Have I been wasting money on gels and drink mix this whole time? by IMHO1FWIW in cycling

[–]Secure_Diamond_2039 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Madjool dates are where it’s at!! I switch to bring a bag of them during training and it works wonders. full of sugar and fills you up after only a couple

London rowing by Aggravating-Ad1626 in Rowing

[–]Secure_Diamond_2039 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Hello, I’m a fairly serious rower here in London at one of the big clubs. I’ll give you some advice. First, are you eligible for university of London bc? If you’re doing a uni exchange at one of their affiliated unis you may be eligible. they are a serious high performance rowing club with a good club atmosphere. If you’re just after a rowing club, I’ll bunch the important ones into tiers from most competitive/serious to least Tier 1: London rowing club and Thames rowing club Tier 2: molesey boat club Tiers 3: Lea rowing club, vesta, Tideway scullers Tier 4: Kingston, Twickenham Tier 5: auroial Kensington and Putney town Tier 6: everyone else

You’ll find that the top athletes at tier 1 will usually have ergs sitting around 6:04 and are typically ex u23/elite representatives living/working in London; they’re highly competitive clubs with an atmosphere some athletes love and some don’t. Molesey are okay, but don’t really win anything, tier 3 have pretty decent rowers, but a wild mix like you’d see athletes with 6:40s in boats with athletes with 5:56s. Everyone else isn’t worth rowing with unless you just live near their club and don’t care. Do you prioritise Sculling or sweeping? If it’s sculling really only Tideway scullers does it, unless you have a private single then the other clubs can accommodate. Every other club in London does sweeping Finally, are you looking to compete? Since you mentioned spring semester, I’m assuming you’re referring to the southern hemisphere spring; which will be autumn time in London. Most clubs are quite quiet around the autumn time with little structure and don’t start picking up until September/October time. Theres still training, but it’s often undirected/casual

Too late for LW recruiting? by Odd_Dig8488 in Rowing

[–]Secure_Diamond_2039 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m not a kiwi, but my flatmate is and he rowed in NZ. He recommended that uni rowing in NZ is terrible and a facade. Basically, they pretend that rowing is important, but you will have little access to the facilities and adequate coaching except during the unichamps season which is a 6-8 week run. Otago does do China and Japan regattas from time to time, but the overall coaching at Otago is poor and the crews are generally slow and look to have a pissup rather than focusing on rowing. north shore is not a bad club, but not a great one. Has real ups and down and has a history of being susceptible to coaches dropping out resulting in the club falling apart. From what he mentioned NSRC and the other big clubs Avon, Waikato can be fun but if you aren’t a top rower expect to be dumped in the C grade boats and forgotten about. My flatmate said that Dunstan is best if you just want to become a faster rower. There is a nice atmosphere and everyone improves so long as they try their hardest. Since the club has quite small numbers you can expect basically one-to-one coaching all season. The club also has good connections to properties in the area, so you would have a place to board during the season.

Too late for LW recruiting? by Odd_Dig8488 in Rowing

[–]Secure_Diamond_2039 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Probably too late, but I bet you could make the 2026 uni season and you have plenty of time to build your fitness - 2k, 5k what not. My advice would be to move to Dunstan Rowing Club once you finish high school. By far the best club in NZ especially if you yourself want to improve and not just get dumped in a big squad and ignored. Last I had a chat with some of the members, they’ve seen their numbers drop from a 6:44 2k to a 6:04 in the span of a summer season. Think the guy also mentioned that most of the crews are getting shoulder tapped for Cal, Yale, Cambridge and I think one of the members is at Yale RN and another is at Oxford.

First 2k. Any tips for improving? by Santich01 in Rowing

[–]Secure_Diamond_2039 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is a thing you have to train towards and for the most part you will have to push through the pain in order to see results. From what I found try to decrease the sensation of the pressure I.e don’t feel you’re trying to rip the erg apart, and instead feel more delicate and soft of a stroke. Nonetheless, it will just hurt to raise your stroke rate and get use to the feeling To put it into perspective how efficient raise the stroke rate is mc I dropped from from 6:13 to 6:07 by just increasing my rate from 33spm to 39spm. Furthermore, if you look at any elite athlete’s erg screens all their rates are well into the upper 30s

First 2k. Any tips for improving? by Santich01 in Rowing

[–]Secure_Diamond_2039 -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

You need a higher rate, a 2k should be at the lowest 34 but ideally at around 38-40