Long Update

Wow, I have really dropped the ball on communications since Trials!  It is hard to compare anything to the exhilaration experienced at Chula Vista, but I will try to run through some personal highlights since the regatta.

I put all my energy into coaching upon returning to Seattle; what a fantastic outlet!  Just when I am feeling a little burned out on rowing, I get to rediscover a love for the sport through the eyes of my students.  Holy Names qualified three events for Youth Nationals this year, the Women's 1x, 4x, and Light 8+.  We had one of the most successful medal hauls in recent history from the Regional Championship Regatta, with 10 medals, including a win the the JV 1x.  So proud of my scullers in particular, with whom I worked most closely this last year.  Those five athletes brought home medals in four events!  At nationals, our 4x finished 12th and our Light 8+ finished 15th.  What a great way to end my time with those you girls.  I am going to miss all of them and wish them the best of luck in the years ahead.

HNA 4x, L8+, and Coach on the Oak Ridge course.

HNA athletes keeping it Catholic in Oak Ridge.

More big news: David Smith has made the US National Team in the Light Men's 4x!  He will be traveling to Bulgaria to compete at the 2012 World Championship Regatta from August 15th to 19th!  He will be rowing with Shane Madden, Sam Cunningham, and Bob Duff; all repeat national team members.  Because this boat is not an Olympic event, the athletes are responsible for their own funding, so if you would like to help their dream come true and support the US rowing team, you can find out more here.

David Smith, looking particularly good in his new unisuit.

Also big in the rowing news is HNA athlete Emmy Bateman racing in Germany for the US High Performance Junior team.  Her "B" quad beat the German "A" quad in two out of three races!  I am pretty sure she just jumped in the water and swam the boat down the race course, holding a tow rope between her teeth.  Emmy will be racing next at Canadian Henley, looking to show some strong small boat skills.

Emmy Bateman (right) will eat you if you stand between her and winning.

After a personally disappointing fourth place finish at the British Columbia Championship Regatta in July, I am taking the bull by the horns and devising my own training plan for the next few months.  I will be training under SRC, but I have come to the conclusion that my future success needs the kind of personal attention that only I can bring to the table right now.  What is my secret?  Row.  Alot.  Once I have my spring and summer 2013 plans squared away, I hope to work more with Conal to develop a successful team boat for the next big push.  In the mean time, I am getting mega-fast in the single again.  The goal is to win Head of the Lake this fall and build a strong base for the 2013 season.

Good luck to all the athletes competing at the Olympic these next few weeks!  Go USA!

The Olympic B Final

We blitz the start. I take us to a 45 for the our high 20. I know how this goes. I have rowed this race. With Tristan, with Steve, with Travis, with Chris. I know how to rip out my own guts and beat the other guys with them. I know how to win in my head before we take a single stroke. “Rhythm!” Our planned call. Let's settle at a 36. Wow, this is fast. Can we sustain this? I don't care anymore. This is what we are going to do, even if I have to die at the finish line. We are a length up. “Beautiful!” Not a planned race call, but it is calming. We keep pushing. No such thing as too much power, no such thing as too much speed. But the load stays light. This isn't a slug fest into a head wind. We are matched. One-pry. Every part of my body has to move at the catch. I feel like I am rowing a quad. “Hips!” His breathing is labored, but this is where I focus on shoving my hips into my foot stretcher with all my power. More arms. More lats. Why is it still so light? We are at the half way mark. Open water. The I see the split. It wobbles. One second slower. Two seconds slower. No, not today. My turn to make a call. “More!” I punch the catch hard and we go to a 37. Back on split. It comes back almost immediately. We are holding Malta by just over a length. “Rebound!” Now it is starting to feel heavy. Seven-fifty to go. Still on split. Still on speed. We are not moving on Malta anymore, they are just sitting off to our side. I am counting 30 strokes to the next call. It comes. “Red Button!” Lets row at a 38. We shave off one, two, three splits. But I know what is about to happen. I can shave a little bit, but I have never been a good sprinter. Too small. So here they come. A length. No more open water. Then three quarters, then half a length. “Win!” The rate cannot go up anymore. I try to row longer, more powerfully. No more speed. This is it. I pray for the finish line, I pray that we are not so tired that we catch a crab. I can see Madden, almost even with me now. Without a sound, I see the finish line buoy pass. Win.

Culmination

"Bring the fury of controlled hell..."

Tomorrow is the first day of racing for David and I at the Non-Qualified Olympic Trials Regatta. We have been in Chula Vista since Friday, rowing the course and getting settled in. We are 100% solid on weight and are anxious to unleash. My body is the most rested it has been since last August when I was taking my annual break. I think we will have some of our best performances of our lives this week.

The field is strong. There is not a single double that I would write off, and it is a privilege to be in the mix with them. All we can do is look inward during the race an observe the result as it unfolds. No amount of anxiety or well-wishing can trump the months and years all of these athletes have put in to arrive at this point. Tomorrow we take our first measurement of our cumulative effort.

Training for the US National Team has been a dream of mine since I first started rowing at Puget Sound and now, here I am at the Olympic Trials, ready to realize that for which I have labored.

Results can be found here.

Long Beach

Dave and I left Seattle on Saturday for sunny Southern California. We have settled in at the Long Beach Rowing Center and are living with my mom as we put the finishing touches on our double. We have rigged up our Filippi K-Rigger to comfort and have gotten the first few shake down rows out of the way. We are on track to make the 70-kilogram average easily and are loving the sunshine and flat water.

There are several other Olympic hopefuls training out of the Long Beach boathouse, including a large contingent from Potomac Boathouse in D.C. and another lightweight 2x. We are friendly and cordial but mostly stick to ourselves. Conal has set us up with a solid taper plan - we only need to execute.

Today we played with a little different race rhythm. For the first time, we have a double that is wired to give us speed, so we can really experiment and respond. We are finding a little more length and focus per stroke at a little lower stroke rate gives us a major bump in speed, especially in the second half of our race when the lactic acid comes on hard. We will have more opportunities to push along with this rhythm tomorrow during some pace work.

Game time. ROOH!

On a coaching note, well done to the racers at Holy Names Academy last weekend. All crew performed well, particularly the Novice 8+ that won the Junior Varsity event and the lightweight 8+ that took the fight to other crews in the Openweight Varsity event. I will miss working with these inspiring young women when I matriculate this Fall at the University of Washington.

NSR I

Last week, Jon Greer and David Smith traveled to Chula Vista, CA to race in the Men's Open 1x Selection Regatta for the first chance to represent the USA at the Olympics at that event. They finished 12th and 29th respectively. Upon the conclusion of the event, SRC ranks have further swelled with the appearance of James Dietz II, an experienced hand who has come to Seattle to prepare in the Men's Open 2x with Jon for the upcoming Olympic Trials Regatta. Dave and I are back to the double, hitting it hard. We continue to push our weights down and stay aggressive on all fronts. Two weeks to sunshine in Long Beach!

Elk Lake Summary

These regattas always pass by in such a blur, particularly when I am as race-focused as this one. The emotions and thoughts in the moments are hard to recover and often clouded by the reactions to race outcomes.

Dave and I had a fantastic time trials in our 2x. We finished 4th overall, just a few seconds behind the Canadian Light 2x. The wind was a light cross-head, and we race the piece at a 32 with moves at the beginning and end that saw us scratching a 34 and 35. We were very excited and full of bravado. We sealed the event with a 20 minutes cool down on the ergs and some rest time spent derigging and loading boats.

We then both ventured forth into our throw-together 4x race, which we won handily, but not handily enough. Chris and Aidan did an excellent job as the book ends for the boat. The strategy was haphazard, but the result within acceptable bounds.

Finally, Dave and I went back out for the final of the Open 2x, racing three Canadian National crews, a Canadian club crew, and the SRC heavyweight 2x. We were unable to repeat the morning's performance and finished in a distant 5th,, well off the winning pace. I attribute this fall in our performance to two causes: nerves brought on by high-level racing and insufficient fitness to race at max effort three times a day. The worsening water only added to the air of nervousness and flustered reactions as we were unable to respond to the speed from other crews. Back to the drawing board for a touch.

SRC as a whole did very well. The top three finishes in the Open Women's 4x were all SRC, and we had strong finishes in other open, lightweight, and junior events throughout the day.

Next on the calendar: Dave and Jon travel to Chula Vista to race in singles at NSR I. I will remain in Seattle and race at Green Lake in the 2x with Steve Souvall, a former teammate of mine from my Puget Sound days and current coworker at LUC. Then we have a brief period before we are off to Long Beach on March 31 for our final push to Trials. In the interim, I have a number of Holy Names regattas to which I need to attend as well: the HP Development Camp this weekend, Green Lake the next weekend, and Oakland for two regattas on the 24th and 25th.

Elk Lake 2012 Regatta Report: Day One

The wind started with a moderate cross-tail and built into white-caps over 20 mph by the late morning. Afternoon races were cancelled, including finals for all of the single scull events. But the heats went well. Lindsay was first in her heat, Helen and Michelle finished second and third in the other heat. Emily won here heat, and Liz finished third in hers for the light singles. Corrina and Sarah Wolf finished last in their heats. Aidan was second in the light single. Chris and Sam finished third and fourth respectively in one heat, Dave finished second in his heat, and Jon and I finished second and third respectively (posting the second and third fastest times of the day as well) in the open single. Alas, no races for us for the rest of the day.

Tomorrow we move into team boat racing. The Canadian National Team has packed the events - the A-finals for the men's singles would have been a blend of SRC and Canadian National Team boats. I look forward to bringing the heat tomorrow. The foul water give me a strong advantage over others. I am excited to give our lightweight double with David Smith its first go-around. It is sure to be a barn-burner.

Scrimmage

I got back to my regular training protocol this week. My orthopedist has informed me that the Baker's cyst in my right leg cannot be reasonably treated aside from the use of anti-inflammatories and ice. It is likely that my condition will be on-and-off through the season and I will just have to manage the pain. The underlying cause is arthritis in my right knee - aged well beyond my years. But I have managed to get the discomfort to a reasonable level and will be working hard through trials.

Today we scrimmage with Pocock and Steve Souvall from LUC. SRC brought its A-game for sure. I won both of my pieces with the light men in two sets of 2K with building rate caps. It was a fun tussle. I am looking forward to Elk Lake regatta - it will be a fun chance to show my best in the single.

I have had a few chances to row with Chris Wales, the 17 year old on the SRC Junior squad and younger brother of former teammate Michael Wales. Props to the little guy and the 140 lbs he can hurl down the course at startling speed.

Time for a restful weekend.

Ergomania

Yesterday was Northwest Ergomania, the regional satellite erg race for the CRASH-B indoor rowing championship. Seattle Rowing Center made a decent showing in many events. Lindsey Meyer, Helen Thompkins, Michelle Trannel, Liz Robinson, Aiden O'Sullivan, Sam McVeety, and David Smith all competed on behalf of the elite team, with Lindsey qualifying for the CRASH-B competition and winning her division. The Junior team also had a strong performance, with solid finishes in all categories. My Holy Names team set a number of personal bests. This bodes well for Spring as we start to move away from a more erg-intense schedule to more rowing.

For me, Ergomania has always been the demarcation between Winter and Spring training. I have competed in 6 of the last 8 Ergomanias, missing only 2009 win I lived in Oregon and this year, as I currently am experiencing a hamstring-oriented injury. So here we go, counting down the days to Olympic Trials.

Dave and I have secured a boat from the Long Beach Crew, a 2005 Fillipi in good shape. We will be heading down to Long beach about nine days prior to the start of the regatta to rig and train. We will stay with my mom while we are there, and then drive to Chula Vista when the course opens and stay in a hotel nearby through racing. This seems like a brilliantly easy way to have organized ourselves for racing and I am looking forward to some California racing.

In 3 weeks, we head up to Victoria for the Elk Lake Regatta, a fun event that generally showcases some solid competition. I should be back on a normal training schedule by then. Currently I am swimming and lifting to stay in shape. I get my MRI results tomorrow so that I can more specifically address the problem. I am confident.

Fall Wrap Up, Winter Update

It has been a long time since my last update - I have been busy working extra to get the bills paid from traveling so much last Summer. Now I can try to do a quick recap of how the last few months have been.

Head of the Charles was great - I finished 7th, stronger than last year and beating a few people who had beaten me in 2010. It was a strong race, but not quite where I wanted to be. John Winter rocked it out, kudos to him. The rest of SRC did well: Dave Smith finished 11th, Liz Robinson finished 5th, and Lindsey Meyer finished 3rd in their respective events.

I managed an 8 second PR on my 6K this Fall and have dropped half a split on my 60 minute test.

For Head of the Lake, Dave and I teamed up to win the Open 2x, my first HotL victory in the 7 years I have raced it. It felt damn good.

I have begun a regimen of Creatine, Glutamine, and Beta-Alanine supplementation to see if I can eek out performance benefits that I am not rocking through training.

Winter has been productive, with a pretty even split between rowing, erging, and cross training. Huge strength gains, getting my dead lift up to 300 lbs for two rep and holding 1000+ joules on average for 10 minutes on the RP.

Lots of fantastic new people around the boathouse for the holidays: college kids coming home, new juniors, and a few new faces with the development group.

This is also the first Winter during which I have taken a long break away from Seattle and the boathouse. I just spent a week in Long Beach, CA with family, doing some light rowing bust mostly getting my bronze on and catching up on sleep. I feel recharged, ready to hit the training hard again. My mindset for this Spring is as such: I will be the scourge of my competitors. I will continue to pour as much work and effort as needed for every bit of speed gain. No cost is too high.

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