200s Again

Tuesday morning:  The lake looked relatively calm this morning as drove by before swim, but by the time I drove by after swim, the wind had picked up.  We will have to see what it is like this evening for crew practice.

This morning’s main swim set had 200yds again after yesterday’s hard 200yds workout.  None of us were amused as Marcia had us cover even more distance than yesterday:

1. 4x200yds free, descending
2. 3x150yds free, descending
3. 3x100yds free with fins.

 I must have been holding up my lane because for the first three 200yds, I swam as a #2, but then, reshuffled myself to a #4 for the last 200yds and all the 150yds.  As a #4, the rest of my lane-mates were so far ahead that I could not feel any bubbles from their kicks.  The sets were supposed to be descending, but I was just trying to keep up.  

For the last set, however, I could fly with fins.  It felt good to have a little speed through the water.

MEMO

Monday morning:  This morning, I got up on the wrong side of the bed.  The coffee maker was set correctly and went off at the right time, but I forgot to put the coffee grinds in the coffee filter.  All I got this morning was hot water!

Since I am not a vampire and I was too tired last night to pack my bags, I tried to quietly pack my bags this morning at 4:30AM.  Every morning, I leave the house with three bags--my work backpack which contains work papers and food, my massive purse that holds my planner, notebook, and extra diapers for the Princess, and my blue gym bag which has a change of clothes.  I know I must look like a mad bag lady.

I got to the lake this morning, took one look at the lake, assessed the wind, which was blowing, and was not going to have any of this rowing.  After yesterday's row of 5x2,000m where there were parts so windy that I felt like a rubber duck bobbing around on the ocean, I was just done with rowing.  I just left, probably not the best idea, but I was pretty crabby.

I sat around and did some work, sending emails and writing reports, until 6AM when I went to swim.  Today was the first day back from spring break and Marcia had a surprise for us!  MEMO T-shirts!  MEMO stands for Marcia's Enthusiastic Masters of Oakland, an official US Masters Swimming team.

MEMO to: Swimmers  cc: Triathletes

The main swim set today was:

1.  200yds free
2.  2x25yds fly
3.  200yds free
4.  2x25yds fly; 2x25yds back
5.  200yds free
6.  2x25yds fly; 2x25yds back; 2x25yds breast
7.  200yds free.

Welcome back from spring break!

Easter Weekend Recap

The week of Easter has come and gone. 

Friday morning:  We had 1 quad, 1 double, 2 women's singles (including me), and 2 men's singles out on the water.  The workout was 3.5 main lake loops of steady state at 20-24spm. 

I have no idea how all the other boats did, but this was me in the single, coming up the slide, slow and steady: arms out, body over, balance, hold onto the set, balance, wobble, wobble, CRASH!  Right before the catch, I would lose the set of the boat and all the balance in the beginning of the recovery disappeared.  At higher rates, it is easier to set the boat because your blades are in the water more frequently, but at slower rates, the recovery becomes a larger portion of your stroke.  I added balance and stability to my long and never-ending mental list of things to work on. 

Saturday morning:  There has been a tradition on the women's team to do an Easter egg hunt on Easter weekend.  This year, the tradition lived on.  The way I see it, the main point of the Easter egg hunt is to trade your eggs in for chocolate!

We had 1 eight, 1 women's double (me), 1 mixed double, 1 women's single, and 1 men's single out on the water.  During the warm-up, we stopped at awkward moments, made sharp turns, backed our boats around, rowed up to the wall, and asked passerbys to reach into the lake--anything to snag these brightly colored plastic eggs (which were unfortunately empty because the chocolate was sitting back on land in the boathouse) before the other boats. 

The main workout was 3x1,000m pieces.  In the double, we only did two pieces and had to go in due to time.  If you are rower, do you ever have a "favorite" boat or a boat that you did best in (or maybe it is not a boat, maybe it is the erg?!)?  The double is one of my favorite boats, which also include the single and the pair.  The secret to the single is that there is only one person to blame--youself.  The secret to the double and the pair is that everything takes time.  It takes time to learn to row together; it takes time to match up the catches, drives, power, finishes, swings, handle heights. 

At the boathouse, Saturday morning and afternoon was dedicated to a work party--cleaning out the boat bay, doing maintanence on the boats, scraping crap off the launches and docks, and fixing one of the docks that partially sinks anytime you go up and over heads with a big boat. 

It was amazing to see so many Lake Merritt members come out and volunteer their Saturday to help the club.  I was greatly relieved to find that we had members with real carpentry skills who could fix up the dilapidated dock.  I studied engineering in school with an emphasis on the "studied."  Need to pass an engineering class?  No problem!  Need to machine, drill, hammer, nail something?  No idea!  I know what an allen wrench is only because that is usually the sole tool needed to put together Ikea furniture. 

Sunday morning:  Easter day!  I am not super religious so I spent Easter day doing work--5x2,000m.  There were 3 women's singles, including myself, out on the water this morning, and we each did our own workouts. 

I have actually done 5x2,000m race pieces in the single before, but the whole time, I was negotiating with myself, coming up with all the reasons why I should do only three pieces, why I should go in early, why I should paddle the pieces.  If I were a cartoon, you would have been able to see my two inner voices fighting each other, all the way until the end of the fifth piece. 

The pieces were not always smooth, especially with the wind blowing down the finger and into the main lake.  By the end of the workout, I was pretty sick of the wind, the lake, the turn at the dam, everything, but I got the pieces done.  And that was what I wanted to do on Easter day.

NSR #1 Results and Miranda

I have not posted for quite awhile.  I have been busy doing the actual rowing instead of just writing about the rowing that I am doing.  Whenever I was at a computer, I was busy anxiously waiting for the results from National Selection Regatta #1.  I have no idea why I should be so nervous about NSR #1.  After all, I am clearly not the one racing!

I was cheering for Kristin Hedstrom who did an amazing job in the lightweight 1x, but I was also rooting for another friend, Miranda, in the open 1x.  I met this woman at camp in Wisconsin four years ago.  Back then, she was already pretty fast and very strong.  To illustrate, I remember one morning practice at camp when we did a watts or step test on the erg. 

Me, Miranda, fellow campmate at US Club Nationals

I believe there are different versions of this test and different conversion tables, but essentially, this is what we did--everyone set their erg to read watts or power output and erged 5 minutes on and 10 seconds off repeatedly.  We started out at 110 watts, which is a 2:27min/500m split according to the Concept2 watt calculator, holding this power output for the whole 5 minutes.  Every 5 minutes, we would increase the power output by 30 watts until we could not hold the output for more than three strokes, then we got to stop.  Depending on the output that we stopped at, our coach could translate that into different target splits for different percents of pressure. 

I got to the fifth 5 minute set, which was 230 watts or a 1:55/500m split, before I stopped.  For me, that translated into a 100% pressure split of 1:56.6/500m and a 75% pressure split of 2:08.3/500m.  One or two other girls stopped after I did.  Soon, Miranda was the only person left erging and we probably watched her erg for another four or five sets before she finally hit an output that she could not hold. 

Can you imagine what her splits must have been?  That day, everyone, including our coach, was in awe.

National Selection Regatta #I

Some of you rowers out there may know that tomorrow, Thursday, is the beginning of National Selection Regatta (NSR) #1 to be held in New Jersey.  Every year, there are three NSRs, which determine who gets to represent the United States in the World Cup series and later, in the World Championships or every fourth year, in the Olympics. 

The first NSR starts off with a singles time trial to determine seeding in heats, which occur later that same day.  The second day is finals with an A, B, and C final.  The exact process to make a World Cup boat varies depending on if you are a male or female, heavyweight or lightweight and can be complex and convoluted.  Regardless, if you are racing at NSR #1, you know that everyone--coaches, fellow rowers, friends, enemies--in the elite rowing world will be watching, comparing times and consistency. 

Kristin at Worlds; copyright row2k.com

A month ago, I had the amazing opportunity to meet Kristin Hedstrom, an elite women's lightweight rower and Wisconsin Lightweight alumnae, when she was in Oakland training out of the California Rowing Club.  I do not want to sound like a complete nut-job, but I was SO ECSTATIC to meet Kristin.   It was like meeting Brad Pitt, but Brad Pitt is nothing when I could meet Kristin.  In college, when I rowed in Wisconsin for a summer, I heard about Kristin.  While I was rowing in Wisconsin, Kristin was busy in Seattle at the Pocock Training Center, training for the U23 lightweight double.

Kristin and I are the same in age, and that is about where the similarity ends.  Probably 15 pounds lighter than me and with a 2k erg time that would blow me out of the water, Kristin represented the United States at Worlds in 2009 and also won the women's lightweight 1x at the Head of the Charles the same year.  Last year, she was in the lightweight quad at Worlds, which placed second.

Kristin and I talked about a variety of subjects, and she patiently explained to me the national team selection process.  She talked about the different times in her rowing career when she has surprised herself.  For example, in 2008, just after finishing her collegiate rowing, Kristin entered in the lightweight 1x at the Head of the Charles, expecting to finish somewhere in the middle of the pack.  To her pleasant surprise, in a field of seasoned competitors, she finished 5th.  It was so interesting to hear how humble Kristin is about her rowing career and progress.  To me, Kristin is right up there, next to God.  Okay, maybe not God, but up there next to Ekaterina Karsten, Olaf Tufte, Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps (Michael Phelps does not need a link, even my mom knows Michael Phelps), among other sport idols.  In a field of very competitive lightweight women,  vying for only two seats on the national team, Kristin knows there is still much work to be done before London 2012.

Help me cheer Kristin on at NSR #1!  Follow Kristin here.  Results can be found here.

Sums to 1,000m

Tuesday evening:  For me, Tuesday night practices are often hard to make.  My husband has a long commute, and he generally works late hours.  To all the normal people in the world, asking him to come home early every Tuesday so that I can row probably sounds a little ridiculous.  Imagine this, "Excuse me, boss.  I have to leave early today to keep my insane wife happy so that she can row and I can watch the Princess."  To rowers, this sounds pretty reasonable.  In college, rowers learn quickly that unless you sleep through your alarm, are taking an exam, or have a life emergency, you just do not miss practice.  You do everything humanly possible to make practice. 

In a post-college life with work, family, babies, you do everything reasonably possible to make practice.  Vacations, work training sessions, work travel, taxes, family obligations can get in the way and sometimes, you just have to skip practice.  I try really hard to make practice, even if it means pinching my husband's arm, just a little bit.  When I do have to miss practice though, I am haunted by this quote, "Somewhere in the world someone is training when you are not. When you race them, they will win."

This evening, we had 1 eight and 1 double out on the water.  The Bay Blades had 1 quad and 1 single.  The Bay Blades' quad joined us for our workout.  The workout was:

1.  1x1000m race piece with start, settle, sprint
2.  2x500m race pieces with start and settle
3.  4x250m race pieces; first two pieces had start and settle; last two had sprint.

I call this workout, "anything and everything that sums to 1,000m."  I rowed starboard again, but this time in five seat.  As I noted before, my starboard side rowing needs a bit of work, especially if we are doing starts and going at 38spm.  On starboard, my catches feel rougher and sometimes, I cannot feather fast enough so my blade is not fully feathered, coming out of bow.  Pretty ugly rowing.  At the end of practice today, I was afraid to look at our three and four seat, in case I was just wildly splashing water everywhere. 

The 1,000m piece got off to a rough start and about 250 meters into the piece, we had to paddle to avoid colliding with the quad.  The first 500m piece was also interrupted by another near-collision with the quad.  The second 500m piece had a clean start and felt the best of all the pieces.  The 250m pieces were too short to really remember much (I plead memory loss). 

My frustration with the workout today was with the set of the boat.  Typically as the rate gets higher, the boat is easier to set because there is less time on the recovery.  The boat is the most set on the drive, when your blades are in the water.  Not having a set boat at higher rates can be very detrimental to the speed of the boat.  Oars dragging on the water can slow the boat down a bit, but I think the most harmful result of an unset boat is not being able to get the blades in at the catch, especially at higher rates when catches are supposedly to be quick and light.  As a rower, the frustration comes from having all this energy and effort that you want to put into your stroke, but because of the set, you are not able to put in 100%.

Tornado Tuesday

Tuesday morning:  With no swim this week due to spring break, I got to sleep-in this morning.  Trust me, after yesterday's near disaster row in the single, I was looking forward to any extra hours of sleep that I could muster.  I slept until 6:30 when I woke up not to workout, but to CLEAN the house.  Trust me on this one too.  It looks like a tornado ran through our one bedroom condo.  I am not going to embarrass myself by showing you pictures, but you can imagine toys all over the ground, dirty bowls sitting on the coffee table, and unfolded laundry sitting on the rocking chair.

Before I got married and before I had the Princess, I used to have standards.  Nothing fancy, just basic standards, such as folded laundry, vacuumed floors, clean dishes, neatly lined books.  My hamper could be piled with clothes, ready to be worn one more time before washing and my desk could be disorganized with open textbooks, homework papers, post-it notes, but I managed to meet my basic standards. 

After I got married and had the Princess, my standards are probably the lowest possible standards before "tornado-wreck" status.  I mentioned before a quote from Oprah Winfrey, "You can have it all, just not all at once."  I totally, completely, wholeheartedly agree with her, but I still want it all and I want it NOW.  In my attempts to have it all, all at once, somethings have to give.  Sleep is the first to go.  Not far behind are my standards--standards for clean dishes, vacuumed floors, dusted bookshelves, clean laundry, general house cleanliness.

I am afraid next to go are standards for the Princess.  When the Princess was first born, we were the typical new parents who fussed over the tiniest things, making sure that everything was dusted, washed, disinfected, cleaned twice.  We changed her diaper whenever it had the slightest hint of pee, we bathed her everyday, and we made sure she always wore a bib when eating.  Since then, we have come a long way.  The Princess is at an age where she is mobile, smart, and strong enough to demand to try things on her own, which usually means creating a big mess for someone to clean up. 

Eating applesauce with a spoon and feeding her shirt

Sometimes feeding herself too 
(Yes, that is chocolate pudding on her forehead...)

 I spent this morning before work, cleaning up after the Princess from her applesauce party the night before.

Almost Regret

Monday morning:  Five hours of sleep with the occasional interruption from a crying Princess.  In the middle of sleeping, the Princess would decide that it was time to wake up, sit up, and cry very loudly.  My husband's theory was that because she did not nap during the day, the Princess was overtired at night and was uncomfortable.  Why she would get up and cry when she is clearly tired, I have no idea.  The correct response to being overtired is to continue sleeping soundly and not to get up and wail.  I can only imagine the amount of hearing that my husband and I have lost from the Princess wailing.  It must be one of those sacrifices that parents make for their children and forget to mention to new parents.

By some amazing power this morning, I was able to get out of bed.  Even coffee was not a strong enough incentive as I laid half-asleep waiting for the alarm to ring again.  I think next time, I must try coffee and chocolate to entice me.  In a sleep-deprived state, I made it to the boathouse.

We had 1 quad, 2 doubles, 1 women's single (me), and 2 men's singles out on the water.  The workout today was a series of 2 minutes on, 1 minute off at 26spm, steady state pressure.

I climbed into the single this morning and almost regretted it.  With not enough sleep and a hard workout the day before, my legs were on a hiatus, probably still sleeping in bed, where I should have been.  I consider myself a decent endurance athlete who can recovery fairly quickly.  There have only been a few times this season when I have felt like I had no legs.  Today was one of them.

Seven Singles

Sunday morning:  An armada.  This morning, the scullers had an armada of singles out on the water--2 women's singles (including me) and 5 men's singles.  Sculling by yourself can be lonely and it was exciting to row with so many other scullers, but it was also a bit like herding cats.  Seven singles trying to turn at the log boom, at the same time was also fun.

The workout was:

1.  7 minutes at a 26spm
2.  5 minutes at a 28spm
3.  5 minutes at a 28spm
4.  3 minutes at a 30spm
5.  3 minutes at a 30spm, with lots of active recovery in between pieces.

Having all the boats start together made the pieces more competitive.  Being the slowest boat, I had to work extra hard to keep up (or just cheat and pull up ahead of the other boats when we lined up) and made a special effort to give the faster boats a run for their money.  In sculling, trying harder sometimes makes you faster, and other times, it backfires.  You could feel like you are trying really hard and putting everything in, but in reality, your stroke and technique could be falling apart and your overall efficiency and speed decreasing.  There was a time in the single, when the harder I tried, the slower I got.  Practice and patience, however, has turned that trend around.  Now, there is actually a positive change in boat speed when I row harder. 

Rowers are a strange breed, and scullers are an even stranger set.  You do not always see the scullers practice.  They do not always have set practice times or have to do extra burpies or push-ups when they are late because they are accountable to no one except themselves.  With no coxswain to push them onward, scullers must find the motivation from within.  Because of the loneliness of sculling, scullers are often known to be more quiet, reserved, and aloof.

At Lake Merritt, we do not seem to have that problem.  We have a strong group of vocal scullers.  If you were to grab coffee with them after practice and ask them anything about rowing, your quick coffee would turn into a two hour long, intense discussion about something, anything, and everything about rowing.  You would probably learn a little of something that you always wanted to know, something that you would have never guessed, and something you could care less about.

Strawberries

Once upon a time, I bought a total of 28 pounds of yam, here and here.  Not long after, the yams were all gone--I ate 27 pounds of yam, the Princess ate 1 pound, and my husband ate 0 pounds. 

This Saturday, I found a new food to buy in huge quantities--strawberries.  I actually upon the strawberries unintentionally.  After practice, I went to the local Farmer's Market, but did not see anything I really liked and was willing to pay for.  Near our house, there is a street corner where migrant workers often sell produce.  On an impulse, I stopped and bought strawberries.  Originally, I only wanted a few pints of strawberries, but somehow, I ended up with a whole flat of strawberries.  A flat is equivalent to 12 pints or TWELVE pounds of strawberries.

A flat of strawberries

I knew as soon as I bought it that a flat was way too many strawberries, but it was a good deal and my husband and the Princess both eat strawberries.  (The Princess pretty much eats anything.)

My husband's eyes got big when he saw the strawberries, but not from delight.  The first thing he said was, "What are you going to do with all those strawberries?"  Five minutes later, he asked, "Are you going to do anything with those strawberries?"  He had a look of concern when I did not immediately start devouring the strawberries as soon as I got home.  To be fair, this is not the first time I have come home with a whole flat of strawberries and there have been some strawberries that go bad because we could not eat them fast enough.

When I say that I eat a lot, I am not joking.  More than half of the flat is already gone--mostly consumed by yours truly.

This is 1,000 Meters

Saturday morning:  Flat water.  This morning, we had 1 eight, 1 double, 1 women's single, and 1 men's single out on the water.  The workout was 1,000m pieces--3x1,000m to be exact--with starts.

I was in the eight, in seven seat.  I was excited to row starboard again, after rowing bow seat last week, but going from bow to seven seat and from 0 to 36spm is not easy to do.  If we were doing steady state, I would have more time to feel comfortable.  Since we were doing race pieces though, my focus was more on survival.  Be prepared for some ugly strokes from seven seat! 

We warmed up for an entire lake loop and started the pieces from 400m into the finger directly across the lake to the fountain or stairs, next to the Lucky's and Lake Merritt Bakery.  On the first 1,000m piece, we settled to a 31spm.  After, Chris berated us, "That was head race rowing.  This is 1,000 meters.  Take the rate up on the next piece."  In rowing, head races are the longer distance races, usually 5,000-6,000 meters, held in the fall.  Think of the fall rowing season as running cross-country.  Think of the spring rowing season, racing 2,000m in collegiate races and San Diego Crew Classic, as running the mile, four laps around the track.  Think of the summer masters rowing season, racing 1,000m, as running the 800m, two laps around the track. 

The other day, Chris compared the masters rowing race distance of 1,000m as running a mile because for many boats, 1,000m will take about 4 minutes, and for elite male runners, a mile will take about 4 minutes.  I think rowing 1,000m is more like running the 800m.  If you ever ran track in high school or college, you will find that the 800m is a very tough race because you are basically running a controlled sprint for two laps around the track.  The short distance does not allow for a real "body" or settle in the race.  Right from the start, you need to stay with the pack in order to have a chance of winning because there is very little time or distance to make a move and because everyone will be trying to make a move, coming out of the last turn on the track.  Same thing when rowing 1,000m--it is crucial to keep contact with the other boats the whole race and not to wait until the last 30 stroke sprint to try to recover lost ground.  Besides, I have no idea what Chris was thinking, comparing rowing 1,000m to running the mile.  A four minute mile--maybe in my next life. 

In our second 1,000m piece, we settled to a higher rate, but Chris wanted the rate higher, "For the last piece, settle to a 36spm.  I don't care how ugly it looks.  Don't worry about pressure.  In fact, think about rowing at 90% pressure.  Don't worry about whether you are rowing hard because if you are at a 36spm, you will be tired."  For the last piece, we hit the rate.  The boat felt rushed, but towards the end, there was more rhythm and ratio.

The 1,000m pieces were not perfect, and I know my starboard side rowing needs a lot of work!

PCRC

The lake was perfect this morning--flat, calm.  The only rough water came from the launch's wakes. 

There is a reason this blog is called "Lake Loops."  This morning, we did lake loops around the main body of the lake, ad nauseam.  We had 1 eight, 1 women's single (me), and 1 men's single out on the water.  The workout was 2x20minutes of steady state, varying the rate between 24 and 26spm.  The log boom is still up, and for us, 20 minutes was equivalent to about 2.5 main lake loops.

In the single, it took me awhile to get comfortable, but once I was there and with the help of the flat water, the boat felt pretty good.  I could imagine myself as the "Cat" again.  Not everyday is like this in the single, but with more practice, I can have more good days and fewer bad days in the single.  I have less than FOUR weeks before the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships.  I might finish dead last or I might not even have anyone to race against in the Womens Open 1x, but I am determined to race.  I am determined to come back and erase the memory from five years ago.

Something for Everyone

When you are in school, you get something special around March and April.  It is called spring break.  Since Marcia's swim sessions are through a community college, we get spring break next week.  A whole week without Marcia and without feeling guilty if we sleep in!

During our usual pulling warm-up with pull buoys, Marcia yelled at me, saying, "Ann, make sure you are pulling in straight back, no side to side motion" as she swung her arms across the front of her body.   In freestyle, my arms have a bad habit of entering the water, slanted towards the middle of my body and crossing the front of my body as I pull through.  This sideways motion is a waste of energy since I do not want to swim sideways, but forward.  If you row, think about what some people call "tea bag" rowing where on the drive, instead of pulling in straight and level, your hands go up and then down.  This causes your blade to dig deep into the water and then come back up to the right level, like dunking a tea bag.  You are wasting energy when your oar has vertical motion, instead of horizontal motion through the water. 

Since today was the last swim before spring break, we all lived in fear the night before that Marcia would make us do the 4x100yd swim test.  Not to disappoint, Marcia had something even better for us; she had something for everyone.  There are three swim tests that Marcia makes us do--15 minute swim, 400yds kick with kick board, and 4x100yds free.  Today's workout had a bit of everything, for everyone.  Everything was FAST:

1.  5 minute freestyle swim - take the number of laps from your 15 minutes swim test, divide by three, and add one; that is the number of laps to swim in 5 minutes
2.  200yds flutter kick, with board - take your time from the 400yd kick test and divide by two; you want to kick faster than that time
3.  2x100yds - just FAST.

The 200yd kick ended up being the most brutal with us kicking until our legs felt numb.  Two women in the lane next door, the two other women in my lane, and I all kicked the entire 200yds at the same speed, shoulder to shoulder, like a row of Roman phalanxes, unable to drop anyone.  The "something for everyone" workout was exhausting, but the different mini-tests offered enough variety so that we were not as stressed out as during the 4x100yds swim test.  Plus, Marcia did not haul out her clipboard to record any times. 

If you row, imagine doing a 4x500m erg test or running two laps around the track, running two sets of stairs, and erging 2x500m.  Which would you prefer?  Which would require more mental toughness?  Both are challenging, but in different ways.  The 4x500m focuses on consistent performance; it does not mean much if you pull an amazing split on the first two pieces only to die in the last two.  The run/stairs/erg workout requires more versatility in your muscles and ability to mentally push through fatigue; it is more of a test to see how much speed you can still have after fatiguing your muscles.

Spring break!

Descending and Kicking

Wednesday morning:  I was pleasantly surprised this morning to wake up and find my back mostly recovered from last night's workout.  That did not mean I was eager to get out of bed, especially when I forgot to set the coffee maker!

The main swim set today was:

1.  3x150yds free, descending or getting faster with each piece, and 2x25yds of overkick or slow arms and big kick between pieces
2.  3x150yds free, descending with each piece, and 2x25yds of flutter kick with kick board, SPRINT
3.  1x150yds free, FAST.

Inserted in between each of the 150yds was 50yds of some form of kicking.  The overkick and flutter kick were designed to remind us to use our legs in the 150yds.  Coming from very little actual swimming background and picking up most of my swimming tips from my two semesters with the Cal Triathlon team, I tend to kick very little when I swim.  In triathlon, you want to conserve your legs for the bike and run so during the swim, you focus more on pulling with your arms as well as a million other things, such as trying not to get your goggles knocked off, elbowing other people, finding someone to draft behind, and popping your head out once in awhile to check your course.

Marcia really wanted us to descend on each piece, and she called out times so we would know whether we were actually getting faster.  In the beginning of the main set, after we finished our first 150yds, Marcia cried, "The next piece should be faster!  That shouldn't be a problem for most of you who were going ridiculously slow on the first one!"  If you went too slow on a piece, you would hear Marcia exclaim, "__(insert your name)__, what was that?!"  During the 2x25yd kick with board, Marcia was telling us to move our feet faster and to "Sprint, sprint!"

8x500m

Tuesday evening:  In a mad dash to get out of work, pick up the Princess, drop her off with a generous friend, and get to practice, I was pretty frazzled by the time I arrived at the boathouse.

The women's team had 1 eight and 2 doubles out on the water, and the Bay Blades had 1 men's quad and 1 men's double.  I was in four seat, a seat with which I am pretty familiar from college days.  In fact, I enjoyed rowing in four seat today and just looking up ahead at six seat and not worrying about anything except for pulling.  We warmed up to the log boom.  Chris told us that the workout would be 500m pieces.  All the odd pieces would have starts, and all the even pieces would have sprints.  The Bay Blades quad would also be doing the workout with us.  Misery loves company.

I distinctly remember that Chris did not say how many pieces we were doing because I was waiting to hear him say a number.  Other teammates though can almost swear that Chris said we were doing six pieces.  In our training for San Diego Crew Classic, we have done 6x500m pieces before so it was perfect reasonably and rational to assume we were doing six pieces.

1.  The eight and the quad lined up at the log boom for the first piece.  In the eight, our start was bad, unset and not together.  My body felt shocked from the accumulation of lactic acid, and the whole piece hurt like hell.  I knew this was a pretty typical reaction for me on the first piece and that the shock would disappear as the pieces went on.  

2.  The second piece was more together, but the water was also rougher and a tailwind followed us in that direction, making the boat harder to set. 

3.  The third piece had a much better, cleaner start, and our coxswain called a ten for swing during the settle. 

4.  The fourth piece had the longest sprint in the world.  Chris told the coxswain to call the sprint before we passed the blue boathouse, and we must have sprinted for the last 300 meters, if not 350 meters.  After we had already brought up the rate to our sprint rate for 20 or 30 strokes, the coxswain told us we had 20 strokes to go.  That makes a really long sprint. 

5.  The fifth piece was solid with a clean start again.  The headwind on all the odd pieces helped with the set and helped us find our rhythm and swing.  

6.  While we lined up for the sixth piece, I was waiting for Chris to say, "Last piece of the day" or "Leave it on the water," something to rally the troops, but Chris did not say anything of the sort.  Instead, he came around and said, "I want you to move on that quad in the first 50 meters, and I want you to start your sprint earlier.  I want the rate up to a 38 or 40spm.  I do not care how ugly it looks."  Earlier?!  What did he think we were doing before?  Not hearing the word "last," I had the foreboding feeling that this would not be the last piece of the day.  This piece started out ugly and got uglier with our seven seat catching a violent crab about 150 meters in.  The crab knocked her back, and her red Lake Merritt Rowing Club hat flew into the water and was lost.  We have had before one or two boat-stopping crabs , and the boat knew what to do and reacted quickly, allowing the oar to be extracted. 

7.  After that piece, Chris said to line up the boats again and that we had two more pieces to do.  There was a bit of aghast and murmuring in the boat.  We had never done eight 500m pieces before.  Did he not see the six 500m pieces that we just did?!  The seventh piece actually ended up being the most relaxed piece.  

8.  Before the eighth piece, Chris did explicitly say that this was the last piece and that we should leave it on the water, just in case he was lying to us and we were actually doing ten pieces.  The eighth piece was again rough and crazy with the us trying to maintain the sprint rate, and my hands hit my legs once as I came up the slide.  Eight pieces and we were done.

Today, I officially feel out of shape and under prepared.  My lower back hurt from the even pieces, which included the sprint.  For some reason, although we had a tailwind for the even pieces, the boat felt heavier and had more check.  When your back hurts, it is very important to monitor it closely.  High intensity and large volume are often the culprits of back injuries.  You must be strong enough in the back and core to be able to support that type of intensity and volume, and I definitely did not feel particularly strong.

To Chris' point, we are moving away from 2,000 meters like for San Diego Crew Classic and towards 1,000 meters, which is the distance for most masters racing.   For 1,000 meter races, you have pretty much a start, settle, short body, and sprint.  For an eight, the race is over in 3-4 minutes.  You cannot dilly-dally at a low rate, trying to find the rhythm.  As we practiced with the 500m pieces, you just have to go, go, go.

Over Under

Tuesday morning:  Today's main swim set was interesting.  We did:

1.  4x25yds free sprint
2.  6x25yds over under
3.  6x25yds over under
4.  300yds IM of kick, drill, swim of each stroke
5.  100yds of free pull while dragging your partner.

For the over and under set, two groups of swimmers started on opposite sides of the pool at the same time.  One group kicked fast flutter kick with a kick board.  The other group kicked underwater, no breath, with fins.  It was pretty fun to kick with the kick board and see the opposite swimmers with fins swim below you, like sharks at an aquarium.  Then, when you got to swim underwater, it was cool to hear the kicking above you.  It would have been more fun if Marcia had given us more than the 10 seconds rest in between.  Standing on the sidelines, Marcia yelled at the kick board kickers, "Kick faster!  We're counting on you!" and at the underwater kickers, "You don't need all that air!  No breath!"

After last weekend's swim meet, I wonder what Marcia has in store for us next.

Dude, Where is the Card?

Have you ever felt like you landed on the wrong planet?  I have.  That was exactly how I felt last Saturday at my first swim meet in years.

At crew practice, as soon as the boat touched the dock again, I jumped out of bow seat and hurried home to pack for today's swim meet.  Here is where I encountered my first problem--what do you pack for a swim meet?  Obviously, everything you usually bring to swim practice--swimsuit, cap, goggles.  But what about food?  How much food and water do you bring?  Do you need extra clothes?  What about something to do in between events?  I managed to throw something together and almost forgot to bring a towel!  My husband, the Princess, and I all rushed out the door.

My husband dropped me off because there was no way he and the Princess were going to stay to watch.  It is already enough torture for him to come to regattas and he was not interested in adding swim meets to the list.

The second problem occurred when I got to the pool--there were people and tents everywhere.  How was I going to find Marcia and the rest of her MEMO (short for Marcia's Enthusiastic Masters of Oakland) swim team?  Dressed in my San Diego Crew Classic shirt and my sweat pants with the word "crew" in bold letters, I must have stuck out like a misplaced athlete.  I definitely felt like I was walking on the wrong planet.  There were many tall, athletic, broad-shouldered swimmers and many older, tanned swimmers.  If I have learned one thing from masters rowing, it is to never underestimate people older than you.  Not only will they beat you with the age handicap, they can probably beat you without the age handicap.  I am sure it is the same for masters swimming.

Luckily, I ran into someone I recognized who guided me to the MEMO tent.  Marcia and a good number of other MEMO swimmers were already there.  Apparently, Marcia came Friday night to grab some prime real estate and to set up the tent right at the edge of the pool.

Can you spot the tiny MEMO sign in our tent?

All that rush in the morning was for nothing because my event was not for another hour and half.  The problem with masters swim meets is that there is no set time schedule for the events, besides for the first event.   There were only about 9 events that day, but each event is held for both men and women and can have multiple heats.  It was not uncommon to have an event with over 10 heats.

I was competing in only one event, the 200yd medley relay, swimming the 50yd freestyle anchor leg of the relay.  In the individual medley (IM), one swimmer swims all four strokes in the following order--fly, back, breast, free.  In the team medley relay, however, four swimmers swim in the following order--back, breast, fly, free.  In a team relay, each team is given a card on which are printed all the swimmers' names, ages, and stroke.  This card is used to record the official time and technically, without the card, no official time can be recorded.

Marcia handed our pink relay card to our backstroke swimmer.  The women's relays had pink cards, and the men's relays had blue cards.  About 20 minutes before our relay, the three other women and I went to warm-up in the cold, small warm-up pool.  Here was the third problem.  We had all jumped out of the warm-up pool and lined up in our lane before we realized that none of us had the relay card.  Between everyone passing the card around to scrutinize it as if it bared some ancient secret and everyone warming up, no one actually remembered where the pink card went. 

We still raced our relay, and the timer for our lane recorded the times on a piece of scratch paper.  The race went by quickly, and there was no time to be nervous beforehand because we were too busy scurrying around and turning the whole tent upside down to look for our card.  I think I even managed a relay dive, but I do not remember too clearly.  After the race, we looked again for the card, but no luck.  We thought we would be disqualified and have no official time recorded, but then Marcia worked her magic.  Being a swim coach for 25 plus years, Marcia knew a few people and she went over to talk to the officials.  Everything was properly sorted out, and with little difficulty, we had an official time of 2:25.89 minutes, placing 5th out of six in our age group.  I wonder if the card ever turned up.

4'/3'/2'/1' Again

Monday morning:  4'/3'/2'/1' again.  Yesterday, I had the vaguest premonition that today's workout would be some version of 4'/3'/2'/1', but I went ahead and did the 19 minute pyramids because I could not think of anything more enticing to get me out of bed.

We had 1 four, 1 women's single (me), and 2 men's singles out on the water and 1 rower on the erg.  The workout was:
     2x20minute pieces of 4'/3'/2'/1'/4'/3'/2'/1', 24 to 30spm and 26 to 32spm.

Ever heard of the "Cat"?  Meet Ekaterina Karsten, currently 39 years old and probably the world's best heavyweight women's single sculler.  Her powerful, smooth strokes make her boat fly.

Copyright National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus

With the flat water this morning and after a few days in the single, I could feel the run of the boat come easily and I felt like Karsten.  I, a mere mortal at 5 feet 5 inches, could be fast too.  And then, my daydreaming came to an end as the two other singles passed me.  (To be totally honest, as the slowest boat on the water--a women's single, I did get to start first.)  Well, it was fun while it lasted.

4'/3'/2'/1'

Sunday morning:  The Sunday morning informal sculling group meets at 8AM, late for rowers, but this Sunday, 8AM was not late enough for me.  A whole week on five hours of sleep each night just about killed me.  I no longer have the same sleeplessness supernatural powers as I had in college.

This morning, we had 2 women's singles (including me) and 1 men's double out on the water, and we all practiced separately.  My workout was:
1.  19 minute pyramid or 4'/3'/2'/1'/2'/3'/4' at 24-26-28-30spm
2.  19 minute pyramid or 4'/3'/2'/1'/2'/3'/4' at 26-28-30-32spm
3.  4x500m at race pace.

I am not terribly creative when it comes to workouts.  When I do not feel particularly inspired, I always revert back to the 4'/3'/2'/1' workout because it allows for some steady state rowing to get your meters in and also for some rate changes to get you comfortable at higher rates.  The water was mostly calm, and I felt more comfortable in the single.  Whether I looked any better or went any faster is up for debate.

After I finished the pyramids, I had a problem--I did not want to do the 500m pieces.  Correction--I did not feel like doing the 500m pieces.

I have been reading a book lately called If I'm So Smart, Why Can't I Lose Weight?: Tools to Get it Done by Brooke Castillo.  The author discusses some tools for eating and exercising to help lose weight, but the majority of the book is about how to get more out of life by changing your negative thinking and focusing on what you want to achieve in your life.  She outlines the difference between "want" and "feel."  The logical, far-sighted me wanted to do the 500m pieces because I knew the pieces would help me develop my race speed.  With my hamstrings sore and my butt bones tired of sitting on the uncomfortable plastic seat, I felt like calling it a day and going in. Castillo acknowledges that it is normal to feel unmotivated, but it is important to focus instead on what you want and what is good for you the feeling passes.

I loafed around in my single, paddling and practicing a few starts before the feeling of going in subsided.  The 500m pieces were a little rough with catches so hard that I probably killed some fish or at least got some duckweed on the bow of my boat.

Bow Seat

Saturday morning:  This morning, we had 1 eight, 1 quad, 1 double, 1 single, and 1 men's single out on the water.  Chris was gone because of a juniors' regatta, and our team captain and coxswain got to come up with the line-ups in the various boats.  After yesterday's rusty single row, I was looking forward to being in a big boat.

Not only did I row in the eight, but also I asked to be a starboard.  I am a port rower, but some of my best races have been rowing starboard in a pair.  Yesterday was my rusty single row, and today was my rusty starboard row.  I wanted to row starboard today because sometimes, it is good for your body to switch it up.  For awhile now, my left shoulder has been giving me some dull pain.  Whenever I am stressed, which has been the last two months, I carry a lot of the tension in my shoulders and neck.  Rowing port also puts more pressure on my left shoulder since the left shoulder is my outside shoulder, which is key for efficiently transferring power from the leg drive to the oar.  At the catch, your outside shoulder should be up and relaxed.  Any diving at the catch where you lunge your upper body forward ends up costing you time and energy on the drive, trying to bring your shoulders back up.

I also got to row in bow seat, a seat that is the exact opposite of stroke seat.  In bow, you are the farthest away from the coxswain and since you sit behind everyone else, no one can see how good or bad you row except for the coxswain.  There is often a perception among rowers that bow pair and especially bow seat are responsible for the set of the boat.  While it is true that bow pair has greater leverage over set of the boat and that bow seat can help compensate by adjusting her handle height, every seat in the boat is responsible
for the set.  Unfortunately for bow seat, her technical flaws are magnified.

The workout today was:
Odds 9'/7'/5'/3'/1'/3'/5'/7' at the following rates 24-26-28-30-32-34-32-30-28spm with 3-4 minutes of rest between pieces.

The eight was alright, but we struggled to find run in the boat as well as the set.  Sitting in bow seat, I was constantly looking ahead at two seat to try to match her finish timing.  Matching blade exit timing and hands swinging out of bow is the first step to a set boat.  Sometimes the changes I made in bow would help the boat, and sometimes it did not even make the slightest of differences.  By the end of practice, I was pretty sure my body would be permanently tilted towards port from trying to get the boat off of starboard.

It was fun being in bow, but I have the impression that I would probably not make a very good bow seat.

Rusty Single

Friday morning: We had 1 eight, 1 women's single (me), and 1 men's single out on the water.  The workout was simple steady state.  Because of San Diego Crew Classic, I have not been in the single for awhile, and I felt quite rusty today.  My blades tapped the water as my boat rocked side to side.  My catches felt forced and not easy.  The water was particularly rough near the fountain on the southern side of the lake, near the Lucky's, and there, I felt like a little rubber ducky rocking around on top of the water.  A month ago, I felt ready to race the single, but now I do not feel so sure.

My first race in a single was at the end of my novice "year," which was actually only a semester since I joined crew in the spring.  Since I did not weigh anywhere close to 130lbs, I could not race in the lightweight eight and four.  Three practices before the end of the year race, Pacific Coast Rowing Championships (PCRC), my coach started putting me an Aero.  The Aero is a wide single that looks like a floating bathtub; it is perfect for beginners and for rowing in rough water, also called open water rowing.  The width and design of the boat help keep it set, and even if you know nothing about sculling, as long as you keep both hands on the oars, the Aero is pretty hard to flip.

Three practices later, I was sitting at the start line of the Womens Open 1x.  One other girl in the race was from my team and was also in an Aero.  She was incredibly strong and could make weight, but because she was a graduate student, she could not race in the collegiate boats.

If you ever race a single, here is one thing to remember: Everything takes longer.  You are still going 2,000m, but the entire distance takes more time than when you are in an eight (obviously) and on the erg (maybe not so obviously).  On the erg, you might be excited about breaking the 8 minute (for girls) or 7 minute (for guys) barrier, so you think, "What is the big deal about racing a single?  It is just another 2,000m.  I can bust it out for 8 minutes."  That was what I thought, and my 8 minute race turned in to a 10:58.1 minute race.  Much longer than I had ever imagined.  In fact, I thought the race would never end.  I was so slow that the official launch, which trails the race, got tired of following me and passed me to trail the rest of the field, which was much farther ahead.

PCRC 2006: in a Aero

PCRC 2006, Race #8, Womens Open 1x, Cal Lights "B" Boat: my first 1x race, finishing dead last.  Never was I so happy to be done with a race and off the water!

Relay Dives

Thursday morning:  If you have not already figured out, Marcia has had her swimmers tapering this week in anticipation for this weekend's meet.  I have never tapered for swimming or really even seriously trained for swimming enough to merit tapering.  I find that tapering for swimming is actually fun because we do a variety of exercises, including sprinting, diving, kicking, pulling.

This morning after our usual warm-up, we spent about 15 minutes practicing relay dives.  Apparently, relay dives are different from normal start dives.  In an individual event for fly, breast, and free, you start on the starting block, one foot in front and one in back.  The announcer will say, "Take your mark," and you will take your ready position, either bent over, hands touching the block or leaning forward, hands above in a streamline.  When the announcer says, "Go!", you dive and pray that your goggles, cap, and swimsuit all stay on.  In a relay event, the breaststroke and freestyle swimmers start by standing on the blocks, waiting for their teammate to finish his or her leg of the relay.  As the teammate approaches the wall in the last stroke, the swimmer on blocks sweeps his arms back and then forward in a circular motion, steps together, and then, dives in a streamline.  Sounds rather simple, graceful, and fluid. 

My relay dive was not that easy.  I am not really coordinated--hence, one of the reasons that I row and not play tennis or volleyball.  To watch the incoming swimmer, sweep my arms, step, keep my balance, put my head down, and then, dive is asking a lot.  The first few times, I felt very awkward like an elephant trying to dance with her legs and arms at the same time.  The main problem was that I was sweeping my arms the wrong direction.  Imagine the letter "C."  Instead of drawing the C from the top to the bottom, I was drawing the C from bottom to the top with my arms.  Minor detail in my head, but Marcia yelled, "Ann, what are you doing?!"  Marcia later joked, "Maybe I should put you first in the relay so I don't have to worry about your dive."  Oh, man.  I am that bad.

Sleepless Elite

The water in the pool felt cold this morning as I jumped in.  Almost every morning, we mill around with our clothes on, trying to delay the moment when we have to bare the chilly air in our swimsuits and dive into the frigid water.  And every morning, dressed in a warm parka, Marcia yells, "Com'on!  Get in!  You aren't getting any faster standing around!"  Then, if we waited too long and missed the time to warm-up on our own, Marcia says, "Nice job, __(insert name here)_!  Nice warm-up!"

Like yesterday's workout, today's main swim set was gearing us up for racing.  The set was:
1.  4x25yds free (or your main racing stroke) FAST with a dive off of the starting blocks on the first 25yd
2.  2x50yds free FAST with a dive off of the starting blocks on the first piece
3.  1x100yds free FAST with a dive
50yds of recovery between each set of sprints

Marcia has had her eyes on this weekend's the local swim meet in Pleasanton and had badgered us all last week to sign-up.  I, fortunately or unfortunately, missed the deadline last week and so thought I was off the hook for the meet.  Little did I know that entries for the relay races could be entered in later and that Marcia had volunteered me to race in a relay.  Exact details, such as what time, which relay race, which leg of the relay, are to be announced, but I am pretty confident that Marcia will not embarrass herself by making me swim the backstroke or breaststroke of an medley relay in which each of the four swimmers on the team swims a different stroke.

Not only was the water cold this morning, but I had forgotten to set the coffeemaker so I had no coffee this morning.  If you do not know, coffee is the main reason I get out of bed (like a tiger) every morning.  I managed to make it this morning coffee-less, but I definitely felt the lack of sleep and nagging tiredness on my brain and body.  In a bustling world of baby, husband, corporate America, training, racing, blogging, and life in general, something has got to give.  As Oprah Winfrey supposedly said once, "You can have it all, just not all at once."

For me, sleep is usually the first thing to go out the window.  In college amidst crew, class, homework, exams, friends, club activities, I typically slept four hours at night and maybe one or two hours total in class, which you can read here.  So in truth, sleep and my education were the two things that went out the window in college.  My parents would be heartbroken to hear how all that tuition money went to waste.  It is amazing that I managed to get through college.  I must truly thank some of my friends for waking me up when class was over, giving me the Spark Notes version on what I missed, and forcing me tooth and nail to finish my homework sets while my eyelids were 90% shut.

At one point in time, I tried to do everything--rowing, other extracurricular activities, social life.  I was still rowing, eating my rabbit food (i.e. trying to make weight), going to class, and I decided to join some South Asian friends in putting on a dance for the annual South Asian Indus Culture Show.  Well, all our dance practices were at night because the rest of the dance team were normal people, had the most free time at night, and did not have to wake up freakishly early the next morning for crew.  We would practice until 11 or 12 at night.  I would go home, sleep, and get up four and a half hours later.  At the end of the show, there was a big party in SF that I went to.  I am not a big party animal and by midnight, I was done.  My ride, however, did not leave the city until 3AM.  By the time we got back to Berkeley, I just got dropped off at the fountain (on College and Bancroft) where we met at 4:45AM for crew practice and waited around until my teammates showed up.  I was very paranoid that I would fall asleep and miss practice.  Crazy.

Can you find me?

In the college afterlife, I have found that training, baby, husband, work, and life leave very little time for house chores and sleep.  Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal ran an article titled "The Sleepless Elite: Why Some People Can Run on Little Sleep and Get So Much Done" by Melinda Beck.  The author describes three types of sleepers.  The first is the Normal Sleeper who needs 7-9 hours of sleep a night, and about two-thirds of adults in the U.S. do manage to get the 7-9 hours.  The second type is the Sleep-Deprived Sleeper who probably needs the normal 7-9 hours, but who usually gets less than 7 hours of sleep a night.  About one-third of adults fall in the category.  The last group is the Sleepless Elite.  These supernatural people needs less than 6 hours, often as low as 3 or 4 hours, of sleep a night.

Copyright Wall Street Journal - April 5, 2011

 On such little sleep, the Sleepless Elite function perfectly well, if not better than the rest of mankind, and are usually high energy and outgoing.  To them, any more sleep than what they currently get would be a "waste of time."  They naturally, genetically just do not need as much sleep.  They also typically tend not to drink caffeine to stay awake and do not sleep-in on weekends.  If only I too could be one of these Sleepless Elite, supernatural people!  I definitely need the normal 7-9 hours, but typically fall in the Sleep-Deprived category.  In fact, a good friend commented the other day, "You are always tired!"  He did have a point considering I used to pass out on his couch in college and considering that at the moment we were on our way to dinner and I was already in that quiet zone right before I fall asleep.  As I have gotten older and moved away from the manic college lifestyle, I have realized how important sleep is to being able to function mental and have come to terms with myself that I am just not one of the born-to-be Sleepless Elite.

Drills

Tuesday Evening: First crew practice after San Diego Crew Classic.

We had 1 eight, 1 quad, and 1 men's single out on the water.  The Bay Blades took out a quad as well.  I always enjoy the first practice back from a regatta because the stress, anxiety, and pressure of racing have all vanished.  I sat in the eight today and thankfully, not in stroke seat.  What a refreshing feeling to follow somebody else!  (Disclaimer: I am not that great of a follower though.)

We did two steady state pieces, and in the eight, we practiced two drills, outside hand only and wide grip, by 6's.  In rowing, drills are often done with six rowers rowing and two rowers, i.e. a pair, sitting out, setting up the boat.  A set or balanced boat allows the six rowers to focus solely on the drill.  The first drill was outside hand only.  In sweep boats where each rower only has one oar, the outside hand is hand furthest away from the oar.  I am a port so my outside hand is my left hand.  If you are starboard, you will be opposite of me, with the oar on your left side, making your right hand your outside hand.  With the other or inside hand behind your back, you row on the square with your outside hand only.  This drill is designed to focus on controlling the handle height with the outside hand and practicing the nice, easy drop of the handle at the catch.

The second drill was wide grip where you row with both hands on the oar, but the inside hand placed further down on the oar shaft, off of the rubber grip.  With the inside hand away from the body and having less control over the handle, the emphasis is again on your outside hand.  In addition, this drill is great for practicing the body rotation at the catch, making sure you do not over rotate and/or lunge at the catch.

Disclaimer again:  I am not a coach, and I could be totally wrong about the drills.  Chris probably did mentioned what to focus on during the drills, but half the time, Chris is mumbling and I cannot understand a thing.  Please correct me if I am wrong.

Back into Routine

It feels good to be home and to slip back into routine.

This morning's main swim workout was:
Four times the following set--
1.  25yds non-free FAST, diving off the start blocks
2.  25yds easy free
3.  25yds free FAST, no breath
4.  25yds easy free
5.  25yds easy flutter kick with board
6.  25yds flutter kick FAST with board
Followed by 3x100yds freestyle pull with pull buoy, breathing 3-5-7-9 strokes per lap

The first set with all the different 25yds was fun and a change of pace to our normal sets.  In the middle of the first set, however, Marcia reminded us that she was still going to work us hard.  She said, "There are only three fast laps in each set and you had better be swimming them FAST!  Because if you aren't swimming fast, it'll be like...gaining weight!!"  Hmm, I have never heard that one before.  I think she was implying that slacking off was the equivalent to sitting on the couch, watching TV, eating potato chips, hence the gaining weight!  Someone in my lane retorted, "She must be talking about muscle, gaining muscle!"

As Marcia talked about at the end of practice, the first set was designed to train us for race day; it had everything we needed to remember.  First, we practiced dives, trying to keep our goggles, swim caps, and swimsuits on.  Next, we practiced breathing or rather, no breathing.  As Marcia exclaimed, waving her arms around, "You can't just breathe whenever you want in a race.  You must practice having no air!"  Last, we practiced kicking, remember to kick hard the last 25yds of a race like how rowers sprint the last 250m in a 2,000m race and how track runners sprint the last 100m in a 400m race as they come out of the turn.

Farewell San Diego

You can read about our San Diego Crew Classic race here, and you can read about my personal disappointment here.

I had fun in San Diego with friends and teammates.  Baby, husband, zoo, grocery stores (made a total of four grocery trips in the three days that I was in San Diego), dogs, parks, crew.  We boarded the plane last night, looking like the typical San Diego tourists--sunburned and wearing shirts and visors with "San Diego" printed all over.  I am looking forward to next year's Crew Classic.

The Princess pointing at some random zoo animal.
She did more people watching than animal watching.

Great time at the park

Family and friend at race course

The Princess "running" wild on the beach

Farewell San Diego

Personal Disappointment

I have already posted about our San Diego race, which you can find here.  As a boat, I believe that although we did not have the best row, we did have a solid row.  As an individual and as stroke seat, however, I do have some personal disappointment.

I can say with much relief and pleasure that this year's race will erase the bad memories of the race two years ago.  I am more confident in stroking and in high rates, but from this year's race, I am disappointed in my stroking.  There are three types of stroke seats.  The first is the stroke who does not belong in stroke seat because this person for whatever reason is difficult to follow, has no rhythm, or is not consistent.  You always wonder what the hell the coach is thinking putting this person in stroke seat.  The second is the good, but not great stroke.  This person is usually consistent and easy to follow.  The third is the stroke who was born to stroke.  You sit behind this person and you just know that you do not have to worry about rhythm, ratio, rate; all you have to worry about is pulling.

I am of the second type, a good stroke, but not a great stroke.  I am a solid stroke, but not a brilliant stroke.  In the race, with the help of our coxswain, I was able to settle into an okay rhythm, strong, but not amazing.  No matter what the coxswain called and no matter what I did, I was not able to use my rhythm and rate to find more speed in the boat.

I have read and heard about the third type of stroke, those who were born to stroke.  These strokes intuitively know what to do in a race to use their stroking to find more speed in the boat.  In the The Amateurs: The Story of Four Young Men and Their Quest for an Olympic Gold Medal, one of the Olypmic hopefuls is John Biglow from Yale University.  During one of his college years, Biglow is the stroke for the Yale boat in the famous Harvard-Yale Boat Race, a four mile dual race and the oldest athletic competition in the United States.  In this race, Biglow strokes the boat brilliantly, knowing exactly when to bring the rate down or up and what to do when his boat is behind.  I have also been told that our former coach and former elite rower, Dede, is of the third type of stroke.  I have never rowed behind her, only right front of her in a quad where she can see all my bad mistakes and let me know exactly what I am doing wrong.  With her years of experience and sheer determination, I can only imagine what it must be like to row behind her. 

All rowers know, however, that in an eight, one person alone, no matter how amazing, cannot win the race for the boat.  Even with John Biglow stroking brilliantly, Yale did not win the Boat Race that year.  And even with Dede stroking, not all her boats win.

After the race, Chris mentioned that if we were to look at the line-ups of the other boats, particularly of the top two boats, Lake Union and BMA Cornell, we would find many strong rowers with extensive rowing credentials.  Yes, I knew for a fact, going into the race, that many rowers in the other boats had better rowing credentials that us.  I knew for a fact, going in, that the BMA Cornell boat won the Masters eight at the Head of the Charles last year and that two hours before our race, BMA, probably the same line-up, won the Club eight.  I knew for a fact, that there was at least one former Olympian and National Team member in that boat.  But I do not care what your rowing credentials look like because even if you are a former Olympian or National Team member, you still have to train and practice, like the rest of us mortals, to race well.

I was disappointed in myself because when we lined up and raced, I discovered that my one-eighth of the boat was no where near the top competition.  Chris talked about "those other strong rowers" who are bigger, faster, more experienced and illustrious than us, and I just think in my head, "Why do we have to say those, them, they?  Why can we not be like 'them'?  Why can we not be one of 'those' rowers?  I do not want to be average.  I want to out-train them.  I want to have every right to be 'them.'"

No More, No Less

San Diego Crew Classic, Sunday, April 3, 2011, Event 97, Women's Masters B Eight.  You can watch the race here as seen on the Jumbotron at SDCC.  The best shot of Lake Merritt is 5:00 minutes into the video.

Our boat--Event 97, Lane 5

Women's Masters B Final Results
1.  Lake Union  7:36.00
2.  BMA Cornell  7:36.96
3.  Marin  7:49.69
4.  Boulder  7:52.93
5.  Lake Merritt  7:54.94
6.  Avalon  8:10.77
7.  LARC  8:32.22
All race results can be found here.

Everybody says that rowing is a niche sport and that it is hard to find people who understand the sport of rowing.  That is usually true until you come to an event like San Diego Crew Classic or the Head of the Charles where there are thousands of competitors, coaches, ex-rowers, alumni, family, friends who all know the difference between port and starboard and that crew is the sport of rowing and not "crewing."  If you are like me, just another competitor, you will start to feel very small, towered over by ex-Olympians, current National Team-ers, coaches with multiple national titles under their belts, and other very big, important rowing people.  I am always so awe-struck to see these people who will never know me, but whom I know from every detail published in Rowing News.

Saturday afternoon was spent watching various races including the two heats that East Bay Rowing competed in.  After the last race of the day, our team got hands on the boat and went out for a short practice.  During our warm-up, the boat felt a little rusty, which is typical after a few rest days, hence the reason for a practice row before the race.  The practice was not amazing, but it was good enough to get us more comfortable in this new body of water and to get our bodies re-familiarized with rowing.

Since our race was not until 1:40PM, we had a late start and arrived at the race course at 10:30AM to watch other races and to get settled in.  At 12:15PM, we had a team meeting.  Chris touched on the usual pep talk topics--making sure we leave it out on the water, looking ahead at stern pair.  Our coxswain talked about not worrying about the exact rate that we hit and about really working hard the third 500m.  At 12:30PM, as the US men's national team was coming down the race course in an exhibition race, we launched.  We had a long warm-up and did almost three loops in the warm-up area at the start.

After the start of the Men's Master A race, we lined up in our lane--Lane 5.  As our coxswain predicted, we went to a countdown start.  In calm conditions and in a straight start where all boats start on the same command, the bow seat of the boat will raise her hand as the coxswain is getting her point.  Once the race official sees that all boats have their hands down, he will say the command, "Attention, go!"  A 5 second countdown start is sometimes used when the conditions are too windy to wait for all boats to have alignment because it will take too long to get all the boats ready.  By the time one boat is ready and the bow seat puts her hand down, another boat will have lost its point and that coxswain will have to make an adjustment.  In the countdown start, the official ignores all hands and goes straight to announcing, "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, attention, go!"  Countdown starts can be flustering for the bow pair rowers who are often the ones making the small course adjustments and for the coxswain who is calling the adjustments because whether or not the bow pair and coxswain are ready, the race will start. 

I do not have the best memory when it comes to races, but here is my view from stroke seat.  Our first two strokes started out cleaner than most of the starts that we have had in practice.  We seemed to have trouble with the set on a few strokes in the high and settle.  I also remember that there was a lot of steering and course adjustments going on in the first 250m of the race.  Our first settle felt frantic, and our coxswain called a second settle, in which we found a better rhythm.  Our coxswain made a lot of calls, trying to move ahead and away from Lane 4, Boulder.  Boulder was slightly ahead, and I could feel them next to us the whole race.  I know that I did not look out of the boat at all because it was not until after the race did I even know what the Boulder boat looked like and what color uniforms the rowers wore. 

I remember the coxswain calling 750m down and then, calling the third 500m.  I remember her call for the last 500m and then, the call for 10 strokes for the legs before the sprint.  I remember the sprint and the rate coming up.  I remember her call for the last ten strokes, and I remember counting them in my head.  And then, it was over.

To me, the race went by pretty quickly.  The rhythm felt okay, but not spectacular.  The power was present, but the speed of the boat and the crispness of the blades was not there.  We hit the rates, we had a sprint, and there was no fly and die.  The boat moved; it just did not fly.  We had an okay row, not a perfect row.  It was no more, no less than what we have had in practice.  After the race, there was a sense of disappointment  that our race did not feel perfect and that we were not able to pull ahead of Boulder.  I have no doubt that everyone in the boat did her best and everyone wanted that perfect race and wanted to cross that line ahead of Boulder, but effort and desire do not always translate into efficiency and boat speed. 

Afterward, Chris talked about how maybe if we had rowed a perfect race, we would have caught the 3rd and 4th place boats, Marin and Boulder, respectively.  I find it useless to think about a perfect race because it is rare to have a perfect row in the race.  The winner of a race may not have had a perfect row, and the boat with the perfect row may not have won.  This is where those winter practices become so important, because it is those grueling hours of rowing, erging, weight lifting, cross training that build your base fitness.  You must have trained enough, be fast enough that even your okay row will be faster than your competition's perfect row.  You cannot expect to find speed and power that you never trained for.  Sometimes, there will be a miracle, but for the most part, the boat will only give you what you have worked for.  Miracles are rare, that is why they are called miracles.  This year, we got a fair trade at San Diego--no more, no less than what we trained for.

San Diego...Zoo

Yesterday, Thursday, was spent all day in anxious anticipation of our flight to San Diego.  I had trouble at work, sitting quietly in meetings and at my desk.  On the inside, I was bouncing off the walls, nervous for the plane ride with the Princess and for just being there in San Diego with no way to turn back.  If I were in a cartoon show, I would have been running around in circles, babbling on a mile a minute about nothing. 

The flight with the Princess was rather uneventful with the Princess shyly looking at all the strangers and only giving an occasional complaint.  The trick was to keep her well-fed with the leftover yams that I brought and to give her my absolute undivided attention as if she were an actual princess.  We met my husband at the airport where we picked up at rental car and drove to our friends with whom we were staying. 

My husband had this brilliant idea to spend today, Friday, at the San Diego Zoo, located in Balboa Park.  I generally try to avoid places that are overcrowded with schoolkids and overpriced fatty foods.  Zoos, theme parks, water parks all tend to fit the bill.  Plus, I am not particularly found of things, such as wild animals and roller coaster rides.  I would much rather have downtime around the house and read or watch movies.  To amuse my husband and to be able to tell the Princess when she is older what great parents we were to bring her to the zoo, I agreed to go.

The trip to the zoo started off with a trip to a nearby grocery store called Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market in order to pick up food for lunch.  We got to the zoo about a half an hour after it had opened and already, there were hoards of schoolkids streaming in.  We went straight to the pandas because according to our friends, the San Diego zoo is well known for its pandas.  We looked and the pandas were rather uninteresting, looking back at us with a bored look.  In fact, that seemed to be a universal theme amongst the zoo animals.  On paper, it sounds cool to be visiting pandas, tigers, lions, elephants, tapirs, warthogs, polar bears, bearcats, etc.  For the most part, however, the animals were hiding, sleeping, or sunbathing.  Not much excitement.  As my husband quipped when we went to see the polar bear who happened to be stagnant, laying on a rock in the sunshine, "After all, this is a polar bear in the middle of San Diego.  What do you expect it to be doing?"

After wandering around the zoo for an hour, we sat down to eat and quickly finished almost everything we had bought.  With only eight hours of sleep last night instead of her typical ten hours of beauty rest, the Princess was getting cranky and loopy.  We quickly put her back in the stroller and went around the rest of the zoo, barely stopping to see the animals.  An hour later, we could officially claim to have "seen" everything at the zoo and could leave without feeling guilty about wasting money on zoo tickets.

The Princess is over the zoo

We ended our trip to the zoo with another trip to the grocery store; this time it was to an Albertson's.  It is not that we have never been to a grocery store before because clearly we have.  We actually love going grocery shopping.  I think it is the best part of our trip today to the San Diego zoo!