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Keeping Track of Time – 455, 454, 453…

photo credit: erinnjhale.com

At times we’re extremely busy, at times we’re hurrying up to wait a while.  No matter what our pace, the clock continues to tick down toward the 2011 Atlantic Rowing Race – 453 days.  453 DAYS!!!  15 months from now our families will stand beach-side on la Gomera, Spain to bid us farewell for what we all are gunning for: <36 day trans-Atlantic journey & a Guinness World Record.

Rowing that fast requires 3 things to coincide in perfect unison:

  1. LUCK – the right weather pattern likely makes or breaks the record in the end (see Artemis… will blog later on that, and how their 43-day record-smashing row across the North Atlantic Ocean compares to our 2006 expedition)
  2. TRAINING – We all have and share many medals and records in rowing, but rowing an ocean requires more than being in rowing shape – it’s total body fitness.  Jordan’s garden died, so he built a muscle garden where you do pull-ups, pull-downs, keg lifts, and 3-mile punching bag runs around Greenlake.  Rick & Adam row, ride hard on their road bicycles, and Rick just took a rock climbing trip to Moab.  Greg just moved to Bellingham, WA and took up Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUP) and is adopting Erwan Le Corre’s MovNat method to his training.
  3. FILL IN THE BLANK – new lightweight, super-fast carbon fiber shell… sponsorship $$… more time in the boat together… you name it, we need it.  As for a boat, we always have the JRH to fall back on.  As for sponsorship $$, we have contacts, we have a well-constructed sponsorship packet, and we have an unparalleled track record of success.  As for time in the boat, how about a trip to Hawaii in the spring?  Just kicking that one around.

With the season changing quickly and winter fast approaching, it’s appropriate to take stock of what tools we have available to us, and what we can have the most control over.  Number one, we’re training our hearts out… nobody will beat us physically.  Number two, we’re going to do everything possible to get this trip paid for, AND raise $500k for Right to Play.

Happy Wednesday…