Hey coxswains – How are we doing? Hoping you and your loved ones are staying healthy, safe, and positive. I thankfully still work full hours at my job, so my life between 8:30 and 5:30 has not changed much. From the rowing-related webinars and team discussions, I have noticed that people just want to know what others are doing to stay on top of their game. My list of current activities includes nothing eye-opening, but I wanted to stay connected with all of you and share what I’ve been up to.

Break time

When the rowing club shut down, I completely changed my routine. I decided to make up ALL THE SLEEP I lost over the last four years! Since 2016, I have been getting up before 5:00 A.M. six times a week all year long. Masters rowing doesn’t have a break. During most of the last month and March, I got up at 8:00 A.M. almost every morning.

On social media and in discussions with teammates, it was easy to feel like I wasn’t doing as much as I was supposed to. However, I also knew that there was nothing wrong with giving my body a break. Now, I am slowly coming back to my regular sleep schedule and doing a little bit more than before, but I thoroughly enjoyed not doing shit for a little bit.

Webinars

Chattercox – Oh my gosh, I am so so so grateful for Chattercox. Follow them on Instagram and/or Twitter, and join the next webinar with me. They are based in the UK, but the webinar times for the last two sessions were pretty friendly to this Californian. In the most recent one, I got to hear one of Zoë De Toledo’s race recordings and talk about it with Zoë!!! She is easy to talk to and an amazing teacher. As a masters coxswain, I also appreciated that she focused on skill-building for all attendees rather than spending a lot of time on university-level or national team coxing thought it was mesmerizing to hear stories from her experience.

USRowing (members only) – I am incredibly excited for tomorrow’s “Between Two Oars” with Colette Lucas-Conwell and Julian Venonsky. There are phenomenal retired coxswains and rowers who share priceless lessons with us, but hearing from the current national team members through the “Between Two Oars” series has been an extraordinary experience.

Coxswains Education @ Yale – It’s worth it. If you are a passionate coxswain who wants to learn but can’t afford to purchase the webinars, I highly suggest reaching out to your club for help.

9^th Seat – If you don’t follow Mary Whipple on Instagram and watch her IGTV posts religiously, what are you doing with your life?

Reaching out to teammates

I have been texting my teammates from time to time. It’s not like I designate a date and time to go through the entire roster, but it’s about staying in touch. On Mother’s Day, I texted a few of my teammates to wish them a Happy Mother’s Day. When I saw this funny video, I shared it with the rowers that are teachers.

Participating in team events

One of the groups has been doing workouts via Skype in the morning, and after I made up enough sleep, I started joining them a few times a week. The club trivia night with my old club was super fun, and so was the erg golf. I don’t participate in everything, and I treat them like normal team activities. The social ones are more optional, but I keep up with the workout assignments.

Head of the Charles

I know there are a lot of talks about whether or not HOCR will happen this year, but I am just going to study now like I am competing this year. If for any reason we don’t do it this year, then I will use the knowledge for the year after. I channeled Leslie Knope and made a binder with maps, photos of the turns, race plans, clinic notes, etc. You can visit the playlist of some of my favorite recordings on YouTube: bit.ly/HOCRplaylist (case sensitive).

That’s pretty much all the rowing stuff I have going on right now! If you want to talk shop but don’t have coxswain besties like I do, I would love to help! Just let me know and we can set something up.