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.