It was cold this morning.  There was frost on the dock when I launched and it was still there when I got back.  There was a light, shifty breeze, but not much of it and the water was deliciously flat.

I started out fully outfitted for the cold.  long tights, 3 layers on top, hat and pogies.  I took off the pogies after the first 4K, otherwise I needed to keep all the layers on.

There is a long thread going over on Rowing Illustrated about the “Scullers Catch”.  Basically, it has devolved into a somewhat pedantic argument over squaring early, versus late, and how quickly one can bury the blades.  I dipped a toe into the conversation and was ultimately rewarded with a couple of interesting drills.

Row , pause every other stroke at half slide, square the blade and go take the catch at full slide . Once you have a hang of that you will have a good feel for placing the blade. Then try it at 3/4

Row half slide for a min, then 3/4 slide for a min, then full slide for a min, then go to alternating half , 3/4 and full slide. Works timing of the front end.

Work on placing the blade at zero pressure and then just accelerate to half pressure , then to 3/4 , then full. Let the speed of the boat dictate your rhythm.

I tried the first one today.  I started each piece with about 20 strokes or so doing a pause/square drill.  It was very challenging.  I needed to finish very cleanly and get the blades off the water.  Then I needed to square the blades with enough clearance to miss the water with the bottom edge of the blade, and smoothly continue to the catch.  I would guess that I did it cleanly about 1/5 of the strokes.  About 3/5 of the strokes, I touched water lightly on one or both side after I squared.  The remaining 1/5, I would catch serious water on one side upon squaring and really screw up the catch.  It certainly helped to reinforce balance and oar control.

Other than that, it was just a nice row, with good heart rate discipline, and reasonably fast pace too.

Start_|_Dist_|_Split_|_Pace_|_Strks__|_Rate_|_DPS_|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00020_|_0980_|_05:34_|_2:50.2_|_099___|_17.8_|_09.9_|_116___|_w
01000_|_1460_|_07:21_|_2:31.0_|_135___|_18.4_|_10.8_|_129___|_drills
02460_|_1480_|_07:02_|_2:22.5_|_137___|_19.5_|_10.8_|_142___|_m
03940_|_0900_|_04:51_|_2:41.7_|_080___|_16.5_|_11.3_|_128___|_drills
04840_|_2120_|_10:20_|_2:26.3_|_206___|_19.9_|_10.3_|_143___|_m
06960_|_0820_|_04:21_|_2:39.2_|_075___|_17.2_|_10.9_|_129___|_drills
07780_|_2180_|_10:32_|_2:24.9_|_213___|_20.2_|_10.2_|_143___|_m
09960_|_0760_|_04:17_|_2:49.0_|_071___|_16.6_|_10.7_|_125___|_drills
10720_|_3260_|_15:51_|_2:25.9_|_331___|_20.9_|_09.8_|_144___|_m

Dist__|_Time__|_Pace___|_Strks_|_SPM__|_DPS__|_AvgHR_|_Remarks
00980_|_05:34_|_2:50.2_|_099___|_17.8_|_09.9_|_116___|_warmup
09040_|_43:45_|_2:25.2_|_887___|_20.3_|_10.2_|_143___|_Main set
03940_|_20:50_|_2:38.6_|_361___|_17.3_|_10.9_|_128___|_drills
13960_|_10:09_|_2:30.7_|_1347___|_19.2_|_10.4_|_137___|_Total