Thursday, January 8, 2009

Consistency in Training

Imagine two rowers on ergs. Each rower is able to pull a 1:50 average split for a 2k time of 7:20. Rower 1 keeps his split around 1:49-1:52 for the entire piece; every 400 meters he will pull a power 10 at a 1:45 that will bring his average right down to where he needs it. Rower 2 begins his piece at a 1:42 for the first 200 meters; after this great start settles around 1:57 and at times breaks 2:00; thankfully, rower 2 finds a burst of energy in the last 100 meters and pulls a split of 1:35 to average around 1:50.

Accordingly, the "range" of rower 1's split is 3 seconds +/- and the "range" of rower 2's split is around 25 seconds +/-. In this scenario, even though rower 2 was pulling some more impressive splits (at times), rower 1 would be considered the "more consistent" rower. Why is this important? Two reasons:
  1. Rower 1 will be able to improve on his erg score much faster than rower 2. Because rower 2's splits are all over the board, it is impossible to improve on one part of the 2k piece without possibly affecting the other parts. For instance, rower 2 may try and strengthen the middle of his piece to stay under 2:00; however, by doing this he is more likely to sacrifice energy on the sprint. Bye-bye 1:35. Therefore, his improvement will be minimal. Rower 1, on the other hand, by rowing a more consistent piece with intermittent power 10s, will find it easier to improve his overall split. Because of the small range rower 1 is maintaining (+/- 3 seconds), any small difference (positively or negatively) in his piece will have a bigger impact. Rower 2 (with a +/- 25 second range) will never really know how his improvement made a difference.
  2. Most importantly, the more consistent rower is more valuable on the water. When a coach puts a consistent rower in a boat, he knows exactly what he is getting. Just like on the erg, this rower is much more easy to train and improve. However, the more inconsistent a rower is, the less reliable he is to the coach. Coaches will wonder, is he pulling hard now? will he give up? can he maintain this to the end? There are too many variables that will concern a coach.

What can you do as a rower? Short answer: be more consistent. When you row, try and reduce the range of your splits. ALWAYS SQUEEZE THE RANGE OF YOUR SPLITS TO WITHIN JUST A FEW SECONDS. Of course, power 10s, starts, and sprints are a bit different...but I think you understand.

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