r/Rowing

So as the title says, I just finished my IB Exams (yay). But I’ve really been slacking off on the erging, like I haven’t been on the machine in like 3 months, does anyone have any advice on how to get my 2k back around to 6:45 ish?

Penn women's rowing had a pretty big fall off this year. Do you think it's cause of the head coaching change last year or the athletes. Feels like bill manning turned the program around for the worse I honestly just feel bad for those athletes who were apart of penn when they were at their peak

I’ve been doing a lot of erg workouts lately, both long steady state and shorter interval pieces, and they all seem to suggest I should be capable of a certain 2k time based on training splits.

The problem is, every time I actually try a full 2k, I just can’t seem to hold the split when it gets into the third 500m. I can usually sit at my target pace early on, but once I get deep into the piece, everything starts to fall apart and I lose the ability to keep it there.

On my most recent attempt, I felt like I was in control for the first part, but once I got to roughly the last 1000m, the split started to slip and I couldn’t bring it back to where I wanted it. I ended up just stopping around the 400m remaining mark because I couldn’t get the split back under control.

It feels like in training I can hit the numbers, but in the actual test I can’t sustain them once it gets painful in that middle-to-late section.

Has anyone dealt with something like this or got advice on how to carry training splits over into a full piece without the drop-off in the third 500?

I’m a novice coxswain looking for advice on getting an unresponsive eight to tune in mentally and technically before a race.

I started this season as the 2V4 cox, and that boat was having a really strong season. My coach moved me into the 1V8 because they’d been struggling with responsiveness and frustration not only from the rowers but the cox as well. After seat racing, I won the 1V8 seat and have been trying to help turn things around before our next race.

The issue is that the boat feels split right now. Bow four and stern four have been out of sync technically (especially bladework/timing), but also mentally. Some days we have really good pieces where everyone locks in and the speed is there, but outside of pieces it’s hard to get consistent focus from the moment we launch.

Our boat has our captain and sometimes they have to yell about tap down, to lock in and press, to actually listen to me, and to get people focused, which weirdly works in the moment, but I don’t want that to be the only way we get intensity or cohesion. I’m struggling with what calls to make and how to create responsiveness without sounding angry or forcing things.

I also would like to add that I try to make everyday feel like a race day by using our competitors boats as the standard and am making those calls in the moment but it doesn't stick well. I started as a rower last year and due to my height/personality my coaches wanted me as a cox this year. I started off strong but now it's my first big race and I am thinking because I am more of a novice then our other coxswains they may not be taking me as serious.

Any advice would really help.

Edit: removed more personal info!

Last year’s 5:45 from Row America seems pretty fast for a junior crew. I’d be curious to see if this was a record for the regatta and if not, how close it was to the record.

Prep has been taking blow after blow to their aura this spring after gaining massive amounts following hocr in the fall. It all started with fifegate and cox boxing (let the boys have fun), then losing to montclair and walt whitman (who?) and most recently their 4 standing up in the boat after second. Their aura might genuinely be in the negatives after this. The only way that they could regain enough aura to go back in to the positives is a medal in Sarasota, which is looking less and less likely. They could also take a trip to Cleveland and learn how to aura farm from the boys of St. Ignatius, but I doubt they’re smart enough to do that. Could this be the end of preps aura dynasty?

As Belen goes to SRAAs in the 8+ again is this a sign that good schools are going to start returning to SRAAs? esp on the men’s side

I’d like to think that I’m pretty relaxed when it comes to “upsets” at the selection show. When a bubble team makes it or doesn’t make it I typically can understand the reason why. (Example: Ohio state I can understand).

However, with Michigan making an at large bid this year I am stunned and cannot understand the reason why. After 10 years of rowing, and 6 years of coaching (both at a decent level of success) I cannot convince myself that this was the proper decision, or even a long-shot decision.

Can someone please lay out the argument for Michigan over any of the other bubble teams? Alabama, Duke? Even Dartmouth, Oregon state?

If someone can give me a good enough reason I’ll concede my argument and acknowledge that Michigan deserved it.

I'm hearing way too much about how its gonna rain this weekend in Knoxville at SRAA and I don't know why everyone is tweaking. Rain is normal at regattas, and they're not going to send the single scullers out in whitecaps so it should be ok. Am I missing something?

This last ranking is horrible! How in the world is Michigan ahead of Duke, Alabama, and Columbia?

There must be someone on the committee and politics are being played. They should never have been ranked that high all season. They have won nothing all season

Let's look at some data:

1st race: Michigan V8 loses to Oklahoma and Alabama. Their 2V8 loses to Alabama.

2nd race: Michigan V8 loses to Texas. Michigan 2V8 loses to Texas . Michigan V4 loses to Texas .

3rd race: Michigan V8 loses to UCLA and Rutgers and others. 2V8 loses to Rutgers and others. V4 loses to Rutgers and others.

4th race: Michigan V8 loses every race to Princeton and Syracuse.

5th race: Michigan V8 loses to UCLA again! And then on Day 2...they lose to UCLA a third time! Can't blame early season training anymore. And Ohio State. And Rutgers and Washington and Indiana ALMOST beat them at only a second behind.

Someone explain these rankings and this committee's decision. This really seals to me that the committee plays favorites and is not looking at data.

I’m a sophomore in high school, 6'6" and about 174. My current 2k PR is 7:07, which I know isn’t very competitive yet but I’m planning to train hard this summer and improve.

I’m interested in rowing in college, but I honestly have no idea where I stand or what level I should be aiming for. Right now, I’m thinking D3 might be the most realistic option, but I’m open to any level if I continue improving.

I’d really appreciate advice on:
-What 2k times I should be aiming for over the next couple of years
-Whether my height gives me a meaningful advantage
-What college coaches look for besides erg scores
-How the recruiting process works
-What I should focus on this summer and during the next two years
And just any general advice would be much appreciated.
For some additional context, I’m tall and pretty skinny. In my club, we also do 4k erg tests, and during my novice year I averaged a 1:50 split (I don’t remember the exact final time). I’m just finishing my first year rowing on the experienced team.
Thank you so much

My daughter is in her 2nd season of HS rowing, sculling, bow position. Small but competitive team - she got 1st in states junior quad this year. She LOVES rowing, has developed a taste and talent for it, strong technical skill, so she’s driven now to compete at college level… but she’s 5’4”, lower end of 2k. So I’m trying to be a realistic parent. We know she’s probably ideal for coxswain except our home team is too small for an 8 and coach is staunchly opposed to teens sweeping, so even 4+ is out. How do I get her exposure to see if being a coxswain is even something she would be into?

I know all about Sparks camps and have some contacts, so if that’s the route to go the we can do that. Are there any other options for coxswain training/experience? Finishing sophomore year now so we have a couple more years to sort this out, but being that she’s this season really moved from a love-hate with rowing (winter conditioning=hell) to definite love, I want to seize the opportunities that we can.

There I was on the Schuylkill, trainer single, just trying to learn the ropes of sculling. It’s 8am and I’m going along at a medium pace. It’s a beautiful sunny day with low wind and I’ve gone about 5 miles. Two 4s and a launch pass on my starboard; I look over my shoulder to check I’m steering toward the correct arch in the upcoming bridge. I take another stroke and tap down at the finish, and all of a sudden, bam! the boat shudders and stops. But inertia being what it is, I don’t stop - I go rocketing off the bow and into the water.

A couple coaches from La Salle were kind enough to check on me and talk me back into the boat. Boat looks fine, I’m fine, I finish the row. But…

How am I supposed to avoid a huge invisible log right under the water? Because I’m new to sculling I assume that with more practice, I won’t fall off if I hit an unseen object. But I’d really rather not hit it at all.

Is this just a lack of experience? Any advice? Has someone been dumping landscaping waste in the Schuylkill again?

Apparently this post keeps getting deleted so imma try one more time. J15 rower in the UK with a current 2k time of… *cough* 7:18🥀
I’d quite like to get this down to at least sub 7:10 by September, or lower (I have no idea what I’m doing guys).
I need your help to give me some good erg workouts that I can dot throughout my 7 week summer holiday, mainly to develope but also so that I don’t get slower.

Thanks guys