In the Dark

This is not from practice this week, but it gives you some idea of why we aren't posting a ton of video or photo evidence of our practices right now!




It's part of the deal.

Yesterday we had an excellent row; we temporarily set aside some of our long-distance work and did some shorter pieces; 2 x 5 minutes and then a 3 minute and 2 minute piece. There was truly excellent racing and it's good to see when the lower rate work translates well to fast rowing.

Today was another excellent row for our woman's four, while the woman's 8 had some challenging pieces. We'll be back in action tomorrow and working to make a few changes, focus on some fundamentals, and get the speed we saw Wednesday back in the water.

The men have been in small boats of late and are continuing to work on developing detail skills. This is the sort of work that pays off big as we start the spring build.

This weekend we travel to Oregon State for a scrimmage/joint practice. Doing a workout with a PAC-10, Division I program will be a good challenge for the crews; my hope is that we'll get a good sense of the effort, professionalism, and seriousness of purpose required for success at a high level. At the same time, I hope we can bring our sense of fun and love of the sport and share a bit with them about what makes Division III rowing enjoyable.

Back at it.

Practice on the water resumed this week with a very nice session. The focus is on rhythm and the transfer of weight onto the footboard. The timing of the leg drive with the placement of the blade is one of the most difficult and essential skills to master; in crew rowing the problem is compounded as not only the individuals but the whole boat need to time this operation together. We made good progress this morning on pushing the boat as one.

Two short weeks remain in our fall segment; hard to believe it's almost over. I sent an e-mail to the team yesterday reminding them of the focus-- making gains for the spring:

"Think a little on these questions for the next two weeks. . . take something away from every practice. This is the time of year that's dark, it's getting cold, school builds up-- these are all challenges to work through, and there are still gains to be made. Think long term, because that's the goal. . ."

The goal now is cementing technical gains, and understanding the physical process, so we start off better in January then we would otherwise.

A week off?

That's right-- no practice this week. I slept in this morning.

So why, you ask, are we taking a week off? NCAA rules give 19 total weeks to DIII programs. We can use those however we see fit, but that's the total number of weeks we have to practice as a team. Lewis & Clark has a fall break this week-- Thursday & Friday there are no classes and most of the students plan to get out of town. Since we stay in town for spring break I've always liked to give the athletes fall break off. So if we were to practice this week we'd be using one of our 19 weeks for three days of practice. We choose to take the week off instead and tack one more week onto spring, hopefullly letting us build into our primary season more purposefuly.

This process of planning the season has always seemed a little ridiculous to me. I'm a big supporter of one of the primary ideals of Division III; that sports should be one part of a student's education and be kept in balance with accademics and other activites. It's always seemed crazy to me, though, that we use weeks to control this-- in theory we could practice 30 or 40 hours during our weeks in-season (we don't, as there wouldn't be much of a team if we did), and not at all out-of-season. Why not set it up at 14 hours a week in-season, and say 5-6 hours out-of-season? Wouldn't that be more balanced, and let people continue to particpate in one of their passions throughout the year?

Anyway, probably not many people are interested in this aspect of my job. The bottom line is, no practice this week and the coaches are hoping our athletes pursue their training individually and in small groups. We'll be back in action next week and pushing through our last three fall races, looking to send the team into winter with some good results.

Pictures from Head of the Willamette

Head of the Willamette

Just got home from the WIRA fall meeting; five hours spent on a Sunday in the fall working on making a championship regatta with a highly diverse association of schools a little better. Collegiate rowing in the west takes many forms and there were several issues to work through. Overall I think we did a good job trying to maintain the cohesion of the membership while addressing individual schools needs.

Head of the Willamette was yesterday; thanks go to Willamette University for hosting. The home team put up a good show; the extra week they've spent on the water showed and they were faster across the board. I was very happy with our crews regardless of results: we stuck to our focus, rowed the target rates (low, long, powerful is the focus) and for the most part had good rows. Much like the debates at the WIRA meeting, this was two schools on different tracks coming together very early in the season for a race: we both have confidence that our preparations will pay of later in the year. It will be interesting to see who's right.

A really excellent part of our regatta was the quality of our travel arrangements; for three weeks into the season we traveled very efficiently. The team worked very well together loading, rigging, and supporting each other on the beach. This may seem a minor point but I'm a big believer that being professional about the details helps set a mood that translates to better results and a sense of pride.

Despite my promise I didn't get any pictures. I know our athletes took a bunch and I'll try to get access to some to post.

The Rain is Back

After a very dry September (one of the driest on record) October arrived with a big hit of rain. I got my annual soaking-without-good-rain gear yesterday during a rather shocking downpour while out with the sculling class. As always after this rite of fall I was extensively overdressed for practice today.

Oregon feels like Oregon again, wet, green, drip everywhere.

The trailer is loaded, almost surprisingly, and we're off to do some race pieces with Willamette University tomorrow. I'll do my best to get a variety of pictures and maybe some video from the bank. As I discussed with the crews this morning, this is a very low-priority race but how seriously you take the early season events feeds into your expectations for the rest of the year. We've had some great rows this week and I'm hoping those hold up under racing conditions.

Up Before Dawn

There are both upsides and downsides to early morning practices. Right now, as we hit October, it's dark for a pretty significant chunk of practice. Lights are critical; the coaches spend about five minutes every morning checking lights, replacing batteries, making sure we'll be seen. Coaching is more difficult-- it's harder to work on what you can't see. Also, it's just plain early. I was out of coffee yesterday and struggled to stay focused in the practice.

Upsides. We're done early, and our practice schedule doesn't interfere with classes. In a sport that practices off-campus and requires people to be present to make boats work, this is key. The water is usually fantastic. There's very little boat traffic most of the time-- or at least what traffic there is (fishermen) tend to anchor and stay in one place instead of waking us.

The best part is being on the river at sunrise. The dawn is incredible this time of year. As John Steinbeck would say, there is something true about starting your day on the water, working towards a purpose.

The video will be low quality, but hopefully you can see the awesome water and get a feel for the amazing light.