Tech Tip: Row the Recovery
In some sense, the recovery is half the stroke, so we have to make sure we know how to use it. When we first start rowing, we are taught two fundamental terms: recovery and drive. In order to learn the first lessons of rowing, we polarize those terms in both word and deed. The drive is where we "work," and the recovery is where we "rest." As your rowing evolves, you have to challenge this binary or at least redefine the two terms so that they are not in opposition.
Beginning: Work and Rest Binary
Think back to your start in rowing. For the sake of the parable, let's also hope you were not as fit as you are now. Through both intuition and instruction, we learn that when we put the blade in the water we have the opportunity to drive ourselves and the boat. What an amazing opportunity! We might as well throw everything at it. After all, what you have is limited, so spend it while you can!
With that, we throw ourselves behind the oar(s). We suspend, push, swing, pull, and leave nothing left upon exit. The observer sees someone utilizing a lot of muscles and exuding intense effort. In contrast, when we get to the recovery, we're catching our breath as we manage the simple task of just reloading the stroke. We don't worry about our coordination or movement in the hull. We just breathe as much as possible and get back to the front as we would on a static ergometer. To the observer, it looks like an admirable passion without organized intention. The whole stroke cycle winds up mimicking the unfettered energy of a fish out of water, flopping and persisting without an overarching and informed plan of attack.
Transition: Balancing the Scales
I'm not trying to be critical or negative. I think that's the first step that most of us take as we try to allocate our limited mitochondria and calories in a manner that seems most worthwhile. As time goes by and we push ourselves towards mastery, a refinement of the stroke cycle happens where more of an equilibrium develops between the drive and the recovery. Sometimes, we start correcting our movements to not stand out in a crew or to move towards an image of a famous rower. Other times, we're taught about how certain movements can be detrimental to boatspeed like dumping our body weight at the release. This is where the process begins. We start by reeling in our sense of maximal propulsion to a confined area of a more reasonable effort. Sort of like honing the skill of filling a glass up with water right to the brim.
Denouement: Rowing the Recovery
Beyond that, we might start realizing that the boat can accelerate some on the recovery. Have you ever done a drag or bungee row? Isn't it remarkable how the foaming spray of water off the drag increases both through the drive and through the recovery? Have you listened to the rhythmic patterns of bubbles under your hull? Have you used a pitot tube or straw as a physical representation of your boat's speed? While the majority of our boat's propulsion happens on the drive, there is also some hull acceleration that happens as we shift our body mass through the recovery. This can become a significant stylistic wormhole. There can be a tradeoff between acceleration on the recovery and boat check. That tradeoff then spills into the next, which is between boat check and drive acceleration. Others will point out that we want to try and maintain as consistent of a speed as possible despite our on/off propulsion. Regardless, I think that it is important to not actively slow the boat on the recovery, and that can happen if we are either too stiff and measured or too loose and uncoordinated. If an athlete is prepared in the arms and the body, then he or she can utilize the slide on the recovery to help maintain or increase speed, depending on his or her style. I believe that the only time you will see an insurmountable or at least an inefficient amount of boat check (a significant decrease on boat speed as the result of a change in direction of a rower) is when an athlete accelerates on the slide without being prepared for the change of direction or the front end. Simply put, moving quickly on the recovery only becomes rushing if we are unprepared.
I repeat: being quick on the recovery is not rushing UNLESS the athlete is not prepared for the front end and change of direction. If the blade is prepared in ample time, if the arms are long and ready to do a simple placement of the blade, if the body is prepared and will gain no additional forward body angle as the athlete arrives at the front end with his or her weight coming onto the toes and balls of his or her feet, then there will not be rushing. It's a simple statement, but there is a lot to it. If I look at most elite rowers, the majority of them figure out how to move the boat on the recovery or at least keep the boat moving. This technique is described by Drew Ginn in a frequented YouTube called "Will it make the boat go faster?" I can also see it via RowerUp as I watch the velocity curves in the Speed & Sequence graph. Many will have not fully distinct or dramatic patterns on the arms and the body, but will have a noticeable "negative curve" with the legs. This is the green curve you can see below on the right side of the graph. It is negative simply because the movement is oriented in relation to the drive.
So how do we work on this? Before you get to do anything crazy, I think that simple three step process I mentioned is likely to happen in some form. That being said, step two could take years where you start refining your movements. You start making sure your layback is not too much. You check where your forearms are at the release. You work on your sequencing for both the drive and the recovery to have as horizontal of a stroke as possible. Once you get all that done, then I think two drills to help you start understanding how your body mass and movement interface with the boat's speed would be:
Utilizing an external source for boat speed feedback. This could be the pitot tube or straw that doesn't add resistance, or it could simply be a bungee or string wrapped around your hull. In both these cases, the displacement of water will be a physical representation of your boat speed that is more detailed than the split on your stroke coach. It gives you live feedback regardless of whether you are on the drive or the recovery.
Reverse Ratio. Yes, this continues to come up and be relevant. It only works if you are well prepared in your upper body and your blade, but it will teach you to throw your blades in lightly and intentionally. It will deemphasize the pickup of the boat on the drive. It will teach you to be active and an athlete on the recovery. For more specifics on this drill scroll to the bottom of my last tech tip.
Remember, when we row really well and efficiently, there is an equilibrium and synergy between the recovery and the drive. We don't feel tired during one and relaxed in the other. We are cycling through the stroke in a more continuous manner. For more information, I will actually present on this topic during the USRowing's Chasing Excellence Conference in January.