First 5K Test -- COMPLETE!

Let me preface this by saying that testing makes for one of the worst two practices possible as a Stanford Women's Crew member.

Of course the day started off at 5:30 with a morning row...only I didn't actually row, I was stuck in the boathouse erging and spinning. Then I got breakfast and a nap before my only class of the day, so I really couldn't complain too much.

Afternoon practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays is on land in the Ford Center, generally with some erging in the workout. Today was ALL erging. It was test day! We spent some time outside talking with Katie about what to expect and that we could all pull our goal splits, that we were strong enough, etc., etc. Then we warmed up for over 45 minutes, which just makes the nerves sooo much worse considering we didn't even warm up that long for our race last Sunday.

That 5K erg test was definitely 20 of the longest minutes of my rowing career this far. A "5K Test" is basically sitting down on the rowing ergometer (erg/rowing machine) and pulling 5000 meters as hard and as fast as you can, all while trying to keep your mind and body from totally shutting down on you, not to mention the fact that you're competing for a spot in a spring boat against everyone on the team, not just the other walk-ons. With about 250 meters (2 minutes) to go, I actually felt like I needed to throw up. That's how hard your abs have to contract through the whole piece.

I ended up pulling 3 seconds lower than my goal and having the fourth best time of the twelve of us, but that was still a killer workout...rewarding, but a killer.

My girls after our first race

Newport Autumn Rowing Festival

November 2, 2008

7th place baby!

Catching Up

So, it's a little depressing that I'm so terribly behind already, but it happened, so here's my attempt to catch up during my 1 am study break.

I spent the weekend before last in Fremont with some family. My second cousin got married and when I got there I only knew him and his parents. By the time I got back to campus on Sunday evening, I not only had a bunch of new family, but I also had flown an airplane and had a great new friend in my "cousin" (second cousin, once removed) Michael. Michael even brought me back to campus and just hung out on the hall and in the dorm and watched Grey's with Brady and I before going back home that night.

Mom's birthday was the next week, I love you Mom!

I also had a midterm for my Comm 162 class which was surprisingly awesome (or at least I think so right now, haven't gotten my scores back yet). It was a "blue book" test, so it was mainly writing and it was all on political campaigns so it was actually a little fun.

Other than classes, pretty much the only thing I did was crew. Practices were crazy because we were preparing for our first race. We also got together a couple different nights as a team to tye-dye t-shirts for our unis! It was such a fun "team bonding" activity for us!

Halloween was Friday, but we were leaving for crew at 5 the next morning, so I dressed up (as a Little Black Book) and just came home REALLY early!

8 hour bus ride, starting at 5:30 am + some really weird rowing movie = 8 hours of sleep on the way to NARF (Newport Autumn Rowing Festival)
After we got there, we rigged the boats and practiced on the course, then went back to the hotel and got ready, then went out for supper with all the teams, then we had our team strategy meeting - complete with "ejector crab" stories from Katie, and then it was bed time!

We raced on Sunday and it was incredible! It started raining when we picked up the boat to walk it down to the beach and launch, and it didn't stop until we got out of the boat after the race and the sun peeked out of the clouds. Despite the weather, we ended up placing 7th out of 21 crews, 2nd out of the "B" boats, and beating 7 "A" boats!

This week has been filled with election mayhem and a devilish IHUM paper and that's about it! More later!