long and low for base?

[citiusaltiusfortius9]

At this point in CRASH-B training and more importantly general training for spring season, is it important or worth it to do long low rows eg: 90 minutes at 2:25? I can do a half marathon in under 90:00 minutes (I'm not sure exactly how long because I didn't know the distance was half marathon until after the row,) but I can hold 2:17 splits comfortably and talk for 90:00 minutes. Is there benefit to rowing higher splits? My coach who I really respect is suggesting this but I feel like it's not giving me much of a work out if I can do the same time and go more distance. doesn't that build a broader base?
-Sara

[mcj22]

For what it's worth, my old rowing coach saw no benefit in those types of easy & long rows. Might help for weight loss though if that's the idea.

[Bob S.]

For what it's worth, my old rowing coach saw no benefit in those types of easy & long rows. Might help for weight loss though if that's the idea.

My coach had us do plenty of long (but not easy) rows in the early part of the season, but we were training for 2 and 3 milers (his crews also trained for 4 milers in previous years), not 2ks. However, his philosophy was that if you train for the regular races, the "sprints" will take care of themselves. In those days it seemed to work. His crews got olympic gold in '28, '32, and '48 and they were 2k races.

Bob S.

[Nosmo]

In those days it seemed to work. His crews got olympic gold in '28, '32, and '48 and they were 2k races.

Bob S.

Hey Bob,
was he the Yale Coach? My father in law (whom I've never met) was on the 28 yale crew which I believe was the Olympic boat, but his father didn't let him go.

I've got a picture of that crew from his scrap book. In the boat was Benjamin Spok, a Rockafeller and a JP Morgan.

[Bob S.]

In those days it seemed to work. His crews got olympic gold in '28, '32, and '48 and they were 2k races.

Bob S.

Hey Bob,
was he the Yale Coach? My father in law (whom I've never met) was on the 28 yale crew which I believe was the Olympic boat, but his father didn't let him go.

I've got a picture of that crew from his scrap book. In the boat was Benjamin Spok, a Rockafeller and a JP Morgan.

The Yale eight won at the 1924 Olympics. It was UCB eights, under coach Ky Ebright that won in '28, '32, and '48. I was a letter winner at Berkeley in '46 and '47, but dropped out of school early in the '48 season. I was really on the coach's s-list after that, although I did manage to letter again in '49 and '50. My quitting was a result of a combination of factors, including lack of motivation in my classes and discouragement at having been switched from port to starboard. I never did know why he did that, but I had thought that perhaps he intended to use me as sub who could fill in on either side. In '49, I managed to get back in the first boat by the last race of the season, the IRA 3 miler at Poughkeepsie (the last one at P.). We won that one, so that was the high point of my rowing career. We had 4 of the '48 gold medal winners in that boat. Another 2 were in the J.V., 2 had graduated, and one had left school to go in the armed services. The 2 guys in the JV probably no longer had that much incentive to try to make the varsity. It was sort of anticlimactic at that point. In '50, I never did get back into the first boat, but, as JVs, we beat Washington, which was tantamount to winning the "Pacific Coast JV Championship" and meant that we qualified to win varsity letters.

ancient history

Bob S.

[TomR]

Sara,

Since you respect the coach, talk to him/her about pace. I assume you will be doing 6 sessions a week, so you want to train at a pace that doesn't grind you down.