Mimicking the boat on the erg

[Thom]

Alan completely messed up my stroke on the erg yesterday (but it's okay, Alan!).

During Concept2's Fall Rowing Challenge, it was all about meters and decidedly not about 18 spm. It's taking me a few weeks to get back to a program that has 10,000 meters or 1 hour at 18 strokes per minute...

Yesterday Alan and I were at the Rec together and he finished first. Knowing that I now "have it bad" to row (on water) after attending my first head race, he had some advice. To develop a stroke on the erg that more closely resembles the stroke in a boat, Alan suggested that I push the erg handle away as soon as I finished my stroke. To keep the stroke rate down, I'm pausing at the end of the stroke (and again at the catch), but handle-at-chest should not be part of the [first] pause. Push the handle away to start straightening the arms before beginning the slide.

Okay. Of course this totally messed me up for the rest of my workout yesterday. I struggled to keep the spm as low as 24.

Well today was better, Alan. I was consistently below 24 spm on a 10,000 meter piece and I even saw 21 and 20 occasionally. The time was perhaps a bit too fast (average split just under 2:09 for the whole workout), but I felt better today when I finished than I did yesterday.

You realize, Alan, how infinitely cruel it is to take the Kisker out of the water in October and then go to the Head of the Hooch the first weekend in November, right? The winter will be interminable!

But there's Craftsbury to look forward to!
www.craftsbury.com/sculling/camps/home.htm

[Alan]

Sorry about upsetting the rhythm of the erg, but I was trying save you from a monumental crab ejection next spring. Pausing at different locations in the stroke can be quite helpful in putting the pieces together. Control the stroke rate by controlling the slide.

[Dawn]

At the STL Indoors in February, I noticed that many of the fastest ergers had relatively low stroke rates: 27 or 28 spm throughout almost the entire 2K. Um, that sort of relates to the above discussion.

[Thom]

No need to apologize, Alan! I appreciate the advice now when I'm dry, rather than next spring when I'm treading water in the lake. So I will have to add another partial "count" to the end of the stroke and the catch.

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Dawn, I recall someone saying that Don was at ~28 spm for one or both of the challenges at the Rec last year. In physics,

Speed = frequency (cycles/second) times wavelength (meters/cycle).

Translation to rowing:

Speed = frequency (strokes/minute) times "power" (meters/stroke).

Implication: If one pulls with sufficient power, 28spm will sustain a low split.