Launch Exhaust

Shutting down

2008-11-22T21:40:00.003-05:00

I've thought about this for awhile, but have been putting it off. There are a lot of reasons I haven't said or done anything, but everyone who has read this blog over the last years deserve some sort of explanation, no matter how cryptic.

I haven't been writing here for several reasons, all of them personal. My anonymity, which I never really protected, has been breached and things I've written have followed me around. While I'm known for speaking/typing my mind on what I think on many different subjects, the problem of watching what I type in passing isn't something that leads itself to good blogging. That's all I'm really comfortable saying on the subject.

I thought about deleting the whole thing, but there's too much here that I think can help too many people, so it will stay up. But I won't be writing anymore for quite some time, if ever. Who knows, I might start another blog with a different screen name and protect myself better, but that's a long way off. Good luck to all, make your boats go fast.

Go here

2008-06-07T21:18:00.000-05:00

I'm not kidding. Right the **** now.

http://www.rowinghistory.net

Great site. Contribute a little if you've got the inspiration.

Time for a scolding

2008-05-31T21:00:00.000-05:00

Three years ago in this space, I snarled at Central Catholic, a crew that (ironically) I would go on to coach, about what I felt was excessive celebration after a match race between Pitt, Fox Chapel and Central. It started a lovely little firestorm, the effects of which I still had to deal with when I started coaching Central later on. Jay Hammond and I had a long talk then and later about what I said, what he thought about it and celebration in rowing in general. Basically, we both think that such spectacles are best reserved for the Olympic Games or serious, major, end-of-season races. And I've tried to teach my crews that point of view over the years.

I was aware of the little stunt the boys of St. Joeseph's Prep pulled at the end of the Stotesbury Cup regatta a few weeks ago. I thought then it was low-class, garbage behavior and I still do. I haven't written about it because I wanted a little time to pass; I wanted to make sure I didn't put something up here in anger that I might later regret. But I've found as I get older, my first reactions are usually what I'm thinking later on. So, here we go:

A picture is worth a thousand words. Here are two. Then I'll add my thousand words anyway.

For those that don't know, here's the gist of it: after winning every other boat they entered, the Prep lightweight boat swam that broom out to their varsity after the varsity won the senior 8 grand final. The varsity got to celebrate with it on the water while they waited to get their medals, posed with the broom with the cup and then carried it back to their boathouse. I find such actions appalling.

Now, don't get me wrong: I've been involved in some very questionable celebrations in the past myself. In 1996, after "sweeping" the Harvard-Yale race, we swam out to the varsity boat and generally acted like idiots. I believe the varsity hadn't beaten Harvard in 11 years. So part of me does understand the reaction of the boys at Prep. They were excited at the accomplishment of their team, and that was a major, significant, noteworthy accomplishment. I give St. Joe's a lot of credit for that accomplishment.

But......

If I was the coach associated with that celebration, I would have been livid. It goes against everything I've ever taught my guys and I can't understand any coach that would be fine with this action. I mean, getting your picture taken with the trophy, your crew and an f'n broom? No, sorry, not me. Take that broom to the boathouse, boys, and sweep out the boat bay with it. I'll collect your medals and the trophy. Then we'll have a little chat about sportsmanship and "pretending that you've been there before." Two weeks ago I believed and still do, that their antics with the broom disrespected their opposition and a historical regatta. It sullied a great team performance, leading the conversation away from what all those athletes accomplished toward what kind of people they are.

To finish my Harvard-Yale story, yes we got a broom out at Gales Ferry. The next morning, we taped it to the flagpole over the boathouse, took a few pictures of it and then took it down. We needed that broom: We had to clean the place out and get it ready to wait until next year's crew moved in.

Death in sports

2008-05-04T12:00:00.001-05:00

It's really easy, at first blush, to be flippant over the results from yesterday's Kentucky Derby. There's a sport for ya! We'll kill the first loser! HAHAHA! Somewhere, I know, there are television execs and horse racing officials thinking that Eight Belles euthanasia after the race just might produce an uptick in ratings and income for the sport.

After thinking about it for a bit, that tragic ending only illustrates the horror of horse racing. These horses are million-dollar pieces of investment funds. They're tools, living race cars. A totaled stock car leaves junk all over the track to be swept up, removed to the junkyard. A few parts might be salvaged, but most will be melted down for scrap. A "broke down" horse that "went lame" in horse-speak leaves a dead body on the track. Never mind that it was "only a horse." Something that was breathing just a few moments ago is now heading to the morgue. It's hard for written words to properly convey my disgust.

I understand that death does haunt most sports, to some degree or another. Part of what makes such activities compelling is the risk, either minute or significant, of serious injury or even death. Every sport that anybody can participate in has a waiver that must be signed, absolving the organizers of blame if someone should be killed by participating. There have been "reforms" over the years in various sports to lower the risk to participants and fans alike. Hockey put up netting behind goals after a 13-year old fan was mortally injured by a slap-shot puck. Baseball first base coaches have taken to wearing batting helmets after one of their number was killed by a foul ball.

My own sport of rowing as seen death as well. The horrid tragedy of Soctt Laio, dying as his crew crossed the finish line at the May 2005 Dad Vail regatta in Philadelphia is still a fresh wound in the world of rowing. Recreational "masters" rowers have been killed in collisions with powerboats and coaches are not immune as well, drowning in front of their crews. We examine what went wrong in every instance, looking for a way forward to make an incredible activity safer. Boats shouldn't be named for people killed on the water.

Horse racing seems different in my view. There won't be an investigation into what happened to Eight Belles. Racing fans will shrug and say "she needed to be put down so she wouldn't suffer." However, I am not comfortable with such a caviler attitude, nor do I think the average sports fan is, either. We've seen what happens, too often. Death dances around most sports, but the governing bodies have adjusted to push back that risk. Horse racing hasn't responded that way, and perhaps this explains the slowly eroding support that sport enjoys. I will not mourn its (hopeful) eventual passing.

How to: Pull a 2k test

2008-05-01T22:00:00.000-05:00

UPDATE: I'm going to "bump" this post from last winter, as there seems to be a bit of "action" on it. I won't change anything I wrote at the time, because I still feel the same way. So, instead of searching for this post, here it is again at the top of the stack.

Ok, here we are after the turn of the year, when most crews start testing over 2000m in preparation for sprint season a few short months away.

The 2k test became a staple in the rowing world in 1995, when the Charles River All Star Has Beens changed the format of their little event from 2500m to 2k. Everyone can blame these clowns for the invention of the dreaded erg test in 1980. They thought it would be "fun." Thus the erg, never very popular before, became synonymous with pain.

You see, there is a big difference in discomfort between a 6000m and 2000m test. As I've written before, the 6k is a test of endurance and mental toughness. The 2k emphasizes endurance, power delivery, mental toughness, and pain tolerance. The 2k hurts you, if you do it right. It hurts you a lot, and being mentally prepared for that pain is far better than not knowing what you're walking into. So, off we go.

I loved only one thing about 2ks, and that was the feeling of the first 350m. All the nervous energy would burn off, and most people get to their target split without too much trouble. (Always have a goal or target for a 2k. Always.) After that first 350 is the beginning of the "fun," because the rower starts to hurt.

Not a lot at first, but enough to be noticeable. Lactic acid was produced in that first 200m burn, and it ends up in the muscles where it was born, so the legs start a little complaining. The best route here is to find that goal split and concentrate on "building the piece" of as many of those splits in a row as possible. If 1:40 is the goal split, make sure every stroke is there at 1:40. An early indication of a piece in trouble is the inability to hold that goal, with the splits jumping around with every stroke.

At 1500m to go, I'd like to take a little power 10. Nothing serious, just 10 strokes to push the splits down 1 or 2 and get ready for the worst 500m of my life. Because the 2k is going to fail or succeed right in that second 500m, and the mental toughness of the athlete will decide it. Right there, I would usually think, "I can't hold this pace. I need to back off," because here it really starts to hurt and you are not even halfway done yet!!! But know this:

IF YOU BACK OFF YOUR GOAL SPLIT IN THE SECOND 500m OF A 2K, JUST FOR A FEW STROKES, YOUR PIECE WILL CRASH AND BURN.

Why? Simple: The difference in power output into the machine from a 1:40 to a 1:42 is mere percentages. The athlete will still hurt just as much producing the energy for a 1:42 as a 1:40. But the mental drain that comes from "stepping off" just a little opens the door to "stepping off" a lot. Suddenly, an athlete whose goal was 1:40 and was capable of holding that split is pulling 1:44 or 1:45, gasping for breath and wondering why they still hurt so much.

The lesson, as always: RACES ARE WON IN THE MIDDLE.

Tough it out through that second 500m. The time from 1300m to go to 1100m to go will be the longest 42 seconds of any one's life. Gut it out.

At the 1000m to go mark, it's time to take a power 20. Why? To prove you're still alive and attacking this test. Always attack. Suffering along is waiting for another boat to come and get you, so train the 2k test like you plan to row in the spring.

I always felt a sense of liberation as the clock dropped below 900m to go. The worst was over, it was more than halfway done and I had "held the line" of goal splits. A good piece will find the athlete still holding the goal split for a majority of strokes from 1000m to 700m to go.

Here's where my process differs from what I'm teaching the CC novices. I would always "step" at 700m to go, dropping the split down one and holding it there. At that point, a one second difference will move the average split number after 6 strokes or so, and it feels good to be going faster than the average split number. I imagined each 1/10th of a second on that average was one seat of an opposing boat, and I needed to "walk up" that boat, taking seats. I would prefer the novices to hold their goal splits through here, saving mental energy for.....

....the last 500m. As a coach, when I'm selecting a boat, I want to know two things about an athlete's erg test. Did they hold steady through the second 500? Did they go faster in the final 500? Yes, taking a power 20 at the 500 to go mark is great. But a power 20 that is only 1 second faster that what was being held, followed by dropping a second slower isn't what I'm looking for in my first boat. As you can see, races are getting closer as time goes on, and that last little inch just might bring a National Championship. Is the athlete capable of being on the winning side of a race like this one?

So, that final 500m tells me a lot and told me a lot when I would suffer through this. Lift once at 500 to go, keeping whatever rating I was at, then lifting the rating and leaving whatever energy was left in the final 200m.

The key to the sprint is to stay long with the legs and not shorten the stroke, and to sit tall with the body. The athlete's legs are in cramping, burning agony at this point, and the easy way out is to start rowing half slide and asking more of the back and body. This might work fine on the erg for a few strokes, but the back muscles aren't big enough to produce as much output as the legs, and the splits will fall off. Plus you don't sprint at half slide on the water.

Remember, after all, we're doing this to go fast in real boats on real water. Ergs don't float.

How to: Pull a 6k Test

2008-04-30T10:00:00.000-05:00

UPDATE: I'm bumping this post up as well, so all three "how to" are at the top of the stack.

The 6000m erg test has become a staple in the rowing world since the US National team instituted it nearly 10 years ago. Prior to the 6k, most long test pieces were twenty minutes in length, with the oarsman striving for the greatest distance rowed in that time frame. That test was a hold over from the gamut erg, which measured a number of revolutions produced by the rower over a set amount of time. I don't have any images of a gamut, but rest assured, gentle reader. The gamut was evil. They made the Concept II B look like a Cadillac.

The 6k is usually tested in the fall and winter, when crews are concentrating on endurance. Not only is endurance tested, but mental toughness. A coach's thinking assumes that anyone can "hold their breath" and "tough it through" a 2000m test. The 6k requires concentration and mental toughness over a long time that can't be faked.

The critical moment of a 6k happens in the middle of the piece. As I've said many times before, rowing races are usually won in the middle, when a crew's fitness and technique pay dividends over the explosiveness of the start or the burning agony of the sprint. A 6k emphasizes the middle of the piece, because the start and sprint are such smaller portions of the total work.

From 4000 meters to 2000 meters to go, the rower will struggle against increasing exhaustion. This is very different from the increasing lactic acid pain that builds during a 2k. Because of the emphasis on aerobic work, the exhaustion an oarsman battles during a 6k feels more like a power drain. The key to having a successful piece is consistency during this section. The oarsman should have found a sustainable rhythm fitting his goal during the first 2000m. Simply pulling the same average split through this section of the test will usually bring a positive result.

Sounds simple, right? Sure. I usually had the "I can't do this" moment during this stretch. Exhaustion sets in before the halfway point, and most people just want to back off just a little to conserve energy for the sprint. That's the problem and challenge of the 6k. If the rower backs off just one or two splits during the middle, those splits are usually gone forever. You can't just hop back "up" to that faster pace; that takes mental energy that should be reserved for the sprint. Now the rower is struggling just as hard to hold a slower pace. Think about it: the difference in real energy required to pull a 1:55 rather than a 1:57 is tiny, just a few percentage points. The mental energy required to get back to 1:55 after two minutes pulling 1:57 is massive.

Finally, why really "save" anything for the sprint at all? In order to make any significant of difference in the "average split" in the final 750m, the rower has to carve off 10 seconds per 500 and hold that through the final 750. If the rower has waited until the final 500, it is too late to "salvage" a good result. Once second "average split" is far too much to make up in the final 500m of a 6k.

I always started my sprint at 1500m to go, by pushing down whatever split I was pulling every stroke by one second. A longer "push" makes a bigger difference in the final time. There would always be energy for the final mad dash, which is really for the coach to watch his crew and measure how much pain tolerance everyone has.

What lesson to take from all this? Emphasize the middle of the piece. Every stroke is an opportunity to build your average towards what you want it to be. Push in the last 1500m and trust that your inner crazy will always be there for the final 500m. Just don't trust that final 500m to save you from a bad piece. As always, win your race in the middle.

How to: Win a seat race

2008-03-17T10:00:00.002-05:00

Uh....make the boat go faster than the guy you've been switched with.

Ok, snarky, sarcastic, obvious comment aside, selection time is upon many teams as the spring rolls on. Seat racing, if it hasn't been used yet, will be used soon by most coaches here in the United States. We like seat racing because it doesn't involved the mechanical, dry numbers of the ergometer. The coach actually has to think now, putting together the best lineup for the fastest boat, rather than writing Excel tables for tabulating erg scores. In short, rowing adds the "art" that has been lacking through the long winter.

But seat racing means so much, out-weighing most erg scores and other testing numbers collected during the winter, that oarsmen approach "selection week" with dread. Suddenly, one or two short pieces in an unfamiliar lineup mean the difference between first and second varsity seats.

I won't get into the reasons for seat racing here. I believe it's the best method for selection of a fast lineup, followed closely by lots of work in pairs. And there are no inside secrets that could help me seat race myself into the American Olympic eight. The training that an athlete brings to the water after the winter heavily influence the outcome of seat racing, and the results from the winter do influence the direct, athlete vs. athlete comparisons that a coach looks at.

So, what can I offer here? Mainly, the mental approach the athlete brings to seat racing day can make a significant difference in how that athlete performs. To bring your best during a seat race and have the opportunity to win, here's Coach Jay's advice for winning seat races.

First, for everyone on the team, "RACE DAY RULES APPLY." That means everyone needs a full night of sleep, good hydration and dietary preparation and good health. If any member of the team is deficient in these areas, they should notify the coach before seat racing starts. This is the "First law of successful seat racing." Because, even if you weren't raced that practice, but tell the coach that you were racing on 2 hours of sleep afterwards, the coach now gets to throw out all the results he just got, and repeat the whole sequence later. Thanks for wasting that practice. (Now go do a 6k. Grrrrr.) Furthermore, Race Day also means that you have to get your mental "game face" on and face down your nervousness.

Being seat raced is an opportunity for the athlete to be the coach's complete focus for one, two or even 5 entire racing pieces. As an athlete, you will not get this much attention during a typical practice. It's your opportunity to shine.

It's also your opportunity to prove the coach wrong. That strange little hitch in your shoulder at the catch? The technical problem that you've been yelled at about for the entire season? Well, it doesn't matter all that much when you win your seat race, does it? Prove the coach wrong; prove you deserve a seat in the next boat up. Prove that you're the Alpha Wolf.

So, what is the coach looking for during seat racing, other than the obvious results between two athletes? I would also look at the stroke seats, if I wasn't sure who would be stroking the various boats. I want to see how well they're keeping the required rating and how easily the boat behind them follows. The athletes that are being raced are obviously the center of my concentration. I'm looking for how well they row when under pressure and how they mentally strong they are. Are they looking over? Are they shouting in the boat? Did they give up when their boat got too far down or ease off the pressure when they got too far up? Lots of questions about how the athlete attacks seat racing will directly translate to how that rower will approach real competition. Be aggressive, but mentally strong. This is the "Second law of successful seat racing."

Seat racing is (if the coach has done his lineups correctly) the closest racing that will happen in practice. For many crews, this is the only opportunity to experience competition before they are putting their uniforms on for the real thing. Will the technique that endless miles in the tanks, on the ergs and on the water fall completely apart when *real* full pressure is required? Thus, please don't suddenly change your approach to rowing when a seat racing day gets started. That would be the easiest way to lose the race and drive the coach insane. (I know, short drive.) This is the "Third law of successful seat racing."

Next, try to meld in to the rhythm of the boat that you are in. The easiest way to win a seat race is to switch into the boat that won the previous race and "get out of the way." Don't try to win the race by yourself; this is a team sport, after all and the athlete that adds to the swing of a successful boat will have an advantage. Because of this, time spent on the paddle with your new boat, or even a power ten is key. Make your switch as quickly as you can, get adjusted and go. Those warm-up strokes give the athlete the opportunity to learn the rhythm of their new boat, either helping a struggling boat or meshing into the good swing of a successful boat. Thus, the "Fourth law of successful seat racing" is to switch quickly and get a few warm up strokes.

So, when the practice is over, the athlete must now face the results. Either you won or lost. Was is close? If so, expect that race to be "looked at" again by the coaching staff. We like "definitive" wins; that means we can be reasonably certain about that outcome. Close races leave the coach shaking his head. Now he's looking at just making a "gut call:" who is better when a seat race basically ties? Good luck with that one, it keeps us up at night.

Coxswains, a word. Steer straight. Get the boats together quickly. Get the boats lined up quickly. Don't screw up the timing. Don't screw up the distance between the boats. Don't lie to the athletes on how many seats they might be down. (Basically, don't screw up. The, usual, you know.) Because neither the coach nor the athletes want to re-race because of a coxing screw up.

And for those on the "sideline" not being raced: If you don't think that we're watching the entire boat, you gravely underestimate your coach. Yes, we're concentrating on two rowers, but the quickest way for me to throw out my seat race plan and make a "surprise bow vs three" switch is if I believe somebody isn't giving their best effort, or worse, is trying to throw the results. We're all on the same team, people. And that is the final lesson of seat racing.

More YouTube rowing

2008-03-16T10:00:00.000-05:00

Check this one out: Some rower turning into a rapper.

Great Rowing on Youtube

2008-02-10T20:00:00.000-05:00

For those looking for inspiration, as the heart of February closes about us, here are some great vids from Youtube:

Oxford/Cambridge "Inches" speech

Canadian Olympic team "Inches" speech

Men's 8+ final, Athens Olympics

2006 USRowing Junior National Championships, Men's 8+

And finally, an evil vid with the erg:

The Stupid Bowl

2008-01-20T22:00:00.000-05:00

Oh, yea! This year's Super Bowl will feature the coronation of the New England Patriots. The NFC patsies will be the New York Giants. Two teams from the northeast, leaving the rest of the country with no real interesting storyline to watch. I don't believe anyone outside the northeast corridor really cares about watching the Patriots' "Drive for Perfection."

I, for one, will not be watching the game. I can think of many other interesting things to do than watch Fox put up slanted political reports for the first part of the day, followed by hours of insipid "analysis" trying to hype up the game, followed by three Eli Manning interceptions in the first half. Add in the usual terrible "halftime show" and more New England players dancing around, and this game promises to be a total snoozer. I'm predicting a total blowout, something like the real fun Super Bowls from the mid-1980s.

Care to join me in the Stupid Bowl protest? I'll be in Pittsburgh the day before, for the Three Rivers indoor sprints, hosted this year by Central Catholic. It will be nice to return to the 'Burgh for a weekend. I'll hang around on Sunday, then drive back to Cincinnati starting Sunday afternoon. If I'm lucky, I'll miss the entire game.

I just don't have the stomach to watch this. I'd rather watch people trying to lose lunch after erg tests.

Wintertime Cross Training

2007-12-16T18:00:00.000-05:00

Will has gotten crazy about rock climbing this winter. This mania started with this picture, taken at Callaway Gardens in Georgia. The wall you see him on is about 40ft high, and he was quite pleased with himself afterwards. Since then, I've taken him out to a few different places, RockQuest in Cincinnati being his favorite. Below are a two shots of him climbing at their great indoor facility.

So, why talk about cross training while putting up pictures of my 5 year old climbing 45ft walls? Going to these various climbing gyms has given me an opportunity to observe the athletes that enjoy this sport up close, doing their own wintertime training. Climbing outdoors in freezing rain doesn't seem to be anything they would enjoy more than rowers enjoy racing in high winds on a 40 degree day.

So, how do high-end climbers train in the winter? It's their off-season, after all. There are some very specific skills they've built up over the years, or new abilities to work on. What do climbers do?

Guess what? They do the same thing swimmers do. They practice their sport in a simulated environment indoors. Does a wooden climbing wall exactly simulate the face of a granite cliff? Of course not. There's also no wind to deal with or footholds that fall out once your full weight pressed upon them. Just like rowers who deal with an erg that doesn't exactly mimic the feel of water or the the set of a boat.

Anybody guessing the point I'm making here? I'm all in favor of cross training. It makes a fun "different" activity to get into every other weekend or so. There is just too much evidence to suggest that cross training simply won't produce a faster boat. In a specialized sport such as rowing, there is no substitute to actually rowing to get faster.

Don't misunderstand my point, however, when the issue of weight training or flexibility is discussed. Both are worthy, focused tools used to increase power output and technique in the boat. Climbers lift weights fanatically, but they simply don't focus on the lower body strength like rowers must. Core muscle groups, upper shoulders and forearms are the favorites of climbers, where leg exercises and bench pulls are important to oarsmen.

So enjoy your cross training this winter. Once or twice a month. If, however, the fastest boat possible is your goal, keep rowing. That is, after all, the motion you're trying to perfect.

Beach Running

2007-11-21T23:30:00.000-05:00

For Thanksgiving this year, my family is on the beach in Charleston, SC. There's miles of beach to walk and run, along with a heated pool for the kids. Plenty of fun for Will and his cousins and a big enough building to house all 25 of us.

I was thinking of hitting the beach tomorrow and talking with some of my family members of the running persuasion. Everyone knows that I can't run, and we brought an erg down to burn off some T-Day calories, but their conversation about running on the beach got me thinking about the running that happens in rowing.

In rowing, we encourage everyone to work in unison. In the boat, that's a requirement. On the ergs, workouts are structured so the weakest oarsmen many times are finishing at the same time as the strongest. Instead of working over a certain distance, we use elapsed time, such as 60 minutes of steady state or six 1-minute pieces.

However, when sent out on a run, a crew reverts to individuals. If I sent a team on a run down the beach, I would get multiple sets of footprints in the sand, and they would return to the start at different times. However, the military runs in formation and in step with each other. Why don't we encourage this in rowing? If anything, rowing is more dependent on such interdependence and unison, yet we let such an opportunity slip by. Perhaps this is something to think about in the future, when the team is sent out on a run.

Just a thought. Anyone have any comments?

When the coach rants

2007-09-27T23:00:00.000-05:00

I'm going to add my two pennies into the Mike Gundy debate. For those that aren't familiar with what happened, read this column, that appeared last Saturday before the Oklahoma State Cowboys played. Then came coach Mike Gundy's post-game news conference:

Finally, here's the rebuttal column from the sportswriter.

When a coach goes on a rant like this, it's the product of a lot of frustration that boils over. Coaches deal with a lot on their plate on a daily basis, and the responsibility doesn't ever get easier. The highest duty is always to the athletes under your command, and good coaches get very possessive of "their" kids. We really become surrogate parents. Like parents, it's okay for us to discipline our kids, but look out if anyone out there says anything bad about our kids. Then papa bear comes out, and it makes for entertaining television. I really understand where Mike Gundy was coming from.

The national sports media had a wonderful few days with this. It made for great sound on sports stalk radio. ESPN radio had morning hosts that agreed with Gundy and supported his point of view and a midday host that called it insane and predicted Gundy's immanent departure from the college coaching ranks. Both points of view got passionate calls, which is what talk radio wants. I believe the media missed who was the target audience for that rant.

Gundy was going off for the consumption of his players. He had made a difficult move to switch starting quarterbacks, his defense had just been shredded in a shoot-out which the team did win, but controversy was swirling around the team, being fed by a columnist. She needs readers, so "stirring the pot" gets her attention. How does Gundy respond to this situation? Usual coach-speak might work, but won't take any attention away from a possible quarterback controversy or a week of questions about his defense.

So Gundy made it all about him, while making a very important point to his athletes: Coach has my back. It's us against everyone. We're a team, a family and coach will go to the mat for us. I'm sure the offensive players would love to exult about their great performance and the team's win, but I'm absolutely sure that Gundy's boys will follow him into hell after his rant on the media, because they know and they've seen that he cares deeply for them. Deeply enough to deal with a week or more of media insanity for them.

As a final side note, I think the columnist is disgusting. She claims "sources and facts," but actually claims not one. No quotes, interviews, nothing. She writes that her integrity has been attacked, but she doesn't understand what her function is. She's a columnist, someone hired to write an opinion. Columnists don't have to support their work with facts. They can make things up from whole cloth if they so choose. But somehow, she's offended that she got called out over and over again on national television. She doesn't like being told that her opinion stinks. Anyone can say that: it's free speech. Her problem is that it's getting far more airtime.

I like what Gundy said and did. I agree with him. He must be one heck of a coach.

The Hurt Locker

2007-08-03T11:30:00.000-05:00

The Hurt Locker is the unfortunate byproduct of Swing. When the rhythm of the boat re-enforces the output of the oarsmen, they feel it as a sublime, unstoppable moment that can last for a few strokes or a few thousand meters. Swing encourages the crew to continue the output they are generating for as long as possible. Frankly, the crew might feel as if they could continue on that pace indefinitely.

The Hurt Locker opens up when the boat finally stops and the body, which had been fooling itself, suddenly realizes how much energy has been produced. Between two and three breaths, pain suddenly floods the various systems. Welcome to the Hurt Locker.

Once you've gone there, it is very difficult to get back to the swing the boat has just experienced. There's just too much pain. If you're lucky, you've timed your trip to the hurt locker with the last piece of the practice, or the final at the big regatta. If you're unfortunate, you've got to somehow muster up the physical courage to start rowing again in the next few minutes or hours to go all over again.

Jay and I took a trip into the Hurt Locker this morning. It was our best outing in the pair so far, with the boat set well and running straight. There were times as we swung downstream from the 62nd street bridge that I felt as if I were rowing an erg. It was Swing.

Of course, when that feeling comes over a boat, the rowers usually increase power to reenforce the good row they're having. And so on we went, steadily increasing the pressure and then the rating over the next 2.5 miles. I was breathing hard as we made the final turn under the wires toward the 40th street bridge.

Sweat broke out all over my arms we relentlessly pursued speed. I knew what was happening; I felt like I could continue this pace for a long, long time. There always seemed to be more energy, flowing from the boat, through me and into the water. I wondered why I wasn't hurting too much and why my hands had gone numb on the composite oar.

One last power twenty took us under the bridge. Even that didn't seem to tax me so much, it just required moving a little faster and drawing more power out and into the oar. Then we paddled and stopped. And the Hurt Locker opened like a yawning, stinking mouth of hell.

I had made some poor eating choices yesterday, and my guts were reminding me of them. Feeling returned to my aching hands, where fresh blisters from earlier in the week protested the continued abuse of this morning. My head pounded; I was dehydrated despite guzzling down a quart of water every workout.

It was very difficult to stand when we landed the boat. Jay's back was in agony. He had difficulity putting on his socks later in the locker room. I feel, now five hours later, as if I'd been up all night before going on the water. (No, I wasn't.) There's just no energy left in me, and my legs are aching now. No amount of caffiene has overcome the all-consuming desire to sit at my desk and sleep.

However, I now sit here with a smile on my face and content in my heart. It was a great row. I wonder if Jay's back will be ok for Monday?

The coach 2-

2007-07-29T18:35:00.000-05:00

Well, after a very frustrating spring and summer with injuries and general insanity, the Central coaches' pair finally got out on the water this morning. It was the first time in a 2- for me in over seven years. I have always liked rowing the pair more than any other boat, so I've been looking forward to this for awhile.

And contrary to all the snide remarks I'm sure the guys are making, no we did NOT flip. Actually, we had a very good row, didn't hit anything and managed to go straight, thus proving that the old guys do still "have it." Next outing is tomorrow at 6am, and any challengers are welcome from the ranks of the oarsmen. Nobody will be allowed in the first boat that can't beat the coaches in the pair. I might be kidding, or I might not........

Off the erg some more

2007-06-21T22:23:00.000-05:00

That is my broken toe, right foot, next to my big toe. Notice that it's just a little......bent.

I was planning on getting on the erg again this coming week, as my back has been really loose and easy. Not for awhile now, I'm on crutches. This sucks.

Next Christmas?

2007-06-01T21:00:00.000-05:00

For those who haven't hit this link on row2k, I now call attention to the Streetrower. I'm not sure how well this would do for us here in Pittsburgh (the site says they can customize some gearing), as the hills here are steep and ever-present, but this looks like a lot of fun. Apparently it's even possible to build one of these for a bloke my size!

The only information I don't see on the site is how the legs get involved in the stroke and if it's possible to lay back a little more than I see in these shots. Everyone seems to be rowing a little short in the finish for this coach's eye. But hey, everybody's a critic. It looks like a great idea and I would love to take a Henley vacation sometime to try one out. Any readers out there who've been on one?

These would give an all-new way to look at erg tests, as there is a banked bike track here in Pittsburgh, just over the Highland Park bridge, and a bike path that follows our main training areas on the Allegheny and Monongahela. Why race against the clock when you can race for real, head to head? Those miserable flooded out March weeks might be a thing of the past.....

Thoughts for the novices the night before

2007-05-10T17:00:00.000-05:00

Before you push off the dock on Saturday morning, I want you to know you're the most successful novice crew Central has ever had. A lot of people have offered congratulations to the coaching staff, but I believe you, the athletes, are the sole people who deserve the credit and congratulations.

Traditionally, novices are victimized by low expectations. The first year of rowing is supposed to be a learning year, with good fundamentals, awards for "participation," and a few races tacked on to the beginning of regattas as a "bone" to "keep the novices interested." Sometimes the best athletes from the novices are taken from their classmates early, to fill out a struggling 2V or 3V. The rest are politely expected to struggle on, hamstrung, and "race well" or "show good sportsmanship" or "represent the team." These are great characteristics to have, and we encourage them. But in other words, crews with low expectations didn't care if the novices lost.

This year, you 18 men accepted the challenge of higher expectations. In order to meet these, you have trained harder than any novice crew at Central, you have achieved faster erg scores that any novice crew at Central, and you have raced with determination never seen from a Central novice crew. No Central novice has ever pulled faster than seven minutes on at 2k erg, nor has any Central novice raced in the finals at the New Jersey championships, until this year.

When great accomplishments are expected from a person or group of people, many times it is seen as a disadvantage or an obstacle to be overcome. Barack Obama wrote eloquently of the struggles his father had being one of the first Kenyons to earn a college degree in America, football teams with "something to lose" are seen as disadvantaged against teams with "nothing to lose, playing with house money."

However, I disagree with the "conventional wisdom." The only disadvantage high expectations have is the perceived risk of disappointing those with those high standards. If a poor crew that has not trained well and does not expect to do well goes out and loses their race, then they have fulfilled their low expectations. If an excellent crew that has trained well launches and wins their race, they have fulfilled their high expectations, and *most importantly* have defied the risk of disappointment and defeat. That excellent crew would take not satisfaction in their win if there had been only one other very poor team in their race.

Given the choice, when pushing off the dock, I would rather be the team with high expectations than low expectations.

I've though at length this week about expectations, goals and definitions of success. I've become ashamed about what I said to the novices after the race on Sunday. I got too involved in one race and it's outcome; I forgot to recognize the long-term goals that have been accomplished this year. The Central novices are competitive. People talk about our races. The overall level of the team has been raised by the novices. Because these main goals have been accomplished far beyond my own expectations, I have to be proud of this group. Both boats could come in last this weekend, and I would still be proud.

Why? Because they have showed determination, courage and character. They already are the best group of Central novices ever, and are well on their way to being the best class of Central Catholic oarsmen ever.

So do not fear disappointment this weekend, gentlemen. Before you race, take a moment to calm your anxiety and focus on how far you've come. Concentrate within yourselves and within the gunnels. Focus on your blade and your coxswain. Row like you know how and accept the challenge of high expectations, because that is what you've done all year, and that is what will make every one of you exceptional Central oarsmen in the future.

Close Racing

2007-04-11T22:30:00.000-05:00

I saw a close race today, between my Central freshmen and FC's novice crew. The final margin was CC by 3/4 of a length or so, and the boats were very close for quite a bit.

I always thought there was something very satisfying about a close race, even if I lost. Matching strength against an even opponent felt like a validation of all the work I had put in, and somehow honored the other guy as well. While there was always some joy in winning by a large margin, I felt some sadness as well. I know how hopeless it feels to get blown out after putting in long hours of practice (I've been there, and it really hits hard), and that is not a feeling I wish on any crew.

A close race validates all the time and energy both teams have put into the sport. Somehow, that hard-fought battle raises both boats up somehow. You want another crack at that team, to measure your progress. There's a measure of respect that a close race imparts between crews, and I would look forward to seeing a team that had barely beaten us again, somewhere, anywhere.

One of the proudest races I've ever been involved in was a race we lost, against St. Paul's school in 1995. Nobody had ever come as close to them as we did, and I took pride in knowing I'd lost to a better crew, but had pushed them to their limit.

We'll see FC again. If not in a race, then during a practice sometime during the coming weeks. My history with that program guarantees it and I welcome the challenge. Both crews will get faster from today's result.

Pain

2007-04-07T09:54:00.000-05:00

Back pain. A lot of it. I couldn't move two nights ago.

I have no idea what brought this on. There wasn't a sharp flash of pain moment that told me "oops, I've done something really wrong." Just a gradual tightening that left me unable to walk. I've got some great drugs now to get me through the days, but this really isn't fun. I'm off the erg and working out for awhile, and that's got me in a really bad mood.

I'm working on some posts for this blog, but I'm also fuzzy most of the day with meds. Stay tuned, the editing process takes a little longer these days.

The Cheeseball Moment

2007-03-24T21:00:00.000-05:00

Man, do I ever wish life was like the movies. In a sports movie, there is always the practice montage in the second act, and the team struggles through difficult training in terrible weather conditions. The coach gives some nasty little speech to the gathered team after a terrible day; mud is splattered on their faces, they are wet and downcast. The speech is usually some form of "Dagnabbit, you are better than that, you have the talent to be champions, you just have to drop the egos and trust each other." And so the movie continues on, with lovely little moments of the individual players staring out to the field (or river) or sitting alone in a darkened locker room. Then the act closes with the team having more positive practices until there is the moment. That wonderful moment when the sun is shining, the music swelling, the team working perfectly together, the coach smiling and the teammates slapping hands and shouting their readiness to take on the world.

Wouldn't life be nice if it was that easy? Add a cheesy soundtrack, grumpy coach and sullen players who suddenly pull together to win some huge, climatic championship. Pure Cheese. Too bad that's not how real championships are won.

True champions work hard, all the time. They usually get along. They trust each other and their coach. Champions have good practices and do the little details right. Winners do the extra work and take care of their personal lives so they are in the best position to be champions when the time comes in that climatic event.

Champions don't wait for the big Cheeseball Moment in practice. They create little, positive moments every practice. They work to extend those moments longer and longer as the practice season drags into competition, so that they can summon that positive moment at will.

Today, my novices had a good, positive moment in the second session. Boat swing was created. Suddenly, the boat skimmed over the top of the water rather than plowing through. It looked light and powerful. It was a great little moment. I need them to remember how the boat felt then, what they did to make that happen. Most importantly, practice this week will focus on creating more moments like that, so race day can be a Cheeseball, winning moment.

STILL off the water.....but not for long

2007-03-21T22:00:00.000-05:00

Well, this year's flood has lasted longer than most, and doesn't look to be going down anytime soon. Well into next week, it looks like. So, we're moving.

The "other" river here in Pittsburgh, the Monongahela, comes up from the south and has a fraction of the flow of the Allegheny. Off we go on Friday for a weekend of "wet launching," mud, screams and (finally) rowing on the water.

I'm realizing now how fortunate I was rowing in Cincinnati all those years. While we did drive out to East Fork State Park every day, some guys in the car for an hour, we at least had good water 95% of the time. There was never a safety concern, even when the lake flooded, because there wasn't any current. Wind was our enemy, but there were always sheltered shores to get miles in.

Once we re-located to the Licking River in Covington, the drive was much shorter and the water polluted. We did get flooding that spring, like any mid-western city. But we rowed on it anyway. I can't imagine going out in that type of high water here in Pittsburgh, I'd get drawn, quartered, and shot. Back then, it was just an adventure to conquer. One and a half hours upstream, and 10 mins downstream. I'M NOT KIDDING! I've never gone that fast past the shore since in a rowing shell. Good times!

The problem now is sitting on shore, thinking about all the other teams that we will race in the spring who are rowing on lakes or other protected water right now. I've got a clock ticking in my mind, and it's counting down to our first race in less than two weeks.

The Yearly March Flood

2007-03-15T12:00:00.000-05:00

Well, here it is. Every year, we get out on the water in early March or late February. I'll usually get about two weeks of good rowing in, and get excited about the progress I see my crews making. Then the heavens open up for two straight days and the river rises.

And here we go again.

Again.

Last night, just to emphasize the point, we had hail. It hasn't stopped raining since.

This just makes me crazier than I usually am. I can't stand it. After an entire winter spent feeling the air stirred by the ergs, back we go to the machine. I was doing my workout outside two days ago, and there will be snow flurries this weekend. No wonder I'm getting grey hair.

This is the third most challenging time of the season, after the early February blues and the first row blahs. Going back onto the erg after feeling the water is a nightmare scenario for any oarsman, but we deal with it every year here in Pittsburgh. I don't ever look forward to this, as morale usually slides quickly. Really, who wants to erg when you don't need a coat outside? I start warning the kids about this in January; perhaps a little expectation that it will happen will lessen the blow.

The emergence of other crews from their winter sleep only aggravates the situation, as we all end up bickering for erg time and tank space. I get snippy when asked how long we'll be on the machines by such people. I wonder "Where have you been all winter? Now you want to train? Too late for you, I'm not here to help you out!"

So I trot out some workouts I haven't used that much, just to keep the minds working a little more. I'll join the boys on the erg today and let the coxswains correct us all. I'll make a new playlist on my iPod so there isn't the usual music. And I'll fume. And brood. And stare off the deck at a river that has never cooperated with my plans. I'll tell stories of Todd and "the old days when a little flood didn't stop us" and sound like a nut case. And grit my teeth. Perhaps I'll also find some time to talk to the boats.

Quicky Post

2007-03-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

I've got other stuff in the works, but haven't put anything up for awhile, so here's some thoughts.

We're on the water now, and it is a very good thing. The flow and weather have cooperated so far, despite a few REALLY cold days. Guys have made some technical progress, but I'm looking for more, as always.

But, as always, attendance has raised it's ugly face with the return to the water. One guy out sick throws the whole team into chaos. The last two days we've been missing three. The reasons are legitimate, but the results are not.

Next week will start seat racing and selection. I call attendance problems during seat racing "self-selection." But after the boats are selected, problems with practice attendance can still kill a promising season. Read this post. I learned the importance of letting a boat "gel" together a long time ago. Boats just won't win in the spring without consistant practice together. Let's get all these sicknesses out of the way now and get back to rowing.

The parent's equipment list for regatta attendance

2007-02-27T10:00:00.000-05:00

Chair: There isn’t anywhere to sit at a regatta. Chairs are very important when the only alternative is sitting in a mud puddle.

Book: Races run late. There will be long periods of time with nothing to watch.

Warm clothes: It’s springtime in the Midwest. The weather will change. Dress in layers, warmer than you think you need.

Money for the kids (T shirts, etc): There aren’t ATMs at racecourses, and there are plenty of opportunities to spend money on regatta stuff.

Rain clothes: It’s springtime in the Midwest. It is going to rain. All day. It will be a very cold rain. Rain clothes include something to cover your pants, because you will be out in that rain all day.

Binoculars: Even coaches forget these.

Contact a parent coordinator and transport some food, equipment etc: The parents in charge of food and the traveling circus that a rowing team is need help. Transport some equipment, help set up the tent, help cook some food, because these heroes deserve it

Did I mention rain clothes and warm clothes? I love my survival suit for a reason.

Change of clothes: There is nothing nastier than finally getting in your car for the drive home, but your clothes are muddy and soaked through. Warm dry clothes after a nasty day are almost as good as a hot shower.

Sun screen: Eventually, the sun will come up, and regatta sites usually don’t have a lot of shade. Get some sweat-proof sun block, because your son is guaranteed to forget to bring some for himself.

Sun glasses: Sunlight reflected off a river or lake isn’t fun to squint into. Polarized sunglasses are the best.

All this stuff in a waterproof bag: Assume that the ground you will be on will consist of 4 inches of freezing mud. You have a lot of stuff, and you will need to carry some of it to the tent. Have a bag that can sit in the muck and still keep your cell phone dry.

Rain/mud proof boots: Rain clothes are worthless if your feet are soaked through. Who cares about the weather when you can slop through the mud with no worries?

Comfortable walking shoes: When the weather is decent, you will realize the regatta site has spread out over a large portion of the race course. Then the distance the kids have to race over suddenly doesn’t seem that short. Launch docks are rarely close to the boats, which are rarely close to the tents, which are never close to the parking area. Be prepared to walk about 5 miles on a regatta day.

Thinking in Ft. Myers

2007-02-26T13:48:00.000-05:00

We’re down in Ft. Myers and St. Petersburg this weekend. Suffice it to say that shorts are a good thing in late February. Here’s Emily and her grandfather on the veranda.

Here’s the view out the door at the 9th tee of Astero Country club. Here’s where I’m sitting.

Here's where I'm writing this.

This is a good opportunity to think. Will is in Atlanta with Emily’s mother so our mornings are peaceful with coffee and a nice breeze. I took the opportunity to review the 2k scores from the day before and where the novices are now. I won’t post the scores as they are somewhere else, but I’m pleased with the development. A tough week of practice didn’t hold back a flood of personal best times yesterday. I’ll do a “mini-taper” this week so they are rested a bit for Saturday.

But the water beckons. We’ll be out soon, because the “end of winter” erg race at North Allegheny is only a week away. The ice has almost melted from the Allegheny and the mouth of the channel is almost clear. So I’m filling up notebook pages with seat race planning and possible lineups. I’ve also got my top 9 concerns that need to be addressed to put the team in a position for a successful season. Some are specific to people, (X’s technical ability is going to hold him back, etc) and some are general. (My port side guys out-weigh the starboard side by Y pounds.) I tried to come up with ten concerns, but the last points that I thought up were getting petty. If these nine items can be addressed, then I’m very confident about this spring season.

Here are a few other little stories. Today I saw a bald eagle in the wild for the first time. She (he?) wasn’t as big as the monsters I’ve seen in zoos, but it was a thrill to get a glimpse. Here’s the best picture I could get, it flew away before I could circle around and shoot with the sunlight.

Also, we had dinner with Emily’s grandparents last night at the clubhouse here. Emily made a comment we all thought was a little funny. Emily and I were the youngest people sitting down in the room. The wait staff was younger, but we were the youngest diners. Suddenly, turning thirty earlier this month doesn’t seem so bad!

Finally, I got to engage in one of my favorite activities: Tearing apart a country club workout room. These exercise rooms are set up for the older folks. The machines sometime don’t have enough weight or resistance for the “average thug,” so slamming around the entire stack is kind of fun, especially when there is an audience. A Nautilus elliptical trainer and I got in an argument today, and I covered it in enough sweat to assume that I won.

Hitting the bottom

2007-02-17T21:30:00.000-05:00

There's nothing more terrifying or disheartening that pulling an erg piece and finding no energy. Despite the greatest will and drive, there just isn't enough energy to pull the score an athlete knows he/she is capable of. Sometime this happens because of sickness, lack of sleep or the coach.

It is a hard place to be. It's also hard for the coach to know just how far to push. We have to get the athlete to that point of "nothing left" so the body system will recover stronger, with more reserves than before. If the coach over-estimates the athlete's reserves, most of the crew will fail. Nobody goes home feeling good in that situation. If the workout is too easy, the athletes will accomplish the work, but the benefit won't be as great as it could be.

When the crew has a few days off coming, coaches start to up the intensity of the work. The athletes will get a few days to recover energy reserves and rest sore muscles. So, that final day will be the culmination of previous workouts that were very hard to start with. It will hurt, and if the coach has been right, the first few pieces will be on target and the real struggle will come in the second half.

I think that we got it right today. The last of the 5x5min this morning saw a few guys unable to hit their goal splits. Rather than be frustrated, I'm happy with the result. They're at the bottom of the barrel, getting there right when we wanted. Overall result was a success; the vast majority went faster that they ever had. The long-term result, that coaches think about, was also what we wanted. The guys pushed all the way past the last of their reserves, so they will come back stronger next week. A good, hard week. They should feel some accomplishment, having survived the worst the coaches could dish out.

Slip n Slide

2007-02-14T07:45:00.000-05:00

You know the weather has gone bad when both crazy Central coaches can't make morning practice. Just about everything in Pittsburgh is closed today, and I think the whole city is staying home. The ice/slush/rain/evil that fell from the sky last night ruined a wonderful snowfall. Now it's just a mess out there.

And now it's starting to snow again. Great. Snow, ice, then more snow. Great mix. My satellite dish is iced over and can't get a signal. It's on top of the house, and I have no idea how long that will take to thaw out. Emily and Will are not happy.

On a rowing note, I tried out a "max power" workout published in Rowing News' most recent issue. The listing described it as a very intense workout. Though the intensity of the strokes was really high, the fact the boys were able to speak afterward disappointed me. Remember, I'm in the pain business. Also, apparently I've got the most powerful novice crew ever assembled, as two boys put results into the "senior college" level. We'll see if I bring this workout back. I think I'm more interested in 8x500m.

Happy Valentine's day to everyone!

Movie Day

2007-02-07T19:30:00.000-05:00

Well, they have earned it. I am pleased with the performance of the CC novices on Saturday's TRRA erg sprints. Results are in the link to the right to Three Rivers Rowing. I'm also pleased that the guys made their academic goals. We're starting the real "push" month of winter training, so it is a good time for movie day.

Sometimes I don't announce this event ahead of time. It's nice to have a surprise. But somehow I think the boys will be excited about a practice with no sweat tomorrow. It might be a better lunchtime conversation than "I wonder how many 5oos we're doing today...."

No matter how much they whine, I usually control the selection myself. There is usually a reason for the film offered. Any who have rowed with me before can predict tomorrow's movie.

However, there will be a special screening before the feature presentation. A rare film short, with yours truly having a role. Yes, there is film evidence that I actually did race. I'm easy to find in this film, as I've got bleached blond hair. Ask Emily, it took 3 treatments and 5 hours to get it that color. My eyebrows remained brown.

I've always made questionable decisions with my hair. Here I am with my Henley medal in 1996. I'll let the hair speak for itself.

Notional Weather Service

2007-01-26T20:00:00.000-05:00

Let's see. Total predicted snow accumulation for the last three days: 2 to 5 inches. Total actual snowfall: perhaps an inch. I can still see grass in my front yard.

I know that weather predictions here in Pittsburgh come either from Accuweather or the National Weather Service. I know that the people working at these services are experts and try their best to give close forecasts. This terrible miss this morning just poured salt into a festering wound. Really, if weather man is calling for 2 to 4 inches and there isn't anything, what is a coach supposed to tell (understandably) nervous parents? Assume we're not practicing? Assume that we are? Wait until that morning and see how far off the guess was?

The problem has become the desire of local news jokers for higher ratings. One easy ratings boost is the threat of a storm, with school closings and possibly snow-covered roads. I simply can't believe the local news dizzies aren't pumping up these storms. After all, it's been a mild winter so far and they much be feeling a ratings pinch.

Opening the Suggestion Box

2007-01-22T09:50:00.000-05:00

As some of you have commented, Coach Jay isn't posting quite as frequently as he was. There are lots of reasons for this, but one is that sometimes he feels like he doesn' t know what else to say. Thus, we thought we'd inquire what things still need to be covered. What stories, ideas, techniques, thoughts are still needed? What would you like to hear more about?

My suggestion was inviting guest writers in to share our favorite rowing stories. There are stories that we have heard that would be great to share, but they aren't our stories. For example, I'd love to hear what it is like to race in an Oxford-Cambridge race.

Please share your ideas now... it is a few months until racing season, and we'd like to have something to write about until then!

Non Sequitur

2007-01-17T19:45:00.000-05:00

Couldn't resist. Just too funny.

What have you done today?

2007-01-16T22:00:00.000-05:00

Novices:

It's exam week. If you have done as I requested, then you are prepared. If you haven't, then it's time to study hard and do the best you can. If you're walking into your exam in a panic, then remember that feeling for next exam time and get your work done so there isn't a mad scramble.

What have you done this week to build a championship team? Are your grades going to help push the team over the top, so there won't be extra 2ooom tests? Have you put in any workouts this week? There is a 5 x 5min this Saturday and your first 2ooom test on Monday. Are you going to be ready to do your best, or will the 5 x 50 jumpies and cross-countries be in your future?

I've been in the gym twice this week, and I'll be there again in 6 hours. And I'm fat, old and out of shape.

Championships are built months before they happen. It's the oldest cliche in sports. It's also true. Are you building a championship today?

Frustration

2007-01-13T15:30:00.000-05:00

It's that time of the year. The mid-January blahs. The weather is miserable, schoolwork is interminable and indoor training is simply a grind. I know where everyone is.

Yeah right you say? It is true; I understand exactly where everyone is. In some form or fashion, this is a frustrating time of year. Improvements are painful to grasp, the work load is increasing and the coach is demanding more. How can I understand this? Simply look at this picture, and please ignore the terrible outside grip.

Now, that mean-looking devil in the stroke seat is long gone. He isn't coming back. The problem is that nobody who sees this picture thinks I'm the same guy. So I've started (gasp) working out again. Scary thought, huh?

No, the erg didn't break when I sat down on it. No, I don't even look at the monitor. No, it's not snowing in hell. Yes, I still fit in that unisuit. (Sort of.) My goal is to at least look like that guy in the picture and be able to get in a boat this summer.

So, anybody who is a little frustrated right now, I feel your pain. Really, I feel pain. I'm ten million meters from being that guy again, but the memory of what that guy could do is frustrating. So if you're not exactly where you think you should be, keep at it, because I need to keep at it as well.

Digital Scrapbooking

2007-01-04T23:06:00.000-05:00

Some know that I love scrapbooking. Some don't know that. I have thousands of pictures, now that I have a really good digi camera. Jay posted these pictures ages ago, when they were taken in May 2005. I always liked them, so I turned them into a set of two scrapbook pages.

I don't think you can read the writing. If you can't, here you go: "

Teenage boys always remind me of nearly grown puppies bounding and tripping over their too-big feet. Their energy is limitless. Safety is frequently forgotten or ignored. Then around age 17, a subtle change happens. They slow down. Their torsos seem to catch up in size to their limbs. Their voices settle on a key somewhere between baritone and bass. Yes, they are still goofy and impulsive, but the boys are becoming men.

Since Jay has started coaching, I have come to know dozens of boys between 15 and 20. Sadly, each year new ones start rowing and old ones graduate. It’s hard to keep up with all of them, but some stand out and hold a special place among all of the boys for me. Steve is one of those rowers.

One of the things that seems infinitely unfair about sports is the fact that some people are born with a certain built or strength that naturally lends itself to a particular sport. For example, most national team rowers are several inches taller than six feet. Steve wasn’t one of those guys. Steve wasn’t short by any means, but he was what Jay called “cruiser” size. He was stuck right in between the two weight classes—too heavy to be a lightweight rower, too short to be a top-end heavyweight rower. What Steve lacked in natural built, he made up for in his mental strength. Some people are born to be rowers, but Steve made himself a rower.

Over three years, I watched him train, and train he did, with a furious single-mindedness. He rarely took a break, and rowed throughout the summer and holidays. He was determined to keep up with the stroke of his boat, Dave, whose shape and size gave him a natural advantage. Dave always appeared slightly ahead in time and technique, but Steve made up for the marginal difference in toughness and aggressivity.

At some point, Steve decided to row in college too. Jay knew his passion and determination would be an asset to any crew. Jay also knew that Steve’s smaller size would encourage any college coach to overlook him. Steve went to Northeastern, but I don’t believe the coach planned to put in him in the first boat. Somehow he ended up there though, and ultimately became the stroke of the boat. Even knowing Steve’s determination, Jay was surprised. Jay said it wasn’t just his mental strength in the moment, but his ability to see how his immediate actions influenced his long term outcomes—unique strengths in a young man. Steve is a great example of how far each of us can go if we just determine where we want to go and focus on getting there."

What wonderful generosity!

2007-01-04T11:18:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted in a while. I should post something else very soon, as I have a project I have worked on that I plan on sharing. With Jay's permission, of course!

I did want to stop in and tell the boys at CC how much Jay appreciated your Christmas presents. I especially loved the calendar, in part because I love photos, but also because you carefully listed all of the relevant races and events. This will make my life so much easier, as I won't have to search or nag to find out what is happened on which date. It was also very thoughtful of you to think of Jay's gas and cell phone expenses. They are the two expenses that he has that are associated with coaching, and it was very generous of you to think of them. If he didn't tell you, I will-- he was very touched at how creative and practical you guys were.

Thanks again!

Merry Christmas

2006-12-24T10:00:00.000-05:00

Once again we're down in Atlanta for Christmas! Emily, Will and I wish everyone a wonderful holiday and restful, joyful time spent with family.

If anyone gets on the erg tomorrow, you need some serious counseling. But you will get the crazy award for the winter.

Here comes the Boom

2006-12-16T20:00:00.000-05:00

A new workout playlist by DJ Coach.

Thunderstruck by AC/DC
Ready, steady Go by Paul Oakenfold
Any way you want it by Journey
Heart of a champion by Nelly
Wheel in the sky by Journey
Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down
Don't stop believing by Journey
Stupify by Disturbed
Voices by Disturbed
Radar Love by Golden Earing
When worlds collide by Powerman 5000
Here comes the Boom by P.O.D.
Sand Storm by Darude
Du Hast by Rammstein

Total time: 60 minutes. (hint, hint)
Comments welcome.

Time Off

2006-12-11T22:00:00.000-05:00

I've mentioned this multiple time in past posts, but time off for the team really doesn't agree with me as a coach. I sit around during normal practice times and brood about the guys eating junk food, playing computer games and getting into trouble. (Skiing anyone?) It's ironic, given my memories of my own precious time off from training in days long gone. They were precious, wonderful events, sometimes little mini-vacations taken to New York City or other states in New England. Mostly, I would sit around and rest my mind.

Surprising? Shouldn't be to anyone who understands the sport. Intense mental concentration is required for good rowing training. Up to 90 minutes per day of ignoring your body's pain threshold while concentrating on perfecting a full-body motion. That takes a lot of mental energy. It's a "grind" that doesn't injure, but slowly saps the joy of the sport from the athlete. Simply put, indoor training isn't fun.

So why do I as a coach now hate time off? Two reasons. For every training day skipped after three to four in a row, the athlete loses double of the progress made over that time. Thus, two weeks off will set the athlete back one month, and so forth. Kind of makes one wonder why do the training in the first place.

Second, there are days like today. High 50s, partly sunny and a calm, flat river. I wanted to go on the water so bad. I know that the guys probably wouldn't gain anything much from one day out there in December; rowing teams need several days on the water in a row before a measurable gain in technique or boat skills is evident. I just wanted to be out on the river in a launch, watching a boat. It's been a long time already and I'm antsy for the spring.....

....And it's only December. Blast.

5th Central Biathlon

2006-12-09T06:55:00.000-05:00

Good morning and welcome to the 5th annual Central Catholic Biathlon. Go to Regatta Central to see the results come in.

Over 150 lunatics think getting up before dawn to race 10,000 meters on the erg isn't crazy enough. They want to run 6 miles after the erg in 22 degree cold. What are they racing for? Not money, (I don't think you could pay anyone enough for this), nor fame (no, the international press isn't here). They are racing for the most valuable items in rowing: a shirt, and bragging rights.

A warm November

2006-12-01T23:00:00.000-05:00

It's really hard not to be out on the water when it looks like this. Just two days ago. Mid 60s, level low and water flat. I know that I'll be wishing for these kind of conditions sometime in March, when the river looks more like a whitewater rapids course. Instead, I sent the boys out for a run.

Am I cruel? No, not yet. The Central Biathalon is coming up in a week, and the guys need to be ready for a long run, so off they went, with much groaning. We're not the Central cross-country team, but the running does them some good. Runs like this build mental toughness in ways my shouting can't.

Now, fellows, we need to talk about timing and concentration, just a little......

I'm not putting these shots up here to embarrass anyone or put down my own crew. I just want to make a point. Concentration is very important in rowing. I've said before that a crew is like the offensive line in a football game. They have to practice together in order to be successful. However, unlike football, a crew must do everything in unison, all the time. The concentration level required is very high.

This is a very dusty, old cliche, but it's true: "Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect." --V. Lombardi.

Concentration isn't something that can just be turned on when the time comes in a race. It has to be practiced. Every day, every stroke, every lift, every stretch. So, let's lock this timing and concentration down.

A good day

2006-11-15T22:00:00.000-05:00

I've been looking forward to this sight. Two freshman 8s for Central on the water. Though this was our last day on the water for the fall, I'll be referring to today throughout the winter. Successful crews have competition at practice. Successful crews have lots of novices to keep the momentum of past years moving forward.

As we start winter training, I'm in a very hopeful mood. I see the makings of a good class of guys. They get along well and pull hard. As can be seen in this photo and the others I've uploaded to the album, there are technical issues aplenty to correct. Somehow, that is comforting to me. If there was a lack of courage or belief in themselves, I would be concerned. If they were apathetic about practice or didn't enjoy the sport, I'd be concerned. If they didn't pull hard, I'd be angry. Endurance, pain tolerance and technical issues can be improved.

As Ron White once said, "You can't fix stupid." I'll extend that remark to "You can't fix yellow." These boys are smart and have courage. That's a great place to start the winter.

Categories: Rowing, Photo, CC, Teamwork

Crank Calls 2

2006-11-10T21:52:00.000-05:00

Thanks fellas, but I don't need a pizza tonight.

Categories: Misc

Cold Weather Rowing

2006-11-08T22:00:00.000-05:00

We're on the water this week, and the weather is looking good for the next few days. I'm sort of concerned about this; I would prefer colder temperatures. Why? The boys need the "seasoning" of rowing in cold weather.

It's really simple. People in general and teenage boys in particular don't learn when they are told something. If I tell somebody that it is very cold outside and they need a coat, they'll pull a jacket out of the closet. If they stick their head out the door and get a facefull of sleet, they'll pull out the winter parka with cloves and a hat.

Thus and so, the guys need a really cold, nasty practice. With wind, a little rain and some rough water. Those conditions will come during the spring racing season, and they need to have the equipment to deal with rowing in wintry hell. More importantly, they need the attitude to row in bad conditions. Rowing in the nasty cold takes a special mindset. You have to say to yourself, yep its cold. But they're colder. They don't want to be out here, but I just want to beat them, so let's race. Crews that pull hard and lower on the rating will win in nasty water. Plus, it doesn't hurt to have the right boat.

Pittsburgh crews must row in bad conditions because the weather doesn't get nice around here until mid May. Here's a football analogy: who is happier on Christmas Eve, when it's 33 degrees and the sleet is slanting down in Cleveland, the Browns or the Tampa Bay Bucs? The Browns may stink this year (and the Bucs may not be much better), but I'm picking the team that spends more time in nasty conditions.

So, after all those links, here's a few that our readers might be able to use. Parents, here is a great list of Christmas ideas.

Pogies, those hand covers that won't come between the skin and the oar.
Fleece long socks, which I liked better than long tights because they don't bunch up under the knee at the catch.
Under Armour. Man, I wish we had this company when I was rowing. Great stuff. Look over the long tights, and cold weather shirts.
Rain Suits. What do these have to do with rowing? Simple. If an athlete is wet, cold and shivering when they push off the dock, then they are already beaten. A lot of time is spent sitting around dripping tents or walking around in the elements. I've seen hundreds of athletes with great "foul weather" rowing gear in their backpacks arrive at the course with a water "resistant" jacket and jeans. Nothing else. They are soaked to the skin and blue in 30 minutes. How can anyone compete then?
Mustang Suit. Do any rowers need this? No. The team supplies our coxswains with suits. But there is nothing warmer or more comfortable. I love mine. Just putting a shout out to Mustang for a great product.
Waterproof sleeping bag. Expensive? Yep. Am I insisting on this? Not yet. Look around a little. But I'll leave a little thought here. We put up tents for the athletes to rest in and keep out of the weather. Those tents are usually near the water so everyone can watch. Tents near the water are usually on some type of slope, so water will drain through the tent on the ground. People might not be getting rained on, but anyone and anything on the ground will sometimes be sitting in freezing mud, if not flowing water. Think about that when you're taking a sleeping back on a trip to keep warm. Hard to keep warm and dry if the exterior is cloth.

Categories: Rowing

Bad Football

2006-10-29T18:40:00.000-05:00

The game isn't even over yet. It doesn't matter. That is bad football. The guys on defense need to shut up, because they aren't that good. The offensive line was a joke today, and Ben isn't right.

It's the beginning of the 4th quarter. Somebody has to win this putrid mess of a game. Neither team seems to want to.

Categories: Football

It's ON

2006-10-19T19:00:00.000-05:00

THE FOX CHAPEL CREW CLUB HEREBY OFFICALLY CHALLENGES THE CENTRAL CATHOLIC CREW CLUB TO THE 2^ND ANNUAL ALLEGHENY BOAT RACE

FOX CHAPEL VS. CENTRAL CATHOLIC

THE ALLEGHENY BOAT RACE

TO ESTABLISH THE FASTEST HIGH SCHOOL CREW IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA

When: THE 4^th OF NOVEMBER 2006 2:30 PM

THE CHALLENGE:

1^ST VARSITY 8+ - 4 MILES

2^ND VARSITY 8+- 3 MILES

3^RD VARSITY 4+ 1.5 MILES

1^ST NOVICE 8+ 1500 METERS

2^ND NOVICE 8+ 1500 METERS

THE STAKES:

TO THE VICTOR: BRAGGING RIGHTS AND THE SHIRTS OFF THE LOSERS’ BACKS

SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT THIS CHALLENGE, ATTACH A SIGNED COPY OF THIS DOCUMENT TO THE FRONT OF THE FOX CHAPEL CABINET NO LATER THAN OCTOBER 24, 2006

“The strong do what they will; the weak suffer what they must.”

-Thucydides

CAPITANS 06-07 FC CREW

CAPITANS 06-07 CC CREW

Categories: Rowing, Regattas, CC, FC

Mentors, Part II

2006-10-14T17:00:00.000-05:00

I don't know when Justin decided he had something special going on in 1996. The group of guys he recruited for that class weren't big "names" in the rowing community. Hans had been on the US Junior National team, and I had been on the selecion list. I don't know how else one recruited rowers back then. Nobody from Yale ever came out and watched me row. Jamie, a former women's coach in Cincinnati then working with the Yale crew, had told Justin about my insane lifting habits. That was it. I have no idea how we were all found.

The personalities couldn't have been more different. Prep school boys, west coast dudes, a lunatic Yankee fan from New York, a Philly kid who acted like a surfer, an uppity Brit and some hick from Kentucky (me). The lightweight team had recruited two coxswains and Justin managed to get Steve to join us. Eight recruits and one perfectionist coxswain. Four different rowing styles.

Justin let us figure each other out before he really started working with us. His hands were full teaching the novice guys how to row, so we were tossed in with the returning varsity members. (Talk about being thrown into the deep end of the pool!) We spent some time together those first few weeks of school, getting to know each other and deciding if we could stand these guys. Steve and I were roomates, so we had to get along. The rest of us would go out once a week or so, and have dinner together every night after practice.

Justin was more of a big brother type. We nicknamed him the "gerbil on crack" (sorry) for his high energy level. He taught us, but with enthusiasm. "You need to really sit up straight, Skuban. You'll get more reach that way, saw real big logs through the water, really make that boat fly." Everyone had a different issue that needed to be fixed. I had been taught to row with my outside thumb on top of the handle, a habit that drove Justin nuts. All of our styles had to be broken back down and brought in line with each other.

I want to make something very clear: Justin's masterstroke was figuring our lineup early on and leaving it mostly alone. Alex was the tallest of us, but was a brilliant stroke. I think Justin figured that out by the second practice, and nobody else ever stroked the boat. Hans and I were the strongest ergs and were six and five. I grumbled to myself, wanting my accustomed seven seat, but Steve bluntly told me my technique wasn't up to that level yet. "Jimbo" the Yankee fan sat behind me in four, and we would growl at each other through rough practices, pushing each other along. The only change Justin ever made in the lineup was switching Quentin and Nathan from seven to bow. He also put a novice into two in the spring. The core of the boat never changed, and that allowed us to build "swing" over the endless miles of training.

We came in second at the Head of the Charles, behind Harvard. Justin had set us up with some knee-high soccer socks to wear in the race, calling them "full potential." I was annoyed to lose to Harvard, especially after we started so far back in the pack. It would take a few years for me to understand what an accomplishment that second place was. Perhaps Justin had an idea then.

That crew was built for real in the winter. Justin hung a huge poster up in the training room, listing every workout result we did. Hans and I started trash-talking about erg scores, the beginning of a friendship that brought him to my wedding as best man. Our technical issues were ironed out during hours of work in Yale's rowing tanks. Saturday "hell practices" found Justin throwing us against the varsity in erg relays and "vertical death" sprints up Payne Whitney Gym. (The info in that link says "nine and one half stories tall." Trust me, each of those "half stories" has ten foot ceilings and the stairs to climb.)

I think we figured there might be something about that crew after spring break in Tampa. Wednesday morning practices were 5x1500m. Our third varsity would get a head start, then we would start with the second varsity and the lightweight first boat. Then our varsity would chase us all down. We would beat the JV every time, and the lights 4 out of 5.

Princeton was the dominant crew that year, and the Yale-Princeton-Cornell race was in Princeton that year. Justin got us really jacked up the night before, and I didn't sleep well. Our victory there brought a cocky attitude. Justin did everything he could to keep us challenged during practice leading up to Eastern Sprints. That race went wrong. Really wrong.

Princeton took off, seven seats up, taking Brown with them. We didn't catch Brown until 8oom left, and I thought we would lose. Steve didn't let us give up, and we crawled back in. Steve started our sprint at 600m out, and I remember looking down at my legs and thinking "this is going to really hurt." We pulled even with 200 to go, and people later told me Princeton's two seat had checked out by that point.

That crew was not designed to come from behind. I don't think Justin ever considered that we would be that far back. What won that race was our belief in each other, forged over months in rowing basically the same lineup, and Steve's command under pressure. While Justin hadn't predicted how that race would unfold, he had prepared that crew by letting us row together for so long.

We could do no wrong after Eastern Sprints. Training for the Harvard-Yale race was Justin's opportunity to play. We learned a flutter, raced three miles with the JV (instead of the usual freshman two), and planned our trip to Henley, an honor awarded if we won. Steve planned to win big, and drove us like he stole the boat. Our time in England was Justin unleashing a bunch of lunatics. I got a stupid haircut, was quoted in the Yale paper later on and unleashed my most violent race in the semi-finals, when we faced the team that had eliminated my high school crew the previous year. Mark had whipped us up when he faced his high school nemesis earlier in the tour, and we all responded, despite a borrowed boat and no warm-up.

Justin gave us confidence, a belief in each other that couldn't be shaken by an "off" race or unexpected events. Allowing a crew the time to "find itself" isn't always possible, but we got that opportunity and made the most of it. The best Yale freesh crew ever couldn't have happened without Justin, because he was part of the crew, like a coach should be.

Categories: Rowing, Yale, Tribute, Memories, Coaching, Personal

Football Picks, Week 5

2006-10-08T10:00:00.000-05:00

We're in Barberton, OH this weekend for a family wedding. That's a lame excuse for not producing a post since last weekend, but there's a big one in the works.

LOCKS

Kansas City (-4) at Arizona

Are you kidding me? Matt Leinart is starting. That's a rookie. 'Zona is toast and the players know it. Denny Green is frustrated and not returning after this season. The Cardinals still can't run the ball, and KC's defense is getting better. The CHIEFS laying only 4? Easy pickings.

St. Louis (-3) at Green Bay

Did you see the Eagles take apart the Green Bay secondary last week? It was so ugly, one of the Packer corners was cut afterwards. Somehow, that's supposed to make the Pack D better? Nope. The St. Louis coaching staff isn't stupid, and while the running game has taken a center stage, those players still know how to throw the ball. Farve is more interested in his starting streak and looking over his shoulder at Aaron Rodgers than getting ready for this game. RAMS are the pick, laying the 3.

Buffalo (+10) at Chicago

Big number. Scary big. Why touch this? Because Chicago is on a mission and the Bills are in the way. The Bills made me look silly last week. J. P. "Loserman" won't do it again this week. I'm taking CHICAGO and laying the scary 10 points.

(Last week, 2-1 in LOCKS, 4-2 for the season.)

I'VE GOT A FEELING

Miami (-9.5) at New England

Joey Harrington is starting at New England. The Pats D is smiling. Can you say "blood in the water?" NEW ENGLAND is the pick, laying the 9.5.

Pittsburgh (+3) at San Diego

This isn't a Lock because the first rule of gambling is never bet on "your" team. The Steelers had an extra week to get ready for the Chargers, who lost across the country last week to the Ravens in a heartbreaker. Marty Schottenheimer continues to prove his ability to be out coached during the game. Ben is getting pissed answering stupid questions about his "struggles." STEELERS for the OUTRIGHT WIN.

Oakland (+3.5) at San Fransisco

The Raiders are striving for a place in the NFL record books. They are gunning to join the '78 Bucs as the only other winless team in league history. Alex Smith isn't as horrible as he looked last year, despite last week's disaster. I hate the 'niners, but SAN FRAN is the pick, laying the 3.5.

New York Jets (+7) at Jacksonville

I have to believe the Jags are for real. Thus, they can't lost three in a row. But will they beat the Jets by more than 7? Hard to say. The Jets are much better than people thought. Stroud is out on the Jags D, so I'm inclined to pick the JETS plus 7.

Washington (+5) at New York Giants

The only reason this isn't a LOCK is my inability to pick against a Manning in the regular season. But I'm still taking the SKINS plus 5.

Tennessee (+18) at Indianapolis

That's just funny. 18 points? Yarg. I've taken the Titans plus huge numbers twice so far, going 1-1. What's going to decide this is Dungy's mercy. Has Vegas called him up and asked for a close game? Don't know, but I think that Dungy and Manning don't want a high scoring mess. They want a running, short game to limit injury. Gulp. TENNESSEE is the pick, plus the 18.

(Last week 3-3, 1-0 on point calls, 6-6 for the season, 2-0 on point calls)

Categories: Football

Football Picks, Week 4

2006-09-30T09:00:00.000-05:00

We're in Atlanta this weekend, after a family funeral. There's been a lot of driving, and more on the menu tomorrow to get home. I'll be listening to the games on one of my favorite toys, Sirius Satellite Radio. Every game, either team's announcers, anywhere. I love this thing just for the NFL. The added music channels are gravy. On to the picks.

LOCKS

Arizona (+7) at Atlanta

Kurt Warner isn't the guy from those St. Louis teams. He can't hold on to the football or throw it to the right person. This week's news made it clear this is his last start before the Matt Leinart era. The Falcons have to be ticked after losing to the Saints last week. Take ATLANTA and lay the 7.

Cleveland (-2.5) at Oakland

This week's "Toilet Bowl." Who is starting at QB for the Raiders? I don't know either. CLEVELAND is the pick, laying the 2.5. Ugh.

Jacksonville (-3) at Washington

Mark Brunell looked great last week against Houston. There isn't a single guy on the Texan's defense that would make the squad in Jax. Washington might not even score. JAGS are the pick, laying the 3 and taking the UNDER of 34.

(Last week, 2-1 in LOCKS)

I'VE GOT A FEELING

Minnesota (+1) at Buffalo

The Vikes are real. J P "Loserman" isn't. The Bills defense will keep this close, but I'll take the VIKINGS and the point.

Dallas (-9.5) at Tennessee

The Tuna would not be a good guy to be around this week. Homicidal might be the best descriptor of Parcells. NFL does stand for "Not For Long," and I'm talking about the attention span of your average NFL player. Thus, a season going in the right direction in training camp has been swallowed up by the T.O. circus. I hear Al Jazera has requested press passes for this one. Take the TITANS and the 9.5.

Indianapolis (-9) at New York Jets

It's going to rain tomorrow in New York. All day, over an inch of water soaking the turf in the Meadowlands. The Colts can't run, and the slop will slow down the Colt receivers. The Colts should win this, but by less than 9. The JETS are the pick, with the 9.

Detroit (+5.5) at St. Louis

The (toothless) Lions are still the Lions, and the Rams are getting better. Both are dome teams, but the turf in Detroit doesn't resemble the carpeted racetrack in St. Louis. THE RAMS are the pick, laying the 5.5.

Miami (-3.5) at Houston

Another "Ugh" game. At least it's not on TV at home. I didn't get NFL Sunday ticket this year, and would be throwing the TV out the door if this junk was the only game on it. Take MIAMI and lay the 3.5

New England (+5.5) at Cincinnati

It's still the Pats (whom I hate). They'll run all over the Bengals, who will throw all over the place. Sunny day in Cincinnati, where Palmer will throw for over 325. I'd take the PATS, getting 5.5, and OVER the 46.5

(Last week, 3-3, 1-0 on total point calls)

I won't even write about the rest of the slate. I mean, really, who cares about San Fran at KC? Barf. Saints at Panthers? One of those teams is real, one is a pretender. I don't know which is which. Baltimore hosting San Diego? That might end up a 0-0 tie. Hawks at Bears? I really don't have a clue, because I haven't seen the Hawks and Alexander is hurt.

Categories: Football

Crank Calls

2006-09-23T20:27:00.000-05:00

Being associated with as many juvenile boys as this job brings me into contact with, strange phone calls are to be expected. Perhaps because I'm still pretty juvenile myself, I actually have a good time listening to what the lads come up with. (I'm not dissing the ladies, I'm sure they would be more creative than the guys. I'm just not holding my breath for a crank call from a girl.)

Tonight's call had everything needed for a great prank call. Blocked caller ID (key: how many crank calls crater due to caller ID?), a well-disguised falsetto voice and a funny premise. No, I don't want to buy any prunes. Yes, I don't think that a voice like that will sell many prunes. Are you making a suggestion, trying to sell me prunes?

Great call, whoever you were. Thanks for not calling at 2am.

Categories: Misc

Football Picks

2006-09-22T08:00:00.000-05:00

Here's a new fun little game. I'll pick the pro football slate for the weekend. Just for giggles, and to see if I really know anything about the NFL.

LOCKS

Tennessee (+11) at Miami (over/under 35)

The Titans are terrible. Miami isn't much better. Dante Culpepper has continued his poor decision making from the beginning of last year, and there isn't much of a running game to support him. Jeff Fisher may have a bad team, but he hasn't given up on his squad, nor they on him. Miami might not even score 11 points, so TENNESSEE is the pick, with the points.

Baltimore (-6.5) at Cleveland (o/u 33.5)

Baltimore has two offenses. Ray Lewis and Chris McAllister play for one of them. Cleveland doesn't have one offense. BALTIMORE is the pick, and I would lay the 6.5.

Philadelphia (-6) at San Francisco (o/u 42)

Philly has a proud tradition on defense. Last week's collapse against the Giants wasn't a harbinger, it was an aberration. Alex Smith isn't as good as he looked against the Cardinals, and Philly's defense has something to prove. Look for Donovan McNabb to continue his great start, and take PHILADELPHIA, giving the 6.

SHAKY, but I've got a feeling

Cincinnati (+1.5) at Pittsburgh (o/u 41.5)

Cincy is banged up, and Chad Johnson has struggled against Ike Taylor in the past. Carson Palmer has something to prove against the Steelers, but the constant fawning over the USC star this offseason has filled the Steeler bulletin board with plenty of inspiration. Look for a lot of blitzing up the middle of the Cincy line, as Rich Braham, the starting center, is out. Even with all that, expect a high scoring game, as Ben Rothisberger usually has a bad game returning from injury, then explodes. The Steeler offense has something to prove, and Cincy's defense is missing two linebackers. PITTSBURGH is the pick, laying the 1.5. Also the total will be OVER 41.5 points.

St. Louis (+4.5) at Arizona (o/u 45)

Edge James took the big money and came to Arizona this offseason. Unfortunately, he didn't bring a decent offensive line with him. Arizona will have to depend on Kurt Warner and the passing game, but the St. Louis defenders know Warner doesn't deal with pressure anymore. Lots of blitzes from Jim Haslett, the St. Louis defensive coordinator, so there will be lots of sacks and lots of big plays. Expect the St. Louis offense to pound Steven Jackson into the middle of Arizona's defense to keep Warner and the explosive Arizona offense off the field. ST. LOUIS is the pick, for the outright win.

Jets (+5.5) at Buffalo (o/u 34.5)

The Bills have a good defense. The Jets offense will be missing Laveranuas Coles, who will play, but will be slowed by his calf injury. The Jets have historically struggled in Buffalo. The Bills will feed lots of Willis McGahee right at the Jets defense. This game won't be high scoring, but I'm picking the BILLS and laying the 5.5.

Denver (+7) at New England (o/u 39)

Jake Plummer hasn't been great this season, and Bill Belichick is (still) a master at confusing quarterbacks. Tom Brady is (still) a master at spreading the ball to receivers nobody has heard of. New England is (still) very good at home. PATRIOTS are the pick, laying the 7.

Washington (-4) at Houston (o/u 37.5)

Washington's offense has to show up eventually, and Clinton Portis has stated he's ready to go "full throttle." Houston still stinks. Lots of blitzes from the 'Skins, and David Carr will hit the deck multiple times. Mark Brunell is still a good quarterback, and Mario Williams is under too much pressure as the first pick of the draft. He's already haunted by the dreaded "bust" word. WASHINGTON is the pick, laying the 4.

Chicago (-3) at Minnesota (o/u 35)

Rex Grossman may have spent a lot of time the last two years injured, but he seems to have spent the time studying. What everyone doesn't remember is how many games he won in college. Grossman is a natural leader, and the Chicago offense has thrived. The defense hits hard and can stop the Chester Taylor-led Viking running game. More important, the Bears' secondary has the speed to lock down Minnesota's receivers. CHICAGO is the pick, but I'm not sure enough to lay the points.

NO IDEA, I'm not even going to try

Green Bay (+7) at Detroit (o/u 39)

Brett Farve stinks in domes, but Detroit has a more natural turf. Detroit is still Detroit. Farve could throw 3 TDs or 3 INTs. Everyone is waiting for Detroit's offense to get on track, but the defense held Seattle without a TD in week 1. I really don't have a clue on this one.

Jacksonville (+7) at Indianapolis (o/u 43)

Will the Jacksonville defense keep playing at a high level? Can they hold down Manning and the Colts again? Can the Jacksonville offense get into the end zone in the dome? These game last season were decided by 7 points each time. Flip a coin, that would be as good as any pick I would make.

Giants (+3.5) at Seattle (o/u 43)

Which Giants offense will show up? The terrible first three quarters at Philly last week, or that explosive fourth quarter? Can the Giants defense hold Seattle under 24? Did that comeback last week against the Eagles start the Giants in the right direction, or did it emotionally drain them, setting up a flat, listless loss against the Seahawks? I'd pick the 'Hawks, but the Giants are too inconsistent to really be sure of anything.

Carolina (+3) at Tampa Bay (o/u 34)

Without Steve Smith, the Panther's offense has been terrible. The Seahawks showed how to stop the Panthers last season, and Carolina hasn't answered that challenge yet. Is Tampa Bay really this terrible? Chris Sims was the darling of the preseason, and has been horrid so far. Are all those professionals who follow football, and Jon Gruden, that wrong? The loser of this game will be 0-3 and realistically out of playoff contention. I just don't know which team is going to be better, but this game won't be pretty. There should be an over/under line on turnovers. I'd put it at 5.

Atlanta (-3.5) at New Orleans (o/u 43)

Michael Vick leads a college-style running attack. The Saints will be returning to a packed, noisy Superdome. Last year, when they were emotionally representing the ravaged city in Carolina, the Saints beat the Panthers. Will the lift of the fans be enough to slow down a ground attack the US Army would be proud of? America would love to see the Saints win in the return to New Orleans, but that might be too pat of a "Hollywood" storyline. I don't think this game will be close, but I don't know who will win it.

Categories: Football

What "team" means

2006-09-20T19:50:00.000-05:00

I'm still here. I'm just no longer coaching for Pitt. Perhaps someday I'll be able to write about what's happened over the last 5 months. Many here in Pittsburgh know parts of the story, but I've kept the whole thing private. I think that I'll have to sell the movie rights to it.

Anyway, there's been a story going on here in Pittsburgh that I would like to discuss. I'm sure that anyone who watched Sportscenter is aware of the shooting of Duquesne's basketball team. The reports now point toward the usual insanity that occurs when guns are involved.

However, I'm taking this opportunity to point to these two articles. Take the time to read.

Notice anything here? A group of young men, from all over the globe, together for a sport. They've only known each other for a few weeks. They haven't even started the season. Out together, spending time with each other, they are attacked after a juvenile confrontation over somebody's girlfriend talking to them. ("You'd better not be talking to my girl" or some such like that. Please. Like women in today's society don't have the right to talk to whomever they please.)

They had turned away from the confrontation. They were leaving. They had done the right thing. And then they were shot. Senseless, insane, tragic are the words that immediately come to mind.

What I find so important, so central to the theme of this horrid chain of events is the response of these teammates. They ran towards the gunfire to pull their brothers clear. They stayed at the scene to tend to others. They gathered at the hospitals, they closed ranks with each other and together with their coaches, they are a family.

That's "team". That is what sport is supposed to bring to everyone who competes at any level. What happens at the competition is secondary. What happens off the court, field or boat, the relationships built between teammates is central to sport. "I've got your back. No matter what. No matter when. No matter why. Tomorrow, next week or ten years from now." That's "team".

Categories: Teamwork, Personal

New Tool

2006-08-12T22:00:00.000-05:00

Google Earth. Great idea and wonderful program. An interactive satellite display of the entire planet. I've been playing with it for a month, since Emily put it on her laptop. I thought it was just a toy until I discovered the "ruler" feature, which lets you measure distances between points you click on the map, in either miles or kilometers. In many ways, this is easier than a GPS, because I wouldn't be drifting down the stream trying to take a reading.

I've been enjoying looking at old places I used to row and figuring out just how far those distances really were. Was the "Norwich row" really seven miles? How about from I-275 to the boathouse in Cincinnati? What's the distance from bridge to bridge in Pittsburgh? How far away is Sandcastle? It's all there. Cool.

The depressing part has been realizing how short those distances are. Sure, some are really 4 miles, but some rows I swore were 20 were closer to 12. Pitt kids, look up Camp Bob. Some of those days may not be as terrible as you think. It could be worse: we could be out on the main lake!

Anyone want to suggest some rows now that you can see the distance?

Categories: Rowing, Misc

Moving

2006-08-10T21:00:00.000-05:00

Just a cool shot of the Blue Angels from the Dayton Air Show two weeks ago.

Anyway, I've got some news. For reasons many local readers know, I'm no longer coaching for Fox Chapel. I will say that I'll always have a fond memory of the time I spent with that crew, because they were the first team I ever coached. I'm still with Pitt and looking forward to the upcoming season.

Central Catholic picked me up to become the new novice coach. The head coach and I have been friendly since I'd started three years ago and I'm really excited to join this team. There is a great record of success being built at Central and I'm really looking forward to adding as much as I can. I can't thank the Diocese of Pittsburgh and the Central Parents' organization enough for taking a chance on me.

There are a few little problems with this new team. First, the head coach is also named Jay. I think that I'll get tired of us both saying "huh?" when one of the kids shouts "Jay!" Also, Jay went to Harvard. We never raced against each other, but I'm not sure what my old Yale teammates will say when it gets out that I'm working with a 'Vard.....

Categories: Rowing, Personal, CC, Photo

Regatta Headquarters

2006-07-31T13:15:00.000-05:00

Here's a picture of my future regatta headquarters. The heater and A/C both work quite well, and we've got a stove for coffee. We've been out for 19 nights so far this year and it's been quite comfortable.

This shot was taken in Canada during our vacation to the falls. Will loves "his trailer" because the rear bed is "his room" where all his toys can stay scattered around.

Categories: Photo, Personal

Mentors, Part I: Todd, second year

2006-07-24T22:00:00.000-05:00

We were done. That was it. Six seniors had graduated from our varsity boat. The cox, the five seat and I were the only returning guys. The novices from that year had numbered four. We didn't expect all of them to return either. There would be no return in an eight. Perhaps we would race a four. My expectations were rather low entering my senior year, but I had made a commitment to the team; I had quit marching band after five years.

I had put on thirty pounds of muscle over the summer, lifting like a lunatic. I had been 6'4" and 155 lbs. The jump to 185 really helped my power output on the erg. I didn't really know why I was doing this, only that I really enjoyed the shocked looks from all the football jocks at my school. I stomped through the halls, sometimes wearing a jersey we had won last year from Indianapolis. It was a medium, so it was painted on me. I was a "National Champion," I was arrogant and I was better than these a******s who had belittled me for years as just another band geek.

Our first workouts as school started were indoors, as we got the club organized and figured out who was returning. Todd walked in the first day late. He was followed by a guy a few inches shorter than me with what we later called "poodle hair." Todd introduced me to Andrea, an Italian exchange student. He had rowed for years before and would be joining us for the rest of this year.

We didn't go to a single head race that fall. Just lots and lots of rowing out on East Fork. Frankly, I don't remember much about the early parts of the fall. The returning novices were getting better, and Andrea was very good in stroke seat in front of me. We worked well together, and a friendly rivalry ensued when he was only a few seconds behind me on every erg workout. (I'm glad we never had to seat race. Andrea was really close on the erg, and weighed 155. And rowed very well. He would have kicked my butt.)

Rick joined up late that fall. Only 16, he was as tall and heavy as I was. His family had been relocated to Cincinnati from Australia, and this was his second year of rowing. He was a talent. Todd put him in six behind me, and the boat would really jump.

If Todd ever had any doubts about what kind of crew he had that second year, he never shared them with us. Even with Andrea and Rick, I didn't believe we had anything as good as the previous year. I'm sure that the erg scores were better, especially when a few of us started training twice per day in January and February. Losing those six seniors had really changed the personality of the crew. Those guys were scruffy, party-hard guys. We were clean-cut, quiet "good boys." Practices weren't the rowdy circus-like atmosphere they had been. We came in, did the work and left. On Saturdays, we went out to breakfast as a team, with Todd at the head of the table.

I think those Saturday morning breakfasts did more than I realized. We sat around and figured out what made each other tick. Remember, this was a team of 8 boys total. We attended different high schools spread over the entire city. Only three of us were seniors (myself, Andrea and Matt, 5 seat) and only three of us were over 155 lbs (myself, Matt and Rick). There were two novices in the boat, (Jay and Paul) and the entire bow section was under 145. During those Saturday breakfasts, we would sit for awhile after inhaling our food and listen to Todd's stories, kid each other a bit and established boat chemistry while there was snow still on the ground. It's only going to be the nine of us. If anything is going to happen, it's going to be these nine guys. Todd had ruled out the four in November.

Crazy? Gut-check call? Challenge to the team for everyone to step up? I'll ask him the next time I see him. He saw something we didn't. We all kept showing up, every day and doing the work. Once we went on the water in the new boathouse downtown, everybody came, every day. Because we all knew that if we missed, our boatmates wouldn't row.

That spring saw bigger margins than the previous year. We raced University of Dayton and won walking away. Todd even put in a 4-5 bucket for a month so I could stroke. I knew that Andrea was better after the first race and he switched it back after we won Midwest. We seat raced constantly, not looking for a different lineup or another oarsman, but because he wanted us to compete in practices.

USRowing had introduced an "Invitational" junior-only regatta for early June. It was to be a true national championship, with crews from all over the country invited from the regional regattas. Cincinnati had been selected as a centrally-located site to host the regatta.

I don't know if he thought we would win or not. I've never asked him. All I knew was we were fifth off the start and all the way on the outside of the course in lane 1. We spent the first 1300 meters going through Green Lake, these two crews' battle carrying us through the third and second place teams. Our coxswain called the sprint with 650 left. My vision went to black and white. When he said "350 to go, I've got contact with St. Pauls and we're moving!" my world compressed to a spot on Andrea's back. I don't know what I saw when the horn went off with us still 5 seats back. But I do know that I am more proud of that silver medal than I am of the gold (8+) and bronze (4+) from the year before.

Why have I just killed all this time writing this? Because that year taught me an important lesson: Take your best shot. If you miss, you'll still have a great result, and nobody will think less of themselves or you. That crew of tiny boys, with two novices, fought like demons on the water in Cincinnati and later at Henley in England. We raced crews bigger and older than us. We beat college teams. When we finally lost to Trinity College Dublin I knew we had given all there was to throw at it, and while I shed tears over the end of a magical season, there was never nor has there ever been a regret about taking such a tiny group of boys and taking a shot in the 8.

Categories: Rowing, Coaching, Tribute, Memories, Training, Teamwork, Juniors, Personal

Fats and snacks

2006-07-13T11:07:00.000-05:00

Lights and heavies. Quick and powerful. What's your preference?

I've (obviously) spent a lot of time in heavyweight boats. Big mungo crews like that take a lot of time to gel together and row well. A 210 lb "donkey" in a boat that pulls a 6:00 2k can really slow down the boat run. But there is nothing, nothing like the feeling of a (good) heavy boat when it's coming off the start. I always thought of it like being an engine in a B-70 Valkyrie. You were going to go really fast. We would spend our time in practice spotting the lightweight 8 a few lengths and then chasing them down. They were the "snacks."

Then I became a coach, and got crews with lots of lightweights. I gained an appreciation of some advantages of lightweight rowing over the ever-increasing search for a bigger, meaner heavyweight. Light racing taps into some of the appeal of NASCAR. Every car is supposed to be the same, more or less. The differences come down to the skill of the driver; racing with lights is the same. Suddenly, there isn't that "holy ****, look at the SIZE of their 6 seat" moment when lining up at the start. It's "we weigh the same. Let's race sucker because you row like Leatherface from the Texas Chain Saw Massacre." That is very cool.

And let's face it. Racing is fun (to watch) when it's close, and you won't find closer racing than what lightweights sometimes put on. So I'm enjoying the time I'm spending with the lights. But don't worry those who don't hate the scale. I'm still one of you.

Categories: Rowing, Coaching

Shoots flaming balls

2006-07-03T18:30:00.000-05:00

Hello all. We've been on vacation from the blog these past few weeks, mainly because we've been camping all around the area these past few weeks. I'm scheming on ways to bring the popup around to races as well, so I've got someplace dry and temperature controlled to sit down and chill out between screaming fits at the referees. (Just kidding.....kinda)

Anyway, the 4th of July holiday finds us in Columbus with my Aunt. The Red White and BOOM fireworks are supposed to be better than Pittsburgh's or Cincinnati's Labor Day display. I'll report on that later, but I'm sure to be more comfortable, as we've got indoor, front row seats tonight. A friend of the family has hooked us up.

Also, for use in an appropriate and legal location, another friend of the family gave my Aunt some fireworks. Because he works in a fireworks store, my Aunt got a little more than she bargained for. There are three bags full of huge fireworks in the family room, all of which say "WARNING: SHOOTS FLAMING BALLS" on the side. This will be fun.

Categories: Personal

Tires Suck

2006-06-21T18:00:00.000-05:00

Three weeks ago, when we bought the trailer, I was going to meet the previous owner to do the title transfer. The front tire on my Acura was totally flat. Huge tear in the sidewall. I think it might have been my fault, because I had left a steel lawn rake on the floor of the garage while I was gluing up the rack for it. That rake probably got the tire.

Two weeks ago, we took the trailer to Cincinnati for a "test run" while I announced the Nationals. Great trip, despite the pouring rain the whole weekend. If we had been camping, that first night would have seen us returning to my parent's house.

The trip back was the adventure as a tire blew out on the trailer just south of Columbus. Because our van has run-flat tires, we didn't have a jack, so we called a tow truck. $40 and an hour later, we were back on the road using the spare. We stopped at my Aunt's in Columbus for dinner, cleaning the trailer and a mental break. Got back on the road to Pittsburgh around 6. The other tire blew two and a half hours later, just west of Wheeling.

Now I was in trouble, because I no longer had a spare. After trying to get the trailer loaded on a flatbed (the angle got too steep) we left it there. I came back the next morning with two new tires, a 2.5 ton hydraulic jack and a lug wrench. The previous tires were put on by Sears and made by such a terrible company that Sears doesn't even use them anymore. Sears refunded the previous owner, because the tires were new in March. He passed that money on to us. So I was out another $100, after putting the right (more expensive) tires on.

This past weekend, we had gone up to Niagara Falls for our anniversary. Good trip, as you can read from the post. The ride back saw another tire adventure. This time, a run-flat on the van failed, over 100 miles from home. Run-flats are supposed to get you 100 miles from when they lose air pressure, but this was on the back wheel. I didn't think it would make it back to Pittsburgh, so I dropped Emily, Will and the trailer at a campground we knew near Moraine State Park. (The run-flats by Bridgestone have worn so quickly on Sienna minivans that Toyota added them to the warranty on the car and will refund your money if you had to replace them in the first 36000 miles. My first set only got to 21000. If this was a Corvette, I could understand. But this is a minivan.)

$200 this time. It appears that we need to budget a new tire per trip and an extra day. I love camping in the trailer. I don't mind the pack up process of leaving Pittsburgh. I'm starting to dread the trip home, because we seem to be 0 for 2 so far.....

Categories: Personal

Blogging by the campfire

2006-06-17T21:45:00.000-05:00

Check it out: here we are. The second weekend with our new pop-up camper finds us now north of the border in Canada. These Jellystone campgrounds are highly rated for "family atmospheres" and we've got Will with us for our anniversary weekend.

More than the campground, the falls are the attraction. Emily had never been, and it had been years since I was here. With all the regattas up in this area over the last few years, I've never been able to break away and see the falls again. So, we planned our special weekend up here.

We rode the Maid of the Mist today. I wasn't sure what Will would say about a ride in a boat on such a swirling river, and he was very quiet and subdued for the first part of the ride. Once the spray really started getting us, he laughed and had a great time. I think the relief from the heat was his main pleasure out of the experience.

I'll be putting up a few shots of the pop-up once we get home. The connection here isn't very fast, but wireless at a campground seems to be a new idea. Nevermind that there are some class a motorhomes here with satellite dishes. One monster had a plasma TV set up outside. I'm assuming it is removed to the interior when that battleship is in motion.

Categories: Personal

Mentors, Part I: Todd

2006-06-15T21:30:00.000-05:00

Before you can understand the impact Todd had on rowing in Cincinnati, you must first understand what the situation was when he was hired. The Cincinnati Rowing Club had masters and juniors, a modest fleet of various boats and was a feature piece of the Cincinnati bicentennial celebration in 1988. The entire riverfront was transformed, with a new "boathouse" at the end. This building had a Montgomery Inn Ribs King restaurant on the top two floors, with the entire basement becoming a training center for rowing. Tanks were installed, thirty ergs were purchased and a full set of Nautilus weight trainers were installed. In theory, one could launch a single from the boathouse, carrying the boat down three stories of stairs to launch off a concrete pad, but there was never rowing out of the building.

My first year was marked by positive experiences as a novice, a few medals, and some great stories. The infamous challenge to Brown University's varsity boat by Josh and our novice 8 happened that year, along with our disqualification for leaving our coxswain's 35 lbs of sand on shore at our head coach's instructions are fodder for later posts. I can't really remember how our varsity boat did that year, other than not being too blown away by their results.

Strange things began happening near the end of the spring. It turns out there were various financial schenagians by the staff, leading to the entire club going bankrupt that summer. The training center was ceded to the city parks and rec commission, along with all the equipment. A group of parents came together to form the Cincinnati Junior Rowing Club. We heard they had gotten together with a rowing booster in the city who had connections all over the east coast. He had hired a new coach, who would join us that fall.

I didn't row that fall. Surprised? I was a band geek. The previous year I had rowed from 3 to 5:30, when my mother would pick me up in the car with dinner and drive me to band practice from 6 to 9. Homework and sleep predictably suffered. I had to choose one that fall, and being a fifth year junior with girlfriend in the color guard, I chose band. Then, near the end of the fall, girlfriend and I broke up for the 675th and final time. I dropped her via a pay phone (remember those?) during lunch while she was home sick with mono. Just to put icing on the cake, I came down with mono exactly one month later, in late November. Laid up until the second week of December, I wasn't cleared to row until the first week of January.

By that time, the team was rowing out of rented, unheated warehouse space far on the north side of town. The city had taken over the training center and was in the middle of a huge renovation following massive flooding that winter. I joined the team halfway through the winter training. When Todd had first talked to them about training, he had said they would "pull hard, every day." That was scary for many, especially when they were told many erg workouts would be an hour long. They got very interested in the training methods after a very good result at a head race that fall. The guys were used to hours by the time I was started very slowly by Todd. 20 minutes, thirty minutes at a time for the first few weeks. His coaching style was different from what I had known. He didn't make a lot of comments through the piece, only once or twice. He just wanted us to put the work in.

Some things became very clear about Todd quickly. First, he had more experience in rowing than anybody we had ever known. He told us stories about wooden boats and days when Cornell was a good crew. (Sorry, couldn't resist.) He told us stories about the days he had coached the Groton School. Second, he really cared about us as people, not just as athletes. When Todd gave a talk about underage drinking, how it affected our training and how sneaking around with such an activity was dishonest and didn't belong in rowing, a group of high school seniors and juniors actually listened. And did what he asked: no booze once we went on the water. We didn't do this because we were scared of him, we did it because he respected us and talked about it like we were adults, not kids.

Third, it was obvious that Todd was and still is totally nuts. The guy hated losing, always wanted to win and loved a great joke. April 1st seems to be his favorite day of the year. He wasn't a coach, he was a grandfather, shepherding around a bunch of grandsons he had taught to pull really hard and win races by huge margins. And the margins were big, and getting bigger.

There were only 11 guys rowing in Cincinnati that spring. One raced a single for his private school. Two seniors with us weren't as serious as the rest and Todd put them in a double. Our 8 selection was mainly him trying out different lineups behind one of two strokes. By April, the boat was set. We won Midwest that year in the 8 and the 4 in such undramatic fashion that Todd seemed a little disappointed in our lack of enthusiasm. He told us we should stay rowing until late July and go to USRowing Nationals, where we won as well.

Think about that. 8 of the 11 boys rowing in Cincinnati, all in their second year, won USRowing Nationals. Even some of the jocks at my football-mad high school heard about it the next fall and congratulated me for being a national champion. What the heck had this man done?

He had been fanatical about his crew. He cared about us, just like a parent. He pushed, praised asked for more and never made you feel bad if you fell short. He chided, lectured and glared when we did something stupid that we should have known better. He joked with us. He quoted Shakespeare to us, taught us how to visualize a race and knew just how to taper his crew. He cried when we won.

I learned that I must be that lunatic about my crews. A coach must respect his athletes and truly care about what happens to them long after the last race is complete, or those athletes might never totally trust the coach. As everyone knows, trust is central to the sport of rowing, between the athlete and him/herself, between the members of the crew and between the boat and the coach.

Todd taught me to trust that athletes are resilient and can handle a workload most people don't think is possible. They thrive when presented with such a challenge. He watched us carefully, charted our distances and constantly asked us how we felt. His mental preparation was always great, something that I still need to work on as a coach. He demonstrated the benefits of experience and patience.

Many of my on-water workouts are from that period of my life. I can't for the life of me describe how he talked to us on the water or what he would say about technique. It was always about pulling hard and together. On the water, it was about making the boat set up and sing, waiting for his reaction from the launch.

Basically, we would have rowed over a dam if he had told us. Great coaches have that sort of relationship with their crews. His crews are never the biggest, usually don't row the "prettiest" and they don't act like a bunch of military school cadets. But where he goes, there is victory.

Categories: Coaching, Tribute, Rowing, Personal

USRowing Youth Nationals

2006-06-14T23:22:00.000-05:00

The west coast has it going on. Look at the results, particularly the finals of the 8s. In the open events, west coast programs had 4 of 6 lanes. Unlike other regattas, you can't blame that on the draw, because there were reps. Those were the fastest 6 boats, and the west coast won.

In rowing, time on the water usually results in more boat speed. The simple fact is that west coast clubs can row close to year around if they so choose. They get more water time than the rest of the country. In the past, this advantage was negated by better coaching and athletes in the Midwest and east. Even these advantages have disappeared as the coaching on the coast has gotten much better.

Want to know why I think this? Watch the last 250m of any of those races. West coast crews have a sprint, every time. They can lift the rating and the boat speed higher over base than the rest of the country. When a final came down to a sprint, the safe bet was the west coast crew. Great sprints come from boats that have rowed together for a long time.

This doesn't mean that the Midwest and east are no longer competitive. The lightweight 8s, the quad and 4s saw more representation from the rest of the country. But the boat that values water time and teamwork the most, the open 8, saw domination from the coast.

Hit the results again and look at the final picture of the men's quad. .01 second. Half a bowball. Frankly, that's within the margin of error down at the start. Those two boats broke away from the field very quickly and never got more than a few seats apart all the way down the course. Great race. That is the 4th year in a row for Malvern.

There were a lot of great races. The women's open 8 saw Pocock training center lead just about the whole way, but every other boat in the race was in second place at one point in time. It was lunatic. The open men's event saw St. Joe's Prep make a courageous bid for the gold, coming back from 6 seats down to 2 seats up with about 400m to go. But they had exhausted their energy, and St. Ignatius' sprint was too much.

A little note on the weather. East Fork has two prevailing winds. The winter and spring see a wind from the northeast, which is a headwind on the course, slightly from the beach. The summer and fall see 180 degrees opposite, resulting in a tailwind. That course saw Harvard in 1994 pull something near 5:15 for a 2k. Yes, that was a tailwind. The tailwind is fair, pushing all lanes equally. The head wind isn't as fair, because there is a point on the lane 6-7 side of the course that gives about 700m of protection from the wind. You could tell during the racing, as the middle lanes would move out on the field, only to be attacked from those lanes in the middle of the race. I usually have to fall back when announcing from that side so as not to wake those boats. This year, those boats were usually a factor for a medal.

I'm not saying the course is screwed up. That's part of rowing, and there really isn't a better centrally-located racecourse in the country. It's just something to know about the next time anyone reading this is in Cincinnati.

Don't think this is a "real" championship? The numbers were up again this year, with semis in most events. I've always supported this race, because I believe there should be a true national championship in high school rowing. Just getting there is something to be proud of, and people who don't know anything about the sport sit up and take notice at "Yeah, my team came in 8th in the nation last year." That means something.

Ok, I've blabbered on enough about all this, and it's late. Up this post goes, with more to come of the story of the 30 hour return trip, pop up camper stories and the beauty of lightweight rowing.

Categories: Regattas, Rowing, Coaching

Quick Update

2006-06-14T13:20:00.000-05:00

Jay swears that he will be posting today, as I know that he has been working on several posts after attending the Junior Invitation Regatta this weekend. He left the water with several bees in his bonnet about various rowing issues, including lightweight versus heavyweight rowing and East versus West Coast Rowing. I am sure that the NCAA might fit into those thoughts somewhere as well.

The weather at "Nationals " was horrible, and I actually didn't go out at all on Sunday. The weather was quite similar to the weather at Midwest Scholastics. Turns out that worked out well as I wouldn't have been able to ride in the announcer's launch with Jay. Jay did announce for the 10th year (I can't believe he has been making this treck over to Cinci for the past decade!) Jay was the "voice of US Rowing" for this year as he is the commentator on the official video of the races. I thought that was pretty cool, and it appears that in compensation Jay will be getting a copy of the video. This is the first year that USRowing has recorded all of the grand finals, but it sounds like there was some amazing racing, despite the bad weather. Again, I didn't see much so Jay will have to talk about the finals. It was good to see the Pittsburgh turnout at the regatta, including NA, FC and Steel City.

Steve, Jay's former cox, who now coaches at UVA was there checking out the racing and possible recruits. It was good to see him. He accused me of calling him obnoxious on the blog (which I did along with a lot of other nice things). Thus, I just want to say that Steve is a wonderful person and a great coach (per Jay). Jay also says that Steve is probably one of the top coxswains in the country, and Jay does not give praise lightly. Jay's mother appears to be in shock that Steve would choose to coach after completing an MBA program at UVA. It appears that there are those to are meant to coach, and Steve is one of those. He also has the drive and political saavy to be very successful. Steve came over to see us for S'mores, or rather toasted marshmallows.

That brings me to my other announcement. Jay's parents have generously given us a Pop-Up Camper (also called a Tent Camper or Folding Camper). I once asked Jay why more coaches didn't travel with RV's, as they seem like the perfect coach's home. Well, it appears that we will now be travelling with one. Jay and I stayed at East Fork for the Junior Invitational, and while the rain poured on Sunday, I snuggled up with a good book and a blanket inside our new heated and cooled pop-up. We are greatly enjoying this new toy, and Will can't stop talking about his trailer. I will post pictures of it soon.

Categories: Regattas, Rowing, Coaching, Yale, Personal

Mickey's Diner

2006-06-02T16:44:00.000-05:00

Perhaps, Jay has spoken to you of the crew house that he lived in during his Junior year, perhaps not. Jay's mother referred to it as the Taj Mahal due to its horrific blue color. Jay moved into the house the May before his Junior year at Yale with 5 (yes, 5!) other rowers from the team. It was on Edgewood Ave. Right down the street from Pierson College. There were 6 bedrooms, ranging from quite spacious, to no bigger than a walk-in closet. There were 2 bathrooms, only 2, and a large common area. In case you are wondering who lived in the house with him it was: Jay, Alex, Shane, Hans, Mark and Nathan (who quit rowing shortly after the start of Junior year.) As you probably can tell from the pictures, Jay and colleagues painted the common areas (as well as his and Hans's bedrooms) blue, pale aqua, the color of pool bottoms, with a chalky bright blue trim. UGLY! There are a number of other hideous things about the house, but I will get to those later. Jay's aunt, his mother and his grandmother (below, his Nan who is going strong today at almost 94) all visited and helped with the move into the wretched house. There should be some laws preventing 6 late-adolescent/early-twenties boy-men from living together. It was not a well-conceived plan. (In fact, in some cities there are, as Jay has mentioned in a previous post.) Perhaps if they had a live-in maid/cook it would have worked a little better. Instead they had 5 girlfriends between the lot of them. Most of the girlfriends (I was one) spent too much time at the house (as I did.) I know that I at the very least, attempted without avail to clean up after myself and Jay.

Unfortunately, 6 boy-men could produce more mess than any one person could dispose of individually. Nathan was the most fastidious of the lot, and tried very hard to encourage the others to clean. In fact, I remember him clearly stating, "It is hard being an 'eat then cleaner when everyone else is a 'clean then eater", he was referring to the fact that every guy in the house only washed dishes when they needed to eat something and dirty it again. Which leads me to the kitchen...

The biggest problems of the Crew House surrounded the kitchen. There was no dishwasher. If more than 2 post-adolescent boys live in a house, you truly need a dishwasher. Every heavyweight rower out there, think about how much you eat in a day. Now think about living with 5 other rowers. If each of you cooks for yourself and refuses to wash the dishes, think about how many dishes that will produce each day. Generally there was a sink brimming over with dishes and dirty water, and the stove and counters were stacked dangerously high with more dishes. It was a sty, truly.

The second biggest problem was the infestation, yes, infestation that resulted from the crusty and rotting food that filed the kitchen and dining areas. I have seen in my office how common eating areas tend to result in foods going uneaten and spoiling. That is with an office full of adult women, now think about a house full of 20-21 year old men. The smell was noxious. The smell along with the crumbs led to... MICE. I used the word Infestation literally because there was an infestation. If two mice appear and you don't quickly remove then, the two mice become 2000 overnight. There were mice everywhere. In fact, when the crew vacated the house the following year, the house had to be shut down and fully bombed and exterminated. The filth is certainly the crew's fault, but they did attempt to talk to their landlords about the fact that mice were moving from the crumbling carriagehouse in the back into the crew house in the front, and the "landlords" sent the boys a box of mice traps. (Those work really well against hundreds of mice?!) Mice were living everywhere, in the couch, in the box of ramen atop the television set, in the pantry, in Jay's shoes in his bedroom. I remember being over at Jay's house one night studying when Jay threw his book suddenly across the floor. When I jumped and asked what was wrong, he told me that a rodent had just crawled out of his shoe and scurried across the floor. It got so bad, that even though rats were being caught on a daily basis, more and more were appearing in the house. You would watch television in the common room, and during a 30 minute program, with 8 to 10 people sitting in the room, several mice would run back and forth across the room. The mice were fat, lazy and brazen. It was disgusting!

One Saturday morning shortly after practice, Shane's screams along with the sound of a loud crash came from the kitchen. Shane had walked into the filthy, sticky, crusty kitchen to find a large rodent sitting in the sink munching on a bit of left over food. Shane screamed and threw things at the rodent as it waddled away, missing the plump, sluggish mice with the pan. Later that afternoon, a large sign appeared over the kitchen sink, with a drawing of a mouse that read "Welcome to Mickey's Diner."

(NB: There are several more disgusting and atrocious stories that could be told about that house, but those can wait for another day.)

Categories: Memories, Yale, Rowing, Personal

Mentors, Preface

2006-06-02T00:30:00.000-05:00

Few people have as great an impact upon a young person's life as a coach. Years after games have been forgotten, graduations have passed and younger siblings have passed through, coaches are remembered. Sometimes for better, sometimes for worse, coaches are remembered. Bad decisions, compliments in passing, off the cuff comments a coach couldn't recall for any amount of money become pivotal moments in the athlete's life.

I can remember some moments trying to play little league baseball. While trying to teach the team to bunt, my coach hit me with a practice pitch. Later on, when practicing fielding, he sent a grounder far off to my right. When I cut it off and made the throw to first, he said "Hey, nice range out there." I actually enjoyed that practice and the next game. Anyone who has seen me swing futilely at a wiffleball can attest I am terrible at anything resembling baseball. But I'll always remember one day when a coach complimented me.

Rowing coaches have such an impact. We're with our athletes through eight months, through long ergs, long trips and long rows. The sheer volume of time makes throwaway comments far more likely to create a lasting memory than any slightly scripted pre-race pep talk. The times I think to myself "I've got to talk to the team about this" are far more likely to pass out of their minds than stay with them.

I've been thinking about my coaches the last few days. I'll be writing about the impacts they've had on my life and coaching style for this week. The first "chapter" that addresses my high school coach has been very long in writing. I've been working on some sort of tribute to Todd for nearly a year, and have never been happy with what I've written. I suppose the time has come to just put something out there and see how everyone responds. I won't send him the link for awhile, because he never really liked being singled out. Heck, we always had to drag him up whenever we had pictures taken.

Why write about this? One part is to give everyone some insight into what I'm thinking most days and why I say some of the things I do. Also, these coaches deserve some kind of recognition, because they are all very talented men. Finally, I'm expressing the hope that I've had and have half the influence on my athletes that these men have had on me.

Categories: Coaching, Tribute, Rowing, Personal

Summer in the pair

2006-05-26T22:20:00.000-05:00

Now, I'm not suggesting that everyone should go out, get themselves some sexy unisuits and race some national team guys at big regattas over the summer. I'm suggesting something much more terrifying for some of my athletes: go and row the straight pair.

One boat, two rowers, one oar each. No coxswain and no room for mistakes. Training in the straight pair has been all the rage for the last few years. Much like the single, if you can row the pair well, the thinking goes that you can row anything well.

The boat is tiny. I routinely pick up pairs alone in the boathouse when I'm working on them. It's bigger than a single, but not by much. After an entire season in fours or eights, most people react the same as a single when they get in the first time. Pushing off the dock brings a deer-in-the-headlights look of I'm about to flip.

And pairs do flip. Miss the catch badly enough, and you're going in. Catch a crab? Swim time. Heck, pairs sometimes flip when practicing racing starts. If the coach screwed up the rig, hope your heels are tied in well. Nevermind that steering is an adventure, with two power applications every stroke. A rudder many times does more harm than good, with the steersman so distracted by trying to go straight that their rowing suffers.

The pair is simply not like any other sweep boat. It requires absolute concentration at all times. The stroke must be consistent in everything they do, not just the rowing, but from how they push off the dock to how fast they come up the slide to do a start. The bow must (usually) steer the boat, call the race and somehow perfectly match the stroke. Unlike an eight, where body positions can be all over the place and slightly different hand levels can be overlooked, the pair forces bow to match everything, even what the stroke is doing wrong.

Rarely does the pair look good out on the water. Emily likened them to watching a duck with a broken wing flap along the top of the water, trying to get airborne. But when they are right........like nothing else.

Some of my best memories of rowing happened in pairs. Every summer I was involved in the sport, I found a partner to row a pair with. At Yale, HVT and I rowed every summer, most mornings of the week. After a few days, the pair just felt good. We rarely did anything very hard, and only had a coach out with us a few times. We would race at the Canadian Henley in August, but mainly we were just rowing around, staying in aerobic shape and enjoying nice mornings and smooth water.

And I know it made me a better rower. I believe it can do that for anyone who can spend the time in the boat. The pair in the summer is a sweet way to chill out, get better, stay in shape and go swimming from time to time.

Categories: Rowing, Memories

Shaking things up around here.

2006-05-25T14:10:00.000-05:00

What is the purpose of any blog? Well generally, it is to communicate with readers your thoughts and opinions about different topics that are of interest to you. There are blogs that cover every imaginable topic. When Jay and I first were talking about having him set up a blog, the goal was to create a forum for discussion about rowing, particularly issues that were important for him team (as FC was his only crew). Of course, part of getting a blog going is getting people to read it. Those of you who have blogs know that having no one comment is frustrating and disappointing. It is nice to know what others think of you, even if they only say things that disagree with your position. There aren't a lot of rowing blogs out there, in fact, there are almost none. I have found a couple of blogs that are primarily about rowing such as Indoor Rowing, First Light and Fight in the Dog. Further, a couple of new blogs have been linking here, which is really great. One is, for ERA and the other, I have to look up at home, but is from RIT.

Anyways to make is easier for the average reader to navigate the site, and promote the ability to check out posts that are of particular note to the reader, we have implemented categories. I have only categorized the first 150 or so posts thus far.
I first read Freshblog two or three months ago, and thought that the idea of actually having categories on blogger was really cool. However, the idea of categorizing dozens upon dozens of old posts, plus learning some new computing skills seemed too overwhelming to me. However, I started fiddling on Monday Tuesday evening, and have been working on it ever since. Using the pull down menu, select a category (the default is rowing) and then pick a particular post. Click on the post, and it will connect you the post you are interested in. However, the posts are arranged in backwards order, and I need to change that.

The advantage to categories is two fold, let says you only want to read rowing posts, none of the miscelaneous drivel that sometimes occurs on our blog, you can now skip over those posts. Further, each post is now receiving a del.icio.us tag that will work with technorati.

The second major change (besides rearranging the sidebar in general) is the switch from Bloglet (which has not been working consistently) to Feedblitz, which does the same thing, but is more sophisticated. If you are really interested in why I made this change you can read about it here. If you already had a subscription via Bloglet, I have moved your subscription to Feedblitz, and you should notice no change other than the fact that it will be consistently working. If you are interested in subscribing and receiving the beginning of each post from the blog by email, click on the little orange button beneath the tagboard.

If you have any questions or concerns about these changes, please ask away. Also, if you have any suggestions for changes you would like to see, tell me. I may not know the answer or how to make it happen, but I'll try to find out.

Categories: blogging, rowing

A fork in the college rowing road

2006-05-24T21:00:00.000-05:00

I agreed with the recent NCAA decision not to include men's crew in the NCAA championships. The reasons for my position have been discussed here before and are not really germane to today's topic. One possible side effect of that decision is what I would like to address.

I believe the explosion of women's rowing due to Title IX has been a great thing. There is no question that women's rowing was undervalued and ignored by university athletic directors, like all other women's sports. Requiring a close balance in funding between men's and women's sports has been a great boon to the sport. Anyone who began rowing in the mid to late 90s can attest to the huge difference Title IX has brought to our sport.

HOWEVER: "I sense a disturbance in the force." The beginnings of a split between men's and women's rowing greatly concern me. While the intervention of the NCAA has benefited the sport as a whole and women's rowing in particular, NCAA intervention has changed some traditional aspects of rowing on the women's side. While the men continue mostly unchanged, the women are moving in a different direction, at least in the college area of the sport.

Here I refer to Fight in the Dog and a recent post there about possible changes in novice entries on the women's side. Specifically, I believe women's rowing is moving away from recruiting novices in college. Athletes at the highest-level women's rowing programs are assumed to have rowing in high school, and novices are not expected to contribute (ie compete) until they are upperclassmen.

I'll leave all the other arguments save this one: if women's rowing is going to become the female football, then I don't believe that sort of equality is what we as a society should be striving for. The beauty of rowing is the simplicity of the stroke, the fitness of the participant and the teamwork required by the boat. Closing that opportunity to novices in college simply because they didn't have a large body of water with a boat club in their hometown seems an injustice.

I believe the sport should continue to grow. I believe women's programs should continue to lead the way at the collegiate level; for the most part, rowing in general has benefited. However, I sincerely hope collegiate coaches leave a little room for instruction of novices and keep novice racing around. Those who learned to row in college many times come back to become the greatest alumni supporters.

I'm not sure what else I need to say or want to say in this post. Perhaps our readers can contribute more to this. Simply because the NCAA is involved doesn't mean the sport should move away from its roots.

Categories: Rowing, Politics, College

I am NOT Batman

2006-05-22T21:00:00.000-05:00

I love movies. The stunts are great to watch, and suddenly it seems possible for a human to fall three stories and get up without any ill effects. Will and I have been watching the Star Wars movies this past weekend. He loves them. Emily said they might be too violent, and he answered "I like violent." Aren't we great parents?

Anyway, perhaps those movies were running through my head when I was on the roof of the porch on Sunday, cleaning out the gutters on top of the house. Emily was working on recovering a flowerbed. Will was out front with her. To get down, I would need her to hold the ladder, but I had jumped down a few years before. So I tossed down my tools and took a leap off the roof.

And landed really wrong. There was an internal sproing in my left leg. It went a little numb. And I knew I had done something really stupid.

So I'm limping around the house now. I can put weight on the leg, but my knee and ankle are really sore. Today has been better, but Emily doesn't miss an opportunity to call me an idiot. I guess I can't jump off the roof anymore. I'm not Batman.

Well, perhaps this Batman.....

Categories: Personal

When I am five...

2006-05-21T20:51:00.000-05:00

Time is a mysterious thing, particularly toddler time. In Will's world, a year is the same as a week is the same as an hour. Time is rather meaningless. He frequently will explain that he did something "last year," and he really means that he did something a few days ago. Thus, he doesn't really get the distinctions between adolescence and adulthood. Anyone over 13 is grown as far as he is concerned. Trying to explain to Will that his grandparents are older than his parents are would be pointless, as 30 and 60 are far too abstract. In fact, the magical age when aging is complete is currently five. Will proudly announced that "when I am five," a number of incredible things will happen, which are part of the bennys of adulthood. For example, we took him to visit his grandmother at her high school last week, and he proclaimed, "When I am five, I will go to high school too. Just like Dave and Steve." (Dave and Steve are two rowers.)

When Will is five, he will become a "big boy." In Will's mind, that is the goal of growing up. He desperately wants to be a "big boy." In case you don't know what a "big boy" is, I will enlighten you: A big boy is a rower. (Female rowers are "Big girls.") Will wants to become a big boy in the worst way. He listens to music in his daddy's ipod and dances around the house. This music isn't Raffi or Barney, rather Moby and the Black-eyed Peas. Two weeks ago, Will was busy getting himself dressed. He came out with his baseball cap, and announced that he was going to wear it to preschool, but more importantly, he was going to wear it "Steve's way," or backwards. Steve is one of the boys that Will most aspires to be.

Jay started coaching shortly before Will was 10 months old. Will can't remember a time when Jay wasn't coaching. He has been dragged to countless regattas and numerous practices. He has watched "big boys" erg and row. Will has erged himself a number of times.

Many of this year's graduating seniors from Fox Chapel were introduced to the world of rowing about the same time as Will was. Thus, they are very special to Will and me. From my end, I have watched these boys become men (well, almost men), and have shuttered to think how quickly Will's wish will come true. From Will's point of view, these rowers are what cool is. A couple of them are particular favorites, but his admiration is pretty consistent across the team. In actuality, there are few role models who I would rather my son look up to. When Will is five, I hope that he will be half the young man that you all are.

Categories: FC, Will, Memories, Tributes

Pulling a Water Skier...

2006-05-19T16:53:00.000-05:00

It is amazing what one can find on television at 2am. Early, early Thursday morning, I was having problems sleeping. I turned on the television and started to flip through channels. As I was flipping, I processed that an interview was occurring in the middle of a boat bay. Rows upon rows of rowing shells are very distinctive. I processed what I was seeing about 3 channels past the one that had the interview. It was an interview of the coach for Stanford University. I ran to get Jay. He was on the computer (of course), and together we watched this coach explain what rowing was to the lay audience. Those interested in rowing know how rare it is for rowing to actually make in on mainstream TV. In fact, Row2K has a list of movies and programs that feature rowing! The program was Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel, and the hosts were testing the myth that an 8+ was able to pull a water skier behind it.

I first heard about this story when I was working at the rowing venue of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta on Lake Lanier. One of the rowing attaches was competing with the sprint canoe/kayak people about which boat goes faster: a quad sprint kayak or an 8+? The kayak person argued that 8+'s were really slow an inefficient. The whole idea was amusing to me as I couldn't imagine either being a good boat to ski behind. BTW, this also leads to the question, which would work better a 4x or an 8+? I talked to Jay about it, and he told me that he had seen pictures of an 8+ actually pulling a water skier.

Well, Mythbusters wanted to test this myth that supposedly Jay had seen a picture of. I put a good 45 minutes of my super googling search abilities to the test, and could find no picture of an 8+ pulling a water skier with the exception of the one from the actual episode:
Perhaps, it is much like the twinkie that won a seat race (see "Ask Doctor Rowing" for that one.) Anyhow, it took several attempts for the waterskier to actually ski behind the heavyweight varsity men's 8+, but the Mythbuster host did ski for 40 seconds. He said that it wasn't the speed but the "surge" of each stroke that caused the problem. If you are interested in reading about this feat, I have found two discussions, one on a Mythbuster fan site, and another on a rowing fan site. I wish I could find better pictures. A batch of cookies to the person who finds a decent photo of this one!

I can't help but wonder though, could a junior team (high school, that is) accomplish this? Could a lightweight team do this? What about a women's boat? Hmmm, the permutations of this feat are endless.

Categories: Rowing, Media, Misc

School Rivalry

2006-05-18T18:44:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite Harvard-Yale jokes goes something like:

A guy with a red "H" tee-shirt runs into a guy with a blue "Y" tee-shirt on the street. The guy with the "H" says, "Yale sucks!" The guy with the "Y" on his shirt says, "Oh yeah, well Harvard really sucks!" Then a guy with an orange "P" on his shirt walks up, and says, "Well Harvard and Yale both suck!" The guy from Harvard looks at the guy from Yale, and says, "Did you hear someone say something?" The guy from Yale says, "No, did you?" The guy from Harvard says, "I must have been mistaken. Come on, let's go get a beer."

First, my apologies to Princeton graduates, and to parents about the beer comment, but this is actually one of the tamer H-Y jokes that I know.

For me, this joke illustrates a really important thing about school rivalry. Within rivalry there is an underlying respect. Now, with collegiate heavyweight men's rowing, this joke is a little misleading, as Yale isn't ranked too highly right now, and Princeton is always one of the powerhouses. However, in general, Yale and Harvard view each other as the only schools worth competing with. That is to say, they view each other as worthy opponents. Disinterest shows far less respect that a little healthy competition.

FC has a bit of school rowing rivalry with Central Catholic High School here in Pittsburgh. I think that it is fair to say that respect, some friendship and good sportsmanship underlies that rivalry. I know that Jay (my Jay) truly respects Central's Jay as a coach, despite the fact that Central's Jay attended the dreaded 'Vard. While at Midwest Scholastics this past weekend, I saw something that made me proud of the FC boys. During the Varsity 8+ Final, I watched the FC boys cheering for Central. That shows some class, boys. Despite FC's own frustrations after the heats, the boys were able to put their personal disappointments aside and cheer for a worthy rival.

Categories: FC, Rowing, Yale, Sportmanship

How long until government decides who we get to marry?

2006-05-17T11:30:00.000-05:00

Go here. Then ask yourselves the question above. My question: whose bloody business it this sort of thing anyway? Is this China, where people are told how many children they can have, where they can live and where they will work? Seems like it's heading in that direction. Since when do people need "occupancy permits" to give government a say over which house they live in with thier families? Amerika, here we come.

Categories: Politics

Tribute to the last-minute lineup

2006-05-16T21:00:00.000-05:00

Coaches sweat, obsess and drive their spouses crazy debating lineups. We try and set lineups four weeks or so before the final race of the season, so boats get an opportunity to "gel" together. The boat develops its own personality and approach to a race, the coach identifies this and puts together a race plan accordingly. We sit back on the shore and (hopefully) everything comes together with a winning race.

Makes a nice, calm picture, doesn't it? Makes sense; there is a process to this whole thing. The team likes this idea, because is reinforces the idea that the coach knows what's going on, thus the team knows what's going on and everyone thinks they know what is going to happen.

Then the coach gets the situation faced by the Pitt heavy 4 last weekend. The stroke went down with a foot infection on Wednesday before they left for Philly and Dad Vails. A boat that had been stable, selected and racing well, pointing toward a finals finish suddenly needed to find a new stroke rhythm, and quickly. Plus, a new member, who hadn't rowed in that boat for the last month was being introduced into the mix. In an 8, this might not be such a big deal. 8s have a personality, and a new oarsman just has to go along with what's happening. 4s aren't so easy by a long margin.

Then add in the idea that the new member of the boat would also stroke it. My expectations, as well as theirs, weren't that high.

Coaches like control. That's why we obsess about lineups and results and the competitions' race results and seat racing and erg scores and weather patterns and rigging and race plans and hull selection. We've been oarsmen before, and want that same feeling of control that we had when an oar was in our hands. So we try and fool ourselves with figures and theories and seat racing into believing that we can predict the future. Then when disaster strikes, we assume that because that boat won't have the benefit of time together and our knowlege and experience and theories that it will suck.

Then the oarsmen go out and prove us dead wrong. After such a displacement, the Pitt 4 made the final of Dad Vails. I don't think they believed they would make it out of heats. I had no idea what to think. What the heck was I thinking anyway? Obviously, I have no idea about what I'm doing......

But then again, perhaps I and other coaches do. It's not about seat racing and erg scores and rigging. Yes, these have a place, but not anywhere near the weight we place on them. The best indication of a boat's possible success is the heart and courage and will of the athletes in it. If they believe they can do something special, they usually will. As many other discussions on this blog come down to, it's all about trust. If a boat trusts each other, they will push harder than a crew without that belief. The only way for a lineup to become a crew, and not just a list of people is for those people to trust in the effort and will of each other. That is what makes crews faster than the sum of their parts.

What's funny is that this can't be taught in one workout or drill. It's something a coach can help grow. Mainly, such trust and belief is created by the members of the team themselves. Well done, heavy 4. Beyond expectation, you accomplished the highest talent a crew can master in a season, and it carried you into the finals and great racing.

Categories: Pitt, Rowing, Tribute, Regattas, Coaching

Another tribute to coxswains

2006-05-09T16:45:00.000-05:00

They always want to row. It could be 35 degrees and raining, but if there's an extra coxswain, they'll beg like kids in the cereal isle for an opportunity to row. I don't know why, perhaps because they are usually smaller than the athletes they command, but coxswains always want to row.

I give this little speech once a year to somebody. I don't know how else to put it. Some people are just the perfect size to be a coxswain. Yes, they could row, and be in the 3V. Or, they could make a bigger contribution to the squad and be a cox. Then I'll give examples. I seem to have a new one every year, and this past weekend gave another.

M is the FC varsity coxswain. He had a JV 4 this weekend at Scholastic sprints that was thrown together at the last minute. (There is a tradition of these things.) As seems the case every year, that 4 made the final. (Again, this always seems to happen.) They were leading the final when a volunteer launch, too eager to take up the course, waked them out, dropping them to second place. That wake didn't hit any other boat.

M protested. He talked to the refs, presented his case and agreed to their suggestion that first place be shared. The guys in his boat had already raced three times that day, and another time down the course wasn't a guaranteed win. M made the right call. The points gained by that shared 1st place got FC a tie for the boys' points trophy and assisted in the overall points win.

Coxswains: this is what you do. Provide some rational thought out on the course. Win races and trophies by using your mind. Yes, what is said to the crew is important, and steering is vital. But using the one muscle the oarsmen don't have good use of brings big results from the coxswains. When to sprint, when to move, when to lock on, when to coach and when to sweet-talk the refs are the coxwain's responsibility. Athletes really aren't good at this, because they are in lactic acid burn. The brain has a habit of shutting down in that state.

Coxswains usually gather the majority of flak from the coach at practice and plenty of grief from oarsmen as well. The fact is that coxswains can make big differences. Like the kicker on a football team, they are disrespected all year until the big moment comes. At that point, you need Adam Vinatieri, not Mike Vanderjagt.

Be heroes, coxswains. Be the best at what you are. I'll let you row over the summer.

Categories: Coxswains, FC, Pitt, Tribute, Motivational, Regattas, Rowing, Photo

Name that rower?!

2006-05-08T20:54:00.000-05:00

I've been working on a banner for the Top Rowing Sites website since they will show it for the top 25 sites. Here is the banner currently:

And here is our contest: Can you name that rower? Is the tiny size of the picture causing you trouble? Take a guess. Hopefully, the rower doesn't mind that we are using this picture. If so, speak up. As a complete aside, do you know how hard it is to create an image that is 470 pixels wide and only 60 tall?! It took me forever. I would have liked to use our heading photo, but it was just too big.

Categories: Blogging, Pitt, Rowing, Photo

The Moment

2006-05-07T16:00:00.000-05:00

Most crews experience a moment during their seasons that define how they will approach the rest of the spring. Sometimes early, sometimes just before the championships, the turning moment is recognized by everyone in the boat. The entire crew instantly understands what has happened, what they are capable of and what the mission has become. Perhaps a team that didn't believe it belonged in the finals has a great tune-up race, or a crew that didn't believe it could win takes down the favorite team in the league. Perhaps a JV finally takes down the varsity, or a novice 4 has such a great practice that the crew begs the coach to enter them at the championships. A great sprint piece, a strong long-distance row, the first time setting a boat on the square; any of these can be that moment. The common thread here is a boat that finally gels together and feels fast.

This moment must be seized upon and built upon. Concentrating on how good the boat felt in that moment can carry a great crew through weeks or even month of preparation. Remember, there is a large mental portion to this sport. How a team prepares mentally for the final championship regatta will impact the results far better than any last few days of drills or tiny rigging change by a coach. There is rarely a sudden lineup change in the final week that will find an extra second over 2000 meters, but that second can be found where it always was, in the athletes. A great moment, either in a race or in practice is a great help to mental preparation.

With a week remaining before the "championship weekend," I call attention to that moment, because I believe each crew I've been associated with has experienced a great moment sometime this season. There have been distractions, obstacles and disappointments, but these have been mostly off the water. Concentrate on what has happened on the water, and those moments when the boat gelled together and ran.

Categories: Motivational, Rowing, Regattas, Teamwork

The importance of being JV

2006-05-03T21:30:00.000-05:00

Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.
Baltasar Gracian (1601 - 1658) Spanish philosopher, writer
In "Quotations of Wit and Wisdom," ed. & John W. Garder et al., 1975.

First old rowing saying of the day:

Behind every great crew is a very good JV. I'm not saying a great crew always has a champion JV, but they will be good. They have to be, by definition. Those are the guys that didn't make the top boat. They are usually rather annoyed by that fact, and take their displeasure out on the oar. It's not always smooth, controlled or anything pretty. However, good JVs will drive the coach nuts once per practice.

How? By going kamikaze and taking one piece from the varsity. They may be useless for the rest of the day, they may cheat on the rating, they WILL make snide comments to each other about that idiot in the launch, but they will push the varsity endlessly. And the coach will sit in the launch, stew about what the heck is wrong with this varsity that he's chosen and do I really have any idea about what I'm doing......

It's even worse for the guys in the varsity. They sit there, wondering what the hell is going on, can't we even beat the JV, how are we supposed to beat anyone, etc, etc. But the real result of such victories in practice is sharpening the mental edge of the varsity. By pushing that hard, the varsity gets faster.

Second of the day:

Nobody ever gets promoted out of a slow JV. This may have been disproved at some point in time, but it makes sense. The JV isn't a throw-away boat, ever. That is an opportunity for athletes to get better, developing for a push at the varsity next year. The JV is also an opportunity for athletes not in the varsity to race athletes of similar caliber from other crews. I've asked this question of a JV before: what boat would you rather be in? Varsity 4? 2x? Light 8? Who am I supposed to replace with whatever athlete decided they deserve to be in a higher boat?

Finally, the JV gets its own event at just about every regatta we go to. That event contributes points to the overall success of the entire team.

It's funny. When the coach steps out from behind the curtain and reveals just how much worry, sweat and guessing goes into boat selection, oarsmen tend to cease complaining. They know the score just as well as a coach, sometimes better. Every rower I've ever been associated with always wants the same thing: the fastest possible boats for their crew. It never comes down to people wanting to row with their best friend, thankfully. Watch Miracle at Oxford for the result of such insanity.

But there is one great part of being in the JV. It truly is the "party boat." Always will be. Third varsities have their own coach, as do the freshmen. The JV is supposed to share time with the head coach, but they never feel they get the attention they deserve. If the bowman is supposed to be the comedian of any crew, JVs seem to be all bowmen. Any why shouldn't the JV be the fun boat of the team? Isn't this supposed to be a fun sport after all?

JV story: I was in the JV for the first month of my sophomore year at Yale. The crew travels the first week of April to the San Diego crew classic, and we get rental vans at the airport. The varsity got one van, the JV another and the coaching staff get a car. Following the "staff car" out onto the California freeway system, the JV managed to follow along. The varsity, with the team captain behind the wheel, missed the exit and stopped in the middle of I-5. He then continued on to points unknown. We waited on the exit for awhile, until the CHiPs guys on motorcycles came along and sent us along. Upon arrival at Miramar (yes, we stayed at the "Top Gun" Naval Air Station) we were told we would race varsity tomorrow if the other guys never showed up........

There is another story from that year that involved a lunch at "Hooters" and our 4 seats lunatic attempts to convince our server to accompany us to Tiajuana. However, this is a "family blog" and I've probably said too much already.

Categories: Memories, Teamwork, Motivational, Yale, Rowing

A House 8+?

2006-05-01T09:43:00.000-05:00

Jay and I honeymooned in the UK. One day, if we are lucky, we might live there for a little while. I think that would be wonderful. As I mentioned in a previous post, rowing is much more important in the UK, than here. It gets publicity, and people are actually interested in it. Yes, there are a few people, such as the readers of this blog, who are actually interested in the sport of rowing; however, Joe America doesn't know dittley-squat about the sport. Is rowing ever mentioned on ESPN, NO?

Some of you may know, that one of the reasons behind our honeymoon in the UK was HRR. We attended the final two days. We watched the Yale Lightweights win the Temple Challenge Cup, the same event Jay had won 4 years previously. This HRR will be the 10 year anniversary of Jay's boat winning.

For a while, some of the guys in that boat were talking about a reunion in the Stewards' Enclosure at HRR. Nothing like remembering the old days while drinking Pims and eating scones clotted cream. It does sound lovely, doesn't it? While, it doesn't look like that is going to happen, we know that next time we go to HRR, we are travelling in style. Yes, in an English House 8+...

Perhaps you are confused, but Jay and I are truly interested in seeing the UK this way. They aren't called House 8+'s, they are technically Narrow Boats, but as Jay pointed out they are as long as an 8+, with a length between 50-60 feet. Plus, they are only about 8 feet wide! That is basically an 8+ that you live in. In case you have never seen one, here is an example:

This example seems to be a bit on the shorter side, and as Jay said, some of the small Narrowboats are only 40 feet long, the length of a 4+.

Never fear, we certainly woudn't be racing in one of these boats. They apparently have a motor the size of a launch, and can't go more than 3 MPH, which means that a "junior women's novice flyweight coxed pair" could go faster than that our house 8+.

Well, it won't be this year, but someday, we'll be travel through England's inland waterways in our very own, rented house 8+. Cheers!

Categories: Personal, Memories, Regattas

3 years

2006-04-29T22:00:00.000-05:00

What a difference three years can make was demonstrated today. The FC guys went out and really did a great job. Medals, medals everywhere! The Ohio Governor's cup is a big deal regatta, as many of the teams there will also be at Midwest. Despite a lot of distractions this week, the guys really did well.

What is important for them to take from this race was the difference in distance. With Midwest being 500m shorter, they have the opportunity to be more aggressive in two weeks. Fitness isn't an issue, so they can push harder in that race.

Overall, I'm really proud of those guys right now. They've worked very hard, some for three years, and now they get the opportunity to reap the reward. Represent!

Categories: FC, Regattas, Rowing

Where are y'all from?

2006-04-22T18:56:00.000-05:00

I remember this joke being on one of my all time favorite shows, Designing Women (who were Southern):

Two ladies were sitting next to each other on a plane. One was a Yankee and the other, a Southern Belle. The Southern Belle turned to the Yankee and asks, "So where y'all from?"

The Yankee turned her steely gaze to the Southern Belle and replied, "I am from a place where we do NOT end our sentences with a preposition."

Silence ensued and the flight continued until a few minutes later when the Southern Belle again turned to the Yankee and asked, "So, where are y'all from, bitch?"

I consider myself to be a Southerner. I think Jay considers himself Southern as well. Nope, I don't have an accent (anymore)... I never had such a strong one anyways. I know my relatives do, and so do Jay's. I can't really hear them, if they are real accents. Bad, fake accents make my skin crawl.

However, I've lived for more than a decade above the Mason-Dixon Line. I worry that we will ultimately settle far away from our roots. The South and rowing are not a natural fit. (No, Florida is not the South, rather New York in Bermuda Shorts.) With our careers as they are selected, I can only hope that we'll end up back in the South. It saddens me to think that my children might have Yankee accents.

Good to know, that I still pronounce words the right way. I have taken this several times over the past 3-4 years, and I still remain 100% Dixie. If you haven't taken the Yankee-Dixie Quiz I suggest you give it a try. I don't know where Pittsburghers fall in the accent pool.
Categories: Personal, Media, Quiz, Misc

News soon

2006-04-21T16:50:00.000-05:00

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, it just feels that way. There's stuff going on that isn't appropriate for discussion in this forum. In the meantime, because the photo hosting site is down, here are some more Pitt pictures.

This lightweight 4+ pulled a 1:34 500m on a GPS course against a small current.

This heavy 4+ will get a chance to replicate that feat soon.

Categories: Pitt, Rowing, Photo

Dawn Patrol

2006-04-14T16:52:00.000-05:00

Good extension and "carry" of the boat with the legs. Body is still forward during the leg drive, correcting a previous problem of raising the head and shoulders before the drive. Good stroke.

These shot were taken by me while driving the launch, so they aren't as good as what Emily took of the FC kids. What's also striking is the light wasn't good enough to take anything until we turned downstream for home. As dawn gets earlier, life becomes a little easier. That doesn't change the fact that we're launching before dawn even starts. The sun is up by the time we're back on the dock.
Categories: Pitt, Technique, Rowing, Coaching, Photo

Glory shots

2006-04-12T20:00:00.000-05:00

Nice carry towards the finish in this shot. The pink unisuit story: two summers ago, the summer camp guys I was coaching decided to get something ugly. Thus, flaming pink, the whole thing, with the black stripe. Horrid, yes. Great for the coach, because I can pick them up from a farther distance.

Now that the weather has improved, Emily came out to FC practice this week. Here's a few of the best she got. As usual, there was a duel of sorts between the light and heavy 4s.

I like the bodies leaning toward the riggers in this shot. Makes for a great photo, and a set boat.

I'll be bringing the camera out to Pitt practice tomorrow. Dawn light should be better than mid-afternoon. Hope everyone smiles! When I've got more time and some Pitt shots, the photo album will be updated, so people can get the shots off there.

Categories: FC, Rowing, Photo, Technique, Coaching, Memories

Looking back

2006-04-11T22:00:00.000-05:00

I wrote this when I first started coaching, three years ago. It's interesting to read it again, and reflect on how my outlook has changed and remained constant over that time. I'll comment more in the comments section.

Coach Jay’s Treatise on Rowing

(updated on 9/29/05 by Jesse)

In the beginning

There are three important areas of rowing, which cannot be separated from each other. An oarsman with one or two attributes will not be successful when the racing season begins. Each area is interdependent with the others.

1. Technique. Novices spend most of their time in this area, because the rowing motion has not been entered into muscle memory. Novices must think consciously about what they are doing in every part of the stroke. As the basic motion moves to muscle memory and conscious thought is no longer necessary, novices begin to train in other areas. This point in rowing development is very important, because “good” habits need to be imprinted into the oarsman. If “bad” habits are not corrected, poor technique will plague the oarsman throughout his career. This area is a source of constant work as the oarsman moves to the varsity level. National team oarsmen continue to work on technique, much like a golfer’s constant work on his swing.

2. Aggression/courage/character. High performance boat speed requires maximum effort. High effort from an endurance-based sport creates lactic acid buildup in the body as well as muscle pain. The ability to withstand, if not embrace this discomfort is a critical part of rowing. The best technique known to man combined with excellent fitness will be useless in a race once the halfway mark is reached. The ability to withstand pain better than other boats allows a crew to push themselves farther into lactic acid production, moving the boat faster longer. This kind of ability requires courage and very difficult training. These training sessions require the oarsmen to repeatedly push themselves in practice up to and past the failure point. There is no faking this training, and the lack of this training will leave the crew soft and unwilling to continue when the racing gets difficult.

3. Endurance. Unlike many other team sports, rowing requires the ability to perform at a high level for longer than 2 minutes. With the standard distance forcing 6-minute races during sprint season and 17-minute races in the fall season, endurance is required for a crew to last longer than the first 500 meters. Simply having the endurance to finish the race is not close to sufficient. High endurance levels are necessary in order to sprint at the end of the race, engage in flutters and move at a higher rating than a bigger, stronger crew. Lightweight crews are usually in better endurance shape than their heavy counterparts due to their racing cadences of 38 strokes per minute.

Lightweight racing

As a crew, we do not fall into the same height class as a heavyweight crew. This length advantage is usually how a heavyweight crew defeats a lighter, smaller team. While the strength difference between heavy and light oarsmen is usually the explanation for the difference of speed, length of time in the water gives the heavy crew the advantage. Because of the height disadvantage, many lighter crews fall into a rushing pattern, attempting to row a heavy weight style for a smaller team.

A lightweight crew actually can be stronger than the heavy team they compete with per pound of oarsman. This distinction is important. It is not expected for a lightweight team to pull the same ergometer scores as a crew of 200lb heavyweights. When a heavyweight oarsman pulls a 6:20 2k erg, a lightweight can defeat the heavy on the water if he has a 6:45.

The weapon of choice for a lightweight crew must be speed. Very fast catches followed by quick leg drives are the staple of successful lightweight crews. These attributes are necessary in order for the lightweight team to maintain a proper ratio of drive to slide. Maintaining this proper ratio is critical. Without it, the light crew simply is rushing up and down the slide, expending more energy than a heavy crew and going much slower. Speed for lightweights includes a higher racing cadence than a heavy crew. Where most high school heavy crews race between 30 and 34 strokes per minute, a light crew must counter with 36 to 38. Because of this higher rating, a light crew must have better endurance and higher pain tolerance. “Lean and Mean” is the motto of a lighter crew, and training in that direction will emphasize these attributes.

We will not be entering lightweight events by forcing oarsmen down to racing weight. Many light crews are victimized by the weight requirements put upon them to race. Dehydration being the easiest way to drop weight, light crews often go down the course with one or more members not in optimum condition.

Technique by a lightweight crew must be better than a heavy counterpart. The ability to maintain excellent rowing into the last quarter of a race is key, as a light crew must sprint well into the 40s. This level of speed is disruptive to good rowing unless the crew can concentrate during the sprint. If technique breaks down, the light crew gets caught in the last few meters.

The role of the Coxswain

The actions of the cox affect the team from the time they leave the dock until the race is completed. Coaching a coxswain is usually limited to instructing boat-handling commands to the cox. A coach is usually more concerned with the coxswain’s placement of the boat on the river and how quickly the cox has the boat respond to commands during practice. His steering and his speaking determine a coxswain’s impact during the race.

The challenge of steering a racing boat at speed is nearly impossible to teach. The general instruction of “less is more” is a good rule to follow. Coxswains need to be aware that steering in a race changes the dynamic of the crew, and should be avoided as much as possible. Course changes should be warned to the crew so they know what is happening. Placement of the boat is the important component of steering, taking into consideration current, wave conditions, relative speeds of the other crews and the direction of the next turn. Placement of the shell in relation to those conditions can mean a difference of a few seats to lengths. The cox needs to remember that he is ultimately responsible for the boat, not an official or another crew’s coxswain. This responsibility calls for aggression and possessiveness by the coxswain. Just like the rowers in the boat, the cox needs a competitive drive to win.

What a coxswain says to his crew during a race is just as important as the steering. The best crews in the world will not perform up to their potential if the coxswain cannot motivate them. It is possible to “seat-race” coxswains; the better coxswain will win more practice pieces and races than a lesser counterpart. The cox must become the entire sensory system of the crew: he must tell the crew where they are, how they are doing, what rating they are at, any wakes coming or debris in the lane, if and when he is making a turn. If an official is signaling to the crew, the cox must acknowledge that official, so the official and his crew knows he has heard. Notice that following that official’s instructions is not at all times required.

The coxswain, while communicating all of this information to the crew, must also be the “brain” of the team. When the cox calls for a power ten for quicker catches or leg drive, the crew needs to be thinking about that technical point. Race strategy, when to shift, when to sprint, when to turn inside another crew is to be decided by the coxswain alone. Oarsmen in the heat of a race are not capable of thinking clearly while they are pushing heart rates above 190. The coxswain, no matter how overwhelmed he is, must be the only commander aboard the shell.

While getting all of this information to the crew and making strategic and steering decisions, the coxswain must motivate the crew. Knowing the personnel aboard well is a must for the cox, who must know what buttons to push for whom when. All of these attributes require ability to “multi-task” with the cox steering, deciding when to make a move while talking to and motivating the crew. The best coxswains in the world never are quiet in the boat, and many times are hushed by the coach during practice. Given the length of this section, it should be noted that the coxswain should be cultivated by his crew, helped, coached and generally encouraged as much as possible. Being the coxswain can be a thankless, miserable, little respected task. However, there is nobody in the boat that has the potential to become the “X factor” between a loss and a victory.

Winter Training and Conditioning

Springtime races are won in December. High School crews usually have one of two outlooks towards the sport and the season that it occupies. Either crew is a spring (that is, second semester) sport and training begins in mid-January, or crew is a year-round sport and training never stops. It is not difficult to imagine what philosophy championship crews usually follow.

The ability to row harder, higher in the spring season is built by long, boring low-intensity workouts throughout the winter months. These workouts are spaced apart by short, very-high intensity interval training designed to build toughness and speed. A typical winter week’s schedule looks something like the following:

Monday: 60min erg, Aerobic level I, followed by weightlifting set A

Tuesday: 6x500m erg, 2k pace, followed by weightlifting set B

Wednesday: 60min erg, Aerobic level II, followed by technical work in tanks

Thursday: 3x1000m erg, 2 sec off 2k pace, weightlifting A

Friday: 60 min erg, Aerobic I, weightlifting B

Saturday: Hell day. Erg test, 4x1500m, 2x6min leg sled, relays, whatever the coach decides to cause pain.

Sunday: Sleep

Definitions: Weightlifting sets are usually upper body/lower body, with emphasis on rowing specific exercises. Leg sled workout is usually 60 to 90lb, 32 reps per minute for 6 minutes. Aerobic I is between 140 to 160 heartbeats/minute, A II is 160 to Aerobic threshold, the heart rate crossover point between aerobic work and anaerobic work.

While the workouts can be switched around and there would be changes for harder or easier weeks, this high level of workload builds endurance and toughness, with no workout taking longer than 1.75 hours with some considerably shorter. The hour erg pieces can be substituted with hour tank sessions, and the Thursday workout can include two erg pyramids. The high difficulty level of this program requires a team atmosphere. I have not met the oarsman that can complete this workout alone for more than one week. Therefore, a supervised atmosphere with a coach present is a requirement for successful winter conditioning. The oarsman owning a heart rate monitor also facilitates this workout schedule, though it is not required, yet highly recommended.

Concept II offers various prizes for long distances rowed over certain periods of time. This crew will also offer competition throughout the winter, such as a “million meter club”, “longest erg” (overall longest distance rowed), “sprint king” (fastest 500m time), “grinder” (best attendance), “Max Q” (most improved), and “Top Gun” (Fastest erg test score 6K or 2K).

This workout program is very erg centered for one reason: the Concept II ergo is the only rowing machine generally accepted to mimic the feel of accelerating an oar through the water. Running, playing games, doing tae-bo, or swimming do not train the body for rowing. Those activities train the body for those activities. This is a rowing team therefore we will row. Weightlifting is important to develop strength that allows greater power to be applied. The erg times will be used in consideration for selection, as will attendance, but the demonstrated ability to move a boat is far more important than the ability to spin an erg. Therefore, there will be a full round of seat selection in the spring, with all seats up for consideration.

Technique

Professional baseball players constantly take batting practice and examine their swings. Tiger Woods overhauled his entire golf swing for a year before beginning an improbable run of 4 major wins in a row. As he got older, Michael Jordan changed the nature of his game from suicidal dunking runs through the paint area to mid-range shooter, specializing in a fade-away shot that was nearly unblockable. The giants of sport constantly refine, practice or outright break down their technique in the never ending search for perfection.

Rowing only further reinforces this trend. While national teams, the highest levels of the sport, are vastly different in their application of technique, they all strive for what they believe is perfection. The rowing stroke is a complex, full body motion executed in concert with other athletes in an unstable environment (a racing shell that would rather be upside down than perfectly balanced). Like golfers, figure skaters, gymnasts and musicians we strive for perfection. When we find it, the moment becomes a sublime memory to be cherished and relived forever.

The most important moment of the rowing stroke is the application of power to the oar handle through the body from the legs. The blade must be firmly connected to the water at the moment of greatest compression of the body, with the legs beginning the power application. The timing of this moment is critical. If the power application comes before the connection to the water, the acceleration of the legs is working opposite to the motion of the boat, creating boat check. If the moment of power application is too late, the oarsman is “dead weight” to the rest of the crew, hampering their effort in moving the boat forward.

Because the large muscles of the legs are the strongest systems on the human body, acceleration using these muscles is the most efficient method of moving a boat. “Opening the back” early before the leg drive is a similar “foul” as being late on the drive. The small muscles at the base of the back are not strong enough to approximate the leg drive for very long, and oarsman who use the back or upper body before the legs usually injure themselves in some fashion. This injury can range from mere soreness to a slipped or ruptured disk.

Once the legs have done their work at the beginning of the drive, everything else that happens is “following through.” There is a function of a good finish (boat set) as wells as a tall body swing (boat set) and proper hand spacing (even power application). However, as a coach, I would gladly take an oarsman who dumps the finish and rows with one hand on the shaft if that oarsman is getting efficient power application with the legs.

Everything that happens on the recovery is simply a “set up” for the next leg drive. The recovery motion is designed to bring the oarsman to the catch at precisely the right moment to engage the legs. For this reason, everything on the recovery is designed to inhibit slide rush. Slide movement on the recovery is the most disruptive force in rowing. During the recovery, the boat is gliding through the water with great momentum. Movement in the boat up the slide by the rowers shifts the majority of the mass of the boat towards the stern. If this movement is controlled and smooth, the boat will continue an efficient “glide.” If this movement is too fast, the rowers must, by necessity, stop themselves once they reach the end of the slide with power application on the foot stretchers. Because they are not connected to the water yet, their power is applied in the opposite direction of boat movement, creating boat check. This is the reason of every coach’s concern over slide rush and proper slide ratio. The crews with the least amount of boat check are usually the crews that win, because their ratio is proper and the greatest amount of power is being applied in the correct direction of boat travel.

Technique is best described as the “force multiplier.” If total power output by a rower would be expressed algebraically, the formula would look something like this:

Output = (Total strength expressed in Watts)(Technique multiplier expressed as percentage less than 100)

Output = ST (where T<1)

A much stronger rower with poor technique will waste his strength and have a lower output than a highly skilled but weaker rower. A great example of this was the 1996 Olympic final in the men’s 8+. The United States, with no member of the boat slower than 5:40 over 2K on the erg came in 5^th place to a Dutch crew, with no member faster than 6:00. Interestingly, the US has continued to value “erg gods” in national team selection. While they have won the World Championship in Olympic off years, there has been no Gold Medal won by the US since 1984 in any rowing event. While strength and endurance do matter, technique is the most important aspect of rowing.

Goals

Goals for the team and the individual are necessary to bring purpose to the season as well as winter training. Each oarsman/woman should set an individual goal for the outcome of winter training as well as a goal for the team during the season.

Novices you come into an ideal situation, a team on the rise, coming off a record year, who beat the expectations of almost every one by wining the Midwest Points trophy only two years after placing the first ever men’s boat in the finals. This places high expectations on you to continue this success. So far you are well on your way to becoming a very successful class. But the journey has just begun. As the season begins these are my goals for you as novices.

1. To gain a base understanding of the rowing motion. Novice races are won and lost by one major component technique. Unlike almost all other high school sports every one begins at zero. There for it is imperative that the basics are mastered in ordered to maximize boat speed.

2. To finish all fall races with in 2 minutes of the winner. A two minute margin requires only a 10% improvement over the next seven months to close the gap. If that is all it takes 10%, imagine what you can do with 15%.

3. To establish a brotherhood between all rowers. In a society that worships the achievements of individuals, crew stands apart. A crew has no all-stars, but is only as strong as the sum of all its parts. There for you must place an incredible amount of trust in every member of the team, form your fellow novice all the way up to the varsity.

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother…And gentlemen in England, now abed, shall think themselves accursed they were not here…Henry V, Act IV, scene iii.

Come to know this quote well. It will be the blue print for the rest of your rowing career. There will be more on this subject at a later time, but remember every time you go out to race you are going to war. Do you want to fight that war with 8 people you don’t trust?

The Future

What are you doing for the future of this team? There is always an opportunity for improvement, not only in the performance of this year but the years to come. True champions never become complacent. There is always room for improvement. It is up to you to be willing to go to the extreme, I can only help you along the way you must take it upon yourselves through the support of each other to get there as a team. Over the next several months I pose this question to you are you going to be able to look back upon the next seven months with pride of accomplishment and fond memories of teamwork, or will there be “what if” questions running through your minds after the season? Every day has the potential of becoming a “what if.” Eliminate every “what it”, one day at a time. Start now to eliminate those “what if” questions and they soon will become victories.

Are you a Loser too?

2006-04-09T11:38:00.000-05:00

Well, here is some contradictory information. I may be a geek, but I'm still a cool geek.

I guess this is better than being a geek and a loser.

Categories: Misc, Quiz

Pitt Crew travels very well

2006-04-08T19:40:00.000-05:00

When Bowl games are decided at the end of the college football season, one of the criteria in play is how well a team "travels." Do the fans show up for that team? Does that team bring a lot of weight with it?

Pitt crew travels really well. We've got great parents that work hard to feed and even house the kids whenever we come over in the Philly area. This keeps costs down, and I think also keeps the kids out of a bit of possible trouble. Hotels full of other teams just give too many opportunities for silliness, but a another parent's house brings out the best behavior in an athlete.

Unfortunately, Pitt crew really travels well. Meaning, we bring Pittsburgh weather with us.

This sport can do quite well in 38 degree weather. Rain is also something that can be endured. Mixing the two really poses a challenge. Most regattas don't have anyplace for the athletes to shelter out of such conditions and warm back up. My lightweight rowers were turning blue before they launched for races. Their condition wasn't any better when they got off the water here. Adding to the general misery is the condition of the trailer/boat storage area.

The main path towards the dock, an area about 40 meters by 10 meters is a mud pit. There is no way to carry a boat to the dock without walking through ankle-deep mud. Because rowers do not wear sneakers or boots to regattas (these are too slow to remove once in a boat) everyone is in sandals. Thus everyone's feet are covered in icy mud while they wait in line to launch.

The schedule is a disaster. Many events were either cancelled or moved to tomorrow morning. As I write this, there is still not a schedule posted for tomorrow's racing, so I don't know when my team has to be at the course. The mud situation means that I can't get the truck to the trailer tomorrow afternoon, because it's a 2 wheel drive truck. Somebody with tank treads will need to pull us out.

Considering the conditions, I'm happy with how the kids are doing so far. But I'm tried of making the same excuse of lack of practice. It's not their fault or mine, the weather and the "asian bird flu" have really knocked us backward. No matter the outcome of tomorrow's racing, I'm really hopeful about getting some decent practice time with the kids, because Vails are getting close.

Categories: Pitt, Regattas, Rowing

Who's the top nerd?

2006-04-05T21:50:00.000-05:00

Dear Jay,

I married a geek. I know this, as I am one too. Who do you think is more of a geek, me or you? Here's my score, please get back to me.

PS: I will continue to love you regardless of your score, but let's hope our son isn't quite as nerdy as we.

Categories: Quiz, Misc

NCAA Status for Men's rowing

2006-04-04T11:24:00.000-05:00

I was over at Fight in the Dog today (I've been checking each day, it's amazing how much JW Burk posts about rowing!), and noticed that another post on NCAA status was up. (Here is the first one.) Those of you who row for FC and are thinking about rowing in college might be interested in reading about this. If you get Rowing News, there was an article on this topic two (?) months ago. (Unfortunately the Rowing News site is pretty useless, and doesn't list their articles online, so you must have the magazine to read the article.)

Categories: Rowing, Politics, Blogging

Politics: Immigration

2006-04-01T20:45:00.000-05:00

The thorny questions are always the best ones. Cut and dried issues such as abortion or the war make for stale debates. What's so cool about immigration is the split that can be seen through and across party lines. There is no "liberal" or "conservative" viewpoint.

There are a few starting points that (I hope) everyone can start from. There is a problem in this country with the number of illegals here and coming every day. The official system is too slow, and there are jobs here that pay well enough for people to risk death on a poorly-controlled border. Illegals here make use of the emergency rooms and other benefits without paying into those programs. Employers are willing to look the other way when paying much lower wages for work than would be necessary to hire a legal resident or citizen.

I believe there needs to be some sort of solution to this, because as a country, we don't know who is here. The state does have a right to know how many people are living here, (the census is written into the Constitution) for multiple reasons. Representation in the US House is based upon Census data, as are many other government programs. Taxation (a dirty word in April) also should be efficient as possible, and collection should come from all citizens and residents. All of these are reasons to "bring in from the shadows" the illegals who are currently here.

Those who advocate blanket deportations for the estimated 12 million illegals here have not the first idea of the logistical nightmare such a policy would require. The holding camps alone would make the USSRs gulag system seem childs play. Blanket amnesty is not a valid procedure either, as this would de-value the immigrants here who have played by the rules to become resident aliens or even citizens.

The "supply" side of this equasion is the economic allure of America. Jobs, security and the social safety net bring illegals over the border daily. Not a single proposal before the Congress addresses the ongoing crime being committed by American companies who "unknowingly" (wink, wink) hire illegals every day. Criminalize this behavior, and a major hit to the supply side would stem the flow north.

However, there is never just one solution. The border must be closed. By closed, I mean closed tight and patrolled. Not only to stem the flow north, but for humanitarian reasons as well. People are dying every year making this crossing, and effective patrolling would save lives. Those caught would be immediately returned to their country of origin, but they would be alive.

Finally, the legal immigration process should be loosened. The time and red tape needed to become a resident alien, much less a citizen, should not take as long as it currently does. People who are willing to go through this process, making the commitment to becoming American citizens, are the most desirable people in our society. They understand the value of citizenship in our great country, a high proportion of their children defend this country in the military, and they are active in their community. They pay taxes with pride, start businesses and work hard. Security clearances don't take months or years. The system should be built to welcome such people, not make it difficult to join the "great American experiment."

Categories: Politics

Who helped these people log on?

2006-03-30T22:00:00.000-05:00

Go here. It's Ben's blog, Jenny's (my sister) boyfriend. He put up a post about some idiot "on strike" from his marriage because his wife let their kids sleep in thier bed. Somehow, the morons who needed help getting online with AOL decided Ben was the guy on the roof. Take your time, read the first three posts with the comments. I just don't know what else to say, other than stand amazed at the stupidity of the average American moron.

I don't care about co-sleeping one way or another. I think the husband on strike is a jackass who is seeking attention; there is even a link on his site for the press to schedule interviews with him.

What kind of *real man* needs to take his marital problems this kind of public? Jerry Springer is calling.

Categories: Blogging, Misc

A new blog discovered!

2006-03-30T15:18:00.000-05:00

I always like it when while googling away, I discover a new and interesting blog. Like this one:
"Fight in the Dog.",
which purports to be supporting and furthering the development of lightweight women's rowing. Speaking of lightweight women's rowing, the author of this blog, even had a little info on the Pitt women, and dicussed their victory, in not one but two places! I just had to call Jay to share my find. I know he was so proud of that boat.

Categories: Rowing, Blogging

"The Boat Race"

2006-03-30T14:41:00.000-05:00

No silly, I'm not talking about the Harvard-Yale race (i.e., the oldest intercollegiate event in North America), I'm talking about The Boat Race, between dark blue and light blue... Anyone, anyone?
Yup, that's right, Oxford and Cambridge. The Boat Race happens to be occuring on Sunday at 4:35 GMT. I've tried to see if I can find it being shown anywhere in the US, but I have had no luck thus far. Jesse seems to be good at digging that kind of thing up, so maybe he'll have better luck than I.

I would like to say that the BBC has much better rowing coverage than any US paper, it even has a rowing section. It reminds me of talking to Alex Reid while Jay and I were on our honeymoon at HRR about rowing in the UK versus the US. He talked to us, while having his arms draped over several young women, and explained:

"Rowing here is huge. You don't understand Skub'. The chicks here, I mean, they're all over you. "

I read a slightly more PG-rated commentary of rowing in the UK by a rower in the current boat race. (BTW, the guy on the far right is Alex... I still have a crush on him. I'm glad Jay doesn't mind. I hope Alex's wife doesn't mind either!)

Categories: Rowing, Regattas, Yale, Memories

Su-prize, su-prize, su-prize!

2006-03-26T15:30:00.000-05:00

The unexpected always seems to come in threes. This weekend was no different.

First, the phone call I got while in traffic on the turnpike was something no coach really ever wants: "Coach, we got in an accident. An 18-wheeler ran into us." Gulp. Nobody was hurt, only a window was broken to go with a shredded tire, but the lesson was driven home again. A bus would be far safer. No matter the accident was not the fault of the undergraduate driver, there was such a driver anyway. That never looks good. I know he was being careful and not taking any risks, but everyone knows that it's impossible to control the other idiots on the road. As a coach, knowing my team is strung out over the length of the turnpike in multiple vans really gives me the hives. Coaches like control, and that situation has very little control. My inability to respond to that problem in any helpful fashion highlighted how little control I have when the kids drive vans to races. A bus is far more expensive, and getting approval and money from the University isn't as easy as it sounds. Anyone who suggests otherwise doesn't know how long it took to get me hired.

Secondly, a pair of shoes was missing out of the trailer when we unloaded in Philly. Now, I had checked every boat as it was loaded, a coxswain and equipment manager had checked everything when loaded. Those shoes disappeared between loading the night before and me picking up the trailer the next day. The shoes taken were from a boat in the exact middle of the trailer, where it is very hard to check while in transit. Whoever took those shoes was thoughtfull enough to replace the nuts holding them in place. Obviously, whoever took those shoes is involved in rowing and rows out of TRRA. I WILL FIND OUT, and if anything is missing tomorrow when we unload, I'll have shortened the list.

Thirdly, the results from the days racing pleasantly surprised me. It's important to remember not one of Pitts boats had been on the water for the last two weeks. Making as many finals as they did, and doing as well as they did was a very pleasant surprise for me. I'm really positive about the direction of the team, because there is so much more work to do on the water, and I feel the potential is really there. There is room for growth. I had a silly grin on my face most of the day.

Categories: Pitt, Rowing, Regattas, Safety

I've fallen and I can't get up

2006-03-23T22:45:00.000-05:00

Fallen right off the face of this blog, it seems. I think about it all the time, try and remember various lunatic things that go on and plan out a little post, but I never sit down and write anything. What a slug I am.

Anyway, if anyone ever has a need of a good Emergency Room here in Pittsburgh, go to UPMC Southside. I sliced a chunk off my left thumb on Sunday, and it was bad. I didn't really want to wait in an ER all night, but the bleeding wasn't going to stop anytime soon, so out the door I went. Rather than going to Presbyterian, where I knew I would sit forever, I went to Southside and was out in less than two hours. Hard to believe, but true. I thought it was a law that one couldn't enter an ER without killing off at least 4 to 5 hours. Now, I wouldn't want to head to Southside on a Saturday night, when all the drunk college students are being hauled in from Carson street, but on the whole, a great experience considering why I was there.

The FC kids have been on the water most of the week, and the Pitt kids indoors. The afternoons are marginal to ok for rowing, but the mornings have been simply far too cold. Add in rowing in the dark, and one would question my motives for taking them out. I do think that next week will see Pitt on the water despite any weather, as I'm seeing other high school teams out after dark. If little high school punks can hack the cold, then my lunatic college students can too.

Pitt is selling the two oldest boats in the fleet, 92 and 93 Vespoli 8s. Both are very flexible, and both need to go to clear out some space in the racks for Halve Maen the Empacher. The board is a little apprehensive about losing 16 seats that are good for training novices, but I think this is the right thing to do. If another boat is warranted, there are other options here in Pittsburgh that are better than the antiques we're losing. The size of the novice class next year will determine that decision.

So, off to Philadelphia and the Murphy Cup regatta with Pitt. I'm excited and worried at the same time. While I know they did well here last year and are better prepared this year, two weeks since the last water time really weighs on my mind. Illnesses have really done a job on the team as well. Finally, it's always a mental blow to spend time on the water after a long, hard winter then return to the dreaded ergs. Attendance hasn't been great, for that reason.

Finally, I want to mention something that really stressed me out last weekend. Coxswain selection took up a lot of time and thought for Pitt. There are only a few boats going to Dad Vails and we've got more coxswains than boats. Thus a situation that every coach dreads looms large: selection based upon your "gut" and little else. Objective measurements of coxswains isn't really possible. You have to interview the crews, with them knowing that you're trying to decided on a coxswain. Unlike everything else in the sport, this feels more like a popularity contest or play tryout than a competition for a seat in a boat. With the numbers, people who didn't deserve it got screwed. Good people. And that sucks, and it eats at me as well. For those who feel wronged, please know that I didn't go out of my way to hose you down. I made the best choices I feel were possible, and would again if given that chance. It didn't make the decision and the impact on everyone any easier.

Categories: Personal, Rowing, Regattas, Coxswains, Coaching, FC, Pitt

Seething at safety stupidity

2006-03-18T20:30:00.000-05:00

At my Level III training last December, the "Risk Management" section was presented by the Athletic director of a college in Maryland. The section that I least looked forward to became the most enjoyable, because he was able to present rowing and the risks involved from a perspective of an outsider.

"Let me get this straight," he said. "You guys go out on major commercial waterways in narrow plastic boats with inches of freeboard, wearing no lifejackets? Oh, there are some in the launch. So the launch is right there? No? Sometimes it's a couple thousand meters away? And you go around the bend, so the launch can't see you? And you're facing backwards?" He paused while we all laughed at the lunacy. "Oh, and you want to do this in the dark. Well, I guess that's ok if you're doing it in the summer when the water is warm. What? Early March?" We were rolling in the aisles now. "Why can't you do this in a pond or something? Maybe the pool?"

It is crazy, when you think about what we do. Sailing isn't this dangerous. Neither is baseball, basketball, cross-country or lacrosse. Heck, rifle squads have fewer accidents. People don't have to buy survival equipment for any of those sports, yet we still love the idea of hitting the water as soon as the ice melts.

In high-end liquor stores, there is usually a small barrel near the front with water in it. The water is refrigerated, so customers can chill down wine bottles quickly. Instead of the hour needed in a fridge at home, the water can get the temp down in a few minutes. That is the problem we face on the water for the next few months. The temperature is so cold, hypothermia sets in under 15 minutes, and people do go in from time to time in this sport. Crabs, flipped boats, slipping off the dock, broken equipment bailout and collisions. I've seen oarsmen hit the water in all those situations in my 13 years on the water. Most of those situations find the athlete go in slightly to significantly incapacitated, either in mid-workout or hit by a boat as it goes by. All make great stories, because nobody was ever really badly hurt. The potential was there every time.

Three Rivers Rowing Association sets the rules for our stretch of river because everybody rows from their docks. They pay the insurance, so they get that right. They set safety rules for everyone, because they have to take into account one glaring problem here: there aren't enough coaches, and therefore some crews aren't well trained or supervised when they go out to play tag with barges.

Coaches aren't paid enough here for anyone to take it seriously. Therefore, most clubs have a very high turnover and are coached by college students with a few years' experience at most. I can count on two hands the number of coaches as experienced as I am here in Pittsburgh, and five of us are working for either FC or Pitt or another university. That leaves a lot of high school rowers out there supervised by people with as much experience as their athletes. TRRA knows this and sets their rules accordingly, and there isn't a fair way to legislate and adjudicate competence. Therefore, clubs with lots of experience and safety equipment in the launch must abide by rules that assume total stupidity in that launch.

The usual early March debates have been raging around the boathouse. Go out or stay on the ergs? As coaches, the water practice calls seductively, perhaps more so than the athletes. Erg practices are boring. Watching a boat move through the water in a lineup schemed over for months is compelling. We want to go out, and some have been willing to ignore the TRRA rules to do that.

What's funny is that I don't worry those crews will gain an unfair advantage by going out when I'm keeping my kids on land. I don't really worry that much about those crews at all, because they have good, experienced coaches and skilled teams in good condition. What gives me hives is the thought of some idiot who hasn't trained his/her crew well over the winter, hasn't maintained her/his equipment well, has too many people in a small launch and doesn't understand that the barges can't see you in the dark or snow and can't stop. All it would take to shut rowing down in this city would be one dumbkopf to steer an 8+ headlong into a barge, or swamp a 4+ full of out of shape novices (it's happened).

When I first began coaching, I was gung-ho despite the river flow. Like a new driver, I had absolute confidence in my abilities and wanted to drive the car every day. I still believe that my teams are better prepared when we hit the water than most. But like a more experienced driver, I now really worry about the other morons out there.

You should have heard what the instructor said about boat transport. But that's another post.

Categories: Safety, Rowing, Coaching

Incomprehensible raving

2006-03-14T05:30:00.000-05:00

Pittsburgh weather forecasters suck. Their fault for a wasted practice yesterday when I cancelled and had the FC kids unload the Pitt trailer. The SUN CAME OUT after the unload was done in the rain. BLAST BLAST BLAST.

Wind blowing like stink this morning, turning the river to froth. Back inside on the ergs. Evil. EVIL!!!!

Cat. The cat is going down the next time I've got my pistol in the house. After the box was kept clean all week, we get home and the house smells like cat poop. He transformed into a large dog and left a steamer on top of the box before we came home. After I cleaned that out, he PEED ON MY BED AGAIN YESTERDAY AFTER I LEFT IN THE MORNING!!! AAAARRRRRGG!!!

That's after he hucked up a hairball on the bed on Sunday.

DEATH TO THE CAT!!!!

Categories: Misc, Personal

Safe on the road

2006-03-12T14:18:00.000-05:00

I know there hasn't been much on the blog. It's hard keeping up with three practices per day and the boat repairs that caused. I know rowers won't believe this, but coaches need rest as well. Such a schedule can really make one's launch driving hand tired.

Anyway, we're back now in lovely Pittsburgh. Warm and raining this weekend, followed by chilling temperatures just cold enough to drive us back inside. I can hear the groans and knashing of teeth now. Yes, children, more ergs.

First story of the drive back happened last night. When towing a boat trailer, I'm generally one of the longest rigs on the road. With Pitt's truck, the entire setup is just as long as a tractor-trailer. Such length gets me some discretion from other motorists, especially in West Virginia, where such equipment generates strange looks. Having University of Pittsburgh all over the truck did earn us one flip-off, I guess from a disappointed basketball fan.

Imagine my shock when we came upon a guy towing a rig like what's pictured below.

Yes, a fifth wheel camper towing a fishing boat. Guy was alone, watching a movie as he drove along. I had never seen such a setup before or even heard about it. With the way the boat was swinging around, I figured he was about to kill somebody or do some great insurance damage, so I called the cops. They took my information and location and said "We're sorry you have to see something like there here. We'll get on it to make the roads safer." We followed awhile to see if the West Virginia cops came to get him, but no action at all.

Turns out, this is actually legal in most states. I simply can't believe it, but that's the case. Your average American idiot (redundant, I know) can do this if he/she's got the toys. I'm wondering if I can hook up anything to the back of the boat trailer.....

Categories: Rowing, Coaching, Training, Safety, Misc

Spare parts, spare thoughts and the salad bar that wasn't

2006-03-07T11:10:00.000-05:00

Just a little update from down here in South Carolina.

Overall, the setup is better than what I had at Yale. Boats are closer, rooms and beds are better spread out, so there is a little space for everyone and the food isn't as "institutional" as at University of Tampa. The problem with that sometimes is that they sometimes run out.

There are close to 1200 rowers here this week. That's a lot of food. Sometimes, it's not easy to predict what they'll eat. Therefore, the camp ran out of vegetables two nights ago.

I'm not kidding. The only vegetable available was the canned corn off the salad bar. The salad bar that had no lettuce. Dinner was pasta, mashed potatoes, mac 'n cheese and chicken in some sort of gravy. I know rowers crave carbs, but this was a little out there.

The Wintech 8 got here without a footstrecher. Jason and I have no idea when it fell out, because the boat was complete when we stopped on Friday night. A new one should be here this morning, but we've been rowing that boat as a 7 since we got here.

Adding insult to injury, the wheels on the Empacher are going bad. The bearings in the wheels aren't doing very well, and the boats sounds like a Hot Wheels car being wound up when the crew goes up the slide on the recovery. I took all the wheels off to clean them out and that didn't make a bit of difference. Then, to punish me for disturbing their Karma, the bow seat blew up a wheel, slinging bearings all over the boat. It's been replaced with a Wintech wheel now, but now that means the Wintech isn't rowable (again.)

This is the reason many crews are going to one manufacturer now, because of spare parts. Vespoli parts don't fit anything else, and vice versa to a point. This forces everyone to buy parts from the various builders, and then you've got a huge stack of spare parts from three different builders. When something breaks, you're more likely to not have what you need.

I checked. Empacher wheels are 11 EUROS per. An 8 has 32. Do the math, and you're talking about one expensive replacement. I'm wondering who broke a mirror before we came down here, or walked under a mirror, or whatever. As usual, I'm feeling a little snake-bit.

Categories: Boats, Rowing, Training, Memories, Yale,

The Late Show

2006-03-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

Tonight, coming to you live from the beautiful Hampton Inn Orangeberg, it's the Late Show! Featuring the three-year old still awake! The "bucking bronco" truck! Astonished stares from South Carolina drivers! Musical guest tonight the truckstop country music DJ! ...And Sirius channel 33! ...And now, heeeeerre's COACH!

Thank you, thank you all. Thank you, you're too kind. Settle down. Wow. Thank you.

How about that drive in, huh? You know, trailer towing really is an art form, and we've got some real Picassos down here in the South. The guy who drove off from the truck stop without paying for his gas was a real master, you know? Yeah. Big Ford truck with a beat-up motorcycle in the bed towing a utility trailer emblazoned with NASCAR stuff on the side? Up where I come from, that's an easy guy to find on the road. Down here, that could be Osama Bin Laden. Great disguise. (Laughter) I mean, that's every other vehicle on the road down here.

Ok, so I overestimated a little on how long it would take to get down here. By just a couple hours. Really, it wasn't that bad, Emily and Will were racked out in the back of the truck, so they didn't complain that much. Yeah, my wife didn't complain that much. (light laughter) No problem at all. Not once did she ever say "I told you so." Sure. And if you believe that, I've got a great deal on some land in Iraq. (Laughter) Great vacation home, excellent views, private security, the whole bit.

Well, we've got a great time coming up. Spring break! (Cheers.) Time on the water, sunburn and coxswains running into each other. I just can't wait. I'm told the beach down here is supposed to be great. I'm a little iffy on the directions, though. Like most directions here in South Carolina, they include "past the Wall-Mart, through town, take a left at the 'live bait' sign, go straight until the road ends, then keep going." (Laughter.) The guy I need to call if I get lost if somebody named "Bo." (Laughter) Yeah, 'Git 'er done.' (Cheers). I somehow doubt there is an espresso machine within forty miles of where we are.

Categories: Coaching, Personal, Training, Rowing