The Torch

Approaching the end of week 2 down here in Clemson and things are starting to heat up. After a miserable combination of wind, rain, and cold passed through this past weekend and early this week, we have begun to enjoy what we have been told is typical Clemson conditions: warm and flat. We started out the week with some high intensity one minute pieces in singles. This is a workout that was a staple for us this winter. While the work is only a minute long and is augmented by a lot of rest, the rowing is through the roof intensity and considerably faster than race pace. By the final two or three pieces, it becomes extremely difficult to keep bringing that type of intensity and quality speed. This was the first time we were all lined up in singles on the buoyed race course butting heads. The first of many times to come. Unlike last year, we have two flights of men's singles, lightweights and heavyweights, all of whom can really move the boat and throw down for a minute. Amongst the heavyweights, things were pretty even, which is to be expected over a minute. Steve won a few, I won a few, Peter won a few. "winning" meaning by a few feet or so. No matter how you slice it, very fun rowing against those guys and there's no doubt in my mind that there are huge gains to be made by that type of competition. I think we strike a nice balance in our group of little competition on low intensity days and cut throat competition on the intense days. We try to stay away from the grey area in between. No battle paddling, just throw down when it counts, and when it doesn't, work on the things you need to work on and row at the correct intensity.

 We just finished up our last set of pieces before real selection begins next week.  We did 10 x 250 m max in mixed lineups, lightweights/heavyweights. I was paired with Josh. While 250 m is far from our speciality, we were able to throw down some decent pieces against the other doubles. All of the pieces were in the 44-46 second range at controlled rates and all the boats were pretty even. The other crews were Peter/ Austin Meyer and Kyle/ Steve. It will be really interesting to see how things shake out over the next couple of weeks. Maybe I am naive, but I believe we have the pieces we need to make a 2x capable of contending internationally. This is the part of the process when we try to put those pieces together. No doubt the next couple weeks will be very challenging physically and mentally. I am excited to see how fast we can make the boat go.