Today started with an early morning row for us down at the course. Early actually means an eight a.m. bus which compared to our normal training schedule isn’t very early at all. The weather was fantastic, definitely the best day we’ve had yet. Hopefully the sunshine will hold out for the rest of the trip, but after talking to the locals it seems like it’s never a good idea to get hopeful about the weather in England.
With five days to go until the start of races, our taper has begun. For those non-rowers, a taper is when we workout less and rest a lot more. It’s the final stage in our preparation for the London games. Rowers are usually divided over whether they like tapers or not. Some people love the extra energy and downtown, others get restless and don’t like the feeling of training less. Personally I’m a big fan of the taper. I enjoy the extra free time, and it’s a signal that racing is about to begin.
Since we’re starting to rest more for our upcoming race, we only had one row at the course, and then the afternoon was a cross training session on the bike. Cross training is always nice because you give your mind a little break from rowing. One of the more difficult aspects of training isn’t just the physical but the mental as well. It’s tough mentally to go through the monotony of training so a little break from rowing is always appreciated.
It’s starting to get a lot busier at the course and at the village. We were one of the first teams to show up to London but now many of the other countries are starting to arrive. When everyone is trying to share only seven lanes on a 2,000 meter course it can get pretty hectic. To make things even more difficult, not all the countries speak English. It’s easy to get a little nervous seeing an eight bearing down on you when you’re trying to turn, and knowing that they have no idea what you’re saying to them.
The four of us have gotten a great response from everyone reading this blog and visiting the site. The United States Lightweight Rowing Association was created with two main objectives in mind. The first is to create a network of people who want to support lightweight rowing and keep in touch with other lightweight rowing supporters. We hope that everyone who reads this blog will create a profile on our site and check out other members. The second main goal is to help raise money for those training on the US National Team, with a special emphasis on those going for the Olympics in 2016. There is very little funding in rowing, especially in lightweight rowing, but it only takes a little amount to make a big difference. Anyone interested in supporting should check out the donate page on the site linked below.
And be sure to check out the pictures we’ve been uploading to get a behind the scenes look at life at the Olympics!
-Nick
http://usalightweightrowing.ning.com/profiles/blog/list
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