This is Joe McMullin’s take on race day timelines for high school crews. I’m currently mentoring a former rower turned HS novice coach who asked what does a race day timeline look like. I became curious and asked some AI chatbots what they thought race day timelines look like for a home race. I’ll add mine at the end from personal experience. My prompt was as follows:

“As a rowing coach, what should my race day timeline look for my rowers if they need to arrive 1.5 hours before their race, their warmup, launching, and on the water warmup?”

I asked Gemini first:

Alright, Coach! Let’s build a solid race day timeline for your rowers. Here’s a breakdown, assuming they need to arrive 1.5 hours before their race, and we need to factor in warm-up, launching, and on-water warm-up time.

Here’s a sample timeline, assuming a 10:00 AM race start:

• Arrival Time (8:30 AM):
  • This gives them 1.5 hours before the race.
  • This time allows for any last-minute equipment checks, bathroom breaks, and mental preparation.
• Launching (8:30 AM – 8:45 AM):
  • 15 minutes should be sufficient to get the boat rigged and launched.
• Warm-up Start Time (8:45 AM):
  • Start with a 30-minute land-based warm-up.
  • This should include dynamic stretching, light cardio, and rowing-specific drills.
• On-Water Warm-up Start Time (9:15 AM):
  • Head to the water for a 45-minute on-water warm-up.
  • This includes steady-state rowing, technique drills, and race-pace bursts.
• Race Start Time (10:00 AM):
  • Time to race!

Key Considerations:

• Flexibility: This is a sample timeline. Adjust it based on your team’s specific needs and the race day schedule.
• Travel Time: If your rowers are traveling to the race, factor in travel time to ensure they arrive at the designated arrival time.
• Weather: Consider potential weather delays and adjust the timeline accordingly.
• Race Course: If the race course is long, allow extra time for the on-water warm-up and travel to the start line.
• Communication: Communicate the timeline clearly to your rowers and ensure they understand their responsibilities.
• Individual Needs: some rowers may need more or less time to warm up. factor this into your timeline.

Then I asked Chatgpt:

Creating an effective race day timeline is crucial for ensuring your rowers are well-prepared and focused. Below is a suggested timeline based on a race start time and the requirement for rowers to arrive 1.5 hours beforehand.

Race Day Timeline (Example for a Race Start at 10:00 AM)

8:30 AM – Arrival at Venue

• Rowers arrive at the venue, check in, and get settled.

8:30 AM – 8:45 AM – Equipment Check

• Ensure all boats, oars, and gear are in order.
• Check for any necessary adjustments or repairs.

8:45 AM – 9:00 AM – Pre-Race Meeting

• Gather the team for a quick meeting to go over race strategy, expectations, and any last-minute instructions.

9:00 AM – 9:15 AM – Change into Racing Gear

• Rowers change into their racing uniforms and prepare mentally for the race.

9:15 AM – 9:30 AM – Dynamic Warm-Up

• Conduct a dynamic warm-up session focusing on loosening up the muscles and getting the heart rate up.

9:30 AM – 9:40 AM – Boat Loading

• Load boats onto the trailer (if applicable) or prepare for launching.

9:40 AM – 9:50 AM – Launching

• Head down to the water and launch the boats.

9:50 AM – 10:00 AM – On-Water Warm-Up

• Conduct a thorough on-water warm-up, focusing on technique and rhythm. This can include drills and practice starts.

10:00 AM – Race Start

• Be positioned at the starting line and ready to race.

Additional Tips:

• Adjust the timeline based on the specific needs of your team and the race environment.
• Allow some flexibility for unexpected delays or last-minute changes.
• Keep communication clear and ensure all rowers understand their roles and responsibilities leading up to the race.

This timeline ensures that your rowers are physically and mentally prepared, maximizing their performance potential on race day.

Thoughts: Gemini was pretty decent, though it was concerning that it thought a team would need 15 mins to rig a boat. ChatGPT was way off, I’m not sure why you would load the boats on the trailer 30 min before the race and would only need 10 minutes of on the water warm up before the race.

Here is my take:

Coxswains and coaches arrive 5-10 minutes before coaches and coxswains meeting. Usually held at 7 AM (possibly earlier)

Assuming 10 AM race:

8:30: rowers arrive and immediately place the shell in slings for the coach and coxswain to check the shell over. Rowers should get their last bites to eat, check-in with their coach or coxswain, and always keep in contact with the coxswain if the rower is heading to the bathroom.

8:35: rowers begin dynamic warm-up

8:45: rowers begin 10 min erg warm up: 5 min to steady state and 5 mins of :40 seconds of spin and :20 seconds of blasters at set rates. Ideally the whole warmup is run in synch, so the rowers practice rowing at the same cadence

8:55: half the rowers bring the oars to the dock while the others use the restroom. Once oars are at the dock, those rowers should use the bathroom.

9:05: team boat meeting at the shell. Coxswain goes over the race plan and the coach adds any last thoughts. This should be an athlete driven conversation and everyone should be on the same page. If this is a heat or semi final, this would be a good time for the coach to address race strategy. #surviveandadvance

9:10: Hands on the shell and walking it to the dock

9:15: Shoes and bow ball are checked by official

9:20: crew launches

I’ve written my championship warmup here:

https://wordpress.com/post/joemcmullinrowingcoach.blog/108

9:55: lock on to the starting block

10:00: RACE!

I hope this helps. The schedule should be sent to the athletes the night before every race. Try keep to your same race timeline for every regatta except for travel regattas that require more time to take the shell off the trailer and rig the shell. In that case, the rowers should arrive 2 hours before their race. Having a set schedule will provide a sense of trust with the rowers and help them get in race mode.