It's been a long day..

My first adventure of the day was at morning practice. The University guys were rowing boats across the lake to a different boat shed to store there. The eight being rowed across didn't have a coxswain. As the lightest guy in the Sparks program, I was the one selected for the job. It was quite the experience.

In freezing cold temperatures, before the sun was up, I was supposed to steer this eight across the lake. The boat, all of my rowers and myself are unharmed.

Being a coxswain had its perks - I got to wear a survival suit and I was carried into the boat during the wet launch. However, being a rower acting as a coxswain had its downsides - I couldn't really fit in the seat and ended up sitting on the ropes attached to the rudder. This made steering quite difficult, but I managed.

Coxing the University guys also meant that I had to do my erg workout alone. While it did get a bit lonely, I'd say that that is good for some mental toughness.

My favorite part of the day was when we all went to do some community service at the local indoor sports center. Once a week, the center offers various sports like basketball, volleyball and table tennis to children with mental disabilities. Myself and two of my team mates helped out in the basketball match, where we emphasized the importance of passing and team work. The whole experience was quite rewarding and I look forward to doing more next week.

On the bike home, Charles and I decided to get a little lost and went on a short adventure. We ended up biking through the industrial part of Dunedin and by the wharf. Maybe I'll go back some time and take pictures, they're quite a site.

Now that my afternoon practice is done and I have eaten dinner, I'm ready to go to sleep. Tomorrow will be an important day - it's 2k test day. I feel exhausted from all this hard training, but I'm aiming for a PR. As part of the study I wrote about in the previous post, I'll be getting all sorts of tests done before and after, and I hope I can use that data well.