Rowing St. Petersburg 2019

In 2019, I had a long summer in front of me and no real plans, so I made a snap decision to sign up for a rowing tour to St. Petersburg, Russia.  Arranging passports and travel was a whirlwind - I was sure my visa wouldn't get to me in time. Everything worked out just fine, and I took off for Amsterdam at the beginning of August.  After three days solo in Amsterdam, I met up with my crew in Russia. Each day we rowed on a different section of the canals of St. Petersburg and the Neva River.  Our final day was spent in the country on the Volkov River - a real contrast to the big city.

Long days of rowing 20+km a day and then site seeing by foot in the afternoon led to really great nights of sleep and wonderful memories.  My new friends from Britain, Australia, Sweden, and Russia jumped into coastal quads and rowed through what may be the most scenic city I've been to.  Amazing.

I highly recommend Rowing the World.  Ruth is a fantastic organizer and offers well-researched trips with expert guides.

On the Fontanka with St. Isaac's cupola in the background.

On the Volkov.

Just Fit Enough

I raced in a regatta yesterday.  I struggled in making the decision whether to race or not.  You see, I'm quite used to racing in peak condition.  And I'm not right now.  I haven't trained nearly enough to win a race.  But, in the end, I love racing so much that I decided I would.

And I'm glad I did.

It turns out that I'm "just fit enough".  Just fit enough for 4 minutes - give or take a few seconds - of gut wrenching, lung bursting, heart galloping exertion.  Just fit enough to maintain a decent stroke rate.  Just fit enough to even have a kick at the finish.  Just fit enough to help both boats to a third place finish.

Then I got home and Adam Kreek, 2008 Canadian Olympic gold medal rower, was on my Facebook feed.  Watch and enjoy.

And stay fit enough!

Extend Your Summer

We've had a fantastic summer here on the west coast.  Long sunny days in abundance.  It's the second half of September and we're still swimming in the lake!

I thought I'd share some of what I've been up to...

Fishing has been spectacular this season!

 Tofino has had great beach walking weather.

And the rowing has been awesome, of course!

Get outside and extend your summer.

1954 British Empire Games

All of the members of this gold medal crew are still alive.   What a story!  Inspirational.

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Gold+medal+rowers+impossible/10073867/story.html

Masters Rowing - Inspirational!

I recently competed at the Canadian Masters Rowing Championships at Burnaby Lake. It's one of my favorite regattas - mostly because it's all about athletes who are older. Yes, there's a AA category of 21+ year olds, but get into the D and over categories and you're talking about athletes who are 40+. There are even a few who are in their 80's. And I don't use the term "athletes" loosely! These people train hard, getting up before the light several mornings a week to improve their on-the-water performance.

Competition Is Good For You!

I've spent most of my life playing sports.  I love to play a game or race a race.  I love the challenge of pushing myself to the limit and, most of all, I love the feeling of winning.

Winning doesn't always mean coming first.  It sometimes means I make a personal gain or overcome a personal obstacle.  A game well played is definitely a win.

In April I had the luck to race with some friends at a rowing regatta in Victoria.  Dueling Over a Grand, lovingly known as the DOG, is a two boat race.  You race and, if you win, you move on.  There is a "back door" for crews who come second early in the regatta - you have to race more and beat more crews to make the final.

In March, my crew undertook a training camp to get in race shape.  We all work out individually and stay quite fit for a bunch of middle agers, so the training camp was more about relearning how to row together and to establish our race plan.  Racing is a pretty psychological pursuit.  All the fitness in the world means nothing if you can't control the "can't" in your head.  Our "coles notes training camp" was designed to help us with that.

The weekend of racing was super fun.  I have a love/hate relationship with racing - mostly about how prepared I am for the race.  I felt well prepared for the DOG this year.  I know I'm ready when we sit on the start line and I'm thinking "yeah, we've got this" instead of "crap, why am I here?"  Every time we locked into the start I was confident in our crew.

You're half way through your life journey.  It might be time to take up a sport that you can compete in.  It's an awesome feeling to push yourself and come up with your own kind of "win".

Another Inspiring Athlete

Peter Dreissigacker is 62 years old.  He is best known for his rowing oars and his Concept II rowing machines.

The World Indoor Rowing championships were held recently.  They are also known as the Crash B's. Basically a whole gymnasium of Concept II rowing machines is set up and wired together so they can be monitored and measured.  And then a bunch of rowers get on and row 2000 meters in the shortest time they can.

I've rowed a long time.  I'm a strong woman!  At 52, I can row 2000m in very close to 8 minutes.  People are impressed with that.  It would have put me in 8th place at the World event.  Nice!

The very fastest YOUNG men - national team calibre - row 2000m in about 5:30.  But back to Peter.  At 62 he rowed his 2000m in 6:55.  Pretty good!

I hope we can all find it in ourselves to put in our personal best at the highest level for years to come.

Get Off Your Rocking Chair

I row at Elk Lake.  I have some friends there who are my inspiration.  We call them the J Pod.

Rowing names its age groups alphabetically.  At 52, I am a D category rower.  It's a tough category - actually faster than A, B or C many times!  So I am really looking forward to getting older and moving to E and beyond.  But J?  Wow!  I hope I am still out there when I hit J.  These rowers are over 80 years old!

http://www.cheknews.ca/?bckey=AQ~~,AAAA4mHNTzE~,ejlzBnGUUKY1gXVPwEwEepl35Y795rND&bclid=975107450001&bctid=3153270969001

I Love Rowing!!!

Yesterday marked my return to on-the-water training after my three month winter hiatus.  Some people row 12 months a year, but I find I am more interested and committed if I take some time off.  So I race until the end of October and take a winter break.

Yesterday reminded me how much I love this sport.

I started rowing at university thirty years ago.  I rowed five years as a varsity athlete, traveling across Canada and as far south as San Diego to race.  I have a raft of medals and experience with national training camps under my belt.  And, thirty years later, I am still learning.

For me, it's the ultimate sport.  Individual and team at the same time.  Every second you're in the boat your brain is learning about how to do the next stroke better.  Your mind is pushing your body to work harder.  Your body is stretching to its limits.  Every. Single. Stroke.  It can't be any other way or you would be letting your team down.  So you work harder and harder.

And it doesn't hurt that you're out on the water at sunrise.