It's good to be back

I can never figure out if I'm more productive if I do my post first thing in the morning or wait until the afternoon. If I do it first thing, I can fiddle with it all day, tweaking, editing, etc. If I do it last thing, I spend less time on it and free up more time for actual paid work. But if I do it last thing, I spend all day thinking about it and sometimes have to skip the gym or end up being late to whatever has to happen after work. Or, I skip important work things because I MUST publish before I leave the office.

Oh, wait, I don't blog at work.

Of course I do. And I will be doing it even more often because if I keep up with rowing, I will be too tired when I get home to think coherently enough to write a post. Speaking of which...

Rowing was great.

I mean, it wasn't really great. The people were not very friendly. The coach was late. I didn't get on the water for a long time because I, and another new woman, had to watch a safety video. After the video, we got switched into the boat—the coach picked us up in the launch (small motor boat) and two rowers got out of the shell and we crawled in and she took them back to the dock. Because I'm short (for a rower), they stuck me in the bow. I hate bow.

In a rowing shell, where everything is backwards, being in the bow feels like the back of the boat. You are the furthest person from the coxswain. But that's not why I hate bow. I hate it because the boat tapers at the bow, making it the narrowest seat (the coxswain's seat, in the stern, is equally narrow--but the coxswain doesn't slide around). Even at my smallest, my hips rubbed against the gunnels (the sides of the boat). (Remember, the seat slides in rowing.) And there are always interior ribs in the gunnels to bump against. Sitting in bow hurts and causes me odd bruises. But I've always gutted it out.

The other problem is that bow is a starboard seat and for the majority of my rowing career, I rowed port. I prefer port. I have a slight overuse/soreness problem with my right forearm/wrist (tendonitis? carpal tunnel?) and it's easier for me to row port (as I was reminded last night). When you row starboard, the right arm is the "pulling" arm; it's the left arm when you row port. Plus, you never have to sit in bow if you row port.

But, I can hang with bow. For my first year, or at least my first semester, at UNC, I was in bow. Bow is a technique seat and I had more experience than the other novices. You need to be steady in bow and I can do that, even if I'm not comfortable. I will try not to complain to the coach, but I'm going to do my damndest to get out of bow. However, I was not surprised that it's where I ended up.

Other than that, 2-seat (the person sitting directly in front of me; bow is 1--yes, I am number one!) splashed me but good. I was rather stinky when I got home because we were rowing on the Anacostia. Don't fret—I took a shower.

It was also a good thing I brought my bike light because it was dark when I rode home from the boathouse. I would have benefited from a jacket as well, but I didn't get too chilly.

I got more exercise from biking yesterday than rowing. My loop, home-work-boathouse-home, was about 7 miles. I only rowed for less than 30 minutes. I was beat when I got home, but it was the good kind of tired. I didn't want to go to bed, but when I finally did at 12:30, I slept straight through.

As predicted, my legs are not sore today, but my right shoulder/arm are a little achy. And I can feel it in my back, which means I wasn't doing things quite right.

I'm looking forward to rowing a full practice, perhaps in 2 seat, and getting little coaching on Wednesday.

Like I said, rowing was great.

Grateful for: a plan.
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