Stress (don't ever quit)

REPOST.


There was a famous study done during the Vietnam War that I'm sure may of you have heard about. EKGs were fitted to Navy pilots to measure stress during combat. The researchers were surprised by the results, which revealed the greatest moments of stress came during landing after a mission. Pilots were at greater stress at that moment, instead of during a violent launch, delicate mid-air refueling or terrifying high-g avoidance maneuvers. The reasons included the precision required by landing a high-speed jet on a relatively small, pitching carrier deck, many times in the dark.

I believe another reason also included somebody called the Landing Signal Officer. This job is to help the pilots land on the carrier using a system of lights and mirrors. After the landing, the LSO grades the "pass." Pilots are graded on their bomb damage by intelligence, sometimes days later. Landing grades are given immediately, and the pilot signs off on his grade with the maintenance log of his or her aircraft. Because of the immediacy of the feedback, pilots (known for supreme self-confidence and motivation) put a lot of pressure on themselves over their grades. The risks of crashing a multimillion dollar airplane into a nuclear-powered ship and starting a little fire might also have something to do with the stress.

Yes, there is a rowing point to all this. I equate that sort of stress with the reasons rowers hate and stress about the erg so much. Unlike rowing in a boat, the ergometer is an individual performance, with the numbers right on the screen in front of the athlete. As Topher Bordoux wrote in a column recently, "That almighty number rules your world. The machine either says you're a god or you suck." This kind of pressure, like that faced by pilots when landing, is the worst sort; this kind of pressure is self-inflicted. The athlete not only feels the desire to perform well, but also feels naked and exposed to their teammates when the performance isn't up to what the athlete expects. Nevermind that everyone else in the room is also feeling the same thing, everyone reacts as though their monitor was being projected on the wall, with a big "YOU SUCK" right there.

This is the sort of pressure that rowers feel when they give up on a workout and quit in the middle of a piece. A sense of despair rolls over the mind, and as the pain increases, the athlete reaches a point that they feel too miserable about their poor performance to continue. Frustration boils over into shouts, moans and a big scene. Suddenly, a tough workout has become something everyone notices. Where that athlete may or may not have held the attention of one or two people, they now have the attention of everyone in the room. Even as the workout continues, every other athlete knows who's quit on the piece.

During the Pittsburgh erg race last weekend, some of the Pitt kids apologized to me after pulling races below what they were capable of. My position was and still is not to expect or even accept such apologies. I've been where all of these athletes are, and I know the fortitude required to even walk into the gym some days. Finishing an erg race is praiseworthy in my book, especially after a piece that wasn't going well. It's really hard to row out an erg workout when the scores and energy just isn't there. Everyone has days like that, and I understand. Toughing out a bad piece is a testament to the courage of the oarsman.

Quitting on a workout is the only situation that I really feel disappointment in the athlete. That says that there is some courage lacking that should be there. Don't get me wrong, everyone has quit on a piece at some point in time or another, sometimes for injury. Sometimes those injuries aren't real. But the entire crew knows when somebody gets off the machine (something that really never happens in the boat) and that implants the most damaging thought in the mind of everyone else in the room: "Can I trust this person in my boat? What happens in a race?"

Trust is the basis of everything we do in rowing. The athletes must trust the coaches that have prepared them, the coaches must trust the coxswains to execute the race plan and not hit a bridge, and the coxswains must trust the oarsmen to follow orders. Most of all, the athletes must trust each other, that everyone knows everyone else is giving total commitment an output. If the rowers don't think everyone else in the boat is going as hard as possible, they will take a little off themselves. It's only natural; who wants to kill themselves carrying some lazy s*** down the course?

The basis of trust in oneself and one's teammates should be enough to hold everyone on the machines 99% of the time. Getting off the machine breaks trust with oneself, as well as everyone else in the room, because it implants doubt in everyone's mind, including the coach. Tough it out, rowers. Even if the time sucks, tough it out. Everyone will respect that far more than giving up on yourself and everyone else.

Categories: Coaching, Rowing, Ergometers, Training, Pitt