Getting Pumped Up

The team has really started getting pumped up for racing at Club Nationals and representing the US at CanAmMex. Last night Coach Jesse gave the team an inspirational talk about racing in the coming week which really got us motivated, after which the whole team came in for our first "USA" cheer. There is also a rumor among the rowers that we are receiving our racing unis and gear very soon which added to the our excitement. Overall it was a pretty exhilarating night! We kept that energy up this morning when we started practice, which consisted of lots of 1 minute pieces. I was out in a pair with my friend Peter who is my bow pair partner in our 8+. We were racing during the 1 minute pieces against two other 2+ along with a 4+ (although the coxswain wasn't allowed to do anything because they were practicing for the straight four event) which turned out to be a lot of fun. After a rough first piece due to oar lock problems, Peter and I found a solid race pace to for the first 30 seconds of the pieces at. The last 30 seconds of piece were suppose to be at the highest rate you could get to, which is where it really became fun. We were able to get it up to a 41 stroke rate which felt awesome, especially since it was only the second time I have done race pieces (and rowed in) a pair. The best part was all the boats were pushing each other every piece to get faster and better. I am really looking forward to the possibility of racing in the pair at Club Nationals and hopefully in CanAmMex also!

Once we finished practice, the rising seniors had the opportunity to talk with the Columbia rowing coach who had watched our practice. Afterward, everyone headed back to camp for breakfast and the normal routine; watching a movie, sleeping, and waiting for lunch. The only problem is that the showers have recently stopped having hot water for some reason. Although they are working on fixing the problem, we have learned to take really really really fast showers during the last day or so. Luckily the boat house which we use has a locker room with showers so we could use those if we wanted. After lunch we got ready for afternoon practice and headed to the boat house at 2:30. We were broken up into two 8+ and four 4+ and did 2 minute pieces. Now that we are getting closer to race day our boat lineups have become more set (although some racing is still going on) which has allowed us to get a feel for what our actual boat will be on race day. In the A boat, for example, we realized that our start is slow because we are beaten off the line by the other boats. However as practice progressed, we got a feel for it and built up the speed of our start. After four or five of these pieces we had to go in due to wakes from motor boat traffic. When we arrived back at camp, the coaches surprised us with a team trip to get ice cream. everyone bought the largest number of scoops or biggest milkshake that was for sale and it tasted delicious...at least for a while. After about 20 minutes my stomach reminded me that I wasn't used to eating a huge portion of soft serve ice cream. However the stomach ache was totally worth it. I'm just hoping the coaches aren't planning to give us an excessively hard workout tomorrow because I don't think I'll enjoy it will a belly full of ice cream!