University of Minnesota Athletics
Players Mentioned
Stratton, Wiebke Reflect on Winter Training Trip
2/3/2020 5:35:00 PM | Rowing
The Gophers Women's Rowing team recently returned from a week-long training trip in San Diego, Calif. over winter break. The team was able to get back in the water and worked on technique to get stronger and faster while maintaining balance before the spring season gets underway. We caught up with senior Natalie Stratton and junior Melissa Wiebke as they reflected on their time in California.
Gopher Sports: What was your favorite part about the trip?
Natalie Stratton: Getting back on the water again! The winter training trip is always a great reminder of why I love rowing as we are in the midst of indoor training in Minnesota and don't have access to water.
Melissa Wiebke: My favorite part was seeing dolphins on one of our rows! We rowed back into a channel and we were stopped in between pieces when we say dolphin fins about 20 feet away from our boats. We were all screaming because we were so excited! The dolphins followed us throughout our row, and at one time they were swimming directly under our coach's launch! There were four or five of them and it was so fun to see them pop out of the water near us. I also really loved the sunset yoga we did every day. The sunsets on the beach were so beautiful.
GS: What kind of training did you do? What did the team work on skill wise?
NS: During morning practices we did higher intensity pieces and in the afternoon we had more of a technical focus. We spent a lot of time working on drills involved with blade height and directness to the water. We also did some pausing to help everyone establish the rhythm of the boat.
MW: We rowed twice a day. Our morning rows were workouts and pretty long, usually 20k, and our afternoon rows were shorter and more technique focused. Every day we ended our training with sunset yoga on the beach led by Amanda Russel. On the first day or two of the training trip, we focused a lot on technique and picked up where we left off at the end of the fall season. We focused on blade work and taking effective, dynamic strokes. The rest of the trip was more about getting stronger and faster while maintaining our technical foundation even at the end of hard workouts when we are tired.
GS: How did you improve as an individual? How did the team improve?
NS: I spent a lot of time watching video and was able to get a better idea of how direct my blade needs to be to the water. I also learned how I can better match Lauren Burrows-Cheng, she sits in stroke seat and I sit 7 seat of the 1V, in order to be as effective as possible. Being able to be on the water again, the team was able to develop a better sense and understanding of how everyone's boat was moving as a whole. One of the hardest parts of rowing is getting everyone to sync up perfectly and to anticipate each other's moves to match them. Having time on water allowed us to practice that.
MW: Personally, I was able to improve a lot on my technique. I sit in the bow seat, where technique is crucial for balancing the boat. I was really focusing on my technique and consistency over the week and I think I made some solid improvements. We did a lot of technical drills like pauses and tap drills to establish timing and blade heights. I think these drills were very beneficial. As a team, we improved boat rhythm and timing over the week, as well as power. Before this trip, we hadn't done much work at high stroke ratings that we will be racing this spring, and over the week we got more comfortable and dynamic at these ratings. Leaving San Diego, our team as a whole collectively felt we made important strides in the right direction that will help our team be competitive this season.
GS: How was the weather in California? Was it hard adjusting when you came back to Minnesota?
NS: It was beautiful! I think it was the best weather I've had in the four years I've been in the program for the winter training trip! It wasn't terribly hard adjusting back. We just have to get used to the routine and the cold again!
MW: The weather in California was amazing! It was sunny and high 60s every day, which is the best weather we've had on a training trip over the past few years. Sometimes locals on the streets would give us weird looks when we were walking around in shorts and tank tops in the 60 degree weather because it's still winter in California even though it felt so warm for us. It was a really hard adjustment coming back to Minnesota. We flew back the day after a big snowstorm and it was freezing cold out. It was kind of depressing getting off the plane and realizing we would be stuck in the Minnesota winter for the next few months.
GS: What are you most looking forward to this season?
NS: I'm most looking forward to racing! I can't wait to see how fast we're going to be.
MW: I'm most looking forward to racing. We've been doing a lot of high-intensity interval work this winter and we are seeing it pay off in the erg room so I am really excited to see it pay off on the water during races.
Gopher rowing will hit the road this weekend and head back to San Diego, Calif. for two races. The first will be against San Diego State on Saturday, Feb. 8, with San Diego the following day.
Gopher Sports: What was your favorite part about the trip?
Natalie Stratton: Getting back on the water again! The winter training trip is always a great reminder of why I love rowing as we are in the midst of indoor training in Minnesota and don't have access to water.
Melissa Wiebke: My favorite part was seeing dolphins on one of our rows! We rowed back into a channel and we were stopped in between pieces when we say dolphin fins about 20 feet away from our boats. We were all screaming because we were so excited! The dolphins followed us throughout our row, and at one time they were swimming directly under our coach's launch! There were four or five of them and it was so fun to see them pop out of the water near us. I also really loved the sunset yoga we did every day. The sunsets on the beach were so beautiful.
GS: What kind of training did you do? What did the team work on skill wise?
NS: During morning practices we did higher intensity pieces and in the afternoon we had more of a technical focus. We spent a lot of time working on drills involved with blade height and directness to the water. We also did some pausing to help everyone establish the rhythm of the boat.
MW: We rowed twice a day. Our morning rows were workouts and pretty long, usually 20k, and our afternoon rows were shorter and more technique focused. Every day we ended our training with sunset yoga on the beach led by Amanda Russel. On the first day or two of the training trip, we focused a lot on technique and picked up where we left off at the end of the fall season. We focused on blade work and taking effective, dynamic strokes. The rest of the trip was more about getting stronger and faster while maintaining our technical foundation even at the end of hard workouts when we are tired.
GS: How did you improve as an individual? How did the team improve?
NS: I spent a lot of time watching video and was able to get a better idea of how direct my blade needs to be to the water. I also learned how I can better match Lauren Burrows-Cheng, she sits in stroke seat and I sit 7 seat of the 1V, in order to be as effective as possible. Being able to be on the water again, the team was able to develop a better sense and understanding of how everyone's boat was moving as a whole. One of the hardest parts of rowing is getting everyone to sync up perfectly and to anticipate each other's moves to match them. Having time on water allowed us to practice that.
MW: Personally, I was able to improve a lot on my technique. I sit in the bow seat, where technique is crucial for balancing the boat. I was really focusing on my technique and consistency over the week and I think I made some solid improvements. We did a lot of technical drills like pauses and tap drills to establish timing and blade heights. I think these drills were very beneficial. As a team, we improved boat rhythm and timing over the week, as well as power. Before this trip, we hadn't done much work at high stroke ratings that we will be racing this spring, and over the week we got more comfortable and dynamic at these ratings. Leaving San Diego, our team as a whole collectively felt we made important strides in the right direction that will help our team be competitive this season.
GS: How was the weather in California? Was it hard adjusting when you came back to Minnesota?
NS: It was beautiful! I think it was the best weather I've had in the four years I've been in the program for the winter training trip! It wasn't terribly hard adjusting back. We just have to get used to the routine and the cold again!
MW: The weather in California was amazing! It was sunny and high 60s every day, which is the best weather we've had on a training trip over the past few years. Sometimes locals on the streets would give us weird looks when we were walking around in shorts and tank tops in the 60 degree weather because it's still winter in California even though it felt so warm for us. It was a really hard adjustment coming back to Minnesota. We flew back the day after a big snowstorm and it was freezing cold out. It was kind of depressing getting off the plane and realizing we would be stuck in the Minnesota winter for the next few months.
GS: What are you most looking forward to this season?
NS: I'm most looking forward to racing! I can't wait to see how fast we're going to be.
MW: I'm most looking forward to racing. We've been doing a lot of high-intensity interval work this winter and we are seeing it pay off in the erg room so I am really excited to see it pay off on the water during races.
Gopher rowing will hit the road this weekend and head back to San Diego, Calif. for two races. The first will be against San Diego State on Saturday, Feb. 8, with San Diego the following day.
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