"The H... Is O"

The heat is on.

It was about 95 today during our second practice, though luckily not that humid. By the end of morning practice it was probably mid to high 80s, so some of us took a dip in the river which was glorious. It was chilly, but not take your breath away chilly. Just the right temp to be extremely refreshing. The few that did it in the morning were joined by a larger contingent in the evening. We just put the boats away and jump in in our trou. Also serves as a bit of decompression and time to cool off from the intensity of the workouts, which is ramping up considerably.

This morning we were in mixed 8s and did 4 x 1500m at 34. Silas and I were stroke pair in the Resolute, with Dave Naughton (Cal) and Charlie Cole (Yale) stroking the Hudson. The first piece both boats struggled to hit the rate and ended up about 2 beats low, but our boat won by a little bit of open water, which was nice. Josh Richardson (Mich) switched out of our boat for Jesse Johnson (UW), we paddled back to the start (actually the finish, we do these pieces up stream), and started the next one. This time both boats seemed to be on rate better, and our boat won by about a length, maybe a seat or two less than before. Then we switched Derek Rasmussen (Wisco) for Andy Collard (Yale), and I think we won by about a length again (not sure... results fuzzy on this one). Maybe a few seats open by the end, but it was more of a last push than the second piece, when we got a lot of space in the beginning and kind of stuck. The last piece switched Steve Full (UW) out of our boat and Mark Murphy (S) into it. In the first 500 we had a length and knew things were going pretty well for our boat and not so well for the other one, so we kept pushing and it ended up being a pretty large victory… like 15 seconds. Once things start going like that for the other boat, I know from experience, it’s very hard to get them better. But good on Mark for having a damn good seat race.

This afternoon we went down and they called out the boat lineups. For the past long time they’ve been pretty even boats, and today was that day where they call out ones that seem pretty different. Being in the boat that didn’t have the guys who could be considered “sure things” for the final boat, it was fairly apparent that we were more of a “B” boat than we normally have. This was a frustrating realization, and maybe I was the only one that made it, but it scared me and got me thinking that maybe I just won’t make the boat. Then there’s the thoughts “well, there’s the pair,” but that’s not really satisfying. I was frustrated and bummed for the first bit of practice. The boat definitely had a little less energy on the way out, and while we weren’t rowing terribly in the large waves and whipping tailwind, we fell behind the other boat on the paddle all the way out, only serving to increase my frustration. As we picked it up coming back, though, my frustration was now more solidified than my initial bummedness, and we started the way back home with a bit more aggression and legs, which kept us close to the other boat. Being close to the other boat only served to increase my effort, and we stuck with them for the whole way back, which was rewarding. As we got close to the dock, we did some builders, bringing the rate up for about 10 strokes, stabilizing for 10, then going up for another 10. We took some seats on the first one (which was at half slide), and I think the boat was really starting to get into beating the other boat. At ¾ slide we took some seats as well, went under the bridge and spun to come back home, and had one more at full slide. We geared up for this and took about a length, which made me feel good, amped, and aggressive. I felt good that Silas and I could lift with good length and rhythm, and that in the end, though not full pieces, we could take some away from the boat that had seemed so stacked. It may not mean anything, and I still may not make the boat, but it felt good to feel like I was doing everything I could and trying to give the coaches a reason to not close the books yet.

Thus, the post-practice swim was very necessary to cool the body and the blood. People asked about treading water and I gave a quick lesson on eggbeater; they were impressed with my meager residual ability to get my trou out of the water. Most guys went to Ramunto’s for some salad and pizza (pizza is getting heavy and greasy and yucky after nice, healthy, home-cooked meals at the Nelson’s), and as always it was fun to be in a group of nice guys.

Came home and have just been puttering in the room, sitting on my bed reading car magazines and listening to music. A lovely way to spend an evening. Of note that didn’t fit in earlier, a box came for me today that I had no idea who from, forgetting that Craig had told me he sent a box. It came full of probably 150 GUs, my last small paycheck, and some data DVDs filled with photos of the rowing season from Roger. Overall, a really nice package that I shared with the other Stanford guys. Nice that Craig would still think of us, support us, and do it all on his own, especially for me, as I’m all graduated and whatnot.

Who knows what tomorrow brings? I don’t. The coaches certainly don’t tell us. They did tell us that we get tomorrow afternoon off, which will be nice, though it probably means lots of hard pieces either tomorrow morning or Thursday, I’m ok with that. May go swimming in the river in the afternoon as it should be another scorcher. Just gonna keep doin what I do, tryin to stay positive and get through this point, which seems familiar from last summer, when things are getting dicey, tense, and the unknowns become so much more important, but no more known.

Music of the Day:
Still extremely varied, what with all my new stuff, but listened to some good Belle & Sebastian (check out "Meat and Potatoes"), which I liked a lot.