Insider Rowing

So after the LONG drive back to Ohio, I had some additional thoughts about training, rigging, age.

I mentioned previously that our rudder post in the pair snagged on the underside of the stakeboat. This made me think that the Wintech we were using was a bigger boat than we needed (we sat too high in the water) and that the shell was an MW or HW boat. This would have created all sorts of problems for us while racing, and while I certainly can’t blame the shell for our results, it didn’t help. For me this illustrates how important rigging and getting comfortable in the boat is, and how much time it’s worth on the racecourse. If we were comfortable in the boat I think it’s reasonable to say we would have been 5-6 seconds faster, at least, simply because we would have gone straighter and been more horizontal. Okay, moving on.

I occasionally get asked by my non-rowing friends what it’s like to be in training, or even to be just a semi-fit dude, at my age (32). A fair question. I’ve been playing organized sports for over 20 years now and I can honestly say I feel as good or better physically than I was when I was at 22. I weigh 145 presently as opposed to 130 in college, and with the increased weight I’m a little slower on the run, but a much better all around athlete. I haven’t noticed any difference in recovery times, and I’m not prone to injury. One thing I have noticed is that over the years I’ve had a few injuries that still nag: a sprained wrist from snowboarding, an IT band injury from running, a sprained thumb from basketball. Annoying stuff, but not a big deal. I feel very fortunate that I can still train and play sports as well as I have at any point in my life, and I know for certain that if I had the time and inclination I could train and set new personal records. Much of that is genetics. I’m blessed with natural leanness and I have a good set of lungs. If I had to guess, I could probably keep improving for another 5-6 years before age catches up with me.

Also, it was a real treat to be able to train up in Marietta and get to know the rowers up here. All class people. When I was coaching at Florida Tech and UCF it was easy to hate on Marietta because they rivaled us. These are good people and a great crew and I hope to keep in touch with them.