Dichroic Reflections

boat talk

I feel better, less overwhelmed, after getting sufficient sleep last night. That's
even after pushing it a bit on the water this morning. I've been mostly keeping it
at 60% which would be fine for this segment of my training except that I ought to
be increasing distance too and I keep being limited by time pressure. At any rate,
I did a 20-minute piece at more like 80% this morning, which is close to head race
pace. I'm not really planning to race this season ... except that if I
break down and do the local race I wouldn't want to embarass
myself.

I only did 10K today, but I'll get in a little bit of
distance tomorrow anyhow, because Rudder's arranged a videotaping session. Not
only is he training for the Charles late next
month (and incidentally, the three local clubs each got a crew in that event --
results of the draw were posted yesterday -- so I will know others there) but my
husband the masochist is still training for Natchitoches just in case he manages
to coordinate the vacation time and funds to race the marathon there. When I say
"marathon", by the way, that's a precise use of the word. It is a real marathon,
26.2 miles long, albeit rowing rather than running. He did it once before, in
1995, and loved it. *shudder*. My idea of fun is a 300m sprint.

The
video session should help me even though I'm not really training for a race at the
moment. I think my form's been a bit off ever since I put a lower rigger on the
boat. On the other hand, this riger (the part that holds the oarlock) should at
least make it possible for me to improve. The old one was too high which made it
impossible for me to do a full stroke -- my blade kept "washing out" or rising up
out of the water too soon. So maybe if I can work with this one, I can get a bit
more speed. Maybe.

Rowing is all about tinkering. There's essentially
one motion:

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that's
repeated thousands of times. It's the rower's job to get this perfect, and it's
the boat's job to permit him or her to do it. There are so many things that can go
wrong even for a fairly good rower: the blades bounce on the water during the
recovery, creating friction; the oars don't come out cleanly at the finish; the
oars come out too early or go in too late; the rower leans forward or back too
much or too little; the rower rushes the recovery and doesn't get the maximum
glide out of each stroke. Even the elite rowers are always trying to improve and
it's made more difficult that so many things are stillmatters of opinion on which
no two coaches think alike. Watch a race on TV sometime: the Australians will move
hands, body and legs simultaneously while Americans may extend hands then bosy
then legs on the recovery; Italians will be very fluid while the Brits may be
stiffer. Some countries go for size, others for whipcord strength and they all use
different degrees of layback or forward lean, different timing on the recovery,
different boat setups, different training styles. Whenever someone wins at the
elite level, others will copy their style, which may or may not be productive.
Some rowers win despite a bad style, some because of a good one. It's impossible
to tell.

(Though one thing is definite. You will never see an elite
rower who stands 5'2".)