Pioneer Crew

We've Moved!

2010-01-08T12:16:00.000-08:00

I'm outta here- setting up shop at piocrew.wordpress.com. Why? Some good tracking features, some opportunities for posting from a mobile device (think real-time race results!), slightly cleaner and more comprehensive system.

Don't look for new updates here any more. . . go there.

Smarter then the average bear.

2010-01-06T13:04:00.000-08:00

Grades from Fall 09 are out, and the Pioneer Rowers are a pretty smart bunch.

The women's team averaged a 3.52 GPA, while the men's team came home with a 3.30. We had two athletes (one on each squad) nail the 4.0-- two of only seven student-athletes (out of 321) to pull off that feat. Twelve of our women had over a 3.5 GPA along with three on the men's team. Even better, Pioneer Crew has no athletes on academic warning or probation.

I'm a huge believer that athletics and being part of a team enhances both the experience and the success for our students. The discipline and time management that go along with being part of a team, along with the balance that comes from taking time away from studies on occasion, seems to lead to better grades in the end. The most successful teams I've worked with also seemed to get the best grades. . . so hopefully this year is shaping up to be very good!

2010!

2010-01-04T13:55:00.001-08:00

Back in the office today on the first Monday of 2010; working on rosters, admissions, and prospect visits. We have two weeks left till' classes start, two weeks after that till the start of the spring season. Very much looking forward to getting back to my favorite part of the job: getting out on the river with boats lined up next to each other, racing!

Thoughts on winter fitness.

2009-12-29T13:54:00.001-08:00

Just dropped a quick note to the team with just a couple days left till the new year; thinking out loud, as it were, on what matters when you're trying to get training done in the winter break.

". . .Remember that a huge part of what you're trying to do right now is not get super-fast, but rather to lay down the foundation to build our racing season on. The more fit you are coming in, the more you'll have to draw on when workouts are challenging in the season.

Workouts right now are all about steady, consistent, solid. No one day is important but the accumulation of consistent work builds up over time and makes a tremendous difference. Stroke rates on the erg are low, runs are sustainable, and you should never be gasping for air-- but at the same time you're getting back out there (or inside, as the case may be) day after day. . ."

The hardest thing about training to master, for me, is this consistency-- the ability to set up life, deal with challenges, and otherwise ensure that regardless of other things the training is always there. Maybe only a half hour, maybe not the best workout, maybe not exactly what you wanted-- but its there, and it gets done.

Regardless, Happy New Year from Pioneer Crew!

Spotted

2009-12-14T16:37:00.000-08:00

On the ride into work today, saw two cool things that made me think of our time on the river.

The first was three deer swimming from Ross Island over to the east shore. They spotted me approaching and didn't much like the look of my yellow rain jacket; the trio made a quick 180 and headed back for the Island. I've seen deer on the Island before but never in the water; they move quicker then you might think.

Then got caught up in a bike traffic jam behind a lift of the Hawethorne Bridge for one of the gravel barges we deal with regularly on the river. Fun to stop on a not-so-cold, calm and dry morning and take in the view of the river from the bridge. Also interesting to contemplate how daily life in the city still regularly stops for river traffic.

Had a great conversation today with one of our athletes who's back from her fall abroad trip; at the same time hearing from lots of our athletes that they're getting ready to head home for break. Folks are excited to see family and have some down time; me as well. Probably won't post often again till' January-- have a wonderful holiday season and we'll see you on the other side.

Into Finals

2009-12-08T12:58:00.000-08:00

Today is the penultimate day of classes up at Lewis & Clark; I had a fun breakfast with some of the women's team members this morning and was glad to see many of them were coming back from a workout. With reading period starting Thursday and finals starting on Saturday this is an academically stressful time of year. In my humble professional opinion there is no greater study aid then the quickie erg. I have memories of long days in the library during reading period; three and four hours reading or writing papers. At the end you feel fuzzy headed and mentally locked up.

I used to go straight from the library to the erg room, pull 2x20' or some such, just to open up the mind. I always found these workouts to be great thinking opportunities. Often when I found that a paper wasn't quite right stepping back and working out let me think through the premise or the information and go back to it with renewed focus. For whatever reason the erg was the perfect foil to studying for me; simple, uncomplicated, timeless.

Regardless, best of luck to all our student-athletes with their finals!

2009-12-07T10:01:00.000-08:00

At the Subaru dealership, waiting for the oil change to be finished up before heading up to work. The USRowing convention last week was good; got to reconnect with lots of friends and rivals from around the country and got some good information and ideas. The central point of each presentation is usually a known fact-- there are very few game-changing ideas-- but the good thing is always to get to hear how other folks apply ideas and think about how that idea or concept could work for Lewis & Clark. I don't think any massive changes will be happening this spring but I'll be spending the next couple of weeks thinking about little tweaks we can make to squeeze out a better season.

Women's team breakfast tomorrow to send the team off into finals together and introduce some of the folks who will be rejoining us in spring to the rest of the group-- looking forward to it!

Thanksgiving Workout

2009-11-26T11:46:00.001-08:00

I think ever since I started rowing in high school I've done a Turkey Day workout. Sometimes it was a gym workout, sometimes on the erg, sometimes a hike or a trail run. More recently its been on the bike; today was two hours in the soaking rain. Now that I've dried out and warmed up I'm reminded that one of the reasons I do these workouts is to enjoy the good fortune of being mobile and active. I'm so very thankful to have my health, my family, and the opportunity to work and live in such a great spot.

The workouts are also very good as an appetite stimulant. Looking forward to a grand feast tonight!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Great Quote

2009-11-24T15:54:00.000-08:00

"it's about the process. It doesn't matter what you do tomorrow and it doesn't matter what you did yesterday. It's about today, and making today count. That's especially true in training, but it's the same mentality that I carry into racing. Focus on the task at hand, not on the finish line, or the next part of the race, but what it is that is right there in front of you in the moment."
- Jordan Rapp (professional triathlete)

Bay Area Trip

2009-11-23T10:06:00.000-08:00

Getting back to work slowly this morning. I was in San Francisco last week visiting three distinct and different rowing clubs on a recruiting trip. It's always interesting to make these trips; it's a great opportunity to talk to prospective students for sure but equally fascinating is to look at each club and see how they've adapted to the space around them. How do they use their body of water, their facility, and their resources? Do the coaches work with the challenges they're presented with? Rowing is a sport where we often have to take what comes to us (weather, water, access, etc) and adapt in order to achieve the desired goals. It's always good for me to see how other folks do it and compare and contrast to our systems.

Regardless, I came back with some great conversations with some folks who I hope might be joining us next year as well as some ideas to mull over in the coming weeks as to how we might change a few things at Lewis & Clark for the better. The USRowing convention comes up next week and no doubt there will be more good ideas there.

Good Read

2009-11-17T12:29:00.000-08:00

Came across a blog post by Shannon Rowbury, a 1500m runner who won a bronze medal at the world championships this last summer, much of it on keeping sport (even elite sport) in perspective. My favorite quote:

"In this way, I have come to realize that it's not about the medal at all. Instead, what matters most is the sense of pride in accomplishing a goal I had worked so long towards and the joy of sharing that success with the people that helped me to achieve it."

Regardless of the races you participate in the results mater very little if you don't work for them. A loss can be as rich as a win if it's accomplished through great hardship and you know you gave your all. Similarly, a win earned without struggle is hollow and quickly forgotten.

Check out the full article here.

PacNW Weekend

2009-11-15T17:04:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I feel like I gush about the place I live. So be it. I love it here in Portland, and this weekend was yet another opportunity to talk about why. I started out with a Friday night home swim meet; I'm writing press releases for the swim team this winter and there was great energy in the pool as the Pioneers took home a men's and women's win against Pacific. It was great to watch and to write about, and it was great to see several rowers in the stands to cheer on the swimmers.

Saturday I was up early to join with my cycling team for a great ride; out to Oregon City along River Road (next to the Willamette), up the Clackamas river, and back through the Portland suburbs along some awesome back roads. Cool, crisp air and good company-- much the same as what we do for our Saturday practices in the fall. Back home by 11, yard work and errands, then off to dinner in the Pearl District of Portland with some good friends. The only thing I missed Saturday was seeing Pioneer Football closing their season with a win-- their first conference win since 2003.

Sunday dawned cool & gray, but my wife and I loaded up our car and headed out to the Columbia River Gorge. We did a great hike finishing at Multomah Falls (pictured above). While the falls are always a tourist zoo the hike was quiet and scenic with great views of the gorge through the mist. Forty minutes from our house in the middle of the city there are moments of absolute solitude to be found in the forest.

After the hike we jumped back into the car and drove another ten miles up the gorge to Eagle Creek where we got to watch one of the most amazing things in nature; salmon making their last desperate push to their spawning grounds. Hundreds of fish are in the creek, most in some state of decay, struggling up against the current.

The smell is awful but the sight is amazing. The fish struggle upstream then turn off into side eddies to rest. On the banks those that have already spawned-- or didn't quite make it-- are dead, half eaten. The life cycle of the salmon is at the very center of Pacific Northwest culture and some studies say it is the bodies of salmon that fertilize the dense lush forest that line the rivers and streams of the northwest.

Why write about all this? Because this could have just as easily been a day in the life of a Lewis & Clark student. All of these activities are accessible easily from Lewis & Clark; obviously the sporting events are on campus, the ride I did is one you could easily do from school (or you could substitute practice!), the Pearl can be reached on the Pioneer Express. Even the gorge is only a short drive if you have a friend with a car, or you could go along on one of many college outdoors trips that happen every weekend. I love Portland because all this is right out my door, and every weekend is an opportunity for a new adventure.

Gorgeous Fall Day

2009-11-10T11:32:00.000-08:00

There's nothing like the Pacific Northwest sunbreak after a week or so of rain; it's wonderful outside right now with all the roads drying out and everyone walking around with their heads turned up towards the light. I spent the morning moving launches into their winter storage; very happy to be doing so in the daylight rather then in the rain!

Been having good conversations with recruits the last week or so. One of the main points I'm trying to get across to folks right now is the opportunities available at Lewis & Clark; athletic, academic, and exploration wise. When compared to other rowing programs I hope we offer a more complete educational environment that encourages excellence and experience in all facets of life. To me the point is not to participate in rowing so that it takes over your life, but rather to have it enrich and expand your world.

The goal is to graduate folks after four years with a great education, excellent experiences from around the world, and hopefully their most meaningful challenges and triumphs having taken place on the river in the presence of their best friends.

The Best Part. . .

2009-11-05T16:23:00.000-08:00

. . . about regular training is clearly the ability to consume more then the average amount of cheese. Having gone for a nice long ride, I rewarded myself with one of my favorites.

Regardless. It's been good for me to start to get back into a good training rhythm, and I'm hearing that echoed from both the men's and women's teams. Sounds like we've got some solid groups forming right now and folks are taking their fitness into their own hands. I have lots of good memories of winters in the erg room during my college rowing career, and I think our athletes are building some of those memories as well.

Wet roads, good company

2009-10-29T13:06:00.000-07:00

Solid fall weather up on Palatine Hill today; wet fog, misting rain, wet roads all the way up on the ride to work today. I debuted my new, longer ride-- my old route was 40-44 minutes, depending on traffic lights. I've been wanting a slightly longer workout, so I plotted a new route and tested it today- sixty minutes on the nose, with less time spent sitting at lights, and a nice stretch along the river to keep me in touch with the water as we close up shop for winter.

Before the ride I met with most of the women's team for a winter training breakfast and distributed our recommendations for a solid winter program. This is Division III-- we cannot require anyone to train outside of our playing & practice season. There are downsides to this, most notably the lack of contact between coaches and the team (sad!). But the upside is the great educational opportunity for our athletes to develop their own work ethic and knowledge of training over the course of the next three months. I've done my best to provide the team with all the tools they need; now it's up to them to run with it. I was very encouraged today by how many small training groups were forming within the team; we also had a report that the whole men's team was at it in the weight room this morning. Good company makes consistent training easy.

Next task: clean up and prepare the erg room for the winter season!

Portland Fall Classic

2009-10-26T12:29:00.000-07:00

I had a great time at the Fall Classic on Sunday; Station L Rowing Club and Rose City Rowing Club ran a fantastic event. We provided three launches and ran the start marshal area; the best part was being able to stay on shore with the athletes for the duration of the event and ride my bike down the Springwater Corridor, following the races from the start to about halfway down. I took plenty of photos but they didn't really turn out, so I'll direct you instead to Row2k's excellent gallery.

Our crews rowed well, which was the primary goal for the event. The men's team choose to boat up a fast four as their priority boat and raced to within eleven seconds of Oregon State's top four freshman- a solid performance. Our women's team took on the open eight and faced up to some very quick competition, but we succeeded in our goal to stay composed, stay long (rate ~26 throughout), and maintain our technique. Maybe not the absolute fastest piece we could have rowed but we 100% succeeded in capitalizing on the learning we've done this fall and set ourselves up for a great start to spring season.

The athletic department write up is here.

And now fall's done, and I woke up this morning with a huge rainstorm to announce the start of winter. Time to spend some days in the office, clean up the erg room and fix up all our ergs, and meet with folks Thursday at breakfast to talk about winter training.

I'll be posting less frequently for the next month or two, but will try to keep the updates coming 1-2 days per week.

Pioneep Novice Women

2009-10-23T19:52:00.000-07:00

Photos from novice practice today; one of our novice women's mothers was out and proved rather talented with the camera. We did some nice racing pieces vs the novice men's four, but somehow she only got pictures of the women's eight.

Keep Portland Weird

2009-10-22T20:28:00.000-07:00

Offered without comment, from the northern end of Ross Island, photo taken around five today.

Time for Class

2009-10-22T15:09:00.000-07:00

Having a cup of coffee at home, just back from the office and some productive recruiting e-mailing with prospects. With the November 1st early action deadline coming up it's time time of year when I like to make solid connections with folks and try to help them communicate their strengths to the school as best I can. If there are any of you out there we haven't talked to in a while please do drop us a line and let us know what's up in your world.

Next on my schedule is the sculling class this afternoon; the above picture is from Tuesday. We've had some interruptions in the class (wind, fall break, and illness) but are back on track this week and looking forward to some good rowing. I've enjoyed working with this group-- in particular teaching one of our men's team coxswains how to row. Sculling is a great vehicle for getting smaller folks into the sport; it's more balanced and much easier for them to match, and the overall load on the body is much less. All good things.

Portland Fall Classic coming up Sunday, and with it the end of our fall season. I'll do my best to be an excellent journalist for the event.

Scrimmaging

2009-10-19T12:13:00.001-07:00

Looking forward to Saturday we were confronted with an epic forecast; some of the projections called for up to an inch of rain between 3 AM and 6 PM. We girded ourselves, packed extra rain gear, loaded the trailer and drove to Tacoma regardless. Sure enough, as soon as we arrived the skies opened and we rigged our boats in a torrential downpour.

Luckily, the rain did not last as long nor prove as bad as forecast. After about thirty minutes things largely cleared up and we proceeded with the day. Puget Sound hosted and we proceeded to race three flights of competitive pieces; roughly 2 x 1500 meters for each grouping. It was a very nice day out on the lake.

Some of our boats did very well, some were certainly challenged. Most importantly for the nature of the event, everyone learned a great deal about what we need to do to race well against those that are some of our chief competitors come spring season. Our novices had an excellent day and were very excited to get some solid racing done.

Back to work this week with the Portland Fall Classic on tap for Sunday. Just six rowing days left in the fall season!

2009-10-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

Bonus Movie! Getting ready to head over to novice practice this afternoon; final "race" preparations for our fall DIII scrimmage up at Puget Sound tomorrow. Here's thirty seconds from this morning; the sunrise as we docked was unreal. Do I sound like a broken record? Maybe, but it's worth it-- wish I'd had my camera.

Sunrise 10-16 from Sam Taylor on Vimeo.

Why Sport?

2009-10-16T11:46:00.001-07:00

Great short video of Simon Whitfield, a two-time olympic medalist triathlete, talking about why sport matters. One thing I tell folks a lot is that whatever your passion is in life, it's the pursuit of doing that thing very well that makes it worthwhile. For me it's coaching, for our athletes it's rowing. When everyone is ambitious it's very easy to get fired up and put a great deal of yourself into the process.

Off the Mic

2009-10-14T19:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the time between posts-- I've (personally) been rather busy and while I keep thinking up good topics to blog about, by the time I get to the office or home from practice things pop up. A lame excuse, one I'd probably hassle our athletes about.

Good row with the novices this afternoon. We worked hard on exploring the limits of what "HARD" is-- tapping into the sense of how much a person can put into ten strokes. This was preceded by a lot of work on front end, posture, and connection. The risk of asking someone to go very, very hard is that they'll try to take the load without connecting on the feet-- if that happens back pain results. By focusing on the posture first and making sure they locked the catches in well, we ensured that the power transmitted through to the water instead and saw some great run in the boat as a result.

More to follow. Last two weeks of fall are upon us, and racing is near at hand.

Awesome Morning

2009-10-08T11:07:00.000-07:00

Great water, great weather, great rowing and racing this morning. Rather then blather on about it I'll just let the pictures do the talking. Great way to go into three days off for Fall Break!

Fall Break Practice 10-8 from Sam Taylor on Vimeo.

Sunrise

2009-10-07T08:22:00.000-07:00

First off, our varsity men got their picture up on Row2k as photo of the day-- very cool.

Second, a (somewhat shaky) shot from practice this morning:

I was talking with a novice rower who'd just swapped out of the eight above. She mentioned that in the last couple days she'd seen the sunrise more then she had in the last few years. The Willamette at dawn is incredible-- flat water, sky aglow, hills lit up in the background. It never ceases to amaze me.

Best of Breed

2009-10-04T15:15:00.001-07:00

I'm writing from the Las Vegas Airport, not my favorite place in the world, on my way back from the annual WIRA coaches meeting. We had a very productive meeting today getting our diverse association set up to ensure the high quality of the regatta continues into future years.

More fun even then that was the Head of the Dog regatta held yesterday. As mentioned in a prior post, this event has two themes-- the racing, and the contest for the coveted Best of Breed trophy. While we wanted our athletes to put forth strong efforts on the racecourse we also challenged them to make the most of the opportunity to put their creativity to good use.

One of the women's doubles dressed up as Peruvian Banditos (I think I got that right).

Another dressed up as trees, and got an honorable mention at the awards ceremony. This picture really doesn't do justice to the amount of ivy on the boat.

The tour de force, however, came from our men's four entry. These guys showed up at six AM, after several days of preparation, and spent two hours doing construction on the beach. The theme was Apocalypse Now, and most specifically creating a Vietnam-era Huey helicopter on the water.

The creation was substantial and encompassed all senses-- aside from the visual, they also piped Ride of the Valkyries through the cox-box, and set off smoke with about 500 meters to go. It was a full-force effort and they were rewarded justly with the ever-epic Best of Breed.

Tradition has it that the winning boat takes the trophy home and has the responsibility to add to it some memory of their prize then return the next year to judge and award the prize. This one is going to look good in the trophy case.

2009-10-02T11:55:00.000-07:00

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.

Turning the Stake

2009-09-29T11:27:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time the stake race was a staple of American rowing. Local professional rowers entered these races, there was extensive betting, and the sport was as shady and dirty as underground boxing is today. A stake race is started and finished from the same location. Crews race out to a turnaround (the Stake) and then back to where they started from. The turn is of paramount importance in executing a good race.

This weekend we've got several entries in the Head of the Dog (HotDog), a local stake race. There's two prizes at stake (pun entirely intended). First, we want our athletes to have a good head race piece and perform well against the mixed competition made up of masters, juniors, and open entries. To that end we practiced our turns this morning, working on the watermanship required to rapidly reverse direction around the stake. Skills like this increase confidence in boat handling and help crews develop cohesion in how they move together. I'm a great believer in athletes having a well-rounded set of skills and growing past just rowing fast in a straight line.

The second prize is "Best of Breed". Awarded each year by the previous year's winners, the best of breed prize goes to the crew (not individual!) with the best costume. I've been warning our athletes not to take this competition lightly; it's a major prize in the local rowing community and many take it very seriously. I'll have the camera out Saturday and expect some high-quality entertainment.

Wolf Pack vs. the Herd

2009-09-25T13:56:00.001-07:00

I had a good conversation with a couple of parents who came to ride in the launch this morning and watch their daughter row; great to have an audience and it's always fun to show off what we're up to. They had just dropped their other daughter off at a large school where she's joining the crew as well; we talked about the differences between small and large programs and how the development of the team proceeds at each.

We're a small team. Truth. This will likely always be the case-- I can see a day when we have about three eights of women and two of men, but I don't anticipate seven or eight. This is neither good nor bad, it simply IS. The truth is you have to choose what you do and play to your strengths. For our program, we focus intensively on development of every athlete both physically and technically. Since we don't have the waiting sea of bodies, we need to get more out of those we have and ensure each and every athlete contributes fully to the speed of our team.

The men used the analogy of the wolf pack last year. A pack of wolves relies tightly on each other, and on their endless endurance, to wear down the herd of deer. Over a short sprint, they'll never win. But in the long run they'll wear their prey down. Rowing is an endurance race. We may not have raw power off the start, but with excellent fitness and perfect technique, we'll wear the opposition down and be there at the end of the race to put our bow in front.

Quote of the Day

2009-09-24T20:58:00.000-07:00

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.
-Odysseus.

Tuesday Sculling

2009-09-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

Sculling; AM Practice 9.22 from Sam Taylor on Vimeo.

10.4k in a quad & double this AM; wonderful flat water and we got waked exactly once; a great morning to be rowing in Portland. We're continuing to work on teaching some of our folks to scull and developing the skills of those who are already comfortable with that side of the sport. A lot of the confidence with sculling comes from finding connection on the smaller blades; once you do the feel is of a strong connection that hangs directly through the fingers. A very good skill to transfer back into the sweep boat.

Saturday Photo Blog

2009-09-19T12:24:00.001-07:00

Our first Saturday practice of the 09-10 season is in the bag, and I thought I'd let the pictures tell the story. This was our first full-team practice, with novice, varsity, men and women all at the boathouse in one big group.

We started out with some hill running to get us going; we divided the group into four heats and ran an Olympic-style FISA progression; heats, repechage, semifinals, and finally A, B, C, and D finals. By the end we'd sorted out the group's speed very well and there was some good racing up the hill.

The eventual winner- looking over his shoulder after getting off to a false start and being called back.

Then out on the water. We had some recent alums join us for the row today and took out bunches of boats. Some of the folks in these boats have been rowing for six or seven years, others have been on the water just five or six days.

The two women's eights did some leapfrog to start out, then we did a couple of one minute racing pieces.

Every year I'm blown away by the ability of new people to pick up on good rowing quickly when surrounded by experienced athletes. It was great to see our experienced rowers teaching the novice and embracing the concept of a full varsity team.

Once racing was over we docked and put everything away. Except one boat; the Charlie Brown '85, the Pocock four we purchased last year, had never been christened in her first season. We were overdue. Three of Charlie's former friends and athletes local to the Portland area came out to help us out; they spoke eloquently about Charlie's legacy, his honor and integrity, and his ability to inspire any athlete to achieve great things. All values we hope to continue with in our program today.

Thanks to Peter Edwards, Morgan Beller, and Paul Vanderwal for joining us to honor their teammate, coach, and friend for his endless contributions to our program. And also thanks to Xan, Meghann, Max, Amanda, Dave, and Gabe for coming out and joining us for a row-- it was great to see some of the old crowd back down at the boathouse.

A great practice and a great day. Rain has returned to Portland and it's time to enjoy a cool, damp Saturday in the fall.

News from the Trenches

2009-09-17T08:44:00.000-07:00

Getting into the swing of things now, establishing my rhythm alternating between practices. Mornings with the varsity, afternoons with the novice, morning with the varsity, afternoon with the sculling class, repeat. Waking up is easier, less coffee needed, and the rowing is coming along very nicely.

Today I took the experienced women out all in sculling boats; except for one athlete they all had prior experience. We were able to make some very good progress and soon we'll have them out in doubles frequently-- I foresee a couple mornings a week in doubles, working both sculling skills but more importantly the boat feel and direct drive application that sculling offers.

Yesterday the novice had a very fun day-- cooler, the river traffic was down, windy, so there was some excitement and challenge to stay organized, and more importantly progress; the rowing is getting to the point where we can try to row full boat for short periods of time and that always makes things more exciting. We had a four out that did a great job of teaching themselves how to row together; after a couple of failed attempts to find synchronization they stopped, talked among themselves, and figured out a rhythm. It was cool to back off and watch them teach each other.

Big team practice planned for Saturday-- stay tuned!

Eh?

2009-09-16T13:09:00.000-07:00

Two days ago, when I logged in, my counter was at ~5500, about where I left it the day before.

Yesterday we hit 12,000 views.

Can anyone give me any explanation of that one? If you're a most welcome new viewer, from whence did you arrive?

Day One

2009-09-15T15:16:00.001-07:00

First practice this morning, and I'd forgotten how much the coffee is needed to get through the transition week. Going from a 7:30 wakeup to a 5:15, and tomorrow to 4:40, has its challenges. I'm working on my 4th cup of the day to get ready for the sculling class this afternoon.

The women had a good first erg workout today, and it was great fun to introduce the novice and experienced athletes for the first time. I see some serious potential in the group and there's an undercurrent of both excitement and nervousness about what this sport holds for folks-- that's a good thing! Word has it that the men had an excellent row as well with awesome water to start the year.

Excellent talk after practice, highlighting how individual contributions create great team dynamics. I also spoke to the team about the importance of taking care of all the little things-- being on time, sharing the load, staying on top of academics and rest-- so we can have excellent focus when we have time together as a team.

Final point; I brought out one of my favorite quotes when talking to the women about goals and how to achieve them. Yoda said it best:

2009-09-14T19:26:00.000-07:00

A friend of the program just moved into a riverside apartment on the 15th floor of one of the South Waterfront buildings. A perfect vantage point to get this shot of one of our beginning rowing eights and me in the new wakeless launch this afternoon. Way cool.

Boat Feel

2009-09-14T13:40:00.000-07:00

On the eve of our first team practices (women will be on the ergs at 6 AM tomorrow, men headed for the water first thing) I remembered this video of the British lightweight double that won gold in Beijing. They've got great feel for the boat and I hope we can work to create something similar with our athletes. Looking forward to getting started tomorrow; most of all to introducing the novice and experienced athletes and creating this year's foundation for a strong rowing community here at Lewis & Clark.

Much Rowing

2009-09-11T20:19:00.000-07:00

Wow, another week done and almost no media to show for it. Each day I go to the boathouse and mean to take pictures or video to show off what we're doing but each practice has been so busy, fun, and fast paced that the thought has completely cleared my mind. With the start of our official team practices next week I'll look to do better.

The beginning rowing class has been on the water both Wednesday and Friday now; good rows both days with lots of excitement. Especially today, as 90 degree plus weather and what was probably the last hot Friday of this fall made for some. . . well, let's just say bouncy river conditions. I think folks handled it well and despite the challenge we're seeing some great potential among the class. Many of these folks are pursuing the opportunity of joining our team and I'm looking forward to showing them the competitive side of the sport!

The sculling class went out Thursday for flip tests; I REALLY wanted to take video of this but promised I wouldn't. I can assure you all it was entertaining, but more importantly it's an great confidence building step on the way to being comfortable in small boats. By not being afraid of the eventuality of flipping, athletes are able to focus more completely on their rowing and achieve a greater level of skill.

Looking forward to a glorious September Portland weekend; some good bike rides and social events planned and then straight into our team practices and the true kickoff of the Pioneer Crew 2009-2010 season!

2009-09-09T08:44:00.000-07:00

The first rowing of the 2009-10 school year; out in a quad getting to know our intermediate sculling class. Our beginning rowing group hits the water this afternoon; this is always an exciting, hectic, and a little bit wild day. As I've been telling people, we're going to push you off the dock, then spend about an hour teaching you to row well enough to get back on time. It's lots of fun every year!

Pio Fair to Rowing Day 1

2009-09-08T09:35:00.001-07:00

Been a little while since the last post-- last week was spent pretty frantically, trying to stay ahead of everything that needed doing. I feel mostly caught up now but that's only after a very restful Labor Day weekend that came just at the right time.

Ending last week we participated in the full on Pio Fair, now in its 4th year at Lewis & Clark. All of the sports were asked to come up with a fun activity that everyone could participate in. So we figured, what's more fun then racing 100 meters all out on an erg?

Everyone was invited to come sit down next to a current rower and race the hundred all out. Beat a current rower, win a t-shirt, and maybe get talked to just a bit about the opportunities available in rowing.

I think most everyone had a good time.

Today is rowing day one-- the first day out on the water for the fall semester. The Beginning Rowing course is headed out today; we'll look to do some pretty easy rowing in the quad to start things off, just getting a feel for people's experience.

September 1st Roundup

2009-09-01T13:25:00.000-07:00

Busy busy busy. . . suddenly the campus is hopping and there's lots to do.

-> HUGE PROPS to Abby Broughton, newly crowned bronze medalist in the lightweight women's quad at the 2009 World Championships. This is a Lewis & Clark first-- Abby is the first graduate to win a medal at a world championships. It's also auspicious to note that Abby started rowing at this very school!

--> That's auspicious because we spent the afternoon yesterday hanging out on campus and recruiting freshman! Had some great conversations and then kicked things off with day one of our beginning rowing class; a fun group that's likely to grow, evolve, and develop into a strong part of our team and rowing community. We obviously look to get a lot of these folks into a racing role on our squad, but a big part of the fun is also reaching out with the sport and drawing non-competitive folks into the rowing world.

---> September 1st marks the first day of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance bike commute challenge; Lewis & Clark has finished well in the past. Last year I missed one day for a 96-0dd percent commute rate; this year the goal is to ride every day in September.

----> Continuing to see returning athletes, talk about where we're going, and get fired up for on-the-water fun starting next week with the classes and the week after with the team.

Go Abby!

2009-08-27T14:21:00.001-07:00

Lewis & Clark 2005 Alum Abby Broughton, stroking the US National Team lightweight quad, made the life magazine photo website. . . cool! Best of luck to her at Worlds.

Had a great time today putting our new wakeless launch in the water and taking it for it's first drive; also an excellent time talking to lots of folks interested in novice rowing this fall. Great crowd & I'm getting really fired up to get started.

2009-08-26T20:52:00.001-07:00

Good rowing is beautiful to watch. . .

The Lowe is Dead. Long Live the Lowe.

2009-08-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

The Lowe is the launch pictured above, driven by her most recent faithful attendant, our ever-patient volenteer coach Jim, who for the last two years has bailed out the gallons of water that leaked in before practice every morning.

She was purchased March 22nd, 1991 with the help of a grant from the Beaver Crew Association.**

She was used (abused) faithfully by Lewis & Clark Crew for 18 years.

Traded in today for a value of $100 (One Hundred) for the trailer and $0 (Zero) for the boat, bound for the recycling yard.

Let us all stand and salute a life well lived.

On a more outstanding note-- the freshman have arrived and campus is hopping! I know among the crowd exist future standouts and stalwart teammates, waiting to discover the sport. I'm excited to meet them and very excited to get out on the water!

**- Bonus content after receiving the following from Peter, L&C Alum, coach, and general all around supporter of our program for many years;

"I remember when Charlie Brown first drove the new Lowe downriver to the old boathouse after launching it at Willamette Park. Our previous launches had 9.9 and 15hp motors.

He left the thing at full throttle, until he almost hit the dock, and Charlie had that wide toothy, cheesy grin going, which is the expression I most like to remember. . ."

Peter

Week One

2009-08-24T08:25:00.000-07:00

Are folks getting tired of these sunrise photos from the river? You can tell me. I won't mind. Personally I'm pretty blown away every time; I feel amazingly lucky to get to spend my mornings taking in scenes like this one.

Big week coming up-- the Freshman arrive Wednesday, those that aren't already on campus for fall sports or out doing Breakaway Adventures. I'm getting geared up to meet all these folks and more importantly to work on enticing them to get fired up about rowing. I also saw several of our returning athletes last week, getting me equally fired up about getting out on the water with those guys.

Although classes don't start until next Monday this is the first week of fall to me. Another cycle begins.

Use the Difficulty

2009-08-19T08:05:00.000-07:00

Great quote from a non-rowing source;

“I was rehearsing a play, and there was a scene that went on before me, then I had to come in the door. They rehearsed the scene, and one of the actors had thrown a chair at the other one. It landed right in front of the door where I came in. I opened the door and then rather lamely, I said to the producer who was sitting out in the stalls, “Well, look, I can’t get in. There’s a chair in my way.” He said, “Well, use the difficulty.” So I said “What do you mean, use the difficulty?” He said “Well, if it’s a drama, pick it up and smash it. If it’s a comedy, fall over it.” This was a line for me for life: Always use the difficulty.”

Michael Caine, interviewed by NPR’s Terry Gross, from her book All I did was ask

This applies so much to what we do; difficulties abound in every situation. People get sick or injured, weather is bad, equipment gets broken. It's about management to reduce the difficulties but it's also about recognizing the opportunities to challenge ourselves and stretch beyond what we think is possible.

Confronting and managing adveristy on a daily basis is tremendous preparation for race days where it's very rare for everything to go exactly to plan.

2009-08-18T14:23:00.000-07:00

A brief public service announcement to all of our current and future rowers.

When it comes to the requisite paperwork (physical, van clearance, NCAA forms, whatnot) we need to get done, PLEASE just do it. Trust me when I say I know it's a pain, hassle, whatnot. Believe me even more when I say I think I hate it more then you do. I'd very much like to get it all done so we can get back to things like the post below this one.

Now back to your regular scheduled programing.

River Dawn

2009-08-17T07:56:00.000-07:00

One of the best parts about coaching is getting to be out on the river as the sun rises in the morning. Here's three shots from this morning's practice with the Lake Oswego Masters.

Mending holes in boats.

2009-08-14T11:26:00.000-07:00

Just got back from the boathouse. The original hole-- referenced a couple posts back-- is now mostly patched. The repair process proceeds in a few steps.

First we identified a crack in the hull of the boat. Where did it come from? Who knows-- we hit a log, or it's a stress crack from trailering, or the athletes hit the boat carrying it, or whatnot. Things happen and boats get broken.

You don't want to patch over the skin of the boat, so the first step is to take a Dremel and grind away the top layer; this produced the hole. What you see below that is the honeycomb core of the boat. Then we take a piece of carbon fiber, lay it over the hole, and wet it out thoroughly with epoxy resin. This hardens overnight and ties the two sides of the crack together. Here's what it looked like when I got to the boathouse this morning.

I went after it with the sander and knocked everything down to reasonably level. It's very difficult to get the carbon truly flush with the hull so we need one more layer to fair out the surface-- bondo works very well for this.

We slop the stuff on heavy; you can always take it off later. After this hardens overnight I'll be back on Monday to sand it down to a smooth surface. After patching the four I was working on I hit the Hudson pair hard with the sander, smoothing down a variety of patches we made yesterday.

Once the bondo is smooth the boat is ready to row but looks aweful; we'll use rubbing compound to clean and smooth the hull and then paint once we've got a warm day. In the end this process yeilds a fix almost as good as new (strucuturally just as strong, maybe just a bit heavier).

There's a lot of satisfaction to making a broken boat whole. Thanks go to Lincoln who's done a lot of the work so far this summer and helped me improve my skills quite a bit.

2009-08-14T08:53:00.001-07:00

Good blogpost by our basketball coach, Juli Fulks, on why everyone loves Portland. . .

And so we do.

Holes in Boats

2009-08-13T16:27:00.001-07:00

We've been making them.

Got to get down to the core before it can be fixed.

Establishing a Technical Model

2009-08-12T12:30:00.000-07:00

I've been searching for a basic technical model to show athletes as we start the fall season-- a "row like this" sort of thing. I think the above works pretty well for this purpose. I like the basic, easy flow of this stroke, as well as the strong hang in the first half of the drive. There's nothing rushed or complex about good rowing; each stroke flows effortlessly into the next.

Thoughts roundup Wednesday

2009-08-12T11:26:00.001-07:00

Good post this morning on Vern Gambetta's blog-- he's an athletic development coach and author who's thinking often meshes with mine. Check it out.

I attended a wedding this weekend for an athlete I coached from raw novice up through four years of highly successful college rowing. As I caught up with her and with all her teammates from those years I reflected on how often their efforts inspired me to give better efforts as a coach. The best teams have that synergy of trust-- the coach trusting in the athletes desire to improve while the athletes trust in the coaches desire to help them succeed.

After a couple of years of staying away I finally gave into Facebook. As of now, I'm not "freinding" current athletes. Why? Mostly to keep a sense of professional distance, I think. That said, it's been a lot of fun catching up with alumni and old freinds, which I think is the main point of the service.

We had the Division of Student Life retreat downtown yesterday. While it put me a little behind on work I was greatful to meet many of the other staff members who contriubte to the student expereince here at Lewis & Clark and to consider ways to enhance what we do by working with all of them.

It rained this morning while I was coaching at Lake Oswego. . . I'd forgotten what that was like.

2009-08-07T07:48:00.000-07:00

Nice practice this morning with the Lake Oswego masters group. It was a study in contrast with two boats out-- an eight and a single. I captured a few shots of the fantastic water with my new camera.

With the single everything I worked on involved slowing down, working the basic sensitivity of balance and the finer points of bladework. Because the single is such a responsive boat the main challenge is to get the sculler to take a risk-- challenge themselves to be a little longer, a little sharper even if it's a little more unstable.

With the eight the work was all focused on connection and creating a dynamic acceleration through the drive. In the eight the sensations each rower feels are more muted. By using drills such as feet out and pair add in I tried to give each athlete the sense of the effect they were having on the run of the boat. We made some breakthroughs today and the balance and run was much improved at the end of the day.

Wisdom from Alumni

2009-08-05T08:01:00.000-07:00

The athletic department is working to set up some profiles of alumni student-athletes, a "where are they now" kind of effort. Our own Lucinda Boyce (3-seat in the 2006 conference champion WV4 above) made the cut and had the following words of wisdom for current student-athletes:

"Play a sport. Even if you're terrible. Get on a team, there is nothing like it in life and you're missing out if you're not a part of something like it. And, pick a major you think you know nothing about, take a few classes, get to know the teachers, and see what hooks."

I also especially liked this quote from former track athlete Kirk Reynolds:

"Devote more time to your athletics. At a place like L&C, you will always have academics as your top priority, as it should be. The challenge is to make athletics be co-curricular with your studies rather than extra-curricular. It is possible to do both equally well. Most Division-III athletes use academics as a cop-out excuse to avoid achieving all they can in their athletic realm. Have courage, and do both well."

Environmental Editorial

2009-07-28T17:14:00.000-07:00

So this isn't related to rowing directly, but. . .

I was reading this, specifically this line: "Other likely effects include increases in the intensity of extreme weather events". . .

Thinking about this last winter.

And now feeling the effects of this.

So are these unusual or extreme weather events related to "global climate change"? I don't know, and I'm certainly not qualified to make that judgment.

I do know it's REALLY hot.

Morning on the River

2009-07-17T08:49:00.001-07:00

Hot days in Portland mean perfect mornings on the river. The day before I head out for a week-long vacation the water was awesome and the temperature just right. Summer rowing at its best.

Teaching and Learning

2009-07-13T14:18:00.001-07:00

I've started heading out with the Lake Oswego masters program three days a week, filling in while they go through a coaching transition. It's been nice to be back on the river again, if challenging to pull myself out of bed. My favorite part is simply getting back to teaching the stroke; how to place the blade, how to set the body, developing connection through the lats, the rhythm created by run. They're a long way from their next race and we're able to slow down and make each session varied and hopefully help them develop better skills for their fall season.

Meanwhile I had a learning experience myself this weekend. On the bike I did a race I had hoped to do well at and quite frankly bombed; it was a frustrating and disappointing performance. Looking back on the training I've been doing the last few weeks it became easy to see why. I've been racing often and recovering often, but neglecting the all-important development of the aerobic base. You can never do to much base work, you can never have too big of an engine-- and when you leave it alone your fitness plateaus rapidly and results suffer.

This is something to remember for next spring as well. It's always tempting to bang out more 500's at a racing cadence in the spring, but it's vastly important not to neglect the aerobic base.

So for me it's back in the launch, teaching, and back on the bike, learning again to put in the long miles and rebuild my base for cross racing this fall.

2009-07-01T15:46:00.000-07:00

As the mercury creeps towards 90 on the first day of July in Portland I wanted to give a shout out to two of our women's team alumni from the class of 2005 (05' Women's Varsity shown above).

Abby Broughton (two seat) continues to tear it up on the national rowing scene; she won a gold in the women's lightweight quad and silver in the women's lightweight double at the USRowing National Championships that finished up this past weekend. Read all about it.

And in the coaching ranks, Becca Carlton (stroke) was just named assistant coach at the University of Minnesota. Becca has some solid coaching chops already and I expect we'll see great things out of her in the future.

Congrats to both!

30 Years.

2009-06-25T18:53:00.001-07:00

Frenchwoman Jeannie Longo first won a national cycling title 30 years ago.

Why is that important?

Because today she won her 56th title at the age of fifty.

I had the fortune of watching Longo race at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic last year. She's an inspiration to anyone who hopes to remain fit regardless of age, to be competitive regardless of the numbers of years that have passed. I'm in awe.

Grip

2009-06-24T10:13:00.000-07:00

Went for another nice row with Max this morning-- a perfect way to start the day. About 65 degrees, sunny, very little wind, just pushing the boat along. It's been a long time since I rowed on even a semi-regular schedule. I'm realizing it's healthy to reconnect with my own skills in the sport as a basis for how to talk to the team about their rowing.

Today I was playing a bit with my grip on the blade. A strong hang on the drive and a light, easy carry up the recovery is the hallmark of good grip. I started to get several strokes again today where I could feel the water touch the blade on the recovery but had no disturbance in the run; good stuff. I still need to do quite a bit to get the finish cleaned up; not the best part of my stroke right now.

Were I coaching myself, I'd say: "Self, you have excellent connection on the front end. However, you're lifting water as you turn the blade a little early during the extraction. Concentrate on holding the release against the footboard and pushing the blade out of the water square."

So that's what I'll work on next time.

Quote of the Day

2009-06-18T14:42:00.000-07:00

"The goal in the end is to row fast, which does not necessarily mean nice."
- Hartmut Buschbacher, US National Team Coach 1995

Guest Coaching

2009-06-18T08:04:00.000-07:00

Tuesday and Thursday this week I took on a guest coach role for the Station L rowing club masters men. Peter, their coach, is a past L&C coach and alum and good friend of our program; it was a pleasure to fill in while he was out of town.

The role of guest coach is always interesting. You have two days to work with an established group and try to help them reach their goals in a short time. For these guys in particular the masters regional championships is just a week away; minor technical changes probably are not the answer to helping them find more speed. Instead I worked with them a bit on their competition psychology and how to approach their racing.

Today they did some pieces against the masters women from the same club. One of the primary things we worked on was relating to the fastest crews-- making the choice not just to race the crew closest to you, but to race the crew that is pushing for the lead. I think they made some solid strides with that concept and I got to watch some fun racing. Good times all around.

On another note, on Tuesday we launched with the downtown seawall looking the same as it usually does. By the time we had returned, this guy had shown up. Not something we normally see in downtown Portland. I can testify from up-close examination that this ship is LARGE.

Nifty. . .

2009-06-12T10:20:00.001-07:00

I actually went for a row this morning; Max & I took out one of the Lewis & Clark doubles and did a short spin up behind the Island and back. It's been a while since I was out in a boat and it was nice to be out there; now everything is sore and lots of new (old?) muscles got recruited.

I was playing around during the row with this;

That's right-- a speedcoach app for the iPhone. With the phone safe it a waterproof case, we got strokerate, splits, and distance for the whole practice. Very nifty. My understanding is that there's going to be an update soon for a 'coach mode' which will be handy for running practice from the launch. I'm stoaked.

Check out the map from our row today!

My geekdom knows no bounds.

A Fit of Tidy

2009-06-10T16:06:00.001-07:00

I read a story once about the captain of a large merchant ship. This captain used to let paperwork pile up on his desk until the ship hit a large enough wave. At that point all the papers would slide onto the floor, and he knew it was time to deal with them. As he picked up the floor, he'd deal with each issue. What he found was that if the ship went long enough without encountering major weather he could safely throw most of the paperwork away.

I come from a similar school of thought. Today was my version of rough weather: when I got to the office it had, at some point in the night, passed beyond my acceptable level of clean. I spent a semi-frenzied hour tidying up; what emerged feels much more comfortable and I identified several new (old?) projects in the process.

One thing I think I'm going to move forward on is a paper-free recruiting scheme. Resolution to self: from here on out all contacts with perspective rowers are going to be via web, e-mail, and phone. Why? The amount of postage, paper, and effort saved over the course of multiple years is huge. I couldn't believe how many envelopes, boxes of letterhead, extra letters, and old fliers I dealt with today. I trust current high school students are savvy enough to get information from us electronically.

Fun in Large Format

2009-05-27T16:25:00.000-07:00

Took advantage of the media lab today to print out a truly enormous picture for our photo board in the hall today; the river shot you see above measures 41" tall by. . . something more then that. Trying to get some of our 'rowing art' up instead of the usual stuff. Not quite sure what I think yet, but I can tell you for sure it looks better in person then via iPhone.

2009-05-26T12:20:00.000-07:00

Our trailer is famous. . .

We wish it luck out there.

Going to NCAAs!

2009-05-22T10:01:00.001-07:00

What?

No, not the team. Not even me as a spectator, although it should be some excellent racing this year. Lewis & Clark will be represented, however, in the form of our shell trailer. Oregon State is going to both IRA (Sacramento) and NCAA (Camden, New Jersey) and needed a trailer to make the cross-country drive; we were happy to oblige.

My only request is a bumper sticker from Little America.

2009-05-21T09:27:00.000-07:00

Got up to work yesterday and this guy was hanging out outside my office window. First time I'd ever seen him (her?). Very relaxed, hanging out on the vent in the sunshine amongst the flowers. It's a pretty good life.

Weekend Racing!

2009-05-18T11:34:00.001-07:00

So our season may be done, but college and national team racing around the country is looking fast and furious and it's fun to watch.

Abby did it again-- partnered with Michelle Trannel she easily won the NSR #2 regatta by 9+ seconds and is looking like a solid favorite for a spot in the lightweight women's double going into the summer. Very awesome for a former Lewis & Clark novice, heck, very awesome for anyone!

I spent part of my sunday afternoon watching the action from PAC-10's; aside from the heater of a race for first in the men's varsity one of the best stories to me was the very impressive performance by Oregon State to pip Washington at the line for bronze in the women's 1v. Kate Maxim, a Lewis & Clark Law grad and former assistant coach here, is working with the OSU women and coached their novice boat to a bronze at the regatta as well. It's been fun staying in touch with Kate and watching the development of that program; well done and kudos to them for a great weekend of racing!

2009-05-15T13:34:00.000-07:00

Abby Broughton is at it again. National Selection Regatta #2 is underway and once again Abby starts things off well; she's won the time trial and looks to be in a strong position for the rest of the races. I'll post again on Monday to update on how the weekend went.

Dénouement

2009-05-13T08:34:00.000-07:00

This word and concept popped into my head this morning. Denoument is a concept I remember from my high school English days and I think it well reflects the last couple of weeks.

I spent yesterday cleaning out our launch dock and prepping our launches to come out for the summer. It's a big summer in the launch world. First two of our boats will be used for the Junior and then Masters Regionals regattas; big three-day races up at Vancouver Lake. As one of the Portland clubs we help support much of what goes on behind the scenes at these races. I'm headed up today to take up a launch and tomorrow to take up another and help set up the racecourse.

The next thing that will happen is the retirement of the Lowe, a 16+ year old aluminum hull that's been a faithful workhorse of our program but has reached the end of it's useful life (it leaks. A lot). In replacement we're getting our first wakeless launch. Given that there's some significant progress being made in turning the back channel behind Ross Island into a wakeless zone this is potentially a much more significant move then I first anticipated when we started talking about this a year ago. The sailing launch, an older Boston Whaler, will also be replaced with a flat-bottom Jon boat similar to the ones we now use. When all this is done we'll have four very usable, very reliable launches every day. I'm not sure what we'll do with ourselves without having to spend ten minutes pumping water out each morning.

Meanwhile work in the office has turned towards recruiting novices from the incoming freshman class and starting to identify expereinced prospects for matriculation in Fall of 2010. The nature of working at a college is that everything is seaonal. As one season ends we move on to the next.

The nice thing is that all of this takes up much less time then practice so I'm finding time to recharge my batteries as well; the bike has found the road again, and with nice weather forecast for this weekend I'm looking forward to some time on the back porch in the sunshine.

Rowing as Art

2009-05-07T13:00:00.000-07:00

Remy Neymarc, a student here at L&C and a friend of one of the athletes on the team, came down a couple of days this spring to shoot some of our men's teams practices. We didn't think much of it until the photos got dropped off in my office today and are, simply put, tremendous. Check these out.

Hopefully I'll upload the rest to our Fliker page. Thanks to Remy for taking such amazing shots and sharing them with us! You can check out his website here.

Summing up is hard.

2009-05-06T17:45:00.000-07:00

How do you distill a whole season into a blog post? I'm not sure you do. I've been putting off the writing of this post for a few days while I tried to figure out exactly what I thought about all of it, and of course I'm still not there in my own head. I also got a root canal this morning, so not all of my head is entirely here.

On the positive side. We had incredible team spirit this year, both on the men's side and the women's side. The Pack of Wolves, "Nice Lace, Radies", "orange & black, attack, attack", and so much more. I feel that the crew bought into the ownership of the team much more completely this year and that's something I hope they'll build on in the future.

We had our best races at the end of the year. This is something you can't always take for granted and often is harder to achieve then it might seem up front. At WIRA we had two crews on the podium, one win, and all boats involved in aggressive, tight racing in both heats and finals. A good way to end the year.

To work on? Squad sizes were small on both sides. In some ways this is fine. We don't need fifty or sixty or seventy people to make this team successful. But it does lend itself to risk; injuries become much more serious issues, and it limits our racing options.

Personally, I had a good deal of frustration at our results on the women's side. For the first time in my career I felt that the end results were not indicative of our starting potential. I'm taking a long look at the training we did, the technical process, and everything else to try to determine why this is so. I place no blame on this on the team; it's something I need to sort out for myself and I fully plan to come back next fall ready to build up and get back at it.

Overall I'm happy with the year. As I mentioned, the team spirit and enthusiasm at practice was excellent from day one on. If we keep anything going forward that's the one thing that will make the biggest difference.

I'll likely be posting less frequently from here out this month and less frequently then that in June & July; occasional updates may find themselves popping up but no need to check back daily. Thanks to all our readers and have a great summer!

In closing, what not to do, from our trailer drive north:

2009-05-05T13:41:00.000-07:00

Here's the official athletic department write up about our weekend.

Last Practice

2009-05-05T09:46:00.000-07:00

Going back in time to last week. At our final practice on the Willamette Dr. John Rudoff, a local masters rower and talented photographer, came out in the launch to take some pictures. We were doing a final race preparation workout with the women's eight against the men's fours. John took some awesome shots of the racing and I think captured a lot of the intensity and spirit of the season.

The full set is here. Big thanks to John for sharing!

And we're done

2009-05-04T15:02:00.000-07:00

Back at home. The trailer pulled into Oaks Park about 12:45 today, we unhitched, and I came back here for lunch and relaxing. Back over there around 4:30 to unload everything and put it away for the summer.

I've got a lot to say about the racing, the trip, the experience of the season but not just yet. I'm a little travel weary and don't have much writing pizazz at the moment. Suffice to say that we had a successful trip with two crews placing (Women's Pair won, Men's Novice 4 2nd). We had great team spirit and I think achieved an excellent sendoff for our seniors. And I want to extend a huge thanks to the parents who put on a great show of support as well as hosted our team at a wonderful dinner picnic Saturday evening.

More tomorrow.

Getting it Right

2009-04-29T08:12:00.000-07:00

Practice 4-29 from Sam Taylor on Vimeo.

With the skeg fixed on the women's 8 we spent most of practice today working on the rhythm. Good rhythm depends on two things; a strong drive to get the boat running and flow and connection in the crew on the recovery to keep it there. After some warm up feet out and some drills working on the first part of the drive, we built into some eight minute sections at 3/4 pressure and built the rate through each one.

These last couple practice before the final race of the year are interesting. There's a temptation to say, 'oh, the work is done' and just go do a few pieces. Over the years I've become more of the school that it's both possible and good to keep focused in on technical changes, ask for better rowing, and challenge the crew to find new ways to produce speed. Because of the relatively short spring season in Division III I still think there's gains to be made on the rowing side even while we let the athletes relax a bit and get rest so they're ready to perform on race day.

The other big thing for me is to back off and make sure I don't spend my time trying to change every little problem. It's important to get the focus onto one or two things and not let myself get wound up while ignoring the fundamentals at the end of the year. It's a simple sport. Put the blade in, push your legs really hard, take the blade out, repeat until the horn sounds.

Tomorrow a short row with a few race pieces, then we load the trailer and drive south. I'll try to post a couple updates from Sacramento but if nothing goes up here check the athletics webpage for results.

BANG!

2009-04-28T08:57:00.000-07:00

"Ease a little left".

BANG!

I guess that wasn't such a small stick after all. Bad call on my part, and too little, too late. Lucky for us skegs are easy to replace and the hit came in the last of three pieces; we missed out only a little bit of work. Not a huge deal. Got some good work done with starts and strides and had two 1500m pieces with very good rhythm. The goal this week is entirely around shell run and rhythm; get the boat to run between the strokes, have patience on the recovery even at a high rate, and trust in the training to provide the power we need.

Lasting Commitment

2009-04-26T14:40:00.000-07:00

Saturday 4.25 Racing from Sam Taylor on Vimeo.

Video from Saturday morning; did a nice piece with the Women's 8 vs. the Men's Varsity 4 and Freshman 4. Some excellent racing. The main focus this week is going to be hitting our stride and getting a sense of rhythm at racing pace. Saturday was spent in the first stages of this. Partially it's a physical thing, partially it's a mental thing. It takes a lot of confidence to drop the rate when your competition is right next to you; having the Men's fours out has been a good learning process for us.

Directly after practice I got on the road and went up to my old haunts for my alma matter's annual rowing alumni get-together. It was great to connect with lots of old friends and get to talk to them both about what they're doing now and the times we spent together 'back then'. It's an amazing thing to see so many people involved in what I think of as giving back professions; education, health care, social work. It also got me thinking about the nature of lasting commitment to a program and the friendships and bonds that are created. A good crew requires so much shared trust amongst the athletes; over time this creates true friendships that continue well past graduation.

One of the things I like to talk to prospects about is the experience of college rowing; certainly I hope that rowing with this program will be a lasting experience that defines our athletes values, commitment, work ethic, and joy. It was very gratifying to me to hear from athletes I coached a few years back that this was true for them; I hope it will continue to be true for the generations to come.

Run

2009-04-24T09:52:00.000-07:00

Seat racing completed, the fours are back on the rack, and we went out today for an easy row in the eight working run on the slide and ensuring good send every time. It's a game of inches; if we get an extra inch on every stroke, with 240 strokes in a race, it adds up to around twenty feet at the end. This oversimplifies things but gets the concept across well; rowing is a sport where small details can make a dramatic difference.

Made some nice gains on the row and were on our way back in when one of the hundreds of fishermen on the river made a direct beeline from the Willamette Park boat ramp straight towards our two boats at around 50 mph. Waving of arms and yelling on the megaphone got him to stop with about twenty feet to spare. He looked completely clueless as to the danger he was putting us in as he idled by. We're fortunate to have the option of training behind Ross Island in the back channel this time of year; otherwise the river is incredibly hazardous with the number of seemingly careless boat drivers in massively overpowered and over-sized fishing boats.

How many horsepower does it take to catch a salmon? The median answer around here seems to be 250 or so. I'm a big fan of the guy in the small boat with a 5-horse electric motor who seem to catch the same fish.

End of Rant.

Bring the Work

2009-04-22T11:22:00.001-07:00

Short post as I've got to run to a staff meeting. Did 3 x 5', 2 x 4' with the Women's fours this morning, switching between every piece. Seven rowers swapped seats today-- only one stayed in the same place she started. Lots of good stuff. Mostly what I'm struck by is how complete the result is if everyone locks in together from the beginning-- we only achieved true separation between the boats (more then one length) on one piece. The level of commitment required by everyone today was high; it was great to see teammates deliver on that demand and produce results we can trust as a result.

Back to Work

2009-04-21T11:04:00.000-07:00

Men's V4 4-14 from Sam Taylor on Vimeo.

The last two days have been fantastic weather and this morning was the same; low 50's, clear skies, no fisherman, flat water. The men took out two fours and did pieces, the women took out two fours and did steady state with some lineup changes throughout to keep things interesting.

Some of the coaches went sans survival suit this morning-- the first time in a morning practice since fall.

We heard from another prospective student, now a incoming freshman, who has committed to Lewis & Clark. It's interesting at this point looking at both the short term of the next regatta and the long term of next year and beyond. Both shape up well and as always we'll be out on the river enjoying the great water and doing some solid racing.

Post Conference

2009-04-19T17:56:00.000-07:00

And now, a day later.

Our Men's team had an excellent day, went for the win with all guns blazing, and with only eight rowers and one cox tied Western Washington for 2nd. The tie-breaker is the finish of the Varsity 8, where they also finished behind Western, so we earned a hard-fought 3rd place. Six of the eight raced three times and the team medaled in every event entered. A really gutsy and excellent performance.

The Women's team had a more challenging outing. We never hit our stride and aside from a few bright spots (a win in the pair, a really solid fifth-place outing for a novice four that's been through a heck of a lot this year) the finishes were well short of what we expected. What do you say? We talked afterward about owning it. You have to look the bad races in the face, no excuses and no regrets, learn from it, and move forward. We'll be back on the erg for the last time Monday and fully intend to go to WIRA with the intent to better represent what we believe we can do than our finishes yesterday showed.

Today was good therapy to soothe a tired coach; a really nice bike ride in ~70 degree weather, nice lunch at a new sandwitch place, and now realaxing at home. Whatever the race result I'm very fortunate to do what I do and work with these atheltes and coaches.

No excuses, no regrets.

Conference Eve

2009-04-17T10:12:00.001-07:00

Just finished up in the office with all my travel preparations, getting ready to head off to Costco and taking a short moment to reflect. Conference always seems to come very quickly each year. It's a great regatta that these seven schools have built up over the last six or seven years, and it has certainly become one of the best small-college races in the country. I love the fact that we've got a championship that rewards both depth of team and also requires excellent performances across many boats to win.

We're looking at some probable good finishes tomorrow, some challenging races, and some races where our athletes may be in over their heads. Each scenario is part of the whole experience. As coaches our work is largely now done and it's just up to us to make sure each boat gets to the starting line ready to go. The combination of pride in the work we've done and the sense of letting go as each crew leaves the dock is one of the things I love and loathe about coaching.

However it works out results wise tomorrow is going to be a good day.

Men V. Women

2009-04-16T09:06:00.001-07:00

There are no better pieces then the ones we do between the men's 4's and women's 8's. It gets both squads fired up and provides a competitive pressure cooker the equal of any big race. Today, with both squads well rested and ready to rumble, we did full a race warm-up and met up at the top of Ross Island for three piceces off a start, three minutes long with the option of extention to four in the case of especially competitive situations.

The last one was the best; the men's freshman four and women's varsity eight got into a bow-to-bow battle by the middle of the piece and Lincoln, who had the call, extended to four, and then extended to four-and-a-half minutes. Both boats dug very deep to the well and neither gave an inch-- I think we could have kept it going for another minute or two before anyone would have cracked (perhaps for the best, there was an obstacle that led us to stop the piece). One learns a great deal of truth about yourself in the moment you're bow-to-bow and discover you have one extra minute left to row. I think both boats were happy with what they found.

Here's forty seconds of that piece, earlier on. I got too excited to film about halfway through.

Women's Varsity 8 vs. Men's Fours from Sam Taylor on Vimeo.

Slow Down to Get Fast

2009-04-15T08:13:00.000-07:00

Took out two Women's fours today, the JV4 and Varsity 4, and took things real slow. Started off with a relaxed warm-up with pause drills and then went into a 3x10' steady state workout with rates in the 18-22 range. The result was excellent. Hit some really good rhythm and made some significant breakthroughs in both timing and letting the boat run. After our final spin we did about 1500m of leapfrog up to racing pace and it was very cool to see the relaxed flow of the steady state translate into increased run and better timing at the racing rate.

As a coach it can be hard to slow down, especially when a big race is on the line just a few days away. It was very worth it today. The athletes came away from practice better rested and I hope with a sense of technical acomplishment that should translate directly into better speed over the full course Saturday. It was good reminder to me that going faster and harder is not always the best option.

Race Prep Tuesday

2009-04-14T09:07:00.000-07:00

With the conference championships just four days away this mornings practice was devoted to race preparations. The men's team took out two even fours and threw down some intense four minute pieces; Lincoln was making switches throughout to keep the guys on their toes. Interesting results, good racing, and the constant challenge of adaptation looks to have the guys ready for their racing Saturday.

The women's 8 went out for a grueling workout; three sets of twenty on, 10 off, times six. The on was above race pace. We were working on both the physical aspect of developing quickness and power off the front end, as well as the psycological challenge of going to maximum pressure each time we started a new twenty and trusting in the boat to go together. A hard day but a good one.

We spun just upstream of the railroad bridge near Lake Oswego and were treated to quite a show; a Steller Sea Lion had just captured a large salmon. It was tearing the fish to pieces and chomping them down. It was an incredible display of power and not terribly appetizing; raw salmon for breakfast is not my thing.

Video of both the row and a poor shot of fifteen seconds of Sea Lion is below.

Tuesday 4-14 from Sam Taylor on Vimeo.

Props to Abby!

2009-04-13T14:33:00.000-07:00

2005 Lewis & Clark Graduate Abby Broughton had a pretty good weekend. Abby, part of the Pocock Elite racing squad out of Seattle, won all of her races at the Spring Speed Order event this weekend. She won the Lightweight time trial, the A Final for the ligthweight single, and then won the Lightweight double on Sunday.

Not a bad weekend. I didn't coach Abby personally but the crews I coached raced her often-- she was a tenacious and serious competitor and it looks like she's carried that through into her post-collegiate career. She made the 2006 World Championships team in the Lightweight Quad and with results like these I suspect she'll be on the line in 2009 as well.

Bravo Abby, well done!

Covered Bridge

2009-04-12T11:24:00.000-07:00

We're terribly confused.

The Covered Bridge Regatta is held on Dexter Lake, about twenty five minutes east of Eugene. It's a beautiful spot; tucked up in the foothills of the Cascades and very scenic. The club there (Oregon Association of Rowers) has done a great job organizing the regatta and putting the money earned back into their racecourse; this year they debuted a full six-lane racecourse and it looks fantastic.

The confusion results from this; for the ten to twelve years we've either been going to this regatta or known people who have gone there has been rain. Often this rain has been relentless and continuous throughout the day. This is natural; up against the mountains in Oregon during April it's supposed to rain. It is the way of the spring. The trees get leaves, the flowers come up, Covered Bridge is very wet.

A year ago we started getting confused; it was 85 and brilliantly sunny. This year, our confusion increases: partially sunny, no rain, and completely calm water make for excellent racing conditions. It's a good confusion, and we like it, but at the same time our sense of trust in nature has been disturbed.

A good day for us yesterday with three wins, most all crews placing in the top three, and lots of work done during the day. Results are up and a full report will follow our website. Lots of people were taking pictures; I'm looking for some of them and will work on putting up a photo post Monday.

The Goose is Loose

2009-04-10T13:14:00.000-07:00

The picture at the top of this blog was taken at the Covered Bridge regatta in 2007; it's one of my favorite shots. We're headed back there tomorrow (Lincoln & I take the trailer down tonight) and looking forward to a good race.

Typical pre-regatta day; we had a short but very effective row working on rhythm, then spending a few minutes working starts. I'm very impressed with the women's 8 and their stride strokes; the transition from the high starting sprint into our base rhythm is working well in practice right now. I wish I could follow the race tomorrow; it'd be nice to see that on the course. Speedcoach data will have to be a stand-in.

Post row goes like this; all boats on slings and de-rigged, load them on the trailer plus oars, riggers, and big piles of assorted tools and parts ready to go in the truck this afternoon. Back home, quick breakfast, up to campus, in the office for about two hours to try to stay on top of paperwork for this trip and take care of my duties as confrence president looking towards next weekend. Off to the hardware store, the bank, fill up the truck, then to Costco for everyone's eating during the day (budget: $200, spent: $199.22!). Side note; I wish we could tally the total number of calories purchased in one of these Costco trips. Back home now for lunch and to pack, then off to the boathouse this afternoon to pack up the truck, hitch up, and head out around 3:30.

Line of the day; for some inexpliciable reason we've run out of straps. We had 20+ extra last spring but seem to be short now. The last boat on was one of our pairs, the Snow Goose. So we were one strap short. Meghann came over and, with an absolute straight face, informed me:

"The Goose is Loose."

3000+

2009-04-08T15:50:00.000-07:00

We've had over 3000 views of the blog since I started keeping track sometime in December. . . Very cool.

Of course, I bet 50% of those consist of me checking the counter and my parents.

But thanks for reading!

Wednesday Racing

2009-04-08T08:58:00.001-07:00

Good water today and the Tuesday/Wednesday closure of the river to the salmon fishermen left us with some great conditions for racing this morning. We boated a pair, our novice four, and a JV4 and headed out to do some pieces.

Two pieces off a start (five minutes, then four minutes) provided some excellent opportunities to learn about being aggressive while seeking to find a rhythm that's sustainable. In the first piece the novice four was super aggressive and stayed very close to our JV4, holding them at the gap we started the piece with. In the 2nd piece their aggression cost them a bit while the JV4 used their experience to relax a bit and took a big lead. It was nice breakthrough for this crew and I'm hoping it translates into excellent racing in both the four and the eight this weekend.

We then did three by three minutes on the way back to the dock with paddle recovery. One of the areas where I still see room for improvements is in allowing the boat to run with small energy expenditures; this was clear on our paddle rest. Our pair, two of our more experienced athletes, would take a few lengths on the paddle and still get rest, while the JV4 let the boat slow down too much and left themselves with lots to do. As crews gain experience, they learn to let the boat run and slow down less. The advantage in this, of course, is that there's much more speed to be had in adding power if the boat is running better to begin with.

There's education to be had in all of this, and in the end it all relates back to good racing speed.

(Disclaimer: the above picture is not of our river. It looked a lot like that this morning, though.)

Props to our Novice

2009-04-07T09:39:00.000-07:00

Both of our novice fours were recognized by the athletic department for their performances this weekend and named PAC Athletes of the Week.

The Novice Men's four, of course, was recognized for their excellent and dominant win of 20+ seconds. These guys are fired up and I expect we'll see plenty more from them in the future.

The Novice Woman's four was recognized for an awesome team performance on Saturday; they showed a lot of tenacity working to get through their heat after snapping off 3-seat's handle. Watching bow pair go deep into the well to try to beat the 3rd place crew-- and almost succeeding-- was a highlight of the weekend.

Congrats to all of these athletes. And it's worth mentioning that one individual, our stalwart novice coxswain, got to experience both races and got her first traditional coxswain toss this weekend.

This is what this team is all about; the highs that come with excellent performance and confronting the challenges that arise with audacity and fearless action.

NCRC Invitational

2009-04-05T10:59:00.001-07:00

So one more NCRC Invitational is in the bag. This one went more smoothly from a regatta management standpoint then any of our prior versions; certainly benign conditions (for most of the day) contributed to this for us but our coaching staff especially and all of our volenteers as well were tremendous. Being surround by folks like these make my job as a regatta director very easy.

A full race recap will be posted on our website soon; race results are already up. We even got some mainstream media coverage in The Columbian newspaper; Jim got some good quotes even if the piece is a little intersting (sinewy shoulders?).

Our days started out with the above scene; a two-hour fog delay got us started. I could see this coming from a few days away. Once things lifited the water was fantastic (until the last four races) and the sun got us all warmed up very quickly.

While our athletes raced and relaxed in the sun our coaches drove launches, directed volenteers, rigged boats, and at the end of the day pulled up the course and drove five launches back to Portland (BIG thanks to Willamette for bringing one and saving us a 2nd round trip!).

Not to make our athletes sound lazy; two strong wins and one 2nd place, as well as some first class teamwork highlighted the day. I'll let the race recap tell the full story but there were two major highlights for me.

The first came when our Women's Varsity lost their skeg during the warmup and the whole men's team got the Men's V8 rigged in about six or seven minutes so we could get them back on the water and up to the start on time. Very awesome.

The second was watching our Novice women's four come THIS CLOSE to getting through to the final after three-seat tore out her handle as they were leading the heat with 500 meters to go. The bow pair went to the well to get them accross and they very nearly pipped the 3rd place boat in a 2 vs 4 battle. Just awesome.

I'm deeply exhausted today and I'm sure the team and coaches feel the same. It's all worth it. I'm a very fortunate to get to work with these people, and seeing our athletes be so selfless in their support of each other, passionate about their team, and aggressive in their racing is worth every challenge we face through the year.

Happy April Fools!

2009-04-01T15:52:00.001-07:00

My favorite bit of April foolery today is this, because I can identify with it personally.

Race preparations go very well, although I was stymied for a bit by some computer problems first at home, then at work. Quick message to all of our prospects: My work computer has me locked out so I can't pull your e-mails. CONGRATS! to all who've been admitted. You'll be hearing from us early next week but don't hesitate to e-mail or call if you have questions at the moment.

Good practice this morning in less-then-wonderful conditions. The breakthrough glimpsed yesterday started to crack through. . . we made some nice progress in the run on the shell, in staying in control while applying power, and in holding onto the leg drive all the way to the release. The team is tired from three solid workouts this week but we'll back off a bit tomorrow and Friday and get ready to rip it up Saturday.

Race Week. . .

2009-03-31T14:57:00.000-07:00

Every year I forget how overpowering the double whammy of spring break and the NCRC Invitational is. That's me up above, climbing the mountain of paperwork up to our race this weekend and trying to make sure 17 schools with a total of 95 boats get good, fair, and safe races this Saturday.

Practice is a pleasure; yesterday I hopped on the erg with our athletes and it felt great to challenge myself and immerse in the physical instead of the intellectual. This morning's row was challenging (fatigue, nasty cross-headwind, etc) but there were glimpses of a breakthrough there; I'm looking forward to finding it.

Not much time for reflection on Daffodil; looking forward at the moment.

Daffodil Cup

2009-03-28T17:48:00.000-07:00

Wet. Very, very wet. The rain didn't let up all day, but the good news is that the wind forecast (20+) proved entirely inaccurate, with good flat water for racing all day long.

I'm going to keep this short and will post a longer recap on Monday as I'm wiped. Overall good impressions; both varsity 8's in 5th, both varsity 4's in 4th. The Women's 8 was slowed by some "oar-to-oar engagement" with a rival crew off the start and lost the lead pack. I don't know if we would have been on terms in the race, but we're looking forward to giving it a go next week. Our Varsity men's 4 looked really nice and was pretty close on the crews in front; only a quick beep of the horn out of 3rd and not that far off 2nd as well.

First sprint races today for a few of our novices, and major props to our coxsawins today who did multiple races in those prior mentioned wet conditions; good teamwork and support all around. Looking forward to a couple days rest and we're back at it Monday afternoon in preparation for the NCRC Invitational next weekend.

What a day it has been. . .

2009-03-27T19:04:00.001-07:00

Coaching is a game of highs and lows.

Today began last night, when my partner & I hosted the women's team at our house for dinner and heard a bit of news that's been on our mind since then.

This morning we were up early, and took our team as well as two launches to Vancouver Lake to put in the racecourse there. Around 1400 small buoys get clipped to seven two-kilometer long lengths of cable over the course of three and a half hours-- part fundraiser, part community service. We take great pride in doing it well and the course looks fantastic. There is something hypnotic about the lengths of small buoys stretching off over the flat water; it makes me itch for racing.

Back to Portland, launches back in, home for a quick shower and lunch.

Up to the office for about an hour and then to hitch up the shell trailer, only to get a huge flat on our rented truck. Lucky for me Novice Men's coach Max was there and helped me get it changed in a timely manner.

Down to the boathouse for practice where we had a wonderful row that left me very excited for tomorrow. Had to run while others supervised loading the trailer to make it to Les Schwab before they closed-- fantastic folks as always got our tire fixed so we can have a spare for the drive tomorrow.

Finally home, but this whole time my thoughts have been on the news from last night; that one of our team members was in the hospital with appendicitis. Another teammate spent most of last night in the ER with her and Novice Woman's coach Meghann has been up there since we got back from the lake this morning. She had successful surgery a short time ago and I'll be headed up there in an hour or so along with many others on the team once she's awake and can have visitors.

The low today was contemplating a member of our team struck from proud and strong athlete to patient; everything else we did seemed very unimportant in comparison. The high has been the people I'm fortunate enough to be around every day; athletes, friends, coaches, colleagues. The level of competence, care, concern, and the quality of everything we've done this day has been tremendous.

I am fortunate indeed, and there's no other group of people I'd rather travel to race with tomorrow. Although I'm very excited to see how we do, our thoughts will be always to the south, and thinking of our teammate and hoping she'll be joining us again soon.

Mo Racing

2009-03-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

Racing 3-25 from Sam Taylor on Vimeo.

Spring Break, day 2. Article in the Oregonian this morning about binge drinking for spring break. . . I don't think our athletes are indulging in such at the moment, and I hope not otherwise as well. I'd say binge rowing is more correct.

Good technical row this morning, continuing to work on connection as the rate ramps up and with a little bit of work on starts. This afternoon was AWESOME as we got a women's varsity 8 together and met up with Rose City Rowing Club to do some 2' pieces. DIII rules allow informal scrimmages against junior programs within 50 miles. It works out very well for us since RCRC is about 4k downstream. The men took advantage yesterday afternoon and today it was the women's turn.

The big breakthrough for us today was intensity on the drive; I was incredibly pleased to see the attack on each piece and the level of commitment from the crew. We certianly have a lot to figure out still on the technical end, but overall our speed was very good and we were taking seats from the RCRC varsity at base cadence, which is a very good sign. As I told the women this morning, RCRC is very well coached, strong, and experienced-- if we can race with them we're in the ball game in our confrence.

To work on in the next two days: starts. Most especially keeping the current intensity and drive while staying composed on the recovery and keeping our timing and technique established.