Getting Tougher for your mental skills is important training in rowing. Marlene reviews James E. Loehr's classic book The New Toughness Training for Sports: Mental Emotional Physical Conditioning.
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04:15 How tough are you? Have you ever thought to yourself, it’s never over until it’s over or never give up? Or said, I could have rowed faster if I had stayed concentrated in the second half of the race; I wasn’t thinking clearly. Building mental and emotional strength, an essential ingredient for success in rowing and sculling, is what James Loehr’s book; The New Toughness Training for Sports is all about. Loehr’s classic book covers issues related to recovery, understanding the language of emotion, signs of overtraining, the performer-self versus real-self, balancing stress and recovery, as well as the role of awareness in the mental toughening process. Loehr describes toughness training as “the art and science of understanding your ability to handle all kinds of stress-physical, mental, and emotional-so that you’ll be a more effective competitor.” It is a method of perfecting your sport skills while minimizing the risk of physical injuries and emotional setbacks that can result from overtraining. Loehr explains that a key element of toughness training is improving the routines used for recovery from stress during practices and between competitions to maximize an athlete’s potential so that the mind, body, and emotions will become more flexible, resilient, and strong.
06:00 Common words that we associate with toughness; cold, mean, insensitive, or heartless, are not those included in the definition of toughness here. Phrases such as responsive under pressure, resilient, and flexible rise to the surface.
Loehr describes four indicators of toughness.
09:10 There are many athletic situations when the way that you really feel isn’t the way that you know you need to feel to perform at your best level. The way that you really feel is referred to as your real-self and the way you need to feel to perform at peak is referred to as your performer-self. Positive and negative emotions are constantly intertwined in our daily feelings. Positive emotions relate to balance and health, negative ones typically point to unmet needs. Every feeling serves a purpose and you will become a better athlete when you can respond to negative messages in ways that are appropriate versus blocking them out. To perform consistently under pressures at a high level requires that you have enough food, rest, sleep, and water. You must develop the capacity to move from the real-self to the performer-self on demand, which calls for precise thinking and acting skills. You also must be fundamentally physically fit. If your tolerance for physical stress is low your battle may be lost before it begins.
12:30 Performer skills include disciplined thinking and imaging skills that keep your emotions focused. In addition, physical acting skills that help you act the way you want to feel to achieve your ideal performance state.
This is your body language. The way you move intensifying whatever emotion you are feeling. Lastly, you have to learn new emotional responses to old problems. Just as your muscles need time and stimulation to grow, so do your emotional responses. You need to practice putting yourself into situations that help you train your reactions.
14:30 For racing this is why doing time trials and scrimmage races can be critical to improving your performances; you have the opportunity to practice new reactions. You can use words and images to control your performance state.
Learn how to tell yourself to hang in there, that is tough but you are tougher, that you can do what you want to achieve. Avoid showing weakness on the outside and let yourself know that you are right where you want to be so you stay passionate and fight no matter the circumstances.
16:00
Balancing stress and recovery is a major focus of Loehr’s book. He writes,
“Stress is anything that causes energy to be expended; it occurs physically, mentally, and emotionally. Recovery is anything that causes energy to be recaptured; it occurs physically, mentally, and emotionally. Unfulfilled needs represent forms of stress. Fulfillment of needs is recovery. In order to fight great battles in competition, your energy deposits should be roughly equal to your energy withdrawals. Your goal should be to enter battle fully recovered whenever possible. Balancing stress and recovery is fundamental to becoming a tough competitor.”
James Loehr
Like balancing your checkbook, these factors need to be kept in line. For example, when you are going through difficult emotional times be sure to include some fun into your day. To get tougher you need to “jump into the fire and jump out before you get burned” taking risks in life and competition is a natural part of developing strength.
Talking or writing provides powerful relief for dealing with emotional pain or turmoil. Spend time talking with your coaches, friends, or family about your problems or keep a training journal to help sort out your thoughts.
19:35 Work hard but recover equally as hard. Sharpen your saw regularly.
Your recovery schedule should receive as much attention as your training plan does. Sleep ranks number one when it comes to recovery methods. Get eight to ten hours of sleep every night, go to bed and get up within 30 minutes of your normal sleep times, learn to take short naps of 15-20 minutes whenever you can, and track your amount of sleep.
Eat a healthy well-balanced diet with adequate amounts of water and nutritious food. Enjoy both passive and active rest activities. Active rest can include walking, yoga, flexibility exercises, or easy outdoor games. Passive rest activities do not involve body movement; examples are laughing, meditating, getting a massage, watching TV, having a whirlpool bath, or taking a nap.
On a final note, the application of stress is the stimulus for growth but recovery is when you grow.
26:06 How in 1986 in preparation for the world championships, C.B. Sands-Bohrer and Christ Ernst practiced various race scenarios; they went on the win the gold medal in the women’s lightweight double.
Blade depth on the drive | Faster Masters Rowing Radio.
Support this show with a donation if any of the information is helpful for your rowing.
02:30 What should your blade depth be?
Keep the top edge consistent, level and covered by the water at this height through the drive. Important for an effective drive. It affects the length of time the oar is in the water.
04:00 common errors with blade depth
The blade has floatation and will sit in the water at the correct height if you just leave it sitting there with no pressure. Add pressure to the blade does bury it a little more.
2. Lifting the hands too high causes deep blades.
Use the reference point for the handle “aim for where your knees were” Norm Graaf's advice.
3. Opening up the body too early on the drive sequence.
If the body lifts away from the knees this causes the blades to go too deep “rowing up over the barrel”.
4. The blade is not fully square when it goes into the water.
This causes it to dive deep. Is there enough height above the water to square on the recovery? A solution is to relax the handle. If you hold too tightly the water isn’t able to fix the blade depth and square placement.
09:30 Drills and skills to build blade power
1. Row in circles
Leave one blade flat on the water with the handle next to your body. Row with the opposite hand. Watch your blade as you row - make corrections to the depth. Check the waterline on the oar shaft - it should stay consistent until the oar comes out of the water.
2. Backing down drill
13:45 Backing down drill
Keep the blades in the same position as you row (don’t counter-feather). Build your confidence increasing the stroke length from arms only to full slide backing. You can see your blades as you back.
Practice the correct recovery sequence - arms / body / legs flow up the slide as your hands separate. Practice in sweep and sculling boats.
3. Half blade depth drill
16:30 Half blade depth drill
Row with your oars half way out of the water. Requires more control over the oar - finesse. You can’t row hard but allows you to practice the handle control. Practice full blade depth as well.
4. Bungee rowing drill
20:00 Put the elastic bungee to the stern of your foot stretchers. This slows down the boat on the recovery and gives you resistance feedback.
Try rowing one stroke with power and one light pressure easy alternating. Goal is to apply pressure to the handle keeping the blade at the correct depth.
4 sets of 8-10 strokes focusing on higher power.
5. Vary pressure through the stroke drill.
21:45 Change from quarter to half pressure (50%) at the release. Row 20 strokes with this focus.
Then go from 50% up to 75% pressure at the release. Maintain handles horizontal and drive length through the water. Lastly try 75% up to 100% full pressure.
6. The silent pyramid exercise
23:30 This helps build up to full pressure strokes; it also helps concentration. Start with 1 stroke with power and 1 stroke easy light pressure; then 2 on and 2 off; 3 on / off;
Up to 10 strokes with power and 10 strokes off easy - then work your way back down the pyramid, 9 - 8 - 7 down to 1 stroke.
26:00 Managing training with long Covid
The effects take a long time to recover after illness. A useful measurement is heart rate variability. Morning resting heart rate gives you a norm. If you are fatigued from training this will change - elevate.
Rule of thumb 5 beats above normal you should take it easy that day or do a light training to keep your heart rate low.
28:30 Heart rate variability - measures the amount of time between heart beats. This reacts to how much fatigue you have and indicates if your body is in a relaxed or stressed state. It indicates whether your sympathetic nervous system is over-active (fight or flight). In a relaxed state your parasympathetic nervous system is activated.
Measure using an app like HRV4Training it measures heart rate and asks questions about your lifestyle - sleep, training, injury. The factor is personal to you and indicates what’s normal for you.
Should we prioritise our rest more? How much is right for my training? Marlene and Rebecca run through some pointers for you to review.
01:00 This Past Week - what we do to advocate for masters rowing - who is the fund raising group in your club?
04:00 Corporate rowing if you’re interested in a discussion - get in touch.
05:00 Marlene’s rigging dock talk
07:00 book of the Month with Jess di Carlo is Olaf Tufte’s Skjerpins. This literally means “sharpening” or more prosaically “Get a grip - you can always get better”. It's in Norwegian and Jess used Kindle translate function to read it.
10:30 Olaf is strong on visualisation and spent 10 minutes working on the first stroke before the Beijing Olympic final.
15:00 Hiking with his family - he found himself in trouble and said 'get the breathing right and the head will follow'.
21:00 Start rowing slowly and rebuild the stroke from the basics after a set back.
Peaks require a rest and reset before another peak event. Recover - between your sessions each week - between each is a recovery period. Sleep is terrific for recovery as is nutrition and hydration. Glycogen in your muscles fuels muscle action - heavy legs
26:30 Doing 2 sessions a day versus 2 days between sessions. Hard and easy days take planning.
28:30 Rest and sleep means 7-9 hours per day asleep. When you sleep your hormones are active. Maintain weight, mental sharpness and dehydration. Interrupted sleep is a common issue for masters. Naps are a useful tool to use.
30:30 Other types of rest include sports massage, sauna, contrast showers (hot and cold) all help flush your system, Plan the rest days in a week's schedule Plan the rest weeks in an annual schedule. Cross training can be a rest and a change too,
33:00 Heart Rate Variability measures the fluctuation of what is happening between your heart beats. Compares the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Different ways to track are available. Get age group comparison data and personal day to day changes in your analytics. High values mean you are more recovered.
35:00 Active Recovery is rest or sleeping an extra hour. Simple ways to test your recovery. Check your waking heart beat in the morning for 1 minute. If it’s 10 beats higher than normal don’t do hard work that day or take a rest day.
37:00 Rebecca used to track using the Daily Diary from Harry Mahon If it’s 5 beats higher than normal you could have a virus coming on. Err on the side of caution.
40:45 De-conditioning takes a long time. You have to stop training for a long time to get to lose your fitness. Two sessions a week are enough for fitness maintenance. Keep it low intensity. Two sessions a week are enough for maintenance at low intensity.
Who are you becoming? the importance of contemplating this question - become the athlete you want to row with.
03:00 This past week Rebecca was at the South Island Masters Regatta.
05:00 There is a need for handicaps in masters rowing to make the races work better. What do you think are the benefits?
08:00 Who are the athletes you want to row with? Can you row with them?
Why do more experienced athletes warmup square blades?
Different attributes of an athlete - Trainers, Racers, Technicians.
What is it they do that I would like to also do?
12:00 Attributes of rowers you admire and aspire to be like - positive attributes
14:00 Open minded on the water gives and asks for feedback.
Use the same language that the rowers use for a discussion about feedback.
17:00 How's it going? is a good way to ask for feedback during a training session.
19:00 Advance a common understanding in your crew and group. A common language.
Mike Spraklen asked us what does "stride" mean to you?
21:00 Can we give confidence to other people in our crew as we discuss the outing?
Ask the question carefully. What words to use when you give feedback?
You sit behind me - uniquely positioned to see my technique. Can you remind me when you see me doing something wrong or right in the boat?
Ask opinions - helps people to feel they are being heard. "What are you personally working on?"
25:00 Start the positive behaviours yourself. Begin before you get on the water - where are you going? What to do today? Did I do what I set out to do? Quality score points out of 10 for rowing practice, acquisition of skill.
27:00 Openness in rowing - is this challenging for masters compared to youth rowers? Our practice ebbs and flows through the year with more intensity. Small moments of joy in what you are doing. Smiles and grins after the row.
32:00 Why do we row? Where do we get enjoyment? Process goals - lead the change yourself that you seek in others.
What is the ideal athlete for your club group? It's incumbent on rowing leaders to be inclusive of returning rowers (who rowed as youth) and those who learn as adults.
I got asked about rowing coach education available in Europe. Here are some suggestions for self education - which is a great place to start.
1 - Go to your local club and speak to the coaches there - ask if you can sit beside them and watch and learn from them
2 - Read - lots. Find books, articles. Listen to podcasts and videos. Listen to Faster Masters Rowing Radio weekly. Each time ask yourself
Why is that crew going faster than the other crew?
Then ask
What would I do to try to improve their rowing?
3 - Find a local club or school and volunteer to coach. Try out the things you learn in 2.
​World Rowing has free online coaching resources which you can use to teach yourself
https://worldrowing.com/technical/coaching/
Also join the email list for CRI in Boston MA, USA - they have a one year coach education course which is highly regarded - the Institute for Rowing Leadership.
https://www.communityrowing.org/programs/coach-education/rowing-leadership​
Faster Masters Rowing Radio - the podcast for masters rowers. Tips, advice and discussion from Marlene Royle and Rebecca Caroe.
Timestamps:
01:00 This Past Week - we launched the June training program.
Little and often is a good mantra. Regattas - every club should do a winter and summer regatta. Different types of regatta - boats are provided, racing for time, skills and drills, juniors and masters are good companion athletes.
13:00 Summer head races - Maine State Championships around 3 buoys for 5k. The "Killer Meter" a 1k race with a mass start. The CRI Classic is a preparation for HOCR. The Head of the Kevins - 3 series of races seeded by time Cambridge Winter League over 3 months with cumulative time.
- a service fee on race entries - bottle returns and tin cans - jumble sale / rummage sale / bake sale - junior disco - raffles - donated merchandise in kind and gift certificates
28:00 Run a learn to row for parents of juniors
30:00 Corporate rowing is a league possible?
37:00 Resources within the membership - who is already a member who could help you? Local library www.spacetoco.com allows you to list rooms for hire (a commercial Air BnB for club rooms) 47:00 Catchy things like "sponsor 10 strokes" Buy a row or buy 1 hour or 1 outing.
Getting a group of rowers into one boat is simple - making their individual techniques blend into a crew combination that can row in time is a longer process. Our podcast discusses 3 core drills to combine into a crew.
01:00 This Past Week - what you can learn from elite athletes. Intention and attention.
Good rhythm and flow and energy.
Does it "click?"
Is the recovery matched up?
Why do trials and tests? Do these have to be part of a masters rowing program?
Support this show with a donation
https://fastermastersrowing.com/podcast
01:00 This Past Week – what we do to advocate for masters rowing.
Marlene is coaching a camp – why go on camp? How to select a camp.
Situations where rowers don’t want to do a time trial.
But coaches want a measure of fitness.
– race in single sculls
10:30 Are you trying to boat the best possible crew?
What is your philosophy of training – how do you measure progress?
Have the strategy discussion. What do you want from your rowing? Why are you here?
These will guide your boat lineup choices and testing and trials.
14:30 The main tests you can do
22:00 If you don’t want to measure progress, don’t test.
25:00 Do not be afraid of trials.
Mahe Drysdale article “Why do rowers fear the erg?”
The Last Amateurs by Mark de Rond about the 2007 Oxford Cambridge boat race.
Economist article by Mark de Rond - Rhythm and Blues about his time researching the book and how it applies to business management.
This book tries to answer the eternal questions
– How do coaches pick crew lineups
– Why is this crew off-balance?
Seat racing – can you blend your crew to make it go faster than the sum of the parts?
You are competing with your squad to make the lineup but then once you are in the crew, you have to gel to make the boat go fast.
In our final instalment about the rowing and sculling stroke we will focus on holding the handle(s).
01:00 This Past Week - what we do to advocate for masters rowing.
12:00 Hand placement and grip. In our final instalment about the rowing and sculling stroke we will focus on holding the handle(s).
Establish your hands correctly or end up under or over-rotated.
Find the right place - sit at 3/4 slide and place the blade in the water square. Put your hand on the handle and ensure your wrist and hand back are flat.
Read and watch the full video series on the rowing stroke cycle - 6 episodes from catch to finish.
The top row of knuckles is on top of the handle - not in your palm, not in the tips of your fingers.
15:00 Learn to move the handle in your hand not your handle with your hand.
16:00 Open versus closed grip
19:00 You don't need to grip the handle - you guide it.
Water supports the blade in the water.
Oarlock supports the blade on the recovery
How tight to hold the handle?
21:00 How much pressure to put on the handle?
23:00 The sweep grip. How wide to hold the handle.
Inside versus outside hand roles.
Avoid wrist tendonitis by taking the load with your back / shoulder not your wrist.
27:00 Cranking your wrist with pressure stresses the carpal tunnel - the "Harley Davidson Method".
Use an elastic band as a guide for you hand if you move it around during the stroke or it drifts.
In sweep the grip effectiveness changes from outside hand to inside hand as you move from catch to finish.
Don't let you hand come off the handle as you get to the placement.
30:00 Drills for grip
34:30 Posture in rowing
The extremes are the gymnast and the couch potato.
Pick a mid point.
Work on your posture all the time. Not just in the boat.
In the car - adjust the rear view mirror; use the head rest so you sit with your ears over your hips; neutral spine is more resistant to injury.
38:00 During the drive phase you don't want pressure on your vertebrae you want it through your hips.
Keep low back supported
Make posture a habit in your daily life.
Further resources
Timing the catch, how it should feel, drills to improve the catch.
01:30 This Past Week - what we do to advocate for masters rowing. When procedures for communication don't work out through an organisation.
Lake Safety committee - many users of the water.
09:00 The placement of the oar at the catch.
Get pressure on the blade is key to moving the boat well.
You are moving while placing. The entry is the final action of the recovery - your wheels are still turning. It's important not to stop - this causes missed water.
Minimise missed water equals minimising slip.
As the blade enters it's traveling in the same direction as the boat.
Get fully buried before putting pressure on the handle.
Read and watch the full video series on the rowing stroke cycle - 6 episodes from catch to finish.
11:30 Visualise what you want at the catch.
Describe it in words. This helps you understand.
The difference between where the bottom edge of the oar touches the water and where the blade buries is missed water.
14:00 Hands lead the recovery
The handle moves further than the seat.
15:45 Checklist for good blade placement
24:00 Advanced tip to minimise slip
Have soft hands to let the water do its work
As it is buried, maintain distance between the thumbs until you feel pressure on the blade.
27:00 Thumbs along the handle drill
Don't chicken out - keepp the motion going
30:00 Row at 3/4 slide to work on the entry.
Make your corrections here because you are on the move
Backsplash is an exaggeration drill
When timing is good the splash is small
A small v-shaped splash front and back of the blade is desirable.
36:00 Row circles with one oar or in a pair. Create a controlled environment for learning.
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