Spring Break Blog: Bulldogs Make Their Way To Sacramento
3/13/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Rowing
The Gonzaga University women's rowing team headed to Sacramento, Calif., for the week of spring break. The Bulldogs will document this week with a daily blog that will give insight into their training, their first race of the year - against Loyola Marymount University of Friday, and a scrimmage with UCLA Saturday. The Zags will be training and racing on Lake Natoma, which also is home to both the West Coast Conference Championship and the WIRA Championships.
Today's blog is written by Gonzaga senior Christy Mentele.
Going to Sacramento for spring break training is our ultimate destination: we get to practice on the fully buoyed course, work on our fitness and technique while enjoying the sunshine and warm weather, and practice every day on our championship course as a team. The chance to practice on Lake Natoma almost two months before the big day is a great opportunity for us and well worth the sixteen hour bus ride. The first day we arrived in Sacramento, we were able to enjoy the sunshine at our hotel pool and catch some rays before the training began. This time was well spent and allowed for the anticipated team bonding to begin. Getting to see teammates outside of the boat and the erg room is a nice change of pace for everyone - personalities and humor shine thru for everyone and it makes for exciting days and weeks to come. We were graciously hosted by Madeleine Verspieren and her family for dinner on Sunday night. There is nothing better after a long bus ride and a day of recovery than a home cooked meal by such a welcoming family! Thank you Verspieren family!
Monday morning, training began. We arrived at Lake Natoma in the morning, prepared for any type of weather but were pleasantly greeted with sunshine and blue sky. After loading up on sunscreen and weather appropriate clothing, we launched for our first practice of spring break. Spring break training weeks are known for lots of hard work, sweat and dedication by all athletes and our first day was nothing short of that. These days to come before our first race on Friday will be filled with tough practices and a lot of team bonding that helps to push us in the direction we want to go. This training trip is a component step towards our end of the season goals and will allow us to see our strengths and what we need to improve on at this point in the season.
