When I watched this video before the London Olympics I remember being surprised because the calm before the storm that she mentioned, the tension, the start and settle … those are some of my favorite parts of the race.

Related: Visualizing the perfect race, pt. 1

Spending time separating myself from whatever’s going on around me and visualizing the race throughout the week was always a really important part of my own personal race prep and it’s definitely something I recommend to other coxswains as well. The better you are at seeing your race plan in your head, knowing what you want to say, and what you want to happen, the better you’ll be able to execute it and the more confident you’ll be as you do it.