Namita: To begin with, how did rowing come to fascinate you as a sport. Was it an attraction of some kind or else fascination towards speeding in water?
Sara: I was introduced to rowing when I was 14 as a freshman in high school. I had always been a swimmer, so I already had a connection with the water, but what mostly drew me to the sport was how different it was than anything else I had ever done. I had no idea what any of the equipment was used for or what any of the terminology meant, and I loved the idea of a sport that depended so heavily on teamwork.
Namita: Every sport requires a regular fitness regime. What’s your daily fitness routine? How long do you exercise and some specific exercises you would like to suggest. What do you do to reduce monotony?
Sara: When we are in the thick of training, we train three times a day, six days a week, for a total of about 30-40 hours a week. It truly is a full time job and there is little time in the day for anything besides rowing, eating, and recovering. On a typical day, the team would row for two hours in the morning, have about an hour break before we lift weights, and then return in the afternoon for a long session on the rowing machine (ergometer). It definitely can get monotonous, but when your focus is on the quality of every stroke, it becomes a fun challenge to see how efficiently you can move the boat through the water.
Namita: Do you follow a regular diet regime? Or is there a specific diet pattern advised by coach or trainers. Foods you like or dislike.
Sara: Many people assume that because we train as a team that we also live as a team. In reality, we live as independent adults making our own decisions outside of practice.
Each athlete chooses where they want to live and how they want to eat, so you could technically eat terribly and go out partying every night if you wanted to. Our team is so competitive though, that there is no room for error like that, so everyone is pretty health conscious. Recently I have been experimenting with my diet to see what helps me to perform and recover the best, and right now I’m following a modified version of the Paleo diet. I’ve seen a huge difference in how I feel. The hardest thing for me to give up has been cookies!
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