Sunday morning vids

No, I have no vid of Rachel flipping.

Start with the pair:



Hannah a lot of water flipped into the air at the release.  Swing through a bit more.  I catch you early on Beth at the end.  Both of you keep thinking about swing.  I know it's difficult to find in a pair, but the longer the knees stay down the longer the boat runs.

Now the Mollie:





Both starboards are digging here, with makes getting out of the water clean at the finish difficult. Don't drive the shaft into the water.  First couple of catches are good, then rowed in and then improving later.



Second catch was good.  But if you freeze at :03, you can see both HannahM and Lulu out of the water before the handles get close to the body.  Need to hold the finishes in more.  At :11, watch the body control in the Gini.  Jo and Kelly falling away, Kate mainly on the centerline. Renee, careful to hold the knees down a bit more to let the body get over at :32.



Issue here is catches being rowed in. Kate, this stroke is short--missing at catch and release. Four different catches at :19. This is only at 32--need more precision and control at higher rate. Gotta keep going up there to get comfortable.





Kelly, digging too deep.  Lots of water trapped on the shaft.  Jo, after this was when I talked about tapdown.  The first and third strokes, you can see how you hit water immediately after the release.  A good thing--at :31 you guys respond well to a power ten.  

A personal request, in memoriam

I don't usually care about rain.  I've got two different types of rain gear so I'm usually as comfortable as possible.  I have learned not to row in wild thunderstorms.  It came from an incident during my high school career that is best forgotten.  Suffice to say my mentor tossed caution to the literal wind and we ended up walking an 8 a mile back to the boathouse without shoes over a gravel road.

So I cancelled this morning's practice as I saw storms rolling in.  The howling wind and crashing thunder outside made the decision a little easier and also woke the dogs.  So not only was I awake at 4am, but everyone was.

Sunday morning will be at 6:30omg in the morning.  Don't forget the time change!  We will be rowing in the dark, as usual.  I'll figure out lineups out of the survivors that make it.

Now.....on to a personal request I have for you.

This is my sister-in-law and her fiance, Tony.  He's step-father to my nephew, the father of my two nieces out in Salt Lake City and Sammi's next child that is on the way.  His car hit a truck a high speed and Tony was killed yesterday morning, 3/9/17, at 6am on his way to work.

They didn't have a lot.  Tony was the sole provider for the family due to Sammie staying home with the kids, 3 year old, 18mo and 7mo.  We've set up a GoFundMe page to support Sammi through this as much as we can and try to get her on her feet.  Now, I'm not expecting a lot of donations from a bunch of college students that already scrape and save just to row.  I see how many of you have to be "reminded" to pay your drivers, semi-formal tickets and everything else.  

I am asking for you all to please post that page on all your social media.  The more views that campaign gets the higher it appears on the GoFundMe directory.  That would be the greatest help we could get Sammi and the kids at this point.  Jessie will probably fly out there at some point soon and so you'll get to see me as a starving bachelor again.  It has been well established that I can't cook anything beyond breakfast anymore.

Thanks for your help.  Enjoy your semi-formal and the aftermath.  See you all on Sunday morning.

Friday 5am prax lineups

Remember to get all your erg work done on Thursday.  Steady state and other work that might be owed.

I'm seriously considering making Monday the OYO day next week.  Also, remember the 2k is gonna happen on Friday next week.

Oh, this is gonna be painful.  There's not enough coffee in the world for this.

Workout is 8x2' or 8x450m in the short course.  Some in the middle with have starts.  First few will be at lower rates, because I'm really worried about slide rush.  But the middle to end races will be at race pace 32-35 spm.  There will be a staggered start on some races.

Lineups:

Roz(Steph)                                                    Regulator(Blaine)
Beth(str)                                                       HannahM
HannahH                                                       Blaze
Kelly                                                              Lulu
Kate                                                              RachelB
Jo                                                                 Tera
Kaela                                                            Renee
Stacks                                                           Mandy
Kat                                                                Ro

Wednesday 3/7/17 Seat Race lineups

Molly(Sabs)                                  Gini(Sarah)                    Polar Bear/Lee/Edmonds(Steph)
Renee                                            Stacks                                           Beth
Kat                                                 HannahM                                     HannahH
Lulu                                               Jo                                                  Mandy
RachelB                                         Allison                                          Blaze

Let's do three boats tomorrow.  Because, what could go wrong?  Leave campus 5pm.


Update:  I PUT YOUR H ON YOUR NAME SARAHHOWARD.

UPDATE #2:  Looks like departure might not happen until around 5:30.  Make sure everyone makes it.  And everyone knows there's no space between Sarah's first and last name.  It's all one word.

Flipping

Coach: "It's nearly impossible to flip an 8.  Be aggressive out there, you guys will be fine."

Melbourne grammar school:  "Really?  Here, hold my beer."




Somewhere, there's a crew without a coach.  That coach is dead, because he facepalmed himself to death.

Entries

Back in 2012, my first year coaching at Georgia Tech, I pushed all season and entered a varsity 8.  It was the first V8 entry for Tech since 1998.  It was also eliminated in the reps on Friday afternoon. Their technical ability was average, but they just didn't have the horsepower to be really competitive.

This left us with nothing to do on Saturday, as the novice 8 had been eliminated as well.  This was my first time at the Dad Vail regatta, so I relaxed on the embankment and actually watched races.  I wasn't in the best mood about our results, despite a lot of the athletes expressing happiness they had all been able to race together.  Then the JV womens' 8 came down the course.

I wanted that race.  Everything a JV 8 represented, I wanted for my crew.  Here was a chance for younger, less experienced athletes to race against others at their skill level.  Strong programs had enough athletes in the program to put a second 8 out on the water.  There aren't that many programs like that.  Those boats are the markers of healthy, sustaining programs.  I wanted that future for Georgia Tech.

Historically, Tech hasn't focused on the open 8.  1998, 2012, 2013 and last year are the only entries I can find for a womens' 8 from Tech.  Varsity programs that can field a competitive 8 usually need a second boat to practice with.  Beyond a simple sparring partner, that second eight is the incubator for athletes that will take spots in the first 8 in the following years.  It also provides competitive drive throughout the season for members of the top boat.  They know if they underperform, there is usually someone from that JV that is happy to take their seat.  That was lacking from my first two 8s.

More importantly, a JV 8 is an opportunity for more members of my crew to race on Saturday at Dad Vail.  Consider the following numbers from last year's Dad Vail:  Half of the 32 total entries in the varsity 4+ were eliminated immediately in the time trial on Friday, including our own.   90 total athletes and coxswains were told, "Thanks for coming, hope you enjoyed your time trial race, but you're done."  There were 24 entries in the pair, with six eliminated immediately.

In the JV last year?  9 entries.  Three eliminated on Friday, in one heat of 5 and the other of 4. Everyone else to the final.

Now I'm not going to try to fool anyone.  It won't be a cakewalk from the JV heats to the final on Saturday afternoon.  The boats that made that final came from good, deep programs.  The overall level of racing in the event has gotten a lot better than what I saw back in 2012, as you can see:



Even given this higher level of competition, what is the greater good for the athletes on my crew that don't earn seats in the top 8?  Facing that horde of fours and pairs?  Or racing together, as a team, in the JV?  Looking at those numbers, I want to avoid the open fours and pairs.

As always, life doesn't give me simple choices.  There is one other event that we could enter.  The lightweight 4 had only six entries last year.  They went straight to the final on Saturday.  The last time we did that boat, it went well.  Won SIRA and 4th overall at Vails after a terrible row in the rep.  You might recognize some faces in that boat.  Their race in the finals was possibly their best of the year, but they just didn't have the horsepower to catch the crews ahead of them, even with two mid 7:40 ergs in the stern pair.  We don't have lightweights with that sort of power output this year, so it's difficult to expect that sort of outcome.

So I'm really down to two choices for my second boat.  The top boat will be an 8, without question. After that, either almost everyone in a JV 8, or a light four/open four.  The open four would face a very, very tough road at boat SIRA and Vails.  Same for a pair/single combination.

This is why I've been pushing for the JV 8 so hard this year.  If that boat doesn't happen, we are going light 4/ open 4, and those boats will have a very, very tough road.  With our current injury situation, it might be a light 4 and pair with the same sort of outcomes.

The JV is supposed to be fun, a place to get better and something to make life occasionally miserable for the Varsity.  I really, really  hope we can get that sort of boat together.

Saturday 3/4/17 vids

Allison especially, but all four need to look at where the body is when the knees break to start up the slide on the recovery.  Holding the knees down as long as possible keeps the majority of the bodyweight in the bow.  Once you come up the slide, you're changing the center of mass of the boat, introducing a vector against the direction we want to be going.




Kelly and Kate, watch the dig.  Jo, need more tapdown to match altitude of the others.  Tera a little short of the other ports.  Kat, hands a little slow away.  Boat sitting on port a lot.





Caught Renee late a few times here.  I like the catches going to the water.  You can see how high the boat is sitting, causing finish issues.   Because the boat isn't moving as fast as an 8, you can see the catches are going in well.  Once boat speed increases, these will need to be faster.





Kaela, you can see the occasional sky of the blade.  Kate, rollup timing good here.  Jo, watch what you're doing with your outside hand vs what Beth is doing.  Try to match how she keeps pressure on the blade all the way to the body.





Catching Lulu early a few times.  Jo and Kelly late occasionally.  Want to see Jo and Kelly catches with more backsplash.  Kelly, you can see how the dig sometimes causes issues on the release.

Monday seat race lineups

Gini (SarahH)                                                               Mollie(Sabs)
Beth (str)                                                                       Tera(str)
Kaela                                                                             Kat
Stacks                                                                            Kelly
Allison                                                                           Ro

Everyone else needs to send a completed 4x1k 5' rest to me and Rodd by Tuesday.  This week's schedule has changed, with a water practice on Tuesday night and the OYO erg practice on Thursday. Friday's practice is now at 445am.  The weekend is TBD.  I still need to hear from the crew on availabity.

Restarting this blog with GT crew

I really got burned as the years went by on this blog.  The first intention I had was a simple way to write my thoughts down for my high school crew.  I think the mistake was to keep it public for anyone to see and comment on.  Later on, my (now ex) wife started making her own posts and sending the link around the internet.  The posts I wrote started becoming less about rowing and more about me.  The irony is that she subpoenaed a lot of my internet writing during our divorce, including this blog, yet later started her own "mommy blog" as a money-maker with sponsors.  No, I won't supply the link.

So here we are, with what I hope will be a better way of communicating.  This format, while very early 2000s, forces more structure around a conversation.  Allowing anonymous comments hopefully will give folks a way to really let loose with what they feel.

I met today with the Nakul and the two VPs.  A lot of suggestions went back and forth across the table at Waffle House.  I'm glad Liza took some notes so I can try to address everything over the next few days.

First off, the new attendance and injury policies.  If you miss a practice, for any reason, I need that practice made up on the ergs and a picture sent to me and Rodd.  You will not be boated until I see that erg pic.  For example, Rachel is gonna "owe" us a few trips on the machine because of her unscheduled bicycle-based nose job.  I am aware she is coming this afternoon to paddle around in a single, but that's not replacing the workout.

The injury policy needs a bit more explanation.  I chose the 6x500m workout for a very specific reason.  The load an erg places on the whole body is different and a little tougher than in a racing 8.  I wanted anyone that had missed time due to injury to prove they were capable of the sort of tougher workouts we will expect as the season goes on.  By completing that workout, the athlete is declaring herself "ready without reservation" for full work going forward.  Seat racing, Gluckmans, everything is on the table for that athlete.  Allison sent me her 6x500 last night and will be in the four this afternoon.  I expect she will be "clear for combat."  If an athlete needs to miss for injury, that workout is your "return to duty" check.

Some of you might have noticed that the Tuesday erg workouts have changed.  I would now like to see an hour of steady state on those days.  We switched from the Rodd workouts to the 500s because the early water practices were slower with lots of drills.  Hannah correctly pointed out that hard sprint intervals could be beneficial during that time.  However, we are now transitioning to more interval-based workouts on the water, with less steady, low and long rows.  For that reason, switching to steady state is now called for on Tuesdays.  Rodd and I also need pictures of those screens as well.  You are allowed, as always, to do a river workout on those days.  However, unless you have a coach in attendance, you must be off by sundown.  I am happy to come on these Tuesdays.  The first purpose of Tuesday land workouts revolved around my son; Tuesdays were the only day during the week I had with him.  Since the semester started, my personal schedule with him has changed and so I'm free on those days.  I am aware that your schedules probably haven't changed and thus I haven't moved to switch our schedule around.  But if a group would like to row on Tuesdays, I'd be eager and happy to be there.

The workouts over the next few days have been posted.  As you all can see, we are transitioning from lots of drills to working on skills at higher rates.  I'm still concerned with square-up and catch timing.  Please emphasize these transition moments in your thoughts.  Tonight especially, the ratings are designed for positive initial outcomes to carry over into the next races.  Concentrate on just one race at a time and bring strong mental focus on those entries to the water.

Finally, as you can see, seat racing is beginning again next week.  Initially, focus will be on selection for the top boat, an 8.  I'm hopeful we can do this in 8s, but if not, I'll make lineups for the 4s.  It's not an optimal situation, but I don't have control over the numbers.  However, I want to add a new feature to seat racing this year:

Call Outs
Think you can take that other athlete you've been eyeballing?  Well, here's your chance.  Send me, however you want, who you want a shot at.  Text, email, whatever.  I will try to make it happen. Now, understand that a close result probably won't immediately create a lineup change.  You're gonna need to beat her clearly.  Most seat races I want to repeat at some point as well.

What is the boat after the 8?  I don't know.  I do believe the best outcome, for everyone, would be a second 8, but that is yet to be determined.  I'll write more on this subject later.  For now, I'll try to see you in the dark and cold tonight.

How to: Pull a 2k test

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 1996, 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.