WE HAVE LIFT-OFF

Part of settling in somewhere is finding ice cream,
and reading Anthony Bourdain to stay in touch
with your bitter, self-indulgent side.

Rowing at Malta Boat Club and out of the Malvern Prep Boathouse in Philly, PA, is a blast.  I'm all settled in and feel as though I've been here longer than I actually have.  It's been somewhere in the neighborhood between "not too long ago" and "forever" since trading Seattle for Philadelphia, and I've never looked back.  Except for last weekend (or five weekends ago?) when my mom visited from Seattle.  That weekend was almost exclusively looking back.  Miss you mom!  Know what else I miss?  My pug.  To allow me to imagine easier she misses me as I miss her, she's staring at me from my desktop image on my laptop.  Luckily for me there are pugs literally smothering Philly and I see at least one every day.

Not a pug.  But this bulldog and I are friends now, and he
knows some pugs and is going to introduce me.

Real quick - Dartmouth Lightweights won silver at the Eastern Sprints and at the IRA Regatta.  Could not be more proud of those guys.  To my knowledge the best EVER finish at those two regattas for the D150s.  Also, there's a TheBlades show at Riverside this weekend, and it breaks my heart to have to miss out this time.  Rock on, brothers and sisters.

Alright too many words.  I want this post to be mostly picture-based because I've got some stories that need visual re-telling.  Well... only one story.  But I'm gonna pepper in some fun pictures there.  And for that I make no apologies.

Our Training Plan.  You want to go fast?  How are you going to do that?  By not planning anything?  Nope.  Plan the fast, starting with day 1 (today or tomorrow, or whenever you aren't busy) and working your way out to your event, which has gotta come up sooner or later, so look that date up on row2k or something and get out a black sharpie and a red sharpie.  It's time to plan.

Our Top Secret Training Plan, the one no one saw coming.  I can't overemphasize how important it is to
include motivational underlinings and pump-up phrases with a red pen.

Peaking.  Everyone knows it's important in rowing not to peak too early.  Ideally you'll find your greatest possible speed on the final day of competition at the end of the season, winning the A Final and impressing all your friends/making your fans swoon.  And if you don't have fans, get some.  Facebook makes it pretty easy these days for anyone to be impressed and interested in just about anything.  But I digress.  In the interest of not peaking too early (no peeking!) you've gotta ease into your training and let the fitness come as it will, building up gradually.  Hence, our plan here through trials has a very smart first few days (weeks), making sure we don't work our bodies right up to their maximum limit... yet.  That comes later.  I'm not sure when, but it's probably in there on that plan somewhere.  That's why we need the plan - really takes out the guesswork.

Included in "recovery" can be activities in
which you get, like, no rest at all, shown
here as me and "Good Times" Brandon
psych ourselves up to talk to some
girls... then end up not talking
to them... Next time!!!

This image says a lot about recovery that I cannot.
This is a buttered corn muffin, created by the
Gods of rowing to make sure their loyal subjects come
 back stronger tomorrow than they were today.
I butter muffins EVERY DAY, here.

Recovery is the second key to this plan.  Why?  Because your body can't get fitter during exercise itself, only AFTER, while you are resting and recovering.  Why plan so carefully for all your grueling training and then leave recovery to chance?  No way, not our plan.  Recovery is included whenever possible, and forms the foundation of our training.  We might just be the best-rested crew ever to row.

Lifting: does a body good.

Lifting.  You need it.  You want it.  And it will make you win*.  But aside from that, it also makes you look better, which is all any rower really wants anyways.  There are so many benefits to lifting, both on and off the water.  I can't think of any that apply to on the water at the moment, but I'm sure there are some, some really good ones too.  So take a second and imagine all those benefits.  Now go look in the mirror and really let your imagination run wild with the off-water benefits.  Boom.  Lifting's gotta be on your plan.     *or lose, depending.

I sketched this little image of Ahnold for a friend's birthday...but with
such labors of love no special occasion was necessary.

Lifting, round II, second set, here we go.  Thought you were done lifting?  Think again.  Notice that there is a lift during a regatta on this plan.  That's key.  In fact, I don't even know how I'm going to be able to do that.  But that's what a good plan does, it challenges you to do things that you once believed to be impossible.  If I had to guess, I'd say we're gonna lift our riggers up to the boat, lift some heavy tools and fasten the riggers on there, then lift that boat onto its rack.  We might even pick a rack as far from the water as possible, just for the sake of the lift.  It's not a bad idea once in a while to even sacrifice race performance to get your lift on.  Actually, it's a great idea.  So much so that I plan on it.  Boom.  Lifting on the plan again.

In a pinch you can substitute "taper" with "slam a ton of
coffee."  It worked for three years at the GSD.  You can
also substitute "worked" with "did not work at all"
or "eventually gave me a disc injury."

Tapering.  It's obvious from our plan that we know how to taper.  Just because you're coming into a regatta doesn't mean you forget about all that hard recovery work you've been doing.  If you want to feel good on race day, you've gotta taper.  Possibly harder than anyone has ever tapered before.

Credit to Sam for this Result - a homemade Frappuccino
concocted on his suggestion and my addiction.
Cream, ice, chocolate chips, chocolate sauce,
and espresso blended and topped with more
chips, sauce, and whipped cream. Buzzin'!

Commitment to a Result.  In my more serious posts, I'm always going on about how "the process is the result" blah blah blah.  If you want a result, you've gotta commit to it.  The process usually takes care of itself!  ...Probably, I'm not really sure, enh.  We'll figure it out I guess.  Takeaway point: Result.



Putting It All Together:

Perhaps the most important part of any training plan, however, is enjoying yourself.  Here's a quick look at how we do this... I'll understand if you need to look away.  Don't look away.

A New Look for me, because rowing is
not a fashion show.

Reggie the dog's color study... credit to
David O. Smith Designs, Ltd.

Sam at the window, making
noise and making friends.

Can't wait to meet our new friends.