Although I got horrible blisters having not brought my gloves for what I thought was going to be an indoor practice (I never get blisters from an erg workout), being out on the water so soon set a perfect mood for the rest of the week: battle-scarred and battle-minded. We wrapped up the day with a team dinner and nighttime yoga led by assistant coach Papadellis. We all stayed in Ishizuka’s dorm, which is my actual dorm, so settling into my own room was nice. 9:15 bedtime after 9 p.m. check-in was much appreciated by all those who had traveled from far. 

DAY 2 (fri, 24th): After going over the legs only drills on the ergs, we ran down to the boathouse and implemented them on the water. We had a wonderful brunch as a team again, followed by some Bananagrams and President card games in the dorm with tennis preseason members. Afternoon practice was a cold ride down to the 3rd bridge (10k oh yeah!). In the evening, we watched the (in)famous safety video featuring educational and equally entertaining ejector crabs, frostbite symptoms, and wind patterns among other water safety hazards.

DAY 3 (sat, 25th): Today, we started off with the pick drill and 3*500 pieces to practice for the 1500k test on Monday. Morning practice took us down to the boathouse for another nice long row. We cooled down with some yoga and rested with waffles for brunch. Anticipating the 4.5k erg test in the afternoon, I took a long nap before afternoon practice. The 4.5k went great, despite not ever having done one! The coxswain’s cheering and music choice were the true heroes. The afternoon practice saw some unprecedented highs on the water as we started to feel some balance as a team. We wrapped up the night with a fun team rom-com movie night featuring 27 Dresses.

DAY 4 (sun, 26th): The 2 hour nap yesterday unfortunately damaged my sleep schedule and I found myself wide awake at 5:32 a.m. I decided to continue reading The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak—a book about the Turkish-Greek conflict in Cyprus in the late 20th century exploring generational and environmental rememory—for the next two hours (with a flashlight so as to not disturb my roommate). I was long-time ready, then, for the two hard practices of the day featuring the two more drills: the pause drill and the hands drill. Although Sunday featured some crashes into the bank and trees—to be finally removed on Tuesday :) —no person/equipment was harmed (thanks to the safety video, of course) and it only bonded the team closer. The night finished with a team dance night featuring Cola’s carefully fabricated pre-1.5k confidence booster music followed by a yoga cooldown. 

DAY 5 (mon, 27th): The 1.5k only proved to us the strength we all had worked for: 6 people under 6 minutes compared to last year's 4. To top off the pre-season with a noteworthy ending, we went to the third bridge in interval pieces before the delicious spinach day celebration brunch (salad, spinach pesto pasta, and even a green smoothie) at the dining hall. We had the afternoon free to settle back into our own dorms (for those who are not in Ishizuka’s dorm normally) and pack our bags for the first day of school on Tuesday. My roommate and I went on a nice walk to town for a celebratory pizza and welcomed people back into the dorm and everyone settled back in. 

And there you have it: GIRLS CREW PRE-SZN 2023! I'm so excited for the season to come and the (objectively) best term at Groton. 

For more photos during the season, follow the team on instagram @grotongirlscrew