I attended an advanced sculling session a couple weeks ago and got my ass kicked. We spent the whole practice focused on the catch. It was the most aggravating 90 minutes of rowing I’ve had since I learned to row as a novice in college.
Out of my comfort zone in open water
To cap off the practice we did a head to head 1000m piece with a racing start. The coaches started me and my opponent/teammate right into the wake of an oncoming motor boat. I imploded. The wake hit me, my blade work faltered, and I let the whole moment destroy any shred of morale I had left. I half-heartedly tried to catch my teammate and when I couldn’t manage that I limped across the line feeling annoyed, flustered, and exhausted.
For days I tried to make sense of what had happened. “I’m an experienced rower,” I reassured myself. I had spent countless hours in the boat this year. Why wasn’t I able to execute the drills well? Why wasn’t I more resilient in the face of adversity?
A couple days later I got out on my own in the single. I didn’t have any agenda I just wanted to go out and enjoy myself. I had one of the BEST sessions of my life. Everything seemed to click. I was relaxed and unflappable despite suboptimal conditions. In fact, every session in the single since that discouraging practice has been better than my practices before.
That fateful session was an important lesson in the “comfort zone”. The comfort zone is exactly that… comfortable. Too comfortable. It’s not where you grow. If you aspire to get faster, row better, and improve in the sport you’ll have to get outside of it. It’s up to you to decide whether you do that.
The discomfort comes first. The growth comes later.
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