GPS vs Stroke Coach vs Lactate Testing Kit

[Charles Carroll]

To all:

As some of you may have figured out, I come from California where owning
what is in vogue is a way of life.

So a simple question: If you could only purchase one of three devices to
help you get fast on the water - a GPS such as a Forerunner 305, or a Stroke
Coach, or a Lactate Testing Kit - which would you buy and why?

While all comments will be appreciated, those that are tongue in cheek will
be given special appreciation.

Go to it, ladies and gentlemen.

Cordially,

Charles

[Mike Sullivan]

Post by Charles Carroll
As some of you may have figured out, I come from California where owning
what is in vogue is a way of life.
So a simple question: If you could only purchase one of three devices to
help you get fast on the water - a GPS such as a Forerunner 305, or a
Stroke Coach, or a Lactate Testing Kit - which would you buy and why?
While all comments will be appreciated, those that are tongue in cheek
will be given special appreciation.

Buy a prostitute to tell you you are fast while she is servicing
you.

Much more cost-effective and fun!

There is absolutely nothing you can buy to make you fast.

Indeed, if you want to go fast and do the actual work to
make it happen, there are ppl around like me that will help
you for free.

If you have money to give, I need money for my
Clear Lake Scullers project!

Mike

[Ted van de Weteringe]

Post by Charles Carroll
help you get fast on the water - a GPS such as a Forerunner 305, or a Stroke
Coach, or a Lactate Testing Kit - which would you buy and why?

GPS (presumably for on-water speed, not finding out where you are) is
crap in all but absolutely no-wind, no-current situations. DIY lactate
testing is much too finickety (finicky + pernickety). Stroke Coach is
helpful. Even better is training twice as much and/or as hard as you
do now.

[carolinetu]

On Jan 10, 8:49 am, Ted van de Weteringe

Post by Ted van de Weteringe

Post by Charles Carroll
help you get fast on the water - a GPS such as a Forerunner 305, or a Stroke
Coach, or a Lactate Testing Kit - which would you buy and why?

GPS (presumably for on-water speed, not finding out where you are) is
crap in all but absolutely no-wind, no-current situations. DIY lactate
testing is much too finickety (finicky + pernickety). Stroke Coach is
helpful. Even better is training twice as much and/or as hard as you
do now.

A stroke coach. Though it won't help you get fast by itself - you
need training for that.

Caroline

[n***@googlemail.com]

Post by carolinetu
On Jan 10, 8:49 am, Ted van de Weteringe

Post by Ted van de Weteringe

Post by Charles Carroll
help you get fast on the water - a GPS such as a Forerunner 305, or a Stroke
Coach, or a Lactate Testing Kit - which would you buy and why?

GPS (presumably for on-water speed, not finding out where you are) is
crap in all but absolutely no-wind, no-current situations. DIY lactate
testing is much too finickety (finicky + pernickety). Stroke Coach is
helpful. Even better is training twice as much and/or as hard as you
do now.

A stroke coach.  Though it won't help you get fast by itself - you
need training for that.
Caroline

I'd go for a SPEED Coach, not the Stroke Coach (ie the red one, not
the white one). The advantage is that it has an impellor which, once
calibrated, gives you an accurate stroke by stroke read-out of your
speed *through the water*. This means that you can make technical
changes and immediately see what impact that specific technical change
has on your boat speed.

It also means you can keep track of the actual distance travelled in
your outings, irrespective of what the stream is doing.

The Speed Coach Gold is expensive and only really useful if you want
to either scull at night (it has a back light), or want to review your
performance in long outings at 100m resolution (it has a bigger
memory).

Cheers,
Nick

[Ted van de Weteringe]

Post by n***@googlemail.com
I'd go for a SPEED Coach, not the Stroke Coach

Speed is overrated.

[Sarah F]

On Jan 10, 11:34 am, Ted van de Weteringe

Post by Ted van de Weteringe

Post by n***@googlemail.com
I'd go for a SPEED Coach, not the Stroke Coach

Speed is overrated.

But so are a lot of people's strokes ;)

[di@rocktheboat]

Sarah & Ted wrote

Speed is overrated.

But so are a lot of people's strokes ;)

just ask the prostitute suggested earlier!

sorry - slow day here

[r***@hotmail.com]

Post by Ted van de Weteringe
Speed is overrated.
But so are a lot of people's strokes ;)
just ask the prostitute suggested earlier!
sorry - slow day here

..... of course the customer always comes first

R

[Charles Carroll]

Post by r***@hotmail.com
..... of course the customer always comes first

Yes!

And speaking of stroke rate, in rowing culture you raise the rate to
increase the pace to win the race. In horticulture, on the other hand, you
drop the rate to relax the pace to enjoy the wildlife.

And I wish I could say it was a slow day.

[carolinetu]

Post by Charles Carroll

Post by r***@hotmail.com
..... of course the customer always comes first

Yes!
And speaking of stroke rate, in rowing culture you raise the rate to
increase the pace to win the race. In horticulture, on the other hand, you
drop the rate to relax the pace to enjoy the wildlife.
And I wish I could say it was a slow day.

So was it a good idea to give my husband a CD for his 50th birthday?
I've never known him to visit a brothel, but perhaps this means he
doesn't have to...

And should he have loaned his boat to the 16 year old junior that I'm
coaching? Will the lad be corrupted?

Happy Friday everyone...
Caroline

[Charles Carroll]

Oh Caroline -

Oh fortunate husband! Oh fortunate young man!

Can't you just see Carl's new advertisement?

Suspect your mate of a tendency to stray into someone else's lane? Help him
row straight. Give him a Carl Douglas 1x. Our shells are not merely bliss in
proof, but bliss indeed. We know of no other boats that do less to entice
you astray.

Enjoy your weekend,

Charles

[p***@hotmail.com]

Post by Sarah F
On Jan 10, 11:34 am, Ted van de Weteringe

Post by Ted van de Weteringe

Post by n***@googlemail.com
I'd go for a SPEED Coach, not the Stroke Coach

Speed is overrated.

But so are a lot of people's strokes ;)

Not so serious:
Combine the Speed Coach with Mikes Prostitute, and train her
(presumably) how to change the calibration periodically without your
knowlege. (To a higher number of course, but not too high.)

More serious:
Forerunner 201 works well for non flowing water for detailing time
over set distances.

Most serious:
Why is it okay to row your CD without regard to speed? (Ans: Because
you are already where you want to be.)

- Paul Smith

[SwissSculler]

The lactate testing kit certainly sounds the most glamorous of all!
Probably totally useless for 95% of potential users...

In addition to the speed coach get a sculling coach! Since you are in
California, give my buddy Xeno a call (ironoarsman.com). There is
nothing else more "vogue" than being coached by an Olympic champion!

[Mike De Petris]

Sure you intended SpeedCoach instead of StrokeCoach.

I am actually training using a Garmin Edge 305 that is like the
ForeRunner but with a bigger display and find it useful to help my
training sessions as I can do and record pieces anywhere so I can
choose the better water as I scull on the open sea and often need to
adjust route accodring to boat traffic and wind/waves conditions.

On a good day I can simply point by bow to the horizon and go until I
decide to come back and always know how many meters are flowing, of
course it is not safe to single scull in the middle of the gulf, but
you've got the point.

This is assuming I already have a StrokeCoach in the boat for rating,
but I could adapt the cycle speed and cadence sensor to read and
record the rate in the Edge, even together with heart rate.

A drawback could be you start thinking to be on an erg, forgetting to
look around :-)

[Charles Carroll]

Ah! Get a sculling coach instead of a speed coach! I like that.

It's funny that you mention your buddy, Xeno. I got the idea of the Lactate
Testing Kit from him. Apparently lactate testing is very "in vogue" down in
Newport.

It is also funny because I was just talking about Xeno with Dan Alexander,
who runs things at our Club. Dan started sculling and rowing at BIAC, Mike
Sullivan's Club, and told me that Xeno came up from Southern California to
give a clinic there. Needless to say, this prompted me to ask if we could
persuade Xeno to give a clinic at our Club, OWRC in Sausalito. Dan said that
if we could get enough people to sign up for it, he thought Xeno might come
up.

So see, we're still in "vogue." Or leastwise trying to be. It is a little
harder if you live in Northern California.

Cordially,

Charles

[SwissSculler]

Post by Charles Carroll
It's funny that you mention your buddy, Xeno. I got the idea of the Lactate
Testing Kit from him. Apparently lactate testing is very "in vogue" down in
Newport.

Not surprised at all! I am sure if you ask him the same question
however, he will answer you differently. The whole lactate thing is,
for most users completely overrated. Keep in mind that you need solid
knowledge on physiology to make this work. I am sure you can take many
seconds off your splits by working on technique first.

Sausalito, very nice! I stayed there when we were invited for training
camp at Marin, beautiful area! I didn't get to row at your club, but
friend Aerial tells me good things about it. I am sure you know her.

[Charles Carroll]

The next time you visit Sausalito we're going to have to go for a row.

As for Ariel Gilbert, she is one of the most remarkable people any of us
shall ever meet.

Here is a photograph of Ariel in a Double rounding the buoy off Belvedere
in one of our Regattas. Ariel is the lady in the black hat rowing bow.

http://www.owrc.com/aLog2006/OWRRegatta/RegattaPhotos/RegattaPhotos.html

For those of you who don't know, Ariel is blind. But not from birth and not
by accident.

Ariel simply opened a bottle of new eye drops and squeezed one or two into
each eye. What she didn't know - what she could not possibly have known - is
that the drops had been tampered with. Someone had put hydrochlolric acid in
them. There was nothing the doctors could do. As a result Ariel is
completely blind.

Even though Ariel rows out of my Club, she rows at a different time than I
do, so I have never had the good fortune to meet her. But I have friends who
know her, and by all accounts she is remarkable.

Liz Stone, the Mary Elizabeth Stone for whom my shell is named, is one of
Ariel's many friends. Liz told me that one of the reasons Ariel is so
successful at rowing is that she has an extraordinary sensitivity to her
environment. She said that she gave Ariel a ride home one afternoon, and was
racing up the freeway in the inside lane, when Ariel told her to start
pulling over to the outside lane because her exit was coming up quickly.

"How do you know that?" asked Liz.

"Simple," said Ariel. "I come this way all the time, I have a sense for the
speed your driving at, and I know how long we've been driving. So of course
I know how near we are to the exit."

I think that's amazing.

I am not putting web pages for all the numerous articles on Ariel that can
be found on the net. But if anyone is interested, just search "Ariel
Gilbert" AND rowing OR "Guide dogs for the Blind," and go on from there.

Cordially,

Charles

[Charles Carroll]

Post by p***@hotmail.com
Why is it okay to row your CD without regard to speed? (Ans: Because
you are already where you want to be.)

Surely you did not mean for anyone to infer that sculling a CD is like
visiting a very elegant brothel? It has everything you would ever desire.

Cordially,

Charles

[p***@hotmail.com]

Post by Charles Carroll

Post by p***@hotmail.com
Why is it okay to row your CD without regard to speed? (Ans: Because
you are already where you want to be.)

Surely you did not mean for anyone to infer that sculling a CD is like
visiting a very elegant brothel? It has everything you would ever desire.
Cordially,
Charles

I didn't, but now that you put it that way, perhaps I should have.

- Paul Smith

PS - The more direct reference was to a joke about Harley Riders:
(Why do Harley Riders go so slow? Because they are already where they
want to be.) I'd rather have the CD in either case.

[Charles Carroll]

Post by Charles Carroll
Surely you did not mean for anyone to infer that sculling a CD is like
visiting a very elegant brothel? It has everything you would ever desire.

And now that I have been sculling a CD lo these past four months, I might
add: And things you never knew you desired. ;>)

Paul -

I completely missed the reference to Harley Riders. You should have heard
the groan I let out as soon as I saw it. How could I have missed that?

Have I advanced into another decade only to spot senility on the horizon?

Cordially,

Charles

[Robin]

hi Charles,

Happy New Year from Scotland!

Of the options listed (or variants thereon), I would always go for the
Speedcoach - primarily as a cox because it is direct feedback for when
your crew are making a lot of noise and throwing the water around but
not moving the boat - or conversely, when they're making it fly to
give them the right kind of encouragement. Plus, particularly with
guys crews who spend a lot of time in the gym, if you tell them
they're rowing a 2:00 split and you want a 1:50 they usually have a
pretty good idea of what you are looking for and it is easier to
maintain a constant average speed instead of sprinting and flopping
alternately. I almost never use rating, because some crews move the
boat at a 24 and others at a 28, and if they're comfortable at those
levels, have ratio, aren't stamping on the footstretchers and stopping
the run, then insisting on some arbitrary number which may not be
their "resonant frequency" is pointless. This is a persistent
argument I have with some ex-schoolboy rowers who only deal with
"rating" as opposed to out and out boat speed...

Knowing where you row however, a Garmin would probably be quite handy
for getting home again if the fog ever comes down.

cheers,

Robin

[Charles Carroll]

Hello Robin,

Good to hear from you and Happy New Year from San Francisco.

Unfortunately I can't go with a Speedcoach because when Carl wanted to build
one into the shell I said no. Carl seemed slightly disappointed and I
vaguely recall his asking me to promise that I wouldn't change my mind and
lay out a lot of wiring all over the boat. Or at least this is how I
understood our conversation on the subject.

Then another consideration is that for some of the races around here a
Compass and/or GPS is required. So eventually, should I decide to race, I am
going to have to break down and purchase one. I am thinking of the Garmin
Forerunner 305 simply because that seems to be the favored tool at the
moment.

Another GPS that looks good is the the Garmin 76CSx. It was recommended by
Jessica Myers, a Senior Media Relations Specialist at Garmin. It floats and
has a receiver with a higher sampling rate.

http://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap76csx/.

What you had to say about almost never using rating is interesting,
especially in light of the recent thread on Joe Burk. One almost gets the
impression from reading Peter Mallory's chapter on Burk that all one has to
do to go faster is teach oneself to scull or row at a higher rate. Would
that it were so simple.

By the way, Robin, you were quite right about Carl's shell. You told me I
was going to fall in love with it, and I have. Sandy gave a speech at the
Boat Christening about how it felt to be introduced to your husband's new
mistress. It was very funny.

Cordially,

Charles

[Mike De Petris]

Post by Charles Carroll
By the way, Robin, you were quite right about Carl's shell. You told me I
was going to fall in love with it, and I have. Sandy gave a speech at the
Boat Christening about how it felt to be introduced to your husband's new
mistress. It was very funny.

It's always nice to read about love stories :-)