Getting coached sometimes feels like being told you are wrong all the time. What can you do as an athlete to enable yourself to receive critiques and not feel vulnerable?
Resource:Â How to hire a rowing coach
3 Value Bombs
Improving requires us to know what we are doing right, what we're doing less well and how to change. It is hard not to feel it's personal because it's directed at you. Separate the message from the emotion and the personality giving the feedback. Peer-to-peer coaching in the boat where you don't have a coach enables you to give and receive feedback in an environment where it's appropriately received and acted upon.
03:30 John Zarao [captain sabre fencing team 1984 Olympics] quote
"Competitive sport is a cruel mistress. You are competing on merit, but you can have a gad day - like everyone else. You must listen (not if) to those who know what they're talking about."
John Zarao
Do I want to improve the way I row and scull? If the answer is yes, you have to be open to hearing information about your current state and how to get to a desirable future state. 1 - What is the message being given to you? 2 - Does this message apply to me? 3 - If yes, how can I use it to improve my rowing?
06:00 How you get the information and feedback. Work with the person giving you the feedback. - repeat back to them in your own words what you think they have said to you. Clarify the message until they say to you "that's right" so there's no ambiguity. - challenge your defensiveness and work out why you are so bothered by this message. - focus on the message not the delivery. - apply the message to your rowing / sculling
You have to prepare the athlete to receive your message first. Few people change their position after being shouted at. Ask the athlete "May I give you some feedback?" and stay silent until they answer yes. Because if they aren't ready to receive your message it won't land. "Before I give you advice can I ask if you are interested in improving your technique?" and get the answer yes to this question too.
10:45 Coaches giving feedback
Contextually it's important your athletes know that you only give feedback to athletes you think can improve. Few coaches invest time in someone who you think cannot change. See the feedback as respect from your coach that you're a worthwhile athlete to invest their time and energy in. Receiving love and respect from your coach is desirable and the pathway is changing something which isn't right in your rowing just now.
13:30 Ask your coach "Where am I standing right now in the crew and where do you see me at the end of the season?" This helps you to put a timeline onto your improvement and to understand where you stand compared to others in the group. The attention you are getting may be because you are on a good pathway to improvement. Help each other to receive messages which are not 100% positive is a good pathway to becoming a better rower.
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You're preparing to race and are concerned you aren't rating high enough. Why rating matters.
Three drills you can do to get the rate up. What prevents you getting the rate up?
Resource: Practicing Racing Starts
3 Value Bombs
01:15 First you must know what your ideal race rate goal is for the main body of your race. Your training programme should have increasing race rates to help guide you closer to your race rate goal.
Can you get your oars in and out in perfect time with your crew mates? Increase the quality of precise practice. Have a clearly defined sequence of the rowing stroke cycle. Do these movements slowly and then test under pressure (rate, firm pressure).
Can you practice rating higher than your race pace rate?
20:00 What should your rate be in the race? Challenge your preconceptions about race rate by practicing drills regularly. Get familiar with the feeling of getting the boat up to higher rates.
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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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