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!

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...