't describe. The best I can do is say it is glorious, and once you get started there is no turning back.

Byron

[Bob S.]

Thanks for the nice words. Here is a video of Zac Purchase. There is an obvious deliberate raising of the hands and getting the blades locked in before starting the drive. Since Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter dominate in the lightweight double, your kids might be convinced.

Beautiful sequencing!

Bob S.