The Kitchen Sink
After a very lack luster Monday - guys still in Spring Break mode - we've had two good practices with good effort on nearly everyone's part.
Tuesday we went out in a mixed eight and a four and ran 5x1k with racing starts. We went 30 spm in the eight and 28-30 in the four. Despite the weather and the water - very heavy current - the pieces were good with the eight winning all 5 as expected.
The first piece had the four down by about 1.5 lengths as the guys in the boat rowed a little timid due to a combination of first time in the four jitters and some really gnarly current.
The second and third pieces the four was snapping at the heels of the eight and finished with overlap in both as they got into the swing of things.
The fourth and fifth pieces showed what it's like to switch from a coxswain the guys believe in to one that really doesn't bring anything to a boat. Complete silence from the coxswain which got the guys agitated and had them focusing more on yelling at the coxswain rather than rowing. It's something we addressed as a team and steps will be taken today to remedy this situation.
Yesterday the weather was a little nicer - light rain - but the current was still very swift. We did a 5k technique row then turned and did 2x2.5k on the way home at 32 spm. Both pieces were done with very good effort from the guys but we hit massive lulls in speed - 800 m for the first, 1200 m for the second - where the guys were pushing but they didn't have the fire in the belly.
It's something that we talked about needing, that all out effort is good but you have to want it every single stroke. It's hard to fault the guys because they really laid it on the line - we did switch and the switcher didn't give as much as he could - but I told them they needed to find the extra gear or motivation.
The easy thing to say is "we need to just go harder" but I don't believe that's accurate. I think the better thing to say is that top end speed, championship speed is the difference between "I'm giving it everything I've got" and "today is a good day to die." Perhaps not that dramatic but you get the picture. I like to call it "kitchen sink" rowing.
We need more of that.
Tuesday we went out in a mixed eight and a four and ran 5x1k with racing starts. We went 30 spm in the eight and 28-30 in the four. Despite the weather and the water - very heavy current - the pieces were good with the eight winning all 5 as expected.
The first piece had the four down by about 1.5 lengths as the guys in the boat rowed a little timid due to a combination of first time in the four jitters and some really gnarly current.
The second and third pieces the four was snapping at the heels of the eight and finished with overlap in both as they got into the swing of things.
The fourth and fifth pieces showed what it's like to switch from a coxswain the guys believe in to one that really doesn't bring anything to a boat. Complete silence from the coxswain which got the guys agitated and had them focusing more on yelling at the coxswain rather than rowing. It's something we addressed as a team and steps will be taken today to remedy this situation.
Yesterday the weather was a little nicer - light rain - but the current was still very swift. We did a 5k technique row then turned and did 2x2.5k on the way home at 32 spm. Both pieces were done with very good effort from the guys but we hit massive lulls in speed - 800 m for the first, 1200 m for the second - where the guys were pushing but they didn't have the fire in the belly.
It's something that we talked about needing, that all out effort is good but you have to want it every single stroke. It's hard to fault the guys because they really laid it on the line - we did switch and the switcher didn't give as much as he could - but I told them they needed to find the extra gear or motivation.
The easy thing to say is "we need to just go harder" but I don't believe that's accurate. I think the better thing to say is that top end speed, championship speed is the difference between "I'm giving it everything I've got" and "today is a good day to die." Perhaps not that dramatic but you get the picture. I like to call it "kitchen sink" rowing.
We need more of that.
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