Great new coaching possibilities, thanks to Paul Cechner

First of all, happy father's day to all dads and "would be great dads" such as Paul.

Paul discovered rowing a bit over a year ago. He is HOOKED and enjoys every aspect of the sport. It is a lot of fun coaching Paul, because he improves easily. A month ago, I suggested to row a double together. This form of rowing/coaching improves rowing skills very rapidly.

Paul took charge and bought us a super heavyweight pair/double from Kaschper Boatworks. The boat is totally awesome and fits us both perfectly. Now we are rowing at least once a week together and I am already toying with the thought about entering master races with Paul. Since Paul is a fit sixty plus year old, we could easily enter master races with an age average over forty five.

In addition to being able to row a great double, Paul told me to use the boat whenever I wanted. This is an awesome opportunity for me as well as for the those who I coach in the single scull. Thanks to Paul's generosity in allowing me to use the boat, I have since rowed with: Cole, junior rower from NAC. Chance, junior rower from Long Beach. Charles, my adopted uncle to my children. Luke, one of our eligible bachelors/rowing instructor at the Iron Oarsman. J.D. junior rower from the NAC, and young Scott junior rower from NAC. They all found a new form of understanding rowing with me sitting in the boat with them. Paul, I want to thank you for creating such great opportunities to me and others.

Since the double is more stable and gives each rower the opportunity to row individually while the other stabilizes the shell. There are an array of exercises that feel difficult to execute in the single scull, but great in the double. One such exercise is rowing with a constant square blade on one side while the other blade is rowed feathered on the recovery. The goal of the exercise is to show the rower to lift the oar out on the square no matter how the recovery proceeds, square or feathered. Often less skilled rowers tend to overdraw the finish in order to fit in the feathering movement. The exercise makes such "extra" motion unfit in comparison to the other oar that is maintained square.

While I am writing this blog entry I am thinking of a Paul/XENO and CO. party. Stay tuned.

All the best and thank you P A U L!

More info about Paul:
Mobile surgery specialist Dr. Paul Cechner takes care of our hospital’s more complicated surgery cases, as he does for several hospitals in our community. He graduated from Veterinary School in 1973 from the University of Illinois and completed his surgical residency in 1976 at Perdue, where he stayed on as an Assistant Professor of Surgery through 1983.

When he is not involved in the surgical treatment of the pets of the Los Angeles area, his animal family of five cats keeps him busy at home.

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

Indoor rowing for any age

Indoor rowing at any age

15/06/2007

Erik Osborne at the 2006 Head of the Charles in Boston, USA.By Melissa Bray

It is not just elite rowers that spend the time and have the passion to win. While these rowers get deeper into the competitive season individuals of any age face their own competitive challenges. American Eric Osborne is one of these. He has never lost the competitive drive. For Osborne it has led to a World Record, a culmination of a return to the sport after a 40-year gap.

Owner of the 80 – 84 year old age division set earlier this year at the World Indoor Rowing Championships in Boston, the United States, Osborne came to indoor rowing via his passion for rowing that began at university.

When Osborne took up rowing as a sport at university, indoor rowing machines did not exist, so when he spotted the machines for the first time 25 years ago, Osborne immediately took to them.

“I tried it once and realised how much I liked rowing,” says Osborne. “I bought the machine then and there.”

Osborne has also returned to the water-version of rowing regularly taking out a single in the summer and rowing up to 10km a day.

“I row every day that it’s possible,” says Osborne. “Generally six times a week.”

In the winter when rowing on the water is not possible, Osborne turns to his indoor rower and works his way through a six-day schedule. When he noted that the times he was doing on the indoor rower were up there with the best in the world in his age group, Osborne’s competitive instinct kicked in.

Osborne’s strategy for breaking the World Record: “I got on the machine and rowed as hard as I could.”

Osborne has noticed the impact of age. “I just get slower. I have less energy than I did 10 years ago. I used to do 7:12 on the erg now it’s 7:58. I also find I need more time to recover.” Osborne also admits that the drive row hard gets more difficult, but has found that listening to books on tape helps him get through the workouts. “I like histories and mysteries.”

The other secret is Osborne’s diet. “I eat three eggs and four slices of bacon every day for breakfast after I’ve rowed. I used to worry about my cholesterol but my doctor is uninterested.”

Osborne gets his inspiration from simple enjoyment. “If I don’t row I start to feel terrible in a couple of days.” Quoting his brother, who took up the sport in his 70s, “Erging is a leaching of the sludge.”

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

Top conditioning fortifies body to fight cancer (from the Denver Post)

Bio: A cancer survivor at 58, Nelson Boyd grew up in the Texas Panhandle town of Borger, northeast of Amarillo. He settled in Denver in 1972 after four years in the Air Force and spent 20 years at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, retiring as a manager in the patientbusiness office. He and Judith, his wife of 27 years, live in the City Park neighborhood and have three grown children.
The Journey: Boyd played basketball in high school and later in the military but took up the sport of indoor rowing in his 40s, building up his strength and endurance to where in one month in April 2002, he rowed the equivalent of more than 1 million meters - some 670 miles, or about as far as from Denver to Des Moines.
But on Valentine's Day two years ago, his athletic career hit a wall when he was diagnosed with a rare form of abdominal cancer - just a week after a routine physical had found no problems. "I was given a year to live, basically," he says.
Doctors here initially considered surgery, but through an Internet search Boyd's wife found a cancer clinic in Illinois that linked him up with a specialist in Nashville who prescribed an investigative regimen of radiation and chemotherapy.
Through it all, Boyd rowed regularly except on days when he was hooked up to an IV, and today, "I'm going on 19 months cancer-free, and counting," he says. "The fact that I was so well-conditioned really helped me get through all the treatments, and my oncologist said that because I was so lean in the beginning, it really helped the medications go right to the tumor, rather than getting tied up in fat cells."
The Challenge: Since "this cancer thing," says the 5-foot-9, 143-pound rower, his endurance isn't what it used to be. "A 30-minute race, 10,000 meters - they're all tougher now." Still, he realized a long-held dream in February by entering a major international rowing event in Boston, competing in the 2,000-meter sprint. "Picture running a 440 flat-out," he says. "It's that kind of intensity." Rowing against eight other men in his age and weight bracket (50 to 60, under 165 pounds), Boyd finished in a time of 7 minutes, 31 seconds - an average pace of 1:52 per 500 meters, or roughly 10 miles per hour. That put him in last place. But "I was ecstatic," he says. "It was my best time in half a dozen years - even precancer."
The Details: Boyd typically rises at 4 a.m. and gets in a walk and a workout before breakfast, sometimes on the Concept II rowing machine in his basement but usually at the Kinetic Fitness Studio in Cherry Creek. He also works out with weights, focusing on the major muscle groups in his legs, back, shoulders and chest. In addition, on the advice of one of his oncologists, he has adopted a semi-vegetarian lifestyle and cut all sugar out of his diet. "Once it's in your body, sugar is really something the cancer cell breeds off of," he says. -Jack Cox
Exercise
Six days a week, rowing for 40 to 50 minutes, or 8,000 to 10,000 meters, mostly in intervals. Three days a week, weightlifting for 30 minutes, mostly dead-lift squats. On alternate days, isometric exercises with a rope for 10 or 15 minutes.
Diet
A daily pre-workout shake made with 4 strawberries, 1 banana, a half-cup of nonsweetened soy milk, half-cup of orange juice and 1 tablespoon of peanut butter. Breakfast: oatmeal or flax cereal with soy milk, plus whole-wheat toast with sugar-free jam. Lunch: usually leftover fish and leafy greens. Supper: stir-fry veggies, brown rice and baked salmon or seitan, a vegetarian meat substitute.
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_5936879

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

2007 American Cancer Society Fundraiser Relay for Life Newport Beach

Hello Everyone.

This weekend was the Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society.

We had a team of rowers who took turns rowing for 24 hours. It was awesome. While we were rowing other people were walking around the football field for the duration of the fundraiser. This is our third participation at the Relay and we had a beautiful spot to row from. We had the view of the bleachers and once night fell we could see the luminaries. It was a beautiful setting.

Val ended up rowing over 100 000 meters.
Pat did a whole bunch but ended up getting sick from some rotten sandwich.
A great thank you to Karen, Kelly, Lynne A, Lynne B, Kathy G., Jim G., Carol, Nicole, Connie, Lisa, Richard, Dave, and a few others whose name eludes me at the moment, for rowing and putting in your time to raise awareness for fighting cancer.
I only got to row 12 KM; I was more the organizer than the rower this weekend.

Overall the Relay raised US$186K which is a whopping 60 000 more than last year.

We look forward to participating again.

All the best from us here in Costa Mesa, CALIFORNIA!

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

When you have little aches and pains:

Hello
I spoke to one of our rowers who mentioned getting a tender hip flexor by the end of the workday.
The tenderness does not worsen during rowing.
Thus, my suggestion was to gently stretch the quad and hip flexor every once in a while during the day. Our rower stands most of the day and my reasoning behind the tender hip flexor is that the muscle does not get any break from being stretched out all day. I will be watching proper rowing technique. A lack of lower back support may stress the hip flexor at the finish and on the recovery. The recovery is especially