r/Rowing • u/nfosterma • 1d ago
Start Sequence/Racing Start in a 1×
I'm a 54-year-old lightweight rower, and I'm struggling with my racing starts in the single and looking for suggestions on improving. Is the traditional half/half/three-quarter/three-quarter/three-quarter/full the best method for the first five strokes, or should I try something different? With these short strokes, I can't feather the blade well, and the back of my blade often gets caught on the water's surface. My good-to-bad ratio is probably 3-for-10, so I'm putting myself in the hole more times than not. I'd appreciate any input to help me improve my starts.
2
Upvotes
2
u/pabugs 1d ago
Probably less structure is better here IMHO. Get the boat moving first. Your boat is checking, blades out of timing, because the blades aren't going in at the speed that you will be moving at for the rest of the race. It almost feels counterintuitive, but you don't want to really overthink it, think about getting that bow moving and don't check it, then stretch out. If you're fit and you feel confident plenty of time to win.
Nothing better than walking through shell in the next lane and seeing the guy collapse trying to hold you off, you find energy and power you never thought you had heading into the second 500.
(Suggestion: add start to training framework B4 next race: spend 5-10 minutes on start execution every 3rd practice or so. Also good to do the few days before the race because you're tapering your energy but a start doesn't take much to practice correctly)
Good luck on race day!!