G-Row Erg-a-thon a HUGE Success! 
Thanks to the tremendous support of so many CRI members and friends, last week's G-Row Erg-a-thon raised more than expected. The team is now ahead of schedule and the girls have raised over the ordinal goal for their Spring training trip!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! |
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Social Committee Meeting Reminder
When: Wednesday, Feb. 4th
Time: 7:00pm
Where: Harry Parker Boathouse
Topic: Begin to plan annual summer BBQ
For More Information Contact:
All are Welcome to Join! |
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Rower's Edge Parent Meeting Follow-Up
 Here are a few helpful recruiting tips and reminders for the WINTER SEASON from Rower's Edge. Please contact us with any questions and for a personalized recruiting plan
- Be sure to work hard at school and crew. These are your top two priorities. Be sure to eat in a healthy way and get as much sleep as possible.
- Take Winter training seriously. This will be your best preparation for a successful Spring season.
- Study hard for SAT, SATII and ACT tests. Think about how to fit required standardized tests into your schedule.
- Decide whether you will row this summer and in what type of program. Discuss options with your high school coach.
- Take a look at college websites and the athletic pages to start gathering information about various schools and teams.
- Make a list of the names and e-mail addresses of the coaches at the schools in which you are interested.
- Learn about all the admissions options for the school in which you are interested: Early Decision (ED); Early Action (EA); EDI; EDII; Rolling Admission.
- Consider participating in indoor rowing competitions such as Crash-B's or Regional events-college coaches review these results.
The Rower's Edge Gail Silberstein Maura Glandorf
Boston, MA 02108 617.721.5789 617.680.4801
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COACHES CORNER: "Drill Work... On the Erg!"
By John Chiang Keh,
CRI Coach
In less than two months we will all be back on the water!!-- So in the meantime, here's a tip to spruce up your indoor rowing session on the beloved 'erg' -- Consider mixing in drill work into your erg workouts! It may sound strange, but that's because few rowers do drill work on the erg. But it's really a good idea if you think about it: if drills are meant to improve and maintain technique on the water, why shouldn't they be done on land on the erg?
To get you started, simply start with common on water drills - namely, warm-up drills such as the forward and/or reverse "pick" drill (I prefer the latter) and pause drills - pausing at the finish, at bodies over, etc. Then try mixing in these warm-up and pause drills during your actual workout, sprinkling them in "on the fly" for variety and the challenge of it (examples: starting the forward pick drill with arms only coming right out of several minutes of steady state rowing and for any pause drill try pause at 1/2 slide of the recovery or "top" 1/2 of the drive in the middle of a steady state workout).
Finally, below are 3 drills in particular which are rarely practiced on the water because they are either extremely difficult to do (without going for a swim!) - but can be easily done on an erg. Try these and other drills on the erg and you'll hit the ground (um, water!) running once the Charles thaws out - not just in a fitness and aerobic sense but also technique wise as well!
3 Erg Specific Drills:
1) Pause at the Catch: At the end of the recovery STOP and count to 3 seconds. Then imagine "dropping the blade" in the water by lifting your hands and then engaging the lower body to begin the drive. Great for maximizing the stroke and not missing water once back in the rowing shell.
2) "Mirror Mirror on the Wall": Align an ergometer parallel to a mirror and take pieces of tape (blue painters' tape works well) and stick one piece on your shoulder and one long strip on a mirror level with the ground and with the path of your shoulders during the rowing stroke. As you are taking your strokes on the erg, turn your head to the mirror and observe that the piece of tape on your shoulder does not go above or below the piece of tape on the mirror for the entire path of your stroke. The objective is to keep your upper body at the same level throughout the entire stroke and to avoid needless upper body movements to maintain impeccable boat balance on the water (at CRI check to see if you can bring an erg into the weight room where there is a big long mirror to try this drill).
3) "How Low Can You Row?": Row at ratings rarely if ever approached on the water but do it at 90% pressure so that you are working (as opposed to steady state which is lower in intensity). What is low? 14 strokes per minute (spm). Really low? Try 12. Really really low? 10 spm or less! Low rating rowing will do wonders for your rowing stroke because it will slow everything down so that you can focus on each part of your stroke without having to worry about balance issues as you would on the water. Rowing at low ratings also helps encourage you to row at high ratios from the catch/drive to the finish/recovery. Once you move back to higher stroke ratings or even race pace ratings you'll have the "muscle memory" to maintain good technique and ratios on the water after doing a lot of low rating work. And if the PM3 or 4 computer on your ergometer fails to resister a stroke rating, you know you are truly rowing as low as you can!
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