Thursday, September 29, 2011

Speed. It's there.

I have a subtle idea of the exact line up of the what would be a current V8, and it's a solid one. The other day as all three 8's were out doing pieces at low rates, and witnessed some real speed. I'd say about 6 out of the 8 planned (in my mind) wee in that boat and it definitely felt just as strong if not stronger than last year around Hooch time. This is making me optimistic towards the rest of our training. 
Today Brian COSMILLOand I raced one of the pairs for the first time in the around the island time trial and did pretty well as we only finished 5th and 3 mins behind the top boat which was the 8. Of course we had to finish practice with a bang so we ended up in the water trying to dock. Very eventful morning! 
Finding speed is augmenting every day and practice so my goal for this season is to be part of the top 15 on the C-MAX rankings.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Different Works...

After these last few weeks of fitness, and team gathering, we have started to really focus on posture. This last week was awful for my lower back but important for my rowing. If you know me, I over-reach at the catch and end up on my knees. Not this year though! I'm working really hard and keeping a solid figure throughout the entire stroke.
Now that this part of the movement has been engraved, we are moving the catch.
Finally a day of clean water, and of course Coach makes us do most of the practice right in front of the boathouse (it was worth it though).  As we worked on reaching the extremities together at a stationary state, the rest of the boat was able to catch my rhythm and flow with me. Towards the end of practice, we started to move the shells by doing the add-a-pair exercise, which consists of starting with one pair and adding a new one every 10 strokes. The tricky part is to accelerate with the rate with the speed of the boat. Being in the Quantum made it even better as we hauled threw meters with deck-passing puddles.
Overall, I'm excited to see how all this work will show by 8s as we approach our first race.

There is an outline of the V8 at the moment but anything can change.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Two and a Half in

Now that I have regained my spot on the front line of the ergo room, I am working hard to creep up to the top three spots. Yes, my work has been somewhat consistent but others have been in and out causing my struggle to do so. This year we are blessed with a strong frosh, Chase ROWE, from Sarasota Crew. Being a grand person, he is able to pull a lot lower splits than this year's top ergos. This would have been a little different if last year's senior Dylan KOSTEN would have been present. I am glad that he can show his strength to the entire team though because you can observe his dedication to making the V8, apparently taking example on last year's frosh. Another frosh who has been showing good scores is Andre KLEIJN from Pittsburgh rowing; a little work is needed though. 
We have been attacking every practice with mountain high energy and strength to show who is the best individually and as a boat, which is making all the top rowers become faster. The water training has been alright as we have been mixing the better people with the not-so-good people so that they can use them as examples. With King Racing 's Quantum being here all week, more of the rowers have been taking advantage of it as a tool to be faster than the crews in the Micasa or the Big Bob. 
This year, every race has its little countdown laying on the fridge waiting to decrease day by day, which reminds us how training isn't that long until racing time. 
All around, I am pretty content with the '11-'12 team and looking forward to connect a lot more, like last year, so that the not-yet-reached goal of winning Dad Vails is accomplished. Feathering starts tomorrow, and we are a month away from the First Coast Head Race.  

Saturday, September 3, 2011

End of Testing Week

After a deceiving first ergo test on Wednesday, the week continued with a 5k run, and 2x6k at a steady state. But the most important event of this week was the 6k ergo test this Saturday. Coach set an all around goal to get as many people under 1:50 split and to get as close as your PR as possible. 1:50 was doable but 1:46.9 wasn't as much. My plan was to hold 1:52 or lower for most of the piece until around 2k to go and then drop splits. I did that with ease up until 3k and then struggle a little bit. I tried to kick a few times at 2k, but I wasn't able to hold it as long. So I waited until 1500m-1250m and then started to pull under 1:50. When 500m to go came around, I kicked as hard as possible and held around 1:45 and under and finishing at 1:40. I am happy because I didn't expect to even be under the required goal, but I pulled it off. My final average was 1:49.2 with a rate average of 24. I believe I finished in the top 6. Now it's time to relax and see what happens on the water Monday morning.