The sun was shining and the lake was calm. Perfect for rowing.
The docks were busy today with so many boats. Earlier in the morning, we had the LMRC Senior Men's team out in a double. During our practice time, we had 1 LMRC women's eight, 1 JLAC women's eight, 1 JLAC men's eight, 3 men's singles, 1 women's single, 1 LMRC women's quad, and 1 mixed double all out on the water. For the most part, the eights practiced together, and the other boats did their own workout, keen to stay out of the way of the eights!
This morning's practice was a little unusual for several reasons. First, Chris was gone today because of a regatta for juniors. Second, JLAC's two masters coaches and parts of JLAC's women's and men's teams joined us for practice. And third, I stroked our eight.
All rowers, at some point in time, openly or secretly wished that they sat in stroke seat, but with great prestige comes great responsibility. Two years ago, I stroked the LMRC SDCC boat, the first time I had ever stroked an eight in a race. We had a heat on Saturday and a final on Sunday. In the heat, there was major rush in the boat that I could not control and I mentally panicked. I was not mentally prepared for the high rates and the associated pain. I just wanted to cry. The whole 2,000m, all I could feel was the lactic acid.
As stroke, no matter how bad, unset, heavy the boat feels, you must go on with the same aggression, drive, and determination as if the boat did actually feel smooth, set, and fast because the other seven rowers looking to you for rhythm and commitment. You must not give up. Somehow, we managed to edge out another boat and come in third to qualify for the final. After the heat, I told our coach at the time, Dede, that I couldn't do it, I couldn't stroke the boat, I didn't have the stroking and racing experience. Dede somehow reassured a very reluctant me that I could do it.
Sunday's final went better than the heat. There was more rhythm and run in the boat, and we finished third overall. Despite my redemption in the final, that experience in the heat has haunted me. The lactic acid, the feeling of giving up with 1000m to go, the panic of knowing I had nothing left in the tank all makes me very hesitant to ever want to stroke another SDCC.
This morning's line-up was some version or variation of our soon-to-be-announced SDCC line-up. Our usual stroke who is quite experienced was gone today, and it was with great hesitation and doubt that I stepped into stroke seat. The workout today was main lake loop pieces (about 6-7 minutes each), with starts and a settle at 32spm. Anyone who knows me can tell you that I suffer from anything-higher-than-a-26-spm phobia. I am a big fan of steady state, long and strong, but I dread all kinds of intervals work, sprints, starts.
We warmed up from the finger to the log boom and practiced some starts. The more starts we practiced, the more comfortable I got. On the last start in the warm-up, we hit a 41spm during the 10 high. That's highly unusual (no pun intended)! All 3 eights lined up at the log boom. The starts were staggered, with our boat leaving first so that the JLAC coxswains could follow our course through the turn at the dam. For each piece, we did start 5, 15 high, and then, settle. To my surprise, I was able to hit the 32spm no problem and maintain the rate 31-32spm throughout all the pieces. We did three pieces in total. In the first half of all the pieces, I tried to focus on locking in the rate, steady and strong. Then, after the turn at the dam, which was halfway, I pictured us in the third 500m of the race. I thought about those 4x100s I had done on Thursday and had mentally practiced that third 500m. Minus a mini-crab at 6 seat and lack of cohesion on the last start, the boat felt strong and consistent for all three pieces. Four weeks to San Diego.
This morning's practice was a little unusual for several reasons. First, Chris was gone today because of a regatta for juniors. Second, JLAC's two masters coaches and parts of JLAC's women's and men's teams joined us for practice. And third, I stroked our eight.
All rowers, at some point in time, openly or secretly wished that they sat in stroke seat, but with great prestige comes great responsibility. Two years ago, I stroked the LMRC SDCC boat, the first time I had ever stroked an eight in a race. We had a heat on Saturday and a final on Sunday. In the heat, there was major rush in the boat that I could not control and I mentally panicked. I was not mentally prepared for the high rates and the associated pain. I just wanted to cry. The whole 2,000m, all I could feel was the lactic acid.
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| LMRC Master 8+ at San Diego Crew Classic 2009; photo taken by Roger Allen |
Sunday's final went better than the heat. There was more rhythm and run in the boat, and we finished third overall. Despite my redemption in the final, that experience in the heat has haunted me. The lactic acid, the feeling of giving up with 1000m to go, the panic of knowing I had nothing left in the tank all makes me very hesitant to ever want to stroke another SDCC.
This morning's line-up was some version or variation of our soon-to-be-announced SDCC line-up. Our usual stroke who is quite experienced was gone today, and it was with great hesitation and doubt that I stepped into stroke seat. The workout today was main lake loop pieces (about 6-7 minutes each), with starts and a settle at 32spm. Anyone who knows me can tell you that I suffer from anything-higher-than-a-26-spm phobia. I am a big fan of steady state, long and strong, but I dread all kinds of intervals work, sprints, starts.
We warmed up from the finger to the log boom and practiced some starts. The more starts we practiced, the more comfortable I got. On the last start in the warm-up, we hit a 41spm during the 10 high. That's highly unusual (no pun intended)! All 3 eights lined up at the log boom. The starts were staggered, with our boat leaving first so that the JLAC coxswains could follow our course through the turn at the dam. For each piece, we did start 5, 15 high, and then, settle. To my surprise, I was able to hit the 32spm no problem and maintain the rate 31-32spm throughout all the pieces. We did three pieces in total. In the first half of all the pieces, I tried to focus on locking in the rate, steady and strong. Then, after the turn at the dam, which was halfway, I pictured us in the third 500m of the race. I thought about those 4x100s I had done on Thursday and had mentally practiced that third 500m. Minus a mini-crab at 6 seat and lack of cohesion on the last start, the boat felt strong and consistent for all three pieces. Four weeks to San Diego.
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