Week 7

Monday of this week was an interesting start. In the morning I was in my Single because we had people not show up for practice. This irritated me because Tom and I are suppose to be racing a little over a week. It happened again in the after noon so we said something to Christian. Instead of doing a water practice I sat on the erg for an hour. Erging in the humid summer air is fun...

Tuesday evening we were going to not be in the double again so we said something to Christian and he shifted the line-ups so we could practice. We were doing pieces. They were OK but not our best we needed to clean up a lot.

Wednesday was reserved for a totally small boat practice. Tom and I got 12 miles in and had solid rating and swing together. In the evening we were going to go out again but it was canceled due to thunder and lightning. So instead I was again on the erg and doing some weight lifting.

Tom and I decided to do an extra practice on Thursday morning and we did some pieces with a pair. My head and body never really got together. I think my Head was still in bed. I was doing an awful job of steering and we just never really got together. In the PM Tom and I decided that we would take this practice and do nothing but starts to try and clean it up. We ended up doing almost 3 miles of them. They got better but never quite there. We were having rating issues; not getting the rating up not settling, etc. We decided to ask Christian and see if we could get a little attention next practice.

Friday morning Tom called me and we decided to take Friday morning off because we were both exhausted from working and the extra practices. This was I feel a good idea because we had a really good evening practice. We were told to treat our arms like ropes and just focus on the legs at the starts. This is possibly the best analogy that I have ever gotten in regards to sculling. It translates so well into the stroke. We were able to get our rating up to a 40+ off the start and our connection and rating were a lot better in our 1000 meter piece we did. We also got complimented on how good the start looked and how crisp/clean it was.

Sat: was another set of pieces, including the best 1000m Tom and I have done yet. We are going to be fine at Canadian Henley. I then spent the rest of the Saturday and Sunday working for the Sultans of Schlep. It was two incredibly long day of moving stuff. When Sunday night came I was beat. Thankfully I don't race until Wednesday of this week and can recover a bit. The money is good, but the work is tough.

On Wednesday Tom and I race at 2pm in Canada against 4 other boats. We need to place in the top 2 to move onto the finals because the eliminated the Semi-finals for the event. I am very positive about the race and am looking forward to it.

Week 6

So I got back from Club Nationals were we won overall points trophy at 1 AM in the morning and went to bed. I woke up and went to the gym to do some lifting and stretching. In the evening we had to unload the trailer at the boathouse.

Tuesday morning I got up and went and did a 40 min piece on the stationary bike. That evening was fun cause Tom and I found out that we were going to field a Double (2x, 2people/2 oars each) for Canadian Henley. It was a steady state row just getting use to rowing together.

On Wed. we found a pretty decent set of oars and went for another swing row. In the evening we changed boats to a Blue Hudson. It is better to row but we knew we needed to adjust our positioning.

Thursday was another Steady state piece and drills. Tom and I are coming together, but much prefer to row in a headwind.

Friday Morning we went for an hour and it was a pretty good row except for the 4x of Juniors that nearly hit us. I feel that if you are coaching a squad of middle schoolers you should not leave them to their own devices. Oh well...

That evening we were out again but it was awful Tom and I just didn't have our heads in it so we cut the practice short at a 10K and resolved to hit it hard on Saturday.

Saturday was a great row. We started practicing Starts and those came together really well. We also did 500 meter pieces to start to find our race pace. It was good we move together well and have decided that we are not going to suck at Henley. We did almost 2 hours of rowing and ended with a great cool down that was set and powerful. That afternoon was a party at the boathouse that then moved to one of the rowers houses. It was fun. I left early cause I was working on Sunday which turned into a very long day of moving stuff with the Sultans of Schlep, a Moving Co. in Philly. It is good money, but I know I don't want to make a living moving other peoples crap.

Week 5 And Club Nationals

Sorry all that this post is late but it was a busy week and Then I was off to Club Nationals. To Start with the week of before club Nationals we had Monday of because we were racing on Sunday. As I did not make finals in my eight I took Monday to do some Aerobic Erging 2x 20 minutes and a total of 11500 meters. On Tuesday I lifted in the morning and in the afternoon I was in the 4+ where the focus was mainly Technique with Vince and he built the stroke up from recovery and then the hang to move quickly through the water with connection. Finally focusing on the backing in of the blade to make sure that that connection occurs earlier.

Wednesday was Steady state with Vince in the Cox Seat. he is a Vulgar little Sicilian and a amazing coach/cox and individual. We rowed at least 12 miles and were ahead of the other eights in the last half of the work out. It became clear that it is possible to accomplish almost anything with determination. If you bring that with you no one can beat you. The misconception with steady-state rowing is that it is an "off" day or a swing row. Steady state is a Hard day of rowing where the mental focus is technique. This is different than piece day where the focus is to be tough for the rowing and the technique is natural. In the evening we did 1500 meter pieces and did alright. Some of the people in the boat needed to find the motivation to do well and we pulled it together for the last piece. AS Christian said, "Winning is mental. If you don't think you can win why line-up?" It was interesting to row so hard that my legs went numb.

Thursday I lifted in the morning. In the evening we started with a Steady row focusing on the swing. Then we did 1 min pieces at a 32-34-36-38-36-34-race simulation. It was alright.

Friday in the morning was another day of Steady state for an hour and the evening was devoted entirely to Balance and Blade tricks.

Saturday was 3 by 2Km at full race simulation. We did not far to well the first 2 but then we won our third. I believe this happened because everyone finally was tired to relax in the race and also they finally got tired of losing.

We then left on Monday to head to TN for Club Nationals. It was a long 10 hour drive. We practiced on Tuesday. Then I raced in the Eight Heat on Thursday. We cam in third easily so coasted to the Semi-finals. On Friday was the Semi-Finals and We needed to place in the top 3. I feel that we could have done it. We were solidly in third and were hanging with second place. through the first 1200 meters. And that is where it went down hill. Our Coxswain called for our move at the 1300 and for whatever reason the rating dropped and the I feel the oars go heavy and the boat got heavy. Needless to say we lost all of the momentum and positioning we had. and ended up losing the Semi Race. So the rest of the week was hanging out and going on runs in Oak Ridge. Penn AC fared rather well though winning the Men's overall and the Combined Team Points Trophies.

The focus for the upcoming weeks are on Canadian Henley. Which is the first week in August.