Rest Day 1/7/16: We’re Back! Check your Technique!

Anja's back in town and crushing it!

Anja’s back in town and crushing it!

Happy New Year Renegades!  I hope you had a great holiday season with family and friends.  I had a chance to explore Ft. Lauderdale, FL and Vermont since our last post.  The hot weather was nice, but I’m very excited for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing this winter.  When you’re not in the gym training hard be sure to get outside and enjoy this beautiful world we live in.  With out further ado, back to work!  Keep an eye out for changes to the website and new announcements.  I recently started a new job at Community Rowing Inc. and I can’t wait to tell you all about it.

Check your Technique!

What do you need work on?

To start off the new year the Renegade Rowing Club has added some triple pause drills into their warmup to really dial in their body awareness and technique.  Below is a video I took on Thursday morning of the :30 pieces that were programmed last Tuesday.  Listen carefully and you might hear me calling hustles for each Renegade to continue working on the changes they addressed in the warmup.

Use today as an active rest day and take 15 minutes to row light and focus on form.  Make everything feel smooth.  Watch your power curve on the monitor, is it a smooth inverted parabola?  Where’s the peak?  Throw in some pauses on different parts of the recovery.  Be in control of your stroke at all times and maintain good posture.  If you find something that seems jerky or out of control try to change it and make it different.  Experiment a little and have some fun!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! See you in 2016!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Renegade Rowing!

Santas Rowing

The holidays are a time to spend with family and friends.  I hope you get to take some time to go sing carols and drink egg nog.  If you must have some fun, test your peak power with a few family members this Christmas.  Maybe you can show the sport to someone new!

The Peak Power Test will give you a sense of the raw power you can put into one stroke. For the Peak Power Test set the monitor for 20 seconds of work and 2 minutes of rest.  Start by paddling a couple of strokes to get the fan moving and then go for max watts.  It may help to video the test or have a partner watch to tell you the highest watts you pulled in just one stroke.  During the 2 minutes of rest paddle lightly or roll out.  Take 3 or 4 tries to find your max wattage starting with the damper set low and increasing the drag each successive try.  At some point you’ll find a drag that you like and gives you the most power.  Your score for the Peak Power Test is the Max Watts pulled in just one stroke.

Post your Max Watts and/or your favorite Christmas Tradition!  I’ll see you guys in the New Year.  Have a happy, safe, and fun Holiday!

Rowing WOD 12/22/15: 8x500m w/ 2min Rest – Post Splits and Focus

 Rowing WOD:

Abby getting after it at the Renegade Rowing League last Saturday!

8 x 500m w/ 2min Rest

1st/2nd – Like start of 2k

3rd/4th – Like 2nd 500 of 2k

5th/6th – Like 3rd 500 of 2k

7th/8th – Like finish of 2k

With our first 2k of the winter in the bag and Christmas upon us, this is a great opportunity to focus on a few tactical aspects of the 2k and get in some solid race pace work before the holiday.  Try to keep a consistent pace over all 8 or “negative split” toward the end if you’re feeling good.  Negative splitting means you pull a faster split than you did the last piece.

As a quick review for novice rowers, race pace over 2,000m will be at a stroke rating of 28 − 32 strokes per minute and a consistent 500m split.  The lower the split the better.  Good things to focus on include breathing, getting the knees down, driving through the heels, quick hands, and being smooth.  I also like to coach a smile or grin 10 just to take yourself out of your body for a second, have some fun, and then refocus with a fresh mindset.  Focus on one positive thought for 10 consecutive strokes and you’ll be that much closer to your goal.

Post your split for each piece and share what you focused on!

Rowing WOD 12/21/15: 2x15min w/ 5min Rest – Post Distances

 Rowing WOD:

RR Decal for Competitors at Renegade Rowing League!

2 x 15′ w/ 5′ Rest

  • 5′ @ 20 s/m
  • 5′ @ 22
  • 3′ @ 24
  • 2′ @ 26

Last Saturday we crushed a 2k at the first race of the Renegade Rowing League.  Results are in and can be found below.  Many thanks to all those that competed, especially the rowers that joined us from The Clark School!  We had a total of 12 athletes including the Renegade Rowing Club throwdown head to head over 2,000m on the Concept2 Ergometer.  We held one big heat and everyone had a blast.

Today’s Rowing WOD is a chance to work on Rhythm and Timing while building some aerobic endurance.  In long chippers rowing can be used as active recovery and a chance to catch your breath.  Try to find the efficient rhythm and consistent pressure you’ll need to recover mid WOD.  Every five minutes the rating will change to keep you focused.  Try to fix one part of your stroke each five minutes.  Your effort level on this should be such that you can get out sentences to a neighbor, but breathing is labored.  In the last five minutes keep your efficiency but really try to bring the split down as the stroke rating increases.

Post your distance rowed each piece!

**** The next Renegade Rowing League is scheduled for January 16th! Get ready because it’ll be even bigger as we approach the final month before CRASH-B’s! ****

RRL1 12-12-15

Rowing WOD 12/19/15: Row 2k! – Post Results

Rowing WOD:

Get After It!

2k Row

Today’s Rowing WOD is a 2k Row.  It’s a test of how much pain and glory you can endure over seven to eight minutes.  Grab some friends and get after it.  This is our first test of the winter season and will give us a baseline to work off of and use in pacing future workouts. Be in the moment, execute your splits, smile, have some fun, breath, and get after it!

Post your 2k results to comments!