We arrived in Princeton late Tuesday night, woke up early, and we were down at the Boathouse ready for practice at 6.30 am. The word was that we were doing some sort of 5 min pieces with the 8+ and the 4-, but that was pretty vague. We were a little sleepy eyed, but knew that regardless of the workout, we would need to bring our A game. This was reinforced when Mike Gennaro, two seat of the men's 4 and team goofball, walks up to Ben and I and says, " Hope you ladies brought your A game!" Haha. What a guy.
So, we found out that the workout would be 3 x 5 min at base pace with the M4-. We paddled down to the start of the 2k course and began our first piece. On this one we started level and quickly, we were walking on the four. A quad is definitely supposed to be faster than a four, but the world records are a lot closer than people think. They are about 4-5 seconds apart. So fairly comparable. This particular four won silver at the second World Cup in Aiguebillete, FRA, so they are a contender. Like I said, right off the bat we were moving away. We went off a little too aggressively rowing 1.23.5 for the our first 500 at base rate, which gave us an open water advantage on the four. Our pace dropped off to 1.26-1.27 for the remainder of the 5 min and we really did not move a whole lot after our initial push. The finishing margin of the first piece was about 5 seconds. Our 1500m time was 4.18, the M4- was 4.23-4. We paddled back up to the start and got a pretty decent rest period. The coaches started the next piece with us down a length to the four. I think we were all a little apprehensive about this because we knew that the guys in the four would thrive off of seeing us and working off our boat. It turned out to be a really good test for our ability to stay internal and trust our rhythm. For the fist few minutes, I don't think anyone in our boat looked around to see where they were. We were just trying to make the boat as smooth and light as possible. Time to connect and then gradually accelerating to a clean release. We rowed the best rhythm to date on this piece. After three minutes we were a couple seats up on them and moving. They made a push to check our move, but we had not yet started our move. We were still just moving with skeletal connection, easy speed. When Steve called "one minute to go", I knew, and I think everyone knew that had not done anything yet. And instead of mindlessly using all of our energy like we were erging in the last minute of a piece, for the first time, we trusted the rhythm still, and just added to it. We never over worked it. We rowed within the framework of the first four minutes, but just added energy where we knew the boat would respond with speed, and nowhere else. We broke open water in 10 strokes, and kept moving. I think we finished close to the same margin as the first piece with the additional couple seconds from starting down. We are not at the point where we can do it all the time yet, but that was the first time the boat felt great at the end of a piece. That really is what we were missing in Henley and Lucerne. Unfortunately, it is still fleeting. On the third piece, we started down again, and still had a solid last minute, but it was not as devastating as the first time. Part of it was probably that they knew it was coming, but mostly it just felt a little overworked and forced. Still, to have executed it once, means that now it is in our repertoire. Now, we work to make it automatic. The third piece, the margin was about 5 seconds. Our 1500 times were 4.18, 4.18, 4.20, all at base, no starts.
In the afternoon, all the other crews were off, but we went out for a 12k swing row on a glassy Lake Carnegie. It was a perfect evening in Princeton. It just felt smooth. It really is getting smoother. The boat is getting to be more enjoyable to row because we are fighting each other less each stroke.
This morning we were at it again, but this time with the M8+. It was a "steady state" row side by side, with rate shifts, starting at 18 and going to 24. There's no doubt about it, the eight is faster than us. I am not going to try to say otherwise. On a good day, that boat can go 5.20. Never will we ever be close to that. Breaking 5.40 for us would be awesome. BUT, we can move pretty sweetly and cleverly at low rates, and it showed this morning. We cruised at 20spm at 1.43's , then 1.39 at 22, then 1.36 at 24, no problem. Yeah, our heart rates were high, but so were theirs.. So we rowed 18k side by side at those rates and splits--it was a blast. This afternoon we will spin the erg for a little bit and problem head out for another 12k cruise. There is some talk of us combining with the 4- to put together an 8+ to row alongside THE 8+.That is the most exciting thing I have heard in a long time.
On the weekend we will be doing another set of race pieces, 1000s and 1500s.
So, we found out that the workout would be 3 x 5 min at base pace with the M4-. We paddled down to the start of the 2k course and began our first piece. On this one we started level and quickly, we were walking on the four. A quad is definitely supposed to be faster than a four, but the world records are a lot closer than people think. They are about 4-5 seconds apart. So fairly comparable. This particular four won silver at the second World Cup in Aiguebillete, FRA, so they are a contender. Like I said, right off the bat we were moving away. We went off a little too aggressively rowing 1.23.5 for the our first 500 at base rate, which gave us an open water advantage on the four. Our pace dropped off to 1.26-1.27 for the remainder of the 5 min and we really did not move a whole lot after our initial push. The finishing margin of the first piece was about 5 seconds. Our 1500m time was 4.18, the M4- was 4.23-4. We paddled back up to the start and got a pretty decent rest period. The coaches started the next piece with us down a length to the four. I think we were all a little apprehensive about this because we knew that the guys in the four would thrive off of seeing us and working off our boat. It turned out to be a really good test for our ability to stay internal and trust our rhythm. For the fist few minutes, I don't think anyone in our boat looked around to see where they were. We were just trying to make the boat as smooth and light as possible. Time to connect and then gradually accelerating to a clean release. We rowed the best rhythm to date on this piece. After three minutes we were a couple seats up on them and moving. They made a push to check our move, but we had not yet started our move. We were still just moving with skeletal connection, easy speed. When Steve called "one minute to go", I knew, and I think everyone knew that had not done anything yet. And instead of mindlessly using all of our energy like we were erging in the last minute of a piece, for the first time, we trusted the rhythm still, and just added to it. We never over worked it. We rowed within the framework of the first four minutes, but just added energy where we knew the boat would respond with speed, and nowhere else. We broke open water in 10 strokes, and kept moving. I think we finished close to the same margin as the first piece with the additional couple seconds from starting down. We are not at the point where we can do it all the time yet, but that was the first time the boat felt great at the end of a piece. That really is what we were missing in Henley and Lucerne. Unfortunately, it is still fleeting. On the third piece, we started down again, and still had a solid last minute, but it was not as devastating as the first time. Part of it was probably that they knew it was coming, but mostly it just felt a little overworked and forced. Still, to have executed it once, means that now it is in our repertoire. Now, we work to make it automatic. The third piece, the margin was about 5 seconds. Our 1500 times were 4.18, 4.18, 4.20, all at base, no starts.
In the afternoon, all the other crews were off, but we went out for a 12k swing row on a glassy Lake Carnegie. It was a perfect evening in Princeton. It just felt smooth. It really is getting smoother. The boat is getting to be more enjoyable to row because we are fighting each other less each stroke.
This morning we were at it again, but this time with the M8+. It was a "steady state" row side by side, with rate shifts, starting at 18 and going to 24. There's no doubt about it, the eight is faster than us. I am not going to try to say otherwise. On a good day, that boat can go 5.20. Never will we ever be close to that. Breaking 5.40 for us would be awesome. BUT, we can move pretty sweetly and cleverly at low rates, and it showed this morning. We cruised at 20spm at 1.43's , then 1.39 at 22, then 1.36 at 24, no problem. Yeah, our heart rates were high, but so were theirs.. So we rowed 18k side by side at those rates and splits--it was a blast. This afternoon we will spin the erg for a little bit and problem head out for another 12k cruise. There is some talk of us combining with the 4- to put together an 8+ to row alongside THE 8+.That is the most exciting thing I have heard in a long time.
On the weekend we will be doing another set of race pieces, 1000s and 1500s.
Who the fuck does Gennaro think he is talking to? He is lucky Ben Dann saved the ass kicking for practice instead of the parking lot.
ReplyDelete-Sully
Sully you need to calm down. Gennaro is a joker, everything was said in jest, and no one's feelings were hurt, except yours.
ReplyDeleteSully from Worcester, my number is 610-283-3675 you can call me if there's a problem. I love these guys in the 4x. They're my teammates. Great article, John. Looking forward to pieces tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteYep, without Mike all the hard work we are doing would be a lot less colorful and fun. I appreciate you reading Sully, but know that these guys are our teammates and friends and we want to keep it that way! So lets tone it down.
ReplyDeleteHey guys!
ReplyDelete