In one of our longer rows we do in the pairs, four times 25 minutes, I often go through phases of greatness and then, well, not so great.  This repetitive sport will lead me at times to either zone out or simply not hold on to my best strokes.  

The coming and goings of focus through the long mornings out on the lake are something I have been thinking about a lot lately.  Working with a sports psychologist, I learned that every stroke won't be perfect.  I learned that every practice will have moments of wandering away from true focus.  These things shouldn't have surprised me, but the reality of it did.  Of course I don't have to have perfect focus every day!  No one is perfect!  

Since that day, I have learned to realize when my focus drifts away.  I am working on this skill for race day and when I am distracted by say, a messy stroke I just took, I can bring myself back to being relaxed and cool, circling up and over the waves. 

In my daily rows, I tend to think about very random and unimportant distractions.  For example, I can get mentally focused on say, thinking about the tasty fish taco I am going to have for lunch.  I have learned to gently bring myself back to the task at hand and even incorporate it into the row. 

"Anna, that fish taco will be fabulous, but you can't have it right now.  Let's think about making this a great row.  Yeah, lets get the legs down a little faster here.   Fish Taco ten.  Ha ha, if only Portia knew I was thinking about a fish taco for ten strokes.  I should tell her.  She'll think I'm funny.  I think I'm funny.  Ha ha.  Maybe I should make a call for fish tacos.  Maybe I'll just keep this one to myself because I don't want to bring Portia into my weird little world.  I'll just make a call for legs.  Yeah, I'm going to keep it to myself.  Fish taco, fish taco...." 

Today, my pair partner for the week, Portia McGee, had a great call at about an hour into the row just as we were both starting to bonk.  She said to "force the focus."  Her call really got us to push through the hard middle strokes.  We also started to visualize some other boats and pretend we were racing, but the combination of forcing our focus and remembering why we were out there really did the trick to pull a great row back from the brink. 

We have nine more days here in San Diego before heading back to Princeton.  I sure am going to miss going to Rubios for a fish taco.  But first, I sure am ready for race pieces tomorrow! 

Our team was featured in the latest issue of Sports Illustrated! S.I. did a special on "Olympic Training Towns" across the country that support their hometown hopefuls and Princeton was featured! Here is the link: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/olympics/02/27/oly.princeton/index.html?section=si_latest

I will repeat my quote because it is so true: "Thank goodness for the people of Princeton!" I want to especially thank the Honstein family that provides a roof over my head and welcomed me into their family, Marc Nowak my Physical Therapist, Skip Sorriero my Chiropractor, massage therapists Lois Harrison and Rich Carlson, Father Tom who did Bob and my pre-marital counseling, and Princeton Presbyterian Church!

Thanks Everyone!

As for a rowing update, I'm back to rowing again at full force after a week and change of battling a nagging back injury. I usually enjoy writing in this web diary when things are going well. It is much harder to report when the going gets tough. However, any time there is a lag between posts, don't assume I am injured! Sometimes, I am simply too tired!

It is always physically and mentally tough to train at this level. For my part, I can only stretch, rest, eat well, and do my back exercises. With the amount of work our team does each week, it eventually becomes more than I can handle on my own. Then, it is time to call in the professionals! I try to see a chiropractor, physical therapist, and massage therapist on a regular basis. And, if my back is still unhappy, I have to miss a day or two of practice on the water to let my body regroup.