Winter training doesn’t seem like winter training when rowing in San Diego.  That is precisely why I have made the two day drive from Seattle to the ARCO Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista. 

 

Just about two weeks ago I had my last day of work in the Tyee Office, row with the Huskies, sermon at Mars Hill and meal with my parents and friends in Seattle. It was extremely hard to leave all of these things that I love, especially when people would ask, “So when are you coming back?” Well, not for a long time really.  I don’t have any trips planned back home until Christmas really.   I know I will be back before then though, somehow.  When I return to live in the Northwest my nieces will be twice the size they are now, Husky stadium should be under construction, and hopefully I’ll have another Olympic medal. 

 

The dream of repeating and improving upon my performance in Athens is why I am going for it.  Beijing is still a long way off, but it is truly necessary to go for it now.  In 10 weeks, we have selection for the double and pair.  How this summer goes will set up how I stack up for qualification next year and then we go for it in ‘08.  What a daunting challenge if looked at long term, but day to day the work load is totally doable.  The big goal is in reach with these small steps.   

 

Training steps currently are going as expected: preparing for the small boats trials.  We mostly row the small boats, hop in the big boats a few times a week for quickness, run as cross training, lift to get strong, and do core for stability.  For recovery we take ice baths in the training room, sleep a lot, and eat really well.  We are well taken care of by the amazing staff here with anything you can imagine to eat and train to do our best. 

 

We live onsite in four person dorm rooms.  There are two single beds in the two bedrooms, a common room with a TV to watch the winter Olympics, two bathrooms and mine has a nice balcony.  I bought a flower I am trying to keep alive out there.  Portia Johnson is my roommate and we have been having fun laughing at each others problems: sore arms, sore legs, swollen blistered finger…  We know we are in trouble when the alarm goes off in the morning, “Are you sore?” “Yeah.”

 

Today when I woke up, my hamstrings were sore.  I couldn’t figure out why as I am now used to our lifting program and rowing workouts.  But then I remembered, we had timed miles on the track yesterday and that was the kicker.  In a few more days though, we should be all settled in and up for whatever comes our way.