The Silent Work of Winter Months
Settling into a new routine in Austin and maintaining momentum
The most challenging aspect of my training is maintaining momentum in the off season. It is much easier to get in an extra session on the water or an hour to stretch when I am in the midst of racing season. While this is important, it is the sessions 3, 4, 5 months before that really pay dividends. Putting that into practice is much harder and a big focus of mine this off season. One of the reasons I moved to Austin was to put myself in the best possible place where I could maximize training sessions while also work full time.
Texas Rowing Center (TRC) is the club that I row out of in Austin as part of the TRC-High Performance team. It is a high performance team formed a couple of years ago that has trained a lot of the top lightweight and small boat national team rowers. Being able to train with this team was a big reason that I decided to move down to Austin in the first place. You can read more about their history (or subscribe to the TRCHP newsletter here).
Following the head of the charles, my boat made its way back to Austin on the TRC trailer. After spending a couple of practices getting my boat dialed in and waiting out some cold austin weather (it was 34 degrees!) I settled into a nice routine of early morning practices on the water 6 days a week and then afternoon sessions (3 lifts and 2 cardio) throughout the week as well. It was definitely an adjustment working on-water practice back into the rhythm, because it adds about 40 minutes to my practice time with rigging, launching and derigging. The water has been fantastic, though, and I am already seeing a ton of improvements in technique.
Two weekends ago I drove my boat an hour and a half to Waco where I raced in a 5k head race. I didn’t really know what to expect as I have never raced my single in a 5k, but I ended up going pretty fast (I actually had the same split as a 2k from last spring!) I was racing in the open men’s category and they started me first so I spent the entire race trying to hold of the rest of the event as they slowly passed me! Really awesome to mix up the training with a race, though.
Currently there is only one other TRC HP athlete rowing out of TRC, Jasper Liu, and although we row in the mornings at different times, we lift together and it is really nice to have someone that I see regularly while training who is also putting in the work (he trains even more than I do). There are some more lightweight rowers due to arrive in the next couple of weeks and train in Austin for the winter (all of whom are gunning to qualify for Paris as well), so there will be a large group of us.
I traveled home to Buffalo for Thanksgiving where I mixed in ice baths and training with turkey eating! I get to cheat a bit while taking ice baths (just a feeding trough left out over night) because I can only feel temperature very well in my arms so if I sit with my arms out I can get all of the benefits with none of the super cold “I WANT TO GET OUT” detriments. Although I force myself to do some time with my arms in too to strengthen the mind :).
After thanksgiving, I met up with my coach, Sasha and headed up to Lake Placid where I am now. I am spending the week in the Olympic Training Center for a strength and conditioning camp with some of the other fixed seat para rowers. I am really excited for what this week has in store, because I will hopefully leave with a strength program tailored to my stroke, ability, and goals. It is really hard for me to constantly design and update my lifting routines each week and as a result I often tend to fall into habits of the same exercises, weights, and reps, which makes the lifting less effective. That’s a big reason I am so excited to have a tailored plan to go off of. It is also always nice to be training with the team especially in a facility like the OTC, where all of our meals are provided and we can get 3 sessions in a day!
This is actually my second time training here, the first time was about 11 years ago when I was ski racing. With 2 feet of snow on the ground outside, skiing seems more appropriate than rowing training!
I will share more about our week here and all of the testing / training next week!
Andrew- Keep writing. I love reading. Mary's picture was great. I didn't know you don't have temperature sensation much in your legs. That's kind of cool - kind of sucks- what does the lactic acid response feel or not feel like when you work out quads, hams, etc. Love you! Stay inspired! Keep inspiring me - Aunt Anne