With four months since the last post on this page, there is a lot to catch up on.
Winter has come and gone. Got in 200k in the C2 Holiday Challenge – did you try and how did you end up with the challenge?
Traveled; sometimes found an erg to row (never took the single along this winter, but have looked at options in Florida). Continued to erg through the winter. Took up weight lifting – erratically. Kept rowing long pieces. Occasionally inserted interval work of varying length – satisfying but challenging and inconsistent.
Cord on my C2 dynamic broke again this winter. Frustrating but also great to find C2 so willing to help. Since I had an original part to hold the mechanism that did not allow ready access to thread the replacement cord, they sent a new one. Worked great and I was back in the saddle.
Got final city approval for Traverse Area Community Rowing (TACR) to offer rowing in Hull Park, Traverse City, Michigan, beginning this year. (Amazed and disappointed to find rowers in the next county trying to block this community effort!) TACR has begun offering indoor rowing LTR classes with help from many and cooperation of a local health club (TACR has no building yet). Fenced compound to go up next month and looking for boats and oars to supplement the small fleet of singles we have. LTR classes begin on the water in June. Have found others to be very willing to help locate equipment for sale.
Enjoyed the Lubbers Cup Regatta last weekend on Spring Lake, near Grand Haven, Michigan. Two of us acted as announcers with great support by the media group of GVSU and a local television station. Fifteen universities’ rowing teams and club teams competing over two days. Great regatta despite the wind and cold.
Got out on the bay to row three times in March but winter kept coming back. On the water twice so far in April. Tried the C2 Bantam sculls and new skinnies – both felt good.
Planning a first, informal “group row” (not a race) across Grand Traverse Bay from Suttons Bay to the Old Mission lighthouse this year, perhaps Memorial Day weekend. Have 4 of us now planning to participate – subject to calm weather, of course. Safety launch to follow – a local businessman who rowed in high school. Join us?
Finding it challenging to increase my wind after a winter of long low rows. With the number of friends I have who are dealing with early onset Alzheimers, Parkinson’s disease, blood cancer and lung problems, I cannot complain. And the fact is that the body responds when I do interval work or keep the longer rows going strong after fully warming up. But the process of aging makes it a daily challenge. Good to have rowing to use in all seasons and conditions.
Summer racing? May do some sprint races this summer to prepare me better for the fall head racing season.
The books (“Row Daily” and “A Row a Day”) – getting some good feedback but always welcome more. Additional books in the works. Always interested in discussing ideas. I am still interested in pursuing the idea that the way exercise helps us with fitness and health is through the changes it (movement and deeper breathing) makes in the way water is used in the body and how water moves through the body. So far, I have not found a doctor who is excited by that idea and I need to follow up with physiologists. Reactions or input?