Quote of the Year - "When do you guys blow off steam?"

So the funniest moment of my training thus far this year happened this week. 'Coach' was asking us about the schedule, and what our preferences are for our schedule. Generally, we have between 10 and 12 practices a week - right now we are using all 7 days, meaning we haven't had a day off since early September. Our most important/intense practice of the week is on Sunday morning at 8 AM right now, which kind of crimps our style on Saturday evening.

Anyway, if you read one of my previous posts about losing my social skills as a result of my training so much, you might understand my surprise when our coach said - "I'm kind of concerned about the dork factor. When do you guys go out and blow off steam?"

After about a two second delay of shock and exchanging looks with each other, we all burst out laughing. We had naturally assumed that the schedule was set up this way to keep us in check and too tired to get in any trouble - which it is doing a damn fine job of, I have to say. Rowers definitely have a habit of going kind of over the top when they do get to go out - rowing was where I got the idea for the 9-house, 9-drink progressive golf party that became a staple of my business school years. But not on this schedule, which puts into fatigue and keeps us there. Even our days off have us prepping/resting for test pieces on the rowing machine (aka the ergometer for you rowers).

I will never forget that quote as a staple of this fall. Blow off steam. Ha. If lying on a couch watching a rerun of Friday Night Lights, too tired to get that bottle of water on the coffee table, can be considered 'blowing off steam', then I'm pretty good at it.

Didn't think anyone was really reading this...

OK, so the funny thing is - I haven't been posting much, mostly because my posts are kind of inside jokes to myself - primarily because I didn't think anyone was really reading this (I didn't really advertise it, just started posting). If I did, I probably would proofread before I post. But over the past few days several people have told me they are actually reading this, which kind of threw me for a loop. But since I have at least a core group of people who seem somewhat amused by these random incidents, I'll try to post a bit more often.

I gotta run to practice in a few, so I gotta make this quick. But went to Boston over the weekend for about the umpteenth time to race in the Head of the Charles. Raced as the New York Athletic Club with all my national team teammates (I won't explain why we rowed as NYAC and not USRowing, it's kind of a long story that basically comes down to money) in the lightweight eight and won. It was pretty cool, since I've rowed that race for years and never won it. The Charles is kind of an exhibition race, because a lot of people show up but the results don't really mean anything because its a very early season event and the course is really difficult and unfair. But we beat the Canada and Dutch lwt squads, which was pretty cool to do. So despite the fact I had practice at 7:45 AM in New Jersey the next morning, I hung around Boston until 7 PM because I really wanted to go the medal ceremony for this race which I've rowed at a million times but never actually won before. Also, I don't think I'd won a medal since 2004, so I was really looking forward that little tug on the back of my neck that comes when they drape a ribbon over your head and then let go of it, and the medal drops flat against your chest after a bounce or two and the ribbon falls flush against your skin (not that I've obsessed or daydreamed over it or anything). But anyway, it was about the quickest medal ceremony you've ever seen, with only the people who actually won medals in attendance, and only about half of them bothering to stick around (only half my eight actually stuck around for it, I was one of the stubborn few). It was cool nonetheless, but was followed by a long, traffic filled drive back to NJ - complete with Dunkin' Donuts stops - and practice at the regular time the next morning. Who wants to go the famous Charles after-party the year you've won the race, anyway, right?

so tired that I'm too lazy to put myself in a reasonable sleeping position when I fall asleep...

So another random side-effect of training.... I am really tired when I get to bed, and I'll often try to keep my eyes open for a few minutes and read. Last night I feel asleep while reading, but rather then putting my head flat on the pillow (I was either too tired or lazy for that, not sure which), I fell asleep kind of sitting up and rested my head against the wall - my bed is in the corner of my room, so this is easy to do. I think I slept at least five hours like this, with my head not actually on a pillow but resting against a hard wall. I'm not a doctor, but I really don't think that was good for my neck. In the choice of immediate sleep or comfort, I clearly put a premium on the extra three seconds of sleep that repositioning myself on my pillow would have cost me....

goodbye, social skills.... I'll have to work on you again next year

OK... one more random training observation. I'm pretty sure my social skills are slipping away. I think I'll get them back, but literally my life is waking up in the morning to go row, come back home, eat, fire up the PC, do some work, head to physical therapy, talk about rowing with the other rowers there, head home, grab a quick snack, head back to practice for a workout on the rowing machine, then the last workout of the day on the water. Pretty rowing heavy..

With practice seven days, I am finding myself in a quandry - go hang out with people in my spare time, or just decompress. I've been decompressing, which is good because it freshens me up for my next practice - and if I try to cram something non-rowing related it just means I spend my downtime rushing around. So there are no late nights at bars or evening trips to NYC (unless they are work-related; I'm doing 20 hours a week with a private equity firm).

The funny side effect - I'm paying more and more attention to fashion - for the first time I actually know what's 'in' this fall. And ironically I own some of it - despite the fact I never get to wear it beause I am always in workout gear or sweats... And I'm never around people that would actually be impressed by it.

So if you know me and I seem little out of it when we finally talk - note that it's because I've gradually become socially inept. Please try to pull me back into the real world if you can...

Random Training Observations

So I'm hitting the training stride at this point. I've been falling into my regular program, kind of a shock to the system as I haven't done work in this kind of volume for three years... (the year after Athens I basically skated by on residual fitness, then I went to grad school for two years and could only workout as my school schedule permitted). There a lot of things that I forgot go along with training this much, so if you don't mind listening to some minor gripes, here are are some of the inconveniences of working out five hours a day.

• constantly running out of food. Despite the fact that I am dieting and trying to drop a few pounds, I can't ever seem to keep enough nutrition around the kitchen. I end up the store at least every other day (mostly to buy bananas to put over my Wheaties - bananas only stay good for a few days - and for the record, I'm pretty sure I'm only the 30+ person in the world that still eats his Wheaties everyday)
• an incredible amount of laundry. It's incredible how many workout clothes I go thru. the funny thing is, a lot of times I don't even sweat in the gear and up washing it. I'll wear a dri-fit t-shirt to the boathouse, then if the weather is good I'll take it off as soon as I get on the water. I basically use it as a towel to wipe off sweat. And I feel the need to wash it before I reuse it. Somehow when I was in college I got by on two pairs of shorts and array of t-shirts, now I've gotten really high maintenance.
• somehow I manage to forget one of the following three items everyday - my chest strap to monitor my heart rate, my sunglasses or my water bottle. Sunglasses are the worst to forget - bad glare can make it almost impossible to keep your eyes open, which make it especially difficult if you are responsible for steering for that workout
• constant sleeping. I'm kind of in a readjustment phase, so my body is demanding a little more rest than it normally would, but the amount of times I have to fight off a nap in the middle of a weekday is pretty amazing (I've got a part-time job that I work mostly from home, so I've got to stay alert). Last Saturday, I wrapped up a hard practice at 9 AM, came home, took a two hour nap, got up for a while, took a four hour nap, got up for dinner and watched some TV til 10 PM, then slept until 7 AM the next day when I had to get up for practice. I don't normally sleep that much, but man, was it refreshing.
  

Well, I've got an ergometer test tomorrow (fitness check on the rowing machine - how many meters can I go in 30 minutes at 24 strokes per minute). As erg test go, this one isn't all that bad, and it's a shorter practice for tomorrow. But this is the Olympic year, so it all counts....