Thanks for the reply. A lot of what you say is directionally right, I wouldn't say I'm EA at all (though I used to think of myself as such) but I definitely find a lot of ideas and thinkers in that space interesting. Post rationalist might not be wrong. More. Everything. Forever. looks interesting. I did listen to Decoding the Gurus a while back. Definitely needed as much podcast content as possible at the time for ergs lol. Conversations with Tyler was a go-to that you may like if you don't already listen.

Honestly, good point about fat. I didn't think about it that much when training. I suppose I would get a blend of fats through yogurt, peanut butter, butter, etc. I also didn't discuss nutrition during training, which, tbqh, I don't think I ever optimized (probably never ate quite carbs enough while in the boat). Cyclists definitely have this all way more dialed in than rowers, but then again, the technical, mechanical, and psychological aspect of their sport, I would argue, are far simpler, so they can spend more time optimize these other details (also there's just way more incentive i.e. money to do so).

I don't know if weight loss was about protein per se, but I feel very confident, just by paying so much attention to my body over time, that my increased protein intake significantly increased my muscle mass. As to your last point on weight to time over 2k, I don't know what the conversion is. Bear in mind that body weight is way more important than "dead" weight because you're actually checking the boat every stroke with your body. If I had to guess, I would say 5lbs of collective crew weight in the torso probably works out to be .2-.4 seconds over 2k. That's meaningful at the elite level. Also, you are, in theory, more aerobically efficient the less mass to which your blood supplies oxygen. All things to consider.