I was cold this morning -- it was wonnnnnnderful.
DI had us
do erg tests this morning -- 5000m on the rowing machine, as hard as you can,
which is otherwise known as sheer pain and torture. Because of that, practice was
lots of time sitting in the 5AM chill punctuated by about 20 minutes of
ridiculously hard work. Only one guy actually puked, and I thought another was
going to pass out. (I told him that, afterwards, and he said, "I thought so too".)
My time was one of the slower ones there, because I'm small and still have little
endurance, but it was 10 seconds faster than my previous best, so I'm slightly
disappointed but not at all crushed. Yoga yesterday morning and 2 laps around the
lake with Egret yesterday afternoon probably didn't help; now I'll be wondering
whether, if I had rested yesterday, I could have pulled another 10 seconds off my
time. Since Egret's time was at least a minute and a half faster than mine (she's
taller, but the same weight), I really can't think that would have made much
difference.
When I said "DI made us" do the erg pieces, I am speaking
loosely. Actually, he didn't show up until we were almost done. Fortunately,
Yosemite Sam was back from his honeymoon, and was there early as always. It's not
that YSam can run the erg tests perfectly well; it's just that having the head
coach not show up for something that difficult, painful, and stressful is sort of
like having your mother not show up for your school play. It implies a lack of
caring. He also gave us a speech afterward about how there will be no further
whining in this program, anyone who brings in "negative energy" will be asked to
leave, he sets the lineups and we row as we're told, yada yada yada. I'm familiar
with clubs in which anyone who wants to race, can. I asked YSam this morning and
he told me that more competitive clubs do have race lineup set by coaches' fiat.
Part of the problem with this program probably is conflicting expectations of what
it should be.
Anyway, we're getting away from it all for a little
bit. I need to go buy groceries now, then pack for a weekend camping. Cool clean
air, pine trees, the wonderful bike path we found last time, and laid-back old
pilots with stories to tell. It's a funny thing about camping; it's sort of
stressful to get there, but always relaxing once you're there. Even sleeping on
the ground doesn't bother me. According to CNN's weather, we can expect sunny
days, with highs in the mid 60s and lows around 30, so I'd best make sure we have
plenty of hot chocolate.