I am sitting in Terminal B of Logan Airport, about to board a plane to the west coast, Los Angeles, to be exact. If all goes well, my brother Tom will pick me up at the airport and I'll be spending the next five days in Newport Beach sculling to my heart and hands' content. It's about that time of year when I need to go remind myself how to wield a set of sculls and move a boat. After all, if we forget the essential truths of boat moving, all of this skiing speed, PR's on deadlifts, and PRs on erg pieces mean nothing. Essentially, I'm going out to pull the roots out of the ground for a few days to see if they are growing the right way. I am curious how my body feels at the catch--does it feel awkward? does my lower back feel supported? does my core feel strong? are my hamstrings strong enough to control and draw the seat to my heels? Am I able to maintain my posture? I am also intrigued to get a sense of where my paddling speeds are right now without having rowed for a couple months, given significant improvements on the erg. If I don't like some of the answers to these questions, there is still time to go home and change course accordingly. But its a good time to go collect some data. Not to mention, the high temperature in Craftsbury for the last couple days has been 0. It was -21 this morning. So, I'm not too torn up about the idea of going to a place where the temperature is 70-90 degrees warmer. Strange world we live in.
Last night in the Ski race, I finished in a remarkably familiar position to the last skate race we did, which was 1 second behind Zach Russo. I made a late charge, pulled even with him, but my lack of balance in the sprint was the difference in the end. Former GRP skier Ollie Burress came out of retirement to beat Zach and I both by 10 seconds. Appreciate that, Ollie! Afterwards, he and I went for a cool down ski and he gave me a few trade secrets. Just looking for a few inches per glide. He was mainly working with me on letting the transition take time and not be in a hurry to change direction. When he told me to be patient, I smiled, and told him I knew exactly what he was talking about. I kind of felt stupid for not having this realization earlier. That same idea is the foundation of the change of direction of the front end of the rowing stroke. When I started loading my gliding leg, building up energy, and then changing direction to the other ski dynamically, as I would in the boat, I immediately felt in control of my speed. There was a significant difference in the predictability of my speed and the absolute speed I was achieving. The similarities between rowing and xc skiing seem to be run much deeper than I originally thought. I am sure I will continue to learn more nuances of ski technique, but as of now, as far as I'm concerned, the most crucial element to top end speed in both sports is the same: patience. It is, after all, a virtue.
Last night in the Ski race, I finished in a remarkably familiar position to the last skate race we did, which was 1 second behind Zach Russo. I made a late charge, pulled even with him, but my lack of balance in the sprint was the difference in the end. Former GRP skier Ollie Burress came out of retirement to beat Zach and I both by 10 seconds. Appreciate that, Ollie! Afterwards, he and I went for a cool down ski and he gave me a few trade secrets. Just looking for a few inches per glide. He was mainly working with me on letting the transition take time and not be in a hurry to change direction. When he told me to be patient, I smiled, and told him I knew exactly what he was talking about. I kind of felt stupid for not having this realization earlier. That same idea is the foundation of the change of direction of the front end of the rowing stroke. When I started loading my gliding leg, building up energy, and then changing direction to the other ski dynamically, as I would in the boat, I immediately felt in control of my speed. There was a significant difference in the predictability of my speed and the absolute speed I was achieving. The similarities between rowing and xc skiing seem to be run much deeper than I originally thought. I am sure I will continue to learn more nuances of ski technique, but as of now, as far as I'm concerned, the most crucial element to top end speed in both sports is the same: patience. It is, after all, a virtue.
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