Indoor USA National Championships

[Cyclist2]

I've been training for Ergomania, but also watching all five regattas to judge the level of interest and the potential competition. There seems to be very little interest. So far only one entrant across the 5 regattas in my age/wt category! Even the overall number of entrants is really low. (I see Greg and Arlene are entered for Ergomania, you two are hard core!).

For Ergomania in particular, I expected quite a few entries by now since it is the only regatta in the National Championships west of the Mississippi.

I know that people wait until the last minute to sign up, and so am I, but seriously, if only a handful of entrants show up, why am I pushing myself into the pain cave 4 or 5 times a week? I don't need to prove anything or get a medal, I just like the competition, but where is it?

Anyone else have any thoughts about this particular National Championship, and maybe the state of indoor rowing competitions in general? Seems pretty dismal to me.

[jcross485]

I think if there was not an option to compete virtually, there would be much higher attendance at events.

It's a bit of a catch .22 in my opinion.

One of the awesome things with the C2 is that the machine is highly calibrated and tested so you can be sure that the numbers are pretty well the same across the board. This makes virtually racing an option. Pretty cool to have it as an option.

On the flip side, when you allow people to compete virtually and have those virtual results still be able to be submitted with respect to the national championships, it doesn't exactly encourage people to incurred substantial time and costs in traveling for something they can do from the comfort of their normal training environment.

My $.02 - allow people to compete virtually but make the virtual entries a separate category. There should be an in-person national champion and a virtual national champion for whatever categories there are.

[gregory.cook]

I don't think there is a virtual component to the US National Championship this year.

There might not be many people racing but I would still enjoy saying that I'm the National Champion. I'm not proud; I'll take what I can get.

See you at Ergomania, Mark.

[jcross485]

You are correct; I was mistaken, my apologies.

One other thing that I don't think can be completely disregarded - location.

Tacoma is a beautiful area; I've been up that way for work a few times. But, it's much more beautiful in the summer (IMO).

If USRowing is going to have satellite locations set up for an indoor championship, I think it would be better to place those locations strategically in areas that might offer a higher probability of weather that is better or in areas that offer more attractions besides a sub 10:00 indoor rowing event. I grew up in Buffalo, NY - I would not want to go out of my way to visit a place like that in the winter. Same goes for Tacoma, Pittsburgh, and Chicago. Atlanta and Chattanooga aren't as bad in the winter but the cities don't have the same attractions as others would.

If there were events in a coastal city in FL, for example, or where I live in Las Vegas, I would think there would be more people attending in person.

[Cyclist2]

Congratulations to Rick, Arlene and Greg for National Championship wins!

Have fun in Boston.

[gregory.cook]

Hey Mark, good to see you yesterday in Tacoma. Congrats on your silver metal in the US National Championship race... other details are extraneous. 2Ks never get old! (Unlike some of us.)

It was also good to see Luanne Mills who is now 85(?) and still beasting the erg.

There was one interesting non-result out of Chicago: https://usrowing.regatta.time-team.com/ ... 96242d13af

[rickbayko]

Thanks Mark. I felt good yesterday.

Looking forward to seeing Greg & Arlene at CRSAH-Bs, and it's great to know that Luanne is still killing it. She has enough hammers to open a hardware store. It was always good to meet up with her in Boston every February.

[gregory.cook]

Very nice result, Rick. I hadn't realized that you were making the trip. See you in Boston.

[Mike Caviston]

I competed in the 2025 US Rowing Indoor Championship at the Atlanta venue. It has been a challenge to find indoor competitions in the post-COVID world. I hadn’t raced in six years, but my training had been fairly promising and my volume has been consistently higher than it has for years, so I decided to make an effort to find a race. Atlanta is pretty accessible and easy to get around; Georgia was on my list of states where I had not done any race or competition (now 26 down, 24 to go); and I determined there would be a 15K run in town the next day (the Hot Chocolate series) which would increase the bang for my buck in terms of travelling to compete.

For a tune-up, I did the San Diego IRC on JAN 25. I’ve done it several times but it is a challenge for several reasons. Historically they have not confirmed a race date early enough for me to make plans. Even though it is “local”, the logistics of getting there are a challenge for me and I need to stay in a motel near the boathouse the night before. There have been a number of other annoying little issues to deal with as well, and this year was no exception. I showed up at the boathouse at 6am to weigh in for my 8am race, to find the schedule had been changed so my race would now be at 8:30. I had nothing to do but stand around in the cold until it was time to warm up. As I neared the end of the warm-up, I learned there would be further delay because of problems getting the race ergs to connect properly. So I had to keep warm for an additional half hour without burning out. But once the race started it went pretty much as I anticipated; I had submitted 6:55 as my seeding time and pulled exactly 6:55.0 (splits were 1:44.8, 1:44.5, 1:43.4, 1:42.2). I figured it would be possible to shave another 1-2 seconds off that time if things went well.

Training went well Sunday-Wednesday, ending with a 1500m time trial using the race plane I would follow in Atlanta to hit 6:54. My time for the trial was 5:09.9 (1:43.3) without any struggle or drama so I felt confident in my goal. I flew into Atlanta late Thursday afternoon for Saturday’s race. The race was held at the Georgia Tech Recreation Center on a basketball court between two other courts where students were playing basketball and volleyball. I can’t think of much to criticize about the event. It went according to schedule, the staff was competent and helpful, the layout worked well for racing. There was a good mix of junior, college, master, and senior athletes. I was concerned there weren’t enough warm-up ergs but I always forget how little time most people spend warming up before a race, and I had no problems. My warm-up felt fine and I went to my race erg confident in my race plan, which was simply to row 1:45 for the first 500m, then 1:44, 1:43, and 1:42 (or less if possible) for the final 500. Once the race started, I reached my 1:45 pace quickly and easily and it felt fine. At 1500 to go I shifted to 1:44, but it wasn’t as comfortable as I would have liked. At 1000m to go I tried to shift to 1:43 but it wasn’t happening, and I struggled to maintain 1:44 the rest of the way (in fact faded to 1:46-1:47 in the final 100m) and I finished in 6:58.0. That was disappointing, but I have to keep perspective and remember only a small % of lightweights my age (or even openweights) can row 2K in under 7:00. And I won the National Championship. I also had a lot of nice conversations during the event. Two former Michigan rowers were on hand, one to compete (winning the men’s 40-49 as well as the power hour) and another to watch his son compete. Another competitor thanked me for all the training tips from the Wolverine Plan that helped him prepare, and plenty of other people were interested in talking about training for rowing and running. As I reflect on why I struggled to reach my goal, there are a few possibilities. Travelling three times zones to the east is never helpful. Going two days without sitting on an erg before a race takes me out of my rhythm; I would prefer to do a full workout on Thursday and a thorough warm-up on Friday. The big issue was probably making weight. These days without even trying I maintain a body weight only a couple pounds over the 165lb limit, so it really shouldn’t be an issue. But when travelling and having no access to a scale, not necessarily able to find the optimal meals, and not performing as much physical activity as usual, I end up paranoid and make sure to have my weight very low before I leave home and don’t exactly fast on the trip but don’t eat a lot. I ended up weighing in at 159lbs on race day, probably not my ideal race weight.

On Saturday night I was too wound up to get any serious sleep, but I had to be up at 4am to get ready for the Hot Chocolate 15K. It actually went very well, so the rowing didn’t appear to interfere with the run at all. I liked the course, much hillier than I expected, starting and finishing at the Centennial Olympic Park. I felt relaxed almost the whole way, only tightening up a little in the final 1.5 miles but still maintaining my pace. I finished in 1:11:49 which just missed the podium but it is a big race with a lot of fast runners so I was pleased (I was significantly faster than the last 15K I ran over a year ago at a Hot Chocolate race in Chicago on a much flatter course).

So, I’ve satisfied my desire to race 2K for a while.

[Ombrax]

Congratulations, Mike - it's nice when all the hard effort put into training pays off.

[Dangerscouse]

So, I’ve satisfied my desire to race 2K for a while.

Congratulations on a great result in both the row and run