Radcliffe Crew Stays Busy Over Break

What did you do you your spring break?

Some of us went home. Many of us whiled away the hours watching the NCAA tournament, or catching up on sleep after all those allnighters.

Not the Radcliffe crew.

Its days were spent here in Cambridge, practicing on the Charles in preparation for its spring season, which began this past Saturday.

Most crews spend their spring breaks on the water, since the season begins shortly thereafter.

This year's spring training was especially important to the Radcliffe rowers, who had very little opportunity to practice in the water. The unusually-chilly winter left the Charles frozen until three short weeks ago.

"We don't have much time after the water melts," senior Sarah Kurtin said.

The workouts were grueling.

"We got up, got to crew, ate, fell unconscious on the floor, got to crew, are, and fell to the floor again," freshman coxswain Alice Liu said.

The two-hour morning practices consisted of aerobic threshold pieces, in which the rowers built up their stamina by gradually increasing their rowing rate.

The drill expands the rower's lung capacity, which leads to greater endurance.

Seat races also occupied the morning schedule. Seat races involve two boats, that race each other initially, and then exchange one person between the two boats.

The boats race again, and the difference in the results between the two races allows the coach to determine the better rower between the individuals exchanged.

The goal of this exercise was to set the lineup for the varsity boats. The competition was intense.

"It's a stressful time of year," Kurtin said. "People have worked hard all year to make a certain level of boat."

But co-captain Tilde Hajek indicated that the competition is valuable.

"The secret is the competition within the team," she said. "That builds you up for the competition with other teams."

The afternoon practices were a bit easier, consisting mainly of drills designed to improve stroke technique and boat balance and coordination.

The team broke the routine on Wednesday to scrimmage against Northeastern. Every Radcliffe varsity and junior varsity boat won her race.

The team then began lightening their workout load, in preparation for the Brown meet last Saturday.

Unfortunately, Brown's boats won all but two races to win the meet, but Hajek wasn't discouraged.

"They had more water time since their river melted before ours," she said. "We can make up the time."

It wasn't all practice, however, and many of the rowers came to enjoy the feel of having the campus to themselves.

"It's a special time of year," Hajek said.

"We had the run of the place," added Simmons.