How Far We Have Come

Lake Merritt at dusk

Tuesday evening:  8x500m.  First four 500m with starts; last four 500m with sprint.  Three minutes of rest in between pieces with 5 minutes of rest in the middle of the set.

We had 1 eight, 1 double, 2 men's singles, and 3 singles from the Bay Blades out on the water.  In the eight, we were lucky enough to have a volunteer coxswain from Berkeley High who did a wonderful job and had no problem steering around the lake.  I sat 5 seat in the eight.

In the long warm-up, the eight felt slightly "off"--different handle heights, lots of extra body movement.  Chris badgered us, "Watch your handle heights.  It looks like you guys are not completely here.  Don't think about other things."

For the most part, the 500m pieces were rough with the set being off, high rates, and windy water.  Some of the starts were too high on the rate (imagine that!) and felt out of control.  Some of the sprints were tough with hands getting caught at the finish.

In between pieces, we heard quite a bit from Chris:

"How often do I care about numbers (e.g. stroke rate, power, speed)?  Sometimes numbers are important and sometimes they aren't.  Today though, the stroke rate is important because when you go above the assigned rate, the boat gets out of control."

"How many strokes should it take to settle from a 40 to a 34spm?  (insert awkward pause here)  ONE stroke.  And how many is it taking you guys?  (obviously too many for Chris)"

"How many strokes should it take to go from a 34 to a 40spm for the sprint?  (another awkward pause)  TWO, maybe three strokes."

Despite all of Chris' beleaguering, we, as a team, have made a lot of progress from the first time we did the 8x500m.  Sure, there were moments of craziness and water splashing everywhere today, but I did not get the urge to jump out of the boat and swim to shore or the mental freak-out at the high rates.  It is a testament to how far we have come in our training.