Mixed Double

Wednesday:  With Marcia's morning swim crowded with summer session swimmers and with Southwest Masters Regionals Regatta coming up in two weeks, I have shifted my training schedule away from swimming and more focused on rowing.

Wednesday morning was the first time in almost a year since I rowed in a mixed double.  I met my mixed doubles (Mx2x) partner the summer that my brother and I rowed together at Lake Merritt.  Always willing to help out new scullers, my Mx2x partner was instrumental in helping my brother and me practice and become comfortable in singles.  I was not much competition for either one of them, but they let me tag along and take the inside of the turns in order to keep up.

Last year at Southwest Regionals, we raced the mixed double, the last race of the day.  I had only recently returned to rowing after having the Princess and was secretly scared of blasting down the race course at anything higher than a 30spm.  We had a bad start and immediately fell in fourth of six boats.  It probably took almost 500 meters before I felt like we could make a move on the third place boat from Humboldt Rowing Association.  We spent the last 500 meters asking more of ourselves, not giving a shit as to what our rate was, and walking up on Humboldt inch by inch.  We managed to edge them out of third place.

Mixed 2x LMRC; copyright Sport Graphics

Mixed 2x from Humboldt that we just edged out;
copyright Sport Graphics

Wednesday morning was 4x1000 meters race pieces--one way to jump back into a boat that you have not rowed in almost a year.  Want to know how our pieces went and how many crabs I caught?  Here's a recap.

1. First piece: We were not fully warmed up so this piece was full pressure but not as high on the rate.  The start was clean.  There was no sprint, just hard rowing.
2. Second piece: Clean start, high strokes, and settle.  The rate was higher.  About half way, there was a slight drop in speed, not from lack of effort or power, but from trying too hard.  Sometimes, when you try too hard, you forget your technique and your catches become too forced.  I felt the lactic acid in my legs and arms.  The finish line looked so far away.  1,000 meters felt 1,000 meters too long.  I thought, "Oh shit.  I remember why I hate racing now."  
3. Third piece: This was probably our best piece.  A few wobble strokes--strokes where the boat is not set and interferes with your ability to catch, connect, and drive--in the body of the piece.  There was still lactic acid, but the pain was now somewhat numbed.  I think we even managed to bring the rate up for a short sprint.
4. Fourth piece: Not bad either.  The start was a little rougher, and there were more wobble strokes here than in the third piece.  The boat still flew.  

Racing a mixed double at SW Regionals?  Bring your A game because we will see you on the line!