Row Marathon around Mercer Island

Ole, Hugo, Elizabeth and I signed up for a marathon row around Mercer Island yesterday (Aug 29, 2010). The below course map is a rough drawing of what we were originally going to do:

Around Mercer Island - Course Map

we ended up not going around Mercer Island because of the windy weather and, thus, very choppy water.
Ole has captured most of our course with his iPhone app. Here are the google maps showing the distance we have traveled and the rate we have traveled at:
The first 2.86 km: http://tiny.cc/6zbf3
The following 18km: http://tiny.cc/mlbgn
The last 11km data was lost (possibly due to data overload)

Our quad launched at 6 am from Pocock Rowing Center (PRC). We traveled our first 2860 meter through Montlake cut into Union Bay, waited for the launch and another boat to catch up, then proceeded to Lake Washington and through 520. It was quickly determined that the condition was too rough so we backed into the North side of 520, and traveled along 520 to the end.

From there, we rowed to the Ballard Locks, then rowed back out through the ship canal down to South Lake Union, docking back at PRC at the end of our 3-hour row.

The long distance session was challenging both physically and mentally. It was very exciting that we have pulled through as a crew in the less than ideal water and weather condition (not to mention I was drenched wet like I went for a swim from the wakes, which kept me pretty uncomfortably cold throughout).

Nonetheless, I enjoyed pushing our limits in distance and time, and traveling to new places. Bringing food and water as well as tapes (for fingers) were new to me. We didn’t even think of bringing a sponge to the boat (which turned out to be tremendously useful for bailing). Now I know what to do on a long distance row! Next time would probably bring some gloves too (Peter recommended gardening gloves, Ani brought up golf gloves would be a good fit as well). I thought it would have been nice to have one of those quick dry towel to keep my hands and oar handles dry and reduce friction.

Next time we should practice more (than just 1 session on the day before) and challenge ourselves to a real marathon.

Will add a picture of our lovely crew soon.

Beautiful Seattle Weekend

Lovely lovely weather this weekend. It was super sunny and warm (high at 17 degree Celsius) on Friday. Weather continues to be beautiful through Saturday and Sunday.

Ani got Mariner’s tickets so we went after work to see them against LA Angels on Friday. Got hopelessly beat 8:0. Beer and garlic fries were good nonetheless. Slept in on Saturday; decided to go for a walk in the Olympic Sculpture Park since it was so nice out and neither of us has been there. Ended up spending the whole afternoon in the waterfront area, enjoyed some chowder and clams and mussels at Elliot Bay’s while doing some reading for our road trip to So Cal at the end of this month. Headed home and watched lots of True Blood afterward. It’s a strange strange show and Ani watches way too much TV. o we also got IMAX tickets for Ironman 2 ’cause Ani enjoyed it a lot the first time he watched it on Friday morning with co-workers. Ani’s brother wanted tickets too so I have innocently bought 4 tickets for next Wednesday (without thinking that he would be bringing a little cousin or a date… I kinda assumed it would be Ben :p).

Got up around 8 Sunday morning to get some work done for MBA applications and woke Ani up for the soccer game. Chelsea won so it’s not good for Man-U. We were going to build out the new dresser I got from Ikea last week, but turns out there’s a duplicate of the left side panel and missing 1 right side panel, so we went for a 30-minute run along Eastlake around 1 pm instead. Took an easy pace and totally beat out Ani :p It was actually really nice to have a running buddy but he didn’t like that I out-ran him. He’s determined to get back in shape and beat me. We’ll see… After run we went to Costco for some groceries and the Blue House for BBQ. It was so nice! The weather was perfect, the food was awesome (we tried out habanero with pepper jack cheese sausage from Costco yum!), and it’s been a while since we’ve all hung out (since Hula’s parents were visiting for a month and I was home for 2 weeks during then) and Nanna wasn’t all stressed out even though OP’s dad was there too. Had a good time and left around 7 pm (when sun was starting to set). Ani ended up watching true blood at home while I continue researching MBA stuff.

I was all dressed and ready to go for a row this morning but I overslept in my mini nap and woke up at 5:12 Went back to bed and woke up to heavy rain at 6. Guess I was lucky I didn’t go or I would be drenched and cold. Weather is expected to turn for the better starting tomorrow for the rest of the week. woohoo.

Meanwhile, I have decided to re-study and re-take GMAT by end of August to see if I can get to 750. I also need to find time to sit down and type out some draft essays. Today I will be meeting Gretchen and Katie from the FIUTS BoT after work to see if I can get into the Board. Hula said they’re looking for people to help with the Alumni side of things and I already had long affiliation with FIUTS so this should be good More to my resume and story to tell for MBA applications. It’s interesting to go through personal history to look for stories to tell. Sometimes things that seem so far away and minor may help make a good story (not a lie, of course). Over time, even without intentionally trying to go for a theme, I do ended up doing things I like which all falls in line.

Looking forward to my meeting (interview?) this evening, Ironman on Wednesday and my missing dresser piece in the mail later this week.

Rowing in Hong Kong!

On Tuesday I finally got a call from the Hong Kong China Rowing Association that there’s a club going out on Wedneday whom I can tag along with. It was very exciting that I got a chance to row just in time before my return to Seattle.

I went out with the Shatin Baptist group of 6. From the very beginning I was noticing the difference between rowing in Hong Kong and in Seattle.

#1 – Salt water rowing: Shing Mun River leads straight into open ocean, so we rowed in salt water in Hong Kong. That implies a few other discoveries:

#2 – TIDES! When one of the guys gave me the prep talk before we took off, low tide was one of the things he asked me to pay attention to. The dock is a few steps below land into the river; and a few extra steps lower when it’s low tide. The exposed steps are covered in moss and may be slippery. The shallow river also means we need to stay further away from shore to avoid damaging the boat.

#3 – STEPS! It’s my first time going down steps from the boat house to a dock. This is just new to me and requires a bit of maneuvering both for taking down oars and boat.

#4 – Side way dock – to launch by having someone push your oars out instead of walking down the dock and paddling away. That was interesting.

#5 – 18 km practice – 2 km down the river, 7 km out to a beach; round trip.

#6 – midway stop in the 18 km practice – NOODLES! lol it’s so typical of all the outdoor activities I’ve been had in Hong Kong. Be it hiking, biking or rowing, there’s always a midway stop for delicious noodles. It’s awesome (although I didn’t have any because I didn’t have my wallet with me; I got a coke on somebody else though).

#7 – Washing equipment – because we were rowing in salt (and very dirty) water, the boats and oars have to be washed with soap and rinsed through.

They were really nice for taking me in for a field trip. It was fun to row with those easy-going folks. I pledged that if they visit Seattle I’ll hook them up with PRC for a try.

First 5 Days in Hong Kong

Day 1
Left Seattle for a 2-week visit home last Thursday afternoon. After 20 hours of traveling (with some layover + 1 hour delay in Narita, Tokyo), I finally got home after midnight (Friday). Kicked off the vacation with a 20km cycling trip to and from Tai Po and Wu Kai Sha. We biked along Shing Mun River, where there are a couple of boat houses for rowing as well as dragon boating and canoeing, kayaking. Swung by offices to see if there’s an opportunity for a drop-in row. Left some contact info and haven’t heard quite yet. Probably won’t get a chance; they seem to be quite a closed community and requires memberships, etc to be involved. Had lunch at a road side restaurant: got dim sum and beef stir fry noodles and started to head back. Thighs were super sore that evening; in lots of pain when we went out for dinner at a fancy modern Vietnamese restaurant called Rice Paper and browsed around shops in the mall (ordered transition lenses for Uv protection). Applied lots of Ben Gay and went to bed early.
Day 2
Mostly recovered on Sunday. Visited ancestor’s grave Sunday morning before heading to dim sum lunch with Ki suk suk and family at Yau Yat Chuen. Went home for rest afterwards and went out again for dinner @ Harbor City’s Habitu, a fancy Italian restaurant by the (not very romantic) pier. Then met up with Elaine and Dawn for drinks (white wine) at Spasso, a fancy lounge resturant with outdoor seating. Talked lots till 11:30 when they are closing, and decided to head over to Dawn’s to chat through the night. Caught up on some junk food from the convenience store as well. Slept for 2 hours at 5 am and had breakfast with Dawn before heading home Monday morning.
Day 3
Monday morning went with Mom to her new gym for an Easy step class; quite hilarious. the instructor was awesomely energetic and funny. The class was fun even though neither me nor my mom could quite follow all the steps and the turns plus enthusiastic poses. Definitely sweated out.
A visit to Hong Kong in April is definitely quite a change than ones during December/ x’mas. Not only is it warmer (from 10 – 15 degree celcius, to 20+), it’s also much much more humid (98% humidity) which makes it all the more (to put dramatically) suffocating. Perhaps also due to the humidity and warm weather, it also seems a lot more smoggy. It’s been almost always gray sky because of the smog. Lots of smokers every where; didn’t help that it’s also a more populated city. It’s more comfortable when we were out cycling, with nice breeze and fresher air.
Went to a shanghai restaurant (a chain with branches all over Asia called Jade something…) for lunch after gym. Then mom took off to get Susan’s watches fixed while I stayed in TST for some browsing (or as I call it, ‘re-discovering’ the city). Didn’t really buy anything (other than a few small things from Muji); lots of shops with lots of little knic knacs, nothing too interesting to buy. Mostly just go into tiny shopping complexes and spin up the stairs, window shop through each level and spin back out. Cosmetic stores (and consumer electronics, and just about anywhere else) are constantly packed with tourists from mainland China. Apparently they like to come to Hong Kong and stock up as the RMB (Chinese currency) is now more worthy than HK$ :’( (RMB$1 = HK$0.8) A bit turned off by the crowd (and thus lack of service staff attention) so didn’t really stay any where mostly). Totally crashed in bed before dinner and blurred through my first home cooked dinner before some more sleep right after. roasted pork and sai yeung choi soup were delicious *sleepy eyes*
Day 4
Tuesday went to gym again for ‘stretch it out’ with mom. Kinda lame. Yoga class with lots of people who ache even from sitting, before putting leg over head. Lunch at Arirong, our favorite old time Korean restaurant. Checked out digital cameras, sales at Fortress (electronic store) recommends Olympus stylus 7040 for my all weather-proof and panoramic function requirement. HK$2200 for the 5x optical zoom version; $300 – $400 more for the 7x one. Seems a bit expensive especially I’m probably taking dad’s ‘spare’ camera, Fujifilm Finepix s1000 fd, but it’s too bulky for every day use. So, still thinking. Got my new lenses and went off to more rediscovering in Yau Ma Tei/ Mong Kok with mom. Didn’t really get to take time looking at things as mom has never been to those little shopping complexes filled with teenagers and not very comfortable. Got lots of fruits along the way. Headed off home soon to get ready for running class in Kowloon Bay at 7 pm.
Running class turns out to be a lot of fun. Did an 800m warm up run around the tracks with mom, then followed the basic class for posture practices. Then mom accompanied me for the time trial for 400m, 800m, 1000m. Following mom’s pace helped me finished them all comfortably at approx. 60% effort. Time is probably not great but I’m glad I didn’t keel over and not finish 1000m. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it’d be and group/ class running turned out to be quite fun as there are others to chat with and cheer on. Fridays they would practice long runs on streets. I wouldn’t go to any both because I’d die if I try and because we’re off to Taipei this Friday and I’ll be back in Seattle the next. May go back for another Tuesday track run next week Home cooked meal around 10 pm. Hot soup was awesome.
Day 5
Mom’s taking kung kung to his doctor’s appointment and speech therapy today so I get some time off from daily exercises and will be heading off to CWB in the afternoon with Dawn. Hopefully would get to buy some pretty clothes or what not. More home cooked meal in the evening.

Lovely Monday Morning Row

Got up for our usual 5am practice ready to give the 8+ another go. The group ended up going out in a 4+ and Ani and I sculled in a double

The weather was good (not raining), water was calm, sky was (mostly) clear. Ani and I sculled in a double long time back (probably when we first started intermediate I mid summer ’09) and he was in the bow seat. This morning I was in bow (and much better at coxing than the last time) and we rowed together nicely. We focused mostly on ratio and pressure, and rowing together. It was a fun and good row, I enjoyed it very much.

First Time in a 4+

Was hesitating this morning on whether or not to go to practice this morning, the same way I did yesterday (and ended up not going because I didn’t feel like sculling in a single), because I would much rather be in a sweep than a sculler. Given recent history, we have not had 9 people to come for an 8 and have been sculling mostly in quads, which was something I didn’t feel like doing this morning. Luckily, I got myself together, inspired by Lori’s history of never missing practice, and went.

We had 5 so Ann (our coach) decided to put us in a 4+. It was pretty wobbily at first but we managed through practice and, at the end, we were able to paddle slowly/ lightly, match each other’s stroke, and maintain a pretty good balance. That was quite exciting

From rostermanager it looks like we will have at least 5 on Wednesday and Friday as well. Hopefully we’ll get to consistently sweep in 4+ at the very least.

Dream State

When I feel like life sucks and it’s boring or when it just suck, being in a single in the middle of the lake is my dream state.

I sit relaxed, hands on oars, resting on the water. The single and I float with the wakes on the surface of the lake. The wind is still. The sky is clear. It’s bright but no hot, direct sunlight. There’s nobody else on the lake. I feel like leaning back, lying on my back onto the boat.

I close my eyes and enjoy the silence, peace, and the gentle cradle of the lake.

[ok. It's not really feasible to lie down on a shell because you still need to hand on to the oars which have handles high in the air because they are attached to the boat on the oar locks. But bear with my dream state.]

Row for The Cure

Please support me and my team in the upcoming fundraising event Row for the Cure in Seattle!

http://www.active.com/donate/rftcseattle/pococki2

This would be my first race and my first Row for the Cure event. The race is on 9/20 in Lake Union. It is a 5.5K head race (more details here: http://www.rowforthecure.com/cities/seattle.htm).
We have been practicing weekly in addition to the usual intermediate classes (our team members are all in the Pocock Rowing Center intermediate class level 2), up to 5 times a week. I will be rowing in the bow seat of the Pocock Rowing Center’s Women’s quad. Donate and/ or come see us row!

Back from CA

Came back to Seattle last night, just in time to catch my first NFL/ Seahawks game. My apartment is still in a mess, with all the dehumidifiers by the bathroom/ apartment entrance and all my stuff piled up in the living room and bedroom Went home, dropped off bags and took the bus to the Qwest stadium.

Been a long time since I last watched a football game (back in the days when UO football was THE happening thing in Eugene – well, it probably still is). This time we’re in an even bigger stadium, I can actually have a beer, I’m no longer sitting in the ‘student’ aisle, and it’s not freezing cold/ raining out, and I have Ani to teach me all about football play by play. It’s pretty fun and I think we’ll continue to go throughout this season.

Caught up on some Battlestar Galactica (did I mention Ani got me into watching Sci Fi TV? :p this one is pretty addicting) and went to sleep.

Went to level 2 rowing (8 am) this morning. Rusty start, but got mostly back to pre-vacation level by the end of class. Blisters are back. (Calluses mostly went away during my week long vacation; so did my bruises – probably helped that I have stopped taking fish oil).

Brunch @ The Dish was delish. Went to Barnes & Nobles to catch up on work and personal emails.

Urgh. Tomorrow is Monday. Back to reality.

Took close to 300 pictures during my 7-day stay in CA. Probably won’t have time to upload/ share until my apartment get fixed up to a livable condition again though. boo booo.

Flood mgmt ppl will be re-assessing apartment situation tomorrow. We’ll see how it goes…hopefully things will return to normal soon so I can get some laundry done and stop living out of a bag. bah.

Rowing Techniques to Focus On

Last Friday morning Ani and I went for the level 2/ morning session. There were few people in the class so we all got to row in singles and we got plenty of focused coaching while we were out. The water was also nice and quiet so we didn’t have to worry about dodging other boats as much.

Couple of things I have to focus on include: slowing down at the end of the recovery (instead of speeding up), and ensuring the oars are properly placed into the water before pulling.

My middle fingers continue to act funny but I think not gripping as hard would help: something I learned from the web: http://whiterockboathouse.com/rowing-tips/

This is also a good video of how to avoid and care for injuries in rowing:
How to Avoid & Care for Competitive Rowing Injuries