Growing up with a father who was a two-time U.S. Olympian in Rowing (68′ Mexico City Olympic Bronze Medalist and 76′ Montreal Olympic Men’s Rowing Coach) was a very interesting experience. I thought it was normal routine workout and it made sense that my father would go out for a 3-hour workout and train 7 days a week. I didn’t really appreciate or even come close to understanding how truly hard and mentally tough it is to win an Olympic medal… let alone just to make the Olympic Team until I rowed and was recruited to row for UC Berkeley. All of a sudden I found myself the weakest and slowest rower on the team as we went on to win 3 National Championships and 4 PAC- 10 Championships in 4 years along with International rowers that were recruited from all over the world. It was my introduction to the next step of my rowing career as I rowed alongside recruited rowers from Sweden, Norway, Germany, England, Serbia, Australia, Canada, South Africa, and Croatia . I remember days where I would barely be awake during practice in the early mornings as I did not have enough time to recover in between practices. Our coaches made us do fitness tests every week to see how fast we could row 10,000 meters on the Concept 2 Rowing Machine. One year we accumulated 15 tests every week of 10,000 meters and about 10 fitness tests of 6,000 meters! My overall best Concept 2 times were 33 min 20 seconds for 10,000 meters (1:40 split avg) and a national team qualifying time of 19 min 2o seconds for the 6,000 meter test (1:36 split avg).
The Kenai Crewsers Rowing Club / Roworx Team ‘IDITAROW’ 2012 to begin Sunday March 4
Participants in the 2012 Iditarow will row on an erg (that’s an indoor rowing machine) in an attempt to cover the 1112 miles to Nome before the winning Iditarod dog team crosses the finish line. Hosted at the REZ, the Iditarow is a fundraiser for the Kenai Crewsers Rowing Club, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Participants in the Roworx 2012 ‘Iditarow’ will row on an erg in an attempt to cover the 1112 miles to Nome, Alaska before the winning Iditarod dog team crosses the finish line. This challenge is FREE and not part of Concept 2 however we will use the Concept 2 website in order to track your meters online and it will be hosted at the Roworx Warehouse And Boathouse locations. Roworx This Year Raised Money For The Kenai Crewsers Rowing Club And Donated A Check Of $140 To The Organization. We Look Forward To Participate Again With More Organized Teams Within The Roworx Affiliation And Have More Rowers Participate To Raise Even More Money!
Rules: Each team member will be allowed to row up to 60 minutes or the equivalent of 1 rowing class per day during the ‘Iditarow.’ Each rower must take two mandatory days of rest or we will drop the lowest amount of meters from your totals at the end of the challenge if you decide to row everyday.
Roworx welcomes everyone to the challenge as long as you have a Concept 2 logbook online in order to track your meters from class and or workouts everyday. Right now Roworx has 34 active members online. Be sure to create a free logbook at www.concept2.com and affiliate yourself through Roworx in the health club division. Roworx will convert meters rowed to miles and track our daily progress against the leading Iditarod dog team. The “Iditarow” begins on Sunday, March 4th and will end when the first team (human or dog) crosses the finish line at Nome.
Prizes and or awards will be given to the following categories:
*Top Male Dawg
*Top Female Dawg
*Most Determined Dawg
*Most Inspirational Dawg
*Best Technique Dawg
*Sportsmanship Dawg
*Most Improved Dawg
*Most Competitive Dawg
*Best Team Dawg Players
Since we row in beautiful Long Beach, Ca. I wanted you to all watch something I’ve found on the Internet and remind you that things could always be more challenging and interesting while rowing under extremely cold conditions 🙂 Very Funny!!!
I have come across some interesting articles lately about the importance of screening individuals for diabetes, cholesterol, and people with heart conditions in the L.A. Times as well as the Press Telegram here in Long Beach. It is a sign of the times that we are in a crisis of inhibiting bad eating habits and lack of participating in some sort of physical activity everyday. Growing up I was labeled in the ‘Generation X’ category, a generation that was known to be individualistic, technologically adept, flexible, and last but not least value a balance between work and life. ‘Generation Y’ was the next wave of kids to grow up throughout the 90’s and now I would personally dub this current generation of kids as ‘Generation O’ (O stands for Overweight). I’m noticing more kids with less energy and motivation more than ever before. I have to believe that lack of exercise activities and poor nutrition play a massive role in the way kids are moving around today. Combine that with the mentality that everyone wants things ‘now’ and patience is NOT a virtue is a scary thing. The fact that we all look to medication and the ‘secret pill’ to fix all of our problems is a huge mistake! Daily good exercise and nutrition are just another way of life. Just like sleeping and breathing… If you stop you will die. Simple as that! We all need to take a step back, gain some more balance in our lives between good nutrition and exercise, and look at our priorities and notice what is truly important in our lives. Patience and understanding with being healthy is a HUGE part of this and it takes time like everything does in order to become healthy and strong. A few years ago I heard someone say ‘Get in line.. And stay in line!’ Meaning that if you start a good whole-food nutrition or workout routine that you must be patient with your results. ‘Don’t get out of line’ or in other words quit your diet or workout routine just simply because you don’t have time or because your not having fun with it. Most likely you will end up spending more time in pain or in the hospital bed later in life. Individuals who work out and have a better diet are often generally happier and in better moods at a more consistent level. Daily exercise can releases endorphins which in turn create a better platform for a healthy happy lifestyle 🙂 I read the following story below this morning and found it disturbing that they would note that children should be taking lipitor or other drugs in order to lower cholesterol instead of really emphasizing the fact that parents and children need to drastically change their lifestyle into more productive healthier choices. Kids need influential ‘idols,’ whether it’s the parents or a professional sports figure to get motivated! One way to do this is to encourage children to participate in outside activities other than school and encounter more interactions in order to gain certain life experiences so that kids can grow and find their own identities. My identity is rowing and sport! I have an extreme passion for the sport and always encourage others to find out what they really want to do in life. I have had many experiences throughout my life to pick and choose what made me happy and what I could excel at… Whatever it is you want in life go for it and don’t let anyone hold you back 🙂
‘What YOU think is possible…IS possible!’ -John Nunn (Olympic Bronze Medalist 1968, Rowing)
Read on and learn learn more about where our next generation of children are heading…
Growing up with a father who was a two-time U.S. Olympian in Rowing (68′ Mexico City Olympic Bronze Medalist and 76′ Montreal Olympic Men’s Rowing Coach) was a very interesting experience. I thought it was normal routine workout and it made sense that my father would go out for a 3-hour workout and train 7 days a week. I didn’t really appreciate or even come close to understanding how truly hard and mentally tough it is to win an Olympic medal… let alone just to make the Olympic Team until I rowed and was recruited to row for UC Berkeley. All of a sudden I found myself the weakest and slowest rower on the team as we went on to win 3 National Championships and 4 PAC- 10 Championships in 4 years along with International rowers that were recruited from all over the world. It was my introduction to the next step of my rowing career as I rowed alongside recruited rowers from Sweden, Norway, Germany, England, Serbia, Australia, Canada, South Africa, and Croatia . I remember days where I would barely be awake during practice in the early mornings as I did not have enough time to recover in between practices. Our coaches made us do fitness tests every week to see how fast we could row 10,000 meters on the Concept 2 Rowing Machine. One year we accumulated 15 tests every week of 10,000 meters and about 10 fitness tests of 6,000 meters! My overall best Concept 2 times were 33 min 20 seconds for 10,000 meters (1:40 split avg) and a national team qualifying time of 19 min 2o seconds for the 6,000 meter test (1:36 split avg). 
