Meet Margot Zalkind as she shares her views on how many Head of the Charles Medals are enough to satisfy your competitive instincts.
Timestamps
00:45 Welcome Margot Zalkind a competitive masters rower and US Rowing administrator This question started with a team mate who's a psychologist who asked "We stress out and work hard - how many times is enough to win at the Head of the Charles Regatta?" This first time was our easiest row in the event as there were only 5 crews, now there are 87 crews!
04:00 For Judy Greer of Concept2 it was often sweeter if she won in the single scull because it was only her effort compared with the team effort of a crew boat. Does winning translate to your confidence off the water? Compare with another crew who enjoy the experience more than winning - we passed someone and we didn't flip - it was a fabulous race.
Rubini Jewellers will make your Charles medal into a belt.
When I show my credibility it's important to show your medals. But a colleague who wore her medals around the boathouse was seen as bragging. Could I race the Charles in a non-competitive crew?
Coaches look for "the pull gene" for winning crews. Often it's from people who are ferocious and competitive who think they aren't quite good enough - it's more than erg scores and seat racing. The Charles has a special niche - you have pride in it. It's a rowing destination for your bucket list. Does this translate to your life - do you feel more confident having won a gold medal? Hook people on rowing, not the podium. You have to enjoy the process of learning (and improving) your rowing.
Does it matter? Could I come in last and still feel I had a good race? And what if you're the only crew in the event? This often happens when you're older. Handicaps help adjust for times. It's not as sweet if there's nobody next to me who's my age. I don't rule out racing again - but you have to decide for yourself.
When you get to race with people who are less good than yourself. What are the motivations here? Giving back to the sport when you enable someone else to achieve their rowing goals. Can you both enjoy the competitive race and also the team vibe of helping someone else achieve their goals?
A friend who raced in a "rolodex" crew for a couple of years - they won races but missed the community feeling and went back to racing with their club. Giving to the universe. Women are more inclined to do this than men - what is the psychology?
A regatta asked people to recycle their medals a year later - by switching the ribbon it was repurposed. Some folks did this. Masters rowing is a broad church of people with different motivations - we accept anyone, we try not to be judgemental about people who do not race.
As we age, one year can be very different from the prior year for injury or health reasons or life commitments. So your decisions are different from year to year. This has to be our motivation - ask others how they see things and how they make choices (and are allowed to change your mind).
They are type A and ferocious strivers. Mark de Rond did a study about rowers - it's a balance of individualism and team motivations. These situations can be advantageous for business as they are complementary as well as competitive.
🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/5694205242376192
Turn by turn video guide to steering the Head of the Charles by Jim Dietz
Head Racing for Masters - FREE ebook download
How to get to the head race start line at the optimal boat speed.
Timestamps
Feel confident at the beginning because you've done a good start - get into the zone and enjoy the process. A rolling or flying start means your boat is already moving - the start gets you up to race speed so you're close to race pace as your bows go over the start line.
The precise details matter a little less than in sprint races. Guy Pooley is a very skilled head racer - he never wasted energy on excess strokes before the start line. Learn how quickly your boat gets up to race speed. Practice this in your warm up each time you row.
Approaching the start line at half pressure and then increase the pressure first (keep rate controlled) and when 5 strokes away from the timing point begin your start sequence. I like to do three 3/4 length strokes. This allows a short, punchy stroke with good leg drive power. Then go to full slide on the 4th stroke.
Keep the punchy power and start to increase the stroke rate. Get this to well above your mid-race rate - go between 2-6 points higher. This allows you to step down to race pace and to get a good contrast and rhythm. It should feel easy to achieve race rate.
Create more rhythm as you take the rate down while continuing the long, accelerated strokes. Let the stroke feel elastic and long in the water. Move towards this type of stroke and your rate will naturally drop a few points. Hold this step down for 40 seconds to a minutes - allowing the rate to fall a little more. Use making a rhythm as the method to step down towards race rate.
Rhythm is the contrast between the power and recovery phases - a big contrast gives you rhythm.
Do this by having a strong second half of the power phase. Do a confident swing-and-draw to end the power phase. This adds a little more boat speed. As you move to the recovery separate the arms from the body on the recovery - get them fully straight while still leaning back towards the bow. Pivot after your arms are straight. A clear sequence of arms and body.
This separation of hands and body helps to bring the rate down. On the next stroke make a strong second half of the power phase and again, separate the arms and body. The handle speed in towards your body is the same as the handle speed away from your body. Keep it proportional. Make the rhythm over three strokes so it's very strong. It establishes the race rate you will use through the rest of the race (except the sprint finish).
As you row towards the start - don't rush those first three strokes. Be powerful at the lower rates to increase the hull speed. The stroke coach averages over three strokes so it won't show race splits immediately. You must have leg power on these first three strokes. As the boat moves faster on the second stroke so your rate will be a little higher than the first and the same for the third stroke.
When practicing in training hold the rate down in these first three strokes and see what happens on strokes 4-5-6-7 with your 500m split compared to what happens if you let the rate rise on the first three strokes. Let your speed coach measure meters per second because it's more sensitive to boat speed changes. Use this in practice to find out how quickly you can get the boat hull up to race speeds.
Be confident working hard at the start - you won't exhaust yourself with a hard start.
When racing, how much space do you have in a buoyed boat lane?
Timestamps
How can you fit a wide boat like an eight into a lane and why is it that you still find yourself rowing near the buoy line?
An eight is nearly 12 meters long and the rules of racing state that a standard rowing lane is 13.5 meters (44 feet) wide, with a minimum requirement of 13.5 meters for Olympic and international races, though 12.5 meters may be used in special circumstances. The lanes are marked by buoys and must remain a consistent width along the entire straight course.
The outboard from your rigger is 2 plus meters at either side. Your boat is about 6-7 meters wide with the oars. This perception problem is aggravated when you think you're closer to one buoy line.
Boat position within the lane matters.
A toe-steered boat has more control over the alignment but you have to keep the boat straight through the race - there's a tendency to over-steer in buoyed lanes. You have to know where the middle of the lane is. Some people forget that when you steer in one direction, you have to correct the steering to go straight after the boat is re-positioned. When the boat is straight. the middle of the hull is in the middle of the lane, you have to correct the foot steering so the boat stays in the middle after completing a manoeuvre. This relies on using your perception of the mid-point of the lane as your guide. But if you're in the bow seat, the boat doesn't pivot under where you're sitting.
This is where parallel lines appear to converge in the far distance. This is useful for rowers on a buoyed course. The only time you don't have a vanishing point to refer to is at the start.
The human eye is sensitive to width - using the horizon vanishing point you can tell if you're in the middle of the lane. But confusion comes when you use the buoys near to your boat to align with. Buoys are every 10 meters down a rowing course, and if you think your hull is parallel to one of the buoy lines this probably means you are actually steering towards that buoy line. You need the vanishing point to correctly position the boat.
When looking around during the race (to left or right) we tend to use the buoys nearest us as a steering guide. This is a mistake. You have to adjust your width perception to take account of the tips of your blades and also to acknowledge the vanishing point to position your hull centrally. Learn to ignore the buoys close to your boat. The vanishing point is the skill to develop to help you stay in your lane.
Further resources
He writes...
I rummaged in my photo archives and found a nice picture which may be of interest. It shows the oldest crew (J4x) at the WRMR 2008 in Trakai, Lithuania, after the award ceremony.
See from left to right:
The average age of the crew was 82.5 years. I felt honored amongst these gentlemen.
Greetings, Otto Schäfer
THE ANCIENT ORDER OF OAR FOUNDATION.
In 2007 the J category (80 and over) was included in the FISA World Rowing Masters Regatta in Zagreb, Croatia following efforts initiated by Burk Ketcham of Tacoma, Washington, USA. He and others collected 200 signed petitions from older rowers around the world to the FISA Masters Commission requesting the new category.
As an inducement to get octo rowers (those 80 and over) to the annual FISA World Masters regattas, Burk established The Ancient Order of OAR with OAR standing for Octogenarian Active Rower. To receive a medal a rower had to have a rowing age of 80 years or over and had to start at least one race in a FISA World Masters regatta.
How to train in the week before the regatta race.
Timestamps
00:40 A taper is a reduction in training volume so you're ready to race on the regatta day. You should feel you are super-energetic, enthusiastic, you should feel ready for anything. You should find your adrenaline is up in anticipation for the event - this can also be due to nerves.
When we train it puts our bodies under stress. The taper removes those stresses.
In rowing we have one or two big events in the year - winter long distance and summer sprint racing. You can do more than one sprint peak in the year, remember after every peak you have to rest, reduce training volume as a reset before you go back into hard training again.
The taper reduces volume, frequency and intensity of your training. Generally it starts one week before your event, if you're at a multi-day regatta, choose the day of your main event race as the peak day. Count back one week from that event. Depending on your normal training frequency, the taper varies. The workouts in the taper include shorter practices - less time on the water, workouts at higher intensities at or above race pace. Duration of the outing is less but intensity is high. If you train 6 times a week the days of the week you train should be continued in the taper week.
You have to load a boat trailer, fly or drive to the regatta venue and this can disrupt your normal training days. You often cannot train after the boat trailer is loaded.
In the Faster Masters Program we recommend you train 3 days a week - Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. If you follow this pattern you get a rest day in between each workout. So your taper doesn't need to change from this pattern because you are already getting a lot of rest. Athletes who train 6 days a week do a different taper - the program has an asterisk on the 3 key days.
Each workout during the taper, you must practice your start sequence. If you are doing many different crews this is good because you get to do starts in your single, pair, quad etc. We also do race pace pieces which mimic different parts of the race. Some from the first half, some mid-race and some in the sprint for the line.
Additionally it's great if you can do at least one of these practices on the race course you will be racing on. Familiarise yourself with the course, the warm up area, the start pontoons and rowing in between buoys. Practice backing into the start too.
Do every push you have planned in the race plan at race pace and row at firm pressure, SR 24-26 in between the race pace pushes. This gives bursts of intensity, practice on the course, keeps your blood going and makes you familiar with the race course.
Your taper has to cover off your recovery - more rest than normal. Also optimising your psychological and physiological performance like race visualisations.
Injury prevention is also part of the purpose of a taper because you're doing less and resting so you're less likely to get injured. Mental and physical freshness brings good energy levels to the event - overcome anxiety and nerves. Hormonal balance is also a benefit.
As athletes taper they can succumb to viruses or allergies as the training pressure comes off your body. Do take extra care over personal hygiene, hand washing and face masks on a plane. Be protective of your own body - you've worked hard for this race event.
Don't undermine your performance by succumbing to something which is preventable. Control the things which can be controlled.
Pre-race nerves diary week 5 Casey McKenna
Head race taper versus rest article
Travel, tapering and using borrowed boats podcast
Mark Mussared is an experienced Australian umpire (referee) and former member of the Masters Rowing committee for Rowing Australia. He sent me this email in January 2023.
I recently retired as South Australia’s rep on the RA Masters Commission, having served since late 2012. One job I did in my tenure, in 2013, was to review and revise RA’s masters handicap tables.
The tables existing at that time dated from the 1990s, were fairly arbitrary, and were unfair.
The revision I recommended, and which was adopted, was derived from a detailed statistical analysis of the results from the World Masters regattas of 2011, 2012 and 2013.
From that I was able to derive prognostic speeds and times over 1000m for every boat class, in every age grade, men women and mixed.
These prognostics form the basis of the handicap tables, and are effectively “the limit” that masters should aspire to.
For example, medal winners at Australian Masters Rowing Championships events typically have to achieve at least 97% of prognostic speed.
While the prognostics are derived for 1000m, they also have application for longer distance events where, naturally, crews are not operating at their 1000m prognostic speeds.
For example, at the Head of the Yarra (8.6km) you typically have to achieve 85 to 87% of their 1000m prognostic speed to be on the podium. For the Head of the Charles, (3 miles or ~5km), winning average speeds are around 91-92% of 1000m prognostic.
I attach a set of prognostic tables for your information.
There have been minor revisions since 2013, including the addition of the 3-year age grades for those 81 and over (which was done by World Rowing after we showed them our work back in 2017), but the prognostics and the resulting handicaps have proved to work very well since their introduction in 2013.
If you would like any further information please let me know.
Regards,
Mark Mussared
Prognostic Times and Prognostic Speed charts
The Head of the Yarra people use the 1000m handicaps simply scaled up by a factor of 8.6.
This is actually not correct because boats are travelling at slower speed that they would over just 1000m.
Because of this, the time allowance for an older boat should be greater than they use in events for mixed grades. That is, younger boats have an advantage in such a mixed grade.
What they should do is to compare each boat’s average speed with its 1000m prognostic speed, determine what percentage of that prognostic they are operating at, and award the event to the boat with the highest percentage.
I don’t think we’ve shared our prognostics with World Rowing since we saw them in 2017, so they wouldn’t have the numbers for the revised age categories – unless they’ve looked at the Rowing Australia website.
Since publishing this article I received feedback from Anthony Wilson
The published prognostic times apply only in neutral conditions. If used in all conditions they unfairly benefit the older crew(s) when these are fast – wind or current- and the reverse when they are slow. The British Rowing with variable and the Irish with 2 tables take these into account.
Handling varying levels of dedication to the sport in masters clubs. How do you give the both the person who wants to practice once a week and the person who trains daily a meaningful race situation?
01:00 This is normal for masters rowing. Training and practice commitment isn't an issue usually until it comes to racing. When going to a regatta you want to be in a crew where where you're the 'worst' in the crew. Competitive people want the best possible crew.
In most youth rowing clubs the coaches do selection - this takes the emotion out of the lineups. Types of race - in your calendar there are local events and bigger events like the masters national championships. Each year you will have 2 or 3 peaks which help you manage your training load. Typically most masters will do 3 + races in a single day.
In local regattas your racing priorities may be different. The more experienced people can race both with less experienced (mixed ability crews) as well as their own regular training group. To get the racing priorities accurate, the single scull is the best measure. The outcome is up to you alone.
Regatta organisers can enable a pathway into racing for masters - novice - new masters - age group. Differentiate based on rowing experience, not age for the first 5 years of racing.
Aligning can be challenging. Fitness matters a lot in racing; bladework skills are also important. Enabling compromise as part of your lineup selection can help give a meaningful experience. The fitter athletes find compromise less palatable rowing when with less experienced people.
There is satisfaction to be had from a mixed ability crew. Skill judging stroke rate and technical calls through the race is a worthwhile endeavour. "That was harder than childbirth". Achieving the best possible outcome for this crew.
Can you mentally set yourself up to see satisfaction from both types of races with experienced people and less experienced people?
Folks who always train together means there is no way in for a newcomer. Club priorities can enable coaches to make selections and validate their choices with the Captain (who's independent). A goal could be to enable your groups (elite, intermediate, new masters, novices) to all have at least one event in which they stand a chance of being competitive. I've found this is a method which helps to bring on less experienced people so that in future years they advance faster than if you just leave them to race in their skill group.
17:00 The art of compromise is discussion without emotion. Rebecca invites people to choose a priority crew which she tries to guarantee that race. Everything else is secondary. This means some events are "sub-optimal. The competitive spirit drives racers to selfish outcomes. This is an attribute of successful racers. It can be hard for athletes to accept their perception of being put in sub-optimal crew lineups. Independent lineup confirmation and discussion of compromises helps to frame these decisions. Balance our priority against the opportunity of this one regatta.
The club is the entity which should set the goals (3-5 years) and how this impacts regatta entry choices. Tell us how your club manages their crews for regattas.
Want easy live streams like this? Instant broadcasts to Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn. Faster Masters uses StreamYard: https://streamyard.com/pal/d/5694205242376192
Is biggest fear you have doing a rowing race for the first time? How to prepare, what to expect and the aftermath.
First races and how you can help your crew mates facing their first race. As adults it's unusual to get into a situation we've never seen before. Children are different.
Kim Mulvey wrote to us saying "I'm not ready to race."
The first race fear is mostly about the unknown. You feel out of control and it triggers the flight-or-fight response. Practice in training The way to overcome this is to get familiar with the situations you'll encounter in a race.
One way to do this is to practice in training.
03:15 Practice the racing distance find a simulation as close as possible - how long is it and how intense will it be? Practice being alongside another crew as you race.
Discuss the race plan within your crew - how to approach the stages of the race. Coxing your first race podcast episode will also help you understand what to expect.
Have a checklist for the race day and the night before. Rowing Regatta Checklist article explains the different elements of the list.
The things which help you feel most ready for racing are practicing ahead of time and actually doing a race. Once you've done one race you know what to expect next time.
Stories of first races are fantastic. How the unexpected came about and what they did after it happened. Learn by hearing from your crew mates.
Read Rowing against the Current – Barry Strauss What you experience is unique to you, but you'll have a lot in common with everyone else's first race.
Want easy live streams like this? Instant broadcasts to Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn. Faster Masters uses StreamYard: https://streamyard.com/pal/d/5694205242376192
I have recently completed coaching an athlete through her 2K test.
This article explains the process I used and gives you a template document which you can use for your athletes. I am assuming readers are either coaches who want to up-skill or athletes who don’t have a coach
Doing a 2K test is daunting for many people and one of the principal things that help make the test manageable is to write a plan for the test. A side benefit of having a detailed plan is that it allows athletes to establish their limitations and identify areas for improvement.
The format for coaching athletes to help themselves is based on allowing them in their own words to organise their thoughts and their recollections of their most recent test.
Write out exactly what happened on the day of your last test starting from when you woke up in the morning. Write these as separate items in a list down the left hand side of a piece of paper.
I am expecting that they would write something about the time they woke up, what did they eat for breakfast, what they are wearing, what time they went to the club, what they did in the warmup, what they did in each of the segments of the test and what they did afterwards.
Ask the athletes to separate out what they felt physically from what they were thinking mentally. Obviously this gives a second layer of detail to the plan.
As an example I woke up feeling rested and full of energy I was looking forward to the day.
This statement includes both and objectivists testament of their state of body and their state of mind.
Get them to add to the list of actions from the previous test with state of mind.
Ask the athletes to identify which of the things they have written down are aspects that they can influence or have control over and which are things which they do not have control over.
The objective here is to identify where they can influence the outcome and where they cannot.
So for example the time that they get out of bed in the morning is entirely within their own control. The time they arrive at the club, what they ate for breakfast, what they did in their warmup and so on these are controllable elements.
The elements which may not have been within their control may include the weather, a car crash which slowed down there transit time to the club, at the fact that they had diarrhoea on the day the fact that they were sat at the end of the row of ergs for their test when they actually preferred to be in the middle etcetera.
Have them identify the elements of their plan which are under their control and which they felt were positive and contributed successfully to the outcome of their previous test. The goal here is to work out a series of steps which they can do again on the next test day.
And now they should identify the things which they wish to change for the next test so for example this could include eating something different for supper the night before or having more time to allow for our getting to the boathouse in case there is bad weather or traffic jams.
After having completed these two steps the athlete should have an idea of what things they felt is contributed successfully to their previous test and what elements were not successful, needs changing or need improving.
Get them to write out the plan again for the next test that they are going to do. Have them copy the elements that were successful from the previous test and write out changes which they want to make in order to improve their plan.
While I was coaching an athlete recently we established that she had not identified splits as targets for each of the 500 meter segments. And so based on her target time for 2k we worked out a rating and split target for each of the 500 meter segments. The C2 website has charts you can use for this.
It is important for athletes to have three or four tricks which they can pull out of the bag when they need them during the test which will help them to focus on achieving at 500 meter splits. The focus points need to be positive. As an example you do not want to say something negative like 'don't slouch', instead you need to say 'sit up' as that it is a positive action.
It is my preference to encourage them to have at least one technique focus at least one pressure focus 'trick' and the option to increase the rating in order to achieve the target split.
You do need to explain to them that even if you have a well written plan some elements of this plan must remain flexible. For example you may have a target rating of 30 to 32 during the race and if you are achieving your target splits as a rating of 29 this is acceptable. Conversely if you are not achieving your target splits and you have to take the rating up to 33 in order to achieve the split that is okay it does not matter that the plan said you should be rating 32.
Every plan is only successful if at the end the athlete can say they did their very best to execute all of the elements which are within their control to their best ability. Climbing Mount Everest is only possible if you have process goals along the way.
I like to encourage athletes to keep a training diary so that they have a record of what they did and how they felt as they prepared for a test so that they can reproduce the same conditions next time without having to work it out again.
As athletes acquire skill in pace judgement they will become better at delivering consistently on their plan. You may need to remind them that if you have not tapered your training before a test you may not be pulling personal best scores every time!
Having a race plan which is customised to your skill and preferences is a thing of beauty. You know it WORKS for you and you can continually refine it.
Coach Sam Dutney leads the Erg Intensive training and has given this outline on how to build your plan.
For erg racing, Sam recommends aiming for an even split for each quarter of the race. This is because the relationship between watts (power) and split is not linear. It takes more energy to bring your split down one second per 500 the lower your splits. Therefore to keep your energy expenditure as constant as possible, even splits is the best strategy.
The purpose of a race plan is to set markers through the race, to help you plan strategies for each part of the race and to give you focus points to achieve this.
Breaking your race plan into "chunks" helps - it's easier to focus on a short term horizon. At a minimum four quarters is an easy breakdown. In a 1k race this is each 250 meters is one quarter. You need to have a goal for each quarter. If you prefer, you can do 8 or 10 chunks for smaller increments.
1st quarter - get yourself onto your target split as quickly as possible AFTER the first 10 strokes. Use these ten strokes to work your anaerobic reserves of energy - but they get depleted fast and so after 10 strokes, get onto your target. Focus on length and good body sequencing.
2nd quarter - Consolidate is your focus. The first challenge point in your race comes around 110 - 140 seconds after the start. This is where your energy system switches from anaerobic lactic to aerobic. It will hurt. But after you are past this point, nothing will hurt more than this in the rest of the race. You need to know how many strokes you take to cover 100 meters. Then this allows you to chunk into 100 meter sections. You may take 12 or 15 strokes to do 100 meters. Ensure your focus points DO get you through 100 meters each time so you can cover the distance.
3rd quarter - This is the 'gold medal' quarter. As you come into the third quarter at half way in the race you can make an assessment. How am I doing and can I sustain this pace? If you want, you can accelerate slightly to go faster - as long as you know you can continue at this new faster pace. In this quarter use most of your technical focus points. It may help to distract you from the pain with a focus on technique rather than a focus on effort / intensity.
4th quarter - If you are feeling good, can you accelerate as you come into this last part of the race? Maybe drop the split one point. Do this as a gradual step up in intensity, not a sudden shift. Don't start to sprint until 300 meters to go.
When deciding how much faster you want to go, here are some guidelines.
Changing your 500 meter split by 1 second (e.g. from 02:00 to 01:59) at 500 meters remaining in the race will make your tie 1 second faster at the finish. If you do the same change at 1000 meters remaining, you will drop your finish time by 2-3 seconds. And if you are in the last 200 meters of the race and you drop the split by 5 seconds you will still only take 1 second off your finishing time.
Practice one technical focus at a time. Do these in your tempo pieces during training. This will teach you how to do a range of focuses and you can use the to make improvements during your race. Think of these as being a "bag of tricks" and you need to choose the right trick for each situation.
Sam recommends your technique focus points work around the stroke cycle circle. So you need one for the catch/front end (e.g. engage the lats at the catch); follow this with one for the mid-drive (body swing hard), one for the finish (pull the handle up) and one on the recovery (keep your legs straight as you rock over). The benefit of this is that each technical point naturally leads to the next one in the stroke cycle.
When doing practice races, set your target split on the conservative side. The reason for this is that at the end you will know if you have more energy to give in future. But if you fail to hold the split in your practice trial race, you will find it hard to diagnose why you failed to hold your target split.
Remember, racing is 90% mental.
Join our community and get our exclusive Faster Masters Rowing Magazine, packed with tips, techniques, and inspiring stories. Includes four new articles monthly.
