What are most CMU students doing at 5:15 before the sun comes up? Finishing homework? Pressing the snooze button one more time? Not Laura Caton! If you’re looking for her, you’ll find her jogging down to the Allegheny River for a two-hour long rowing practice with the rest of her teammates on the Carnegie Mellon Rowing Club.
Laura Caton is a junior Technical Writing major from Wakefield, MA. She’s also the recently-elected president of the CMU Rowing Club. Laura’s been a member of the Rowing Club since her sophomore year, and she spends most of her mornings at practice with her 31 other teammates and friends.
Prior to coming to CMU, Laura had never rowed or even considered being on a rowing team. She heard about the club during her freshman year and thought it might be fun to try, especially since she was accustomed to having a sport in her daily schedule. But after attending the interest meeting and hearing about everything the practices involved, she was too intimidated to join!
But after trying out several other sports at CMU, she eventually found her way back to the rowing team. “The next summer while I was kayaking, I realized that being out on the water was really fun and strangely calming,” Laura explains, “I decided that I should give the rowing club another shot.” It wasn’t long before she was hooked.
The CMU Rowing Club stores their boats at Three Rivers Rowing Association’s boathouse on the Allegheny River, which means that most of their practices involve a four-mile jog down to the river before they even begin the rowing aspect of their workout. “During the fall and spring we go out on the water and see the sunrise over Pittsburgh,” Laura says, “It’s so pretty!”
After getting to the boathouse, the team will stretch and carry their boat to the water, guided by their coxswain. They launch from the dock and do a warm up, and then the coach goes over the workout plan using a megaphone from a motorized boat. The team usually rows for about an hour and a half, but the workouts vary. In the fall, for instance, they do distance pieces to get ready for their 4 to 6 kilometer races. In the spring they work on sprints in preparation for shorter races.
In the winter the team uses the indoor rowing machines (ergs) to do similar workouts. Twice a week they lift in the weight room, and several times during the winter season they go to the Cathedral of Learning and run stairs for an hour. “Our coaches do a really good job of keeping the workouts varied,” Laura explains.
Laura admits that being on the team is sometimes hard. The early-morning practices can be draining, and it’s often difficult to balance sports, college, and social life. Still, she’s found that being a member of the team has been unbelievably impactful, both physically and mentally. She has met some of her best friends in boats, and she enjoys how the team is both goofy and competitive at the same time. “Rowing has given me a new appreciation for teamwork,” Laura says, “More than any other sport I’ve done, you have to trust your teammates and work completely in sync to even have a hope of moving your boat through the water.”
Being a member of the team has also made Laura realize that she’s much happier when she exercises. Her practices are a much-needed break from schoolwork and the other stresses of CMU. Furthermore, based on her positive experience with the Rowing Club, Laura now plans to join a club rowing team after she graduates. And in addition to the fun and friendships that have come with rowing, she’s also found that the morning practices help motivate her to work out!
When she’s not doing homework or rowing, Laura likes to read and watch Saturday Night Live. She also enjoys singing show tunes with her friends and trying out new online dessert recipes. Be sure to watch for Laura on campus, and don’t forget to wish her luck in her next race!
Photo source: https://www.facebook.com/laura.caton