Staying hydrated for training and racing can give you hidden benefits. It's very easy to become dehydrated and not realise. Performance improvements and recovery gains from hydration.
Resource: Home Made Sport Drink Recipe (below in notes).
Timestamps
What you are drinking and how to get fluids into your body. It's more than just drinking while training, off the water drinking matters too.
Start with a glass of water when you wake up in the morning. Every time you have a meal or snack, have another glass of water. Snacks might be mid-morning or mid-afternoon. Get into the habit of 2 litres of fluid a day - this includes any hot drink, shake or smoothie count too. Keep a record of your hydration - cricket notation makes it easy to see each 5 glasses of water you have.
02:30 Before during and after training sessions hydration is needed as well.
Drinks need carbohydrate and electrolytes in them. This is part of your recovery from exercise. Carbohydrates help you maximise energy levels to maintain intensity through to the end of a workout. Training works to provoke adaptations. Electrolytes are minerals which get lost through sweat. The air temperature during exercise affects your feeling of thirst. Do not rely on your sensation of thirst - anticipate your hydration needs before you feel thirsty.
06:00 Caffeine drinks - these are worthy of your consideration because caffeine is a stimulant. I drank a half and half Red Bull and water at a regatta when I had a lot of races. I'd learned that Dame Kelly Holmes used this for her race day hydration.
Use sports drink only on regatta days. Use either caffeinated drinks or tablets (noDoze or Pro Plus). Have caffeine every 2-3 hours while racing - half a can of drink 30-40 minutes before your first race or half a caffeine tablet.
From Nancy Clark's Sport Nutrition Guidebook affiliate link to buy.
Flavoured with orange juice and lemon juice or cranberry/lemonade.
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Ever since the 2007 movie, we've started bucket lists for everything. Now it's time for you to plan your rowing event bucket list.
Resource: Download a masters rowing program sample free.
3 Value Bombs
00:30 Things we are going to do in rowing before "kicking the bucket". The Faster Masters Rowing self-guided training plan to help get you fit, faster and the confidence you're doing the right thing in your training. How to train as we age - masters rowers are not the same as youth rowers. If you train three times a week minimum, this program may suit you. Get a free trial download masters rowing program.
03:30 If you already have a program and want to read the articles we write on topics of interest to masters rowers, buy the monthly Masters Rowing Magazine.
Bucket list rowing is about doing things that are special and have value to you. Andrew Turner suggested this episode. Row on famous waters - places which are renowned in the sport of rowing. Row on Olympic courses - Sydney, Munich, Paris, London. The Assault on Lake Casitas by Brad Alan Lewis tells one story of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
The well known Henley Royal Regatta and Head of the Charles are well-known. These can be hard to get entries in because HRR does not have masters events.
Row on the same course in different events like Henley Masters Regatta - a 1k event in July. The London Veteran Eights Head of the River Race is on the Boat Race course and run in March each year. Australia's Head of the Yarra is the premier event in the Southern Hemisphere in Melbourne each November. The Amsterdam Heineken Regatta is uniquely over several different race distances.
Touring Rowing races include the Tour de Lac Leman (around Lake Geneva) and is over 100km long. Also consider the Canal du Midi in France touring event.
What about getting a session with a famous rowing coach? Some join camps which you can join. Best Rowing Books
Troy Howell, Volker Nolte, Marlene Royle, Jim Dietz, Al Morrow - all well known coaches who work with masters.
13:00 What bucket list trip would you enjoy? Ireland with the Tribesman Head and a driving holiday afterwards. Meet rowers from a famous club in your own country - Capital Rowing Center in Washington DC.
More Bucket List Events
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We continue our mini-series on speed murdering mistakes in rowing and sculling. This follows last week's deep dive into blades on the surface .... this week we take a look at Rushing Off The Back. What, how, causes, cures.
Resource: The Finish Posture explained
3 Value Bombs
01:00 These issues are straightforward to resolve. As a coach I can see the solution and until you realise the solution is there, you're ignorant.
The transition from the oar extraction through to when you roll up the slide is our focus area.
08:30 Things to look out for
Look down and see if your elbows are partly bent as you rock the body forwards
Do your thumbs touch your lower ribs?
Are you finishing with handles horizontal or are they drawing down into your lap? Get some video so the finish and your body are in the frame.
The fastest point of boat speed is after the finish. This may sound counter-intuitive - the second surge of speed comes after the oars are extracted and as you transfer your body weight. Rebecca calls this speed for free.
Do 10 strokes normal, 10 strokes separating arms from body to spot the difference.
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We start a mini series on things which kill boat speed. And how to fix them. Part One: Dragging oars along the water surface
Resource Pontoon Floats are a cheap aide to building confident bladework - discount coupon lower down this page.
Timestamps
00:30 We love boat speed, the feel of the boat moving well. Technical aspects which coaches see over and over and are fixable.
Why do people do this? Is this using the water as a balancing aide. Dragging the oars creates friction and slows the boat down.
03:50 Losing boat feel is a consequence of oar drag. The boat pitches fore and aft in the water as we row. The trim is not constant. Moving with the boat on the recovery, you can feel the boat surge as the bows lift out of the water.
Skilled rowers go a lot faster because they adapt and adjust body movements to align with how the boat is moving. When blades drag on the water it's harder to feel the surge.
Confidence, Tension, Fear of the unknown.
Fear - if you worry that the boat becomes more tippy because your oars are high above the water, here's the cure. Pontoon floats give stability and help to build confidence.
Watch the Square Blades Challenge - 3 lessons to advance your skill.
08:30 if you're skilled enough to go in a single scull - when your oars are out of the water - once your arms are straight, your oars are perpendicular to the side of the boat - this is the point of maximum stability, sometimes called the safe position.
What could happen during the recovery and where do your lurches happen? If your oars are feathered, the maximum tip/lurch is until one oar touches the water surface. This is like a stabilising pontoon float. You won't flip or capsize. If your blades are square when you get a lurch - just take that stroke immediately. Never mind how far up the slide you are. Then get the finish stable and focus on the next recovery.
11:00 Know what the worst that can happen is and know that you have a solution.
12:00 For wobbles at the finish, ensure you keep elbows high and finish in the correct hand position. Get weight in the hand too. Use double bounce exercise, the stationary stability drill, pause drills to practice this.
Do your handles stay at the same height after feathering as they were in the drive phase? If you flex your wrists to feather you may not be pushing the handle down. Get some video to find out what you do. How to progressively gain confidence keeping the oars off the water surface on the recovery.
Summary of the cures for blades dragging on the water surface
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Resource Rowing Blisters And Skin Injuries ebook
Hand cream may be insufficient to keep your hands soft and supple enough to prevent blisters forming. By wearing rowing gloves - padded palm and finger protection. The Crew Stop gloves are specialist - light and flexible gloves designed by rowers, for rowing and paddling.
Recommendations for treatment - because I've done all of these and they work.
rec.sport.rowing discussions about blisters.
Methylated spirits are NOT a good solution - avoid as it kills living skin tissue.
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Adjusting your stroke to match your partner. What to do to adapt and adjust so you align with a taller or shorter partner in the rowing boat.
01:00 In the program this month - peak 1k racing in May - August. Drills to maintain power in the stroke. Video how to get to the start calm and ready to race - Christine Wilson's rate progression warm up. Coachability as an athlete skill and attribute. How to write your race plan.
Key to this is to worry less about height but instead focus on the arc of the blade through the water. When you fix up in the boat, adjust your footstretcher so your blades are parallel with your partner's at the catch and finish. Measure distance behind the face of the work / face of the gate. (58-62 cm is a normal range). To learn more about how to do this measurement watch our webinar Rigging for Masters https://fastermastersrowing.com/rigging/ Adjust so your oar shafts are exactly parallel at the finish.
06:00 A taller stroke
The oars will converge during the power phase and the recovery phase if you each row to the full extent of your reach and height. The short person cannot make the same arc as the taller person, especially if their oars are the same length and the gate/oarlock span is the same. When the blade arc is out of alignment, you need to make compromises to get in parallel. Get power aligned by being in the water together at the catch. So to get catch angles aligned means you will need to make compromises in how you row.
For the shorter person - get good body rock forwards at the finish and maintain this through the recovery up to the catch where your shins are vertical. For the taller person - work out how far forward you should roll. Use a drinking straw and tape it to the side of the boat, pointing upwards. So it brushes the shaft of your oar when you are at the correct catch angle to match the shorter person. 08:30 Rebecca's preference is to align with her partner at the catch rather than the finish. Blade alignments are made at the catch and the compromise is at the finish, she extracts her oars earlier. By getting the angle arc right you are more likely to optimise the boat speed and power alignment. Get more length by sitting up tall and letting your arms go wide, over the sides of the boat at the catch.
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Coaching adults makes it hard to give feedback. Three things to consider.
00:45 Masters may not have a coach. We help each other with in-boat coaching. There isn't an obvious person who is a leader.
Feedback is a delicate topic. Some people may not want to hear what you have to say and you may not have sufficient authority in the eyes of your crew mates.
Is there a focus for this workout practice? By setting a framework of expectations before you start rowing, there's a structure which everyone can use during the workout and at the debrief afterwards. Ask each athlete "how did it go?" and "What were you working on?" So you can align your feedback to their needs.
The group dynamic risks whatever is said in the first person who talks tends to lead everyone else to follow their theme. Say one positive thing about the workout. Avoid a spiral of self-criticism. Give each person one thing to work on and one positive message about the workout. Strike an appropriate balance that the athletes are ready to receive and understand.
The tone can be different for this as the whole group watches together. Set the framework at the start - after watching the video you can say anything you like about yourself and your rowing. But observations about other people can only be positive remarks. This helps show that care is needed when choosing words.
06:30 What to look for in a video
First ascertain what the athlete can see from their own technique. Playing the short video on a loop means people can watch fast and several times before getting bored. Up-skilling your "eye" watching rowing and sculling so you know what pattern of technique you are trying to achieve and how that compares to your rowing video. Can you help the athlete to see what you can see? Do they realise they are squaring late? Small refinements require skill at looking and seeing subtle movements.
Ask if they want feedback or coaching first. The other party has to agree to receive feedback first before you give it. When someone says yes they want feedback you have prepared them mentally to receive what you are going to say. They will be more minded to do something about your advice afterwards.
11:00 When coaching masters only focus on one thing per workout, It's hard to think of more than one thing at a time, So wrap up the discussion with the one thing you want then to work on next time. Set up the best ways of enabling each other to hear the advice and act on feedback offered.
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I heard today that Jimmy Joy the legendary coach and founder of the Joy of Sculling conference died. Today's podcast is my reflections and memories of his work.
Timestamps
01:00 I never met Jimmy Joy We corresponded for years. His drive to share what he learned shaped what he gave back to the sport. He emphasised sculling as part of the need to become a well-rounded athlete. The Joy of Sculling Conference was Jim's conduit to educate others in the sport.
03:00 My rowing blog contained articles by Jim. His perspective was unusual - he focused on the blend of mind and body and how these come together to create the Flow State. Hanlan's Spirit was about Ned Hanlan who innovated by lengthening the slides in sculling boats. Rebecca took texts and used the blog platform to publicise books. In 2013 Jim contributed a chapter to the ebook How to stop worrying as a coach. The Quantum Sculler was Jim's deep insight into meditation practice as a way to get into flow state.
06:30 Rebecca describes her Flow State experience in the book "The Greatest Rowing Stories Ever Told". She had an out of body experience - looking down on herself rowing with no consciousness of how hard I was working, delivering surging boat speed.
08:00 Training for Flow can be taught and learned. Listen to Rebecca's podcast interview with Jim https://rowing.chat/jimmy-joy/ The art of sculling is a meditative practice.
10:00 Themes from the extract from the Quantum Sculler. Higher consciousness awareness described by Jim.
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What changes are needed when doing big or small boats - length / inboard.
01:00 It's all about gearing.
How long are your oars and what is the ratio for the outboard to the inboard? Small boats versus large boats. You have to carry your share of the total mass of the hull, riggers and oars. In a single scull you are carrying around 14-17kg. As the boat gets bigger, you carry less mass because it's shared between more people. If you have a bigger boat - you can afford a heavier gearing on the oars.
Coaches try to give each athlete a consistent load to move the boat so you don't have to work a lot harder in small boats compared to big boats. They adjust the rigging to make this broadly consistent.
03:00 So you should be able to rate a similar strokes per minute almost regardless of which boat type you are rowing in. Generally people rate higher in larger boats.
03:50 The span and spread affects the load.
Last week we reviewed the arc through which the oar tip moves each stroke. You want a wider span on a smaller boat (single = 160 cm) but in a quad it may be tighter 159 cm. Sweep spread is measured from the mid point of the hull out to the pin and these will be wider for smaller boats.
You have to be strong enough to move the oar past the fulcrum. A 1k race is around 110 strokes and you need to be able to deliver each stroke to a similar power. For most clubs you will find that sculling oar lengths - sculls will be set at a length of 287 - 288 cm long Sweep 370 - 374 cm. These rigs are what you expect for younger rowers.... and oars get passed around the club and the lengths aren't changed. Masters needs are different from younger athletes. We need shorter oars and sculls.
07:20 Jim Dreher invented the adjustable length oar - the story behind the invention.
Masters are a hugely divergent age and strength group of athletes. Increase the load for younger masters, tailwinds and for beginners. Decrease the load for older athletes or it's a headwind. The more experienced are more dextrous and can cope with a higher load and can rate higher. You have to be able to put the oar in the water at the same speed the boat is moving past that part of water.
How long are your oars and span/spread? How old are you, how fit are you? Rigging for Masters webinar - Volker Nolte has a detailed chart for oar lengths and span/spread for masters. He considers most masters to row on much too heavy a gearing.
If you are older you probably want to decrease your load. When buying oars and sculls the spoon size and shaft weight / flexibility are different options you can choose, Cut an oar shaft in half - the internal diameter isn't spherical - there are more layers of carbon on the front and back edge. This gives more or less rigidity / flex to the oar shaft. The tensional stiffness in the shaft comes from the thicker carbon which is on the front / back of the shaft facing the direction of travel when the oar is square in the water.
Buy the Rigging for Masters webinar and get Volker's oar and scull charts.
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Ways to use your boat rig to get a longer arc for the oar. Simplifying why it works and some key principles.
Timestamps
00:30 Rebecca's new shiny object is a wing rigger mounted gadget to mount a stroke coach and water bottle over your rigger.
Check out the 3Drow website for 3D printed rowing accessories.
Having the oar in the water longer (distance rather than time). Taking the tip of the blade through a greater distance each stroke. Use the principle of the lever to understand how rowing oars and sculls work to propel the boat. Inboard and Outboard ratio is important to understand. With longer levers you need a greater force on the handle to move the oar though the same arc in the same time.
As long as your athlete has the physical strength and power to move the oar through the water then you can use longer oars. There is a point of diminishing returns. The rowing sliding seat was invented to increase the arc through which the oar is rowed through. A longer slide gives a greater arc.
05:00 Does the athlete have the oar handling skills such that they can put the oar in the water at full reach at frontstops so you don't miss water?
Missing water means you have a shorter stroke than you are capable of. Rigging a longer stroke is a good solution for someone who is less skilled in bladework.
Suggest the athlete rows on a longer arc.
A physically short athlete where you want them to have the same oar arc as other crew members. Shorten the inboard and adjust the outboard so their gearing is the same as the rest of the crew.
This might be useful for you to try. Check the rigging diagram from Stephen Aitken - rowing angle changes presentation
08:00 Study the arc through which the rower's arm and oar moves during the power phase. The solid line shows a reduced span (moving the pin closer to the side of the boat). Th length of arc is determined by the athlete's anthropometrics (leg and arm length) and torso (height). A formula to calculate typical arc lengths.
10:00 For small changes of span/inboard this is a useful assumption.
Review the faulty logic - Only change one thing at a time (not always possible as one change affects other parameters)
- Options of things you can change span, inboard, stretcher position, gap between handles at the finish for sculling. Which COULD you change to lengthen the stroke?
12:00 The conclusion that there's only one option that works Reducing inboard and span equally and adjusting footstretcher to keep the handle gap the same at the finish works with increases in all angles - catch and finish. Stephen recommends first reducing the inboard and then reduce the span equally.
Keep oars the same - similar inboards for quad/double and adjust for single. For sweep adjust for eight/four/pair.
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