ShellShocked

Dear Reader... Site Change

2008-04-09T17:47:00.006+02:00

Hi all...

I initially intended for this blog to run the length of the season, but I'd like to keep it going as long as I have content to add and thoughts to share. As such, I'll be relocating this blog to another site. This blog will be kept, but additional content will be posted on the new weblog.

Thanks to everyone who made this blogging experience a joy.

... to be continued @ http://www.shellshockedsculling.wordpress.com/...

A Final Goodbye - Perfect is...

2008-03-29T15:51:00.003+02:00

Last night marked the official end to the 2007/2008 season. The rowing dinner is always a fun-filled event and sometimes emotional event where the season and the girls are celebrated for a job well done.

I don't usually have to formally say anything at the rowing dinner (Matt H is the boss, so he gets to do all that!), but this year I was asked to give the farewell prsentation to the seniors that were leaving the club. I have coached these girls for two seasons now (about a year and a bit)... and I was grateful to be given the opportunity to say goodbye and convey to the parents and the other girls some of what I have been through with these seven girls and the influence they have had on my life.

I'm not usually very good at speaking to that many people... coaching finds me at the back of a boat shed four or five times a week speaking to only a handful of athletes at a time. So getting up in front of 150 people was quite daunting. The farewell went off very well nevertheless, and I was glad to see (after some feedback afterwards) that most of the parents and the rest of the club shared in what I had to say.

So, as a final goodbye to Amy, Phil, Jess, Alex, Aimee, Ashley and Bron, I've posted my speech that I presented on Friday night. Keep in touch guys... even though you're not rowing with us anymore.

"About two weeks ago I was asked to say a bit about each of the 2nd year opens... and for two weeks now I’ve been struggling to come up with anything at all. I thought I could go into some stories of what they got up to during this season, but nothing felt like it fitted into a farewell speech. Maybe it’s because I have a really bad memory… but the more I thought about it, the more I came to realize that it’s hard to say anything about the individuals when they all have so much in common.

So in saying farewell to these seven valuable members of our club, let me start with some history… a brief background.

On the first weekend of March 2006, St Andrews won 3 of the 4 available gold medals in the Open age-group at the Junior National Championships. It was a tough regatta and had been a challenging season for every club. I should know… Maxine and I had to settle for Silvers because of it. For St Andrews Rowing Club and the opens whose last season it was, it was a fairytale end to a perfect season… and it was a very hard act to follow. Those who were left lived in the shadow of that victory and it was very tough trying to relive that perfection. I’m not sure that anyone realistically believed that the opens could carry on at that level, but the expectations were always at the back of our minds.

When I came to St Andrews a year ago, the reality was setting in that the Opens were not as fast as St Mary’s or St Stithian’s… or Holy Rosary, or VLC… and yet, those seven girls… the last of that group, never stopped striving for that ‘perfect’ race… that perfect result… number one. After all… only the winners get remembered - it’s a hard fact of life.

Thinking about the word ‘perfect’… I saw a movie about two weeks ago called Friday Night Lights. It’s an American Football film where the coach (Billy Bob Thornton) has this line that he always says to his athletes: ‘be perfect’… and everyone assumes that to mean ‘be the best’… ‘win’. But I don’t think it means that at all… to me, being perfect is not about winning all the time (that’s pretty impossible anyway), it’s not about being better than others (because you can’t affect how good they are, you can only be the best you can be), it’s about how you play the game… it’s the sort of person you are to those around you, it’s a trust that exists between the members of a team that they will do their very best, not for their own sake, but for the sake of those in the boat with them, perfection is about being honest to yourself and honest to your team mates that you did everything you could to make that boat or that age-group as fast as they could be…

The quality that these seven girls have in common is they are perfect… to me, to their teammates, to their coaches. They played the game better than anyone else, they never stopped fighting, they gave everything they had and then some, and helped to build an age-group that has surpassed all of my expectations… an age-group that we as a club can all be proud of.

It’s always sad saying goodbye to those who have had such an influence on our lives, but know that they have left us all with a club that is back on its feet… they are part of this phoenix that has risen out of the ashes.
Amy, Alex, Phil, Bron, Jess, Ashley and Aimee… thank you. You have been a pleasure to coach and Nick, John and myself are so honoured to have had a part to play in your lives. We’re going to miss you guys."

Thanks for an awesome year guys. Keep rowing, and keep being just the way you all are...

Thank you Opens 2007/2008...

2008-03-04T09:34:00.011+02:00

I lost it a bit on Saturday... I wasn't angry that we didn't make an A Final in the double and it was quite an effort to keep my chin up going into the quad racing on Sunday.

In the grand scheme of things, I see now that I did the best that I could have done - the girls got off the water and there were no harsh word or 'what ifs'... only an quiet disappointment from the girls and a whole lot of soul searching in the beer tent for me. I know of other crews that got off the water and were ripped to shreds by their coaches for not performing - was that a good move with the important racing still to come and the athlete's nerves a bit frayed? We ended up winning the B Final and going home a bit dejected, but ever positive about the big one the following day.

It always amazes me how the troubles of the past are washed away with just one good performance. The girls blasted through to a silver medal in the A Final of the quad on Sunday - and all was forgotten and forgiven. All of the seemingly wierd and counter-productive things I had been doing in the past became genius and I caught a glimpse then of what Jake White must have felt like as he held aloft the Rugby World Cup Webb Ellis Trophy.

There are a great many thank you's that need to be said after a long and testing season. If I've left anyone out, know that I will always remember every single person that made the 2007/2008 season what it was and everyone who taught me some valuable lessons along the way.

Cayley (the quiet one), Dan (for enjoying the sport for what it is, not what you can get out of it), Faye (bubbly), Kris (love the eyes), Kel (for smiling almost 24/7), Ashley (my voice of reason), Minx (still full of shit, but I love it), Aimee (sorry about yr last race, we missed you), Urshula (maintenance-lady), Gen (quiet but crazy - can put a 400kg boat and crew through the eye of a needle), Jess (you worked hard... and it paid off), Lisa (you taught me alot - thank you), Bianca (Plan B!), Alex (keep smiling - you're the one who'll miss this sport the most - and for the right reasons. Thanks for the support), Abby (no hard feelings),Bronwyn (my favourite Swede - I've never seen anyone push so hard), Phil (my fellow cat-lover), Jani (keen as hell and the most infectious laugh), Claire (good luck for squad), Jomi (you give ginger kid's alot of street cred), Courtney (see? short kids can do amazing things! to me, yr 6ft tall!) and Amy (you've achieved almost exactly, if not more, than what Jo did... and you lived yr dream).

Sue & Greg (you're finally free!), Dave & Anne (you're to blame for that extra speed!), Clive, Derek, Willem, Marie, Arthur & Barbara, Wayne & Jackie and all of the parents and the committee - this club is what it is and where it is because of you.

Matt H (you helped me through a whole lot and stood by me more than you had to - thank you), Nic (you're gonna be an awesome coach), BJ (one of the best and passionate coaches I've ever met) , Meri (my cuddle-buddy), Steve (the Steveniski 17 help a whole lot!), Maxine (my arms still hurt), Marco (well friggin done mate!), Vicky (we fought less this season sis... I think we're growing up!) and John (a 5-star chef and 5-star friend - you had a bigger part to play in this than you think bud - thank you).

Next season's a few months away... and we've set ourselves up for a good one. But for now... we can all sit back, relax, have a social life and forget about the sport that drives us crazy for 6 months of the year.

At least we learned something...

2008-02-19T12:43:00.007+02:00

I never relish the thought of a tour to East London. I keep saying I will never go back, but I end up spending my Valentine's Day every year under the massive bridge on the side of a rainy Buffalo River watching crews fight against that notorious headwind.

For a long time in January I struggled to come to terms with why we were going on tour so close to Champs... results at the Buffalo and Selbourne Sprint Regattas were never any indication of how well a crew would do two weeks later at the Nationals - in 2006, my Holy Rosary 1st quad came 4th in East London (the worst result of that season) and we ended up a close second at Champs. So in my mind, the only thing that could be gained from the bastard regatta that robbed me of my Valentine's plans every year was a blow to the mentality of the girls in my crews, since if we do well, it's no indication of our performance at Champs, and if we do not perform, the girls will read ito it too much and be dispondant going into the final two weeks of the season. I was to be proven wrong... We had a cracker of a weekend, winning the sprint regatta and cementing our place in the leading pack in every event over the 2000m course.

The one thing that impressed me about the weekend and the way the girls raced, was the maturity they seemed to have developed over the past few weeks. I'm sure Anne and Dave are to thank for this... before the first session they had with the girls Dave mentioned that I shouldn't expect a change in the girls right away, that the metamorphosis would take time and that like newly planted seeds, the mental excercises and concepts would grow inside their minds as they applied it to their racing and training. Every athlete that came off the water on the weekend seemed to beginning to see their perfromances from an objective side - not reading too much into a dissapointing result and keeping a clear head after a victory (I had told them that results at buffalo didn't usually carry through to Champs).

All in all it was a good tour - the girls had fun and were able to get some bonding time in with the other members of the club and within the age-group. There were a few head-butting incidents with the umpires and regatta-organisers (they're the real reason I say theat I won't go back every year... but that tirade's best left for another time), but I had fun and we definately got something out of it all - I say this even though it all could have gone the other way.

It's becoming a yearly tradition for me to say this, and with luck I'll be able to actually stick to my promise next year, but I don't think I want to return to East London again... I just hope the girls took leasons about their racing and the opposition away from this weekend rather than results.

Pikey’s, Top Gun and a Leoplurodon - The little things that count

2008-01-06T08:53:00.000+02:00

I leaned outside of the boat, careful not to let anyone behind me know what I was doing - I’d already been called to sit down from an umpire in the launch in our wake. We needed to tell them that they were still in it, that they needed to hang on a little longer and they’d catch up. The coaches had been given explicit instructions that they were not to signal their crews at any time during the race, but John and I, almost of one mind, had turned to each other to suggest the same thing. In the distance I could see St Stithians, the third crew in this 3-crew B-final. They had wrapped the race up by the 2km mark and were powering their way to a 3rd place overall - we were fighting for second with Clarendon. I saw John give a thumbs up through a gap between the two umpires sitting in front as I caught sight of Courtney. I was happy to see that she was keeping her eyes on the stern in front of her like we had practiced - all of my nagging seemed to have paid off. She was wearing her sunglasses, but I knew she saw what I was doing because she smiled as I began to nod to her.

Courtney turned her head slightly to the side and called something to the crew that was lost in the wind and tortured water around us. Jomi sat up, Jani’s puddles swelled, Bronwyn connected harder and sooner, and I could only imagine the smirk on Amy’s face as she felt the gear-change in the cox’s seat. The horse reared and the shell began to cut the water like lightning let loose from Olympus. It was ten strokes before they drew level with the green and white of Clarendon and in another ten they were breaking contact.

John and I were ecstatic and were silently going crazy in the back of the leading umpire’s launch. A few minutes earlier I was in utter despair thinking that we had been totally outclassed and solidly beaten, but the girls had come back from being over two lengths down at the beginning of the 4km race. Never had I imagined that that group of girls could come together as a crew like this in such a short time. I had always known the potential that lay within them, and they had only begun to realise it now. We weren’t quite an A-Final crew yet, but the girls had won a private victory against themselves.

I realised that it was the little things that John and I had done that had made all the difference. I had learned that I couldn’t do everything myself and had finally asked for help from those who knew more about certain aspects of sport than I did. Anne and Dave had sown the seeds that I was beginning to see grow in each of the girls and I realised that I owed a great deal to Sue for the mediation she had provided. The three of them had definitely made the previous weeks some of the most special and enthralling of my coaching and rowing career - and had given the girls a freedom to begin to develop as a team.

The girls had opened up a three-length lead by the time they passed under the old bridge that marked the real beginning of the home stretch. Amy would be able to see the finish line now and would be heading in a straight line for the NSRI building. I could just see the black emblem on the hull beside her head, the symbol that meant something different to each of them, but held them all to a single purpose. Darren would be proud that his work had meant so much to them and I made a mental note to thank him for it when I got home.

I only noticed the sound of the car horns blaring from the side of the river as our launch passed under the old bridge. Looking back, I caught sight of Matt H and Vicky, two of the St Andrews coaches that had come down to support. Meri, Shannon and Gisella were no doubt around somewhere cheering like mad things. My head throbbed a little, reminding me of their ‘stress-relief’ session the night before and I smiled, remembering how they had been John and my voices-of-reason over the past week.

The girls crossed the line and the ordeal was officially over. Everything that I had done for the last month had culminated in this and I had everyone involved to thank for it, even Charlie the Unicorn, Boris the Bullet-Dodger and Maverick.

I’ve had a good few weeks now to forget about rowing, go to the coast, put my feet up and get rid this horrific slop tan. I’ve had trouble finding the right words to explain what I have experienced over the past two months - so much has happened that it has taken a long while to get my thoughts into some semblance of order.

Everything seems to be falling into place and I’m excited for the rest of the season. Camp starts on Wednesday and I’m looking forward to applying to the age-group what I’ve only recently learned with 7 special people.

Selections - Round 2 (Boat Race)

2007-10-18T09:03:00.000+02:00

Selecting a crew sucks... What irritates me the most about it is what happens afterwards... some quit and some stay on but still have a despondent attitude that they deserve to be in the boat and that the selector is wrong.

Any coach in any sport will tell you that selections are based on a range of criteria, some quantifyable (objective) and other not (subjective). In rowing, there is often the scenario that the fastest combination on paper is not the fastest combination on the water. Things like technical skill and cohesion with the other athletes play a huge role in who makes a boat. Doing well in one aspect of the selection does not automatically qualify you for a spot in a particular boat.

When considering between one or two athletes for the last spot in a boat, I tend to include aspects like the person's attitude and commitment towards racing and training. If, for example, an athlete repeatedly asks a coach before the season if she can cox since she knows how difficult it will be to make a crew, I'm not going to think highly of her attitude towards getting some work done to make the crew, and that athlete will have to prove herself that liitle bit more to make that boat. Coaches will use everything they see, no matter how insignificant it seems at the time, to select between two athletes with nothing between them... and it helps to perform on the day since, like racing, you only get one shot at selections to show your worth.

The most interesting aspect of this post-selection period is the number of athletes that quit the sport. I have incredible respect for those who, when they have not made it into a crew, try to fight their way up, and nothing but dissapointment and a small amount of anger for those who cut and run. Coaches and team-mates have invested a considerable amount of time and effort into making an age-group or club as strong as it can be, and these are the people who are let down by quiters. The resignation is always accompanied by statements that the reason for leaving is not due to selections or the fact that they have dropped... I have a hard time believing that.

There are members of this age-group that would give an eye to be in a boat and race, and even though they can't participate to the extent that they want to, they make the effort for the rest of us, no matter where they fit in... those kids are the life of this club, and it's for those girls that I have all the time in the world.

There is a bigger picture here guys... if you didn't make the boat that you wanted to be in, keep fighting for that spot. Because by doing that, everyone will do well... the kids who struggle to make the 3rd crew will benefit, and so will everyone below them.

I don't care who's in a particular boat, as long as that crew is the fastest that I can field after considering all of my selection criteria... both subjective and objective.

Focusing on ourselves... the only way to perfrom when we need to!

2007-10-16T08:21:00.000+02:00

In competitive sculling, as with most other competitive things in life, there are no second chances. Nobody's going to re-run a championship event because you didn't have a good race, no-one will let you re-take an exam because you screwed up or didn't study... everyone has a bad day once in a while, and if that bad day happens to be the day of your Olympic A Final... tough shit, nobody cares but you.

We've had a bit of a rough start to the season. The girls have not performed as well as I thought they would, but we're learning alot from every race, even if we're coming in the lower 50% of the field. I keep telling myself that I'd rather we have our bad races now and learn from them so that we can get to Champs or Boat Race knowing what not to do, but we need to have some promising performances now, and I'm not seeing them.

Our erg scores are not good and some of the girls are having trouble grasping technical concepts, but based on the performances from last season we should be up near the front of the pack fighting for 3rd at least.

I think that we're worrying too much about performing. If the girls (and myself) just relax and focus on our own preparation instead of trying to beat the others all of the time, the performances will come when we need them, and we'll start having fewer bad outings and races.

We need to set a goal and get to work achieving it... and saying we're going to come 3rd in the next regatta or at Champs is not going to cut it... that gets us focusing on the competition again and not on ourselves. We need to aim for something like improved erg scores or improving our max squat every week... if we get caught up stressing about other crews, we'll have pretty much resigned ourselves to bad performances.

One of the parents filmed some of the starts at the sprint regatta this last weekend, and I noticed that all of the girls have their eyes on the crews to the left and right for the majority of the first 500m... even in the coxed events where they don't have to even look at the lane buoys.

Rowing is not a sport where strategies and game plans play a huge role in winning or performing well. Athletes have to perform the same motion about 250 times over a straight 2000m course with no obstructions or obstacles, and the most efficient one reaches the line first. Race plans and tactics play a role in the outcome of a race, but there are only so many things that you can do differently... going out fast and holding on, or racing from behind and conserving a bit to come through in the final stages are about all there is to it. So why do we constantly feel the need to look at the boats next to us if all it will do is screw up our concentration and rhythm?

We should be happy to row our own race and let the coxes worry about where we are in relation to the rest of the field.

This also extends to erg assessments. Many of the girls rely heavily on some 'superstitions' when doing an erg test... the right music or only certain people talking to them. As far as I'm concerned, you push your feet through those footplates regardless of what is going on around you and you focus on what you're doing then and there.

2000m races are a crazy time for anyone... there are coxes screaming into their mic's with the speakers turned up too high, umpires calling for crews to stay in their own water and a general atmosphere that the world is crashing down around you. Add to this the stress that you are putting your body under... and you are not in a very happy place. There is no inspirational music nor is there your favorite cox or fellow athlete at your side guiding you down the course... so why should we spoil ourselves on the erg? Practice being in a race under proper race conditions, and you'll more likely be accustomed to that stress by the time you experience it for real.

It's great to have fun and enjoy rowing but in terms of performance, John and I are only asking for about 4 hours of intense training and performance out of the 8 or 9 hours you spend a week in the gym or on the water. You can have 4-5 hours of fun with your friends and good music in your ears a week... and if we start to get into it, the performance part will be fun as well... that's when all that time you spend training will be worth it and you'll really start to love rowing and racing.

Exams...

2007-10-11T09:24:00.000+02:00

Hope you guys have all started studying... training's going to be pretty tough in November.

Time to Work... Hard!

2007-10-08T07:44:00.000+02:00

A friend of mine (who coaches the JW16's at the same club as I do) said something to me this weekend that got me thinking... that the girls should tick off every session as 'money in the bank'... resources that they are going to cash out at Champs. Every interval, every push, every stroke, every rep... things that will make them faster for that one day that counts.

My girls have had a pretty tough week or two... we've had to shift them around in the crews due to illnesses and it has not been very comfortable on John or myself. It has been a real disruption, and I cancelled half the sessions this week so that everyone was at least getting better over the course of the week. All of this happened at just the right time though... our first race of the season was this previous weekend, and we had to field the fastest crews that we could. The first race is, after all, the first proper reference point to see where we stand relative to the other clubs.

We got beaten... quite badly, although the girls enjoyed the racing and it calmed their frustrations at not knowing how fast they really are. They needed to be beaten I think... rather now than when it's too late to wake up and get some work done to fix it. It jolted them into realizing how much work we really have to do to beat the opposition, and I think that they'll be alot more focused and driven from now on. They're beginning to understand the 'money in the bank' analogy... and John and I are too. Everything we say and do must be geared towards driving them on to perform better.

On the bright side... we didn't race our proper crews this weekend, and I still don't know how fast we really are with everyone at 100%. We've got 8 girls to pull from for that 1st crew, and we definately are faster than we showed this weekend. The gaps are close-able but only if we work hard now... because the other clubs will be faster by the next time we line up next to them.

Some of our comptitors have written us off a little and that's a nice place to be... let's race as underdogs.

Beating the Colds and Flu...

2007-10-03T10:38:00.000+02:00

Hi all...

These two atricles were posted on the SA Rowing Coaches' Association website recently. Please read them (I know it sounds alot like school work)... You all know what contributes to you getting sick and I think we all need to start making sure that we're doing everything we can to stay healthy and able to train.

Matt

Keeping the Bugs at Bay during the Winter Season

Dr David Nieman

From Coaching Australia. Vol. 9. No 1. August 2005

The relationship between exercise and the immune system is of great importance for coaches and their athletes during the winter season, when illness and infection can compromise an athlete in training and competition.

The ‘Open Window’ Theory

It has been suggested that bouts of heavy, prolonged exercise can lead to a temporary but clinically significant reduction in an athlete’s immune function. During this so-called ‘open window’ of altered immunity, which may last between three and 72 hours depending on the immune measure, viruses and bacteria may be able to gain a foothold, increasing the risk of infection. Parts of the immune system that may change after prolonged, heavy exertion include:

decrease in natural killer-cell activity — the ability to kill infected cells or cancer cells decrease in nasal and salivary Immunoglobulin A concentration — an antibody that combines with protein in saliva and tears to defend the body from invading germs

high blood levels of the hormone cortisol cause high blood levels of neutrophils and low levels of lymphocytes — two different types of white blood cells

decrease in nasal mucociliary clearance — sweeping movement of small hair-like structures in the nose

increase in plasma concentrations of pro and anti-inflammatory immune cells known as cytokines.

Taken together, these changes suggest that the immune system is temporarily suppressed and stressed following prolonged endurance exercise. It has been suggested that the immune system reacts to the inflammation caused by heavy exertion, diverting resources that normally protect against infection, particularly upper respiratory tract infection.

Thus it makes sense, but still remains unproven, that upper respiratory tract infection risk is probably increased when an athlete goes through repeated cycles of heavy exertion, has been exposed to viruses and bacteria that cause infections, and has experienced other stressors to the immune system, including lack of sleep, severe mental stress, poor nutrition or weight loss.

Role of Nutritional Supplements in Reducing Exercise-Induced Changes in Immunity

Although endurance athletes may be at increased risk of upper respiratory tract infections during heavy training cycles, they still need to exercise intensively to compete successfully. Therefore, one solution could be taking nutrient supplements that have the potential to boost immune function. The influence of carbohydrate, vitamin C and glutamine on the immune response to intense and prolonged exercise has been investigated with varying results.

Carbohydrate

The most impressive results have been reported in carbohydrate supplementation studies. Research has established that blood glucose concentrations are linked to the body’s hormonal system, including the stress hormones. This, in turn, is linked to the body’s immune system. By keeping the blood glucose levels up, stress hormones are reduced and immune system function is better maintained than when just water is ingested.

Research shows that athletes ingesting carbohydrate beverages before, during and after prolonged and intensive exercise should experience lowered physiologic stress.

This model suggests that carbohydrate supplementation during prolonged and intensive exercise maintains or elevates blood glucose concentrations, reduces the normal rise in stress hormones, and thereby counters negative immune changes.

Vitamin C

Several studies of South African ultra-marathon runners have shown a link between vitamin C supplementation (about 600 mg/day for three weeks) and fewer reports of upper respiratory tract infection. While findings suggest that vitamin C supplementation may be beneficial during and after strenuous physical activity, the data does not prove that supplementation with vitamin C is also beneficial during moderate training.

Glutamine

Glutamine, a non-essential amino acid (building block of protein), has attracted much attention from investigators.

Lower levels of glutamine result in reduced immune function, and reduced blood glutamine levels have been observed after prolonged exercise. It has been suggested that glutamine supplementation may overcome the problems of overtraining, or the impaired immune function suffered by athletes involved in heavy training. However, most studies have not favoured such a relationship.

Summary

There is growing evidence that prolonged intensive exercise is associated with reduced immune function and an increased susceptibility to opportunistic infections, particularly upper respiratory tract infections. Exercise-induced increases in stress hormones may be responsible. Attempts have been made to prevent these negative changes through nutritional means, with carbohydrate supplementation via a sports drink offering the most promising results so far.

Coping With Colds
By Paul Davies & Dr R Budgett
October '98

Common autumn and winter illnesses can generally be split into two groups; those that only affect the lining of the nose and throat (colds and upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs)), and more serious infections where the virus or bacteria cause more widespread symptoms. The symptoms for colds and URTIs are generally localised to above the neck and include dry sore throat, nasal congestion and/or runny nose, sneezing and slightly swollen glands. If, in addition to the above symptoms, there is a significant rise in resting heart rate (greater than 20%), significantly swollen glands, cough, general aches, fever and fatigue then a more serious infection is likely to be present.

For colds and URTIs localised to above the neck, light exercise will help to speed recovery. This should be performed at a very low intensity (lower than UT2) for between five and seven days, until the symptoms have disappeared. It is important that only light exercise is performed at this time. This could take the form of cross-training such as walking or very light cycling. If hard exercise is performed whilst symptoms are still present, there is a significant risk of delayed recovery and of secondary infection such as sinusitis or bronchitis. If the symptoms are no longer present following 5-7 days of easy exercise, then training can be gradually increased over a period of three days, with normal training being resumed between the eighth and tenth day.

In the presence of symptoms below the neck that suggest a more severe and widespread infection, a medical opinion should be sought and complete rest for between three and seven days must be taken. Most of these infections are caused by viruses and will not benefit from antibiotics, but occasionally there is a secondary bacterial infection and antibiotics may be given. When symptoms have reduced, such that aches, fever, fatigue and productive cough are no longer present, light exercise can be performed. This should be done for a further five to seven days, until all symptoms have disappeared. This can then be followed by an escalation of training up to normal levels over three days. A cough may persist for up to three weeks after a chest infection and very intensive exercise should be avoided until this resolves.

It is important to note that during the early stages of any infection, extra rest and regeneration strategies, as well as light exercise will help to speed recovery. This means drinking large volumes of fluid (> 40 ml of fluid per kilogram of bodyweight per day), eating a healthy diet, using relaxation techniques and increasing ‘lifestyle rest’ to help maximise recovery. Taking paracetamol or aspirin will help to alleviate symptoms but unfortunately will not speed recovery. You are most infectious at the start of a cold, so to avoid spreading the illness it may be prudent to avoid other members of the team during this time.

G., Ilback N. G. (1992), Exercise and infection: interaction, risks and benefits. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2. 177-189.

What would you give?

2007-10-01T11:54:00.000+02:00

Rowing hurts... it blisters your hands, chews at your calves, fills your muscles with lactic until they burn and go numb, deprives you of sleep, puts you at the mercy of seemingly sadistic coaches in the heat, cold and wet... it disappoints and disheartens, defeating you so much sometimes and kicking you when you're down so hard that you don't want to get up even if you could...

Why do we do this to ourselves? Do we like being sore and tired all the time?What's in it for us? The rewards are fleeting... so distant and uncertain that is it ever really worth it?

I've noticed that a few of the girls are asking these very questions and not finding any answers. We know that we're faster, fitter and more technically efficient than we all were at camp, but without some guide or measure as to how we are really performing relative to the competition, it's difficult to keep focused on what we're trying to achieve.

The girls need to understand that this season is a journey... taken one step at a time. We need to concentrate on what's happening now and stop worrying about where we will be next week or next month or next regatta or next year. Each session needs to be broken down stroke by stroke, making sure that every movement and every sequence is as perfect as they can make them at that moment. If things go wrong, a missed catch or an out of synch leg-drive, they need to learn from it and move on, making sure that the next one is better. If we carry on like this, everything will start coming together and the girls will start finding answers to some of the questions they've been asking themselves.

Sure, rowing hurts. But it hurts even more when you know you could've done better and didn't. Training's been tough over the past few weeks since camp. The girls are tired and I'm even feeling the early mornings and long sessions a bit. But if we get to SA Champs and lose by a bow-ball, what would we give to have trained that little bit harder or longer - just to be that split-second faster?

Counting the Final Strokes - One for the Coxes...

2007-09-26T08:57:00.000+02:00

I found this article on the Row2K.com website. It's a new addition to one of their many columns on rowing, coxing and training for rowing in general by Rob Colburn.

I'll post the whole thing here, but if you want to read more, just click on the link below or go to http//:www.row2k.com.

http://row2k.com/columns/index.cfm

"Counting the Final Strokes to the Finish Line Accurately
posted on September 24, 2007

The final ten strokes of a race are crucial; they are the "empty the tanks" strokes where you want your rowers to be able to expend every last ounce of energy without holding anything back. There is a saying, "the last stroke you take is the last stroke you can take," so a coxswain can make a real contribution to a boat if the rowers know exactly how many strokes they have left. There is a special room in hell reserved for coxswains who miscall the final ten (as well as buckets of coxswain blood on boat bay floors) and who either have to say "uh, sorry, two more," or who waste two or three strokes by leaving too much margin.

Counting the final ten strokes accurately takes practice, doing it over and over again until you know how far your boat will go in ten strokes. Some people simply are more used to using the spatial functions of their visual cortexes than others. (I am not one of those, incidentally.) The distance will differ for eights and fours; it will differ according to headwind or tailwind or current. Ultimately, it comes down to a certain boatfeel and a lot of experience, but here are some techniques you can use to speed the learning process and make it more of a science.

Most importantly, make yourself conscious of distances every time you practice a piece with your boat, in all conditions. (This has uses in situations other than the final ten).

Test yourself not only whenever you are practicing the final thousand or final five hundred meters, (when you will actually be counting the final ten), but also when you are doing any piece. Silently test yourself as you come up to the end of, for example, a middle five hundred. Pick points during pieces when you think you are ten strokes from them, and see how right you are until you get better and better at it. If you are doing power tens, you can test yourself by picking a point out ahead of you on the water that you think your boat will get to. (Bear in mind though, that a boat going into the final ten of its sprint may have a lot more speed on it than a boat doing individual tens). The more familiar you become with distances -- even at different ratings and stages of the race -- the more you will be able to think ahead during various stages of a race, and to anticipate how the blocks of the race will fit together.

Don't be afraid to tell your boat, "I'm going to practice calling the final ten on this one until I get it down."

Distances over water can be deceiving; appearance can vary depending on how smooth or rough the water is. Cross-correlate during practice by picking points along shore to get a feel for how far ten strokes looks against a fixed distance, and combine that with estimating water distance; the two will help reinforce each other.

Naturally, if you race on a home course, you can pick out landmarks during practice that you can use during a race, but even on an unfamiliar course, the practice you have gained estimating distance based on fixed points will be helpful.

On a buoyed racecourse, the standard interval is ten meters between buoys. An eight with decent speed and ratio covers roughly ten meters per stroke. Use your practices to figure out your particular boat's distance. A four might take eleven strokes to cover the same distance an eight covers in ten. Obviously, headwinds and tailwinds adjust this. Get a feel for what 100 meters looks like in various contexts, over water, on land, while driving, riding a bicycle, any situation you can think of until you just know at a glance, "that's one hundred meters."

In theory, if your bow is ten buoys from the finish line, that will be your last-ten-strokes call; however it's not as easy as it seems. Studies have shown that the human eye can apprehend groups of three -- or at most four -- objects at a glance; more than that requires conscious counting. Linguists have theorized that that is the reason that 3 and 4 were not only "sacred" numbers in a number of cultures, but also that it is the reason why -- in many languages -- the numbers up to three, or occasionally four, have declension endings (especially the ordinal numbers) and the higher numbers do not. (e.g. in English, "first," "second," "third" have unique endings, but beginning with "fourth," all numbers end in "-th." Latin declines "uno" "duo" and "tres" but not "quattor" or higher.)

Whatever the biological reason, during the last ten strokes of a race, there simply isn't time to count buoys, especially when the coxswain needs to be doing a lot of other things such as making calls, keeping track of other boats which may be charging, giving the building strokes for the final stroke count increase, etc.

A trick to get around this is to speed-count the final buoys as 3-3-4, which your eye can do almost instantly. It's even faster if you count them backwards from the finish line, so that the group of four is closest to you. If you are coxing a four, you might do it as 3-4-4.

None of these tricks is foolproof, but used in combination they will help you get better at it. In time, it will become almost second nature, so that you'll just know when it's right."

Letting Go...

2007-09-21T07:31:00.000+02:00

Within any sport or fraternity there is a certain amount of animosity and friction amongst participants and coaches... whether because of past grievances or just because of the nature of the activity - it is always present.
When I started this blog, I was determined that it not become a medium to voice unconstructive frustrations and complains of others, but rather that it be a means of communicating to those reading my love of sculling, rowing and coaching and to get some feedback on what I'm doing and thinking. Writing about the great times I've had (and am having) is becoming an ever more amazing experience... it seems to solidify the good times and enable me to reflect objectively on the bad. Frustrations do seem to creep in though, and I sometimes find myself obsessed very negative thoughts and ideas that are counter-productive to the objectives of training, racing and this sport in general. I just have to regard it as an outsider... objectively... learn from it and let it go.

A few things happened last season (I'm not going to mention them... there are those that know what I'm talking about) that made me take a good hard look at why I coach and row. It was the first time that politics and underhandedness in sport had affected me in such a personal way. I lost some good friends (if they were ever friends to begin with) and began to coach and row for very different reasons - to get back at those few people and out-perform them.
I began to projecting my frustrations through the athletes I coached, and I realise how unfair and selfish it was of me. All I can ask of the kids that I teach are to do their best and if we come out on top... awesome. If not, I hope they have fun competing and partaking in the sport that I love.

I had a talk with the some of the crews (the two that I'm coaching) about 2 weeks ago where I asked all of them to list their goals for the season... not just performance targets, but what they wanted to get out of the season and what they expected to get out of me. I was impressed that all of them defined success and accomplishment as something other than winning a gold medal at Champs. Less than 10% of those that race at SA Champs in March every year win a medal... so by defining success as winning at that regatta, we're implying that 90% of the junior rowers in this country are losers and failures.

Every discussion came down to us enjoying the competition and having fun... and that included me. No more trying to beat those that have wronged me in the past ... it's water under the bridge (karma's a biaatch, so it's out of my hands). We've all got to learn to let it go and carry on... it's the only way that we'll stay sane and the only way that we're going to get enjoyment and accomplishment out of this season. If we do this, we'll have an awesome time and fond memories of our experiences together. The good performances will come in time... without us even knowing it.

International 'Talk-Like-a-Pirate' Day - September 19th

2007-09-18T08:45:00.000+02:00

Yay! One of my favorite days of the year! It's just one of those quirky events that saves us from the doldrums of our sometimes dull existence... and I love it for that. 'Talk Like a Pirate' Day is generally just a day where you throw a bunch of very loud Yarrr's around every second sentence and everyone refers to themselves as 'me'... Example: Yarr matey! Me footboard needs moving! Hurry up... There be pirating to do!, etc. etc.

I've told all of the girls that there'd be a prize for the best dressed pirate crew... though I still have to decide what it will be, and I had to put some restrictions on the revelry... like no eye-patches for coxes (some of them tend to hit things with both eyes open) and obvious things like nothing that'll catch in the runners during the outing (seeing as we still have to get some solid training in) and no boarding of other crews boats.

I expect that John and I will be seeing some amazing things tomorrow... Yarr! Can't wait!

Everyone loves an underdog...

2007-09-14T07:10:00.000+02:00

Everyone loves an underdog… why? Maybe it’s the surprise upset of the favourites falling to a lesser team, or that everyone hates seeing the same people winning every time… or maybe it’s that love of witnessing a group of individuals overcome all odds and realize the potential within themselves that they can play with the big boys… and win.

The best way to train is competitively. Girls aren’t as naturally competitive as guys are, and so they have to be put into competitive situations more frequently and there’s nothing better to watch than a group of athletes fight and grit their teeth against another until one pops. John and myself have allocated 2 sessions a week to competitive training on the water and we did one of the first proper ones today. We had an amazing outing. It was difficult, but the girls fought through it and every one of them got something out of it. What helps is that John and I are blatantly biased on the water with our crews. We often scream out for our crew against the others and it definitely helps the athletes get over the taunts and comments that they’ll experience in a race.

I wasn’t going to include my 4th crew in the pieces that the 1sts and 2nds/3rds were doing and was happy to let them paddle steady around the lake for 6 or 7 laps, but I decided to include them at the last minute to add another crew into the racing mix. They complained and moaned, but got on with it. John lined them up about a length clear in front of the 2nds/3rds who were a length ahead of my 1st crew.

Two TR pieces later, they had held back the charge of the faster crews admirably, but they were buggered and asked that they be allowed not to finish the session. I did feel a bit bad lining them up again after shrugging off their complaints and we did another 3 or 4 pieces where they didn’t really hold off the other crews, but they kept up the intensity. They were beaten convincingly in the last interval and I could see them give in as my 1st crew got contact with their stern.

I didn’t shout or scream at them, nor was I even disappointed. They had performed really well against crews that were substantially stronger and quicker than they were. They had had a great outing and were glad that I had made them finish… they will definitely be faster for it and I think that they learned something: that they only need to succeed as an underdog once to rattle the nerves of a faster crew, even if it was one or two pieces out of six or seven. They’ll have bragging rights for eternity (almost), and the boost it gives to the crew is immense… they begin to see that potential within themselves and they’ll push harder for that feeling again… because the experience is far, far better when you win when you're expected not to.

Everybody loves an underdog… I definitely do.

St Andrews Ergothon 2007

2007-09-13T02:27:00.000+02:00

St Andrews holds it traditional annual Spring Day on Saturday (15th Sept 2007). It's a day filled with markets, sports events and general summer time-type stuff. For the past 3 or 4 years, the rowing club has hosted a pretty successful indoor regatta. Due to constraints on time during the day, it usually only runs for about 3 or 4 hours, but it's good solid racing and can be marked off as a training session.

I've spent the last three days trying to get the ergos to synchronize and the regatta software to work, because something always goes wrong on the day and we have to scramble to get it fixed or to find a compromise. This is the first year that I'm runing it and I must say that I'm quite excited about the whole thing... nothing beats a good solid competition... and it beats sitting on the erg for 60min doing steady state. My girls will get something out of it I'm sure... I hope.

I upgraded the PM3 monitors with the latest version of their software (FirmWare v.097), and nothing seemed to work. The ergo gods were smiting me. It wasn't until I downgraded to v.082 that things started to come together. I must remember to thank Rob Pullen, the sports director at the school, for all his help. He's got an entire hockey festival to organise and run on the same day as well as managing all the other sports (netball, swimming, etc) for the week and for Sping Day... I'd go insane!

Training's going ok... we need to spend a bit more time in the big boats... but sitting in singles for a week or two is probably a good thing.

Two weeks and one day to the first 2k race of the season... just need to keep my head down and get the work done. We'll be fine.

Serendipity (1)

2007-09-10T02:34:00.000+02:00

I love that word... happiness found in an unexpected place or by mistake somehow heightens the experience and you feel more ecstatic than in a usual jubilant moment. Serendipity, unfortunately, works the other way as well... dissappointments can be equally magnified when you don't expect them. We as sentient beings seem to steel ourselves for joys or hurt if we know what's coming, but an experience that hits us square between the eyes when we're least expecting it seems to be incredibly overexaggerated.

John and I had this experience this weekend at the final rounds of trials for the girls' quad sculls. We seat-raced a number of the girls for a few spots in the five boats and some of the results were quite unexpected. A few that we thought would perform didn't, and one or two raced better than I have ever seen them do...

The announcements of the results after the racing shocked some, and I can't say that I enjoyed them, but the changes were made for a reason and we will see in the next few weeks if they have made a difference... both John and I are sure that they have.

I mentioned in another post that I hate to announce the results of selections since someone will invariably be disappointed... and the same was true on Saturday. Athletes have to understand that while it's difficult to justify the reasons for dropping someone when he/she is still emotional from the shock of the decision, how diffucult will it be to explain the justification for not promoting a person who has performed well? It will be impossible... and pretty damn stupid since we're trying to get the fastest crews possible.

I just hope that they'll see the bigger picture... that John and I are trying to get the age group to perform as a whole, and that every rower has her part to play... no matter which seat they're sitting in. A major part of our jobs as coaches is to get them to see that and to fight to make the crew that they're a part of as fast as possible. We have to make the fifth, fourth, third and second races and training as big a deal as the first quads training is... we must just keep that light burning bright in their eyes.

Rigging Woes...

2007-09-03T03:55:00.000+02:00

Last week I had a problem...

John and I have two Coxed Quads for each of our top two crews, Albano for the 2nd Crew and Corbervois for the 1st Crew. Corbervois is a carbon shell based on a lightweight coxless quad design and is about 2 or three seasons old, and Albano is the same shape, but made of kevlar honeycomb and a bit of carbon and is about 9 seasons old.

Camp last week saw our athletes race competitively against each other in these two boats, and John's 3rd Crew in Albano was out-performing my 1st Crew in Corbervois.

Holy crap... was all we could say.

The girls were complaining a bit about Corbervios sitting on stroke side (starboard side) during the pieces, and so the only thing that I could think of was that Albano was set up better than Corbs since John and myself had been going insane to make sure that we had selected girls for the 1st Crew that were superior than the 3rds on paper. So I spent about 5 hours on Saturday evening after we arrived back from camp running through Corbervois to try and get it set up at base (average) settings, and I was panicking before this morning's session about whether it would make a difference, or whether it would just make it worse.

I held my breath as I approached my crew sitting in Corbervois at the top of the lake after their warm-up. All of the girls kinda spoke in unison and I got pelted with a very shrieky, "Holy SHIT Matt...! Whatever you did... it's awesome!", and I almost fell out of the launch with relief.

We went on to have a great session, although the heights were a little high for my 5 foot 3 inch stroke. Those hours spent slaving away on a Saturday evening had really paid off... so with a bit of tweaking and some good luck, I should have the rig just right by Boat Race in 13 weeks time.

Crew Selections - August/September 2007

2007-09-03T01:43:00.000+02:00

Alot has happened over the last few weeks... too much to put in just one post. World Champs 2007 (in Munich) have come and gone, the school season here in SA has just started (very quietly) and Spring has arrived with it's slightly less freezing mornings and toasty afternoons.

We've just come off a training/selection camp at the Vaal River. With my age group of 25 girls, John and I have had our hands full. I wanted to get the selections for my top Coxed Quad over with in the first two days, and so we held erg tests on the previous Friday (2000m test) and Saturday (6000m test)... water trials (single's races & seat races) were on Tuesday.

The athletes were so close that it was tough to decide between who should be in the top 4 and who would make up the second string boat. To add to all of the stress and confusion of selecting between almost identical rowers, three of the top girls were sick and hacking their lungs out every session. We settled on a crew in the end, but I'm not sure that it's the fastest that we can field... we'll just have to wait until everyone's 100%.

I was amazed at the standard of competition and the fight in some of the girls though... like we have an age-group of pit bulls pulling at the chains to make it into the top crew and savage the competition. Some of the girls from the J16 A and B crews last year have been relegated to the D & E boats. It's a shock to them and a bigger shock for John and I when the time came to announce the crews.

It's one of the toughest things to do as a coach, telling some one that they're just not fast enough and seeing the light go out in their eyes. What I hope for when I break the news is their anger... not with us, but with themselves. An anger that fuels their minds and bodies for the fight back into the top boats... a drive makes them crush the competition in the hope that John and me will notice. We made two simple rules on camp regarding the announcement of selection results: 1. John and I would talk to those who didn't make it alone before the announcement to break the bad news, so that there were no huge surprises to those who would be disappointed, and 2. Questions and explanations would only be considered the morning following the announcement to give the girls time to think on it and to eliminate 'heat-of-the-moment' comments and angry questions. These were a huge help in making the selections and announcements easier and more stream-lined.

I wish that there were 25 places in that 1st crew... that everyone can be a part of the excellence and glory that is being the fastest and best in the club. There are only 5 spots, and it's a fact of life that the athletes and coaches have to live with.

All that John and I can ask of our athletes is to fight... fight for that spot in the top boat, and to keep their spot, because it's competition like that that will make the crews and individuals stronger... it's a dog-eat-dog world and they'd better eat or be eaten.

Physics of the Release

2007-08-23T09:08:00.000+02:00

I found this article on the web yesterday explaining the physical characteristics of the finish. It gave me some amazing insight into what goes on throughout the drive and how to release the spoon cleanly from the water. It's a bit technical and I had to read a few paragraphs again to understand them. Note that the 'y-direction' and 'x-direction' on the graphs refer to the directional axes of the photographs: so 'x-direction' is the horizontal (transverse) direction (across the shell from pin to pin) and 'y-direction' is the vertical (longitudinal) direction (the direction in which the shell is moving).

http://neutrino.phys.washington.edu/~wilkes/post/temp/phys208/scull.lift.html

Comments...

2007-08-15T11:20:00.000+02:00

Hi all...

I'm new to this blogging thing and my initial impressions have been quite mixed.

I now have somewhere to vent my sometimes incoherent frustrations and it's my space to do with as I please, to be creative and inspired and motivated or just grumpy. And although this is my public 'journal', I also view it as a forum for my athletes and my rowing friends abroad to discuss the general rigours and joys of this awesome sport (for me it's more of a lifestyle right now...) and to give me feedback on my ideas and inspirations. It's not closed to anyone else who wants to contact me though... I welcome input from anyone and everyone.

So please comment on what you read, whether you found this page by accident or you've been following it for a while. It's a great comfort to know that the crap I write has some meaning or relevance to someone other than myself and that I'm not screaming into the void.

Thanks...
Matt

Turn a Blind Eye... Please?

2007-08-15T11:08:00.000+02:00

The boat sat perfectly and in the back of my mind I knew that it probably wouldn’t last… the fate of the stroke rested in what I did in those next few moments.

The release had been near perfection and I could remember the feeling of the pressure suddenly disappear as my hands dropped, letting gravity work for me for a change. I went through my checkpoint checklist in my head as I continued to move seamlessly forward.

Gingerly, my hands floated away from me, the footprints swirling in on themselves as they disappeared into the distance. My body rocked gently over past my hips and I felt the seat shift back a little as my pelvis rotated my upper body forward. My legs continued the movement that my hands had started and the water began to sing on the hull as it slid underneath me, the contrasting movements complementing each other flawlessly.

I seemed to remain stationary for a moment as the shell covered the last of the distance up into the catch.

I prepared myself for the explosion to come, the quick change in direction as every fibre in my lower being would connect through my spine and relaxed arms, forcing the spoon to seize the rushing water and build the pressure again as my body unravelled towards the release. My wrists gently eased the spoons into their squared position and I looked up, keeping my eyes on the distant horizon and marvelled at the simple perfection of the journey to the other end of my single.

Where were the Laws of Physics? Had they decided to give me this one, to let off and hand me this one flawless stroke? Maybe they had… sweet.

I felt like a coiled snake ready to strike as I hit full compression and my hand lifted…

Oh crap…

The spoons entered too slowly and the force of the moving water flicked my port blade past feathered. The leading edge of the spoon caught and dived deep in a desperate bid for the depths and I glanced to my left to see the surface of the lake shoot closer as the water rushed up the loom, seeming intent on devouring the entire blade. My rigger followed an instant later and I felt an icy chill hit my face as the boat flipped.

It seemed a long time before the speed and momentum I had worked so hard towards crashed to a halt around me and the clamour of the water rushing past my head subsided. My feet released easily from the shoes and I tore past the surface.

I clung to the over-turned boat for a long time trying to catch my breath and face the reality of what had just happened.

Screw you Laws of the Universe! You couldn’t even give me that one measly chance! Gimme a break!

Slowly and after a long while I realised that it was my mistake. Perfection is perfect and that small slip-up was not - it didn’t have any place in the ideal stroke. My bad.

So I flipped my single over and clambered back on board. I would just have to try again… if the damn Will of the Cosmos would let me…

Unlikely Stress Relief

2007-08-11T05:53:00.000+02:00

Winter’s almost over and it’s about that time of year again when I find myself pulling on a splash-jacket at 5am and craving a cup of coffee. In a serendipitous kind of way I’m looking forward to the season… I’m almost never happy when I’m cold and tired, but I can do more than tolerate it if I’m cold and tired in a coaches’ launch. And so I get out of bed, pull on my warmest jackets, grab a cup of coffee and some oats and head off to the ergo room or boat house.

Rowers and coaches (who were rowers once, believe it or not) are creatures of habit. Not many are fully coherent most mornings, but we get the job done by going through a routine etched into us by too many sessions and complaining coaches.

I’m more dependant on routine than I think, and this only became apparent to me when I recently read Matt Pinsent’s ‘A Lifetime in a Race’. When racing at the Sydney & Athens Olympics, he mentions that the doldrums of his routine were pretty much what kept him sane through all of the pressure and anxiety… it gave him stuff to do to keep from sitting around all day worrying.

The Junior World Champs in 2005 was such a time for me, and while it doesn’t even begin to compare with Pinsent’s degree of stress, it nevertheless was the most important point of my coaching career thus far. My pair collided with a cement pole at the 500m mark on the way up to the AB semi-final and snapped an oar. The regatta officials were awesome and rescheduled the race for later that day, but the girls were distraught… this was nothing short of a disaster. It was time for some major damage-control and calming down. There was nothing left to do but settle back into a routine and carry on.

So I sent the girls back to the hotel to relax for a few hours and got back to work resetting the boat and finding spare oars. I did everything exactly as I had done the previous four mornings we had been there: cleaned the boat, checked the settings, took a walk up to the media tent to take a look at the weather for the day and grabbed a bite to eat before the girls returned to start their warm-up. By now this had become mind-numbing, but it took my mind off of the stress and gave me and my athletes something to do to stop worrying and thinking ‘what if’.

The semi was probably our best race of the weekend, missing out on the top final by just over a half a length from Ukraine, and it was that stupid, tedious routine that got me through the rough patch.