Re: OT - Ready at the catch! --- 3 - 2 - 1 ....... .row!



Winfield Hill wrote:

Whoa, it's not all smooth sailing. Hopefully not rough enough
to bite one's tongue, but for novice rowers the struggle to keep
the boat level while rowing hard was a big difficulty we faced.

The velocity jerks that result from eight rowers pulling their
bodies forward after a stoke, suddenly stopping while starting
the next stoke, and the variable rowing forces during a stoke,
means the boat is a jerky place to be. This is especially true
when the cox yells, "Power ten in two," immediately after one
has completed a previous power ten.

What's a "power ten"- is that 10x strong row pulls? Well what are you doing when you're not in "power" mode?


Six of these power tens in
a row severely depletes one's energy, and boat control becomes
a matter bordering on chaos.

That's how you increase your energy output capacity- by depleting it in training. If the race requires approximately 8 power tens, then you should train for 16.


That's when mistakes occur, like
one that cost us our 2nd race. We were first of three boats,
leading by an entire boat length just two lengths from the
finish, when one rower "caught a crab" and we quickly dropped
to 2nd as the competing boat power ahead and we foundered.
http://www.gentlegiantrowing.org/GGCC2006SPOV

'Course, one has to ask, Why were we ahead to begin with? One
possibility is the 2nd-place boat had their own difficulties,
allowing us to go ahead, but they got it together in the end.
We at least won enough races to place 4th in the field of 10.
That's not bad, considering my modest goal was not to be last!



Isn't that rowing a controlled breathing motion, exhale slowly on core contraction, and quick inhale on relax. When you break cadence on your breathing, you tire. And suck that gut in- pull your belly button straight into your backbone, or maybe that was the wind that caught your shirt...

.