They Call It the Mid-Winter Blues

Spring must be coming. The Erg Armageddon always signals the end of the indoor rowing season and the transition to the great outdoors. If only it were that easy. In some years, our docks have made it onto the water in mid-February. While offering a mid-winter reprieve from the doldrums of the gym basement, it opens up a whole host of new issues, like water freezing the oarlocks shut or having towels freeze to the boats when you try to wipe them down.

Despite the stale air and heat of the windowless green room, I love the camaraderie of the indoor season. To me, it offers the very best opportunity to solidify the team as one, rather than a series of distinct boats. Sure this is accomplished through Spring Break and our races, but nothing says teamwork and bonding like sharing an erg doing 500m pieces. You can see that the picture above shows what you can do on a nice day (when the winds are too high to be on the river). Yes, that is a photo of eight ergs on slides together!

So let's talk about the 500m. Since Susquehanna will be testing the 500m dash tomorrow, I know that it doesn't give you a lot of preparation time, but to be honest, none of the information I am going to supply should be surprising. Work as hard as you can for less than 2 minutes. Whereas the 2k race is primarily an aerobic competition, the 500m sprint is completely anaerobic in nature. Aerobic activities involve large muscle groups performing rhythmic, prolonged activities and use oxygen. Anaerobic activities are done without oxygen, meaning that the fuels your body uses are processed without the need for oxygen. These types of activities are intense and cannot be sustained for more than a minute or two. And I don't have to tell you that it hurts.

Just because the 500m sprint is a sprint, does not mean that you should hold your breath. You are definitely going to need that oxygen later! Get your breathing under control and ready before you start. Get yourself (and your heart rate) pumped up and psyched about going all out. Every stroke of the 500m sprint counts, so it is important that you are revved up and ready from the very start. Remember that high stroke ratings (SPM = strokes per minute) can help you bring your splits down, but you need to be able to maintain that rating in order for it to be effective. Maintaining a high stroke rating is achieved through practice, practice, and more practice (and some more working out on top of that!).

I preface this by saying that my math skills are not great, but that I found breaking down my pieces into smaller chunks helped me better understand my race plan an allocate my energy:

• As an openweight man (for 500m), if you race at 30spm with a 1:35 split, that is 47.5 strokes for the entirety of the piece. That means you would average 10.5m per stroke -- a power 10 at the 100m mark would see you through to the end.
  
• As an openweight woman, if you race at 30spm with a 1:55 split, that is 58 strokes for the piece. That means you would average 8.6m per stroke -- a power 12 at the 100m mark would be a great sprint.

Trying to calculate how many strokes you will take? Estimate your SPM and desired 500m average (calculated in seconds, e.g. 1:35 = 95 seconds). Take the total time and divide by 60 and multiply by SPM:

• 95 / 60 = 1.58 x 30 = 47.5 strokes per piece

Trying to calculate how many meters for stroke you can row? Divide 500 by your total number of strokes:

• 500 / 47.5 = 10.5 meters per stroke

Good luck and break some records!