Marlene and Rebecca tackle the topic of rhythm in rowing.
- What is rhythm? How to get it, how to lose it and get it back.
How to get rhythm, learn it and be confident.
04:00 Jonathan Tyson's wife asks we were reviewing stroke and talking about left hand over/ahead of right to allow for the oar handles to pass over one another. She asked why don’t we design / rig so that the oar handles are separated, meaning both hands could stay at the same level during recovery and drive?
10:00 For the 1k racing 12 week programme sold on Faster Masters Rowing, how are the sessions described - is there a 500m split time and stroke rate target, with the split times set based on your ultimate target speed?--Australian listener.
12:45 James Dundon from 612endurance sculling club in Minneapolis, MN reported coordinating a small boats race at a variety of lakes in town every Saturday this summer. Racers are split into four waves. We make it competitive by having the wave winner move up a wave and last place moves down a wave. 3 x 1k pieces
16:00 Rhythm - how do you describe the rowing rhythm? It's hard to achieve rhythm if you cannot trust the oar to use your body weight
20:00 Teaching rhythm to athletes - keep your handles in motion. Try the drill of half pressure catch and 3/4 pressure finish. Trust the oar and load it up in order to trust it.
26:00 Sarah Powell seeks solutions for mounting oars on walls [Munsen Rings]
34:15 Jeanette Brimble asks about timing the exit and start of the recovery transition. Your goal is to release without interrupting the rhythm. Check you are feathering outside the water not in the water. End of the leg drive equals the release timing. Feel the release timing from foot pressure in your shoes.
42:00 Funny boat names
After the summer racing regattas end, it's time to rest, reflect and plan the long distance races you want to do.
This episode explains how to organise the 3-4 month training block to suit your peak event and the training you need to do.
02:30 This Past Week - we had an article published on Ludum
https://ludum.com/blog/athlete-health-fitness/managing-your-training-in-masters-rowing/
First take the calendar and find the events you'd like to do. Select your peak event first - the big one. Your first race should be something local to where you live / train. You can row twice in one day and it should be low key and easy to travel to logistically.
14:00 Choosing your first race. The night before the race you may be nervous or excited. Practice sessions may be race simulations but they don't create this tension. Get your checklists sorted.
16:00 Spacing between races. Get 2-3 weeks between each race. Try to pick ones which dob't involve a lot of travel. Some people like to race the weekend before the peak event to kick off their training taper.
19:30 You can choose to race not at the peak event intensity e.g. rate limit your last race before the peak event.
23:00 How peaking works. The goal is to be fully rested before you race.
Super compensation is the principle of accumulated tiredness from a training period or block. The Taper period is reducing the volume of training. Maintain the frequency of training. The duration of sessions decreases over time. Your muscles start to recovery and replace muscle glycogen.
27:00 To tolerate pain you must be rested.
How to Get Your Blades Off the Water - Faster Masters Rowing Radio - the podcast for masters rowers.
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Timestamps
03:00 This past week. As coaches we develop too - we change our understanding over time.
Most rowers who keep their oars on the water during the recovery do it because the boat is not set and balanced.
What causes imbalance?
There's a long list of possible reasons including:
13:00 What blade skills do you need to have to get your blades off the water?
You must be committed and intentional to get your oar blades off the water. It doesn't just "happen".
Trying to get your oars off the water after the finish won't work. You can ONLY to do it as you take the oars out of the water.
The way to do it is this: On the drive phase, as your hands come close to your body - you tap down on the handle and get the oar blade spoon out of the water. The depth of downward pressure on the handle determines the blade spoon height above the water's surface.
Press lower to get greater height above the water.
Press less to let your oar be closer to the water on the recovery. Mostly, if your oars touch the water on the recovery it slows down the boat and the reason you are touching the water is that you have not pressed downwards sufficiently at the extraction point.
19:00 Get the set / balance on the follow through after taking the oars out of the water.
By the time the oars are perpendicular, your boat should be set level.
Teach how to feather first
https://fastermastersrowing.com/how-to-feather-correctly/
Teach how to feel the weight of the oar in your hand
Tapping drills and progressions to different body positions
Delayed feather drill
Set a high standard for drills
27:00 Do these drills slowly - this is key. Many athletes feather too quickly and lose connection to the boat.
31:00 Consistency - in a crew build up to more people rowing as you practice getting your blades off the water.
Look at your blades to see what they are doing compared to what you THINK you are doing.
35:00 Practice concentration.
38:00 An easy reference point - if your wrist bends you are too late tapping down. Pressure in the water helps the blade to come out of the water.
40:00 When you perfect the release, the boat speed goes up.
CONTENT From this show
- Time to think about head racing
- What to do when motivation comes and goes
Faster Masters Rowing Radio - the podcast for masters rowers. Tips, advice and discussion from Marlene Royle and Rebecca Caroe.
Support this podcast
https://fastermastersrowing.com/register/podcast-supporter/
01:30 This Past Week - what we do to advocate for masters rowing. Henley Masters Regatta July 9-10. The new Knowlton Rowing Club.
05:00 The Faster Masters Rowing Program for July. Squaring technique focus; Mid-race strategies.
Find out what's going on in your mind. What is important to you?
Jim Loehr - The Power of Full Engagement Book
https://amzn.to/2Tu585u
12:30 Physical / Emotional / Mental / Spiritual pyramid. Check the physical first for clues about what's wrong.
17:30 The best stress reliever is to just do something.
Physiology - think of your average speed - this is key to your best race.
Train to improve your base average speed. Train your base aerobic mitocondria.
It also helps to know the race course as well for steering.
At low rates you can also work on technique.
Race pace is an anaerobic threshold AT workout. Ride the line of best pace before you get lactate acid build up in your muscles.
Improve your VO2 max during the next 3 months training. The higher ceiling means you can move up your AT. That brings a better average race speed.
25:50 Don't wait till September to start training. Plan ahead
Shift your attention to average split and target metres to complete the session.
Choose the meters per second erg display - use charts to analyse the split you need to do the time you want in the head race you are going to race.
30:30 If you are racing 1k in August - stay on the 1k program. Then when you finish that event, take a few days off - 3 or 4 days - to decompress. Then move on to the 5k program.
Stick to the prescribed intensity in the program workouts.
Support this show with a donation
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03:00 This past week - Learn to row classes; Peer to Peer Coaching Clinics and new masters at Knowlton Rowing Club
08:00 Gardening and rowing - over use injuries.
12:00 Troubleshooting body sequencing. Video first so you know what you're doing
13:00 The recovery - know the sequence you want. Arms - body - slide.
Feeling unstable when putting the blades in the water.
Setting the body angle - twice or once?
Moving up the slide "like an accordion"
17:00 The power phase - the sequence is legs - back - arms.
Only use each body part once per stroke.
Drills to emphasise the sequence - Legs only rowing; legs and backs; legs back and arms. Then blend them together.
24:00 Legs only drill. Blades on the water reinforces the horizontal power - level handles.
Mark the blade shaft 40 cms up from where the blade joins the shaft. Use white tape and use this as a marker to ensure the blade isn't too deep.
29:00 Blade depth while stationary - check it.
The slope of the oars to the water matters and is affected by boat depth in the water.
40:00 Finish at the xiphoid process - demonstrates the oarlocks are set at the correct height.
Faster Masters Rowing Radio - the podcast for masters rowers. Tips, advice and discussion from Marlene Royle and Rebecca Caroe.
- Rowing Gloves yes or no?
- Pin spacers how high?
- Water or sports drinks in the boat?
https://fastermastersrowing.com/register/podcast-supporter/
Listener Questions answered
01:00 This past week we have been supporting masters rowing by hosting the Racing Starts Challenge. If you missed it, you can still get all the webinar recordings here
https://fastermastersrowing.com/register/vip/
05:00 Funny animal stories from rowers
16:00 Do rowing gloves work or is it faster to develop callouses? 
22:30 Should you opt for a higher pin height using spacers unless the water is flat?
Your oar goes to the centre of gravity. If you are high, your hands are higher than your centre of gravity.
Set at the correct height you shouldn't have to change rigging - altering the rigging doesn't help rough water rowing.
https://fastermastersrowing.com/how-to-row-in-rough-water/
26:00 Thoughts about carrying water or a sports drink in the boat
Rebecca interviewed Dr Stacy Sims who says you should get your calories from food and your hydration from water. Water gives best absorption with a teaspoon of maple syrup and a pinch of salt. The glucose base absorbs better into the body than fructose.
https://rowing.chat/dr-stacy-sims-sporting-women-are-not-small-men/
Go by your thirst. It's a good habit to have water with you in the boat.
32:30 How do you determine stroke versus bow in a double scull?
Be flexible. The best combination is the one that makes you go fastest for the race you are training for. Try switching seats. You need a good mindset in the stroke seat.
43:40 How to keep your muscles warm during a long wait before the start of a race?
Wear more clothes - a light down jacket is good.
Try to do things to move - loop around if you can.
Tapotement - gentle vibration stimulation of your muscles. "rapid and repeated striking of the body as a technique in massage."
Following a training plan sounds so simple. You just read the workout and do it, right?
Well - yes, but. There are many things which can get in the way of an effective training program - firstly training on the right day with the correct workout. Rowers are competitive folks and many harbor fears of missing a workout and then guilt that they need to "catch up" on the missed session. This is the most common trap you can fall into when getting your training wrong.
Our podcast explains some of the reasons why you should vary your workouts, how to plan workouts to fit your schedule and when you should not change the workout programed.
05:28 This Past Week - what we do to advocate for masters rowing.
Have you got a club newsletter and would you like to use masters rowing articles we've written? Get in touch
https://fastermastersrowing.com/contact-us/
Marlene's article on the oarlocks open drill is published in Rowing News Magazine
15:30 Rowing into a headwind with lumpy water is it better to keep the rate up to maintain boat speed or stay long and row slower?
Hold onto your finishes - know why you make your compromise.
23:00 Guidance on painting blades. Clean / Sand / Prime / Paint one colour.
masking tape skill is essential. Pull it off immediately you've painted. Paint the other side of the oar the next day.
You need structure to your week. Map your days and align to your training phases.
A plan is organised to build progressively - skills, fitness and mental skills.
What is the plan is set to achieve? Strengths, weaknesses or a race event and a peak?
Support this show with a donation
https://fastermastersrowing.com/register/podcast-supporter/
35:30 General preparation times of year are different from specific preparation. More flexibility is possible. But stick to the sequence.
37:00 Varying the plan (how and when). We keep sessions to 60 minutes in the Faster Masters Rowing training plan so consider your days. If you are tired or under-recovered you should vary the plan.
39:30 What to do when life or the weather gets in the way of your plan. Wait a day. If you are injured or sick, be conservative and rest.
42:00 When it's NOT OK to vary the training plan. coming into a peak event, the taper is designed to restore your muscle glycogen to its full levels. This takes 7 - 10 days. Too much work will hinder this and you won't get a peak performance.
45:00 What to do when your crew is on a different program. don't overdo the intensity if you combine programmes. Can you blend the club team boats into your programme?
How to put new grips on your sculls. Possibly the bit of boat maintenance most likely to make you laugh out loud.
Discussion on capsizing in cold weather.
05:28 This Past Week - what we do to advocate for masters rowing.
Facebook discussion on capsizing in cold weather
https://www.facebook.com/groups/595853370615544/permalink/1658366544364216/
The discussion about capsizing from your single - the rule of thumb when air + water temperature adds up to less than 90 degrees Farenheit.
Straddle and Paddle technique advocated by Carl Douglas
10:00 The re-entry exercise. If you don't get back in your boat the first time your chances of succeeding the second time go down considerably. The key is getting the first kick to get your hips above the boat.
12:00 Getting back on the water. Marlene's checklist of safety items.
15:00 the Windy app recommended by Guin Batten
https://windy.app/
29:00 Dynamic warm ups in the boathouse
This is not for stretching and flexibility - do that after your workout. Dynamic warmups increase blood flow and raise your body temperature.
Flex and extend your ankles - start here and work up the body. No equipment is needed.
1 minute of hopping will compress your discs and help maintain your bone density.
Thixotropic muscle tissue.
We dive into the challenging topic of eating disorders in rowers including revelations from one listener about his bulimia.
02:00 This Past Week - what we do to advocate for masters rowing. Reading ROAR by Stacy Sims.
10:00 What's in the April program on Faster Masters?
1k and 5k programs. Technique videos of sculling we like. Rigging Quick boat setup. Guidelines on crew lineups for training. Organising race day checklist.
15:00 Masters Championships events around the world - UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, European Masters all have dates for regattas in 2021
19:00 The Female Athlete video interviews Jessica Diggins and her coach Matt Whitcomb about her eating disorder, bulimia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eupn8Td7Zo
Jessica notes that coping with the stress of training led to her eating disorder
Genetics loads the gun but the environment pulls the trigger.
The desire to be lean as an athlete is a psychological condition. Get professional help.
My brain is the major factor in success as well as equipment, training program, technique.
23:00 Matt Whitcomb talks about athletes working with dieticians. Going to your coach for help is hard because there's an imbalance in power because coaches are often selectors too. Showing vulnerability can affect selection.
The best a coach can do is say I am here for you if you need to talk.
The coach's job is to facilitate help, not solve the problem. They can help create a culture of openness where these things can be discussed without judgement.
31:00 Mark Madeley confirms that when he was training internationally, the lightweight rowing coaches didn't know about nutrition. He was a lightweight for South Africa and suffered bulimia under pressure training alongside the heavyweights and being expected to eat with them as well.
34:00 Focus on your lean body mass not your weight on the scales
Sleep 7-8 hours a night
Front-load your calories with carbs in the morning and protein int he afternoon. Your body metabolises carbs better earlier in the day.
Increase your intake of foods with Vitamin B12, Magnesium, healthy fats and omega 3 oils.
Match fruits and vegetables and grains with proteins to control blood sugar spikes.
37:00 Red Flag warnings for female athletes are a triad disordered eating, amenorrhea and osteoporosis.
41:00 a consultation with a sports nutritionist can be beneficial. Timing your calories can affect weight as much as what you eat.
43:00 Taking really good care of ourselves is this week's goal.
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