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!