Thank you John for your kind words, XENO

I would also like to echo my appreciation to Xeno for all of his contributions to this forum. I found the discussion regarding the Long Beach Sprints/Crash B training especially good; not only Xeno's comments but those of other forum contributors as well.

I just wanted to comment on my experience with Xeno's coaching. I am 40 and scull in St. Louis. I have rowed since college and have been coached by many individuals over the years but I really was pleased with Xeno's coaching style. My parents live in LA so I go out there for frequent visits and I have had the pleasure of visiting Xeno's Iron Oarsman studio in Costa Mesa and taking part in one of his classes. This was a great experience. I was fascinated to see that the class participants were a mixture of on water rowers and people very new to indoor rowing. The amazing thing was that the class seemed very appropriate for everybody and it was really a great workout.

I have also done, on two occasions, on water sessions with me in a single and Xeno coaching out of the Newport aquatic center. Xeno filmed the session and I have it on DVD to watch whenever I want. It was a very valuable experience and being able to watch it again and again allows me to be reminded of the drills he taught me as well as the general coaching comments that otherwise might be forgotten as time passes.

I would encourage anyone visiting in Southern California to pay a visit to Xeno for either an indoor rowing session or an on water row.

BTW, I am the chairman of our indoor rowing regatta (hosted by Washington University and the St. Louis Rowing Club) to be held tomorrow (Saturday, Feb 4) at Washington University's athletic complex at 9 AM. It's a bit stressful organizing the event and competing but it should be fun.

John Mason
40, HWT
2K 6:38.2 (1-28-06)

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.