Lightweight Eats

I had done some running, a bit of erging, and spent a few hours on the water, but I was out of shape. I've come a long way in the last six months!

May:

I spent my time in May suffering through getting in shape. I was exhausted all the time, but I was having a great time. My comfort level in the single sky-rocketed, as I more than doubled my meters in the boat.

June:

We started June off with an inter-club race at a local course. I did way better than I expected, and got super pumped for training. I also started adding in supplemental lifts. Throughout June, I got a lot more comfortable with my role as an athlete.

Bad water and high winds often interfered with practices, but my determination to get out and row even through wind and chop toughened me up and made me a much better technical rower. Forcing myself onto the water even when it was questionably safe (there was always a coaching launch, just in case!) has proven instrumental in my technical abilities.

July:

July was spent preparing for Canadian Henley. We did a lot of lifting and a lot of shorter, harder rows. I started the month dragging a bit, but when we got a new mattress, the better sleep made a world of difference. During July, my steering also improved a lot, which allowed me to focus on rowing well instead of my course.

August:

Canadian Henley was a wake-up call--I have a long way to go. While we won the women's quad, I placed 6th in the semi-final of the lightweight single. We followed up the racing with a "summer break" of sorts. I'm proud of how much I worked out over this break--historically a weak point for me. I focused on lifting in the first half and cardio work (mostly running) during the second half of the break.

September:

High volume workouts, running and weight lifting filled September. We often broke 20K on our rows, and did a lot of long lifts as well. My bike was out of commission for most of September, and I ended up taking BART to practice a lot. This definitely took away from some of the volume training. The time on the water, and the good conditions, allowed me to make even more technical improvements.

October:

The beginning of October was similar to September: high volume with lots of running and lifting. I didn't do as much weight lifting as I should have. We also added in more intense work on the water, including a lot of 4k race pieces.

During my week in Boston for the Head of the Charles, I did a lot of running and walking, but not enough serious training. The end of October was spent catching up, and my performance suffered as a result. I did make a few huge technical break-throughs in the last week of October, though.

November:
November so far has been crazy and hectic. I let my weight slide upwards and had to drop weight over the first two weeks of this month to make weight for our biggest race of the season: the West Coast Speed Order. The combination of a light calorie load, a full work schedule and the stress of moving has left me battling a cold just days before the race.

Still, the preparation for the race has given me a great sense of how far I've come in the last six months. My body has changed shape, making me leaner and meaner than I've ever been. I'm looking at the possibility of trashing previous PRs, despite weighing 30 pounds less than when I set them. I'm comfortable enough to experiment with drills in my boat. And I'm finding a way to train and live life at the same time.

I look forward to the next six months of training (and another three years after that!) I'm very thankful for everything my body has allowed me to do and hopeful that if I continue to treat it well, it will take me places I never dreamed I would be.