Mental Toughness In Rowing

[[old] aligilli]

Does anyone here have any thoughts, experiences, things to say about mental toughness in rowing? I'm a novice and I find that it's the hardest part for me to conquer. When I'm rowing in the club with people, no matter how hard the workout is, I am able to grind it out.<br /><br />But last night I was rowing at home, about 60% through the workout(it was a short but intense workout), I just quit. I cant believe myself afterwards.

[[old] ljwagner]

Intense workouts are challenging in multiple ways, and they can't be done on a continuous basis.<br /><br />If you are in a novice OTW program, but are a very fit land rower, what goes through your mind at home ? Are you focused ? Are you upset ?<br /><br />You may be showing signs of overtraining. Mentally you are ready, but you may be nursing some borderline injury. Your brain may be signaling you to cut back, but you don't know why and are resisting. Take a week off from the workout at home. If you are in great condition, a week off will cost you almost nothing in training, but leave you refreshed and ready to resume your efforts. <br /><br />Sometimes in this situation, people up and quit, and let their emotions get the best of them. Train with some other people off the water. Find their training level. <br /><br />This is supposed to be fun. Make it too much like work, and, well, it won't be fun, and you'll quit. In college, if anyone wanted to row Sundays, they knew I was always up for it, but we kept to long rows, no intervals. I might go weeks without skipping a day, but I loved it, and needed those non-intense days to recuperate from the regular training.

[[old] aligilli]

<!--QuoteBegin-ljwagner+Nov 20 2005, 11:17 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(ljwagner @ Nov 20 2005, 11:17 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Intense workouts are challenging in multiple ways, and they can't be done on a continuous basis.<br /><br />If you are in a novice OTW program, but are a very fit land rower, what goes through your mind at home ?  Are you focused ? Are you upset ?<br /><br />You may be showing signs of overtraining.  Mentally you are ready, but you may be nursing some borderline injury.  Your brain may be signaling you to cut back, but you don't know why and are resisting.  Take a week off from the workout at home.  If you are in great condition, a week off will cost you almost nothing in training, but leave you refreshed and ready to resume your efforts.  <br /><br />Sometimes in this situation, people up and quit, and let their emotions get the best of them.  Train with some other people off the water. Find their training level.  <br /><br />This is supposed to be fun.  Make it too much like work, and, well, it won't be fun, and you'll quit. In college, if anyone wanted to row Sundays, they knew I was always up for it, but we kept to long rows, no intervals.  I might go weeks without skipping a day, but I loved it, and needed those non-intense days to recuperate from the regular training. <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />I'm not doing any water rowing at the moment. Just trying to get my technique down and my splits down on the erg. I am in good physical shape from playing tennis however I have never done much endurance/cardio training. <br /><br />I felt like it was just a psychological failure, a sign of weakness that I just gave it up with 5 minutes left. Had someone been there to motivate, Im sure I would have finished it. But still theres no excuse. I failed. I was a quitter. It's really tearing me up.

[[old] Rate35]

<!--QuoteBegin-aligilli+Nov 20 2005, 01:36 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(aligilli @ Nov 20 2005, 01:36 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin-ljwagner+Nov 20 2005, 11:17 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(ljwagner @ Nov 20 2005, 11:17 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Intense workouts are challenging in multiple ways, and they can't be done on a continuous basis.<br /><br />If you are in a novice OTW program, but are a very fit land rower, what goes through your mind at home ?  Are you focused ? Are you upset ?<br /><br />You may be showing signs of overtraining.  Mentally you are ready, but you may be nursing some borderline injury.  Your brain may be signaling you to cut back, but you don't know why and are resisting.  Take a week off from the workout at home.  If you are in great condition, a week off will cost you almost nothing in training, but leave you refreshed and ready to resume your efforts.  <br /><br />Sometimes in this situation, people up and quit, and let their emotions get the best of them.  Train with some other people off the water. Find their training level.  <br /><br />This is supposed to be fun.  Make it too much like work, and, well, it won't be fun, and you'll quit. In college, if anyone wanted to row Sundays, they knew I was always up for it, but we kept to long rows, no intervals.  I might go weeks without skipping a day, but I loved it, and needed those non-intense days to recuperate from the regular training. <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />I'm not doing any water rowing at the moment. Just trying to get my technique down and my splits down on the erg. I am in good physical shape from playing tennis however I have never done much endurance/cardio training. <br /><br />I felt like it was just a psychological failure, a sign of weakness that I just gave it up with 5 minutes left. Had someone been there to motivate, Im sure I would have finished it. But still theres no excuse. I failed. I was a quitter. It's really tearing me up. <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />When you first start out or even as your training days go on you'll find there will be days where you'll just want to drop the handle. We all have those days and mentally we give up for whatever reason, but the next time you hop on an erg your determination and self confidence jumps through the roof. <br /><br />Everyone has bad days, dont sweat about it.

[[old] jbell]

Long workouts are the hardest mentally for me. A 6k is really hard for me to get through. 2k's are also pretty tough. If I ever stopped during a 2k, I would not be able to keep going on.

[[old] Pete Marston]

It's no big deal, and happens to everyone. I go through periods where I can push myself as hard rowing at home, but a lot of the time I need to be in the gym environment, and / or have other people around to row against / motivate me.<br /><br />When I'm not in fully mentally strong mode, I just do my hard workouts (2 to 3 times a week) in the gym, with other people, and my steady distance rowing at home. Atmosphere plays a big part.<br /><br />Pete

[[old] Carl Henrik]

Like others have said. It's ok to drop the handle on occasions. In fact it may be good. <br /><br />Be sure to always have a good warm up though and to start hard pieces slightly slower than intended goal average. Otherwise you will be likely to perform worse, have tougher time mentaly because of lactic acid and find you want to quit more often. <br />

[[old] Sentinal93]

I have had problems before with stopping pieces. It was really when I was erging alone, and it really didn't matter the piece. I almost always force myself to get on teh machine, and sometimes I decide to do something else or just not work out that day. I feel like it's ok once in a while, and in a way it's good. I've found a couple things about erging:<br /><br />1. the best pieces are the ones that i don't think about too much during erging. i don't focus on the time or the remaining meters, so much as the split<br /><br />2. Good music will always motivate me<br /><br />3. Try to set a goal before you start, and be consistent with your split<br /><br />My main piece of advice is this: <br /><br />The best mindset is when i think of the piece as one unit. Instead of thinking you are "1 minutes into the peice," or "i have 2594 meters left," just think of it as a 2k or 30 minute piece. When it's starts to hurt, i think "finish your 6k," and i just think of logging the piece. It helps me forget that there are many meters left, and forget the moment, and just create a goal for myself.

[[old] ljwagner]

You're not monks.<br /><br />Sculling and indoor erging are a bit anti-social. You're by yourself. <br /><br /> Try to find or coax a buddy to alternate the intervals with you. They work, you rest and motivate. Then swap. But then you'll discover coaxing blood from a stone can be really irritating. Part of the motivation technique in coaching is to know their limit, keep them a tad below it, until the last 40-60 seconds, and then get them to go all out. They can, and will, and you'll pull out better training, and enjoy sharing it.<br /><br />Good luck guys.<br /><br />I learned to love rowing in 8's, 4's, pair, and even sculls. If you can bend your oar more than those near you, you're more powerful. Irritate the cox'n, and try to power the boat into turns. Lenghten your reach and stroke, polish technique and finish. Challenge the other side to crank up the power with you, and keep it up. It does imply the coach is somewhere else, and the boat is up for this occasionally.<br /><br />The water is the best.

[[old] eannamac]

I work up to the rowing throughout the day. <br /><br />About now I'll decide what to row, what time I am aiming for, whether to try a PB, row a set distance for stamina, distance, do fast splits for speed etc. <br /><br />I'll write this down somewhere as a physical affirmation affirmation of my goals, which I will then review afterwards. I have a series of goals - say for a 500m run I have an ultimate goal of 1:20. Currently my best is 1:40.6 That is a long way off, however I have a series of intermediate goals e.g. 1:38, 1:35, 1:32, 1:30. <br /><br />Also it may help to concentrate on speed or distance at first, say aim for a fast 500/1000/2000 first and when you have reached near your peak at that, row for longer distances 10K to full marathon.<br /><br />During the warmup I run through why I am doing this, the purpose of the row and what I hope to achieve longterm as well as from this particular row. <br /><br />I might have a slightly different take on this, being Buddhist, I sort of meditate on what I am doing. During the warmup and stretching I try to shut out everything outside my immediate vicinity, it's just me and my machine. I use a series of concentric circles - firstly I shut out everything outside the room I am in. Then I shut out everything beyong 6 feet away. Then 4, then 2. Finally there is just me and the rower. Nothing exists outside this. The Zen of rowing ?<br /><br />I find morning rows easier for this, it's quiet, and you haven't had all day for your brain to pick up distractions. Also the rower is in the same place, in the same room and I try not to change anything around which may be in my field of vision as I row. <br /><br />All this may seem over-elaborate, but I'm overweight, unfit and prone to lazyness - I'd much rather go home, put sport on the tv, crack open a beer and eat pizza, so I have to gear myself up to get on the machine. <br /><br />Concentration, Determination, Perspiration.