Only the men's team raced this weekend, which meant the women's team finally got a weekend off from racing. However, our definition of a weekend off here at Mercyhurst is probably slightly different compared to what you had in mind.
The men sent two eights to race this weekend and they departed at 7am for the Princeton Boathouse. Meanwhile back at Findley Lake, the women went out with a former Mercyhurst rower so we wouldn't miss any practice while both of our coaches were gone. Friday afternoon we did something a little bit different than our usual 2:20-5 tech practice on the water. Instead, each boat got together and did tech work in the tanks and then visualization.
A visualization is when the boat all sits together, turns off the lights, and the coxswain "talks them through a race". Starting with the moment the boat gets off the bus, the coxswains tells them what the weather is like, what the boat is doing to prep for the race, the warm-up, all leading up to when they get hands-on. Following that the details of rowing up to the start, getting in the stake boats, who's in our race, and finally - the race. Just like they would in a race the coxswain goes through the entire start sequence and then is informing the rowers what is going on each 500 all the way until the boat crosses the finish line. The rowers then open their eyes and turn the lights on and the visualization has ended.
The reason for the lights out, race day discussions? There's a lot of solid research out there that supports the use of performance visualizations and the research shows that this can help build muscle memory as well as anxiety reduction. It's the idea that if you picture yourself doing something, and having it so smoothly, your body and brain will be more likely to focus on the task at hand when race day comes along without being anxious since it's technically done it before.
All of this leading up to one goal: Dad Vail Regatta
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