Great turn out on Saturday for the eight and four. According to my calculations we should have a full quota for two eights on Thursday and Saturday…..albeit with a cranky cox on the Saturday as she will be struggling with a slight hangover.
The major change this week is that training on Saturday is scheduled for 8:00am to coincide with the Annual General Meeting which starts at 10:30am.
We will need to be prompt for 8:00am as there are a couple of committee members in the squad who will need to be off the water for 10:00am at the latest.
I encourage you all to attend the meeting as the club has enjoyed a lot of success this past season and have plenty to look forward to next year including the renovation of the boathouse. There will also be a club photo taken at the conclusion of the meeting so make sure you turn up in something other than your zoot suit.
Training this week will focus on the use of power strokes. Power strokes for those not familiar with them are maximum effort through the leg drive with controlled low rate recovery (18-20 spm).
We will be looking to focus on controlled movement up the slide and a skilful placement at the catch to maximise the connection with the water. From the catch the crew will be focusing on maximising the hang off the oar emphasising the stretch through the lats making sure the seat is moving at the same speed as the handle during the leg drive.
This is a great exercise if done properly, and we will have plenty of time to practise, as we will be doing three pyramids (10, 20, 30, 40, 30, 20, 10 strokes) with 5 minutes off in between the sets.
Given the above, we will need to budget the full 60 minutes on Thursday (so we must be on the water for 0630 and no later) and 90 minutes on Saturday as the power strokes will take up to 45 minutes of the session. We will use the additional time on Saturday to do some tech work.
Thursday is a beer penalty day, so those not on time will get their first ‘frequent sleeper points’ in the IOTC (I Owe The Crew) ledger which will be redeemed at the Bairnsdale camp later in the year.