Have a great weekend and enjoy your Halloween candy because as of Saturday it’s full steam ahead towards winter break!

TGIF, guys. Good luck if you’re racing this weekend and if you’ll be in Princeton, I’ll see you there.

HOCR weekend – woo!

I’m still waiting to hear when my four is going to be practicing next week so you’ve still got time to let me know if you want to come on a tour of the river with me on either Thursday or Friday. Once I hear back about when I’m practicing I’ll post something on here with final times, meeting places, etc.

Head of the Charles is in two weeks. Even though I’ve been emailing with people about it for probably a month now and we talk about it nearly every day at practice, it just hit me a few minutes ago that it’s October and head racing season has arrived. On that note, I’d like to try and get a preliminary count of who’d be interested in walking the course with me on Thursday or Friday afternoon. I did it last year with a group of college and high school coxswains and we met near BU, walked along the course, and discussed just about anything that came to mind in relation to the race. I pointed out all the landmarks, explained how to enter/exit the turns and bridges, talked about some of the rules, etc. There is no official coxswain meeting for HOCR and the only thing they really offer in terms of addressing the rules is Yaz Farooq’s clinic (which I wrote all about in this post), which usually costs $15 or so.

I don’t know what time this will be at yet because I’m still waiting to hear what time the four I’m coxing is planning to practice but once I know that I’ll figure out a time that will hopefully work with everyone’s schedule. I’ll be around both days though and will most likely be able to go out anytime during the day so if you’re only free in the morning or something, it shouldn’t be a problem. Like I said, there is no official coxswain meeting for HOCR so if you haven’t raced here before, are kinda new to coxing, etc. I’d definitely recommend considering coming on a tour. I promise, I have lots of helpful tips to share. Plus, it’s free.

Now that the season is starting to pick up the questions are beginning to roll in – if you haven’t yet, check out the five or six I’ve already posted this week and keep an eye out later for the few I still need to post. Also coxswains, make sure you check out the post I did on race plans on Tuesday. It’s a twist on your typical race plan and is aimed more at the longer pieces you’re doing during practice.

And finally *drum roll* last night “Ready all, row…” passed 500,000 hits. That was the goal I was shooting for before the blog turned two so I’m really excited to hit it a week early. Obviously that wouldn’t have happened without you guys stopping by to read everything, sharing the stuff you like with friends, teammates, etc., and promoting the links across social media so thank you for helping me hit the 500k mark!

Did you check out the recordings I posted on Tuesday and the interview I posted with Pete Cipollone yesterday? He has some great advice for coxswains (and an important reminder for coaches!) so when you’ve got time, spend a few minutes reading that and sharing it with the other coxswains on your team.

I’ve gotten a lot of emails lately and seen tons of stuff online about how everyone’s first 5ks/6ks are coming up soon so this week’s playlist is a mostly-heavy rock inspired one to help keep you going while you’re prepping for those. Remember, have a plan, let your coxswain know if you want to be coxed, and focus on staying consistent throughout the whole piece. Flying and dying never worked for anyone!

So, just an update to what I’m doing back in Boston since I haven’t mentioned it yet but I’m coaching with MIT’s men’s heavyweight team. Practices started earlier this week and everything’s been great so far. It’s been nice actually having something to do and, as we’ve said before when it comes to coxswains, not feeling like part of the furniture. We’re a fairly small team so for the time being I plan on riding in the launch with the other coaches and doing a lot of observing while also helping out with the coxswains when I can. Should be fun!

Hi everyone! Short and sweet today – I’m finally done moving and am back in Boston soif you emailed me this week, look for a reply some time this weekend. Thanks for being so patient the last few days, I appreciate it!