Livin the Dream in Princeton (?)

Even though we probably do even less in Princeton than we did in Hanover, life seems a little more active than Dartmouth ever did. Driving on highways to and from practice, going to Nassau Street for breakfast, all of it contributes to feeling like we’re a bit closer to civilization. It’s a bummer to not be as close to Princeton proper as were last year. Being within walking distance of Nassau made it a bit easier to get out and about, but the hotel is a good 10 minutes from town by car so we’re kind of stranded unless we all go together. We may go see Harry Potter today, which would be fun. More fun than watching bad movies on TV. We actually watched the last Harry Potter movie on TV yesterday, so I think I’m all caught up.

Practices have been interesting, kind of up and down as we try to pin down how we want to row and fixing the things that we do unconsciously but making us end up rowing slowly and not together. Those are the probably the most frustrating things about rowing; the things you don’t even think or know you’re doing. I may be hanging up my blade, rushing the slide, or pulling with my shoulders too much and totally think I’m doing it right. To fix it, we have to realize that what we feel is right is not, then try to pin down how to do it right, and ingrain those specific feelings as the correct way to do it, and repeat that feeling. These are the little things that make the lat 5% of the rowing stroke intensely intricate and difficult, while first 95% of the rowing stroke is an extremely simple motion. I don’t even think you can actually ever complete that last 5%. It’s like an asymptote, where you can always get closer and closer, but only by smaller and smaller increments, never quite reaching the goal. I remember being shocked when Coop explained this to me when I was younger… if you start at 1 and continually divide by 2, you will never reach 0. Anyways, I’m rambling.

Last night’s practice was pretty good, showing a little bit of promise for the direction we’re trying to go. It was also a little cooler, which was nice. Cooler means high 80s instead of high 90s. The coaches talked to us about what had gone wrong that morning, when we did some short pieces and the free speed just never came. We all felt like we hadn’t been quite focused enough on our warm-up, and the coaches talked about some of the problems they’re seeing within the stroke. We launched with a bit more conviction and focus and felt quite a bit better. There was still some disconnect and choppiness and the coaches asked if we remembered some of our best rowing at Hanover, when we did some short builders that were smooth and strong and flat. They asked if we remembered how that was right after a lot of feet out rowing, which can be one of the most frustrating drills for a rower. With your feet removed from the shoes, you have no safety net at the end of the stroke, requiring you to finish firm but smooth, and always running the risk of going too far back and losing connection with the shoes, resulting in a weird and precarious balance on your butt. So it’s not always a very fun drill, but it makes people row better. We did that for a while, compounding it with other drills too (arms only, legs only, legs and arms, square blades, etc.). The boat was way smoother and way more set than when we were rowing normally earlier, so that was good. We did some builders that felt pretty good, certainly better than before. There’s still a lot of work to get things all put together, but it was good progress.

This morning we had the option of trying to do a time trial today, finagled by Callahan because we were supposed to only have one chance while every other boat had 3. This would allow us to try and take advantage of the best conditions. So we went down not knowing what we were going to do, but being prepared to try. There was a bit of a crosswind when we got there, but we were going to try it anyways and if we were holding a good time going through the 1000m mark, we’d keep going. We had a pretty solid warmup, again people felt a bit more focused after realizing that if we aren’t focused we’ll have a shitty day. We lined up and had a solid start, settling a bit low (33 ½ to 34) but we felt pretty rhythmic, which is what we’ve been looking for. We were putting up fine times as we went down, and finished knowing we were around the time standard but not quite sure. We paddled in, pretty tired and extra sweaty from the humidity. Callahan met us on the dock and said we went 5:48, so we were all kind bummed, missing the time standard by about 4 seconds. It would have been nice to get it done with and move on. After we’d put the boat away we met in the boat bay, and Mike didn’t seem pissed, and asked us what we thought of the piece. Most said it felt pretty good, albeit low on the rate. Turns out that the crosswind at the beginning of practice had turned to a headwind, and no boat qualified today. In fact, all the other boats had been between 10 and 30 seconds off of their standards, so we actually didn’t do that poorly. Tomorrow the course will be run in whatever direction has a tailwind, so we should be able to do a bit better than today. Damn wind. Tonight we’re going to go for a short row at 6, which allows a bit more time after practice for dinner, which will be nice. I think things are coming together; we all need to get a little flatter, a little more quick, and work out a few timing issues through the boat, but I think speed is coming. Another week and a half out here and I think things should be running pretty nicely. I hope.

That’s about all… just watching stupid TV, reading, etc. I’ve been reading the David Sedaris book, which is fun, though the stories in it are pretty crazy, self-depricating, and kind of depressing and sad sometimes. Some of his humor lightens it all up, but sometimes they end just kind of sadly… Anyways. May get to see Jake and Banks tonight, which would be awesome. Don’t have much else… bought a bunch of food at Wegman’s yesterday, along with a little Styrofoam cooler that, when combined with heaps of hotel ice, is serving as my refrigerator. I have enough stuff to take care of most meals and snacks, which is a lot better than that first day of being hungry and not really having any opportunity to get food.

Revisited songs of the last 24 hours:
Cat Stevens - "How Can I Tell You"
A simple song with sparse instrumental support, Cat’s lyrics and voice carry the song and always make me think.
The Arcade Fire - "Wake Up"
One of my favorite songs ever, I put this on my PAL this morning as I slowly got out of bed. Wasn’t ready to stop sleeping, but this song always makes me feel more alive and ready to do good things.