True Oregon fall weather has arrived; cool, damp mornings clearing into dappled sunshine in the afternoon. The leaves have started to turn and our daylight is rapidly disappearing. There have been a number of rain showers blowing through and the river has risen a couple of feet with runoff; more room to practice along with more debris to avoid.

We've had some excellent workouts and some excellent rows the last few days both discovering and addressing challenges. A lot of this revolves around defining the limits of our current fitness and figuring out how far we can go without loosing the ability to accelerate and drive the boat. This pays big dividends as we turn to racing; understanding how deep you can reach within yourself is at the very essence of long-distance training and racing. I spoke to the women's team the last couple of mornings about the beautiful truths that accompany exhaustive efforts, and the great challenge when you reach that point of exhaustion before you reach the finish. A lesson best learned in practice and applied to better pacing over the course of the race.