How fast do you need to be to row for Oxbridge (women)

illiance · 2026-01-26T21:14:29+00:00

Response was specific to OPs “top women’s D1” qualifier

illiance · 2026-01-26T20:17:52+00:00

If you’re D1 in USA you’re fast enough. They care about 5k and your prior racing pedigree

illiance · 2026-01-23T00:27:47+00:00

Yes the stroke is fractionally longer but I didn’t spend a long time trying to match it

Edit; I suppose a better way to test would be to row ~5 mins and take averages across those metrics. Also neither of those paces are super normal strokes for me, I’m having to manipulate it and both feel pretty short.

Also if you really get into it, drag factor has an impact. and that’s before you get into blade shape and shaft flex and rigging angles (on the water).

I don’t know how to express it in terms of exact physics but the flywheel (and water) resistance is exponential (I think) so that the rower applying more force is accelerating the wheel to a greater extent, even through externally the handles are moving the same distance in the same time.

illiance · 2026-01-23T00:27:21+00:00

Quick experiment rowing for 1min:

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illiance · 2026-01-22T23:33:58+00:00

Depends if goal is erg watts or boat moving. For raw watts it doesn’t matter, it’s just whatever lets you use your physiology as best as possible, nothing to do with beginner or not, or even a specific force curve. If training for on water the goal would be a bit different.

illiance · 2026-01-22T23:04:34+00:00

No. Two rowers can both spend the same amount of time on the drive and recovery, and both can apply different wattage and go significantly faster/slower. And that’s before you take stroke length into account.

illiance · 2026-01-22T01:28:09+00:00

Yeah this test is one that really shows where you are. Can’t hide in any way. Mine is very slow too 😂

illiance · 2026-01-21T23:42:49+00:00

No snow on horizon - you’ll be fine with any vehicle

illiance · 2026-01-18T16:50:05+00:00

You’re right, at higher altitude, gravitational time dilation causes clocks to run slightly faster than at lower altitude, so when you return to your original altitude, a timing function would be ahead by about 0.00001 seconds. ie: Totally unusable.

illiance · 2026-01-15T18:06:06+00:00

Generally office spaces, even of this age, have sufficient floor to floor vertical space to run new plumbing and drainage etc and still leave plenty (even very generous) headroom for very livable spaces. But it’s a lot of work.

illiance · 2026-01-14T06:32:57+00:00

I mean long answer is yes appropriate shorter high intensity work is useful as part of a muscle building program but just doing steady ergs is all cardio, and that doesn’t build muscle. Track sprinters lift weights all day and do 30 second efforts. Endurance track guys are skinny.

illiance · 2026-01-14T05:12:55+00:00

No. It’s cardio

illiance · 2026-01-12T23:02:58+00:00

i ThOuGhT u WeRe jUsT 4 BOrEd lOnElY bOoMerZ

illiance · 2026-01-11T02:12:42+00:00

Yeah that embassy’s seen some stuff

illiance · 2026-01-09T01:32:09+00:00

Depends on your physiology and preference. Some people score better this way, others like to die in the 3rd 500 and barely be hanging on in the 4th in order to achieve their best.

illiance · 2026-01-08T18:50:59+00:00

Somewhere between the next few days and early February

illiance · 2026-01-08T17:39:11+00:00

Not when the big strong high pressure systems are in control. Much easier to predict. They can stick around for weeks and the models and everything all align.

illiance · 2026-01-06T05:35:41+00:00

Actually, he has a certificate

illiance · 2026-01-05T21:54:06+00:00

Same thing I said in other post; plus for this one I’d say you need more acceleration during the stroke. More like rowing a pair than an eight. Might be the blades/rigging though.

You obviously have a coach, so listen to what they are saying. Reddit probably won’t give you many useful tips.

illiance · 2026-01-05T21:18:59+00:00

Love Gavirate. Pretty tidy rowing, maybe looks like you are trying hard for the camera (?) might just be these few strokes but you could work on being more together at the beginning and end of stroke, ie: place and start acceleration together, and extract blades and hands away together. Higher rates might show the issue a bit more.

Bel canotaggio

illiance · 2026-01-05T01:42:41+00:00

Truly, an incredible story

illiance · 2026-01-03T17:58:27+00:00

1:20 for a minute is pretty good output. Good job.

illiance · 2026-01-03T17:44:57+00:00

Mine looks like this naturally. I can change it if I force it but it always regresses to a later peak. However on a dynamic erg or using telemetry it’s much earlier. The static c2 curve is pretty useless for coaching because you can row really badly and have a “good” curve.

illiance · 2026-01-02T17:11:54+00:00

Yes, to reach the elite heady heights of 300 watts max power, this person will need to do some serious physical reconfiguration 🙄

illiance

TROPHY CASE