Rowing: That Is the Question!

Welcome back to New Jersey and full-speed winter training! We returned from Thanksgiving break to mid-60s, sunny, summery weather, and are now confronting chilly December mornings and the joys of winter wind. But whether the training's indoors or out, it's all focused on getting us stronger, fitter, and tougher for the racing in the months ahead!

The GMU field house!

I had a great Thanksgiving break, getting to spend an awesome few days in Washington, D.C., with my boyfriend, Kyle. I also got to hang out with the George Mason women's rowing team, and even got the chance to share a little bit of my rowing experience with them (thanks for sticking around after morning practice, y'all!) At the end of my presentation, there were several really great questions, and I realized I haven't ever put up a post where I asked my blog readers exactly what they wanted to know. So...here it is. Ask away! Just post your question at the bottom of this post or email me at esther.lofgren@gmail.com!

Some of the questions I've been asked before: How can I get faster on my 2K? How do you get ready for a 6K? What do your hands look like? How much can you squat? What do you eat the night before a race? How did you learn how to scull? What qualities do you think make a good coxswain? Where do you find tall jeans? What's a video that you watch to see good rowing? How do you keep the boat from riding down to your side?

Racing with someone I learned a ton from--thanks, Shoop!

If you ask most elite rowers--and elite athletes in general!--most will tell you that they learned much of what they know from observing and asking people they thought trained and raced well. I continue to do just that, and I'd be happy to share what I've learned with you. Please send me your questions, and I'll answer them as best I can!

Happy training!

Fall Speed Order and Power and Grace Calendar Winner!

Day One Done--Fall Speed Order 2011

This weekend is the Fall Speed Order on both coasts. Not sure who originally designed this, but it's two days of going all-out into the well, and is a important check box in our selection process. For those of us on the East Coast, we get to work around boathouse availability and take a 6K on Saturday afternoon, followed by a roughly 4.3K race on the water early Sunday morning in a 2- or a 1x.

There were mixed results on today's 6K, but a lot of really strong pieces from both new and experienced rowers. I was a little aggressive in my starting speed, and ended up paying for it quite a bit. But after some quality time with the trash can, I got in a good flush-out and recovery for tomorrow's race.

The weather forecast is a strong cross-head wind tomorrow morning, which means a good long race. I'm lining up with Susan Francia in the pair at 8:00 tomorrow, and I'm really excited to get out there and do our thing. On-the-water results will be posted here.

Power and Grace Calendar Winner!

And now, what you've all been waiting for...the winner of the autographed Power and Grace Calendar!!! Thanks to everyone for the retweets and reposts. The winner of the random drawing is: Claire Wallace! Thanks all...if you didn't win, you can pick up a calendar by clicking this link. (And email me at esther.lofgren (at) gmail.com if you would like to get it signed!)

Good luck to everyone racing here on Lake Carnegie tomorrow! Our West Coast teammates are already done with their Fall Speed Order, as of yesterday...you can check out their on-the-water results here.