‘It Feels Like a Family’: A Day in the Life as a Radcliffe Rower With Isabel Llabres Diaz

Competing in any sport at a Division-I level is a full time job. With countless practices, lifts, and strategy sessions, these athletes dedicate a serious portion of their collegiate life to their teams. While there is always an intensity with every hour spent practicing, for the Harvard crew teams, there is an even larger prize each October: the chance to defend their home turf during the Head of the Charles.

For Radcliffe heavyweight crew standout Isabel Llabres Diaz, a sophomore hailing from Oxford, U.K., this fall will be a moment where she and her teammates can truly set themselves apart from their competitors. Diaz and the team will race in three competitions — the Princeton Chase, the Head of the Charles, and the Foot of the Charles — but the Head of the Charles is particularly noteworthy due to the river’s curvy path, the loud and boisterous atmosphere of the fans, and the historic significance for the Radcliffe team.

Reflecting on a typical day in her life as a collegiate rower, Diaz walked The Crimson through the intensity that comes with being a student-athlete competing at such a high level.

5:45 am: Isabel’s alarm goes off, echoing through her double in Dunster House. Diaz and her roommate, Kathryn Serra, are both on the crew team and trek to the newly renovated Weld Boathouse together. On Wednesdays, practice starts at 6:30 am, but the team gets there at least ten minutes before to stretch. If they’re late, they have to complete the notorious Harvard Stadium run. Isabel confirmed that this has effectively incentivized the team to arrive on time.

With practice restrictions limiting the amount of time the players can spend with their coaches in the offseason, Diaz explains that she and her teammates “just have to be very efficient” when working with the coaching staff.

6:30 am: Practice begins. Typically, during training time, the team rows 16k to 18k on the famous Charles River. On Wednesdays, Isabel and her teammates compete in the friendly Radcliffe Rumble. The competition is fierce amongst the Radcliffe rowers, who push themselves to outperform one another.

“I think it is important to have that competitiveness between the team,” Diaz says as she praises the Radcliffe Rumble tradition. “It’s good because our culture is very strong, and we don’t let that competitiveness affect our friendship. We know that it’s only going to make us faster in the end. It is a nice type of competitiveness that pushes us to become better athletes.”

Isabel describes the sense of camaraderie shared within the team, fostered by a positive team culture and some customs implemented by the coaching staff. During the time indoors on the erg — a rowing machine that is critical for training — the Radcliffe team is not allowed to wear headphones. Instead, the coxswains are tasked with setting the tone through their DJ skills.

“The team loves their BOOM BOOM BOOM music,” Diaz said, laughing as she hailed the coxswains’ efforts to boost the mood of their teammates. Diaz joked that she enjoys their music but would prefer something a little more mellow, like Maroon 5 or Coldplay, if she were in control of the speakers.

9:00 am: Practice ends, and Diaz bolts immediately back across the river to Dunster. Instead of joining the migration from Allston to Quincy House for hot breakfast, as many other hungry student-athletes do after their early practices, Diaz is perfectly satisfied with the Dunster breakfast options. Her morning specialty is yogurt, topped with frozen blueberries and peanut butter.

“I basically have it every single day,” she said. “It is so good after being out for an hour and a half in the cold.”

10:30 am: With her homemade yogurt parfait in hand, Diaz rushes to Harvard Yard, just in time for her first class of the day. Isabel recently declared as a Psychology concentrator with a secondary in Economics. She is really excited to start taking psychology electives in the upcoming semester and is keen on finding a research position with one of her professors so that she might pursue her studies even further.

Diaz is currently taking a wide breadth of classes ranging from Cognitive Neuroscience to Introduction to Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences, which takes up most of her day until the late afternoon.

4:30 pm: Depending on the day, the Radcliffe team has double sessions: one in the water or on the erg in the morning, followed by lift in the Palmer Dixon, affectionately known by the athletes as ‘The PD,’ in the afternoon. Some days, they will spend both practices doing cardio, either on the ergs or back on the Charles River.

In the winter, the rowers are unable to row on the Charles due to the biting New England weather, which forces them into the confines of the Weld Boathouse to train on the ergs. From a fitness standpoint, the extensive erg time is great for the team. However, compared to other teams in warmer climates who have the ability to train both on land and on the water, the Radcliffe team is at a major tactical disadvantage.

Diaz says she always feels very fit coming out of the winter season and moving into the boat, but that the team has to undergo some technical adjustments as it transitions into the water for its spring season.

From an individual perspective, Diaz stated, “It's just all about finding that balance between being good technically and being as fit as you can be.”

6:00 pm: Dinner time! Diaz’s favorite Harvard dinner is roast beef with gravy and roasted vegetables. The Harvard dining staff often serves this meal on Sundays, reminding Isabel of her family and hometown of Oxford.

“In the UK, it is a tradition to have a Sunday roast dinner, so it feels a bit like home,” Diaz explained.

With her busy day full of class and practice, Diaz hardly has any time for lunch. She typically gets takeout either from breakfast or Fly-By to carry her through the day. Therefore, a big dinner always hits the spot!

6:45 pm: Time for homework. Diaz decided to attend Harvard as an international student because of its incredible academic opportunities. Unfortunately for Diaz and her fellow classmates, world-renowned classes often come with hefty work loads.

While describing the mental toll of rowing, Diaz explains that it's just a game, and you have to ask yourself, “How strong are you mentally? How hard can you go?”

This mental effort translates into her academic life as well. “Yeah, obviously, I know I’m going to be tired, and some nights I really don’t want to work,” she said. “But you just have to focus on getting your homework done.”

9:30 pm Since their practices start so early in the morning, the rowing roommates Diaz and Serra start to wind down for bed on the earlier side. Both Serra and Diaz stretch before bed so that they are physically prepared to run through their grueling schedule again the next morning.

Diaz is training with the dream of making it to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, and she is currently eligible to compete for either Team Great Britain or Team Spain. That being said, for the next week, she and her Radcliffe teammates are strictly focused on the Head of the Charles in the hopes of making a top-10 finish and upholding the high standards that are cherished by the women of Radcliffe crew.

—Staff writer Isabel Smail can be reached at isabel.smail@thecrimson.com.