I have this amazing ability. I am probably the only person you know who can gain weight while sick. This is the same ability that allowed me today to continue eating and snacking while having a massive stomach ache.
A few months ago, my mixed double's partner was explaining to me about how sick he had been that week and as a result, how much weight he had lost. He had actually lost a fair amount of weight while ill. Of course, most of the weight was regained after a few healthy days, but like normal people, he still came out with a net loss. Whenever I am sick, I come out with a net gain. Being sick might suppress my appetite, but it does not mean that I eat less. I usually eat more because I am so miserable being sick that I am constantly looking for a pick-me-up, usually in the form of food whether it is a bar of candy or five bowls of chicken soup. Add on top of that not being able to workout and it becomes a simple inequality--calories in >> calories out. No wonder the scale reads a few pounds heavier.
For the last month, I have been trying to eat healthier by the usual means--more fruits and veggies and less processed food and sweets. Today, I was quite on track towards the end of the day, eating my carrots and sugar snap peas. These veggies were not quite filling so I had some oatmeal too. Somehow, these foods or this combination at this particular time of day did not agree with my stomach and I ended up with a bloated, uncomfortable stomach. Then, somehow in my twisted logic under physical distress, I reasoned that eating more food would help the situation. Of course, that did not provide the relief I was looking for. Any normal person would have known to stop eating, drink warm herbal tea, and lie down.
Learning that food is not the answer to illness, stomach aches, stress, bad days, screaming babies, etc. is clearly something I need to work on. This amazing ability has got to go.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Beautiful Morning
This morning was beautiful on the lake. The water was flat with only a few patches of ripples where the wind was blowing. It was certainly brisk at 5AM, but it did warm up a little to the point where your hands were cold, but not painfully cold. We had 2 quads, 1 double, and 1 single (me!) out on the water. It is always nice to have multiple boats out at practice. It is a great way to make practice interesting by keeping up the competition between boats and by forcing the coxswains and bow seats to pay attention to their course!
We had a full lake loop of warm-up with drills. After two days of not rowing in the single, the single and I had to get reacquainted; this took almost the entire warm-up. Maybe I am imagining things, but when I do not row the single for awhile, even just a few days, and then, jump back in, nothing feels smooth. I go through the motions of rowing, but I almost feel like a robot rowing—arms, back, legs, drive, repeat. I wonder if the coach can tell that I am uncomfortable in the single or if it is just my imagination. If I am lucky like I was today, the awkwardness will go away and I will settle into a smooth rhythm. Sometimes I am unlucky, and the robot rowing stays with me the whole practice. That’s what I call a crap row. Feels like crap and probably looks like crap.
The main piece was a full lake loop, starting at the finger, plus a little more, ending at the dam. Pressure was steady-state pressure at a rate of 26spm. When I am the slowest boat on the water, I like starting ahead and seeing how long it takes the other boats to reach me and then, when there is overlap, how long it takes for them to pass me. Sometimes I jack up the rate a little to keep up. Maybe that’s “cheating” since I am suppose to hold a steady rate, but as the smallest and slowest boat, I reserve that right to give the other boats a run for their money. Of course, I always lose, but sometimes I can regain my lead by taking the inside of the turn—the beauty of Lake Merritt.
The best thing this morning was the sun rise at about 6. By the end practice, we were all rowing in the light; we could all see each other. Spring, here we come!
We had a full lake loop of warm-up with drills. After two days of not rowing in the single, the single and I had to get reacquainted; this took almost the entire warm-up. Maybe I am imagining things, but when I do not row the single for awhile, even just a few days, and then, jump back in, nothing feels smooth. I go through the motions of rowing, but I almost feel like a robot rowing—arms, back, legs, drive, repeat. I wonder if the coach can tell that I am uncomfortable in the single or if it is just my imagination. If I am lucky like I was today, the awkwardness will go away and I will settle into a smooth rhythm. Sometimes I am unlucky, and the robot rowing stays with me the whole practice. That’s what I call a crap row. Feels like crap and probably looks like crap.
The main piece was a full lake loop, starting at the finger, plus a little more, ending at the dam. Pressure was steady-state pressure at a rate of 26spm. When I am the slowest boat on the water, I like starting ahead and seeing how long it takes the other boats to reach me and then, when there is overlap, how long it takes for them to pass me. Sometimes I jack up the rate a little to keep up. Maybe that’s “cheating” since I am suppose to hold a steady rate, but as the smallest and slowest boat, I reserve that right to give the other boats a run for their money. Of course, I always lose, but sometimes I can regain my lead by taking the inside of the turn—the beauty of Lake Merritt.
The best thing this morning was the sun rise at about 6. By the end practice, we were all rowing in the light; we could all see each other. Spring, here we come!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Nothing Cute to Wear
My head-strong daughter, the Princess, turned a big ONE earlier this week. One of the nights after work, I hosted a small get-together with a few of my friends. Before my friends arrived, I had given the Princess a bath and was in the middle of trying to dress her, as she squirmed and cried bloody hell. I had a hard time finding something cute and something that did not look like PJs for her to wear; she was, after all, the birthday girl. Every birthday girl needs an outfit. (My husband would disagree.) My husband and I have not had to buy the Princess any clothes because we have been lucky enough to get plenty of gifts and hand-me-downs for her to wear. As I realized that night, we are reaching the point where we were running out of free clothes. A had nothing cute (and clean) to wear!
I joined crew in college during the spring semester, and the summer after my novice semester in college, I was rowing with a small masters team. You must picture an overweight me with the typical novice look in my eye, eager to pull hard with no idea about endurance or technique. I am rather embarrassed to think about it, but I must have looked so pathetic then. I tried really hard that summer to improve my rowing. I got up, every Monday through Friday, at 4AM to bike 45 minutes through the ghettos to be at the boathouse for 5AM practice. After practice, I would bike 35 minutes to work. You must remember that I was not really in-shape at this point in my life and that I had no clue about bikes. Sometimes, I really live in a box and possess no common sense. I had purchased the cheapest mountain bike, which weighed a ton, and was riding it around with NO CLUE about shifting and gears. I always wondered how cyclists went up hills so easily because going up hill for me was a series of agonizing slow-motion pedal strokes. I was so miserable on that bike, but I had to bike because I had no car and because one of my novice coaches had recommended biking as a good way to stay in shape over the summer and to lose weight. And, of course, I had to lose weight because...I rowed on a LIGHTWEIGHT team.
One practice, I was not boated and stayed on land to erg. I was wearing what I usually wore, a random T-shirt and short, short (short like track and field, volleyball short) spandex from REI because that was all the spandex that I could find. I had not discovered JL or Sew Sporty yet. That's how much of a novice I was. After I finished erging, one of the coaches who coached a collegiate men's team and occasionally helped out with the masters team approached me. He was at the boathouse everyday, rowing his own boat, and had seen me come to every practice. He probably finally took pity on me and offered me advice. He said, "If you really want to be serious about rowing and you want other people to take you seriously, you need to be wearing the right gear." Up to that point, I had not realized how ridiculous I must have looked, wearing shorts that were clearly too tight for me. No lie, I was absolutely embarrassed and mortified, especially being a female, but even then, I truly, deeply appreciated that honesty. Nothing beats honesty.
Any rower knows that rowing gear is expensive. JLs, spandex, splash jackets, unis can pretty much make you broke, but if you want to be serious about rowing, you have to have some of the basics--JLs and trou. Look for sales at regattas or online or ask around for hand-me-downs. It might not be your birthday, but you do need something suitable to wear.
I joined crew in college during the spring semester, and the summer after my novice semester in college, I was rowing with a small masters team. You must picture an overweight me with the typical novice look in my eye, eager to pull hard with no idea about endurance or technique. I am rather embarrassed to think about it, but I must have looked so pathetic then. I tried really hard that summer to improve my rowing. I got up, every Monday through Friday, at 4AM to bike 45 minutes through the ghettos to be at the boathouse for 5AM practice. After practice, I would bike 35 minutes to work. You must remember that I was not really in-shape at this point in my life and that I had no clue about bikes. Sometimes, I really live in a box and possess no common sense. I had purchased the cheapest mountain bike, which weighed a ton, and was riding it around with NO CLUE about shifting and gears. I always wondered how cyclists went up hills so easily because going up hill for me was a series of agonizing slow-motion pedal strokes. I was so miserable on that bike, but I had to bike because I had no car and because one of my novice coaches had recommended biking as a good way to stay in shape over the summer and to lose weight. And, of course, I had to lose weight because...I rowed on a LIGHTWEIGHT team.
One practice, I was not boated and stayed on land to erg. I was wearing what I usually wore, a random T-shirt and short, short (short like track and field, volleyball short) spandex from REI because that was all the spandex that I could find. I had not discovered JL or Sew Sporty yet. That's how much of a novice I was. After I finished erging, one of the coaches who coached a collegiate men's team and occasionally helped out with the masters team approached me. He was at the boathouse everyday, rowing his own boat, and had seen me come to every practice. He probably finally took pity on me and offered me advice. He said, "If you really want to be serious about rowing and you want other people to take you seriously, you need to be wearing the right gear." Up to that point, I had not realized how ridiculous I must have looked, wearing shorts that were clearly too tight for me. No lie, I was absolutely embarrassed and mortified, especially being a female, but even then, I truly, deeply appreciated that honesty. Nothing beats honesty.
Any rower knows that rowing gear is expensive. JLs, spandex, splash jackets, unis can pretty much make you broke, but if you want to be serious about rowing, you have to have some of the basics--JLs and trou. Look for sales at regattas or online or ask around for hand-me-downs. It might not be your birthday, but you do need something suitable to wear.
Desperate for an Erg
Let's get the hard stuff over with--erging. I am not a fan of erging to say the least, and if I didn't row on a team, I would probably never erg. Erging or indoor rowing is done on a rowing machine called an erg. Think treadmill for running. Why would you run on a treadmill indoors at a stuffy gym when you can run outside under the sun and sky? Like the treadmill, the erg is great for those rainy, windy days, which can make rowing miserable. Also, like the treadmill, the erg is great for training and measuring your fitness.
There are few fundamental truths in life, and here is one of them--the erg does not lie. It does not lie about your fitness, strength, endurance, or mental toughness at that particular point in time, in that particular piece. Everything on the erg is measurable and recorded. That is one of the reasons the mention of erg brings knots to my stomach. There is no where to hide. It takes a certain amount of courage to face the erg and the truth it displays.
Thus, it was very odd this morning when I was desperate for an erg. Yesterday morning, at the end of practice, our coach, Chris, informed us that each of us were to do a 2k erg test by next Saturday. We all knew this was coming, but a sense of dread still over came me. A 2k erg test is similar to running a timed 1 mile, but worse. The time for a 2k and a 1 mile are pretty comparable in time (about 8 minutes for women, obviously depending on fitness level) and distance (2000m vs. 1600m). Unlike on the 400m track, on the erg, the erg tells you exactly what you are pulling. When you run a timed mile, you might have a coach on the sidelines calling out your 400m split, but you don't have a machine telling you every step what your pace is and whether you are fading.
In order to avoid having the 2k hang over my head all week, I decided that I would do the 2k this morning. I went down to the lake to erg, only to find the gates locked and the ergs inaccessible. This left me at a loss. Lake Merritt Rowing Club moved all the equipment into an area that is shared with the Sailboat House Club because the Sailboat House is under construction. This shared area has a dual lock system that makes the area accessible by LMRC and by Sailboat Club with different keys. Yesterday, someone had locked the whole area with the Sailboat Club lock, thus making the area inaccessible to LMRC. I thought about jumping the fence, but the fence is about 9 feet tall with barbed wire on top, and I was never good at adventurous things, such as climbing fences.
Sometimes in life, things do not go as planned, and I am a person who reacts poorly when life goes askew. In a cross mood, I waited around in vain for 30 minutes, hoping that someone would come unlock the gate. Desperate and hoping it was not too early to call, I called a good friend whom I knew had an erg. She was generous enough to let me barge into her house at 8AM and erg.
I did not set any PRs today nor did I feel particularly strong, but a solid 2k was good enough for me today. Life is looking up now.
There are few fundamental truths in life, and here is one of them--the erg does not lie. It does not lie about your fitness, strength, endurance, or mental toughness at that particular point in time, in that particular piece. Everything on the erg is measurable and recorded. That is one of the reasons the mention of erg brings knots to my stomach. There is no where to hide. It takes a certain amount of courage to face the erg and the truth it displays.
Thus, it was very odd this morning when I was desperate for an erg. Yesterday morning, at the end of practice, our coach, Chris, informed us that each of us were to do a 2k erg test by next Saturday. We all knew this was coming, but a sense of dread still over came me. A 2k erg test is similar to running a timed 1 mile, but worse. The time for a 2k and a 1 mile are pretty comparable in time (about 8 minutes for women, obviously depending on fitness level) and distance (2000m vs. 1600m). Unlike on the 400m track, on the erg, the erg tells you exactly what you are pulling. When you run a timed mile, you might have a coach on the sidelines calling out your 400m split, but you don't have a machine telling you every step what your pace is and whether you are fading.
In order to avoid having the 2k hang over my head all week, I decided that I would do the 2k this morning. I went down to the lake to erg, only to find the gates locked and the ergs inaccessible. This left me at a loss. Lake Merritt Rowing Club moved all the equipment into an area that is shared with the Sailboat House Club because the Sailboat House is under construction. This shared area has a dual lock system that makes the area accessible by LMRC and by Sailboat Club with different keys. Yesterday, someone had locked the whole area with the Sailboat Club lock, thus making the area inaccessible to LMRC. I thought about jumping the fence, but the fence is about 9 feet tall with barbed wire on top, and I was never good at adventurous things, such as climbing fences.
Sometimes in life, things do not go as planned, and I am a person who reacts poorly when life goes askew. In a cross mood, I waited around in vain for 30 minutes, hoping that someone would come unlock the gate. Desperate and hoping it was not too early to call, I called a good friend whom I knew had an erg. She was generous enough to let me barge into her house at 8AM and erg.
I did not set any PRs today nor did I feel particularly strong, but a solid 2k was good enough for me today. Life is looking up now.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Behind Lake Loops
The inspiration and motivation behind Lake Loops started a few months ago when I was at a low in my rowing. I felt low on energy, strength, endurance, and mental strength. I looked to the Internet for inspiration, reading blogs of other athletes. I had a hard time finding good rowing blogs, but found several good nutrition blogs, weight or diet blogs, running blogs, and running mom blogs. I did also find one or two erging blogs, and reading the workouts posted in those blogs made me want to quit rowing.
Then, I remember that I had written a blog four years ago when I was in Wisconsin rowing. That blog really helped me through the highs and lows (lots of lows) of my rowing at that time and in retrospect, was a great way to record everything that went on because that whole experience now is a distant memory.
As I approach my four year rowing anniversary in May, I look back to see how far I have come and realize how far I still have to go. When I started rowing in college, I had no clue about fitness, weight, health, and training. I was just another novice rower in this great big thing called rowing. Coaches set goals and gave advice, but I did not know how to integrate that advice into my mindset, my eating habits, my life, my workouts. There was no consistent guidance for how to get from here to there. I did not have the maturity to figure rowing out without burnout. Now, years later, between quitting rowing, starting work in the real world, breaking my collar bone, traveling for work weeks at a time to fix some damn leaking product, managing my own finances, getting married, having a mind-of-her-own daughter, I have been able to piece together all my rowing into almost four years. Four years down, how many more to go?
Not only do I want to use Lake Loops to document my rowing, training, family, life, etc., but also to document my rowing, specifically, at Lake Merritt. Lake Merritt Rowing Club is a small club on a small lake, but I believe that with patience, passion, and perseverance, small clubs can do big things.
Then, I remember that I had written a blog four years ago when I was in Wisconsin rowing. That blog really helped me through the highs and lows (lots of lows) of my rowing at that time and in retrospect, was a great way to record everything that went on because that whole experience now is a distant memory.
As I approach my four year rowing anniversary in May, I look back to see how far I have come and realize how far I still have to go. When I started rowing in college, I had no clue about fitness, weight, health, and training. I was just another novice rower in this great big thing called rowing. Coaches set goals and gave advice, but I did not know how to integrate that advice into my mindset, my eating habits, my life, my workouts. There was no consistent guidance for how to get from here to there. I did not have the maturity to figure rowing out without burnout. Now, years later, between quitting rowing, starting work in the real world, breaking my collar bone, traveling for work weeks at a time to fix some damn leaking product, managing my own finances, getting married, having a mind-of-her-own daughter, I have been able to piece together all my rowing into almost four years. Four years down, how many more to go?
Not only do I want to use Lake Loops to document my rowing, training, family, life, etc., but also to document my rowing, specifically, at Lake Merritt. Lake Merritt Rowing Club is a small club on a small lake, but I believe that with patience, passion, and perseverance, small clubs can do big things.
First Post
Welcome to my blog, Lake Loops. This blog is meant to help me document (and remember) my thoughts about rowing, running, swimming, training, racing, weight, family, and life. My apologies if I write anything that offends you or that you disagree with, but this blog is meant to be from my point of view. If you don't like it, then write your own blog. Sometimes in my blog, I will name the person whom I am writing about, usually because with a little Internet digging and a little context, it will be pretty obvious who I am talking about.
Lake Loops. I row on Lake Merritt in Oakland. If you run around the lake, you will run about 3.1 miles, which makes the lake a perfect 5k running race course. In fact, every month, on a Sunday, Lake Merritt Jogger and Striders will host a 5k and 10k (maybe sometimes even 15k?!) race around the lake. The lake is not ideal for rowing. A rower on the lake has to make multiple turns, most of them turns to port (starboard power up!), and the lake gets shortened every year from about October (?) to April (?) by the city of Oakland in order to set up a bird refuge at the end of the lake. Despite these drawbacks, the lake does offer a straight 1,000m course when the boom is taken down and does offer relatively traffic-free rowing. No other club rows on the lake. Every practice, we are basically doing loops around the lake. In the fall with the long distance training (think cross-country running), there's no need to ask what the workout is--we're doing lake loops. In the spring and summer with the shorter, interval training (think track and field), we might be lucky and get away with some straight pieces, but we'll probably do one lake loop at least for warm-up. Lake loops today and lake loops tomorrow. Sitting ready, attention, ROW.
Lake Loops. I row on Lake Merritt in Oakland. If you run around the lake, you will run about 3.1 miles, which makes the lake a perfect 5k running race course. In fact, every month, on a Sunday, Lake Merritt Jogger and Striders will host a 5k and 10k (maybe sometimes even 15k?!) race around the lake. The lake is not ideal for rowing. A rower on the lake has to make multiple turns, most of them turns to port (starboard power up!), and the lake gets shortened every year from about October (?) to April (?) by the city of Oakland in order to set up a bird refuge at the end of the lake. Despite these drawbacks, the lake does offer a straight 1,000m course when the boom is taken down and does offer relatively traffic-free rowing. No other club rows on the lake. Every practice, we are basically doing loops around the lake. In the fall with the long distance training (think cross-country running), there's no need to ask what the workout is--we're doing lake loops. In the spring and summer with the shorter, interval training (think track and field), we might be lucky and get away with some straight pieces, but we'll probably do one lake loop at least for warm-up. Lake loops today and lake loops tomorrow. Sitting ready, attention, ROW.
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