On the water

An excellent indoor week - let's get ready to get back on the water! We will chat about preparation in the coming days as a way to approach sports, academics, and life in general.

Iron Intake & Vitamin C

I'd like to invite you to vote in an important and relevant poll on the right that is linked to what nutritionist Pam Rosow spoke about during our meeting a couple of weeks ago.

As strength and power endurance athletes the transportation of oxygen is critical to performance - oxygen is transported through hemogloblin in the blood of which iron is a key component. Having an appropriate amount of iron in your diet is critical for athletic success. We also know that vitamin c plays a key role in allowing the absorption of non-heme (vegetable or supplement) iron into the bloodstream. Heme-iron from red meat , poultry, and fish is highly available without vitamin C.

"The key role of ascorbic acid for the absorption of dietary nonheme iron is generally accepted. The reasons for its action are twofold: (1) the prevention of the formation of insoluble and unabsorbable iron compounds and (2) the reduction of ferric to ferrous iron, which seems to be a requirement for the uptake of iron into the mucosal cells."

Heme-iron can be found in the following foods:
Beef, turkey, chicken, shrimp, sardines, shellfish, etc.

Non-heme iron can be found in breakfast cereal, cooked beans and lentils, canned beans, potatoes with skins, enriched pasta, and canned asparagus.

Again vote in the poll on the right and let's see if it is something that we should address as a team!

CRASH T Eve

Here we are - finally close to the start of our season - I'm looking forward to seeing you all in one place.

While Pam was hard at work at the boathouse today, I was able to make some good headway on the fund raising front, some contact with alumni both from the 80s and 90s, and making sure that our practice schedule is clear and well thought out for the next four week period.

Many of you have emailed about 2000m preparation and how to approach your pieces - the simple answer above all else is to make sure that you remain humble and recognize that you will have to work extremely hard - however, you won't be able to go any faster than what you have done in practice. The predictor scores you have should give you a sense of what pace makes the most sense.

Finally, I'm extremely proud of those of you who have battled back from physical injuries and are rehabbing intelligently and appropriately and those of you who have gone through motivational injuries and persevered to get to the spring season. How you adapt to, adjust your program, and overcome your challenges reveals much of what will help you succeed later on.

Brutal Quartets & Being Sick

Two brutal quartets that almost put me under last night...I google image searched "brutal quartet" and came up with this album cover. Strange huh?

X Push Press, X Pull ups, X Deadlifts, X Double Unders x 4
Quick rest
X Double Unders, X Back Raises, X Dips, X Dumbbell Swings x 4

I've seen a few athletes on both the men's and women's side that are sick or battling injury. These have been some of the most motivated and capable athletes who have made huge progress in the past couple of months - if you're one of these people...it's OKAY TO REST. Letting your body recover from sickness is pretty darn analogous to recovering more a workout only the stimulus is caused by an outside virus/bacteria and not exercise. If you absolutely MUST workout for sanity's sake, keep the duration short, the intensity low, and immediately refuel with fluids and a mix of carbohydrate, protein, and fat.

Also, I'm interested to know why breakfast is so popular...Anyone care to post a comment in favor of breakfast or any other meal? You can post your thoughts to comments.

Equipment

Just returned from dropping off the Frances Elspeth that has been sold to a Philadelphia area high school - I hope they have as many successful races in it as we did!

Coach Besteman and I spent the day at the boathouse prepping three sets of blades for repainting, putting on new oar sleeves and handles. We're also retrofitting our older sets of blades with the adjustable length handles - messy work but it should mean that we'll have consistent equipment across the program. We'll attack the rigging in the next few days...

I also wanted to revisit what we discussed at our team meeting yesterday - each of you has an important contribution to make to the team whether or not you always see it. If you're having difficulties or are questioning all you need to do is take action one day at a time and let things develop.

Also, who knew that breakfast would be the best meal of the day? Is it the omelette station or the waffle maker at Mather that is making that happen...?

6 days until the launch of the spring season.

Divers are TOUGH

Just finished watching the Trinity vs WPI swim meet and wanted to congratulate one of our captains Amanda Kulik (also swim team captain) on her final home meet at the College! It was amazing to watch some of the seniors compete in a final freestyle relay event...

The athletic moment that stood out to me was the diving event - a WPI female diver missed a rotation and landed flat on her back off the 3m diving board...the sound shocked the crowd and she slowly made her way to the side of the pool and barely made it out. Her body took an incredible impact - close to as hard a hit as I've ever witnessed. To her absolute credit, she made her next dive relatively successfully and must have swallowed her fear. Immediately afterwards, her whole back and legs were wrapped up with ice bags...what a tough kid.

Either way, Trinity's women were triumphant and I believe the men lost narrowly.

Final meeting tomorrow in the AV Room at 4:15 PM

9 days until season launch

Alexander Capelluto Foundation

I attended the Yale Crew Banquet in New York last night and sat in on the Crew Association meeting - it was good to reconnect with old friends and the coaching staff and to see how people are progressing with their careers and lives.

The Yale women's crew and heavyweight crew celebrated last season's victories at the NCAA Division I Championship and the Yale Harvard race. I sat at a table with the parents of Alex Capelluto who was a Yale lightweight oarsman who died on May 18th 2006 in a bike accident. At the time, Alex had just finished his crew's final practice before the Eastern Sprints and was getting in some extra training on his bike on the road back to New Haven.

I had watched practice that day with Coach Card and the rest of the lightweights and was there when Andy received the call about the accident. Recounting some memories of Alex with his parents was incredibly hard but seeing their strength and resiliency was more than just inspirational.

In Alex's name, they have set up the Alexander Capelluto Foundation that provides funds for course supplies like text books, musical instruments, course packets, laboratory fees, etc. that financial aid awards do not cover. Yale did not have ANY mechanism in place prior to the start of the foundation to fulfill this need. Both of Alex's parents felt that no student should have to forgo academic exploration opportunities that they have in college because of financial constraints. To date they have helped over 140 students already expand their academic horizons.

I know I've spoken about this to you at some other points in time but please don't wait until something tragic happens to tell people that you care about them - our team WILL face challenges with our families, ourselves, and each other. I hope we can meet them knowing that we are never alone to deal with those problems.

If you would like to make a donation to the Alexander Capelluto Foundation please visit www.alexcap.org for more information. And please call your parents!

Attention to Detail

I wanted to thank all of you in advance for your efforts and to say that we are receiving wonderful parent, alumni, and friend support. It is truly amazing to hear from alumni that we have lost contact with and hope that we will continue to make them proud as the season goes on.

As we get closer to the season, I urge you to pay attention to your own progress physically, mentally, and technically. You are going down a wrong path if you are trying to compare yourself to others right now...focus on what you can control and do the best with what you have at the moment.

This definitely pertains to what Coach Besteman and I expect with attention to detail. If the voluntary conditioning program recommends 30' of ellipitical work done in intervals then don't do the recumbent bike on the fat burning level. Likewise, if you are using the ergometer for training use slides when recommended and monitor your rest levels appropriately. They make an enormous difference!

Attention to detail. If you're reading this blog regularly you probably notice when there's a typo; a single letter, a misspelled word, or a noun-verb disagreement. Do you think that your body will recognize when you change the work to rest ratio or change the medium of the workout? Absolutely...do your best.

Top Ten List: Nutrition Talk

We had nutritionist Pam Rosow come and speak to the men's and women's teams yesterday (though there was somewhat diminished attendance because of the Barack Obama rally in Hartford).

Pam's talk focused a wide range of topics but I thought I would boil down the talk into ten bullet points for your perusal. I found these very helpful and were great reminders for the dietary needs of competitive athletes.

1. Use natural foods as much as possible for more "complete" nutrition. It's far better to eat unprocessed oatmeal than an oatmeal cookie for example.

2. Fats and protein help create a feeling of satiety that carbohydrates do not.

3. Your hypothalamus does not detect the caloric content of drinks and so they do little to satiate hunger. Avoiding sodas, sugary coffee drinks, and other similar products and getting those calories through food will provide more fuel for your body.

4. Protein + Exercise allow one to build muscle and improve performance. One without the other will not improve performance.

5. Post workout calories in the form of carbohydrate and protein are most effective when consumed between 30 and 60 minutes following exercise.

6. Iron intake for athletes is important and can be consumed through red meat or certain vegetables. Vitamin C consumption helps the body absorb iron which is critical for oxygen transportation within the body. Women need more iron than men.

7. Multivitamins DO NOT provide the body with energy - mostly they allow the body to process and utilize food more effectively. A diet rich in vegetables, fruit, protein, and whole grain carbohydrates will provide more than enough of the recommended intake of vitamins and minerals.

8. Supplements like caffeine, creatine, and others should be monitored carefully and tested prior to competition. Pam's point was that these supplements should NOT be used as a replacement for good nutrition and can be dangerous if used improperly.

9. Chew! The longer food stays in your mouth and is chewed the more opportunity for it to be broken down physically and chemically with salivary enzymes. This provides better nutrition, quicker absorption, and easier elimination. So when in doubt...CHEW!

10. If you are working out less than 60' you probably only need to drink water to rehydrate - the need to have gatorade, powerade, etc. is exaggerated by amazingly effective advertising. Replenishing electrolytes like sodium, potassium, etc. would be better accomplished through consumption of food (that also controls hunger!)

Super Bowl Workout

C2 500m row / Stability Push Ups / Double Unders / Dead Lifts - X rounds for time

So much for predictions...Great football game and congratulations to the New York Giants - I wish we could have experienced perfection but what a season for the Patriots.

Nutrition Talk on Monday at 4:15 PM in the Life Sciences Auditorium. Short team meeting to follow afterward.

Super Bowl & NESCAC Squash Championship

Super Bowl Sunday is here and it's a couple of hours until game time...I would imagine that the players are going through their pre-game routine and trying to control their excitement and energy. I've read that the Super Bowl is the strangest game to play because the crowd is relatively impartial, there are more people on the sidelines, and the timing of warm-ups, kick-off, and half-time are disrupted by all of the pageantry. It's probably not unlike dealing with a championship regatta with weather delays, equipment problems, or a racing foul (like the one we witnessed in the 4- event at the IRA regatta last year...resulting in a complete re-row of the race).

Also, the NESCAC squash championships just finished where Trinity faced Williams on the men's and women's sides. Much credit must go the Ephs who played aggressively, fought to the very end of every game, and demonstrated great sportsmanship. I would have expected nothing less from their team.

The match of the day must go to the #1 women's players Lauren Polonich of Trinity and Toby Eyre of Williams (both are ranked in the top 10 nationally). Eyre took the first game while Polonich fought back aggressively to take the next two. Neither let up in the fourth game but Eyre hit some well-placed winners to force a fifth game and seemingly the momentum as well. With both teams and many spectators watching, both players went to the limit physically with the lead changing several times. Polonich eventually took the match with a scream of delight while Eyre yelled and smashed her racket in frustration.

It really looked like the two competitors played a match that helped raise both of their games to new heights. While the score was separated by a few mistakes or a few lucky shots the desire and spirit of competition was really compelling. In such a match the whole room was centered on the drama unfolding on the court and I think the players' reaction when the result was decided showed how vulnerable and emotionally invested they were as the match turned into an amazing battle.

I'm not sure if there is such a parallel in rowing other than when you are even with another crew going into the last 500...can you be prepared for the moment and leave nothing in reserve in the tanks, on the erg, in the weight room, or on the water and be satisfied with the result? Are you willing to fail?

Poll Results: Dead lifts and Pull ups even with box jumps and push ups way behind...

Super Bowl Prediction: Patriots 27 Giants 17 (Pick Giants + 12.5 pts)

15 days until the launch of the spring season

February 1st: Overcoming the Blahs!

February is a big month for Trinity Women's Rowing - we will finally be able to go in-season and train as a squad. It's also a time when academic pressure and the rigorous academic routine starts to take hold.

I would highly urge you to remember that this is generally one of the least enjoyable times to be training...

1. We haven't been on the water since October 25th! That 165 days or OVER 5 months that we haven't been training towards our common goal together. Separation from your teammates can be one of the leading causes of lower enthusiasm levels.
Actively seek out those teammates who are feeling blue and haven't been so connected lately. Shared experience is what we need right now...

2. Sunlight! With cloudy, snowy days and colder temperatures nobody gets very much exposure to the sun. Direct exposure to sunlight allows your body to produce vitamin D that is critical for calcium absorption, maintenance of mood, and a lack of it can cause muscle aches and pains. Sitting in a sunny car or in your dormitory room won't make it happen because the UV rays need to directly hit your skin. Get outside and get some sun somehow! Okay, it's raining today...but any other day!

3. Training is hard when you are less motivated and being this far away from competition can certainly affect your motivation. The way to combat this is to set small attainable performance goals and resubscribe to the belief of focusing only on the moment.

4, Overcoming inertia and momentum...the hardest step of any journey is taking that first step. Some times you need to restart and make that hard choice to do something...anything...to get yourself active. Once you get the momentum back in your athletic activity you will definitely feel better.