THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT “Much of the work was low-intensity and undertaken below the anaerobic threshold, very unlike many people’s idea of [training]. The idea was to speed up the delivery of oxygen to the muscles by expanding the blood capillaries. This was achieved by working to predetermined pulse rates. “Grobler might ask the crew to row ten 2-kilometre pieces at ‘UT2,’ indicating a heartbeat of between 135 and 155 beats a minute. The next level up would be 5 2- kilometre pieces at UT1,’ meaning a pulse rate of 155 to 165 beats a minute. At this point, the oarsman is standing at the anaerobic threshold, where the body’s demand for oxygen matches its maximum ability to take up oxygen. Hearts pound away at about 175 beats a minute. That hurts. The crew could linger here between fifteen and twenty minutes before it became too painful. “Over the threshold, your muscles use more oxygen than the body can absorb, and you step into the land of oxygen debt, nausea and blackouts. You’re sprinting, but slowing down all the time, with your heart about to explode at about 180 beats a minute. The crew would do very little work at this intensity.”5555 Today this approach is called “long slow distance” or LSD, and the training of international rowers, runners, cyclists, swimmers, cross-country skiers and a host of other athletes worldwide follows this path as it was first set down by the scientists and coaches of the GDR Sports System. Rowing Technique By the 1970s, GDR Classical Rowing Technique had evolved only slightly from that of their 1964 Unified German Olympic Coxed-Pair from ASK Vörwarts 5555 Ross, pp. 49-50 Rostock.5556 They followed Fairbairn’s favorite quote: “Take hold of the water as hard as you can, row it through harder, and finish it out hardest.”5557 According to Rudern, the GDR Text of Oarsmanship, “The speed of the boat depends directly on the quantity and quality of propulsion. Maximum boat speed will be reached at the extraction if the angular velocity of the blades is increased from the time the blades begin to take up pressure and is maintained to the finish, with a fluid completion of the stroke.”5558 In other words, constant pressure yields constant acceleration yields constantly increasing speed from entry to release. This is the true essence of Schubschlag, a GDR concept. GDR rowers accomplished this through pure Classical Fairbairn concurrency. “The beginning of the stroke is initiated by both the leg drive and the body swing. The body swing accompanies the leg drive throughout the stroke.”5559 The arms were also used concurrently. “A technically correct stroke is one in which the hands are just reaching the point of release as the body completes its swing and the legs are fully extending.”5560 Perhaps the most famous GDR boat of the 1970s was the SG Dynamo Potsdam Coxless-Pair of Bernd and Jörg Landvoigt. Between 1974 and 1980 they amassed a record of 179-1, losing only one international final to the Pimenov brothers of the Soviet Union.5561 They perfectly demonstrated the “boiling water” that Fairbairn looked for at the finish. After rowing in the 1972 GDR Olympic Bronze Medal Eight, they switched to a 5556 See Chapter 91. 5557 Qtd. by Fairbairn On Rowing, p. 271 5558 Herberger, p. 74, retranslated from German. 5559 Roaf & Klavora, Rowing 2, p. 5 5560 Ibid, p. 13 5561 See Chapter 79. 1527
