2k, what else?

Question
I go to the US Merchant Marine Academy in New York, started rowing, and am in my second spring season now. My best 2k to date is a 6:30 flat. We rarely weight train, instead focusing on aerobic and on the water training. I think I could get down in the mid-6:20s by the end of the season. What would the best training methods be to drop 2k time significantly? And what are the rowers in a top D1 V8 pulling? I'm just wondering if I could've hacked it at a top school.

Answer
Hi Erik: Ah, King's Point.  When I was at Temple, I raced against your team 4 times.  I beat them once out of the 4, while rowing doubles in the 1982 Head of the Schuylkill.

Back to your question: Here are the 2007 results for the Open Men's Division of the CRASH-B Sprints, considered the Super Bowl of indoor rowing:

http://www.crash-b.org/cb2007/results/event01.html

As you can see, your time is in the middle of the pack against very good competition.  As I have told numerous posters here, I have seen people row extraordinary times on an ergometer, but when you put them in the six seat of an eight, they become a human anchor by doing things like crab or throw the set off with sloppy bladework.  On-water rowing has several technique components that are not replicated on an erg, such as bladework and swinging with seven others.

I would say that your coach's failure to do some weight training is an error.  Aerobics alone won't give you the gains in power you may need to drop your 500 splits down even lower.  It might be too late this spring, but add a weight training regimen which emphasizes exercises that develop the legs and back, like squats, leg machine lifts, and power cleans (to name a few).  Use bench pressing and bent rows to develop upper body strength.  

In the end, it's how you do at the Dad Vails, not whether you pulled a 6:25 on the CII erg that will mark your rowing career.  Assuming you have good on-water technique, I would say that you have the potential to be an asset to an Ivy League program.  However, several of these rowers have a big edge on you in that they rowed in high school and summer programs and may have as many as 100 races under their belt.  Try rowing a summer program, where you may be rowing with elite caliber oarsman.  

Don't dwell too much on "what if I went to a Big-time rowing school." No one in the past 100 years has been a professional rower.  Being an ex-Navy man myself, you should be very proud of the fact that one day you will be a Merchant Marine and an asset to your nation.

Hope That Helps/AP