Most definitely fact. Having just come back from an arduous and long training camp, I can categorically agree with how Bill Murray's charcter, Phil, felt in the film. The Groundhog phenomenon applies to any sort of job, hobby or way of life. Sport in general and definitely rowing is no exception to that rule.
Having never been on a winter training camp with the Seniors before, I did not know quite what to expect. Waking up each day and coming to the terms that what you will do today is no different to yesterday, that tomorrow is going to be exactly the same as today and so on, was hard work. The weather, the wind, the waves, the food, the location, the river, the scenery...the SAME! Boring? Monotonous? Tiring? Just thinking about it brings about all of those emotions and it can be an athletes' worst nightmare. However, this leads me to the question, is the Groundhog feeling actually such a bad thing?!
Our captain, Hodge, is probably the most Groundhog rower there is in the whole of Great Britain. Boring! Monotonous! Tiring!! Yet hugely successful and consistent. That's the key...these two words seem to be related. The ability to be consistent will increase the chance of success, whilst being successful requires a high level of consistency. Consistency is commonly mistaken for the Groundhog affect though. Aiming for successful consistency can be tiring and boring, causing us to lose sight of the goal. If we lose focus, we become distracted. The loss of focus and subsequent distraction moves the attention away from the rowing stroke. This will cause the stroke to constantly differ. The moment the rowing stroke changes...the consistency is no longer there.
Anyone who has rowed with Hodge or has coached him, admires his unique ability to row the same rhythm and stroke regardless. Come what may, whatever the conditions or if he is exhausted, he does the same thing again and again. It's become second nature and predictible. This has come from focussed attention during the thousands of strokes he can take each week training. Obviously, we aim to be consistently good, rowing at our highest level and not consistently rowing bad, so we are coached, then coached a little bit more and finally coached, with the aim to perfect this repeated motion. Coaches want us to make changes to get better and the reward is to repeat the successful adaptation. Darren Whiter says that "practice makes permanence". So when you aren't being coached, you aim to do exactly the same, stay focussed and try not to lose concentration. Because the coach is most likely thinking what they see is good and want you to stay consistent holding the change permenantly. So rowing 40-48km a day, whilst trying to fit in a weights session in between those sessions everyday for 14days makes crystal clear sense.
In the film, it said that "nothing that you did mattered?" But, what we aim to do as rowers in our Groundhog days, really will matter. We aim to do the same! Each stroke. With the Head's fast approaching, each boat will try to be consistently fast but it doesn't happen on the race day. Same with summer racing and Henley. The consistency is built from waking up each day and coming to the terms that what you will do today is no different to yesterday, that tomorrow is going to be exactly the same as today and so on.
Finally, whilst out on camp with time to contemplate during our brief rest periods, sometimes things are put into context. The recent 1 year anniversary of Scott Rennie's death brought back memories. My thoughts are with his family and friends during this period. Having trained alongside Scott, he was and still is a massive inspiration for me and I only realised this during the recent training camp. Scott had an uncanny ability to do the same thing repeatedly, without complaining and always doing it to his highest level. Watching the likes of Hodge, Peter Reed and Alan Campbell I noticed the same attributes that I noticed in Scott. In my opinion, Scott was destined to be a GB rower. With that in mind, I use his untimely departure as something that inspires me. Without inspiration athletes become soleless and do the training without heart and character. I am inspired to become a better, more consistent rower. Just like Scott was.
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