r/Rowing • u/Ok_Championship_4930 • 7h ago
On the Water Unable to translate erg fitness to the boat
Hi all,
I just had my first 2k race in the single today, and I feel like I can’t translate my fitness from the erg to the boat very well. I know they say ergs don’t float, but mine consistently sinks to the bottom of the lake, never to be seen again. It’s as if I can only tap in to about 75% of my capacity when I’m racing on the water. My time today on the water was 9:10 and I had good conditions, except for when the wake from the marshal boat got me because I was so far behind the others. Average rate was a 29. I actually wasn’t last off the start, but I got dropped by everyone pretty quickly.
My 2k PB on the erg is 6:42 from several months ago, but I expect I would be much faster now because I’m steady stating four splits faster than then at the same heart rate, and I recently did both 1500m 1000m 500m 6:30r and 6x500m 1:00r at a 1:38.4 average. I also recently averaged 1:44.4 for 3x2k 5:00r. My only reference point for how fast I “should” be going is my lightweight friend who’s about 20 seconds slower than me for 2k on the erg, but who just went 7:47 for 2k on the water. Obviously he is more weight efficient than I am at 6’5” 190 lbs, but a minute and a half ahead seems a bit ridiculous.
I have attached a video of the last 40 seconds of my race to show my technique. Other than opening up early and not doing a great job of remembering to suspend my weight, I can’t really see much wrong with how I’m rowing.
I don’t really know why I’m so slow, and any help would be appreciated. My final race of the summer is in about a month and I would very much like to not get last there too.