Duke Rowers travel to South/Central Regatta

We are here in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Team arrived in the afternoon to rig and row. We had dinner at Outback Steak House. Row in the am and then racing starts on Saturday.

We recently celebrated our team at our year end banquet last week. Family and friends joined us to recognize our team and individual accomplishments as well as recognize our seniors for their commitment to the team. Our captains have been announced as well. Next year's captains will be Alex Japhet and Lesley King. Congratulations to all award recipients!

ACC Banquet

We just returned from the ACC Championships in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The ACC hosts a banquet the evening before the event. Part of the banquet includes a member from each team to give a speech. Our very own Sara Couch gave a wonderful speech. Her message was refreshing and unique about the hope and faith we all share in this sport. Please feel free to watch.

Enjoy! Great job Sara!

We went to Disney World!

Our rowers needed a well deserved break. After racing in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Austin, Texas, Washington D.C. and finally Orlando, we all went to Disney. The four rowers (Kathy, Bri, Laura, and Caroline) holding the flag took took me to Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain. I will post my video on YouTube of the roller coaster ride. Yes, lots of screaming!

We have 2 weeks to prepare for the ACC Championships. We have learned a lot about ourselves and our rowing over the last month. Our boats continue to work more and more closely together. Particularly the freshman 8+ that has the sky as the limit. Our varsity 8+ has some underclassmen that have really stepped up. And our varsity and novice 4+ have shown a lot of race savvy.

We continue to expand upon our strengths and we continue to remedy areas that need improvement. The athletes have shown a tremendous amount of dedication to both their rowing and their school work. I am proud to be working with this very dedicated group of rowers.

Spring Break Training

We are in Oak Ridge, Tennessee for spring break. We had a scrimmage today with Boston University. The workout was 12 x 250, some from a start, body and finish. The rowers all performed very well and we traded wins with Boston throughout the workout in all of our boats. Good start to our season and especially beneficial to get in some racing before our 2k on Sunday with Louisville.

The rest of the week has been filled with long rows, weight lifting at a local gym, and a 4 mile run along the river. Tonight we had dinner at the Flat Water Grill, which sits at the starting line of the race course (check out our latest youtube video at the restaurant). We are starting to think of Oak Ridge as our home course this semester. We will be here for the ACC Championships in April and then again in May for the South/Central Regional Championships. It's definitely one of the best race courses in the southeast. See what row2k poll says about Oak Ridge at: http://www.row2k.com/polls/poll_archive.cfm?poll=136

Faculty Row Day!

Our rowers invited their professors and athletic department staff for a row today. We will definitely track down some pictures to post later. We ended up with 2 eights on the water. Good fun for all. It's great to have people outside our sport see what we do.

A Week In The Life of a Duke Rower

By Kathy Smithwick

The month of February is considered one of the most mentally taxing times for DWR. We have been inside for about two months, including Christmas break, and the erg room is filled with intensity as we transition into the spring training schedule. February is thought to be so challenging because we are still retaining many of the fall training elements—long distance, low intensity power pieces—and now applying them to high rating aerobically challenging shorter pieces. We have even been pumping it in the weight room. Now that our initial testing is complete, we have begun seat racing, and the spring season is no longer in our peripheral. Furthermore, with February coming to a speedy end (no pun intended J), Duke Women’s Rowing has pushed itself to a new level of intensity.
Let me paint you a picture….This past month, my Mondays begin with a 12k early morning erg at a low intensity pace with my two Australian partners in crime, Karin and Bre. This workout is on our own, and we have the choice to do it either Monday or Wednesday; however, I figure that I better start the week off right with a 7.46 mile erg. Later that afternoon, our erg workout is either a high intensity pyramid piece or 8 X 500 meters. Tuesdays and Thursdays are our weight lifting days and in the afternoon are our “less intense” practices; however, we are expected to reproduce a low intensity split for 2X10k or go on a 3 mile run then 10k erg. Although not physically as challenging, these pieces are very tedious and technique oriented—testing our mental patience. Then Wednesdays and Fridays are our seat-racing days on the water. It is very exciting to see so much intensity on the lake; all of the boats are very competitive and close in boat speed, which will keep us pushing each other forward. Also Fridays begin with a casual 6-mile run around the infamous golf course, i.e. mountainous terrain. Saturday practices are a wrap up of the general concepts of the week. Half of the practice is focused on technique work, while the other half is a peak power workout—30 seconds on 2 minutes off. Oh and did I mention that we are Duke students and go to class with some of the smartest people in the country? No bigs. A Duke student-athlete can do it all.

CRASH Bs Video of Arena

Great weekend in Boston. I ran into 3 rowers coming to Duke next year. It was great to see all the rowers perform. Several Duke prospects performed quite well and others even PR'd. To see results go to : http://www.crash-b.org/results-index-2009.htm