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The Speed of Speed

January 27, 2010 by  
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Most rowers and coaches will have the expectation that their speed will come fast. Thinking that if they are dedicated to finding it the speed will quickly show up. The majority of us are not very patient so expectations are high.

In a theoretical world, without all the human factors that affect us, that would be the case. In such a perfect world a simple graph of your speed over a season would probably look like this:

Rowing Speed graph 1

However our worlds are anything BUT perfect, with illnesses, injuries, economy, weather, and a wealth of other things effecting us. A realistic speed graph for an individual might actually look like this:

Rowing Speed graph 2

That graph is just for one person trying to get fast. Add a partner or team mates and suddenly the variations become much more pronounced:

Rowing Speed graph 3

We would love for our speed to come quick, and to see improvements daily. Unfortunately that doesn’t happen. The road to fast is often full of bumps and takes longer than we think it should.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Chime in below.

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The Final Step: Your Speed Pyramid

January 25, 2010 by  
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The last 9 posts have been about speed—specifically about building your own Personal Speed System. Time now to tie all those bits and pieces together. I would like to introduce you to the Rowing Speed Pyramid.

Pyramids

180px-All_Gizah_Pyramids

Pyramids of Egypt

When the ancients wanted to construct something strong and lasting they built a pyramid. A pyramid is a structure where the outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a point. These were some of the original large buildings, and have proven themselves to be strong, durable, and very stable. And some of them look pretty darn cool.

Closer to home, on the left hand corner of my desk is a book titled: Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success. It details the system that John Wooden used to develop his 10 national championship basketball teams at UCLA. As you can see from the image below Coach invested a great deal of time into the development and perfection of his system.

John Wooden's pyramid of success

Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success

Rowing Speed Pyramid

We can look at speed in a similar view, in fact a pyramid is a great metaphor for how our Personal Speed System operates. I’ll let the image below speak for itself but there are a few points that need to be brought out.

First: simple geometry tells us that if you want a tall pyramid (which you do in this case because the taller it is the more speed you can find) then you need a wide base. In our case the base is your fierce mindset. A strong, wide mindset, include critical component such as vision, failure, giving up control, and finding joy will help you build a taller structure.

Second: the foundation of any pyramid is a critical part of how long the pyramid stands, and how high it can be built. Without a strong foundation all the hard work may be for naught. The Egyptians knew the importance of a strong foundation, and spent a long time working on before they started the main structure. In fact, they built several Pyramids on bases of solid rock.

In our case, the foundation for our Speed Pyrmaimd is built on a foundation of hardwork, a supportive community, and using a system.

Third: pyramids take a lot of time to build. Estimates are some Egyptian pyramids took well over 25 years to build. Yours won’t take that long, but do expect to invest time in constructing yours. [However, keep in mind if you want to be world-class fast you can expect to invest upwards of 10,000 hours building your pyramid.]

Rowing Speed Pyramid

Rowing Speed Pyramid for Your Personal Speed System

Take Action Now

Are you in the process of hunting for the speed you need? Then hopefully this helps tie up some loose ends as you go about trying to get faster. See something that needs to be changed, updated, or fixed? Let me know what you think.

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Step 6 In Your Personal Speed System: Real Rigging

January 21, 2010 by  
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Step six in this process of finding the speed you need is the pillar I call real rigging. This is the shortest post in this series. Let’s see if I can get my point across in just a few words.

Real Rigging

You want speed? Then you need real rigging. Pure and simple. And real rigging occurs when:

  1. The appropriate rigging numbers are found for the mindset, vision, athlete, training plan, and equipment being used.
  2. The equipment is adjusted properly for the mindset, vision, athlete, training plan, and equipment being used.
  3. The numbers and adjustments are tested to make sure that they work well for for the mindset, vision, athlete, training plan, and equipment being used.

Three steps to real rigging.

Yup, there are a lot of subtleties to rigging however if you can do these three (use appropriate numbers, make proper adjustments, and test effectiveness) you’ll be much closer to your finish line in a smaller amount of time.

The last post in this series, tying it altogether, will be out shortly.

In the meantime if you need more info check out the links below or drop me a comment.

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Step #5 In Your Personal Speed System: Rock-solid Equipment

January 20, 2010 by  
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Today’s post is going to be a little different. I’m going to share some of my rigging book with you.

Five years of working on this site, writing books and articles, presenting clinics, doing videos has helped me realize that this is one-heck-of-an-equipment-intensive sport. Maybe too intensive.

Buying, transporting, cleaning, adjusting, etc. . . . sometimes it seems like having rowing equipment is more responsibility than having a child. As one of my friends likes to put it,

Having a rowing shell is like being pecked to death by a chicken.

A perspective

Ok . . . now on to speed.

When it comes to speed the first 4 pillars are more important than the equipment. Let me repeat that: There are 4 pillars more important to speed than rowing equipment. (Okay, I am kind of yelling that because it really does need to be yelled.) Those pillars are: fierce mindset, rock-star athletes, mindful training, and freak your technique. Yes, lightning bolts may be coming my way from New Haven or Seattle or Morrisville but that’s my version of the truth.

For instance, a rock-star athlete rowing old equipment will beat a lacksidazical athlete rowing brand new stuff 99% of the time. Scratch that . . 99.9% of the time.

Yet, this fifth pillar of rock-solid equipment is important. Why? Because the equipment serves a critical function—it allows the propulsion to happen. The key word there is allows. Equipment doesn’t make propulsion happen, it allows it.

We have a tendency to place the equipment on a pedestal, especially when it comes to speed. You’ve heard the comments, I’m sure (fill in the *blanks* below):

  • Hey, how could I possibly be fast? My boat is *blank* years older than theirs.
  • My athletes can’t row well unless they have the latest *blank*
  • The winning crew was in a *blank*, I need to buy one of those.

That is a lot of pressure on the equipment, and it is blown out of proportion. I truly believe that you just need rock-solid equipment and you will be okay.

The three keys of rock-solid equipment.

There are three critical characteristics that make a piece of equipment rock-solid. I’ve written a lot about them, (maybe too much) so I’ll get to the point, and if you want more details just hit the old search button. I am going to place the focus on the hull, because that is the really big-bang place. Here are the three characteristics:

#1 Stiffness of the hull: Simply put, the stiffer the boat the better the boat responds to the effort put forth by the rower. The boat is more responsive. It makes a difference.

A boat that wiggles, sags, and twists is not as effective. It is not rock-solid. (The stiffness does not necessarily apply to oars, as they come in different stiffnesses, with great successes across the board.)

Want to know how stiff the hull of your boat is? Here’s part of the chapter from Nuts and Bolts Guide to Rigging that deals with that topic. I hope it helps a little:

JOB 13.4: MEASURING SHELL STIFFNESS.

Problem: Trying to find out how much wiggle you’ve got in your shell.

Needed: The boat in question, preferably slinged, seats-up.

What we’re interested in finding out is how tight, or un-tight, your shell is. We are going to check in two directions: side to side, and bow to stern. I use a reliable, but a fairly unscientific method. Definitely check the stiffness if it’s a used shell you’re thinking of buying.

Step 1. Setup: It’s best to try checking stiffness when the boat is in slings. For an eight, place the slings under the two and seven seats. If you can’t sling it, you can still check the bow to stern stiffness in the rack.

Step 2. Side To Side: Make sure your rigger nuts are tight. Go to the fore-most rigger and press down with a gentle motion. Notice what happens to your aft-most rigger on the opposite side. When you press down the other rigger should go up the same amount, and at the same time. Now gently rock the bow rigger up and down and see what happens. There should be little or no time delay between the two riggers moving, or any swaying occurring in the boat. The more sway you have, the less stiff the boat.

Step 3. Bow To Stern: Now we’re going to find out if the boat is tight from end to end. Go to the bow, about two feet from the bow ball. Cradle the hull in both hands and wiggle the shell up and down. Nothing drastic—just a subtle motion. Careful of the soft decking if you’ve got it. Look at the stern and see what’s happening. Are things tight, or does the boat wiggle like a bowl of strawberry Jell-O? (See figure 13.2.)

stiffness image

You can check your shell's stiffness in two different directions.

If the boat is in the racks, there’s another test you can do. Go to the bow, about halfway between the bow ball and wash box. Cradle the sides of the boat and gently lift up. Watch your back; grab a friend to help if you need it. When you lift, look at the racks and notice if the shell moves as one unit or if it sags in the middle. If it sags, it’s not stiff—the more the sag, the less the stiffness.

Step 4. Now What? You’ve looked at sag and sway so now you know something about how stiff your boat is. What do you do with the info? Your choices are fairly simple. If the shell is tight and solid, keep rowing it. If the boat wiggled, it may be time to either do a major repair JOB, such as tightening up the bracing, or take the boat off of your competitive racing-boat list and start using it as a training shell. If it’s a used shell you’re thinking about buying, lack of stiffness is a warning there might be problems.

#2 Size of the hull: When the shoes you have on fit well they are safer, look better, and function better than ones too small or too big. Same with a shell. Get the right fit to be faster. How do you know if you have the right fit? This might help:

JOB 13.3: DETERMINING WEIGHT CLASSIFICATION OF SHELL.

Problem: You need to know your shell’s weight classification (the average weight of rowers it’s designed to hold).

Needed: Rigging stick, tape measure, rigging card.

Most boats used to come in basically three different weight classifications (sizes): heavyweight (for 185–210 pound average crew weight), midweight (160–185 average) and lightweight (130–160 average). That was in the olden days, oh . . . say in the 1990s.

Today, there are more choices, and with more choices you have the need to make more decisions and you have more chances to make mistakes. What you are interested in with weight classification is pretty simple: trying to get the correct size crew in the correct size boat (see Chapter Seven, JOB 7.2, for more info on this).

Each size boat will have different dimensions. There are two dimensions that change the most between the different sizes: depth and beam. But there is variety as far as these dimensions are concerned, and two heavyweight shells from the same builder may have different depths and beams.

One reason is that customers may want different options that change the dimension of the boat, and models change from year to year as the builders experiment to come up with better and faster shells. Also, the building processes change over time with new methods and new technology, and that may mean different dimensions, too.

So how do you tell what shell size a boat is? First, you need the depth and the beam dimensions. Get your tape measure and go to the midships of the shell. This is where the hull should be the deepest. Set your rigging stick or straight edge across the gunwales. Now measure down from the bottom of the straight edge to the bottom of the inside of the hull. That’s your hull depth. At the same point—which should also be the widest part of the boat—measure from the inside of one gunwale to inside of the other for the beam. These numbers will be a guideline to help you find the shell size. Second, you may need your serial number for info on locating different serial. Armed with this information, you’ve got three ways to tell the shell size:

Good method: Eyeball comparison. If you’ve been around this sport long enough you’ll be able to tell a shell’s size just by looking. If you’re in a boathouse, and need a little help, take a few steps back and compare shapes with another boat you know the size of. If this doesn’t help,

try . . .

Better method: The best way to tell a shell size, with the least amount of hassles, is to already have the measurements (beam and depth) of a boat whose size you know and then compare the boat in question to those numbers. There are two ways to get these numbers. One, of course, is to call the builder and get the beam and depth for a size and category (eight, four, pair) of boat. The other way is just to measure a boat. Either way, make sure the numbers are from the same manufacturer.

Don’t try to compare a Dirigo’s measurements to a Pocock’s—the measurements vary drastically between different makes of shells.  Generally, heavyweight shells will have larger depths and beams than midweights, and midweights will be larger than lightweights. But don’t be surprised if there is not a lot of difference in dimensions between sizes. In fact, different classes might have the same beam or depth. If this won’t work,

try . . .

Best method: Take your measurements and the serial number and head to a phone. You need to call the builder. This may cost you a few pennies, but you’ll find out positively what size shell you’ve got.

I know all this may sound like a lot of hassle, but for good rigging you need to know what class a boat is.

#3 Integrity of the hull: There are two critical aspects here: the smoothness of the hull, and the cleanliness. Both go directly to the drag. A smooth, clean hull, free of anything that will increase drag will be faster than a hull that is not. How do you get it clean and smooth? Well here is an article I published a while back:

Last month we discussed the benefits of waxing the hull of your rowing shells. And, yes, there are benefits, like protecting the hull from damage from the sun and from pollutants. (And, of course, there are also down sides, like messing up a nice pair of pants).

However, one of the benefits of waxing is NOT speed. A good wax job will actually slow your hull down. So what is the best treatment for a hull when you’re looking for speed?

The answer is, “Nothing!” A naked hull is usually the fastest.

You see, when a hull is gliding through the water, you want to have the smoothest possible surface that you can. Smooth is fast. The smoother the hull, the less friction . . . and that is good.

If your hull has a good paint job and is free of dings and checks, then its maximum speed will come from being clean. Think of it in these terms: “Clean is fast.”

So how do you clean a hull? In my opinion, it’s a two-step process.

My first step is to use a rubbing compound. I usually treat the hull one or twice a year with the compound to remove the gunk that attaches to the hull over time. This is critical if you do wax your hull, or if you row in water that has pollution in it (and, unfortunately, today most water does have it).

Rubbing compound is an abrasive, usually in a liquid or almost-liquid form, and it comes in different levels of “grit.” I just think of it as liquid sandpaper.

There are two critical components of successfully using rubbing compound. One is selecting the correct grit (I use 1500). The other is to follow the directions, and I mean follow.

Using compound can be a mindless job, but that doesn’t mean that YOU should be mindless. Care needs to be taken that you only “clean” the hull, and not damage the paint. Gentle strokes, usually in a circular pattern, work fine. Some people profess that using a bow-to-stern motion is best. This does have its merits, but usually only if you are using a heavier grit, or sandpaper.

My second step is to wash the hull prior to each race. I try to do this the day of the race, when the boat is ready to go. That means if we’ve transported the boat, I’ll wash it right at the race course.

That’s not usually a hardship. A bucket, a sponge, a little soap (I use dishwashing detergent), a little water (which tends to be available at race courses . . . hint, the river or lake), a little scrubbing, and in ten minutes the hull is clean. I then just rinse off the soap and let the boat drip-dry.

(For what it’s worth, one thing that I’ve noticed is that people love, I mean LOVE, to help wash a racing hull. There must be something sensual to it. Almost, without fail, every time I wash a hull people flock to help.)

So . . . if you’re racing, clean off your hull.

And remember, naked is fast!

Is it that simple?

Maybe. No. Yes. Sorta.

Yup, there are many more subities to equipment, but notice one thing—age is not one of the top characteristics. Remember, a proper fitting, stiff hull, with a smooth, clean hull can be fast. Very fast. So if you can get these three specifics taken care of you will be well down the road to finding speed.

Take action now!

Why don’t you chime in and let’s me know how it is going, and what you think of this post.

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Step #4 In Your Personal Speed System: Freak Your Technique

January 18, 2010 by  
Filed under Speed, Think Different, Uncategorized

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So the first pillar of boat speed is setting up a Personal Speed System, right? Next you build a fierce mindset, get rock-star athletes, and develop mindful training. Those four pillars make a solid foundation that can help you be successful in your hunt for boat speed.

Ah . . . and there is more. Specifically, there are three more pillars that can make your foundation even stronger, and your boats even faster.

And the next pillar of those three is to freak your technique.

What’s a freak?

There are numerous people today we consider extraordinary but in their youth would have been called many other things—things not so nice. For instance consider Albert Einstein.

He was a rebellious and difficult student. Like Leonardo, he was dyslexic . . . leading one of his teachers to tell him that he would “never amount to anything.”

Mike Gelb wrote that about Einstein in his book Discover Your Genius.

Growing up Albert was probably hard for two reasons: he marched to his own drummer, and he was notably different than kids his own age. I mean, here was a kid who stopped to think about problems of space and time.

By many accounts youngster Einstein was no doubt thought of as a freak by his peers. Yet today he is known as one of the most intellectual humans to have recently lived. If you put your mind to it you could probably write a list of many others like Einstein—many other freaks. Maybe you were one.

And what Einstein did (how he thought and acted) is what you need to do to your rowing technique, that is, if you want to find speed.

Zappa

Frank Zappa made the Freak culture popular

Not long ago freak was used only to describe people (Man, that Einstein guy sure is a freak). But today freak also means look at the world differently and that is exactly what you should be doing with your technique. Look at it like a freak (differently) to make it better—to find more speed.

Specifically there are four things you can do to freak your technique.

Freak #1: Befriend your technique.

I wasn’t always smart about rowing technique. In fact I probably spent many years doing and teaching it wrong. For as long as I can remember I was told that technique was for wussy boys. And that sentiment stayed with me for many years. Back then we sacrificed technique and focused more on strength, which means many of us worked way too hard to get whatever speed we could achieve. And this still goes on today in the rowing world.

I’m going to suggest you stop that.

Instead, look to become wickedly efficient with your technique. Strive to get more distance per stroke rather than more strokes per distance. I know it seems all wrong (a 38 must be faster than a 32) and seems actually, kinda . . . well . . . freaky, but there is some pretty good science behind the concept.

By befriending your technique you can greatly increase your chances to get fast.

Freak #2: Ask, look and listen.

Not long ago I wrote a post about looking at boat speed differently. It sparked intense conversations. In essence I reported on Jim Mitchell’s research showing the catch to be the fastest part of the rowing stroke. People weighed in and I did get called quite a few nice names in the process. What I noticed was a real entrenchment by many to not even consider any alternative to the status quo (the finish must be the fastest because we’ve always been told that). That’s not being very mindful (regardless of the merit of the concept).

This brings up an interesting point, what should your rowing technique actually be? Two thoughts.

First, many of us having a rowing technique that we neither question nor deeply understand. We do it because we were taught it. And that certainly is understandable since most of us were taught by coaches who learned a style handed down to them by coaches who had the style handed down to them. Our learning comes from on high so many of us just accept it as the gospel.

Second, rowing is a comfortable sport (for the most part) and the stroke is fairly natural. The small details are often what separates the fast from the wanna-be-fast.

So, again, what should your rowing technique be? That depends on what your goal is, what boat you are rowing, your skill level and a host of other things. The best way to determine what it should be is hook up with a mindful coach (or mindful rower) who can teach you the best way for you.

Ask who that might be, find them and look at their results, and then listen to them to see if the person is the right one to teach you the right technique for you.

Freak #3: Work hard.

I’ll be very blunt here, you will need to invest time (a lot) in your technique to get really good at it. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers: The Story of Success, promotes the idea that to become a world-class expert at anything (anything) you will need to invest upwards of 10,000 hours. That’s around 20 hours per week for 10 years. But what if you don’t have world-dominating aspirations? Once you find the right technique you will still need to dedicate yourself to it to get efficient and find your speed.

Freak #4: Play.

Einstein silly

Einstein loved to play.

Some of the great breakthroughs that occur in science, sport and numerous other areas of life happen when people are playing. That play may be rigid-playing such as experiment, or doddling, or daydreaming, or goofing off . . . regardless, sometimes the results are great. Look no further than the business world to see examples such as Post-It Notes and Silly Putty, both products of play.

You’ll need to work hard to perfect your technique, yet  you’ll also need to play, fiddle with it, experiment, to see what works for you, and what doesn’t.

You have permission to experiment, and if you think you’ll get in trouble I’ll write you a note.

Take Action Now.

Okay, go be a freak. Your technique will love you for it.

Step 5 on it’s way.

Let me know how I’m doing in the comments below.

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[PSS #3] A Secret Weapon For Your Training

January 15, 2010 by  
Filed under Speed, Think Different

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You might have heard that proper training is critical for a rower to get fast. A few rowers have stepped up their training and have a secret weapon they use.

The year was 1812 and Napoleon was having his way with Europe. Basically all of it was under his control. Then in April he turned his attention, and armies, towards Russia. As he invaded, the Russian general in charge played a game much different than Napoleon’s.

200px-Napoleon_Moscow_Fire

The French in Moscow

As the French marched forward the Russians retreated. The Russians destroyed their crops, livestock, and homes as Napoleon advanced because they knew that an integral part of Napoleon’s successes had been having his troops live off the land. As Napoleon prepared to take Moscow the Russians evacuated the city, burned it, and then let him have the city.

300px-Napoleons_retreat_from_moscow

Napoleon's retreat from Moscow, painted by Adolph Northen in the 19th century

The Russians seemingly had just let Napoleon and his troops walk into their country—and then the tide turned. The Winter arrived and the French found, as did Hitler many years later, that the Russian winter is a deadly and unforgiving foe, as are the Russians. Napoleon was forced to retreat and his army was destroyed.

Ellen Langer uses this story in her book Mindfulness to bring home a very specific point—very often, and often in critical times, we act mindless.

Mindfulness and Your Training

According to Langer mindlessness is a human tendency to operate on autopilot, whether by stereotyping; performing mechanically, by rote; or by simply not paying attention. And unfortuantely for Napoleon this is what he did. Being comfortable in easy wins in a different type of war he failed to be mindful about the Russian’s scorched-earth strategy. And he and his army paid dearly.

In competitive sports, especially rowing, many athletes and coaches do the exact same thing with their training—they act mindless.

Granted, today it is often difficult to be anything but mindless in our training. Life is coming at us at 173 miles per hour. It is constantly streamed, beamed, and blasted at us. It is hard to find a moment to stop and think. On top of that many of us do not have any background in exercise physiology or biomechanics. And when we turn to the web, books, and experts for help we find a wealth of information that is either unhelpful, bad, or just plain harmful.

However to be fast you need to be very mindful about your training program. It can be your secret weapon.

Why Be Mindful

Langer defines being mindful as:

[Having a] heightened sense of situational awareness and a conscious control over ones thoughts and behavior relative to the situation. It is not just about paying attention. It is making a conscious effort to be “in the moment” and to not ignore the environment.

I believe strongly that every coach, rower/coxswain can greatly benefit from a training program that is mindful and especially follows those last two points: being in the moment and not ignoring the environment. [Here the term environment is meant to mean the physical and mental surroundings of the athlete and not the common term an area in which something lives.]

Why? Well one obvious reason is decision making. Whether constructing a program for yourself, or a team, or getting ready to participate in an ongoing program there are decisions to be made, such as:

  • do I have the time for this
  • can I physically and mentally handle this program
  • does this training fit in with my vision

Mindless training ignores these important decisions. Mindful training does not.

Another reason to be mindful is too often we follow what others are doing, or what we have done in the past, because, well, because that is the way it is done.

You probably have heard the urban legend of the woman who would cut the end off of the pot roast every time she cooked one. She would put it in the pan and trim off the end. Her daughter asked her why? She had no idea so she asked her mother who had taught her to do it. Her mother did not know why so she asked her mother, who had taught her. The grandmother explained that she cut the end off because the only pan she had when young was too small for the roast, so she cut off the end so it would fit.

The grandmother was being mindful, but her daughter and granddaughter were not.

So What Training Program Do I Use

It is past the scope of this blog to suggest what specific training plan you should use, however, I would like to make a few suggestions about things that can make your training more mindful.

Recommendation #1: The training program, the intensity, and the workload should be geared specifically to you, or to your team. That means consider your fierce vision (step 1) and your rock-star athletes (step 2) and gear the training and program to them.

It would be crazy for a 54 year old who has been rowing for one year, or a junior with 2 years of rowing experience to use the same training program that the US National team uses to prepare for international races. Crazy yes, but it happens quite often.

Recommendation #2: Make sure the program is not based just on what coaches have done before, but instead is based on current research, advances in technology, and best practices.

For example, in her book, Age Is Just a Number: Achieve Your Dreams at Any Stage in Your Life, swimmer Dara Torres details how she mindfully adapted her training and program to her age, abilities, restrictions, and environment. Swim coach Terry Laughlin, in his book Total Immersion: The Revolutionary Way To Swim Better, Faster, and Easier talks about new and quite mindful methods to train swimmers.

Recommendation #3: Get help when building a plan, good help. Unless you have a background in physiology, physical eduction, or biomechanics putting together a sound plan can be daunting. Like building a business from the ground up, some folks will find success doing it on their own but the success-rate greatly increases with good help. This is a case where standing on the shoulders of giants can pay off handsomely.

Take Action Now

If you are in the midst of designing a program, or participating in an established one, find time to be mindful about exactly what you are doing. If you make changes, or realize that your plan and training are right on track, then it will be time well spent.

Coming up next is Step 4.

Leave a comment and tell us what you think.

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Step 2 of Your Personal Speed System: Rock-star Athlete

January 13, 2010 by  
Filed under Speed, Think Different

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** Banner Speed 2

I’d like to share a letter I received a few years ago:

Hey Coach—

The team wanted to let you know it’s been a real interesting year. We had ups and downs and they all were interesting. We learned a bunch.

One thing that stuck out was what you said at the beginning—people make boats go, athletes make boats go fast, rock-star athletes can make boats fly . . . Or something like that.

That rocked.

We look forward to next year. Thanks, have a great summer.

Team of ‘88

That letter was from a college men’s team I was coaching (many seasons ago). They were not the fastest team around however they had gotten much faster than they had ever been. A lot of development happened that year.

The specific quote they referred to was something that I read on the wall of a bathroom at a race course (expecting maybe Buddha from his racing days?), and it seems to summarizes exactly Step 2 of your PSS (personal speed system)—the importance of an athlete and their athletic ability.

It doesn’t matter if you’re coaching a team looking to dominate the river or you just want to row faster than the fish that swim in your river—the person in the boat is the second most important thing in your hunt for speed (second, that is, only to the fierce mindset that athlete has).

And if you really want speed a rock-star athlete is what you are after.

The Rock-star Athlete

Eric Clapton is an amazing musician. A great talent that has also dedicated years of his life to perfecting his skill to becoming an authentic performer.

It’s been very important throughout my career that I’ve met all the guys

I’ve copied, because at each stage they’ve said, ”Don’t play like me, play like you.’

In essence that is what I mean by a rock-star athlete. Someone who has the ability, who will dedicate themselves to improving that skill, all the while becoming the person that is really them. That is where speed comes from.

The Indy 500

It is not too great of a stretch to compare a rowing race to the Indy 500. The top placers at Indy usually are the teams with the best drivers with the best motors. They might not win every single time (for instance, taken out by a crash) but usually you will find them in the winners circle more often than drivers who aren’t as skilled or cars with less powerful engines.

And that is how it is in rowing.

So What Does This Mean?

It means that if you’re after speed then you need rocking athletes. It means if you want to go fast a good investment of your time is finding the athletes who have a fierce mindset (or are open to building that mindset) and have the athletic ability to go fast. It means the person on the end of the oar (or the end of the mic) is really dang important if you are chasing speed.

And as a coach it means that recruiting the athletes and retaining those athletes needs to be near the top of your *to do* list.

What Should I Do?

This all makes sense, right? Yeah, well it sure took me a long time to really grasp the importance of this, and I see the same happening to many coaches today. To help, let’s distill this step right down to a few actions:

If you’re coaching a team I might suggest:

  1. Find the rock-star athlete(s) that can help you attain your vision
  2. Recruit the athlete(s) to your team
  3. Keep the athlete on your team
  4. And then do step #3 (coming out in three days)

If you are the athlete (for instance, a single sculler) then I might suggest that you come back to your mindset (from Step #1) and make sure that your athletic ability is in alignment with your vision.

So what might you be looking for in an athlete? Well, if you are looking to make the next World Championship awards dock then you might want to look for these physical traits (might but you don’t have to):

And in terms of mental traits . . . look for rock-star athletes. Those who are (or, again, can be) intense, strong, untamed, and authentic.

Up Next

Coming up next is Step #3 in your PSS. See you in a few days.

And if you have a moment, leave a comment. It would be great to hear from you.

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Step 1 of Your Personal Speed System—Fierce Mindset

January 11, 2010 by  
Filed under Speed, Think Different

16 Comments

Untitled(41266931)
In the last post, Coxswains Head Explodes, I wrote about being fierce and mentioned if you want to find speed being fierce is a key ingredient.

A natural follow up question would be, “So how do I become fierce?” All in good time, but right now let’s take the discussion one notch further and dive into the first step in constructing your own Personal Speed System (PSS).

Step 1: Create a Fierce Mindset About Speed

Over the next several posts I will specificaly lay out a Personal Speed System that you can use as a foundation to improve how fast you row. Now realistically what you do with this system is up to you but you should know that its foundation is based upon conversations and interactions I’ve had with numerous coaches, along with distialtions of books, podcasts and lectures, and my own person experiences (both fast and slow).

In those posts I will detail the 7 steps that compose your PSS. The first one, if you want to be fast regardless of your level or experience, is the most critical component. And that step is the creation of a fierce mindset about speed.

Remember, fierce in this context means to be intense, be strong, be untamed.

There are four parts to creating a fierce mindset about speed. None are difficult, really, and actually they may just require you to think a little differently or at least creatively about being fast. I’ll briefly go through each of the four parts here and give a resource for each one. But please keep in mind that this post is only an introduction to this topic and just knowing about these parts and actually mastering them are two vastly different things

Part 1: A Vision

Pretend for a moment that your body is actually run by a computer operational system (such as Windows or MacOS). If this was the case then a computer programs would be the mechanism that gets your body to do things.

Want to climb stairs—put in a program. Hit a baseball—a different program. Wanna go fast in a rowing shell—pop in a program, and in this case the program would be the one marked “Vision.”

That probably sounds funky but the vision that you have, in our case the one about generating speed, is critical to getting your computer (your body, or your team) to find the speed. Your vision helps you achieve a task, or in this case get a goal, that of being fast. No vision, no achievement.

Now many rowers and coaches do have visions but the difference I see between fast rowers and those who aren’t is the fierceness of the vision.

A Resource: There is a simple and free resource that can help you fine tune and become fierce about your vision. Should only take a few minutes. Simply enough, just answer these three questions:

  1. How much speed do you need?
  2. Why do you need the speed?
  3. What price are you willing to pay for the amount of speed you need?

Stop and really think about those answers.

How fast do you actually need to be? Row a 2K at 6:20? That is fast and a significantly different amount of speed then needing to row a 2k at 7:40. Or 10:00. Investing time here figuring out exactly how fast you need to be can save you hours of wasted or unproductive training, and some heartache.

Why do you need the speed? Is it to satisfy your life-long yearning to make a boat and then win a World Championship? Again, a much different reason than wanting to beat the boathouse time from the dead tree on the shore to the dock that has stood for 30 years. Or it is just to see how low you can get your Speedcoach to read. Knowing why you need speed will be a great help to get you through tough workouts and keep you focused when the distractions popup.

What price are you willing to pay? The hardest question of all to answer. Would you quit your career/schooling and dedicate your life to going fast, risking all you have? Interesting. I saw a recent documentary about a retired pro football player who is, in essence, crippled. It took him over an hour to get out of bed each morning, and he could not dress himself. When the reporter asked if he would do it again (play pro) knowing what he would  be like now (at the age of 40) he responded, “Heck yeah!”

What price are you willing to pay?

Answer these three questions truthfully and honestly and then build a vision. When you do, if you were truthful, you will be well on the way to having a fierce vision.

Part 2: Love Failure

We live in a failure adverse society. We are surrounded by people of all ages who don’t give their all. They hold back. A major reason is that they don’t want to fail.

That is backwards. Failure is something we should welcome—a great assest and tool to have. Fierceness can come from learning to love failure.

Tom Peters and Seth Godin have both written in detail about failing and how important it is. They are two smart and well respected business leaders who certainly have failed, and have they great (and fierce) visions.

Resource: There are a wealth of books, dvds, podcasts and websites about how to push yourself and get past your fear. Most are good. However, in my mind the one (and it is a wonderful story) that gets right to the core of what many of us are trying to do is a book by cool friend Brad Alan Lewis. If you have not read Assault on Lake Casitas, stop whatever you are doing, and go get the book.

Part 3: Give Up Control

The speed world seems to be divided up into two distinct categories. There are those items you can control. And those items out of your control.

A critical part of a successful speed mindset is to figure what goes into those two categories and then focus on the things you can control.

For instance, you cannot control the weather, the wind, illness, or other people’s commitment. You can’t control the stockmarket.

Focus on the things you can, let go of the things your cannot, and invest that extra energy into making your vision fierce.

Resource: Zen Habits, by Leo Babauta, is a fantastic resource about control, what is important, and vision. For instance he was one of the first bloggers and web writers to make all of his writers copyright free. So what does that have to do with giving up control? In essence he knew that his material, once on the web, was being used (stolen, in copyright terms) and he could not control that unless he wanted to spend tons of money in legal pursuits. So he just gave it away. In fact, here is his disclaimer to that effect:

Just to clarify, this post is an official notification that my writing here at Zen Habits and in the Zen To Done ebook are now in the public domain. I hereby waive all claim of copyright in this work; it may be used or altered in any manner without attribution or notice to the me. Attribution, of course, is appreciated.

He knew his writings were being used, he could not control it, so he gave up control and it has proved to be a very wise business move for him.

Part 4: Find Joy

Long time readers know that this is one of my reasons for being online. Too many in our sport, heck—our world, find little joy in their undertakings. It is really a sad state of affairs. I see way too many rowers turning in garbage miles and rowing with scowls with little or no joy.

Why?

You cannot be fierce with little or no joy in your heart.

Resource: I recently released a free ebook specifically on this topic. To get your free download just click here.

A Review

Developing a fierce mindset for speed for your PSS will take some work, but less than you probably think. However the rewards will be quick and strong if you do it.

The next step will be coming up in a few days.

Why don’t you leave a comment and tell me what you think.


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Coxswain’s Head Explodes. Too Much Boat Speed The Cause

January 8, 2010 by  
Filed under Speed, Think Different

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coxswain exploded
(No offense to any coxswains, but isn’t that the type of news headline we would love to create?)

Let’s get down to it—we are after speed. Gut-busting, face-melting, head-exploding speed. Regardless if the racing is big time or something simple like trying to beat a time from the tree to the dock—speed is what we’re talking about.

And to get speed you need to be something special, you need to be fierce.

Be Fierce Then Speed Will Come

Several years ago Susan Scott wrote a thoughtful and popular book Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life One Conversation at a Time. It detailed how people can better achieve success by having critical conversations, ones that she describes as fierce.

In the beginning of the book she elaborates on what fierce means to her:

“. . .  ‘fierce’ suggest menacing, cruel, barbarous, threatening . . . Sounds like raised voices, frowns, blood on the floor, no fun at all. In Roget’s Thesaurus, however, the word fierce has the following synonyms: robust, intense, strong, powerful, passionate, eager, unbridled, uncurbed, untamed.”

Those last 9 words describe being fierce beautifully. And more to the point, if you are fierce you are intense. You are strong. You are untamed. Those are 3 things you need to find speed.

For instance . . . on the Savannah plains in Africa a hungry lion chases an antelope. The lion runs for dinner, the antelope runs for her life. Let me ask you, of the two animals which is more fierce? Which is more intense, stronger, untamed?

Of course the king of the jungle—right? As fierce as they come.

Nope, the antelope is—by far. That antelope is sure as heck committed to generating as much speed as she possibly can. As untamed, strong and intense as she can be.

lionandantelope

painting by Henri Rousseau

I guarantee that if there was such as thing as a commitment meter and we could put it on the two animals, the antelope would far surpass the lion.

She is the fierce one, and if not then the hunt ends not well for the antelope.

Does Being Fierce Make A Difference

So often as competitive athletes and coaches we follow what has come before us almost blindly. Focused so much on the end result(s) we ignore the process and in the end miss the results that we could have had.

Terry Laughlin, in his book Total Immersion: The Revolutionary Way To Swim Better, Faster, and Easier, talks about how for years swimmers have done the exact same thing and “that the usual ‘swim-your-laps’ advice was not only ineffective; it could actually be harmful.” He is waking people up and revolutionizing swimming.

He is being intense, strong, untamed. He is going against the grain. That is where the speed is to be found.

Or we rationalize our desire for something and sell ourselves short. “Oh . . . I couldn’t do that because I’m (pick one here):

  • too short
  • too tall
  • too old
  • too young

(and the list goes on).

One of the main reasons we cannot find speed is that we are not fierce. And it is hard being fierce and there are so many reasons not to be fast. Yeah, well get over it and stop the excuse making. Let me tell you about one of the most fierce persons in the world.

His name is Bob. Bob Wieland.

Bob Wieland

Bob runs marathons. But boy is he slow. In fact he ran the New York City Marathon and finished dead last. Actually it took him over 4 days to finish—probably the slowest marathon in history.

So why does that make Bob fierce?

Bob has no legs. He lost both of them in the Vietnam war.

BobWieland

The fierce Bob Wieland

He ran the marathon on his hands. No wheelchair—on his hands. And he has run numerous other marathons, and ran across the United States. He has set world records in lifting and became a strength coach for the Green Bay Packers.

You see fierce means to take the steps that need to be taken to get you where you need to go. Bob wasn’t going to die. Bob was going to live. Bob took the steps he needed to take.

And many would say his time was the slowest marathon ever. I would counter that is was probably the fastest ever.

Bob is fierce. As heck.

How Can You Become Fierce About Speed

You can. It is not easy, but you can. In fact I’ve got a three-step process to help you become fierce.

We’ll get into that on Monday, along with introducing the details of a speed system you can start right away to help you this season.

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A Cheaters Guide To Making A Boat Go Fast

January 5, 2010 by  
Filed under Speed, Think Different

7 Comments

This is the second part of the series A Hunt For Speed
YOUR SYSTEMCHEAT(E5691ADA)

Let me tell you about a conversation I had last month with a fellow Coach. I’ll call him Rob, because, well . . . because his name is Rob.

I was making a presentation and Rob wandered up after the talk and asked me about boat speed. Point blank he asked,

“Like . . . I know a lot of stuff about rowing but what I don’t know is how to put it altogether to make a boat go fast. Can you tell me?”

It was apparent that this was something that really bothered him so I started to tell him about coaches and their speed systems.

. . . let’s pick up the conversation there.

“ . . . So, Rob, what became apparent when I was talking to these Coaches was that each Coach had a system, but it was not the same system. Yeah, there were a few common threads but there were many more differences between them than things that were the same.

“And the crazy part about that was all the coaches I talked to are/were very successful. I mean they knew how to make fast boats go really, really fast. But many of them were doing different things.

“And I noticed two things. First is that their system worked for them. And I felt pretty sure that if it didn’t work they would jettison it right quick. Second, I think that they got much more out of their speed system than just boat speed. I mean, I think it helped them survive the grind of coaching.”

At this point Rob looked at me and said, “But that sounds like cheating.”

“Cheating? Huh? Cheating?”

“Cheating,” he repeated. “It sounds too easy. It is cheating.”

And then he ran off, mumbling something about an H1N1 shot waiting for him.

And I stood there with my mouth wide open.

A system to find speed can be a great tool—heck a fantastic tool. But it certainly is not cheating. Let me take a moment and tell you just how great of a tool a good speed system can be.

Benefits of a Speed System

As I touched on in the section above (before Rob ducked out) there are several benefits of having a speed system. One of the cool parts is that it really reduces stress. I know that when I coach and I don’t use a system I am always worried about races, and practices, and testing. (And worried is just putting it mildly.) What to do, how to do it, and when it should be done. It drives me nuts.

When I’m using a system (and several Coaches I interviewed mentioned this) the plan and methodology help me keep things in perspective. The planning gets done way before the results need to be in.

Another benefit is actually being able to find speed. I mean, why else would you have a speed system if it wasn’t actually going to help you get faster? Hmm . . . well, that makes sense when asked out loud but so often we use things in our lives that were made/built for one thing but we don’t use it for that.

For instance I’ve got an iPod on my desk that I only really use as a clock (even though it is in good working order) and I cannot accurately recall how many of my friends have paid to join gyms or online-membership sites only to quickly never use them.

A third benefit of a speed system is that it helps prepare for next year. By being methodical and recording information (detailed info) you get to see what works, and what doesn’t for this year, and then this gives you a great place to start for next year.

Where Do Speed Systems Come From?

By now a question you’re probably itching to ask is: “How did these coaches make their speed system. How did they learn what to do, how to organize it, what is important and what is not?”

Exactly what I wanted to know, so I asked them the same thing. To a one they all answered,

  • Got the system from another Coach.
  • My mentor gave it to me
  • I go up at races and ask the winning Coaches

I like to put it this way (and so did Isaac Newton) they stand on the shoulders of a giant. Some Coach before them had developed something that worked well and so these Coaches borrowed it, and made it better.

rosenberg giant

(My giant, Allen Rosenberg)

To me this is the defining point about a speed system (and a critical part of any sort of continued speed system relationship from here on end with me and you). Successful Coaches take a system and adapt and change it to meet their own needs and circumstances, and discarded the rest. This is what sets apart many fast coaches from non-fast ones.

It is so easy—so tempting—to take what a fast coach is doing and try to apply it directly to your own rowing or team—without adapting it to your own situation. Just lay it out there, tell them to do it, and sit back and watch the splits drop.

I’ve tried it. It doesn’t work that way.

One summer I visited an elite team training camp in upstate New York to watch practice. I took notes and came away with several drills. One drill was a simple one, where an eight rows all eight and then six drop out and the remaining pair then rows hard—trying to keep up with the speed of the boat. Seemed like a good drill to take home and use.

But it wasn’t, mostly because I didn’t have elite level rowers, and even more so because my rowers were not in any sort of condition to carry that load. At the end of practice there were a bunch of fire-eyed rowers with darn sore backs.

If It Hurts When You Do That—Don’t Do That

Another step that these successful Coaches did was to use trial and error—a lot of trial and error.

I noticed that although they had a system they had enough flexibility and courage that they were not locked into just one method of finding speed. More than once a Coach said that she tried something, it didn’t work, so she then tried something else.

But they, and this is critical, gave their trials time to work. Today our society is very quick minded and short of patience. In the educational settings we will try a fancy solution to, say, retention, for one year, and then off to something else if the results are not stellar. Patience is a virtue in a speed system.

But so is knowing when to quit, and when to try something else. I will put a plug in here for probably the best resource I’ve found (and as someone who teaches courses on failure I’m always looking for resources) about quitting. That resource is Seth Godin’s book The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)

Okay, so now I hope you are convinced a system can help you. So let’s discuss one really important detail of any successful system, and a detail that if you don’t use it you are never going to find the speed you really want/need.

It is time to discuss being fierce.

See you in three days.

Post #1: A Hunt For Speed

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