Preserving Energy

We go to sleep in an extra hour today, and we started our drive to the race course at around 9am. Today, more parents showed up to see us before our morning practice, and this reminds us that the regatta is getting closer and closer. Our practice showed that yesterday's success with the Empacher was not a fluke, as we had another great practice. We have also begun to work on doing practice races down the course at lower ratings to really get used to racing the 2112 meter distance. Afterwards, we washed our boat to make it look nice as the yellow coloring on the boat makes dirt really stand out.

As usual, we ate lunch in the town, and returned to the manor for three hours where we were told to stay out of the sun. The weather has been great here by the way, but as race day approaches, we don't want to sun to make us tired. We are no longer making frequent trips to the grocery store so we don't waste our energy on the walk, and we are no longer having noodle fights in the pool. It is very clear that race day is approaching.

Afternoon practice was short and light, and afterwards our crew and all other overseas crews were invited to a reception at the Rowing Museum that is located along the Thames about a half mile away from our boat tent. There weren't many crews there, but it was interesting to get a peek inside the museum, and it was very cool to meet the Olympic British Oarsman Matthew Pinsent. He has won four Olympic gold medals, and it was cool to talk to him for a brief time and to get a picture with him, that I will try to post when I am able to. The rest of the night was calm, and we once again got to bed early.