Lightweight Eats

Most of what I've read about elite athletes and success involves goal setting. The ability to set realistic short and long term goals seems to distinguish successful athletes. I am always striving towards a goal, whether I actively recognize it or subconsciously strive towards it.

Here are some of my goals for April:

1. Maintain training weight
It's really easy to let your weight get out of hand after a difficult weigh-in process. I'd like to stay on top of my weight this month, ideally keeping it at or within 1kg of 57kg—the required boat average.

2. Improve my erg score
I've never had fast times on the rowing machine, and I need to change that. I can have as many excuses as I want, but faster ergs do translate to faster times on the water. For my erg, I'm fairly speedy on the water, but I can only imagine how much faster I'd be with a little bit more kick in my legs.

3. Don't lose any training time
I'm not talking about days off—those are crucial. I'm actually talking about failing to take off days and having to face the consequences. I lost over a week of critical training time in February and March because of stupid recovery decisions. I'd like to be smarter this month.

4. Race as much as possible
Whether it's racing my teammates or finding and entering local races, I could use as much race experience as possible in the next few months. One of my teammates has a great perspective on racing. After racing 6 times in one day, and having every possible thing go wrong during racing, she has learned to recognize racing as a learning experience rather than a one-time opportunity.

The last two goals also encompass one of my longer term training goals: develop a healthy attitude towards training and racing. I tend to take things too seriously, counting every bad workout as a demerit in my life's scorecard, but not giving myself enough credit for the good workouts.

If living in Oakland has taught me anything, it's to appreciate every single green light. {If you've ever driven in Oakland, you'll understand.} I need to bring this attitude towards my training, taking a lesson from a bad workout if I can, and then quickly letting them go and moving on. What's done is done--no point in dwelling.