Found!

The main swim set today was all freestyle and with fins:
1.  4x100yds, breathing on the right side for one lap and on the left side for the next lap
2.  3x150yds, first and third 150yds breathing on your "bad" side and second 150yds breathing on your "favorite" side
3.  2x200yds, first breathing on your "bad" side and second breathing on your "favorite" side
4.  2x150yds, first breathing on your "bad" side and second breathing on your "favorite" side
5.  4x100yds, breathing every third stroke

Usually, I am excited about swimming with fins, but today's workout might make me think twice.  The alternating side breathing is not too bad for me, although I generally breathe on my left side.  Fins are fun because you get to swim FAST, but it comes at a price--fins require more oxygen and leave you breathless.  I also tend to underestimate my speed as I come into the wall so by the time I do a flip turn, I am practically on the wall.  And Marcia was telling me, "Streamline, streamline!"  Like rowing where we have to practice and focus on holding our technique, swimming requires you to hold your core tight and your body in a streamline position, head down, as you push off the wall.  I am usually busy looking at the swimmer ahead and hold my head up in quite a non-aerodynamic fashion--it is no wonder I am not fast!

I have a confession to make.  Last night after practice, I went to Trader Joe's.  As my husband reminded me when I got home, that was four grocery trips in five days.  To be fair, I went to TJ's for race food--apples, crackers, Lavabars--for San Diego, but I did also look to see if they had any yams.  Nope, they had pitiful bags of sweet potatoes, but no yams.  Want to know the difference between sweet potatoes and yams?  Try here.  From reading the article, it actually looks like what I have been eating are sweet potatoes.  Either way, none of it was PURPLE!  None of it was this!

Call me crazy, but today I made one last ditch effort to find this elusive purple yam.  For those of you who are keeping count, yes, this is five grocery trips in six days.  (If you are counting my trips, does this mean you are also a stroke counter in the boat?  For non-rowers, stroke counters are rowers who count strokes to help pass the boredom during long rows or to help mentally cope with the pain during races.) 

I went to Ranch 99, a chain Chinese grocery store, and easily found what I was looking for.  It was almost surreal.  The purple yams were just sitting in the middle of the produce isle, waiting for me to pick them up.  Counter to what I thought before, they are actually a tan color on the outside and the skin only turns dark purple when cooked. 

One bag of two of purple yams

Uncooked: light brown on the outside, purple on the inside

I picked up those purple yams--two bags or a total of 14 pounds of them.  I am pretty sure that no normal person would buy 14 pounds of yams or sweet potatoes at one time, but at the store, I was suddenly overcome by this concern that maybe tomorrow, the price of orange yams would suddenly skyrocket and then, all the purple yam farmers would stop producing purple yams and start growing orange yams.  In that light, it made perfect sense to stock up on purple yams.  My distressed husband assured me that the price of yams would not change overnight and that you cannot even trade yams on the stock market, but you can trade corn, wheat, soy beans, oats, paddy rice, milk, and hogs on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Cooked: Brownish-purple on the outside, dark purple on the inside

I am sure that one day, maybe in a not-so-distant future, I will get tired of these yams.  For now, even if the purple yams do not taste as great as I remembered, I am not going to admit it because then, there is no possibility of luring my husband into helping me eat 14 pounds of yam.

Last Practice Before San Diego

Tuesday evening:  Last practice on the lake before San Diego Crew Classic.  Tomorrow morning, the boat will be de-rigged and on its way to San Diego.

Tuesday night practices can be tough mentally because for many of us, it is the end of a long work day and all we want to do is simply decompress, relax, and sit back with cocktails in hand.  When everybody is coming from a different place--a good day at work, a bad day at work, a long day with the kids, a tiring day running errands, it is hard to all be focused on the same page.  5AM practices are so much easier.  We all come from the same place, a nice, warm, comfortable bed.  The stress and anxiety of life have not caught up with us yet and we can dedicated ourselves to our work ahead on the water.

This evening, we had our SDCC eight, 1 quad, and 1 men's single out on the water.  The Bay Blades also had a quad out.  The water was flat, but wind was still blowing, strong enough to occasionally upset the set of the boat.  Chris had us warm up around the lake until we felt like we warmed up.  He had us vote as to when we felt ready.  Sitting in stroke seat, I cannot see behind me.  I do not know how the rest of the boat voted, but I raised my hand after we had done almost one full lake loop that included 10s and about five start sequences.  I believe that it is important to practice starts during the warm-up, but starts with the high strokes can take a lot out of your legs and if you are not careful, your fresh legs will quickly turn into leaden legs at the actual start.

The workout today was 6x500m.  The first three pieces were with starts, high strokes, and settle.  The last three were with the sprint.  Our SDCC coxswain was gone today, and we had a substitute coxswain who was hanging on for dear life.  I could see the whites of her knuckles as she grasped onto the rope.  Talk about a death grip!  Sometimes it is harder to steer a boat straight than it is to follow the lake and do lake loops.

On the first piece, we had a start and settled afterward, but did not find much rhythm.  My forearms burned, and my lower back felt the heaviness of the boat as we were all trying to, as Chris calls it, "weight-lift" with each stroke.  Chris' "weight-lifting" describes when we are trying to apply astronomical power to each stroke and make a big effort out of it.  Weight-lifting might be okay for a power 10 or if you are a heavyweight man with a really strong back, but for us and for 2,000m at a high rate, we want to be quick and light.

For the next two pieces, the starts were bad with the boat down the one side or the other and the timing at the finish off.  Our poor coxswain was trying really hard to keep her course, make calls, and read the rating and power from the speed coach.  500m pieces are never meant to feel good because often, you are at a higher rate and higher intensity than what you will row during your 2,000m race.  Feeling good is a bonus.  There were some concerns and I feel, some frustration in the boat around the fluctuating splits from the speed coach.  The splits on a speed coach are similar to the splits that the erg displays; both are designed to tell you how fast you are going.  The erg measures power (in units of watts), which it translates into an estimated speed, while the speed coach directly measures speed (in units of minutes per 500 meters).  It would be wonderful if we could get consistent splits on the water, but many factors, besides our effort and power, can affect the speed coach splits.  Wind, current, technique, steering can all be factors.  Sometimes I rather not row with a speed coach because I already know what to focus on when I row, and that speech coach number is not one of them.  If I really wanted to measure my consistency of power, I would erg.  These pieces were really meant to push us beyond our comfort zone in order to simulate what it will feel like in the actual race.

The last three pieces started with a three stroke build right into race rate followed by a sprint in the last 200m.  Our coxswain did not know where exactly to call the sprint and how to call it, but I think everyone in the boat knew what to do.  Sit-up, bring the rate up, and get the blades in.  Our coxswain called the sprint for each of the pieces at a different point in the 500m, and she might have called it too early for one or two of the pieces.  It was good practice though because in an actual race, the sprint will feel like an eternity of pain, and 200 meters will feel like 2,000 meters.  Sometimes the coxswain might underestimate the distance and call "last 10 strokes" when there are actually 15 strokes left.  It does not matter however many strokes are left because you are going to keep rowing, look ahead, and resist the temptation to crank your neck around, desperately searching for the finish line.

At the end of practice, I "lost" it a little.  Weeks of stress and self-questioning all came in at once.  I wondered if I had built a big enough fitness base in those dark, dreary days of December and January when San Diego seemed so far away.  I wondered if I had done enough race pieces and interval workouts in the rainy days of February and March to be able to handle the high rates for 2,000m.  I wondered if I had dragged myself often enough to those dreaded lunchtime ergs to work on power, consistency, and mental toughness.  I wondered if the race two years ago will continue to haunt me.  I wondered if in those moments of pain and in those moments when the boat might not feel so good, I would believe.  Believe in my fitness, in the work that I have done, and in the fact that I can race and not just train. 

It is not about whether we can win or whether we can go to the Olympics.  It is about believing that when our coxswain asks for our best, we fulfill our end of the commitment.  And we do have a reason to believe.  All the ergs, 6x500m, 3xrace pieces, 4'/3'/2'/1', starts, sprints that we have done are a reason to believe.

Swim Meets

Tuesday morning:  Through the darkness, the water on the lake was flat.  It looked like a double, most likely from the Senior Men's team, took advantage of the water and went for a row.

It felt weird this morning swimming after a whole week away from the pool.  It was a wonder I still floated!  The main set was:

1. 3x50yds flutter kick with board (no fins!) on 1:10min intervals
2. 3x50yds fly and back
3. 3x50yds flutter kick
4. 3x50yds back and breast
5. 3x50yds flutter kick
6. 3x50yds breast and free
7. 3x50yds flutter kick
8. 3x50yds free and fly
9. 3x50yds flutter kick
10. 1x50yds non-free

It is always interesting when our swim sets have kicking as well as different strokes.  In my lane, I was a #1 for the flutter kick, but for everything else, I quickly reordered myself to be a #4 or last.  My butterfly, without fins, looks like I am gasping for air.  My backstroke is just sad.  My breaststroke is never fast because I do not "glide."  And my freestyle is decent.  You can read in more detail the pitiful state of my non-freestyle strokes.

With so much kicking today, I feel like a 400yd kick test, one of Marcia's three swim tests, is coming up later this week.  Thank goodness I will be in San Diego!  I was pretty consistent for all the 50yds kick, about 50-52 seconds, but on the last 3x50yds set, my time went up to 53-55 seconds.  And I heard about it from Marcia, "ANN!  What are you doing?  That's slower than what you did before!"  Damn, I could not avoid her watchful eyes.

This past Sunday, there was a local masters swim meet at the UC Berkeley Speiker Pool.  Despite the unrelenting pressure from Marcia to compete at the meet, I successfully resisted.  I remembered what Chris told us one day on the water that other activities, such as swimming, running, pilates, were basically for shits and giggles while we are training for San Diego.  Only rowing and erging count.  In addition, swim meets give me a queasy feeling--standing on those starting blocks ready to dive, hoping I will not do a belly flop and that my goggles and swim cap will stay on.  Swim meets are like rowing regattas.  Both are usually all-day ordeals with athletes arriving to the race early for a swim warm-up or for rigging the boats.  In both, you can compete in multiple events, such as swimming in the 100yds free and 200yds fly or rowing in the masters eight and club double.  During swim meets though, you are walking around freezing in your wet swimsuit between events.  On the other hand, during regattas, you can stay warm by huddling inside cars or under tents, unless it rains, which can happen during the fall head race season.

The weekend after San Diego, there is another swim meet, this time in Pleasanton.  I am sorely tempted to sign up.

Yams

I have mentioned before about this amazing ability that I have.  Well, this amazing ability becomes a problem during the week before a race when we taper.  Before a big race, most athletes go through a tapering phase where the volume and intensity of the workouts decrease in order to allow for sufficient rest and recovery.  If you time your tapering phase correctly, you should feel relatively "fresh" on race day.

I often find tapering challenging for two reasons.  First, with shorter and fewer workouts, I accumulate a lot of nervous energy, thinking about the upcoming race.  Second, tapering makes me want to EAT, but it is just as important not to overeat as it is to be properly fueled!  Since I cannot relieve the anxiety by working out, I want to use food to help me relax.  We are still working out and maybe still doing intervals, but we are not burning as many calories as during normal training.  This morning, we did 2x2,000m on the water, but have you ever wondered how many calories you burn?  Have you ever looked at the calories/hour reading on the erg after a 2,000m erg piece?  The last time I checked, I burned only 140 calories for my 2k erg test.  All that work for 140 calories.  That is nothing!  That is half of a normal ice cream sandwich or half a cup of cooked pasta or a slice of whole grain toast with peanut butter thinly spread across.  I could eat that in two bites.  Concept2 has a good calories burned calculator that takes weight into account, if you are ever interested.

As San Diego Crew Classic approaches, Chris has reminded us several times to take care of ourselves--making sure we rest and recover before and after hard workouts, getting enough sleep, and staying healthy.  For me, another aspect to that is eating well, healthy.  I try to cut back on my processed foods and eat more wholesome, natural foods.  Recently, I have had this insane craving for yams, but not any particular yam.  PURPLE YAMS.  Two weeks ago, my parents baked purple yams that were so delicious.  These yams are dark purple on the outside and bright purple on the inside.  The texture is smoother and less stringy than the normal orange yams, and the taste is sweeter.

This past weekend, I was determined to eat purple yams.  I actually thought about these purple yams all day Friday on my way home from Ohio.  Then, on Saturday, I made a special trip to Safeway to buy the yams.  Well, Safeway only had the normal orange yams.  With the Princess refusing to stay seated in her nice little seat in the front of the grocery cart, I made a hurried decision and grabbed a big bag of orange yams.  When my husband saw my seven pounds of yam, he was not amused.  He has seen me go through phases where I am obsessed with a certain food and buy tons of it only to lose interest a week later.  I have gone through a Lean Cuisine frozen dinner phase, a butternut squash phase, a cottage cheese phase, a vegetarian chili phase, a smoked salmon phase.  There is only one thing that my husband hates more than wasting food, and that is having to help me eat all the food that I buy in huge quantities before it goes bad.  And he is not a fan of yams (nor of Chinese food as I found out after we got married).

Normal, orange yams

I baked all seven pounds of yam and probably ate about half of that on my own before realizing that I was sick of eating these yams and that I still wanted purple yams!

Sunday, after practice, I went to Whole Foods to get these special purple yams.  Whole Foods had two types of yams--the normal type and a type called "Japanese yams."  I was again in somewhat of a hurry and quickly grabbed a big bag, i.e. another seven pounds, of the Japanese yams, which were purple on the outside.  I could almost taste these yams on the way home.  Another unamused look from my husband who did not fail to remind me that this was the third time I went to the grocery store this week.  To my utter horror when I went to bake these Japanese yams, they were NOT purple yams.  Inside, they were a soft whitish-yellow. 

My seven pounds of Japanese yams, minus the four yams that I already put into the oven

Definitely NOT purple on the inside

I am still fixed on getting those purple yams at some point in time, after I finish all the yams I have at home.  Luckily, I have two things in my favor.  First, the Japanese yams taste pretty good and I have not gotten tired of eating them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Second, although my husband has so far refused to help me eat the yams, I have found a willing helper in the Princess!  She has no problem helping herself to some yam, purple or not purple.

Race Pieces

This morning, our SDCC eight rowed out on the estuary in order to practice straight 2,000m (no turns!) and to piece with the East Bay Rowing (formerly JLAC) women's SDCC eight.  The estuary was in rare form this morning--beautiful, calm, and pretty flat.  The East Bay Rowing men had an eight out and the Cal Lights had 2 fours and 2 eights out too.

We had a short and somewhat frantic warm-up to the start line.  The workout was 2x2,000m full race pieces.  Before practice, Chris gave us a pep talk about the pieces we were going to do.  I, unfortunately, missed the first half of the talk because I was using the port-a-potty (very important to use the bathroom before any race pieces!), but I think I caught the gist.  Essentially, Chris wanted us to hit high rates, to be aggressive, and to just walk away from and bury the other eight.  Think of this as San Diego.  There was an almost panicked, fired-up feeling to our warm-up probably due to several factors--Chris' pep talk, us being used to a full lake loop of warm-up (about 3,000m), and a substitute coxswain.  It is important to be properly warmed up for a race and to hit high rates so that your body becomes familiar with the lactic acid.  There are times, however, when your warm-up might be cut short due to getting to the start line late or changes in race times.  What I think about in those situations is this: I have to trust in my fitness.  I can do zero to sixty.

For the first piece, we had a countdown start where the coaches counted down from 30.  East Bay's boat, which had an older average age, left on the "27," and we left on the "22."  In masters rowing, there are some races where instead of tagging the age handicap at the end of the race, there is a countdown start that accounts for the age handicap.  That way, the first boat to cross the line is the winner and nobody has to wait for the age handicap to be calculated into the finish times.  Our race at Crew Classic is the Masters B race, which has a straight start since all the boats must make a certain age average.  East Bay Rowing's race, however, is a club race, which has a countdown start.

The first piece had a rough start and few course corrections in the first 20 strokes.  Amidst the chaos, I think we did hit some of the high rates, but we settled to a lower rate about 400m in.  There was indescribable pain in this piece.  Sometimes the boat is just not going to feel "good," and in those moments, you have to just go no matter what.  Limits are meant to be pushed during a race and it probably will not feel very good at all, but you still have to keep your head on straight and your mind in the game.  Halfway through the piece, there was a slight drop in speed, but I do not think the drop came from lack of effort from our boat, but rather a small disconnect between the catch and drive, almost like a change in technique.

During a race, one of the most difficult things to do is to hold onto your technique.  This is one of the major differences between rowing on the water and rowing on the erg.  Rowing on the water--if your technique falls apart and you are missing water at the catch or coming out early at the finish, it does not matter how hard you are trying or how determined you are to win.  There is a lot of wasted energy, and you are not moving the boat effectively.  Rowing on the erg--if your technique falls apart, but you are still pulling really hard, the erg will reward you and your split will go down.  It takes a lot of practice, focus, and core strength to hang onto that technique.

With about 500m left to go, someone, not the coxswain, in the boat yelled out loud, "Com'on."  I can tell you upfront that I am not a fan of people shouting in the boat.  There are some situations where it might be appropriate and maybe helpful in "rallying" the troops, but I usually find it disruptive.  First, shouting and yelling is the coxswain's job.  Second, shouting tells me that you have the breath to shout.  I do not know about you, but in a race piece, I am pretty breathless.  Third, shouting can "rally" up the troops in the wrong way.  For instance, today, after the shout, the boat started to bring the rate up, almost like a sprint.  Well, I can be honest and say that I do not have the fitness to sprint for 500 meters at a 36spm.  Maybe in my next life when I am French (the French, especially the lightweight men, are apparently well-known for their high rates...in the 40s...).

We started the second piece together with the East Bay Rowing boat, no countdown start.  I do not remember the start too well (see memory loss), but I think the boat was a little rocky.  The rhythm came easier on this piece, and the strokes felt a bit lighter.  According to Chris, we made our biggest move in the last 500m as the rate was coming up. 

Counting down to San Diego.

Sunday Single

Flat water, reasonable 5-7mph winds.  We had 2 women's singles (including me) and 1 men's single out on the water this morning.  There was a lone sculler out before us, and the Bay Blades had a quad that went out after us. 

If you have not noticed this week, but at the top of the finger, coming out of the drain, is this disgusting, nasty looking, green gunk along with the usual trash that floats into the lake.  If you look closely, the gunk is actually many little "beads" of green.  From a distance, it looks like we are rowing on top of a green lawn.  According to another sculler, this nasty looking stuff is called duckweed, an aquatic plant that grows in freshwater.  During heavy rain storms, such as the one we had earlier this week, the duckweed flows down from the Lake Chabot reservoir and into the lake.  I suppose that duckweed is better than some other nasty stuff that you can find in the lake and estuary. 

This morning, I woke up and I just knew what I wanted to do for a workout on the water:
1.  3x2,000m race pieces, finger to log boom
2.  4x500m race pieces, log boom to dam and back
Once the idea was formed in my head, there was no way to shake it out, but to suck it up and do the workout.  Kind of like with an erg test.  Wonderful. 

Because of the different workouts, warm-up time, and desired intensity, I ended practicing on my own in the single.  The beauty of the single is that there is no one to hold you back, but then, there is also no one to keep you company.  The pieces were alright, not the prettiest, but the effort was there.  The set was a little shaky with a few air strokes here and there.  In a single, I am 99% certain that anything wrong with the set or the feel of the boat is because of me and has nothing to do with the boat.  In Wisconsin, I had flipped my single twice in practice, which was quite embarrassing, especially when the men's coach had to help me get back into the boat.  I swore I was doing everything right to balance the boat--level hands, body centered.  I was so frustrated and finally worked up the courage to ask my coach to check the rigging of the boat.  He checked it and found nothing wrong.  I felt pretty stupid.  In a single, you are usually the problem, not the boat.  Some days, no matter how hard you try, you just cannot get it right.  And, that is perfectly normal.

Each of the 2,000m pieces today had a start, and I forced myself to do the normal start sequence with 20 strokes high.  I am deathly afraid of the 20 strokes high because in the past, I have never really had the fitness to do 20 strokes high in the start without having it bite me in the butt later and cause me to fly and die.  Not a good feeling.  In fact, I used to have a bad attitude about starts.  I thought starts were a bad idea because they put you directly in anaerobic zone and then, expect you to row the remaining 1,900m without dying.  Then, again, I thought a 32spm was a bad idea too.  With time, practice, and maturity, my attitude has changed.  During a start, instead of dreading every stroke, I am actually, as generic as it may sound, thinking, "Yes, I can do this. Yes, I can."  What a difference in mindset, and it helps to have the fitness to back it up.

During the pieces, I also thought about keeping my knees together as I come up the slide.  I noticed that when I keep my knees together, it helps to prevent me from lunging at the catch.  In addition, it reminds me to come all the way up the slide and somehow, it allows for a better catch connection.  I feel less of a forced catch and disjointed drive.  It took me a long time and a lot of yelling at from my Wisconsin coach and from Dede before I could keep my knees together.  Habits are hard to change and take time to change.  I have been frustrated so many times with my technique.  A week and a half into camp at Wisconsin, my coach got tired of telling me the same things--quiet catches, quicker catches, longer in the water.  He finally had enough and simply yelled at me, "When I tell you to make corrections, make them.  Don't keep rowing the same way.  At least show me that you're making those corrections."  Painful to hear, but it did light a fire under my butt.

To the Bone

I left a sunny, but freezing Ohio to come home to warmer-than-freezing, but raining California.  Nevertheless, it is always great to be back home.  No complaints!

This morning, we had 2 quads and 1 men's double out on the water.  The water was rough, but no white caps.  We knew going out today that we would all come back soaked to the bone either from other people's backsplash, waves coming over the side of the boat, or the pouring rain.  We did a full lake loop of "warm-up."  I am pretty sure no one felt very warm after the "warm-up."  The workout on the calendar was 3x2,000m at rates 38spm for the start and sprint and 34spm for the settle.  Well, as much as Chris is fan of high rates, he was generous enough not to ask for a 38spm and 34spm given what we had--the line-ups, the smaller boats compared to the eight, the headwind, and just the general adverse conditions.  We did two of the three pieces and did manage to race each other in the rain, soaked to the bone.

I have mentioned before what I like to focus on when rowing in rough water.  There are only a few things to add to that list for sculling boats.  First, during rough water and windy days, do not expect a perfect set, but at the same time, do not let the set go to hell.  Think about keeping your body in the center of the boat, hands together coming out of bow, and hands level as you pull in.  It will make your row in a crappy situation less crappy.

Second, even more important in a sculling boat than a sweep boat is getting that blade in at the catch.  In this situation, I do not care if you have a gradual or quick roll-up or whether you are rolling up with everyone else as long as you are squared and buried at the catch.  If you are late or your blade is not square at the catch, in the quad, the boat loses one-fourth of its power compared to one-eighth, in the eight.

Lastly, in a headwind, focus on the swing through the drive.  If anybody differs from this idea, let me know.  I would love to hear what you think about during a headwind.  My logic is that with a strong swing at the finish, you maximize your send.  It also helps to minimize the amount of time your blade is out of the water.  Of course, when it comes down to the sprint like during today's race pieces, you will lose most of the nice, long swing in order to bring the rate up.  A sprint is a sprint, no matter what the conditions are.

When we row in these rainy, wet, cold, windy conditions, I think about what it would be like not rowing in California where we get water time almost all year round.  What would it be like rowing in Boston or Michigan or Ohio or Wisconsin all year round?  Obviously, a lot of erg time during the winter, maybe some time in the tank if you are lucky enough to have a tank, ice or snow on the docks, freezing hands that require poogies, multiple layers of high-tech, expensive gear to keep you warm.  Maybe after being couped up in an erg room for four months, we would not mind being on the water and soaked to the bone!  Then again, four months of erging might be enough for me to quit this sport--regardless of the promises of spring and water time!

Company Credit Card and the Amish

Yesterday, I touched on several reasons why I am not a fan of work travel.  One of those reasons was that work travel is disruptive to my normal eating routine and often makes it difficult to eat healthy.  There is, however, one positive to eating while traveling for work--the company credit card.  My company pays for all employee meals when on travel.  There is no official limit to how much your meals can cost, but any meal over $25 must have an itemized receipt included in your expense report.  If the meal looks too extravagant, you might get a few questions.  While many of my co-workers like to take the opportunity to swipe the company credit card for lavish steaks, big meals, and drinks, I like to use it to order food that is healthy, but that I am too cheap to pay for on my own.

Tonight, I made a stop for dinner at Panera Bread, a chain bakery and cafe found across the U.S.  Here's what I ordered, to-go: 1 cup of chicken noodle soup (love chicken soup although I do not eat chicken), 1 cup of black bean soup, 1 full Mediterranean Veggie sandwich, and 1 Greek salad.  Three baguette pieces and 1 bag of potato chips were also included in the meal.  My meal came in one of those large brown shopping bags, often used for carrying catered food. 

Here was my rationale.  It was very cold outside, almost freezing, hence, I wanted soup.  I could not decide between chicken soup and black bean soup, both of which are very good.  Since cost is no object in this situation, I got both.  When I personally eat out, I am too cheap to order salad because salad is often overpriced and not very filling.  Since, again, cost is no object here, I ordered $6 worth of romaine lettuce, sparsely sprinkled with feta cheese, tomatoes, and olives.  Finally, I had to have a main course, which was the sandwich.

I wonder if the girl who took my order thought I was ordering food for two people.  I wonder if the hotel check-in manager thought I was having a party in my room with my big bag of food.  Lastly, I wonder what my manager at work who will have to approve my expense report will think when he sees my receipt.  Yes, I ordered a lot of food.  No, I did not order food for anyone else.  Yes, I followed the company corporate policy.  No, I did not have dinner with anyone else.

On a different note, I did learn a few more things about Ohio today so I can be less of an ignorant Californian.  Northern Ohio is pretty flat while the southern portion of the state is more hilly (but nothing like San Francisco).  Apparently, the difference in Ohio geography was caused by a glacier thousands of years ago; the glacier flattened northern Ohio, but it never reached southern Ohio.  In the Cincinnati area and along the border with Kentucky, you will start meeting people with Southern accents.  When you go east towards the Appalachian Mountains, you will find what a manager at work here calls “clannish people”—people who are wary of outsiders and live barely above the poverty level.  There are also a number of subsistence farmers and a handful of "truck" farms, large farms that import in Hispanic farm hands during the harvest season.  

The Amish people also have large farms, 40-80 acres that are often bought through their church so technically the church owns the farms.  The Amish do not hire hands to help with the harvest.  Instead, the whole community pitches in to help with farming.  In addition, the Amish do not believe in and have no need for insurance.  If someone's house burns down, all families pitch in to help rebuild the house.  Did you know that the Amish are famous builders in this area?  Although they do not believe in electricity, they can build houses equipped with electricity and there is such a thing as an Amish electrician.  The Amish refer to the non-Amish as the "English."  Children of Amish parents, at some point in time, are allowed to go out into the world and explore the "English" ways.  They then must decide whether they want to lead an Amish or an "English" life.  Once that decision has been made, the idea is that there is no turning back.  I wonder if these people pay taxes.  I wonder how these people do their taxes, obviously not by Turbo Tax!

Ignorant Californian

As much as I think about how cool it would be to go on adventures, travel the world, and explore new places, in the very end, I am a big homebody.  I love having a schedule, going to familiar places, and knowing exactly what to expect.

Thus, traveling for work is not one of my favorite things.  First, work travel disrupts training.  It is hard to be a serious athlete when you are working 12 hour plant days, dining and wining with clients, or constantly catching red-eyes.  Your hotel may or may not have a tiny fitness room with one lonely treadmill and some free weights.  It is so important, however, that you do something active during your travels.  Something, anything to maintain your fitness level.

Second, work travel disrupts eating.  Many times, it is difficult to eat out healthy without sounding like a complete health nut, insane calorie-watching woman, and stereotypical California ("Excuse me, no butter or hydrogenated fats please!").  In addition, travel can be stressful and it is so tempting to munch on candies, chips, trail mix, etc. to ease the anxiety.

Third, work travel often means driving around in unfamiliar places and navigating your way around a new town.  In my line of work, which involves manufacturing, I often find myself traveling to the Midwest and the South.  If you do not know, I am pretty much 100% Californian--born and raised in California--and I am also pretty much the stereotypical ignorant Californian.  The middle of America is one big blob in my head.  I have no sense of where North Dakota is relative to Iowa or how far east or west Michigan is from Ohio.  Ohio, Iowa, Idaho all seem the same in my head, like this. 

When I first arranged this week's trip to Ohio, I had pictured traveling to several different suppliers, all located in Ohio.  Little did I know that Ohio is no puny state!  It would take almost four hours to drive from one end of the state to the other end, about 220 miles.  In my head, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Akron were all located right next to each other.  After all, how big could Ohio be?  What an ignorant Californian!

In order to rectify my mistakes, I have learned a thing or two about Ohio.  Ohio is the seventh most populous state with a population of 11.5 million.  Ohio is on Eastern Standard Time, something that I was confused about when I got off the plane this morning; it is also the most western state in the EST zone.  The Pro Football Hall of Fame and the First Ladies National Historic Site are located in Canton, close to where I am visiting this week.  Apparently, there is also an Amish colony nearby.  The Ohio state mascot and mascot for Ohio State University is the buckeye or Aesculus glabra, which is a tree native to the Midwest. 

Now that I have learned a little bit about this new state, I think I have done my duty.  I cannot wait to get home!

Ready GO!

Tuesday: Ready for a long day?  Ready GO!  6AM swim, 8AM work conference call, work, pick up the Princess, pack, ROW, shower, drive to airport, fly to OHIO on a red-eye!

This morning's swim set was a building your base set with a focus on legs.

1.  5x200yds free with overkick (slow arms, big legs) the last 25, 25, 50, 50, 75yds, respectively
2.  5x25yd flutter kick with fins, fast (as Marcia says, "Try to beat somebody!")
3.  4x25yd fly with fins, fast

The 5x200yds was a great set to focus on distance, and the overkick at the end took more out of you than you would think.  Then, anything with fins is great for me.  With fins, I feel like I could race Michael Phelps.  Well, maybe not really, but I could probably race my Cal Triathlon friend, Daniela, who is an amazing swimmer and overall athlete.  Of course, she would not be allowed to wear fins or else it would not be a fair fight.

Daniela and I in our wetsuits before the Cal Poly Triathlon

This evening, the lake was windy and the rain clouds looked menacing.  Out on the water during practice, we had our SDCC eight with one substitute rower, 1 mixed quad, 3 Bay Blade singles, and 1 Bay Blade quad.  We did a full lake loop warm-up in preparation for the main workout--3x1,000m pieces with starts, settle, and sprint at full pressure, simulating race pieces. 

During the first 1,000m piece, our start, high strokes, and settle went off alright.  Coming out of the finger, however, there was a strong crosswind and the boat seemed to lose its composure for a few strokes.  We got most of the rhythm back, but there was still a frantic feeling in the boat.  Right after we settled, I could feel the lactic acid that had accumulated from the start and high strokes, and I thought, "Oh, shit.  I HATE racing.  I hate the feeling of dying.  I hate the noise and the coxswain who is asking for more.  After this piece, this practice, this race, I am going to retire from rowing."  Ha, retire.  I know that these thoughts are the product of the pain, and like the pain, these thoughts too will pass.

On the second piece, we had a rough start with frantic high strokes.  After the first 400m, we finally settled to a nicer rhythm, even with the cross wind.  We did alright in the sprint.  The last piece was solid with a sprint that managed to hit some of the higher rates that Chris has been asking for.  I have great admiration for my friend, Amber.  Amber and I rowed together on the Cal Lightweight Crew team before Amber had to quit the team for financial and academic reasons.  Amber is a fighter and has always been an inspiration to me.  After going through a rough patch recently, she said to me, "Life really sucks for me right now.  But you know what? I am going to fucking win.  Because if I do not keep telling myself that, life will win instead."  In the last 500m of the last piece, that was all I could think of--I am going to fucking win.

Amber and me at my wedding

To me, these interval pieces at high rates never feel good, but it does feel good to get a few under our belts for San Diego!

Rabbit Food

In college when I was trying to make weight, I would eat what my friends would call "rabbit food"--raw vegetables, Fiber One cereal, and whole grain bran muffins.  It is pretty hilarious when I look back now, but at the time, my rabbit food was very serious.  Crew was very serious, and not making weight was simply unacceptable.  At the time, I really lacked the maturity and mindset to make weight without developing poor eating habits, such as going through cycles of binging and starving.  In the end, I could only make weight by crash dieting, and dehydration worked to shed the last few pounds.

For my birthday the year I was trying to make weight for the Head of the Charles, my roommate gave me a cake made of "rabbit food."

"Rabbit food" cake

This is how I spent my junior year in college.  Picture a 100 person lecture hall with a professor standing in the front of the room, droning on in his heavy foreign accent about some upper division mechanical engineering concept--heat transfer to be specific.  I am wearing my crew sweats and slouching in my seat in the back row of the lecture hall with my notebook open to take notes.  I am snacking on my raw broccoli and whole grain brain muffins, which my friends think are disgusting.  I have to admit that the muffins really just tasted like cardboard, but they were the closest thing to complex carbohydrates that I would allow myself to eat.  I am trying to pay attention to the professor while my friends are making snide comments about the lecture (thus one of the reasons why we are sitting in the back).  What I am really thinking about during lecture is food and all the things I want to eat, but should not eat, cannot eat, must not eat.  Twenty minutes into lecture, I am fast asleep (the another reason why we are sitting in the back). 

I was a pretty bad student.  In all four years of college, the best sleep I got was in lecture.  The warm lecture halls and the monotone voice of the professor created the perfect nap envirnoment.  I was always behind on sleep, thanks to crew, and always falling asleep in lecture with my rabbit food in hand.

Sluggish Monday

Two weeks to San Diego.  Can you tell my anxiety?  Are we ready?  Am I ready?

This morning, the weekend rain left us with a flat, calm lake—beautiful water.  We had the SDCC eight with two substitute rowers and 1 men’s single on the water this morning.  During the warm-up, we practiced a drill that Chris calls “Long, longer, longest.”  By six’s, the boat rows three short catches only strokes followed by a fourth full, long stroke. The focus of the drill is catch timing, full compression at the catch, and no lunging to get extra reach.  I am not sure that “Long, longer, longest” is the best name for the drill because I did not get it when Chris first mentioned the drill.  Anyone have another name?

The first piece that we did was two main lake loops of steady state at 24-26spm.  For the most part, we sat at a 24spm, unable to get the rate higher.  With a slow and sluggish drive, the boat was not exactly flying through the water.  Next, we did a loop of 10 strokes on, 10 strokes off with the 10 on strokes at higher rates.  Chris repeatedly emphasized that we need to be comfortable getting straight to the high rates without spending five, six, seven strokes building.  At high rates, everything needs to happen faster—the finish, the slide, the catch, and the drive.  Chris mentioned a phrase that is new to me, “admiring the finish,” which is when your hands pause at the finish as if someone is holding your oar back and I guess, admiring the finish.  Admiring the finish can upset the set of the boat and the rower can end up rushing the slide.

Ever feel totally un-rejuvenated after the weekend?  Today, I feel like that even after two cups of coffee.  Between visiting family and the Cal Lightweight Crew Alumni Day, I took Sunday off.  I was hoping that Alumni day would help re-inspire me and remind me why I row.  It was great to see familiar faces, all from the men’s lightweight team and none from the women’s team.  The Cal Lightweight Crew women’s team has always struggled to be a strong, established team.  The attrition rate on the women’s team is astronomical with very few rowers ever sticking around for a second or third year.  Every year is a struggle with two steps forward and one step back.  Several factors play into the attrition rate including the typical factors, such as it is hard to get people to wake up at 4:20AM for 5AM practice, there are so many other activities in college to explore besides crew, and Cal Lightweight Crew is a student-run club and not a school-funded variety sport like Cal Heavyweight Crew.  In addition, it is hard to find enough college women who weigh 130lbs or less and who want to row to have a truly competitive team.  The lack of women’s lightweight crew alumnae and the novice status of all the current women lightweight rowers reminded me of how difficult and lonely it was to row in college.  It is hard to look back at that experience without a heavy sigh. 

Memory Loss

Saturday morning:  There was a pause in the rainfall as we practiced this morning on the lake.  Out on the water, we had 2 quads, 2 women's singles (including me), and 1 men's single.  We did most of today's workout yesterday with the 2x2,000m pieces, and with Chris gone today, we did some steady state to full pressure pieces.  As we came out of the finger for each piece, there was was a massive headwind that made your oars feel like they were stuck in concrete.  As we were coming into the dock, the rain began again and drenched us to the bone.  There was also a Greek Independence Day 5k and 10k Run at the lake, and the devoted runners were just starting as the rain poured.  Did you know that March 25th celebrates the 1821 declaration of Greek Independence from the Ottoman Empire?

Earlier this week, Chris had us do another 2k erg test.  This time, I did not run into any problems getting access to an erg, unlike the first time.  I did well on this test, and my splits, taken every 500m, were pretty consistent.  If you asked me how consistent were my splits from stroke to stroke, however, I would have no idea because my eyes were closed half of the time.  And if you asked me how the piece went mentally and physically, I would have to tell you that I do not know.  And I do not know because I suffer from memory loss.  Many times after a race or an erg test, I have very little recollection of what just happened.  I only have the vaguest impressions of pain and feelings of dying.  When coaches ask how arace went, I usually have very little to say because I really just do not remember the race.

Last year, we raced at the Head of the Charles in the Club 4+.  For all the non-rowers, the Head of the Charles (HOTC) is THE fall rowing event, featuring a 3.2 mile (a little more than 5,000m) race along the Charles River in Boston.  This race is probably the biggest rowing event in the United States, with over 8,000 competitors from all over the country and world competing.  Certain streets in Boston are shut down during the HOTC weekend to help with the traffic.  In college, junior year, I had been cut from the boat that went to the HOTC and never had another opportunity to go again, until last year.  Thus, this was a race that I wanted to remember.

LMRC Club 4+ Head of the Charles 2010

I only remember a few things from that HOTC race.  One, the water was a little rough and it was hard to feel the boat.  Two, I heard Bruno and Erika cheering for me at the Cambridge Boat House, which is a surprise because I usually do not hear people cheering from the sidelines.  And three, the last turn in the race is a turn to starboard so ports may have to increase pressure to help the coxswain with the turn.  I remember waiting for our coxswain's call, "Hard on port," but it never came and soon we were in the straightaway before the finish line.  We crossed the line and the race was over.  Of the whole 20 minutes, those are the only three things I can remember.  I cannot remember if the boat was down on one side or another or anything about the rhythm or ratio.  Hours of training, hundreds of dollars for airfare, days spent in Boston and all I can remember of the race are those three things.

We did well in that race, placing fourth of 52 boats.  I was very surprised and happy with our results, but if you ask me how the race went, I will say, "Sorry, but I have no idea.  I suffer from memory loss."  Luckily, you can watch a part of the race here.

Rough Water Friday

Rough water and light rain on the estuary this morning.  The conditions were great practice for San Diego.  Just windy and rough enough, but no white caps and nothing looking like this insane, infamous row2k picture.  Every time the water gets rough, I think of this photo and I know that I do not have it too bad.

We had our SDCC eight and the JLAC women’s SDCC eight out on the water this morning.  We warmed up to the 2,000m start line, which is just past the Coast Guard barricades.  The finish line is a vista point with two flag poles, about even with the JLAC boathouse.  We had a head wind on the way to the start line, which I was thankful for because that meant we would have a tailwind during our pieces.  We did 2x2,000m with an active rest in between, paddling the boat back to the start line.  

Both 2k pieces were at full pressure, with starts and 20 high and with a sprint at the end.  On the first piece, we settled to a 30spm without any problems.  For the second piece, Chris wanted the rate higher, and we settled to a 31spm.  I had trouble on both pieces trying to bring up the rate during the sprint.  What felt like a 34spm was only a 32spm.  What felt like quicker hands did not result in any rate changes.  Overall though, the boat did alright given the conditions.  Now, all we have to do is practice going the other direction with a headwind.

During rough water, I try to focus on a few things.  First, get the blade in the water.  When it is rough water, I stop worrying about if my catches are soft or hard.  I just want quick catches and no hesitation.  Get the blade in!  Second, stay in the water and pull in high.  The boat is the most stable (which especially important in rough water) during the drive when all the blades are in the water so you want to maximize it.  Pulling in high will ensure that your blade stays in the water until the end; it also gives you clearance to go down and away, especially important if you need to clear the waves.  Of course, pulling in as high as your ears is counterproductive.  Just check that you are actually pulling into your mark.  Many times, we think we are, but we are not.  Third, do not let your body collapse as you come into the catch.  In rough conditions, it is easy to lose your sense of center and to start leaning and allowing your body to slump.  This only makes it more difficult to set the boat and more easy to miss water at the catch.  

Thank goodness today is Friday because if the work week were any longer, I think I would shrivel up and die.

St. Patrick's Day Morning

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  My swim suit does not have a hint of green on it—it is black.  My swim cap is yellow with “Cal Triathlon” printed in blue.  Thankfully, no one was up for pinching at 6 in the morning. 

I was excited this morning to wake up because tomorrow is Friday, and this Friday, we are rowing at JLAC with the JLAC women’s team.  Rowing on a different body of water with other boats on the water is always fun to look forward to.  I am probably getting ahead of myself since I still have to get through today!

The first thing I felt in the pool today were my chest muscles from getting out repeatedly yesterday for those sprints with dives.  This morning, we warmed up again with butterfly and Marcia yelling at us to get our butts in the air.  The dolphin kick should not come from the legs, but rather from this undulating wave that your whole body makes.  After the warm-up, we did 4x50yds of free with a pull-buoy, descending.  As we were finishing up the 4x50yds, we saw Marcia with a clipboard.  Why does Marcia have a clipboard?!  Clipboard means SWIM TEST because on that clipboard, Marcia has a list of all your old swim test results and she is ready to record your latest and greatest result.  Today was the 15 minute swim test.  The 15 minute swim test requires focus, good pacing, and strong counting abilities because you have to keep track of the number of laps you do.  After while, it is easy to doubt yourself—was that lap 20 or 22?!  This swim test is probably my “favorite” of Marcia’s three swim tests—15 minute swim, 4x100s, and 400yd kick—because it involves a cumulative tiredness instead of massive lactic acid build-up.  It is like a 6k erg test compared to a 2k erg test.

I swam one lap short of my last record, but I felt pretty strong overall.  We did have some order switching in the middle of the piece because our lane’s #2, 3, and 4 (I was #3) swam in a clump, all at the same pace.  Our #1 was about one lap ahead of us.  In our situation when all three swimmers are at the same speed, the leader, #2, is doing a lot of the work because she is out in front.  #3 and #4 are able to draft off of her.  At some point, I was so close to #2 that I was able to tap her toes.  She moved aside to let me lead the clump, but as a lead, I was basically going the same speed as what she had been doing.  After a few laps of her swimming on my toes, we switched back to the original order.  This reminds me of cycling when you ride in a pack and the pack alternates lead rider while everyone else drafts.  Personally, I am usually too slow to keep up with the pack, and I am paranoid about crashing into someone else.  There are definitely etiquette guidelines for group cycling.

After the swim test, we did 12x25yds of breast with fly/dolphin kick with fins, fast.  Now, here is a stroke I am good at.  For whatever reason, I can go pretty fast with this combination of strokes and fins.  Too bad this is not an Olympic-sanctioned event!

Wednesday Swim

This morning at swim, we warmed up with butterfly, thinking about head down first as the arms come around, low to the water.  Think Michael Phelps.  Now, think the opposite of Michael Phelps.  That is what I look like while doing butterfly--flailing arms, body sinking as I gasp for air, just overall drowning.  Marcia kept yelling at us to keep our head down with our eyes looking at the water.  The main set today was another interesting set.  We did 3x((2x75yd non-free), (2x25yd overkick), (2x25yd free SPRINT)).  Each time we went through the set, Marcia would add an extra 25yd to the overkick and sprint so that on the last set, we did 4x25yd overkick and 4x25yd sprint.

Here is another sure way to get yelled at by Marcia--swim non-free.  70% of the time, Marcia has us swim freestyle, but 30% of the time, we have to swim non-free, which means fly, back, or breast.  Freestyle is generally the most proficient stroke for swimmers and is the chosen stroke for distance swim and open water swim.  Imagine crossing the English Channel swimming fly.  Swimmers can be as crazy as rowers, and I would not doubt that somebody has tried it.  For me, fly is too tiring to do for 2x75yds, but my back and breast are not fast either.  My back stroke is miserly compared to how fast I am doing free.  As for breast, I thought my rowing muscles would help me with the breast stroke pull, but nope.  Marcia always yells at me to glide between breast strokes because it allows you to go faster.  It is counterintuitive because I go no where when I "glide."

I have to admit that when I first heard what the set was, I did not think it was too bad.  At the end of practice, however, we were all exhausted.  It seemed like the overkick and sprinting took more out of us than we thought.  Overkick is freestyle with slow arms, but exaggerated kicking to the point where part of your calves are out of the water.  If you do it right, overkick will take a lot out of your legs.  The 25yd sprints also had a twist because Marcia had us get out and dive for each 25yd.  Diving is interesting because one, it takes a lot of effort to get out the pool repeatedly.  Think about doing press-ups.  Now think about doing the press-ups after sprinting 25yds.  Two, I have not dived since middle school swim team.  Yes, I had a very brief stint on a swim team that had me hating swimming because I did not enjoy swimming in the freezing cold and could not see a damn thing with my goggles.  This was pre-contacts and my parents did not stop to think that I might need prescription goggles in order to SEE.  Thankfully, today, I did not do any belly flops or lose any goggles or swim caps when I dived.

For all the rowers out there, I can only attempt to translate today's swim workout.  It might be similar to three sets of running 2x800m on the track, running 2x400m of stadiums (big stadiums, not little stairs), and then, erging 2x250m.  One of my novice coaches used to call this type of workout triathlons--run, stadium, erg.

Snappy

Tuesday Evening: The weatherman predicted rain, and it rained this evening.  Out on the water, we had the SDCC eight and 1 mixed double.  The Bay Blades were also at the boathouse, and they did a land/erg practice.  

Over the weekend, our San Diego line-up was finalized.  If you have not figured it out, the line-up will remain the same as we have been rowing since this fateful day.  Our workout today was 3x12minutes; 12 minutes is almost one full lake loop.  The first piece was partly warm-up, and the rate was a 24-26spm.  The second piece was at solid pressure, rate 27spm.  On this piece, the skies opened and it poured on us.  The wind also picked up in the main lake and made for good practice for San Diego.  The last piece was only 10 minutes, but at a rate 30spm.  After writing all about stroke seat and rating, I had an awfully hard time hitting an exact 30spm; the rate would drop to a 29spm and our coxswain would have to call it back up again.

At the end of the workout, Chris asked the boat if anyone felt any different.  Such a vague question!  Different about what?  Physically?  Mentally?  Set of the boat?  Power?  Preparedness for San Diego?  I did not know what he was referring to, but I snapped, “Yeah, it felt different; the boat felt heavy.”  That was definitely NOT what Chris was getting out.  Apparently, Chris had made some minor rigging changes and wanted to know if anyone felt a difference.  In that regard, I did not feel any differences. 

I was in a pretty snappy mood though because one, the boat actually did feel heavy for most of the workout and two, after a hard workout, please do not ask me any complex, loaded, general questions.  It is not a good thing for the boat to feel heavy because it often means that the power in the boat is not enough to “lift” the boat out of the water and to maintain the momentum of the boat.  Every stroke in a heavy boat feels like a struggle and can be difficult on a rower’s back.  It is normal in headwinds and other rough conditions for the boat to feel heavy, and the heaviness in our boat was due to a mixture of conditions and disconnect of the rowers on the drive.  

After a hard workout, it is probably best not to ask me any questions.  First, if it was truly a hard workout, I will not have any oxygen left for my brain cells to process your question.  My brain will not work.  Second, after a hard workout, I just want to be done and go in.  If you and your question stand in the way between me and the dock, I am naturally not a happy camper.  The only thing that makes me an even snappier camper is if you stand in my way for food.  Otherwise, in all other areas, things are looking up, rain or shine.

Building and Descending

Tuesday Morning: Another struggle to get up this morning.  I definitely did not wake up today like a tiger, more like an angry, discombobulated bear.  Angry because I (and the Princess) should have gone to bed earlier and discombobulated because well, I am not very graceful at 5AM and in the dark. 

This morning’s swim had an unusual main set.  The main set was:

2x(50yds, 100yds, 150yds, 200yds), all FAST and with 50yds of easy in between. 

This is what I call a building workout.  This is unusual because as the workout progresses, you are building your distance, but you are expected to maintain your speed.  If you are a rower, think of the workout as 2x(250m, 500m, 750m, 1000m on) with 250m of active recovery in between.  This type of building workout challenges you in several ways.  First, your pacing.  You cannot fly and die because you already know that the pieces only get longer.  You must know your own pacing and what feels fast, but sustainable.  Second, your pacing again.  While you do not want to go out too fast, you also do not want to be overly conservative and be feeling strong at the end of the workout when everyone else is exhausted and has nothing left in the tank.  Third, focus.  The longer the piece, the more focus required.  In this workout, the pieces only get longer the more tired you become so it requires a fair amount of discipline and focus to stay on pace.  In swimming, the coach is watching the clock and keeping track of the intervals so if you swim slow and miss an interval, you basically lose your rest on the wall and have to turn around and go again.

The opposite of a building workout is a descending workout where the pieces get shorter and faster.  So take today’s workout and flip it:

2x(200yds, 150yds, 100yds, 50yds) and you have a descending workout.  

Descending is a good way to practice picking up speed (and rate if you are rowing), and it is generally easier on the mind.  Also, if you do not have the fitness for high rates or sprints, descending workouts are building blocks to increasing your fitness.  Some pretty common rowing descending workouts include 4’/3’/2’/1’ pieces or odds descending 9’/7’/5’/3’/1’, all with increasing stroke rates. 

At the end of swim, I am happy to have gotten out of bed to jump into a cold pool.  Now, I am a hungry bear, ready to devour breakfast!

Length

Rise and shine this morning to darkness.  No sunrise, just dark clouds and rain, but flat, beautiful water.  Too flat because Mission Bay in San Diego at 1:40 in the afternoon is not going to look like this. 

We had the SDCC eight, 1 men’s single, and 1 mixed double on the water this morning.  We had a short warm-up and quickly jumped into the workout of the day, (2’ on, 1’ off), around the lake.  The first time around the lake, all the 2 minute pieces were at a rate of 24spm, focusing on length through the finish.  As Chris mentioned and as you can see for yourself from Saturday’s practice video footage, the boat can sometimes row real short at the finish, pulling in too low, essentially cutting off the finish.  This is a problem because one, you lose length in your stroke and you lose the “swing” part of your stroke, which is not as powerful as the leg drive, but if you have a smooth transition between your legs, backs, and arms, you can continue the acceleration from the drive into the swing.  Two, cutting off the finish can make the boat difficult to set because when you pull in too low, your blade will pop out early, which tilts the boat down to the other side.  Third, when you pull in too low, you often have a misconception of where your handle height is and you lose the swing in and out of bow that helps set that handle height and handle control. 

The 2 minute pieces in the second lake loop varied from a low rate, 18-20spm, to a high rate, 28-30spm.  It is interesting to feel how a boat and how a stroke builds the stroke rate.  For the low rates, we did not have any problems building, considering we were already paddling at the assigned rate.  While building the 28-30spm, however, I felt some disconnect with the rest of the boat.  Our coxswain gave us five strokes to build the rate, but I know and believe that at this point in the season and at this point in practice, it should not take five strokes to hit the rate, plus or minus one beat.  Some strokes like to build the rate gradually, but I like to, after the coxswain says, “Build in two…one…two,” hit the first build stroke strong, sitting up tall, looking forward, and applying full pressure.  I try to hit the rate or as high of a rate as possible on the first two strokes, get a read on the rate, and adjust accordingly.  It might take a tad of rush to hit a high rate, but once there, I try to smooth it out, swing, and lengthen.  I have no idea where I got this style from, but you had better be ready.  It is like the start and settle in a race.  The strong build is the start and the lengthen is the settle.  How great or shitty a high rate feels can depend on multiple factors, but a key factor is your perspective, not only mental perspective, but also rate perspective.  Are you hitting a 34spm from an 18spm or are you lengthening a 34spm from a 38spm?  Big difference in feeling.  

Jello Legs

Saturday: This morning, I woke to a clear head, a normal body temperature, and jello legs.  Somehow in the last 24 hours as I laid in bed under the spell of NyQuil, it felt like all the muscles on my legs had atrophied away.  It was such a funny sensation to have tingling legs, not from the exhaustion after an erg piece, but just from the feeling like there were no more muscles left on my legs.

The JLAC women's team practiced before us with 2 eights on the water.  As for us, we had 1 eight, 2 women's singles (including me), 1 men's single, and 1 double. We did a full lake warm-up with a few starts.  The main workout today was 3x7min with starts and sprints.  The eight was to hit a 34spm in the start, settle to a 30spm, and sprint at a 34spm.  This is one of the few times where in my single, I do not mind understroking the assigned stroke rate.  At the start, I hit a 36spm, but after, I settled to about a 27-28spm on the first piece.  As the workout progressed, I felt more comfortable in the single (afterall, it has been more than a week since I rowed the single) and could settle to a 28-29spm.  As for the sprint, however, that still needs much more practice in the single.  I cannot manage to bring up the rate and pressure AND maintain the set in my boat. 

Sometimes after a piece, the different boats become scattered, and it is not always clear where to line up for the next piece or whether we are going in.  After waiting for sometime for the eight, the 2 women's singles and 1 double did the last piece on the water.  For whatever reason, the eight went in early, after the second piece, and did the last 7 minute piece on the erg.  Seeing the women erging gave my stomach a queasy feeling. 

I remember a morning practice in Wisconsin where we had gone out for a long steady technique row in doubles with one short race piece at the end.  As we were docking, the coach said to meet in ten minutes, upstairs in the erg room.  You could see the dread on everyone's face as we quietly washed and put away our boats.  Upstairs, we did 2x10minutes (4'/3'/2'/1', from rate 22-28spm) on the erg with the coach watching and recording splits.  After the first piece, he had us get up and reorder from fastest to slowest so that we would be competitive with the people next to us.  That was also the day when on the second piece, in the first 4 minutes, I was at a 23spm and not at the exact assigned rate of 22spm.  The coach first gave me a warning about my rate and after seeing no change, he said from behind, "A fucking 22.  Not a 23.  Stay on rate."  That was only one of several water practices that we had, immediately followed by erging. 

As for the jello legs today, they had persisted during the warm-up, but somehow magically vanished during the main pieces.  As I got out the boat, however, it was jello legs all over again.  I would have some jello now if it did not take so long to make.

Want to watch our practice?  Click here.

NyQuil and Chocolate Cake

Part Two of "I did NOT want to get up this morning, coffee or no coffee."  You can read Part One here.

To be truthful, I think my body simply shut down from too much stress, lack of sleep, and probably too much coffee.  Passing out early the other night was my body holding up a white flag.  That whole night, I had the chills and aches, followed by a low-grade fever and headache.  The following day or yesterday, I left work early to come home and rest.  No rower wants to hear or face the reality that perhaps, she is cracking under too much stress.  Somewhere in her contorted mind, it implies to her that she cannot handle the physical and mental stress of the training schedule.  There are several components that make up a top athlete: strength, endurance, core strength and balance, mental toughness, consistency, and stress.  None of the other components mean anything if you cannot perform under stress.  And trust me, sitting at the start line of a 2,000m race is very stressful because no one else can help you.  Nothing, but rowing those 2,000m and completing the race can bring you salvation, but yet, it is that 2,000 meters that is so uncertain and brings about the anxiety of anticipation.

This morning, I left the house with no coffee and with a low-grade fever and chills, but I had a plan--NyQuil.  I am not a big believer in taking medicine for minor colds or discomforts, but I am a big believer in sleep, and NyQuil will give me sleep.

We had 1 LMRC double, 1 men's single, 1 LMRC eight (same line-up as Saturday and Monday), 2 JLAC women's eights, and 1 JLAC men's eight on the water today.  At the finger, Chris had the eight practice a catch drill where a pair sits at the finish and then rows up to the catch.  At the catch, the two rowers will simply lift their hands off the handle, allowing gravity to do its job and the oar to plunk right into the water.  The drill demonstrates that your hands should lift, and not drop, into the catch.  We continued to warm up to the log boom.  From the log boom back to the finger, we practiced starts.  None of the starts were particularly great even when Chris had us slow down the speed and ease off on the pressure.  Our main piece was from the finger to the log boom at a 24spm and at steady state pressure with a focus on length.  The last drill that we did before going in was the "chop-chop" drill.  (Anyone know the actual name?!)  The whole boat sat at the finish with arms away and simply tapped the oar handle up and down, hence the chop-chop.  Once the boat was able to maintain timing and togetherness, the coxswain would call "Way enough" and the rowers would stop their blades in the air. 

With a quick stop at Safeway after practice, I had my NyQuil, and with my NyQuil, I slept a fitful, yet much needed five hours.  I woke up with the chills gone, but my head in a daze, probably from the NyQuil.  I woke up to one thought in my head--CHOCOLATE CAKE.  I pictured luscious, rich chocolate cupcakes and a whole 9x13in pan of moist chocolate cake coming out of my oven.  I have no idea where this thought came from because one, there is no chocolate cake in the house, and two, I usually prefer white or yellow cake over chocolate cake.  But once the thought of food enters my head, it is a beast to shake off.

If you have not yet heard of my amazing ability, please do indulge me by reading about it here because being sick is no deterrent for me.  I assessed my situation.  There was no chocolate cake in the house, but I did have sugar-free chocolate popsicles and chocolate pudding and real sugar, full fat chocolate chips and several boxes of brownie mix.  In my former, less glamorous lightweight days, I would have gone for the boxes of brownie mix, which I would rip open, pour into a bowl, along with some yogurt, butter, and/or egg whites and would try desperately to make a brownie meant to be baked in the oven for over 30 minutes, in the microwave in 30 seconds.  Then, in worried panic that I might finish off the rest of the brownie mix, I would throw it out and take out the trash because once the brownie mix was in the dumpster, I could not be tempted to fish it out.  Today though, I worked my way up, first from the popsicles and pudding to the chocolate chips.  With my head still in a daze and my stomach bloated from sugar-free crap, I have come to the realization that may be I should just take another NyQuil and sleep it all away.

Married to a Vampire

I did NOT want to get up this morning, coffee or no coffee.  The idea of jumping into a cold pool was not enticing, but I managed to slug through this morning's swim workout.  The main set was 4x300yds free, descending, followed by 3x100yds back flutter kick with fins and with arms in a flagpole position.  I am a pretty fast kicker with fins, but I am so amazingly slow in the flagpole position.  If you want to see what I look like, look below.  In the third lane from the bottom of the picture, you will see a swimmer in a yellow cap with her hands barely clear of the water.  That's me.  I look like I am drowning.

Courtesy of Marcia

Last night after work, I was feeling rather ragged, worn-out, stressed-out, and exhausted.  At about 7PM, I passed out on the bed with the Princess banging her high-tech toy, which can sing, dance, and say her name, against my ribs.  Thankfully, my husband was home early and helped watch the Princess when she cried for attention as I laid there unconscious. 

You have probably heard of the phenomenon called Twilight, the dramatic, emo love story of a girl named Bella and a vegetarian vampire named Edward by Stephanie Meyer. Twilight has been quite the craze among teenage girls and actually among women in general. For men, on the other hand, it has been slow to catch on.  I confess that the books are not particularly well-written or of high quality literature, but the character of Edward who is the total embodiment of the perfect guy, rescusing the lucky girl at a moment's notice with his supernatural powers, has girls pining for their own vampire prince and has guys rolling their eyes.  Well, I have been lucky (or unlucky) to be married to my very own vampire.

The positive side of being married to a vampire is that while I am struggling to keep my eyes open at night, he is quite alert and awake.  This comes in handy when the Princess is throwing a fit at night.  Instead of having two tired, cranky parents trying to calm her down, we have one tired, cranky, angry, half-conscious parent (me) and one awake, patient, caring, loving parent (husband). 

The negative side of this vampire husband is that he is not a morning person and is super sensitive to light and sound.  Him not being a morning person should actually be a benefit because it allows me to sneak out in the morning to row or swim.  Unfortunately, he is super sensitive to light and sound, thus, having me turn on lights and get ready in the morning often wakes him up. 

If I were a vampire too, I would be able to see in the dark, but alas, I am only a mortal human with really, really, really poor eyesight.  I cannot see a thing without my glasses or contacts, and without turning on lights, I end up tripping over toys, blankets, and other random things on the floor not cleared away. Every morning I try to get dressed, pack my work clothes, pack my lunch, and make my coffee commando style, silent and in the dark.  Every so often, more frequently that I would like to admit, my commando-styled mornings end up more like CounterStrike gun battles with me flushing the toilet, opening the squeaky pantry door, running into walls, and frantically ripping through the whole house to find my keys.  This, of course, wakes the vampire husband who is not happy when his vampire beauty sleep is interrupted.

While other girls may still be longing for their own vampire Edward, mine did not turn out as glamorous or romantic as Edward in the storybook, but he is a vampire, neverthless!

Trust

Flat water, almost like glass.  Due to several people’s work schedules, yesterday’s evening practice was moved to this morning.  We had 1 men’s single and 1 eight with the same line-up as Saturday and Monday out on the water.

We warmed-up from the finger to the log boom with some 10s and the cut-the-cake arms away drill.  Then, we did an interesting drill by bow four and stern four where the four rowers would start at the finish and come up the slide with their blades buried the whole way and then at the catch, switch directions and pull.  The drill is meant to practice slide control as it is difficult to rush up the slide when your blade is buried and pushing against the water.  Anybody know the name of this drill??

From the boathouse to the finger, we practiced starts.  None of the starts felt particularly together, but we were able to hit the 40spm that Chris asked for on the last start and five high.  We need a little more work on the first two strokes of our start.  The main piece today was a progressive rate piece, focusing on patience up the slide and quick hands out of bow.  The piece started at a rate of 18spm, and every 15-20 strokes, we increased the rate by two beats until a 36spm.  I had a hard time shifting from a 30spm to a 32spm; I could not feel enough power in the boat through the drive to bring up the rate with the legs.  The 32spm eventually came around, but with an abbreviated layback and quicker hands out of bow.  We hit the 34spm and almost hit the 36spm, but sat mostly at 35spm.  When we all sit up tall and have quick hands out of bow, the 34-35spm is not too bad.  Chris then, asked for a 38spm.  Well, that did not come so easily.  It took almost 10 strokes at a 37spm before I could hit a 38spm.  We were all so relieved when Chris called the paddle. I had a few curses for Chris in my head.

Today, Chris mentioned several things worth repeating here.  There are two general types of rowers—technicians and hammers.  Technicians are rowers who have good technique and finesse.  Hammers are rowers who are powerful, but who are killing fish by hammering away at the water.  Of course, the best type of rower is someone who is both technician and hammer.  On our team, we all have an idea or perception about ourselves and everyone else on who is more of a technician or more of a hammer.  What we have to remember is that for an eight, it is about the sum of all rowers, not about who is what.  It is about making the best with what we have.  We all have to TRUST that each and every one of us is putting out her best on the line, no matter technician or hammer.  Traditionally, we have been a fly-and-die type of crew, something that I personally abhor.  The accumulation of lactic acid during the “fly” part makes the rest of the race almost unbearable.  Chris emphasized that we have to race at a high rate, 32spm or higher, but we have to also understand our own pacing.  We are probably not going to race at a 34 or 35spm because our fitness is not at that level; we would need a lot more mileage on the water and erg for that.  We do need to remember that when things get hard, we have to have fast hands out of bow, no hesitation.

When we were practicing starts, Chris asked us which seat is the most important.  Hmm, you’d think that every seat is important, but apparently, six seat is the most important seat.  Ideally, six seat protects stern pair and protects bow five.  Six seat protects stern pair by controlling the rush from bow five, thus allowing stern pair to work on rhythm.  Six seat protects bow five from the stern pair when stern pair is setting a really crappy rhythm; six seat is suppose to smooth out the rhythm.  Chris might be a little biased to six seat, the seat which he did row a lot in.  Perfect, now when I feel the rush come barreling up the stern, right to me, I can be peeved at six seat.  Somewhere during his homage to six seat, Chris mentioned his great confidence in this stern pair.  Oh, shit.  Do I need to reiterate my SDCC story?!

Bathwater

Calm waters.  I spotted one lone single on the lake this morning.

As for swimming, today's main set was 2x(6x100yds, free) with the first three at a moderately fast pace and the last three in descending speed.  The set was challenging, with very little rest in between pieces, especially during the first three 100s.  We had only completed one set when Marcia changed it from swimming to kicking with board and fins to keep us a little cooler because the pool water today was quite warm.  The warm water felt quite nice when we first jumped in, but after swimming a few laps, we felt like we were swimming in bathwater. 

Did you know that international competitive swimming, water polo, diving, and synchronized swimming are regulated by FINA (Fédération Internationale de Natation) similar to how FISA (Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d’Aviron) regulates international rowing?  According to FINA, the water temperature of an official Olympic pool must between 77-82°F.  Olympic-sized pools are also 50m long, also known as “long course,” and 10 lanes wide.  

Monday Morning

A full parking lot this morning, and chaos on the docks with three teams trying to launch at the same time. On the water, we had 1 LMRC women’s eight, 2 JLAC women’s eights, 1 JLAC men’s eight, 1 LMRC women’s quad, 1 men’s single, and 3 coaches’ launches. In addition, we had three men stay on land to erg. Despite all the chaos on the docks, it was relatively uneventful on the water—no crashes or near-misses. Each team practiced separately and managed to always be on separate ends of the lake from one another.

According to Chris’ calendar, today was suppose to be steady state at 24-26spm, which is not what we did this morning probably due to all the boat traffic and because Chris wanted to see our exact line-up from Saturday “in action.” We did a quick warm-up from the finger to the log boom followed by a three-quarters pressure, 2-3 minute piece back down to the dam at a 28-30spm. The boat felt “on edge” and the 10mph winds, especially from the finger, did not help the set. We lined up at the dam and did our first 500m piece at a 34spm. I was able to bring the rate up to a 33spm, but could not hit the 34spm. After, Chris asked our coxswain for our split and stroke rate numbers. Half-serious, I told her not to tell Chris that our stroke was at a 33spm because a 33spm is not the 34spm that he asked for. I still have memories of my summer at Wisconsin and my coach hounding me about pulling the exact stroke rate that he specified—no higher, no lower.

We spun and did another 500m from the log boom back to the dam. This piece was with a start and a settle to 32spm. We had a poor start and a poor settle, but were able to regain rhythm. The boat did not feel as smooth as on Saturday, but the effort was there. The last 500m piece also had a start and settle. We had a better start, but somewhere in the first 200m, I could feel the rush into the catch. I was a little peeved for two reasons. First, if you are not stroking a boat, you better be watching your stroke seat, controlling your slide and matching up your catch timing. We can row a 32spm with ratio and control, all the way up the slide; we did it on Saturday. Second, a stroke seat really needs a seven seat who can back her up in power and rhythm. A seven seat should help the stroke seat lead the boat, not allow the rest of the boat’s rush come barreling into the stern. Maybe I just did a shitty job stroking today, in which case, you can disregard those two reasons.

At the end of the workout, Chris gave us a talk. Today’s (i.e. Saturday’s) line-up is close to our San Diego line-up. He had really wanted to seat race us, but with one SDCC contender missing, that was not possible today. Chris also warned us that this is crunch time, and we need to be focused on rowing. All other forms of exercise, such as Pilates, yoga, running, swimming, biking, do not count, only rowing and erging count. Counting down to San Diego.