Women's Rowing Diary - Jessica Glenn
3/24/2005 7:00:00 AM | Women's Rowing
March 24, 2005
After all the hype of Erg Armageddon, the team has refocused, this time on what we have all been ultimately working for: the spring season. To prepare us for our intense racing season the team geared up and drove 12 hours south to train on Lake R.B. Russell in Elberton, Ga.
We arrived early in the afternoon at the beautiful lake, and after rigging the boats, we headed to our eight-person cabins to settle in. Many of us lounged on the sunny docks and thought of the days to come in sunny Georgia. The first days went as scheduled, two morning practices on the water, two three-mile runs, and one final water practice in the afternoon. On Tuesday we broke the norm. We put on clothes other than spandex and headed out to the real world of Athens, Ga., for an evening of restaurant-prepared food, instead of our routine self-made meals. We finished the evening having Coldstone ice cream for dessert.
The next morning we awoke to pouring rain, and quickly learned that morning practice was cancelled, thus beginning the cold weather we would endure for the remainder of the trip. The poor weather may have prevented our squad from getting strokes on the water, but it only helped to unify our team. With more free time, and nowhere to go, we only had more time to spend with each other. The extra time allowed for cabin talks over a breakfast of one-and-a-half loaves of french toast where we learned things about each other that would be impossible to learn if we only spent time practicing together. We learned many of each other's quirks, which included making ninja's out of burnt toast or ones capability to drink a gallon of milk in one day without thinking twice! In the end, the cold weather may not have been desirable for rowing, but our technique improved dramatically nonetheless and the conditions only fostered our team's cohesiveness, preparing us for a season of success.
-Jessica Glenn `08