Starting from Scratch

Wow - a lot has happened in the past twelve days and we're less than a week away from our students returning to the College (finally!) Have done some traveling, followed the NFL playoffs closely, and have done very little physical training but a ton of reading.

Started training again yesterday - got back on the ergometer and the squash courts. To be honest it felt absolutely awful. I felt like I was working incredibly hard for very slow splits, maintaining reasonable posture but trying to stay relaxed was a real effort and even concentrating was challenging. Getting on the squash court I found I was much stiffer, had much poorer visual acuity, and got winded quickly. It was almost absurd how foreign erging and hitting squash shots had become in such a short time.

But you know what? It was damn fun.

Because today, I worked out again and could immediately feel a difference! I probably am not "fitter" from a chemical or biological standpoint but I sure felt better about it. The skill aspect of my squash game (limited as it is) is returning quickly and being a little less fit I'm able to think and be more patient with my shot making. Perhaps that's why some crews have a better second piece after burning off excess energy that isn't going into moving the boat but sure does make the individual rowers tired.

So I'm treating it as a one day at a time battle to work more consistently, eat healthier, and go to bed earlier. Simple right?

Topic for tomorrow: Trinity women's basketball versus Babson College and Tony Dungy's retirement

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all from Trinity Women's Rowing - there's much to strive for in 2009 and I'm looking forward to getting back to it when school starts again.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Flying Home

On my way back to Toronto this morning and am currently sitting in the Bradley International Airport after a pretty thorough security check...they swabbed my bag (must have found that exploded toothpaste), analyzed air from my clothing, triple-checked my passport and boarding pass and were generally pleasant. It was funny to see the passengers around me flustered by the demands of the agents and seemingly thrown off their "travel games" by an unanticipated request. I felt almost preternaturally calm (though the 5:30 AM departure could have something to do with that).

Does that seem like rowing for inexperienced athletes? The demands of training, every head race, and every 2000m race are very predictable...especially in terms of physiology and we can fully control our preparation for those demands each and every day. The unanticipated demands are those that are mental in nature - training during injury, academic stress, an incredibly close race, or a race that holds a lot of meaning. Dealing with these aspects of being a rowing athlete are also completely in your control if you are mentally prepared. I know we're looking hard at not getting thrown off our "game" by the demands of airport security or anything that the season can throw at us.

I hope everyone is having a healthy, safe, and happy time with their families and friends this holiday season.

Tuesday AM - Athlete Chats

Have had some awesome chats with athletes these past few days about what individually they need to work on during the holiday season. Their attention to detail has been impressive and we're examining things from a very holistic level...

Joy of Sculling Conference Day Two: AM

The day has dawned cold and incredibly sunny (partly because the automatic blinds in our room are stuck in the "up" position. We're starting up in the next few minutes for the second day of the conference and I'm looking forward to listening to Bebe Bryans, Volker Nolte, and Michiel Bartman. Yesterday's discussions about the entry and some sculling ideas were productive and there are some nuts and bolts things that we can implement. It was also fantastic to catch up with so many friends that had traveled from Washington, California, and Wisconsin.

Dinner was some cheese filled large ravioli in a tomato squash salsa - pretty good! The hotel coffee is absolutely delicious.

AJ Burnett & CC Sabathia...hmm.

Joy of Sculling Conference Day One

It has been a whirlwind of activity in the past 7 days as I headed to the US Rowing Convention in New Jersey and am now in Saratoga Springs, NY for the Joy of Sculling Conference. Conferences like these can be incredibly useful for generating new ideas and affirming old ones - but either way it's always useful to stretch the mind a bit. Here is a lovely image of snowy Saratoga from our hotel room...Food choice for lunch: the Country Kitchen restaurant - a Rachel sandwich and onion rings. Very moderate.
More later!