Force Curve

Recently, I have been working with my coach on breaking-down my stroke into directly measurable units of force/power. With the help of an Ipod touch App; AccelPlot, we are able to measure in the boat where along the stroke am I decreasing force (which is effectively boat speed)
With the essential help of Sam Sanford-Blades @ PISE, the cool and keen tech guy, we have now finally put together a plot of a force curve avg (40 hard strokes).


www.drvinge.com/files.html


If you notice the drop in the the curve at 30% stroke, that is my main problem. For some reason I decrease force at the the just after the catch at the beginning, then I build up again. It needs to be a continuous steady arc.

See below for a photo of my force plot.

July thu Aug

Training for the next 4 weeks are the build-up for the most important test so far; Aug. RADAR testing. This will include the Erg machine collection (hour of power, 6km, 1min, peak-power) excluding the 2000m test to be completed during my first week of training with "The Centre" (The national training centre, at Elk Lake, Victoria)

Periodized training has been ongoing with the past 2 weeks included into a 2x 3 wk microcycle, for proper peaking at RADAR and first week of full-time training.


July 18-24th: Build wk 2/Recovery
July 25-31st: Build Wk 1
August 1-7th: Build wk 2
August 8-14th: Taper wk

Interesting article on ICE Bath: Good news!
http://sweatscience.com/ice-baths-for-recovery-15-minutes-at-10-c/

Coach Doug (White) - PART II

After Doug's experience as a athlete-coach through the 60's, a government worker through the 70's, we see a shifting perspective of what Doug wants to do with the rest of his life. This brings us to the 80's just as the economy was coming around again he headed off to Australia and New Zeland to coach top Univeristy teams to many international competitions. He reports of getting a top 8+ to a stroke rate of 50. Which is an impressive feat within itself.

For the past 15~ years he has been back in Victoria, coaching the Senior group of motivated rowers both at The Gorge rowing club and Vic City rowing club. I have often seen middle-aged rowers come up to him at regattas and thanking him for teaching them to row when they were at University 20 years prior!

He is quiet but not reserved. People listen when he speaks; first, because he speaks so quietly, and secondly, because he has years of wisdom behind his words. I call it tough love and sometimes he lets a true frustration show through, I think it is to have a desired effect. Doug stands back to let his athletes do what they want; he generally guides or directs the direction you should go, but the athlete has the main direction. He suggests a workout plan and even though most people follow through with it, it is easy to change direction.

At the beginning of each week, he sends out an itemized seven day training schedule, often in somewhat of a pattern from week to week so we know what to expect. I appreciate his inclusion of periodized training for proper peaking in racing season.

I feel that he has been a very important person in this rowing adventure in helping me realize my potential. And for that, I can't thank him enough. Join VCRC!

Natural History of Coach Doug (White) - PART I

My rowing coach, Doug White, also known as Doug-ee, Big D, Coffee machine, and my personal favorite; Doug the running machine. He is a well-versed rowing coach with international Experience. If I had to describe him as a fruit, I would have to suggest a mango; has a lot to offer with a tough outer skin with a sweet succulent meat inside next to a hard-inedible pit.

From the limited conversations with him over the past year, I have pieced together a natural history. Born in 1947, he traveled quite often as a child of Military parents. Spending a few years through high-school in Victoria, BC and Grimsby, ON, the former where he tells people he is from. He rowed at UVic back in the days of UBC winning the Olympics medals in 1960's, Uvic only had a minimal program at best. As a coach-athlete he kept the team motivated and sticking out the year to build up excitement for future teams. One story he recounted was the years when he rowed, Elk Lake was so pristine and clear that if the athletes needed a drink they would just take a sip from the lake. With current lake levels of giardia and coliform bacteria, I regret to say we do not partake in that activity anymore. I do not know of his personal endevours and success with being an athlete; but he brings the pursuit of excellence to coaching. When he graduated from UVic he took on a few Union type jobs. A one time BC Ferries worker he found a niche in the Provincial Government with a 10 years+ job until he could no longer handle the beurocracy and union-worker mentality. He reports of a story of him challenging a top Manager on skirting the issues and caving under pressure but, in the end, nothing came through, and the whistleblower was swept under the exit-doormat for an unexpected "change of career."


See Coach Doug Part II

Shifting work for Training

It is official; I have handed in my letter of Resignation to Sooke Chiropractic Center, as of August 20th I will be finished with the commute to Sooke. In addition, I will also be shifting my work schedule at PISE Lifemark Clinic to be able to work around my "new" training schedule. The way it sounds, I will be roughly training with the National Team from 7:30am-9am and 2:30-4pm every day, with some weight training sessions mixed in. (no more 5am wake-ups!) This means that I can squeeze in a few hrs or work 10am-2pm on weekdays. I will re-asses the situation as the time moves along with it.

The Poster

This poster is what I have been looking at for the past 8months... through the dark and stormy winter months when training involves hours upon hours of Erg workouts.

This is an image to the piece of metal that hangs off it. A gracious gift from the hard work.

This was the silver medal I received from the Welland Canal Development Regatta May 28, 2011.

Invitation to the National Team

Last week, I was pleasantly surprised to recieve and email from "Zeus" - the Canadian Olympic Committee's organization network. It requested my personal information including educational history and family names, sport history, favorite quotes, etc... At first glance I thought it was a scam, something looking for my banking information. A few hours later I was still thinking about it while I was at work...something more serious was brooding. Two days later, I had a meeting with Paul Hawksworth, the Rowing Canada Development Coach, and he confirmed my suspicion; due to my results at the Welland Canal Regatta I was invited to compete for the Canadian National Rowing team at the Pan-Am games. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait - is this all true? I had made the Senior National team?
I could not believe my ears... I had a smile from ear to ear. I wanted to just jump up and give Paul a big hug. I maintained my composure and waited until I was within the soundproof area of my car doors before starting the yelling and fist-pumping! I danced the robot with MSTRCRAFT for the entire drive to Georgie's Cafe... serious. All the winter training effort payed off. The first person I called was my Dad, it was a bit hard to hold it in, but I thought he would be a good starting place to tell people the official invitation to the team.

"First ask yourself, what you want; then do what you have to do"

Results Welland May 28

The weekend in Welland turned out to be an eye opening experience. I feel it was a completely successful trip in all possibly ways.

Arriving into Toronto on the always lovely Red-eye flight from Victoria I was able to rent my car and pick up Coach Doug, all in 15minutes. We made a pit stop at Tim Hortons within 20min from Pearson International and were on the road making excellent time. Staying in the Niagara College dorms it was re-living college years, with my 64 yr old coach. The difference was that he was the one drinking all the booze...

Time trial Sat. AM I was third overall (that's including heavyweights) and 2nd lightweight. Semifinal heats were later Sat. afternoon and I ended up 3rd and continuing on to the "A" finals. In the Sunday morning finals I weighted in and was .4kg over... Another jog and pushups with all my clothes on. I passed with 73.96kg! .04 to spare.

The finals was a very close race and at 1000m to go I was just inches ahead in first place. Everyone had a strong push and I ended up 4th overall and 2nd Lightweight.

I was extremely happy with the results. I would like to have been first but another very quick lightweight, Travis King, was there to slide in ahead of me by just under 3 seconds.

This is all in hope to make the 2011 Senior National Team Canada for the Pan Am Games.

Welland Canal Images - May 27-28, 2011

 

Heading out for my Time Trial. Carrying the boat I always feel awkward.

 

My coach Doug giving last minute advice. Often it is very key information.

 

 

 

The last 250m of the 2km course.

 

Finishing Gates

The perspective shot from the tarmac and boathouse down the canal to the racecourse.

Welland Canal - Selections Regatta

This weekend, May 27-29 is the "Development Regatta" for Selections to the various rowing teams that represent Canada in the summer regattas. Under 23 (U23) team will be selected for a regatta in July in Europe. For me, I'm vie-ing for a spot on the Pan-Am team heading down to Guadalajara, Mexico in October. It will be a long shot but I will put it all on the line.

This Welland Canal is an arrow-straight body of water on a dis-used portion of the famous Canal that connects Lake Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. First built in 1829 after 5 years of hard back-breaking labour before excavators and dump trucks. The potion of the canal that is now used for recreation was re-routed in 1973 due to the large ships needing even larger bridges(or tunnels) for vehicle traffic.

Schedule for this weekend is:

Friday, May 27th: Practice 12-5pm
Sat. May 28th: Time Trial 8-11am, Semifinals 3-5pm
Sunday May 29th Finals 9am-12pm




View Larger Map

Blisters

Blisters are about the pleasure of pain!
It comes with rowing like bugs in your teeth comes with road-biking and rugburn comes with late-night after-party wrestling. What I mean by this is somewhat in the realm of how good it feels to finish a hard day at the job; You feel achy and sore and don't want to do anything. But, the feeling is somewhat silently wonderful.

Blister defined, is a small fluid filled pocket, usually in the upper layers of skin. It is caused by forceful friction, burning or freezing. Most blisters are filled with serum or plasma, but some can be filled with blood or pus if they become infected. An interesting factoid of blisters is that the word came from Old-Middle Dutch "bluyster" from the 14th century meaning leprous nodule; a fluid-filled cyst due to leprocy.

Now, is it because I have a half Dutch ancestry that I'm more inclined to blisters, or that I have the early signs of a rare but ever-present Leprosy infection. I joke, but I do have a continual conveyer-belt supply of fresh blisters almost on a daily basis. Just as a gloriously deep blister heals, the broad scar tissue surface buckles under the pressure of another tectonic plate shift and a new blister forms.

All rowers have them - it is a common thread of discussion; blister comparisons. I recently saw my National Team friend, Jerry Brown, and his hands were much better worse than mine, and his hands were thick with callousing. It makes me not worry as much. The only real issue is the stinging pain after the blister bursts and it comes in contact with water. I catch myself screaming very high-pitched in the shower after early morning rows, just after a new blister opened up.

There are many types of blisters, from small and almost camoflage blisters, there can be long and broad painless skin flaps, all the way to swollen, fluid filled pulsating painful ones. Just don't burst them if you can avoid it. I feel, the skin will heal up thicker underneath by the time it peels off.

May 9 Radar Submission!

Today was the deadline for the May RADAR submission. This day will go down as the most anticipated and hyped day, in my experience, as a Rower. Now that I have submitted my "scores" to Rowing Canada, I have a giant burden of lead-weight off my back. Little did I know that most of the excess stress in my life right now was to do with a few "small" erg tests. I think, deep down I knew that this was culmination of 8months of kick-my ass hard work and actually a quantitative approach as "can I handle this shit."

Well, the scores are as follows:

Test Name Result Calculated Watts 500m Spilt Time Score
Weight (kg) 74 kilograms
Height (cm) 185 centimetres
Arm Span (cm) 190 centimetres
Peak Power (190 Drag Factor) 879 watts 01:13.6 *28
Peak Power (Testing Drag Factor) 788 watts 01:16.3 44
1 Minute 364 metres 625 01:22.4 47
2000 Meter 06:27:0 time 386 01:36.8 60
6000 Meter 20:33:0 time 323 01:42.7 73
60 Minute 16529 metres 271 01:48.9 25
Time Trial 2000 Meter (1x) 07:34:6 time 238 01:53.7 63


This totals up to.... drumroll please.... 340.
Now, this is very exciting - as the last RADAR submission I was at 248. But, still the recommended score for funding and National team invitations is 350 points.

As of this moment, about an hour after I found out the totals, I'm not sure of how this all goes down. Can the coaches go easy on me and be lenient or is it a hardened set rule that I need the extra 10 points to bring me to 350 total points.

Regardless, my flights are booked and I'm heading to the Welland Canal, Ontario in 18 days for a very important time-trial for further selections to larger Summer regattas representing Rowing Canada.

Time Trial - Apr. 23rd Burnaby Lake: Spring RADAR

I had the experience yesterday of bringing all the on-and-off water training together under perfect conditions to experience what it would be like in a 2000m race.

"There is nothing I would rather be doing" I said, just before I started the Race. I was having just the time of my life. Adding to the experience was the weather was just perfect. Not a cloud in the sky, no wind, and a very calm relaxing holiday weekend. Thinking about it now, it must be very rare to have full sunshine and NO wind, with sun warming up the land near a city to heat up and cause thermals, not to mention adiabatic and katabatic winds being near the north shore mountains and ocean.

I had the fun experience of weighing-in for this race, but I checked 30min before official time and I was .6km over the limit, that is 1.3lbs that I had to loose in 30min. I did all the necessary bowel/bladder movements but I was still .4kg over. So, after consultation with my coach I donned every last Item of clothes that I packed, and went for a heavy run and push-up fest to get the sweat flowing. I also sat in my hot car for 15min. At weight in I was dead-on; 74.0kg.


A high-school athlete complained and wanted to use the designated oars that go with the boat I use - the same oars I have been practicing with for six months.
I had some confusion with the VCRC Junior team-members and oars that turns out we were both planning on using for the race. Anyway, I got things sorted and decided to just use the extra oars that luckily fit the boat. My only real plan the race was to hold strong, keep steady, not flip, and finish really smoothly. It turns out a 2000m race only ends up being roughly 7-8minutes long! That is much quicker than my days as a marathon runner. I wanted to keep as straight as possible, so I may have looked over my shoulder more than necessary (which in turn may have slowed me down also!)

I finished the race and had almost caught the leader ahead of me! Each boat was started roughly 30-40seconds apart in single-file. I hit a buoy that was about 20feet from the finish line and it nearly flipped me, I was really off-set and may have lost another second or two just in the last few meters of the finish line. But, that is part of the race and I have to learn to finish strong and not be distracted by a minor buoy-hit.

After the race I put a list together of things that I need to do for next time. 1) Make sure oars/boat is all sorted before the warm-up 2) drink more water after weigh-ins, and 3) get better sunglasses (due to the Zellers $4.99 special were sliding down my nose - and no free hand to push them up)

Results were posted today: I'm not really sure what it means to Rowing Canada, but I was the fastest single on the water!

Derek Vinge LM1x 46 07:34.6 06:38.0 87.55%


Those percentage will be converted into a point-system and ultimately add to my RADAR total points. I need roughly 350 total points to get funding/invitations to major races.

Dueling over a Grand! Part II

So, Day 2 of this exciting regatta was an early start... Sunday morning with the first Race at 7:05am. I raced Fraser Berkhout - possibly the fastest single in Canada (other than Malcom Howard) I put forward the cleanest most powerful 1000m race I have in a long time. I felt really good about my effort - but, I lost. It was close from the start and Fraser only stayed 2-3m ahead of me the whole way. Now, In my mind, he was exerting full effort and I was very close to beating him. But, in probable reality he was just conserving energy for his next races so he didn't want to just light me up (in a way that he probably could).

My second race was 3 hrs later and I raced a fast light-heavyweight (or a heavy- lightweight for that matter) he was a nice fellow from Seattle, who was also in an attempt to race with the National team (US). The wind picked up prior to the start, and I knew I would have to really be smooth and fluid in this race. Within the first 50m I had caught two bad strokes almost crabs and was worried he was going to pull away from me. But, he didn't and we stayed within 1-2m of each other the whole race. In the last 300m I really tried to make a move, however, I just didn't have any juice left and was completely drained for the finish. Next time!


Overall - I enjoyed this race, my first experience in the single and really putting it all on the line.

Dueling over a Grand!

This regatta, hosted by my own club VCRC, is an exciting event where contestants race against one other person (dueling) in hope to keep advancing to the next round.

The winner get $1000 - a big number in rowing winnings standards.

My first race was this afternoon - against none other than my friend and teammate Dylan Cunningham. We have practiced together for 6months and know each other well. The first 250m was an even dead-heat... but after a strong "power 10" I pulled ahead - and kept it that way till the finish. In Dylan's defense, he has been training with a road-cycling team for the past 4 months riding 2-3hrs/ day... I'm sure it effects a persons all-out brute arm power for strong finishes.

The next race is tomorrow...against someone who trains with the National Heavyweights. He better watch out - I feel full strength coming on now!

New World Record - 100km Relay LWT

On Wed. March 30th the National Lightweight Rowing team plus two recruits (Ming and I) broke the World Record in the LW 100km Relay. This is a team of 10 people trading off the erg (indoor rowing machine) to complete the distance. The previous record by the Brits in 2007 was 4:39:01 and we were ~9min faster @ 4:30:07.

My personal thoughts on it were that it was a sensational once-in-a-lifetime experience. Just to be asked to join the team was an honor, in my mind. I carpooled over to Vancouver with the guys and got to chat will all of them about their history, backgrounds with rowing, current opinions, and future plans. I got to see what keeps them motivated day after day, month after month. And, from what I saw, they are an inspiring group of individuals! They have to work together, but each and every person was unique and had their own personal story... Morgan Jarvis holding off taking the Bar exam and becoming a lawyer in the hope to make the next Olympic team, Matt Jensen's time spent building Fluid design boats and spending almost a decade perfecting his technique, Terry McKall coming from Edmonton of all places and working on his masters degree (like Rares Crisan) while full-time rowing, Mike Lewis a previous Olympic Bronze medal winner in Beijing coming back for more, John Sasi, another Olympian, consistently being the nicest, open and honest person I know... and the list goes on.


The actual event was a full success in regards to the smooth running, flowing donations, and overall atmosphere of the Downtown Vancouver location. I was given a Uni suit and compression stockings to use and keep* for further use; a positive reward for just hanging out with the National team.

My friends Eric & Caroline, and Marc even showed up for support and watched a few hours of the event. In addition there was a live web-feed of the event and you can watch a few moments of the finish below:


Video streaming by Ustream

News Article of the World Record Attempt

Row2k.com, a leader in Rowing news, race schedule, and rumors, has interviewed Tim Myers from the National LW team about the upcoming 100km World Record Attempt. I was excited to read I was mentioned.

http://www.row2k.com/features/features.cfm?action=read&id=538

World Record Attempt - National Team LW!

Recently, I have been completely surprised and astonished that the National Rowing Team, Lightweights (LW) have asked me to join them in an attempt to break a World Record: 100km under 1.24s/500m split!

Check this out.

Facebook Page: Eight for '12

Now, when I first heard about this possibility that I could be invited to join I was obviously really excited but, in all seriousness, I was secretly worried that I wouldn't be able to even get near the power that is needed to hit a 1:18-1:20/500m split. I went all alone to the erg-room at the boathouse one afternoon and just pulled and pulled as hard as I could...

....turns out I could just hit 1:21 on my own. I then went to a practice run of 2x2km at WR pace with the LW guys at PISE on Thursday. I was a bit shy and didn't want to participate in the fear that I wouldn't even hit the pace or screw up with something else. But, with adrenalin pumping and taking the lead from the other guys I was able to pound out some high speed (low split) intervals. On Saturday (March 26th) I joined the LW again for a 20km trial. If we (I mean the national team and me) can hit the WR split (1.24/500m) for 20km, then there is no problemo for the next 80km. Not sure how much of reality it is, but I enjoyed it.

Watch the video:

The WR attempt is on Wednesday, March 30th Downtown Vancouver @ Ringside Bar/Bentall Centre Athletic Club. 9am start. If interested, please donate to Canadian National Rowing.

Elk Lake Spring Sprints March 6th

I entered in a Double (two-person sculling) in with Andy Guiry, a fellow VCRC training partner, in the Sunday race. We practiced once together... the idea to race the double didn't present itself until the week before the race. On Thursday morning we had a practice session the week prior to the race and felt decent (In my mind). My technique had to step up to row with an experienced and very accomplished athlete.

Turns out we were going to be racing against some real competition. In direct quote by Andy "we are racing the two of the fastest doubles in Canada... so it should be a good race. I hope they are eating their wheaties 'cause they aint gonna know what hit 'em" We entered into the heavyweight race (over 165lbs) because Andy has been building muscle lately and wouldn't be able to make weight. I felt it was going to be just good experience.

The race was enjoyable, a bit of a side-tail wind with minimal waves on the water. I ate my honey-drop my mother gave me minutes before the start of the race - maybe a boost of energy!

Side note: Andy recommended we wear matching clothes... So I wore black like he said. But, instead of wearing ALL black, I wore the brightest most flamboyant red-tights I could find (or my clearance rack purchase).

Watch it:

Monster Erg

The pain-train that IS the monster erg is my ROWING anniversary!  Something that is both painful, graceful and motivating all at the same time is a very good rowing analogy. The winter before I moved to Victoria full time I took a weekend off studying and drove back to Canada to show my stuff against the other local guys (UVic, Gorge Rowing, VCRC) and any other national team member. That first erg test PR was 6:37 for 2000m. Race plan was for any new personal record, but 6:30 is what I wanted.

I showed up bright and early and eight lightweights from the National Team arrived shortly after! These are the VTC lightweight guys (Victoria Training Centre) that I look up to immensely. Instantaneous motivation for this race. I had my plan and was going to stick to it. The race organizers were 45min behind schedule so I had a solid hour of warm-up which may be important in future events.

I was able to score Dylan Cunningham, a teammate turned cyclist, as my personal motivator and he was excellent; yelling at me almost every stroke and keeping  me strong.

I missed the starting signal - I was tying my shoes, typical! So, I immediately was behind by probably 1-2 seconds. But, I had my race plan all sorted in my head so I just locked into my technique. I wanted to hit 1:35-1:36/500m split for first 1200m, then pick it up where I could to 1:34 split and in the last 400 drop it to 1:32 all out... For the actual race I hit dead-on for 1200m, the next 5oom was an increase to 1:34, but the last 300m I just maintained - I couldn't see straight and was mostly just closing my eyes and pulling all out - I felt I slowed a bit in the last 300 that I need to work on next time.

My time in the end was 6:25.1! I was in 5th place. Four National team guys were ahead of me and by a few seconds but I was a second or two ahead of the four other VTC (Victoria Training Centre) guys.

1 Terry McKall victoria training center 06:15.7

2 Tim Myers victoria training center 06:17.5

3 Mike Lewis victoria training center 06:19.6

4 Morgan Jarvis victoria training center 06:21.8

5 Derek Vinge victoria city rowing club 06:25.1

6 Rares Crisan victoria training center 06:26.0

7 Simon Gowdy victoria training center 06:28.8

8 John Sasi victoria training center 06:32.9

9 Zhongming Huang gorge rowing and paddling 06:39.2

10 Matt Jensen victoria training center 06:39.3

11 George Kostaros university of victoria 06:42.3

12 Hugh Wallace university of victoria 06:49.8

VTC LM Monster Erg from Malcolm Howard on Vimeo.