First Scrimmage

On March 19th, the 4+ headed down to UVA to join the Bucknell/Hobart/UVA scrimmage and finally touch race cadences for extended distances. The morning began similar to most Saturdays, with a dark, early wake up, except this time we had a slightly longer commute to the boathouse.

Upon arrival, we were greeted warmly by our hosts, given a space to camp in their erg room, and allowed to toy with the boat's rig in preparation for the pieces. It was my first visit to UVA's boathouse and was impressed by the venue and facilities. Championship posters hung from the boat bays, trophies adorned the walls, and sleek shells glistened in the morning light. It was also the first boathouse I had seen where a varsity and a club team share the facilities and was thus surprised at the divide of certain equipment's use, such as the medical supplies. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that my alma mater, Yale University, had sent their women's crew team to race UVA later that afternoon and was able to see some familiar faces and yell "Go Bulldogs!".

The day's pieces were 4*1000 meters, with two pieces as the first 1000 meters of the race and the other two as base 1000s. Our opponents both hailed from UVA, one 4+ being their lightweight 4+ (who placed 4th at the 2015 Head of the Charles in the Lwt 4+) and a novice 4+. We were piecing on on their 2000 meter course and conditions were decent, with moderate chop and a decreasing tailwind through the course.

We traded pieces with the lwt 4+, taking two from them in fast conditions. We attempted to hold a planned base cadence but rowed slightly higher than we had planned, in part thanks to the tailwind. UVA planned a BBQ for all crews that we raided before making our way back to Baltimore. John even managed to catch Josh and Rob taking a nap:



Thanks to UVA for being gracious hosts!

Breaking Ice

The first practice back on the water after winter training tends to have extremely mixed reviews. For some crews the first day back is lackluster and everybody tells himself that “it is fine, we haven’t been on the water in months.” Though that is often true, I think that is where the first hints of doubt creep in where you wonder if it is ever really going to get better.

This was not the case on a cold Sunday morning this past week; but let me set the stage.


The water looked flat, partially because of the excellent conditions, and partially because the thin layer of ice was making it look so. It was the first time I have been forced to wear longs since I was in college (only Alex wasn’t wearing long because he is a monster), and none of us had taken a stroke in an actual boat since early November.

Before anything else, we found ourselves having to crunch through the ice, our oars punching through the thin layer of ice with every stroke. After the initial shock, I realized that even in the first strokes of our warm up we were matching up well. When we went to all 4 the boat was set.

Josh is sitting 4, I’m 3, Alex is 2, and Rob is bow. Alex says behind me how the boat feels more fit and I think, well we’ve put in nearly four million meters between the four of us. After our initial loop our coaches confirm what all of us are feeling; we could probably keep rowing at 20 strokes a minute at that same speed for another 10k without any problems.

For as long as I’ve been rowing I have always enjoyed the, what others might consider, poor conditions. I would laugh and joke about going through white caps, torrential rain, even snow one time in college. I mentioned for some crews the first row of the season can color their entire outlook. As we cut through the ice I felt the elation of rowing in “poor” conditions and firm conviction that this is going to be a fast boat. 

Reaching 850,000m

This has been a great winter. I wouldn't call it my most successful but it has been a great learning experience.

Unlike years past, I did NOT follow a strict training plan. When I was training for Henley with Potomac, I was following a coaches plan. My afternoon workouts were primarily with O'Connell - a team I was coaching. I would either do a short run/warm up with the high school athletes or I would try to erg. My total meters that year were about 750,000.

This year, I am not even at February 15th (water time) and I reached 850,000.

My goal before we reach the water is to break a 1,000,000m. Meters have been added up either on the erg or on a run. For every mile run, I estimate it to be 1500m. My typical run has been 5 miles.

So where am I at right now? I posted a 6:26 2k without any warm up. My latest 6x3 minute workout was an average of 1:38.9. I believe, on a good day, I will be 6:22 for my 2k. My SS work has been in the low 1:53 range and my 20 minute test was sub 1:45. I think if I were to test this weekend, I would post a 1:42 6K.

My fitness level is at an all time high as an adult.

I'm sleeping better and feeling better each day. I've had some "bad" days where I didn't want to touch the erg but I have had GREAT days where I am completing the workout 2 splits faster than I expected.

I plan to complete at least one more 20 minute test and one more 2k before I get on the water.

Something I plan to do is keep the erg training going through March, April, May and June. My expectations are to add at least 150,000m per month in addition to my water training.

We are only a few weeks away from getting on the water and I am incredibly excited about where I am with my fitness. Something I learned from the last time I raced Henley was that I need to be more FIT - less focused on my strength and more focused on my endurance. At Henley, you are racing at 85% pressure throughout the entire event over 5 days. It's a much different race than a typical American regatta.

More to come soon.

MidAtlantic Erg Sprints

The four oarsmen, Alex Del Sordo, Robert Hawthorne, John Kauffman, and Josh Ruck competed at the MidAtlantic Erg Sprints at T.C. Williams, on January 30th, 2016.

Alex was the first to enter the arena, racing in the Master's Men (30-39) 2000m event. Alex earned hardware, finishing in a time of 6:26.7.

Rob, John, and Josh all competed in the same event, the Open Men 2000m. The three were separated by less than a split, with Rob finishing in 6:29, John just behind at 6:29.3, and finally Josh rounding out the crew in 6:32.4

Full results posted here: http://ergsprints.com/2016-results/

First 2K

Yesterday, January 9th, the four completed their first 2K erg test, rate capped at a 26. The boat was overall pleased by the effort and is continuing to train for their first open 2K, at Mid-Atlantic Erg Sprints at the end of the month.

The Backstory - told by DelSordo

I was introduced to Josh during the spring of 2015 after an erg workout with an employee I had at Finish Line Shell Repair. A few days later I received an email asking about Henley 2015 and the possibilities of us getting a boat together. Absolutely NO WAY! I thought. Then it sat in my head for awhile and we had a lot of emails and texts to discuss the potential. We ended up not going - obviously.

At the time I was training with Potomac Boat Club and the men's sweep team. I was going through a serious lawsuit with my company and didn't think Henley 2015 or even 2016 was a realistic goal. At the end of the summer, as I was training for The Charles, I started to see significant improvement in my erg scores and rowing. Josh maintained his persistence and found a way to get 4 random guys and a coxswain in a boat on a Saturday morning.

We jumped in a boat and rowed for an hour. The moment I knew this was going to work was when we lengthened out to a 20 and the coxswain called for some pressure. She said "ok we are at 1:50." The boat was running out, the coxswain was happy and the rowing was effortless. The launch came over and asked how it felt. We were pleasantly surprised!

After some emails and calls, we all decided this was the right thing to do.

The collection of rowers is fantastic: Harvard, Yale, GW and Bucknell. We all live in Baltimore and are within a few years of one another. At 30 with a kid, I'm the old guy of the boat!!

The last 5 weeks has been rivigorating! I'm erging and running more than I have in more than a year. My career is improving and my business is growing. It feels great to be part of something bigger than me.

Looking forward to posting more about my workouts and my experience

First Test - 20'

Rob and Josh completed the first ergometer test for the crew on Saturday, 12/12/15, at BRC. Alex and John will take their turn the following week.

It is a starting point to base future work upon.