First steps
This post is going to be a slight change of pace from what I typically cover and delve into the personal realm.
I'm in the process of of cleaning up my "office" - really just some shelving and a table - and I stumbled across some photos from my days at Willamette, specifically documenting my time as a rower/coxswain. I was looking back at the pictures, thinking fondly of the times that we had, the races both won and lost and of freezing cold mornings where ice would form on the boats as we lifted them from the water.
As I glanced through the pictures, I did notice a rather disturbing trend. The more pictures I sorted through, the worse the trend got. I could watch it growing, slowly and perhaps unnoticed until you managed to hold two pictures representing an undetermined span of time. Then the trend was black and white.
Am I referring to some unfortunate rowing technique or perhaps a dwindling number of athletes in pictures? Perhaps I'm talking about how the faces constantly seem to change with very little carry over from year to year or that our equipment seemed to simply age before our eyes with little hope of being replaced.
Sadly no. The trend that I'm referring to is one that is personally embarrassing and has emboldened me to make changes and make them quickly. The trend that I found staring back at me was my body shape and how it seems to enlarge as time went on. There were some fluctuations and senior year it appeared that I'd started to get back under control but the post Willamette pictures at the very end said it all.
I've ballooned. A combination of bad eating habits, bad food habits and a lack of motivation and exercise have contributed to me reaching a weight point that I'd never pictured myself at. It was already hard to fathom that I was a coxswain at one point but it's even harder to imagine me coming into rowing as a freshmen in college as a LIGHTWEIGHT. That's right. Freshmen year I tipped the scale at just over 150 pounds, typically sitting around 148. Thank you year around soccer.
And now? Now I'm too ashamed to even mention my current weight.
I look at myself and realize that I've improved my base of knowledge for the sport and have altered how and what specifically I teach and yet in the effort to improve mentally, I've let go of the physical side.
The other day I pulled a 500 meter piece at a decent but not pressing clip and was wheezing toward the end. No sprint, not even my original 2k pace and yet I was agonizing as those meters slowly clicked off the monitor. Surrounded by younger athletes and Learn to Row kids I pressed on and made it through to the finish but stumbled off hoping not to suffer a heart attack. Simply horrible.
My physical condition has become unacceptable and that changes this season. How can I demonstrate certain techniques on the ergs or sprint work when I myself can barely last more than 250 meters all out and even that is pressing? How can I demonstrate reach or lay back when I feel my core begging for me to find a couch to lounge upon? And how as a coach do I instruct younger athletes that this is about physical fitness and testing limits when I balk at the idea of doing 3x20 minutes at steady state?
The change happens now. I've started putting together my own personal plan, looking back at the way I maintained weight in soccer and have worked to figure out a way to get in my workouts without disrupting practice.
My goal for the end of November is to be 25 pounds lighter than I am and to pull a 7:30 2k. My goal for spring is to be 50 pounds lighter and be sub 7.
Ready, steady, lock and load.
I'm in the process of of cleaning up my "office" - really just some shelving and a table - and I stumbled across some photos from my days at Willamette, specifically documenting my time as a rower/coxswain. I was looking back at the pictures, thinking fondly of the times that we had, the races both won and lost and of freezing cold mornings where ice would form on the boats as we lifted them from the water.
As I glanced through the pictures, I did notice a rather disturbing trend. The more pictures I sorted through, the worse the trend got. I could watch it growing, slowly and perhaps unnoticed until you managed to hold two pictures representing an undetermined span of time. Then the trend was black and white.
Am I referring to some unfortunate rowing technique or perhaps a dwindling number of athletes in pictures? Perhaps I'm talking about how the faces constantly seem to change with very little carry over from year to year or that our equipment seemed to simply age before our eyes with little hope of being replaced.
Sadly no. The trend that I'm referring to is one that is personally embarrassing and has emboldened me to make changes and make them quickly. The trend that I found staring back at me was my body shape and how it seems to enlarge as time went on. There were some fluctuations and senior year it appeared that I'd started to get back under control but the post Willamette pictures at the very end said it all.
I've ballooned. A combination of bad eating habits, bad food habits and a lack of motivation and exercise have contributed to me reaching a weight point that I'd never pictured myself at. It was already hard to fathom that I was a coxswain at one point but it's even harder to imagine me coming into rowing as a freshmen in college as a LIGHTWEIGHT. That's right. Freshmen year I tipped the scale at just over 150 pounds, typically sitting around 148. Thank you year around soccer.
And now? Now I'm too ashamed to even mention my current weight.
I look at myself and realize that I've improved my base of knowledge for the sport and have altered how and what specifically I teach and yet in the effort to improve mentally, I've let go of the physical side.
The other day I pulled a 500 meter piece at a decent but not pressing clip and was wheezing toward the end. No sprint, not even my original 2k pace and yet I was agonizing as those meters slowly clicked off the monitor. Surrounded by younger athletes and Learn to Row kids I pressed on and made it through to the finish but stumbled off hoping not to suffer a heart attack. Simply horrible.
My physical condition has become unacceptable and that changes this season. How can I demonstrate certain techniques on the ergs or sprint work when I myself can barely last more than 250 meters all out and even that is pressing? How can I demonstrate reach or lay back when I feel my core begging for me to find a couch to lounge upon? And how as a coach do I instruct younger athletes that this is about physical fitness and testing limits when I balk at the idea of doing 3x20 minutes at steady state?
The change happens now. I've started putting together my own personal plan, looking back at the way I maintained weight in soccer and have worked to figure out a way to get in my workouts without disrupting practice.
My goal for the end of November is to be 25 pounds lighter than I am and to pull a 7:30 2k. My goal for spring is to be 50 pounds lighter and be sub 7.
Ready, steady, lock and load.
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