Cross Training: Rowing

[mike]

It's townie bumps this week.  This is our first boat being written off:

http://youtu.be/EnCdPmdQlOU

(about 20 grand, entirely the other boat's fault for not stopping, yes bumps looks nuts - guide here: http://www.cucbc.org/bumps/how_bumps_work)


edit - here's yours truly, just above the 'h' of the watermark..

http://jetphotographic.com/showphoto.php?id=470007316

[simonp]

I seem to have joined a rowing club.

[mike]

I seem to have joined a rowing club.

excellent!   you'll soon see that cycling obsession is pretty mild compared to rowing.   

which club?

[simonp]

Bristol Ariel. Doing their 6 week course starting next month.

[simonp]

Rowing course starts today. 

[simonp]

That was hard work and great fun.  Back again tomorrow.

[Jakob]

The evil coaches stuck a 1000m row at the end of a fairly heavy workout, but still managed to do it in 3:44 despite not having rowed in ages.
Was tricky as the girl next to me went at a crazy pace (35+ strokes/min) and I usually cruise at around 20-22 and it was hard not to get caught up. Subsequently, I really struggled around the 500m mark, semi-recovered, but could probably have gone for the sprint 20-30 meters earlier. (Left it to 150m to go).

[Jakob]

More evilness:
Paired intervals
50-40-30-20-10-20-30-40-50 cal intervals. (You do a 50cal row, partner does a 50cal row, etc).
Having an off-day didn't help. Normally I can happily cruise at 1100-1200cal/hr, but today that was just about my anaerobic threshold. My partner was a rowing monster, happily motoring at 1500-1600ca/hrl, which also meant that my 'breaks' were shorter than my efforts. Last set I was at 800cal/hr and was dying.

Total time was 28:04

[simonp]

I have a nice case of sculler's knuckle. 

[simonp]

Yesterday we spent a lot of time rowing as an 8. That was interesting.

Tonight a high tide meant rowing was off. Though there was no sign of it that I could see. However instead we did circuits. zOMG! Great fun but very hard work. So very tired.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

Yesterday we spent a lot of time rowing as an 8. That was interesting.

Tonight a high tide meant rowing was off. Though there was no sign of it that I could see. However instead we did circuits. zOMG! Great fun but very hard work. So very tired.

This all sounds very serious (8s).  Does that mean that rowing might eclipse cycling? 

On the subject of eclipses that's why the tide was so high yesterday - lunar eclipse when the moon is at perihelion (closest to the earth) so there is the maximum tidal force.  For reasons too detailed to explain I was on the bus to Selsey yesterday and had wondered why the water in Pagham Harbour was as high as I'd ever seen it (and that was propelled by high tides and the January 2014 gales).  Fortunately the weather was calm yesterday, if there had been a channel storm we'd be talking about the Island of Selsey today.

[simonp]

Yesterday we spent a lot of time rowing as an 8. That was interesting.

Tonight a high tide meant rowing was off. Though there was no sign of it that I could see. However instead we did circuits. zOMG! Great fun but very hard work. So very tired.

This all sounds very serious (8s).  Does that mean that rowing might eclipse cycling? 

On the subject of eclipses that's why the tide was so high yesterday - lunar eclipse when the moon is at perihelion (closest to the earth) so there is the maximum tidal force.  For reasons too detailed to explain I was on the bus to Selsey yesterday and had wondered why the water in Pagham Harbour was as high as I'd ever seen it (and that was propelled by high tides and the January 2014 gales).  Fortunately the weather was calm yesterday, if there had been a channel storm we'd be talking about the Island of Selsey today.

Yes, 8s. At first they daren't have all 8 rowing together as it'd go very wrong very quickly. The set-up is typically an experienced rower at stroke (rear of the boat) and an experienced rower at bow (should be self explanatory!) and then us beginners in the middle 6 seats. For the first couple of sessions the rear or front 4 would 'set the boat' which means sitting cradling the oar, blade flat on the water to balance the boat while the other 4 would then start (trying) to row. Initially that would still be pretty unstable. As we improve it moved on to 6 rowing in various combinations (and switching pairs while rowing for added fun). Feathering was introduced last week and once we got better at that we spent quite a lot of time rowing as an 8. The boats we're using are relatively stable but we still had a lot of wobbling, but it settled down a bit as we worked on our form and balance.

Some didn't enjoy Sunday's session because it did feel pretty unstable at times, but that's part of the challenge, coping with it going wrong and getting your rhythm back. There seems to be a long way to go and it's one of those things where you'd probably never stop learning. It has been much more social than cycling so far - it's very much a team sport and working together as a unit is key.

[simonp]

Learn to Row finished today with a regatta. We were in 4s in the tubs. Only managed to win one race. Great fun though.

Now to join the novice men's squad.

[simonp]

First session with the squad. We rowed down to the docks and back in a coxed 4. The entire return run was one armed rowing in pairs switching in and out, eyes closed throughout. Went better than I thought it would.

[Chris S]

First time on the C2 in a very long time, today. Nobody died.

[simonp]

I've been told I'm banned from rowing in stroke as I'm 'too fit'.

[simonp]

Cox called in sick. So we did circuits. 

[simonp]

Still sore from circuits. There’s an erg session tomorrow; 40 minutes at r18 apparently.

[simonp]

And so it was that I hit 195bpm at the end and rowed 9595m in 40:00.

[Chris S]

And so it was that I hit 195bpm at the end and rowed 9595m in 40:00.

Top work 

[simonp]

And so it was that I hit 195bpm at the end and rowed 9595m in 40:00.

Top work 

Yeah it wasn’t too bad given I’ve hardly done any erg work this year and my last 10k was a year ago. It’s a faster pace than my best 10k from last year. Plus we got some tips on how to take the catch and hand heights as well, so it was useful learning as well as training.

What it shows, probably, is that the training I’ve been doing on the bike & kickr crosses over well to rowing.

[simonp]

Possibly a bit of dehydration may have contributed to the HR. Perceived effort and breathing were not as high as I'd expect for my HR being that high.

[simonp]

2k test at the rowing club. 7:22.3. I think that's a PB. 22spm average.

[simonp]

I've been given a goal of getting below 7 minutes by the end of the head season.

(click to show/hide)

Fuck.

[simonp]

That's what, 20 weeks? Given that you just rowed a 2k piece at just 22, I think it's entirely feasible. You just need to learn a bit of economy at higher ratings.

(FWIW, I've rarely seen anyone do an unrestricted 2k at such a low rating. I like low stroke rates and still go about 27/28 for a 2k.)

Yup. Coach commented that I’m already doing the sort of time most men in the club would be aiming for but at a much lower rate. In the short term the target is to increase the rate to 24spm and see how that goes.

I didn’t realise the end of the head season was so far away. Putting 7:22 and 7:00 into the pace calculator at the Concept website suggests that I have to increase power from around 260W (which around my cycling threshold power) to around 300W to get to 7:00. I managed to maintain 290W for 8 minutes on the turbo a month ago, so with better economy it might be just about do-able.