crew

Spur of the moment I signed up for a learn to row program on the mystic river. I've always thought rowing was so iconic boston, and the rowing machine is my least hated machine at the gym, so I figured I would give it a try. It's 3 x a week for a month, which is kind of a lot. So far I've done week one and it's been really fun, and kind of painful (to prepare I read the boys in the boat, which told me that it would be painful, and they weren't kidding!)

The first class we just "erged" which is what we rowers call using the rowing machine. So, from now on I guess I erg. Then for the second two classes we went out on this barge that they have that seats 8, but in two rows of four so it's a little easier as you learn what you are doing. What I am doing is banging oars and catching crabs, so it's a good thing that we aren't in a regular boat yet :)

The first day we just practiced trying to sync up our rowing with the person in front of us, and tried to break our row into three phases - legs, torso and arms, with the legs being the most powerful. Today we tried a bunch of drills to improve our strokes, and get a feel for what is supposed to happen. Like any new sport, I can only focus on one thing at a time, so when I tried to pull with legs, torso and then arms, I would drag my oar on the way back, for example. But, it's only the second day out on the boat, so it's all good.

The funniest part of the rowing was on the first day - this woman thought we were doing great, but then realized that we were just rowing around in circles. She was so funny about it.

Anyhow, I'm really looking forward to getting into an actual boat, and rowing up the river - I think it will be fun, and it's definitely great exercise!

I haven't been outdoor swimming much - I lost my mojo after the outdoor swim comp. But I did rejoin the Y, so I've been lifting and of course doing yoga. I did the fells walk once over the weekend, and parkour is across the street from me on Sundays, so I've done that some too.