Thursday 10 January 2013

Good News in the New Year

The last two months were spent mostly on the stationary bike in the erg room on the upper floor of the Elk Lake boathouse. Usually two gruelling hours of category6 (zone1) at a time, and I say gruelling not for the intensity, but the monotony of making your legs go in circles two hours at a time while staring out the window into darkness. Every morning I would get up at 4:55am, arrive at the boathouse around 5:20, and start my workout around 5:30..... the first couple weeks I was alone, and got to watch the sun rise every morning as the cars pulled into the parking lot and other rowers slowly arrived. Then, as the days got darker I slowly started getting some company. The first to arrive were usually one or two early birds from the Victoria City Rowing Club, followed by the masters, the rest of the Victoria City Club, the young novices from the Camosun College, and finally the guys and gals in the Rowing Canada Talent Identification program. Day in day out I would sit on the bike and watch as people milled in, set up their ergs, warmed up, completed their workout, stretched, and left. I really got to know who was dedicated and who was not, who put on a big show after an erg test and who quietly rushed outside to spill there guts on the lawn. It was interesting to say the least.

Now it is dark out,  even after I have showered and finished my workout, and there is new company in the Spracklen room in the early hours. Every morning at precisely 7:30 the guys on the National team come into the erg room, set up their mats in a circle, and do half an hour of dynamic warm up. Now for those of you who haven't been around Elk lake, not once in the past five years have I seen such a phenomenon. Personally I think it is great, and I hate to admit it, but they put my 15min dynamic warm up to shame.  Things are changing for me as well, I slowly get to say adios to the spin bike and hello to my rowboat. The reason I was on the bike in the first place was because a re-occurring rib pain, but my MRI came back negative and I was just about as excited as a small kid on Christmas day.

Until next time!


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