Are YOU an ADDICT?

It is without a doubt that I am training for a greater goal…each day I spend on the water or training on land is for a goal to make the National Team.  However, if I removed that goal, would I still be rowing as much? 

Ask yourself if you would be doing the same in whatever sport you do…are you addicted?

Since Sundays are usually lighter in volume for training (only 60 minutes of cross training), I don’t always row, and if I don’t, I always feel deprived of it and I crave it more the next day!  So yes, I am an addict:S  I'm not sure if that's bad or good, but I feel lucky to have some balance again in my life as I have the chance to take my mind off rowing for the most part of the day while I’m at work in the office – this allows my brain to “recover and rest” from the day’s first workout and prepare for the second workout later on. Right now I work full-time (8 hours a day), and although this isn't ideal for an elite athlete, I can only assume that for a full-time athlete it is somewhat beneficial to have some form of a hobby or part-time job/schooling outside of their sport so that they can feel balanced and have a greater chance to excel and reach their full potential without burnout.

A very wise teammate of mine sent me the following link - it's an interesting read.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/opinion/sunday/kristof-addicted-to-exercise.html?_r=1

Now since I didn’t row today (and am anxious to get on the water tomorrow morning at 5:30am), I spent a lot of my afternoon cooking roast beef and yorkshire puddings for my husband’s birthday dinner with family.  It was a great time and the food wasn’t too shabbyJ.  Being a lightweight, I am usually cautious about my food intake (making sure it’s always balanced, healthy and nutritious), but tonight I ate the top sirloin and buttery yorkshire puddings with joy as I knew that I put pure love into that meal for him.  Below is a picture of the roast beef cooking away in the oven – yum yum.

Off to do some reports for work and then to bed for an early morning of ROWINGJ

Have a great evening!

Mistakes are in the past, move on.

Another beautiful day - but this time I stayed indoors.  Fortunately this cold is under control but I can definitely feel the drop in my energy.  During my warm up, my heart rate was higher than it should have been - a sign that I should have listened to my body and stayed in bed a bit longer to rest.  By the time I realized this, it was too late and I was ready to attack the workout with one of my partners in crime, Claire.  Regardless of how I felt physically, it was just so much fun to have someone there to train with meJ.  After the erg we did weights, and from there I chose to take the afternoon off to rest.  Appetite is down, but I know it’ll come back soon – you know how much I love to eat!

It was good timing to take an afternoon off too.  Last night, my cousin from Chile (Maxi) asked me to record a piano song for him and my family down south.  I started playing when I was 6 years old, and since I stopped practicing back in high school I  have played very randomly.  In recent years I have played at my wedding, at a good friend’s wedding, when I have an extra 10 minutes in my week, etc..

As I was practicing for a bit this afternoon, I came to see a very close relationship between rowing and music (and dance too).  There is a beautiful rhythm that you see with rowing (just watch the video below and see how the rowers push with acceleration and come up the slide to prepare for the next stroke in a very melodic way).  And it is no question that rhythm is a critical component of music.

Aside from rhythm, rowing and music are similar in that “mistakes made should be left in the past”.  What I mean by this is the following:

Music: Depending on how skilled you are, when you play a song, you may make an error and play the wrong note…

Rowing: Again, it depends on how skilled you are, but during a race you may catch a small crab or lose balance…

Both of these situations affect the performance, but if it happens, then let it be and move on!  During set practices where you work on skills, you can perfect your technique, but in a race, I know that I am working on just focusing on the present, and if a bad stroke is taken, then let it go and move onto the next one.

You will find many mistakes in my song below (because I am no longer a piano player and am very rough right now), BUT, I keep going.  I will be applying this to my rowingJ.

A look at some great role models!

What a gorgeous Fall day!  The colours of the trees are bright Red, Orange and Yellow, and the sun is shining strong through the clouds.  The water is still mud though, ha!  I have come to accept that my splits are going to be slower in colder water, but that is no excuse to push with less power right? Right!  For my first of two rows today (which included pieces), I knew that as long as my heart rate was within a certain range, then I was doing the right work.  I find it really helpful to have a heart rate monitor I must say.  It helps me know that I am working within the right training zone and making the most of my workout.  There are so many different brands and preferences that people have – I personally really like my Polar watch.  It’s funny because when I went to buy it a few months back, I asked the sales rep if I could see their selection of heart rate monitors, and so he showed me a group of watches.  My eyes liked the Timex watch…A LOT (much nicer looking), but I knew that Polar was known for accurate heart beat measurements, so I asked the sales guy if he had a Polar watch that looked like the Timex one.  He looked at me with confusion (and maybe even disgust!) and said “You’d choose a watch based on appearance?”…heck yes I would!!!  Unfortunately in this case, my eyes didn’t win, and I went with Polar. 

Fall is also a time when people start to get a little sick..sniffles here and there, head feels heavy, and you want to sleep 12 hours a night (wow, that would be a beautiful thing)!  I have been fighting off this minor cold for the past couple of days, and I think gargles with salt are helping a ton, as well as…..(people who know me well can fill in the blanksJ) – honey and lemon with tea!  And yes, that cures EVERYTHING, ha.  Plus Cold FXJ.  As an athlete, you just need to make sure you are dressing for the weather and also considering how your body temperature will change as you get into your workout.  I seriously need to look for better workout gear for cold weather – my friend told me about this really good clothing line that helps you stay warm as you sweat (I forget the name), so I’ll try that and let you know if it makes a difference;).  Right now I am settling for the 100 layers of clothes (you think I’m joking? Just look for the person who looks like it’s -40 degrees, and that will be me).  It’s also good to do a warm up off land before getting into a boat.  That way your muscles are warmed up.  I have found that dynamic movements are also really helpful.

But getting a minor cold is NOTHING, and you just deal with it!  There are so many amazing people who go through so much.  I have had people close to me fight cancer and prove that anything is possible.  I work for a health company (developing and selling products that diagnose cancer and help treat patients), and so I literally surround myself by this every day.  It puts life in perspective that’s for sure.  I wanted to mention this because this morning before I launched, I was speaking with an older master’s rower who had just done Head of the Charles (a big regatta down south in Boston).  He is in his late 60’s and speaking with him about his experience helped me appreciate all the people out there that push themselves through life challenges and obstacles, regardless of age.  Wanting to always stay motivated, I started to think about more stories that have proven that “anything is possible”….here are some stories I wanted to share with you today (get some tissues)…

100 year old man runs marathon

Inspiring Father & Son Ironman Story

(I had the honour of watching Dick and Rick race in Hawaii back in 2003, I was there cheering on my brother who had qualified to race in the Ironman World Championships that year)



Silken Laumann (1992 Accident)

(Go to 3:17 on the time bar)

A painting I did, signed by Silken herself:)

A Special Birthday Wish, and adapting to Change…

First off, Happy Birthday to the love of my life!  We’ve been together for 11 years now and so I have really seen him grow up from a teenager into an amazing successful man – Happy Birthday AndrewJ

Whether you are getting one year older, starting at a new school or job, or rowing at a new club, as humans we are always changing (ourselves and our environment).  Today I really felt like there was “change” all around me.

The weather was the most obvious one.  For a couple of weeks now it has been cold, wet and windy…so windy that on some days, a row would turn into an erg/RP workout.  It has definitely been a drastic change from the 25+ degree weather we had just last month!  Today though, the water moved more quietly and the wind felt subtle, it was a welcome change.  I happily did my two rows (total of 30km) and felt like I could really work on my rowing technique.

It also helped to have a coach follow me for my first row.  More change.  Stani is the new coach under which I am training, and so far I have had some really good sessions with her.  It’s always helpful to have someone break down my stroke and make me work for each stroke that I take.  Of course trying to please, I went out and stayed focused with pressure on my oars for the 18km row – I didn’t have my speed coach (a device you put in your boat to help tell your speed), but it was incredibly hard for my brain and body nonetheless.  Unknowingly, she helped me create some cue words to use that could help me make sure that my posture is strong, legs are fired and knees are quiet.  The amazing thing about rowing is that it requires focus, and so this has really helped me decrease my stress related to anything outside of the sport.  I can get in a boat and trust that whatever stress I have (positive or negative) related to work, friends, family, etc., it can safely be put aside for the duration of my workout, and then I can return to it with a more open mind.

Now change with work.  Nothing has significantly changed, but I am always evolving in my role – learning new approaches to management, processes, sales etc.  I felt this today as I was problem solving with my team on different topics – I absolutely love it!  No day is ever the same.

If you are facing change in some way, don’t feel alone because I’m sure almost everyone is.  Today there is one change, and tomorrow there will be another.  How you deal with that change can affect your stress levels, so take a breather and go for a rowJ.

I knew this song as a dance song and had never seen the video until tonight

Rowing in MUD was brightened up with ZUMBA!

So just as a heads up, I didn’t plan on writing every day, but it just happens to be that I have something to say and share (probably won’t be the case every week though;)).

Today was a challenging day (as many are when one trains mostly on their own).  Fortunately I have amazing teammates that I will be training with more consistently throughout the winter, but for now the fun will be put on hold, haha.

Work kept me very busy as I prepare for a trip to Boston next week and the weather has made it difficult to feel motivated with rowing – not in my own desire to row, but with the environment…

If you run, have you ever felt like you have weights around your ankles slowing you down?  Or if you bike, have you ever felt like you had the chain on the biggest gear, making it harder to keep a high cadence?  Well today, my boat moved like it was in MUD (thanks Kathleen for the very accurate description)!  I tried to imagine the mud turning into water (one would expect right?!), but it didn’t.  It’s hard to look down at your splits (which is the speed at which you are rowing), and see that you are rowing slower than just a few weeks back.  I came across the following that helped me feel like I wasn’t going crazy:
"...boat speeds decrease by 1.3% (~4s over 2k), when the water temperature drops from 20o C down to 5o C. If the water gets warmer, up to 30o, then the boat goes 0.6% faster (~1.8s over 2k). The power trend fits very well to the experimental data (R2 = 0.99)."

Rowing Biomechanics Newsletter by Dr. Kleshnev

Thank you Dr. Kleshnev!!!

So all in all, days like today are challenging, but this journey wouldn’t be as much fun or fulfilling if it wasn’t a challenge;)

In other news, ZUMBA IS SO MUCH FUN!  I went to one of my good friend’s ZUMBA classes today and it was amazing (check out: workitoutfitness.ca)!  I have wanted to go for a long time now but truthfully never had the time – I often sit in my kitchen with my husband and work away at my computer doing reports and what not in the evening.  But today was special.  I felt that I needed a break from the busy day AND it was an opportunity to support her as she was teaching this amazing class in downtown Toronto at Lululemon.  I’m not sure if many of you have taken a Zumba class before, but I know I could never do anyone else’s because it just wouldn’t compare…the energy was SO high, the moves were INTENSE, and it was an hour of non-stop DANCING!  Yes, I am still high from the energyJ.  Below are some pictures of Robyn and the gang after the class.  This will hopefully be the first of my many classes I attend.

Alexandra, Sarah, Robyn, and me - we go all the way back to grade 4!

Most amazing Zumba instructor!

Until next time…

Busy day and a sad farewell

So much happened today, where to begin...

My rows today were focused on technique.  Part way through my total of 30km, I came to remember what I was told about each stroke...each is unique and should be treated as such.  How true that is!  The boat runs over the water differently, depending on the current or wind, and my balance may adjust differently from one stroke to the next.  Great rowers make it look easy, but it is hard I promise you.  I know of one great rower who said that he has only had one perfect stroke in his whole career of rowing (and he won 5 World Championships!) - you can guess who I'm talking about, and you can cheat if you want as he will be mentioned a bit later in this blog;)
There is so much focus that goes into each stroke, and that is why each stroke counts in a race.  I am continuing to learn how to better feel the water and let my boat do the work (how nice that would be:))..when you get that one perfect stroke, you feel like you are flying and when you look down at your stern you can see the water running beside the boat at a consistent speed without any hesitation to keep that momentum going.
Tomorrow I will apply what I felt today and do some higher rate pieces.
*Silly thought* - the whole "flying" comment made me think about this...the other day when I was rowing, I looked up and saw 3 hawks flying high above me and I thought to myself, "I wonder if they think my single sculling boat looks like a very big bird to them..." Ha!  How my mind can wander:S

Now to the big event of the day...the farewell party to a friend, role model, and my coach for the past 2 years.  Bernhard Stomporowski (Stompo) is moving on to a greater opportunity where he will coach down in California...not just anyone, but National Team athletes.  A great loss for the rowing club and myself, but a great opportunity for him.  This is not "good-bye" but it's "see you later"!  He taught me what hard work means, and helped me see my potential...now it's time for me to see it through and realize that potential - however far it takes me, I am a better person and athlete thanks to his leadership!

Thank you Stompo, and see you soon!

My first post:)

I want to welcome you to my blog and thank you for visiting!  As you may know, I am working full time while trying to pursue a dream with Rowing.  My current status is working and training for the upcoming National Rowing Championships (to be held November 11-13th).
My job does require me to travel, as I manage an amazing team of 7 at a medical device company, and I am excited each day to see how I can fit in 4+ hours of training so that I continue to get faster and get closer to qualifying for the National Team.
For 5 years I have trained on a 2km course that is for the most part, always calm, and I have now purposely changed my environment so that I am training on a longer course with rough water and high winds.  So I guess we'll see how it plays out on the week-end of November 11th:).
I also just got back from Phoenix for a work related trip, so I did have to do some cross training there for 3 days...thanks to my friend Rory who was able to help me do rowing related circuits!
In a nutshell, my blog will be about keeping you in the loop on how I go about training while performing the responsibilities of my daily job, work travel, and hopefully future training camps;)
Talk to you soon!