-there is a "common" along the river where people graze cattle. It is not uncommon to avoid cow patties on the way to the boathouse, or to see cattle wandering through people's yards
-british people say "kip" instead of nap.
-In england, dressing 'goth' didnt die out in 9th grade.
-people have no idea what I am talking about when I say "I row port", or "he rows starboard". (Instead they say strokeside and bowside)
DC was really fun, its a good town to be in during your 20s. Lots of young fun people and interns who all seem to party really hard on friday and saturday nights. Kevin took me to a ridiculous bar; if you go to order something like a rum and coke, they open a flask of rum, empty its entirety into a cup, give you a can of coke, and give you a bucket of ice. Needless to say, this results in the consumption of a lot of alcohol. Other than going out to the bars, the mall and museums and monuments are all beautiful and really enjoyable, despite tourists. I could definitely see myself living there for a time in the future. I got to see old friends Jake Cornelius and Chris Knight on separate occasions which was also really fun. Kate and Kevin were incredible hosts, hoohoo!
I left DC on monday night, arrived in London via Dublin. Oddly enough, I never had to pass through customs. The Irish customs just waved me through without inspecting my passport because I wasn't leaving the airport. I fully expected the joys of Heathrow customs, but my hopes were dashed by an equally joyful jaunt around the corridors of the non-international terminal at Heathrow.
After taking the bus to Cambridge, I was picked up by Rob Baker (one of the coaches) and taken to the Goldie boathouse. There is a lot of history in that boathouse, though it was newer than I expected due to remodeling. The Goldie boat boathouse rests on the River Cam, which is narrow, shallow, and generally unfit for rowing. Accordingly, the boat club also has a boathouse at Ely, which is about a 35 minute drive away. I havent been there yet, but I will see it tomorrow. Goldie is right on campus, and is where we erg and lift. The coolest part of it is the Captains room, which is painted entirely Cambridge blue (which is actually seafoam green, sssshhh dont tell anybody), and the walls are literally covered with panels with the names of every Cambridge competitor in the boatrace ever, and date back to 1850-something.
This morning, for our first practice, we had a 2k erg test. woohoo! Lets just say that I had some serious anxiety going into this test:
1) I have erged maybe 5 times since U23s in July
2) I have been in Nevada, unable to exercise except run and walk for three weeks prior.
3) I got really bad food poisoning in Nevada, and didnt eat properly for 3 days.
4) I got off a plane exactly 24 hours before my test
5) I slept only a few hours on a teammate's floor the night before
6) serious jetlag.
excuses, excuses, Silas. The piece started out okay. I knew anything below 6:10 would be respectable, so I tried to sit on a 1:33/500m split. Around 900m in, 1:33's started to feel like a struggle. Around 900 to go, 1:33's started to feel like an epic struggle. The "epic-struggle speed" continued to rise: 1:34, 1:35, 1:36. After seeing 1:38 for a couple strokes. I managed to stop the bleeding with a 1:36. My score ended up being {secret information}, middle of the road compared with the other guys. The best was a {secret information, sshhhhhh!} I think. I was pretty disappointed in my fitness, but my legs really felt like they had no pop, like poop. I am pretty sure that if we did a test tomorrow I would perform significantly better.
After the test we did a series of agility and flexibility testing. While I am pretty sure that the tests had little to do with rowing ability, it was fun to compete in stuff. Once again, I was pretty middle of the road for most of the tests. If I make this boat, I will have to step up my game and show something, or claw my way up the ranks while I get fitter. crap.
I am pretty exhausted from jetlag, so I am going to bed, but I will write more when I get a chance.
fun times with stanford rowers, woo!
ReplyDeletealso, well done controlling the erg at the end there...it's probably the jetlag and months of non-training, but you'll be back in the saddle before you know it.