Back in the Swing of Things

Post #8

Oak Ridge, Tennessee - This week we've been in Tennessee on our spring training trip.  Usually, early spring means windy conditions but it has been perfectly calm water every morning that we've been here.  It has been a rower's paradise!  It's a little chilly in the mornings when we launch, but by the time we get moving and the sun gets higher in the sky, it warms up to a great rowing temperature: not too hot, not too cold.  Pictures to come as soon as I get back home!

Two days ago, we launched off the dock at about 7:30 am and into dense fog.  I was the first boat to launch and suddenly I found myself completely surrounded by fog!  I couldn't see anything at all and had no idea where I was relative to the landmarks.  Finally another boat of my teammates emerged so we stuck together and followed the shoreline (after we found it).  Luckily, the sun broke through and the fog lifted after only twenty minutes, but that was an eerie rowing experience!

What I'm most excited about is that our lake in Madison, Lake Mendota, melted on Tuesday so we are *officially* back on the water full-time.  The transition from the rowing machines (ergs) to rowing on water means that we get to take all of the strength training that we've been doing on the machines and add the on the water technical component to it.  We have been doing lots of time trials on the sprint course in Tennessee and I'm happy with the times I've been posting so far.  Exactly three weeks from today is the first race in New Jersey.  I'm going out tomorrow morning to time trial with some bigger boats (4 people per boat) from UW and the University of Tennessee.  My teammates are opening their season by racing in the eights tomorrow as well.

Finally, news on the classroom front.  Just before spring break, the students had been busily preparing their latest stories for publication and the progress has been great.  I'm anxious to get back on Tuesday and see how the editing is going!