“In two, COLBY CREW”
Howdy Colby Crew -
Warning: Do not read this email while operating heavy machinery or when studying for an exam as it will most likely put you to sleep. In the event of insomnia, feel free to indulge.
How are you guys doing? You’re undoubtedly not as warm as I am. Sorry for rubbing it in. I’m currently in Newport Beach/Long Beach, California. Usually, like you guys, I would just head south for a couple weeks of the winter/early spring. This year things are a bit different though. The national team selection regattas are being held in San Diego instead of the usual Princeton, New Jersey. This is for a couple factors, but mainly because all of them are happening earlier due to the earlier date of the Olympics this year. That’s the other reason things are a bit different. The World Championships is a big deal and happens yearly, but the Olympics jumps to a whole new level. Consequently, athletes as well try to go to a whole new level. Like you guys, athletes training for the Olympics have a four year cycle to improve on and build on each year, but obviously, the tank gets emptied in the last year. I have to admit I have it a bit easier in some ways since I’m in California. We are still erging some and definitely testing. However, I am not enduring the usual back-to-back weeks of exclusive erging as you guys are. How are they going? Is it seeming treacherous to trek over to the gym in the cold only to sit down on what seems like a torture machine? I’m not going to lie to you and say that I find the erg itself fun. Despite the frequency with which I use it, it never gets easier and never grows more entertaining. The roof only gets higher with each row as your fitness gets better and lower splits are necessary. Consequently, erging is a Sisyphean task of perpetually hard effort. That’s if you are doing it right. There are three things though that may help you guys through what is probably the most important part of the year:
1. This is the most important time of the year. Do you think that Kobe Bryant and the Lakers could win the NBA Finals if they didn’t play all year, but then challenged the best ranked team at the end of a season? Despite his cavalier attitude, do you think Usain Bolt could set new world records and win Olympic gold by just being talented and showing up the day of the Olympic finals? This rings even more true with an aerobic based sport like rowing. It will never be immediately gratifying, but what you do during the winter months are what will allow you to enjoy better, faster rows in the spring. You never see the dividends of the current months training until the end of the next month. What’s scarier is that you can lose muscular strength and aerobic endurance twice as fast as you can build it. I found that out only recently in a book I was reading. So it stinks. No doubt about it, but every meter you pull indoors is like two meters in your back pocket come the spring!
2. This point may be slightly more sadistic and keep in mind that each of these points may not work for everyone, but hopefully, one of them works. Pain is fleeting. Can you tell me exactly how you felt last time you were sick? Or describe to me just how bad the last headache you had was? I’m sure if I asked you those in person, you could fire back with a ton of colorful responses. “It was hell!” “I thought I was going to die.” Really though? In those descriptions, we’re just being dramatic. It doesn’t mean that things weren’t bad, but pain really doesn’t stick with you. You cannot actually FEEL pain that you do not have. As I was still growing into my body (all the way through college), I cracked my head open and had to get stitches on multiple occasions. I know it hurt. I know I did not like it, but no matter what I cannot summon the feeling of the pain I once had. Same is true for any erg I’ve done. Yes, you can have residual soreness, but the pain you feel when you finish a 2k will not be there tomorrow. You will never feel the one minute after an erg test any time outside of that one minute after an erg test. So why fear it? It will come. Fine, but I promise you it will go.
3. Lastly, adjust what you think the parameters are for what you can do. I have had to sit on an erg for a 2 hour piece more times than I can count. I usually row for an hour straight, then do two thirty minute blocks. The first time I was told I had to do it I thought it was impossible. Then, I did it. I have never biked that far. I made plans to bike to Bethlehem, PA, and back from Philly in one day. 120+ miles. Now, I have a new notion of how far I can bike. You have to be smart and not over train. Stew will make sure of that. However, realize that the mind is a powerful thing for better and for worse. The mind can put up road blocks so that a task seems undoable or a goal unattainable. However, the mind can also be a huge factor in staying healthy, overcoming injuries, and getting faster. Although the body is capable of just going out and running a marathon, you are likely to be injured if you do it without any training. last night when I was cooling down at the Newport Aquatic Center, I witnessed a high school girl doing her first 2k in front of her coach. She tried to stop repeatedly. It was quite evident through her breathing, lack of sweat, and true body language that she was not exhausted. Not even near it. However, she felt something she hadn’t felt before and wasn’t really willing to endure it. Fortunately, she had a coach to provide encouragement and even force her to continue on to complete a task she could easily do. Every time something seems impossible, there is someone in a similar position (age, experience, fitness) to you that will find a way to do it. Example, a Danish lightweight sculler just beat his own world record for 2000m. He did it at lightweight weight. He pulled a 5:57, a score sufficient for many international heavyweight rowers, a score that many lightweight rowers cannot get anywhere near.
You want icing on the cake? Your erg room. I’ve trained a lot of places, but that erg room at Colby is awesome and ideal. Take advantage of it.
I guess there’s a fourth and final thing. The last thing to realize and then remember is “why are you doing this?” If you know why you are doing it, then it will only get easier. If you don’t know why you are doing it, then you will not see the worth. You will be more likely to think negative things as your body hurts and to wonder why am I doing this. There have been countless days where I’ve considered the million other ways I could spend my time. I’ve thought about how awesome things would be if I didn’t wake up at 6 to row, then work for 8 hours, then row again, eat, sleep, and repeat. The reason I never missed a day and the reason I haven’t stopped is because I know exactly why I am doing it. Each of you may have a different reason for being a part of Colby Crew, but you need to know why for your sake and for those around you. You may be doing it for friendships. You may be doing it to be in shape. You may be doing it to race. You may be doing it to be a part of a team. You may be doing it because someone you looked up to rowed. Whatever the reason may be, find it, know it, and embrace it. If you do, then you will know exactly why you are doing what you are doing.
Hope this unsolicited email finds you guys well. Those of you from the new class that I haven’t met, I look forward to meeting you and hope you soon realize the cool tradition you are joining.
Dig in and spring break will be here before you know it. Try to make yourself more ready and fitter than ever for this spring break. Time flies.
Steve Whelpley ‘05
