Friday and Saturday Practices

[Adam William Swetlik]

Team,

Today's workout will be 3x15' SS 1.5' Rest for those unable to attend.

In anticipation of the potentially bad weather tomorrow morning and my desire for you to remember and learn how to better pull a 2k before your next test I have a "Take Home Test" for you to do this weekend instead of regular practice.

What you will need to do before Monday's practice is as follows:

1.  Create a race plan for your personal 2k.  I believe Chris has a template he can send out for you but essentially I want to see the following.

-Your Goal, Which can either be mine or a personal one of your own if you think you can't hit your March one yet

- Breakdown of the rates and splits for each part of the race to reach that goal.  In example:

Goal of 1:45.0

0-500 1:47.0 28spm

500-1000 1:46.0 29spm

1000-1500 1:44.0 31 spm

1500-1700 1:43.0 32spm

1700-2000 Sprint 32+spm

- Notes on coxing you're looking for. In example

Sit up at the catch

No reaching

I don't want coxing until 1000 in

Scream directly in my face with 300 to go, especially if I'm being a wuss

2. Pull the 2k you planned.  You can do this on your own time but I highly suggest going with teammates and having a swain present. This might be a really good time for our new transfers from the women's team to see how you pull a test. I'm not really concerned as to whether you hit your goal, but how well you execute your race plan.  That means taking lifts when you say you will.  If your goal is too fast or you aren't feeling 100% that's fine and plays into #3.

3. Send me a picture of your pre-prepared race plan and a picture of your 2k.  Along with this give me an explanation of how you felt during your test, and how well you executed your race plan based on how you felt.  Did you start to strong, get mentally weak at a specific point, crush a certain part as soon as you felt out of the woods, feel like you could have sprinted more after? Essentially I want you to write all that stuff you say immediately following a test. Keep this to a max of 5 sentences without semicolons.

This exercise is both helpful and important for several reasons.  Having a plan prior to a 2k test often gives you a far better chance of having a successful test. If it doesn't work well this time you can plan much better for the next knowing what did not work.  If you are successful you may not have to tweek it very much. 

Assessing how you feel pre, during and post test will help you make better advanced preparations.  If you eat a bunch of crap or don't sleep well the night before you may have negative results.  Sometimes only sleeping 6 hours makes for a better test.  Before spring season starts you should keep track of trends you see in yourself before hard workouts so you know what to expect and how to further push your limits even if you aren't 100%, which none of us rarely are.

Finally race plans are a huge part of spring.  While the coaches often dictate the overall plan both swains and rowers have major input on where and what moves, rates changes, and sprint options happen.  The more familiar you are with your own capabilities and preferences, the better we can tailor our plan to the strengths of every person in the boat.  And while this focuses just on the race, keep in mind planning for a race happens every day.  What you eat, how much you sleep, how you manage stress, and how much rowing related work you're doing all dictate the result of a race.  That means every day is part of your plan for just over 6:00 of your life a few times each year.  This exercise is one good step towards making that 6:00 more dominant then anyone who lines up next to you.

If you have questions feel free to ask, otherwise I need these all in (even from people who are out of town this weekend) before Monday's practice.

Adam Swetlik

Men's Head Coach
Colorado Crew

[Chris Francklyn]

Hey Guys,

Attached is the template Adam referenced above. It is conveniently the perfect size to cut out and tape under the monitor on your erg. These were the notes we sent out last year about it. Read Adam's email for what he is looking for on this years version. 

Go Buffs,

Chris Francklyn

Assistant Coach

Colorado Crew

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This includes the rate structure you plan on using, the times at which you will take lifts, sprints, etc, and most importantly your goal for the test. The template is pretty foolproof. Replace your name, the test length, the date, and your goal. Then fill in each of the breakdowns for your piece. Ideally, you all would have thought about this for longer than this morning so that you could get it to your coxswains so they can review it. Feel free to break down the piece however you think will be most beneficial for you (4x500m, 5x400m, 700m-700m-600m, etc). If you notice, on the provided example, 'Johnny Rower' started a little above his goal for the first part of the test, and then began to chip it down and ended up working most of the later half of his piece below his goal. Remember, you also need to have two calls you want your coxswain to make (or things you would like them to help you with). These can either be line items in the breakdown, or in that open section towards the bottom. Think large text. Your coxswains need to be able to read it from over your shoulder while you are testing. Each cell should already have the appropriate size text in it. 

At the bottom of the card is a spot for your results. I suggest writing down your total time and average split for future reference. I saved every single race plan I made, and used them to decide what to do for future tests.

Chris Francklyn

Assistant Men's Coach

Colorado Crew

719.339.8989

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[Chris Francklyn]

Also, the template provided was for a 6k. Modify it as needed for your 2ks. Hopefully most of you are comfortable enough to use Xcel at this point. If not, hand write something similar on a note card in sharpie.

Chris Francklyn

Assistant Men's Coach

Colorado Crew

719.339.8989