Feb. 18, 2002

Lauren Yoder is a junior from Charlotte and a member of the UNC rowing team. Throughout the spring season, she will provide TarHeelBlue.com readers with an inside look at her team and the experience of being a varsity athlete at North Carolina.

Hello Carolina Rowing fans!

I am Lauren Yoder. Because there are two Laurens on our team, I'm known most of the time as "Yoder," or sometimes, affectionately, "Little Yoder." I am a junior journalism major. This is my third year on the team. I'm 5'7 and I row starboard. I'll be taking over Rowing Along from Meredith Krull. I applaud the job she's done with updates and I hope to keep you as well informed as she did!

I tell you, there is nothing like being in boats out on the water on a beautiful day. Tuesday afternoon the sun was shining from a Carolina blue sky, making the glass-like water sparkle. There was a light breeze on University Lake as we assembled in three four-man boats to do pieces at different stroke ratings. It got chilly as the sun set, but the satisfaction of a good day's work on the water as the sun goes down is unbeatable. Some boats put together some great segments of work all afternoon, while others struggled a little with boat dynamics. I think we all got off the water, though, satisfied each with having gotten something out of the day. This early in the season, we are still focusing on getting back into the feel of the boat. The rowing machines, or ergs (from ergometer), have kept us in shape, but now it is time to translate that work into a fast-moving boat.

Monday was a two kilometer erg test, followed by steady state (steady state is comparable to jogging. It is erging at a constant but not too strenuous pace). For those of you keeping up with our goal attainment, everyone on the team has reached the 2k standard that Joel set for us to get out on the water! I couldn't be prouder of the team for truly kicking it in for the last month. The mentality has been amazing. I was studying abroad during the fall and found myself coming back to a new team in many respects. We are doing things as a team this semester that I've never seen in the program, and it is very exciting. I feel that much of it goes beyond being physically in better shape as a whole. There is also a new drive that is going to equate to some outstanding things if we keep it up.

We were up early on Friday for some technical steady state work. This entailed rowing continuously by pairs, fours, or sixes while working on fixing technical aspects of our strokes. It was chilly and very dark on the lake when we set out at 5:30 a.m., but as it got lighter and warmed up, we found ourselves having a quality practice, one that both Joel and we, as a team, were happy to end the week on. We have the weekend off for some recovery time. Having gone as hard as we have over the last several weeks, this time is much needed, mentally and physically.

Next on our agenda is the Duke race, which is less than two weeks away! We are gearing up, getting very excited to be racing again. It is a sprint race at University Lake. More news on that will follow. I hope that many supporters can make it out to cheer us on. Mark your calendars for March 2!

As for other news. . . it was determined at our weekly team meeting that we will spend spring break training in Tampa and Miami, as was planned. There had been a question as to whether we would travel or stay in Chapel Hill because we had not made the standards for erg times that Joel set before us. It became an issue for the team to deliberate and then present as an argument for going or not going. In the end, it was decided that, despite not having made the times, we will ultimately go faster as a result of traveling and getting a chance to race in Florida. I know that the bonding that comes out of a team trip is invaluable and could not be replaced if we didn't go. Spring break is March 9 through March 16. We're looking forward to it, but we have a lot of work to do before then.

The take-home message for this week is perseverance. All week we have come together as a team in boats, on the ergs for our test, at weights, and outside of practice. Hard work up to this point is paying off but we're not stopping at that. As Joel said before we left practice on Friday morning, its time to get ready. "The reward for having worked hard so far is to work even harder." We would be letting ourselves down not to. There isn't a member of the team who wouldn't agree and we're all fired up!

Please email me with questions you'd like answered from an "inside" perspective.

Your Tar Heel Pal,

Yoder
lyoder@email.unc.edu