Sunday – Training and Racing

Sunday Morning

Kazi was still in town, so we set out to do a fartlek session in the double. There were races going on, so we had to stay clear of the 2k course:

One of the club coaches was watching us and warned me for digging a bit deep on the catch. Good feedback.

Afternoon

Time for the racing. With the Primatorky coming up, this 2k race was a good way to practice.

There were 5 eights at the start. The race was a bit local, with just two clubs participating. Our club had three eights at the start, the young guys, us, and the old guys. Lodni Sporty, the club from the other side of the lake, had their young guys and their old guys.

Our young guys’ average age was 21. The young LS team was about 25. Our average age is 43.

 

I was using the BoatCoach app to record the row and it wasn’t entirely perfect:

  • Somehow, my heart rate stuck around 140. Believe me. I am sure it was above 180.
  • I don’t believe some of the stroke rate dips. I think we were doing 32-36 all the way down the course

Out of the starting block we were third, behind the two “young” boats, and with the two “old” boats falling behind pretty fast. Rowing in 2 seat, I was level with the Lodni Sporty coxswain, with “our” young guys a length and a half in front of us.

That boat, our young guys, was coxed by my son Dominik, and it was the first time he coxed a Wintech eight. The rudder is bigger than the Empacher rudder, and it is further from the stern. These two facts make the boat very sensitive to cox corrections, and Dominik was struggling with that. In fact, he used both our lane 1 and his lane 2 during the race. So we were constantly rowing in their puddles.

For the full 2k race, I was level with the Lodni Sporty cox. We tried to do some power tens, and moved perhaps by half a seat. Then we got puddles again, and they moved back to where they were.

So we finished in third place. Not a bad result, I think. Good practice for coming Saturday.