Wednesday 26 September 2012

Training update

Before I begin, I would like to thank Rowing Canada, for providing me with a beautiful, bow mounted Hudson single (1x). Having my own boat to  train in makes a world of a difference, not only allowing me to be more efficient, but also enabling me to rig the boat to specifically fit me.

I couldn't have asked for a better first month of school or fall training.  The days have been beautiful and sunny, aside from the first hour of morning rows... which have been equally beautiful, only the sky is slightly darker an filled with stars.

The training sessions themselves have also been very productive, and therefor also very rewarding. I spent most of the last 6 weeks  in my 1x working on low rate endurance training and technique, in particular, balance, rhythm and catches. Making technical changes is quite difficult. There is nothing more frustrating than forcing your hands to tap down, trying to maintain that optimal blade height, and then crashing violently to port or starboard half way through the recovery. That being said, once you start to get a feel for balance and can feel the water gliding smoothly under the boat, all that frustration is 200% worth it.  I have been doing an endless amount and variation of pause drills, my goal: to be able to pause at half slide on the square on any stroke, on any day (when the water is relatively calm), and maintain it!

I am currently doing 13 training sessions a week, on top of my three classes at the University of Victoria (UVIC). The training sessions have this far consisted of ~20km on 6 mornings of the week,  another 10-12 km of intensive technique in the afternoon on 4 days of the week, and three sessions of weights and/or cross training on the bike. One of my favorite things to do towards the end of a training week is to take my boyfriends road bike, gatoraid, and some gels/snacks, and head out on a 2-4 hour ride anywhere on the Southern part of the peninsula.

I am looking into getting a road bike of my own, so I don't always have to steal my boyfriend's. The only thing standing in the way is my newly deceased laptop and my financial situation as a student athlete. I guess I'll have to get creative!

I'm going to end todays post with a quote from Pierre Lafontain, CEO and National coach, Swimming Canada. He recently spoke at the University of Victoria's "Vikes Championship Breakfast", and this quote really hit home:

" There are 1409 days until the next [summer] Olympics, which means there are 1409 different ways to get better"

Today it is 1408 days, and yesterday I got better by not getting frustrated with my shaky balance after a couple days off the water.

The world is full of opportunity!

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