Winter Training 2020
Hello readers, and welcome to the final day of winter training camp 2019. Or is it 2020? Winter 2019, training camp 2020?
Either way, it is a typical PNW day outside with strong gusts of wind, and rain. However, despite the weather, the river is up, making it possible to row the full length of our home course without worrying about scraping out the bottom of the racing shells.
We spent Saturday in Eugene on our home race course at Dexter Reservoir. I've always had mixed feelings about this body of water as I do with most bodies of water in the PNW. Regardless of the time of year, Dexter is always cold, and the wind is predictably unpredictable which means that you might encounter glass conditions, or you may have wasted 45+ minutes making a drive to discover that the lake looks like the ocean. Vancouver Lake comes to mind. As much as I love the PNW, her bodies of rowable water leave much to be desired. Spectators would dislike it, but there is one stretch on the Willamette that I'd hold all regattas on and simply hope that you're not racing during the salmon run. I have raced during that, and coached during that and it's more a matter of dodging fishermen than getting from the start to finish as quickly as possible. I watched a men's eight from my alma mater snag a braided line once and come to a complete standstill. Braided line is rather tough, and I am not a fan of Hudson boats. I digress.
We're currently sitting in our 8-hour period for the next few days which limits practice. Typically you have up to 20-hours a week to run practices, but from time to time you have to drop down. This isn't the end of the world however, and I appreciate that the head coach has scheduled it now rather than jumping back in. I believe you can move around your 8-hour weeks, but scheduling them right at the beginning of winter term and right after winter break is brilliant. The team has a chance to return to campus, and get settled in. While this may not be groundbreaking for the returners, the freshmen benefit from being able to ease into the quarter. Solid planning all around.
I am off to western New York in roughly 48-hours. With the 8-hour weeks on full, now is the only time this spring I'll have the opportunity to get away without it impacting practices. The first assistant and I put in a lot of work during the break to get the equipment up to snuff so it's ready to go for the first part of spring. We'll have to double check heading into Pac-12s and IRAs, but you should always check your equipment before any championship regatta. Simply standard practice.
So with that being said, I'm brushing up on my coaching journal, and updating my resume for the year while waiting for practice to begin. We're scheduled to get snow late next week, but I am hopeful that it's a brief shower and that we've pulled through the worst winter has to offer so we can remain on track for spring.
One of the downsides to winter training is that there isn't much to do. The spring schedule is set, and unless you're one particular head coach I worked with, your spring travel framework was set up months ago. Ours was set months ago. So other than a few last minute official visits, we're trying to stay sharp before we can get back into the normal swing of things.
I've decided to use the extra time to view some of the US Rowing DVDs on training that I have. A couple of years ago, I was given the entire library of DVDs at IRAs, and have spent the last few days watching them. While I wouldn't call them groundbreaking - honestly after this many years, they shouldn't be - it is always helpful to get some different perspectives on various drills. You never know what might spark an idea or what might get you to rethink a particular drill.
And finally, I've been watching this documentary on repeat. It's nice to see some solid schoolboys rowing from down under.
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| Barge party at Dexter |
We spent Saturday in Eugene on our home race course at Dexter Reservoir. I've always had mixed feelings about this body of water as I do with most bodies of water in the PNW. Regardless of the time of year, Dexter is always cold, and the wind is predictably unpredictable which means that you might encounter glass conditions, or you may have wasted 45+ minutes making a drive to discover that the lake looks like the ocean. Vancouver Lake comes to mind. As much as I love the PNW, her bodies of rowable water leave much to be desired. Spectators would dislike it, but there is one stretch on the Willamette that I'd hold all regattas on and simply hope that you're not racing during the salmon run. I have raced during that, and coached during that and it's more a matter of dodging fishermen than getting from the start to finish as quickly as possible. I watched a men's eight from my alma mater snag a braided line once and come to a complete standstill. Braided line is rather tough, and I am not a fan of Hudson boats. I digress.
We're currently sitting in our 8-hour period for the next few days which limits practice. Typically you have up to 20-hours a week to run practices, but from time to time you have to drop down. This isn't the end of the world however, and I appreciate that the head coach has scheduled it now rather than jumping back in. I believe you can move around your 8-hour weeks, but scheduling them right at the beginning of winter term and right after winter break is brilliant. The team has a chance to return to campus, and get settled in. While this may not be groundbreaking for the returners, the freshmen benefit from being able to ease into the quarter. Solid planning all around.
I am off to western New York in roughly 48-hours. With the 8-hour weeks on full, now is the only time this spring I'll have the opportunity to get away without it impacting practices. The first assistant and I put in a lot of work during the break to get the equipment up to snuff so it's ready to go for the first part of spring. We'll have to double check heading into Pac-12s and IRAs, but you should always check your equipment before any championship regatta. Simply standard practice.
So with that being said, I'm brushing up on my coaching journal, and updating my resume for the year while waiting for practice to begin. We're scheduled to get snow late next week, but I am hopeful that it's a brief shower and that we've pulled through the worst winter has to offer so we can remain on track for spring.
One of the downsides to winter training is that there isn't much to do. The spring schedule is set, and unless you're one particular head coach I worked with, your spring travel framework was set up months ago. Ours was set months ago. So other than a few last minute official visits, we're trying to stay sharp before we can get back into the normal swing of things.
I've decided to use the extra time to view some of the US Rowing DVDs on training that I have. A couple of years ago, I was given the entire library of DVDs at IRAs, and have spent the last few days watching them. While I wouldn't call them groundbreaking - honestly after this many years, they shouldn't be - it is always helpful to get some different perspectives on various drills. You never know what might spark an idea or what might get you to rethink a particular drill.
And finally, I've been watching this documentary on repeat. It's nice to see some solid schoolboys rowing from down under.
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