First Regatta of MY season - Occoquan Memorial Sprints

Well, I survived!  My first regatta of the season.  It wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible.  I was so nervous and felt so much pressure, especially being in the "fast 4."  It would be so much less pressure if I was just in the Women's 8 and the Mixed 8.  So I was torn, excited to be in the fast boat, but oh the pressure.  Those ladies are so gracious and have been so kind about having me in the 4.  I know they keep telling me, that they wanted me in the boat and that I belong there, but they self-doubt is high!  Anyway,  I didn't want to let them down.

The 4's race was first.  Wouldn't you know that just as we were launching...the wind picked up... oh how the wind picked up!  It was pretty brutal.  So, bad that they weren't using the start platform and we weren't even supposed to get close to it, because it was so dangerous, so that made the start truly wonky.  They tried to line us up... but that was pretty futile, so as soon as it was even close they started us... with very little prep...crazy!

We raced hard, but the wind was just crazy.  Ended up coming in 3rd out of 4th.  So not..DFL!

The 8 went pretty much the same way.  The wind was still crazy, but it didn't throw us off as much in

the 8, but I think the set was a little worse.  Hard to get real traction in the water.  We were 4th out of 5.  Again...not DFL!

John and Zack paddled out to watch my race!

I would say we were all happy, but not satisfied.  Hopefully, we'll get a chance to practice more and the next one will be even better.  I'd really love to get some bling!

Tattoo #2

Well I did it.  I completed, pretty successfully if I do say so myself, my first season with the Racing Women!  I don't think I was an embarrassment, I think I held my own reasonably well and I don't think anyone hated rowing with me....so.... I decided it was time to get my 2nd tattoo... the complement to the one I already have.

Before...

The stencil is on

The work begins...

The finished product and Rooster - my tattoo artist!

My after tattoo celebration with the ladies

Even the bandage looks badass.

The final product!  I'm pretty happy with it. 

Running and Rowing and Run This Year - 800miles

My running funk is still going strong, but I've been trying to fight it.  I signed up for the Dulles Runway 10K, figuring it would give me some incentive to up my running.  Not so much.... Hadn't run in over a month, when I set out to run the race.  I thought to myself, how bad can it be, it's on the runway, it's flat, how bad can it be.... Well, pretty bad! :o(   I walked WAY MORE than I hoped to, but I did finish it, to be honest I don't even remember my time. Something like 1:12.  I just don't know what my problem is... even a year ago I was doing great and now, its just like torture!  I did hit my 800 mile mark for Run This Year.

Most of the miles lately have been rowing and erging miles, but I guess there's nothing wrong with that.  Rowing is a great workout as well.  I also found the Hogwarts Running Club on line.  It's a virtual running club. They host all these virtual races with Harry Potter themes, you pay to register and you get a really cool medal for doing the race and part of the registration fee goes to various charities.  They also use this app called Charity Miles.  You use it when you run, walk, bike or in my case row... and for every mile you complete they contribute money to a charity of your choice.  It's pretty darn cool.  For instance, this month all my miles are going to the World Wildlife Federation.  Each month I'm going to pick a different charity and run/row for them.  You also compete for the "House Cup" after you get "sorted" into a house, I'm Hufflepuff, then all your miles go toward that was well.  I talked Brenna into joining with me, she's going to run on the same day that I do for the virtual 5K's.  We'll be running the Patronus 5K on Oct 3rd.  Anything I can do to get motivated.  

On the rowing front... things are hot and cold.  I still feel like I'm doing all I can to just keep up with these ladies.  They all seem so much stronger, fitter and like better rowers than me.  I still find them pretty intimidating, on the water anyway,  they are very nice and mostly fun off the water.  I'm sure a lot of that is just my low self confidence.  I just keep trying as hard as I can to improve what Coach Jeanette points out.   Just when I was feeling pretty low... I did have one glorious moment.  Last practice we were getting ready to put the boat away and Coach Jeanette called me back down to the dock and made me get in the boat and demonstrate my stroke.  Apparently, my body angle and sequence was "perfect" and I was opening my back up at just the right moment!!  So everyone had to gather round and watch me... SAY WHAT???!!!   Not only did I get a warm fuzzy, but she I got it in front of everyone!   I was pretty high on life for quite awhile... until the next sucky practice anyway. :o)  We have a regatta tomorrow.  Head of the Potomac... I'm really sort of dreading it.  We haven't practiced in our lineup, we haven't practiced at race pace except for today and that was for 4 minutes.  Since I don't think we can row 5000meters in 4 minutes, I'm not sure how helpful that was.  I have no idea what that bodes for tomorrow, except that I know I'm dreading it.  Not only that, but we've been told we're racing two races!!  I guess we'll see what happens, but I feel woefully unprepared!  One good thing... the second race is a mixed boat with the men and Zack will be my coxswain!  That will be fun!

5K Erg Test - SUCKS!!

We were tasked by our coach to do a 5K erg test and send her the results.  What the hell???  I mean, I know we're the "competitive women," but... seriously... a 5K test.  I'm not quite sure what exactly is to be gained by us doing a 5K test.  I mean, there are only 12 of us on the team anyway, so we're lucky if we can fill out an 8 for every race.  It's not like we're competing for seats, if you are at practice you get a seat.  Also, if we do have all 12 rowers on any give day, then we row the 8 and a "young 4."  So, by virtue of showing up and being old, I get to row in the 8.  Then why the 5K test??  Because she said so....
So, being a good girl and a rule follower,  I did it.  I wasn't sure even what to aim for, she said low 20's.  A 2:30 split would give a time of 25:00min.  I knew I wanted to be lower than 2:30.  I held a 2:10 for my 2K, no way I can hold that for a 5K.  Off to Gold's Gym I went...

I was pretty happy with my time.  I'm not sure I could have done much better... maybe shave a sec or two off if I repeated it, but why????  Pretty sure, I'm still one of the slowest, if not the slowest, on the team, but I'm also one of the smallest.  That's the other thing, if she doesn't do some sort of weight adjustment, there's no way for her to compare our times.  There's no way I can compete with some of the women on this team! Oh well, it's done, we'll let the chips fall where they may!

Wye Island that wasn't

We heading out to row Wye Island Half Marathon bright and early this morning.  I had sort of been dreading it, not really feeling like I'm in the best shape right now. Project Healthy Up is proceeding, but it's slow going... but we talked the Racing Women into participating so off we went.

But then the storms rolled in... and they CANCELLED IT! :o(  What a freaking bummer.  It's funny, I was dreading it, but as soon as they said we couldn't do it, then I was so disappointed!  The mind is a funny thing.

So, we de-rigged the boats and head out for the much anticipated crabs.  Did it matter that it was only 10:30am?  Nope we all had been looking forward to the food and drink and at least we weren't going to be disappointed on that front.

Wye Island 2015

Racing Women

Sad we didn't get to race

Zack ordered the soft shell crab, we didn't realize it was actually the whole crab...just a toosh creepy!

Not really sure if he's supposed to actually eat the whole thing.  But he did!  I was pretty proud of him.  He's become quite brave!  Once again, I'm confronted with the fact that my boy is almost grown. This would have been our last Wye Island together!  Next year, he'll be gone to college and I'll be doing this all by myself. I really don't want to think about that, it makes me really, really sad.  I just keep hoping that when that time comes, I'll be okay with it and not just spend my time weeping and depressed. :o)  I'll trust that it's all going to work out.

OMG! Look what I did....

With all the cabin buying excitement, I've been feeling a little bit left out... not really, but I have been "banking" some "one for you, one for me" points in my mental bank just in case something came up that I really wanted...

I KNOW! RIGHT?!?

Buying a single, what the hell am I thinking?!?  I don't even know how to scull, I've only done it 3 times and NEVER in a single.... But.... John bought a cabin... :o)

Seriously, John Meehan just happened to bring back 4-5 of his own singles from Buffalo that he was hoping to sell.  I figured if I was ever going to get a single, now would be the time.  John M would probably give me a good deal, put me in a boat that was good for me and if I had any problems with it, he'd be around for me to go to for help.  We talked about it and we had a little money left over from refinancing the house and buying the cabin and my John agreed.  So, now I have a single...

Zack has been very good about helping me out, giving me pointers.  My first day I went out, he sat on the dock with me and held the stern while I practiced a little bit.  He's such a good boy.

After my brief "lessons" trying to build up enough courage to push off from the dock.

Moving very slowly around the cove.

I've been out about 4 times so far.  I've made it all the way to Sandy Run and back.  Haven't flipped yet.  Still trying to decide if I should go ahead and flip on purpose in the cove with John or Zack there or if I should just wait until it happens naturally.  When I talk to other people, the opinions are split. For now I'm just waiting on the "natural flip." :o)  I wonder how long it's going to take before I feel comfortable enough that I can actually enjoy being out there?  Right now, I'm so tense and nervous it's hard to enjoy anything.  I can feel myself doing a bunch of things wrong - dragging my blades on the water, pausing at the release to make sure I'm steady - I'm sure it's just because I'm still so new at it.  Every day is a little bit better.  The challenge has been that I can't, yet, carry it by myself, so I'm dependent on someone, usually Zack, (have I mentioned what a good boy he is) helping me carry it down to the dock and then I text and he helps me carry it back up to the house.  I think eventually I'll be able to do it by myself.  John and I are looking at getting a cart that will help me, then it will just be a matter of getting it out of the fence myself.  It's not that it's too heavy, it's just 31lbs, but it's so long an awkward that it's going to take some work.

Pondering how to "rack my boat"

My brilliant husband spent a whole weekend building me a rack to keep my boat on!  It's fabulous and he can keep is kayak underneath it.  Win/win!  Now I just need to get a cover for it to keep it protected from the elements and animals.  For now I'm borrowing oars from Woodbridge, god knows we have enough of them so I'll probably do that until I can't any more.   I must admit, it's pretty exciting.  I'm already planning a "Summer Camp" outing next summer with my rowing friend Jullie.  It's a 4 day, sleep over camp for sculling in singles!  So, I'll just stumble along by myself this summer and then get some real guidance and be ready to go!

Novice Camp - BOOM! Success!

My 2nd year of running the PWCA Novice Rowing Camp has come to an end.  I am exhausted but very happy with the way it turned out!  We had 43 kids last year and this year we had 63!  We had 5 Eights the 2nd week!!!  I had to scramble to find coaches, but I did it and it was awesome!  I found the coaches, coxswains, experienced rower/helpers, ran the entire registration, ordered the t-shirts, planned the pizza party and in general handled it all.  Even coached one day as a fill in.

Looks like a centipede under that boat!

Week #1

Week #2

I just love Novices.  It's so amazing to see them on the first day of camp and you think "Holy Shit, what have I gotten myself into.  These kids are never going to be able to get this."  By the last day of camp, they are rowing by all 8, they are laughing and having fun and no longer sitting in the boat like it's going to capsize at any minutes!  It really is crazy how quickly they pick up the skills.  I think it's partly because they have very little fear, compared to adults.  They may be afraid, but if you tell them they can do something, they trust you and do it.  Adults (or maybe it's just me) overthink everything, and don't really trust that they can do it.  Last year, when I was rowing as a novice, it took us close to a month or longer before we were rowing by all 8.  They get it done in 5 days.  Now, I'm anxious for the season to start.  I want to see how many of these kids come out, how many more we can get and get them out on the water.  I'm not as anxious for the rest of everything that comes with being "in season" but I do love being with the kids on the water!

More Rowing

We had to do a 1K Erg test for our coach this week... I realize I'm on the "competitive womens" team, but I guess I didn't realize we were actually going to be really hardcore.  I did a test test to just see where in the world I was.  No idea what I should be able to do. I know when we race, they'd like us to be right at 4 minutes or less...  My test test was 4:21.4, 2:10.5 split.  It was pretty bad, I came out way too fast and actually put the handle down at about 750meters.  So.....Did the real thing on Thursday....

4:14.5, 2:07 split, 170watts, watt/weight - 1.36

I was actually pretty satisfied with this.  I definitely paced myself better and I think for me that's pretty respectable.  Of course I have no idea how this will compare to everyone else.  I also wonder if she's going to take weight into consideration?  I'll never pull as hard as some of the bigger ladies, I hope she realizes that.

On the water, It's gotten a little bit better.  Yesterday, I had the opportunity to do a little sculling for the first time.  I was REALLY nervous.... We took out a quad with 2 experienced ladies and 2 novices, 2 VERY PATIENT experienced ladies!!!   I must admit the first 30 minutes I was ready to throw in the towel and swim back to the dock.  But, for whatever reason, they wouldn't let me so I had to solider on... I'm glad I did, because by the time we were heading home, there were moments of 'really good' mixed in with the 'okay' moments.  I am concerned because it seems as though my left arm is completely retarded.  My right arm seems totally capable of rowing on it's own, but my left arm does okay and then begins to just flail around like it belongs on a freaking whirlygig!  But, on the whole, I definitely think I'd like to try it again and continuing doing both.

Your blade is supposed to be IN the water Julie...

How about you relax those shoulders Julie....

This one is nice with the reflection

Today at practice we did 5 1000meter race pieces, 3 of them were against the men's fours.  I was dreading, dreading, dreading it!  I do not like sprints!!  The higher stroke rates make me panic just a tad, which makes me grip the oar like it's going to fly out of the boat, which makes my forearm cramp, which makes it hard to feather, which make me suck at rowing.  It's a little bit like the "If you give a mouse a cookie" story except the rowing nightmare version!  But what are you gonna do, once your in the boat, your in the boat until they let you out! :o)
It actually didn't go too badly.  I didn't row like crap, but I didn't row great.  It would have helped if I'd noticed that my foot stretchers had been moved to accommodate what seemed to be a 6 foot giantess, but I'm so good at rowing that I didn't even notice until we done rowing.

Racing the men.  We did okay, gave us a little headway, and we held our own for the most part.

What the hell with my splash???  Am I rowing with a shovel?

After the 5th piece, geez, don't they realize we are mostly OLD ladies....and why do I look like I'm going to topple out of the boat sideways?

Overall, and encouraging practice.  1000m is much shorter than I thought, I didn't catch any crabs and I don't think I was any worse than anyone else.  I could be wrong...  

Running, Rowing - why is it all so hard??

I'm back trying to get myself running, erging and rowing.  It's not been easy, it seems like since I took May off, I just can't get my groove back on. Although I certainly have my eating groove going on!  The erging is fine - it's a class and I feel guilt if I don't go and work hard when I do, but the rest... it's a struggle.

I'm finding the rowing to be particularly challenging.  I feel like, I just don't feel like, I am, a novice rower trying to hang with the competitive women.  It's challenging to put it mildly.  Everyday I finish practice and I think, "I'm going down to Intermediate, I gotta go down to Intermediate."  There's so much I need to work on that I can't keep it all in my head.  As soon as I focus on one thing, everything else goes to hell.  I practically panic when they bump the stroke rate up and then I tense up and it all gets worse.  I'm a mess.  If I'm being completely honest, I don't think I'm that much worse than everyone else, but it sure feels like it.  If we could just spend all our time rowing at about a 20 and doing drills I'd be perfectly happy.  Doesn't sound much like a competitive woman to me. :o(

And the running....  Geez, it's like I've never run before.   I can't even run a mile without having to stop and walk.  I might as well be doing a Couch to 5K program, run a minute, walk a minute.  Geez it's ridiculous.  I feel like my legs weigh 800lbs and I'm huffing along like a gimpy elephant.   It's just not fair.  2 years of running and I take one freaking month off and it's like I've never run before.    It doesn't help that I'm about 6lbs heavier than I'd like to be, which is like I'm carrying a bag of sugar with me on every run.  Today I ran 2 miles on the trail and then did 3 -one mile repeats on the Boathouse hill.  God, that hill sucks!  I was pretty happy with my performance.  My new goal will be to run that freaking hill without having to stop, by the end of summer.

Thrilled, terrified, hesitant, happy, honored, worried, excited, did I mention terrified… really just pick any adjective….

I don't think I've made it any secret, how much I love Crew, our team and the sport in general.  I've been going to Winter Conditioning everyday and helping out wherever I can.  Coach Cox has been gracious enough to include me and let me help wherever they need me.  This is the first year we have not been allowed to pay our winter coaches so some of our younger coaches haven't been able to come and help out.  Which has been good for me, because I've gotten to fill in the empty spots and I've learned so much.  I just love being with the kids and helping them.  Thank goodness Zack seems to be okay with the whole thing, plus I try to stay as far away form him as I can, unless he engages first.

I've been imagining in my dream life some way for me to become an official coach, instead of just "Zack's mom, who hangs around all the time!" Something like a land coach, or a conditioning coach anything along those lines. I'm already one of the only people who will run with Mike and the kids or Erg with them.  None of the other coaches do that.  I get so invested with the kids and how they are doing, that I can't imagine not seeing them everyday and watching their progress.  I have even considered going through Personal Fitness Trainer certification to make myself more marketable.

It's been challenging to find coaches for the team this year.  As you can imagine there aren't many people, especially the younger coaches, who have jobs that will allow them to be at practice everyday from 4-6pm.  Which leads me to the thrilling, terrifying, exciting, craaaazzy adventure that is ahead of me.  Last week Coach Cox called me… he and Coach Meehan have asked me to come on and join the coaching staff!!!!  I'm sooo excited, and terrified.  I know, I know… the one small catch… I don't know how to row! :o)  What they need most immediately is another person to drive a safety launch along side them so that in cold weather they can take more boats out.  Each coach is allowed to take out 2 boats, at a certain temp, but if I'm there - they can take out 3.  So, I will drive along, learn and start making the jump to coaching.  They have promised they won't put me in a position that would make me or anyone else uncomfortable.  This year I will be a "coach in training."  I've repeatedly given Mike the opportunity to change his mind, but he doesn't seem to want to do that.  Apparently this is a pretty common practice among teams.  When coaching needs get critical, they find a parent or other person who is willing and able to help out and then train them.  There is even a US Rowing Level 1 Coaching Course for people with little or no rowing experience, like parents, teachers or personal trainers. If they have an actual course for that, then it must happen pretty regularly.  I'm waiting for the schedule to come out, so that I can go to that.  I've also done the Occoquan Coaches Safety meeting, CPR and First aid certification, Boat Safety certification and I still have a couple more boxes to check off.  I also plan to try rowing with the adult program this summer and fall, so that I will at least have some idea of what I'm doing.  Whatever I can do, I will do.  The most important thing I need to do right now is learn how to drive a launch boat.  Fortunately, this will be John's responsibility since he is the Boat Driver Trainer!  If anyone can teach me to drive a launch boat, it's John!  I just need the freaking weather to warm up so the ice melts and we can get the boat out on the water!!
This is something I've very excited about and I want to make sure that I do the best job that I possible can.  I don't want to let anyone down, not Mike and John who are putting their trust in me, not the kids and certainly not the team or the program.

Unfortunately, not everyone was as supportive as I had hoped when Mike made the announcement,  but I'm not going to let that get me down or derail me.  The people whose opinions I truly value, Mike and John, my John, the other coaches, close friends all seem very supportive.  The rest I'm going to just try and ignore and prove wrong but doing a great job!

We have a new Rower... It's Official

I don't know how people blog in a timely manner, especially the important stuff!  I mean we have and important event, like Zack's first regatta, and I'm so exhausted at the end of it and for the next 2 days that there's no way I could sit down and form coherent thoughts and then something else happens and before I know it - I'm playing catch up again!  Oh well, it is what it is I guess.

Zack's first regatta was this weekend and it was an unqualified success.  Brenna was able to drive home and spend the regatta and easter with us, so that was a big score.  I was completely nervous - the weather around here has been just awful, cold and windy.  The kids did not get a lot of water time prior to the regatta.  My honest goals for the regatta, have them stay in their lane, nobody fall out of the boat and find the finish line!  Done, Done, Done.   The exciting thing about the crew team this year is that there are enough freshman boys to field two 8's!  There is an A boat and a B boat - I think Zack was a little disappointed that he was in the B boat, but I just told him "you be the best B boat rower they have and work hard and you'll make it to the A boat in no time."  He gets that, and is already talking about what he can do to work harder and be more serious.  I was very proud of his attitude.

It was beautiful day.  The kids rowed over to The Point early and hung out, bonded and got to watch the Varsity boats race.

Before I knew it, it was time for the race!  I think Brenna was more nervous and beside herself than even I was.  She kept saying, "you don't understand - I KNOW what can go wrong!"  I kept telling her to "keep it to herself"  I could imagine enough worst case scenarios on my own!
They had a little trouble (all the boats) lining up and getting ready for the start and then they were off...  One of the other teams racing, had their rudder (called a skag?) break and they actually ended up crossing over and tangling with our A boat!  There was so much drama, that I almost forgot to watch Zack's boat.  The A boat recovered and ended up finishing the race.  Zack's boat actually did really well, they ended up coming in 3rd with no drama and no problems.  I thought it was very exciting and I just couldn't believe that my baby boy was out there rowing in a race.  He was just so awesome, an athlete, a big boy and doing it all on his own.

I felt the same sense of amazement that I did when Brenna raced.  I just can't believe that I birthed something that is capable of getting out there and rowing that 8 down the course.  It is such and amazing sport, so inspiring, impressing and I have to pinch myself that - that's MY kid doing that!

Not only was it a successful race, but they came away with 3rd place ribbons in their first regatta.  Doesn't get much better than that!
Then, the perfect end to the race.  The men's 3rd 8 was down one rower for the row home and the coaches were willing to let Brenna hop in the boat and row home with them.  The catch... we didn't think of it until the boat was already on it's way home in the middle of the river.  That didn't stop my girl, she jumped into a coach's launch...WITH AN OAR.... and climbed into the Men's boat...IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RIVER... and rowed that bad boy home!  She was so thrilled, got a blister and talked about it all night long!  Girl Power!

All in all, an amazing Regatta for all of us.  I can't wait until next weekend...
ROW HARD!