RowingChat

The competition is heating up for #HOCR4702! In a sign of the times, the Head Of The Charles, the venerable 55-year-old, two-day rowing regatta that atttracts half a million people and 1,200+ athletes to the Charles River in Boston, will be run this year as a "global remote event." Kicking the lottery off until next year, anyone can now race the HOCR distance, wherever they are and with whatever equipment they have available; in a boat on the water, or on an erg. Live head-to-head racing will be hosted by Concept 2 on Oct. 17. GUESTS: Race directors Natasha Strom & Ami Mehr, with Dan Beckham of the HOCR media office.

Links:

https://hocr.org

https://piercepress.com

Podcast topics this week

- Finding a coxswain

- A new video tip

- Have experienced masters rowers got an 'attitude' problem?

Sponsors

Timestamps to the show

04:00 Subscribe to our newsletter

https://fastermastersrowing.com/newsletter/

05:30 A National Voice for Masters Rowers in New Zealand

Join the Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/256708472122650/

07:30 Finding a coxswain

12 week training program for 5k races

https://fastermastersrowing.com/courses/head-racing-12-week-program/

Find someone's child - 8 years old or more. Teach them to steer.

Adult coxswains - build a plank with a rowing seat to sit across the gunwales to sit above the boat.

Get members to recruit their petite friends.

Starting to teach coxing. Be comfortable with making compromises.

We start by getting them steering first. And the commands for starting and stopping ONLY.

Let them repeat the commands relayed by the stroke.

Understand gentle steering. And hook the little fingers over the side of the boat - steer with your forefinger and thumb. Tape the midpoint of the steering wire - a visual reference.

15:00 Coaching the Coxswain book by Chelsea Dommert

https://www.rowperfect.co.uk/product/coaching-the-coxwain-revised-edition-2/

Use the phrase "On Point" and create discipline in the cox to always do this.

17:30 Rent an expert coxswain from the local high school. Take care of your cox and pay their way.

A talented cox even if they are heavy is better than an inexperienced one.

19:00 Some coxes don't want to cox grumpy old men. We recommend feeding them cake

21:00 Slow motion video tips. Use landscape not portrait. And check the slow motion playback on YouTube where you can go 2x and 3x slower. It makes it easier to see your rowing technique.

27:00 Port, Starboard or both? And which is dominant? Maoco Florann Elkins calls this bisweptual or ambidextrous.

32:00 Do rowers have an attitude problem? Consider the situation individually. If the coach says people don't want to be coached - find out what the rowers think too. Do you also get attitude from club junior coaches. Club culture matters. Learning the correct rowing etiquette is important for the culture of rowing.

42:00 If you don't want to learn - just go and row. but if you want to learn new habits then get coached. Use Slow Motion Video recording on your phone because it is much easier for people to see.

"The Strength Coach Roundtable" is rowing strength coaches Will Ruth, Blake Gourley, and Joe DeLeo. This is the final episode as the trio launches into their new project, "Science of Rowing." Tune in to hear about it and learn from six "quick hits" discussions of research studies on rowers and how we can learn from them in our coaching and training. Shownotes for this episode: https://rowing.chat/strength-coach-roundtable-18-farewell-episode-and-science-of-rowing/

Part of the RowingChat network and the 8,400-member Masters Rowing International group on Facebook. You can subscribe on our website www.rowing.chat to receive notification of upcoming shows or send in news tips, and listen to other shows in the network wherever you get your podcasts.

Marlene and Rebecca discuss coaching the release this week.

Sponsors

“Science of Rowing” is a new monthly publication by “Strength Coach Roundtable” podcast hosts Will Ruth, Blake Gourley, and Joe DeLeo.

Visit ScienceofRowing.com/RowingChat for details, a free Sample Issue, and a special discount offer.

https://rowing.chat/sponsor/science-of-rowing/

Castelldefels Stage Esport is a specialist tour operator who books sports camps for rowers. They specialise in the Spanish region Catalunya which is near Barcelona.

Get in touch and ask for Jordi – he speaks perfect English, and don’t forget to mention RowingChat when you book.

https://rowing.chat/sponsor/castelldefels-stage-esport/

Faster Masters Magazine is designed for masters rowers.

If you want to become a student of the sport of rowing, learning more will give you confidence in your own rowing practice.

https://rowing.chat/sponsor/masters-rowing-magazine/

Timestamps

06:00 Faster Masters has a newsletter subscribe page where you can get access to deep information and training tips which are not in the podcast.

https://fastermastersrowing.com/newsletter/

07:50 The US Rowing virtual masters camp has occupied Marlene for the past 3 weeks. She has been presenting sessions on stabilisation exercises by Brett Gorman. In the boat, avoid extreme movements and control your movements.,

Rebecca has been working on creating a "National Voice" for masters in New Zealand, if successful she hopes other countries will follow suit. It is starting with a Facebook Group, New Zealand Masters Rowers

https://www.facebook.com/groups/256708472122650/

14:00 if you think we should run a virtual camp - let us know.

18:30 Who do you share your water with? Swimmers are a challenge to spot without a bright cap.

Marlene tells a story about getting waked by a destroyer in Greece from the naval base in Poros.

A discussion on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/rowingfaster/posts/2658261794425071?__xts__[0]=68.ARDAPX7rdPxoiBydItKjUtIlYgAmRH4QqCXjtmMygXCT0K4izucHc3SWTtFIIBbn_Tfg9N9Nt7K7--3txpCjHga_i4SKJxvuXm_vsEbOAdzV7fkVFVWLdZP5QKmgQBZ2L6RmsylRV3k75jM-rcev8RvqU1vRNWbwnsM4PlJ0-HsbB3m1Wiu6LYWp-DYQwEFyVMYaGX5fKQYa_Nb2QsD1WPHAlnm4GzwfhfbEQC8tHZH3VRTvS7jbXmnPVtN23mSdlgwA3Fzfjbwa7lhR7vbCbURWcGiu5qJJTkeL_SGLkeA6r5fCPDMCTyK-75TgRpZGos4

24:00 Coaching the release. You have to practice drills to get it right. Slow down to work out the timing.

Exit : Feather. Can you get blended and not separated in these movements?

Check your hands are coming in level, wrists may bend to feather to make room between the handles and your thighs - so you won't have room to tap down.

Timing is important. Regulate the tension so you can release cleanly.

33:00 Should the blade come out exactly the same time as the knees go down?

Topher Bordeau has a track record as both a coach and an athlete recruiter for Dartmouth College in USA. His "coaching philosophy" insights into failure and how to improve your coaching are leading edge.

Sponsors

“Science of Rowing” is a new monthly publication by “Strength Coach Roundtable” podcast hosts Will Ruth, Blake Gourley, and Joe DeLeo.

Visit ScienceofRowing.com/RowingChat for details, a free Sample Issue, and a special discount offer.

https://rowing.chat/sponsor/science-of-rowing/

Castelldefels Stage Esport is a specialist tour operator who books sports camps for rowers. They specialise in the Spanish region Catalunya which is near Barcelona.

Get in touch and ask for Jordi – he speaks perfect English, and don’t forget to mention RowingChat when you book.

https://rowing.chat/sponsor/castelldefels-stage-esport/

Faster Masters Magazine is designed for masters rowers.

If you want to become a student of the sport of rowing, learning more will give you confidence in your own rowing practice.

https://rowing.chat/sponsor/masters-rowing-magazine/

Timestamps to the show

03:00 Background in rowing from high school to Princeton coached by Mike Teti and Curtis Jordan with a year at Oxford in Isis. Volunteer coaching at Belmont Hill where Joe Murtagh the lightweight coach invited me to coach the Princeton freshmen. Going from there to the Naval Academy heavyweight squad where they are very athletic but novice rowers was a big change. I was moved to Dartmouth to coach the Varsity Heavyweights where they were in a low spot. In the first year they were 24th in the East and then we took them to 15th, then a year later to 12th and then 8th. I coached the U23 US team in 2007 and 2008 when they won gold. My last year was 2014 and it was very challenging. The moment you aren’t full committed the crew senses it.

12:00 Failure is such a productive part of rowing. I never found a way to write about quitting rowing, despite 8 years of writing for Rowing Magazine. Failure is very personal - what one sees as success others see as failure. Much like the silver medal winner at the Olympics. All of us when we confront what happened initially reject the premise behind the ideas which led to our failure.

Everyone loses their way at some point.

15:45 A poor leader is one who makes no choices. Making a bad choice can be driven by emotion not reason. Reacting is different from responding (rational). Bad choices are things we regret. Things that don’t work out because our reasoning wasn’t good are forgivable. We rarely have all the information especially with regard to coaching where there are ambiguous factors.

18:00 This year is a good example of poor information. When a coach avoids a decision because of something new it leads to a less satisfying career and more in jeopardy. The wisdom from past decisions can go into trying something new. An evolution of thinking.

24:00 Recruiting for college sport. I represent Dartmouth College to students around the world. Athletic liaison for 5 sports helping coaches vet the students they are recruiting.

The criteria we use to assess athletes applicants are

- Demonstrated academic achievements,

- Engagement in the community outside the classroom,

- Personal values and aspirations and intellectual qualities

- we look for when they geek out about something.

33:30 Creating rounded human beings - could this be a philosophy? Building a class is not too different from building a team. I have a curiosity about people and how they develop Joe Murtagh explained this coaching philosophy.

My MBA was in mission-driven organisations about leadership and management.

39:00 Giving adults the courage to try something difficult.

42:00 I help coaches articulate their philosophy and their value proposition. I realised my business school lessons would have helped me a lot when I was struggling as a coach.

45:00 When working with mentoring coaches the first thing I ask is What was the first thing you learned about rowing? Hidden in that statement is a desire to be really good at something. Then I ask What is the most recent thing you love about rowing? Then I get them to chart a path from A to B.

We all have a sense of our own narrative. A narrative has chapters. It’s difficult to recognise the delineation between chapters especially for motivated people. It is good and necessary to have new chapters in our lives.

51:00 the native sharks keep moving or they die. The alpha mentality is always hunting but it’s alone. Thinking about how to make boats go fast leads to this type of thinking, intellectual risks, ideas. People can be stroke or bow and they can change.

Marlene and Rebecca discuss

- when to breathe in the rowing stroke

- finding like-minded people to socialize with

- rowing with macon blades

- World Masters virtual Regatta

Sponsor

Faster Masters Magazine membership is $15 and gives you a monthly Technique video (Rhythm and Run), Performance article (breathing when rowing), Rowing Lifestyle advice (Sleep checklist) and a bonus (Interview with KaBoomer author on athlete aging). From coaches who both row and coach masters - we understand what masters need from rowing.

https://fastermastersrowing.com/courses/magazine/

Timestamps

05:00 Would you race for fun? What is the appeal of racing and rowing?

11:30 The Goddess Coach

18:00 Socializing at the rowing club. We started the club and agree that NOT chatting in the boat is important. But when you are training at Category VI you should be able to talk while rowing.

22:00 Does it matter if training groups don't overlap and meet at the club. Every Tuesday night we have picnic dinners on the grass.

25:00 Macons. Because the surface area is smaller you get more slip in the stroke. They won't do te work for you. You have to enter and release very precisely.

28:00 Rowing technique changed with cleaver blades and rig changed too. Open water rowers may prefer macons

33:00 Breathing in the rowing stroke. Mark Novak suggests you inhale on exertion and exhale on the recovery. He's the physical therapist for the US national team. Focus your breathing on land. The main purpose of breathing is to blow out carbon dioxide. That will bind you up if it accumulates. Make breathing part of your rhythm.

39:30 Breathing can calm you down before the start of a race - Rebecca explains nose breathing.

Warming up for your training session can be enhanced with nose breathing.

47:00 Virtual regattas - are they appealing to you? Especially if they are on the erg.

53:00 Racing is about YOU - Your performance. Did you come away satisfied with your performance afterwards?

Rebecca and Marlene discuss conscious incompetence in the learning process,

Sponsors

Nuts and Bolts Guide to Rigging

https://rowing.chat/sponsor/nuts-and-bolts-guide-to-rigging/

NK Speedcoach Summer Regatta Series

https://rowing.chat/sponsor/speedcoach-summer-regatta-series/

Timestamps

04:00 Conscious Incompetence in the boat. 4 development stages of learning as an adult - from unconscious incompetence through Conscious Incompetence and conscious competence to unconscious competence which is the goal.

09:30 It happens in your cerebellum - how you lean and the smooth co-ordinated movements of rowing depend on your brain to create new movement patterns.

15:00 Salt water versus fresh water 500m splits

17:50 Erg times compared to water times. Concept 2 times equate to a heavyweight mens 4-. RP3 and Rowperfect software equates these to water times. Generally it's hard to do so track them as two separate parallel times.

Marlene calculated WL1x water and erg times - she found a 15% difference with ergs faster.

24:00 Splashing in the boat -my 2x partner is getting me wet. Drills to do.

31:00 Rebecca explains why her boat is named Mental Floss

34:00 Ezz Eldin's question about what do you do to get up and go to training in the morning?

https://www.facebook.com/groups/595853370615544/permalink/1460715667462639/

Bert Cocu has coached internationally for both the Netherlands and Australia. He started the Olympic 8 project for the womens 8 in the Beijing Olympiad which won a silver medal.

Sponsors

Nuts and Bolts Guide to Rigging

https://rowing.chat/sponsor/nuts-and-bolts-guide-to-rigging/

NK Speedcoach Summer Regatta Series

https://rowing.chat/sponsor/speedcoach-summer-regatta-series/

03:00 Bert Cocu - background in rowing. From the Netherlands to Melbourne University Boat Club and now back at E.S.R. Thêta (Eindhovense Studenten Roeivereniging Thêta)

07:00 Differences between Australia and The Netherlands rowing. How to introduce yourself to a new club as a coach

09:30 I know I made the girls cry. But at the end they liked it!

12:00 Bill Tait head of Rowing at Victoria Institute of Sport asked me to do the LW4x for the Interstate races.

16:00 National Style - in Australia there was more pitch / angle measurement. There is a lot of money available in Australia compared to the Netherlands. Sport institutes are very involved in the clubs. The Institute supports athletes who do good erg power tests and you do strength and conditioning there - an athlete individualised programme. They coach the coach as well as the crew. Force curve analysis - pressure gauges.

25:00 It’s not about winning, it’s about your best performance.

30:00 The club where I started LM4- we took them to Amsterdam for races to watch and analyse.

33:00 Renee Mijnders cached me asking why the boat was unbalanced. Just look at the blade. Train hard and push hard, The main thing I say is push harder and keep hanging.

40:00 At a club as a coach there are few people to talk to. Do go to other clubs - go out with other coaches. So few coaches choose to come out with me. It’s so stupid. Be aware of the words you use, the language and meaning. Slowly people start to row the same style. Once a week we all go out in big boats. When building a club and develop the technique over the years start with the athletes and crews you have. Then the big boat is a chance to develop one style. Be aware of the impact of what you say.

51:00 Blending in a good skill to have, In seat racing how do you become fast? Have a chat - agree your goals with that crew - share the vocabulary.

54:30 How do you seat the right athlete in the right seat. For an eight, good rhythm, basic technique and power and consistent rhythm - that’s the 8 seat. Full reach at the catch and not the most powerful. 6 is the second most important seat. Bow has to have good rhythm, 7 supports the 8 - be stubborn, confident and mentally strong. In seating a quad 3 is important for the rhythm and 4 should be consistent. 1 is able to absorb everything happening in front.

1:01 Kim Brennan in a 7 for the Yarra eight - in Australia how great the legends of the sport are - so humble and loyal to the club.

George Washington University Men's Rowing is cut, but they're not going down without a fight. Paddy George, John Knies, and Head Coach Eric Gehrke are leading the charge to try to protect more than their own program, as teams around the country are being cut during Covid. Paddy George has come up with an initiative that could change men's rowing as we know it: to Merge the IRA and NCAA.

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.

Sponsors

Nuts and Bolts Guide to Rigging

https://rowing.chat/sponsor/nuts-and-bolts-guide-to-rigging/

NK Speedcoach Summer Regatta Series

https://rowing.chat/sponsor/speedcoach-summer-regatta-series/

Timestamps

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