Labor Day Weekend

Things I love about Portland. . .

That a few hundred people jumped in the Willamette River this morning for the Portland Triathlon-- one of the missions of the race is to promote the health of the river that we spend our time training on.

That Forest Park, one of the largest city parks in the country, is cut through by the Lief Erickson Trail, on which I had a fantastic bike ride today while my companion went for a fantastic run. We're big fans of this trail all times of year.

That the city is so vibrant and active on the last day of August. With light rain showers and cooler weather, fall is lurking around the corner. Still tons of people out and about this morning running, riding, walking, being outside.

Also, I really love grilled cheese after a muddy bike ride, but that's just me.

Fast Standing Still

Have you ever looked at a boat and thought, DANG, that thing looks fast standing still? Yeah, our new four is like that. Novice Woman's coach Meghann and I rigged it up this afternoon and it's almost predatory. . . just sitting there waiting to race someone. Unfortunately, I haven't yet been able to take a good picture of it in the boathouse, so you'll have to settle for some mediocre shots.
It doesn't quite come across, does it?

Anyway, busy couple of days. We had some very good talks with potential novice athletes on Thursday. They're excited to get started and so are we.

Friday I was in class all day and finished certified as a Schwinn Indoor Cycling Instructor. I can't say the spin word because, well, I might get sued. I'll be teaching a spin-something type course in the spring. . . I'm glad I don't have to start on Tuesday like some of the other coaches. The big upside of this is that we have ~20 odd indoor bikes of high quality that we can use to add some variety to our workouts, especially in early spring when the weather is not so nice.

Enjoy Labor Day weekend!

Arrival. . .

The freshman are here, and our recruiting posters are up in many places and being distributed to dorms as people stop by. I've enjoyed seeing a couple of our recruited freshman again and met several people interested in novice rowing.

I was walking back from Templeton and one of the NSO guides made the comment that crew was 'really on the recruiting thing'. We try. We try.

It's fantastic to have the campus alive and hopping again. A college campus is supposed to be a lively, energetic place-- it feels unnatural empty.

Finally, a quote for today from a book written about the British Track Cycling program (photo of the world-record setting Team Pursuit below), which if you don't know was fantastically successful in Beijing and looks to be unstoppable for London 2012. "We've got this saying, 'performance by the aggregation of marginal gains''.

I don't think I've ever heard anyone describe what develops athletic success better-- it's all about maximizing every little thing, not looking for the one secret that will give you the win. Remember that in practices-- an extra inch on every catch, a little more effort behind the oar, repeat many, many times.

NEW BOAT!

So the day started early, meeting most of the coaches and recent alumni David over at the boathouse to flip over our oldest launch for some hull work.

Then up to campus to work on various training stuff and more novice recruiting stuff along with compliance stuff. . . lots of stuff!

Took a break in the middle to help the athletic department hang our new 100-foot long banner in the football stadium. Rowing is centrally featured-- including at least one current coach.

Then the good part-- back down to the boathouse to meet Bob McLean of Pacific Rowing Club, who was driving the trailer with our BRAND SPANKING NEW Pocock Hypercarbon K4.

The boat looks great and I can't wait to get it rigged up and out on the water. . .

T minus one day to freshman arrival.

Inspiring Read

Short post (not the BIG EXCITING POST coming tomorrow) to link to this article-- a fantastic and inspiring read if you have a few minutes. Sheila Taormina is the only woman-- and as far as I know, the only athlete-- to compete in three different disciplines at the summer Olympic games. She competed in the swimming competition in the 1996 Atlanta Games, raced as a Triathlete in the 2000 and 2004 Games, and most recently competed in the archaic but fascinating discipline of Modern Pentathlon in the 2008 Games.

The story is particularly compelling to me because of the sheer determination required to not just compete at the highest level in a sport she was familiar with, which is certainly difficult enough, but to also start anew and develop world-class talent in new sports as she went on later into her athletic life.

It's never too late to learn a new skill and pursue your passions-- a message that goes out especially to all the novice we hope to recruit this week and next.

Remember to Experiment!

The rain cleared away successfully on Thursday & I was able to race. Fantastic! In the process I tried something new, deviated from the common wisdom, and as a result obtained better results then I previously have this year. The lesson here is that common wisdom is a very good starting point-- but you have to work on different permutations of that wisdom, try new things, and make sure that what you're doing is working well for you.

I think the evolution of our practice schedule has been much the same way; this will be the first year we do the exact same schedule we did the year before. Why? Because finally, after several years of slight tinkering (erg day HERE, water THIS time, etc) we finally found something that really seems to work better for most of our athletes.

With that said, it's also important to remember that common wisdom is such because it really does work well for most people!

Stand by for a VERY COOL UPDATE tomorrow.

Seriously?

So, Sunday was 94-- down from a recorded high of 99 the day before. Tuesday's high was 70 and brought with it high winds and RAIN in August. Rain? August? Come on.
This time of year in Oregon (July, August, September) is the paradise we who live here wait all year for. It's the payoff for all the gray days in fall and winter, and the chaotic weather of spring. But I suppose this is what happens when we whinge about it being too hot; someone is listening and brings home a big old storm to keep us honest.

I'm just bitter because I want to race at the track this evening, rain being a serious detriment to that. I've been working on Novice recruiting all day-- reserving rooms, making posters, answering e-mails. All of these preparations, while necessary, don't go anywhere near as far as the positive comments from current team members-- if you meet a freshman on campus and they look like a rower, tell them so!

This will be me this evening, sans the really cool wheels, and assuming the rain holds off. More importantly, soon I'll have ACTUAL ROWING THINGS to write about, because actual rowing starts two weeks from today with the first on-the-water day for the sculling class.