Early Mornings

In the shortened days of the NZ winter the crews don't waste anytime waiting on the sun to rise, so neither do we...

I could be on a warm sunny beach right now...

If I were at home I would be enjoying the warm sunny Florida summer by relaxing on the beach....
I would go everywhere in a bathing suit and flip-flops....
Cold would be something that only existed in my imagination...
But I'm not at home. I am in Dunedin, New Zealand during their winter. I am training harder, at a higher volume, at a higher level than ever before in my entire life. I am being broken down to my very core on a nearly daily basis. I am pushing myself farther than I ever thought I could. I have a new appreciation for warmth, even when it comes in the erg room.
I ride my bike through the cold and driving sleet to be beaten down by the Kiwis, on land and on the water, and I am loving it.

Soreness

It was a hard past 36 hours. Starting the day off with 2 race car pieces isn't the easiest thing in the world. The afternoon session was the Wonderful 100 circuit which left no muscle unused. The next morning our coach told us we were to be doing 5x 2K at full press with restricted rates and that we would not be able to see our monitors. We knew that we were in for a hard workout that morning the moment our coach stepped out of his office. He knew just what pain this would bring and giving us this workout was obviously burdensome to him. You could tell just by the look on his face that we were in for a world of hurt. You could tell before he uttered a single word. A new world of hurt is exactly what I got.

The Norm

Well today was fairly standard for the guys on the NZU team apparently. The water was too rough for a early morning row so they did a 5 5 5 workout. Thats a 5K run 5K erg 5K run back to back to back with your time taken for the whole thing. After that I just sat for a solid 20min, when I had finally gotten some food and water back into my system began to think about going back to my flat we were given our boatings for the second morning session. I rowed 10K in the single. Only after that row could we go back to our flats to shower, rest, and get lunch. We were back at the boat house by 2:30 for the afternoon session. Promptly after launching we were blown right off the water. On the ergs it was for a 60min piece. A lot of volume for just another day, time to settle in.

On Location

So hopefully this will let you guys see just where I am from the google maps perspective. If you play with the map you can see the harbor where we row. We row towards the ocean.

Training Hard

Well, started off the day with a 14K max pressure @ 20 row in a 4 that began and ended well before the sun was up where I had to row bow side(starboard) even though I usually row stroke side(port). After a short break for food we were back on the water in singles for some tech work. The weather turned on us and we were forced in to do some core training. After lunch it was back to the boathouse to analyze some video of our rowing and get on the ergs. 3x 12' @ 26 max pressure. A quick core circuit to finish off. With 15K on the erg from the warm up/down and the piece plus the on the water meters the grand total for the day was 35K. Fairly average workout for the Kiwis apparently.

Giving Back

Part of program here is to give back to the local community as much as we can and so monday and wednesday we will be helping special need and special Olympians with their workouts and training or just learning to row at the otago boathouse. Its really great to see all of these people who wouldn't be able to row on their own get the opportunity to and know that I played a small part in helping them get as much joy out of rowing as I do.

Trip to the beach

just some pictures from the local beach we visited after rowing 28k in the morning session...

... its kinda pretty here.

First Post!!!

Well I arrived awhile ago but I'm just getting around to set up my blog. look for improvements to come!
I've already rowed a 1x 2- and 4- here and erged almost 80k since since I arrived and started training Saturday. Way colder than back home in FL!!!