Since arriving in Newport Beach, I have been fortunate to get a good amount of easy distance in the 1x without tearing up my hands and without any overuse injuries so far. It is always difficult to balance the feeling of being extremely excited to row and then doing whats smart for your body. The fact of the matter is that it is really important to ease your body back into rowing and understand that just because over the summer you could row 40k a day in the 1x, it doesn't mean your body is ready to do it right away. Coach Roock was very good about this last spring, resting us before we were tired and having us cross train before we had overuse injuries because of rowing too much too soon. So I have tried to stick to that plan and so far so good. I rowed once on Thursday and cross trained the rest of the day. On Friday, I rowed 34 k total, but very conservatively, concentrating mostly on a relaxed grip and a supported lower back and core. This morning, I did my first hard rowing of the new year, 5 x 5 min at 26-30 spm.
When I stepped in the boat for the first time on Thursday morning, I knew that I was supposed to feel strange and unfamiliar in the single, but I just didn't. I felt more at home there than anywhere else. I quickly shed any doubt about how I was going to row and began to pull away from the dock rowing the top quarter of the slide, wide grip, and quarter feather--the way I have every time I've left the dock for as long as I can remember. I smiled and reminded myself of Trinity Soccer head coach Mike Pilger's wisdom, " It ain't no fucking puzzle!" So, I began rowing like it was the middle of the summer. I was most excited by the way my core felt. I was able to maintain my strong posture into the catch, suspend, and transfer power from my legs, through my core, onto the handles, and into the water. I have never had prodigious core strength but I always knew that it supposedly was crucial to rowing fast. Instead, I would think, to go fast, you need strong legs, strong back, strong arms. Well, true. But, if that leg power is lost in transition to the handle, then whats the use of having strong legs? Amazing leg strength is quickly turned into mediocre leg strength by a weak core. I don't pretend to have great core strength but its gotten considerably better and its a goal of mine to make that weakness my strength. To transfer 100 percent of my leg drive to the handle with nothing lost. For me, skiing has been a blessing because it builds incredible core strength. Since being out in California, I have had a lot of people asking me why I train in Vermont and not out here where I can row all the time. That is a very loaded question, but I have a list of weaknesses that I think I need to address in order to reach my potential as an athlete-- believe it or not, almost all of them can be best addressed and improved in Craftsbury, without being on the water. A couple of them require water. The point that I'm getting at here is that I have loved being able to get on the water, take some good strokes, and get some sun, but I am also very excited to keep doing what we're doing in Vermont, because we're improving. Like a sculptor with a block of marble, when the racing season starts, you can only sculpt the marble, you cannot make it bigger or add to it. There is plenty of time over the course of a racing season to perfect the details and sculpt it just the way you want. But, it is crucial to make sure over the winter you have built a big enough slab of marble. If you start sculpting it too soon, then it will be too small and there will be fewer artistic possibilities. I have always been a pretty good sculptor, a good artist; but I have never had a big enough block to work with. I am eager to continue to building my big slab of marble over the next couple of months. It will have to be bigger than ever.
Brother Peter will be coming up from Chula Vista this evening marking the end of the sweep camp. We will row the 2x/- for a couple days before both heading back to Craftsbury.
When I stepped in the boat for the first time on Thursday morning, I knew that I was supposed to feel strange and unfamiliar in the single, but I just didn't. I felt more at home there than anywhere else. I quickly shed any doubt about how I was going to row and began to pull away from the dock rowing the top quarter of the slide, wide grip, and quarter feather--the way I have every time I've left the dock for as long as I can remember. I smiled and reminded myself of Trinity Soccer head coach Mike Pilger's wisdom, " It ain't no fucking puzzle!" So, I began rowing like it was the middle of the summer. I was most excited by the way my core felt. I was able to maintain my strong posture into the catch, suspend, and transfer power from my legs, through my core, onto the handles, and into the water. I have never had prodigious core strength but I always knew that it supposedly was crucial to rowing fast. Instead, I would think, to go fast, you need strong legs, strong back, strong arms. Well, true. But, if that leg power is lost in transition to the handle, then whats the use of having strong legs? Amazing leg strength is quickly turned into mediocre leg strength by a weak core. I don't pretend to have great core strength but its gotten considerably better and its a goal of mine to make that weakness my strength. To transfer 100 percent of my leg drive to the handle with nothing lost. For me, skiing has been a blessing because it builds incredible core strength. Since being out in California, I have had a lot of people asking me why I train in Vermont and not out here where I can row all the time. That is a very loaded question, but I have a list of weaknesses that I think I need to address in order to reach my potential as an athlete-- believe it or not, almost all of them can be best addressed and improved in Craftsbury, without being on the water. A couple of them require water. The point that I'm getting at here is that I have loved being able to get on the water, take some good strokes, and get some sun, but I am also very excited to keep doing what we're doing in Vermont, because we're improving. Like a sculptor with a block of marble, when the racing season starts, you can only sculpt the marble, you cannot make it bigger or add to it. There is plenty of time over the course of a racing season to perfect the details and sculpt it just the way you want. But, it is crucial to make sure over the winter you have built a big enough slab of marble. If you start sculpting it too soon, then it will be too small and there will be fewer artistic possibilities. I have always been a pretty good sculptor, a good artist; but I have never had a big enough block to work with. I am eager to continue to building my big slab of marble over the next couple of months. It will have to be bigger than ever.
Brother Peter will be coming up from Chula Vista this evening marking the end of the sweep camp. We will row the 2x/- for a couple days before both heading back to Craftsbury.
Brother Tom hooked me up with his boat!
Peter's Olympic jacket and note to the owner of Banzai Bowls. They sponsored us in 2012.
A cup of coffee on the beach this morning.
Being here in California brings back so many emotions. This picture is tattooed in my memory. In 2012, I knew in concept what we were training for, but I didn't know. I understand now that I train to be prepared for the very moments that I was unprepared for at Olympic Trials in 2012, to never have a picture like this taken of me again. No doubt about it, this picture gets me out of bed in the morning.
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