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My last lecture was yesterday. The combination of the end of the semester and the annual erging Holiday Challenge has been making me tired and unimaginative when it comes to blog posts. But then the last 24h have delivered a few small gems.
When I showed up for rowing practice this morning, someone had produced a really helpful diagram to illustrate one of the principles of rowing that Coach Y often harps upon:
This main principle has to do with achieving the correct position at the catch (start of the power phase of the rowing stroke). The ideal position has the shins oriented at 90 degrees relative to the ground. This facilitates maximal force production; overcompression or undercompression are not ideal. You will note Uncle Sam looking on; if we do not achieve a beautiful 90 degree angle, Uncle Sam will not approve. However, if we are successful, we will be able to produce a tornado of speed (note the destruction).
So I updated my training journal accordingly:
--
These days I am helping my undergrad student researchers wrap up their experiment from the summer. Our biggest remaining task is to add up the total number of ants in each nest. It turns out one of the best tools for the job is a paintbrush:
This has me constantly thinking about the sticker my sister made for me ages ago, titled "I Paint Ants." Instead of marking ants with paint, or painting pictures of ants, in this case, I'm literally painting the ants around as I am counting them. Who knew there could be so many ways to paint ants?
And on that note, I'd better get back to work. Those ants aren't counting themselves.
When I showed up for rowing practice this morning, someone had produced a really helpful diagram to illustrate one of the principles of rowing that Coach Y often harps upon:
This main principle has to do with achieving the correct position at the catch (start of the power phase of the rowing stroke). The ideal position has the shins oriented at 90 degrees relative to the ground. This facilitates maximal force production; overcompression or undercompression are not ideal. You will note Uncle Sam looking on; if we do not achieve a beautiful 90 degree angle, Uncle Sam will not approve. However, if we are successful, we will be able to produce a tornado of speed (note the destruction).
So I updated my training journal accordingly:
--
These days I am helping my undergrad student researchers wrap up their experiment from the summer. Our biggest remaining task is to add up the total number of ants in each nest. It turns out one of the best tools for the job is a paintbrush:
This has me constantly thinking about the sticker my sister made for me ages ago, titled "I Paint Ants." Instead of marking ants with paint, or painting pictures of ants, in this case, I'm literally painting the ants around as I am counting them. Who knew there could be so many ways to paint ants?
And on that note, I'd better get back to work. Those ants aren't counting themselves.
