The 2013-2014 Season

It has been a long time since I have updated this blog.  I lost a lot of steam after 2013 trials and it has taken me years to crawl back to a place where I can write about my rowing accomplishments with pride.

Racing at Fall Speed Order in Oakland, CA.

A quick recap of my 2013-2014 season.  It took a while for me to get back into training.  Shame from catching that crab after being so close combined with my graduate core exams (which I passed).  I had lackluster results that Fall, and after some discussion with my coach and teammates, I decided that I would turn my attention to the light men's pair for the season.  I partnered up with my long, long time training partner, Sam McVeety.

Sam and I have been training together since I first moved to Seattle.  We had played a bit together in doubles and quads, but had never swept seriously.  Sam had also never raced at a trials or selection event before, nor had he ever raced as a lightweight (he was a muscle-bound guy, but not a natural lightweight).

Sam got on board quickly and in January 2014 we started rowing together, with Conal coaching us.  It was a bit rough for the first few weeks.  We were both learning how to sweep again, and coming to the boat with very different styles.  But we were having fun training together.  We were both getting incredibly fit.  Sam was losing weight (I have no idea how, given his body type) and generating numbers on the erg that were competitive with his bests as a heavyweight.  I was also having to work down to 67.5 kg in order to balance out Sam for competition, but still enjoying gains.  I ended up setting a PR on my 6K of 20:13 in mid March at the West Coast Spring Speed Order.  Things seemed pretty good.

But we were having hiccups with our short-distance racing.  We had raced at the Elk Lake Spring Regatta and had been quickly eliminated in all events we entered.  We just did not have the rhythm to move quickly for 2k.  We also were not seeing the numbers we needed for our erg 2ks to be competitive with our top competitors.

Racing with Sam at NSR1 in Princeton, NJ.

At the first National Selection Regatta, we entered the LM2- and finished last after a frustrating time trial and final.  We were 10 seconds behind the next slowest boat.  But we returned to Seattle and redoubled our efforts.  We had already been training in the mornings together every day since January.  We started adding afternoons in the pair as well (previously we used the afternoons to cross train or row our singles).  We raced in a coxed four in Seattle with some of our teammates, beating the JV kids from Oregon State University at the Windermere Cup Regatta.  We planned to race the M2- at the second national selection regatta, giving us a short break from having to watch our weight.

However, NSR2 was another let down.  We finished last in the event again, by another 10 second margin.  We had given it our best effort and even had some strokes that felt pretty good.  But we were not on par with the other pairs.

Keara and I enjoying a summer picnic at Kerry Park in Seattle, WA.

When we returned to Seattle, we dissolved the pair project.  I offered Sam some fairly disparaging and hateful words in my frustration that left our friendship scarred.  I took the rest of the summer to play in my single, spend time with my girlfriend, and study for my economics field exams (which I passed easily).

It took a long time to get Sam back onto speaking terms, and my biggest regret of the season was the damage I caused to our friendship.

As summer ended, I knew the next season would be one of the few remaining opportunities in my life to give rowing my all.  I began to plot what would become my most dedicated time to rowing since I started paddling on American Lake in 2004.