March 24, 2003

dratted fast people

So, the regatta. DFL, DFL, DFL. Blah, ick, ptooey. I had my race in the single and
ended up coxing an intermediate women's eight a bit earlier. It didn't help that
the string controlling their rudder broke as we headed out, so I was steering with
one hand behind me -- fortunately the rudder in that boat had sort of a tiller
bar I could reach from the coxswain' seat or we'd have had to bring it back in and
probably missed the race. This was a crew that isn't really focused on competition
and I think they were just outclassed by a crew in much better shape and with
better form and coordination. When they went to race pressure they lost all their
smoothness, and there were oars hitting the water every stoke. Of course, because
of the rudder situation I wasn't steering the best course in the world, so I'm
sure that didn't help. I think I did help them stay motivated, though, or maybe
they just have a lot of heart; it was a 2000m race instead of the 1K masters
usually have and they didn't slacken their pace at any point -- maybe about ten
strokes in the middle, but that's it.

In the single, they'd put the
masters and open lightweights together, two of each. I didn't particularly mind
coming in second to the other masters rower, since she was extremely buff and had
recently won the world erg championship for her age and weight class. Also, she's
47 so gets a significant handicap time over me, not that she needed it. I was
disappointed, though to come in fourth of four, behind the two open lightweight
rowers, and with open water between me and the rest of them. Damn
them.

Of course, as my lungs were flaming up the course with the
other boats out of sight ahead of me (remember, rowers face backward) I kept
thinking, "Why do I do this to myself again?" The worst part is that I think most
of my problem is conditioning, so the only way to do better would be to increase
the pain during training. Or resign myself to a lifetime of DFL. Or quit racing.
Not an attractive bouquet of options.

By the way, the other
masters lightweight woman who beat me, also raced in a double with D, the men's
world erg champion in his age group. He's from Colorado, but comes out to race
with us, and he and Rudder also raced a men's double. D's double got a faster time
with the woman than with Rudder. Just to give you some idea.

Despite
having only one race, I was exhausted by the end of the day, because of course
when you race less, you do more fetching and carrying and packing and running
around. Still, it was a nice weekend out on a beach (Marine Stadium, not ocean) in
the California sun, and I got to see trees and flowers, and Hardcore and She-Hulk
rode both ways with us, so that was fun. We didn't get home until eleven, and I
don't feel too bad, considering.

Except about the damned race
results.

Posted by dichroic at March 24, 2003 12:04 PM
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