Erg Test

Double pole erg test yesterday. We have a number of rowing ergs that have been modified - stood upright and fitted with a curved bar - to simulate a double poling motion. The upright ergs are a Dick Taylor idea that Marty wholeheartedly embraced - we have 6 of them - and that we've continued to use. It's not a perfect imitation of double poling, but it's not bad. One of the best things about the erg is its ability to measure power output. This allows us to test skiers periodically to determine whether or not their double poling power has improved. Our test measures average power output over 2 minutes. It's a short but brutal test, like an 800-meter run - short enough to demand a near-maximal power output, but long enough to really hurt. Just the thing you want to do at 7am.

The test results were mixed. Back in September, most of the team did a self-test with this protocol, so we had some baseline data - we saw big gains in some people, but losses for others. I'm not sure what this is all about - the results didn't follow a predictable pattern, which is not unusual with a small group of subjects. One potential confounder is that the test is long enough to require some pacing, and different pacing strategies could have had a big effect on the results. It's a new test, and I'm not yet sure whether it's valid or reliable. We'll have to keep playing with it to decide whether it's worth keeping. For now, we won't read too much into these results - we'll trust the training plan and look for other ways of evaluating our progress.